Recalm City had an area known as the Outer Ring. It was the area closest to the wilderness and the monsters within, which were kept at bay by the automatic defenses of the city. Due to the noise of the weapons used and the occasional monster that got through, the Outer Ring was not a desired place to live. This was why it became the poor district.

  Now, along the streets of the Outer Ring, a man walked barefoot. He was thin. His skin was dry and slightly transparent, making him look like a skeleton. Most of his hair had fallen out, but he still had a thin and scrappy beard. Everyone avoided him, as the guy looked a bit like a zombie. Although there hadn't been a zombie outbreak for a while, one could never be too careful with these kinds of things.

  The scrawny guy was Lester Rigby, who was now occupied by thoughts of how to sate his hunger. This need for something to eat was definitely getting worse, and he was definitely feeling weaker by the moment. If he soon didn't get anything to eat he would have to… Well, eat something. Even if that something was a thing people wouldn't normally eat.

  Lester noticed a stray dog. It was alone in an alley, and it was mangy. He wasn't hungry enough to eat the dog yet, but the dog seemed to be eating something. Some leftover food. He could maybe go there and fight the dog for it. It wouldn't be in line with his superhero ethics, but soon he would have to do something like that. Maybe the trash. He could go to a waste bin and see if there was anything to eat there.

  The dog turned toward him and growled.

  Trash bin would be safer, Lester thought as he continued on.

  Or he could beg. Though, people seemed to be avoiding him. Avoiding, like he was some kind of a plague victim or something, giving him several meters of room. He did look a bit like a walking corpse. Also, this neighborhood was not the best place for beggars, as the people here didn't really have money to give.

  Lester kept on going, walking aimlessly and looking for anything to eat. He came across a guy he recognized. It was the sickly looking guy with the skull facial tattoo, the one he'd seen a month or so ago. That time, the guy had been getting a beating from a gang. Now, he was hanging around talking to some twelve-year-olds—probably trying to sell them drugs. And there wasn't a superhero around to do something about it. Unless, you counted him, Lester Rigby. Lester thought about taking the dealer down. He could maybe knock the guy out if he was sneaky enough. Then he could steal the guy's money and buy some food.

  The drug dealer, after noticing Lester, put his hand inside his jacket, seemingly, onto a gun.

  Maybe I should find a criminal that isn't armed.

  Lester looked ahead and noticed he was going toward the Big Hart Mall, the place where he'd patrolled several times. In the mall, there was food at least.

  After a while, Lester reached the mall. In front of it, he saw a superhero. The guy's name was Sergeant Orange, and he was dressed in an orange military uniform. He was a D-rank hero. Not particularly famous, but Lester had seen him around several times.

  At the moment, the superhero was, Lester marked, preoccupied with a photoshoot with some kids. This was maybe a good thing since one of the heros' jobs was to escort creeps out of the mall.

  As he got inside, Lester looked around. There were all the people, but they were now avoiding him, keeping their kids far away from him.

  Lester thought about what he would do. He could go and try to steal some food, like that guy Baby Rat. Was he himself on the same path as that villain? No, definitely not. He would not become some creep whose only purpose was to get beaten up by superheroes. And if he, at some point soon, would be forced to slightly bend the law, which in this case was to save a life, which just happened to be his own, he would, at the very least, not get caught.

  Lester walked on, trying to act casual, like he was just a regular customer. Just a normal fellow. Just a bit thin. Just happening to be wearing clothes several sizes too large. Just happening to be missing shoes.

  Lester frantically thought of an alternative to his shoplifting idea. He could try to beg, but he would probably get thrown out before he had enough money for any food.

  Lester saw a bakery shop and the baked goods displayed behind the glass window. His mouth started to water.

  Just one doughnut.

  "Excuse me sir, are you perhaps lost," Lester heard a voice say. And that voice was definitely familiar.

  Lester turned around, coming face to face with his old friend Mark, who was also known as Sonic Eagle. He was a short and chubby fellow with big ears, now dressed in his yellow overalls and wearing his yellow helmet with small wings on it.

  "Hi Mark," Lester said.

  This made the guy halt. He scanned Lester up and down. "Do I know you?"

  "You know me. I'm Lester."

  "Lester?"

