Chapter Thirty One

Hero's Call: Chapter Thirty One

It didn’t take long for Milo to get home, stuff a few things into a back pack, and get down to the retirement home. Much to his surprise, he didn’t have to do a lot of explaining to his parents nor did they fight him on anything. Once he told them where he was heading and what he had planned to do, they both seemed reluctant but okay with their son running to Manhattan to try and save the world. Milo thought that the death of Seven had some impact on them as well, and it was making them far more lenient than they would have been before he had died.

When he arrived at Buckland Retirement Home, Bill and Cali were already waiting for them. They both had back packs stuffed much like he did. Xander was standing a few steps away from them as if there was still an opportunity that one of them would be inclined to break him in half and he would want a bit of a head start. The young clone had nothing with him, but Milo assumed he wouldn’t need much since he was going back to the place where he had come from.

“Hey, guys,” Milo greeted them as he approached. “Everybody ready?”

Bill and Calliope nodded, but didn’t speak.

“Why did you want to meet here?” Xander asked, eying they building suspiciously.

Milo shrugged. “I figured we should probably talk to Captain Amazing before we head out. No one knows Destructo like he does.” Xander gave him a curious look. “Well, there’s you, but that different. The Captain has an opposing view point on Destructo. You might be able to give us an insight to how he thinks, but my great-grandpa can give us some insight into how he acts. It can’t hurt anything.”

“You aren’t worried I’ll try to hurt him?” asked Xander.

Milo shook his head. “You’d have to be pretty stupid to try something with the three of us here.”

Xander nodded silently, conceding Milo’s point.

The four teenagers entered the building well after visiting hours had ended, but no one moved to stop them. Most of the staff barely even looked up. Milo got the distinct impression that they had all stopped caring very much about their jobs given how close everyone was to the deadline Destructo had given the world. In just a few short days, all the electronic medical equipment and patient records would be destroyed. Without them, most of the patients would be dead within a week, the others to follow shortly after. If Milo and his friends didn’t do something to stop it, that was.

They moved quietly through the halls and up the stairs to where Captain Amazing’s room was located. The door was open, and a single meager light was on. Milo knocked softly to announce his arrival before entering the room without contest. Captain Amazing was sitting on his bed staring longingly at the old uniform that was hanging framed on the wall.

“Hey, great-grandpa,” Milo said quietly. He wasn’t sure why he had lowered his voice but something made him.

Captain Amazing turned his head slowly to look at Milo. The old Hero barely noticed the small group of teenagers at his door.

“Oh, hi, Milo,” he said, shaking off his daze. “Sorry about that. I was just…remembering some things. What brings you around here so late?”

“Destructo,” answered Milo.

The single word turned Captain Amazing’s peaceful façade into an angry snarl.

“That son of a b***h,” he spat. “What about him?”

“We’re going to New York to stop him,” Milo explained. “We just wanted your input before we went. Maybe you could give us some pointers or something?”

“How do you know he’s in New York?” he asked, eying them suspiciously. Milo pulled Xander from the back of the group and stood him in front of Captain Amazing. “Who’s this?”

Milo quickly explained everything that Xander had told them earlier that night. He made very sure to be as detailed as possible so as to help Captain Amazing better understand the situation. The more he knew, the more he could help them. As Milo spoke, Captain Amazing remained unreadable. Nothing about the story seemed surprising in the least to him. Milo had expected the old Hero to try and kill Xander simply for being a clone of his arch nemesis, but he kept his stoic nature until Milo had finished speaking.

“I always thought he was cloning himself,” Captain Amazing mused when Milo had finished his story. Xander just shrugged uncomfortably.

“So, what can you tell us?” Bill asked, anxious to get things underway.

Captain Amazing shook his head slowly. “Not sure what I can say. You’re up for the fight of your lives, I’ll say that much. Destructo isn’t physically powerful, but his mental power more than makes up for it. He’ll probably have a small army ready to greet you by now. Won’t matter if you get the jump on him or not. He’ll probably already have a plan in place for just such a thing. Surprise is practically impossible. You’ll have to hit him head on and make sure that you’re not at the bottom of the pile when everything is over.”

