by Gideon Mills
“They are,” McGarrett. “We can’t let that man do what he says. The city will be in ruins without people like you.”
It was true, but we were just four people. What could we do against the police, state, and perhaps more?
30
A tour
The night wore on, and the news never changed. Much of the city was up in arms about what was happening. That was a good thing, but it meant little in terms of the people in power doing what they wanted.
This meant that Eris was certainly getting her way. The gangs and mafia were going to war. Many people forgot that. The Paragons that had broken out today already felt like a lifetime ago. They had started a war between all the factions of the city.
Now, none of the truly heroic Paragons would be able to go out and help. The police were in for a real surprise, and it was going to be fucking chaos out tonight.
“Should we go help?” I asked.
McGarrett shook his head.
“No,” Fleur said. “Too dangerous. Lola can learn what she can. Then we need to figure out a course. We have too many things going on, and need to eliminate some of them.”
That was the truth, and I knew it. Many issues were interlaced, but that didn’t mean we could take them out at the same time.
Lola went to work on her many systems. I was never going to fully comprehend her setup, and I was okay with that. She might not be an actual Paragon or God, but she was one in my mind.
McGarrett paced uneasily through the hideout. I joined him. “How’s Janet?”
“Worried,” he said. “She wasn’t fired like me, but the force is going to keep a watchful eye on her. So we’re acting like we’re fighting and I hate it.”
I was sure he did. The man truly loved and adored his wife. If I had been a marrying man, which I’m not, that was a couplehood to strive for. If I’m being honest, the Gods aren’t a great example. Look at my own parents or even my lover, Aphrodite. None of them get it right. Not that many humans do. I’ve watched them for eons, and we all mess up. Which is why I’ve never been inclined to settle for just one woman.
Though Lola and Fleur were tempting to settle down with. The thought of having both of them as mine. No one else’s. It was a tempting thought but far-fetched still. Fleur might be warming up to me, but I doubted she wanted me in that way.
“You can stay here,” Fleur said. “So you aren’t under the watchful eye of Reign.”
McGarrett looked around. “You have room?”
Fleur smiled. “This place has much more than you think.”
“You know,” I said. “Neither McGarrett nor I have been given a tour.”
“You know, if we’re going to be roomies we might as well be on a first-name basis,” McGarrett said with a chuckle. “I’m Steve.” He held out a hand and I shook it, grinning. He had a good firm grip, as you’d expect.
Fleur shook her head in amusement. “Do you really want a tour?”
The former police officer and I looked at each other. “Might as well,” McGarrett said. “It isn’t like we can go out on the streets.”
“Agreed,” I said.
Fleur glanced over to Lola, who was typing a hundred miles an hour. With a sigh, Fleur gestured to the door I had been through to get to Lola’s room.
“Follow me,” she said. We entered the wide, well-lit hallway. She pointed out the bathrooms and many other rooms.
The place genuinely had it all. There was a garage beneath the building that housed her back-up cars. Plural. I shouldn’t be surprised that a Walker had many. Along with the front part that was all technology for Lola. Fleur had a laboratory as well, in case she ever worked with a Paragon that was a chemistry wizard. So far it remained unused.
“You want to take a crack?” McGarrett—or rather Steve—said to me.
“Trust me, that is the last room you want me in.”
Both laughed. “You failed science in school?” Fleur asked.
“God, I’ve never been to school. Let alone took any chemistry, biology classes.”
It was an interesting thought, enrolling in a college to see what they were doing. Back in the day I watched some of the great minds over the years. Not like the others did, but there were some humans we all would watch, like Plato, Archimedes, and Aristotle. They were smart men for their time and would be now. I’m sure Athena would have loved to see them in modern times; they would have been like Einstein or Newton.
Either way, I wasn’t one of them. My mind was wired for fighting and war. Next for love and sex. I knew who I was. That was okay.
“You’re sticking to that,” McGarrett said.
“I hope it doesn’t come to it,” I said. “But if we have to face men with the Paragon power remover, I’m doing it alone. It won’t affect me.”
Both stared at me with looks of horror.
“You can’t,” Fleur said. “They’ll take your powers.”
“No, they won’t.” I was absolutely certain they wouldn’t. Over the years, many have tried to strip the powers of the Gods. None have. Rumors have spread, but the best they have done was temporarily weaken one of us. They never truly harmed us.
The only beings I feared were the primordial ones. Like Gaia. She could take me out in a heartbeat if she wanted to. Thankfully she was asleep, never to wake again. If she did who knows the damage she would cause.
The same for Tartarus. He would truly end life as we know it. Humans wouldn’t know what was hitting them. I wonder if that was who was coming, and why father was scared.
Or even worse Chaos, the true end to life. The void that was before us. That gave birth to Gaia, Tartarus, Erebus, and Nyx. If any of them were to awaken and seek their vengeance against the Titans or the Gods, we would be in trouble, and yet that didn’t feel right.
I pushed it all to the side and focused on the current issues. Eris, Lola, Fleur, Reign, and Finn. They were what I needed to think about and focus on. I knew the long term was important, but so was the short term.
