“Have a cookie, Michael.”

“Mom, I’m flying here.”

“They’re fresh. I thought you liked my cookies.”

“I’m in a hurry, I’m supposed to save somebody,” Mike said. Or maybe he was supposed to fight a villain. He couldn’t remember. It was something really important, he was sure. He flew as fast as he could.

His mom flew alongside him, graying hair waving in the wind and apron flapping. “All right,” she said. “If you’d rather play superhero than talk to your mother, go right ahead.”

“I’m not playing, Mom! I’m a real superhero!”

“Don’t shout at your mother like that, son.” Now Mike’s dad was flying along, though he was in his easy chair, the one he spent most evenings in, watching TV and drinking beer.

No matter how fast Mike flew, he couldn’t leave his parents behind.

“When you fly around saving people, do you wear a sweater?” Mike’s mom asked. “It gets cold up in the sky.”

“I’ll have a cookie,” Mike’s dad said. “When did you start making cookies anyway?”

“When did you do anything except sit your fat ass in that chair?” Mike’s mom snapped back.

“Shut up!” Mike screamed at them.

“I will not,” Mireya said. “This is important.” She shook Mike’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry, Mom.”

“MIKE!” Mireya shouted.

“Uh...” Mike said. Mireya was hovering over him, her long hair brushing his face. He was lying on the old couch in Mireya’s house.

“Lodestone’s been hurt. He broke his leg and lost a lot of blood.”

“Who?”

“Lodestone. Anthony.”

All Mike could think of was that hair gently caressing him, and her sweet smell. “When did you get back?” he asked.

“Poppy called. She and Lodestone would have been killed if this other hero didn’t show up.”

“Are they all right?”

Mireya straightened up, taking her hair and smell away. She walked to the other side of the room and crossed her arms.

“Anthony’s in the hospital. Poppy wasn’t hurt.”

“So they’re all right.”

“No! Anthony could have died!”

“Are you mad at me?”

Mireya just looked at the floor and pressed her lips tightly together.

“What did I do?”

“It’s what you didn’t do! Poppy said she asked you to help.”

“I...” Mike hesitated. “I had some things to think about.”

The doorbell rang, which set off a chorus of dog barking. Mike could hear. Mrs. Morales opening the front door. A moment later Pink Poppy, in normal clothes, came into the sewing room.

“Good to see you, home girl.” Poppy and Mireya hugged. “How’s your abuela?” Poppy asked when they separated.

"Some days are better than others."

"True for all of us. Where is he?"

Mireya pointed at Mike. Poppy gave him a look like a disappointed parent, which gave him a flash of his dream. "You," she said.

"Are you one the Neighborhood Heroes or not?" Poppy went on.

I never signed up for your amateur hour heroes, Mike thought but something stopped him from saying it.

"Heroes help, kid. Heroes sacrifice themselves for others."

"I..." Mike said.

"No excuses," Poppy said. "You have another chance. A hero named Nighthawk saved my life, and Anthony’s. I think he’s in trouble."

"You didn’t tell me that," Mireya said.

Poppy shook her head. "He was sucked into this hole thing, a checkerboard in the air."

"That’s weird," Mireya said.

"Yeah, right after Buzz Kill flew right through the thing, as if he knew what it was."

"Nighthawk?" Mike asked. He stood up from the couch. "Black medieval knight costume? That guy? You want me to help him?"

"Yes," Poppy said.

"He punched me in the nose! He’s no hero, he was probably helping Buzz Kill."

Poppy advanced on Mike. "You weren’t there. He saved us from both Buzz Kill and Faster. A lot more than you did." Mike could have turned his light on and withstood an attack from a rampaging bull elephant, but he still stepped back to avoid Poppy’s anger.

Mireya put her hand on Poppy’s shoulder to stop her. "What can we do now? Do you know where this hole, checkerboard thing took Nighthawk?"

Poppy deflated. "No. It can’t be good if BK wanted to go through it. It must lead back to villain HQ or something."

"Then there’s nothing we can do," Mike said. If Nighthawk is a villain, he’s with his friends. If he’s a hero, he can take care of himself. Is there anything to eat? I’m starving."

"YOU can find him," Poppy said.

"Me?" Mike asked. "How?"

"I don’t know," Poppy said, waving her arms. "You have all these powers. Fly all over L.A. and look, if nothing else. It should just take you a few minutes."

"There are millions of people in L.A. You want me to look at all of them in a few minutes?"

"Mike," Mireya said. "Please try."

Mike almost said, "Why should I?" but didn’t. He would do it because Mireya asked him to. "Fine," he said. "I don’t even know if I can fly that fast, but I’ll try."

