The Blower File: Part 2

I can simply wish I might refute you,

Wish my friend would,--by a word, a wink,--

Bid me stop that foolish mouth,--you brute you!

He keeps absent,--why, I cannot think. 

--Robert Browning, Fears and Scruples--

The Evangelical Political Action Center (EPAC) was a tall building of gleaming glass and metal, nestled in a large city in the south-eastern part of America. EPAC was not officially associated with either of the two primary American parties but was rather an independent organization aimed at convincing both parties to accept its demands. EPAC was involved in a myriad of diverse efforts aimed both at educating the public and affecting political action.

Adrian Coyn strode into a room on the top floor of the building and started pouring himself a cup of coffee. Adrian Coyn always strode into any room he entered. He was a tall man with a pointed chin which seemed like an arrow always thrusting forward. His hair was a dirty blond, cut short and styled in a way that was striking yet respectable. "Do you have that contraption working yet?"

"These things take time," answered Ian Lake, looking up from the computer where he was working. Ian was both slight and short of build and could easily have passed for a boy if he had wanted to, though he was well into his twenties. His hair was jet black and fell in curls over his forehead. He was wearing dark colored jeans and a Legend of Zelda t-shirt. "It's like coaxing a kid to eat their spinach--you've just got to go slow and steady."

Adrian sipped his coffee with a grim smile. "If my kid didn't want to eat their spinach, I'd find a more direct method than that." He put down his cup and struck one hand against the other, making a smacking sound.

Ian rolled his eyes. "Try that with a computer, and you may get yourself electrocuted."

Adrian picked up his coffee again. He was a preacher who had resigned from his work to throw himself full time into the mission of EPAC. He was on the board of directors and was one of the most vocal though not most important of its members. Ian, on the other hand, was not actually part of EPAC at all but worked as their IT troubleshooter. Theoretically, he was an independent IT contractor, but he only worked in the business part-time and he had found that keeping all EPAC's computers running took all of that time without taking on any other clients.

"You haven't been smacking these things, have you?" he asked after a momentary pause. "Because otherwise, I can't understand why they break down this much."

"And I can't understand why it takes you so long to fix them."

"Patience is a virtue best learned in front of a computer."

Adrian took another sip of his coffee and then spoke more seriously. "Patience is certainly something the world needs. And the trouble is they're never forced to learn it. Nobody is ever made to wait for anything."

"Unless they have dial-up."

Adrian ignored him. "It does really go back to what you were saying about raising children."

"What I was saying?" repeated Ian with an ironic smile.

Again Adrian ignored him. "Patience must be learned when a child. And if parents let their children do anything, how will they ever learn to have patience?"

"And if parents don't let their children do anything, how will they ever learn anything else?"

"Are you trying to make a joke, Ian?"

"Sorry. I may have let the spirit of logic get the best of me."

Adrian snorted. "You know that isn't what I mean. All I'm saying is that one or two good whacks across the seat of his pants will teach a boy more than years of the mushy, spineless child-rearing philosophies current today. You need something to knock a little respect and sense into them."

Ian was concentrating on the computer and didn't respond to this.

As Adrian was talking, two others had entered the room. One was Joshua Taylor, a layman who spoke and wrote extensively for EPAC. He was a middle-aged man, slightly fat and with thinning hair, who nevertheless always managed to look twenty years younger than he really was. The other was Jeremiah "Jerry" Cooper, a tall, red-haired man with eyes set too close together in his head--a Wesleyan educator from a school up north somewhere.

"Speaking of which," remarked Joshua casually, "is there any more news on Blower?"

Adrian shook his head. "No. It seems incredible, doesn't it? Incredible that a man like Blower would simply run away from such an accusation?"

Jerry glanced at him sharply, noting his tone. "You're not suggesting that he didn't run away--that something else happened to him--are you?"

"We can't ignore the possibility, can we? The Blower Hour was a show that a lot of people heard. Blower was something like a celebrity. And he was a man not afraid to stand up for what he believed. There are forces in the country that might resort to foul play to keep a man like that from testifying to the truth, from standing up for his rights."

"So you really think that Blower was really in the right?" asked Ian. He made a final tap on the computer and stood up himself. There wasn't anything more he could do on it for a few minutes.

Adrian frowned. "I know you like to kid, Ian, but surely you're not going to attack Blower for what he did."

