“Ms. Diamond’s all right, Henry. Except for the part when she tried to wrestle the kitchen knife away from me before I could cut my finger. All in all, I thought she took the whole thing pretty well. Didn’t you? You know, for a social worker?”“Ms. Diamond’s all right, Henry. Except for the part when she tried to wrestle the kitchen knife away from me before I could cut my finger. All in all, I thought she took the whole thing pretty well. Didn’t you? You know, for a social worker?”
“Yes, sir, she seems like a very nice person.”
“I’m glad she agreed to file the papers letting you be my permanent guardian until I’m legally of age.”
“It pleases me that you are happy, sir. Now about this Hawk business. What exactly does one do if one is to become a successful superhero?”
“Lots of stuff. For one thing, a superhero flies around making the world a safer place to live. And maybe as the Hawk I’ll be able to catch the guys who killed my parents and grandfather.”
“I see. And you intend to accomplish this by …?”
“Come on, Henry. I’m new at this. We’ll just have to handle each case as it comes along.”
“Very good, sir. When do we start?”
“How about right now? We could go save someone from being mugged or something.”
“And what will my duties be?”
“You’ll be close by in the car in case my arms get tired from flapping. But don’t worry.” Andy handed Henry a small radio transceiver. “We’ll talk to each other with these. See—I have one strapped to my wrist. If I need you, I’ll call.”
The telephone on the kitchen wall rang and Henry answered it.
“Hello?… Oh, dear … I see … No, I’ve never heard of him. Mr. Hawkes never mentioned it.” Henry sighed. “Very well, I’ll bring him right down … I suppose. If you say so … Good-bye.”
“What’s wrong, Henry?” Andy asked.
“It’s awful, Master Hawkes. That was Ms. Diamond. She says a man was waiting in her office when she returned. He claims to be your uncle Harvey.”
“My father never talked about having a brother. The guy probably read about Grandfather in the paper and is trying to horn in on his money.”
“I hope you’re right, sir. However, Ms. Diamond says he has a legitimate birth certificate naming Mr. Hawkes as his father.”
“I’m telling you he’s a fake, Henry. What else did she say?”
“A very odd thing. She added that you could bring your suit if you wanted to. There might be a need for it.”
Andy’s forehead wrinkled into a frown. “She must be talking about the Hawk suit. But why would there be a need for it? Unless …”
“You don’t suppose Ms. Diamond is sending us a message of some sort, do you?”
“I’m not sure, Henry. But let’s put the suit in the limo just in case. Oh, and one more thing. My grandfather wouldn’t happen to have anything we could use for a weapon lying around, would he?”
“Mr. Hawkes did not believe in firearms, sir.” Henry’s face brightened. “But he did have two prototypes of nonlethal self-defense mechanisms.”
“Speak English, Henry.”
“I’ll do better than that, sir. I’ll show them to you.”
Andy waited while Henry went upstairs. In a few minutes he was back, carrying two polished wooden cases. He set them on the counter and flipped the lids open.
Inside each box, resting on a red velvet cushion, was a strange-looking silver gun.
Henry took the first one out. It was bulky and had a large square barrel. “This is the Gloop Gun.” He pointed it and pulled the trigger. A wad of brownish yellow goo shot out of the end and splattered against the side of the garbage can.
Andy moved closer to examine it.
“Don’t touch it, sir. It’s an extremely powerful glue that would take quite some time to remove.”
“That’s incredible, Henry. What does the other gun do?”
Henry put the Gloop Gun back and gingerly picked up the second gun. It was shaped like a banana and had a red trigger. “I have never actually used this one, sir. Mr. Hawkes called it a Super Stun Gun and thought it might be useful to the police. I don’t know for certain that it even works.”
“Pack them in the car along with the Hawk suit. If Ms. Diamond is in trouble, she won’t be for long.”