In the Dufraine household, David and his son Jack, the famous superheroes Blue Eagle and Switch the Blue Eaglet, are enjoying a relaxing afternoon watching television together......

The Dufraine living room was a standard living room with all the décor of an average middle class American family. Tasteful pictures of flowers and trees hung on a few places of their white painted wall. Jack sat on a grey sofa and David relaxed in a comfortable recliner as they watched TV.

On the screen was a horror movie. A woman was being menaced by a group of lifeless zombies, the dead brought back to life via a dark ritual. The creatures had no emotion or individual agency; they only shambled towards the terrified woman as she backed into a corner with no escape.

The film cut to a commercial.

“They say an apple a day keeps the doctor away,” blared the narrator. “If that is true, then with our apples, you may never see the doctor again! Red’s Apple Orchard has the sweetest, most delicious apples you’ve ever had.”

“Aww, I hate these commercials! Why do we have to watch them?” pouted Jack.

“Well, Jack, that’s why our TV shows are free,” said David. “It’s how advertisers make money. Otherwise, we’d be paying for it.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” muttered Jack.

“You’ve had apples before, but you’ve never had apples like ours. Red’s Apple Orchard,” continue the advertisement. “Located just outside Herald City and supplying the best quality apples to your local grocery store and supermarket.”

“Hmm, I’ve heard people raving about Red’s Apple Orchard for a couple weeks now,” said David.

“Maybe you can pick them up the next time you go shopping,” said Jack.

David got up and walked to the refrigerator. While not empty, there were plenty of items they were running low on. “Which will probably have to be sometime today. We’re running low on food.” He walked back into the living room and glanced over at the television. “We can wait until this movie is over,” he added.

David Dufraine was certainly right about those apples! Red’s Apple Orchard is a new brand of apples that went from the shadows of obscurity to massive popularity in just under a month. It seems like a new store is adding them to their inventory every day, and the orchard itself can’t keep up with demand. But why? Well, let’s go to Red Apple’s Orchard to find out!

The two workers each carried another crate of apples onto the truck. Closing up the back, they gave the okay for the driver to start his delivery route.

The more recent hire, Benny, looked at his coworker. “Boy, Harvey, another long day. How are these apples selling so fast?”

“Couldn’t tell ya,” said Harvey. “I’ve been working here for six months, and this huge spike in sales just started a few weeks ago. Ever since those apple trees grew to full size almost overnight. I’ve never seen apples grow so fast, either.”

“Whatever’s happened to them, the apples certainly taste great,” said Benny. “I’ve had a couple myself. Absolutely amazing! And I’ve never been a big apple fan.”

“Yeah, yeah. Just don’t be eating too many of them. Save some for the customers,” said Harvey.

Mysteriously fast-growing apple trees? Could that be a natural occurrence? Or could someone have acted for more sinister purposes? Let’s check in with Herald City’s most notorious supervillain, the plant-manipulating Queen Venus to find out.

“My plan is working!” gloated Queen Venus. “Every day, more and more store shelves are stocked with Red’s Apple Orchard apples! And no one’s the wiser about the little ‘improvement’ I made to them.”

“And don’t forget us, boss!” said Willie proudly. Next to him, Frankie was beaming with pride over a job well done. “We posed as employees a month ago and added that concoction you created to the apple trees, just like you asked.”

“Yes, yes, I’m truly amazed that you were able to properly complete a task I set out for you,” said Queen Venus dismissively.

“Ya hear that, Willie?” whispered Frankie. “The boss is amazed at us!”

“She’s being sarcastic, dummy! She can’t believe you didn’t screw up the operation,” said Willie.

“Hey! I don’t screw nothin’ up! And we got that concoction into those trees just like she wanted!” argued Frankie. Turning to Queen Venus, he asked,” Hey boss, you never told us what exactly that concoction was.”

