Brad strutted down the street like he never had before. Before he was sure everyone was looking at him, waiting for a meltdown. Before there would have been hundreds of eyes, all judging and prodding. But now, well now he was free. No one could see him. He stopped outside a shop window. It was half past eight by now, so the shop was closed but the street was still busy with people on their way home or going out for a night out. He could see their reflections in the window. A tall man with a strange beard strode past, closely followed by a harassed looking mother pushing a fully loaded pushchair back to her car. Normally the noise of the baby screeching in the chair would push Brad towards the edge, maybe even over it. The night air was still cool against his skin. The flickering street lights still glowed orange over his head. The night-time still pushed down from the sky and onto the buildings like an oppressive blanket over the town. But tonight, Brad was in his bubble and it was safer than ever.

He made his way to the scene of the crime, to Mr Splendid’s house. He arrived quickly and made his way around to the window he entered through last time. Unbelievably, the police had left it open. They were lucky that some local kids had not broken in, Brad thought before realising that some local kid was about to break in. He pushed up the sash and climbed in. He was hit with a wave of memory. It threatened to drown him for a moment. Mr Splendid on the floor, prone and weakened. It came as a shock after the calm and confidence of his approach and shattered his bubble. Brad was suddenly visible again. It didn’t matter though; there was no one else here to see him now.

He began his search in the kitchen. Looking for something in someone else’s house was not a thing Brad did often, or ever, but the task was made even harder by him not really knowing what he was looking for. He guessed he was looking for answers. What did answers look like? It could be a piece of paper or a memory stick. A laptop or diary. Brad figured that he would know it when he saw it. Something would look out of place and that would be it. He thoroughly went through every room. Every cupboard and every drawer, he left nothing to chance and left no stone unturned. There was nothing unusual about this house, except how tidy it was. The search felt like flicking through an Ikea catalogue. It was like every other house. Soap in the bathroom and soup in the kitchen. Pants in the drawers and books on the shelves. Brad couldn’t understand how not one but two fully blown superheroes could live in a house and leave no clue behind. So he searched again, then again. By now the sun was beginning to make an appearance on the horizon and light up outside. Of course, thought Brad, hitting himself on the side of the head for not realising sooner. If the house is empty, there was only one place left to look, outside in the garden.

Brad made his way down into the garden and stood for a moment in the cold light of the sun rise. It made the sky look weird. Brad didn’t like this time of day, everything glowed the wrong colour and it looked warm when it was really cold. His eyes skimmed over the grass, the bushes and the gnomes until they rested on the shed. The shed glowed orange more than anything else in the garden and seemed to sing to him silently. It was calling to him. He tried the door and it was not locked, just held shut by a peg at the top. He had to jump to get it but it popped out easily. The door swung open to reveal…a cluttered shed. Brad’s heart sank as he started yet another search that was likely to be fruitless. He found a drill that looked as if it was old enough to have been used to build the pyramids. He uncovered an unopened packet of screwdrivers and a questionable packet of prawn cocktail crisps. On one shelf there was even a lidless tin of mints that now contained screws. Brad took a closer look. It said, “Superpower Mints – The most powerful mints in town. Guaranteed to save the day.” Brad went to pick up the curious tin. It wouldn’t budge. It had been stuck to the shelf. Brad tried sliding the box towards the edge of the shelf to get a better grip, but it wouldn’t move. That was the last straw. He’d searched and hunted all night for who-knows-what and he was tired, dirty and fed up. Now, to top it all off, he couldn’t even pick up an old tin of mints. He hit out at it in frustration and it slid smoothly backwards. Brad heard a click, then a whirr. The shelves began to part and shift. The drills and hammers folded neatly in on them selves as, right before his eyes, a doorway appeared in the back of the shed. He found it. He still didn’t know what it was, but this was definitely it.

Brad descended the spiral staircase and the lights sprang to life automatically when they detected his presence. Brad worried about what else might spring to life at his intrusion. If his sense of direction had not left him completely, the long corridor Brad stood at the end of led to beneath the house. Brad had found She-Borg and the Shock’s secret lair.

It was like entering a submarine. The spaces were slightly too small for comfort and there were pipes and tubes covering the walls and ceiling in an impossible maze of plumbing. Along each wall were small doorways, each leading to a new space to explore. Despite his fatigue, Brad found the resolve he needed to carry on.

