Only a handful of people, administrative assistant Sally Cohen among them, dared remain in the registration office to witness the grim scene transpiring between Mr. Incredible and Mirage. The mind-controlled superhero was clutching the blond woman's throat in one hand, levitating her above the floor. Mirage watched reality blur and fade as his strong fingers stifled the blood flow to her brain. Chris, ironically, stood transfixed; she knew that by the time she managed to stop Mr. Incredible with her face again, he would snap Mirage's neck like a toothpick. Nothing could be done.

So why was a slender young man with tussled dark hair creeping toward Mr. Incredible from behind?

As the man of muscle tightened his grip on Mirage's throat, he felt a slight tapping on his shoulder. No sooner had he curiously turned his head, than a small fist slammed into his rock-solid chin. He hadn't expected such a blow to even sting him, yet now he was flying across the room, and Mirage was a crumpled, but free, heap on the floor.

Chris couldn't believe it--a boy in a T-shirt and baggy jeans had just sent the mighty Mr. Incredible crashing into a wall.

"H-how did you..." she stammered, quickly pulling a veil of blond hair over her face to avoid stupefying the young man.

"I call myself Zerox," the youth replied quietly but confidently. "I can copy the powers of any super I touch."

Chris grinned bashfully. The boy wasn't especially well-built, but his rugged handsomeness more than compensated for his lack of muscle.

"You're awfully cute," he remarked just before Mr. Incredible's fist connected with his jaw, hurling him backwards through the opposite wall.

While he lay stunned, Sally took advantage of the lull in activity to slip out of the registration office, leaving Chris and Mirage alone with the battling titans. Zerox leaped powerfully to his feet and started to bludgeon Mr. Incredible's chest, while Chris dragged the semi-conscious Mirage to a safe distance.

The very foundations of the BSA building seemed to tremble as Mr. Incredible and Zerox slugged each other, and it was becoming clear to Chris that the smaller boy would lose. Desperate to assist him, she hurried away from Mirage and placed herself behind his back, hoping to charm Mr. Incredible into immobility. She couldn't have picked a worse time.

An unguarded punch struck Zerox in the solar plexus, throwing him against Chris with great force. She felt as if someone had tossed an aircraft carrier at her in hopes that she would catch it, and then she felt nothing.

Mirage, still reeling from Mr. Incredible's attempt to strangle her, managed to lift her aching head from the floor. A dire situation presented itself to her eyes. Chris lay sprawled and motionless, her head having collided with the wall. Zerox, his face bruised, his breath labored, crouched in front of her helpless body. Mr. Incredible was strolling toward him, repeatedly pounding a fist into his palm; he seemed little the worse for wear.

Noticing that Mirage was alert, Zerox quickly brushed his fingers over Chris' unresponsive cheek and bounded over to where the blond woman lay. "I've got her powers," he said urgently. "What do I do?" He had, apparently, given up on fighting brute strength with brute strength.

"Turn into a girl," Mirage instructed him.

"WHAT?!"

"Now!"

Zerox heard heavy footsteps approaching; he knew death was only seconds away. He had no other choice.

The change was triggered instinctively. By the time he had risen to his feet and turned to confront the furious superhero, he had become a she.

From Mirage's perspective, girl Zerox wasn't much different from boy Zerox, other than being a few inches shorter, and somewhat curvier. From Zerox's perspective, (s)he was experiencing something truly bizarre and frightening.

"Omigosh...this is so weird..." she mumbled, caring little that Mr. Incredible had frozen in his tracks and taken on a slackjawed expression.

"Don't let him out of your sight," said Mirage, struggling dizzily to her feet. Once she had wobbled a bit and grown sure of her footing, she shuffled toward the spot where Chris had fallen.

"Oh...my...God!" she heard Zerox blurt out.

"And don't look down your shirt, either," said Mirage with a peevish sigh.

She knelt and laid her ear over Chris' mouth, their strands of blond hair mixing. The girl was breathing--a very good sign.

"How long do I have to stay like this?" came Zerox's nervous female voice. "I can only copy her powers for a few minutes, and then I have to touch her again. And I can't copy Mr. Incredible's powers at the same time, otherwise I'd just knock him out."

"The police will show up any time now," Mirage assured her.

"Omigod," Zerox ranted. "What if something goes wrong? What if I can't change back into a guy? What if I'm stuck as a girl?"

"Then this is your lucky day," Mirage quipped.

