by The Eurostar
"Walker to Rothman! Are you ready?" The white-haired Dr. Charles Walker spoke into a micro-communicator within a strange ring on his left middle finger. A pause. "Knell, are you ready?" Another pause, then he turned to Aurochs. "It will take a dozen minutes for Eurostar's car to pass here. How are you?"
Aurochs noticed that just outside the alley, the main road was crowded by thousands of people, all sporting little flags, red and white. There was music in the air and inflatable balloons in the shapes of green snakes.
"I am fine!" whispered Aurochs. "But, tell me what's happening. Who is Cicciotto? What does it mean... the emperor of the world?"
"You really don't remember anything, eh, Bull? I hope this will make your memory return! How can I begin? It all started when the MBL returned from their battle with the so-called Mr. Smith. At the time, the battle had drained Earth of all the existent evil. It was the beginning of a time of hope and peace.
"But sadly, the governments knew of an outside menace: aliens. The Earth still needed a defensive force. What better than the MBL? The United Nations organization appointed the MBL to the role of peacekeeping global force. A great dome was built in the middle of the Sahara, and Naecken, the celestial being, organized the new MBL, recruiting many humans and metahumans to build a powerful army.
"Sadly, Cicciotto was Naecken's most trusted confidante. Sadly, because Eurostar had... ties with the alien confederation. He secretly managed to corrupt some alien generals and to have them attack the Earth before the plans of the alien armada were complete.
"The MBL attacked and had a complete victory. In the battle, Naecken mysteriously died, and Euro stepped over to the position of chief director of the MBL. Soon, all the normal human components of the MBL began to disappear. Thanks to his clone's blood, Cicciotto had found a way to engineer the Pathogen, transforming it into his definitive weapon, a gas that unleash the metagene, transforming norms to metas, or otherwise killing them."
"Why?" asked the horrified Aurochs.
"Because Cicciotto wanted the planet all for the metas, the next step in evolution. And he did it. Now there are no norms left. And Cicciotto has been rewarded with the title of emperor. But his story ends today. Today is the tenth anniversary of the defeat of the aliens. Today is the big parade, here in the capital of the world, Chicago, while in all the rest of the world everybody is experiencing this through live psychodrama. When we kill Cicciotto, everybody will know. And the revolution will begin."
Aurochs stared at Walker. How could all of that have happened, without him having any memories left of it? "Wait... I am no metahuman!"
Walker smiled with pity. "You are. The Pathogen has unleashed your gene. Right after your first memory loss wiped away your self-appointed magical abilities, you started to develop your shapeshifting power. That's when you stopped calling yourself Aurochs and adopted your last name, Bull, as your code name, because of the horns you are able to grow. Now, can you hear the noise? He's arriving! Knell, Rothman -- take positions! We are ready to go!"
What followed happened at a very fast rate. The twentieth-century limousine appeared in Aurochs' narrow field of view. A waving man, dressed in a tight red and white costume, stood with one arm over the shoulder of a boy with black sunglasses and strange hair like snakes shaking all over his head.
Then the red-and-white-dressed man, which Aurochs understood to be Edulcore Cicciotto, the Eurostar, raised his head and smiled. A huge projectile fell over the limo, a fraction of a second after the metahuman had pushed his younger clone out of the car.
There was smoke, clouds of fine debris, screams, and noise. When it settled, over the little crater floated a smiling Eurostar. In front of him were four men, a huge and muscular one, Rothman, the slim and black-dressed Bull, the older and white-haired Walker, and Knell, his skin green and scaled, like a reptile.
Aurochs was shocked. He didn't know how Walker could have pushed him right into the middle of the main road in front of the obviously powerful metahuman. And then he noticed that they were all inside a big bubble, a sphere of hard material that seemed to be generated by the body of Eurostar, a body, Aurochs now noticed, that was not covered in red and white but was changing in color and textures, always transmuting as if composed of thousands of different elements.
"I should have destroyed that damned exoskeleton fourteen years ago," whispered Walker.
Aurochs was in a state of panic. There was no way to hide, nor to run away. He was in the open, and the sight of Cicciotto lowered over him.
"Ah-ah. The Eurostar's Rogues Gallery lives again. Rothman the supergay, Walker the human rubber band, Knell the gecko-man, and... ah ah, this is exhilarating, Bull the horny horned wimp. What do you think to do?"
Aurochs was about to have a nervous breakdown. The confidence of that meta, the sheer power emanating from his eyes, the arrogance of his word. How could he stand all of that?
In the meantime, the other three attacked. Spits of acid from Knell were neutralized by the basic skin of Cicciotto, which then turned to gas to avoid being hit by the flying superbody of Rothman and the elastic punches of Walker.
Instantly, the three of them were encased in an unbreakable substance emanating from Eurostar's body.
The hero turned toward Aurochs. "And you, nerd? You don't have even the guts to sprout out your horns and attack me, eh? Not that they would be of any help, you know that so well. What is it like to be so helpless in front of the most powerful being in the universe, wanker? I know what you are thinking: if only I had my magic back! But you don't, you little worm. I had my son wipe out your memory so many years ago! I remember your face, when you were in front of me, mumbling words that arrived only fragmented from your brain. I remember how you cried. Do you? Do you remember what I did to you, pervert? Your asshole was smoking! Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!"
The hands of Eurostar closed over the neck of Aurochs. He trembled like the leaf of an aspen tree on a windy October day.
"You know what am I going to do, Bull? You think I am going to break your neck, right? No way! No way I am going to take your life so quickly. What do you think this bubble is? Don't you imagine? It's my body. And the air in it is still part of my elemental body. And it stays air until I want. And right now... I want to change it into carbon dioxide... which, like you should know, being an alchemist, is not breathable. I will watch you dying so slowly, so painfully... and all the people in the world, experiencing your emotions broadcasted live, will suffer your same pain. Many will die, and the others will be persuaded enough to never try to replay your stupid move."
Aurochs now shook violently. His heart pumped at hundreds of beat per second, and he was ready to collapse. Never, never had he been in a situation like this. The touch of Eurostar's hands burned his skin, and the sight of Eurostar's eyes was like a laser hitting right through his eyes to the brain. In a second, he would snap.
But from a deep, tiny part of his brain, from the part deputed to self-preservation, a minimal amount of confidence moved his lips. A spell was formed. He didn't remember anything of the past, but of one thing he was sure: all his spells were imprinted in his memory as if on hard limestone. So many days of his life he had studied them with dedication, bending over books full of dust. Nobody would ever take away that knowledge. That was his treasure.
Aurochs whispered a few words, ancient, arcane, powerful:
"Go to Hell!"
A hole opened in the ground. And Eurostar, screaming, disappeared into it. And Aurochs finally collapsed. All was black.
Only a voice called at him: "Aurochs, Aurochs, awake!"
He opened his eyes. It was that witch, Ma Kalunga. The Castle of Crossed Destinies was back. It was only a dream.
Or was it?