Eleanor didn’t know what to say. This was the Mark’s friend. Should they be asking her anything about the Mark?

“We found a Mark Museum,” said Money. “There were a bunch of different Marks, but they’re dead.”

“And we asked the Mark to adopt us, and he said he would get his lawyer to work on it, but we’re afraid that he’ll put it off somehow,” said Carrie.

“That’s a lot to take in,” said Cassandra. “How do you girls feel about all this?”

“We were wondering about the other Marks, but we got sidetracked about the

adoption, and the Mark is on the job so we haven’t had time to talk to him about it,” said Eleanor. “Then we saw Nobody, but he won’t give us the time of day either.”

“He’s probably not going to talk to you about the other Marks,” said a voice from the kitchen. “They’re his greatest failure.”

“This is my partner, Hector,” said Cassandra. “He runs the back for us and knows a lot about the powered community.”

Hector was short, and muscular. He looked younger than the white hair on his head. He wiped his hands with a rag hanging from his apron. Dark eyes looked sad as he approached the booth.

“What do you mean his failures?,” asked Carrie.

“They were killed by the Mark’s enemies,” said Hector. “Wiped out. Only the Mark survived.”

“And then the government had to put him on trial for what he did afterwards,” said Cassie. “He wanted to enter a guilty plea but his lawyer pled him not guilty and fought the charges.”

“His lawyer, Barry?,” asked Eleanor.

“Barry Nicklaus, Mister Robot,” said Hector.

“Mister Robot?,” said Money. “Seriously?”

“Seriously,” said Hector. “Nicklaus got him off.”

“These other Marks,” said Carrie. “They were killed on the same day?”

“Same week at least,” said Hector. “One of them was guarding some kind of monster in Georgia. When she died, no one but the Mark could get near her place. Anybody that tried got chewed up. The locals said it attacked from underneath the ground.”

“Spiffy,” said Eleanor. “Remember what the Mark said. He ripped someone’s leg off.”

“Spiffy?,” said Cassie.

“The Mark’s gopher,” said Eleanor.

“Gopher?,” said Cassie. She laughed.

“Don’t laugh,” said Carrie. “Spiffy is as big as a motorcycle and can tunnel faster than a champion sprinter.”

“Powered up?,” said Hector.

“Yeah,” said Carrie. “The Mark said he belonged to a friend.”

“That explains that,” said Hector. “No one knew what happened to the monster. The local sheriff just said the Mark took care of it.”

“I think we’re getting sidetracked,” said Eleanor. “You said the Mark went on trial.”

“It’s old stuff,” said Hector. “You could look most of this up in a book.”

“I know,” said Eleanor. “But you’re the expert, and we need help deciding what we want to do.”

“All right,” said Hector. He went back in the kitchen. He came back with six glasses of soda on a tray. He put the tray down on the table and pulled a chair close for himself. “All right, let’s start from the beginning so you can have a better picture of what happened.”

He sat down and pulled one of the glasses from the tray. He took a sip and nodded.

“It’s Thirty Eight, and America hasn’t joined the war yet,” said Hector. “Hitler’s

Germany is in motion, but it will be two more years before the Blitz. The Mark

explodes on the scene. Don’t get me wrong. There were other heroes before him. There were heroes almost as powerful as he proved to be, but he started as a shining example for people at that time.”

“Why didn’t he stop the Nazis if he’s so strong,” asked Money.

“I’m getting to that,” said Hector. “When the Mark came on the scene, he attracted people who were basically jealous of him, or who saw him as a big stumbling block to what they wanted to do. So one day, he would be dealing with the Iron Templar trying to steal secrets and committing sabotage, and the next saving some boat that got torpedoed, and then trying to save New York from some scheme cooked up by one of his personal enemies.

“At some point around Pearl Harbor, people started noticing other heroes with the Mark’s mark. There was the Red Mark in California, Miss Mark in Boston, and three others that didn’t do as much but did protect areas I guess where they lived like the monster in Georgia.”

“Spiffy probably lived with the Mark from Georgia,” said Eleanor. “He’s smart

enough to protect the body until it could be found.”