Zerox's fears proved unfounded, as a half-dozen police officers appeared within two minutes, bearing reinforced steel shackles with which they bound the unresisting Mr. Incredible. Zerox effortlessly resumed male form, and watched with relief as paramedics laid Chris Hamilton on a stretcher, placed a cloth over her eyes and forehead, and ported her out of the office.

"This is, like, the weirdest day of my life," he remarked to Mirage. "First I got beat up by Mr. Incredible, then I turned into a girl. I suppose I'll be abducted by aliens as soon as I walk out of here."

Mr. Incredible sat impotently on the floor, glaring silently but menacingly at the police officers who surrounded him, unbreakable metal shackles confining his hands and feet.

"A transport will arrive to take him away in a few minutes," a policeman told Zerox and Mirage.

"This will be bad for superhero rights," remarked a policewoman, shaking her head. "Very bad."

A lightbulb appeared above Mirage's oval-shaped head. "Maybe I can get some answers from him before you lock him up," she suggested.

"How?" inquired the policeman. "Is it some super trick?"

"Precisely," said Mirage. "My powers of illusion are based on mental suggestions. If I suggest that you see something terrifying, or pleasant, that's what you'll see. The exact details depend on what you consider to be most terrifying, or most pleasant." She stepped in front of the trapped Mr. Incredible and extended her stiletto-like fingers. "Don't be surprised by anything you see," she warned the others.

She began to concentrate, and was suddenly transfigured before the eyes of all present. To Zerox she resembled a paunchy, middle-aged man, the supervisor at a hotel where he worked during the summer. To the officers she appeared as a uniformed police sergeant. To Mr. Incredible, she assumed the robed and hooded form of The Solon.

"Oh, man, it's my boss," Zerox groaned.

Mirage spoke slowly but sternly to Mr. Incredible. "Who am I?" she demanded. "Who do you see before you?"

"You're The Solon," the superhero replied innocently.

"What do I look like?" Mirage asked him.

"You're an old man in a black robe and hood. I can't see all of your face, but I can tell you have a beard."

Mirage grinned with satisfaction. "Why do you want a list of all the supers in Metroville?" was her next question.

"So I can destroy them, like you told me to," said Mr. Incredible matter-of-factly.

"Hmm," Mirage mused. Her arms remained level, her nails pointed at the large man's face. "What is your name?"

"I'm Robert Parr, also known as Mr. Incredible."

"I don't think so," Mirage retorted. "Mr. Incredible would never take orders from The Sol...er, from me. One more time--what is your name?"

"I'm Robert Parr, also known as Mr. Incredible. You did something to my brain when you brought me out of the death spell, and now I have to do everything you say."

Mirage shot Zerox a concerned glance. After a moment's thought, she continued her dialogue with Mr. Incredible.

"I release you from my power," she declared. "You need no longer obey my commands. You are free."

A brief, blank stare formed on Mr. Incredible's face, followed by confusion, and finally, joy.

"I'm free," he exulted. What appeared to be The Solon collapsed into a slender, attractive form before his eyes. "The urge to kill is gone. How'd you do it, Mirage?"

"Simple," the blond woman replied. "In concept, anyway. I put a suggestion in your mind that when you look at me, you see the person you work for."

"Interesting," said Mr. Incredible, who then adopted a somber tone. "My God, Mirage, if you and your new friend hadn't stopped me, I might have killed Helen, and the children, and who knows how many other supers. I wasn't strong enough to fight The Solon's conditioning."

Two more police officers stepped into the office through the hole in the wall. "The transport's here," one of them announced. "Get him ready."

Robert Parr looked at Mirage through sad eyes. "I guess I have to go to prison now," he lamented. "Give my love to Helen and the kids."

"I will," said Mirage with a bitter smile.

"And let me know if Chris is all right," Mr. Incredible requested as the officers exerted themselves to raise his body.

----

Dr. Levy, a stout blond woman in her thirties, returned from break to find a male surgeon staring vapidly at the expressionless face of Chris Hamilton. The girl lay rigidly on a bed in the secret hospital for superheroes, her brain activity monitored by electrodes fastened to her temples.

The doctor quickly laid her hand over the man's eyes, and he snapped out of his reverie. "Huh? What?" he blurted out.

"Forget it, Carter," said Dr. Levy half-jokingly. "No man's virtuous enough to withstand The Transfixer."

"I'm sorry, Amanda," replied the surgeon as he jerked his line of sight away from Chris. "That was very unprofessional of me."

Dr. Levy glanced at the readout on the monitor, looked down at the stricken girl, and sighed plaintively. "Even in a coma," she remarked, "she's still the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

----

Don't miss the exciting sequel, Liberty and Justice!