The first room he entered was clearly a She-Borg room. The walls were lined with her spare parts and alternative limbs, wings for flights and large drill attachments for tunnelling. There were many gaps and spaces. Brad assumed this is where she had taken her favourite attachments with her. The second room must have belonged to the Shock. It was full of the signature red of his costumes. Like She-Borg, he had suits for every purpose. Brad thought about taking some for his own costume, but these would all be far too big for him. He left them where they were. As cool as these rooms were, they did not help him discover anything about his own powers or teach him how to stop She-Borg. He continued his hunt through the lair.

The third room was more like it! It appeared to be some sort of control room. There was a bank of computers through the middle of the room, all facing the back wall where there were three huge screens. As soon as Brad walked in the room, several lights started to flash and blink as the tech leapt into action.

“Welcome, Brad. We’ve been waiting for you.”

Brad jumped out of his skin and pirouetted on the spot. There was no one else in this room with him. He had no idea where the voice came from.

“Where are you?” he panted, then remembering what he could do, turned invisible. Three faces appeared on the giant wall screens. The first was a woman with striking cheekbones and jaw. She was both terrifying and beautiful. The central face was remarkable because of its plainness. It was the most normal face he’d ever seen and looked otherworldly because of it. The third face was a man with a full and bushy beard. It was the only thing he could see. When someone drew a picture of Zeus or God, this was the face they used.

“We are here,” they spoke as one, “to tell you about your powers. There is no need for you to hide, little one. There is no one here who would wish you harm.”

Brad reappeared in the room. Looking sideways at the faces, he tried to figure out what was happening. “Who are you?” he asked.

“All in good time, Brad. Sit and get comfortable. This may take a while,” they said. Their voices held little emotion but there was a kindness to their tone that helped Brad settle his nerves. Brad slipped in and out of his safe zone a few times to calm himself. He found the new habit reassuring. Then he sat. The faces looked on patiently while he sorted himself out, like they had all the time in the world.

“We will tell you of your three powers,” they began, but Brad interrupted.

“There’s another one?”

“Yes, three in total as there are three of us. Three has always been a powerful number,” they said together. “In a moment of great need a new power is granted until you have three. The powers are never the same as the needs are always different.”

For the first time, the female voice spoke alone, “I have given you the power of time.  It came when you needed to save the mortal Emmanuel for the car. It is a new power to us. I have never granted it before, and it will take time for us to become accustomed to its use.” Her voice filled Brad with a reassurance and comfort. It made him think of a mother soothing a baby to sleep.

“I have given you the invisibility,” said the central face in a voice as plain and forgettable as the face that spoke it. “It is a power granted a thousand times before and we are used to the control. You can use this power freely it seems.” Brad realised he was slipping in and out of his bubble unconsciously and stopped it.

“My power is yet to be established,” boomed the third face, his voice made the room quake. “It will manifest at a time of grave need.”

“That’s great but who are you?” asked Brad, they hadn’t answered his question. The woman smiled wryly and the man barked an amused laugh. The central face remained expressionless.

“We reside in you,” once again, they spoke together, “In the crystal passed to you from Shock. We have been passed from hero to hero through the ages. We came to Shock through the Cosmic Raider who got us from the Silent Vixen and so on. Now we call you home, though we know not what to call you until all three of your powers have come to the fore. We are your powers.”

“But who are you?” Brad was starting to lose patience, why could they not answer a simple question.

“We are The Three!” they exclaimed but Brad was none the wiser. When they saw his lack of reaction, they continued, “We have been around since the beginning and we are many things to many people. To the ancient Greeks we are The Fates and to the people of Tibet, the three mountains. We are the sun, moon and sky. However, through the millennia people lost their faith in us. The old gods of the world held a moot, a meeting, and we decided to pass our power to mortals. We poured our divine essences into crystals and descended to Earth to join with the humans. The age of Superheroes was born. You are next in a long and noble line of heroes dating back over 2000 years. We barely got to know Shock before She-Borg took him from us. We are keen to see this injustice resolved.”

“Thank you for finally answering my question,” said Brad. “I have a couple more. Well, really, I’ve thought of fifty-six more questions, but I’ll narrow it down. Are you in She-Borg too? How can I access my time power? Is there somewhere I can nap?”

“You are wise beyond your years, little one, to ask such insightful questions,” they said together. Their sarcasm was lost on Brad. “Firstly, no, we are not part of the entity She-Borg. We are only in you. The She-Borg carries with her a crystal contain the spirit of war, Ares, Mars, and Tir they have been called. She is a warrior with the strategic planning of foresight. A truly terrifying adversary. We wish you luck. Secondly, control of your power will come with time, but fret not, little one, it will be there when the need is greatest. Finally…” They let the wall answer the last question as a bed slid silently from a hidden section.

Brad gratefully sank down on the soft mattress and, without another word, fell asleep.