The big basketball game doesn’t go Ryaan’s way. The school they’re facing, Jeff Doyle High, jumps out to a double digit lead at the start of the game. Ryaan shifts over to guard their best scorer and slows them down but that seems to get their second and third best players going. Ryaan can only guard one at a time. They make a late run to close the gap to eight points but a pair of triples, one right after the other, seal the game. The final score is 52-40.

Ryaan scores only four points and struggles to get the ball all night. The few shots he gets up are so spread out he can’t get into a rhythm. He only makes one basket, a triple. His other point came at the foul line where he hit one of two free throws. Their season’s over and it hurts even more to look into the stands and see his whole family. His sisters look crushed. They look up to him and both love basketball so seeing him struggle stings.

His dad tries to cheer him up the whole way home. It doesn’t work. This one’s going to sting for awhile. It hurts worse knowing this may be the only playoff game he ever plays in. They didn’t make the playoffs the last two years and they barely snuck in this season.

Even the next day Ryaan’s so down about the loss that he forgets about meeting up with Gillian after third period. It doesn’t cross his mind until he’s walking out of history class. He hoped to run to the restroom between periods but realizing he needs to pick up his new ID, he knows he’ll have to hold it. Rushing to the same hall where they met a couple of days before, he finds Gillian walking along casually. Today she’s got new purple streaks in her hair.

He pushes through the crowd until he’s in step with her but he doesn’t say anything. They casually walk down the hall. Gillian grabs his hand and shoves an envelope into it. “If you get caught with this, that’s on you. You don’t sell me out or we’ll have issues. Cool?”

Ryaan nods and Gillian smiles. “No need to be down my dude, you just got what you wanted. You can do whatever you want to do with it. Have a good time.” Apparently Gillian didn’t catch the game last night. Unlike last week, everyone in school is most definitely not talking about it today. At least the whole team stunk so badly that he’s not getting a ton of hate. No one’s mad at him or anyone else for that matter. Everyone just wants to forget the game ever happened.

Deciding he wants to see what he paid for Ryaan sneaks off to the bathroom. He doesn’t have time but he’s rarely late so his teacher won’t give him too much grief. Pulling out the ID, he’s glad to find it looks real. Gillian named him Ryan Smith. Nice generic name that shouldn’t stand out. She’s good at this. He likes that she kept his first name, or at least the pronunciation of it. That should make sure he remembers to answer when someone talks to him.

He looks over his new address and starts trying to memorize it along with his new age, birth date, and all the other details on this thing. Gillian had the good sense to keep his eye and hair color correct and his height and even his weight she made great guesses on. He wants to know these details backwards and forward by the time he uses the license.

Hopefully people aren’t suspicious since it says he’s under 21. Most people who get a fake ID want it so they can drink. He has a different plan.

Ryaan slips the thing into his pocket and heads toward class. He can’t be too late or even his great attendance record won’t save him. Pulling his phone out on the way, he looks into where he needs to go to register. Apparently a local DMV can get him set up. It’s the closest option but it’s still doing everything else a DMV does so that could kind of suck. Hopefully they have separate lines so he doesn’t have to stand behind a bunch of people renewing their license.

Of all the places he could do this, the DMV seems like a terrible choice. People who deal with licenses all day seem more likely to catch his fake. He hopes Gillian’s as good as her reputation. Within a week of VMUS passing places to register started popping up all over the city. This is the only location he can get to easily and which will be open when he gets off school. If he gets off the bus in the right spot he only has to walk a few blocks. As long as the bus driver doesn’t notice him there won’t be a problem. He tends to freak when people get off at the wrong stops.

After his recent purchases, he still has the cash to grab an Uber home. That’ll be important because if he wants to avoid suspicion, he needs to get there before his dad.

As much as last night sucked, one advantage of his season being over is he doesn’t have practice tonight. Ryaan spends the rest of the day memorizing every detail of the fake ID. That'd be a lot easier if he could look at it but he knows better than to pull it out in school. The teachers all know about Gillian’s operation even if they haven’t been able to prove it. They also know he isn’t nineteen so if they see him with this not only will Gillian want to kill him, he’ll lose his investment.