  "Yes. We've patrolled this place a hundred times."

  Mark eyed Lester a bit wearily.

  "Shit, Lester, that really you?" a man dressed in a judo outfit with a karate headband said. It was Lester's other superhero friend Flynn.

  A young woman walked to stand next to Lester's two old friends. She was also dressed in a superhero costume, which included a pink dress, thigh-high pink boots, and a pink domino mask. And her hair was also pink with two ponytails on either side. She pointed at Lester and said, "You two know this… This guy."

  "Yep, we go way back," Lester said while he was wondering when they had decided to replace him. She did, being all pink and stuff, bring some noticeability to the team, and the mall was maybe more likely to hire them with her on the team.

  "So, what the hell happened to you?" Flynn asked.

  "In short, I just escaped a mad scientist's lab."

  "Dude," Mark said.

  "Yep," Lester said.

  Mark looked around, and Lester noticed the surrounding crowd and knew what was to come.

  Mark nodded. "We kinda need to kick you out now."

  "Okay," Lester said, as his friends started to escort him out of the mall.

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  As they went, Lester said, "Would you guys happen to have something to eat? I'm like dying from hunger here."

  "You can have my sandwich and water," Flynn said, handing him, from inside his judo outfit, a red plastic container and a sports bottle.

  As Lester's former superhero friends escorted him out the door, Mark said to him, "Meet you at my place in two hours when our shift ends."

  "Okay," Lester said as he started walking away from the mall, holding tightly onto the sandwich box and water bottle.

  ***

  Lester stopped not that far from the mall, in a small park. There he found a bench and sat down.

  He opened the plastic box, and, inside it, there was the sandwich. He smelled it. Ham, cheese, mayo, peanut butter, egg. All good ingredients.

  No need to wait.

  Lester bit down on the sandwich. Quickly he chewed then gulped it down. And the next bite went even quicker. He finished the sandwich, while occasionally taking sips of water from the bottle, in less than a minute. It felt good. Like he hadn't had a proper meal in months. For now, the hunger had been sated. Also, he should maybe wait for a while before eating again. There was always the chance he would get the same kind of cramps he'd gotten earlier. He could actually feel something coming. Hopefully it would not be as bad this time.

  After half an hour, as people were watching, Lester rolled around on the grassy ground, holding his belly and whining.

  One old lady even approached him and said, "Do you want me to call an ambulance?"

  "No, I got this," Lester said, hoping he would get through this on his own. Firstly he couldn't afford a hospital visit and secondly it was just some tummy ache. He would get over it soon—hopefully. It was like last time, his digestion system was just adjusting. It was really unlikely that his friend Flynn had poisoned the food. No, these were just normal cramps. He would certainly not die from them.

  After a couple of hours, Lester got up, shaking still from the experience, but the pain was less now.

  A text popped up for him to see.

  Quest progress update: The status effect Extreme Malnutrition has been changed to Serious Malnutrition.

  Lester felt sick and tired. But there was some progress. He'd perhaps gotten through the worst of it.

  "Are you a zombie?" Lester heard the words, and he turned toward the sound. There a teenage boy in a blue t-shirt and a blue domino mask stood fists clenched. Probably an F-rank superhero just looking for his first monster to fight.

  New Quest: Defeat the newbie hero. Award 1 point.

  Lester looked at the award. One point. He could probably take down this guy easily. Unless the kid had some actual powers, which was always a possibility. But this was, in the end, something he couldn't do. Pretending to be a monster beating up people was definitely against his hero code.

  Lester lifted his hands as a gesture of calmness. "No, I'm not a zombie."

  "Why do you look like a zombie then?"

  "Health issues."

  Lester studied the boy. The up-and-coming superhero seemed to be thinking about his choices. The guy was definitely itching for a fight, but he also wanted it to be a fight where he would be a hero beating on a monster rather than some idiot kicking a sick person.

  "I see," the teenager said. He took out a dollar bill and handed it to Lester. "Try to get better, okay."

  "Thanks," Lester said, looking at the money. It was a one-dollar bill. The first money he'd gotten since waking up in the lab.

  Quest Failed: Defeat the newbie hero

  No points awarded.

