Eyes closed and heavy, the most I was able to do upon waking was remembering all of the chaos of what happened. Reaching the bunker. Being set upon by the Pied Piper officers. Xandra and I splitting up to divide their numbers.

  Crashing headfirst through a jeep window. Breaking my wrist. Learning what it feels like to have broken glass stuck in my face. Healing those wounds, bringing about mental fatigue that I would pay for later.

  Reaching the abandoned factories. Fighting back, capturing several of the officers in textile threads. The memory of that brought a smile to my face. Sadly, there hadn't been time to gloat.

  Lost the frog back pack which was torn to shreds by the officer's bullets. Shot in the left arm. Nearly burnt to a crisp by an officer's flamethrower. The fox hat Sienna made me set ablaze; gone.

  Healing the worst of the burns. Healing the bullet wound in my left arm. More mental fatigue,

  Losing control. Growing sharp teeth, ears lengthening, body hulking out; claws sprouting at my fingertips.

  An incredible feeling. Who knew something so horrible could feel so good.

  My mind retreating, the beast coming to the fore.

  Tearing the Pied Piper officers apart. Sinking claws and teeth into them. Tasting their blood. Knowing what it feels like to carve through human flesh and bone.

  Weak. So unbelievably weak.

  A pain in my neck brought me out of my thoughts.

  I then started to wonder why I felt so snug and warm. And why something was tickling my nose.

  I opened my eyes, expecting to see the inside of the construction site tunnel, which was like the opening to a mining shaft, all around me. I also expected to see Xandra sat across from me, either unconscious or in the process of healing her mutilated legs.

  Instead I saw something which reminded me of a winter wonderland. The tunnel entrance was filled with a huge amount of something white, which looked like snow to my tired eyes.

  But I knew that wasn't what it was because it coated me up to my chest like a blanket, providing warmth which was both stifling but not unwelcome in the cold tunnel.

  Ahead of me, on the opposite side of the tunnel, lay what I could only assume was a kind of cocoon. It seemed to be the source of the white stuff.

  Power? I thought, trying to call on the medical knowledge for some insight, What is this stuff?

  I could taste some of the powdery substance on my tongue.

  Skin, said the power, Shedded human skin.

  I spat and sputtered, revolted.

  I climbed shakily to my feet and held onto the smooth tunnel wall.

  The nubs at the end of my arms were a reminder that I had plenty of healing left to do. But a lot of healing had already been done, particularly concerning the cuts and burns; the power must have taken care of that whilst I slept.

  Azad was on the ground, but no longer faced down. Instead he was on his back. His eyes were open and staring up at me.

  Dead? I thought.

  His pained rasps told me he wasn't. His chest rose and fell.

  "Burgess?" he said, his voice sounded as rough as he looked.

  The pink hue of his skin had lessened, hinting more towards his natural bronze complexion.

  Dried blood stains showed the aftermath of where he had sweated blood before.

  He no longer had the huge mass of muscle on his frame either. He was shorter, about my normal height, and leanly built, muscled but nothing compared to how he was when far into using his power.

  "Azad?" I said, "You alright?"

  "I've been better," he said.

  I could see there were more patches where his skin had come off like tissue paper, exposing raw, skinless flesh beneath the colour of beetroot.

  I winced.

  "It's okay," he said, as if he were hopped up on a very powerful drug, "I can't feel most of the pain. I used the power to…"

  He had to stop to catch his breath, wheezing heavily, "...block my pain receptors."

  As concerned as I was for Azad, my attention returned to the mass of white human skin to my right.

  "Xandra, is she under there?" I said.

  Azad gave a slow, upside-down nod.

  "She's healing in there," he said, whispering to preserve his vocal stamina, "If you go close she should be able to hear you."

  My skin crawled at the idea that Xandra voluntarily let herself be encased in so much powdery human skin. I moved closer to the skin-cocoon, reaching the part which seemed the most likely to be where Xandra's head was within.

