My arms are stretched forward on a kitchen table in a small apartment. I can feel my costume behind me as it’s slung over the chair that I’m sitting on. My bare fingers are touching a glittering wedding band that’s rested in the direct center of the kitchen table. For something made of cold metal, I’m surprised by the relaxing warmth emanating from it. My body is finally starting to relax but I can feel some of the bruises starting to push their way through my skin.

The Veil is sitting across from me; his heavily gauze-wrapped fingers are also touching the ring. I remember how The Veil used to be a mystic villain until he reformed over two decades ago. Susan told me all kinds of things about him one time. He’s an immortal from the Dark Ages that has somehow continued to live despite having leprosy. To keep his body together from the disease, he wraps his entire body up in these mystical bandages. He tries to cover them up by wearing normal clothes over them. He always wears a duster hat, a black trench-coat, a dress shirt and dress pants. I never understood why he wore goggles over his eyes as well. He always reminds me of Steve Wells playing Andre Toulon in Puppet Master 2. The worst thing that Susan told me about The Veil is how much of a danger he is to other people. He keeps to himself mostly because his blood, even just a drop of it, releases demons of any kind. I think Susan told me once that the Tetra Brothers came from his spilled blood once. So he wears the mystical gauze bandages as both a protection for himself and to the world.

“So,” I ask to break the silence between the three of us. Susan and I had given The Veil a few moments to process everything, “What now?”

The Sky Fortress’ destruction is on the U.N.’s bill. They’ll have to form a new team at some point, as well. Susan explains in both my mind and The Veil’s. There’s no one left alive on the team except for Hightower and you, Zach.

“Tom is,” The Veil mutters in his thick, European accent. It’s unnerving, watching him talk. When he speaks, the gauze wrapping around his lips slides slightly to reveal his crusty lips. “But he deserves his prison. We may have to figure out a way to monitor him.”

“I’ve got that covered,” I tell him. I close my eyes for a moment and my vision takes me away from the séance. My powers understand that Tom would be a threat to humanity (the irony kills me) and that keeping an eye on him would be a good pre-emptive choice.

My vision opens up to reveal what’s left of the Sky Fortress’s conference room. Humanity Man is pacing back and forth with his arms folded behind him. He looks like a lion in its cage at a zoo, waiting for just the right time to pounce against the bars to scare the kids watching him.

“He’s not going anywhere,” I say when I open my eyes again. For someone that leads such a dangerous life, I’m impressed by the apartment that The Veil has managed to afford. He probably has riches galore saved up from his centuries of the immortal life.

“Then what about the team?” The Veil mutters, “You’re too new to speak for them. They never even got the chance to officially introduce you.”

And Hightower is in no condition to speak for anyone. What did the doctors tell you, Zach?

“He’s going to pull through but there’s no way they could reattach his eye, even if they could find it,” I explain, “Plus, he’s on so many pain killers and sedatives right now that he probably doesn’t even know what happened.”

“I visited The Armadillo in the hospital.” The Veil says. “He’s a coma. The doctor’s have no way of telling for how long. I think they’re calling in a veterinarian in the hope that it helps.”

“I can’t believe he survived being electrocuted.” I say, still stunned after watching his “death”.

We all underestimated him, Zach. Susan says in our minds. Just like Tom underestimated you.

“Explain to me again what Tom’s reasoning was?” The Veil mutters. I notice that he has not once referred to Susan’s ex-husband as Humanity Man. I don’t think I have it in me to ever call him by that name ever again, either.

His heightened senses had driven him mad. He heard everything and anything in the city. Susan explained. I think that he was part of a plot to do something to get rid of either the population of St. Mignola or Integrity City. Maybe both.

“I bet it had something to do with whatever Doc Crimson had investigated,” I speak up, “The Armadillo said something about Red Brick smuggling some kind of ordinance into Estonia.”