“Does he have a weakness or anything we can exploit to gain an advantage?” Cali asked. Milo silently noted the desperation in her voice.

“Every Hero and Villain that has ever lived,” Amazing answered her, “has had a weakness of some sort. Some of them are mundane like being weak against physical damage. Some of them are more extraordinary like being vulnerable only during a specific lunar cycle. With Destructo, he’s vulnerable to physical damage, but his true weakness is arrogance. He can’t possibly imagine anyone could beat him, and it makes him careless. At some point, everything will seem hopeless, you’ll feel like you’ve been beat, but then he’ll make some stupid arrogant mistake and leave you open to finish him off. But be careful. He knows his weakness just as well as anyone, and he does his best to protect against it.”

The words settled over the room with a grim finality. The message was clear: there was one shot to stop Destructo and he knew it would be coming. Simply put, if they missed their window of opportunity, they were all most likely going to die. It was a sobering thought.

“How do you kids plan on getting to New York on such short notice?” Captain Amazing asked, changing the subject. “Something tells me Cali can’t fly you all there fast enough to do any good.”

Cali looked to Milo as if that was exactly what Milo was thinking, but Milo just gave her a friendly shake of the head.

“I was hoping you could call that number,” Milo suggested. “The one the president gave you. I figured they could probably send someone to pick us up or something.”

Captain Amazing nodded slowly. “I could do that,” he mused. “But I’m not going to. Those sots couldn’t tell their a*s from a hole in the ground. They drop you off in Manhattan, Kansas more than likely. After what happened at the Empire State Building, I don’t trust them to take of you kids. You’ll have to find another way. I’m sorry.”

Milo deflated. How was he going to be able to find a way to New York on his own? He was just a teenager, after all. The only job he’d ever had ended just about as badly as any job could. Even if they all pooled their money together, they could probably only buy a single plane ticket if they were lucky. Milo turned around to face his friends. He was about to ask them if they had any suggestions, but Captain Amazing stopped him before he even opened his mouth.

“What is that?” he asked, pointing to Milo’s back. “There in your pocket, Milo.”

Milo turned to look where Captain Amazing was pointing. The small metallic disc was jutting slightly out of his back pocket. Milo had forgotten it was in there. He took it out and looked at it before offering to Captain Amazing.

“I found it out by where we used to practice,” he told his great-grandfather. “I have no idea what it is. Something made me hold onto it though.”

Captain Amazing snatched the disc from Milo’s hand and inspected it silently. Almost in perfect imitation of Milo and Bill before him, Captain Amazing turned the disc over in his hands and eventually pressed the center button. Milo and the others watched him inspect the disc without making a peep.

“Interesting,” Amazing said finally. He looked up from the disc and his eyes glazed over. Several seconds passed without Captain Amazing moving or saying anything. Milo was just about to say something to the old Hero when Captain Amazing’s thumb slid over the center button and pressed it in. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared from his spot on the bed. Milo’s jaw hit the floor.

“Uh…” Xander said dumbly. “Where did he go?”

Before anyone could answer him, Captain Amazing appeared again just as quickly as he had disappeared. He was sitting in the exact same spot he was before, but now he had a bag of Oreos under one arm and was grinning wildly. He tossed the disc back to Milo who barely had his wits together enough to catch it before it fell to the floor and possibly broke.

“Well,” Captain Amazing said ceremoniously. “Looks like you guys found your ride.”

“What are you talking about, Captain?” Bill asked, flummoxed. “Where did you just go…and why do you have Oreos?”

Captain Amazing shrugged. “I went to the kitchen,” he said matter-of-factly.

“Okay, great-grandpa,” Milo said impatiently, “but how did you get there? One second you were sitting right there, and the next you were gone.”

“Oh, that,” Captain Amazing answered between bites. “Well, you see kids, what you have there is an An’Fari teleportation module. All you have to do is picture the place you want to go as clearly in your mind as you can and press the center button, and then poof you’re there. I don’t understand the technology behind it, but that’s the gist of the idea. You said you found it in Wilson’s Meadow?”

