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Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyright Buena
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All original characters are the property of Odyssey34.
Previously:
"YOU CAN'T GET AWAY FROM ME!" Cassy heard Achilles' murderous voice from the other side of the wall. "I'll get you eventually! You know I will… "
Cassy kneeled down to the floor, curling up in the corner, listening to him as he continued rambling on, but didn't dare whisper a single word. She covered her head with her hands and tucked her face into her knees.
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'A safe place... A place where even this psychopath would have huge problems coming in... A place that can be very well guarded...'
Continuing to think about the problem at hand, he noticed a small but bright reflection from the big mountain. Curious, he picked up a pair of binoculars, and realized, that it was from the metal at the mountainside exit of the Gargoyle clan's lair. Remembering the island layout, he only now recognized Mt. Thanatos.
'Ah yes, I totally forgot them. Surely looks different at night... Hmmm...' The wheels in his head started to turn while he watched the entrance through the binoculars.
'A place that is very hard to reach, virtually unknown and easy to defend...' Normally he wouldn't even think about going this way, but in desperate times, desperate measures were needed.
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'DAMN!'
Achilles looked up the big mountain in disappointment. He had caught his mate's scent by pure coincidence (and with a little help), and followed the trail to the biggest mountain. But he had to stop when he realized that the faint trail, it was already many hours old and started to disappear, actually led to an opening in a mountainside.
Very high in the mountainside.
There was no way for him to reach that opening without artificial help, but it would take him hours to return to the city, and to find a suitable vehicle that he could take.
-The Darkness within, Part III-
And Now, The Continuation:
To Adapt is to Survive
The Darkness within, Part IV
Mt. Thanatos, 10:28 AM:
Cassy yawned, while making herself comfortable into the improvised bed. It wasn't by far a real one, and also not as comfortable, but certainly better than the last time she had stayed with the clan. While she slowly started to feel sleepy, she thought about last night.
Last night had been, well... interesting.
On one had, she felt really safe with the clan. They were her friends, at least a number of them, and Sphinx had promised that they would defend her, should Achilles come for her. And she was sure, against a clan of over 40 Gargoyles, every of them at least three times as strong as a human bodybuilder, even Achilles had no chance to win.
On the other hand, the tensions between the New Olympian guards and the clan weren't helpful. Taurus himself wasn't involved in it, as he actually respected the Gargoyles as the realist he was. But the others weren't quite as smart. There had been some incidents, which involved shouting and cursing, and lots of angry looks. If she had thought that some of the looks she had received in her first night were bad, she knew she was wrong.
The looks against some of the guards spoke of pure despise against them. It made her realize that while some of the clan had been unhappy with her being in their home, they didn't actually hate her unlike they obviously did some of the New Olympians.
Old Vespa had told her after a tense meal, that the stuff she had heard from the trouble-making guards was almost exactly the same stuff they had said about them before they had left the city. Cassy didn't miss the look of hurt. Even after all these years, the scars from childhood still hurt the female elder.
After that, she had spoken with Sphinx for quite some time, Taurus sitting with them. Sphinx had asked them about the whole Great Gathering thing that would take place in three days. She had admitted that they were going to attend, but wondered how their current situation would interfere with it. She also had wondered what it was about.
Taurus had told her that he knew, but was ordered to stay quiet about it, something Sphinx understood all too well. He had then said that as long as Achilles was out there, Cassy would have to decline to come, as it was too risky.
'Wonder...what it would...have been...' she thought, while slowly drifting asleep, forgetting everything for now.
Taurus watched her through the half-open door drifting to sleep, shifting it silently. He knew, while Cassy would say different, she was so fragile. And with a monster like Achilles after her, she was even more vulnerable.
Walking down the silent corridor, Taurus remembered the previous encounters of Achilles with resistance. They had never used lethal force to stop him, never did that decision to end his existence.
But maybe that was the only way to stop him?
