by Adam Graham
Powerhouse chuckled. “Yes, I’ve acquired some knowledge.”
Delaney snapped his fingers. “I have it. You can be our new Vice-President for acquisitions and story editing.”
Him, in a white collar job? His true identity was a janitor, an unemployed one at that. Powerhouse coughed and pounded his chest. “I couldn’t be a Vice-President.”
Naomi squeezed his arm. “What would your duties be?”
Powerhouse shrugged. “I imagine I’d be helping to supervise writers, retooling comic books, and helping the company decide what comic books to buy, but I’d hate doing . . .” What was he saying? “I take that back, this is the second best job in the world, but I still can’t do it.” He turned back to the phone. “Sorry, I’ve got to be Powerhouse.”
“Oh, I don’t think this job would take too much time. They’d merely look at you for general guidance. You wouldn’t be writing the comic books.”
With my superpowers, I could read through drafts quickly. “One thing, what type of comics are you wanting?”
“Comic books like yours that will appeal to a mass audience.”
“The ones I would buy would follow Powerhouse’s code and be ones that parents wouldn’t mind their kids’ reading. Um, I’m not a preacher, but I am kinda religious.”
“All that matters to me is that you’re profitable.”
Naomi squeezed Dave’s arm and nodded.
Powerhouse grabbed a copy of his grandfather’s manuscript, The True Adventures of Major Speed. “I’ve already got an idea for one comic book.”
The Pharaoh sat in his underground lair. He wrinkled his nose, squeezed his eyes nearly shut, and turned away from the computer screen.
Dr. Fournier entered, whistling.
“Don’t be so disgustingly cheerful! The company that owns Powerhouse’s comic book was acquired and the new owners canned the CEO I was blackmailing. To top it all off, Powerhouse has been made a Vice-President in charge of acquisitions.”
Dr. Fournier waved a hand. “An operational detail of no concern to me.”
The Pharaoh growled. If only he could tell the resident mad scientist that crime was just a means to a cynical end for him. “Regardless, he must be eliminated.”
“It’s too bad. I have an almost perfect way to get rid of him.”
Farrow drummed his fingers. If only he was mad enough at Fournier to smoke despite the doc’s allergy. “Do tell.”
“Oh, I had a beautiful force field that would’ve crushed him.” Fournier jutted out a pouty lip. “If the Silvanos hadn’t bungled it.”
This might be at least interesting. Pharaoh chuckled. “Okay, how is it not your fault that your ‘beautiful’ invention didn’t work?”
“It did work! Marco insisted on letting Powerhouse go on some silly sense of honor, something about Powerhouse saving his life. Powerhouse came back in a robot that exceeded the maximum target size. I warned Marco’s dumb firstborn that trying to contain a target of that size would overload the generator, but he fired on the robot anyway. Sure enough, the generator exploded.”
“Did you throw away the plans for this device like the last one you built for me?”
“Of course not! Firstly, someone else destroyed the blueprints that you ripped off and dumped on my gotta-eat lap. Secondly, the force field generator was my own original design, and I’m an artist.” Fournier adjusted his dumb pink bowtie. “I have my design safely in my files. Could make it in two days.”
“Then that’s how we’ll get Powerhouse?”
“Sir, it won’t be quite as easy this time. He didn’t even know what it was before. If somebody came at him with it again, he could destroy it as soon as he saw it.”
“Not a problem.” Pharaoh leaned back in his chair, placed his hands behind his head, and smiled. “We’ll get someone he can’t see.”
“Sir?” Fournier asked, blinking.
“Come now, Doctor.” The Pharaoh turned on his computer and pulled up his MP3 list. “You’ve never heard of the Invisibility Master?”
“But he’s in the Super Max prison in Colorado.”
“For now.” The Pharaoh clicked the MP3 of the Thin Lizzy song “Jailbreak” and it played over his computer’s speakers. “We’ll get him out.” He turned off the music and dialed a number on his cell phone. “I’d like a delivery to my lair.”
