Thirty-two teams advanced to the group stages, forming a total of eight groups, and Earth was included in group A, alongside Santari, Volengi's home planet and two other non-slug planets. Leland doubted the placement was a coincidence, but he wasn’t too bothered by it, since they could place second and still advance to the knockout stage.

Hopefully, if they managed to secure a few more victories after that, everyone would leave them alone.

And, of course, Earth would be saved. That too.

It was late, but Maggie would surely be wide awake in Australia, probably finishing up her morning tennis practice. A pang of guilt hit Leland as he lay in bed in the dark, unable to fall asleep.

On her birthday? Seriously? What were you thinking?

He had been so infuriated, so frustrated at her clashing perspective that he’d wanted nothing to do with her. In short, he had overreacted.

He unblocked her and thought hard on a response…

Leland: Hey, it’s me. I’m sorry for how I acted and for lashing out. You didn’t deserve to be treated like that. I was angry and took it out on you. Please can you forgive me for being an asshole?

He waited anxiously for a response. It came only minutes later.

Maggie: No.

His heart flipped. In all their conversations, he had never seen her answer a question so bluntly. No emoji. No elongation of words. No smart-ass roast or keyboard mash.

Leland: What do you mean? Why?

Maggie: I thought about this a lot. I don’t want to be friends with someone so negative. You hate yourself so much.

Leland: What are you talking about?

Maggie: You’re always beating yourself up. I tried to uplift you but I’m done with it. I wish you the best, Leland, I really do, but I can’t be part of your life anymore. It’s nothing personal. I hope you get better. I’m happy I met you though. Farewell. Fingers crossed, you’ll see me on TV lifting up my Grand Slam trophy ;)

Leland frantically typed a response but a notification popped up on his screen.

You can no longer talk to Maggie Hurst.

Leland groaned, like he’d been punched in the gut. He stood up, fighting the impulse to shout, before settling back down and hiding his face in both hands.

You’ve got to be kidding me.

An emptiness which he had never felt before grew inside him and soon after the heart wrenching sensation, tears began to flow. Only now did he fully realise the preciousness of their relationship.

Leland had never lost a close friend before. Part of him dared to use his powers to wipe the memories he shared with Maggie. If he forgot her existence, would he no longer be in such pain?

No. He couldn’t do that. They were too valuable to erase.

The emotions continued to surge as he reread her final messages repeatedly. He clenched his fists. Without a care in the world, she’d tossed him in the bin. She was perfectly fine without him. She didn’t need a loser like him.

“Teleportation. Flight.”

Leland teleported and burst through the night sky like a jet, the supersuit rapidly forming around him.

Where are you going, idiot?

I don’t know! Shut up, shut up!

More self-deprecating thoughts clashed with each other as he zigzagged high in the sky. In a very sloppy fashion, he punched, kicked and elbowed the clouds nearest to him until the rage subsided.

He teleported to Staress’ recording studio. Thankfully, it was just her. She sat in the recording booth and tuned her guitar.

“I need your help,” Leland thundered.

Without looking up, Staress sighed. “I know, I know.”

“How much do you know?”

“More than enough, Lee. Stop using your powers. At this rate, you’re going to pass out.”

Staress placed her guitar down and stood up, embracing him in a warm hug. “There, there. Sit down with me.”

“I n-need you to give m-me a superhero timetable again.”

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“The group stages for the Slug Games isn’t until a few days.”

“I n-need something now. A-anything.”

“Don’t be silly,” Staress said. “We both know you don’t want to do that. Not really.”

Leland wiped away tears as fast as he could. “Y-you’re right. I’m n-not Batman or Superman. I hate fighting. But e-every time I use these powers and p-push myself to my limits, I get closer to complete fluency.”

“Lee, listen—”

“I know!” Leland yelled. Tears ran down his face yet again as a surge of self-hatred bubbled up inside him once more. “I’m doing it f-for the wrong reasons. I should want to be a superhero b-because it’s the right thing to do and all that b-bullshit. I don’t care. I’ll do whatever it takes to g-get rid of this stutter, even if I have to save the w-world a billion times over!”

Leland inhaled deeply. He had barely breathed during each sentence.

Staress patted him on the back, then she stood up, walked through a portal, and returned with a USB stick.

“W-what’s that?” Leland muttered.”

“Stored here are hundreds of crimes and disasters which will occur in the next few weeks, most of which are spontaneous and unplanned. Law enforcement do not have the force and manpower to handle all of them. Not without casualties. This is for whenever you want to do good and reluctantly put up a fight, no matter the motivation.”

