Chapter Three

Once again, the begotten son of Jupiter was having nightmares of being slain by the bloodhounds that were the twelve Dii Consentes and their minions. In his visions of the future he would be brutally tortured for aeons before finally being allowed to be erased from existence.

Some creeping footsteps awoke him from his recurring nightmares. Due to his killer instinct being half man, half god, he was ready to pounce the potential threat, but he sighed in relief seeing it was his new comrade in arms... not that he trusted him either, of course.

"Demiurge."

"Hercules," the lesser god stated, "Saturn has given us orders to investigate the mortal realm. He senses there is a god from a rival Pantheon with power on par with the Archaic Three. A pure evil deity who will devour the entire universe under his infinite wrath."

Hercules wasn't one to believe. "That can't be so..."

"But it is so, and we are investigate the severity of the threat. If worse comes to worse, we may have to have to work with the Dii Consentes to battle them."

Hercules growled. "Never. I'd rather join forces with the other gods."

"We very well could. Saturn will weigh our options once we can deliver some substantial intelligence on Darkseid and his capabilities."

"Darkseid?"

"That's the name of god from the opposing Pantheon. Either way, a great war is brewing."

((( )))

Back in the mortal realm, Cody was preparing fro the crisis at hand.

"It's a good thing I keep a stockpile in my secret lab."

"Secret lab?" London inquired.

"Yeah, a lab I created underground, in case of the zombie apocalypse or something."

"You're so silly..."

"Or perhaps not, given current circumstances."

He led her to his closet. Hidden behind on of the shoe shelves was a key card reader. "Going down."

London arched her eyebrows at at the fact that Cody's closet was the entrance to a secret lab. "Anymore surprises?"

He threw a cocky grin. "Perhaps."

Once the elevator made its descent, London was in awe as she saw an Apache helicopter and endless shelves of guns and ammo gracing the humongous metal corridor

"Where did you get all the funding for this?" A flabbergasted London inquired.

"Several of my classmates were pretty high up in the illegal drug and arms trade, so they hooked me up."

London looked disgusted. "You used crime syndicate money for this?!"

"It's for a good cause," he tried to assure her, "We're going to save the world, London."

She took a deep breath. "Fine. But after this, I may have to reassess where we stand. I love you, Cody, but I'm not ready to be involved with someone who hangs with mass murderers."

"I'm sorry to disappoint," a crestfallen Cody stated with immense depression in his voice.

London placed a hand on his shoulder. "You had reasons at least, not the best perhaps, but we're going to save the world. Right?"

The young man weakly smiled. "Yeah."

"So what's the plan?" The billionaire heiress inquired.

The up and coming scientist recounted his assessment. "Well, parademons aren't zombies, but they're just as dumb. They are durable though, so small arms fire won't work. He grabbed a couple AK47s from his armory and handed them to her. "Careful, these are loaded with incendiary rounds."

"Meaning?"

The young man stated matter of factly, "They go boom when they make contact with the target."

"I see."

He continued going over the inventory. "I also have a few semi auto Remington M11-87s, several hundred 12-gauge buckshot shells and 12-gauge incendiary shells. Last but not least, my baby, a Smith and Wesson .500 revolver with several hundred armor piercing rounds and incendiary rounds. We need to get it all loaded into the chopper."

"Doesn't the chopper have guns? Wouldn't be safer to attack from the air?"

"Perhaps, but those auto cannons fire a thousand rounds per minutes, meaning the ammo won't even last two minutes with constant fire. "

London look perplexed. "So we will eventually have to take the fight to the ground..."

"Yep." While London was worried, Cody was anything but. "I can't wait to use my guns in live combat!"

((( )))

Zack raced thought the heart of LA in his red C6 Corvette ZR1, gold plated Desert Eagle .50 Action Express in had. As law enforcement was overwhelmed by the influx of parademons, we wasn't worried about getting arrested and ultimately knew he had to fend for himself during this invasion. "Jesus H, when does it fucking end? Ever time I down one of these guys, three more show up in its place!"

A nearby explosion caused his car to loose traction and spin out. "The hell?"

Standing in the crater was an overtly muscular man in a small toga with short auburn hair and cerulean eyes. Several parademons attacked him, however he managed to kill them each with a single punch.

"Damn guy, who the hell are you?" Zack inquired.

"Hercules, son of Jupiter. Outcast from the realm of Olympus."

"No idea what that hell that means, but I'm glad you're on our side!"

"I can't say I'm on your side. I'm just doing some reconnaissance."

"What the fuck? Aren't you part of the Justice League?"

"Never heard of this so-called Justice League."

A few parademons snuck up on the son of the Olympus god king, but were mutilated under the sheer force of his raw muscle capacity as he could sense their presence and countered.

Zack was in awe. "Dude, where did you learn to fight like that?"

"I have been banished to the realm of the Titans, Tartarus. One is constantly under threat by demon-like entities in such a realm, hence it's necessary to fight for survival. Something you mortals just don't understand."

"Sounds like Hell," Zack affirmed.

Hercules confirmed, "Indeed."

((( )))

On the other side of the nation, London and Cody were mowing down Darkseid's foot soldiers left and right. They clawed for life as if they were under a berserker rage.

Thousands of parademon corpses where piling up around the couple as they blasted away. However, their progress was at a dead end.

"Oh no, I'm on my last magazine," London admitted.

"I got three magnum shots left!"

There were still thousand of parademons in close proximity, however, much to the couple's relief, they backed off.

"We won!" London exclaimed.

"I don't think so," Cody sensed this was a calm before the storm.

Indeed. Heavy footsteps drew near. Much to Cody and London's horror, the dreadlord himself has decided to pay them a visit.

"For mere humans, you two have put up quite the fight," Darkseid praised, "I am impressed." However, his train of thought was interrupted as he studied London's feature. He thought, it has been centuries since I've seen such a majestic and sensual woman. He inquired, "Tell me, young female, who are you?"

London was taken aback by the monstrous god of evil addressing her. "L-London... T-Tipton."

Darkseid grinned. "Tell me, London. How would you like the rule the universe with me, as my queen?"

"She'll do no such thing!" Cody shot off the last three rounds of his magnum pistol, however they were harmlessly deflected by his metallic skin.

The dreadlord was furious. "You dare strike me?!" He viciously backhanded the young man, snapping his neck in the process and made him skid several hundred meters across asphalt. A massive trail of blood marked his trajectory.

London screamed after seeing her lover attacked in such a manner. "CODY!"

Uxas stated matter of factly, "It would be best for you to forget him, that is not an attack any mere mortal can survive."

London fell to her knees, seemingly lifeless. She was so numb inside she couldn't bring herself to struggle as Darkseid grabbed her and hovered towards his flagship.

End Chapter Three.