Hello, Internet, and welcome to chapter nine of Operation: Angry Gods! I apologize for the long wait, but I was slammed with homework because of three upcoming AP exams in a month's time.
This story now has over 2,000 views, 18 followers, and 7 favorites, as well as 10 reviews, all of them mostly positive, with one big complaint I went back and fixed because it bugged me too. Thanks to each and every one of you, I take the time to respond to most reviews via pms, and will respond to any future Anonymous reviews here. Keep them coming!
I would also like to apologize in advanced. This chapter started as an alley ambush but somehow became a satire/ crossover with a John Woo movie. That probably wasn't what you expected when you started this story, but XCOM is about the unexpected. This insanity will only last this chapter, so expect to be back to my normal levels of insanity next chapter. Enjoy!
Quote of the day:
Missed! How could you miss? He was three feet from you!
—Mushu, Mulan; Every player of any XCOM game ever.
(Mark's POV)
The dinner was really awkward.
Mark was sitting in between Piper and Bradford, with Leo and Calypso on the soldier's left, and Percy and Annabeth next to them. Percy and Calypso seemed to be trying to put distance between each other, while Annabeth and Leo were trying to get a read on the other's love interest. Jason and Piper were trying to figure out how to diffuse the bomb of emotion in front of them, while Bradford was trying to pretend he wasn't there. And Mark?
He was admiring the puzzle that is teenage emotions and relationships
The tension was palpable around the table, but around their little group, the little tea shop hidden in a corner of Hong Kong was bustling. Customers laughed, tea sloshed in their glasses, and birds flew about in cages hanging from the ceiling. The waiter slowed down near the table and looked at Bradford. "Ni xihuang he shenme?" What would you like to drink?
Mark spoke Chinese, but his poor second-in-command knew none. Bradford (he knew his first name now, but it was hard not to associate the man with his surname) was fluent in German thanks to his dad, and knew a little Japanese according to the conversation Mark had undertaken on the flight to Hong Kong with Bradford. He had learned Bradford's full name, now he wanted to know more about the man who owned the name. They were getting along better now that bridge had been crossed.
Mark shrugged off his thoughts and leaned forward towards the confused Bradford and waiting waitress. "Dui bu qi," Mark began, his accent perfect, "Shu shu de zhong Wen bu hao." I apologize, but my uncle's Chinese isn't good. Mark turned to the demigods. "What type of tea should we get?" he asked. When he was met with only confused looks, he replied, "Well then, let's get something a little different than you get at home." He turned to the waiter Ni men yao Baihao Yinzhen." We would like to have white hair silver needle tea.
The waitress's eyes widened, with good reason. That tea was expensive, and the only foreigners who sought out that type of tea were connoisseurs, not lanky teenagers. She looked towards Bradford who nodded. He may be language blind, but he knew what Baihao Yinzhen was. Corporal Zhang had brought some from home when he was picked up by XCOM, and had made some for the ranking officers at a couple of war councils. Good times. It hit them hard when he bit the dust. That ex-criminal was one of the best.
Mark turned back to the drama unfolding in front of him. Or rather, the awkward silence that had fallen over the table. He was ninety-percent sure he knew what was going on here. Between saying "oh gods, oh gods, I hate flying" two-hundred times on the flight, Percy had mentioned being stranded on Ogygia, Calypso's home island. Jason took the tale from there, stating that every hundred years, a hero would wash up on Calypso's island, the kind of hero she couldn't help but fall in love with. The hero would always leave for a lover or a cause, and, because no one could find the island twice, Calypso would always be that hero's biggest what-if. Even Odysseus (something about dwarfs in Bologna?) had been thinking about her even when he was an old man in Greece. And then Leo had ended up on the island, and had fallen madly in love with the first girl whom he really felt for.
From there, the pieces fell in place. Percy and Annabeth were worried about Calypso holding a grudge, due to some experience they had shared (a curse from a bitter lover, maybe, the commander mused, then pushed the speculation aside). The thing was, knowing how determined, loyal, and kind Percy was, he had probably tried to get Calypso freed from her prison at some point, but hadn't followed up on it because the son of Poseidon is also a little too trusting sometimes (the interrogation had proved that, to be honest.) He held no animosity towards the daughter of Atlas, but wasn't sure of the vice versa. Meanwhile, Leo and Calypso were worried about the exact opposite: was there still a flame there? (It was a stupid worry, but hey, love is blind) Meanwhile, Piper and Jason were wondering why the hell their friend had never called or at least sent a not dead yet, wish you were here postcard.
