Sigyn took a second bite of her food and slowly nodded. He has a point.
* * *
Sigyn awoke with a jerk, covered in sweat. Her heart raced. She sprang up and looked around the cockpit. Calm down. There’s no Olympian nearby. They’re probably just moving through the facility.
She looked out expecting the midday sun to be shining, but she was met with a gloomy grey landscape caused by overcast skies. Is Loki still asleep? Sigyn gave the reclined pilot’s seat a kick.
“Loki! Get up—we need to go. I’m sensing movement. Keep the thrusters warm in case we need to make a quick escape.”
He rubbed his eyes, yawned, and began manipulating switches on the dashboard. “You really think there is an Olympian in the facility?”
“Maybe. I guess we’ll find out if an Olympian attacks us,” Sigyn said with no concern, mocking him from earlier.
Loki smirked. “You said they’re moving?”
“Yes, but I think they’ve stopped,” she said as she prepared to leave the ship, grabbing weapons and putting on her armored ‘jacket.’
Loki did the opposite, removing his exterior armor to reveal his odd tights that allow him to use his camouflage. “You must really be on edge if their movement woke you up.”
“Yeah…” Sigyn said as she turned toward the exit.
She opened the hatch, with Loki close behind her, and began walking toward the temple. She clutched her stunted automatic weapon and attached a pistol to her hip for Loki; although, he wasn’t aware it was for him. Loki had been obstinate about which weapons he would bring, demanding he only carry his knife and net-gun. “I don’t have room to carry anything else—unless you don’t want me to be able to effectively use my camouflage.”
They moved over the small hill they parked behind for cover and continued to a few trees that were between them and the temple. Sigyn was practically tip-toeing there; moving slowly and deliberately staying close to the ground.
“Sig, at this pace we won’t reach the temple before we need to meet Vili in Iceland.”
“Quiet!” Sigyn said in what could only be described as a loud whisper. “No talking—we can’t risk being detected.” She looked ahead. There isn’t much to cover us as we approach. “Just follow me and keep quiet.”
They continued on their way, praying that the Olympian wouldn’t detect their approach.
* * *
Atlas stood guarding the door boasting of holding back “Death” for hours. He looked over at the comm device Athena had left. Where the hell is she? Did she lie to me just to keep me down here?
Frustrated, he went up and started banging on the door. “Hey! You in there? If you want to fight, then I’m ready!” Atlas paused and waited for a response. Nothing. Again, he pounded the door.
“Is this all you got? How much longer do I need to wait out here before you show yourself?” Still nothing.
Atlas spat at the door. “She’s wasting my time!” He grabbed the black, palm-sized comm device and left the room.
“Athena, did you send the message to Olympia? Athena, can you hear me?” Nothing. Fuck!
He threw the gadget against the wall, shattering it into untold pieces.
Atlas went back to the hanger. He selected what appeared to be the only functioning Linter and ignited its engines. Curious about new developments on Earth, he tuned into available radio wave-based frequencies. He listened for a bit as the anchor described a meeting by the United Nations, whatever that was. Earth is trying to organize…the intruders knew this would happen, but what does it matter? Earth poses no threat to Olympia. It may just mean we’ll have to kill the humans after killing the intruders.
Just then, Atlas noticed a beeping of the onboard HARPE system. It indicated a Linter-sized object, less dense than rock, was idly sitting directly above the edge of the facility.
Have the intruders finally showed themselves?
Atlas smiled as he ignited the engines on his cylindrical Linter and piloted down a tunnel that led out of the facility. He exited a few kilometers of the coast in the Pacific Ocean. Ascending from the depths of the water, but staying below the surface, he turned his ship around and headed back toward the shore. No reason to give them time to spot me and run.
Atlas continued below the water for a kilometer and a half, but was forced to pull above the water as he approached the coast. He skimmed the water as long as he could before pulling up near the beach. His eyes shot to the location indicated by HARPE, but all he saw was a rare patch of green and yellow flora among a sea of dirt and rock. Someone’s trying to hide their ship.