By the time the final bell rings, he’s as ready as he’s ever going to be. He heads out of school hoping this week’s trend of loss after loss is about to end. Climbing onto the school bus, his side won’t stop throbbing, a constant reminder of his failure. His injuries from the beating are still on the mend. Stairs are the one thing that really give him a hard time. That’s perfect for someone whose room is on the second floor and who has to go up and down stairs at least four times each day at school.

The first half hour of the bus ride blurs together before Ryaan realizes he’s nearing the stop he needs. Keeping a close eye on the driver, he’s glad the man seems distracted today. When the bus comes to a stop he slips between two other students and follows their lead off the bus. The driver doesn’t say anything and doesn’t seem to notice his escape.

It might come down to how rarely he’s taken the bus this year. With practice most nights the bus isn’t an option so his dad usually drives him home. Even when he gets a night off it takes almost two hours to get home on the bus because of the weird route it takes. He can walk way faster. That pain he’s feeling reminds him how that worked out last time.

Cutting down a side street Ryaan can soon see the DMV a couple of blocks ahead. He’s never actually been inside one. He still doesn’t have his real license. He wants it but his dad keeps pointing out that he can’t afford a car so there’s no point. When Ryaan suggested it might be good to just get it out of the way, his dad grumbled about insurance premiums and that was the end of that. His dad’s the master of a couple of words or even just a look shutting down a conversation.

The DMV is certainly busy but not insanely so. He looks for a sign that will show him where to go but nothing jumps out.

An older woman with a button saying, “How can I help?” pinned to her shirt stands near the entrance, seemingly to direct foot traffic. Ryaan smiles at her and she quickly returns it. “Hello ma’am. How are you today?”

“I’m doing wonderful honey, how are you doing? What can I do for ya?”

“I’m doing great,” Ryaan says. “I’m actually here to see about registering for the VMUS Act.”

Her eyes go wide though the smile stays on her face. “You’re so young! Not many like you been in to register. It’s all good though, we’ll get you taken care of. You see that line back there?” She points to a line way against the back wall. It looks like all the others except that on closer inspection the number over it doesn’t match the numbers over the rest of the lines. “If you go over there and grab a number you’ll be up soon. I think there’s only a handful of people waiting on that. Probably only be a few minutes.”

Ryaan thanks her and heads in that direction. Grabbing a ticket, he sees he’s 73. They’re on number 68 so hopefully the lady’s right about it not taking long. With only the one line it’s hard to say.

Ryaan patiently waits his turn, passing his time by watching the other people there to register. The next number doesn’t reply when called so they’re on 70 in no time. The man who steps up to the counter is older, at least middle aged. Ryaan finds people watching interesting and it’s certainly weird to see the variety of people who want to be part of this program. They’re definitely all older than him. Most are men, though there’s one woman. They’re mostly white though there is one black guy in line who seems ecstatic to register. He keeps talking about his gear and how he made it himself to anyone willing to listen. The lady behind the counter nods and tries to keep him on topic so she can keep the line moving.

Finally the man takes his paperwork, requests a handshake, and moves on. He practically skips out the door, unable to contain his excitement. Ryaan wishes he could be just as excited. He feels someone needs to do this and he thinks he can be that someone. That doesn’t mean he’s happy about it. His stomach’s stock in his throat and shows no sign of leaving. That part of him wants to run into the restroom and throw up.

After around twenty minutes the last person ahead of Ryaan steps away and number 73 is called. He nervously walks to the counter, hoping he can pull this off. “Hi, I’m here to register for VMUS.”

The lady behind the counter seems nice but she’s all business. “This won’t take long. Always nice to see people registering who aren’t good old boys looking forward to shooting people up.” Ryaan nods. “There’s a bunch of paperwork you’re going to need to fill out. Just the basics. Stuff like your name, your address, blood type, all kinds of emergency contact information since this is dangerous and we want to make sure we can get in touch with your family if the worst were to happen. Heaven forbid it, we want you safe, but it can happen. A few vigilantes have already been killed or seriously hurt here in Chicago so we need to make sure we’re ready if that happens.”