Yes, this was a tangle of emotions, Mark mused. But this was getting nowhere, so he decided to break the tension. "So, Leo and Calypso," the young leader droned, "are you curious about how we found you?"
The couple was startled out of their worried musings, and turned towards each other. "We were wondering about this appearance. So how did you find us?"
Here, Mark made a split-second decision to switch to ancient Greek. It would make things a little more difficult (there isn't an ancient Greek word for "big-ass flying saucer"), but they were getting into sensitive territory, and most citizens of Hong Kong spoke English. "My people track UFO's and supposed sightings. I just ran your face through our database of unconfirmed or dismissed sightings. Your picture popped up in a Russian Newspaper with the title 'dragon sighted in the sky, shot down over Moscow.' From there, you weren't exactly subtle. Blowing up a terror cell in the Middle East, various serpent and monsters throughout Eurasia… you know how it goes."
"You're people?" Leo asked. "Who are you, Scully?"
Mark laughed as the tea arrived. He thanked the waiter then went back to the conversation. "No, I fight aliens."
"Like the ones that attacked this city and many others?" Calypso interjected. "We saw the battle sites, heard the stories of soldiers holding back the alien threat."
"Yes, I am the leader of that organization." Mark grinned, then switched back to English. "Now that I think about it, I can see you spouting romantic poetry. You have a way with words."
Calypso blushed, which earned Mark a glare from Leo. He raised his hands in a surrender posture. "She's all yours. Now let's not let this tea get cold." With that, a much more comfortable silence fell over the table. Once again, Mark was the one to break it.
"So, you were gone for a year before you dropped in on the Russians. How old are you, biologically speaking?"
Leo thought for a second, but it was Calypso who answered. "We are both sixteen. I gave up immortality for repair boy, so I kept track."
As the conversation continued, Mark fell under a bit of a shock. She really does love him, Mark thought, looking at the couple in question. That makes three times in my life I have seen true love. Good god, I've become a romantic. Mark rolled his eyes…
And stopped when he spotted a familiar face in the crowd.
"Well, shit," Mark muttered, flagging the waitress down.
"What is it?" Bradford asked, breaking off the demigods' conversation.
"Pass the tea around, and take a glance at the table with all the doves."
Mark waited for this to happen, remembering what he saw. Among all the fluttering birds, an older gentleman sat. He wasn't handsome by any definition, but he was hardened by years on the street. He had tea, but he sipped little, keeping his eyes on one table. Mark had met this man twice, and once was during Operation Slingshot for XCOM. The other time was the BRB incident.
He was a cop, which meant he was here on a sting.
The waitress returned. Mark smiled at her, and gave her a small token the cop would recognize: Zhang's lucky coin. "Could you give this to the man with all the doves?" Hesitantly, the waitress nodded, and worked her way over to him as the tea finished its circulation.
Mark was just able to make eye contact without turning his head noticeably. As soon as the cop got the coin, they locked eyes. A silent conversation occurred through merely picking up cups, moving silverware, and eye contact. It went something like this:
Cop: what are you doing here?
Mark: For once, I was minding my own business.
Cop: bullshit.
Mark: I was! Who are you busting?
Cop: three tables over.
Mark covertly glanced at the table in question, and had to stop himself from doing a double take.
"Hey, Percy?" Mark asked, his voice barely audible over the drone. "What has a donkey leg, a goat leg, and fangs?"
"To Hades in a handbasket." Percy cursed.
"Exactly what I was afraid of. They're trading weapons. Worse still, I recognize who is selling."
Bradford caught a glimpse of that table and nodded. "That eye tattoo is kind of a give-away."
"Now you're telling me the illuminati is real?" Annabeth muttered.
"No," Mark corrected, "EXALT, a pro-alien group. As long as no one makes eye contact, we shouldn't ruin the bust."
A dove franticly flapped around its cage, trying to break free. Percy looked at the table with the monsters and terrorists, almost directly to his left and several hundred feet away, when his eyes widened. "Two things," he said quickly. "One, I know one of the emposia."
"Okay." Mark acknowledged, gesturing for the son of Poseidon to continue.
"Two, I made eye contact."
"Fuck."
Quickly, Mark had another silent conversation with the cop.
Mark: I blew your bust.
Cop: *sigh.* Is it always going to be this way with you?
The cop stood up at the same time as the emposai glared at Percy.
"This is going down to a firefight," Bradford assessed. "Will we win?"
Mark grinned at his number one, and gestured towards the cop. "You know what they say about Tequila Yuen."
The Emposia stood up, bumping into a waitress.
"Give him one gun and he's superman."
