The morning light slowly pierced the windows in an apartment in SuperTech City. A man peacefully lay in bed. The flapping curtails created a variegated light which traced its way onto the face of the sleeping man. A smile slowly appeared on his face. Suddenly his eyes opened and a smile vividly painted his face.

"Morning!" The man jumped awake, flinging his covers off as he stood heroically fists planted on his hips. Dr. Lorne Longoak was a heroically handsome man in the classic Roman sense. Standing at six feet two inches, Lorne had a head of dark brown hair. His chiseled jaw and gleaming blue eyes could melt any woman's heart. His broad shoulders and immaculate muscles looked strong enough to hold up the world. His large biceps and two massive columns for legs made Lorne look invincible, and he was.

Immediately, Lorne changed his face to that of an average looking man shrinking his body to have an average build. This was his persona Dr. Lorne Longoak Director of the True History Museum.

"Another day of adventure awaits!" He cried, again striking a hero stance.

Slowly the man broke his hero pose and began the daily mundane chores of preparing for a new day. He began by making his bed, taking a shower, eating breakfast, and brushing his teeth. Going to his closet he pulled out two suits. The first suit is an elaborate costume with alternating blue and white colors. The cape is a light blue. The second suit is an ordinary business suit. He put on the costume first and the business suit after. The combination made him look bulkier than he was, but somehow it didn't seem like he was wearing another pair of clothes underneath. Everything just looked bulkier. The shocking part was he could somehow fit his business shoes over his boots.

After he finished getting dressed he grabbed his apartment keys and hat and headed off for his day. He didn’t own a car. It was much faster to zip around using his powers. Cars were a hassle as far as he was concerned. He also enjoyed taking the public transportation. It allowed him to intermingle with the mortal citizens of his adopted planet Earth.

Eventually, he arrived at a very large museum in the downtown area of SuperTech City. A Museum in such a hi-tech city was an anachronism, but it served his purposes well. It allowed him to leave when he wanted and to travel to the four corners of the planet if needed. As he entered various personnel began to greet him.

"Good Morning Dr. Longoak."

"Good Morning Dr. Longoak!"

"Good Morning Longoak."

Finally, he saw his favorite person in the entire museum, a pretty grad student who just started working as a Museum intern. She was as passionate about history as he. Mary Hubbs was beautiful, smart, and fierce. Everything he liked in a woman. He sighed as he looked at her from afar. There she was solemnly concentrating on something. She wasn't aware of his presence at first, but eventually, she sensed someone looking at her. Turning around, she saw Dr. Longoak looking at her gently.

"Lorne! Good morning! Look at this new piece we just got in!" She cried out happily.

Dr. Lorne Longoak definitely had a bit of a crush on this girl, but he couldn't figure out what she thought of him. She always seemed enthusiastic when she saw him. She shared his passions about history, but what about the present? What did she think about now? He had no idea, and this made her mysterious to him. Getting to know this girl had been a problem his super strength and speed couldn't help solve at all. It wasn't any use for the Invincible Hero to make a move; she had no interest in super people. Only Dr. Lorne Longoak had a chance with this girl. He liked that point very much.

In some ways, Dr. Lorne Longoak was a facade allowing him to play around with the normal humans, but in other ways, it was the real him. Because of this, Lorne decided the girl he would marry would be someone who fell in love with the unassuming and very average Dr. Longoak.

Most women only had stars in their eyes for the various heroes. His alter ego, the Invincible Hero, was the most dazzling of all the heroes in the city, nay, the world. Take that silly girl Marcia Mathews. She was the daughter of the city's most successful technology oligarch Howard Mathews.

If there was one thing everyone knew about Marcia it was she only had eyes for the Invincible Hero; no one else could enter her thoughts. He met Marcia on several occasions, as Dr. Longoak of course. She and her father became major donors to the museum after an attempt by a super villain to rob the museum of a mysterious artifact with hidden powers. Of course, the Invincible Hero stepped in and stopped the robbery.

When Marcia learned about the museum being saved by the Invincible Hero she rushed over and devoured every bit of information about what had happened from the staff. When she learned that Dr. Longoak had briefly spoken with the hero; suddenly Lorne found himself a new best friend. From this new friend he suddenly found a great financial resource at his disposal. However, it took more than money to move him. He knew this relationship was probably short term. Once the girl's crush wore off she would probably wonder why she cared about this antiquated museum.