"No. I'm just wondering if you're right to defend him."

"You don't think a father has the right to discipline his child? The Bible says--"

"I know what the Bible says," Ian interrupted. "Even if I'm not religious, I'm not ignorant. But there's still not a complete medical or police report on this incident."

Joshua was carrying his own cup of coffee from which he now took a sip and then commented: "But what authority do doctors or the police have to contradict the Bible?"

"I didn't mean that. I'm just saying that we don't actually know what Blower did. And I'm just surprised you're jumping on the bandwagon so quickly to support him when you don't know either."

Adrian set down his coffee. "We must always stand by those who do right."

"Well, let's not get carried away." Jerry also had a cup of coffee which he tapped with a spoon to emphasize his words. (Everyone at EPAC drank coffee.) "It is true that Boris Blower was more or less on our side politically. But I don't know that he made any religious professions, and his worldview was certainly not entirely Christian. Let's not canonize him just because the world has martyred him."

Adrian and Joshua looked at him doubtfully. This was a fairly common occurrence. Jerry had a habit of being contradictory and moreover, there was some question at EPAC as to whether, as a Wesleyan, he had any right to call himself an Evangelical in the first place.

After a slight pause, Adrian began again. "Even though we have made some slight progress politically, the government is far from completely friendly to Evangelical Values. And one of the main forces pushing for the things we believe was Boris Blower. Do you think we should turn on him just because the government has attacked him for doing what was, after all, what was his duty as a parent?"

"And if it wasn't?" Ian returned. "I mean, sure, I get that you believe a little spanking here and there is good for a kid. But isn't there a line you can cross where it isn't anymore?"

"So you believe all that nonsense churned out by the psychologists about how a child's self-esteem is fragile--that a child cannot bear any rebuke or correction but should instead by petted and praised regardless of his actions?"

Ian raised his eyebrows. "At what point in this conversation did I say that?" He walked back to the computer and checked it. The processing bar was still at ten percent, meaning it would be some time before he had any more he could do with it. "I never said a kid's self-esteem is fragile. I don't know anything about that. But a kid's body is pretty fragile. You would say it would be wrong if a father killed his child, wouldn't you?"

The other three men looked startled as if this were the last place they expected the conversation to go.

"Of course," exclaimed Joshua in a shocked, somewhat helpless voice.

"Surely you're not suggesting--" Adrian began.

"Have you ever seen a picture of Boris Blower? He looks like the kind of guy that could kill a man---to say nothing of a boy--with his bare hands if he wanted to."

Jerry smiled a little dryly. "If Blower had actually killed his son, the accusation would be murder, not child abuse."

"Well, suppose he almost did. The expression 'beat someone within an inch of their life' exists for a reason."

"But what you're talking about--that's just cruelty," exclaimed Joshua, still sounding somewhat helpless.

"So in other words, somewhere between a slap and murder there is a line which divides proper parental discipline from improper. Regardless of where you place that line, it does exist."

Adrian took another sip of coffee. "I don't think you quite get the point, Ian."

"I didn't know you had a point. And my point was that if that line exists, then before you eulogize Blower you might want to find out which side of the line he was standing on. That's all I'm saying."

Joshua frowned. "So you really think Blower was the kind of monster that would abuse a child? You really think he--er--did more than simply discipline his son?"

"I have no idea what Blower did or didn't do. But I'm not the one defending him, either."

"But what sort of grounds do you have for thinking he might have done something wrong?" Adrian pressed.

"Human nature. Isn't that what you were telling me yesterday? About how the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked? Or does that exclude political talk show hosts?"

"Certainly not, but this is not an issue of theology--"

"I thought everything was supposed to be."

Adrian sighed. "Whose side are you on, Ian?"

"I'm not on anyone's side and I really didn't mean to start an argument. I'm just a little surprised that you're all so confident in Blower's righteousness when you don't even know him--at least, I didn't think any of you knew him personally."

"And you think he was really in the wrong?"

"I don't think anything one way or another. But don't you think that ever happens? I mean, sure, Blower claimed to be in the right--but doesn't anyone ever covers up wrong-doing by claiming it's right? Don't you think anyone ever tried to excuse abuse as discipline?"

"Of course." Adrian threw this off quickly. "But it's not nearly so common as the opposite--as people trying to destroy discipline by calling it abuse."

Ian stood up and paced the room, coming to stop before the large window at one end.