Milo nodded.

“Hmm…” Captain Amazing pondered as he chewed his cookie. “Well Seven must have dropped it there or something. Lucky for you guys. You just happened upon the fastest, cheapest method of transportation in the known universe.”

Knowing what the device was only brought up more questions instead of answering the ones Milo already had. The new questions though were more about how the teleportation module had gotten into the field instead of what it could do. There were a dozen questions that sprouted up from Milo’s mind in the span of about ten seconds, but not a single one of them had an obvious answer. The biggest of which was whether or not the disc was left there on purpose or on accident.

“Well,” he said finally, pushing the unanswered questions aside, “I guess we have a way to New York now. We should probably get going as quick as we can.”

“Hold on there, kids,” Captain Amazing interrupted. “Nobody is going anywhere without me.”

“Great-grandpa, you can’t,” protested Milo. “We appreciate the offer, but you’re not in any condition to fight. Let us handle this the best we can, okay?”

Captain Amazing gave Milo a bemused look. “Nobody’s talking about me fighting. You want to survive this thing, though, you’re going to need me along to help. We’ve got a couple of days before the world ends. That’s plenty of time to prepare can come up with a good plan. Against Destructo, you’re going to need the best plan you can get and I just happen to be very good at coming up with plan that involve Destructo. You need me more than you think.”

Milo wanted to protest like a good great-grandson should do, but the Hero in him knew that Captain Amazing was more right than Milo cared to admit. They would need to be prepared, and Captain Amazing would do everything he could to make sure they were more than ready for the challenge.

“Fine,” Milo agreed. “You can come, but no fighting.”

Captain Amazing nodded his agreement. “Just give me a few minutes to get my stuff together and I’ll meet you downstairs so we can go.”

Milo and his friends agreed and left the room to leave the old Hero to get ready. Captain Amazing stood from the bed when they had left and turned to the uniform that was framed on the wall.

The old days have returned, he thought to himself and set about packing for what would be the last journey to stand against Evil of his long, noble life.

 

When Captain Amazing finally exited Buckland Retirement Home, a stuffed duffle bag slung over one shoulder, Milo and his friends were pacing impatiently. The annoyance showed plainly on Xander’s face, but the other’s remained amicable even though they were just as irked as the clone. Milo produced the teleportation module and held it out to Captain Amazing.

“Can we all do this at once?” he asked his great-grandfather.

Captain Amazing nodded. “We all just have to think of the exact same place. We’ve all seen pictures of Times Square, yes?”

They all nodded.

“Good,” Captain Amazing continued. “Now everyone picture Times Square in your mind as clearly as possible. Try to recall every little detail of every picture you’ve ever seen of the place. Close your eyes if it helps. If even one of us doesn’t have the destination in their mind clearly, we could end up teleported into the sidewalk. Let’s try not to let that happen, shall we?”

With that warning, Milo, Bill, Calliope, and Xander took hold of the metallic disc and closed their eyes. Milo concentrated hard on all the times he’d seen pictures of Times Square, all the times he’d seen it in the movies and television shows. Slowly but surely, the image began to crystallize in his mind of Times Square on New Year’s Eve. He could practically reach out and touch the massive ball that dropped every year to ring in the New Year. He had always wanted to be there to see the even in person. He’d be closer than he ever had been before, but something told him he wasn’t going to have a lot of time to stop for a New Year’s Eve party.

“Everyone confident they’ve got a clear enough picture?” Captain Amazing asked the group. “If you have to nod to keep from breaking your concentration, do so.”

Milo nodded but heard nothing. Everyone else must have been too worried about breaking their concentration to speak like he was.

“Perfect,” Captain Amazing said. “Hold on to your butts.”

Milo felt Captain Amazing press the button on the center of the disc and a not too uncomfortable sensation shot up his arm. Before he had the chance to react, the pungent odor of garbage, hot dogs, and death collided with his nostrils at the same time the cacophony of stop and go traffic reached his ears. There was no mistaking it. He had left his lifelong home of Buckland, Ohio and arrived safely in Times Square.