Prophecy of the Heroes Page 2

  “I suggested nothing of the sort, Commander Eclipse. I’m only saying—”

  “Enough!” said Chief Aster, raising his voice and causing all of the Commanders to look at him in surprise. “We must not bicker with each other. Aeno is the real enemy here. Not us.”

  Mr. Space relaxed. Even though he knew he was probably still in trouble, something about Chief Aster’s firm tone made him feel safer already.

  “Now, I understand that tension is high,” Chief Aster continued, “but that does not justify endless bickering among us. Remember, we’re all on the same side here. The Aeno situation may be the toughest situation that the IEA has ever faced in its millions of years of existence, but we can conquer it. We must. The fate of countless individuals is on the line here. Therefore, we need to take extreme measures to protect the multiverse.”

  Commander Nova raised an eyebrow. “Extreme measures, Chief? What, exactly, do you have in mind that we have not already discussed?”

  Chief Aster tapped a few buttons on the arms of his chair. A holographic image of what looked like a full-sized capsule appeared in the center of the room, big enough for everyone to see no matter where they stood. The canister had an opaque glass lid, with the words ‘TOP-SECRET’ stamped across it in huge lettering.

  Mr. Space had never seen this canister before. Nor, based on Captain Galaxy’s puzzled expression, had she, either.

  But the Commanderate collectively leaned back in their chairs at the sight of the hologram. They acted like Chief Aster had just shown them a dead body.

  “Have you lost your mind?” asked Commander Pattie Pulsar, her skin paler than usual as she looked at Chief Aster. “There is a reason Chief Nebula put it away before she died.”

  “I am perfectly sand, Commander Pulsar,” said Chief Aster. “I wouldn’t be suggesting this to the Commanderate if I didn’t think this was necessary. But you can’t deny that we are in desperate times, which often call for desperate measures.”

  Commander Nova gestured at Mr. Space and Captain Galaxy. “Is this the actual reason you called this meeting? You know that this is beyond top-secret. Only the Commanderate is supposed to know about this, yet you are blatantly showing it to a Captain and her Deputy.”

  “Captain Galaxy and Deputy Space can be trusted to keep secrets,” said Chief Aster simply. Then he smiled wryly. “Besides, if this doesn’t work, it’s not like we’ll live long enough to regret it.”

  “Excuse me, Chief Aster, Commanderate,” said Captain Galaxy, raising her hand again before any of the Commanders could respond to Chief Aster. “But what is that canister? Mr. Space and I don’t know what it is.”

  Mr. Space was relieved that Captain Galaxy was brave enough to ask that question. He had been wondering the same thing but was still too afraid of being punished to draw attention to himself specifically.

  Without looking at the Commanderate for approval, Chief Aster looked down at Mr. Space and Captain Galaxy with a serious frown on his face. “This? This is the best-kept secret of the IEA. And it might be the multiverse’s salvation … or its destruction.”

  TRICKSHOT

  With an open mouth, Trickshot stared at everything in Nexus City as he and Bolt walked along its streets.

  ‘Everything’ was a bit of an exaggeration. Trickshot had only two eyes, after all, and one head. That meant he couldn’t look at literally everything at once. That would be silly.

  Nonetheless, Trickshot made a good effort at it. He took in the smells of fresh food being sold by vendors on the street, mixed with the scent of dirt and dust on the cobblestone streets. The collective sounds of the thousands of people living in Nexus city filled his ears. Babies crying, merchants hawking their wares, and even street musicians playing on bizarre instruments that looked like no earthly instrument Trickshot had ever seen made this street the noisiest street Trickshot had ever walked on in his life.

  The variety of people was astonishing as well. Some of them looked almost like ordinary humans from Earth, while others looked like they had walked straight off the set of a science fiction movie. A young human couple carrying a grocery bag walked down the street hand in hand, while a weird slug-like creature was vigorously bartering with a literal dog-faced merchant over an apple that glowed purple. A lumbering giant made of rock stood at the entrance of a restaurant apparently named ‘NEXUS DELI,’ a bored look on his stony face. What appeared to be a cat with wings snatched a strange-looking fish with spider limbs from a vendor’s stall. The vendor—an elderly woman with a snake wrapped around her balding head—reached out to catch the cat, but the cat either turned invisible or teleported away, causing the woman and her snake to curse out the cat in a language Trickshot could not understand.