  "Xandra?" I said, "You in there?"

  "...yes…" said Xandra from within.

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  Her voice was a shallow whisper, as if she were on the verge of falling asleep.

  "Are you okay?" I said, "Do you need me to get you out?"

  "...no…" she said, "...leave me be…I'm healing…"

  "It looks like you're doing more than healing," I said, "What are you doing in there?"

  No response from Xandra.

  "She'll be fine," said Azad.

  He blinked slowly, "You should work on healing yourself."

  I looked to the tunnel opening, seeing the veil of grey-hued daylight. It was drizzling rain; but as I stared at the daylight beyond the tunnel I saw the aftermath of the clouds above breaking and bright sunny daylight shining down; at the same time the drizzling rain came to a stop.

  I heightened my hearing, fearing that I might hear that zipping noise again which I had realised too late was from a device belonging to the Pied Piper officers.

  No sound of people for a good distance. No zipping noise either.

  Panic and indecision welled up within me. I needed to make sure Xandra was okay, even if she said she didn't need my help. What if she was doing something to herself that I had to stop? What if this would be my only chance to do so before it was too late? And what about the Pied Piper officers? Had they managed to track us? What if they were preparing their next attack, with us within the tunnel no better than fish in a barrel?

  "Burgess?" said Azad.

  "Yeah?" I said.

  "We can't stay here long," he said, "The sooner we all heal, the sooner we can move on."

  I nodded.

  "Right, yeah," I said, "Sorry."

  "It's cool," said Azad.

  I sat back where I had fallen asleep before.

  Heal, I thought, as if I were angry at my power. Perhaps I was. The mixture of medical knowledge and the healing power ignited, setting to work healing every part of me which was still wounded. The worst of the pain was at the nubs where my hands no longer were; the wound had sealed; but to heal it needed to reopen.

  I sat with the pain of my hands healing for over an hour. Azad went back to focusing on himself too. He seemed better at it than me; his wounds were far worse, yet he seemed to make quicker progress healing up all the things which had torn and broken. Or perhaps it only seemed that way because there was so much damage he had taken on.

  After the first hour I managed to return the palms to my hands, though none of my fingers had grown back yet. The pain was about as excruciating as it had been when I healed the crusted over hump wound. But this time round I made an effort to heal slower, which in turn made the resulting pain bearable enough to manage. My teeth and jaw ached from gritting them so much.

  I decided I needed to take a break. The mental fatigue was no joke. Several hours of sleep wasn't going to cut it to get my mind to normal. Worse, I was hungry, and thirsty too. Neither seemed pressing, but the want to eat and drink poked at my mind making sure not to be overlooked.

  "Thank you for helping us," I said.

  "It's cool," said Azad.

  "You were amazing," I said, "The way you powered up. That ice punch. Honestly, it was the coolest thing I've ever seen."

  Azad smiled.

  "Yeah," he said.

  "Had you ever done anything like that before?" I said.

  Azad closed his eyes, but the joy on his face remained.

  "Only in training," he said, "I never used Tension-times-three before. Don't think I will again, until I learn how to use the power better."

  I set to work growing back my fingers.

  The Peepers could come storming onto the construction site any minute, don't get complacent, I told myself.

  I had never felt so tired and at the end of my rope. Though, strangely, my mood wasn't dour. If anything, I was in a good mood.

  Then, sheepishly, I mumbled, "Did you mean what you said?"

  "About?" said Azad.

  "You know…" I said, "...becoming the world's greatest hero?"

  Azad opened his eyes and grinned joyously.

  "Oh yeah," he said, "I really mean it. I'll become the best there's ever been."

  Tears stung at my eyes. It was stupid, but something about Azad saying he would become the greatest hero stirred something deep inside me.

  "Well," I said, "After the way you saved the day…and that beat-down you gave me. I could believe it."