Achilles had declared, pretty much, that nothing would stop him. He would come again and again until either he was dead, or he got what he wanted. It did make Taurus think if a final decision had to be made, to end an otherwise never-ending threat to everyone.
He looked at his hand weapon, a true monster compared to the standard arms of the forces. They were told, that the maximum setting would most likely be enough to smash even through Achilles' thick skull, killing him on the spot, if needed. Taurus has NEVER before killed in his duty, not even in his entire life. He had vowed to never do it, as once it had happened, he would have lost a part of himself. He knew that with the risk in his work, that one day he would have to do it eventually, but had prayed that this day would never come.
Taurus again looked at his weapon.
'Father...I know I promised to never take a life, unless in mortal danger... But can I do nothing while he hurts, kills the ones around me, with nothing else there to stop him?' This question he repeated more than once in his thoughts, while looking at the other guards.
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Streets of New Olympus City, 03:42 PM:
A hovercraft sped by one of the many alleyways of New Olympus, its driver never noticing the dark shadow that skulked nearby.
Achilles came out from the darkness, blood still matted in his fur. He took care that no one saw him, as he darted from the shadowy alley into the next one.
He was surprising quick and agile for someone so large and powerfully built. At first glance, you would expect someone like him to be clumsy, or at least heavy on the feet/hooves. But Achilles had long since learnt the art of stealth.
He smirked, as he avoided yet another hovercraft. His black pelt and stealth made him almost completely undetectable… He would have made a perfect spy.
After learning that he couldn't make it up to the mountain where his mate, Cassy, was being held, he decided that for the time being he would have to remain in the city. Maybe he could steal another hovercraft and get there by himself… if only he didn't have that nagging feeling he got from the mountain. Every time he had come near it, he got a feeling of intense dread, like a warning.
As Achilles was about to take another turn, to try and find a suitable hiding place for the remainder of the day… he stopped.
Achilles turned his head, raising his snout and sniffing the air. He smelt something that he hadn't smelt in a while… or more precisely, since he had escaped his prison.
Achilles bared his teeth in a dark grimace. Finally, he was going to get to finish something that he had promised himself a long, long time ago… He was going home!
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The Estate Home of Senator Raon:
"I remember when I had hair just like yours, Alejandra," Narcissa spoke, as she brushed the knots from Alejandra's dark locks, brushing them into silky smoothness.
Alejandra was a Centaur, like her mother, showing no signs of her Minotaur half, all that was of course due to the genetic tampering that her parents had received before their marriage. With long dark curls, dark eyes, and skin like the colour of dark golden coffee.
Narcissa leaned over Alejandra's shoulder, and both of them admired her handiwork. Only Narcissa could arrange Alejandra's hair so perfectly, even better than Alejandra herself, and she paid professionals. Every brush stroke felt like it was coated with attention and love, forming and holding the hair in place.
"Done quite wonderfully, Mother," Alejandra said, flicking a curl over her shoulder. She gave Narcissa a peck on the cheek. Narcissa responded by pinching her daughter's cheek.
"Do you think I'm good for the dance, Mother?" Alejandra asked, just for the sake of asking, knowing (and revealing) the answer.
"Of course you will, honey," Narcissa said, nuzzling her daughter. "You're my little girl, my only little girl, and I definitely do not want you looking your worse for your big day."
"Thanks, Mother," Alejandra answered. She looked into the mirror, admiring herself. There was some clanging downstairs; most likely the maid was dragging the vacuum cleaner down the stairs…again.
"Oh, those damn maids, can't they be quiet for once? Go see how your father's doing, dear." Narcissa told her.
"Yes, Mother," Alejandra responded, and trotted out of the room as her mother gathered up the many brushes, combs, and hair products to be put away.
"Father, look at how Mother did my hair!" Alejandra spoke up, trotting into her father's study. Raon was sitting in his massive chair, his arm wrapped up tight, and his fingertips scarcely visible under the plaster cast. She plopped down beside him, her hands resting on the armchair, just at the edge of his wounded arm.
Saddened, she asked her father, "Are you feeling okay, Daddy?"
