“You see that?” Jules slammed a wad of paper onto the conference table he had called Elsie to. She winced before looking, knowing her mentor had not long returned from a gathering to discuss the training exercise that went very wrong.

“I’m so-”

“Of just seven participants of the training exercise to have no areas of improvement in the inquest, you were the only hero named.”

Elsie’s mouth was still puckered for the ‘orry’ that had been about to fall out. She straightened her neck and sucked her lips in.

Jules jabbed at the blocks of text that made up the minutes of the meetings he’d had to attend. “You see that? ‘Fast prioritisation of casualties.’” She didn’t have any casualties except Silver Skipper. He read another quote, “‘Efficient rescue efforts.’” That was just all her effort. Full throttle or nothing, she supposed. “The crew commander on site said you did exactly what was asked and,” he underscored the line with his finger, “’with no ego-driven nonsense.’” This time, he was actually finished. Unfortunately, that meant it was her turn to respond, and all she’d had prepared was the apology.

“That’s-” Elsie faltered, swallowing. “That’s great!”

“It’s fantastic!” He flung himself backwards, falling through a fleeting portal and into his office chair, letting it roll a little away from his desk and the report. Elsie stayed stood to attention on the opposite side. “I’m so proud of you, Elsie.”

“Thanks, Jules. I really didn’t do much-”

“None of that! Onwards and upwards. You’ve caught the eyes of the higher-ups now, you can’t stall with modesty.” He shook his head, his grin almost haughty. “A lot of recommendations – a lot of gaps in training and procedures – but not for anyone from my TC!”

“Do you think this could-”

“Get you big, exciting missions?” Jules finished for her.

Elsie nodded, clasping her hands in front of her.

“You’ll certainly be in the running now.” He jumped back to his feet, took her shoulder and gave it a squeeze, balancing himself over the desk with his other hand. “Keep this up and you’ll be a Grade 3 in no time.”

Elsie’s cheeks puffed in a smile she couldn’t hold back. “Yes, sir!”

A Grade 3. Just like him. An established hero.

Criminals didn’t really have grades, at least not public ones. The Hero Commission had their own rankings of them based on all the intel they were able to gather and that was need-to-know only. Otherwise you could sum them up as one of three categories. Grunts: the ones that had either no powers (and were weaponised instead) or the kind that weren’t worth telling people about. That would place them at a Grade 5 – powers present but party tricks at best. Villains: the ones worth watching your back around, sometimes teaming up with their friends but mostly trying to carve out an infamous name alone. They could range anywhere from Grade 4 to Grade 2. And lastly, supervillains: the ones you got the heck out of the way of if you were ever to see them coming. Grade 1. Grunts and even occasional villains answered to them.

Luckily, there were less than ten known Grade 1 criminals in the world. And with every new hero that came up the ranks, there was another possibility that they might be the next superhero to squash one. Not the heroes with bodily-function powers, though. Elsie felt the likes of Gassy Girl and Mucus Man should have never even been allowed into basic training. She wasn’t prepared for the consequences of declaring that to their faces though. Yuck.

Gauging grades was majority seismic readings combined with heroic feats and a smidge of public popularity. Elsie had zero heroic feats, less than a smidge of public popularity, and she could set off a seismic reader to a modest hop of the arrow. Therefore, Grade 3, like Jules had next to his name, was still a long way off.

Unlike a seismometer that reported shakes and quakes, seismic readers could pick up raw power surging through the earth even if it wasn’t causing the ground to move. When heroes and villains used their powers, there was a release of energy that came off them. Silent and invisible. It was like grounding to electricity, the residual power has to go somewhere and when it does, the seismic readers pick it up. When a Grade 1 superhero or supervillain stepped onto the scene, the readers screamed.

Maybe, one day, that could be her sending them into higher decibels. Not Grade 1 noise, she had no such illusions of her own super-powered-grandeur. A girl could dream of Grade 2, though. And settle for Grade 3.

On her way back to the dorms, Tam jangled into step with Elsie’s newly confident stride.

“You’re bloody beaming!”

Elsie boasted, “I was named in the inquiry into that training exercise last month.”

“Yeah?” Tam was uncertain, looking her over as though not sure why Elsie would look so damned pleased.

Elsie paused to strike a pose in the middle of the empty corridor. “Nothing but perfection from Emerald Eclipse!” Knuckles to her hips, feet wide, chest puffed, nose pointed up at a heroic forty-five degree angle.

Tam gasped. “Really?”

Elsie broke her stance and bounced with her nod, and then Tam was bouncing too, and then they were squealing and half-floating and holding each other’s hands-

“Are you supposed to be somewhere?”

The pair dropped back to earth, and reality.

“Sorry, Josi.”

“Elsie got good news!” Tam explained.

Josi was not moved by the announcement. “Take it to your dorm,” she ordered.

“Yes, ma’am.”

They scurried round the corner for another – silent – celebration. Hugs and dancing and some butt shaking that came with the jangling noises of Tam’s gem-studded belts.

“I think we should keep this positivity train rolling.” Tam pretended to pull her train whistle and made a squawking noise to go with it.

“It’s a little early for a drink-”

“No! I was thinking we could try again at making a combo move!”

Elsie winced. “Tam…”

“Hear me out!”

“One of us always ends up injured and no mega move ever comes of it.”

More butt shaking. “Today is the day!” She shook Elsie by the shoulders she could only just wrap her hands round. “You’re pumped up! I’m pumped up!”

“Yeah, I don’t know why you’re this hyper, actually.” Elsie squinted at her. “What have you had to eat today?”

“Does coffee count?”

“No.”

“Damn.” And yet, Tam had no remorse to be seen.

“Let’s get some lunch.”

“And then?”

Elsie sighed, but she couldn’t fight the smile back off any longer. “And then let’s go create our ultimate combo move.”

“Hell yeah!”