Heroes

CHAPTER TWO-2

Suddenly, Eli looked up, as if he had awoken from a deep slumber. “What? Oh, hi, Shell. My apologies. I was just …” Eli shook his head and put the Call inside the top drawer of his desk. “Never mind. You know how intense my focus can get at times. I can get so focused on stuff that I even forget to eat sometimes.”

Shell knew, of course, but he also knew that the kind of focus that Eli showed toward the Call was not healthy. Shell suspected that there was something about the Call that was messing with Eli’s mind, although he had no proof of that theory yet.

Aloud, Shell said, “That’s fine, Eli. I can get that way myself sometimes, too. But you’re still ready for the meeting, right?”

“Right, of course,” said Eli. “Take a seat and let’s talk.”

Shell walked over to the chair on the other side of the desk and sat down. He immediately leaned forward, an eager look on his face. “First, my power boost.”

“You will get it after you tell me your information,” said Eli. “Remember? That’s the deal. First you talk and then I lay my hands on you.”

Shell scowled. He wanted his power boost more than anything, but Eli was right about their deal.

With a sigh, Shell sat back and folded his arms across his chest. “Okay. Not much has happened since the last meeting. Things have been pretty quiet. The only big news is that Bolt is going to be voted in as a member of the NHA, which means he’s going to leave the Young Neos pretty soon, probably starting at the beginning of the new year.”

Eli raised an eyebrow in interest. “But that would leave your team without a leader. Who is going to succeed him?”

“Still not sure at this point,” said Shell. “It will probably be Blizzard or Stinger, most likely Stinger, because he’s already the deputy leader anyway.”

“Why not you?” said Eli. “Don’t you think you’d make a good leader of the Young Neos?”

“I don’t want to be the leader, though,” said Shell. “I just want to live my life the way I see fit.”

“Very well,” said Eli with a shrug. “It was just an idea. If you don’t want to do it, you don’t have to. Besides, I doubt the NHA has much longer, so it would be a waste of time for you to focus on rising within its ranks.”

“What do you mean that the NHA doesn’t have much longer?” asked Shell. “The organization still seems to be going strong to me.”

Eli put his fingers together, like he was deep in thought. “For now, yes, but a new age is coming, one in which the Unwanted will rise to the top. And it is coming much sooner than anyone can imagine.”

“What do you mean?” said Shell. “Are you planning to do something?” Before Eli could respond, Shell quickly said, “When I got here, I overheard Sarah talking about some ‘operation.’ What does that mean? What are you guys planning?”

Eli rested his hands on the arms of his chair, a look on his face that told Shell that he was thinking of what to tell him. Finally, Eli said, “I suppose I should tell you what it is, because you are just as much a member of the Unwanted as the rest of us. But you must never tell anyone outside of the Unwanted about this, especially your fellow Young Neos. Can you promise me that?”

Shell hesitated for only a moment, but then he nodded once and said, “Yes. I’ve kept my membership in the Unwanted secret so far, haven’t I? Won’t be very difficult for me to keep whatever this operation is a secret, either.”

“I thought so, but I just wanted to make sure, as this operation is extremely important and we can’t afford any mistakes when we implement it,” said Eli. “The mission is called Operation Hammer.”

“Operation Hammer? That sounds kind of ominous.”

Eli smiled in a way that made Shell uncomfortable. “Only for our enemies, especially the NHA.”

“Well, tell me the details, then,” said Shell, sitting back in his chair. “I’m all ears.”

“Very well,” said Eli. He pulled out a folder from nowhere and slapped it down on the desk. The folder had the words ‘Operation Hammer’ written on it. “This is the file folder for Operation Hammer. You may glance through it if you wish.”

Shell pulled the folder toward himself and opened it. There were pictures of various places on Hero Island, such as the Tower of Heroes, the Neohero Alliance Museum, and even the House, along with documents that appeared to be reports from Unwanted spies on what they saw and found there. There were also documents regarding the various security measures of Hero Island, including a few that even Shell didn’t know about, such as one called the ‘Metal Giant,’ though Shell had no idea what that meant.