It was so sad to see her father injured and chalked full of prescription painkillers. He very much did not look like the strong, brave Minotaur who would pick her up and carry around the garden on his shoulders. He did not seem the happy, laughing soul who had tea parties with her and helped her decorate her room.
No, he seemed like a shell of his former self, like the wound was rotting and eating him inside out. He simply sat and stared at the walls, deeply disturbed, deeply worried, looking sicker and sicker every day. And that lunatic was still on the loose! It worried Alejandra to see him become this. He was not this! He was her father, a powerful, passionate man who cared deeply about his family, but now, all he did was sulk, ignoring his beloved family, preferring to stay as far away from them as possible.
"Yes, honey, I'm feeling okay," Raon answered, patting her on the head, careful not to ruffle her hair.
"I hope that lunatic pays for what he did to you. They should put him to death, we can't have people running the streets like that," Alejandra grumbled. Raon patted her on the head again.
"I can agree with you on that, my dear child," he said, sounding very, very old to her. "You look beautiful by the way."
"Thank you, Father," Alejandra answered, resting her head gently on her father's arm.
They sat like that for a while, before Alejandra finally asked what had been bothering since her father's attack.
"Daddy?" she asked. "I'm just curious, but… why did that… that thing attack you? I mean you've never really had anything to do with the mental institute before that day. Why would any of those mad creatures have any crime with you?"
Raon had a smile on his face, but the way it looked, it was obviously a forced one. His face looked torn between false glee, and terror.
"Some lunatics just need someone to blame for their own mistakes," he told her. "I was the most obvious choice, being a politician."
"That's not fair," Alejandra fumed.
Raon shrugged. "Comes with the job, I'm afraid," he said, getting a giggle out of her. "Now, you'd better go and finish dressing. You don't want to be late, do you?"
Alejandra gave her father another kiss, and then hurried to pick out a necklace.
Raon watched her leave, smiling, and then looked back to the flames, watching as they danced and burned.
Alejandra trotted back up to her room, but didn't see her mother there. She shrugged, thinking that she must have gone downstairs for something… probably to have a go at the maid for constantly dropping their vacuum all over the place.
She went up to her dressing table, opening her jewellery box to choose which necklace to wear for the night.
She had been right about her mother… Narcissa had indeed gone down to give the maid a piece of her mind, little knowing that the maid had actually left for home over half an hour ago, but she had been so infatuated with Alejandra's hair that Narcissa hadn't noticed.
Alejandra picked a necklace from the dozens she had received as birthday gifts. She fitted it around her neck, admired herself in the mirror. She fixed her makeup and placed her little tiara.
Yes, she looked like a little goddess. Now, she had to go find her father and show him.
"Where is that stupid Nymph?" Narcissa fumed, as she made her way to the kitchen. The maid was always stopping for an extra nibble from the cook's larder.
"Okay, Nera," Narcissa angrily said, as she went through the kitchen door. "How many times do I have to tell you to keep that noise…?"
"Hello, mummy," Achilles said simply, as she came through the door, right in front of him. "Miss me?"
All Narcissa could do was stand there, staring up and up at the monstrosity that was her son, the son who should have died years ago. He had only been a small child when they had left him alone in the forestland. How could he ever have survived???
"Awww, don't I get a hug?" Achilles said lowly, as he came nearer her. He towered over her, as she barely came to his chest. This was not the child in the cage, huddled away in the corner, terrified, shaking, dirty and crying. No… he towered over her shaking, quivering form, his form sleek and black, with a vicious grin, hungry (but not for food) across his face. His eyes were so red that she could not even see the pupils. Only his mutant form told her that this was her child.
This was her nightmare…
Narcissa couldn't even begin to inch back, as she was too frozen with shock and fear. "H-h-how…" she stuttered out. She banged against the kitchen counter. Silverware clanged against the tiles.
"How am I still alive?" Achilles said grimly. "Don't worry. It certainly weren't for your lack of trying, I can assure you… Let's just say I have friends in high places, even higher than yours, mom."
