by David Beers
In truth, to meet Alistair and Caesar in a tight spot was a death warrant. Of course, those attacking couldn't have known that, but the physical setup favored them. The enemy could only have three men fighting at a time, and none of them were prepared for the violence they ran into. Alistair cut them down with his Whip as Caesar used his sheer size to pulverize anyone who got in his way.
They fought through a quarter-kilometer of men, stepping over the dead even as they created new death. At the end of the quarter-kilometer, the remaining men fled. They buckled under the pressure of certain death and rushed back into the fortress.
Alistair turned to the giant, his shoulders heaving as breath rushed in and out of his mouth. "Well done."
Caesar nodded but said nothing. Blood and guts covered the two of them as if they'd been born from a nightmare.
Alistair turned to look at his soldiers. "You all okay?"
He saw the awe on their faces. Perhaps fear, too. So much violence in such a fashion had to inspire both emotions.
Relm finally spoke. "Just waiting for my chance to get involved, broth."
The giant replied, "It is coming."
Ares wore his MechSuit, everything but the helmet still retracted into the neckline. He stood next to one of the underworld generals, a man who looked like he'd been in his fair share of battles but had no training outside of what his profession had given him through trial and error.
The general held a DataTrack, and Ares had watched Alistair and some freak of nature wipe out almost a legion. Finally, the men fled, knowing that to stand any longer would only bring death.
Ares had never seen anything like the man next to Alistair. He was covered in black armor and was much taller than Alistair. "Who is that?" he asked as they watched the invasion proceed uninhibited.
"That's a gigante," the general said absently. "He must have started serving your friend there at some point."
"He's human, right?" Ares asked. The word “gigante” sounded foreign, and the man was too big. Something wasn't adding up.
"To a point, I guess. They're made in labs. We have more." The general touched things on the DataTrack, giving orders to move men and weapons to the tunnel's endpoint. The plan was to make it a kill zone, where Alistair would be forced into tight quarters. Manius' men could spread out and fire indiscriminately.
Ares knew Alistair wasn't stupid. He'd expect this, and the man was a brilliant tactician, so it wouldn't be as easy as the general was thinking. "You have more of those things?" He pointed at the DataTrack.
"Quite a few, yes." He was hardly paying attention to anything Ares said.
"Why in the hell aren't we using them? That creature is a force of nature. A tornado."
"It's too late for a lot of reasons I don't have time to explain right now, all right? Just know your friend there could turn the entire cohort against us, and then we’d be in real trouble. Got it?"
Ares didn't, not really. The general was pinning his hopes on this kill zone, but Ares was thinking further ahead. There was a thirty percent chance Alistair would make it out of that, especially with the creature at his side. He was like a battering ram of old, the kind invading armies had used to break down a castle's doors.
Where are you going, old friend? Ares wondered. You can expect to get inside here, I think, but back out? No. You've lost the element of surprise, and carrying a wounded Thoreaux with you? You'll be cut down.
It clicked then what Alistair's plan was. He was far too smart to think he could get out, not without help. Ares didn't understand what the general had said, but if Alistair was in charge of one of those creatures, he did understand.
If this man thought all those gigantes would serve the Fallen Titan, then so did Alistair. He was heading to them.
Ares left the general, the plan formulating in his head. He had to find Hel.
Ares rushed through the fortress. The bitch had to know what was happening by now, and there was no chance she'd fight Alistair straight up. Ares had seen other Titans like her who had devolved the same way. A beating that severe changed a person. It brought real fear to them, perhaps for the first time, and that was what had happened to Hel. She would try to hurt Alistair in the most painful ways imaginable, but only if she was safe.
Ares found her in her room. She was donning her battle gear, but her Whip was already on her hip. Her back was to him when he stepped in the open doorway. "Are you going to fight?" he asked, though he knew the answer.
"Yes," she said, both of them knowing it was a lie.
"The prisoner, is he dead?"
Hel strapped a vest to her chest. "No. I'll kill him when Kane is there to see it."
"Do you think we're going to win this? After everything that's happened, you know he's unbeatable. It's like the god of war reached down and touched Kane, giving him this one task to accomplish: to rise against the people who tried to hurt him."
She turned, an eyebrow raised. Her normal mocking smile was gone, replaced by grim resolution. "What the fuck are you talking about, Titan? Don't come here and try to bait me with this fatalistic talk. Tell me what you want to happen or leave, because I have things to do."
I'm sure you do, Ares thought. "I have a way we can win."
She slowly moved her hands to her hips. "What is it?"
Ares went through what he thought was happening. He told her about the giant, which she admitted to having seen in Manius' quarters. He explained there were more of them and that Alistair was heading for them.
That was how the former Titan planned on getting out of here—with an army of giants.
"Who else did you tell?" Hel asked.
"No one. I came to find you because I figured you're a devious bitch who can work it to our advantage."
"You didn't even tell Veena?"
Ares shook his head. "No one else." He saw the wheels turning in her head. He'd been right, and if his father could see him now, he would be proud.
"We've got to find them, these giants." Hel continued dressing. "Do you have any idea where they are?"