Looking up at Eli, Shell asked, “What’s with all of these pictures and documents of Hero Island? Have you guys been spying on it?”

Eli nodded. “Yes. We’ve sent several Unwanted members as tourists to visit the island and tell us everything they can find about it. This is in addition to the information you’ve shared with me at our meetings; as a result, we now have a very clear idea of Hero Island’s defense and security capabilities, more than even most of its inhabitants.”

“And why would you need to know all of that?” said Shell, glancing at the folder again.

“Because we’re going to break into Hero Island and steal the most valuable object that the NHA owns,” said Eli. “Tell me, Shell, have you heard of something called the Midas Hammer?”

Shell shook his head. “No, I haven’t. What is it?”

“It is an ancient weapon that was found in the early 1930s in a mysterious tomb in Egypt,” said Eli. “It was originally found by the famous English archaeologist Finn Johnson, who brought it back with him to England to put it on display in a museum there, even though his research indicated that the Hammer was not an Egyptian artifact at all, but belonged to some other, much older civilization that predated Ancient Egypt by ten thousand years at least. He named it the Midas Hammer because it was golden, as shiny as the day it had been forged even though it had been underground for countless centuries.”

“Whoa,” said Shell. “What happened to it after that?”

“It stayed in its museum for decades afterward, being mostly a curiosity for visitors, even though it sparked a lot of discussion among archaeologists at the time,” said Eli. “When it was first found, archaeologists argued fiercely about what civilization it belonged to, because its design was unlike anything found in Egypt and the writing on its handle was not hieroglyphic. But since the tomb in which it was found collapsed after the Hammer was taken away, there were no more clues about its past, so eventually nearly everyone forgot about it, even Finn. And thus it collected dust inside the museum for decades until the nineteen nineties when the Neohero Alliance purchased it from the museum for a considerable sum.”

“Why did the NHA buy it?” said Shell.

“I don’t know,” said Eli. “I contacted the museum, but they told me that the NHA wanted to display it in the Neohero Alliance Museum for their exhibit on British superheroes, since apparently some British NHA members defeated a supervillain who had attempted to steal the Hammer. But my research indicates that the Hammer was never put on display and that it has instead been kept underneath the NHA’s Museum away from the other exhibits.”

“That’s weird,” said Shell. “I’ve never heard of the Midas Hammer before.”

“That shows just how well they hid it,” said Eli. “As a matter of fact, most NHA members don’t know it exists. The Leadership Council does know, but they’re keeping quiet about it for some reason.”

“Why?” said Shell.

“That’s what I am trying to figure out,” said Eli. He pulled the folder back over to him and closed it. “But I suspect it is because the Council knows what the Midas Hammer really is: A Starborn weapon, one that, in the wrong hands, could lead to utter catastrophe, perhaps even destroy the whole world. At the very least, it isn’t the sort of weapon that you want to end up in the hands of a power-hungry supervillain like the deceased Master Chaos, for example.”

“Wow,” said Shell. “But how could the Council know what it is? They didn’t even know what the Starborn were until Treehugger came back from the Shadowlands.”

“It doesn’t take a genius to realize that a weapon like the Midas Hammer could be used for destructive purposes in the wrong hands,” Eli said. “I should have mentioned that the tomb in which it was found was full of human skeletons, as well as carvings that depicted its use in annihilating an entire tribe of early humans. And I know that it is a Starborn weapon because the pictures of the carvings of the tomb in which it was found resemble the carvings on the Call.”

“Okay,” said Shell. “So what are we going to do about it? Steal it?”

“Exactly,” said Eli. He patted the folder. “Our research indicates that the Midas Hammer is still hidden underneath the Museum. And it is well-protected. It has only been at risk of being stolen once, when Electrica broke into Hero Island, but even then it was not stolen.”

