By the time I awoke, our reinforcements had arrived. I was both surprised and relieved to see Director March coordinating with Harding and Kira as pallets of food stuffs were carted in from outside. Clearly, the healer they’d brought had been able to revive the dead.

“Misha,” Harding called out as his eyes turned to me. “Come over here.”

I got up, accidentally tearing what was left of my blanket and fully ruining it. As I approached, I was aware of how much I wanted a shower and to brush my teeth. I’d forgotten to do any of that the last few days and wondered how obvious that would be.

“We owe you a huge debt of gratitude,” Director March said when I arrived. “Without you, we would have been dead for good.”

At closer inspection, Director March had a slightly sickly look to her.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“I’ll be fine,” she assured me. “Being dead that long takes it’s toll, but nothing permanent. We’ll all be back to normal in a couple of days.”

“That’s good to hear,” I said.

“Harding tells me you were quite the hero,” Director March went on. “And I’ve reviewed some of the security footage we’ve been able to retrieve. You did admirably during the attack itself.”

“A lot of good it did,” I shrugged. “They still got away with everyone else.”

“But they didn’t burn our bodies,” Director March said and then went on when I gave her a confused look. “Burning bodies is standard practice when you want to prevent someone from being brought back. Considering all that they did, taking the time to gather us all together, I expect that was what they were planning on doing to us. You must have spooked them enough that they left as soon as they had all their prisoners. We owe you our lives twice over.”

“What else was I supposed to do?”

It seemed they were making this a much bigger deal than I thought they should.

“You could have hidden,” Harding said. “Could have run and not fought them. And then when they were gone you could have just hunkered down, but instead you kept searching, kept trying to help.”

“Anyone would have done that in my place.”

“Anyone?” Harding cocked an eyebrow. “What about those three we locked up yesterday? You think any of them would have done what you did?”

He had a point, but those three were clearly awful people who thought only of themselves.

“Hector and Cassie both helped me,” I said. “Even though they were weaker than me.”

“So that’s three out of how many people who were here?” Harding asked.

“What we’re getting at,” Director March cut in before I could respond, “is that you are special in how you handled yourself. We think you should consider joining the Protection Force. We’ll both write you letters of recommendation and the events here will be a huge boost to your application.”

I hesitated. This was not where I thought this conversation was going. I thought they were just thanking me but suggesting I join the Protection Force was something else entirely.

“I don’t know if that’s really for me,” I said.

“We understand,” Director March replied, “but keep it in mind. You still have a few weeks left here to better control your powers. You could do a lot of good, helping us rein in those supers who choose to abuse their powers rather than use them productively.”

“What do you mean?” I asked. “I thought the Protection Forces fought in wars.”

“Some do but that’s not their primary purpose,” Director March explained. “Most of them are like a special police force who help make sure the law is enforced equally, no matter a person’s powers.”

“Not sure I really want to be a cop, either,” I said, my lack of enthusiasm impossible to conceal.

“Well, like I said, you have time to think it over.”

I nodded and an awkward silence marked an end to the conversation. Breakfast was being served and I ducked away to join the queue. As soon as I had my tray of food I left Cain Hall and went outside to where the other strong supers used to congregate. It was lonely without them but the solitude wasn’t all bad. The few supers that were here now tended to give me strange, uncomfortable looks and I wanted to avoid the administrators who might want to give me further expressions of gratitude or praise for what I’d done. All I did was tried to survive. Self preservation isn’t some grand thing.

As I sat, eating my breakfast, I noticed Minh floating out of Cain Hall. I glanced away and pretended I hadn’t seen him, hoping he would continue on without speaking to me but of course he came right up to me.

“It is a beautiful day,” he said, sitting down beside me. “I am glad I get to enjoy it.”

“I was just trying to survive, okay?” I burst out. “I’m not some hero and most decent people would have done the same thing.”

“You don’t want to be thanked?” Minh asked, surprised.

“No, it’s just…weird, okay?”

“I imagine it was a difficult few days for you,” Minh said.

“It wasn’t that bad,” I admitted.

“Being left alone like that, with a building full of dead bodies, and the threat of being attacked, does not sound like an easy time.”

I shrugged, not sure what else to say. He was right, it was probably the worst few days I’d ever had, but also not that hard because nothing I did was all that difficult. It was just scary in a way I’d never experienced before.

“You may not see what you did as being all that remarkable, but let me assure you that few people in your situation would have acted as you did. You did what was natural to you, given the situation, and that is precisely what makes it remarkable. I think the most impressive thing about you is your humility in all of this.”

“Please stop,” I begged, feeling more and more uncomfortable with every moment.

Minh closed his mouth and fell silent. Rather than leaving, though, he pulled a small sandwich out and took a bite. We ate in silence, and when he finished his sandwich he finally left me alone.

“I imagine you’ll have a fair number of people coming up to thank you,” Harding said from behind me.

I jump with surprise, breaking the bench I was sitting on. It wasn’t ruined beyond usefulness but it certainly had a big crack in the metal supports and wobbled unsteadily under my weight.

“Sorry,” Harding added when I scowled at him. “Just thought I’d give you fair warning. There’s a lot of people who want to be thanking you right now but Director March has told them to wait and not rush you all at once. I wouldn’t be surprised if you got an award or a medal or something.”

“They do that here?” I asked.

“It’s what happens when you save dozens of lives,” Harding sighed. “If you want my advice, keep the humility but lose the denial. Accept that what you did was a good thing and that people will be grateful. Smile and nod and let them say thank you. Then focus back on controlling your strength. And seriously consider joining the Protection Force. They need supers like you.”

“What, supers who are tougher and stronger than anyone else, so I can be a big punching bag?”

“No,” Harding replied heavily, “supers who aren’t in it for the fame or glory. Supers who do it because it’s the right thing to do. There are supers with terrible powers and if they get to do whatever they want, with no consequences for themselves, then the world’s in trouble. Conventional law enforcement can’t hold them to account. Sometimes armies aren’t enough to contain them. That’s why the Protection Force is so important. Just think about it, okay? That’s all I ask. Really think about it.”

With that he got up and left me on the broken bench with an empty lunch tray. In the distance I saw a small group of administrators coming over to me. I forced myself to put on a smile. Harding was right about that, at least.