The Invincibles (8 page)

“
Is that enough though?” Hyperman wailed away with his hammer on a pack of snapping Cerberus dogs. “Just fighting crime and fixing things when they go wrong? Do we have to just sit around and wait for the next madman to strike?”

“
There’s enough of them always around that we never actually just sit around, do we?” The Whorl vibrated up through a giant troll and shredded him to pieces.

“
You know what I mean,” Hyperman said, grabbing the Whorl’s hammer and using that and the one he had to bludgeon the remaining trolls and Cerberus dogs. When the hammers broke, he used his fists. “Couldn’t we be more proactive? I mean, with all our power, couldn’t we be creating a utopia where no one’s ever hungry or sick?”

The Whorl helped finish off the trolls and Cerberus dogs, whipping back and forth to add momentum and impact to the thousands of punches he threw every second. “You ever think that not even all the super-powers in the world put together could actually pull that off?” he asked.

“
Shouldn’t we at least try?” Hyperman said.

“
We play our parts in society just like cops and firemen and scientists and politicians and all the rest do. Some of us have more than one part, but we do what we can. All of us, I mean, whether we’re superheroes or Joe Schmos, do our own thing. Altogether, we’re slowly building a utopia, or the closest we can come to one.”

“
Maybe those of us with powers should be held to a higher standard. I mean…we’re…kind of…gods. Aren’t we? Doesn’t a lot of responsibility come with that?”

“
Gods?” The Whorl laughed. “Well, the stuff we do, the world-saving and villain-wrangling is the stuff of myths, but we’ve both been to the past. We know that Zeus and Thor and Osiris were all really just superheroes like us, but they didn’t create the sun, and moon, and stars. They didn’t try to run the world either. People thought they did, but packing more power than most doesn’t mean you know better than anyone else. Us superheroes all do our best, same as everyone. No matter how well we do, we’re going to be gods or devils or whatever the hell else to someone, but we can’t worry about that, not when people need us.”

“
THEY NEED ME!” a voice shrieked. The street tore open, and a man levitated up. His face exactly matched all those of the poor people trapped inside those amber statues. A black cape floated around his slim, gawky body and bald, wrinkled head. Puffy, olive-colored skin sagged down from his face. He caressed a flickering, rainbow-glowing orb he wore chained around his neck. “They need their Black Rainbow!” he shouted in a swishy Peruvian accent. “I will be their god and recreate them in my own image to make a better, more perfect world!”

“
Oh shut up,” Hyperman said and finger-flicked him. The blow knocked Black Rainbow through a storefront, but not before the Whorl snatched the orb away from him in mid-air. He smashed it down against the sidewalk. The smoky lights contained within the orb howled and glittered once freed and slowly dissipated up into the air. Soon after, the amber started to melt and dissolve.

***

Hyperman and the Whorl cleaned up and repaired the city. They bound Black Rainbow up in chains, but without his orb, he’d gone catatonic. Nonetheless, the Whorl insisted on carting him off to London so Liandra Dark could cast a spell and imprison him in an alternate dimension where his alchemy couldn’t hurt anyone.

He hoisted Black Rainbow up over his shoulder and, with Hyperman, stood upon Le Blanc Tower’s highest point, gazing down upon the revived city below. Traffic had already built back up, and people swirled and frolicked out on the sidewalks again.

The Whorl put a hand on Hyperman’s shoulder. “Just remember, if this girl likes you as Cal, then she likes you. Cal and Hyperman are the same person. And we are making a difference. Don’t doubt that. Even if we’re not off curing cancer and ending wars, we’re saving the people who will. What we do matters.”

Hyperman softly smiled. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

His ears perked up. He tilted his head and used his hyper-vision to see the next crisis unfolding.

“
There’s a disturbance in New Daedalus,” he told the Whorl. “You got this?”

“
Go! I’ll make sure the Black Rainbow doesn’t wake back up,” the Whorl responded and super-sped off at the precise same moment Hyperman did.

