Aaron looked more closely at the many banks of screens. Some were watching ambassadors, others crime lords.
“This is but a small selection of who and what we watch. What you are seeing are the highest priority targets.”
“Highest priority?”
“The potential flash points in history. Where wars are begun and ended, and the first sparks of the world being changed forever.”
Aaron stopped as he noticed the view of a parking lot that looked of little interest. A moment later a figure went past, and from the back he couldn’t see the face, but he recognized them immediately.
“That’s?” He hesitated saying the name.
“Theodosia, yes, and that’s why I have brought you here. No member of the Brotherhood usually enters this room. In fact, few of them ever do, but this is one such moment. A turning point in history, and one which you are linked to.”
He watched in amazement as other familiar faces appeared beside her. They were armed and being cautious.
“They’re looking for a fight,” said Aaron.
“Yes, your friends believe they have discovered where your enemy is, but they do not believe it is Hades.”
“What?”
“She was attacked by what she believes is a shape shifter, and that it was posing as Hades.”
“But why? How could she even know that?”
“Because she and you fought at Dr. Harris’ home. Only it was not you at all, but someone with immense power.”
“It looked like me? Like actually exactly like me?”
“Yes, so much so that the doctor could not tell the difference. We are specialists in such work, but even we could not mask one of our own to mimic your looks to such a degree that a friend could not tell you apart at the distance we are now at.”
“So, Hades has not returned?”
“Your friends do not believe so, and whatever this enemy is, they mean to end it now, with one decisive blow.”
“Even if it’s not Hades, whatever it was, it was still a force to be reckoned with. The last time we faced it nearly cost us all our lives. How will this go any differently?”
“This time your friends have numbers on their side.”
As Aaron watched the screen, Carter arrived with a dozen armed men.
“Theodosia had every one of her allies beside her, all but Thanatos.”
“Without me, Luca, Thanatos? Are they crazy? I have to get there.” He turned to leave.
“There’s nothing you can do for them now!” Aldred roared.
He stopped and hesitated. He still wanted to leave, but Aldred was right.
“We can get you to an airport in six hours, but that will still mean a full day before you can be back with your friends. Right now, there is nothing you can do for them.”
Aaron turned back reluctantly to watch the scene unfold. He felt powerless as he saw them prepare their weapons and move in toward a building in the distance.
“Do you have any more angles?”
“No.”
“All this tech, and you have no more eyes on this?”
“We have resources and assets all around the world, but there are limits as to what we can do.”
“Goddamnit, they’re gonna get themselves killed.”
He watched Theo lead them through the entrance to the building Carter had kept under surveillance. They vanished from view, and Aaron knew all he could do was wait and hope. It was an awful feeling.
“Why didn’t they wait for me? Why risk it all?”
“The facts have changed. You believed you were fighting Hades.”
* * *
“Nobody move!” Carter yelled as he rushed into reception beside Theodosia.
He was carrying a Remington combat shotgun and had it trained on the man behind the desk. He looked panicked, but he soon reached for something. Carter didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger, and the heavy buckshot threw the man off his feet and behind the counter. But no cries of panic rang out as two others at a desk nearby reached for firearms beneath their suit jackets.
Carter fired and took down another. Theo leapt over the desk in front of them, kicking the other in the face. He was thrown back and crashed into a filling cabinet but was still on his feet. He managed to draw his weapon and get off two shots into Theo’s stomach, but she closed on her target, shrugging off the rounds. She ripped the weapon from his grasp and took hold of his lead arm, but he turned and slipped out of it, displaying immense skill and training.
The man rose up with a bunch to her chin, and it landed clean. It was a jolting blow, but more a surprise than any real damage. She staggered back a pace as her opponent drew a blade that had been well concealed on his back. He drew it downward, and she recognized it instantly. It was the sort she had contended with at Carter’s home. She had no more time to think as it was swung at her with speed and power. She parried the blow with the vambraces on her arms, driving an elbow into his face. As he tumbled back, she drew her own blade and went right back at him. He voided two cuts and a thrust that penetrated the filing cabinet beside him. He was fast, although as he came back at her, she cut his blade down, grabbed his throat, and snapped his neck.
“That was a lot harder than it should have been,” Aceso said as Theo looked back at her with concern.
An alarm suddenly rang out.
“Ah, shit!” Carter rushed over to the reception desk. The first one he’d shot had hit an alarm and had a pistol in hand. There was a hole in his shirt, and body armor showing where he’d been hit. It had not penetrated, but he was wincing in pain and a little disorientated. He took a shot at Carter.
“Shit!” He ducked down for cover, and the shot went narrowly over his head.
Aceso rushed across the room and slid on her knees past the reception desk, firing three shots as she came to a halt. Two hit the man’s body armor and the third his right arm. She was on her feet in no time and fired two more shots. One hit his armor and the other his left arm. It was enough that he could not recover and defend himself. She closed the distance and drove her blade into his body, puncturing his armor, and running the blade up to the hilt.
