The Invincibles by Michael McNichols Page B

might simply wake up and his powers might be too much for him, and they’d destroy the planet. His parents might come to Earth for their son and want to raze the whole planet for not falling down and worshipping them. His race might have all-powerful enemies who eventually track him down and put all of humanity in the crossfire. There were too many “what-if’s,” so Nightshadow kept an eye on Cal and every other super-being who might prove to be trouble, whether they wanted to be or not.
     
    ***
     
    Stiffly, Nightshadow meandered over to his supercomputer and sat down before it. He hit the keyboard and went through Doc Lethe’s background information again. While he was reading, Hyperman reappeared next to him, abruptly enough to give anybody else in the world a heart attack. Nightshadow, however, calmly sat back in his chair. He had grown used to Hyperman flashing in and out of rooms in the blink of an eye years ago.
    “ Well?” he asked.
    Hyperman pursed his lips. “It bothers you, doesn’t it? Needing me to do this for you? You like doing the legwork yourself. You like doing things the hard way.”
    “ I like being thorough.”
    “ Well, I found him over in Dawnson. He’s at home watching the Food Network. Before you ask, I scanned his entire house. I didn’t see anything incriminating or suspicious. I’d have questioned him myself, but he was just this old frail man. I’d have felt like a bully.”
    “ I’ll take that into consideration when I interrogate him.”
    Nightshadow pressed a button on his supercomputer console. Off to the side, a vault door cracked open and a spare wing-suit on a hook with a utility belt slid down.
    Hyperman sighed. “Of course, you want to go right now, despite all your injuries.”
    “ My investigation can’t wait,” Nightshadow replied. “None of them ever can.”
    “ Fine, but I want to go with.”
    “ Very well. You can be the good cop.”
    Suddenly, Hyperman squinted his eyes and perked up his ears.
    “ What?” Nightshadow asked.
    “ Puerto Rico is sinking into the ocean!” Hyperman answered.
    “ The Subterraneans?”
    “ Sounds like them.”
    “ Go. They need you.”
    “ What about you?”
    “ Drop me off. I’ll be fine.”
    “ Fine, but be careful and keep your cool. I didn’t get much of a sinister vibe off him. Remember, I can see auras. Yours is still kind of murky by the way, but his was pretty clean. Lethe might really have turned over a new leaf in his old age. Maybe he only erased all his tracks because he wants to be left alone.”
    “ The Death Reaper had his tech, Cal. I have to know why.”
     
    ***
     
    One brief stomach-sickening, world-spinning whirl later, Hyperman set Nightshadow down onto a hotel rooftop and whooshed back off into the cloudy black sky. Nightshadow took a moment to reorient himself.
    A small city splayed out before him. Three bridges spanned the sparkling, night-blackened Ohio River into Dawnson, Kentucky. A few skyscrapers packed into the downtown area. Smaller, art deco-designed buildings spread out from there across the sloping, forest-strewn streets. Switching his mask’s lens to binocular vision, Nightshadow glanced a few doors down to Doc Lethe’s green-shingled house. Trimmed bushes surrounded the property, and a black gravel driveway slumped down onto the main road. Lights haloed out of the living room and second floor windows.
    Spreading his suit’s wings, Nightshadow took to the wind, gliding down to the backyard and landing softly on the cobblestone patio. The motion detector light flashed on, and several dogs in neighboring yards barked. A tightly knotted bag of garbage spilled over near the door. Unconcerned, Nightshadow stepped over the trash bag, tried the back door, and found it open.
    The kitchen featured new appliances and an off-white tiled floor. All across the house, small bookshelves clung to the walls. Tasteful furniture and art livened up the dusty, dreary old place. In the living room, a