“You don't have to hide,” Toby Johnson said as he stood by his father's fresh grave. The headstone read simply Gavin Johnson with a date for his birth and another for his death. There was no mention of him being Doctor Nocturne.

“I didn't want to disturb you,” the Other said as he emerged from behind a nearby tree.

“Nonsense, we're family. Get over here.” The Other did as directed and took his place next to Toby.

“It's such a modest grave,” the Other said, “no different from any of the others here.”

“That's all dad wanted.”

“But lesser heroes have received monuments. Captain Crusader, for example. The man has become infamous, and he still received a monument.”

 Crimson Gladiator found Danger Man at the third place he thought to look, Danger Man’s ex-wife’s house. More correctly he found him standing at the edge of the crack in the Earth where the house used to be.

“Mel?” Crimson Gladiator said.

Danger Man turned and recognized Crimson Gladiator. Any surprise he felt remained hidden under layers of guilt and despair.

“Hey, GC.”

“I’m here to take you into custody.”

“I figured as much.” Danger Man turned his attention back to the crevice.

The Human Head floated past Crimson Gladiator and Danger Man, and hovered over the crevice as he tried to see to the bottom.

“I take it your wife’s residence was here.”

“Yeah.”

Yahweh paused for a rest in the streets of Tokyo. Having worked nonstop New York, he had just killed his ninety-eighth or ninety-ninth monster. It was getting hard to keep count, especially since this tiny island nation had such an abundance of giant monsters. He took a deep breath and stretched his tired muscles. That was as much of a rest as he dared take. He wasn’t even half done, and he had much more traveling ahead of him than he’d ever thought possible.

“Who knew the world was so big,” Yahweh said as he rose into the air upon a storm cloud and then darted across the sky.

- - - - -

“Kid.”

 At her smallest Living Doll stood less than one inch tall. She didn’t like that height. It was uncomfortable and made her ache, but she did not dare increase her height. The Jailor sat just a few yards away at his control console and she was otherwise in plain sight.

 “I can say your name.”

Amy Winter sat on her perch behind the Jailor’s workstation. She had a comfortable pillow and some miscellaneous Gray items that she pretended were dolls.

“It would surprise me if that were true,” the Jailor said as he observed his console. Hypnos’ brainwaves were showing a bit too much activity again. The Jailor increased the power of the stasis field to compensate.

“I really can. You want to hear me?”

“I don’t, but I will indulge you, pet. Let’s hear your attempt.”

Amy let loose with a horrible shriek.

“That wasn’t even close to being my name.”

“Was too.”

“It was not.”

“Was too.”

“It was…“

 “They’re on a Gray spaceship? That’s your big news? The Grays have spaceships all over the planet. Hell, I can see two of them from right here,” Boulder Boy said as he pointed into the distance at the ships hovering over New York City.

“Any information can help,” Redstone said. “Given the limits of Hypnos’ telepathic range we can assume the ship is somewhere around the Eastern United States. It might even be one of those over there.”

Augur sat on the ground sketching furiously and filling a legal pad with his visions. He wanted to record the telepathic message from Hypnos before his memory became tainted by imagination. Zephyr sat beside him creating a soft glow so that Augur could see the page.

“What’s that?” she asked.

 A sharp stinging in his nose prodded Hypnos to consciousness. His vision was blurry at first, and when he focused he found himself looking into the face of a Gray.

“Smelling salts,” the Gray said. “Ammonia capsule actually. It’s a crude way to rouse a person, but when in Rome…”