CHAPTER EIGHT
Robert thought about slapping Adam again but decided against it, remembering the way that the chunk of solid Super-Serum had shattered when Adam threw it at the wall. Instead, he grabbed the disused spray bottle on the sink, the one that had, at one time, been used to spritz the plants that had lived in the breakroom. He filled it with cold water and proceeded to spray Adam in the face.

It took seven or eight pumps but Adam eventually stirred. “Why am I wet,” he asked before opening his eyes.

“I sprayed you with cold water. To wake you up.” Robert said, instinctively taking a step back, in case Adam was angry with him. He didn’t want to tangle with a cranky newly-minted super-hero.

“Hm. This water is cold,” Adam asked as he wiped his face, eyes still closed. “I knew I was wet, but it felt room temperature.”

“Nope. Ice cold. Out of the faucet here, so you know how cold that one gets,” Robert said, fascinated. He leaned forward a bit.

Adam opened his eyes and Robert jumped back. “Can you gather up all the pieces of Super-Serum and put them in a bag?” Adam laid there, watching Robert watching him. “Please?”

“Um, yeah, yeah, sure,” Robert said, putting the spray bottle down and rummaging around under the sink for a garbage bag. He found one and set about picking up the largest chunks of brown-black foam-rock. “Why am I doing this, exactly?”

“Research, Robert. I need to examine the Serum and see if it can be reused or recreated.” Adam watched to see if Robert bought his explanation. It was true, to a point, but it was also true that his fainting spell had been caused by his proximity to the irradiated Serum rocks.

“Makes sense,” Robert said, nodding in agreement. Adam let out a small sigh of relief. “So, how do you feel?”

Adam sat up. He was still a little dizzy but as Robert cleared away more and more of the Serum, he was feeling better. He flexed his hands. They felt stronger. He felt lighter. His vision was blurry, though, so he felt around next to him for his glasses. He assumed they had fallen off when he fainted. Then he realized that he was still wearing them. His eyesight had corrected itself.

“Just like Spider-Man,” he said quietly, reverently, as he removed his glasses and everything in the room came into sharp focus.

“What,” Robert asked over his shoulder from the corner of the room.

Adam quickly put his glasses on the table. “Nothing.” He got to his feet. He found had a much easier time of doing so. He rolled his head from side to side, stretched his shoulders, then bent and touched his toes.

“Wow,” Robert said, “that’s new.”

Adam returned to standing. “Yes. I feel much more flexible in addition to stronger.” He reached out and picked up the table with one hand. “My eyesight is greatly improved, as well.” Robert put the last of the Serum remnants in the bag and held it out to Adam. His vision blurred slightly. He stepped back, hands up. “I’m still a little woozy,” he said, “would you mind putting that out back for me?”

Robert cocked his head at Adam then shrugged and pushed his way out the back door. He came back in from the alley a moment later. “So,” he said and left it at that.

Adam stepped into the bathroom doorway and flipped on the light. He looked at him self in the mirror, turning side to side and alternately puffing his chest out and flexing his shoulders and arms. “I think I look thinner,” he said without taking his eyes from the mirror.

“Yeah, I think maybe you do.” He didn’t, but Robert didn’t want to get on Super-Adam’s bad side.

Adam turned to him abruptly. “Do you think I can fly,” he asked matter of factly.

“I…um, I don’t know. Do you think you can fly?”

“I feel lighter. I certainly think I may be able to fly? It is a possibility.” Adam brushed past Robert and headed out into the alley.

“Where are you going,” Robert called after him. There was no response from Adam before the door slowly swung closed, so Robert stepped back out into the chilly air. “What are you doing?”

Adam was scanning the side of the three-story building that housed the shop. “Looking for the easiest, lest visible way up to the roof.”

“You can’t, Adam.” Robert put his hand on Adam’s shoulder. Adam glared at it, so Robert removed it quickly. “Seriously, Adam, you don’t know that you can fly and you don’t know if you’re invulnerable or anything…”

“Punch me,” Adam said, shifting himself around.

“What?”

“Punch me, Robert,” he repeated, baring his stomach. “Punch. Me.”

Robert looked Adam in the eyes and saw he was serious. More than that, he saw that Adam needed this. So, he balled his fist and popped Adam right in the belly button.

