Chapter Eighteen

Hero's Call: Chapter Eighteen

Milo awoke the next morning to the sharp stab of a cane being jammed into his ribs.

“Get up, ya lazy bum,” Captain Amazing’s voice ordered him.

Milo, being a true teenager when it comes to sleep, tried brushing off the cane and rolling over to go back to bed. That, of course, only elicited more jabbing and a few more derogatory terms sent his way that he ignored. It was only when Captain Amazing yanked back the covers and smacked Milo on the exposed skin of his thigh with the cane that the young man acknowledged his great-grandfather.

“Ow, great-grandpa,” Milo exclaimed. “What was that for?”

“Oh that didn’t hurt, ya sissy,” Captain Amazing said, holding up his cane to examine the dent in the metal. “Except maybe for the cane.”

Milo looked at the clock. It read just after five in the morning.

“What are you doing here so early?” Milo demanded.

“You’ve got training today,” explained Captain Amazing.

Milo grumbled. “We’re not supposed to start training until noon. It’s five in the morning.”

Captain Amazing shrugged. “Couldn’t sleep. Too excited,” he said, as if that made it all okay. “Now get up. I’ve got your mom making us a good breakfast. We’ve got our own training to do before the An’Fari gets to work on you. I’ll meet you downstairs after you’ve gotten dressed.”

Captain Amazing wobbled out of the room and left Milo alone. Knowing full well that he wouldn’t be left alone to go back to bed, Milo got out of bed and walked to the bathroom to relieve himself and take a shower. His mind immediately jumped back to the night before and Cali. He wasn’t the only one dealing with an active Hero Gene. He didn’t have to face it alone. He had a friend by his side. Cali was the brains after all. Milo knew he’d be better off with Calliope by his side.

Cali wasn’t being terribly enthusiastic about the whole situation, however. Milo and Bill may have been excited about Milo’s new abilities, but Cali seemed scared, almost terrified, of having her life turned upside down and amazing new abilities thrust upon her. There was something else there, Milo knew, something Cali wasn’t telling them. The three of them had always been close enough to tell everything to, and Milo knew neither Bill nor Cali had ever kept anything from him or each other. It was a bizarre feeling knowing that one of his best friends was keeping something from him. He knew he couldn’t focus on it, though. He was a Hero now. Milo would have much bigger problems once he was trained up than whether or not Cali was giving him full disclosure. She’d tell him when she was ready or she’d keep it to herself forever. It was her decision.

Milo went back to his room after showering and got dressed. He had no idea what his great-grandfather or Acolyte Seven had in store for him, so he put on a pair of track pants and a plain white t-shirt. He figured it would be the best thing for a workout. If, that is, a workout was what he was about to receive. Some of Captain Amazing’s stories of his own adventures suddenly came rushing to mind. Some push up and a quick jog didn’t seem like they’d do much good against an army of robots bent on human domination. Would there be a robot to fight? Would they be shooting lasers at him or smashing a car over his head? He shook off the thought of perilous training and grabbed a pair of running shoes from the bottom of the closet. With the shoes in hand, Milo hopped down the stairs and walked to the kitchen.

His mother and Captain Amazing were sitting at the kitchen table. Captain Amazing had just finished a joke or amusing anecdote because Milo’s mother was giggling like a school girl. Milo didn’t often see his mother like that. She loved Captain Amazing and loved hearing his stories of the old days just like Milo did. Milo suspected that was part of the reason Captain Amazing had loved Milo’s mother so much; she was always a more than willing audience.

“Good morning, Milo,” his mother said through her laughter. “Biscuits and gravy are ready on the stove.”

Milo walked to the stove and piled six biscuits onto his plate before drowning them with thick country gravy. He poured himself a tall glass of milk and walked back to the table to take a seat next to his mother. Brooke gave Milo a curious look when she saw the mountain of food on her son’s plate.

“You sure you got enough?” she asked sarcastically. “I think you might have left one or two over there for someone else.”

Milo looked at his plate as if wondering whether or not he could use a couple more biscuits, but decided against it. He could always have seconds if he really felt like it.

“Nah,” he said, stabbing a biscuit with his fork and taking a bite, “I’m good.”