"RAO-"
His hands closed on her before she could finish.
"Shhh," Achilles told her quietly, holding her throat in a choking grip. "We wouldn't want our mother, child reunion spoiled now, would we?"
Narcissa tried desperately hard to breathe, as Achilles crushed the breath out of her. She felt her throat collapse, as her son pulled her closer to him, his eyes staring right into hers…
From upstairs, Alejandra twisted her head at the shout, as she stepped into her father's study. "That sounded like Mother."
Raon stood up in his chair, his eyes widened…appearing wildly young compared to the rest of his body. Alejandra's hair stood up on end at the expression on her father's face. He gestured her to step back.
"Stay here," he hoarsely whispered. Alejandra immediately became terrified.
"Wha… It's him…isn't it, Daddy?" she whispered.
"Just stay calm," he told her. He clasped her hands. "I'll go check, so be a good girl and stay here. At the first sign of danger, run, okay? Get to the nearest house and call the Security Centre, all right?"
Silently he stalked over to a bookshelf, and from behind a vase removed a gun.
As she watched him, a sickening realization built up in her stomach. Her breath became high pitched; she frantically waved her hands, ready to scream bloody murder. "Where's Mother, where's Mother?"
"Shhh," he hushed her, and stalked away.
Pain rose in her gullet. Her father was not the Minotaur he was years ago, and he was currently not the father he had always been. He was not himself; he could not fight off an insane lunatic. Alejandra began to struggle with what to do, almost frantically pacing back and forth in the study.
Raon glanced into the kitchen through the shadows of the hallway, gun held up, as stiffly as he could. His insides were trembling. Just as he glanced in, Achilles rose up, flicking blood…fresh blood…from his hands like he was flicking water from his hands after using the sink. Blood was splattered across his chest and biceps. There was a satisfied grin on his face, wide and vicious. Only one stiff horse leg was visible to Raon… The counter hid the rest of Narcissa's body.
Raon felt his heart drop. In a split second, his partner, wife and lover had been taken away from him. He aimed his gun and shot, missing Achilles by inches. All he succeeded in doing was amusing the giant and alerting Achilles to his existence.
Achilles laughed, his grin changing… from satisfied to entertained.
Raon's next shot was not any better.
"Time hasn't done your aim any good, has it, dad?" Achilles said, coming up to him, not even taking any notice of the gun.
Meanwhile, upstairs Alejandra has stayed up in the study for as long as she could, but finally she couldn't take it any longer. Taking great care not to alert anyone to her presence, she crept down the stairs a step at a time.
"You killed her! You killed Narcissa!" Her father's voice echoed up the stairs, freezing Alejandra's blood as she heard it, her worst fear confirmed.
You were expecting me to do something else?" she heard another, more colder voice, spoke. "After the Tartarus you and she put me through, what you were expecting… kiss and make up?"
"You bast… ugh!" Raon's voice seized with pain, making Alejandra quicken her pace, but deep down she had started to wonder… what did he mean the Tartarus her parents had put him through?
"You left me to die alone and forgotten in the forests outside the city," the lunatic's voice continued. "I had put up with your countless years of neglect and degradation of me… only for you and mother to further torture me by leaving me to die!"
'Mother???' Alejandra had stopped dead in her tracks. She blinked, wondering if she had heard right. Had the lunatic just called her mother… his mother? He was a lunatic, yes, which would explain it, but… if that was the case then why wasn't her father denying anything of it?
"We… we tried to do what was best for you," her father's voice pleaded. "We couldn't show you to anyone. Everyone would have been so discriminating about you…if you think we were bad to you…could have imagined what the rest of New Olympus would have done to you…we were only protecting you!"
"I know full well about discrimination, thanks…you and mom taught me well!"
Alejandra felt her whole world collapsing all around her, as she continued listening in on the conversation. If anything, her father was confirming everything that this lunatic was saying about him and her mother… that he was their son.