Naomi sat on the bridge of her husband’s cloaked airship. The kids were in the passenger cabin. “Powerhouse, are you sure we should fly down to Disneyland in this?”
Powerhouse turned around from watching Toy Story 2 on the giant plasma TV screen on the side of the ship. “Would you rather we fly commercial?”
“No.” Naomi bit her lip. “I just worry this might be suspicious.”
“The odds of someone wanting proof that the four of us took a commercial flight here and paid all applicable fees are thin. Besides, we get decent food, a good in-flight movie, and no body cavity searches.”
Oh yeah, that was why she agreed to this. “Sorry, I’ll try and relax.”
The ship came to a stop.
“Hold on, I need to give last minute instructions to my replacement.” Powerhouse turned on the ship’s radio. “Hey. Are you in Seattle yet?”
A soft female voice came back. “I just flew in from New York.”
“Thanks for filling in for me. Remember, if there’s a terrorist attack on a sports stadium, get as many people safe before fighting the villains.”
“I know that, Powerhouse.”
“And try to lead all supervillains away from populated areas.”
“Ditto.”
“Well, make sure to go by Safeco Field at around ten. There’s some drug dealers that occasionally show up there.”
Her voice became annoyed. “I can handle it.”
“If you need any help, call LA and have a citywide alert placed out for me.”
“I won’t run into anything I can’t handle.”
“Well, take care.” Powerhouse reached for the ignition. “Oh and remember to visit Pastor Jones and see if she needs anything.”
“Okay, I officially feel like I’m babysitting a first-time parent’s newborn.”
Who was he talking to? Video screen, turn on.
The video screen lit up and displayed a vacant parking lot by the airport.
“Take care of my city.” Powerhouse said to the vacant lot.
“I will!” It replied with a girl’s voice.
Powerhouse turned off the radio. “I hope it’s there when I get back.”
“Who is your replacement? I didn’t even see her.”
Powerhouse removed his helmet and smiled. “As well you shouldn’t have. That is her most renowned superpower. “
“If you trust her to fill in for you, also trust that she’ll take care of everything.”
“But this is the first time I’ve left the city on a vacation. Successfully anyway.”
Naomi stiffened and narrowed her eyes, placing her hand on her hip. “Are you sure it’s not because she’s a woman?”
Powerhouse shook his head. “No, I’d be nervous leaving Captain France around, and I wouldn’t trust Half-brain with the city for more than twelve hours.”
“Powerhouse, Seattle was incorporated in 1869. It was around long before you were born and survived a lot when you weren’t there, so relax.”
“Fine, I will use my superhearing to tune out all newscasts. I won’t make any rescues unless there’s something going down right in front of me. Do you believe I’ll make this a real vacation?”
“I will on one condition. Take off that suit.”
“Consider it done.” Powerhouse morphed into Dave Johnson.
She wrapped her arms around him as they watched Woody and Buzz on the video screen and cruised through the sky in Zolgron’s airship.
The Pharaoh glanced over at his view screen. Lying down on the floor was a muscular man with long black hair who looked like he’d hit sixty home runs during the Steroid era. Pharaoh spok
e into a microphone. “Invisibility Master, wake up.”
The Invisibility Master stood and wiped his eyes with his crooked, overly long fingernails. “Where am I?”
“You’ve been kidnapped and replaced with a hologram.”
“I like your style.”
“I like my style, too.” The Pharaoh waved it aside. “I have a job for you.”
“That figures, but the job will still cost you ten million dollars.”
So much for gratitude. “I’ll give you a million, not a penny more.”
The Invisibility Master laughed. “You have no room to haggle. I’ve already factored in you springing me and given you a discount off my normal fee.”
Was this guy cocky or what? “You’re the one who is locked up somewhere he doesn’t know. I could snuff you out in an instant.”
“You’ve gone to a lot of trouble to get me, and there are plenty of guns-for-hire not located in the highest security prison in the world. Together, that means this job is important and one only I can do. If you’re willing to kill me, prove it.”
