Superpowers by David J. Schwartz Page A

approach this," Mary Beth said.
    "Approach what?"
    "The group."
    "What group?"
    "The superhero group."
    "I didn't join any superhero group. Was there a meeting before this one?"
    "I guess we all just assumed—"
    "I didn't," Caroline said. "My first thought upon finding out you all had developed strange abilities was not, 'Oh goody, now we can all fight crime together.'"
    "What was it?" Charlie asked.
    Caroline wasn't going to get into that. Her first thought had been disappointment. She had been looking forward to a lifetime of quiet nighttime flights, the solitude and the quiet and the sensation of passing effortlessly through the air. Being found out was like being dragged back down to earth.
    "Who are we going to fight?" she asked. "Muggers? Young Republicans?"
    "Hey, I'm a Republican," Jack said.
    Caroline squinted at him. "You are?"
    "Let's put politics aside," Mary Beth said. "What are your objections to the superhero group?"
    "Do you want a list?"
    "Sure." Mary Beth turned to a clean page.
    "Fine. First, Madison doesn't need a superhero group due to its tragic shortage of supervillains. Second, if we dug up some supervillains we'd have to fight them, which I don't know how to do, and getting killed isn't on my list of summer plans. Third, Harriet just said it's illegal. Fourth, I already have a job, and school, and a social life. Fifth, I don't look good in spandex. Should I go on?"
    "Let's address those first," Mary Beth said. Numbered 1 through 5, she had written NEED, FIGHTING SKILLS, LEGALITY, SCHEDULING, and COSTUMING.
    "Are we going to be wearing spandex?" Charlie asked.
    "God, I hope not," said Harriet.
    "First," said Mary Beth. "Does Madison need a superhero group?" She underlined NEED twice. "Who'd like to start?"
    "There isn't much crime here," Harriet said. "There were maybe five murders last year."
    "How many mad scientists and giant monsters were there?" Caroline asked. "This isn't exactly a city under siege. What are we going to do, break up rings of bicycle thieves?"
    Mary Beth wrote down STOP BIKE THIEVES.
    "My dad's a cop," Harriet said, "and even as quiet as Madison generally is, there are still too many crimes for them to solve."
    "I don't think we're ready to start solving crimes," Jack said. "We're not detectives. We don't even know how all this started."
    "Did you do something to the beer?" Harriet asked.
    "What?" Jack looked genuinely shocked. "No. What could I have done?"
    "Why do you think this is happening?" Mary Beth asked.
    "I just told you, I don't know."
    "You're the scientist," Caroline said.
    "Yeah, well, I'm not sure science can explain this." Jack spread his hands. "What do you think happened?"
    "I don't care," Caroline said. "Don't you understand? I can fly. Why doesn't matter to me in the least. So I'm not convinced that the universe is telling us to put on costumes and start making fools of ourselves."
    "My only point was that I'm sure the police would appreciate any kind of help we could offer," Harriet said.
    "What does that mean?" Caroline asked. "They're going to give us honorary badges after they slap the cuffs on us for breaking the vigilante laws?"
    "I think we should help any way we can," Charlie said. "I know I wish I had."
    "What do you mean?" Mary Beth asked.
    "I mean Marsha Tanner," Charlie said. "The guy who killed her—the first day I went outside, I got inside his head. He was thinking about killing her then, and I didn't do anything about it. He looked normal, you know? Sometimes when I'm angry, I might think about hurting someone. But he meant it."
    "You didn't know," Harriet said.
    "I was the only one who did know," Charlie said. "That's my point. We can do this, and to me that's reason enough that we should. It's not about whether there's enough demand. It's about what's right."
    Mary Beth wrote MARSHA TANNER next to NEED.
    Caroline held back a sigh. They must all think she was horribly selfish, and possibly she was. If Harriet hadn't caught her floating in the