Her brother…
There were the sounds of more beatings, and a huge crash that sounded like the two of them had moved from the kitchen into one of the other adjacent rooms.
Alejandra moved forward, finding her way into the kitchen, but could still hear the loud voices of her father and the intruder.
She walked into the kitchen, and started to make her way over to the other door when… her mother's lifeless corpse caught her eye.
Alejandra stayed where she was, her eyes in shock as she looked down on her mother's beaten and bloody body. She looked as though she had been dragged through a stampede of wild Cyclops.
Images of being held by her father, her mother, the hugs, the kisses, the warmth, the smiles, the laughs shared among them…the time spent together with them…being a family together…a loving family flashed through her immense, tear streaked eyes. Together…family…together…
"You kept me a cage, starved me, fed me garbage…" the mad one kept going. "And when you gave me lessons, and I didn't learn as fast as you wanted, you would beat me like an animal!"
Alejandra slowly moved closer towards the other door, listening. These words sent a cold rush through her soul, as she listened on. It was a cold shock, shock upon shock…and sudden emptiness…emptiness upon emptiness…the loss of her mother, the discovery of a brother…a sibling who could have easily had enjoyed the love and affection she had, but was denied.
It was a bizarre feeling…alien…unrealistic. She'd laughed if it was a show, she'd laugh if she could…but all she could do was pant and hold her chest.
With each word he spoke, she remembered her own childhood… Instead of a cage, she remembered being in a warm bed in her own bedroom, instead of being starved she dined on the finest cuisine each night, and as for lessons… she had always come out top of her class.
Another cold dread came upon her, as she thought of something else… What if she had been the unfortunate one to be born different, and not smart… would her parents have treated her any less different?
There was a crash. Raon appeared in the doorframe, streaked in blood…his blood. His eyes were wild, chest throbbing and quivering. It was amazing he was even standing. Alejandra had never seen so much blood…seen actual wounds. She barely saw a boo-boo in her life.
"RUN!" he screamed, in a voice that did not sound at all like him. Raon grabbed her wrist in a blood-drenched hand; his grip was so tight, so desperate; it nearly shredded the flesh from her wrist.
Raon dragged her down the hallways. Alejandra legs threatened to lock up. She couldn't see Achilles behind them…but god…she could imagine him angrily charging after them, blood from Raon and Narcissa dripping from his form, eyes angry, teeth bared. She could hear him, crashing through the house. But she could not tell where he was in her terrified state. Any turn, any room they pass, he could be in there he could be stalking right passed them; he could come crashing the walls.
It was the last few feet towards the door that were the hardest to take, and the last few seconds wasted attempting to open the front door were the hardest of all. The door would not open! Achilles front leg peeked from another room, and Raon threw his entire weight against the door. The door shattered, its splinters and he rolled out onto the street.
Alejandra crashed through the remains of the door, just as Achilles reached out for her. He snapped the necklace from around her neck, and she heard it shatter under his hoof.
Achilles struggled to fit through the door, but could not, as it was too small.
"You can never run from me, father!" Achilles' thunderous voice screamed at Raon. "I'll find you no matter where you go! I can promise you that! Do you hear me?! You're dead!!!"
While through all this, Alejandra had just allowed her father to drag her with him, out of the house, and now through the streets of New Olympus. Her face looked as though it was in a daze, as the images of her mother's dead body, her father's desperation, Achilles, and the things she had just heard from both him and her father, all floated through her head.
"Officer!" Raon screamed out, as a security hovercraft past by them. "You've got to help us! That escaped mental patient is at our house, he killed my wife! You've got to destroy him!"
Alejandra looked at him, startled at his words. He had just ordered an officer to kill his own son?
"Father?" she asked him finally.
"Alejandra," Raon turned and embraced her firmly. "It will be all right, I promise you. I'll see to it that… that thing never comes near you."
"Father," she repeated. "Who exactly is that thing? Why did he come to our house, and why was he saying all those things about what you and mother did to him?"
