There was a reason I was paying a premium for living so close to school. Because of my degree, my classes were spaced pretty far apart, and going home to recharge was better than spending hundreds of dollars a week hanging out in a coffee shop between widely spaced classes like a lot of other students did.

  Unfortunately, this was a football and basketball school, which meant there was little support for the sports-like activities I did enjoy, like mixed martial arts and wrestling. I wouldn’t say I was particularly good at them, but I liked to think I could have gotten a wrestling scholarship, at least, if the degree program I chose had been available at a more… flexible school.

  When I came into my apartment and started heating up the teapot to make myself some ramen, which was actually fairly edible if you doctored it up with some cooked chicken, sesame oil, half of a hard-boiled egg, and frozen vegetables, I found another personal message was active on Vilnet.

  Was Glacier Girl constantly monitoring Vilnet in hopes of getting a line on an event she could thwart? Some heroes did that, but like me, most Vilnet users couched their jobs and opportunities in codes, doublespeak, and easily deniable language that made extracting any useful criminal information almost impossible. Villains were a cowardly, superstitious lot, and supervillains like me were often doubly so, since keeping ourselves under the radar until it was time to spring our big surprise was a job requirement.

  Dear SSSinc,

  I spoke with the Kellar Academy liaison, and apparently, it is very common for newly inducted trainees to refer other alphas for consideration. I would be more than happy to refer #6628’s acquaintance, but they told me that some basic ground rules had to be applied.

  #1. She must be assessed, which means they have to head to a BSA recruiting facility to get a new power assessment, even if they had one previously.

  #2. She must have graduated High School or received a G.E.D. and be at least 18 years old. If this is not true, the Kellar Academy cannot accept them, although if their power assessment supports it, They can be referred to a juvenile program for future consideration.

  #3. She cannot currently possess a Felony Warrant. Prior incarceration, especially in a juvenile facility, is NOT a disqualifying condition, since according to my counselor ‘young alphas almost always get into trouble with their powers.’

  #4. I would personally prefer to meet her before she uses me as a referral. This can be either costumed or civilian, although I would personally prefer civilian since Kellar does not expect their students to maintain an identity for the entire length of their education, and most students create a protected identity after they graduate. I simply wish to ensure that the person I am referring is not going to be negatively connected to me in the future.

  However, I don’t consider a mutually beneficial referral to be an adequate return for #6628’s assistance, but it’s a start.

  With Gratitude,

  Hotcocoa37.

  P.S.: Recognition of Contractor #6628’s contribution does not express or imply any legal or tort liability in any way, shape, or form. In addition, in the event of an unprotected identity, all identity protection laws are still in full effect for all parties. This note is not legally admissible evidence for free information release. (Post Script added by Anthony Blake, empowered consulting representative.)

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Heh. That was actually good. I bet Glacier Girl herself didn’t even have any contact with Vilnet, either through ignorance or simply to keep her distance from a known criminal marketplace. Her PR guy was at least reasonably smart, although since it was her agent himself rather than some kind of corporate legal group, it was likely that he was just getting started in the gig, and GG might be his only contract.

  A boyfriend or school chum, maybe? Well, an in-person meet was not a problem. I mean, Technotron had enemies, Diabolus and Camshaft sort of had nemesis, Crankweld had a lot of bad publicity, Mashmaster and Negative Zero USED to have enemies before they were declared deceased, but BSA had a file on Blueprint, and it was a known identity for Jacob Allister Doyle, not protected, a class two with zero enemies. Not many friends either, but class twos don’t make nemesis or go out in tights fighting bad guys.

  I knew Glacier was local, and now I suspected I knew her real identity, but hey, that’s why I picked up the job. Occasionally SSSinc. attracted interest from out-of-towners, but traveling halfway across the country wasn’t really cost-effective, and newbie supers tended to try and build a rep where they were going to work rather than flying someplace where their exploits would probably not even show up in a local paper.

  Then again, Empire City had a LOT of supers, with a population behind the sea wall of nearly ten million. That meant it was both a great place for a criminal to make a statement or a profit, and a huge source of edible life for East Coast Kaiju to attack. Tokyo liked to brag about the nasty aquatic monsters that came ashore to wreak havoc, but in terms of sheer monster mass, few cities outside of China could boast a combined inland and shoreline attack volume higher than Empire City.

  Not that it was really something to boast about, since either a monster wave or a single powerful kaiju could lead to untold destruction and loss of life, but hey, that was why alphas were so important. Academies like Kellar also provided the kind of training that attracted worldwide attention, and students were known to come from as far away as Osaka or Dubai to attend.

  I was really amused that she assumed I was female, but since it was a class three going to the academy, well, most class threes had to have two mutually complementary affinities to even risk being considered for superhero work. I quickly replied with an unused secondary account:

  Dear Hotcocoa37,

  I am an acquaintance of contractor #6628. If you would be so kind as to meet me at the Student Union at three, assuming you do not have a prior engagement? I will be the one wearing the button-down shirt with Snoopy on the pocket and back.

  I meet your concessions with the exception of the updated assessment, but due to the fee involved, I would prefer not to worry about it until you have confirmed that I would be an acceptable referral. Does this meet your needs? Feel free to contact me for a change if necessary.

  Thanks for your time,

  -Prospective Referral Blue.

  Okay, call me cruel if you want, but I wasn’t going to change her expectations before I showed up. She resoundingly beat my ass, so I was going to get at least a little fun out of startling her, I hoped.

  A few minutes later, she replied that she’d be there, and I got to work getting a kit in order. This was going to be a balancing act, so I had to make sure I was ready to impress both her and, if that worked, the BSA assessment. Academy recruiting worked quickly, so I’d have to be ready to head directly to the BSA facility after my… interview. I might be mailing my lease cancellation in if things went according to plan.