“Why, it’s very simple, you simple-minded sap,” said Queen Venus. “The toxins in my body allow me to manipulate plants, but the effects I wanted this specific one to have took time to develop. Right now, inside everyone who’s had so much as a bite of those apples, a trace of that concoction remains. Currently, it doesn’t do anything. But when I send a signal using my plant powers, the concoction will take effect. Everyone who ate an apple will have superstrength, and they will also be my mindless slaves!”

“Wow! That’s genius, boss! Just think, an army of super strong slaves,” said Willie. “But what are you gonna use ‘em for?”

“Think! What would you do with a superpowered army?” said Queen Venus.

Frankie and Willie looked at each other.

“Start a superpowered TV game show?” asked Frankie.

“Create an unbeatable football team?” suggested Willie.

“Your ambitions are as tiny as your IQs,” said Queen Venus. “I will unleash my army on all the banks of Herald City. Its money will be my money. This city will be brought to its knees as all its wealth becomes my wealth.”

Raising her arms dramatically into the air for flair, she added, “And I will become the richest—and most powerful—woman in Herald City. And nobody will be able to stop me!”

At a grocery store near the Dufraine home, David and Jack browse the produce section.

“Gosh, Dad, this store is really advertising those apples we saw on the TV,” commented Jack.

“You’re right, son,” said David, looking at the massive display. Red’s Apple Orchard was being prominently displayed front and center of the produce section, with eye-catching signs leading customers to their apples. “This wasn’t here last week. This store must have just picked up these apples recently.”

“And they’re selling out like hot cakes,” said a well-dressed man next to them, pushing a shopping cart. “I was in a supermarket closer to my house, and they were sold out. I ate all of the ones I bought there in less than a day, they were so good. Came here to buy more.”

“Looks like you got here in time,” said David. “Most of them are gone.”

“That’s right. Say, are you two Blue Eagle and Switch the Blue Eaglet?” the man asked, looking at them with a hint of recognition in his eyes.

“We sure are, stranger,” said David.

The man’s eyes lit up. “Wow! I can’t believe I’m meeting Herald City’s finest! I must say, it makes me feel safe knowing that the city is protected by superheroes such as yourselves.”

“Thanks, Mister!” said Jack. “We’re happy to help!”

“And always ready to do what’s right,” said David. “Just as anyone in this fair city would.”

“I agree. I.... I.....” The man’s voice trailed off. His eyes dulled and his pupils dilated. The whites of his eyes seemed to change, almost as if there were some sort of spiraling visual effect.

“Are you okay, sir?” asked David, concerned. “You seem to have--”

David was cut off when the man punched him right in the face. Despite the durability that comes with superstrength, the blow sent David across the aisle, causing him to land in a display of lettuce and cabbages.

“Hey! What was that for!?” demanded Jack.

The man turned towards Jack, his expression lifeless. With no emotion or apparent agency, he punched Jack in the face just as he did David. However, Jack did not move.

“Punch away all you want! But you won’t do anything!” said Jack. “I’ve activated my invulnerability. There’s literally nothing on Earth that can cause me harm.”

He just hoped that the two to five minutes of invulnerability his powers gave him would be all he needed. The man continued to punch at Jack, none of his blows having any effect.

David shook his head of the proverbial cobwebs and got to his feet. Seeing a nearby shopping cart, he grabbed it and ran at the man full force, his strength causing the forward momentum to knock the man backward into the cart. David continued running towards the front door.

“Sir, I’m going to have to politely ask you to leave the store,” said David almost playfully as he suddenly jerked the shopping cart upward, ejecting the man from it. The man landed in an uncomfortable-looking sitting position in a nearby garbage can. “Talk about taking out the trash.”

“Are you okay, Dad?” asked Jack, walking up beside his father.

“I’m okay. But I don’t understand how that man was able to hit me with such strength,” said David thoughtfully. “Or what possessed him to attack me at all.”