Raon seemed a little startled at first, but then he just shrugged, saying, "Like I told you, my dear… he's a complete maniac. He doesn't know what he's saying half the time. I had to indulge him by pretending some things that he said, like being related to him and such. But I assure you, it was all false… "
Raon continued telling her about all he had had to do to save them, but by then Alejandra had droned out his voice, listening only to the oncoming security hovercrafts, as they hurried to their position. She had heard the desperation in her father's voice, the tone in which he had spoke… she knew those had not been lies that he had spoken.
So Alejandra just remained quiet, as her father embraced her yet again, rocking her back and forth like he had when she was a small child. Only now didn't she feel quite so safe.
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Mt. Thanatos; Same Time:
"At least we have a nice view here..." Helios commented while sitting at the mountainside entrance, looking to the far away city. Normally, he would have disliked a babysitting-job, but this was really a special case. "Surely better than how things went last night..."
"Urgh! Don't remind me..." the female Centaur groaned. Last night had been quite embarrassing.
Most of them had no clue how to act around the clan, some even acting as if they were cavemen or something like that. Of course that hadn't helped ease the tension between them, more likely only deepened it.
"You know the worst of this?" Helios asked her. " I thought it would degenerate into a for-all brawl."
She shook her head in annoyance. "I wonder if Tholden thought that when acting like that..."
...Flashback, last night...
"Stop it at once!"
The shouted order made the male Gargoyle and the Harpy-man stop in their shouting at each other, with the emotions high on both sides. They saw Sphinx and Taurus before them, looking really annoyed.
"What started that, Tholden? And don't you dare to tell me some fairy-tale!" Taurus asked the Harpy-man, looking him directly into the eyes.
"I only told him what I think of his kind, and he started to threaten me!" the Harpy-man tried to defend himself.
"Really?" Taurus asked, and then looked to Sphinx.
"Rhinzo? What did he say to you to make you so angry?" Sphinx asked the male Gargoyle.
"He called us primitive and stupid! He said that he was really surprised that we had already learned to use fire. Of course I demanded an apology!" Rhinzo defended himself.
Taurus looked hard to Tholden. "We have to talk..." He then grabbed him by one of his wings, and forced him to follow outside.
...the present...
"Man, did you see Tholden after Taurus was finished with him? Never saw him this deflated," the Centaur said, remembering the incident. Of course it was only one more of some of these kinds of situations, but it was the worst of them.
"Yeah, and the Gargoyles literally stared him into the ground later at the meal. I had never thought that looks could be that scary. Man, I really don't want to get on their bad side!" Helios remembered.
...flashback, last night...
The situation at the table wasn't the very best. It wasn't that there was shouting and a fight. No, it was worse. While the meal went by without incident, the clan had stopped talking with the simple guards, instead giving them a cold glare each time they looked at them. Worst it was for Tholden, who seemed to get smaller each time a cold glare hit him. Taurus had already disciplined him, but this was far worse.
It was heavily contrasted with how most of them acted towards Cassy and Taurus.
The ones that Cassy saw as her friends were friendly with her, and they seemed to enjoy their presence, getting an extra scoop of everything, too. (By old Vespa who was fixed on her opinion, that a growing girl needs to eat well and much. Cassy had nothing against that, but at the end of the meal felt like her stomach would burst any second.) The ones who weren't her friends were polite to her, but holding a certain distance.
With Taurus, it was respect. He respected them, and treated them accordingly. They in return respected him because of his line of duty and that he didn't act like a jerk to them. That meant that Taurus got some interesting conversation.
The silence was finally broken by one elder whose sheer dignity seemed to put him above many things. He looked directly to Tholden. "Just be glad that we are civilized people, and that you are needed here. Otherwise, we would have removed you by throwing you down the mountainside," he said to him slowly, with every word sharp like a knife.
Tholden became paler. Holding his hand before his mouth, feeling the meal forcing its way back up, and ran out of the room. He never heard old Vespa whispering to Cassy that they wouldn't have done it, and that they only wanted to teach him a lesson with that.
