“After what he did to me? No. The fact that he inadvertently put you at risk also means that he has waived any decent thoughts I might have had about him.” Handshake rubbed at his stubble-covered cheeks with his uninjured hand. “It might make him want to come back at me if he learns, but I figure we’re antagonistic enough at this point.”

“Okay?” Emily tried. She scooted over to one of the wooden benches lining the edge of the gazebo and sat down. A moment later, Teddy hopped backward and plopped herself down next to her.

“Right,” Handshake said. “Melanie, want to sit down too?” he asked.

The now-named Melanie shot him a glare, but stomped over to a bench halfway across from Emily’s own, a spot that forced Handshake to turn ninety degrees to be able to face both of them.

“Thanks. So, Homie. Twenty-seven years old, male. Dropout from the local college. Gained his powers on Power Day last year while in his final year in the engineering program. Went from a nobody to . . . honestly, he’s still a nobody. It’s a minor miracle that he hasn’t been locked up yet, but his rap sheet is pretty pathetic.”

“He’s a Villain?” Emily asked.

“He started with Dealer as a morality. Technically Gray, but as dark as Gray gets,” Handshake said. “He’s still around there now. His gang, the Try Hards, are a joke, on purpose.”

“What do you mean ‘on purpose’?” Teddy asked the question in the back of Emily’s mind.

“They recruit from disillusioned college students, mostly well-off sorts who came in with a lot of mommy and daddy’s money and no idea how to take care of themselves. They want to feel and look tough, and the Try Hards give them an opportunity to do that.”

Melanie scoffed. “Their worst crimes on most days are things like painting shitty graffiti on walls and loitering. Sometimes there are noise complaints when they listen to music too loud. To be fair, it’s shit music.”

“They deal drugs, too,” Handshake said.

Melanie’s brows bunched together. “Hard?”

He shook his head in denial. “No. Soft stuff. Weed and a few party drugs. Legally gray.”

Emily wondered what that meant. She knew that drugs like alcohol and marijuana were pretty dangerous but not illegal, and she knew there were worse drugs out there. If they weren’t selling the really illegal stuff, then were they really doing something gray?

“They’re directionless kids following some jumped-up idiot with powers,” Melanie said.

“You’d think that,” Handshake said, “but there’s a method to their madness. This is the part that most people don’t know. The Try Hards gang, if you even want to call it that, is part of a bigger group. One led by a Criminal who goes by the name Cement.”