All the talk about the worst isn’t helping his nerves. How would his dad react if he died while fighting criminals, when he hadn’t even told the man he was doing so? What would he tell his sisters? The woman continues. “Now if you are approved, and we’ll get to that in a minute, but if you are approved you’ll be allowed to do pretty much whatever you think you need to. As long as you believe you’re protecting the public it’s allowed, up to lethal force. Obviously better not to do too much but your job is to keep both your community and yourself safe and that may require a lot sometimes. It’s worth noting that certain things are harder to justify than others. If you stop people and they’re alive, turn them over to the police. You’ll be given a number to call to get in touch with the police and have them come pick people up. Don’t try to take them off somewhere. It’s hard to justify kidnapping as necessary for the public good. Same for theft unless you’re taking something you need right then to protect people. Don’t get caught up in some petty crime and get arrested yourself, or taken in by one of the other vigilantes. You can also use that number to call the cops if you get yourself into a tight spot and need some help but know there’s no guarantee they’ll be coming, at least not right away. Vigilantes in need are a low priority since you’ve put yourself into that position. If it’s a major public danger you can’t handle then that might be different, but just you being in danger won’t get them rushing over so try not to get in over your head. We want to keep that board back there from resetting.”

She points to a white board behind her that says, “Four days without a serious vigilante injury.”

Only four days? His nerves are at their breaking point. “Now it’s time to talk about the approved part I mentioned,” she says. “Anyone can sign up and become a vigilante but you do need to prove yourself because we don’t want to send people who can’t handle themselves out to die. That’s a pretty new addition so some of the early sign ups didn’t have to do it. Might have saved a couple of lives if they did. We’ll set you up with a time to go to this address,” she says as she slips him a card, “where you’ll have to go through a sort of obstacle course. You’ll have to sign a waiver of liability to do it, as well as a waiver of liability for being a vigilante. There will be armed volunteers in this place trying to stop ya. They’ll be using rubber bullets but a rubber bullet can still hurt like hell and even kill you if it hits wrong so it can still be dangerous. Do you use guns? Only non lethal weapons allowed, but we can provide a gun with rubber bullets as a substitute.”

Ryaan shakes his head. “No, just a bow staff and throwing knives.”

She gets a concerned look on her face. “The staff should be fine but throwing knives aren’t going to fly. I’m afraid we don’t keep rubber knives around. If you want a projectile they have some dulled throwing stars but keep in mind they aren’t sharp and can’t do real damage. If they hit in a spot that would be lethal or put someone down the volunteers stand down but it’s up to them to decide if that’s the case. Their word goes if something’s discretionary. When do you want to take the test?”

“When’s the next time you can get me in?”

“Well, we’re full up tomorrow but you can do it Saturday if you like. How does noon sound?” He tells her Saturday will work and she starts typing his information into their system. He lets out a long breath when she barely glances at his fake ID. Guess Gillian’s handiwork did the trick. She starts asking for all the information she needs, typing it in as fast as he can provide it. Finally she gives him a big grin and pushes a giant stack of papers she’s been going over toward him.

“You are all set Ryan. Make sure to be there Saturday and as long as you pass the test you’ll be a fully licensed and registered vigilante with the authority to do what you need to in order to protect the people of our country. Do you have any other questions?”

She’s gone over everything he can think of so Ryaan wishes her a nice evening and says goodbye. He passes the older lady on his way out and stops for a moment to say goodbye to her as well and to thank her for helping. This seems to delight her and she informs him that she’s glad to do it any time. Walking onto the street he tries to take in everything she said. It’s a lot but he keeps telling himself that no matter what the risks are, he can’t let what happened to him happen to anyone else. He needs to defend himself and others in his community. He slips the packet into his backpack and uses his phone to order an Uber.

A glance at the time provides a small measure of relief. It’s still early enough for him to make it home before his dad. He’ll probably get there around the same time the bus would drop him off. As the Uber arrives, Ryaan slips into the back and provides his address. The driver’s a young guy driving a car that’s strangely low to the ground. Just getting in hurts his ribs. When the alternative’s getting caught by his dad though he knows he has to get in the car. Time to get home.