***

A gigantic monster lumbered through the thrashing coastal waters toward the New Daedalus docks. His massive shadow fell across the wharf, the boats cruising around the harbor, and all the dockside restaurants, shops, and condos. The Ferris wheel on the pier jarringly halted, nearly throwing a few couples from their cars. People stared up, screamed, and crashed their bikes, speedboats, and skateboards.

Heads repeatedly burst out of the monster’s lumpy, liquidy flesh and sank back down into it. Faces with shifting bestial features sneered, growled, and howled. Tumors blistered and leaked pus across its greenish-black skin. Misshapen arms with lobster-clawed hands and tendrils writhed. A bladed tail even dragged down behind the monster’s bulky, lopsided body, splashing through the ocean. The monster tromped its huge hoofed feet through the water, sending massive waves crashing against the docks. Suddenly, it paused. The hot midday sun sizzled down on its wet, shiny flesh. All of the monster’s heads peered up at once.

“
HYPERMAN!” its mouths garbled, whispered, moaned, and roared. Hyperman zoomed down out of the sky. The people below wildly cheered and rushed to safety, speeding their cars, boats, and bikes away. The monster’s many eyes widened and its mouths hissed open to spit spikes. Hyperman flashed by and deflected all of them back at the beast with a single swipe of his hand. In response, the monster whipped its tail up and down at the wharf, but Hyperman snagged and whipped it away, twisting and turning the creature around, causing it to stumble and fumble about. From there, Hyperman began rocketing punches into the creature’s faces, pushing it farther and farther back out into the ocean, away from the docks and civilians.

News helicopters and science squad hovercraft followed carefully behind, but Hyperman screamed over his shoulder, “KEEP BACK!” They knew to obey.

Hyperman bulleted out over the ocean and slammed both his fists into the creature’s chest. His strength and momentum sent it hurtling over the waves far out into the Atlantic. It landed with a colossal, hurricane-sized splash. Groaning and weeping, the monster struggled back up only to find Hyperman floating above him, his hands held up for peace.

“
Mutagen!” he said. “I know you’re in pain and don’t really know what you’re doing, but please listen! I can help! I’ve scanned your cellular structure! I can fix you!”

“
LIAR!” Mouths ripped open all across Mutagen’s body to join the others in scoffing. Bleeding, misshapen bat and butterfly wings burst out of its back and started flapping. Dripping wet, Mutagen took to the air, snapping its lobster claws and tendrils. His eyes burning supernova blue, Hyperman flew down and smashed into the monster.

***

Mutagen lay floating in the ocean’s depths, burned, bruised, and barely conscious. All its mouths gaped open and drooled. Hovering above, Hyperman stretched his neck. While he was still banged up, he’d never handled Mutagen this easily before. It used to always be a horrendous fight to the finish that left him with at least a concussion and maybe some broken ribs. Thankfully, his increasing hyper-powers had made him formidable enough to end the battle before it really got out of hand.

He swiftly grabbed Mutagen up by his tail and dragged him out into space toward Mars. Within the red planet’s confines, orange-brown dust choked the air, massive mountains dominated the distance, and wispy blue swallowed up the sky. The Quarry, S.I.L.E.N.T.’s Super-Being Prison, took up a wide, dirty canyon with its circular, silo-shaped buildings.

One of its several domes spiraled open and Hyperman dropped Mutagen off inside. Before leaving, Hyperman jetted down through the Quarry’s labs. At hyper-speed, he wrote out all the chemical equations S.I.L.E.N.T.’s scientists needed to start work on Mutagen’s cure on all the marker boards, notepads, walls, windows, and even the floors. He’d have to swing by and check in every now and then, but they should be more than able to get the ball rolling with what he’d given them so far.

After a simple hyper-scan of Mutagen, years and years of information had suddenly snapped into place for him, and he’d known how to help his monstrous, mutated foe. Before he’d only ever beaten Mutagen up, but now he was helping him actually become human again. He was helping him regain his life.