Captain Amazing chuckled while Milo’s mother rolled her eyes.

“Don’t worry about it, Brookie,” he said to Milo’s mother. “The body’s metabolism goes into overdrive when the Hero Gene first activates. He could literally eat an entire horse and wouldn’t gain a pound. Part of the process.”

“Oh great,” said Brook jokingly, “my teenager was already eating me out of house and home before. Now his hunger grows. God help us. More coffee, Captain?”

Captain Amazing nodded. Milo’s mother stood from the table and grabbed both their coffee mugs before heading into the kitchen and leaving Milo alone with his great-grandfather.

“Bill excited?” asked Captain Amazing.

“Seemed to be,” Milo agreed. He quickly launched into the story of what had happened in the small copse of trees the night before. When Milo was done talking, Captain Amazing just huffed.

“Interesting,” he mused. “Well, at least you’ll have someone out there watching your back so I won’t have to worry about my knucklehead great-grandson out there running amok on the streets. Nothing from Bill yet?”

Milo shook his head. Captain Amazing shrugged.

“I’m sure he’ll be along soon,” he suggested, adding, “I think.”

Bill was excited for Milo, sure, but Milo assumed it was because it gave his friend hope. If Milo turned into a Hero, then Bill’s odds of doing the same were greatly increased, especially since Cali activated as well. Bill was probably biding his time, waiting for his own Hero Gene to activate. Milo had no idea how Bill would take it if that never happened. He wasn’t even sure how he’d take it himself. Bill was his best friend. He couldn’t just leave him behind while Milo and Cali protected the world from the forces of Evil.

“What are we doing this morning?” Milo asked. He wanted to change the subject to get his mind off of the negative possibilities.

“I just want to see what you can do,” answered Captain Amazing, taking the now refilled coffee mug from Brooke. “Seven will help you master your powers, but it helps to know exactly what powers you have so you can get them under control faster. Finish eating and we’ll get to work.”

Milo wolfed down the rest of his food, barely chewing before swallowing enormous chunks of biscuits pasted together with thick gravy. As he ate, Milo thought about what Captain Amazing had said about his increased metabolism. There was nearly nothing left on his plate and he only felt a modicum of his hunger disappear. He could have eaten six more biscuits and chased it with a couple bowls of cereal and pack of sausage links and still be looking for a snack in an hour. It was an unexpected benefit of his activation as Milo was something of a food connoisseur insofar as he liked to indiscriminately consume as much as he could as often as he could. When he was finished, Brooke took his plate and began cleaning up while Milo and Captain Amazing went out to the front yard.

The late October air was brisk in the early morning hours. The pair’s breath pushed past their lips in a fog that made them both look like they had hot coals smoldering in their lungs. Milo remembered being a child and pretending to smoke a cigarette on cold days, his warm breath the smoke billowing into the air. Not many years had passed since then and now he was about to sign onto the task of saving the world, or, at the very least, protecting it. There weren’t a lot of things to save the world from at the moment. Unless you counted the Y2K scare that may or may not exist.

Captain Amazing led his great-grandson out to the sidewalk in front of the house and turned to him with an inspecting look in his eye.

“Run around the block,” he said to Milo, extracting a stopwatch from the pocket of his house coat.

“What?” replied Milo dumbly.

Captain Amazing narrowed his eyes. “Did I stutter? Run around the block. Goes as fast as your body will allow. One lap and back here. Got it?”

Milo nodded and stepped onto the sidewalk. He did some quick stretches that he wasn’t sure would really do much and took a runner’s stance.

“Ready?” his great-grandfather asked and Milo nodded. “Go!”

Milo tore up the sidewalk to the end of the block. He could feel every muscle in his body working in a perfect unison. With each pump of his arm or kick of his leg he could feel the ground shot by under his feet. He’d never moved so fast on foot before. The houses rushed by, each one blurry around the edges as he passed. The feeling was incredible. Milo pushed himself harder, dug in deeper. He tested his body’s limits and found that they were much higher than he would have imagined. He was so focused on what he was doing he almost ran right past his own house and Captain Amazing. He skidded to a halt a few feet passed where he had intended and walked the short distance back to where Captain Amazing was standing.

“How fast?” asked Milo in excited astonishment.

