Sam waited for his headache to disappear before he dashed out. He zigzagged across the cracked street to avoid getting noticed and then slid down behind the car next to the SUV for some cover.

He peeked over the car and watched Dr. Hearthstone’s right hook smack the Terror sideways, giving Thunder enough breathing room to call on a massive “Thunderstrike!” from the sky down on her enemy.

Unfortunately, even this awesome display of power wasn’t enough. The Terror fired another ray of frost that hit Thunder in the shoulder, and the force of it was so strong that she was flung back against the wall behind her.

Sam winced in Thunder’s place, because it seemed like she was too busy getting back up to feel any pain. “Lady’s a freaking tank.”

“Help…” a nearby voice whispered.

Sam found a hero leaning against the car. Sam recognized her instantly: War Maiden. She had a pretty face with raven hair even shorter than Thunder’s chin-length blonde locks. She wore a silver breastplate that had seen better days, and the rest of her looked just as battered and bruised. Yet she held on to the war hammer lying beside her like it was the most important thing in the world.

He crawled over to her to check on the extent of her injuries. They weren’t as bad as the gaping hole in Thunder’s stomach, but definitely a broken arm and leg plus some really nasty bruising on the side of the head. Sam guessed she might have a brain bleed, too, as she was mumbling and barely conscious.

He touched the side of her face, causing her bloodshot eyes to turn on him. War Maiden lifted her hammer an inch off the ground before it dropped back down.

“I’m here to help,” Sam insisted. “If I can.”

It took Sam significantly more life force than he’d used on Dr. Hearthstone to heal War Maiden.

[WARNING: Life-force has been significantly depleted by [Healing Hand (ζ)]. Recommend that the hero refrain from using power until FATIGUE [55%] has dropped to a lower range.]

Sam soldiered on despite the bucket of sweat dripping down his back. He was pleasantly surprised by the notification that arrived after he’d finished healing her.

[You leveled up!]

“What are you staring at?” War Maiden asked.

“N-nothing…” Sam’s gaze quickly moved away from the notification and back to War Maiden. “How are you feeling?”

War Maiden flexed her fingers.

“Better,” she answered before turning a surprised look in Sam’s direction. “You healed me.”

“Not all the way. Just enough to get you back in the fight,” Sam explained.

He expected her to get angry for not getting the job done right. That’s usually how he was treated by people he tried to heal, but her reaction was far worse. War Maiden actually recoiled from him.

Sam had seen that look before. It was the same look of shame that he’d once had, when he’d chosen to run away from hero duty. She doesn’t want to get back in the fight, he deduced.

War Maiden tried to lift her hammer, but she could barely lift it a foot off the ground now despite being healed.

“No...” She rose to her feet. She didn’t even try to pick her hammer up again. “The burden’s too much. I can’t.” Then she walked away from him—and the battle.

“Don’t leave!” he called after her. You can do this!”

Sam watched her back get smaller and smaller, and not once did she turn around.

“You’ll regret it.” His voice was a whisper now. “I know I did.”

[What did you expect? She’s a side character who doesn’t have the guts to face this level of adversity.], said the message box that appeared before Sam.

“Don’t call her a side character,” Sam snapped.

[Ha-ha-ha. So, another side character thinks he can be a hero now?]

Sam’s eyes narrowed at the message box. “Hold on...are you Triple-A?”

[That would be like saying I’m Apple.]

Somehow, Sam could feel whoever was on the other side of that message was rolling its eyes at him.

“So you’re more like Steve Jobs,” Sam guessed. His eyes widened. “You’re Triple-A’s creator.”

[Call me master, kid. It’s only proper.]

So, there was a person managing the system, Sam realized.

“I’d rather not,” he said. “I don’t even know you.”

No response came.

Sam sighed. “Master...”

[Yes?]

Sam rolled his eyes at the message box. “Why did you create Triple-A?” he asked out of curiosity.

[It’s what I do. I’ve trained them all: Achilles, Jason, Hercules, Lagertha, Liu Bei, Musashi, Washington, Lincoln, all the all-time greats. They learned Heroics 101 from me.]

Sam frowned. He’d never heard of such an amazing hero trainer before. Not even in the old myths.

[I’m not lying, kid. Just look at Thunder. She’s proof of concept.]

At the mention of Thunder, Sam peeked over the car to check on the battle.

“Yeah… she’s awesome,” Sam admitted, his brow furrowing. “How do I get to be like her?”