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Quantum, Titan, Apex, Paragon…all the others. We fought alongside them for years. ”
    “I know, but—”
    Max interrupted him. “Do you think that if I knew something I’d just sit back and let it go? Would you? If some of your closest friends suddenly disappeared, wouldn’t you want to investigate it? We did everything we could to find out what had happened to them.”
    The interviewer said, “Can you tell me, then, why you and the other members of The High Command weren’t present at that final battle?”
    “We might have been superheroes,” Max said, “but even we couldn’t be in two places at one time.”
    “But there were other superhumans who weren’t present, and they’ve also disappeared.”
    “This is apparently true,” Max said.
    “Care to suggest how that might be?”
    “No,” Max said. “I mean, I’ve got a few ideas, but nothing concrete. Nothing that hasn’t been suggested before. Maybe they retired from the business, just as I did.”
    “And may I ask, why did you retire? If you don’t mind speaking about that.”
    “Whatever happened ten years ago…Well, as I said, your guess is as good as mine. We do know that every other superhuman in the world disappeared that day, heroes and villains included. Roz, Josh and I talked about it—at length—and we came to the conclusion that with all the supervillains gone, we weren’t needed anymore.”
    “Yes, but—”
    Max interrupted him. “We realized that we could do more good by focusing our efforts on other areas of our lives. MaxEdDal Pharmaceuticals specializes in effective, low-cost medicines that have certainly saved more lives than I ever could have as a superhero.”
    “Don’t you miss those days?”
    “At times…but I don’t miss the constant struggles, or the fear that one day a new supervillain might emerge who would be powerful enough to destroy the planet. At least we know that if there are no more superhumans, there will be no more supervillains.”
    Max Dalton turned to look directly into the camera. “So for better or worse—and I firmly believe that it’s for the better—the age of the superhumans is over.”

4
    V ICTOR C ROSS SAT IN A DARK ROOM, THE only light coming from the two computer screens in front of him.
    His fingers flew over the keyboard as, on one screen, computer code appeared line after line, page after page.
    On the second screen, a complex computer-generated image of a large silver ball rotated slowly. Cross watched this as he typed. He didn’t need to watch the other screen. He knew exactly what was on it.
    The letters and symbols on his keyboard had been worn away on all but two of the keys: backspace and delete. Victor very rarely used them. He didn’t make mistakes.
    Cross was twenty years old, tall with an athletic build. He normally kept his blond hair short, but it had been months since he’d last had time to get it cut, and it now hung over his face.
    The phone beside him buzzed once. Victor hit the “Speaker” button. “Talk to me.”
    “It’s me. What’s the situation?” The voice was electronically disguised, giving it an artificial, machinelike quality.
    “I’ve just heard from the extraction team. They’ve got Joseph.”
    “Good. You know what you have to do?”
    “Of course. We’re all prepped and ready.”
    “The tech team are on their way to you now. They should be there within the hour.”
    “Good,” Victor said. “My own team are going to be working around the clock on the nucleus. It’ll take a couple of days. You’re sure that we can contain him for that long?”
    “Shouldn’t be a problem. Keep me posted.” The call was disconnected.
    Victor continued typing at the same ferocious speed.
    He had a complete mental image of the computer program he was writing. All his fingers were doing was transferring the program from his brain into the computer.
    Even as he typed, his mind was occupied with several other matters. In the background, he was