Emperor of the planet Tol, Goruz X, set his sights on the young species upon the previously uninhabitable planet Mynt. Only for a few million years had the icy scent that once permeated the air begun to fade enough for life to form. Bipedal hominids stepped across rocky landscapes and swam oceans, quickly forming tribes, though Goruz X thought the process was too slow.

 

Lurking in the sky above a tribe, the Tol ship lay in wait for someone to leave one of the many tents below. Though the sky was dark, Goruz X spotted a boy seeming to sneak out. He descended rapidly as the boy entered the treeline, abducting him with the ship’s tractor beam. The boy floated up and viewed the ship curiously, laughing slightly, as if tickled, entering a large chamber for experimentation.

“We shall make this species our own. Give him our greatest gift… FLIGHT!”

A button was pressed and energy flowed from a machine into every cell of the boy’s body. The change was immediate and apparent, as he rose from the floor of the ship on his own, grinning with the power he felt.

“Now… go and mate. We’ll see you in a few hundred years when your entire species is flying. This should make you all much more productive.”

It was clear the boy did not speak Tolian, though they felt he got the gist from the smirk on his face.

“There’s no way this could backfire.” Goruz X stated confidently, releasing the boy back to where he was captured.

A concerned father emerged from the tent and comforted his son, but he appeared to be fine. They spoke in a primitive language with hand gestures, “Dovvi, what happened?” 

Dovvi, short for Dovvinilunulonidonocupin, replied, “Nothing, dad. Let’s go hunt.”

His father reluctantly agreed, knowing his son was released from an otherworldly ship.

On the plains, father and son chased plump fruits that rolled off of trees down slopes of sap, then popped onto a different tree. They needed to catch one at the midpoint between two trees, but they were very slippery and the sap only lasted a few moments. Dovvi’s father grabbed a tree and shook, dropping a fruit. Sap formed below and Dovvi followed where it headed, entering the dense forest.

As the two struggled to produce any food, just above, another race interested in the new species on Mynt searched for any of this fascinating life.

Once Dovvi climbed the tree where his fruit was heading, the beings from planet Roppinus spotted their mark. “Get him now, we must alter these primal beasts to be our soldiers. Your plan is foolproof, great Queen Channa.”

Queen Channa nodded at her royal administrator, giving the signal to capture the boy. Three grappling suction cup hooks were flung down and shot at Dovvi. He considered flying away, but then thought how advantageous his first abduction was. He smiled and looked up as he was reeled in.

“Careful not to kill him. Make him as strong as our greatest warrior, no, STRONGER.”

“Genius, milady.”

Needles converged on Dovvi’s neck, injecting him with tons of strange, thick liquids. He just eyeballed all the creatures present. As the needles retracted, Dovvi felt his body growing, his strength increasing.

“Perfect.” the Queen chuckled, signaling Dovvi’s release.

“My son, what happened?”

“Nothing dad. Let’s continue our hunt.”

Dovvi’s father looked up at the ship that was leaving and saw another one coming in. Behind that one, lights as far as his eyes could see. He could tell that his son had changed and that what was happening was greater than himself. Pride filled his body and he chose to ignore the abductions and continue hunting with his son.

Dovvi was carried into the sky by a large leaf. The Yallens aboard the ship believed this genetic modification was their best idea ever, and ironically bestowed upon him their unparalleled intelligence and ability to communicate. This helped him understand the motion of the fruit, but gave him no way to actually grab it.

Next, the Aura, a swarm of beings made of light, gave him power over light itself. He used this ability to shoot from his forehead a laser at the sap track ahead of the rolling fruit, though it formed another and found a tree.

A large, furry beast grabbed Dovvi and jumped straight up into a fuzzy ship. The hideous creatures claimed to grant him undeniable beauty and attraction. He returned to Mynt and recruited nearby hunters to help him and his father.

Two hands flew down and held Dovvi’s hands, though he pushed them off and flew beside them to their ship. They returned to their owners, similar creatures to Dovvi. Spells were cast on him to give him immortality and invincibility. The three beings in charge spoke as one, “We’ll totally never regret this… awesome… bye.” 

Dovvi flew towards the ground and a flash whooshed past him. It then moved upwards, creating a vortex that sucked him up into another ship. Without saying anything, he entered and was removed. He could feel that they definitely did something, and he assumed speed, as they moved so fast that he wasn’t able to perceive their actions. A quick run around Mynt supported his theory.

Dovvi was growing tired after a few more abductions and as the final ship arrived, he flew up to meet them himself. Before the humble people of planet Yogera presented their genetic alteration to him, he refused. They left the planet disappointed. They’d have to wait for another young species to give their gift of humility to, though they did give him a couple of Yogeran capes and a belt with the Yogeran symbol of humility.

A feast of fruit was had. Dovvi gave credit to his father and some other tribesmen as if he was helped, though he caught them all on his own in a different area of the forest, with all his abilities working perfectly in harmony.