"Right," Poppy said. Not even a thank you!, Mike thought. Poppy turned to Mireya. "Call everyone. We need all the help we can get."

Mike sat on the couch and reached for his shoes and socks, or rather the shoes and socks loaned to him by Mireya’s brother Hector. He didn’t own a single thing of his own. He didn’t have a costume either. What kind of superhero flies around in a borrowed t-shirt, jeans, sneakers and socks?

As he stalked out of the room Mireya was on the phone to her Neighborhood Hero friends. That guy with the funny accent would be a lot of help against Buzz Kill. And Mike still didn’t know what powers Pink Poppy had, if any. The only one in the group who would be useful in a fight would be that scary skull and eyeballs guy, José.

Lighting up the moment he went out the front door, Mike flew off the front porch, over cars and a delivery van of some kind that were parked on the street. I’ll put on a show of looking, come down and tell them I can’t find the stupid knight guy, he thought. Then maybe I can get something to eat.

Flying made him think of his dream. What made me dream about my parents? I haven’t thought about them since the day I got on the bus to leave that boring little town forever. They’re probably glad I’m gone.

His thoughts floating as he hovered high over Mireya’s neighborhood, something began to prick at the back of his mind.

Dad never talked to me except to tell me I was doing something wrong. Mom was out of it, with her paintings and circle of lady friends. She never knew when I spent days in the desert. Calls from school saying that I was missing from class were still on the answering machine when I came home. All I had to do was erase them.

Something behind him. Without thinking, Mike rotated towards the feeling.

If I hadn’t found the amulet or whatever it is I’d still be stuck back there. Probably for life. I’d get a job at the Sinclair station and maybe move up to the cement plant after I got some girl pregnant and had to marry her.

It was his ability to sense people with super powers. It was telling him that a lot of them were in one location, just off the 405 freeway, some kind of warehouse.

Buzz Kill was there.

Damn, I did it. I found BK, and the knight guy should be there too if the old lady’s story was true. He could also sense Heatwave, and that eight foot tall woman. A kid with immense strength, and a bunch of others. A fat guy pulsed with power, but Mike wasn’t sure what his powers were.

I’m good, Mike thought. Mireya will really like me for this. He flew back down to the house.

"I found them!" Mike said to Mireya and Poppy as he burst into the house. Mireya was on the phone, and Poppy just nodded her head. Not the effusive thanks that he was expecting.

When Mireya hung up, she said, "Peterista? is on his way."

"That’s everyone. How far is it?" Poppy asked.

"Um," Mike said. "just east of the 405, in a warehouse."

Mireya walked over to Mike and hugged him. "I knew you could do it."

"How did you do it?" Poppy asked. "You were only gone five minutes."

"Uh, flew around, like you said. Super speed." His ability to detect people with powers was his secret.

Within a few minutes Jose arrived, then the funny little man Petaurista. Mireya changed into her super suit, which conformed to every curve of her body and made her look even hotter. It didn’t cover her head though, she never bothered with a secret identity.

I could just fly there and take care of the villains by myself, Mike thought. He dismissed memories of his disastrous battle with Buzz Kill, Heatwave, and the giant woman. He wasn’t ready for them then, that was all. He was sure he could take them when he was ready.

Mireya wanted to bring in the weird bunch, so Mike shrugged and let her. She could do anything, as long as she wore that costume.

"Who has a car that will fit all five of us?" Poppy asked as the group stood in front of the house. "Four is a crowd in my Focus."

"We usually take Anthony’s Accord," Mireya said. "Jose, tienes un carro aqui?"

"No," Jose said.

Mike sighed. "Get in Poppy’s car," he said.

"I told you, five won’t fit..."

"I won’t be inside."

Poppy looked blank for a second, then said, "This should be interesting." She opened the driver’s door of her little car and got in. The other three crammed into the two-door hatchback.

Mike turned on his light, a miniature sun that made the streetlights look pale. He picked up the car and extended his support field around it.

“Are you going to lift us or not?" Poppy asked a moment later. Then Mike heard her say "Oh my," as she looked down on the rooftops of L.A. from far above.

The warehouse was nondescript, in an industrial area full of almost identical structures. Except for light spilling out of the high windows, there was no reason to think it was different than all the others. Mike’s sense for people with powers was overwhelmed this close to so many of them.

He put down the Ford Focus on a dark street and the Neighborhood Heroes climbed out of it. Mireya immediately started walking casually up the wall.

Mike flew up to her. "What are you doing?" he asked.

Mireya made a "quiet" gesture with her finger to her lips. "I’ll see what’s going on and report back, she whispered."

"I can just break through the wall and start busting heads," Mike whispered back.

"I am the leader and you will wait for my report," Mireya said, then continued up the brick wall.