“You are a good man,” McGarrett said. “But fucking crazy.”
“Hey, I take offense to that. I’ve seen crazy here on Earth. I’m nothing like it.”
Both Fleur and McGarrett smiled, but let it go. Continuing the tour, we glanced over Fleur’s room and Lola’s, and saw the guest rooms.
“This place must be expensive,” McGarrett said. “Something so big in the city.”
Fleur shrugged. “I made some money for myself, and the city doesn’t really know what is here.”
The officer laughed. “I’m sure it doesn’t. Thinks it is some sort of warehouse or something.”
“Maybe,” Fleur said. “Though we might run into some issues with Reign. We need to fix this.”
“We do,” McGarrett said. “I don’t know what I’ll do if I’m not a police officer.”
It hurt that he lost his job, and we were part of the reason. “I promise,” I said. “You’ll be back on the force. We’ll fix this. It might take time, but we’ll fix it.”
“You believe that,” McGarrett said. “Thank you.”
31
Slow going
The next week was a blur, but a few good things happened. I got some more alone time with Lola, and we made love each night. That was amazing. She certainly was a magician with her body. The things she could do, and her fingers! They not only worked magic on the keyboard but in the bedroom.
The rest of the city was in chaos. The police department was true to its word with Reign. If any Paragon was out and using their powers, they were treated like a villain.
In the main part of the secret lair, I watched in horror as the anti-Paragon force surrounded a hero, a mid-level telekinetic that had just saved a woman from a burning building.
“Why did he do it?” I asked.
“He’s a hero,” Lola said. “That is what heroes do.”
I knew that, but still his actions confused me. With all the danger going on these days here in the city, I would have thought people would
not take risk. It really was a testament to the greatness of humans. While some of the Gods might not respect them, I did now even more. “He’s going to lose his powers.”
Over the last several days, we’d seen this play out on the news. Over and over. I felt like a coward for not being out there, but the others wanted a plan. We didn’t have one.
All we had was wait and see if we can find Eris. That was who was first on our list. In many ways, my sister was the easy target to take out, strange as that might be. If we could remove her, then we could start on Finn and Fenrir.
“That is a risk they have to make,” she said.
“What about us,” I countered. “We’re holing up here. We aren’t being heroes.”
Lola hung her head. Fleur was out with McGarrett getting supplies. Not the fight back kind, but the hole up and wait kind. I’ve seen this before in my many trips to Earth.
“We are giving up.” That was how it felt, and I hated it. As the God of War, I was a man of action. A God of doing things no matter the cost, and I wasn’t being me. I felt weak and stupid. Like I let Eris win. “Please, we need to act.”
The door opened, and Fleur and McGarrett walked in carrying bags of food. We weren’t out yet, but from what the news said, the city was in short supply because of the way Reign was controlling NYC, and because of Eris too.
The food was going to run out, and people would starve. The streets were undrivable in places, and the gangs were even targeting the trucks. I had never seen anything like this in my time. Usually, gangs didn’t mess with that, but it was different with Eris. Her powers were changing the dynamics of everything.
This was a hot mess, and I hated it. We needed to do something about it and fast. We were letting the bad guys win, and our city was in ruins.
Sure, I wasn’t technically a New Yorker, or even an American. Not that they could tell by how I spoke. One of the many things about Olympus moving all the time was that we learned to adjust too. I spoke like they did. Sounded just like they did, and that was probably part of the reason they didn’t believe me when I said I was a God.
“What is it like out there?” I asked. I wanted to go, but everyone argued that I would draw too much attention. I was the new great hero and Reign had put out the word I was to be brought in. No matter the cost.
“Worse than you can imagine,” McGarrett said. “Poor Janet.”
Lola had set up a secure way for the couple to talk, but they had to limit their conversations. It was taking a toll on him. McGarrett loved Janet and missed her. It was clear that he longed to be with her.
I had Lola here, and he had no one. It wasn’t easy being away from your lover. The person you care for most in the world. I’ve been there. Gone through that more than I care to admit. Being immortal had many perks, but it also had some major drawbacks. I’ve lost some of the most amazing women in the world. Now that I had met Lola, they didn’t compare, but at the time they were my life and my blood.
Losing them was part of the reason I had gotten so hard. Why, as Ares, I had been so destructive, but I was more like Mars now. More like what the Romans viewed me as. War to bring peace. To stop the pain, which was what I now wanted to do.
“Ares,” Fleur said. “You okay?”
I shrugged. “Just thinking about another side of me. One that is becoming more dominant again.”
She looked at me. “Ares and Mars. Same man, two sides of a coin.”
McGarrett nodded. “That is what Janet was saying. She said you’re more like Mars than Ares.”
“Getting closer and closer. Almost a new man completely. It’s such a strange thought for me, one I’m not ready to comprehend. But we need to bring peace. End this.”
Fleur grinned. “We do, but it’s a war zone out there.”
“I’m the motherfucking God of War. That is my place. Where I shine. Let me out. Let me show the world what war really means.”
That came out strong, forceful, and I hadn’t meant it to be that way.