"The easiest way is to look at where Alistair is now and plot where he's heading. If we can get there first, we might be able to change this whole endeavor."
Hel hooked a StarBeam to her belt and moved across the small bare room with a speed Ares recognized as deadly. Just because a god of war had beaten her senseless, it didn't mean anyone else could. Ares would be smart to remember that.
She picked up a DataTrack and pulled up Alistair's location. He and his crew had stopped a bit short of the intended kill zone, showing that Alistair knew what was planned. Hel didn't study where he was but zoomed out and looked at the fortress’ blueprint. People were moving up and down hallways, preparing for battle. Hel pressed the screen, and everything disappeared from the view except the kill zone.
"When he comes out, he can take a right or a left. Based on the way these men are lined up, they're trying to push him left. They may not know what he's doing, but they don't want him to get to those creatures." Hel zoomed out on the DataTrack, moving the blueprint to the right. There wasn't anything that seemed to hold giants, so she dropped down another floor. Still nothing. She dropped down one more, and there it was. It wasn’t obvious unless you knew what you were looking for. It looked like a dorm or a barracks, but three levels beneath the ground? "That's where Manius hides them. That's where we're going." She looked at him. "Are you ready to end this thing? Maybe we can get back to Earth and have a life again."
Ares nodded. "I'm ready."
Hel led the way, bringing the DataTrack with her. Ares followed, but she never looked back. She was wrapped up in the giants, which was what Ares had hoped for.
No one glanced at them as they made their way through the fortress. Everyone had their own agendas to attend to in those moments, and most of them thought their next actions were of life and death importance. Perhaps they were, but Ares was glad no one looked at them.
After descending the final staircase, they reached
the giants’ level. A large door stood between them and what they wanted, closed and locked. A panel was on the wall to the right, but they understood it wouldn't let them in. Truthfully, it was amazing they'd gotten this far; only the war could explain it. Things weren't sealed off because the enemy wasn't inside yet. Freedom of movement was paramount to setting up defenses. Only this level was locked down.
"Okay, Titan," Hel said as she unhooked her Whip. "We're going to burn our way through this damn thing."
Ares nodded as he freed his Whip. Hel approached the door first but didn't plunge her weapon into it. She looked at Ares as he approached. "You first, big man."
Ares smiled, a disarming, charming expression. "How about the same time?"
"You're not all looks," Hel said with a grin. "Let's go."
Turning their Whips into swords, they unfurled them and drove them into the door. It took a few seconds to plunge them deep into the metal, then there was nothing to do but wait. The door would need to melt enough for them to get through.
Hel was still smiling, and Ares smiled too.
There was only greed in her eyes. Ares thought of his father at that moment and the lessons he'd been taught over all those years. His father had been right; Ares had been lucky to have someone raise him with so much wisdom.
He kept his smile plastered on his face as his MechSuit's helmet rolled out of the neckline. He watched as Hel's grin faltered.
"Who knows what's on the other side of that door," Ares said as the helmet enclosed his head.
He didn't try to pull his Whip out of the metal.
Hel understood a second too late. She started yanking at her Whip, wanting to get it out of the door, but the metal held it.
Ares shoved her with both arms, releasing his Whip. The suit multiplied his strength, and she slammed into the far wall. "You have no honor. You're not even human, Hel, and what you did to that Subversive made my stomach turn."
Hel slid to the floor, dazed. Her head had hit the wall hard.
"I don't hate you like Alistair does," Ares said as he crossed the small space in three large steps. "I won't beat you like he would, and for that, you should thank me. I'm going to be merciful."
Hel looked up, fear replacing the dazed look. She reached for the laser blade on her belt, but Ares kicked her hand away, breaking bones. She screamed and tried to get to her feet, scrambling up the wall.
Ares said nothing. He simply grabbed the woman by the head with his metal gauntlets.
He turned his hands, and the movement snapped the assassin's neck. Her body went limp, and her bladder let loose. He held her there for a second, enjoying the look frozen on her face.
Ares couldn’t deny what he saw, which was pure shock. She'd never thought this would happen. She had killed others and manipulated people for so long that in the end, she’d thought herself invincible.
Ares let her drop to the floor and looked over his shoulder at the door. It was nearly finished. His Whip was starting to fall as the door melted. He walked over to it and pulled it out. Ares turned it off but left the dead woman's Whip to finish the job.
He had other things to accomplish, none of which had anything to do with the giant creatures down here.
Chapter Twenty
“While the Gigante’s healing technology will be a great boon to your force, overuse can lead to premature death.”
—From Gigante’s Owner’s Manual, The Orion Corporation
Alistair had stopped the group out of sight of the coming attack.
He knew if they were going to die, it would be here. They were at a disadvantage now instead of the other side.
For all his gifts, Alistair couldn't think of a way through this. He understood that the moment that one of them poked their head up high enough for the enemy to see, they'd make sure they never had to put pants on again.
Alistair was on one knee, as was everyone else. The lights were still off in the tunnel, and his hood covered his face. He could feel the blood on his cheeks dripping, covering his jaw. His entire body smelled of raw, human flesh.
