Zack raced home after hearing Perry’s words. His concentration lay buried in hundreds of thoughts. Perry had finally analyzed all the data Zack had been gathering during his first bout with Dirk Saber.

Dirk Saber wasn’t the culprit.

Then who is?

Everything lined up so perfectly. Dirk Saber fought on a level few costumed heroes in the world could match. He knew Zane and worked with him in the past. He had even had the damn Omegium blades used to kill Knightbrand. And like many heroes, he hadn’t worked with his father for at least a few years, and Zack suspected a falling out, similar to Max Mann’s.

Max. Mann.

Zack couldn’t think about the man he had cast as his family friend. He didn’t know what bothered him more about Max right now. The duplicitous way he had used Zack to further his own lifespan, or the Sigma Alpha advisor’s pathetic and feeble attempt to justify it. Zack didn’t know which was worse.

He only knew it didn’t sit well with him.

Dirk Saber, on the other hand, seemed chummy and downright relaxed around Knightbrand, sometimes comically so. It surprised him that his father never mentioned Dirk Saber much, but then again, Zane kept his superhero life and his private life effectively separate. The only time the two met was…

When Max stopped by.

Zack sighed. He still had a lot of baggage to unpack.

But for now he had a more important mission - figure out who killed his father.

Zack entered his house to see his armor splayed out in the living room with its chest popped open to reveal a dizzying array of circuits and synodes. A small cylinder colored in a flashing red-orange exterior had been pulled out of the armor. The cylinder itself sat plugged into Perry’s PS5.

For his part, his friend knelt behind the small flatscreen TV Zack never watched. Perry held a small screwdriver in his hand as he adjusted something behind the TV. Zack briefly considered asking just what he was doing, but quickly decided against it. Instead, his eyes fell upon the small fire-red cylinder at his feet.

“What’s this?” he asked.

“It’s a black box,” Perry said without looking up from the orange cylinder.

Zack cocked his head. “It’s the wrong color.”

Perry stopped and looked up. “Most black boxes aren’t black. They’re usually this color. Makes them easier to spot, I guess.”

Zack examined the cylinder, while making sure to keep it plugged into both the armor and the TV. Once again, he scanned the apartment, pacing about for signs of cold spots like a highly caffeinated ghost hunter. He really didn’t need Icer showing up at inopportune moments like this one, but then again, he could always say he was simply repairing his armor, as with before. Icer seemed to buy it the last time.

How Zack would explain Icer to Perry was another matter, and yet another complication he really didn’t need right now.

Still, the chilly supervillain thankfully wasn’t here…at least as far as Zack knew.

After another minute of watching Perry wordlessly work, however, Zack considered another question.

“This was inside my armor the entire time?” Zack said.

Perry emerged from behind the TV, scrambling over to the PS5, which he activated. He looked as if he was about to sit down to play a game more than solve a murder case.

“Most armored heroes use them,” Perry said from his knelt position, controller still in hand. “And it’s not like your father gave you the rundown of his suit before…”

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

His voice trailed off. Zack nodded somberly.

“No, I guess he didn’t.”

After a small private minute of grief, another thought popped into his mind.

“If that’s the black box,” Zack said. “Is there anything on it from…two years ago…around the third of September?”

The day my whole world changed.

Perry shook his head. “Unfortunately, most of the older data on the box is corrupted. With some more time, I might be able to retrieve it but…”

Zack sighed. “Don’t worry about it. Let’s see what you found.”

Perry nodded as the PS5 home screen came up. Using the controller, Perry toggled through several settings before finally activating one.

In an instant, the screen showed a grainy image of a familiar campus building with a skylight window. Zack watched as the screen briefly blurred following a whirling click sound as the screen magnified to show two people fighting beneath the clear skylight window.

Before his eyes, Zack’s sparring match with Dirk Saber unfolded.

Zack would as he ducked and blocked Dirk’s attacks. He was surprised he lasted as long as he did in this fight. Another figure slunk into the footage, with a feminine figure Zack instantly recognized.

Rachel.

She was the referee for the bout. Yet another instance where his actions further alienated.

He needed to talk to her. She was going to find out eventually, especially now that Perry knew. After all, she was one mind read from learning the whole thing.

At least, that’s what Zack told himself. Secretly, he knew he couldn’t leave things this way, whatever the future held.

He sighed and forced himself to concentrate on the matter at hand - this fight. He turned back to Perry.

“What am I looking for?” he said.

Perry turned his head up at him. “There’s one major reason why Dirk Saber couldn’t have killed your father.”

His attention turned towards the screen as he paused the fight mid-blow, with Zack about to be launched over Dirk Saber’s shoulder. Zack winced at the scene. It wasn’t his finest hour.

“Dirk Saber is left-handed,” Perry said. Zack checked the footage. The blows had come so fast Zack didn’t notice he was being grappled by Dirk’s left hand instead of his right.

“He’s a southpaw,” Zack said.

He then turned to Perry with a shrug. “But couldn’t he just be ambidextrous?”

After all, Zack noticed Dirk Saber launching several powerful blows with his right hand as well.

Perry’s eyes remained focused on the footage. “It doesn’t change the fact that he used his left seventy-five percent more than his right.”

Zack nodded. “But what’s this have to do with my father?”

Perry stood up and walked over to the patched portion of the Knightbrand armor. He ran his hands across the portion.

“The blow is almost certainly made with a right-handed weapon,” Perry said.

“Yeah,” Zack said. “But it’s Omegium, and aren’t the blades Dirk Saber made from that substance.”

Perry nodded once more. “True, but that’s one of Omegium’s unique properties. It psychically molds itself to the user’s desires.”

Zack sighed. He didn’t know that.

“So it could be just about anyone with an Omegium blade, right-handed or left-handed,” Zack sighed.

Perry was quiet for a moment. “That appears to be the case.”

Zack stood up and paced around a bit, his hands running through his blond hair. He raised his hands above his head and tried to stretch out all the tension running through his shoulders.

He had been so focused on who would use on Omegium blade he had completely overlooked why someone would use an Omegium blade. Perry was right. He did remember hearing this some place. Omegium was an alien substance. Holding it a trained weaponmaster could psychically mold it into any shape he desired - a rapier, a broadsword, a scimitar.

And whoever had struck down his father had done so with a right-hand weapon.

Perry stood up and looked at him.

“Well?” he asked. “What next?”

Zack brought down his hands and exhaled before turning to Perry.

“Thanks, man,” he said.

“I’m sorry it wasn’t better news,” Perry consoled.

“Well, it beats me chasing my tail,” Zack said. “Let’s get the armor back downstairs.”

Perry began to unplug the black box from the PS5.

“What are you going to do after that?” he asked.

“I think I owe someone an apology,” Zack replied as his thoughts immediately drifted back to Rachel.