“Buck fifteen,” answered Captain Amazing.

Milo looked at his great-grandfather incredulously. “What? No way.”

“How do you feel?”

Milo thought for a moment. He wasn’t big on physical activity, so when he engaged in it, his body usually protested defiantly. Now though, he was fine. He felt like he’d just woken up not run around the block at who knew what speed. He wasn’t even out of breath. Milo was most definitely enjoying the effects of an active Hero Gene. He smiled at Captain Amazing. “I’m just fine,” he reported.

Captain Amazing just nodded. “Close your eyes,” he instructed Milo, who complied immediately. “Think about the sky. Picture the clouds and the birds soaring through them. Imagine a jumbo jet high overhead carrying a load of passengers to their destination. Picture it all clearly, Milo, as clear as you can.”

There was a long pause while Milo stood on the sidewalk with his eyes closed. The images his great-grandfather had described cycled through his head in surprising detail. But Milo felt nothing other than a mild case of vertigo. After about a minute of Milo exercising his imagination, Captain Amazing told him to open his eyes.

“What was that about?” asked Milo, opening his eyes.

“Forget it,” Captain Amazing said curtly. “Let’s move on.”

Over the next hour, Captain Amazing ran Milo through a gauntlet of tests to gauge the young man’s abilities. While Milo may not have understood exactly what each test was supposed to reveal �" least of all the test the required pinecones to be hurled at his head �" he did each one of them in turn without a single complaint or objection. After the first couple of tests, Milo was anxious to see exactly what it was Captain Amazing was going to tell him when they were done. To Milo, nothing special was happening outside of the fact that he’d been worked harder than he ever had in his life and hadn’t even broken a sweat. The only thing they didn’t test was the green beams of light that had erupted from Milo’s eyes the first night he activated.

“That’s it, Milo,” said Captain Amazing finally. “No more tests.”

The tone his great-grandfather used made apprehension wash over him. “Okay,” Milo said hesitantly. “So, what do you think?”

Captain Amazing took an agonizingly long time to answer.

“You’re fast,” he said finally, rubbing the stubble on his chin, “but you’re no Lightning Rod. You’re strong, but nothing compared to The Behemoth. Your reflexes are excellent, but I’ve seen Heroes who were so fast it was borderline precognition. You can’t fly or shapeshift. As far as I can tell, the only real power you have is the concussive blasts you produced with your eyes, but I don’t want to cause any damage to the neighborhood so I’ll let Seven deal with that.”

Milo took a moment to process the information and said, “So you’re saying I’m not very special then?”

The disappointment was thick in his voice.

“Not at all,” Captain Amazing countered. “You’re one of the first Heroes in decades. That alone makes you special. Your strength, speed, and agility is far superior to any normal human. Compare to other Heroes, though, you’re not the most powerful that has ever walked the earth.”

“But what about Bill and the logs?” Milo demanded. He’d waited his whole life to be a Hero, to have super strength or speed. Now he was just some kid who could shoot lasers out of his eyes. “They just broke over me like they were toothpicks and I don’t even have a bruise.”

“That didn’t hurt,” explained Captain Amazing, “because it was Bill who was swinging them. He hasn’t activated yet. Regular humans can hardly make a scratch on a Hero in physical combat. If he had been activated, he may have broke some bones or caved in your chest cavity. It was actually kind of a stupid thing to do given how little you know. As far as your lack of bruising, the Hero Gene will heal you rapidly so minor bruises and abrasions won’t stick around for very long. You definitely aren’t indestructible and major injuries can still incapacitate you, maybe even kill you.”

Milo’s world was shaken. He was supposed to be a Hero. He was supposed to be like his great-grandfather, like his countless other relatives that had changed the history of the world with their acts of bravery and strength. He could take on normal human criminals, but what if a real Villain activated. If the Dreadnaught Virus was wearing off, it wasn’t inconceivable to think that it would happen eventually. How could he fight against Evil if even a moderately powerful Villain could kill him? It wasn’t right. It wasn’t fair.

“You may not be powerful, Milo Radcliff,” Captain Amazing said, as if he was reading his great-grandson’s mind, “but you can be a great Hero. All you need is the right training.”