Seven o'clock in the morning, on that day, if you walked along the streets of Recalm City, you would see a lot of people going about their business in a normal morning hurry, some traveling by car or public transport, some walking or biking, and a few you could even see flying above you with tinker contraptions or with their own superpowers. Many of these people were on their way to school or work, and a lot were taking their children to daycare or taking a dog out for a walk. There were even a few superheroes in the midst, looking for early morning crime to fight. All these people Lester did not notice as he strode around the city furiously and without a destination.

  It was the morning after he had revisited Doctor Nastybrain's base, and as he walked around, Lester couldn't get his mind off of what had happened. He had literally been replaced by a clone. A younger, stupider version of himself. And he really didn't know why. Suddenly, Armie had been totally in love with the kid, and he, the original Lester, had then been cast aside, so he wouldn't get between whatever their thing was. Or at least that was the best explanation he could come up with. It certainly felt like he'd been dumped.

  Fuck this shit, Lester thought.

  On top of getting dumped, Nasty had said that he, the original Lester, was also a clone, which, for sure, was not true.

  And now, he had been cast onto the streets, penniless with only the clothes on his back. Though, he did have his villain bank account with more money than he had ever had, so he wasn't totally without anything. Also, Nasty wasn't after him anymore, which was a good thing.

  Now that he thought about it, his life back at Recalm City had in all ways improved from when he left the city a month ago. Also, he had four points he could spend to improve himself.

  Lester took out his phone and looked at his bank account, and there at the total sum 32562.76$. It seemed that Armie had given him his share of their last job. And now the total was more than he'd ever had in his life. Maybe even more than he'd gotten during his whole four-year-long career as a superhero. Just from less than a month's work.

  Actually, if he really thought about his current situation, things might now be even better than they were before he got experimented on by Nasty.

  Lester smiled slightly, feeling a bit better. As he went along, not paying much attention to the world around him, his thoughts went back to the quest he'd received.

  Lester said, "Mr. Henchman Interface, show me the quest."

  Become a true villain.

  Remove the collar on your powers and upgrade the Henchman Interface into the Villain Interface. This can only be done in Doctor Natybrain's laboratory at the operating table.

  Award 6 points.

  The quest meant that he would have to break into Doctor Nastybrain's base, which, Lester knew, would be suicide. Nasty wasn't just some average villain. The guy had taken out several powerful heroes. Nasty himself had died at least five times according to public knowledge, and every time he had come back and killed the people responsible. Doctor Nastybrain, a master villain of the Guild of Calamity and Woe, was on a whole different level than he, Lester, just some unemployed henchman.

  As the text faded, he sighed and continued his walk, now across the city's central park.

  Lester looked up and toward the Justice and Valor building at the center of the city. It was a place and a future that really wasn't there for him anymore. As far as he knew, there was no realistic way back to being a superhero. But he still had a couple of loose ends in his old superhero life that he should take care of.

  ***

  After a long walk, Lester stood in front of the door to Mark's apartment, and he thought about what to say. They were his friends, Mark and Flynn, in reality. He definitely remembered them. He had the real Lester's memories. Memories of the times they had celebrated their small victories, talked about their futures and made promises to go together all the way to the top.

  Lester pushed down on the doorbell, and it made a cranky, broken ring.

  A moment later, Mark opened the door, and with a surprised look on his face, he said, "Holy shit Lester, you're back here alive."

  Laster felt a sliver of happiness seeing his old friend. He said, "Hello, to you too, Mark."

  "And you look healthy."

  "Yeah, I got over the whole starving thing."

  "Well, come on in then," Mark said, then he paused and added, "Is Nasty after you still?"

  "No, I'm a free man now." Lester entered, looking around the small apartment. It was as it had been before, small with second-hand furniture. But what was new here was Claudine. She wasn't in her Pink Bullet outfit. She was dressed in relaxed clothing, including soft slippers. It was like she was living here.

  "You've met Claudine," Mark said.

  "Nice to see you again." Lester nodded.

