The Invincibles by Michael McNichols

told Nightshadow he looked worse than he felt. However, Nightshadow had already begun locking all the pain away into a box deep inside his mind. That would hold off all his agony for now and allow him to function.
    “ You need medical help,” Hyperman said. “Don’t worry. I’m like a whole hospital. In fact, I’m like every hospital put together.”
    Nightshadow held up a hand. “First things first,” he gruffly said. “Did you find Pyro?”
    “ Yeah, they’re sending him to a hospital, then shipping him off to Havensgate Institute. How’d you know he survived?”
    “ His kind usually does.”
    Stretching, Nightshadow heard far too many old, worn joints crack. “I’m assuming you took care of the fires and kept all the bystanders safe until the city authorities got their emergency fire crews out there?” he asked.
    “ I did,” Hyperman answered. “There were no casualties. In fact, you were hurt far worse than anyone else.” He paused. “You know, you could have asked for help. I’d have heard you no matter where I was in the world.”
    “ We’re not always out on missions for the Invincibles together,” Nightshadow replied. “You have your work, and I have mine. If we can help each other out occasionally, that’s fine, but we can’t depend on each other always being available. We never know if you’re going to be somewhere in outer space or if I’m deep undercover and can’t resurface.”
    “ A fair point, I suppose.”
    “ Anyway, Cal, you obviously flew here for a reason, and it wasn’t Pyro.”
    Hearing his human name made Hyperman wince. A half-grin curled up the side of Nightshadow’s mouth. Even Hyperman needed to be reminded every once in a while that he had a regular life and bills to pay like everybody else, even if he didn’t like it much.
    “ Well, um, see, there’s this girl,” Hyperman said.
    “ A girl?” Nightshadow asked.
    “ Yeah, I like her, but this is the thing. She’s dating me as Cal, but she doesn’t know that I’m Hyperman. In fact, she doesn’t even like Hyperman!”
    “ Not everyone in the world adores you.”
    “ I know! But she’s against all of us! Every superhero and vigilante! I have to know why!”
    “ What makes you think there’s a specific reason?”
    “ Come on! We’ve been at this too long. Something had to have happened to her. A family member or friend might have been killed during a battle. Maybe no one was there to save them from a mugging or space invasion. It’s something like that. It has to be!”
    Nightshadow cradled his hands together. “So you want me to investigate her for you?” he asked.
    Hyperman nodded. “Just to see if something like that happened to her.”
    “ If there’s anything actually to this, what makes you think I’ll find something when you couldn’t?”
    “ You’re you.”
    Nightshadow sighed. “Okay,” he muttered. “I’ll see if I can make time for it, but I need a favor in return.”
    “ Name it,” Hyperman replied.
    Nightshadow spun around in his chair and hit the supercomputer’s wide built-in keyboard. The big window-sized screen brightened and showed a balding, gray-haired, frumpy little toad of a man. His personal information scrolled down to the side of his picture.
    “ Doc Lethe,” Hyperman said, standing over Nightshadow. They both bathed in the screen’s hazy glow. “It’s been, what? Nine years? He was a mad scientist type, right? Liked to play around with people’s memories?”
    Nightshadow nodded. “He turned in state’s evidence on the Razor Twins, and S.I.L.E.N.T. put him in their witness protection program.”
    “ We haven’t heard from him since,” Hyperman said. “Maybe he’s cleaned up his act.”
    “ Or maybe not,” Nightshadow replied. “I found some of his equipment down in the Death Reaper’s hole. I think the Reaper might have used it to alter those children somehow.”
    Hyperman’s voice grew quiet and distant. “Those poor kids. We really failed