by Gideon Mills
It looked like Elric hired one of the other gangs to work for him. One that I was familiar with, and I would need to have a talk with their leader again. I had once in the past and made it very clear what I would do if I caught him doing this.
With Stefan gone, I was able to join the fray.
I went to the closest goon that wasn’t already engaged with one of the others. Seeing them fight was a sight to behold. Fleur was in her element as always. Kicking and punching her way around the room in that dance-like way of hers.
Felicity moved with the grace one would expect her to. She was extremely agile, and while she might not be the tallest in the room, she fought better than any of the men. She slashed and dashed around the room.
I came face to face with the man, he looked at me and gulped. “I surrender,” he said. The ruffian dropped to his knees with his hands up. I couldn’t help but laugh. This wasn’t the first time something like this occurred, but it never got old.
Not expecting this, I didn’t have any means to arrest him. So I knocked him out, and he fell to the floor.
Athena was having her way with the mere mortals as well. The room we arrived in looked like the landing area for an abandoned subway station. It was large and moldy. With the size of the place there were still gangsters to be dealt with. I moved on to the biggest in the room and faced off against him.
“You don’t scare me,” he said. “I’m a Paragon.”
“That means nothing to me,” I said. “I’m a God.”
The man smirked. He was big, at least as tall as me. His arms were massive, bigger than even mine, but that didn’t mean much. My size wasn’t what gave me strength. It was the magic that flowed through me, and the years of training and honing my skills, along with the wars fought by people on Earth. The more they fought and killed each other the stronger I was. These days with the war on terrorism, and the war against the Paragons, I was near my peak.
“Bring it,” I said.
“I think I will,” the man said. As I looked at him, he reminded me of that blob character. More fat than muscle, but that didn’t mean anything in the comics. I had a feeling it wouldn’t mean much now. With the confidence this character had, there was little doubt that he held his own against the likes of Stronggirl and more.
He smashed into me with a force that would have caused a building to crash to the ground. All around us, the other people wobbled on their feet. They looked around for the cause of the tremors. Even Athena was suffering from the waves of the impact.
Me, I just stood there and laughed. “That all you got?” I taunted the man. It was well past cocky of me, and I didn’t care. Every time a Paragon was sure they could out-muscle me, it made me laugh.
“How?” he asked.
“Do I really need to repeat it,” I said.
“Gods aren’t real,” the fat man said. His waist must have been a hundred inches or more.
“Yes, we are.” I pushed him away, and he went sliding across the area. He knocked several of the other fighters down, but thankfully avoided the people I cared about. Both Fleur and Felicity moved much faster and easily avoided the speeding blob.
I strode over to the man and grabbed him as he pressed against the wall. Not even using a fraction of my strength. “You don’t stand a chance.”
For what I imagined was the first time in his life, this man was scared. I saw it in his eyes. Never had he been so easily overpowered, and it showed all over him. To the point he fucking pissed his pants.
“You got to be shitting me,” I said and dropped him to the floor. He was useless to the others. No man this scared was going to fight us. I left him and went after some of the others.
Suddenly, the world around me was different. It shifted. “You might be stronger than him, but not me.”
I turned to see Elric. This was just what I wanted. The man of the hour was here, and I was going to make him pay. He clearly put the two of us in one of his little time bubbles. The others were hazy to me and not moving.
I analyzed the area around me. “You sped us up.”
Elric nodded. “Those in the bubble move at such a speed that many think it’s time travel, but it’s really not.”
That made a lot more sense to me. I had a hard time wrapping my head around actual time travel, and this revelation was one that I could handle and understand. Though it didn’t explain the burst of energy that he used to send me flying the last time we were in one of these.
“You wanted a fight,” the man said. “Here I am. Let’s dance.”
I grinned. This was going to be my revenge and would put an end this part of our task. We needed to remove Elric from play and focus on Reign, Fenrir, and Hera.
Before I could even reach him, he sent me flying back with another burst of energy. “Didn’t you learn from the last time?” he asked.
“Nice trick,” I grunted as I stood up after smashing into his bubble, which was strong enough to hold me in. I wondered if I could break through it, and what that would do to him. A thought for later.
“Yes,” he said. “You seem to have learned nothing.”
“I did learn your name and your powers. And your team, Stefan and Marie.”
“A pittance,” Elric said. “You learned nothing.”
I barred my teeth in anger and glared at him. “We can take you.”
This time I was ready for his burst and avoided the first one he sent at me. My speed in here wasn’t like outside the bubble. I moved more human, and that was making it harder for me, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t win this fight.
The third burst of energy he sent hit me square in the chest, causing my heart to skip a beat. I bent over and stared at the man. He really had the edge in here, and I needed to remove that. Get out of this bubble and fast. I turned to the haze that that blocked me in. “You can’t get out, and they can’t get in. Not unless I let them.”
The challenge was raised, and I was going to meet it. No way I was going to let him win. This ended here and now.