The Veil grumbles to himself. My powers tell me that I have no business looking past his goggles to see what his eyes are doing with his thought process. “Estonia is where Lord Powerhouse is apparently stowed up. He’s got some kind of diplomatic immunity from the government, so we can’t touch him.”

Would you want to? Susan’s voice asks into both our minds. Even Tom was afraid of Powerhouse. He told me how the last time the Shatterpack tried taking on him; he threw a mountain at them.

“Oh, come on!” I slap my hands on the table and rush to my feet. My chair kicks over, sending my costume to the floor. “That can’t be true!” As soon as my fingers take away from the wedding band, Susan’s presence leaves my mind.

The Veil looks up at me and taps one of his fingers on the ring. “You want to come join us again?” His tone reminds me of my grandfather. He’s the wise but stern type that wouldn’t put up with disrespect.

I pick the chair and my costume off the floor and sit back down. I stretch my arms back to the ring and the tips of my fingers touch it.

Zach, after seeing what you did today, I don’t think there’s any such possible limit for people with superpowers. Susan’s voice is calming to my mind as her presence returns.

The three of us are interrupted when Alaya comes rushing into the kitchen. Neither The Veil nor I have had the heart to tell her about Susan yet. We’re not sure how to break it to a five year old girl that daddy killed mommy. Oh, but mommy is still here, in the ring that daddy killed her with.

“Zach, you’re on TV!” Alaya shouts and runs back into the living room.

I look over at The Veil, who nods and climbs out of his chair. For someone who has a debilitating, immortal disease and wrapped in mystical gauze bandages, he’s pretty spry. I pick up Susan’s ring and hold it tight in my hand. It almost feels like Susan is giving me a hug to try cheering me up. I wish I could say it helped.

I hear Tadpole, the mutant frog newscaster, before I see her on the television. Her voice sounds hoarse, but that’s from the natural ribbiting sound in her throat. I look on the television and see the words “Sky Fortress Destroyed, Shatterpack in Disarray” along the bottom of the screen. There’s a little “Live” text in the top corner of the screen.

“If you’re just tuning in now, our top story is that several members of the Shatterpack have been killed by a mystery SPEC,” Tadpole explains, holding up a clipboard. I bite my tongue at the mention of the word SPEC. “Police say that the apparent SPEC, who called himself The Altruist, is the top suspect in the investigation.”

“What?” I drop to my knees in anguish. Susan remains silent in my head. The Veil has his arms crossed and watching the TV intently. Alaya comes from behind and wraps her arms around me. I press a hand against her arm, looking for comfort.

“Eye witnesses say that moments after two members of the Shatterpack, Roadblock and Hightower, crashed into the streets of St. Mignola, that The Altruist flew down to observe his work. Some workers on the scene said that he may have been acting like a hero to cover up his tracks.”

While Tadpole is explaining this, the image on the screen changes to a camera shot somewhere amongst the crowd from earlier today. I watch myself on the screen as I touch down nearby and rush toward the scene where I found what was left of Roadblock.

“There was an apparent shower of what reports say to be ceramic tiles. Experts say that the origin of the tiles may have come from the Shatterpack’s Sky Fortress, but an investigation is still on going.” Tadpole continues, “Reports from people on the scene say that the Fortress was seemingly destroyed by the mystery SPEC shortly after he disappeared inside the Shatterpack’s headquarters.”

“This is…I mean, that isn’t what…” Words are coming out of my mouth but I don’t think they’re making any sense.

The Veil looks over at me. “This isn’t much of a surprise, Zach.” He mutters, “Think about it. When did anyone ever see Tom do any of this? Everything he did was out of the limelight.”

“But,” I was on the verge of tears. All this hard work, all these new powers and now I’m wanted by the police? “But the bar! I mean, there were people in the Vodka Room.”

“Tom was under the bar, holding it in the air. You were seen inside by the people. They were where when you were fighting in the main room?”

I lowered my head in shame, “Hiding in the coat check room.”

