Free Super Powereds: Year 3 by Drew Hayes Page B

Shane’s shadow manipulation had endless uses, and Chad was fucking Chad. Who knew what he couldn’t do. The only person who had the same limited skill set as Stella was Roy.
    His continuation was the subject of plenty of whispered debate among the less accepting of their class, however, Jill didn’t entertain such silly ideas. There was no conspiracy to keep the Powereds in the HCP; the difference between Roy and Stella was one of power. They had the same basic skills, yes, but Roy was undoubtedly the stronger of the two. He’d trained with Chad for half a year, and there were rumors he’d even gotten a few hits on him. Not to mention, when Roy sparred with Violet and Stella, they’d both later admitted his raw physical capability was higher than theirs. No, Roy wasn’t here because he had a varied set of skills, he just had one set that he did extremely well.
    Jill idly wondered how long that would keep him in. Maybe it was the better strategy. Not that she had such an option. If she wanted to make it to the end, then she had to cultivate a whole myriad of talents and battle options. She needed to excel in multiple fields. That was the only way she would stand on stage and hear Dean Blaine announce her as a Hero.
    A few rapid blows set the nail in the wall, and then Jill carefully hung the framed photo and straightened it. The picture was of a family beach trip they’d taken in high school. She was beaming at the camera, giving a smile she always tried and failed to recreate in new pictures. Will looked sullen, though that was likely because of the sunburn already spreading across his spindly frame. Strange to see him now—after two years of HCP gym, even his scrawny body had packed on toned muscle. Behind them both was their father, grinning broadly and looking slightly away; he’d been worried the auto picture function had failed and was looking for some sign it was still going to go off.
    She appraised her handiwork and set down the hammer. Now, she was officially home.
     

11.
     
    Unlike freshman year, the new rankings were not posted on a giant board for the entire HCP to see. This time, they were written on a chalkboard and easy to miss if one wasn’t looking for them. However, every student filtering into the gym certainly took notice. Some of the changes, or lack thereof, weren’t that surprising. Chad was still on top, of course. Since this was the first co-ed ranking they’d gotten, Mary was now number two overall, bumping Shane down to three. All of that was well within everyone’s expectations. The next rank, however, was a bit more surprising.
    “I’m number four?” Vince said, staring at the board while the other students bustled around him.
    “Were you expecting to be on top? You put on a good show, but the others still have far better overall records than you,” Alice pointed out. She was glad to have the attention off of her own rank, which had leapt from near the bottom to eleventh in the class. Since it was based on the single match where she’d shown her power, it seemed a bit excessive to her.
    “No, I mean I can’t believe I’m that high,” Vince replied. “I don’t have that many official wins. Definitely not as many as some of the other people on here.”
    “Tell me about it,” Roy, the number five rank, grumbled. “Some of us have been busting our ass for two years and haven’t moved up a single spot.”
    “Considering how much changed, I’d say staying in the top five is a real accomplishment,” Mary told him. “As for you, Vince, I think they weight the year-end matches more heavily than our overall record when determining these ranks. The whole point of these things is to see where we are now, not where we were when the program started.”
    “That is my understanding as well,” Thomas chimed in. He was taking his new rank, seventh in the class, with his usual taciturn demeanor. If not for the episode with Vince, he would have felt the rankings unfair; however,