The falling waitress and monster knocked over a bird cage, spilling out two doves and a cache of Laser weapons onto the floor.
"Give him two and he's a god"
Tequila yelled "Police!" and chaos erupted.
(Percy's POV)
Firefights sucked. Especially when you had no ranged weapons.
Percy dived for cover behind a column as civilians scattered in all directions. The terrorists and monsters all drew an array of pistols, submachineguns, and laser weapons, but four went down before Percy could blink. The commander's and Bradford's plasma pistols were still smoking as they aimed again.
A second burst of plasma missed the several dozen enemies still scattered around the tea shop as he and Bradford used a kicked-over table as cover right next to him. The cop – Tequila, Mark had said – shot like a demon, long bursts of bullets flying out of his akimbo guns as he dived over a table. Four monsters were caught in his line of fire and disintegrated. Wait a second…
Before Percy could react, Annabeth peeked her head up, two tables back, and had to drop to the floor when her table was disintegrated by lasers and bullets. Bradford and the commander took out an exalt terrorist together in a one-two blast, while Tequila continued his acrobatic gunplay.
Percy tried to charge the monsters, but he was forced to dive for cover when a hail of bullets greeted him. The son of Poseidon gritted his teeth. He hated feeling helpless, but he couldn't do anything without getting shot. Calypso, Annabeth, and Jason were equally helpless as they all were pinned behind cover. Piper at least confused the enemies with her charmspeak, while Leo looked to be cooking up a surprise with an Archimedes' sphere.
"Good news," Mark stated amiably, taking a couple of potshots at an Empousa. "Apparently, Plasma does kill monsters." It was a little unnerving how he took down another Terrorist as he kept talking while still keeping a tone as if they were still drinking tea. "I prefer the m1911 all the same, but I digress."
Mark then entered what must be his commander mode. "Leo," Mark began, somehow aloof and commanding at the same time, "save that grenade, we may need it later. Percy, be one with the plumbing, cause as much chaos with the water in this room as possible. Piper, use that charmspeak to sow dissent." Mark stopped talking while he switched cover and exchanged more fire. "Have any of you used a gun?"
It was at this point that most of the demigods were mentally slapping themselves. They never had any motivation or opportunity to pick up marksman skills. Frank might have been able to, but he would have relied more on shapeshifting than ranged combat.
Surprisingly, Piper raised her hand. Mark flipped on the pistol's safety, tossed it to her, and grabbed a briefcase he had brought from the skyranger. Piper seemed to find the safety, and held the large gun aloft, not expertly nor calmly, but as if she had done it before. A compact but deadly-looking plasma rifle emerged from the briefcase, to the smirk of the commander's approval. "Excellent," Mark grinned, his face showing the expression of a chess player who had found the checkmate.
"Make hell."
From there, the fight was even more chaos. Cages broke, bullets flew, and demented doves darted around the tea shop. Mark and Bradford moved swiftly as one, passing from cover to cover and shooting at anyone who dared to show their face while they moved. Sometimes side-by-side, sometimes back-to-back, and sometimes following one or the other, they were a whirlwind of plasma and sweat.
However, they weren't killing most of the bad guys. That honor went to Tequila, who dove like a bird between tables, weaving around pillars and pigeons, shooting a near-constant burst at monsters and EXALT alike. For some odd reason, the cop hadn't run out of ammo yet, nor did his guns seem to overheat. Odd.
Percy was finally doing something, but he though his help was still pretty useless. He disoriented enemies with jets of water, dismantling or disarming their weapons or forcing them out of cover and into Tequila or Piper's line of sight. She was not a good shot by any definition, but had still put several monsters out of commission. She seemed a little reluctant to shoot any of the mortals, but didn't hesitate on the monsters.
Leo, meanwhile, was holding what looked like a tablet in his hand. He was using it to scan the walls and ceiling, and seemed to be checking for more incoming enemies. He occasionally lobbed a grenade that exploded in smoke, a flash, or popcorn.
After several minutes of this mania, only five enemy combatants remained, all of whom were being pushed back towards the kitchen. The fight was winding down
Suddenly, an Empousa stood up and shouted "ENOUGH!"
Kellie. The donkey-legged vampire had tried to kill him twice, and looked to be back for a third.
She walked forward menacingly. "Your days were numbered, son of Poseidon," she growled, "Since when you first set—"
BLAM!BLAM!BLAM!BLAM!BLAM!BLAM!BLAM!BLAM!BLAM!BLAM!
