“So what’s been happening since then?” Leno asked, “How’re you settling into this new life, where everyone knows who you are? Because you’re famous, you’re celebrities now aren’t you?”

“It’s weird,” agreed Matt, “I can’t go anywhere. People recognise me on the street.”

“I like it when it’s kids,” said Jane, “Kids always wave at me.”

“I get fan mail,” said Matt, “I mean she gets more-” he jerked his thumb at Jane, “-but I still get fan mail and it’s like, hey, that’s really nice of you, but… you know I can’t actually do anything, right?”

“Oh, come on now that’s not fair, don’t beat yourself up,” the host replied as the audience laughed.

“The weirdest thing is girls,” Matt continued, “I get fan mail from girls.”

“What?” Jane growled. Her eyes narrowed and suddenly rippled with golden energy. The audience laughed, though perhaps a bit warily, as she continued to glare at Matt – who grinned and, completely unafraid, leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. A moment later the light seeping from Jane’s eyes dissipated, and she also broke into a grin. The crowd relaxed into laughter.

“No, but it hasn’t been all sunny,” Matt continued, turning back to their host, “The legal stuff, obviously, that’s been challenging, but the ACLU have been fantastic, and it’s been really great hearing from everyone out there, you know, hearing we’ve got so much support.”

The room rang with more cheers and Matt raised an appreciative hand.

“Um, what else,” he wondered. He crossed and uncrossed his legs, relaxing into the lounge. “Oh, there are a bunch of people who are trying to kill me – yep, that’s a whole new thing.”

Gasps around the studio. Leno’s brows furrowed, incredulous.

“Kill you?”

“Yep, put a bullet in me. That’s pretty great.”

“You specifically? Not Jane? Are they Heydrich supporters, or-”

“No, they’re mostly American I think. And I think-” he paused and scrunched up his face, “-if I’m remembering correctly, Jane is like Frankenstein? Or possibly a man?” Jane nodded, nonchalant, as if she’d heard all this before, while Matt mimed having muscular arms. Matt shook his head and cleared his throat. “So it’s like a conspiracy theory, see, like a second amendment thing,” he explained with mild exasperation, “Apparently I’ve already given the government my blood and they’re using it to make an anti‑powers vaccine for, I don’t know, the Illuminati or something. And then Jane is a secret government super-soldier who’s going to force everyone to get vaccinated so they can take over the world. Something like that.”

The host stared at him, blinking. “Oh. So then why were you going to Court?”

“Oh that’s all misdirection, obviously,” Matt answered, completely nonchalant, “Yeah, I’m just pretending like I don’t want to give people my blood, so all the sheeple don’t figure out I’ve betrayed them. By the time anyone realises, it’s going to be too late.”

“Wow,” replied Leno, “So the Supreme Court’s in on this too?”

“Oh for sure,” said Matt, “The Supreme Court, the police, the government, hospitals, you – you’re in on it too Jay. We had a meeting about this last week.”

“Oh God I completely forgot, I got distracted watching the Mets game.”

“Well don’t, don’t worry, it’s all in the newsletter.”

“Phew.” The host wiped his brow in mock relief while the audience laughed. “Still, I gotta say, you’re remarkably laid back about this. People trying to kill you?”

“Yeah look Jay, I’m not going to lie, at first it was a bit frustrating; you sort of just want to grab these people and shake them by the neck and say, ‘What the hell do you think I’m doing?!’; but hey, I’m used to it now. I’ve adjusted. I got a second lock on my door. I’ve got one of those little duress alarms. And my girlfriend can vaporise city blocks, so, you know, we’ll see how we go.” There was a sudden surge of laughter, and Matt flashed the audience a wry grin.

“So you guys are dating then?” asked Leno. A large ‘oooh’ went up from the crowd. Matt and Jane glanced at each other.

“Nah,” Matt replied, grinning back at the crowd, “Friends with benefits.” Jane rolled her eyes as the room laughed. Matt took her hand.