Joshua spoke, staring into his coffee. "That's the reason for the breakdown of the morals of society. Parents not being allowed to lay a finger on their own children..."

"Certainly," Adrian agreed. "All this false fear of abuse is usually only a cover for moral cowardice. Kids are never taught to respect authority because they have everything their own way and never are corrected--never feel the sharp shock of pain which is God's chosen means of instruction."

The men were more talking to each other now and not paying as much attention to Ian, who still stood at the window, staring out at the cityscape beyond. And so neither men noticed the slight tensing of Ian's shoulders as they spoke or the fact that his fists seemed to clench momentarily with an involuntary movement.

He turned around abruptly, making a strange clicking noise with his tongue. He walked to the computer and nodded. "That thing is going to take all night to process," he commented, glancing back at Adrian. "There's nothing I can do 'til it finishes--so I'm going to head out now. I'll be back first thing in the morning to check on it. Try not to solve too many of the world's problems while I'm gone."

"Be sure you are here early," returned Adrian with a nod. "We need our tech in top-notch condition."

"I'll be here--unless something unforeseen comes up."

Ian strolled somewhat leisurely out of the room and down the immaculate, almost reflective hallway to the glass and metal elevator which took him down to the first floor. If his feet moved at a slightly unusually fast cadence as he walked from the elevator out of the building, it was not enough that anyone would notice. Usually, he rode the bus home from EPAC. But not today. Not after what had happened.

He walked quickly down a street beside EPAC. His feet had definitely increased in speed now, though still not so as to attract attention. Making a turn, he came into a somewhat narrow alley between two tall buildings beside EPAC. These buildings, as it happened, presented essentially blank walls to each other, so that while he stood between them, Ian was more-or-less out of anyone's line of vision. It was unlikely that anybody was in a position where they would see him or notice what he did next.

What he did next was to remove a small package from his pocket and shake it once. When he did, it began unfolding automatically, until it had taken the shape of an exoskeleton made of transparent plastic. Ian nodded and slipped into it. His finger quickly found one of the control rods and flipped it. As soon as he did, he vanished from sight.

Inside the safety of his exoskeleton and its invisibility shield, he rose swiftly until he reached the roof level of the building which stood behind EPAC. Gliding effortlessly through the air, he landed lightly on the roof, behind the shelter of a slight facade, and turned off the invisibility shield. "What are you guys doing here?" he asked, looking at the three figures--the three had sighted from the window while he had stood listening to Adrian and the others--Hooded Angel, Parkour (wearing a ski mask), and Greenshade (hidden in his shimmering green polytechnic armor).

"I'm glad you found us, Sky," remarked Hooded Angel, glancing up at him. "We were just planning on sending Greenshade over to look for you in his civilian identity, but we couldn't think of a plausible explanation for Kobe Time to show up at EPAC."

"Something big must be up. This is pretty far out of your territory, Hood."

"It's about Bone Crusher."

Sky sighed. "I was hoping it wouldn't be. I'm getting really tired of hearing about him."

"I'm afraid you won't be done any time soon. He's escaped from the Futureplex."

Sky raised his eyebrows in amazement. "Bone Crusher escaped from one of the Futureplex's containment cells? How is that even possible? I mean, those things are built to contain even people with super-powers, and Bone Crusher didn't have any powers. He was just a vigilante, not a superhero."

There was an awkward silence.

"What?"

Hooded Angel sighed. "It turns out that the Futureplex has been running experiments on him, trying to test something--"

"And they gave him super-powers?"

"It's worse than that."

"What could be worse than that?"

"They gave him access to the Heroic Ion."

"WHAAAAT!?" Sky would have stumbled backward if he hadn't been floating a few inches above the ground. "They did what?"

"I know how you feel, Sky. My reaction was the same. But the Futureplex has been dreaming for years of being able to create other people with the powers of Heroman--"

"And so they decided to give it to the most unstable and unpredictable hero they had?"

"Yes." Hooded Angel shrugged. "Look, I don't claim to understand why they did it. I don't understand half the things that go on around there. I'm inclined to think they figured if they were going to experiment on someone it might as well be him since it wouldn't have been a big loss to them if something happened to him."

"Though we can't forget the other possibility," added Greenshade, his voice seeming somehow deeper and more impersonal as it came through his armor. "The possibility that it was their experiments which made Bone Crusher become so unstable."