Planet Mynt would never know of the foreign attempts to revolutionize them. Dovvi’s father would be the only one ever aware that he was changed. It felt to him unfair that he was granted all of these abilities, when his family wasn’t. 

Many years later, Dovvi’s father had grown old. Dovvi had grown to adulthood and stopped growing altogether. Laying on a soft bed of leaves, in the sky, lights indicated that something was wrong.

A galactic coalition had formed. All the races that intervened in Mynt ended up sitting aboard a council for the betterment of the cosmos. They had decided, quite recently, that their plans had failed. They each confessed that they altered the genetics of a Myntian boy. None of them realized that it was the same boy.

Following the failure, they came to the conclusion that planet Mynt was of no use and should be destroyed. They all agreed, readied their laser, and blasted.

Dovvi held his father as bright light washed over them both. His father held his face, and the hand upon him disintegrated. His usual smile vanished and he floated sadly above a crumbling surface.

“Oh… Oh shit.” calmly announced Emperor Goruz X, watching Dovvi smash through the impenetrable glass of the coalition mothership.

Dovvi flew at full speed through the bulbous chest of the emperor. Goo splattered everywhere in the stadium-like hall where the meeting was held. He eyeballed who was next, ignoring lasers and punching holes in any guards who approached.

Queen Channa hobbled from her chair, clearly aged from when Dovvi last saw her. He flew to the tall creature and put a hand on her head, crushing her down into the floor. Her royal administrator screamed nearby, so Dovvi flashed a half-hearted laser at him, melting him into the metal wall behind.

He smashed and tore apart all the council members until he reached the Aura. They floated arrogantly.

“We cannot be touched. HAHAHA. And he cannot even understand us!”

“Wrong.” Dovvi reached forward and grabbed the largest of the Aura by the ball. “Why?”

“Because we failed… Mynt should have been thriving by now, but our modifications all failed.”

“They didn’t fail. Look at me. I’m proof of your success.”

“Wrong. You were meant to spread this power to your people.”

Dovvi held tight the Aura. A tear fell from his eye as he realized that he himself was the demise of his planet. He looked to his side and crushed the Aura, causing them all to darken. 

He said under his breath to himself, “They didn’t fail… I did.”

The ship was no longer piloted, and thus floated towards the nearby star. Dovvi floated in place and ended up exiting through the hole in the window. He looked down and caught a last sniff of the glorious scent of the remnants of Mynt.

For millennia, he floated and visited many planets. He became known as a protector and a hero through many deeds in the universe. Eventually, he found a planet that had people like his own that seemed like it would one day desperately need him.

Dovvi believed he was, and truly he was, the most powerful being in the universe. Even so,  in the center of a vast desert on Earth, where the locals gave him the name Duperman, he awaited the inevitable cosmic punishment for the downfall of his planet. And he felt it coming.

 

Charles Masters, a wealthy and high-powered man in Big City, flashed all the lights in the city off and back on ten times. This was the only way to get Duperman’s attention. Nine times, he ain’t coming. In the Cloud Corridor, where all the skyscrapers connected at their penthouses, Charles stood in a shimmering gray suit, smiling genuinely at the fast arrival of Duperman.

“Hello, Charles…” Duperman bowed politely at his host, “...hello Big City.” he bowed cordially at the 360 view of the metropolis. “What’s going on?” He asked curiously, clearly ready for anything.

“D, first of all, thank you for getting here so quickly.”

“Mmhmm.” Duperman nodded.

“The reason you are here, as I’m sure you’re aware, is to solve a bigger problem than I can myself.”

“Oooh.”

“There are beings gathering above the Earth who call themselves gods. In reality, I’m told they are the Imagine Dragons of their galaxy.”

“Ouch.”

“I need you to-” Charles was cut off by Duperman’s exit through the skylight.

Duperman returned with a purple head of an octopus-looking alien. He smirked at Charles, “Problem solved?”

“Uh, no, no, not solved. I don’t know what that is. Where’d you find that thing?”

“Oh no.” Duperman again exited through the skylight. He returned and showed Charles his phone, which had on it an image of the head of the alien poorly stuck back on and Duperman giving a thumbs up with an arm around it.

Charles stared at the hero for a moment and then resumed his explanation. “I’m not asking you to kill anyone. I have no way of communicating with them. Please, go up and reason with them. They’ve been seen readying some sort of global attack.”

“I’m great at communicating. After hair-care, I’d say it’s my top skill.”

“Yes, yes. Please, go.” Charles sighed.

Duperman sped out of the skylight and into the cosmos, searching for the ‘gathering’ Charles spoke of. As he flew, he remembered the destruction of his planet and his exacting vengeance. It haunted him ever since.