“No, we’re together,” he corrected, smiling and more serious, “Just taking it one day at a time. Going through all this craziness. You know. She’s got my back.”

“Yeah,” Jane echoed, and she smiled at him. The audience let out an ‘awww.’ Jane poked Matt on the arm.

“Tell them about the cult people.”

“Oh yeah the cult people.”

“What cult people?” Leno asked, looking from one to the other, “There’s a cult?”

“There is,” said Matt, “It’s sort of like the conspiracy guys I was telling you about, but, like, the other end of the spectrum?” He paused, and when the host didn’t interrupt, Matt took a deep breath. “So there’s this Christian group, see, the Eastborough Baptist Church. In Sedgwick Kansas. You might have heard of them? They’re very vocal.”

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Wait,” said Leno, “That name sounds familiar, do they – are they the ones that picket funerals?”

“Exactly. That’s them.”

“Right, yeah… Larry, see if we’ve got any- yep photos of the- there we go.” The screen behind the host changed, replaced by a picture of a group of protestors holding very rude multi-coloured signs. “That’s them?”

“That’s the one.”

“And wait, they’re protesting you?”

“No, no, the opposite,” Matt explained. “They’re, like, huge fans of me. They think I’m the messiah.”

The audience exploded with incredulous laughter. Leno reeled back.

“What?!”

“Yeah, I’m serious, I’m one hundred percent serious, they’re- look, I’ll try to get this straight.” He leaned forward, furrowing his brow. “So they believe that powers are evil, right, because they’re temptation from the Devil, the Apple of Eden or something. They believe – again, I think I’m remembering this right – they think only God should be able to do the supernatural, so by using superpowers we are… going against God.”

“Wow, that’s… bizarre.”

“Yeah, but that’s why they protest at funerals of soldiers and firefighters and stuff, because those are professions that use powers quite regularly and are part of the government, and they think…” Matt struggled to find the words, gesturing over with his hands, “…they think because the government hasn’t outlawed powers, the government is pro-powers, so the government is evil, and so anyone who works for the government is evil and, I don’t know, pushing Satan’s agenda. Or something.”

“Right,” said Leno, nodding in mock-sage agreement, “I get you. I mean, I feel like they maybe skipped a few steps – they’ve got powers, right?”

“Oh yeah,” replied Matt, “Absolutely, yes, to the best of my knowledge, every one of them has a superpower. I guess maybe they try not to use them? Which, I mean to me, who’s over here powerless, it’s sort of like guys, come on… you’re killing me.”

The audience laughed.

“But that’s their whole thing,” Matt continued, “They think powers are the Devil, which means me, who has no powers, must be untainted by the Devil, which makes me the chosen one.”

Matt grinned at Leno and shrugged, causing the talk show host to laugh while the studio roared.

“But you’re not the messiah,” Leno said finally.

“No,” replied Matt, “I’m just a very naughty boy.”

The audience was in stitches. Jane’s gaze remained on Matt, halfway between amused and pained.

“So they want you to be their messiah,” Leno concluded, “The conspiracy theorists want you dead. What do you want Matt? What’s next for you?”

“I don’t know man,” sighed Matt, a little overdramatic, “I just want to go to college.”

“Have you had any offers?” The host looked over at the crowd. “Because if you haven’t, after today I think you might.”

*

The old man watched the three thieves go with one and a half billion dollars’ worth of diamonds and made no move to stop them. A few seconds passed in silence as the sulphuric teleportation vapours dissipated. Then he glanced back.

“Back in the case,” he commanded the guard with the microscope, who had already gingerly returned the hair of Captain Dawn to its velvet jewellery box and was packing his equipment away.

“Sir.” Jackson, the lead soldier, his voice gruff and angry. It was the first time he had spoken since the sellers had arrived.

“What?”

“That’s it? You’re just going to let them go?”