"Yeah, there is that. In any case, that doesn't matter. What does is that they did it and apparently it worked at least partly. They've kept it suppressed by filling his bloodstream with aspartame but they underestimated the amount they needed, and with the stress he was under, Bone Crusher was able to access the Heroic Ion and break out."

"Well, that's just lovely."

"So we're going to get him before something bad happens."

"This sounds like a great idea." Sky glanced up at Greenshade. "Do you agree he needs to be taken in? You didn't sound that sure earlier."

"Whether Bone Crusher was right or wrong in the original instance is no longer the point. Bone Crusher may have been in the right--but there is nothing quite as dangerous as a man who has been wronged while in the right."

Hooded Angel nodded. "You remember the Corporate Ninja, don't you, Sky?"

"Of course. I'm the one that tipped you off to that case."

"Well, he had a right to be anger and bitter if anyone ever did after the way he had been cheated. But before he was done with his private campaign of vengeance he had hurt far more innocent people than the corrupt businesses he targeted ever had."

Sky nodded. "I can see that. Anyway, right or wrong, having someone like Bone Crusher running around with that kind of power is a bad idea. What I don't get is what we're supposed to do against him. Don't take me wrong, Hood, but even without superpowers, Bone Crusher would have been more than a match for you. Boris was your equal in fighting skills and the tech in your suit wouldn't outbalance his sheer brute superiority."

"Yeah, that's why I've got Greenshade and why we need you. We can't out-muscle him, but maybe with stealth..."

"Maybe, though I can't see what I can do against him even if he can't see me. I suppose, if he just got the Heroic Ion recently, he's still not nearly as powerful as Heroman who was born with it." Hooded Angel and Greenshade nodded. "That still leaves one question--why didn't the Futureplex send Heroman after him instead of us?"

There was another moment of awkward silence.

Sky sighed. "Let me guess. Heroman doesn't know anything about this. He probably wouldn't approve of the Futureplex running tests with the Heroic Ion, especially not using a human as a guinea pig. But if they didn't trust Heroman with this secret, why did they trust us?"

"Actually, they didn't," Hooded Angel answered. "Weren't you wondering why Parkour is with us?"

The thought had crossed Sky's mind. But even though Parkour wasn't officially a vigilante, he and Hooded Angel had become pretty good friends and Sky knew they sometimes went on patrol together. Parkour was rather good at athletic things and not bad as a fighter. It was probably more interesting than hanging around the Futureplex. But now, he glanced at the boy, and as he did, a voice spoke from his earpiece--a breathless, feminine voice. "I told them."

Sky nodded. "I should have thought of that. Of course, not even the Futureplex can keep secrets from you, Yfi."

"She told Parkour and he told me," Hooded Angel explained. "That's when I organized this. The Futureplex is trying to come up with some course of action which will contain Bone Crusher without spilling all their secrets either to Heroman or to the government--but with a super-powered Bone Crusher out there somewhere, we don't have time to wait for them to come up with a plan." He shook out his cape nervously. "Yfi says they're a little concerned that he may try to kidnap his wife and son--though he wouldn't call it kidnapping. So I sent the Forester, Discus, and Silence to take them to somewhere safe. Time's Detective is along with them. If Bone Crusher's already been there, he may be able to track him down. Even aside from his powers, he's a good detective."

"It looks like you have most of our group from yesterday afternoon involved with this."

"Pretty much. I don't trust the Cavalier or Metal Kid on a mission like this and Dr. Genius wouldn't do anything without orders from the Futureplex. But I guess everyone else is involved."

"You do realize we may all get thrown into containment over this?"

"That's a risk we have to take."

"Well, I suppose EPAC could get someone else to fix their computers if I vanished. I'm in. But what's your plan?"

"I don't have much of one, because there's really no way of knowing where Bone Crusher is now. I was able to get Discus and the others organized quickly and hopefully they'll have rescued Mrs. Blower and Boris Jr. by now. But I needed to get you and Greenshade before we take him on--and you two are pretty hard to get a hold of."

"Well, I do actually have a life besides working for the Futureplex," Sky countered.

"Yeah, I know. So do I, though it's getting pretty neglected these days. Anyhow, now that we're together, we should head for McHenry City. Bone Crusher is most likely to show up either at his house or at his broadcasting studio. Otherwise, we really have no lead on where he might be."

