The Hero Beat by Nick Svolos

Author:Nick Svolos [Svolos, Nick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Nick Svolos
Published: 2016-04-23T04:00:00+00:00

XI

As the cabbie drove through the night, I began to process what we’d learned from Gale’s trophy room. I couldn’t shake the uncanny resemblance between the faces of Major Justice and Ultiman in that photo. They could have been twins, but separated by two generations. It’s not unknown for the descendants of a super to also have powers, but it’s pretty rare. Usually, the random mutation to the human DNA reverses itself when mixed with someone else’s DNA, even if the other person is also a super. It’s a big part of why supers never became a dominating force in humanity. It’s like a counter-evolutionary process that prevents itself from being passed on.

Of course, that’s not the only way to get powers, just the most common. There were a few supers who got their powers from ancient artifacts, arcane curses, industrial mishaps and there were even a few rare normals who were talented, rich and crazy enough to put together a power suit or a set of gadgets to gain access to the Life. Something like that could be passed down through the generations. It’s just that such things are even more uncommon than the already extremely rare “naturals”.

While it was possible, I didn’t think Ultiman was one of those. The mutations that give most naturally-occurring supers their powers usually results in them having ridiculously impressive physiques. I couldn’t imagine a magic amulet that would give a guy six-pack abs like Ultiman’s.

All this conjecture was getting me nowhere. I decided to remedy my lack of knowledge about Major Justice. I turned on my phone and did a quick search. At the top of the results was a SuperPedia.com article. The site is notorious for its lack of accuracy. They don’t have any editors to speak of, and as a result, most entries are filled with wild theories about secret identities, known associates, and other esoteric and untrustworthy guesswork. Sometimes, however, there’s some truth out there. I pulled up the article and started reading. Along with the usual stuff, Major Justice’s history and a listing of his accomplishments, both verified and merely alluded to, the article had a listing of the Major’s known powers; flight, strength and invulnerability.

I found this interesting. Those were same powers Ultiman possessed. This was odd, because as rare as it was to have powers in the same family, I had never heard of the exact same set of powers being passed down through the generations. It would be like winning the lottery twice, with the exact same numbers each time. Could they be the same guy? This felt like a bit of a leap, but the best science we have precludes the passing on of powers from parent to child. It was more likely that they were the same person. Enhanced longevity or even immortality as a result of mutation has long been theorized. After all, Methuselah is said to have lived almost one thousand years, with several other Biblical figures reaching their nine-hundredth year before passing.

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