  It was also incredibly crowded, with throngs of people filling nearly every inch of the street. Oddly, the people seemed to part to let Trickshot and Bolt through the streets, though their progress was slow-going despite that. There was also the collective stink of so many people crammed together in one street that made Trickshot grimace.

  “Wow,” said Trickshot as they walked. “This city is amazing. Biggest city I’ve ever been in, for sure.”

  Bolt looked over his shoulder at Trickshot. “Really? Where are you from?”

  “Rumsfeld,” said Trickshot. “It’s kind of a medium-sized town in Texas.”

  “Ah,” said Bolt, nodding. “Sounds like Silvers.”

  “What?”

  “The town I’m from,” said Bolt. He shrugged. “Technically, I’m actually from New York City, but Silvers is where my mom lives, so that’s where I go when I’m not doing superhero stuff.”

  Trickshot nodded. “Never been to NYC, but I’ve always wanted to go. Is it as big as the pictures show?”

  “Bigger,” said Bolt. He shook his head. “I want to say I’m surprised NYC exists in your universe, but I honestly can’t. Seems like NYC is one of those universal constants that my friend, Shell, once told me about when he was explaining multiverse theory to me.”

  “Probably,” said Trickshot. He sighed and looked around the crowded street again. “Man, I wish we weren’t on a deadline. I’d love to spend all day here just checking out all of this cool stuff.”

  “Maybe some other time,” said Bolt, turning his attention back to the street before them. “Right now, we need to focus on finding Desfro.”

  Trickshot glanced at the ancient book in the bag hanging from his side and nodded. “The translator guy.”

  “Exactly,” said Bolt. “He shouldn’t be hard to find. He’s big and looks like a humanoid frog. Really fat around the waist. Even in this crowd, he should stand out like a sore thumb.”

  Bolt spread his arms around his stomach as if to indicate Desfro’s girth. It was an amusing image to Trickshot, who had not seen Desfro and therefore did not know exactly how he looked.

  “I am keeping an eye out for him as well, Jack,” said TW’s voice in Trickshot’s head. “So far, I have not seen any humanoid frog translators, but I will let you know if I see anything.”

  “Thanks, TW,” said Trickshot. “The more eyes we have looking, the more likely we are to find him.”

  Although Trickshot said that, he had to admit he felt nervous. Curfew for Tournament participants was at midnight every night. According to the huge Clock Tower in the middle of Nexus City, it was currently around lunchtime, which perhaps explained the masses of people gathered in the streets. It meant that Trickshot and Bolt had plenty of time to find Desfro before they had to return to the Universal Castle to avoid getting disqualified from the Tournament.

  But is it even possible for us to get disqualified at all, given what Sigil told us? Trickshot thought, glancing at the sky, which was empty at the moment. If he needs us to generate all of that dark energy for Aeno, then why would he risk getting rid of even just one of us, much less two?

  Perhaps that was what Trickshot was truly nervous about. He wasn’t very concerned about what might happen to the two of them if they ended up outsi
de of the Universal Castle after curfew. No, he was really nervous about what might happen if Sigil, or one of Aeno’s other servants, found out why he and Bolt were outside after dark.

  The answer to that question lay in the bag hanging off of Trickshot’s right shoulder. He had gotten the bag from one of the cafeteria workers, who, it seemed, could create more than just food at the drop of a hat. Inside the bag was an ancient book that might be the key to defeating Sigil and potentially even thwarting destiny itself.

  Trickshot had found this ancient book—titled simply PROPHECY, with no author name—in the Library of the Universal Castle yesterday. Well, technically-speaking, he hadn’t found it. Mimic, one of Bolt’s Teammates, had been the one to steal it from the Library, for reasons he still didn’t know. Trickshot had merely kept the book because Tournament participants were not allowed to enter the Library. He had intended on returning the book to the Library before the end of the Tournament, but now he had reason to keep it, at least for a little while longer.

