Men of Mystery

State Police

DA Gates was in his office working when he heard a noise outside his window.

Pigeons he thought; they were always sitting on the ledge outside his office windows cooing. He looked up a few seconds later when he did not heard any sound from the birds and to his surprise he saw Cerulean crouching in the window.

The DA stood up as the azure-clad man entered the office. "What you do want?" asked Gates.

"I've come here to work out a deal."

"What kind of deal?."

"Drop the murder charges and I'll play by your rules," said the azure-clad man.

"And if we want you to stop playing vigilante?"

"Then that's what I'll do. Plenty of people still need saving from natural disasters."

Gates carefully considered the offer. It was a good one but he was under orders for a different kind of deal. "Actually, we want you to work with us."

"How's that?" said Cerulean surprised.

"No vandalism or destruction of property and no killing anyone, of course, in exchange for dropping the murder charges. If you're interested, there's someone on my staff you can talk to and work out the arrangements."

Cerulean stared grim-faced at the DA. He liked the idea of working with the police and other law-enforcement agencies, but talking to someone else got him concerned. Gates was the DA, the top law-enforcement officer. If he couldn't make the deal, something wasn't right.

Then the cyan sentinel realized Gates was only local law-enforcement. There were people above him at the state and federal level. That got him very concerned. What would state or federal agents want with him? He wasn't sure but he didn't want to work for the government.

"No deal," the cobalt-garbed man said, taking a step back. "You have my word that I'll work inside the law more but that's all I'm going to do."

Even as he spoke, three men rushed into Gates's officer. They wore dark suits on their bodies and stern expressions on their faces.

"Freeze, state police," said one man.

But Cerulean was already out the window. By the time the state troopers reached the opening, the cyan sentinel was in the air far across town.

The next day, Gates announced he was dropping the murder charges. In a brief statement he said, "Cerulean has come to an agreement with law enforcement to work with them and has explained that the men in Lyster's lab were already dead when Cerulean arrived on the scene so he couldn't have killed them."

Dolores was thrilled by the news and was so happy she even let Craig take her to lunch.

Across town at the Union American, Linus Trent wrote an editorial pointing out that if Cerulean was innocent, then Lyster himself murdered those men and probably tried to frame the azure-wearing man.

Warrants for Lyster's arrest followed the next day and in a secret hideout, the scientist fumed. My plans to eliminate Cerulean failed, he thought and he wasn't sure why. On the surface it seemed that the would-be hero persuaded Gates of his innocence; it was the only explanation. But Lyster was sure Cerulean wasn't that talented or clever. He was just someone in blue tights trying to fight crime.

But something told Lyster that wasn't the whole story. He was stronger than any man alive and was able to leap incredible distances. His skin was impervious to bullets, which should not be possible at least for someone human. But that led to only one conclusion. Cerulean must not be a homo sapien.

How that was possible the scientist didn't understand but it was an inescapable conclusion. But if he wasn't human then what was he? Stories of first contact with alien races filled the pulps and came flashing across Lyster's mind. That was fiction of course. Still if what a member of an alien race came to Earth? Lyster could envision several reasons why that might be. His ship crashed and he had no way to leave. Or he came to study humans and a report back his findings.

Regardless of the reason, this man, this Cerulean, bore careful study and consideration. And Lyster would have to be more careful in the future too. He sat in his chair thinking as several schemes began to form in his mind.

He smiled and began to make plans to execute them.