Alex had been in retirement for over 15 years.

Once, he was hailed as Thunderbolt, the greatest hero of

all time. His story had been repeated ad nauseum over the years of his career: Alex Adams was a janitor
working inside a nuclear reactor when suddenly a meltdown had occurred; Alex tried to rally any of the
civilian technicians out of the building as he worked to try and slow down or stop the meltdown from
occurring when suddenly, the reactor's core malfunctioned and discharged blasts of electric current
coated in gamma radiation. One bolt of radioactive energy struck Alex and he was forever transformed
into a being with the power of flight, strength, and healing.

For a while, Alex, as Thunderbolt, had proven himself to be a capable hero; many of his adventures took
him to fantastical lands of magic to the far-out places outside the solar system. All while he defended his
home on the planet Earth; specifically within the North American city of Boston, Massachusetts.

But in the times since, Alex had grown weary. Many onlookers who had seen Thunderbolt in action
battling criminals had slowly noticed their hero over the years had gone much softer. Slower. Quieter.
Until one day, after apprehending some bank robbers on one Wednesday afternoon; he had flown
straight upwards to the stratosphere; past the clouds where no one could see. Little did everyone know,
that this would be the last time they would see Thunderbolt again.

In the times since, Ben Peters, a journalist seeking to understand more about the story of Thunderbolt
had gone on his own journey on the hunt for the missing hero. Many interviews were had among his
travels. All of these clues lined up to a single apartment complex within the hero's old hometown of
Boston. Right at the third floor of the apartment building. Nervous and excited as Ben was, he had to
prepare himself for whatever came next as he knocked on the door.

"Hello? Mr. Adams?" Ben queried. No response.

"Hello? Alex Adams?" Ben knocked three more times to make his point heard just in case.

"What is it? Who are you?" A low voice rumbled from inside the room.

"I'm Ben Peters, I'm a journalist that's been trying to compile a sort of history of the Thunderbolt. He
hasn't been seen since-"

"That's not me. Not anymore. I don't know what to tell you that hasn't already been shown or said
already. I'm retired."
"Sir, this isn't about that. This is about what happened after Thunderbolt left all those years ago. Many
people have been wondering for a long time where the hero went to."

Silence filled the area with Ben and Alex taking their time to think.

"Sir..." Ben asked. "Just give me 10 minutes. That's all I need for a few questions."

"Fine." Alex relented as he unlocked the door.

-----

"So..." Ben questioned as the old man poured black tea from his kettle into his cup. "What happened?
Why did you leave?"

"Well, do you want the short answer or the long answer?" Alex blew the steam away from his cup.

"Preferably the answer that you think you would be the best for this story. The kind that you'll be
satisfied with."

"Well... to put it simply, having superpowers doesn't automatically make you the most indestructible
man on the face of the Earth. What people don't think is that I should age with grace. Besides; if
radiation gave me superhuman attributes, why wouldn't I get more benefits? Alex said as he sipped his
tea.

"Well, I'll tell you why. Ionizing radiation multiplied by electricity plus human physiology equals unknown
variables. Except now we know what those variables are; strength, flight, regeneration. Should be alright
for me, you know?"

Ben silently nodded as he wrote down Alex's words.

"I realized a late into my career of superheroing that the radiation in my body had only been kept in
check because of the electric current acting as a barrier for my cells; I'd get the benefits of the
radioactivity but none of the drawbacks. Well, that electric current had diminished many years back, and
at the time, the radiation was slowly but surely working itself into me. My strength was still there, but I'd
strain my muscles and my joints would lock up from it, I couldn't control or maneuver my flying at any
speed anymore, and you know the worst of it? The healing went into overdrive. What saved my life many
times over had become a literal cancer to me."

Ben quietly looked down at his notes before looking back to Alex again.

"When I got the news, I didn't know what to do. I was like... what, 45 when I stopped doing the hero
work. I always knew I had to entertain the idea of retirement; I just didn't know it had to be so soon. And
I definitely didn't know that I had to start thinking about how I want to live my life with what little I got
so far."

There is silence in the living room.

"Mr. Adams, do you think... do you think you're satisfied?"

"I mean, yeah, that answer was pretty succinct if not-"

"No, I mean, do you think you're satisfied with the way you lived your life?"

"Yeah. I never got the time to make friends or start a family, the hero business took my time, but... I still
had fun. I still protected people. And after all, that's what ultimately matters in the end, right?"

"Because that's what heroes do."

"Correct."

"Well..." Ben stood up from his seat. "I think... I think I have what I needed, sir. I wouldn't want to take
too much of your time today but I would like to say my thanks for the prompt interview."
"Eh, don't worry about it, son. Haven't had too many visitors these days apart from the occasional
mailman."

Alex guided Ben to the door.

"You know, if I got out of that janitor job early on, I think I would've liked to be just like you, you know? A
journalist. Seems like a nice change of pace with where my life would've gone."

"Had the accident not occurred?"

"Yeah. But now that I think about it, if I had to bother old folks from door-to-door, I'd probably just stick
to mopping the floors."

Both men had a laugh at each other before the door closed and they went their own separate ways.