McGarrett tilted his head. “You know, maybe having a powerful God-level Paragon out there isn’t a bad idea.”
I like the sound of that. “Yes,” I said. “Let me go stop the gangs. Let me do something.”
Lola walked over to Fleur. They leaned together and talked in hushed tones. Going back and forth. I hoped they were going to let me unleash my wrath on the world.
“I don’t like it,” Lola said.
“Nor do I,” Fleur added. “But you are powerful, and the other Paragons have, in the short time you’ve been here, come to respect you. If you think you can withstand Reign and my father, then go. Be quick; one mission and come back.”
I looked at Lola. “What gang is causing the most trouble?”
“The Third Street Dragons.”
32
Third Street Toast
Since it was illegal to be a Paragon using powers, I didn’t dress in my Ares costume. Not that it was a costume. I stuck to my jeans and a T-shirt, this one a wizard with a scar on his head. It was a bit out of my norm but was told it helped me fit in.
I walked the streets of the area that Lola had directed me to, looking for the muscles of the group. I wanted to remove the biggest and baddest of the gang. If I could find the man at the top, I would take him out. Since we weren’t working for the police, I couldn’t arrest them.
But I could send a message. A clear one that said “You mess around here, Ares will come a-knocking”. That I’m not in the habit of letting people run roughshod over my city, since this was my home for now. I had no intention of leaving anytime soon.
Rounding the corner, I saw a group of bruisers standing in front of a building. They had on the Third Street Dragons attire. That was one thing I will never understand. Gangs wearing attire that makes them stand out.
Sure, I saw the reason for the military. To create a unit, and make people feel like part of a team, part of a larger entity. While gangs needed that too, they were committing crimes and making it easier for the authorities to know who was in the group.
It was like putting targets on their members, and it worked for me today. At the moment, I was grateful for the target and the ease of finding them. I walked up to the group. “I want to speak to the boss.”
The largest bruiser eyed me with a snarl on his face. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I glared at him. It was clear as day that he knew who I was speaking of. What I wanted. “I’m not in the mood for games,” I said.
I didn’t wait for a reply and punched the man in the face. Not with all my strength, but enough to hurt him. I still didn’t want to kill. That would just make Reign’s job easier.
“Fuck,” another guy said. “You’re Ares.”
I nodded. “Yup.”
Before I could react, dozens of ruffians were exiting the building and surrounding me. It was as Fleur said. A warzone. They didn’t care about the police or Paragons. They all had guns and opened fire at me.
This wasn’t going to stop me. Or hurt me in any way. Bullets didn’t bother me. Knives didn’t either. To these people, I was a superman, in more ways than one. Standing there, I let the bullets ricochet off my body, not caring where they went. Anyone on the streets here and now wasn’t innocent by my measurement.
After they unloaded all their bullets, I spun around. “That all you got?” I taunted them. “Come show more.”
They converged on me. All of them at once; there were too many for me to truly count. They all rushed at me and when they were close, they punched. It was too easy. None of the blows they had did anything also me. A mosquito hurt more than these men.
“Boss man,” I shouted. “I can take this all day. I’m not scared of you. I’m not scared of Reign.”
I stomped my foot on the ground, so hard that it cracked the concrete sidewalks. The men around me all fell to the ground. That sent them running, and I hoped they wouldn’t be back.
In the distance, I heard sirens, and for once I was on a t
imer. A different one. While I wasn’t scared of the tech to remove powers, I didn’t want to hurt police officers that were just doing their jobs.
I smashed in the door of the building. The front was empty. I stalked through the place until I found a room with two men in it. One was clearly the muscle, and the other the boss.
The muscles lit up fire on his hands. A Paragon. The other man tapped his arm. “Inferno, don’t.”
“Smart move,” I said.
The leader of the gang shrugged. “We’ve all heard about you since you arrived in the city.”
“Then you know I don’t take well to bullies.”
“Me, a bully.” The leader stood. He was tall, my height or maybe an inch more. His face was covered in scars, and I was sure the rest of him was too. “I’m just a man making a living.”
“Hurting people,” I said.
“It's not my fault that the Irish attacked me, that Queens attacked or any of them. I’m just making sure my people are safe.”
“Safe, that’s a strange way to put it. You’ve killed a hundred.”
“They have killed just as many.”
It was true, and I would deal with it. “You have to stop. If you don’t, you won't live to see the end of this.”
“There is no end. The world is going crazy, and I intend to make as much money as I can. We will rule the new world.”
I stalked over, stopping close enough to smell his rank breath. If all he cared about was money, I could get him some. “You want money. I can do that, but stop killing.”
“Money. Power. I want it all.”
“You are just a pathetic human,” I said.
It took restraint not to just kill him. Not to make an example of him, so the rest of the gangs and other hooligans would know I was out patrolling the city. “You will not kill. You will not harm others. If you do, I’ll be back, and I won’t be so kind.”
I reached out to summon my sword. I let my full power rise within me to really put the fear of God into him. As I stood there with all the power of Olympus pulsating through me, I looked into his eyes.