Jack opened his mouth to speak, but the shuffling of feet caught his attention. A couple of people, the a few more, and then another half dozen shambled out of the store. The large windows that made up the storefront cracked, destroyed by three more people who used only their fists to break the windows, an act that would have required more strength and durability than a normal human would possess.

Some of the people were customers, while there were a couple employees in the mix as well. But all of them exhibited the same lifelessness and same dulled eyes as the man that attacked them.

David and Jack stepped back to avoid the group’s path. The group walked past them without incident, not even acknowledging their presence.

“Will you look at that?” said Jack in awe. “It’s like the horror movie we were watching, but come to life!”

“You’re right, Jack. Something’s going on here. Something that can only be stopped by Blue Eagle and Switch the Blue Eaglet,” said David. “Let’s hurry to the Chief and see if we can find out what’s going on.”

At the office of the Chief of Police, our costumed crimefighting heroes, Blue Eagle and Switch the Blue Eaglet seek more information on the strange event............

“So you’re saying you’ve been getting reports of this, Chief?” asked Blue Eagle.

“That’s right, Blue Eagle,” said the Chief. “And from all across the city, too. People developing superhuman strength and acting like mindless zombies.”

“It really is like a horror movie. Scary!” commented Switch.

“And dangerous,” added the Chief. “According to reports, multiple banks have been robbed by these individuals. They just walked right in and cleaned them out as if they were taking candy from a candy dish.”

Switch stroked his chin thoughtfully. “Why would a group of people just imbued with superstrength who seem to have no control over their actions rob banks?”

“Are there any common traits among them, Chief?” asked Blue Eagle. “Locations? Jobs? Age? A common event?”

“None that we’ve been able to deduce,” said the Chief. “Seems to be people of all ages from all walks of life. Why, six of my officers walked out in just the same manner, and we’ve reports from multiple banks that some of the participants were their own employees!”

“That’s strange. What could be going on?” wondered Blue Eagle.

Before the Chief can reply, an exhausted-looking officer hurried into the room.

“Chief! Chief!” he cried.

“What is it, Officer?”

“I’m sorry to interrupt you, but those zombie people are robbing the Herald City Municipal Bank on 5th and 3rd! Our officers can’t get anywhere near them!”

“I see. Thank you, Officer,” said the Chief. He turned to the superheroes. “Blue Eagle, Switch, can you put a stop to this bank robbery?”

“You can count on us, Chief!” said Blue Eagle. “Let’s go, Blue Eaglet!”

“Right behind you!”

At the Herald City Municipal Bank, a most unusual bank robbery is taking place.....

While two of the “zombies” were standing by and keeping anyone from approaching, the remaining six were pulling on the heavy vault door. Normally, it would take heavy equipment to rip a bank’s vault door off the wall, but the combined strength of six individuals with superhuman strength managed to pry the door open.

“What’s going on?” asked one of the tellers. “How were they able to rip open the vault like that?”

“Mr. Jenson, why are you helping them?” asked another one of the tellers to the manager, who had shuffled aimlessly over to the group of strange bank robbers and was one of the two standing guard, next to another well-dressed man. Like the rest of the robbers, the manager said nothing, and his expression was blank and lifeless.

Despite their apparent mindlessness, the robbers moved with haste and precision, as if they had prepared for this for years. They moved into the vault, grabbing money and putting it into bags, filling them as much as they can. Within moments, bags filled with cash sat on the floor outside the vault.

“Stop right there!” came the booming voice of Blue Eagle.

The customers and employees of the bank looked on with hope as Blue Eagle and Switch entered the bank, but none of the robbers even acknowledged their presence.

The two superheroes strode up to the robbers.

“I’m going to have to demand that you—Hey!” Blue Eagle’s demands were cut off, first by a flash of recognition, and then when the two robbers standing guard picked him and his sidekick up over their heads as if they were empty paper bags.

“Put us down, you mindless monsters!” demanded Switch indignantly.

The robbers finished taking all the bags of money they could carry. The pair holding the eagle-themed heroes threw them into the vault. Closing the vault behind them, they walked silently to the exit.