Flying back off into space, he felt jubilant. Better than he had in days. Not only was he becoming stronger, he seemed to be getting smarter over time too. In fact, that hyper-scan had shown him segments of Mutagen’s DNA that matched El Dorado’s. He recognized the work, having seen it multiple times before. On a hunch, he scanned the solar system, having glimpsed something earlier while flying to Mars.

Sure enough, he found satellite cameras orbiting around Neptune, Saturn, and Pluto, and even a couple more sailing about even farther out beyond the Milky Way. Their high-powered lenses twisted and aimed back toward Earth, still able to capture images across the solar system. At first glance, these satellites seemed to be monitoring other planets. One needed hyper-vision to see what their lenses were actually doing, how powerful they truly were, and how they had recorded Hyperman’s recent fights with both El Dorado and Mutagen.

Apparently, the satellite cameras were attempting to track Hyperman’s movements all throughout the solar system. The satellites had been placed so far out that he’d never have thought they were trying to record his movements all the way back on Earth. He’d probably flown past them numerous times, thinking they were only deep space probes and nothing more.

However, he moved far too fast for the cameras to be able to actually record anything he did, unless it was out in the open and public. Still, the cameras’ very existence and purpose angered him, especially since he knew the arrogant bastard who owned them. The satellites actually bore his company’s logo! He had left the logos on the satellites, not caring if Hyperman saw them. The arrogant bastard thought he was untouchable and was flaunting it.

As soon as Hyperman reached for a satellite camera, it began erasing all the data it had stored. It was too fast even for him. Doubtlessly, that information had already been transmitted off somewhere and stored. Hyperman super-sped over to each satellite camera, but met the same result every time, no matter how quick he was. Frustrated, he clenched his fists hard enough to turn coal into diamond. His eyes flashed hurtful nuclear blue, and the satellites all fell, streaking comet-like fire toward the nearest world. He blazed back across the Milky Way.

***

The heart of New Daedalus lay upon a small island off the East Coast, but the city spread onto the mainland and a few other isles, connected by long, sweeping bridges. Clean white skyscrapers thrust up to dizzying heights. Quaint, expensive homes lined the streets. Clover-shaped parks dotted the bustling landscape. Highways arced up and over each other, crisscrossing around through the city’s boroughs. Monorails swooped along beside them.

The city itself buzzed with a vibrant, electric spirit no other place could match. Hyperman felt it tingling against his invulnerable skin as he flew high above the skyline. He swept down to the glitzy green-glassed MorsWorld Building. One enormous office took up the entire top floor. Finding the balcony window open, he floated on in.

Soft, blue Persian rugs covered the marble floor. Busts of Alexander the Great, Plato, Julius Caesar, Nikola Tesla, and Leonardo Di Vinci sat mounted in displays along the glossy blue walls. “Break On Through (to the Other Side)” by the Doors softly played out of expensive speakers.

A circular desk anchored the middle of the room. Holographic display screens hovered all around the office with up-to-the-minute global news and stock market information flickering across them. Plaques, awards, and framed newspaper clippings all celebrating MorsWorld’s achievements hung everywhere. Even Hyperman had to admit the company had done a lot to help the world. MorsWorld had too many achievements to name, but the Mark Sixteen Monorail that ran on sound, the aspirin that cured hangovers, and the first-ever successful brain transplant were all going into the history books.

At the back of the office, humming softly to himself, Alexander Mors fixed himself a rum and coke. He turned casually around and blinked at the sight of Hyperman. “Ah, hello, Hyperman,” he placidly said. “I didn’t hear you come in.” He sipped his drink and gestured toward his mini-bar. “Care for anything?” he asked.

“
No, thank you,” Hyperman said, crossing his arms and glaring harshly. That look alone would terrify most villains into pissing themselves and fleeing. Mors, however, regarded it with a cool nod.