Alaya hugged me tighter. I could feel Susan hugging both of us. I wondered if Alaya could sense her mother or if she was trying to be extra supportive for me. Being silent and supporting must run in the family. Good thing Alaya is more like her mother.

The images on the TV continued while I heard Tadpole continue to roast me with police reports and eye witnesses. The image on the TV showed me flying back up towards the Sky Fortress. The camera pans up, watching me fly into the clouds. Soon after, the Sky Fortress begins plummeting out of the clouds and towards the streets of St. Mignola. The camera picks up a small red speck, which would be me, floating just below the Fortress as it slows to a stop. The people in the streets are heard screaming. I had no idea how close I had cut it. I was too busy trying to save the Fortress and worry about Susan.

“I should turn myself in,” I say, starting to stand up. I scoop up Alaya in my arms. She wraps her arms around my neck and hugs me tightly.

“Not a good idea,” The Veil says. “You’re one of the most powerful and probably best hero that we’ve got in the city right now. We can’t waste time with litigation and the like.”

“Then what do I do? I can’t be a hero and a wanted criminal!” I shake my head in frustration. “Nobody outside of the Shatterpack knows of my secret identity, but I can’t go out in public as The Altruist!”

There’s silence in the room. Alaya is holding onto me tightly. Susan’s presence is warm in my hand as I hold onto the wedding band tightly. The Veil is now sitting on the couch with his hands folded in front of him, leaning forward.

Finally, Alaya pushes away from her hug and looks me in the eye, “You could be Daddy.”

I could hear The Veil grumble almost in an Armadillo manner. I could feel Susan’s spirit give the look of an annoyed raised eyebrow.

“No,” I shake my head again, “I can’t be a bad guy. The world is bad enough as it is and my powers won’t work in that---”

“No, silly!” Alaya giggles at me, “Like this!”

She puts her hand on my chest. It’s warm to the touch and feels much like Susan’s presence in wedding band held in my hand. A small, golden glow emanates from the five-year-old girl’s hand.

Since I became more powerful, I felt more in tune with my powers. When Alaya’s hand touches my chest, my powers feel like a dog ears’ perked, listening and paying attention. It’s like Alaya is having a conversation directly with my powers.

I look down at my t-shirt and see reality bending it, changing my clothes to something else. Something in my powers is telling them that I have to continue doing good for the people; that I’ve always been the one to watch out of the little people; seeing the good in people; in how to be humane.

I look at Alaya’s face. Her eyes are glowing a slight, gold tint. I feel my muscles expanding, similar to the feeling when I tried to lift the entire Vodka Room building. But this time, it feels different. It feels like this change is only temporary.

I look down at my shirt again and see a symbol beginning to form. It looks very similar to Leonardo Divinci’s The Virtruvian Man. Only the man in the symbol is forming an “H” instead of the usual X-formation. The shoulder area of my shirt gurgles and bubbles as a long, flowing cape droops down to my ankles. I look again and see that the costume is, indeed, the costume of Humanity Man.

Alaya pulls her hand away for a moment, then lightly brushes my face with her glowing hand. I feel the muscles and bones in my face begin to gurgle as well. My teeth chatter in that same way when I first step out of the shower. Alaya runs her glowing hand through my hair and I feel it changing, growing longer to about shoulder length. I see some of it out of the corner of my eye and watch my brown hair turn to blonde.

“There!” Alaya shakes her hand free of the glow. It flies off of her like sparkles and disappear into the air. I calmly set her down on the ground. She takes her little hand and grabs my by the wrist, pulling me towards one of the large mirrors in the apartment.

I can’t help but drop my jaw at the sight in front of me. It’s not the fact that I’m wearing the costume of Humanity Man. It’s that I look just like Humanity Man. More importantly, I look exactly like Susan’s ex-husband; the same man that I have entombed under a field in Alberta. My muscles and general body structure is about twice my normal size. The only difference is that I can feel the same powers, my powers, in my body. It’s all pure looks and appearances. It’s smoke and mirrors. But my powers are telling me that it’s all just temporary. Something tells me that I have to test them out.