  Claudine smiled back, then turned to look at Mark, and Lester could see a bit of anger in her look. She had been, back then, a bit terrified about Doctor Nastybrain being after him, even running out screaming, from this very flat.

  Lester said, "I'm just passing through, and came to say hi to Mark."

  "Okay," she said, "but please don't bring any of that stuff to us."

  "I promise."

  After that, Lester gave a quick summary of what had happened, deciding to leave out a lot of stuff. There was no need to tell his friend about any of the cloning for one. It would just freak him out. Though, if his clones started to appear everywhere, as seemed to be Nasty's plan, people would find out.

  "And the bounty on my head just disappeared. Apparently I'm not worth anything to Nasty." Lester ended the story. Then he paused for a moment, looking at the two of them. "So how have you been?"

  "Been fine," Mark said, "We've both part of an E-rank hero team called Heartful Noise. We mostly do parties and pubs. Comedy acts, but we also work as security if need arises."

  Lester tried to imagine Mark as a comedian. The guy did have his big ears, but he never came out as a joker that much.

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  "Sounds exciting," Lester said.

  "It is," Claudine said and then added, "Mark also has a new power."

  Mark nodded. "I call it the Ear Scream, and it's just what the name implies. I can shoot sonic blasts from my ears." Mark made his large ears flap. "But I can't show it here because of the neighbors."

  "That's," Lester tried to find the words. "Congratulations."

  "Still at E-rank though. I might make it to D after I've mastered this thing."

  There was a short silence, and Lester turned to the question that had risen in his mind. "So, do you know what's up with Flynn?"

  "Flynn quit the superhero business," Mark said, "You can likely find him near the railway station. He has a small food truck there."

  "I should go visit him," Lester said.

  "So, what's your plan now?" Mark said.

  "I'm still a henchman. And I don't think one can change back to being a hero that easily."

  Mark nodded. "Yeah, you would have to do something really big, like save the whole city, to get a chance to switch back."

  Lester wondered if this was the last time he would see Mark. Sure they would likely meet maybe. Recalm City wasn't that big of a place, but they might end up working on the different side of justice, which meant they likely couldn't be friends any longer.

  Lester noted Claudine looking a bit uncomfortable. She would probably like him to leave and never see Mark again. It was maybe time to leave as he still had his shoes on and was standing next to the closed apartment door.

  Lester shrugged. "But that's life." He added with a joking smile, "I think I have to go do villain stuff now."

  "Sure," Mark said with a smirk. "Maybe see you around."

  Lester nodded. "Hopefully not as enemies."

  Mark laughed, and Claudine also let out a laugh, in which Lester heard quite a bit of anxiety. She was definitely not thrilled to be associated with the other side.

  "I almost forgot." Lester fished out a banknote from his pocket and handed it over to Mark. "This is the twenty I owe you."

  ***

  Lester found Flynn's food truck where Mark had said it would be, next to the big dome-shaped building, which was the Recalm City station for the underground train. The food truck was named Flynn's Grub, and there were no customers there at the moment.

  Lester approached the truck, seeing that his old friend was there moving something behind the counter, inside the truck.

  Lester started the conversation, "Can I have one of those Flynn's famous sandwiches with ham, cheese, mayo, peanut butter, and egg."

  Flynn jumped up, seemingly recognizing Lester's voice. He said, "Lester?"

  "That's me."

  "Holy shit." Flynn looked around. "Are you on the run?"

  "Not anymore." Lester told the same version of the story as he'd told Mark and Claudine, finishing with, "And now, I'm back in Recalm City." He then glanced at the name of the place, Flynn's Grub, knowing that Flynn could not possibly be able to afford anything like this with a superhero salary. Lester said, "Things seem to be working out for you."

  "Yeah, I got this truck from my uncle. He retired recently and was willing to part with it if I pay him back later."

  "Cool, how's business."

  "Not that good, but I'm better off than when I worked as a hero. How about you?"

  Lester knew that money might not be the only reason Flynn had moved away from superheroing. One reason probably being the dubious job they'd taken that night over half a year ago, where Flynn had gotten away, and he, Lester, had gotten experimented on. But maybe that wasn't something Flynn wanted to talk about.