He landed roughly 100 paces away and moved to the back of the Linter. Atlas opened the hatch to the ship and picked up his sniper rifle. He stood in the opening and used the scope on his rifle to inspect the vessel HARPE identified, but the brush obscured much of his view. I never enjoyed these weapons anyway. Tossing the sniper rifle into the grass, he chose to carry the mace and shield, and kept his pistol and hatchet attached to either side of his hips. He sauntered out into the sunless land and soon broke into a jog toward the ship hidden in the brush. Finally.
* * *
Loki was sighing audibly and following behind Sigyn when she suddenly grabbed him and pulled him into a bush near a few trees. “The Olympian is moving again—they appear to be heading away from us…wait! They’re headed this way!” She looked back at their ship and smacked herself on the forehead. “HARPE! Our heat and gravitational signatures gave us away. We got sloppy—we should have never used advanced tech.”
Loki looked back at their Linter. “What’s done is done. We need to plan our next move.”
Loki’s eyes traced an arc in the sky as he watched another Linter land near theirs. He felt Sigyn grab his arm and responded by gripping her hand. They were stuck in one of the only hiding places for at least half a kilometer, stewing in a puddle of their own fear and sweat. His eyes stayed locked on the ship, hoping that it would take off again. It didn’t.
The hatch opened and hulking giant walked out carrying a rifle that he quickly discarded. He had to duck his head to exit the Linter, an act that only reinforced his colossal size. He entered the Linter and emerged again, this time holding a mace and shield. Sigyn’s grip tightened.
“I recognize him!” she said in a loud whisper. “That’s…He’s…the Olympus Council said he died. That’s Atlas—the traitor.”
Loki’s mouth opened, but no sound came out; his stomach was tight and he couldn’t seem to breathe. Atlas was a monster during the Fracturing: a murderous traitor who had entered history a fierce, even vicious, combatant. How are we going to get out of this?
* * *
Atlas arrived at the idle Linter ship. Someone clearly tried to hide this.
He gave it a once over while he circled it. It’s still on. He entered the ship to take a look around, but all he could find was some recently opened rations. They’ve left, but hopefully haven’t gone far.
* * *
“Loki, he’s going inside our ship—can we run?” Sigyn whispered.
“No, that’s too risky. We have nowhere to run to. We need to come up with a plan if he spots us,” Loki said, confidence trickling back into his voice. I’m not going to die in a bush on Earth.
“Any ideas?”
“Well, he is only carrying short range weapons—except for the standard issue pistol on his hip—but Atlas was someone who took pride in bashing in the skulls of his enemies—” Loki noticed Sigyn’s grip tightened. “—but I think we can avoid that fate.”
“How?”
“Do what I say if he spots us.”
* * *
Atlas left the Linter and knelt down to look at the dirt. He saw a clear trail of footprints leading off in the direction of the Temple. Atlas stood up and saw the trail lead to a cluster of trees. Please say I’ve found you. He smiled and spun his mace as he followed the trail.
* * *
Sigyn treaded lightly and brushed away the traces of her movement.
I didn’t. He’ll follow my trail here. “Yep, we’re spotted. When he is 50 paces away, pop out and shoot incendiary bullets at his head.”
Sigyn’s hands were shaking. “Loki, I don’t know if I can do this.”
Loki grabbed her trembling hands and locked eyes with her. “Sig, it’s either do this or die. Remember what the Olympians did to our ancestors? How our grandparents were slaughtered and tortured? How our parents narrowly survived? Focus on that.”
They waited in silence until Atlas reached the mark. “Do it, now!”
Sigyn screamed and sprang up, spraying her pellets at Atlas’ face. The pellets made impact, exploded, and released a small amount of highly flammable fluid, which ate away at Atlas’ exposed skin and started disintegrating bits of his armor. As the initial bullets hit, Atlas knelt, rolled, and put his shield over his face. He sprung up, ran a few strides, and leapt at them.
His body was turned sideways, leading with his left shoulder, to minimize the surface area Sigyn could shoot. Atlas’ left elbow was tucked against his ribs and his arm made a “V” shape, so that the shield blocked his face and the rest of his arm defended his torso.
