“What about the other Champions?” Victor glanced at Thundersky as he asked. “As Champions of their city, shouldn’t they be leading the heroes?”

“They will be,” Wild Potion agreed, “the heroes, but not the villains.”

Understanding came to Victor. “You want me to lead the villains.”

“Some of them.” Wild Potion confirmed. “I will be honest; I only want you to lead the villains in the lower tiers. Tier C and below. Any villains rank above that will be under someone else. Maybe the Unwritten or Bloody Duchess if either of them shows up.”

Victor strangled the groan that threatened to escape his mouth. The Unwritten and Bloody Duchess were infamous names. As a villain, it was an honour to be on the same list as them, but Victor do not want to have anything to do with those two psychos.

“What do I have to do? Am I supposed to take orders from them?”

The Champion laughed. “You heard of them. Of course, you had. Don’t worry, you will be your own person with your own command. How many villains from the Alliance are below Tier B?” Wild Potion directed the question to Thundersky, who immediately put a hand to his ear. It was the universal sign of speaking to someone over the comms and whoever was on the other side of the line gave the Champion of Velocity City the answer.

“Currently, there are eighty-three of them.” Thundersky said.

The Champion of the Alliance nodded. “Young punks always think an Emergency as an easy way to get a promotion. Sweet Fist, if you want the job, they are yours.”

Victor went still. He was surprised when Black Bow told him he had command of the villains in H.A.V.E, but that was a short-term thing. In a normal Emergency, the heroes and villains will set up a Central Command, and the forces wh showed up will be divided among the respected members of both sides. Victor had hoped to get control of a small unit involving Jason and Deion, but he fully expected someone to take over once they reached Glowing Falls. The fact that Wild Potion want him to lead even more villains raised some uncomfortable questions for him.

“Why?” Victor asked. “Why me?”

Wild Potion shrugged. “Why not? You are famous, capable, and respected. It also helps that you are not a total psycho that kill people for fun. So, why not you?”

Victor was certain there was more to it than that, but this was an Emergency, and they were in a combat zone. There was no time for him to do an investigation. However, he was not doing it without getting some benefits out of it.

“What do I get out of this?” Victor asked.

“Outside the prestige of leading men during an Emergency? Well, the villains you will be leading are mostly young newcomers, so they will be looking at you for guidance. If any of them impress you, and you do well, I figure recruitment will be easier in the future. Also, you will be increasing your fame in the Fraternity of Heroes. You may be the flavour of the year back in the Alliance, but the people out here still prefer the Old Man.” Wild Potion nodded slowly. “Not a bad deal if I do say so myself.”

Victor leveled a stare at Wild Potion. That was true, but Victor was experienced enough to know that heroes don’t do favors for villains without caveats. This leadership position sounds too good to be true. There was something he was missing. He needed some insurance.

“On one condition.” Victor said. “If I am to lead them, then I am in command. If things get too hot, I get to decide if, and when, we are to pull out.”

Wild Potion nod enthusiastically. “We are on the same wavelength there. I want the young to live, and I think they will listen to you.”

Victor was confused by that statement, and it must have shown. The two Champions glanced at each other before Thundersky spoke. “Sweet Fist, I know it’s been a while since you were in an Emergency so you may not know this, but the numbers of dead heroes and villains, especially those in the lower tiers, had risen tremendously in past few Emergencies. We are hoping to stem that tide.”

“When you said ‘tremendously’, you mean…?”

“One in three.” Thundersky said grimly.

Victor’s mouth open in shock at the number. “Thirty-three percentage? How?”

Wild Potion sighed. “Bad luck. The last three Emergencies were very bad. An alien invasion from space, a kaiju that released spores to control the bodies of the dead, and an inter-dimensional conqueror with a large area-of-effect blaster power. A lot of young heroes and villains died in those three Emergencies. I hope you can help change that.”

“But a thirty-three-percentage deathrate? Why have I not heard of this? Even in prison, that’s something-” Victor asked.

“It’s not something we advertised.” Wild Potion said. “We need the numbers and advertising the deathrates, especially among the young, will have a chilling effect on participation. Those eighty-three villains that arrived? Ten years ago, we would have well over a hundred by now.”

Victor silently fumed. Heroes and villains in the lower tiers are usually weaker, less well-trained, and younger. They are also more gung-ho, with a willingness to throw themselves into dangerous situation to prove themselves. Corralling them will not be an easy task. Then, Victor realized what the Champion had said.

“Ten years ago? You mean there had been three Emergencies in the past ten years? That can’t be right. That’s way too many.”

Both Champions looked at Victor grimly. As the senior Champion, Wild Potion was the one who answered. “Yes, you are right. I am as curious as you are on why there had been so many Emergencies. The State of Magic has been on the problem, but…”

Victor cursed. His earlier suspicion about the frequency of Gaps was correct, and there wasn’t much he could do about the matter. He was a martial artist, not a magic-user and magic is more of an art than a science. It may take the State of Magic years, maybe even decades, to work out the problem, and then years to come up with a solution. Victor thought about the offer from Wild Potion, and despite his misgivings, there was really one decision he could make.

He promised Jennifer to keep her husband safe.

“Fine. I’ll do it.”