Mike landed on the ground and the other heroes said nothing. He felt they were laughing at him, just too quietly to hear.

In a short time Mireya came down. "Seven of them," she reported. "Buzz Kill, Heatwave, Mike’s giant woman, a kid, and others I don’t know," she reported. "They’re playing catch with Knighthawk."

Mike didn’t sense this Knighthawk in there at all. He must not have powers.

"There’s also a man tied to a chair. Let’s try to get him out of harm’s way."

In a blink, José became the Aztec god of death, with the eyeball necklace. That was spooky. Even spookier, he turned and walked through the warehouse wall as if it wasn’t there.

Petaurista took out some tools and began to mount the wall like a rock climber.

Poppy smoothed her gloves. The palms were cut out, to expose skin. Mike couldn’t imagine what that meant.

"What do you want me to do, Mireya?" Mike asked.

Mireya smiled. "Give me about a minute, then break through the wall and start busting heads."

The fight had already begun when Mike took out a large chunk of the warehouse wall and flew into the large space inside. His glowing form seemed to be quite a surprise to the villains, and he took advantage of that surprise.

Buzz Kill took to the air immediately, but Mike managed to get behind him. He got one hand on the wing machinery and delivered a powerful blow to it with the other hand.

The wings failed, then stopped. The high pitched buzz stuttered, lowered in pitch, then quit. The wings, hard frames with translucent membranes, ground to a halt. Mike held the struggling figure above the brawl below.

"Hey, BK," Mike. "Nice to see you again."

What was going to do with the villain now? Mike thought. Then he saw the eight foot woman advancing on Knighthawk, and threw Buzz Kill right at her. She went down as BK hit her like a missile.

Petaurista was climbing the inside wall of the warehouse now. When he got about halfway up, he spread his arms and jumped. Spreading his arms to catch air in the membranes of his costume, he glided towards the floor.

That was pretty stupid, Mike thought.

Petaurista bowled into a villain with a white and black costume, knocking him to the floor. Then he delivered blows to the head to make sure the man stayed down.

Mike was impressed. That’s better than I thought, except Petaurista has to climb the wall first. There must be a better way to get him the height he needs to glide down.

Let’s see what these powers of mine can do, Mike thought. He mentally pushed himself to fly faster than he ever had before. He flashed around the warehouse, hitting each villain he found with a blow calculated to take them out without sending them to Timbuktoo.

In a moment, only José, Petaurista, and Mireya were standing.

Didn’t Mireya say there was a man tied to a chair? Mike didn’t see him. Then Pink Poppy came in and started touching all of the villains with her hand. What the hell?

The giant woman started struggling to her feet just as Poppy got to her. With a touch of Poppy’s hand, she fell back to the floor.

That’s pretty cool, Mike thought.

“Somebody call the police and an ambulance,” Poppy said.

Mike’s sense for supers told him there was one behind him. He turned as a short villain, the one who felt like a kid to Mike, rushed into the room. He was carrying one of the large packing crates that were littered around the room.

The kid hit Mike with the packing crate with all his super strength. The crate shattered. Mike asked, “Are you done?" He picked the kid up by his blue costume. The kids feet windmilled in the air as he tried to kick Mike.

"Tear off part of his costume," Poppy said.

"What?"

"I need bare skin.”

Mike didn’t know why she was asking, but he tore a big hole in the blue costume. A touch from Poppy made the kid sag, then fall asleep.

"There’s one more," Mike said. He sensed the most powerful one of all, the one that pulsed with energy, somewhere nearby. He flew towards it.

It was behind a pile of crates. I’d better be careful, Mike thought. This one is very powerful. He might be a match for me. He flew over the crates and his light filled the dark space behind them. Mike expected energy bolts or mystic forces or something to attack him as he looked down.

A very fat young man with a big "T" on his shirt held his hands over his eyes and said, "Don’t hit me."

Poppy put the large young man to sleep, then Mireya called the police on her little cell phone.

Poppy and Petaurista helped Knighthawk stand, but he looked like he needed a long rest. "Is R- the man tied to the chair all right?" he asked.

"Yes," Mireya said. "He needs to go to the hospital."

"I’ll take care of him," the tall armor wearing man said. "There’s a van nearby. Somewhere." His voice sounded mechanical.

They found the van in an alley and Knighthawk got the other man, a black man in a business suit, into the front seat.

"We need to get out of here too," Mireya said. They could hear sirens in the distance.

As they climbed into the little Ford Focus Mireya said, "Good job tonight, Mike." Mike tried to hide it, but her compliment felt good.

"Just one question," Mireya said as she got into the car.

"What?"

"When I woke you up, why did you call me ’Mom’?"