“Did you not hear anything I just said?” the spectacled man replied. His mouth hardened into a taut line. “Let them go. It’s impossible to know what kind of fail-safes these people have, should they not come home alive.” He shook his head, the wisps of thin grey hair shifting. “We’ve bought a Sword of Damocles. Fear is a far better guarantee of silence.”

“But-”

“You’re paid for your firepower, Jackson, not your counsel. Take a team, secure the perimeter. Make sure our friends are wise and have departed.”

The soldier’s square face puckered into a scowl, but regardless after a few seconds he pointed sharply at several of the nearby men and motioned them to approach. The old man pulled out his newspaper, appearing not to listen as the unit commander snapped quiet orders and the selected guards began dutifully spreading out around the building’s sides. It took approximately fifteen minutes and most of the arts and culture section before all of them returned.

“All clear sir,” Jackson reported through partially gritted teeth.

“Excellent. Phase two then. Send your teleporter. Bring up our friend.”

*

“And Jane,” Leno continued, “What about you? Obviously there’s been the stuff with Matt, your front-yard heroics-” the crowd laughed, “-but what about moving forward? Is being Lady Dawn something you’re going to keep doing?”

“Absolutely,” Jane said, “This is me. This is what I want to do. I’m here to help, I’m working with the Legion, and we…” She hesitated, then straightened up, choosing her words. “The original Captain Dawn, I think he didn’t want to misuse his powers. And I think he got to the point, even before Africa, where he was so worried about doing something wrong that he was scared of trying to do something right. You know?” She looked at the assembled audience. “But I want to be different. I… it is a miracle that I have this power. That any part of Captain Dawn survived. And I believe- I know… that I’m supposed to be helping people. So that’s what I’ve been doing. That’s what I’m going to keep doing.”

“That’s amazing,” Leno said, “Really, it truly is. You know, I’ve seen footage of you in action- actually Larry if you’ve got it ready, if we can roll that tape- this was from the news a few weeks back-”

The screen behind him flashed to show footage of a skyscraper on fire across several stories. Jane nodded.

“Singapore. A chemical fire. The firefighters were having trouble-”

“Yeah. And then see, here you come-”

Suddenly on-screen a figure dove from the clouds – a golden missile, a needle of light, which flew straight through the fire-torn window with such force that the flames around it momentarily went out. A second later Jane reappeared, arms laden with a half dozen people, who she flew safely to the ground.

“Just incredible. Incredible.”

“The firefighters did most of the work,” Jane said, though she still sat straighter and with a slight blush, “It was just the smoke, it was getting pretty toxic, and the power of Dawn can sort of push it away, I guess, if you hold it around yourself, if you concentrate…”

“The costume then, I’ve got to ask,” said Leno, “Why doesn’t it get destroyed while you’re fighting? It must be made out of some incredible stuff.”

“It’s a polycarbonate weave,” Jane answered, matter-of-fact, “But I think it’s mostly the power, look, here I’ll show you…”

There was a bit of shuffling and rearrangement as Jane moved herself up to the closest camera and held her arm out, close enough to see the goosebumps and little hairs. The host leaned in.

“See that glow?”

“Yeah, I do, I see it-”

“It’s all along-”

“Yeah it goes all along your body-”

“Try and touch it.”

“Sorry?”

“Touch it, try and touch it, try and poke through.”

The audience laughed. Leno looked bashful.

“If you say so,” he said, triggering more laughter. He moved his hand around Jane’s wrist and tried to squeeze down – but about a quarter of an inch from her skin his fingers met an invisible force, and try as he might he couldn’t push any further.

“Oh wow! Wow, it’s like a- sort of like a forcefield almost, it’s- gosh, it’s warm!”

“Yeah,” said Jane. She withdrew her arm and as the studio audience clapped they both returned to their seats. “It’s the energy, it’s sort of coming out all the time, and it goes through or maybe over clothes, I don’t know but- but most of the time they stay intact.”

“Well good, great, I mean I suppose the alternative is you end up fighting naked.”

“I’d watch it,” said Matt, raising his hand, which got a laugh.