“Bethos be damned!” Jaysin said as he tried to keep it in. “I can’t believe they did this!”
“Let’s get out of here,” Maya said before rushing out the door.
Once their stomachs settled down, Jaysin said, “Why in the name of all that is holy didja want to see that?”
“I didn’t want to see that,” she said. “I had to know for sure if Ev’s mom was really dead.”
“I think it goes beyond simple curiosity.”
She debated whether or not she should tell him the full truth. “When Ev wakes up, he’s going to need my help moving forward. I didn’t think I could help him unless I knew his pain. I had to see what he saw here.
“Yeah, well, we saw it, and I don’t think I can ever forget it. So if it’s all the same to you, let’s get a move on and finish cleaning up this town.”
“Hey!”
They looked across the street, where a homeless man was standing atop a house. “He must have climbed up there to escape the smoke,” she said.
She began walking towards the stranger. Jaysin grabbed her arm. “Wait a second.”
She turned around to give him an impatient look. “What?”
“The smoke completely covered every house in this town. If he was up there, he should be dead. This guy’s no mortal.”
The man shrugged and slowly clapped. “Bravo. I may have just found someone I can sink my balls into. The name’s Zagreus. I’m the son of Hades.”
“Zero Grade.” Maya spat the words like poison.
“Let’s skip the introductions,” Jaysin said to him. “We already know we’re enemies. Only one side’s leaving this town alive.”
“Ohhhhh, you’re scary!” Zagreus pantomimed terrified shaking. “That other guy also acted tough, but my dad put him in his place.”
“Are you talking about Ev?” Maya said.
“Yeah, I think that’s what Dad said his name was. Was being the operative word since he’s dead now.”
“The hell he is,” Jaysin said.
“Whatever. Even if you don’t believe me—”
“But he’s not dead,” Maya said. “We have him. He’s recovering at the Academy.”
Zagreus repied, “Tsk. You’re telling the truth, aren’t you? Dad must have yurred this up. Oh, well, there’s a first time for everything. Time for me to drop some bodies!”
“What are you gonna do?” Jaysin said. “We got rid of your smoke.”
Zagreus put several oversized cigars in his mouth. “Dumbasses. I can always make more, just like Dad can always make more refghasts.” He took a long inhale, and then expelled a large cloud of smoke from his mouth. It swept over them, causing Maya to start coughing.
They leapt onto the roof of Anni’s house, but the smoke quickly enveloped that as well. When they tried flying upwards, it solidified into hands which dragged them back down into it. They were trapped in it, coughing and gasping for fresh air.
More hands appeared and began wailing on them. Maya was punched in the face, resulting in her spitting blood. She heard Jaysin grunting in pain as the hands worked him over as well.
“Not so tough now, are you?” Zagreus said.
She managed to fight off the hands long enough to launch a few arrows at where she thought his voice was coming from. However, that only elicited demeaning laughter.
“
We’re getting nowhere here!” Jaysin said.
She continued swatting the hands with her bow. “Tell me something I don’t know!”
“Unh! If CiCi were here, she could use her freaky eyeballs to tell us where Zagreus is.”
A hand went for her throat and began throttling her before she could knock it loose. “Well, she’s not here. But I have an idea. Hit the ground at our feet with your staff.”
“Are you cra—wait, that’s it! Brilliant idea. I need to find you, first.”
“Just follow the sound of my voice.”
He grunted again. “Damn hands! They’re getting all grabby. Keep talking.” His coughing was getting worse.
“We have to defeat Zagreus, Jaysin. This is our chance to make an impression on all the veteran gods at the Academy. Think of the grade we’ll get for completing this mission.”
“There you are!” A slender object cut through the smoke. Her stomach lurched as she felt gravity suddenly—and violently—reverse, sending her upwards. She grabbed the staff, taking Jaysin with her into the sky.
Once they were free of the smoke, Maya—now upside-down—took stock of her surroundings. Zagreus, still in the same spot, was now gawking at them. She fired off an arrow at him, which he sidestepped. However, it was an ice arrow, and within moments it froze the roof he was standing on and encased his feet. “Dammit! Bitch! Let me go!”
“You don’t seriously expect me to do that, do you?” she said, rolling her eyes. “Jaysin! Now!”
Just below her, he replied, “Got it!” He flew down and thrust at the ice, shattering it—and Zagreus’ legs. The hobo god yelled before falling onto the roof a few feet shorter, his thighs ending in icy chunks.
Maya joined Jaysin on the roof, being careful not to slip before readying her bow. “This is an explosive arrow I have aimed at your head,” she said.
Zagreus let out a bitter laugh while probing what was left of his legs. “You think you’ve won, bitch?”
“Yes, I think I have.”
“In your dreams! Maybe you haven’t noticed, but there’s nothing but me and refghasts here.”
Jaysin cocked an eyebrow. “So?”
