Chapter No,48. Trial by circumstances.

The superheroes realized that they wouldn't have to worry about putting a new space station in orbit because it would take NASA many months to build it. However, there were plenty of new missions that would occur for them to work on.

The most difficult mission came from the President, and it was particularly disconcerting. He had invited the superheroes to the Oval Office to discuss it along with the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, and the Secretary of Defense.

"You've added a new member," the President said.

"Yes, she has the same powers as we do."

"How is that possible?"

"We don't know. Only God knows. We're just doing what we were told to do, which is save mankind."

"Well," the President said. "We have a problem that could jeopardize our security. As you probably realize, there are several small wars occurring in unstable countries, some of which have nuclear capability. We don't quite know how to stop these wars because the use of military force would only complicate our tenuous relationship with China and Russia."

"Okay, let's take them one at a time," Robert said. "Maybe one that's going on right now."

"That would be Afghanistan. The government is fighting with a Taliban indigenous militia around Kandahar."

"That's not surprising. I'm not sure what we could do but maybe a little shock and awe would bring them to the negotiating table."

"The main thing we want to avoid is bringing Russia or Pakistan into it."

"We'll keep that in mind," Robert said before turning to the other superheroes. "Let's go."

They vanished, and the President turned to his advisors. "This should be interesting."

His advisors agreed.

The superheroes arrived over the Kandahar region and immediately saw that a battle was taking place. But there was a new addition to the band of superheroes.

"Why is that dog flying with us?" Sylvia asked.

"That's Sparky, the super dog," James replied. "He helps us in these kinds of situations."

Sylvia gave him a mock frown, but she didn't doubt his explanation.

"Okay, let's take out their weapons, but be careful with your aim," Robert said. "We don't want to cause any serious injuries. Adjust your power levels to just make the weapons fuse."

"Is the dog going to help us?" Sylvia asked.

"Yeah, he probably has a better aim that we do," Robert said.

Sylvia found that hard to believe, but she elected not to argue the point under the circumstance.

The superheroes swooped down over the battlefield and began firing energy beams from their eyes to render all of the combatants' weapons unusable. After they had completed that task, they landed between the two forces. When the shock of what had happened subsided, the leaders of the two forces came out to meet the superheroes.

Robert addressed them in their tongue. "Gentlemen, It's time for this wasteful war to stop. Enough killing has taken place." He turned to the Government forces' commander. "You need a new arm." He gestured to his son. "You can do that." He turned to the Taliban leader, noting the patch over his left eye. "You need a new eye."

James removed the prosthetic from the Government army leader and began the process of creating a new arm, which literally grew out of the stump. The sight of it caught everyone's attention. Robert lifted the patch off the Taliban commanders' eye and held a hand over the empty eye socket. The commander was taken aback by his sight returning. All of the men standing there were astounded.

Robert pointed at the Government commander. "Now that you have an arm, you can shake hands with the commander here who now has a new eye."

They shook hands after a moment of hesitation.

Robert looked around at where they were standing. "Perhaps, you need a wall to separate your authorities." He held up his hand and a wall literally grew out of the sandy ground. "Now you have no reason to fight."

The men were completely astounded by what they had seen, but it caused them to settle down to a forced suppression of hostilities.

"Take us to your people who are suffering wounds," Robert said.

It turned out that both the Afghan and Taliban wounded people and fighters were being treated in the same hospital, which was not much more than a walled in area between buildings that had been severely damaged.

"You two can take care of the women and children," Robert told his wife and Sylvia. "We'll do the men."

Janet nodded and she and Sylvia went to work both repairing wounds and resurrecting some of the dead women and children.

Robert and James did the same to the male wounded and dead. The sight of this miraculous work overwhelmed everyone who witnessed it, and it changed everything.

After they had completed their salvation work, the superheroes returned to the Oval Office.

"I think we made them change their minds about fighting," Robert said. "And the good news is that we didn't have to harm anyone."