“That was probably Dixie Mark,” said Hector. “She didn’t operate much, but there were reports of things going down where she saved the day there.”

“So the Mark created them,” said Carrie.

“That was always everyone’s guess, but he never said one way or the other,” said Hector. “He never took the stand at his trial, so they couldn’t force him to admit it under oath.”

“So what happened?,” asked Money.

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“We won the war,” said Hector. “There were stories about things going on, but a lot of it was classified by the powers that be. The Marks and a bunch of other powered heroes helped ease things so there wasn’t a lot of recrimination in that early peacetime. Even the villains seemed to take a break.

“But what had happened was a group of villains led by the Mark’s enemy Doctor Sybil found out who all the minor Marks were and killed them one by one.”

“I thought the Mark couldn’t be hurt,” said Money.

“A lot of people thought that,” said Hector. “It looks like they were wrong. Sybil

didn’t get a lot of time to gloat. The Mark crushed him on Mars according to the trial transcripts and books.”

“What do you mean crushed him on Mars?,” asked Eleanor.

“Exactly what I said,” said Hector. “The report was that the Mark used Sybil’s force bubble invention that he tried to use to cut Los Angeles off from the rest of the world against him and flung him to Mars. And then he dropped a mountain on him.”

“Really?,” asked Carrie.

“Crushed him flatter than a pancake,” said Hector. He put the palms of his hands together, and rubbed.

“You said there was a group,” said Eleanor. “What happened to them? Did the Mark kill them all?”

“No one knows how big a group it was,” said Hector. “But he did kill Sybil and a few others when they set fire to his friends right in front of him. The rumor that they were the secondary Marks was confirmed at the trial. The prosecution wanted to know why the Mark had used lethal force in this one instance when he hadn’t before then. Barry Nicklaus had to reveal the connection to prove his self defense claim.”

“They killed the three who didn’t operate in the open that much, then the Red Mark and Miss Mark?,” asked Carrie.

“And tried to kill the Mark too,” said Cassie.

“No wonder he killed them back,” said Money.

“It’s no wonder he didn’t like us finding the trophy room,” said Eleanor. “It was full of reminders of his friends.”

“After the trial, the Mark semi-retired,” said Hector. “Barry Nicklaus’s Scouts, the Robot Rangers, Mister Multiverse, and others took up the load. Every once in a while, there would be some kind of miraculous rescue, or intervention, and people would think he was still on the job.”

“Wait,” said Carrie. “The Mark’s lawyer is a superhero.”

“Yep,” said Hector. “He used to lead the Hazard Scouts until they were wiped out. Animal Boy survived the attack. He assembled a new team of Scouts and found out who attacked the first team. Nicklaus was imprisoned for ten years with his oldest enemy until he was rescued.”

“This was the same guy as the Mark’s lawyer?,” asked Money.

“Yep,” said Hector. “He was Mister Robot. Before that, he was an old school

adventurer and daredevil that did stunts and looked at strange mysteries. He slowly slid over into hero work as an extension of what he was already doing.”

“Did he lose his team before or after defending the Mark?,” asked Eleanor.

“After,” said Hector. “His team was lured into a trap and they were wiped out except for Animal Boy. I guess he just goes by Animal now since he is older than me.”

“When did this happen?,” asked Carrie.

“Sixty nine was when the original team was ambushed, seventy nine was when the Animal put the second team together and found Nicklaus,” said Hector.

“How do you two know the Mark?,” asked Eleanor.

“We’ve crossed paths,” said Cassie. “Every now and again, he gives me a hand to fix things in the city.”

“Have you guys met anyone else?,” asked Money.

“Just the Scarabs,” said Cassie. “They come in and have a meeting every once and a while, and Nobody.”

“I’m just a helpless cog in the machinery of the universe,” said Carrie, holding up her hands to make air quotes.

“That’s pretty good,” said Cassie. She laughed a little.

“You got him almost perfect,” said Hector. “Maybe raise your voice a little. I don’t know.”

“I’ll work on it,” said Carrie.

“Now that you girls know everything, what are you going to do?,” asked Cassie.

“I don’t know,” said Eleanor. “Will he even be able to adopt with all this crazy stuff around what he did fifty years ago?”