A ship in the distance was surrounded by silver humanoid beings, all standing very stiff, their bodies all oriented differently. Some stood with their feet on the bottom of the small ship, some stood sideways on the wall and some straight up and down. Duperman approached them at a friendly pace, with both hands up to signal peace. He reached them and started to grab them by the shoulders and position them all to be upright. They shared confused looks with each other, but did not retaliate.

“Hello.” Duperman greeted the aliens. “Oh, sorry…” He remembered to speak in their language, something he often forgot to consider. “Hello.”

The aliens spoke by making different angles with their limbs and midsections, which Duperman enjoyed. “Hello, we are the last of the Nubo race. Is this your planet?” 

“Uhhhh, yes! What are you doing here?”

“So we’re here for all the humans.”

“Oh, good! Yeah, there’s so many. Are you going to give them like cures for diseases and advanced tech or something?”

“Sorry I wasn’t clear, we’re here to eat all the humans.”

“Ohhhhh.”

“Is that okay?”

“Listen, I was really considering just taking you all out when you just said that, but I was told to just reason with you.”

“We want to eat all the humans.”

“I don’t want you to.”

“We still want to.”

“Well, reasoning didn’t work.”

“Wait.” one of the aliens bent forward at a 90 degree angle. “Maybe you can talk to our leader.”

“Um, okay. Do they want to eat all the humans too?”

“Definitely.”

“Hmm. Okay.”

To the mothership all the aliens escorted Duperman. He was reminded of the Galactic Coalition ship he destroyed many years prior. The pain of that memory soured his mood, lowering this group’s chance of survival.

Duperman approached a slightly larger silver humanoid who was in a hole halfway in the floor of the ship. He picked up the big alien and set it down on the floor at the same level as him and stepped backwards.

“Twice now you guys are doing weird things.”

The larger silver alien - still much smaller than Duperman - bent in many directions to get a word across. “Hungry.”

“Hungry?” Duperman copied the motions, adding an extra hand flip for the question mark. “You cannot eat all the humans.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?” He flipped his hand again.

“I can tell you’re very powerful. Why would I risk my life to eat all the humans when I could eat all the Lopians?” A hologram projected in the center of the room displaying a planet identical to Earth with a population counter in the billions.

“Fuck this.”

Duperman flew forward and grabbed the neck of the leader with one hand. He crumpled up the silver being and pressed it to his head like a beer can. From his forehead, a burst of light and energy exploded the being, leaving no trace of it.

The other Nubo in the room turned to flee, but their only method of movement was slow bending and straightening. Duperman held a hand out towards them and they flew towards him. He moved his hand and dodged them, allowing the speed of his telekinetic pull to squash them against the wall behind him, which also destroyed the ship’s power source.

Duperman exited the mothership and held it in one hand. He turned around a few times, searching for an empty path to launch it so that it wouldn’t crash anywhere. With a thrust, he released it into the void and descended back to Earth. A hidden survivor aboard screamed with quick, furious bending motion, “YOU’VE NOT SEEN THE LAST OF THE NUBO!”

“Did you reason with them?” Charles asked.

“Of course.”

“Good. Thanks, as always, D-man.” He thanked the hero, who went for a fist bump the moment Charles turned around. He played it off by flying fist forward out of the room.

Duperman started heading out of Big City when he heard screams and screeching. He checked a street where the noise was coming from and noticed a large purple creature rolling through the city. He knew something must have set Wumpus off. To the street he went to see if he could help calm her down.

Feeling fellowship with a couple heroes who were already on it, he got close and congratulated them, “Great job, team.”

Duperman kept watch over Big City in his leisure time, taking out any and all threats as soon as he became aware. A darkness, however, had spawned. It was not evil alone, but hatred and spite which he could sense lurking. Before dealing with that, he found a quest to keep himself totally occupied. His target? The Mhuong Calzone.

“Said to be the most flavorful pocket in the culinary universe, the Mhuong Calzone is an elusive treat. Chefs are discouraged from ever attempting to create one, as those who do are often kidnapped to be enslaved personal chefs. Within the buttery walls of this delight exist a combination of ingredients so rare and divine that only one can be crafted each year. Pepperoni medallions line the inner walls while thick-cut, julienned pepperoni fortifies the center. That’s right. Double pep. It’s served at a temperature that is sustained for the entire eating, a temperature that scientists have trouble replicating in a lab. The Mhuong Calzone is garnished with herbs cut so fine that the light bouncing off of your eyes as you gaze upon them causes them to disintegrate. It’s meant to be eaten with eyes and ears covered so that all you experience are the smell, feeling and wondrous taste of the single most enticing delight ever put together in a kitchen.”

“Okay.” a man in his underwear replied. “I was just asking why you were in my house.”

“Whoops.”

Duperman flew out the window after coming to the conclusion it wasn’t the home of restauranter and sole living witness to the Mhuong Calzone, Gabby Mitts.

 

Meets Chop gets his calzone.