What I had to do was prepare.

And I prepared, like my life depended on it. Because it did.

The gangs were after Belessar?

Belessar would get after the gangs.

The Grunters had another superhuman apart from Grumman - Gravitic. Gravitic had been a villain for almost a decade. He could create focused zones of gravity, making you feel left was down or down was up, and he used this ability to devastating effect. In the earliest videos of him, he could be seen flipping police cars, launching light poles into the air and having them come down and impale people, and floating above the ground at various heights.

The power didn’t give him actual flight, but it was close.

The Blackhats had three ultras at their disposal, all animal-themed.

Serpentor was a snakelike ultra with the head of a cobra and claws that dripped poison. He was wanted for murder in three states, and only appeared in public to fight on behalf of his gang.

Ultragorilla was exactly what his name proclaimed him to be - an ultra who turned into a four hundred kilo gorilla. He was wanted for destroying public property and reckless endangerment. His gorilla form had a very short temper.

Tigerstrike was the most human of the three. He wore a mask like a striped tiger and had long and razor-sharp claws, which he often used to disembowel his foes.

Nothing I’d learnt so far indicated that I’d be able to stand for long against foes of such calibre.

So I needed to prepare.

Using Chemical Analysis on the laser rifles - both old and new - unlocked new blueprints.

FOCUSING CRYSTAL

USED FOR LASER WEAPONS. CAN BE CREATED IN DIFFERENT SIZES, DEPENDING ON THE TYPE OF WEAPON.

SMALL FOCUSING CRYSTAL: 1 KG CARBON + 400 MP.

MEDIUM FOCUSING CRYSTAL: 1 SMALL FOCUSING CRYSTAL + 5 KG CARBON + 1000 MP.

LARGE FOCUSING CRYSTAL: 1 MEDIUM FOCUSING CRYSTAL + 1 PRISMATIC ARRAY + 20 KG CARBON + 5000 MP.

HEAVY FOCUSING CRYSTAL: 1 LARGE FOCUSING CRYSTAL + 3 PRISMATIC ARRAYS + 50 KG CARBON + 20,000 MP

SUPERHEAVY FOCUSING CRYSTAL: 1 HEAVY FOCUSING CRYSTAL + 5 PRISMATIC ARRAYS + GRAVITY CONTROL ARRAY + 1000 KG CARBON + 100,000 MP

A few more INT and WIS boosts, and I’d be able to make the Small Focusing crystal, at least. The others seemed well out of reach.

POWER PACK

POWERS WEAPONS OR ARMOR. REQUIRES AN ENERGY SOURCE.

SMALL POWER PACK: 0.5 KG LITHIUM + 0.5 KG CARBON + 300 MP. CAPACITY 1.5 MJ.

HEAVY POWER PACK: 2 KG FULLERSTEEL + 0.5 KG PLASMIUM + 2000 MP. CAPACITY 1200 MJ.

Okay, I knew where to get lithium and carbon, but plasmium? And fullersteel? So the heavy power pack was right out. Although the fact that a single one of them was equal to 800 small power packs was…. Interesting.

STANDARD LASER RIFLE +40 DAMAGE/HIT

1 SMALL FOCUSING CRYSTAL + 1 SMALL POWER PACK + 1 KG STEEL + 400 MP.

At 380 MP, I was just short of being able to make a standard laser rifle - but I needed just one more point in Wisdom.

Or two in INT.

Essentially, I had to wait for a level up. Which was 885 XP away.

EXPLOSIVES SKILL ADVANCES TO LEVEL 2.

BOMBS UNLOCKED:

STUN GRENADE: KNOCKS OUT MULTIPLE OPPONENTS IN AN AREA OF 20 SQUARE FEET. INFLICTS STATUS EFFECTS: STUNNED, UNCONSCIOUS.

Chemical Analysis of the mysterious tablets revealed their nature:

BLUEPRINT UNLOCKED: BRAINWAVE TABLET

+1 TO INT FOR 1 HOUR. SIDE EFFECTS: -2 TO CHA FOR 2 HOURS.

EFFECTS DO NOT STACK.

WARNING: USING MORE THAN 1 TABLET IN A DAY MAY LOWER YOUR VITALITY PERMANENTLY. 2% CHANCE.

The brainwave tablets would have been tempting, if they’d added +2 to INT. However, the side effects were a stern enough warning.

That didn’t stop me from doing a little experimentation.

…. No, I didn’t start dosing myself. I’m not stupid.

The Brainwave Tablets were water soluble. So were a number of other common household medications. I dissolved a tablet in water, and mixed the solution - in tiny amounts - with other medicines one by one.

Chemical Analysis of the mixtures generally showed nothing of interest, until one lucky experiment:

BLUEPRINT UNLOCKED: HYPERCAFFEINE SERUM

A COMBINATION OF THE BRAINWAVE TABLET WITH PARACETAMOL, MULTIVITAMINS, AND CAFFEINE, THIS IS A SAFER OPTION THAN THE HIGHLY RISKY TABLET.

+1 TO INT FOR 30 MINUTES. EFFECTS STACK UPTO 3 TIMES. SIDE EFFECTS: -1 CHA, -1 ATT FOR 2 HOURS PER DOSE.

COST: 1 BRAINWAVE TABLET + 2 PARACETAMOL + 2 MULTIVITAMINS + 1 CUP CAFFEINATED BEVERAGE + 200 MP.

Finally, I had a way to make my first laser rifle!

…. That came out sounding more villainous than I’d intended.

My trip to school the next day was fairly uneventful. I informed Principal Johnston and Mr. Fickle that I’d be taking a brief holiday, but might return to school in a month or so to prepare for the SATs.

Fickle was disappointed at the break, but acknowledged that I was ahead of the school’s curriculum. “At least remember West Point,” he reminded me, “they have medical care for dependents as well.”

I smiled. “Thanks. I’ll let you know what I decide.”

The only surprise of the day came when I was cleaning out my locker and found Jimmy’s bag.

Honestly. When you give someone $200,000 in cash, you could at least warn them….

I tried messaging Jimmy again. No response. Calling the number gave a ‘not in service’ message.

In fairness, I had warned him not to contact us. Can’t blame him for listening.

I wished them Godspeed, wherever they were going.