But Hephaestus responded, “What am I? Oh, you mean the augments. As you can see here in Lemnos, I have embraced technological advancement. Gods can’t live in the past. Well, some gods can; Zeus is so old-fashioned. But not me; I decided long ago to not only modernize my region, but futurize it. All of Zero Grade benefits from the technology my scientists create.
“Listen to me ramble on. To answer your question, I am the world’s only cyborg god. My augments give me an edge over other deities.”
“What do you want?” Daryn asked, tired of these games.
“It’s not what I want. It’s what Zeus wants.”
“What does Zeus want?” CiCi said.
Hephaestus’ smugness was irritating. “Simple, really. You Academy people have long been a thorn in his side. He wants the Academy’s location. Give it to us, and we might just spare your lives. Probably. Maybe.”
Jaysin rolled his eyes. “Go yur yourself, mate.”
“That’s our answer,” Daryn said firmly.
Hephaestus appear to sigh. “That’s a shame, really. Looks like now we have to do things the hard way.” He pressed a button on his collar, and it began emitting a loud piercing shrill.
They all covered their ears. “What the hell is that?” Daryn yelled.
The sound stopped, and Hephaestus explained, “Your friends who staged the prison break probably encountered collars like this over there. This one’s different, however. Instead of sealing your powers, it emits a signal.”
That was when they noticed everyone around them had suddenly stopped and become motionless. “What’s going on with them?” CiCi said.
Hephaestus continued, apparently quite pleased with himself. “Haven’t you been wondering why I allow my subjects to live in such splendor? Why would a god such as myself build an amusement park and give everyone luxuries such as advanced technology?
“It all comes down to control. Each member of the Flawless Few has to maintain control over his or her subjects. While most resort to fear, I control my people through happiness. I give them what they want. I also give them plenty of subliminal messages through the legion of screens you see before you. I’ve trained them to follow my every command. Subjects!” The people all turned and stared up at the images of him. “You see these people here?” The screens changed to display images of Daryn, CiCi and Jaysin which had obviously just been captured by a nearby camera. “Bring them to me.”
The citizens shuddered and began looking around anxiously. When they locked onto the trio, they swarmed. Before the Academy students knew what was happening, they were beset by dozens of people.
“Shit!” Daryn said, throwing wild punches
“Wasn’t kidding about the hard way,” Jaysin said, kicking and head-butting.
“Conjure your weapons,” Daryn ordered. “We can’t afford to go easy on these people.”
CiCi, chakrams now in hand, began beating them off. “Look at their eyes. They’ve gone berserk. They’re just victims here. Daryn, you’ll kill them if you use your hammer.”
Jaysin summoned his staff and struck the ground, sending the frenzied civilians flying. “Won’t argue with you on that. But Daryn’s right; we’re fighting for our lives here.” He did it again, buying them some much-needed breathing room.
“We need to get out of here,” CiCi said.
“But where do we go?” Jaysin said.
“I have an idea,” Daryn said. He looked up at Hephaestus’ smug face. “You want us? Just tell us where to go.”
“You’re pretty eager to die, aren’t you? Fine. Come to the tallest building at the center of Lemnos. We’ll hash things out there. If you can get there, that is.”
“Which building?” CiCi said.
“Trust me. You can’t miss it.”
“Good,” Daryn said. “You can call off your people, then.”
“Ahhh, now what would be the fun in that? I want to see you slug it out with my citizens. And if they happen to kill you, well, that saves me some trouble.”
By now, the throng had not only regrouped, but had doubled in size. It seemed everyone was homing in on this location. More of Hephaestus’ trickery at work?
Daryn shrugged his shoulders. “The hard way, then.”
Chapter IX
Checkpoint 35 was like any other checkpoint on Olympus—strong and well-defended. It consisted of a series of fortifications, ramparts and a large antenna around a central building. Dozens of guards milled about, keeping watch and confident of two things:
1.) It would be another uneventful day
2.) Even if someone did attack, they’d be able to fight them off
They were wrong on both counts.
It was about noon when the guards first noticed a cloud of dust being kicked up far into the distance. Checkpoint 35 had been built in the middle of a flat plain so they could see trouble coming. That, Zero Grade reasoned, would prevent any successful breaches.
Again, they were wrong.
The guards powered up the plasma cannons mounted on the ramparts and prepared to fire. They didn’t have to wait long; within a few minutes, the attackers were within firing range, and the defenders began bombarding the area with incinerating fire.
But this place had been designed to defend against Second Gens and other trash, and the people attacking now were on a whole other level. The guards quaked in their boots when they saw Hercules and Thor at the head of the pack, charging them with reckless abandon, easily dodging the plasma fire. The cannons simply couldn’t keep up with their speed.