  The reason why Trickshot wanted to keep it, even though it was written in a language he couldn’t read? Because it might be the only written copy of the legendary ‘Prophecy’ in existence.

  The Prophecy that Trickshot was thinking about was an ancient prophecy that was as old as Aeno. According to Sigil, the Prophecy told of a time when four of the multiverse’s greatest heroes would gather in one place and fight for a full straight week. Their conflict would generate enough ‘dark energy’ to transform Aeno from a powerful if childish deity into an entity known only as the Great Destruction, a figure destined to bring about the end of the multiverse itself.

  Sigil had told Trickshot, Bolt, Winter, and Beams all of this bluntly at the end of the third match. In just four short days, enough dark energy would be generated for Aeno to become the Great Destruction and there was nothing they could do about it.

  Or so Sigil says, Trickshot thought, glancing into the bag again. Sigil could also be full of it.

  Their only hope of stopping Sigil lay in understanding the Prophecy itself. And they had reason to believe that the only written version of the Prophecy in existence lay somewhere in the contents of that book, in a language that no human could read. They believed that if they could translate and read the Prophecy for themselves that they might discover information that Sigil left out, knowledge that might help them overcome Sigil and stop the Tournament before enough dark energy was generated to turn Aeno into the Great Destruction.

  Which brought Trickshot back to the present. Right now, he and Bolt were searching for Desfro, a frog-like humanoid thief, who could supposedly translate any language in existence. The idea was to give Desfro the book and ask him to translate it. Specifically, they wanted him to translate the Prophecy. The rest of the book could remain untranslated, which Trickshot did not mind. He wasn’t much of a ‘book person,’ so to speak, and didn’t feel robbed of the knowledge that might lie between the book’s cover.

  Besides, something about this book feels … wrong, Trickshot thought. Like it’s not natural.

  That was something Trickshot had not mentioned to Bolt or the others when he first told them about the book. Ever since he got his hands on it, the book had felt unnatural. It wasn’t his guilt over ‘stealing’ it from the Library, either, as he didn’t consider himself a thief. The book itself simply felt like something that should not exist.

  Maybe it’s because it’s so old, Trickshot thought. The oldest book I’ve ever seen. Surprised the thing hasn’t fallen apart completely by now.

  Shaking his head, Trickshot put that out of his mind for now. He needed to keep his wits about himself and focus on finding Desfro. Without Desfro’s help, then Sigil would win and he couldn’t allow that.

  “Seen Desfro yet, Bolt?” said Trickshot, increasing his pace so he was walking side-by-side with Bolt down the crowded street.

  “No,” said Bolt, shaking his head. “Still haven’t.”

  Trickshot looked up into the air. “Think we should try flying? Maybe it will be easier to see him if we’re both airborne.”

  Bolt shrugged. “Sounds like a good idea to me. Besides, the sky looks a lot more open than the streets.”

  Bolt crouched and then flew straight up into the air. Trickshot followed Bolt, though he was all too aware of how much faster Bolt was than him. That was apparently because Bolt, in addition to his super strength, flight, and lightning powers, also had super speed. Trickshot wondered what other powers Bolt had that he hadn’t shown off or shared with anyone yet.

  No wonder he and Winter get along so well, Trickshot thought as he flew into the sky over Nexus City. The two of them are like Swiss army knives in human form, given all of the tricks and powers they have. Makes me feel pretty plain in comparison.

  The two heroes stopped when they were high above most of the buildings in the city. Trickshot, who had excellent eyesight thanks to his aiming skills, immediately began scanning the crowds of people below. A handful of Nexians looked up at Trickshot and Bolt in surprise, but most of the people apparently did not see anything noteworthy about a couple of superheroes flying above their city.

  “These people treat us kind of weirdly,” said Trickshot, looking at Bolt. “Have you noticed that?”

  “Hmm?” said Bolt, glancing at Trickshot. “What do you mean?”

  Trickshot gestured at the throngs of Nexians packed in the streets below. “They parted the crowd for us while we walked and looked at us kind of like they don’ t trust us.”

