Cold energy exploded from the palms of his hands and instantly encased both of the Anomalies. The monsters tried to escape, but they were simply far, far too slow.

  A breath later, the Anomalies were frozen solid, their expressions forever stuck in grimaces of fear and pain.

  Breathing hard, Justin let go of their necks and staggered backward, his hands on his knees as he shook. He hadn’t used the Blue Gate very much before now and found that it took a lot out of him, similar to the first time he used the Red Gate.

  He’d get used to it.

  Still, Justin asked Val, every word a struggle, “Val, how much time do I have left now?”

  Val, of course, didn’t sound tired at all when she answered, “Approximately ten minutes. The Blue Gate also has flight capabilities, although they are significantly more limited than the flight capabilities of the Red Gate, so it should be able to get you home before your father gets back.”

  Justin nodded. That was good to hear. He hadn’t been sure how much Super Energy he would use up freezing the two Anomalies at once, but he was glad that it hadn’t been as energy-intensive as he had feared. Otherwise, he’d have to walk back home and that would both take a long time and be really awkward.

  Especially if he had to walk with that Miss Lane girl.

  But then Justin realized that he still needed to haul at least one of the Anomalies back home with him. He looked at the two frozen Anomalies, trying to decide which one was lighter than the other, before he heard Miss Lane behind him say, her voice slightly trembling, “Mr. Superhero? Are you okay?”

  Panting hard, Justin looked over his shoulder at Miss Lane. She was still sitting on the ground where he had shoved her protectively behind him, thankfully uninjured as far as he could tell. She was looking at him with what appeared to be genuine concern for his health, which took him aback slightly because he hadn’t thought she cared about him at all.

  Scratching the back of his head, Justin said, “Ah, I am fine, Miss Lane. How are you?”

  Miss Lane slowly rose to her feet, never taking her eyes off Justin or the Anomalies. “I am okay, thanks to you, but how did you do that?”

  Justin blinked. “Do what?”

  Miss Lane spread her arms wide. “Change your costume and powers on the spot like that! I’ve never heard of a superhero who can do that before. Does it have to do with that high-tech utility belt you’re wearing?”

  Miss Lane pointed at the utility belt around Justin’s waist. Justin had forgotten that Miss Lane didn’t know that his utility belt was actually part of his father’s Gate System, and he certainly wasn’t going to tell her that now—not when he was almost out of Super Energy as it was. Especially if her drone, Nancy, was still filming the encounter for the entire Internet to see. Out of the corner of his eye, Justin saw Nancy floating nearby still, her singular blue eye focused on him and Miss Lane.

  Justin shook his head and turned back toward the Level Two Anomaly, which he figured was probably the lightest of the two because it was more like a bat than the other. “Sorry, that’s classified information. I need to leave with one of the Anomalies, so I suggest that you take advantage of the fact that you are still living and breathing to go back home and forget about this entire encounter. You need to stay safe.”

  Justin felt Miss Lane’s hand grab his shoulder, and he looked over at her again. She did not look impressed by his orders.

  With a deep frown and a raised eyebrow, Miss Lane asked, “That is all you’re going to say to me, Mr. Superhero? I helped save your life just now. Don’t you know how to say thank you?”

  Once again, Justin felt torn between admiring her willingness to talk back to him when he was clearly much stronger than her, or being irritated that she was wasting precious minutes he could have been using to fly the Level Two Anomaly home for further research. He decided to go with the latter feeling for now, mostly in a vain effort to see if he could convince her that she should still go home.

  Shrugging off her hand, Justin turned around to face her again and put his hands on his hips, looking down at Miss Lane with his own eyebrow raised. It was easy because she was nearly a head shorter than he was. “Listen, Miss Lane, while I appreciate your help, I really didn’t need it. I had the situation under control myself, so it wasn’t like I would have died without your help or anything. Frankly, you were almost a liability back there.”

  Miss Lane put her hands on her hips, too, in a clear effort to mimic Justin, which both annoyed and amused him at the same time. “Who are you calling a liability? Do you want my rabid fan base online to cancel you for making fun of me?”

  Justin put on a mock thoughtful face. “What was it that your drone said? Your fan base of, like, twenty? Yeah, that’s really scary, especially after almost being killed by an Anomaly. Two Anomalies, actually.”

  Miss Lane snorted. “Actually, over 20,000 people are currently watching this stream. Isn’t that right, Nancy?”

  “That is correct, Miss Lane,” said Nancy. “And it has been steadily climbing by a couple thousand new viewers every couple of minutes or so. If it keeps up at this rate, then this will easily be your most-watched stream of all time and perhaps the most-watched livestream in New Gold City for the week.”

