“Hey boss, you wanted to see me?” he said, walking in the room.
“Yeah, Trent, just wanted to say you’ve done an excellent job keeping Walter busy these last few days.”
“It’s not that hard, really. He's a sucker for helping people. You don’t always need a crime to get him to show up.”
“Whatever you’re doing is working. I haven’t seen him yet, and things are going quite well, which brings me to why I wanted to see you.”
“What’s up?”
“I’ve had a pretty good run, and we have quite a bit that needs laundered. I trust you’re up to it?”
“Sure, how much you talking about?”
“I haven’t added it up, but probably eight figures.”
Salazar whistled. “You’re kidding me.”
“No, with Walter busy here and the new abilities our friend has given me, I can hit several a night without any fear of being caught. I’ve been spotted a few times, but nobody can catch me.”
“What’s it like?”
“Like any other heist, just without the anxiety.”
“No, the other part, the abilities.”
“Like nothing you can imagine. I can’t even explain it. The flying alone is amazing. Way better than the dreams.”
“Where do I start?”
“The cash is on the pallets at the end of the room there. I know it will take some time, so just be careful. Don’t try to move too fast and raise any red flags.”
“Good deal, boss. I’ll put the clean cash on the other end.”
“That will work, Trent. You may go now.”
“Come in,” Larry Wilkins said in answer to the knock on his door.
Walter walked in and plopped down heavily.
“Easy on the chairs, buddy,” Wilkins said, “What’s up?”
“You’ve seen the reports about another powered individual around lately?”
“Yeah, who hasn’t?”
“Well, this puts me in a bit of a quandary. I think the increased crime around here is a distraction to keep me away from her.”
“What makes you think that?”
“I met the dude responsible for me being like this. He thinks someone else like him is around here and did the same thing to this woman to keep me occupied for some reason.”
“That is certainly interesting. What could this other person be up to that he would want you out of the way?”
“That’s the thing. We’re not sure, but I have no idea how to proceed. Do I go after this other person, and let things slide here, or do I keep up what I’ve been doing and let her keep getting away with what she’s doing?”
“What do you think?”
“That's the rub. Some of the things happening around here, innocent people have been in harm’s way, but she’s just out there robbing a boat load of money. My heart wants to protect people, but the other part of me wants to stop her. Either way, there’s a bigger picture here. If what Mike said is true, there’s maybe something larger at stake here and whatever I do, it’s exactly what the bad guy wants.”
“Hold on a sec, before you lose me. Who’s Mike, and who’s the bad guy?”
“Mike is the guy who zapped me. He’s…not from around here. And Mike isn’t his real name. You’d never be able to pronounce his real name.”
“He’s a foreigner?”
“Uh…not exactly. He’s from a little farther away than that.”
“You mean he’s…”
“Yeah, space and everything.”
“Now I’ve heard everything.”
“Yeah, now you can see what’s got me up in the air.”
“Well, I wish I had an easy answer for you, but I really don’t. It’s not like we have a lot of history with superheroes around these parts. Speaking as a cop, anything you can do to help is appreciated. You’ll just have to use your best judgment on that one and help out where you think you can do the most good. It would be handy if there were more of you around.”
“I see where you’re coming from. Just wanted to give you a heads up. There’s an increase in crime lately and I think it’s her doing. Might want to alert everyone around here.”
“I don’t see any harm in doing that. If you come across anything else, just let me know.”
“Will do. Catch you later.”
Franklin had just poured the beat up eggs into the skillet when the doorbell rang. He checked the video feed on the laptop, saw Kendra standing on the porch, and ran to open the door, running back into the kitchen.
“What’s the hurry, dude? Can’t even greet me properly?”
“Don’t want to give you burned eggs.”
“Well, I don’t suppose that would be too good. I thought we would go out for breakfast.”
“Walter’s been teaching me to cook. I can manage simple stuff. Have a seat.”
Kendra sat down at the table just in time for Franklin to remove the skillet from the stove and ladle a pile of scrambled eggs onto her plate. A minute later he lifted the lid on the Foreman grill proclaimed the bacon done and brought it to the table.
“Whatcha drinking? Got juice, milk, and maybe coffee. Walter drinks a ton of coffee, but I don’t care for it much.”
“Juice will be fine, thank you.”
Franklin came back to the table with two glasses of juice and started on his eggs.
“Man, these aren’t bad,” Kendra said between bites, “You surprise me.”
“Surprise…why?”
“Don’t know. Didn’t figure you for a cook.”
“Like I said, Walter’s been showing me basic stuff. I think I got a hang of eggs. Pretty simple really. Just move ‘em around until all the gooey stuff is gone.”
“My dad likes them with gooey stuff.”
“That’s gross.”
“I’m with you there. Where’s Walter, anyway?” She looked around. “Come to think of it, where’s Mike?”
“Walter went to the police station and Mike…I don’t know where he went. Just said he’d be back in a bit.”
“What do you make of Mike?”
“Seems like an okay dude, why?”
“I don’t know. Something seems off.”
“Of course. He’s an alien.”
“No, not just that. I don’t know. Woman’s intuition maybe…or maybe I’m just paranoid. Just seems weird.”
“What makes you think that way?”
“I don’t know. A lot of little things. You don’t think he’s awfully vague about a lot of things? The bit about the politics of his
