Hero's Call

Chapter Four

"Are you too busy for some visitors?" Milo asked, knocking on the open door.

"Well I'm supposed to meet the President at four," Captain Amazing joked in his old faltering voice, "but I think I can squeeze you two knuckle heads in."

He stood up with more vigor than was to be expected from a man of his age, and Milo gave him a hug. Bill shook his hand and they all sat down, Bill and Milo on the bed and The Captain back in his chair. He took a quick minute to spin the chair back toward them.

"How's life boys?" he said with a smile.

"Can't complain, I guess," Milo replied with a shrug.

"Yeah right," Bill laughed, "Milo got such a good shot in on Devon today."

"Devon Macledowny," The Captain said with derision, "I hate that little bastard." Captain Amazing had never met, or even seen, Devon before, but Milo had discussed him on many occasions, and he thought ill of anyone that has it out for his great-grandson. "What'd you get him with?"

Milo recounted the story of his dad's tape recorder in history class, to which he laughed hysterically.

"It's too bad I wasn't there to see the look on that little shit's face," he said and his laugh turned to a cough. "Better keep your head of a swivel, boys. He'll be out for blood after that piece of genius."

"Yeah, that's what Cali said," Bill said dejectedly.

"Ah, Calliope. Where is she nowadays?" the Captain asked finally realizing the absence of the third friend. "She is the brains of this operation after all, is she not?"

"She had soccer practice or something, I think," Milo answered not completely believably.

The truth was, Cali didn't like coming to Buckland. She never exactly said why. Milo guessed that after her great-grandmother died, the place brought back a lot of hard memories for her. She'd never tell him the truth, Milo didn't think, but every once in a while he brought it up, and she'd get cold and distant, so he'd drop it. She'd loved her great-grandmother dearly, and the loss had hit her much harder than she'd ever admit to anyone.

"Enough about the ladies," Bill said, changing the subject. "We want to hear a story about the old days."

"Is that right?" Captain Amazing said thinking, "Which one is it going to be today, boys? The time I broke into Czar Destructo's moon base and crushed his Death Ray? Or what about the time Unstoppable Man and I led the troops onto the beaches of Normandy?"

"We were kind of hoping you'd tell us about The Army of Justice and The Dreadnaught," Milo answered.

"Ugh," the Captain said with a shudder, "Not my favorite story, but part of your family's history nonetheless, I suppose."

The story is as follows:

During the Revolutionary War, a team of Heroes banded together to form The Army of Justice to help America win its freedom from England. In fact, America's victory was widely attributed the work of The Army of Justice. After the War, the members of The Army started to marry. The Gray Ghost married Cat's Claw. Weather Wizard married Melinda the Magician. The Ray of Light married Empress Liana. Thunder Bolt married The Marvelous Maiden. Each couple giving birth to a new line of Heroes, of which Captain Amazing and Milo are a part of, that played major roles in the shaping of American history.

At one point in the Revolutionary War, a new Villain reared his ugly head. He called himself The Dreadnaught. At the time, he was small time, barely evil enough to make even the slightest blip on any one of the Heroes of the Army of Justice's radars. During one low-scale battle, The Dreadnaught found himself up against Weather Wizard but was defeated without much effort. Eventually, he just disappeared. No one paid much attention to his disappearance or really cared too much to look into it.