...the present...
Helios tried to forget that scene. It had been spooky enough how words not said in anger, but simple coldness, could be that scary. "But they are weird. I mean, what normal lifeform turns to stone in daylight?"
"Too bad I didn't see it myself, but I actually can't hold it against them that they locked their sleep-room from the inside. Not that they have a reason to trust us... And the whole stone story, I've read about it, it baffled all our scientists. They got out that it was a natural process, but nothing more. This species is really a mystery..." she mused.
"Mystery or not, they seem to have become buddies with our 'charge'. That was on the border of sickening to watch that," Helios told her with quite some disgust.
"I don't understand why they give us the cold shoulder, while making friends with that human girl. Really strange beings..." she wondered in ignorance, ignoring everything that had happened between the Gargoyles and her people.
"I still say, I..." Helios stopped when he saw Taurus approaching. Taurus looked alarmed, which never was a good sign at all. "Chief?"
"I just got a call... Achilles has struck again, this time at the home of Senator Raon... Everyone has to be on guard. That can only mean that in due time he will surely find out where to look," he said, his voice monotone, trying to hide that it troubled him.
"Ah, shit," was the only thing Helios could say. While he had no love for their current hosts, the news that Achilles again was on a rampage made him worry that soon enough, he would meet him on these terms.
A meeting he wasn't looking forward to.
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Forest Lands; Far Outside New Olympus City, 04:35 PM:
Boreas headed deeper into the marshlands of the ancient jungle-like forest outside their people's advanced city. He had put this off long enough… It was time for him to face Artemis once and for all.
Boreas sighed, as he made his way through the thicket. He had hoped that it wouldn't come to this, but Artemis's actions with Achilles had forced his hand to deal with her.
He hoped she wouldn't cause too much trouble, as he didn't like to fight with her since they were the last two of their kind.
Boreas was not altogether worried about facing her, for as powerful as she was, he was ten times more powerful. He had been ever since their creation over three thousand years ago when Oberon, ruler of the third race (and the Olympian's true origin), had given life to them.
He grimaced, as he remembered the mighty king of the Fey, and how he had treated his 'beloved' children, himself included.
"Artemis!" he commanded. "Show yourself! We have business to attend to!"
There was a flash of light, and Artemis shimmered into place.
"You rang?" she answered him snidely.
Boreas reached into his pocket and tossed something on the ground before…a length of chain.
"It appears that you have a rodent problem," Artemis stated, just glancing at the chain.
"The only problem I have is the one I am looking at right now," Boreas said, putting his hands on his hips. "You weren't always like this, Artemis…this bitter. What happened to the chaste young Goddess that ran through the trees, protected the women, and protected the animals? There are little girls being raped, and animals rampaging…and you stand there smiling, behind it all."
"That Goddess is as dead as the belief in Gods," she responded smartly. "Dead like all the rest. We're not Gods anymore, Boreas."
"To the people we're not," Boreas answered. "You can call a Satyr a Cyclops, but it's still a Satyr, and has all the powers of a Satyr. We may not be called 'Gods' anymore, but we have the power of Gods, and we have the purpose of Gods, to protect our people."
"I say they're doing a pretty damn good job of it themselves. Did you see what your Chief of Security did to my son?" she said.
"Then we are meant to provide guidance for our children then, and I'm doing my job, how about you?" he said to her. "We are supposed to be leaders, and make our children do good. You turned your back on your purpose."
"What purpose? You're an elected official, and by the voices I hear, not well liked. You'll be lucky to keep giving guidance to 'your children' until the next election season," Artemis answered. "They are not my children to take care of anyway. I have only one son to worry about."
"Your barbs are not working, Artemis," Boreas stated dryly. "And he's not your son."
"I took care of him, I raised him, and I loved him. I may not have given birth to him, but isn't it love that makes a family?" Artemis asked.
"Artemis, you are the last person to speak of love and family," Boreas answered.