Staress forcibly pulled apart Leland’s balled fist and placed the USB stick on his palm. “Be warned. It will be almost impossible to go back from this. Are you ready?”

Leland levitated. “W-where do I start?

Cadell's hand abruptly emerged, pushing him from behind into a newly created portal.

***

Three seconds.

That was the amount of time Leland had to absorb his surroundings before a ball of purple slime exploded onto his shoulder. Screams around him rang in the air as a chunk of his own flesh and blood dissolved into nothing, and if it wasn’t for his ability to regenerate himself, he would probably be screaming too.

“Hurry up,” Cadell said, his voice emitted through the mask. “I can only hold off casualties for so long.”

Stunned from shock, Leland stood in the middle of a crosswalk in New York City, Times Square. Hundreds of purple portals opened and closed everywhere, protecting any civilian from the slime projectiles. Disfigured, distorted looking creatures crawled across the streets on all fours. Purple slime leaked off their bodies, sizzling into the ground.

“W-what do you want me to do?”

“What do you think?” Cadell bellowed, threatening to burst Leland’s ear drums. The desperation in his voice caught him off guard. “Save the day, rookie!”

Waves of civilians rushed past him, almost pushing him over.

“Strength.” Leland ran and punched the alien closest towards him, but his fist sunk into the alien’s torso, scorching his arm.

“Freeze.”

Immediately, a ball of ice encased the alien. He ran parallel to the enemy and shot continuous streams, freezing several in their tracks.

“Omni human!” one of the crawling aliens grunted in a voice barely audible. Its head rotated a full three hundred and sixty degrees before its chest inflated like a balloon, companions following suit.

“Barrier!” Leland raised an arm and a circular barrier surrounded every inflated alien just before they exploded. He laughed nervously. Is that it? Have I done it already?

His smile faltered mere seconds later as a humongous shadow cast upon everyone in New York, putting the skyscrapers to shame. One rocky entity resembling a conglomerate of massive boulders fell towards them, body outstretched as if the city was a swimming pool and it was hungry to perform a beautiful belly flop.

Why?

That was Leland’s first thought. While everyone around him screamed their heads off, scrambling to be with their loved ones in what they thought were their final moments, he simply just thought, Why do I have these powers? Why am I in this position?

But after some hesitation, he flew straight towards the rocky beast and cursed, accidentally hitting the creature face first. He spat out a heap of stones and flew upwards, pushing the alien higher and higher until it floated out of Earth’s atmosphere. His mask stopped him from passing out, automatically supplying him with oxygen.

The alien stared him down while Leland waited for some kind of retaliation, growing impatient by the second. He made a shoo away gesture and seconds later the creature shrunk in size, matching Leland’s. Suddenly, it puked a sea of gleaming green crystals and shook its head with a pained expression.

Slug planets are disgusting, it said telepathically before flying off.

Leland threw up a middle finger, but the alien had already turned away, floating off in a meandering path. He plummeted back into Earth's atmosphere until a portal caught him, and found himself floating above the wide crosswalk littered with purple residue.

“The job’s not over, superhero,” Cadell said. “This is your debut. Make a good first impression.”

Leland’s face screwed up. “I’m not a—”

A heart wrenching, desperate cry rang out in the air. “Someone help my baby! Please!”

Leland tensed as a crowd of civilians surrounded him, many with flashing phones hiding their faces. Immediately, his face heated. He flew only a few metres and the crowd separated into two halves, as if he was their new leader.

The woman sat on the ground, cradling a child covered in purple stains. She gasped as Leland lightly dropped to the ground. With a curt nod, he placed a hand on the child’s forehead, causing the purple toxin to quickly disappear. The child scrambled out of their mother’s embrace and jumped to their feet like nothing had happened. They pointed with a tiny arm.

“Superhero!” the child cried.

The crowd hooted and hollered in response before transitioning into an energetic chant. “Superhero! Superhero! Superhero! Superhero!”

Leland nearly smiled as laughs and chatter filled the joyful atmosphere. He levitated once more when a bunch of camera flashes illuminated him.

“What are your thoughts on saving the world?”

None.

“How did you get your superpowers?”

No clue.

“What should we call you?”

Nothing.

“How do you intend to compete with Psyche’s legacy as humanity’s second superhero?”

The last question alone made Leland want to punch the air. Part of him desired to immediately escape, but he couldn’t let the media paint a false narrative or make assumptions.

“I’m not Superman. I’m not a symbol of hope, more so a symbol of nope, meaning I never wanted to do this initially and still kind of don’t. Never fear me. Never worship me. Just leave me alone.”