Running alongside them was Minerva and a youth none of them recognized. This confirmed the earlier rumors: Eden had been attacked, and the prisoners were now on the loose.
The whole thing was over within ten minutes.
* * *
Ev stood proudly in the checkpoint’s central building with his new friends. “Great job, Herc,” he said. “Without you and Thor, this might actually have been a challenge.”
But Minerva cautioned, “Don’t get cocky, Ev. This is a far cry from taking on the Flawless Few. We got lucky; Hades controls this region, but it looks like he’s not around at the moment.”
“Hades.” Ev seethed with a desire to destroy the monster that had murdered his mother. But at the moment, there were more important things to do. “Where’s the amplifier?”
“Over here.” Minerva gestured to a bank of computers in the middle of the room. Sitting on top of it was some sort of bulky metal helmet. “Put this on.”
He did so. The thing was heavy and undoubtedly made him look stupid, but if it would help him contact his friends, he wouldn’t question it.
Minerva punched a few buttons on the computer, and Ev suddenly felt an intense vibration throughout his skull. He groaned, but gritted his teeth and waited for it to pass. After a few moments, it did.
“Everyone finds it painful at first. But you get used to it,” she said. Ev hoped he wouldn’t have to do this a second time. “Anyway, it’s powered up now. You should be able to contact your friends anywhere on Olympus. Go ahead.”
The prisoners they had sprung from Eden gathered around them. Ev concentrated, remembering his friends’ telepathic frequencies. Hello! Is anyone there?
The response was immediate. Ev! Thank Bethos you’re alive! Where are you?
Maya! It’s so good to hear your voice. I’m in a region called Cratylus. Where are you?”
We’re told this place is called Athens.
We? Who’s with you?
Priscilia.
Hello, Ev, Priscilia’s not-voice said.
Glad you’re still alive, Ev communicated to her. Where are the others?
Somehow, he could sense Maya shaking her head. I don’t know.
Let me see if I can get them on the line. Ev concentrated on his other friends’ telepathic frequencies. Hello! Is anyone there?
Ev? It was Daryn’s voice. Where the hell are you?
Some place called Cratylus. I don’t really know where that is.<
br />
Don’t worry; we found a map. You’re on the other side of this hemisphere.
Who all’s with you?
Jaysin and CiCi.
Maya chimed in. I’m so glad everyone’s all right!
Yeah, Daryn said. I just—arg! Bastard!
What’s going on? Ev said.
We’re kinda in the middle of a fight here. The whole city’s out to get us because of Hephaestus.
Who’s Hephaestus? Maya said.
A member of the Flawless Few and wannabe robot. We’re on our way to deal with him.
Don’t be reckless, Ev said. We need to meet up before we do anything else.
Daryn explained, Yeah, well, like I said, we found a map. If we want to meet up, the fastest way is for all of us to head to the moon’s core. They have elevators that will take us there. The only catch is, each elevator is inside the home of a member of the Flawless Few.
Yeah, that’s pretty much what we were told as well, Maya said.
There has to be a better way, Ev argued.
But Daryn said, If we try to go around, it will take days, if not weeks. We need to get to the core and shut down whatever Zeus is planning as quickly as we can.
Ev hated to admit it, but he was right. The safety of Ev’s friends had to come second to stopping the Flawless Few. All right. Just… be careful.
Will do, Ev, Daryn said. It might not be as hard as you think; there are only three groups of us, so we probably won’t have to face all of the Flawless Few.
Just promise me one thing, you guys: don’t die, Maya said.
I won’t, Ev said.
We won’t, either, Daryn added.
All right, I guess there’s no more to be said, Ev said. There’s an elevator in this checkpoint we’ve just taken over. Hades supposedly controls it, but we haven’t seen him. I’m going to head down before he shows up.
Goodbye, Ev, Maya said.
Take care, Daryn said.
Don’t get yourself killed, Priscilia said.
With the conversation over, Ev took off the helmet. Minerva asked him, “How was it? Did you get in touch with your friends?”
He nodded. “Yeah. We’re going to meet up at the core. I don’t suppose you know what Zeus is up to down there?”
“‘fraid not. I was locked up in Eden for quite a while. But whatever’s going on, you can bet it’s bad news. The worst kind of news.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Ev said. “We’re going to stop it. Now come on; let’s head on down there before Hades shows up.”
They strode through the main corridor of the central building, the walls and floor a sickly shade of green. There was barely any light.
They soon reached the elevator. But upon arriving, they were stunned to find it was only a painting. “It’s fake!” Minerva said.
“What nonsense is this?” Hercules demanded to know.
Suddenly, a dark arm reached out from the wall and pulled Ev in.
* * *
“Son of a bitch!” Minerva said as soon as Ev disappeared into the wall.