Adam didn’t flinch. He didn’t move a muscle, in fact. No stumbling back, not even a shift in weight. He took the punch without so much as a squint. “There. I’m invulnerable.”

He resumed his search for a way up the building. Robert’s hand throbbed – punching Adam had been like hitting a wall – so he shook it as he spoke. “Adam, c’mon. Me hitting you is nowhere near the same thing as you falling off a three-story building onto concrete. And besides that, someone will see you and recognize you, fall or fly.”

Adam stopped scanning. “You’re right, Robert,” he said.

“Good. I’m glad you’re thinking about this rationally. We’ll find some other way to test your…”

“I’ll need an outfit. A costume to hide my identity when I climb the building and soar to the heavens.” Adam was staring off distractedly, obviously lost in his dreams of super-heroics.

“Adam,” Robert started.

“Robert,” Adam interrupted, “is there something I can wear indside or not?”

Robert closed his mouth and thought. “Well, there’s always…” He cut himself off. “No, that’s stupid.”

“What,” Adam asked, intrigued.

“Well, there’s a super-hero costume here, in the basement. It was originally supposed to be like the store mascot, back when I was going to call the place The Secret Headquarters. We’d have someone wear the suit and hang around the store, occasionally get called away on important super-hero business The kids would have loved it.”

“Thank you very much for the history lesson, Robert, but I need to know where the costume is, not why you have it in the first place.”

Robert looked taken aback. “Oh, yeah, right. Fine, yeah, here,” he said, entering the shop and waving Adam on to follow him.

They made their way through the storeroom and into the front of the shop. Robert led Adam behind the counter to the door that was always locked. He took out his ring of keys, found the correct one, and slid it into the lock.
“I’ve never been down there,” Adam said.

“Just me and Chase have keys,” Robert said, then quickly added, in order to stem a fight, “because he’s been here longer and we used to keep a lot of stuff down there. But we found out it floods, so…” He opened the door wide and fumbled in the darkness just inside the door looking for the lightswitch. He found and flipped it.

The dim, ghostly light from the single, bare lightbulb at the bottom of the stairs illuminated the stairway. Robert stepped aside and flourished with his arm. “After you,” he said.

Adam looked non-plussed but took the lead down the stairs anyway. Robert followed him, carefully closing the door behind him. At the bottom, Adam could see several shelving units filled with longboxes against one wall and stacks of boxes covered in plastic bags against the other. Robert made his way toward the wrapped boxes.

“What are those,” Adam asked, pointing to the comics on the shelving units.

“Oh, that’s my personal collection,” Robert said as he opened boxes, rifiled through them, then moved them aside to get to the next one. “I ran out of room in my apartment a few years ago, so I put them all down here.”

“I thought you said that it flooded,” Adam asked.

“That’s why they’re off the floor and in waterproof boxes,” Robert said and waited for the inevitable response.

“Waterproof? Where did you get such wonderful longboxes,” Adam asked, obviously covetous.

Robert stopped his digging and smiled at Adam. “I invented them,” he answered plainly.

“No way,” Adam responded in hushed tones. “No way did you invent waterproof comic book boxes.”

“I did,” Robert said, “and I kept them to myself. Probably could have made a pretty penny, but they were just for me.” He went back to digging.

“How could you have this knowledge, these tools…how could you have these and not share them with everyone to make all our lives better?” Adam put his hands on his hips.

“That’s a story for another time,” Robert said, still digging. “A-ha! Here.” He turned around, holding up a well-made, if slightly garish, superhero costume. The chest, arms, and legs were white. The trunks, gloves, and oversized boots were green. The cape, belt, and cowl were lemon yellow. Across the chest in lemon yellow with a green dropshadow, it read SUPERHEROMAN.

“Superheroman?” Adam had his hands back on his hips. “That is the lamest, most mind-numbingly stupid thing…”

“The point was to be generic.” Robert interrupted. “We sell every superhero’s book here, so we don’t want to play favorites. Now, here, take this upstairs and change into it.” He handed the suit to Adam who headed back up the stairs. “It might be a little tight, but it should work out fine.” Robert watched him go up the stairs and out the basement door. He took a deep breath, let it out, and wished Chase would hurry back.