Blue Eagle pushed on the vault door as hard as he could. “It’s not budging,” he said between grunts. He banged on the door. “Hey! Can you open the vault? It’s shut and we can’t open it from in here.”

On the other side of the door, a bank staffer turned the combination lock and pulled on the door, but it didn’t move. “It’s no use!” yelled the banker so that Blue Eagle could hear it. “The door must have gotten jammed shut when they closed it. It won’t open!”

“Okay then! Stand back!” ordered Blue Eagle. He turned to Switch. “Switch, activate your superstrength. On three, we will knock this door down.”

“Got it, Blue Eagle,” said Switch.

They took their positions in front of the door. Each one raised a fist in unison, ready to throw a punch.

“One.....” said Blue Eagle.

“Two.....” said Switch.

“THREE!” The door flew off its hinges at the combined power of the costumed crusaders’ incredible might.

“Darn! They escaped! We weren’t a match for them at all!” said Switch with a huff.

“There’s no time to dwell on failure, Switch. We need to plan our next move,” said Blue Eagle. “One of the men in that group. Did you recognize him?”

“Yes, he was the man we met in the grocery store. The one who came up to us when we were looking at the apples,” answered Switch. “Wait, you don’t think the apples have something to do with all this, do you?”

“The man said that he’d been eating these new apples on the market that tasted better than any other. This is a brand of apples that wasn’t in stores a month ago, and are suddenly everywhere. And the moment they get popular, everyone starts acting strangely?” Blue Eagle stroked his chin in thought. “It’s not much of a lead, but it’s the only one we got. Come, Blue Eaglet! To Red’s Apple Orchard!”

Minutes later, at Red’s Apple Orchard.....

“Why yes, Blue Eagle. As a matter of fact, there has been something weird going on around here,” said the orchard manager.

Blue Eagle and Switch had flown to Red’s Apple Orchard straight from the bank. Located not far from the bustling Herald City metropolis, the apple orchard was a wonder for anyone who enjoyed the beauty of nature. Workers picked apples in the large fields under the blue skies. A number of tall trees dotted the area, each of them teeming with bright red apples.

“You see, we’re a relatively new apple orchard. These trees are only a few years old, and I’ve been running the place since the beginning,” continued the manager, adjusting his denim overalls. “Now we’ve gotten good fruit off them, don’t get me wrong. But almost overnight, they completely bloomed! Branches filled with fruit, and the apples growing off them almost as fast as we can replace them! Tasted amazing, too, so I hear. Better than any apples out there. We started getting more suppliers as a result, and we’re expanding into more stores each day.”

“Hmm, apple trees that grew almost overnight? With better tasting fruit than the competition by far?” asked Switch, rubbing his chin. He turned to his father. “Say, you don’t think......”

“Let me ask you another question. Did you have two very strange employees, suppliers, or any other visitors right before those trees grew?” asked Blue Eagle.

“One is a short bald man in a purple suit and hat, and the other is a tall man with a thin mustache in a blue suit and hat? Both look like gangsters, and neither of them were that bright?” continued Switch.

“Why yes,” said the manager, a flash of recognition in his eyes. “I had two people that fit that exact description come here for a job just days before the trees grew. They never returned after the trees grew to where they are. I always just assumed that they couldn’t handle the workload. They weren’t very good at their jobs.”

“Frankie and Willie,” said Blue Eagle. “And where there’s those two, there’s--”

“--Queen Venus!” said Switch, finishing the thought. “Of course she’d be behind all this. We should have known from the start that witch would be planning something so sinister for this city!”

“Queen Venus!” exclaimed the manager, his hand on his cheek as his mind began to register the situation. “You mean...... our apple trees have been modified by her fiendish schemes?”

“That’s right, but we’re going to stop her,” assured Blue Eagle.

“But how, Blue Eagle?” asked Switch.

