Monday night over dinner Brian was reading a newspaper.

"Is this new," Derek asked, "or have I just missed it?"

"No," Brian answered.  "I wanted to see what was being reported about the fire, possibly learn something about it.  The alien arsonist we caught said that Mordenslice had hired them to attack the building, and he was telling the truth, at least as far as he knew it."

"The truth?" Vashti challenged.

"One of the powers of the sword," Brian explained.  "I'd never used it, but William Tell Junior told me that the previous Mister Justice could tell when people were lying.  I just don't see how Mordenslice benefits from destroying BBS."

"No," Tommy said.  "It makes sense for Cutter, but not for Mordenslice."

"Well," Vashti suggested, "maybe that's your answer.  What if Cutter is Mordenslice?"

Everyone stared at each other.

"That would make sense," Brian said.  "He's working on some kind of supercomputer for some nefarious purpose, and needs to put BBS out of business partly to avoid the competition and partly to be able to hire away some top talent at a low price."

Everyone nodded.  Tommy said, "It would explain that odd thought I read in his mind, about the pair doing the job on Monday.  He would have been thinking about those two supervillains he had hired to burn down BBS."

"'Fire authorities say,'" Brian continued, reading from the paper, "'that two supervillains attacked the building, but several superheroes arrived to help.  Truth was instrumental in evacuating the building, including rescuing a woman trapped in an elevator.  Justice apprehended one of the two arsonists, who is being held at an undisclosed location pending trial; the other set himself afire.

"'Of considerable help, according to authorities, was the appearance of an angel above the building, who poured several thousand gallons of water on it twice.  This is the second sighting of this apparently new superhero in Berkeley, as we reported earlier in the week that an angel of this description had been seen three blocks from the BBS building, on the roof of the Presbyterian church.'  I wondered why church attendance was up this Sunday; there were a lot of new faces in the congregation."

Tommy said, "I guess if someone sees an angel sitting on the roof of your church, it's likely to get some attention."

Derek could feel himself blushing.  "I guess I should have thought of that."

"Don't be embarrassed," Brian said.  "The people of this city need to go to church, and as churches go I happen to think this is a pretty good one.  Anyway, the article trails off into details.  It says that William Tell Junior and The Eagle both arrived, but it was unclear how either assisted.  The supervillains have been identified as the interplanetary mercenary, General Jovian, from Jupiter, where he was exiled from for treason against the reigning Psi Queen, and his frequent associate, Missile Man, a supply clerk who stole experimental weapons from the US Army.  Missile Man died due to a malfunction of the stolen experimental jetpack he was using."

"Well, as has been observed," Tommy said, "this is good timing for Cutter, and reliably blamed on Mordenslice, and it seems likely that we've identified the villain's secret identity.  What do we do with it?"

Everyone thought for a moment.  Brian spoke.

"Nothing.  We do nothing.  We watch him.  As long as he doesn't know we know, he won't be protecting himself from us."

Everyone agreed.

There is a behind-the-writings look at the thoughts, influences, and ideas of this chapter, along with eleven other sequential chapters of this novel, in mark Joseph "young" web log entry #521:  Versers Act.  Given a moment, this link should take you directly to the section relevant to this chapter.  It may contain spoilers of upcoming chapters.

As to the old stories that have long been here:

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