Chapter Thirty Five

Hero's Call: Chapter Thirty Five

A single tear ran down Maiden’s cheek as she looked at Xander’s prostrate body lying on the cold concrete floor of the warehouse.

“Don’t cry for me, Calliope,” a voice said from behind them.

Maiden, Cobalt, and Pulsar all whirled around to see Xander standing behind them. He looked exactly as he did the first day they had met them. His eye was no longer bruised and swollen. The blood that was running down his face from an unseen wound was gone. He was smiling, but Pulsar didn’t see any joy or humor in that smile. He saw malevolence, hatred…Evil.

“Xander,” Maiden gasped. “What’s going �"”

“Quiet,” he commanded her, and the words died in her mouth. “I don’t want to hear you speak again.”

Pulsar looked down at the body on the floor. It was cooling at an unnatural rate. Something was deeply unsettling about the whole situation and not just because Xander had managed to be alive and dead at the same time.

Marvelous Maiden looked wounded by Xander’s words. She opened her mouth to speak again, but Pulsar could tell she was unable by the look of terror that crossed her face when she found the words wouldn’t come.

“I grow tired of this charade,” Xander announced. “It may just be Destructo’s thoughts that have been implanted into my mind, but I feel the need to reveal the whole truth to the three of you before the end.”

He lifted his hands ceremoniously and clapped twice slowly. Around them, the world began to shift. The walls and ground of the warehouse faded into smoke before rearranging themselves. The whole scene was changing drastically before their very eyes. The living Xander’s dead counterpart slowly faded to smoke and disappeared. Number 1’s incapacitated form followed suit. Everything, all the destruction and mayhem that had taken place over the better part of the last hour was disappearing. From chaos came order. Even the gaping hole in the ceiling that Captain Amazing had created was repaired in perfect order.

Not only had the warehouse repaired itself, but it had changed itself. They weren’t in the same warehouse from moments before, the same warehouse they had infiltrated to put an end to Destructo’s plans for world domination. This new warehouse was smaller by far, and emptier. There were no additional doors, no upper floor. The door to the control room had disappeared, replaced with nothing but a solid wall. Pulsar, Cobalt, and Marvelous Maiden stood motionless, struck in horror and shock, as the reality of the situation crashed into them.

“No doubt you are having a difficult time wrapping your heads around what is happening,” Xander said airily. “Well it’s quite simple really. You see �"” he cut himself off and rolled his eyes. “Hold on a moment. I’m being rude. We have other guests that should be here for this. Number 1, bring them out.”

From somewhere in the darkness, the sound of an opening door cut through the quiet warehouse. Moments later four figures emerged from the shadows. Captain Amazing and Czar Destructo were in front. Both were gagged and had their hands bound. Signs of assault were visible on both of them, but Destructo’s appearance was truly shocking. He was no longer the young Villain that they had faced only minutes before. He now looked just as old as Captain Amazing, if not older. He wasn’t in his uniform and his helmet was nowhere to be seen. Pulsar locked eyes with him and felt a chill creep up his spine at the look of desperation in the Villains eyes.

“Now that we’re all here,” Xander said in good humor. “I’d like to start by saying that you’ll all find it quite difficult to do anything even remotely violent towards me. It’s something of talent of mine.”

As much as he would have loved to, Pulsar could not even begin to remember how to use his optic blasts when he thought of Xander. When Destructo entered his mind, his power became second nature again, instinct at its basest form. The thought of how easily the clone has manipulated his mind was terrifying.

“I’m sure you’re all very confused right now,” Xander continued. “As you can see, things are not exactly as they have seemed this evening. The warehouse we are currently in has had nothing to do Destructo or any of his plans. In fact, that warehouse is three blocks away. It does, however, hold the control room that holds the key to stopping the nanobot attack, but Destructo and I are the only ones who know how to initiate the override sequence. Even if you knew where to find the warehouse, you’d never have a chance to stop me.”

“I gave you life,” Destructo cursed. “How could you betray me like this? The world was yours for the taking once I was gone.”

Xander laughed. “And what makes you think that is any different right now?” He walked to where Czar Destructo was standing in front of Raven and put himself between them. With a quick jab almost too fast to see, Destructo cried out in pain and dropped to his knees.

“You see, old man,” Xander said, bending to speak directly into Destructo’s ear, “the world is already mine for the taking. Everything you have planned since the moment you released me from that cloning chamber has been of my design, a thought implanted in your meager little brain. This is all my doing. I am the architect of the world’s destruction. The nanobot design was mine. The trap at the Empire State Building that killed that insufferable An’Fari was laid out by me. I brought your only opposition directly to you and will destroy them all without breaking a sweat.”

He placed his hands on the back of Destructo’s head and ran his fingers through the old Villain’s hair and down his cheeks.