  “Oh, yeah,” said Bolt with a dismissive wave. “I think the Nexians simply don’t trust ‘outworlders,’ as they call us. Though they are perfectly willing to steal our stuff and sell them at ludicrous prices to make a profit.”

  Bolt said that last sentence with odd bitterness, making it sound like something that had actually happened to him.

  That made Trickshot curious enough to ask Bolt what happened, but then TW suddenly shouted in his head, “Jack, watch out! Behind you!”

  Surprised, Trickshot whirled around in time to see what looked like a huge boulder come flying at him. The boulder slammed into Trickshot, sending him falling down toward one of the buildings below.

  Trickshot crashed into the roof of one of the buildings in Nexus City, his head spinning from the impact. Above, he saw Bolt flying down toward him. Bolt landed a couple of feet away from Trickshot and said, “Trickshot, are you all right?”

  Trickshot groaned and looked around at his surroundings. His fall hadn’t been hard enough to smash through the roof, thankfully, but he did leave a deep imprint of his own body in the roof. It looked like it would be really expensive for the owner of the building to fix unless he forced Trickshot to pay for it somehow.

  Deciding to worry about that later, Trickshot sat up and rubbed his forehead. “I’m fine, but did you see what hit me?”

  Bolt shook his head. “No. It all happened so fast. It looked like a boulder might have hit you, but I’m not sure where it came from. It disappeared as quickly as it came.”

  “That is really weird,” said Trickshot as he rose to his feet, dusting off his costume. “Good thing I’ve got super durability. Otherwise, I’d probably have to be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life.”

  “No kidding,” said Bolt. Then his eyes went down to Trickshot’s waist and he started. “Uh, Trickshot?”

  “Yeah, Bolt?” said Trickshot, looking at Bolt curiously. “What’s the matter? Did you notice something?”

  “Yeah,” said Bolt. He pointed at Trickshot. “The book. It’s missing.”

  Trickshot looked at his right shoulder and found that Bolt was right:

  The bag—and with it, the Prophecy—was gone.

  WINTER

  Winter stepped into the cafeteria, his eyes scanning all of the tables set up for the Tournament competitors. Everywhere he looked, he saw competitors from every Team having lunch. Over in the table at the far right corner, Rubberman and the Necromantress were eating spaghetti together while arg
uing about something he couldn’t hear. Closer to the center was Tsunami, eating a large steak and lobster all by himself, while Lethal Injection, sitting a couple of tables down, was scarfing down hot dog after hot dog. Bug Bite sat over on one of the common areas’ sofas, sipping coffee while reading what looked like a newspaper called The Daily Dimension, of all things, while Blizzard and Beams were playing some kind of video game on the commons’ big flat-screen TV. Not every single competitor from every Team was present, but nearly everyone was.

  Everyone, that is, except for the one guy I am looking for, Winter thought, his hands balling into fists.

  “Whatcha doing, boss?” said Cyclone, appearing next to Winter all of a sudden, licking a huge chocolate ice cream cone that looked like it was about to fall out of the cone any minute now. “Aside from just looking cool and trying to creep everyone out by staring at them intently?”

  Winter, who was used to Cyclone’s sudden appearances by now, spared his Sidekick one glance before returning his attention to the commons. “I’m looking for Atmosfear. And Giggles. But mostly Atmosfear. Where is he? Did he go back to our Team room already?”

  Winter’s eyes fell on the four doors on the other side of the commons. In particular, his eyes focused on the room with the label ‘TEAM WINTER’ on its door in golden lettering, which signified that that was the room where Winter and his Teammates slept in between matches during the Tournament.

  “No, I don’t think so,” said Cyclone in between licks of his ice cream cone. “I was just in there rearranging my bottle cap collection and didn’t see anyone.”

  Winter’s eyes shifted over to Cyclone. “Since when do you collect bottle caps?”

  “Since I learned how amazing they are,” said Cyclone. “Did you know that there are approximately one point five billion different bottle caps across the multiverse? And that more come into existence all the time thanks to the nature of the multiverse? Makes it really hard to collect ‘em all, but apparently, interdimensional bottle cap collecting is a big deal.”