  ***

  After a while of walking, Lester had made it to Mark's home, and now they were sitting around Mark's kitchen table. There with Mark and Lester, were also Flynn and the woman who'd been with them at the mall. Lester had gotten to know the new member of the team. Her name was Claudine and her superhero name was Pink Bullet. And, when she said 'bang', she could fire actual pink bullets from her fingers. Although the bullets were made of some rubbery stuff, they could still, according to her and his friends, hurt people. This made her an E-rank superhero.

  Lester was a bit hesitant about her being here. But she was part of the team, and she had, in a way, a right to know what was going on.

  "Okay, before I tell my story," Lester said, "I want to know one thing. How long has it been since the last time you saw me?"

  Lester watched as Mark and Flynn looked at each other, like they were maybe thinking he was crazy. Whatever it was, he would have to know the truth.

  "It's been like half a year," Mark said.

  Lester's jaw dropped as the situation dawned on him. Half a year. That was crazy. He'd somehow lost half a year of his life.

  Lester said, "Shit."

  After a while, Mark asked, "So what happened?"

  Lester told them most of what he knew. The vague memories of getting caught by Doctor Nastybrain. Him waking up in a lab, and then escaping. There was also the AI in his head with its text windows, which, as was now tested, the others could not see. Also, there were the superpowers, which might be the only thing that kept him from falling down from his muscle atrophy condition. The name of the system, Henchman Interface, was the only thing he kept to himself. The information was definitely too sensitive to let out, considering his rising superhero career.

  Lester finished his explanation with, "And so, I ended up with this thing in my head, which, according to the text I see, is called The Interface."

  After he finished the story, Flynn said, "So you have actual, real superpowers now. You got so fucking lucky man."

  "Well, there are some downsides." Lester pointed at himself, displaying his zombie-like appearance. "Also, Doctor Nastybrain might want me back in his lab to do some more experiments."

  During the following silence, Lester studied the others' reactions. He knew what they were thinking. Was it all worth it for these D-rank powers? The answer, for a struggling F- or E-rank superhero, was simple. It was most definitely yes.

  Mark broke the silence by asking, "So, you don't remember how or why you were caught."

  "No, the last clear memory was when I was cleaning my apartment and I called Flynn about a job."

  They all turned to Flynn, who looked guilty. He said, "Okay, we took the job."

  "What job?" Mark asked.

  "Well," Flynn started, "It went like this. Me and Lester here took this job, where we hauled some stuff to the incinerator. At some point, Lester was gone. That's what happened. I swear, I don't know anything else."

  "And why is it that I get to know about it now?" Mark said, "I mean, it's been half a year, and we were searching for Lester."

  "There was a reason," Flynn said, "And it was a good reason. And it's better that Lester doesn't remember. Okay. It was a tough decision to keep the truth from you, but it was for the best."

  "So, this job was basically illegal then?" Claudine said, having sat silently for the conversation so far.

  "That was not how it went," Flynn said.

  Mark stood up, "Now that I remember, you said something about this job. It was something a hundred or so dollars, in the middle of the night, in an unknown location, right?"

  "Yeah, it was that one."

  Claudine jumped up from her chair, looking angry. "You guys took a job from a supervillain. That's like the number one thing not to do in your superhero career."

  Flynn also stood up. "Okay, I know how this looks, but—"

  "No!" Claudine broke in, "You don't see it. Doctor Nastybrain isn't some average villain. He, like, kills people, and now he's coming after us because of what you two did."

  "Claudine, please," Mark said.

  Being the only one still sitting, Lester watched, seeing the situation get more heated as Claudine marched to the door screaming while the two guys unsuccessfully tried to calm her down. Maybe it hadn't been a good idea to include the newcomer in this conversation. But if you really thought about it from her perspective, it might have been good to know what was really happening in the team.

  Lester stood up and followed the commotion to the door.

  As she strapped on her pink boots, Claudine said, "Sorry, I don't think this group is for me."

  "Please, let's just talk about it," Mark said as they all watched her go.

  When she reached the door, she turned toward them and said, "I didn't become a superhero to fight some crazy science guy, who turns people into skeletons." She pointed at Lester, clearly indicating who the skeleton was. "I'm out! Don't call me!" And with that, she left.