I sprinted at the barrier, with as much speed as I could muster. While it wasn’t what I was used to, it was enough to reach it fast. Elric shot another burst at me and continued. They bombarded me. Hitting me in the back, over and over. Each blow burned as it impacted me, but I ignored the pain.
I punched as hard as I could. Each collision against the barrier with my fist sent a commotion through me. I rattled down to my bones. My whole body felt the impact of each one, and it didn’t seem like I was making any progress. Yet, the blasts that Elric sent at me were weaker as he went.
I had lost track of the blows I rained on the fuzzy wall that surrounded us, but it shattered. I turned to hear Elric scream. “No!”
I smiled at my victory; I had done the impossible and escaped his trap. Now he knew that he couldn’t hold me. That I genuinely was stronger than him, and here I had the advantage. With him in my sight, I ran to him.
Suddenly, Marie Summers appeared next to him. Grabbed him and he was gone. “Fuck,” I said under my breath.
Around me, the chaos was dying down. In the mess I saw dozens of gang members on the floor covered in blood. Their own. As I took in my team, I saw they didn’t have a mark on them. To my surprise, standing between Fleur and Felicity was Stefan Cole. They had captured the little prick.
While not the victory we wanted, it was better than nothing. “What are we going to do with him?”
“Give him to McGarrett,” Fleur said. “We have to do this by the book.”
I grunted. “Reign better follow the rules too,” I said. “We need to talk to this man after he’s locked up.”
Fleur nodded. “I hope so, but we can’t give him a reason to come after us.”
She was right, but that didn’t make it any easier.
21
Reign and McGarrett
We called it in and let McGarrett know we had one of the members of the gang. He assured us he’d be there in a few. I looked around the station and was in shock at
it all. We laid waste to more people than I thought. On the ground had to be close to fifty gang members.
I had a few people I had to talk to now. Lincoln, and the leader of the Third Street Dragons. It shouldn’t have surprised me that he went against me and didn’t listen to my threat. Going back to him was going to be fun, but I didn’t like that I had to.
Twenty minutes later, the area was flooded with police officers. Not just members of the Anti-Paragon squad, but the gang unit as well. It was a fucking mess here with both units bickering for control of the scene.
To make matters worse, when McGarrett arrived, he wasn’t alone. On his tail was his boss, Reign. The sneer that covered Reign’s face told me all I needed to know. He knew whose hideout this was and wasn’t pleased that we raided it.
“What happened here?” Reign asked. He had stridden right over to me, and the others. Taking us all in. “And who is she?” Gesturing to Athena.
“Athena,” I said. “She’s in your database.”
We had made sure that she registered with McGarrett to make sure she wouldn’t get in trouble when we went out to find some bad guys. Athena had been against it but relented and understood why.
“Very well,” Reign said. “I’ll have to check that.” He pulled out his phone and made a call. A minute later, he had what he needed. “I see. She is.” Reign narrowed his eyes. Since he was working for Hera, he had to know she was Goddess, and powerful. Yet, he didn’t give any of that away. He really had one of the best poker faces around.
“Tell me why you raided this place?” Reign asked.
“As you know,” Fleur said. “We have been working the Broadway contract.”
Reign nodded, and I could hear his teeth grinding. The man really hated that he was forced to let us do some work in the city. That he lost so much when we exposed both Finn and Eris.
“Go on.” He gave an impatience gesture for her to get to the point.
“We learned that a man named Elric was the leader of a gang. He works with Marie Summers and Stefan Cole. Who we have here.”
“So, you just raided the place,” Reign said. “Without informing us.”
Fleur nodded. “We did, and according to the city order fourteen, that is within our rights.”
Reign crinkled his nose and bared his teeth. Next to his side his fists were clenched. “You are correct,” he said. His voice was laced with anger and hatred. “We’ll take it from here.”
“It is our right,” Felicity said. “To interview the prisoner.”
Reign gave her a look of disgust. “We shall see.”
With that Reign turned and went to belittle others. The way the other officers went running from him was classic. The man was a bully and good at it. I hated him and his perfect fucking smile. Reign oozed slime and filth from every pore of his body. How he got to be one of the most powerful people in the country was beyond me.
“What do we do now?” Athena asked. She too had a look of disgust on her face.
“We leave, and wait to hear from McGarrett,” Fleur said.
“He’s not gonna let us talk to Stefan,” Felicity said. Stefan was already gone and under the control of the Paragon Unit. McGarrett was somewhere on the ground now dealing with the mess. The two police units weren’t used to working together. Though if I had been in charge, they would be under the same division. Since many of the gangs had Paragons in them.
It was no wonder they needed heroes like us to help protect the city. Many of the people just couldn’t stop measuring their dicks to see whose was biggest. When that didn’t matter, since I was clearly the winner, and they had to realize that. Soon if the Paragons and humans didn’t work together, Hera would unleash the monsters and other Gods to destroy this place.
It was a scary thought. One I kept having, and I hated it.
With that, the four of us left the place, making our way out the way we came in. Just as we arrived at the exit, we were greeted by McGarrett.
“Good,” he said. “I got you before you left.”
