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Welcome to Olympus City, where super-powers, physics-defying tech, and unearthly creatures are all possible now. Human nature, however, remains unchanged.
No one is born a perfect superhero, but a few strive to live up to the ideal anyway.
Previously: A powerful being is claiming to be an alien with ideas for improving the world, but he wants to kill Alyssa because of what she may have learned telepathically.
Part 4
Alyssa had much to tell Ken, but these were not the best circumstances for discussion.
They swerved through the air as heat beams cut past them, melting the corners of rooftops. Ken hugged Alyssa tight with one arm, fortifying his grip telekinetically, and he flung his free hand toward their attacker. Benevos’s head jerked back, sending the next beam shooting straight up. For additional distraction, Alyssa inflicted a parting mental blast.
Ken dropped them into an alley and touched down beside a door. He was pretty sure it connected to a vacant storefront. Once Alyssa confirmed that nobody was on the other side, Ken unlocked it telekinetically. Alyssa rushed in, then stopped upon realizing Ken wasn’t entering.
“You too,” she said.
“No. Stay here. I’ll keep him occupied.”
“But—”
“I can’t match his speed. He’s got it in for you, and I don’t know if I can—” He shook his head, not daring to speak the words. “I’ll lure him away.”
The door slammed shut as Ken leapt into the air. Alyssa’s fury ignited, then died out just as swiftly. Ken had a point. Benevos was done giving her any benefit of the doubt. He knew that she knew, and for this crime of knowledge, he’d rip her apart.
But she wasn’t going to just wait. She reached her mind out in search of the three-armed man, hoping to learn what he had done with Miranda.
Anger flashed into her mind—from right outside. The door bent, broke off its hinges, and crashed onto the floor. Benevos floated over the crumpled metal, wearing a malicious smile.
“You hear it in my head, don’t you? What I’m about to do to you?”
Alyssa did. In his mind, she saw three blue hands ripping her apart, impaling her, smashing her. She heard how much it amused Benevos for her to see this. His amusement was the only thing sparing her, and once it expired, so would her life.
“Sure do, Ernest,” she said.
Nostrils flared. Human nostrils. Mutated, sure, but underneath they remained the nostrils of a human, a guy named Ernest Milford who had never stepped foot on another planet.
“It’s not polite to crawl around people’s brains.” Ernest’s antennae glowed. “There’s no place for that in this or any world.”
Alyssa searched for options and found only one: a mental blast. It wouldn’t take him down fast enough, but at least she’d resist him until the end.
Here we go …
Before she could strike, something yanked Ernest backward and slammed him against a brick wall. Ken waved his arms and sent Ernest flying out of the alley and crashing into a mailbox. While the three-armed man was getting his bearings, Ken flooded him with crushing pressure, squeezing him from all directions, pressing him within an invisible cocoon. Ken tensed and strained, jaw clenched. Unyielding determination magnified his telekinetic might. This Benevos jerk wasn’t hurting Alyssa, not on his watch.
Even so, Ernest pushed against the force, managing a slow-motion step toward the inconvenient caped man, then another, more than willing to rip Ken apart before doing the same to Alyssa. Any scruples he previously possessed had long since withered into impotence.
Alyssa hustled to Ken’s side and unleashed a potent mental blast. Ernest tottered under the combined assault. But still he pressed forward, antennae charging up, the smile resurfacing, all fifteen fingers closing in on their prey. Sweat dripped from Ken’s chin.
A BOOM! echoed across the blue sky, and the sidewalk cracked as Miranda slammed down directly in front of Ernest. Rising from her knee, panting, she shot a look of icy steel at the three-armed man, stopping him cold. Flares of genuine alarm shot off from his brain.
“Wipe … that smile … off your face.”
She punched him so hard that he flew into a van parked along the opposite sidewalk, imprinting a crater into its side. As Ernest pulled himself out, Ken telekinetically poked his eyes, blinding him long enough for Miranda to land a few more high-speed punches. Psionic bolts further discombobulated him while telekinesis hindered his movements and super-strength continued to assail him.
“Out of my head!” Ernest roared, flailing against the three-pronged assault.
He held out for a while, and he even got in some good hits along the way. He was formidable, no doubt, and could easily have defeated any one of them. But not all three at once. He was, after all, only human.
Miranda smashed her fist against that blue face, and a bloody tooth went flying down the street. Crimson flecks dotted the pavement.
Ernest collapsed and passed out. Alyssa, Miranda, and Ken were all close to collapsing themselves, but they remained on their feet, panting.