“Well, they sure know we’re here now.” Carter got back up and checked himself for holes.
Theo picked up the blade from the one she’d killed and studied it for a quick moment. It was identical to the one she’d been attacked with before. There was an inscription down the length of the blade, but she didn’t recognize the language.
“Here.” She tossed it to Carter, “I don’t know exactly what it is or where it comes from, but there’s power in these blades.”
“Like the Olympian blades?” Grace asked, picking one up.
“Not quite, but something special, and certainly not manmade,” replied Theo.
“What are we dealing with here?” Carter grabbed the last of the enemy blades.
“That’s what we’re here to find out. I want to know who it is we are fighting before we end them. Come on!”
She led them through to a large lobby, stopping when she saw armed men rushing in at the far end. Some were holding blades, others pistols, and some with both, as Aceso had been. Theo didn’t much care for firearms, but she was starting to appreciate their usefulness, and regretted not taking one herself.
“Put down your weapons!” A voice cried out.
But a shot rang out from Carter before anyone could think of a response. The shot hit one of the enemy square in the face. It was quickly followed by a hail of gunfire as Carter and the others rushed for the cover of the many large pillars running the length of the room. Theo ran to the edge where she had cover from most of them. Carter took aim from and fired a single shot, but he was forced to duck back as several pistol rounds landed next to him.
“They weren’t expecting us, but they sure were ready for a fight!”
“You think this could be worse?” Grace asked.
“Sure, they could have brought some serious firepower,” laughed Carter, as none of them
had anything beyond sidearms. He took aim again and clipped one in the arm, but he was forced back once again as the column beside him was riddled with fire. A chunk of concrete cut across his cheek and more went into his eye. He desperately rubbed it with his sleeve as he tried to get back in the fight, but his friends were ahead of him and had already got stuck in.
“Give me that.”
Grace rushed up beside him and holstered the pistol she was carrying. He wasn’t eager to give up his weapon, but she still snatched it from his hands, and took aim at the one he’d wounded. She took aim at the gunman’s torso, but remembered the armor she’d seen before. She lowered the muzzle and fired, hitting the thigh, and he went down quickly. Gunfire went back and forth as both sides duked it out. Theo looked frustrated as she peered out from cover, unable to do anything at range. She’d had enough.
She leapt out from cover and began to run the length of the far edge of the lobby when an enemy appeared at the end. Like the rest, he was well dressed in a suit and tie, and held a pistol in his hands, that he soon brought up to take aim at her. She weaved from left to right but kept moving forward as he opened fire. The first shot missed, and the second glanced off her armor. But the third shot struck the side of her head, opening a small cut but doing no serious damage. Realizing she was wearing armor, he took aim at her legs and opened fire. Two shots bounced right off. The man was clearly well training and accustomed to both his weapon and its use in combat, yet he looked aghast at what he was seeing.
She was on him in no time at all before he could even draw his sword. She cut down at his arm as he reached for it, slashing his forearm open. He tried to defend with his left. He was strong for a human, but she got hold of it and twisted sharply, breaking the arm. She smashed the pommel of her sword down onto the top of his head. He went down lifelessly to the floor just as several of his comrades realized what was happening.
One went to help the wounded man Grace had shot while another rushed at Theo with a short sword. He was fanatical in his charge, yet not wild. He cut down at Theo with a mighty head splitting blow. She took the impact but felt her arm brace and wobble slightly under the weight of it. Whatever their blades were made from, or infused with, it was something special, their training was, too. Two more shots rang out, bouncing right off her armor, but a third shot struck her forehead. She staggered back and collapsed against a wall.
The enemy gathered up their wounded and retreated through the doors at the far end of the room. A last few shots rang out from each side as they arrived at a natural lull. Grace rushed to help Theo with the shotgun still in her hands. She reached her and found she was not moving. In fact, she looked dead, but then her eyes opened, and the wound began to heal. There was still a look of horror on Grace’s face.
“Don’t worry. I don’t die that easily,” she smiled as Grace helped her up.
Carter reached them. He was still rubbing his eye and smearing blood from his cut cheek across his face, but at least he could see now as he took his weapon back. Theo noticed one of the pistols on the ground from an enemy who’d been killed. She picked it up with a newfound appreciation for firearms.
“Sure, they didn’t see us coming, but this is pretty well armed for what, a tech firm?” Grace asked.
“Bullshit, this ain’t no tech firm. This kind of hardware, it’s either government or private military of some kind.” Carter took his shotgun back.
“What kind of mercenaries carry swords?” Rick asked.
“That’s a damn good question.” Carter kicked one of the bodies over, “Every one of them is hispanic. What did you do to piss them off, Theo?”
She looked dumbfounded. “Nothing.”
“They could be hired muscle?” Aceso suggested.
“With those blades and tattoos, they’re something we haven’t seen before,” replied Theo.
“No army or military contractor uses swords. These guys were trained to use them. They weren’t carrying them for show. There’s been an awful lot of swordplay since you and your kind arrived. This can’t be a coincidence.”