“What’s up?” I was ready to go and sleep. Tomorrow I was going to make my trip to the Third Street Dragons.
“Reign is threatening to have you all arrested,” McGarrett.
“Let him try,” Felicity said. “We followed the law.”
McGarrett shrugged. “I’m not sure if you notice, but Reign really isn’t one for the law if it doesn’t go with what he thinks.”
“What do you want us to do?” Fleur asked. She didn’t appear too happy with Reign. We needed him to follow through on the rules, and let us talk to Stefan. Since we no longer had any leads on the case, and Elric got away. I gritted my teeth at that and cursed under my breath. Marie and her teleporting.
Going in, we knew her powers, but I hadn’t thought about her jumping in and taking him away. We were lucky she didn’t try the trick with Stefan. Maybe she’d been worried that with Fleur holding him, she would never get just him.
McGarrett was hesitant to speak. “Lay low.
I laughed. “Not gonna happen.”
“I was afraid of that,” McGarrett said. “I noticed these guys were all wearing Third Street Dragons gear, and that was the gang you attacked.”
“Attacked is not the word I would use.” I gave him my best smile.
“Fine, threatened into not killing people.” McGarrett returned the smile and added a wink.
“Much better, and I have to speak to the big guy again. I can’t let this slip by.” I let that hang in the air. Everyone knew that if I didn’t speak to him, that my word meant nothing and others would start up.
“Okay,” McGarrett said. “But be careful. Reign is on the warpath.”
“Tell us something we don’t already know,” Felicity said.
With that, we left. Tomorrow promised to be an exciting day.
22
Third Street Dragons
The next morning came too soon, after a rough night of sleep. So bad that I still hadn’t had my night with Felicity. It was hanging over my head and distracting me. So much had gone wrong in the raid on Elric.
We got Stefan in the raid, and I learned that I could harm Elric. Yet, it felt like a complete failure to me. I hated that we didn’t get Elric. That we were in the doghouse to Reign, and he might find a way to arrest us.
It felt like Hera was winning this war, and I had no clue what to do. That wasn’t entirely true, but I hated being on the short end of the stick. I’m Ares, the God of War, and things are supposed to work out in my favor. That was the way it happened in all the stories I’ve read about myself. Too bad they weren’t all true, and that didn’t happen.
I walked through the hideout doing my best to avoid everyone. After the fight last night, I just wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone. Not even Fleur, Lola, or Felicity.
When I arrived in the central area, only Lola was there. She had a look of a woman determined to get her work done. I didn’t dare go over to her and interrupt her flow. She was clearly in the zone.
As I neared the door, she spoke. “Not even a goodbye?” she said.
I frowned. “I didn’t want to interrupt.”
She stood and walked over to me. Lola Clark wore the same clothes from yesterday. “I didn’t stay up all night, and try to find Elric again, just so you could sneak off.”
I nodded and hung my head in shame. “I just feel bad about the raid,” I said.
Lola tilted her head and stared up into my eyes. She was inches away from me. “We did the best we could. You showed Elric that he isn’t unstoppable, that is something.”
Her eyes were pure and strong. She had all the faith in the world in me, and I knew then we could do it. Lola was one of sweetest, most caring people I have ever met. Much better than any of the Gods. Maybe that was why the world shifted and left us behind. The Gods were a bunch of pricks.
“I have more to do,” I said. “I can’t let the gang go unchecked.”
Lola nodded. “I know, but be careful. Reign will surely be
watching, and we don’t want a repeat of last time.”
The last trip to the Third Street Dragons played in my head. I’d had to run and ended up a long way from the lair, and with no way to contact the team. I had met Stan, and he was an interesting fellow.
I really hadn’t talked to Fleur about him and made a mental note to ask her. Stan had been an eye opener for me.
Lola looked up at me with anxious eyes, fearful that I was going to walk straight into a trap for Reign and the Third Street Dragons. She was right; I very well might be, but it was something that I had to do.
“It won’t be like last time,” I said. I patted my ear that held the high tech comm device that she had made. While it wasn’t needed last night, it would keep her and me in contact no matter what went down.
“I would rather you took the whole team,” she said.
“As much as I want to, I don’t want to risk them all. If it is a trap, and Reign puts me under arrest, it’s best to have the rest of you free.”
Lola nodded. “I guess so, but I don’t want to lose you.”
“You will never lose me,” I said. Even if I was gone longer on this side quest, I wasn’t going to lose her. Or any of them. I loved this team. Working with them and being with them. They completed me.
“Promise me.”
I pulled her tight against me and held her. Her heart raced as I embraced her. I kissed her on the head. “I promise that you will never lose me, that I will always be here, and love you.”
She hugged me back. Then we kissed. A short but intense one.
The street was empty that morning. I left early and hoped to catch them by surprise. My goal was to be in and out before even Reign had a chance to arrive to attack me. To get me for breaking the law. Since I was doing just that. I was giving him the fuel he needed. If I was caught that is.
There was a lone man standing at the door of the place I knew was home to the leader. He saw me coming, and his face turned white. He had been here the last time I assaulted the gang.