Marcia was a flighty fanatical fan of the Invincible Hero. Because of this, Lorne would never have an interest in dating her. What commonalities did they share? She was a nice girl, but she couldn't measure up to Mary.

Lorne dated many women over the years. Some of the women were normal and others were superwomen. The truth was no one really suited his taste. These days, super or not, women seemed very interested in creating a career for themselves. It used to be men who found commitment difficult. These days it was the women who didn't find the idea of having a family "convenient." This was especially the case when it came to babies. It was such a shame what society had done to the maternal instincts of women in general.

As amazing as Lorne was most of his fans might be surprised to discover he was actually a very simple person. The thing he wanted most in his life right now was to find a good woman and have a family. None of the girls he had met so far seemed like someone with whom he would want to settle down. Now, however, he found Mary a simple straightforward girl who reminded him a little of his mother. His mother was a simple country girl on their planet Zimwer.

After marrying his father, the new couple decided to move away from the conquest obsessive world of Zimwer. They secretly left the planet and found their way to Earth. On Earth, their alien biology was more amazing than on their home planet. The abilities they had back home were many times multiplied on earth according to his parents.

The people from his planet had unbelievable abilities; it's what made them so good at conquering planets. Thankfully, Earth was a little place in an out of the way Galaxy unlikely to be discovered anytime soon. Still, his parents warned him to never go beyond the solar system of their adoptive planet. The fewer beings in the Galaxy who knew about this hero from the war world of Zimwer the better!

Of course, things weren't so simple. Even though Earth was out of the way it was a resource-rich world drawing the attention of many nearby alien civilizations. The Earth was invaded and plotted against many times and usually, it was Lorne and his allies leading the defense of their planet.

Lorne returned his thoughts to the girl before him. He finally decided to make things clear between himself and Mary. If she was interested in him, great! If she wasn't interested in him then it was better to just make that clear. Lorne wasn't one to sit around thinking about things forlornly. He was an action guy.

"Mary, I wonder if you would like to have dinner with me tonight," Lorne said.

"Do you want to talk about the new piece?" Mary asked innocently.

"No...I mean yes..." Taking a breath, Lorne clarified his meaning. "Of course, I always enjoy our discussions of history and archeology. What I meant is I would like to ask you out on a date. Would such a thing interest you?" Lorne asked.

"You want to go on a date with me?" Mary asked in surprise.

"Either you or the new piece behind you," Lorne laughed lightly.

Mary was also amused, and her face flushed. She couldn't believe Lorne was interested in her. She thought of him a few times but always ignored her feelings thinking Lorne was interested in that Marcia who always came around.

After waiting for a while and seeing Mary didn't respond but was blushing slightly with a pleasantly surprised face; Lorne decided Mary was probably lost in her own thoughts.

"Uhm, Mary would you like to go on a date tonight?” Lorne asked again.

"Oh, yes, yes, I would love it!" Mary responded after waking up.

"Great, how about I pick you up at 7 PM?" Lorne asked.

"Yes...uh, you mean in a car? Do you have a car, Lorne?" Mary asked.

Lorne was caught off guard for a moment but then laughed at himself. He didn't think about not having a car. After considering the problem for a moment, he responded.

"Don't worry. I'll take care of the transportation,” Lorne said sheepishly.

Mary was amused. Everyone knew for some reason Dr. Longoak didn't own a car. He seemed content to ride buses and walk everywhere. In SuperTech City, someone like him was an oddball. Mary, however, found his strangeness endearing.

Mary wondered what he meant by taking care of transportation.

"Great, I'll see you tonight," Mary responded.

"Uh, yeah see you tonight." Lorne awkwardly turned around and walked away.

"Didn't she want me to look at the new piece...I'm going to see her all day...we work together, but now I feel like I should sit in my office until tonight." Lorne thought.

Mary seemed to realize something was off. "Oh, Lorne did you want to look at the new piece?" Mary called after him.

"This girl," Lorne thought.

Turning back around Lorne put on his best smile. "How could I forget?" Returning to Mary the two began an in-depth discussion of the new piece and how best to showcase it.