New Olympus Saga (Book 1): Armageddon Girl

by C. J. Carella

  Kestrel was checking on Condor. “He’s going to be all right,” she said.

  That left the Lurker and the guy in the black suit. I turned towards them just in time to see Christine collapse and start to sob and vomit at the same time. I ran to her.

  She was dry-heaving now. “Oh, God,” she said over and over. Her eyes were tightly closed and tears ran down her face. “Oh, God, Dad.”

  I didn’t know what to do. I held her and she shook in my arms and sobbed hysterically. Condor and Kestrel were back on their feet; they warily approached the Lurker and his psychic sparring partner. “Don’t get too close,” I warned them. I wasn’t sure why, but I didn’t think touching either of them was a good idea. There was a faint dark purplish glow around them, and the last time I’d seen that glow was when the Russians' disruptors had fucked us up all to hell. “But do me a favor and kill that asshole at range, would you?”

  “Roger that,” Condor said, producing a couple of his claws. His throws were fast and precise, aimed at Black Suit’s throat. The claws spun forth at speeds only a Neo’s enhanced reaction time could follow – and disintegrated three feet away from the target. “Shit. Guess you were right about not getting close.”

  “We have those energy rifles we took from the Russians,” Kestrel suggested. “I can get them from the Condor Jet.”

  “Good idea,” Condor said. She nodded and rushed off.

  I turned my attention back on Christine. “Hey,” I said softly. “Christine. Come on.” Yeah, I was being fucking useful all right. I’d be trying prayer next to see how that worked out.

  “Oh, God,” she said again, but she'd stopped crying, and that was something. “Okay. Okay, I will not go crazy. I will not blow my sanity rolls.”

  She was chattering again; that was a good sign.

  “My father…” She shuddered. “Ugh, it’s still bad, but the worst of it is fading away. I’m repressing it, I guess. I’m sure it’ll come back to me in my sleep. Great. Not. Dad’s been in touch with the Outsiders, uh, Big Bads from outside the universe. That’s why he’s batshit insane. He blew his sanity rolls – game term, sorry – and they got to him. And that other guy’s worse. He gave himself to the Outsiders, body and soul. There’s nothing left of him.”

  “Sounds like he needs killing,” I said. “Can you blow his head off?”

  “I don’t know, but I really should try.” She got to her feet.

  “You have to get out,” the Lurker said in his inhuman voice. Some of the disturbing symbols carved on his mask had started to melt off, along with the skin and flesh underneath. The mixed smells of burning flesh and rubber added a little extra something to the evening’s festivities.

  “Not without you,” Christine said. “You need help, Dad. The Outsider stuff is killing you. Let’s take out that a-hole and get out of here!” She started concentrating.

  “Don’t,” her father said. One of the symbols on the mask exploded, burning a hole right through his forehead, but he didn’t seem to feel it. “You’re not ready to deal with him. I will deal with him, but you may not survive the energy release when I do it.”

  ‘May not survive’ sounded pretty serious to me. As if to emphasize his words, the whole island shuddered. Earthquake or energy release? I knew which way to bet. “Let’s get the hell out of here!” I shouted. “To the Condor Jet! Now!”

  Condor took off running – he needed to get the aircraft up and running if we were going to get out of this fucking rock. Christine was still standing there. “Come on!” I yelled at her.

  “John! He needs help,” she replied, pointing at Ultimate. He was unconscious but alive, and his guts were mostly back where they belonged. All-American Heroes were built to last.

  “I’ll get him. Go!” I said, tossing the Not-So-Invincible Man over my shoulder and urging her on.

  She looked at the Lurker, who was now levitating a few inches in the air, his arms outstretched, facing the soulless asshole. Dark energy was swirling around him, and his mask was a melting mess. I noticed that some of the symbols on the walls had also started to melt and explode. I wasn’t sure what that meant, except that it was all bad. “Dad?” Christine said.

  He turned towards her. One of his eyes was visible now, the mask having melted off half of his face. That eye was a solid pool of darkness. “Go,” he said in his inhuman voice, and Christine went.

  I was right on her heels, stopping only for a couple of seconds after she left to pick up a little keepsake. The tunnel shook as we ran. It was my first experience with an earthquake, and I didn’t care for it. When we came out, the whole island was shaking hard enough to make it hard to stay on our feet, and the lake’s waters were splashing all around it, making some impressive waves. The Condor Jet’s engines were all fired up. Ultimate and I were the last ones in. I unceremoniously dumped him on the rear seats and went to sit down near a window as the Condor Jet started rising. The tunnel’s mouth spewed fire mixed in with the swirling darkness that was becoming much too familiar for my taste. Christine was looking out as well; she was biting her lips hard enough to draw blood.

  We managed to get far enough not to get obliterated when the island exploded like a soda bottle stuffed with cherry bombs. The shockwave nearly sent the craft spiraling towards the water, but Condor managed to keep us in the air. When things settled down enough for us to look out the windows again, we saw a mushroom-shaped pillar of fire and ash rising majestically over Lake Michigan. People in three states and Canada were getting a treat for the eyes.