“He’s gone,” Thor said, stating the obvious.
“Of course,” Minerva realized. “This is Hades’ domain. He doesn’t need an elevator. He can go wherever he wants. The painted elevator’s just for show.”
“You realize what this means,” Hercules said somberly.
She stared at the fake elevator. “Yeah. Ev’s on his own. We can’t help him.”
* * *
Once again, Ev found himself in absolute darkness. He knew he wasn’t in Gehenna; Gehenna was more like outer space: big and vast with plenty of stuff in it. This, on the other hand, was pure nothing. It was almost as if this place didn’t even exist. It had no light, no sound, and no form.
He floated, almost as if in water. An undefinable nothingness enveloped him. “You won’t beat me this time!” he yelled into the void. His voice did not carry.
Be quiet, young one. It was the same voice, flowing through his head and sweet like honey. Hades. I detest noise.
“What do you want?” Ev said, even louder.
The place shuddered. I said, be quiet. What I want now is not the same as I wanted then. Then, what I wanted was for you to suffer. Now, what I want is for you to die.
“I’ll escape,” Ev said. “I did once and I’ll do it again.”
Hades laughed. You really think you escaped on your own? I let you out so your suffering could continue. Everything that happened was by my design. But, I will admit it was a mistake letting you live. You went on to cause far more damage than I had anticipated. I underestimated you, Ev Bannen, which is why I will now be finishing you off myself.
An invisible hand gripped his throat. He began thrashing about, trying to pry it loose, but it had no form he could grasp. Within moments, he was being throttled. “Bastard! Face me like a man! Where are you?”
The place shuddered again. How many times must I say it? Be quiet. I can’t stand loud noises. To answer your question, I am all around you. I am everywhere. I am a true god, unlike you pretenders.
The void seemed to take damage whenever Ev yelled. Perhaps…
He had an idea. It wasn’t a great one, but it was the only one he had. Diverting a large amount of energy to his throat, he effectively turned himself into a loud speaker. He let loose a deafening roar, reverberating throughout the void.
Hades screamed as the place shook. Ev felt certain this nothingness would somehow fall apart then and there. Fortunately, the unseen hands choking him stopped to deal with whatever Ev had just done.
“You like the silence?” Ev boomed. “You like the darkness? Well, let’s see what we can do about that!”
No! Stop it!
Ev had never done this before, so he wasn’t even sure if he could. Nevertheless, he had to try. So he concentrated, collecting all the energy he could into the palms of his hands. He focused on making it visible and—more importantly—bright. At first, nothing happened. But after a few moments, he hands began to glow.
No! Hades yelled. That told Ev he was on the right track. With that in mind, Ev focused on increasing the brightness of his hands. It steadily increased, illuminating the place more and more. Stop it!
With his booming voice, Ev declared. “I figured you out, Hades! At some point, you decided you didn’t like sound or light, so you retreated into this place. As time went on, you became more and more sensitive until you couldn’t stand it anymore. That was your big mistake. Well, second big mistake. Your biggest mistake was killing my mother!”
By now, his glowing hands were blinding him, so they must have been absolutely killing Hades. Ev could hear him screaming bloody murder. Get… out!
“I think I’m gonna need some help with that! You have to let me out, remember?” He was filled with satisfaction and Hades’ suffering.
Suddenly, a hole opened in front of him, and he could see out.
* * *
Ev fell out and onto solid ground. He got up and looked around. He didn’t know where he was, but it looked like some sort of maintenance tunnel. Weak lights were strung from the ceiling.
There was groaning behind him. He turned around to see Hades on his knees. However, the darkness was slowly draining from him, turning him back into a normal-looking man with short (though unkempt) fair hair and light features. He looked to be in his thirties, though who could tell with a god?
“You…” Hades’ voice was weak. His own speech was probably hurting him. “Are you satisfied, young one?”
Ev stared at him. “You’re damn right I am.”
“You did this to a member of the Flawless Few. I hope… you realize… the magnitude of this.”
“What I know is this: I kicked the ass of one of the best, and I avenged my mother. Suck it.”
Hades chuckled weakly; his voices was ragged. “It won’t be so easy with the others. They don’t share my weakness. I admit my defeat was my own making. But Zeus will destroy you all with little effort.”
“Not gonna h
appen. We’ll stop whatever he’s up to and put an end to this war once and for all.”
“You have no idea what we’re up to. We’re going to crush you upstarts.”
“Maybe,” Ev said. “But you won’t be around to see it.”
“Fine, then. Finish me off.”
Ev strode up to him and, with one act of brutality, shoved his hand into Hades’ chest and crushed his heart. Regardless of what Ev had said, only at this moment was his mother avenged.
Where Gods Dare (Divine Protector Book 4) Page 10