“You won’t know until you go to court,” said Cassie. “I think you kids need to go home. We still have to finish cleaning up the diner, and you guys have to work on what you want to say to the Mark about everything. He definitely will be reluctant to adopt if he thinks you’re in constant danger being around him.”

“He had bad luck once,” said Money.

“It wasn’t bad luck,” said Hector. He looked at his glass. Ice floated in water at the bottom. “His enemies figured out how to hit when his friends were at their most vulnerable and killed them. The same thing could happen to the three of you. He’s going to worry about that. You’ll be his responsibility.”

“And despite his bluster, I think he likes you three,” said Cassie. “He’s never had a normal life from the things he’s said. He may look at this as a chance to be a little more normal instead of what his life is usually like.”

“I think being normal is the last thing on his mind,” said Eleanor. “We have to talk to him and figure out what we can do.”

“So did we help?,” asked Hector.

“I think so,” said Eleanor. “At least we know why he was upset that we found the trophy room.”

“Was one of the Marks named Will?,” asked Carrie.

“The two people killed in Los Angeles were Will Williams and Ann Baker,” said Hector. “The neighbors testified at the Mark’s trial that they were getting married eventually. Williams had just bought a ring for their wedding, and they were trying to set a date. They didn’t have any idea that the two were powers.”

“That’s another reason he might have crossed the line if he knew,” said Money.

“We can’t worry about that,” said Eleanor. “We should head back. Tomorrow is a school day, and the Mark is going to want us to have our school work done.”

“You kids will do great,” said Cassie. “Head on out. If there is any more problems, come on by.”

“Does Nobody really owe you, Cassie?,” asked Carrie.

“I don’t know,” said Cassie. “But I like to rub it in that he does. It gives me a good feeling inside.”

“He’s always been mad that Cassie forced him to take direct action once,” said Hector. He gathered up the half empty glasses and put them on the tray. “He likes to do the opposite so very much.”

“Wait,” said Eleanor. “Really?”

“One day,” said Cassie, ushering the girls to the door. “When you need it most, I’ll tell you about the time I stabbed an elder god in the face.”

“Now you’re pulling our legs,” said Money.

“I would never do that, midget,” said Cassie. She unlocked the door and looked out in the sky. “Head home. It looks like bad news is hitting the city. You don’t want to get mixed up in that.”

“Did you really stab an elder god in the face?,” asked Carrie.

“He thought he was an elder god,” said Cassie. “But he was a scrub. Go home and lock down for the night until the Mark gets done. Things are looking bad ahead.”

“Cassie’s right,” said Eleanor. “Something is going on. We should head back to the tower.”

“All right,” said Carrie. She and Money exchanged looks. Eleanor had something in the works. They knew that look.

Eleanor led the way back to the tower. She opened the door and headed for Spiffy’s room at a fast trot.

“What are you doing?,” asked Carrie. She huffed behind her older sister.

“Why are we running?,” asked Money.

“We need to talk to Spiffy,” said Eleanor. “I want to do it before the Mark gets

home.”

“And what are we talking to him about?,” asked Carrie.

“About becoming Marks,” said Eleanor.

“Are you serious?,” asked Money.

“Yes,” said Eleanor. “We know he can do it. I’m hoping that he will do it if we ask him. We could be Marks too.”

“All the other Marks got killed,” said Carrie.

“If we don’t do something, the Mark will think we’re sponges,” said Eleanor. “School is his way of giving us a normal life. It’s also his way of letting us work for our keep.”

“I don’t get it,” said Money.

“She’s saying that the Mark lets us stay here because we’re going to school like he asks,” said Carrie. “It’s like rent. If we cut out of school, he would think we’re not worth his time.”

“He would take us back to the orphanage instead of adopting us,” said Eleanor.

“So why are we talking to Spiffy to get Mark powers?,” said Carrie.

“Because Cassie was warning us that the city is in danger,” said Eleanor. “That’s why she told us to lock the tower down so we would be safe. I think we should so something about that.”

“We’re going to get into so much trouble over this,” said Money.

“Going out in a blaze of glory seems okay to me,” said Carrie.