“So… the organization has plenty of people they could have sent here to defend this dump of a town. But they didn’t. You know what that means, right? It means they don’t care if they lose Upton. The Ultimus Point here is practically non-existent.”
“Then why attack it in the first place?” Maya said.
“Two reasons. To punish Ev Bannen, and to get the Academy to focus entirely on this place so they don’t see what we’re really doing.”
Jaysin said, “Which is?”
“Oh, you’ll find that out soon enough.” He continued his sardonic laugh.
“Enough with this guy,” Maya said. “We’ll bring him in and the Academy can interrogate him.”
A voice suddenly called out, “That won’t be necessary.”
Mac appeared beside them and promptly plunged his spear into Zagreus’ heart. Zagreus’ eyes momentarily went wide in surprise before relaxing into the gaze of death.
“Why did you do that?” Maya said.
Jaysin nodded. “Yeah. Wouldn’t it have been better to interrogate him about Zero Grade’s plans?”
Mac removed the spear from Zagreus’ corpse and wiped the blood from it. “As I said, that was unnecessary. Even a simpleton can ascertain their intentions from Zagreus’ words. They intend to strike elsewhere. We can’t waste time interrogating prisoners. By now, it is likely too late to stop what they have planned.”
Jaysin stared at Zagreus’ lifeless body. “Yeah, but did you really have to kill him like that?”
“Bethos has made you too soft. We’re at war. You saw what they did to this town. Quite frankly, a quick death was too good for him. You did well to outmaneuver Zagreus, but if you don’t have the stomach to see this through, you’d better stay behind at the Academy.” Maya could read between the lines. By “see this through,” he really meant “kill them all.” It was true—she didn’t have the stomach to butcher every single enemy she encountered. But Fionn mac Cumhaill did, and that scared her. They were supposed to be better than Zero Grade, and now she wasn’t sure they were. She suspected Mac’s unceremonious execution of Zagreus was more to do with his hatred of Zero Grade and less about logic. The fact was, they didn’t know anything for sure, and the organization could be planning anything.
Though they had retaken Upton, it felt like they had lost.
* * *
Joe Lambda thought he was going to be sick as he watched the news reports in the war room of Brazo Mountain.
The high-tech space contained numerous monitors which showed reports from all over the world, as well as a bank of computers to process raw data.
Lambda and his staff stood in the center of the room observing with horror the latest events. None of them felt like sitting.
On one monitor, a news anchor was saying, “Again, we have breaking news that towns and cities all over the globe have been attacked. All communications with the invaded areas have ceased, although we have obtained footage from outside them via New 8’s worldwide affiliates’ long-range cameras.” It cut to a video of a snowbound city which must have been in the Faust Kingdom. A humanoid figure flew to the top of a building and planted a flag, pure black except with a white “0” in the center. “Could this be the mysterious Zero Grade which recently attacked Upton? “Citizens are demanding—”
She was cut off by the same intrusive signal they had witnessed the other day:
We are Zero Grade
The Ultimus Points are ours
Bow down and worship us
The true gods
“Looks like we have our answer,” Lambda said.
“Just great,” Haig said. “Nutters with an ego the size of the North Pole.”
Lamba said, “Let’s go over which cities and towns have been conquered. There’s Upton…”
“And Durydu in Chrichton,” Lyra said.
“Not to mention Stiftung which was still recovering from the previous attack last year,” Hinsom added.
“Along with Kornia and Dokiu in the Faust Kingdrom,” Larson said.
“And, finally, they’ve taken Stonecroft in the Tru Republic,” Lambda said.
“Fortunately, that area’s sparsely populated, and the few people who were there ran at the sight of the invaders,” Lyra said.
Hinsom sighed. “Yes, but all resistance was quickly crushed in the other cities they invaded. It seems no one has the power to oppose them.”
Lambda massaged his temple; he had a headache that was getting worse with each passing minute. “Zero Grade said they now control the ‘Ultimus Points.’ Do you think they’re referring to the Hot Zones?”
“Without a doubt, sir,” Hinsom said.
This just kept getting better and better. “So they obviously want to control this new power source. The question is, what do we do about it?”
“
Let me put boots on the ground in Upton,” Haig said.
“They won’t make a bit of difference if we’re dealing with gods,” Hinsom said.
“And I still say we’re not. They might be superhuman, but there’s no such thing as gods.”
“I’m seriously considering an air strike on Upton,” Lambda said.
“But sir,” Lyra said. “The Murnau military couldn’t do a thing against the giants in Stiftung.”
“These aren’t giants that have taken our cities,” he reminded her.
“Yes, but they controlled the giants at one point. In my professional opinion, sending a military force to Upton would be a huge mistake. We’d be risking Morovian lives and revealing our weakness to the enemy.”
“We have to do something,” Lambda said, pleading with someone. Possibly himself.