  Justin started. He had forgotten that almost two percent of the population of the city was watching this stream right now. He had no idea how such a small-time streamer like Miss Lane had somehow managed to gain so many viewers in one night, but that was another reminder that he couldn’t dilly-dally. He needed to just grab one of the Anomalies and go.

  Shaking his head, Justin turned away from Miss Lane again, walked over to the Level Two Anomaly, and picked it up, putting it on his shoulders. It weighed a ton, especially frozen, but fortunately, the Blue Gate also had super strength as one of its powers, so he was able to carry the Level Two Anomaly with only a minimal amount of effort.

  “Val,” said Justin as he turned in the direction he assumed was home, “chart a course back to Dad’s lab. Make sure it is the quickest way there, and let me know if I need to take an alternate route to avoid detection from public security cameras or anything like that.”

  “Certainly, Justin,” said Val. “I have already charted the ideal path for you to take home that will minimize your chances of detection by other people. Even better, the flight path is only three minutes, meaning that if you leave now, then you should return to the lab with minutes to spare on the Gate System.”

  Justin nodded, smiling. “Thanks, Val. You’re the—”

  A sharp pain stabbed like a knife in the back of Justin’s head, making him grunt and drop the Level Two Anomaly onto the ground before him. He fell to his hands and knees, groaning as the sharp pain grew sharper and sharper with each passing second. It felt like someone was ripping a knife through his brain.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “Mr. Superhero?” said Miss Lane behind him in a hesitant voice. “Are you okay—?”

  Justin, however, ignored her. He recognized the sharp pain all too well. It was the same sharp pain he felt whenever an Anomaly was about to come into existence nearby, but that made no sense. There were already two Anomalies in the area. Was a third one about to come into existence?

  That would be record-breaking.

  And not in a good way, either.

  But then, as quickly as it came, the pain went away.

  At the same time, however, it was replaced with the feeling that someone was watching him. A feeling that had nothing at all to do with either Miss Lane or Nancy.

  Slowly, Justin raised his head and looked toward the Destiny Corporation manufacturing plant.

  A figure stood on the roof of one of the buildings that made up the plant. Even from a distance, the figure, cloaked in shadow, looked taller than Justin. His dark cloak billowed in the wind at his feet, while his face, draped in darkness, stared right back at Justin. He thought that the mysterious figure was wearing some kind of face plate, but it was difficult to tell from a distance.

  One thing was sure, though:

  The figure practically radiated Anomaly energy.

  “Val, can you analyze that person on that rooftop over there?” asked Justin as he slowly rose to his feet, rubbing the back of his head where the pain had struck. “Using the Anomaly Threat Evaluation System.”

  “Certainly, Justin,” said Val. “With a margin error of two percent, I would place the figure as a Level Four Anomaly. Possibly as high as Level Five, though without sufficient data, it’s impossible to say for sure if the figure is that strong.”

  Justin’s heart froze in his chest. “He’s a Level Five Anomaly?”

  “Who is?” Miss Lane looked up at the cloaked figure on the rooftop of the plant in the distance and squinted. “That guy? Who is he?”

  Justin shook his head as his heart started hammering inside him. “No idea, but he’s dangerous. We need to—”

  Again, Justin stopped speaking abruptly.

  Mostly because the Level Five Anomaly had disappeared from the rooftop.

  “Val, where did he go?” said Justin, putting a hand on his earcom as he rotated on the spot, looking in vain for the Anomaly. “The Level Five Anomaly. Where did he go?”

  “My sensors are searching the area for any sign of the Anomaly, but unfortunately, I cannot detect him,” said Val, “which is strange as my sensors are designed to pick up Anomalies through at least Level Six. Either my sensors are malfunctioning or the Level Five Anomaly is—”

  A dark shadow fell over Justin and Miss Lane, forcing Justin to jerk his head in its direction.

  A tall man, clad in a dark cloak that covered nearly his entire body from the neck down, towered over Justin and Miss Lane like a giant. Easily seven feet tall at least, the upper half of the man’s face was covered by a blood-red face plate, leaving the lower half of his stubble-covered face exposed. He looked like a futuristic Dracula, only Justin got major Anomaly vibes from the man.

  Which was terrifying, as Justin had never seen an Anomaly that looked like a person before.

  Miss Lane, perhaps for the first time in her life, seemed at a loss for words. She babbled and stuttered, but no words came out of her mouth. But Justin didn’t blame her.

  Every part of his body was screaming at him to run from this man.

  “Miss Lane!” said Nancy in a cheerful voice. “This stream has topped thirty-thousand simultaneous viewers! You can finally monetize your channel now, Miss Lane, and start making that ‘good ad money’ you always talk about.”