The President smiled. "You people are . . . well, you're amazing. We can't thank you enough for what you've done."

"I'm glad we could help. It's what we're supposed to be doing. Hopefully, it will be enough to save mankind."

"I don't doubt it one bit."

Robert nodded and the superheroes returned home.

"Well, that was certainly interesting and not what I had expected," Sylvia said.

"You never know what's going to happen when you deal with knuckleheads," James said. "However I wouldn't think our little trick will stop the fighting."

Sylvia sighed. "You're probably right."

"I don't feel like cooking," Janet said.

"I sense a dinner out," Robert said, smiling. "I know this place in Copenhagen that severs some really tasty deserts."

"I'm ready," Janet said.

James and Sylvia agreed.

They appeared near what looked like an old inn. They were early, which meant that the main crowd wasn't there yet.

After being seated near a window that looked out on a pristine countryside, a waitress came forward, and Robert smiled. "We'd like Boller i Karry. Kaffe and apple charlotte for dessert."

She smiled and departed.

"Glad you know what you're ordering," James said.

"It's traditional food and drink here. When in Rome do as the Romans do."

"I just hope we don't have to rescue anyone here," Janet said. "We seem to be in the thick of these catastrophes no matter where we go."

"Maybe we'll get a break this time," Robert said.

After their meal, Robert settled the tab, and they exited the Inn.

"Now what?" James asked.

"We're going to Greenland and see the aurora."

"Cool!"

"I figured that we could go to the ice shield. No one would be dumb enough to go out on that."

They appeared in the sky over the main ice shield of Greenland and gently dropped down to the glacier. They looked up at a particularly beautiful display in a northern sky. Glowing streamers of red, yellow and green swirled together in a dance of charged particles from the sun interacting with the Earth's magnetic field.

"Wow!" James exclaimed. "What a light show!"

"We could see this from space," Sylvia said.

"Yeah, you're right," Robert said. "Let's go check it out."

They changed into their outfits and flew up into the night sky and into space above the auroras.

"Now, this is the place to watch auroras," James said.

"It's so beautiful!" Sylvia said.

"I'm surprised that NASA doesn't send us to other star systems," James said. "We could easily do that."

"Maybe that will come, but we'll let them think of that," Robert said. "Our job is to save Earth, not alien planets."

"Hey!" James pointed at a sizable rock flying into Earth's atmosphere.

"That's going to cause some serious damage if it explodes above a inhabited area," Robert said. "Let's divert it."

They flew at supersonic speed to intercept the one-hundred-meter-wide asteroid heading directly at Tokyo. They used their powers to cause it to slow up enough so that they could literally grab it and fling it back out into space.

"Wow!" James exclaimed. "That was close."

"Let's do a fly by over Tokyo," Robert said. "I'm sure that someone saw us and realized what happened."

Of course, their appearance in the sky over Tokyo caused a stir that ended up all over the internet, especially when the Japanese space agency confirmed that a large asteroid was diverted from what would have been a devastating blast over a highly populated city.

The next day, a Saturday, Sylvia and her mother joined the Steris family for a cookout. James and Sylvia enjoyed the pool while Robert, Janet and Julia, Sylvia's mother, lounged on the patio enjoying a nice day.

After Julia had had a few cocktails, she became more accustomed to the fact that her daughter was part of a superhero family. "How is my daughter doing as a . . . a part of your team?"

"She's doing quite well," Janet replied. "She helped us put the new telescope up into space.

Julia sighed. "I have trouble understanding all of this."

Janet gave her a subtle smile. "To be honest, I do too. It's all so overwhelming."

Robert had gone over to where James and Sylvia were hanging out.

"Lunch is ready," He told them.

Just then, Old Bob looked over the fence. "Hey Steris, how did you get a pool in your back yard. I didn't hear any construction going on."

"They didn't have to dig the hole. It was already there."

"Looks good," Bob said before he departed.

"Now, that was a lie, Dad," James teased him.

"Sometimes a little fib is necessary to keep the peace."

They laughed.