"Makes sense. But that's quite a distance from here. I could fly there, but it would take a little bit of time. It would take even longer for Greenshade--and you and Parkour can't fly at all unless you want me to carry you in which case you've got another think coming."

"We have connections." Hood motioned back at an object which was so well camouflaged with the surrounding rooftop that Sky hadn't noticed it.

"A Futureplex coaster?"

"Yeah. Yfi was able to hack the controls for us. It'll be a little bit of a tight fit with all of us, but it can fly faster even than your exoskeleton, Sky--and time seems to be what we have the least of."

A few minutes later, the four of them were cramped inside the coaster. Greenshade had shed his armor which made it possible for all of them to fit inside the aircraft, though not comfortably.

"You do know these things are meant for solo flights, right?" asked Sky as they started out.

"Yeah, I know," answered Hooded Angel. "But we couldn't have taken a bigger craft without arousing attention. And fortunately all of us are pretty light, so it should carry us all without a problem." For a moment, they sat in silence as the small aircraft, programmed on autopilot by Yfi, sped through the sky towards their destination. Then Hooded Angel asked, "What did you mean by saying you'd heard enough about Bone Crusher?"

"Oh, I was just getting a little annoyed by this whole thing. You know, we spent most of yesterday afternoon talking about him--and then I got to EPAC today and they were all talking about him. They all seem convinced that he's a saint and a martyr."

"Bone Crusher?" repeated Hooded Angel incredulously.

"That's the problem and why I know it's not fair for me to be so annoyed with them. They don't know that Boris Blower is really Bone Crusher. I'm not even sure the government knows it yet, though Conners' men may have guessed it. So all the only side of his character they know is his public one--which I think is still kind of nasty, but it's not like Bone Crusher. So maybe they're not stupid to assume he's in the right, because they don't know his full character."

"And we'd better not make the same mistake," added Greenshade.

"What do you mean?"

"Assuming automatically that he was in the wrong just because we do know his full character."

"And what makes it really tough is that I doubt it was fully one or other. Because I do know both sides of his character pretty well. He was no saint, and I can't understand how anyone at EPAC could even listen to his radio show and think he was. But he wasn't a monster either and I really don't think he would deliberately be cruel to his own son. Even if he physically injured him, I doubt that was his real intention."

"That's what makes this particular issue so complicated," agreed Hooded Angel. "I don't think it's ever right for a parent to hit a child, but at least I can see the point of view of people like you, Greenshade. You would basically say that by not using physical punishment you are actually being cruel to a child, wouldn't you?"

"In essence, yes. I think the whole debate has gotten out of hand, of course. The Bible certainly teaches that corporal punishment is part of raising a child but that doesn't mean that just because you use corporal punishment you are necessarily raising a child right. The problem is that people use the word discipline as a euphemism for corporal punishment--but discipline is what really matters and corporal punishment is just one part of that."

"Yeah, I can understand that. And certainly, I have seen some kids that got into real big trouble because they lacked discipline--though that doesn't mean they lacked corporal punishment. But even from your standpoint, it's not easy to say where proper punishment ends and abuse begins, is it?"

"Not in the kind of technical language you'd put in a law book, no. I'm with Chesterton, though--I don't understand why we always assume that almost anybody will be wiser and kinder in raising a child than the parent himself."

"I've seen pretty bad examples of parents."

"And have you never seen bad examples of anyone else? We take children away from their parents and put them in the charge of the government..."

"And I don't trust the government to be always right if that's what you mean. And yes, I've seen kids treated pretty badly by foster families and even government agents--I've seen cases where a child was removed from their home because their parents abused them and then they were placed into a foster situation in which they were hurt far worse. But you've got to have some kind of standard."

"Yeah, and I really don't know how you set that." And then Greenshade actually flushed slightly. "And it's not like I'm a parent so I don't have any practical knowledge about it, except from my own childhood and I was a good kid most of the time and didn't get many spankings."

"Well, I did," remarked Parkour, rather unexpectedly.

"Really?" asked Sky, glancing at him. "Does it bother you?"

"No, not now. Sure hurt at the time, though. That's in the Bible too, isn't it? No punishment for the moment seems enjoyable..."

"Something like that," Greenshade assented.