“How do you know the NHA hasn’t moved it?” said Shell. “Seems likely to me, if it was nearly stolen once.”

“Because, like I said, Electrica did not actually steal it,” said Eli. “The Museum is still the safest place in the world to keep such an important object, at least for the NHA. They could give it to the government, but I have a feeling that the NHA would never trust the government with a weapon as powerful as that.”

“Ah, I get it,” said Shell. “But why do you want it? What do you want to even do with it? You aren’t planning to destroy the world with it yourself, are you?”

Eli laughed. “No, of course not. I want it for my own protection.”

“What do you mean?”

“You remember how Zanni, one of the Venetians, nearly killed me about a month ago, back in Phoenix?”

Shell nodded. “Yeah, how could I forget? He also nearly killed me and Blizzard.”

“Well, I think he’s still after me,” said Eli. “So far, I have been able to avoid him, but I feel it is only a matter of time before Zanni finds me again, and when he does, I won’t be able to escape him as easily as before. Therefore, I want the Midas Hammer so I can defend not only myself, but my fellow Unwanted, because I believe that an organization as powerful as the NHA does not need a weapon like that in its possession.”

Shell tapped his chin. Eli seemed to be telling the truth, but at the same time, Shell sensed that Eli was not being entirely honest about his reasons for wanting the Hammer. What Eli’s true reasons were, Shell did not know, but at the same time, he did not particularly care. He just wanted his usual power boost; besides, what did he care if the Unwanted got the Midas Hammer? It wasn’t like the NHA would be helpless anyway.

“All right,” said Shell. “When will Operation Hammer start?”

“Very soon,” said Eli. “We’re finalizing plans for the mission today. If all goes well, we should have the Midas Hammer in our possession by the end of the week.”

“Okay,” said Shell. He held out his hands. “Can I get my power boost now? I told you everything I know. Remember our deal.”

Annoyingly enough, Eli did not appear to be paying attention to Shell anymore. He looked like a sudden thought had just occurred to him and Shell did not like the rather sinister-looking smile starting to spread across Eli’s features.

“Eli? Hello? Earth to Eli?” Shell said, waving his hands up and down. “Can you hear me?”

Eli shook his head, as if clearing his thoughts, and then said, “Sorry, Shell. But I don’t think I will be able to give you a power boost … at least, not unless you promise to do something else for me.”

Shell stood up immediately. He wasn’t very tall, nor was he was strong as Eli, but he still glared at the Unwanted leader with all of the anger he could muster. Eli, to his credit, showed no fear or worry whatsoever, instead merely looking at Shell with amusement.

“What are you talking about?” said Shell. He pointed an accusing finger at Eli. “I’ve already fulfilled my end of the bargain. I don’t need to do anything else.”

“You do realize that I am the one with the power in this arrangement, yes?” said Eli. “If I wanted, I could refuse to give you the boost you want and have you thrown out of here before you even realized what happened. It’s not like I even need you anymore, given how I only needed you in order to learn about the parts of the NHA that we couldn’t find out on our own.”

Shell considered just walking out right there and then and never looking back. He might even tell the NHA about Eli’s location and let them arrest him and the Unwanted. Given how Eli was a wanted criminal, that might be enough for the Council to forgive Shell for keeping the Unwanted a secret from them for so long.

But then if Shell did that, he would never get his power boosts ever again. His new powers would eventually fade away completely and he would be back to his normal, boring old weak self. And, sure, he might naturally develop his powers at some point in his life, but that would likely be years down the road, years of weakness and failure. His reputation might take a huge hit if this scandal came out, a hit it might never recover from, especially once his awesome powers went away.

That thought was pure torture to Shell, who slowly lowered his hand down to his side. “What do you want me to do?”

Eli folded his hands together, his sinister smile never leaving his lips. “I want you to steal the Midas Hammer for us. And here is how you will do it.”