At his apex, Loki, camouflaged, exited the brush and fired two nets to wrap around Atlas’ upper body. They both hit their target. The thin filament immediately started to cut through Atlas’ fibrous armor as it coiled around him like a snake, pinning his left arm in the “V” shape and his right arm straight down the other side of his body.
“Run!” Loki pulled at Sigyn and they both ran in an arc around Atlas and toward their ship.
Atlas landed and rolled, trying to use raw strength to break through the net. His body fought and flopped around on the ground like an angry, but terrifying, fish. His deep, gravelly war cries echoed across the landscape, causing a pitiful squeak to leave Sigyn’s mouth.
He successfully broke a few filaments, but at a pace that would give Loki and Sigyn ample time to escape. “Face me, you cowards!” He wiggled his armor off his torso and right arm, removing the nets while doing so, but also completely exposing his upper body. As soon as his armor was off his torso, the nets squeezed it and forced the armor to coil around his shield. His left hand was trapped beneath the convoluted wrapping of his shirt.
Loki looked over his shoulder and saw a shirtless Atlas sprinting after them, his mace in his right hand and his shield wrapped in the reinforced fiber in his left. Veins popped on his neck and head; his eyes burned with hate. Portions of his face still fought to regrow skin to hide the bare sinew that became visible as his flesh was eaten away. “Aesirian bastards!” His immense muscles appeared to swim throughout his massive frame as he made his way toward them.
Loki and Sigyn were nearly at their ship. “Get us out of here and give me your gun!” Loki nearly ripped the Scorpionem rifle out of her hands as she ran to the pilot’s seat. He pressed a shallow button on the side of the gun to toggle the more explosive projectiles and started spraying Atlas as they took off. “Fly to his ship!”
“What?”
“Trust me! He knows it’s the Aesir on Earth now—we need to stop him. You warn Vili and I’ll take his ship to distract him.”
Atlas was completely exposed. He threw up his armored hand to block some of Loki’s fire, but was forced to zig zag and roll, slowing his approach.
“Loki! Take my pistol!” Sigyn yelled as she took the weapon off her hip and tossed it back toward him. She lowered the ship to where Atlas had left his Linter.
“Got it!” Loki was glad Sigyn thought ahead and brought the extra weapon. And now I don’t have to leave her unarmed. “Get high and provide me with some cover!” Loki yelled as he dropped the Scorpionem rifle, picked up the pistol, and jumped out of the ship.
As he ran into the open hatch on Atlas’ ship, he fired a few shots from his pistol at the rapidly approaching monster. Sigyn flew high enough to avoid Atlas’ jumping distance and immediately leaned out of the exit hatch, sending a salvo at him.
Loki hesitated for a split second, considering whether to grab the sniper rifle he passed in the grass outside the hatch, but realized he couldn’t spare the time and continued on to the cockpit. He ignited the engines, but set the acceleration too high, causing the ship to sputter and stop. The engines whined and the Linter automatically began running a five second self-diagnostic before starting up again. Shit shit shit. He ran back to the hatch opening and noticed that Atlas was closer than he expected. Firing his pistol a few times to get Atlas to raise his shielded arm, he shot another net at him.
Atlas made a quick waving motion with his right hand, sending a gravitational ripple to cause the net to collapse prematurely. Loki was ruefully impressed. He’s certainly not the type to be caught the same way twice. With the net partially collapsed when it was near him, he was able to use his left arm to swipe it out of the way and continue forward without hesitation. The net wrapped around and squeezed his left arm, the thin filaments slicing through exposed portions of his bicep, triceps, and shoulder; blood trickled down and soaked the armor wrapped around his forearm and hand.
A loud beep indicated the diagnostic finished and the ship started to ascend with Loki inside. He closed the hatch, ran to the pilot’s seat, and brought the craft about so that the engines were facing Atlas. Loki maximized the ships’ acceleration. The engines sent out a blast of heat and tiny particles, forcing Atlas to haphazardly leap out of the way.
The ship accelerated parallel with the uneven ground, causing Loki to pull up quickly as he realized the bottom of the ship was sporadically hitting rocks and small mounds of soil. Alarms went off as he ascended into the atmosphere, indicating that he had damaged some of the craft’s belly thrusters, hampering its mobility. Could have been much worse. Loki breathed a sigh of relief.