"But no, it doesn't bother me. I mean, I turned out all right. I learned even when I was just a little kid to work hard and take responsibility. But then, I don't know how I would have turned out if my parents had just sent me to my room instead of spanking me, you know? I mean, people aren't like chemicals. You can't just run experiments on them to find out what works. And I really don't know--I don't know if I was ever a dad that I would spank my kids like my parents spanked me--not that, with the way things are, there's much danger of that."

Sky nodded. He knew that, even with everything that had happened, Parkour was still intensely loyal to Yfi, but that, wherever their relationship was headed before, it was going nowhere so long as she remained trapped in the digital world.

"I guess," remarked Sky, after there had been a few seconds of awkward silence, "it all goes back to our conversation from yesterday. Since the Bible teaches corporal punishment, it goes back to whether we believe the Bible or not."

Hooded Angel seemed a little impatient when he spoke. "Hey, I hate to break up this meeting of Theologians Anonymous but we're almost to our destination. Better prepare to get out."

"I can't really prepare to do anything while we're cramped in here--I can barely move," Sky pointed out.

"How are you doing with the flying, Yfi?" asked Parkour, speaking into the microphone on his earpiece.

"This is fun," Yfi exclaimed breathlessly. "I wished I'd tried this earlier. You want me to land on a rooftop?"

"That's where we usually do our best work," agreed Hooded Angel.

"All right. We're coming in for a landing."

An instant later, there was a slight jolt, which signaled that the craft had landed. As quickly as they could, the four men untangled themselves from the machine and climbed out. Yfi had landed them at the top of some kind of abandoned building in one of the less pleasant parts of town. (Not that any part of McHenry City was especially pleasant.) "Not as likely to be spotted here," Sky commented. "And the coaster is camouflaged. So what's our plan of action now, Hood?"

"I still haven't heard anything from Discus, so evidently their mission went off without trouble. In which case, our best bet will be to head towards the Blower Broadcasting Building."

Sky nodded and pulled out his exoskeleton. "Do you want me to scout on out ahead?"

"Maybe a little, but we'd better all stay together if we can--until we find something definite. We can't use our communicators without alerting the Futureplex to the fact that we're out here. And if we use our cellphones, we take the risk of someone else hacking us.”

"Check, then. I'll stay in the general area." Sky nodded. By this time he had unfolded his exoskeleton and climbed inside. Now, with the flip of a switch, he had turned on the invisibility shield and floated a few feet above the top of the roof. He noted that Greenshade had also summoned his armor and was gliding alongside Hooded Angel and Parkour as they made their way along in more conventional means. Sky's exoskeleton gave him considerably more speed than Greenshade's armor, though less maneuverability and no protection at all. Other than his invisibility, he was a sitting duck, while Greenshade's armor protected him from nearly all kinds of attacks.

Sky rose a few feet and floated forward so that he got a more comprehensive view of the territory. His work had brought him here to McHenry City before, though not to this particular part of it. But the exact location didn't make much difference to Sky. His job was to observe, and he could do that anywhere.

He made a complete circuit of the area and then flew to the side of Hooded Angel. "Thought you might want to know," he commented, becoming visible. "There appears to be a mugging going on at 2 o'clock."

Hooded Angel swore. "We can't afford an interruption, but we'd better interfere. What's the distance, Sky?"

"In an alley just over the edge of this rooftop."

"Check." Hooded Angel took a running leap and vaulted over the edge of the building. The fibers of his costume expanded as he did, via the special Futureplex technology woven into it. The fibers temporarily became buoyant, breaking his fall, even as his cape stiffened out and attached to his costume, allowing him to glide somewhat as he descended. The expanded fibers also made him look considerably bigger than he really was. Parkour followed him down. They were descending into a narrow ally, so Parkour was able to break his fall by jumping from one wall to the other downward. He landed on an air conditioner unit about halfway down, did a backward summersault of it, twirled once around a projecting spike some way below and then dropped the rest of the way to the ground. Greenshade simple dropped down. Sky remained where he was. He could see perfectly well from there and that was his job--to see things. Very seldom did he actually get personally involved with any problems. Anyway, in this case, there was no need for him to do anything. There were three of the would-be muggers. Nothing remarkable about them. They had clearly been relying on their superior numbers and weapons to aid in the robbery of the somewhat ordinary young man who was their intended victim. The sight of Hooded Angel swooping down on them from the sky was enough to startle two of them into dropping their guns. Hood landed on the third one, knocking the gun from his hand and also knocking him to the ground by the sheer force of his impact. Sky noted that the victim had suddenly vanished. That would be Greenshade's work. Using the speed and stealth of his armor he whisked the victim to safety, keeping him out of whatever fracas followed.