“I have a hunch, but I need to be sure,” answered Blue Eagle. He turned to the orchard manager. “With your permission, may we take a look at your vendor list and see where you’ve been transporting your apples to during the past few months?”

“Sure thing. Right this way.” And with that, he led the superhero duo into his office.

In an abandoned warehouse, the mind-controlled citizens have just finished their biggest heist yet......

The warehouse was packed with gold. Bars and coins were stacked in a corner, their value enough to buy an entire state. More and more ordinary Herald citizens walked in, each carrying over their heads an amount of gold that would require a forklift to move. They would be shocked at their own strength if they were aware of what was happening.

In the center of the warehouse, their new master, Queen Venus, stood triumphant with her henchmen.

“Yes, yes! Keep bringing in that gold!” she said excitedly. She laughed at her good fortune. “Of all my evil schemes, none were so well planned out as this! Everything went off without a hitch!”

“Where did they get all this gold, boss?” asked Frankie, rubbing his hands together excitedly at the thought of everything he could buy with that money. Next to him, Willie was doing the same.

“From their latest and greatest heist! The Herald City Gold Reserve!”

“What!?” exclaimed Willie. “But that’s impenetrable!”

“For normal human beings! But not for an army of people with superhuman strength and no ability to resist my control!” explained Queen Venus. “And the guards never even lifted a finger to resist! They would never raise their weapons on innocent people. What pathetic fools! And now, with all the gold in Herald City, I will have the wealth to bring this entire nation to its knees. And there’s no one who can stop me!”

“No one....except us!” came a booming voice from above.

“What--!?” exclaimed Queen Venus as her archenemies dropped down through a skylight in the roof and landed in front of her. “You foul fowls! Why must you always interfere in my plans!? How did you know it was me!?

“Easy. You got lazy,” said Switch.

“We were able to figure out that the apples from Red’s Apple Orchard were the cause of everything going on. They showed us which stores were supplying their products, and we noticed all your bank heists were in neighborhoods where their apples were being sold,” explained Blue Eagle.

“And they were very helpful in telling us about the miraculous growth of their apple trees,” said Switch. Pointing to Frankie and Willie, he added, “As well as two very memorable employees they had right before their trees matured.”

Queen Venus glared at her henchmen, both of whom gave her nervous smiles.

“Of course, figuring out where you were going to strike next was key,” continued Blue Eagle. “We knew someone as greedy and ambitious as you wouldn’t stop at robbing banks. There was a big heist that you were waiting to pull off, and it was just a matter of figuring it out. We looked at what the biggest potential target in the area that had been affected by your manipulations, and we realized it would be the Herald City Gold Reserve. And we were right.”

“We informed the Police Chief of our plan, and we made sure the guards didn’t resist your zombies in any way,” said Switch. “From there, it was as simple as following them back here.”

Queen Venus clenched her fists in anger. “Ooh, you disgusting do-gooders think you’re so smart, but let’s see how you fare against an army. Everyone, attack!”

The crowd surrounded the heroes, who were clearly unprepared to fight an army whose soldiers were each as strong as them.

“What do we do, Blue Eagle?” asked Switch.

“Use your flight! Get into the air, now!” commanded Blue Eagle.

They flew into the air just as some of the so-called zombies dived at them, barely missing the pair. However, the heroes didn’t account for the leg strength of their opponents, who jumped into the air and grabbed a hold of them. Blue Eagle and Switch each had multiple zombies hanging off of them, trying to pull them back to the ground.

“They’re....so......heavy!” said Switch as he strained to stay in the air. “Can’t.....use my......strength.......while flying........”

“Hang in there, Blue Eaglet,” said Blue Eagle, not having the same issue as his sidekick. “We need to get these people off of us!”

Queen Venus laughed. “How are you ‘heroes’ going to fight off this army without hurting any of the citizens you swore to protect? Looks like you’ve met your match!”

“What do we do?” asked Switch, struggling to keep his composure.