He looked out and saw that Sigyn was already headed north toward Vili. Finally. I’m free of Sigyn and Vili. I can begin my search in earnest. Loki turned his ship southeast and planned to take a roundabout path back to the Bandurria facility. I’ll wait until nightfall to sneak back into the facility. I need to lose Atlas first, anyway.
* * *
Atlas watched in rage as both ships flew off in opposite directions. His left arm was oozing blood from the net that was still digging into his skin. “Cowards!” he yelled as he ripped the filaments off his arm and hand, attacking them so viciously that his right hand was cut to the bone. He gritted his teeth and utilized the pain as a cathartic realize. I will kill those bastards! Once his arm and shield were free he turned back to the temple. I need a ship…and new armor.
He dropped the bloody, knotted rag that he wore moments earlier, moved a few paces to retrieve his sniper rifle from the grass, and then ran toward where he believed the underground hanger was located. There was no time to find an entry point to the facility or move with finesse to avoid the attention of any locals, which at this point meant the globe. He started to swing his arms at an angle to the ground; his entire body spinning left and then right as he sent powerful gravitational waves into the dirt.
Unlike Athena’s surgical entry in Bandurria, Atlas used sheer force to break into the facility. The entire area rumbled as he continued to crack through the Earth’s crust. Sirens alarmed in the distance and Atlas felt a grin creep onto his face in spite of his urgency: primitive human seismic systems were probably interpreting his actions as an earthquake. I’m a giant among both the Aesir and humans. All they can do is run. Eventually, the ground bent and snapped, falling multiple stories to the hanger below. Tons of rock and soil crushed a couple of vehicles in the hanger, further limiting Atlas’ flight options.
He jumped into the gaping cavern and selected what appeared to be the only functional ship in the hanger, lying dormant in a far corner. It was a relatively simple plane: two wings and tail sticking out of a cylinder. It had tiny thrusters on the bottom of the fuselage to aid in flight stability and flexibility with takeoff and landing. The plane was a sleeker version of the Cessna Athena and he crashed near Bandurria; i
t was clearly meant for intra-Earth travel only. I’ll need to be patient this time.
He needed to head back to Antarctica to get some armor and rest. He could use the communications center there to monitor flight activity on Earth and pinpoint where the other two ships flew. I will bash their skulls to powder the next time we meet.
Act II, Chapter 9
Training
Location: Grindavik, Iceland
Vili and Lugh had cleared a space in their living room of the inn. They moved all of the furniture to one side, revealing dark and dusty portions of the bright blue carpet that rarely saw hygienic treatment. The television was still plugged in and tuned to the station giving live updates on what it referred to as “the extraterrestrial situation,” providing the monotone ambiance of quintessential broadcasting. Vili was showing Lugh basic hand-to-hand combat moves and tutoring him in life in the broader galaxy. He was also testing his strength, agility, and quickness, and was pleased with how much the genetic tampering had accomplished.
“You know enough about the Olympians,” Vili said as he swiped high at Lugh’s head. “But there are four other Primordial races.”
Lugh ducked and went in to cut Vili down at the knee. “Right—you mentioned there were five earlier. And all of them are bonded to space?”
Vili grabbed Lugh’s waist and flipped him upside down. “Don’t take the fight to the ground with a larger opponent unless you’re an absolute expert. Even then, never with a Primordial.” He threw him to the other side of the room. “But yes, that’s right.”
Lugh used the opportunity to sit down and pant while Vili continued.
“The Anunnaki are the Olympians’ greatest foes. Part of their differences lay in philosophical disagreements over life’s purpose, but I suspect the majority of their dispute is aesthetic and cultural. The Olympians are simply disgusted by the Anunnaki—they view them as the transgressive underside to the development of life within our universe. Their customs are odd and, physically, the Anunnaki are strange. They’re an assortment of bits and pieces of everything around them. Even after thousands of years of contact, the Olympians still find that off-putting”
The Gods Who Chose Us Page 21
