“You rang?” Dr. Rage said.

“On the phone!” Arin held her hand to her chest. 

“I don’t know what you mean. I don’t own a phone of any kind.” 

“Then what is the number— You know what, never mind,” Arin straightened her back to look proud. “I just called you here to say I am interested in the offer you presented me prior.” She knew she was trying too hard to sound official, so she back down to her normal tone. “I mean, if it gets me away from this shithole. Show me how to help people and control my power, or whatever. Train me to be a hero.” The last words came out in a non-purposeful mocking tone. It was all too bizarre for Arin to take seriously.

Dr. Rage bellowed out a roaring and boisterous laugh that shook the entire building. Lightning flashed and wind blew through Arin’s short hair, strong enough to almost knock her over. Then, Dr. Rage dropped his face to utter seriousness. “One does not train to be a hero. One is born a hero.” His eyes were nothing but black bits in the shadows of his face. 

Arin squinted her eyes, not buying into all this superior nonsense he was throwing at her. “Uh-huh. Well, if that is true then why do you have training at all?” 

“Because people need rules, like you. You think you are so remarkable and special…”

“Pretty sure I never said I was either of those—”

“…but let me ask you: What are you going to do when your life is threatened? When you have to choose between your own life, and the lives of one of your colleagues? Who will you be then, Red Electron?” Dr. Rage leaned in close to Arin, but he never lowered his voice. Arin’s ears rattled. She didn’t answer the question due to the fact that she was far too concerned with whether the others in the dorm could hear all the commotion, and whether she was still going to have an eardrum at the end of the conversation. For someone who had decades of experience hiding identities, he certainly yelled hers to the world without any concern. 

He waited in silence for an awkwardly long length of time before speaking again, “If you really are serious about putting your life on the line for the betterment of the community, then I accept your offer. Be at the training school beside the Ultimatum Headquarters on the first day of the year. That is initiation. 10am sharp. If you are late, you are out,” Dr. Rage said and turned his back. “Oh. And you can tell no one of your abilities.” 

In a flash of dull lightning and a low, distant roar of thunder, he was gone. 

Arin stood completely still for a moment, unable to move. She blinked an unnecessary number of times, just to make sure she was awake and actually experiencing real life at the moment, because she wasn’t convinced that was the truth. As she spun to return to her desk, she was greeted with the confused and widened eyes of Roommate, who dropped a paper bag from her arms. 

It smashed like glass onto the floor, filling the air with the smell of tequila and whiskey. 

“Uh. Was that—?”

“Nope. It most definitely wasn’t the head of the Ultimatum standing in our dorm room,” Arin said, shaking her head. 

“Oh, okay. Good. Because that would be crazy,” Roommate responded with a chuckle and picked her bag off the ground, which was now leaking liquid everywhere. It didn’t seem to bother her. She was probably already drunk. 

Arin poked her head out into the hall, expecting a ton of people to be looking at her direction, but the noise hadn’t seemed to rattle anyone. She glanced back at the business card, still in her hand. It no longer said Dr. Rage’s name or a number, and neither did it flash.

January was only two weeks away, and Arin didn’t have a single clue how to get to Urban City, let alone where the Ultimatum Headquarters was located. 

She pocketed the card, wondering if it was a bad time to ask her uncle to borrow his car.