Danger Man loved fighting the Grays. They had big heads and tiny bodies so it was like knocking over upside down bowling pins. True, their ray guns packed a punch, but most of them weren't very good shots.

The Gray foundry was hard to find and even harder to get into, but once that was done defeating the aliens was a piece of cake. Danger Man didn't find the weaponry or high tech gizmos he was hoping for. Instead he found lots of Gray alloys in sizes ranging from microscopic pins to multi-ton slabs. Nobody knew what these alloys were for, but the Grays were expending a lot of effort to make them, so they had to be bad news.

One by one or several at a time, the Grays fell before Danger Man's superior might. Ahead of him stood a Gray with arms crossed. He must have been the cell leader. They stood out from the rank and file by their increased level of smugness. Danger Man charged toward the alien leader, but stopped when the alien spoke.

“How is young Reginald?”

“Who?”

“Reginald, your sole offspring, Mr. McCormick.”

“I don't know what you're talking about.”

“Yes, you do. He's your son. He lives with your former mate and the male who she chose as your replacement.”

“Listen here, you sack of...”

The entire rear wall of the foundry became a view screen showing Mel McCormick's ex-wife's house.

“He lives here...”

The image zoomed in to a second story window.

“He spends much of his time in this room.”

Another zoom revealed the room's interior where Reginald McCormick hovered above his bed as a trio of Gray aliens waved glowing devices over him.

Danger Man grabbed the Gray leader by the collar and lifted him from the ground. “What are you doing to him?” he growled.

“Not much. Just a small addition to your son’s body that will render you tractable. Right now you're thinking of moving Reginald to a location shielded from our sensors. That would prove to be a tragic error.”

“You'd better explain that right now.”

“It would be my pleasure. In the moment that Reginald was in our possession we installed one of these at the base of his skull.” The Gray leader held out his finger, as if there were something there to see.

“What am I supposed to be looking at?”

“Look closer.”

When Danger Man squinted he could see a small, dark piece of nothing against the alien's gray skin

“A splinter? You gave my son a splinter?”

“It's a transponder. We will use it to monitor your son. It responds to a signal we broadcast every decisecond. If the transponder should fail to receive that signal, it will activate.”

“What do you mean, activate?”

The alien Gray blew on his finger and the splinter flew away. It was too small to track, but it revealed its location when it exploded with a loud pop.

“That charge is powerful enough to decapitate your son. If you remove him from our influence he will die.”

This was a problem that Danger Man couldn't fix with violence. He hated that. “What do you want from me?”

“Information about Justice Patrol. Quite a bit of information actually.”

“You really think I'll rat out my team? Betray my entire planet?”

“Yes.”

“Then you don't know me very well.”

“Actually, we know you quite well. It is no accident that we chose you from among your teammates and staff. Several of them have children, but your connection to Reginald is special. You value him more than any other creature on the planet.”

“He's my son. Of course, I love him.”

“True, your bond is not much different than any other parent's, but not every parent would be willing to betray his entire species on behalf of their child. This is especially true among your fellow heroes. The sacrifice of their children would destroy them, but in all likelihood they would make such a sacrifice if the entire human race was at stake. Perhaps they would do as we requested when faced with such a dilemma, but their cooperation would be far from certain. This cannot be said of you. Our telepathic scans show that you would be compliant in such a situation.”

“Bullshit!”

“No bullshit at all, Mr. McCormick. You have many character flaws which lend themselves to this role.”

“Maybe, maybe not, but are you really cold blooded enough to murder a child.”

The Gray leader waved a hand, and the image on the screen changed to a different house. The image zoomed in twice to show a family at dinner.

“Now,” the Gray leader said and the happy scene changed to frenzied horror when one of the children seated at the dinner table suffered a quick and gory death.

“Jesus Christ!”

“Appeal to as many mythic figures as you wish. It will not change the situation. Your son will suffer this child's fate unless you do as instructed.”

“I don't believe this.”

“You don't? Why not? This family has two more children. Would it be more convincing if we killed them all?”

“No! Don't!”

“You understand us then. Very good. I trust we have an agreement. You will provide us access to Justice Patrol's defenses.”

“You realize I'm going to find a way to save my son and bring you down for this.”

“No, you won't. You will wish to do so, but you lack the cunning, and you are just smart enough to recognize that about yourself. Like I said, Mr. McCormick, we chose you for good reason. Now, do we have an agreement?”

The view screen changed back to Reggie's bedroom. Miriam was still cradling her son. Reggie suddenly looked so fragile.

“Yeah,” Danger Man said. “We do.”