“My only regret is that you won’t be around to witness my triumph,” Xander said quietly. Without warning he gripped Destructo’s head harshly and twisted violently. The muted pop that followed when Destructo’s neck broke echoed eerily through the empty warehouse. Captain Amazing winced as Destructo’s body slumped lifelessly to the floor and landed with the sickening slap of skin on concrete.

Xander smiled. “Now that that’s taken care of,” he said happily as if a burden had been lifted off his chest, “Let’s continue.”

“You’re insane,” exclaimed Maiden, hurt think in her voice.

“No, no, my dear,” Xander volleyed back. “I’m quite with in my senses. Destructo was an obstacle, and obstacles must be eliminated. Much like all of you are obstacles. I could have killed you all long ago, but there was no fun in that. It was important for me to gain your trust, get you on my side. Manipulation is the key to any good plan, and you were all easier to manipulate than babies. Human minds are so weak, like clay to a sculptor.”

“Human minds?” Pulsar asked, incredulous. “News flash, dick. You’re human too.”

“Hmm…” Xander harrumphed. “I suppose I do appear that way. Admittedly, much of me is still quite human. But I assure you, I have transcended menial human doldrums. I wouldn’t expect any of you to understand that. The places I’ve been. The things I’ve seen. They’ve changed me physically and mentally. I am better…no, I am the best, the greatest. The whole world will see that soon. And when they do, they’ll worship me.”

Captain Amazing laughed. “It’s always the same with you Villains. You think you can just hold your finger over the self-destruct button and the whole world will just bow down to you. Don’t you get it? The world will not bow down to anyone. You may have powers normal men don’t, but there’s only one of you and billions of them. Those odds aren’t in your favor, chief. So just give up now, and we’ll make sure that the damage you’ve done already gets repaired. This is your last chance.”

Xander regarded Captain Amazing coolly.

“My last chance, you say?” he asked evenly. “Well, I will have to beg to differ with you, old chap. You see, I’m not holding my finger over the self-destruct button. Quite the opposite, in fact. I lied before. There is no override sequence. The control that Destructo showed to the world was nothing but a prop. It did nothing. There is no way to stop the nanobot attack. The world will be crippled in less than ten minutes. Riots will erupt. Brother will kill brother. Husband will rape wife. Parents will leave children for dead. The world will tear itself asunder. It will burn from the inside out.”

“And I,” he said, stepping in front of Captain Amazing. “I will rise from its ashes. I will be the world’s savior. And, yes, they will worship me.”

Xander tore through the bindings around Captain Amazing’s hands as if they were paper. Captain Amazing stood motionless, his will to fight being crushed by Xander’s powers. Xander grabbed the old Hero by the wrists and placed a foot square in his chest. The scream of pure agony that came from Captain Amazing as both arms were ripped from the sockets was so loud, Pulsar could almost feel it turning his heart to ice and shattering it into a million pieces. Xander dropped the severed arms to the floor and snapped Captain Amazing’s neck the same way he’d done with the Hero’s longtime nemesis.

“Something has occurred to me,” he said casually. “What time is it, Raven?”

She checked her watch immediately. “Three minutes to midnight.”

Xander turned to the remaining three Heroes.

“I’m not going to kill you like I had originally planned,” he said as if it was the most normal sentence in the world. “I have a much better idea. One that will only strengthen my original plan. This part of things, though, will have to remain a mystery to you for now. But don’t worry, you’ll find out eventually. Come to me, Raven, it’s time we leave this place.”

Raven smiled and walked to Xander’s side. He wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed her, his tongue visibly sliding into her mouth.

“Number 1?” he said, once he had pulled away from her.

“Yes, master?” Number 1 responded quickly.

“Rendezvous at Alpha Station,” Xander commanded him. The automaton nod curtly and set off at a run toward the door and out of the warehouse. Xander turned his gaze back to the three Heroes in front of him. “I’d wish you luck in the coming apocalypse, but I doubt you’ll need it. We’ll be seeing each other again. I promise. Tootles.”

With that, Xander and Raven faded into nothing and were gone. Instantly Pulsar could feel himself regaining control of his own body. He looked at the bodies on the floor in front of them. One was a Villain who had brought the horror that was Xander into the world. The other was his great-grandfather. He was a teacher, a mentor, family, friend. Pulsar felt empty inside. He felt like the world around him wasn’t any more real than the one Xander had concocted for them. He wished desperately for the scene to turn to smoke again and rearrange itself as his bedroom, that it would all have been a horrible, horrible dream. He was so lost in his own twisted reality that he didn’t even hear Cobalt calling to him.

“Pulsar,” he said, shaking Pulsar’s arm. “Snap out of it, P. What are we going to do?”

Pulsar didn’t have to answer. The answer came when the lights in the warehouse went out. All three of them knew instantly that every light in the city had gone out at the same. In fact, every light in the entire country, possibly the world, had just died. From somewhere outside, a window shattered and a woman screamed. Moments later, air raid sirens that most New Yorkers didn’t even know still existed sounded through the night. That was it, the end of the world had commenced.