Doctor Troyd opened the door to his apartment in Los Angeles. It was quiet. He threw his keys on the table. Walked into the living room. And there he saw her.
There, on the couch, was his teenage daughter, still watching the news. He stood there. She was alive. She was okay.
She thought she heard something. She turned around and saw him. “Daddy!” she exclaimed, running up to him. She hugged him. “Daddy,” she signed, “Are you okay? I saw the news.”
He stopped her. “I can hear again,” he said.
“What?” she asked aloud, still signing. “…Really?”
He nodded. “He kept his promise.”
They hugged again. “I’m just glad you’re safe,” she said.
“Me too,” he replied, holding her tighter.
“I was so worried about you, Daddy.”
“I know. I’m sorry,” said the eccentric doctor. “You’re safe now. We’re both safe now.”
“So,” asked Charlie, looking at the pieces of Luke’s armored space suit on the floor, “think you’ll ever need this thing again?”
“You kidding?” asked Luke. “Simeon said the crystals can open up portals all over the galaxy! I can’t wait to go exploring!”
His uncle chuckled. “That’s my nephew.”
“But if you’re asking if I’ll ever need it to fight a super villain again… let’s hope not. But,” he said, “if I do, I’ll be glad to do it. I mean, I know you feel bad for dragging me into all this. And I know Mom and Dad wanted to keep me out of this world… But, I gotta say, it felt great being a super hero.”
“Some people are just born to do great things,” his uncle said.
“I mean, like, for the first time ever, I feel like my life finally makes sense. Like I belong. Like I finally know who I am. I mean, most of the time, I had no idea what I was doing. But it felt good trying to figure it out.”
“Wanna know a secret?” Uncle Charlie asked. “Most of us don’t know what we’re doing half the time. We’re just doing the best we can, with what we’ve got. And Luke, you did really good, with what you had.”
“Thanks Uncle.”
“You really believe you’ll get your powers back someday?”
“I hope so. I think so.” Luke held his glowing pink crystal in his hand. “But even if they never fix that pyramid on Sekhmet, chances are, there’s another pyramid out there somewhere. And if there is, I’m going to find it.”
Charlie nodded. “It’s a big universe out there. Anything’s possible.”
“We got lucky, you know,” said Luke.
“I know it feels that way.”
“No, seriously. That hacker guy, from London. If he hadn’t edited Mastermind’s video and uploaded it to all the news stations, it would’ve been a lot harder fighting Mastermind. We got the advantage when the cops and troops jumped in. They might’ve been fighting us instead of Mastermind, if it wasn’t for that video.”
“I suppose you’re right,” said Uncle Charlie. “I wonder who he was – or if we’ll ever hear from him again.”
Luke wondered that about all the original mutants, too. Would he ever see them again? Hopefully they wouldn’t cause much trouble, because Luke and Ray didn’t have their powers anymore. But Dawn still did. And Luke had his armored battle suit. That was a definite advantage. It was a start.
It was amazing how one bitter old janitor nearly destroyed and took over the world, with nothing more than an Astaria crystal. Maybe there was a reason these crystals were hidden and buried. Maybe there was a reason only five symbols were recorded on the Tablet of Ningishzida. Maybe there was a reason the aliens removed their special pyramids from Planet Earth a long time ago.
Maybe humans weren’t ready for such power.
But if any new would-be villains should rise again, Luke was ready. With or without powers, he’d be there. And he had a feeling Dawn and Ray would be ready too.
Hopefully that would never happen though. Hopefully the world would stay safe – or at least, manageable with normal means and powers. Not super powers. Because right now, he didn’t have any super powers. Okay, a super suit, yes, but he missed his ability to travel through time.
He really hoped he’d get that back one day.
He held the glowing pink crystal in his hand. Maybe one day could get here a lot sooner. “Uncle,” he asked, “are there any other pyramids you know about?”
Luke’s adventure was just beginning.
And his wasn’t the only one…
A little over a hundred miles away, in the middle of the Mojave Desert, Mastermind’s glowing crystal sat lodged in the dirt, half buried. The man’s torn clothes laid in the sand around it, a fading reminder of how close the Earth came to annihilation.
But just then, a bat mutant appeared.
Echo looked around, finding the portal closed and Mastermind gone. Then he noticed something in the sand. The crystal. He used to have one of these. Before Mastermind took control of his mind. Before he became a mutant.
He walked over to it.
The black mutant picked up that crystal and held it in his bat-like hand. He knew just how to use this…
The End
of the “Mastermind’s Mutants” Special Event Trilogy
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