THE INCREDIBLE VOID

THE INCREDIBLE VOID

     “Let me get this straight,” the mayor said. “There is a being out there that can suck all of reality into it and leave everything an empty void.”

     “You kind of have it right,” Atomic Lad said.

     

     Atomic Man gave him a look that said, “Shut up, kid. This is the mayor you’re talking to. Have some respect.” But Atomic Man kept quiet and allowed Atomic Lad to continue.

     

     “So basically, The Incredible Void, I came up with that name, by the way, sweeps into your town and turns its gaze on whatever it wants to eat and before you know it, City Hall, for instance, is gone. There’s no sucking going on.”

     

     Atomic Lad put his arms behind his head and reclined in his chair with a self-satisfied smile on his face. He had just educated the mayor on how to properly use the English language. He looked over at Atomic Man, who wore a very disapproving scowl. So what if he was smarter than his mentor? The only thing that kept Atomic Lad from moving out of the mansion was, duh, it was a mansion. Atomic Lad would have gladly gone out on his own long ago (he was twenty-six, for goodness sake) if the fact that he wasn’t being paid to be a full-time superhero meant that he couldn’t get a mansion of his own. Living in a mansion helped him score with the ladies and he just wasn’t willing to give that up in order to get a day job or strike out on his own.

     

     “So what are you prepared to do to protect Sandy Heights?” the mayor asked. “What can any of us do?”

     

     “We have a plan, Madame Mayor,” Atomic Man assured her.

     

     “May I ask what it entails?” the mayor asked, scratching her nose. She stared a hole through Atomic Man’s mask, trying to figure out his secret identity even as he started to talk. He was clearly good-looking, with well-chiseled features and six-pack abs.

     

     “Well,” Atomic Man started to say. The fact was he had no plan. He had just said that there was a plan because that’s what superheroes do. They have plans to help take down the evil that comes to town. They do their best to reassure the public and especially city officials. Damn it, he thought, why don’t we have a plan? Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Atomic Lad looking at him intently. The little shit was being a real nuisance today. All the way over to the mayor’s office, he nitpicked their battle with Soft Serve, the ice cream-throwing clown, from the other night. Then he rubbed the mayor’s beautiful nose in the fact that she used the word suck. And now Atomic Lad was mocking him, propping his chin up with a hand and looking like he was really interested in what Atomic Man had to say.

     

     The intercom buzzed. The mayor hit a button and said, “Yes, Wanda?”

     

     “I have the governor on the line,” Wanda, the mayor’s secretary, said.

     

     The mayor excused herself and picked up the phone. “Yes, Governor Hall. Yes. Yes. I have Atomic Man and Atomic Lad here. Yes. Hang on one moment.” She punched a button and then set the handset back into the cradle. “Go ahead, sir.”

     

     The governor’s voice came over the speaker. “Atomic Man, how much time do you think we have before this thing makes its appearance? I have the National Guard on their way to Sandy Heights now. But I fear that they might be too late.”

     

     Atomic Lad was pissed. How dare the governor not include him in this conversation? The mayor had told him he was here. Atomic Man didn’t have a plan, had no idea when The Incredible Void was going to pop up. The truth was no one did. But he knew that good ol’ Atomic Man was about to pretend that he was prepared to kick some cosmic ass.

     

     “There is no telling when The Incredible Void might appear, Mr. Governor, sir,” Atomic Man said. “However, myself and Atomic Lad stand at the ready, ever vigilant to dispatch any threat to Sandy Heights. After all, this is our home.”

     

     Rah, rah, Atomic Lad thought with an eye roll.

     

     “Glad to hear it, Atomic Man,” the governor said. “We will do everything to assist you. Good luck to you.”

     

     The governor hung up.

     

     “What now?” the mayor said. She picked up a pencil and held it poised over a sheet of paper. She looked from Atomic Man to Atomic Lad and back again.

     

     “Now,” Atomic Man said, “we wait.”