The fracas, as it happened, was very short. As with many criminals, these relied on intimidation and superior numbers. The intervention of a man like Hooded Angel who, even without the tech sown into his costume, was trained to be a better fighter than they would ever be, was more than they bargained for. Sky noted that Hooded Angel seemed to be relying only on his training and not on his technology. Other than being able to glide down into the ally in the first place, he didn't see him use his suit at all in the fight. Parkour's agility also placed him in a different class than the criminals, even though he was probably not as strong. But between the two of them, they took down the three punks even before Greenshade reappeared. It was only then that Sky floated down and joined them.

"Good work," he commented.

"Better contact the police and tell them we've caught these guys."

"I already had Yfi do that. She can get the message to them without tipping the Futureplex off to what we're doing."

"Right. Then let's get back to what we were doing before." Hooded Angel made a leap upwards, his costume expanding again as he did. At the same time, he fired something like a grappling hook out of a secret compartment in his glove. This gave him the force he needed to pull himself back up the rooftop. Parkour had to take a more roundabout route but he reached the roof only a second or two after. Greenshade and Sky both simply flew back up.

"All right," commented Hooded Angel, throwing his cape back, "let's hope that's the last of these interruptions."

"In this city, I wouldn't count on it," Sky returned. "I haven't worked here that much, but I do know that if you can go for five minutes without witnessing a crime of some kind, you're doing pretty good. When you come right down to it, I don't blame Bone Crusher for being a little crazy when he has to work in a place like this."

"Yeah, it is a pretty depressing," Hooded Angel agreed.

For a few moments they moved on in silence, and then Sky spoke again. "Look, Hood, there's something I've been wondering about."

"What?"

"You know it's my job to observe and so you know I don't mean this personally--but I'm curious about your methodology. Why do you always try to close personally with the criminals you're after? I mean, today, you could have easily captured those three punks without actually attacking them at all."

"It's possible. But it's risky. And I don't like to take those kinds of chances." Hooded Angel paused for a moment and then added, "But I guess it's a little more complicated than that. I'll have to admit, I do feel better when I can actually get up close and personal. It seems more satisfactory. Are you laughing, Sky?"

"Maybe a little. That just sounds so much like something Bone Crusher would say."

Hooded Angel frowned and looked annoyed.

"I wouldn't worry about it," Sky added. "Being in this town does that to everyone."

"It's not just the town," answered Hooded Angel shortly. And then he relaxed. "Sorry, Sky, I know you don't mean anything. And you know my methods are a whole lot less brutal than Bone Crusher's and I think you know my motivations are different. He actually got pleasure from hurting people or that's sure the way it seemed."

Sky shook his head. "I don't think I'd go that far but I suppose you're the psychologist around here. But I don't care about Bone Crusher. I'm curious about you now."

The group had paused momentarily while Hooded Angel spoke before, but now they moved on, going somewhat slowly as they tried to remain as inconspicuous as such a group could.

"It's one of the things they warn you against in the business." Hooded Angel broke silence abruptly.

"What?" asked Parkour, glancing at him.

"Trying to psychoanalyze yourself. It's the shortest way to the asylum. But I've been thinking a lot lately--and especially since yesterday--trying to figure out how I ever got into this business in the first place. Of course, you people, Greenshade, had a lot to do with giving me the idea--I think the Polytechnics directly or indirectly inspired most of us vigilantes and superheroes. And you know it was mostly because of all the problems I saw in my work as a counselor. But there was more to it than that. It actually goes back to when I was just a kid--just about nine or ten years old."

"When one dark night you were walking down a dark alley with your parents after seeing a movie--"

"No, that's not how it happened, Sky." Hooded Angel's voice had both amusement and annoyance.

"Well, it was worth a shot."

"It was something that happened one summer at the park which all us kids used as a playground. There was this one kid that started hanging around--he was probably a year older than the rest of us and--at least in my memory--it seems like he must have been pretty big for his age."

"And he liked to throw his weight around?" finished Greenshade. "In other words, he was a bully."

"Exactly. I guess it's common at that age."