  The world was more fucked up than I had ever imagined, but at least we were alive.

  “Any ideas where to go?” Condor asked from the cockpit. “No offense, but I’m not bringing this mess to New York if I can help it.”

  “How about somewhere off the beaten path?” I suggested. “You’re the rich playboy, bud. Don’t you have a shack or a cabin or a time-share somewhere in Upper Bumfuck or something?”

  “Well, yeah. A few places. There’s an old hunting lodge in Canada that’s pretty remote.”

  “Sounds like a place to regroup,” I said. Everyone agreed, except Christine, who seemed to be in shock, and Ultimate, who was still sleeping off his near-death experience, the wimp. I turned to Christine. She was pale as a ghost, and beginning to suffer from reaction aftereffects. So was I, for that matter. My hands were shaking a bit, but I ignored them. Comes with the territory. We overdose with adrenaline during a tough fight, and this one had been the toughest one yet.

  “Hey,” I said.

  It took a while before her eyes would focus on me. I didn’t rush her.

  Christine Dark

  Lake Michigan, Illinois, March 15, 2013

  “Hey,” Mark said, extending a hand towards her. Christine took it.

  “Hey-hey,” she replied. Images of dead worlds orbiting dying stars flashed inside her head. She forced them to go away. She’d deal with the visions and premonitions and the heebie-jeebies later. She glanced at one of the wall screens and noticed the time. “Hey, it’s past midnight. The worst day of my life is finally over.”

  “Mine too,” Mark replied. “I’m sorry about your father,” he added.

  “Me too,” she said. Her eyes were dry this time. I’m all cried out, she guessed. “I wouldn’t count him out, though. He could pull a Gandalf and show up in a few days. The White Lurker or something like that.”

  Mark chuckled. “Sure. Weirder shit has happened. Hell, weirder shit has happened in the last fifteen minutes.”

  “I didn’t get to see the whole message Dad prepared for me,” she added. “I dropped the cube when you tackled me. Not that I’m blaming you, since the Big Bad was about to slice and dice me at the time, but I still don’t know what's going on.”

  “Got a riddle for ya,” he said with one of those awesome internal grins only she could see. “What have I got in my pocket?”

  “What..? You got the cube?” She could read his no-face like a book. “You got the cube!” Christine leaned o
ver and hugged him. He wants to kiss me, she suddenly realized, but he didn’t.

  “I noticed it on our way out, when I was rescuing the All-American Hero,” Mark said after a second of awkward silence. “Figured you might need it. It’s the least I could do after you saved my ass in there. I didn’t know you had healing powers too.”

  “I guess I’m a multi-class multi-talented freak of nature,” Christine said, trying to sound more confident than she felt.

  Mark produced the cube for a second, then stuck it back in his pocket. “You should probably hold off on using it until we are relatively sure it’s not going to attract more gangs of homicidal maniacs.”

  Christine resisted a sudden urge to pretend to look angry and start demanding he give the cube to her, maybe throw in a couple ‘my preciouss’ for extra drama. It would have been funny, but too much bad crap had happened for her to feel right making a joke. “You’re right,” she said. “But at least we have it. That’s something.”

  She thought again about the two sides of the war. Cosmic Nerds versus the Outsiders, with Earth a little colonial kerfuffle out in the boonies; there was bound to be lots of collateral damage. She turned to Mark. “So what do we do now?”

  “We fly to Condor's hunting lodge and if the place has the fixings, I’ll make us some pancakes. You like pancakes?” Christine nodded and he went on. “Pancakes, then we relax for a few hours. After that, we’ll see.”

  “After that, we figure out how to save the world,” Christine said with conviction. When in doubt, act like you know what the frak you are doing.

  “Always wanted to do that,” Mark replied.

  They sat side by side, and after a bit she leaned her head against his shoulder and fell asleep.

  Epilogue

  Medved emerged from the waters of Lake Michigan and gently deposited his beloved on the beach’s sandy soil. His lady had been badly hurt, but she would recover. Rage filled him, but confusion as well. He had wanted to tear the evil bitch that had hurt his lady, but instead he had run, fled like a coward. He had never run away like that. He did not understand why he had done so, and he hated things he did not understand.

  He did not have time to ponder such things for long. A violent convulsion seized his body and he collapsed next to Lady Shi. The convulsions went on for a long while.

  Some time later, Lady Shi came to and saw Medved’s inert form lying on the ground. “Darling?” she asked tentatively.

  Medved opened his eyes. A strange lopsided smile that did not fit his coarse features slowly formed on his face. “I’m afraid not, my dear,” he said in a reedy, tremulous voice. “I’m sure you haven’t forgotten me.

  “I’m your good friend, Mr. Night.”

  THE END

  TO BE CONTINUED IN DOOMSDAY DUET

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Acknowledgements

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Epilogue