  Lester said, "I'm still a henchman even though I don't have a villain to work for at the moment."

  Flynn nodded, and Lester saw a slight hesitation there. His friend likely wouldn't want to be pulled back into the business again after getting out of it so easily.

  Lester said, "So, do you sell those sandwiches of yours?"

  "Sure thing."

  ***

  After the visit with Flynn, Lester took again walking, now eating a sandwich. His feet took him to the old neighborhood where he had lived, and his thoughts were now calmer. He did maybe even have the option of quitting altogether. Though, being an ex-henchman would likely mean that most employers wouldn't hire him. And also, he had powers now. It would be a sin to be barely making by with some low-level job while he could be making bank by bending the law slightly.

  As he went, Lester noticed a group of thugs. They were threatening some poor kid, who was around twelve. Two men were holding the kid against a wall, and a third one was pointing a gun at the kid's face. As a lookout, there was a fourth thug, who Lester recognized. It was the guy with the skull tattooed on his face, the one he'd once seen receiving a beating himself. Now, he was standing there, keeping watch while his buddies kept beating on the kid. A stray thought of doing something entered Lester's mind. He did have powers now. He could easily beat up the four thugs, who by the looks of them didn't have any powers. But what really was the point in that? He wasn't a superhero. And doing hero work unofficially would make him a vigilante. And vigilantes couldn't even throw people in prison. He would just punish the thugs by beating them a bit and then he would throw some moral statements at them. There wouldn't be much of a difference between that and what the guys were now doing to the kid. Also, the kid might be learning an important life lesson here. Don't get involved with criminals if you don't want a gun in your face.

  The man with the skull tattoo eyed Lester suspiciously, and Lester decided to continue on. It wasn't his job to help the innocent. Maybe some superhero would come and help the kid. Though, most superheroes didn't venture into the poor parts of the town.

  As he walked on, Lester made the decision. He would continue on the path of supervillainy, and the only way to succeed in that life was to get stronger. And in order to get stronger, he would have to finish the quest.

  He still had the four points he had not allocated yet. He knew that pure strength would not get him to where he was going.

  He had a thought.

  "Mr. Henchman Interface, put one point into Energy."

  Can not comply. The attribute Energy is locked. You must complete the mission 'Become a true villain' to unlock the attribute.

  Lester let out a smile. "Okay then, put two points into Will and two into Intellect."

  Will increased to 3.

  Intellect increased to 3.

  Lester felt the world stop. Then it expanded while shrinking down, turned downside in, and finally snapped back into normal.

  "Wow." He stood there in the middle of the road, breathing hard. It had definitely been weird. He was more intelligent now. Or at least he should be more intelligent. Now that he thought about it, maybe he should have done some tests before and after to measure the difference. Well, he'd probably find out somehow soon if he was indeed smarter.

  Then there was the Will attribute. According to its description, it gave him control over the other attributes and also his powers. And the control might certainly come in handy if he got his powers by finishing the quest.

  Not knowing what to do next, Lester asked, "Mr. Henchman Interface, where do the points come from?"

  You gain points by completing quests.

  The same answer as always. He'd queried it before in many different ways, but this had been all he'd ever gotten. Lester sighed. There was a lot he didn't know about the thing in his head. For example, was it able to give him an infinite number of points to make him infinitely powerful? Maybe he would find the answer to that question if he succeeded in the quest to become a villain.

  "Okay, let's see my stats."

  HENCHMAN INTERFACE

  Name: Lester Rigby

  Super Rank: D

  Status: Freelance Henchman

  Attributes:

  Might 7

  Vitality 5

  Reflex 5

  Intellect 3

  Will 3

  Energy 0

  Powers:

  Locked

  Quests:

  Become a true villain:

  Remove the collar on your powers and upgrade the Henchman Interface into the Villain Interface. This can only be done in Doctor Natybrain's laboratory at the operating table.

  Award 6 points.

  You think you're not a clone:

  Prove, against all the evidence, that you are not a clone.

  Award 3 points.