Suddenly, the news chimed in with a breaking alert. “There has been a change in Upton. The acrid smoke which covered the town is now gone. Video footage captured by our News 8 reporter stationed outside Upton is stunning.” They cut to footage of a handful of superhumans flying away from the town as the anchor continued. “Has the mysterious Zero Grade relinquished control of Upton? Rumors are already spreading that the government has its own team of superhumans who have retaken the town. Congressional leaders are already reaching out to the president for comment on this situation.”
Lambda gave a weak, but hopeful, smile. “Maybe there is a god after all.” His cell phone rang. “Must be Congress.” He sent it to voicemail. “Schedule a press conference. Immediately. It’s time we got acquainted with our unknown saviors.”
Chapter VII
Once again, they were all crammed into the large conference room. Not large enough, Bethos thought dryly. “So Upton was a diversion while they attacked the rest of the Ultimus Points. But how did they even know where they were?”
Freya said, “Remember what Ev and Maya said about Zero Grade investing in new technologies. They must have developed something which allowed them to ‘see’ the Points.”
“But now we know where they are, so we just have to go to these places and take them down,” Brandon said.
From somewhere in the back, Aphrodite said, “You know it’s not that simple. If we back Zero Grade into a corner, they might drain the points—and destroy the universe—just to make sure we don’t win.”
“They can’t do that without the Ultimus Point Absorption System, which was only installed on our ships which neither side has anymore,” Atlas said.
“They broke the Ultros Pact. They won’t have any qualms about making new ships,” Freya said.
“Then we have to stop them before they do,” Brandon said. “We have time. It takes months to build even one ship.”
“Then we need to formulate a strategy. It seems to be—”
“Sir,” Freya said. “You might want to look at this.” She pointed to the wall where the TV had been muted. The caption now read, “Breaking News. President Lambda to Address Superhumans.”
“Interesting. Turn up the volume. Where’s the remote?” Bethos said.
Joe Lambda, the leader of Morovia, stepped up to a podium at a secure location in front of some generic backdrop with the Morovian flag draped acrossed it. It was impossible to tell where they were broadcasting from. “I know many of you expect me to address the terror group known as Zero Grade. I’m not here to do that. Instead, I want to speak to the other, even more mysterious, group that has been fighting them. I know that we are not alone in our battle for survival. Someone else shares our desire to oppose Zero Grade, and these are the people I want to talk to. During the crisis in Stiftung, these unknown saviors defeated the terrifying giants and sent them back where they came from. Earlier this year at Stonecroft in the Tru Republic, they again stepped up to thwart our mutual enemies. I have no idea what to call you, but that doesn’t matter at the moment. I am officially requesting an audience with you. Please respond however you like, but I would like the meeting to be soon.”
When it was over, they scratched their heads. “Should we actually meet with him?” Freya said.
“What possible help could he be?” Atlas said.
“Hmmm,” Bethos said. “It might not be such a bad idea to get acquainted. If Morovia actually does come up with a way to fight gods, I’d like to us to be on the same side.”
“You think they’ve developed countermeasures?” Mac said.
Bethos thought about it for a moment. “Possibly. He’s certainly not lacking in confidence, considering the situation all mortals are now in.”
“He might have just been putting on a show for us,” Brandon suggested.
“That, too, is a possibility,” Izanagi said.
“At any rate,” Bethos went on, “we can’t meet with him just yet. No doubt Zero Grade saw the broadcast as well, and they’ll be watching the Vin House in case any of us actually shows up there. For now, we’ll go ahead with our plans to retake the Ultimus Points.”
Another message appeared on the TV:
We are Zero Grade
We want Haha and Chichi to come play with us
We’ll be waiting in Kornia
“What are they laughing about?” Bethos said.
“You don’t understand,” Izanagi said.
Izanami explained, “Haha and chichi mean mother and father in Japanese. Obviously, this challenge comes from our children.”
“Oh, that’s right,” Bethos said. “You have a son and daughter you haven’t seen in a long time.” With a bit of annoyance, he added, “You didn’t tell me they’d joined Zero Grade.”
“We were not aware,” Izanagi said
.
His wife nodded. “We have had no contact with them in countless millennia.”
“You mind explaining what all this is about?” Bethos said testily.
Izanami tried to dismiss the question, saying, “It is complicated.”
“Don’t give me that,” Bethos said. “If Zero Grade has a grudge against you two specifically, I need to know what it is. So tell me.”
The spouses exchanged uncertain looks, and then Izanagi said, “Very well. It all goes back to the creation of the previous world. Our predecessors, Kunitokotachi and Amenominakanushi, gave us life so that we could create the first landmass on earth. We did so, and the islands of Japan were born. Afterwards, we grew close and eventually expressed our desire to be married. We constructed a massive column and called it Heaven’s Pillar. On it we began the mating ritual. According to our customs, I was to speak first. However—” He looked at his wife as if not wanting to hurt her.
Until We Break Page 7