  "I'm glad I didn't hurt you too bad," said Azad, "I couldn't afford to hold back."

  "It's fine," I said, "I'm okay. Have you had to do a lot of fighting?"

  "Using the power, you mean?" said Azad.

  "Yeah," I said.

  "Nah," he said, "Fighting you and the Pipers was the first time I used my powers in a combat situation."

  My mouth hung agape at hearing this.

  "Good grief," I mumbled, "You must've trained pretty hard then."

  Azad nodded. His neck gave a nasty cracking sound. He winced.

  "Every day," he said, "If you don't train to be the best, then what's the point? The power is just the start. How we train to better ourselves is what matters."

  I nodded, thoughtfully. He was right, of course. I had started training too, but not nearly enough.

  After another half hour I managed to grow back all the fingers to my right hand. I flexed them, finding them to be as if they had never left.

  Azad was looking better, though he still had a long way to go. Over the last half hour his body crunched and popped numerous times as the broken bones and tissues righted inside.

  During all this Xandra remained in her cocoon. Feeling a lot better myself, I moved over to the cocoon, placing my head where I had before.

  "Xandra?" I said, "Are you okay?"

  "I'm doing a lot better, thanks," she said.

  She did sound a lot better. Her voice was a little different, higher pitched, maybe. But it was tough to tell given how muffled she sounded inside the cocoon.

  "Are you going to come out soon?" I said.

  "Soon," she said, "I'm almost done."

  "You've grown your legs back?" I said.

  "Nearly," she said, "Leave me be, I need to concentrate."

  "Okay," I said, and I moved away from the cocoon and sat crossed legged in the middle of the tunnel atop more of the shedded skin dust.

  I noticed yet again how good I felt. Almost giddy with joy. But why? Perhaps another one of my mood swings. I noticed I usually felt great after feeling awful. Was I bi-polar, maybe?

  "So is that your thing?" said Azad.

  "What?" I said.

  "The fox-man-thing?" said Azad.

  "No," I said, "I don't have a thing. I just lost control."

  "I liked the armor you made out of bone," he said, "That was really cool."

  I bashfully scratched my cheek.

  "Yeah?" I said, "I'm not trying to make becoming a monster like that my thing. I want to be better than that. What you did was way cooler. It was like something out of an anime."

  "Yes!" said Azad, with a sudden burst of enthusiasm which made him break into a coughing fit.

  "That's what I'm going for," he said, "I want to be like the heroes in my favourite anime. It's my goal. To become the best, like them. But for real."

  "You're already a good way there," I said.

  "No," said Azad, "I've barely started. I won't become the best unless I continue to train hard. I need to be relentless."

  "Sounds exhausting," I said.

  "It's what it'll take," he said, "Train hard. Fight harder."

  There it was again. A pang in my chest. But the good kind. Joy, and a sense of hope.

  I looked at my hands; the one regrown, and the one still without fingers.

  "Is it possible?" I said in a very small voice.

  I was talking to myself, but Azad assumed I was speaking to him.

  "What?" he said.

  I felt suddenly shy, afraid to voice the question I had just asked myself aloud. But the question filled me with a sense of joy that made me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

  "Do you think," I whispered, "That it's really possible to become a hero in this world?"

  "I don't think so," said Azad.

  Oh, I thought, maybe he was just joking about the whole hero thing. Stupid me.

  "I know so," he said, "Because I believe it's possible, and that's enough for me to know that it is."

  "R-Really?" I said, surprised by the hot tears streaking down my cheeks.

  "One hundred percent," said Azad, "I'll make it happen, or die trying."

  It was then Xandra's skin-cocoon gave a loud crack. Air from within the skin-cocoon kicked up the skin-dust, momentarily creating a blizzard-like shower of the dust.

  Maybe she'll be no different when she gets out, I thought. But I knew that wasn't going to be the case. Caterpillars created cocoons for themselves, and came out later as butterflies.

  The question was, what had Xandra become?