“Not an alien,” Alyssa said, shuffling toward them. “Software engineer. A typo in some code triggered an unusual effect. Gave him powers and mutated him. Thought he could scare the world straight with the threat of invasion, of aliens even stronger than he is.” She paused to finish catching her breath. “There never were any aliens.”
Relief radiated from their minds.
“Thank you both,” Miranda said. “I couldn’t have—”
Ken shook his head. “None of us could have.”
Miranda gazed down at their defeated foe, trying not to think about the chilly void of space. Her thoughts turned sunnier as she smiled at Alyssa.
“I like the new mask, but something’s missing. Please hold.”
Miranda disappeared in a blur. Alyssa had heard only a snippet of her intentions, and that snippet was enticing indeed. She turned to Ken, who shrugged, having no answers. A second later, Miranda handed her a jewelry box.
Alyssa opened it. Inside was a watch, an old-school analogue wristwatch.
“Is this …?”
“Carey tells me it works just like the old one,” Miranda said.
Alyssa strapped it around her wrist and pulled it tight. A sense of wholeness returned to the arm.
“Thank you.”
I’m sorry it took me so long, Miranda thought, fully intending Alyssa to hear.
Ken smiled. “Welcome back.”
People were emerging from hiding. Alyssa could have vanished in an instant; that option had returned to her. She reached toward the watch, eager to test it out, but then dropped her arm to her side, realizing she preferred to stick around for now.
Police and reporters flocked to the scene. The police went straight to the three-armed man and clamped restraints around him—the strongest, most state-of-the-art restraints available, complete with a gas mask that pumped a sedative into his nose and mouth.
The reporters had questions about the potential alien invasion. Miranda quickly put their minds at ease, relaying what Alyssa had uncovered.
“So, to be perfectly clear, there’s no invasion on the way and never was,” Miranda concluded. “I was up there and didn’t see a single alien vessel. That part was a hoax, plain and simple.”
Miranda spoke loudly enough for onlookers to overhear. Most were relieved to hear it, though there was some disappointment in the mix. A small percentage would have preferred letting aliens guide life on Earth, believing extraterrestrial rule wouldn’t be any worse than human rule. And a subset of that group resented the superheroes for stopping Benevos’s plan, even if it was based on a lie.
Miranda, too, was disappointed. She didn’t want to admit it, least of all to herself, but a group of advanced, benevolent aliens would have taken so much pressure off of her. For a brief, shameful moment, she had allowed herself to hope that Dame Disaster might be someone else’s problem.
The reporters’ attention converged on Alyssa, who was now second-guessing her decision to stay put. They all wanted to be the first to obtain the confirmation.
A young man with aggressive hair gel won the race. “Who is this? A new superhero?”
Miranda locked eyes with Alyssa. You in?
Looks like it, Alyssa thought back.
A smile spread across Miranda’s face, utterly organic and genuine. “Yes, but not entirely new. You may have heard rumors about the Silver Stranger months ago. Well, here she is—as a new member of the Terrific Trio, at long last.”
The crowd burst into applause and cheers, and Alyssa decided sticking around was the right call.
There was only one drawback: Aside from Miranda and Ken, no one was thinking about Fantastic Man. The public had evidently given up on his ever returning. They had worked through any denial and were ready to move on.
I need to show you something in the Hall, Alyssa thought into Miranda’s mind.
Go on ahead if you want.
The faintest smile curled across Alyssa’s face. She cast her mind out, selecting a destination, then turned the crown and vanished from the street. An instant later, she appeared in Terrific Hall, arriving in a cloud of mist that swiftly dissipated.
Yeah, I’m in.
*****
Before heading over to Terrific Hall, Miranda needed to conduct some secret identity maintenance. She switched back into civilian clothes and caught up with Charlotte on the sidewalk.
“There you are!” Miranda said. “I’m so sorry. It was just chaos around here.”
Charlotte frowned in a way that immediately made Miranda uncomfortable. She spoke in a low, discreet tone, hardly more audible than if she had mouthed the words.
“You’re Ultra Woman, aren’t you?”
In Three Weeks: No Time at All
The next story will launch in three weeks, because two weeks from now I’ll be participating in this year’s Midnight Vault event, in which numerous Substack authors will be publishing short stories inspired by The Twilight Zone. We’ll each send from our respective publications on Monday, November 24, at 12:01 a.m. Pacific Time.
My story is called “The Spinner Rack.” Subscribers will receive it on 11/24, and then Terrific will resume the following Sunday.
In the meantime, check out The Midnight Vault for more information about the event.
Thank you for reading!
Loved the conclusion - it felt like a good episode of Justice League Unlimited! 😄
Charlotte knows!!! 😱