“I can see why you might see it this way, but these men didn’t come from Olympus.”
“So you’re telling me they were here before you ever arrived?” Carter asked furiously.
It was clearly frustrating for them all, as nobody had any answers.
“This threat, whatever it is, it is something new,” replied Aceso.
“Or something very old.” Grace knelt down by the body to study the tattoos more closely, and then picked up one of the blades to look at the inscriptions further.
“I think this is old Mayan.”
“What does it say?”
“I don’t know, Carter. I recognize it, but I am no expert. I’d have to ask some of my colleagues,” she replied, taking photos of the tattoo with her phone.
“There’ll be time for that later. That’s if we get out of here alive.” Carter peered around the corner where the enemy had retreated.
“They went both ways,” he said, looking at the blood trail going one way and blood soaked footprints going the other as the corridor forked in either direction.
“What do we even call these guys? Grace asked.
“Right now, they are the enemy, and that’s all that matters. Come on,” insisted Carter.
Theo rushed through the doors and quickly looked back and forth.
“Carter, you take your people that way. The rest of you are with me.”
“And if we find whoever it is we’re looking for?” Carter said in a concerned voice, knowing just how powerful they were.
“If you find him, we’ll know about it, because all hell will break loose.”
“Not literally, I hope,” smiled Carter.
“These days, I’m not so sure,” sighed Theo as she went on, and the two groups split up as ordered.
“I don’t understand it, who are these people? Mayan symbols and swords, just who are they and what do they want?” Grace whispered.
“I have no idea,” replied Theo.
“If you don’t know, who would?”
“We are in unchartered territory now. All I know is whoever is behind this wants to do us harm. I want to know why, and make sure they stop.”
Grace went to go on, but Theo held her finger to her lips, “Shhh.”
They crept around a corner, and Theo stopped to peer around it for a moment. She could see Hades, or the being who looked like him walk casually through to another room. A corridor off to her right appeared to lead to the same room. But she looked back to see a dozen armed guards taking up position to fend them off. They looked like the others, hispanics in expensive suits with pistols and the same curious blades. She took aim, but a shot rang out from the far side, and she heard Carter cry out, “Nail these assholes!”
The enemy turned to take on the new threat as Carter and his buddies rained down hell. Theo took careful aim and shot one of them. Her first shot struck body armor, but the second found a gap beneath the armpit, and he went down.
“Keep up the fight.”
“Where are you going?”
“To end this, Aceso! Once and for all!”
“Theo, wait!” Grace shouted.
But it was too late. As Theo leapt across the opening, the enemy realized they were fighting on two fronts and returned fire. Grace ducked back as a half-dozen shots came their way. The glass exterior window cracked under fire but stayed intact, although it made a hell of a noise. Theo ran on until she found the door she was hoping to find and tore it open. She rushed in with murderous intent and found exactly what she was looking for. The villain who had caused them so much trouble, the one who appeared as Hades. He had his back to her, as if he either had no idea she was there, or was in complete contempt, and not threatened at all. She gripped her blade tightly as she considered rushing him while his back was turned. It was not an honorable thing to do, but he was not an honorable foe.
“Have you forgotten our deal?” Hades asked, revealing he
knew she was there. She relaxed a little, knowing her element of surprise was gone. Not that she was surprised as gunfire raged in the adjacent rooms.
“I haven’t forgotten, but you aren’t Hades. We ended him. I know you’re the one I fought in the doctor’s home. Hades was very powerful, but he could never appear as someone else entirely. What are you, and what do you want?”
The creature appearing as Hades shimmered and shrunk a little as it turned around. It now appeared as Aaron.
“Would you prefer this face?”
She gasped as she saw the transition. She had suspected it, but hadn’t seen proof of it with her own eyes.
“You are not of Olympus.”
“No, I am not.”
“But you are something ancient and powerful,” she said rhetorically.
“You couldn’t just stay away, could you? We could have lived in peace.”
“Then why pretend to be Hades and come looking for a fight.”
“Because I intend to rule, and you and your kind have to follow someone, for love or fear of them. I wanted you to know where your place is.”
“Who are you?”
His body shifted and changed once again to reveal a well-tanned South American man who looked to be sixty-years-old, but buff. Fit and strong, but weathered by a hard life. He had long, thick salt and pepper hair tied back in a ponytail. His facial features almost made him look primitive, his suit and manner looked anything but.
“My name is Maximón, and you will submit to me. I am not Hades, but I still defeated you and your friends alone, or have you forgotten so soon?”
She hadn’t, and that terrified her. She’d come here to end him, but she had no idea how that could be achieved. She put her pistol down on a table nearby, knowing it would be of no use in this battle.
“You want to try this again? You want to die here? For what, in the name of a god who is no more?”
“I will fight to save the world from your kind, and I will find a way to succeed.”
“Death it is, then,” replied Maximón with a smile.
He drew out his blade and squared off against her as the gunfire began to die down.
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