I close my eyes and concentrate on my powers again. I tell them that I still need to lead an ordinary life. I feel my entire body on fire this time, because the process is nowhere near as natural or painless as Alaya managed to make it. I open my eyes again and see myself, Zach McKie, standing in front of the mirror again.

“Kind of suiting, really,” The Veil says, appearing behind me in the mirror. “The people are going to wonder where Humanity Man went in all of this confusion. You’ll probably have to come up with some kind of cover story.”

And really, the title suits you more than it ever suited Tom. Susan’s voice speaks into my mind.

“I don’t know, guys. This is…I mean, I can’t…”

Someone has to, Zach. Susan tells me. Go on, I’ll bet the city needs to see Humanity Man patrolling the city right about now.

“You can work on clearing the name of The Altruist some other time, Zach.” The Veil says, putting a gauze-wrapped hand on my shoulder.

I sigh, close my eyes to concentrate and use my powers to shape change back into Tom’s form again. This really is not how I expected my superhero career to turn into. But Tom was right. Now I’ve become a martyr to his cause. The Altruist has to stay buried for a long time. So does Tom. But I guess Humanity Man still has a chance.

I kneel down in front of Alaya and give her a hug. She squeezes back and I can hear her giggling to herself, proud of her work.

“Thank you,” I tell her, “But there’s something that I think you need to hear.”

“It’s about Mommy, isn’t it?” her optimistic smile turns to a serious expression. She sheds no tears, though. It’s like she expected something like this to happen from day one. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be the child of a superhero.

“Yes, but…well, I don’t know how to explain it,” I hold open my hand and show her the wedding band. I thought it was odd that she never asked a single question about The Veil and I having a séance at the kitchen table with it.

Alaya looks at it with a quizzical raised eyebrow, just like her mother. She reaches for it several times but then pulls back and continues to stare at it. Finally, she plucks it out of my hand and holds it up in front of her face. She smiles. Her eyes are wide with wonderment.

“Hi Mommy,” she nearly whispers, then runs to her room with the wedding band. Looks like there’s going to be a long talk between them.

The Veil walks with me to the window and opens it for me. I had never met the man before but knew so much about him from Susan. It was Susan that helped turn The Veil away from villainy. Funny enough, it was as a child, very close to Alaya’s age.

“What about Alaya?” I ask The Veil.

“She’ll be okay, I promise. Susan left Alaya’s custody in my name should anything happen to either her or Tom.” He sighs, raises his hands to his face and pushes his goggles up so they rest on his forehead. He looks me directly in the eye and I can see tears forming along his crusty eyelids. “I hate this. I hate that all this happened; to the Shatterpack, to Susan, to Alaya, to Tom and even you. None of you deserved this. You all started just wanting to save the world and look what your reward is.”

He dabs a bandaged finger along each of his eyes to soak up the tears. “I was the best man at their wedding, you know. I can’t count the number of times that the three of us teamed up against something. Hell, sometimes it was something of my own blood’s doing.”

“I’ve just met you, Veil, and I can’t think of anyone that I admire more,” I stick a large, gloved open hand out towards him. It’s still surreal to see the same hands sticking out that were also around my throat not too long ago.

“Coming from you, that means a lot.” The Veil takes my hand and shakes it, “It helps a little to see Tom the way he was meant to be again.”

“Look, I have to be honest.” I say, taking my hand back. “I don’t feel comfortable about doing this. It doesn’t feel right to lie to the public like this.”

The Veil puts a hand on my shoulder and slowly guides me towards the window. I plant a foot up on the window ledge, preparing to take flight into the sky.

“Then you’ll know that something’s wrong the moment that you no longer feel comfortable with it, now won’t you?” The Veil smiles. It’s a warm smile, despite the sight of several rotten teeth.

Without another word, I dive out the window and the new Humanity Man takes flight into the skies of St. Mignola.