“Quickly, Switch. Stretch your arms out! Spin around as hard and as fast as you can!” ordered Blue Eagle. “We’ll throw them off of us!”

In unison, they outstretched their arms and legs like the letter “T”, spinning like tops as fast as they could. Zombies flew off of them in all directions, landing hard on the ground or on others. Their durability protected them from injury.

Blue Eagle and Switch hovered in the air, looking for a way to restrain or incapacitate the crowd without injury. It was Switch that noticed something strange going on.

“Blue Eagle! Look!” he called, pointing.

One of the zombies’ eyes started to gain life back into them, his pupils returning to their normal size. While still not fully cognizant of the situation, an expression that showed him to be dazed and confused washed across his face. He held his hand up to his head.

“W-what’s going on?” he asked dully.

Blue Eagle and Switch looked around. This wasn’t just one person. All of the zombies appeared to be undergoing the same change. Returning to normal.

Queen Venus looked at the confused crowd of people before her, her own confusion and anger taking hold. “What? What’s going on?” she yelled. “All of you! I am Queen Venus, your master! And I command you to kill Blue Eagle and Switch immediately!”

The people looked back and forth at each other, Queen Venus, and Blue Eagle and Switch, all trying to process what exactly was going on.

“It looks like whatever you’ve done to them has worn off,” said Blue Eagle, he and Switch hovering back to the warehouse floor.

“Looks like your army is experiencing a bunch of deserters,” said Switch in a mocking tone. “The jig is up!”

Queen Venus looked at the gold on the far side of the warehouse. Blue Eagle and Switch—as well as the crowd—stood between her and her riches. It was time to leave.

“You may have won this round, but you won’t be so lucky next time, you insufferable insignificants!” she cried, raising a fist in anger. “Frankie, Willie! Let’s get out of here!” With that, she turned and ran for the exit.

“Right behind you, boss!” the henchmen both responded in unison, following her out.

“Let’s get her!” said Switch, stepping forward to give chase, but Blue Eagle put his hand on his sidekick’s shoulder to stop him.

“Let her go,” said Blue Eagle.

"But why--?”

“We have people here to tend to, and we have to ensure that they and everything that Queen Venus stole get back to where they belong. We’re needed here. Don’t worry, there’s always next time.”

Back at Red’s Apple Orchard......

“But what I don’t understand is how they returned to normal?” asked the manager.

“It seems that whatever concoction Queen Venus added to your trees seemed to have worn off,” said Blue Eagle. “If she was able to mass mind control everyone at once, then trace amounts of it must have been lying dormant in their bloodstreams. But your apples have been popular for a month, and the concoction must have been in their bodies this entire time, gradually weakening to the point of being useless.”

“She was a victim of her own greed,” said Switch. “She wanted a big army, and that meant waiting before making her big move. But she waited so long that the effects wore off almost immediately.”

“Hmm, that makes sense. And we’re seeing it here, too,” said the orchard manager. “The apple trees have all returned to their normal sizes and the fruit yields are slowing as well.” He looked out to the fields with a forlorn expression on his face. “It’s a shame that our success was so short lived, but we’d rather chug along and make a modest profit than get rich as part of a scheme orchestrated by that villainess.”

“You’re a good man. I’m sure this orchard will do great,” said Blue Eagle. He turned to leave. “Come, Switch. Our work here is done.”

“Wait! Before you go!” interrupted the manager.

“What is it?”

“We just wanted to give you a token of our appreciation for what you’ve done for this city. This is from all of us here at Red’s Apple Orchard,” said the manager. He took out a small box of apples. “These were the first apples picked after the trees went back to normal. None of Queen Venus’s trickery, and we can attest that they still taste great. And you know what they say. An apple a day keeps the doctor away.”

Blue Eagle and Switch looked at each other. The elder hero put his hands up to refuse the offer. “We’re sorry, but after today, I think we’ll just take that doctor’s appointment.”