The monologue was interrupted by the noise of three plasma weapons and two automatic pistols simultaneously opening fire and hitting Kelli all over her torso, instantly vaporizing the monster. Two massive, obsidian-colored Sig Sauer automatic pistols hit the ground
"Give someone fangs and black pistols and suddenly they think this is Hellsing," Mark said, annoyance leaking into his amiable tone.
The remaining terrorists, for all the monsters were dust, retreated into the kitchen, the doors of which were riddled with holes, but still obscured the cooking area from the main dining room. The demigods, soldiers, and police officer all made for the door until Leo yelled "They have hostages."
Percy felt a jolt go up his spine. "Holy Hera."
Sure enough, when Percy caught a glimpse of Leo's tablet, he saw the thermal outlines of several armed individuals pointing their guns at multiple prone chefs. Innocents were now in the equation. This could get ugly.
Mark cocked his head, staring at the image. "Were they really stupid enough to stand right in front of the dishwashing station?"
Sure enough, the son of Poseidon sensed a high-pressured source of water right behind the terrorists, as well as a basin full of soapy water.
"Percy," Annabeth said, her turn to make a plan finally coming, "get ready to restrain them if possible. Get a flashbang ready to toss on my signal. After that flashbang goes in, Mark and Tequila will go in for the hostages."
Mark grinned. "Couldn't have said it better if it was my plan."
Mark brought the rifle to his soldier. Leo readied his grenade. Everyone tensed.
"Now!" Annabeth yelled.
The sinks exploded. A grenade went off. Tequila and Mark burst into the kitchen.
It lasted about two seconds, but it seemed an eternity. The cop and the commander fired several rapid bursts into the terrorists trying – and failing, thanks to the water – to shoot them. The men dropped to the ground, and someone wimpered.
It was all over.
Tequila brought up the front, the hostages running out with him. The police hadn't arrived yet, but Tequila led the six men out to the front of the tea shop.
"Well," Bradford started, "That –"
"Woah!" Leo yelled, aiming his apparently infrared camera on the tablet at the kitchen. "The Brigadier just decked a hostage!"
"What?" Percy started.
"He was armed." Bradford pointed at a blue outline on the tablet screen, which the device helpfully identified as a 9mm pistol. "Looks like someone with the dealers wanted to escape with the civvies."
Percy was unsure of what to do. "Should we go in there?"
"The commander's got this," Bradford stated calmly.
"Are we sure?" Calypso asked. "I mean, he was awfully calm for the amount of chaos on play here."
"That's one of his gifts," Bradford stated. "He could be on a log floating in a hurricane and still ask you 'how's your sister?'" The second in command shrugged. "He is good at hiding how scared he really is. One of the reasons why morale is higher than it should be in our circumstances is that he knows how to keep everyone calm and just on this side of chaos."
Annabeth frowned thoughtfully. "Did he ever act or—"
The kitchen chose that moment to explode.
After his ears stopped ringing, Percy saw that the entire front wall of the kitchen was gone. The birds scattered around the restaurant had gone berserk, flying every which way to try and get away from the exploding kitchen.
As the smoke cleared, a figure limped out, cradling a plasma rifle.
It was Mark and he looked angry. His face and arms had many cuts, but he looked relatively fine, except for his left leg which, to Percy's alarm, was shooting out sparks.
"The bastard was rigged with c-4." Mark said, sounding tense for the first time since the firefight broke out. "I got as far from him as possible, but he got my bionic leg good."
Ah, Percy thought, that's why it's sparking. It made sense, Percy supposed, as someone had mentioned something about the commander's leg and a berserker in XCOM HQ.
The commander winced as his left leg folded out from under him, but was caught by Bradford. Sirens sounded in the distance.
"Sorry to shoot and run," The young soldier said to Tequila, "but we have to get out of here before the authorities ask too many questions. I'll send any info we find out about the gun runners to you. I have one simple question before we leave."
The cop inclined his head.
Mark grinned. "Is your mother Nemesis?"
Tequila sighed. "What gave me away?"
"The way you had celestial bronze bullets and never run out of ammo until you have retribution on those who wrong you."
The cop shook his head and turned around. Mark walked towards the exit, Bradford helping him because of his faulty fake foot.
They turned towards Leo and Calypso. "You taking your dragon?"
Leo grinned. "Take me to your leader alien man."
Calypso rolled her eyes. "He is the leader, repair boy."
"I know that. It just had to be said."
They all disappeared into the night.
As they left the Tea shop and made for their airplane, Percy went over to Mark.
"What did you find out?" Percy asked.
Mark smiled grimly. "I found out that someone from your world has allied with the aliens. I intend to find out who."