So much for his bluff. Pharaoh sighed. “Would it make a difference if I told you that you were to eliminate Powerhouse?”
“If I knew that upfront, I’d charge you twenty million. That’s a tough hombre.”
“In that case, you’re hired for ten million.”
“Now you’re talking my language.”
“Invisibility Master, while you are correct that we need you, it’d be foolish for you to push us too far. Are we clear on that?”
“Sure, not a problem. What’s the job?”
“Go to an empty stadium and fire random rockets. When Powerhouse comes, fire a force field generator at him and contract the force field around him until you kill him.”
Invisibility Master whistled. “Let me do it in a highly populated area where we’ll get some good body count, and I’ll do it for eight million.”
“What?” Farrow gasped to get air down his constricting pipes.
“If I do it your way, the only thing I’ll get to kill is Powerhouse. What I live for is the satisfaction of destroying the pathetic worms God insultingly made in his image.”
Terrific, a religious nut of the worst sort. In childhood, he’d probably been told by the superstitious adults in his life that he was possessed, and that belief had sent him over the edge. If my daughter’s future and that of the whole world didn’t depend on this, I’d put you right back behind bars where you so obviously belong. “Be a happy homicidal maniac on your own time. All we want is Powerhouse.”
The Invisibility Master scowled. “Party pooper. Make up your mind. Whose side are you on? Ours or the enemy’s?” He flinched and sighed. “You’re writing the check, so you call the shots. Now, show me to a lab so I can reconstruct my invisibility suit.”
The Pharaoh sat at his desk in his underground lair. Fournier entered carrying a bowl full of microwave popcorn. “Has the show started?”
“Not unless you count him firing his rocket in an empty stadium.”
“Oh good.” Fournier pulled up a chair and watched the monitor.
Their invisible psychopath’s voice cried out, “What was that? You think you can hide from me, Powerhouse?”
A soft female voice said, “Sorry, you get to deal with Miss Invisible.”
The Pharaoh cursed. Not her.
Fournier cocked his head. “Who’s Miss Invisible?”
“Invisible superhero from New York City. Played the part of a goody, goody Christian girl until she ran into Captain France and ‘fell from grace.’ Now that they’ve broken up, she’s ‘forgiven’ and hypocritically back to her old act.” Pharaoh said in the microphone, “Get out of there.”
The Invisibility Master’s voice said, “Sorry, doll. Another time.”
Miss Invisible’s voice said, “Are you afraid to fight a woman?”
The Invisibility Master’s voice bounced across the empty stadium. “Little girl, you’re lucky I don’t fight you.”
At least ‘little girl’ was what he’d pretend that sexist prick had said. Being that foul-mouthed to a woman was uncalled for, even if she was a hateful Christian hypocrite.
The female voice said, “I’m sure a cowardly, toothless dog like you could manage to talk me to death, if you put all of your tiny brain’s power into it.”
“I’ll show you!”
The Pharaoh grabbed his communicator. “Don’t mess with her. Get back here or I’ll cut your fee in half and confine you to quarters until Powerhouse is back.”
“You’re not the boss of me!” The Invisibility Master fired a rocket that screamed into the stadium seats.
Nice overkill in hand to hand combat.
The Invisibility Master grunted and spewed more curses even Mitch wouldn’t use.
The rocket launcher flew away. “Now, let’s see how you do without your toy.”
Disembodied combat noises came over the speakers for a horribly long time.
“This is like old time radio!” Fournier shoveled popcorn into his mouth.
Who appreciated that old stuff? Mitch sighed. Where was the old Dotted Line Girl from the cartoons he grew up with when she was needed?
“Over here, Dumbo.”
“Ah ha!” Invisibility Master’s voice said. “I have you now.”
“Not hardly. I’m a ventriloquist,” Miss Invisible said from somewhere else.
The Invisibility Master appeared with a bow staff shoved into the invisibility device on his chest and it shorted out as he fell.