  Nancy’s words seemed to break the spell that had fallen over everyone, including the Level Five Anomaly. He turned his gaze toward Nancy, seemingly forgetting all about Justin and Miss Lane, and growled, in a deep voice, “Shut down.”

  Without warning, Nancy’s blue eye stopped glowing and the AI drone fell to the ground with a thunk.

  That thunk, however, snapped Justin out of his shock. He pulled his fist back and threw it directly at the Level Five Anomaly’s chest—

  Only for a metallic claw to emerge from the Level Five Anomaly’s robes, catch his fist, and crush it with one flex.

  Pain shot down Justin’s arm as he cried out, staggering backward while clutching his now-broken fist. It felt like the Level Five Anomaly had broken every one of Justin’s fingers, which ached with an agony that Justin had never known in his life. Even the chest wound from the Level Two Anomaly hadn’t been this bad.

  “Mr. Superhero!” Miss Lane’s hand flew to her mouth in alarm. “Are you all right?”

  “He won’t be unless you two leave,” said the Level Five Anomaly, his voice even deeper than Justin originally expected. He gestured at Nancy. “Take your drone and leave this place. Never return unless you wish to die a truly terrible death.”

  Justin glared defiantly at the Level Five Anomaly as he cradled his broken fist. “Sorry, but I’m not leaving without at least one Anomaly. I know I probably can’t take two you, but I can at least take one of the frozen ones.”

  The Level Five Anomaly tilted its head to the side. “Which one?”

  The two frozen Anomalies exploded into pieces. Justin stared, open-mouthed in horror, as the ice shards flew in every direction, a few even pelting his face harmlessly.

  As for the Anomalies themselves, their flesh blinked out of existence at the same time, leaving no trace, other than the frozen ice shards everywhere, that those two Anomalies had ever existed in the first place. Justin couldn’t even just sense them anymore, either.

  Justin had thought that a human-shaped Anomaly was scary, but now he realized that a human-shaped Anomaly that could simply destroy other Anomalies with a thought was even scarier.

  And we are currently at its mercy, thought Justin, staring up in horror at the Anomaly.

  But oddly enough, the Level Five Anomaly did not seem to decide to finish them off, even though it clearly had the power to.

  Instead, it pointed in the direction opposite from the plant. “Both of you. Leave. Now.”

  A part of Justin, that defiant part of his personality that often got him into trouble at school and had motivated him to steal the Gate System to discover the truth about the Anomalies, wanted to fight back. He wanted to drag this Anomaly all the way back to Dad’s lab himself. After all, a Level Five Anomaly who clearly had some level of control over weaker Anomalies likely knew a lot about the nature and truth of the Anomalies.

  And the fact that this Level Five Anomaly was also at the Destiny Corporation manufacturing plant, which was rumored to be a birthing ground for Anomalies?

  Well, Justin would be a fool to obey the Anomaly and leave.

  But then Val said, “Justin, I do not mean to alarm you, but your Super Energy reserves are now at less than ten percent and the Gate System has automatically gone into energy conservation mode, meaning you will only be able to do low-energy powers such as flight. Additionally, your chest wound and broken hand are both getting worse and will require immediate medical attention to make sure they do not cause permanent damage to your body.”

  Justin had nearly forgotten about his wounds and his low Super Energy reserves. Both his chest and hand spiked with pain, as if to remind him that he really wasn’t in any shape to get into a knockdown, drag-out fight with a Level Five Anomaly that had already proved it was stronger than him. He also had to take into account that Miss Lane was just a normal human with no special powers of her own. If Justin picked a fight with the Level Five Anomaly, then Miss Lane would inevitably get caught in the middle and get hurt—or worse.

  And the last thing I need is to get in trouble with law enforcement for inadvertently injuring a civilian, thought Justin as he furrowed his brow.

  But just because Justin was not going to fight the Anomaly didn’t mean he was giving up. He just glared at the Level Five Anomaly and snapped, “Fine. We will leave. But if you think this is the last you’ll hear of me—”

  “It will be if you are wise,” said the Level Five Anomaly softly. “Yet I feel the strings of destiny vibrating even as we speak, indicating that perhaps this will not be the last time either of us interact, young man.”

  Justin was taken aback by the Anomaly’s destiny talk, but he shook his head. Scooping up Miss Lane and her fallen drone in his hands, he took off into the air, away from the Level Five Anomaly and the Destiny Corporation manufacturing plant. Miss Lane let out a surprised yell as they flew, but Justin didn’t feel bad about picking her up without her permission.

  Because if the Level Five Anomaly could hurt even Justin, then he didn’t want to think about what it would do to Miss Lane if she continued to defy it.