Greenshade shook his head. "I don't think age has anything to do with it. It just takes on more subtle forms as you grow older."

"Well, you may be right. A lot of the stuff I deal with among adults isn't all that different, when you come right down to it. Anyway, at the time it was a big problem for us. I mean, in the grand scheme of life, maybe it wasn't all that important--it wasn't as if he was such a bully that we were actually in physical danger--but it sure seemed like a big problem at the time."

For a moment the conversation paused. They had reached a somewhat larger gap between buildings and Hooded Angel had to make a jump for it, using his cape as a glider again. Sky floated over, with Greenshade coming behind, carrying Parkour (even with his skills, it would have been hard to cross).

"And?" prompted Sky once they were on the next rooftop.

"And one day while we were at the park and this bully was knocking us around a little, another kid showed up. To this day, I don't know who he was. He was three or four years older than any of us, and considerably bigger even than the bully. He seemed a little upset and even angry--and he went up to the bully and asked him, in a kind of rough voice, what he was doing. I don't remember exactly how the bully answered him, but it was clear he was nervous--no, scared. And we all thought this was it. At last, there was someone who could take the bully on--someone who could stop him--someone who could make him hurt like he hurt us. And then--after he and the bully said one or two things, that stranger just sort of shrugged and then turned and walked away."

There was another long pause. Then Hooded Angel added, "Of course, sooner or later, it was all forgotten. You know how quickly things change when you're just a kid. But I've never really forgotten that day. If that other boy had just done something, he could have made the bully stop. And instead, he did nothing. And I think that's why I finally decided to become a vigilante and why I tend to get more involved in situations. I can't help remembering that strange boy and how if he had done something--if had just punched the bully in the nose, or something--he could have stopped him. And he didn't. What was it Burke said? 'All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.'" Hooded Angel stopped suddenly and glanced up sharply at Greenshade. "Look, I don't mind Sky laughing at me. I'm used to him. But I don't know that I'll take it from you--and I know you are sniggering there inside your armor."

"I'm not sniggering, exactly," said Greenshade, but there was clearly amusement in his voice.

"All right, out with it. What did I say wrong this time?"

"Well, I just think it's interesting. You're saying that this unknown older boy should have interfered to stop the bullying. If I'm understanding you right, it wouldn't have been enough if he'd just tried to talk him down or even tried talking to some adult about it--you wanted him to beat up the bully--to use his own weapon against him--because that would be the only language he would really understand. He would really feel the consequences of his actions then. And you try to do essentially the same thing in your work as a vigilante."

"Yeah."

"In other words, you believe that physical violence can teach people right and wrong if administered by a perfect stranger or somebody in a costume--but not if done by a parent, who is the one person who would be most likely to use it right."

Hooded Angel frowned for a moment and then actually laughed. "All right, you've got me on that one, Greenshade." And then he frowned again. "But that's the rub, isn't it? I suppose the reason I'm against corporal punishment is that I've seen it used badly more often then I've seen it used for anything that even you would call right. On the other hand, I have seen a lot of good done by superheroes and vigilantes, even when we have to use violent means. So you could use that for an argument to say that both corporal punishment of children and physical violence on adults are both right under certain circumstances. And you could just as easily use it for an argument for saying they're both wrong. Because, for everything I've just said, I'm still not always sure that what we do is right." He paused and looked thoughtful. "Yeah, as I said, when I was a kid, I wished that older kid would beat up the bully. But what if he had and then started bullying us himself? Sky teased me earlier about being like Bone Crusher and I snapped at you, Sky, because sometimes I'm afraid I am becoming like him. What if, in fighting monsters, we become monsters ourselves? Maybe physical violence is something nobody has a right to use, no matter how right it may seem."

Greenshade nodded. "I know the feeling. And yet that's not going to stop you from fighting Bone Crusher if it comes to that."

"No, it won't. Win or lose, we've got to try to stop him before he does something really bad. Because there are things in the world which must be stopped, and if we don't do something to stop them, they won't be stopped. And though physical violence may be a dangerous weapon (and certainly a weapon I wouldn't use against a little kid), it's the only weapon that will mean anything against a man like Bone Crusher--except now, maybe, aspartame and we don't have any way to get enough pure aspartame in time to do any good."

Sky had kept a close watch all around them while he listened and now he called out sharply. "Quick--down into this building."

To be continued...