Hero's Call

Chapter Six

Acolyte Seven didn't necessarily dislike Earth. It was just that when compared to his home world, Earth was a dirty, disgusting rock that he was surprised could support even the lowest form of life. Seven's people chose Earth as the next planet to receive the Hero gene because it was the only planet that could support intelligent life in its solar system. To be fair, there's plenty of life on a few of the other planets, but Martians are gamblers and drunks, and the people of Venus could barely string together enough words to make a sentence.

News of Czar Destructo's prison break reached Seven three Earth days ago. Since the only Hero left on Earth was over a century old, Acolyte Seven was chosen to come to Earth and hunt down Czar Destructo himself. Do not be fooled, Seven was no Hero. He had been taught rudimentary self-defense maneuvers, but if it were to come down to it, he would be quickly neutralized in a fight. As such, The Council had seen fit to send him with a weapon.

It hung limply by his side. The weapon designed by his own people. They have no need for weapons amongst themselves, they are a peaceful race, but on the rare occasions they need to venture to Earth on some errand, they would bring those weapons with them. It was a simple design that renders anyone with human DNA unconscious if hit directly. A handy gadget to have in the land of men.

Seven's objective was simple: find Czar Destructo and deliver him to the proper authorities by any means necessary. He was given a list of all of Destructo's known hideouts. A small disc sat on his waist opposite his weapon. It allowed him to travel instantly to any point on Earth he desired. He simply had to think of the spot, press the button, and he'd find himself there in a matter of second.

He'd started with Atlantis. Seven had always found the legend of Atlantis fascinating. A city of far advanced technologies sunk into the sea, lost and forgotten. No one can remember what caused Atlantis to sink. Some say it just got too advanced for its own good and God smote them down. The real reason, as Seven's people remember it, was an old Villain by the name of Killtastic. It was a stupid name for a stupid criminal. He had had too much wine and sank the city on accident. He managed to disappear during the ensuing mayhem and avoid any of the blame.

Czar Destructo had managed to uncover its secret location, and raise it for a base of his operations. He used some of the Atlantean technology to amass an army that was still far more advanced than any Earth could create. Captain Amazing was there to meet him, and destroyed his army, probably without breaking a sweat. The city was still deep at the bottom of the ocean where Amazing had left it.

After Atlantis, Seven visited Castle Destructo high in the German mountain ranges. It was Destructo's first real hideout. The Council thought he would be most likely to come back here to restart his new regime. It was a logical conclusion, but the walls of the castle had completely been annihilated by Captain Amazing, turning it to nothing but a pile of rubble. So far, he'd done a very thorough job of cleaning up after Destructo.

The base deep in the Rain Forest was burned to the ground. The Ice Fortress he built near the summit of Mt. Everest had been melted. Even the hideout on the Moon had been turned into a crater. Captain Amazing had done his homework and aced the test with flying colors.

There was one last base Seven had to check. It was a massive geodesic dome made of primarily glass on the coast of New Zealand. The massive shell jutted into the sky like a cracked and broken tortoise shell. Four large generators sat at diagonals around the dome. No doubt, at one point, powering Czar Destructo's evil experiments. Now they sit lifeless and weather worn. A long metal pathway stretched from the entrance to the dome onto the beach. A broken, inconsistent mile or so of luminous highway in the sun.