The Invincibles by Michael McNichols Read Free Book Online

never been able to find out.
    No other maniac ever challenged him as much. Over the long years, their frequent conflicts had improved each other immensely. Without the other, neither would have excelled to the heights (or depths) they were known for. It was an epic rivalry with the biggest stakes imaginable, playing out across the city’s underworld and, occasionally, even on a more global scale. But one night last week, it had all abruptly ended.
    How had the Death Reaper’s heart just stopped? He couldn’t have died like that! It hardly seemed fitting. Deep down, Nightshadow had always thought he and the Reaper would die together fighting over the fate of the world. Yet, Nightshadow had performed the autopsy himself. Hyperman, Dynamo-Man, and the Silver Seraph also scanned the body. Paul Wrath and his science spooks at S.I.L.E.N.T. had even poked around with it before cremating it. There was no doubting it. The Reaper was dead.
    There wasn’t going to be a legendary final battle. Just like that, their feud had ended and without an actual winner. Nightshadow would never know if he could have ever truly and ultimately beaten the Death Reaper and made him pay for the lives he’d destroyed and the mayhem he’d caused over the years. He’d never learn who the Reaper really was and why and how he’d become what he was. The questions would lurk at the back of Nightshadow’s mind forever, jabbing at him in the dead of night when he should be focusing on other things.
    Somehow, he had to move on with his life.
     
    ***
     
    Wally slammed the limo door shut after Nightshadow climbed out. “I’d wish you good luck at all your meetings today, Mister Risen,” Wally said, “but I know you make your own luck.”
    “ We can’t give bad luck the chance to find us,” Nightshadow replied, brushing down the creases in his suit. “Take the rest of the day off, Wally. You’ve earned it. I’ll call the garage and tell them to rearrange their schedule.”
    “ Certainly, sir!”
    They shook hands, and Nightshadow pushed through the glass revolving door into Risen Tower. The sleek lobby glistened silver and clean with a pristine waterfall splashing down at the back. A team of receptionists manned the front desk. Businessmen hurried in and out the elevators. Many stopped what they were doing to say hello to Nightshadow or did so in passing. Nightshadow nodded back to acknowledge them.
    He liked and appreciated everyone who worked for him, but he was investigating them all. Any one of them could have been a reaper child and could now be plotting against him. He needed to be certain of who they all were, not only for his own safety, but for that of the company and everyone in it, as well as the city itself.
    Two guards flanked him over to his private elevator. After his ascent, he breezed into his penthouse-sized, top-floor office. The wall-sized windows gazed out on the thin, stringy clouds snaking around the city’s heights. Priceless black-and-white abstract paintings hung from the walls and flush oriental rugs covered the smooth hardwood floor. A slick, expensive-looking computer sat upon a mountainous desk. A wall of TVs opposite the desk showed the stock market, news, and weather.
    For the next two hours, Nightshadow held meetings that saw his guests making good use of the comfortable chairs and mini-bar. He talked them into investing into this, signing off on that, and promising to look deeper into a few new properties. That completed, he sat down at his computer and spent a few hours going through tedious paperwork. Proposals needed his approval, contracts required his signature, and invoices had to be double-checked.
    Once finished, he stretched and cracked his knuckles before getting up and grabbing some coffee from the mini-bar. Cup in hand, he flipped aside a painting on the wall to access a vault. After typing in a series of pass-codes and giving his handprint, the vault door swung open, and he took out a small, compact