"I'm out of ideas," he told the group. "If we go forward, they're going to cut us down like farmers at harvest time." He looked back the way they'd come.
The giant stood and looked at Relm. "You ready for your chance, little man?"
Relm raised both eyebrows. "’Little man?’"
"Tiny man," the giant said with a grin the size of the quarter-moon. "You ready for your chance?"
Relm chuckled. Everyone was a tiny man to this creature, or everyone except Alistair. "Yeah, I'm ready, broth."
Caesar turned to Alistair. "Attack. I will handle everything else."
Alistair glanced at the giant's hands. He understood what the creature was saying. Whatever he had done to help Faitrin, he was now going to use it on them. Alistair remembered what Faitrin had told him, though—that using the nanotechnology hurt him. If he used too much of it, he could die. "Are you going to survive?"
The giant shrugged, still smiling. "I serve, master."
Alistair thought he saw something in the being's face, something he understood. This creature had been bred to serve but also to kill. He was supposed to go into the most harrowing places imaginable and wreak havoc, but except for the time he’d faced Alistair, he had never been challenged, or not since leaving the school he was born into.
This was his chance to challenge himself. Strangely, he was looking forward to it.
Alistair stood, then carefully reached over and touched the giant's boulder-like shoulder. Caesar was uncomfortable with the act, but he didn't move. "Thank you for what you're about to do."
Caesar cocked his head to the side. He didn't understand what was being said, not fully.
Alistair dropped his hand and looked at the others. "You know what to do." He was quiet as he took the measure of the three. Even with the giant's ability to heal, they would probably die here. He pulled his Whip off his belt and let the lasers drop to the floor, creating a red glow in the dark tunnel. He retracted his hood now that they could see again.
The others did the same.
"See this blood and die."
The group's voice rose as one, echoing off the walls. "Ave, Prometheus!"
Alistair disappeared, and the killer stepped forward. Prometheus was here.
He turned to the enemies; he needed to say nothing else. The five rushed toward glorious death.
Veena was looking for Hel, but she couldn't find the woman anywhere. She wasn't in her room or in her torture chamber. The Primus had popped her head into it to make sure. The smell had forced her out. She had no idea how Hel stood it.
If the bitch could handle the vicious acts she committed, a bad smell probably didn't bother her much.
Veena was searching for Hel because she'd made her decision. She wasn't going to let the assassin kill this Subversive after what she'd done to him. Deep down, Veena felt cowardly for not stepping forward after listening to Ares' speech about waiting. That might be okay for someone like him, but she should have put a stop to it.
She would do so now, even if it meant she had to kill Hel. The Subversive would be taken back to Earth, given medical attention, and put on trial. That was how things should work. That was how they did work; this deviation had to end.
Veena was shocked that Kane had come here, but she had no reason to believe he would survive. He'd only survived so far because of Myrmidons or the bitch she was searching for, outside of Veena's mistake on Pluto. Those factors had been removed, and an entire army of cutthroats would put him down.
Veena would ensure this Subversive was subjected to no more acts of horror. When this was over, she was going back to Earth. If that meant losing her place as Primus and being Clipped or anything else, she'd accept it. She was done with this madness.
She heard Ares' heavy footsteps approaching, his MechSuit making it hard for him to sneak up on anyone. Veena had closed the Subversive’s door. She looked down the hall at the Titan in his crimson s
uit. "Have you seen Hel?"
Ares walked closer but stopped about five meters away. "Yes."
Veena could slap him. Now wasn't the time for games. "Well, where is she?"
"At the bottom of a stairwell. She's dead."
Veena froze as she processed the information. She had come here with the possibility of killing Hel in the back of her mind, though she hadn't honestly thought it'd be necessary. Now this Titan in full gear was telling her the woman was deceased. "How?"
"I broke her neck," Ares answered.
"Why?"
"Because she deserved it." His face was a mask, showing no emotion. "She deserved far worse if we're honest; her death was too merciful."
Veena slowly placed her hand on the StarBeam at her hip. "Did you come here to kill me too?"
"That depends on you."
The lasers and plasma streaked through the air like comets.
Prometheus charged forward without knowing who was beside him or behind him. He had only one goal: the death of everyone in front of him.
The first shot to hit him tagged his shoulder. The SkinSuit tried to react to the plasma, but it wasn't built to withstand that kind of burn, so the plasma melted into his flesh. He ignored the pain and charged forward, only three meters from his target.
A laser slashed across the outside of his thigh, slicing through suit and meat alike. He heard a scream behind him but rushed forward as blood poured from his body. Two meters out.
He didn't see the insects at first; his mind was focused on bringing death to his enemies. He saw the first one in the corner of his vision, floating on the side. He didn't have time to look, but suddenly there were more surrounding his head as they tried to find purchase on his shoulder.
He reached the line of battle as plasma blasted his left forearm. The Whip in his right hand cut through the first line of soldiers, putting two on the ground with their intestines rolling across the floor. Lasers came from behind him as Servia aimed at the enemies. He saw the insects landing on his nearly shattered left arm, the pain dead to him in his bloodlust.