Title: Night Comes Down
Rating: T
Warnings: A bit of language, Character death, eventual suggestiveness, vague spoilers for later episodes if you haven't seem them. Let's just get all our bases covered.
Disclaimer: Class of the Titans is the intellectual property of Studio B.
Summary: The prophecy is broken and Chronus rules the world with an iron fist. Six surviving teenagers struggle to stay alive in the apocalyptic world, searching for a way to bring their fallen comrade back to life and restore order. But Chronus has the upper hand, their precious technology is long destroyed, and the leader blames himself. Nobody counted on their fellow warrior being unwilling to return either. Is the Earth finished, or is there still hope?
Prologue: Heroes End
An unearthly scream rent the air as the citizens of New Olympia fled in terror; a practice they were beginning to get all too used to by now. As the panicked masses raced by, a grizzled man reeking of liquor weaved his way haphazardly through the crowd. He staggered in front of the entrance to a narrow alleyway, wild-eyed and preaching a rather dubious interpretation of biblical Armageddon to the world at large.
Crouched in the alcove, seven teenagers lurked just out of sight of the crowds, scanning the area for a glimpse of the beast, and an unhindered route towards it. Each was well aware that this course of action would be considered by most as 'really stupid', and hence concealment was entirely necessary to avoid such unnecessary questions, not to mention lessen the potential of getting trampled by a whole mess of people headed the other way.
Giggling softly to himself, his shock of purple hair just visible, Archie poked his nearest companion in the side, who, judging from the barely stifled yelp of shock turned out to be Neil. "I think there's a better chance of the world coming to an end from his body odor than...uh, whatever it is we're going to fight." he noted confidently, jerking his head in the direction the wayward man had taken.
This produced two reactions, the desired snort of laughter from both Neil and Herry (who had been behind him), and Atlanta hissing as their heads knocked together rather painfully.
"Geez, I'm sorry Atlanta, are you ok--"
"OW! NOW, You're crushing MY toes!"
"Sorry Neil..."
"These are designer trainers and..."
"Shhh. Guys!" Jay remonstrated to his squabbling teammates, and they fell dutifully silent, shooting each other glares that went totally unnoticed in the gloom. "Odie. Can you see anything?"
With the flick of a switch, an LCD glow lit up the alleyway eerie green. "I can't see anything from down here, but I have got a lock on it, using this tracker-sensor. It's making it's way north into the center of the city, coming from the direction of the harbor." He looked out at the street, where the rest of the rampaging mob had largely dispersed. "What-say, Mr. Leader?"
Jay's expression was fixed into the poker face he saved for battle as he replied. "I say, 'Let's go.'"
As one, the teens surged forward from their hiding spot, taking their cue from Jay and grimly preparing themselves for the coming battle.
The sky was a horrifying red, mingling sunset and the haze of ozone. Squinting through the smoggy air, Atlanta sniffed carefully as she jogged. "I'm pretty sure this thing breathes fire." she noted.
Beside her, Jay nodded, clearly taking the hunters' opinion into consideration. "Is there anything else?"
Before the red-head could reply, Herry's voice cut in. "Uh, yeah. It's pretty big, it flies, razor sharp talons, long, snake-like body, freakishly ugly..." with more force than he meant to, he knocked Jay and Atlanta out of the way, ducking just in time as the leviathan whistled overhead, missing his head by mere inches. Theresa and Archie raced over to help the two up, as the descendant of Hercules jumped to his feet, watching the beast circle around.
"What IS that thing?"
It hung in the air a second, letting out a second screech before diving at them again. Theresa this time found herself being dragged out of harm's way by Atlanta, who barely avoided being grazed herself. "It's fast!" she gasped, racking her brain as to some clue to it's origin. "I know I've never seen anything like this in any of the books, but it seems familiar to me somehow."
"Me too." Theresa nodded agreement, recovering slightly.
"Strange as it sounds, me too."
Atlanta raised an eyebrow, turning to Neil in shock as he drew up beside the two girls. "You don't even do any of the readings!" she accused, temporarily forgetting the situation in the face of the ire the model usually inspired in her. "How would YOU know?"
Neil shrugged, "I don't rightly know." he paused, waving his hands as if to ward off Atlanta's increasingly frustrated scowl. "I just know that I think something else had that freaky multiple snake-tail. Or maybe it was a head. Whatever."
Atlanta looked ready to deliver a brilliantly scathing retort, but Theresa held up a hand.
"Wait. Neil might have touched on something. I remember those horns, and that strangely shaped nose. They're just like the Minotaur-cows Chronus had engineered."
Their attention was momentarily brought back to the battle at hand as Archie aimed his Hephaestus whip at the creature, cursing as it glanced harmlessly off the beast's body with a slightly metallic clink. "It's heavily armored like those hideous Stymphalian birds, too." Neil added with a shudder, twitching as though he expected one to arrive and carry him off any moment.
Forgetting temporarily that she was supposed to be angry with the model, Atlanta's eyes widened as her brain started to piece the puzzle together. "You don't suppose Chronus created a hybrid of..."
"All my creatures? Ingenious, isn't it! I'm especially proud of it's Chimera tails - you'll note there's seven of them. One for each of you. It worked so very well against Jay."
The three observers whirled as one to face the God of Time, startled into silence from his surprise arrival. Before any of them could formulate a response to this horrifying confession, an angry blur in purple and gold raced past, and the Titan was forced to defend himself.