“And I have you!” The bow staff pulled back into the darkness. A feminine gloved hand appeared out of nowhere and waved. “Come on, tough guy.”
He stood up and charged towards her hand.
It disappeared and he stumbled down the stadium steps. The camera followed.
I paid a million dollars in bribes for this?
A beautiful Asian woman appeared and put the bow staff to his head. She put a pair of handcuffs on him and spun the bowstaff. “This way, Visible Slave. I know a couple of U.S. Marshals who’d like to talk to you.”
Pharaoh slapped his face.
Fournier stood staring at the screen, mouth open.
“What are you looking at?” Pharaoh growled.
“I think I’m in love.”
Say what? “You’re a scientist! Love is a chemical reaction in response to physical stimuli. It came about for evolutionary purposes due to the members of the species who experienced it being the most likely to breed and pass on their genes.”
“Love may be meaningless and even painful in the big picture, but it is pleasant in the here and now nonetheless. I shall build a shrine to her.”
The Pharaoh smirked. “Will that replace the one to Counselor Troi?”
“She’ll understand since she’s an empath—hey, how’d you know about that?”
Seriously? The Pharaoh chortled and waved. “Lucky guess. Regardless, we’ve lost our chance to get Powerhouse from an invisible position.”
“That’s what you think.” Fournier puffed out his chest. “I put spyware on the lab equipment I lent the Invisibility Master. I collected enough data on his procedures to replicate his invisibility device.”
“Well played, Fournier.” Pharaoh clapped like he was at a golf tournament.
Fournier did a jig, waving his arms. “Who da man? Fournier! Fournier!”
Pharaoh grunted. White mad scientists so should not dance.
Powerhouse flew to the Seattle Airport. Miss Invisible stood outside the terminal wearing a black T-shirt and a pair of jeans. She held a Bible and a black carryon bag.
She looked up and waved. “Hey, Powerhouse. What’s up?”
“I just wanted to thank you for filling in for me.”
“It was a pleasure. Just got the FBI’s eighth most wanted fugitive, your old friend the Invisibility Master.”
Again? “Will that guy ever learn?”
“I guess not.”
Well, they had other business t
o discuss. Powerhouse cleared his throat. “Did you have time to think about my comic book offer?”
“Yeah.” She stared up at the sky, biting her lip. “I guess I’ll do it, but I want all the money to go to my foundation.”
Cool. “I think the business office can manage that. I’ll introduce you at next week’s Comic Convention in San Diego. It’ll be a big deal for Blue Cat.”
“All right. See you in a week, big guy.” She put her Bible in her carry-on bag and walked into the terminal.
Powerhouse rocketed away on his normal patrol route. Everything seemed pretty calm here. Maybe he’d go home early.
A force field slammed into him. He bounced into the other side of the bubble. Powerhouse cut his engines.
Someone had rebuilt the Silvanos’ device.
Pharaoh’s voice came from nowhere. “Powerhouse, prepare to die.”
Chapter 5
The Council of Peace
Powerhouse took a deep breath. Somehow he doubted the Pharaoh had any sense of honor. Facing an honorable villain or already being inside a huge robot were the only ways he knew how to thwart this death trap.
Another voice said, “Okay, you want me to go ahead and squash him?”
Powerhouse swallowed. No. He couldn’t die. His family needed him.
“Just a second.” The Pharaoh said to the underling on the ground as he sat in his underground lair with his mad scientist. He muted the mic and stared at Powerhouse on the computer monitor. He looked so much like the superheroes he’d loved as a kid, only Powerhouse was real.
And now I’m going to kill him.
Mitch swallowed. This wasn’t like with the Robolawyers where his enemy had a fair chance. This was crushing him into atom dust. He pulled out a picture of his daughter. For you, baby.
“Sir?” Fournier waved his right hand in front of Mitch’s eyes.
The Pharaoh turned the microphone on. “Begin the process. Powerhouse, this force field will contract until it destroys you in five minutes. I want to assure you that your death is for the best of the human race.”