Arlene turns to me and asks in her thick southern drawl, "Oh, that's rare, Mr. Collins, you rarely go anywhere."

While Ted adds with a cocky grin, "What's the matter Slate, you run out of diapers, old man." It sounded mean, but he gave a playful wink.

"Heh, you're real funny, a smart guy huh, you coming with or not?"

"Can we do some clothes shopping? I haven't been in a long time," asks Arlene while Ted rolls his eyes.

I smile, "Yeah, I could use some new duds myself." I turn around, waving at them, when I think of something, "How much longer are you on this babysitting gig?"

"Unfortunately, we're heading back after New Year's, but I'll take this as a nice vacation."

"Yeah, Mr. Collins, if you're ever down near Tucson, come by for a visit." Said the couple.

"I'll do that, maybe catch a cinema. Alright, see you both in the morning." I head back inside my house. From the outside, it looks like a pre-modern turn key. But on the inside, everything is state of the art, made of the best materials credits can't buy. Although, I can't entirely agree with the federation and their high-handed methods. However, their research has brought some fairly useful technological advances and creating super alloys near enough to indestructible.

Thinking about it, they're keeping one of their biggest investors under constant watch. Things might be different, but when costumes started going out there fighting for glory—I mean justice, privacy became a big deal for the first time since, well, before I was born. You might wonder, if you dislike them so much why, did you help them take power? Well, I haven't helped them do anything; they were going to take power, whether they had the money or not. Why because of that asshole, StellarMan? His power is one of those catastrophes I mentioned earlier. He can pull things from space, like asteroids, meteors, the freaking Moon. I saw that one first hand. When the USA refused to bend the knee, he pulled the moon a few kilometers off course, planning to ram it into Kansas if we didn't capitulate.

Mars, being a dead planet, makes more sense now if they had animals like that. Maybe that psychopath was bluffing, but then again, he is bat shit crazy and helps run the world, yay. Nobody really remembers that history though, the schools have done a good job of spreading federation propaganda. Only old fogeys like me remember any history beyond the current century. I should have taken my chances a century ago when the federation gave the dissidents a massive ship. Pointing them toward another, supposedly habitable planet out there, ha.

The ship was real and built from a super tritarium alloy same material as most of my house, actually. I still pray for their souls even today, one of my sister's grandkids. Or was it great grandkid? Anyway, the kid was on that ship. While I'm reminiscing about lost relatives, I hear a rumble in the distance, let out a sigh, grab the last cup of coffee, and head onto the back porch to watch yet another super battle over the city.

When I sit on my favorite rocking chair, I notice the battle is getting closer. Unfortunately, super senses didn't come with my new body. However, my poor eyesight at least got fixed. The first time I saw in 20/20, I thought I was in a new world. The colors, the contrast, it was all amazing. One costume is red, and the other is silver. Both nimrods have long capes flapping around themselves. Another trope that was stolen from comic book artists. That only drew them because they look cool, not for practicality.

The red kid is shooting flames around like he wants to burn the city to the ground. At the same time, the silver brat is shooting some laser type attack. Now the flame boy is probably fine. Flames don't travel that well without fuel. But the silver fool, his blasts I Can see hitting buildings in the distance. Grumbling to myself, I pull a flat sheet of a special reflective alloy out of my dimensional storage. Another item I shouldn't have, as you can't just walk into the corner store and pick up one of these babies.

Holding the sheet, I watch the stupid children, like heck am I letting them hit my house? It would draw too much attention. Well, the metal sheet could cause a ruckus too, but not to the point my house would. As expected, with my luck, a stray beam is blasting straight at me, so I casually raise the sheet bouncing, the laser right back at the silver-colored moron, who almost falls from the sky in shock. Which also puts a stop to their fight, as they both look my way. Since their battle has brought both close enough, I look them in the eye and tell them to take their tantrum outside the city.

They don't immediately leave, but they're warily watching me, not really a surprise. For all they know, I could be StellarMan or one of the Cerulean Twins. The latter is the bogeyman of the propaganda regime since they refuse to bow to the federation and have the power to get away with it. After a long boring stare-down, I notice both of them put their hands to their ears; I give a disgusted look at another act by our overlords. A second later, they both look to my left and nod before flying off. I turn around, heading back inside while waving to Ted.

"You know that cerulean sheet is illegal, right?" remarked Ted.

I nod at him, "So is self-defense, are you going to arrest me?"

Ted grins, "Nope, I'm on vacation and didn't see a thing."

As I walk back into my house, I hear Ted add, "you're slipping, old man; a norm couldn't casually take that blast even with the sheet, not to mention redirecting back at the sender."

"Damit." Sighing, "why don't you guys report me?"

"We do, but those directly above us believe you're a good man." Arlene's voice drifted into my mind.

"Am I a good man?"

"We know little about your secrets, but we know about the orphanages for those who lose their parent to those clowns' games," said Arlene.

"There's also all the houses that insurance refuses to payout. We know it's your personal charity." I heard Ted say from outside, before adding, "now got to bed, old man. We have a trip to the city in the morning."

I couldn't put my finger on it, but they both had this weird vibe that they wouldn't see me again after tomorrow.

Pondering their strange vibe, I stripped my clothes off, took a shower, and lay down on my tritarium slab. I call a bed. I need not sleep, but I like the feeling of normalcy. Imagine over two-hundred years without a break; I shiver at the thought. As I drifted off to sleep, I recalled all my family's faces; I miss you all so much, was my last thought.