Deftly, the God of Time leveraged his scythe against Jay's blade, wrenching it from his grasp and sending it skittering away across the pavement. He clicked his tongue mockingly as the hero stumbled out of the way of a follow up swipe. "You make it too easy boy. Never rush your opponent like that."
Jay backpedaled wildly, groping for his extendable pole arm.
"Jay..." Archie's nervous voice cut across the expanse. "We really need your help here..."
Chronus stopped dead in his tracks, smirking nastily down at the brunette as he lazily cut a wormhole into the time-space fabric. "Oh! I see you're busy. Well. I'll come back later then. If there's anything to come back for later." He gestured at the creature. "I've been teasing it, poking it, generally neglecting to feed it and singing off-key at it. It's pretty 'pissed off', as you kids might say."
Jay growled, bringing his feet under him in preparation for a counterattack.
The God of Time gave a jaunty wave, and stepped towards the portal. "Anyhow, have fun. I'll be seeing you. Or not."
The extendable staff whistled through the air where the fugitive God had been standing a second too late, and Jay cursed under his breath.
"JAY!" Archie was frantic this time, his voice snapping the descendant of Jason back to the present. "We need you!"
"I'll be with you as soon as I get my sword back!" Jay yelled, as he picked it up and started back towards the battle at a dead run.
"It's okay, I've got it; it's too fast for all of you!" Wrist crossbow at the ready, Atlanta put on a burst of her infamous speed, firing wildly at the monster. A claw whipped around, whistling through air as she dodged with grace. Spinning back the other way, she rallied herself for another shot, the movement taking her directly into the line of fire of the beast's second set of arms.
Herry bounced impatiently on the balls of his feet, waiting to return to the battle as Odie tied a piece of his shirt around the deep gash on his arm. "Watch out for those claws, Atlanta! They can really sma..." he trailed off with a horrified gasp, not noticing that in his own expression of shock, Odie had tied the tourniquet bindingly tight, nearly cutting off the blood flow in his arm altogether.
"Atlanta!" Archie shrieked in grief, while Neil settled for arranging his face into an expression of terrified disgust. The hunter looked over her own shoulder in shock at the long talon that passed directly into her front and out her back, before sliding heavily backwards onto the ground. The Leviathan peeled off into the sky and Theresa who was closest, was by her side in an instant.
The redhead opened her mouth, but whether she had planned to speak her death throes, curse the name of her attacker or merely apologize for her failure, no one would ever find out as reality interjected with a spurt of blood that oozed thick and bubbling from her lips.
While Theresa had always claimed that Herry was the fool, it was she who smeared blood across her friend's chin, jamming her fingers clumsily into the younger girl's mouth as if in doing so, she could put the blood back where it belonged and miraculously make everything okay.
Ignoring the little stabs of pain in his arm, Herry broke free of Odie's ministrations and charged the abomination as it rallied itself to strike the unwitting Theresa. He leapt blindly onto it's head, hanging on fast and twisting desperately with his powerful arms. The creature let out a strangled coughing noise, and bucked wildly, threatening to shake Herry from its back.
"Odie! Neil! Jay! Archie!" he grunted. "Do something! Help me!"
Odie looked desperately around him finding nothing of use, while Archie ignored the summons in favour of aiding Theresa with Atlanta. Neil frantically snapped his fingers in front of Jay's eyes. "Jay! Earth to Jay!"
"For crying out loud Neil, YOU do something! Use his sword!" Odie screamed, as Jay continued to stare blankly into the distance.
"I've never used one of these before!" Neil hollered back.
"You're the lucky one!" Herry gasped desperately from above, blinking the sweat out of his eyes.
Wrenching the xiphos handle easily from Jay's limp grip, Neil fumbled frantically with the blade until it extended, then raced towards the monster, pulling up a bit in fear as it let out another ear-piercing scream. Putting as much strength as he could into it, he flung the short sword towards the beast, pulling himself up a bit proudly despite the circumstances as the lucky shot managed to pierce the armor and bury itself into the creature's chest.
Herry twisted the head around finally with a nasty-sounding snap as sinews tore, springing free as the wings stopped beating and the carcass plunged earthward. The dying creature gave a final convulsive twist that nobody noticed, so focused were they on Atlanta.
As Atlanta too closed her eyes, sweetly, calmly, as if she was merely falling asleep back in her own bed at the dorm, the earth cracked in two. Flame burst forth from the rift, and the heroes ran for it, Herry bodily dragging the statuesque Jay by one wrist, Odie encouraging the stricken Archie with slightly greater success, Neil and Theresa last, after maneuvering Atlanta's body into a comfortable carrying position on Neil's shoulders.
The group ran awkwardly down the street, bee-lining for the safety of the school and the protection of the Gods.
It was Odie who saw it first. "No…" he gasped, staring blankly at the flames which engulfed New Olympia High. With surprising strength, he managed to wrench Archie and the others back into the shadows, narrowly avoiding the gaze of the destructive monsters that patrolled the perimeter.
"What…do we do?" Neil asked hesitantly, resting Atlanta against a nearby wall. Her head flopped forward bonelessly, and he winced at the pitiful sight.
Behind them, there was a soft choking sound, and the group wheeled around in terror. What they saw was far worse than anything Chronus could have invented, as Jay's façade had finally cracked, leaving the leader of the Heroes on his knees, crying as though the world was about to end.
Unfortunately for them, it was already ending.
Author's Notes: Hopefully this has been an enjoyable read, and thanks to Miss Twill for convincing me to take a stab at writing it. Also, bonus points to anyone who can figure out (one of) my favorite bands from the titles alone.