"And so are you," Artemis responded. "You act like you care about these…these…New Olympians. Why didn't you care about their ancestors a millennium ago? YOUR CHILDREN!"
"I'm making up for past mistakes. If you are then you are doing a poor job," Boreas told her. "Achilles needed someone, and you were there for him, he needed you and he still needs you, and you have to be there for him, right now."
Artemis was silent, looking at the ground. "Perhaps you are right."
"Please, I am pleading with you. Go take care of your son, take him away from here, away from my children, and perhaps, it will be a better world for both us. For all our children," Boreas pleaded with her.
Artemis regarded him carefully for a moment. "As I recall you said you would take care of my son. You promised he would receive your best of care."
Boreas sighed. "I tried, Artemis. Our city's finest counsellors did their best, but in the end they determined that Achilles was far too gone to be helped. I suspect you knew this from the beginning. You just won't admit it."
"He is my son," she replied. "No matter what you say."
"I'm sure he is," Boreas looked at her calmly. "But you won't admit that your 'son' has devolved into a homicidal maniac. He is too dangerous to be allowed on the streets of New Olympus, and you know it."
"I won't discuss this any further!" Artemis yelled, turning her head from Boreas. "I won't stop him from taking vengeance against those who wronged him… "
"And what about the Human, young Cassandra?" Boreas insisted. "What did she ever do that deserved Achilles' treatment of her?"
"He and she share a deep connection. They both grew up in a world that neither respects nor wants them. Despised and hated by all." Artemis spat at him. "Your 'children' may think themselves high on the evolutionary ladder, but to me they're the same now as they were when they lived in caves!"
Boreas sighed again. "I'm sorry, Artemis," he told her truthfully. "But I cannot allow Achilles to threaten the lives of anymore innocents. Either stop him," he picked up the length of chain, "or I will."
Artemis thinned her eyes at him. "Well, if that's your final word on the matter," she began. "Then I guess I have no choice… either."
Before Boreas could even lift the chain up to his waist, Artemis touched her belt, which up to now he had thought was nothing more than a simple gold decorative, but as it turned out, the belt was actually a cover-up for some kind of control apparatus.
"What the-"
Chains snaked up from the ground gripping his ankles. It burned…it burned like ice. Bars formed up around him. They were black, dull, and crude compared to the shiny, almost glasslike metals of New Olympus. No it couldn't be…
He reached out to touch the bars.
Sizzle…
Cold wrought iron…how did she, where did she, how could she?
"That's cold wrought iron, Boreas, if you're wondering," she stated with a laugh, as he collapsed. "Haven't seen that in a while, have you?"
"Where…where…where did you get this?" he hissed tiredly at her. There hadn't been any iron on New Olympus in centuries, as the metal was not strong enough compared to more modern reinforced metals.
She laughed again, keeping a distance from the cage. She made sure to laugh loud enough that it sounded like she was right beside him.
"I'd like to say, ironically, from your children," Artemis laughed, turning her back to him, transforming into a golden hind with luscious blond locks and even more flattering eyelashes. She beat an eye at him. "You'd be amazed what a form like this gets you. A Cyclops, for instance, would make cold wrought iron without a second thought, and go out and place it out in the middle of the jungle for you with even less thought…all because of a pretty face. My, my, Boreas, you've raised your children well! They still don't trust humans, but a pretty face…well…"
"You…you witch!" he spat at her. She laughed, changing back into her true form.
"Now, now," she chuckled. "You're not that strong, and you've got even less strength now that you're in that cage, and you're going to need all the strength you can muster for what I've got planned for you dear."
"YOU WITCH! You poor excuse for a goddess…for a person…and New Olympian!" he lunged at her.
Artemis laughed at his attempt, and pressed a button on her belt. The cage began to shrink.
"What did I tell you, BOY?" she stated. "Keep your strength. And I'm not a New Olympian. I'll never be one of those."
Artemis laughed lightly and walked away from the weakened Boreas, lying at the bottom of the cage. "I can't tell you that I feel sorry you, Mister Boreas. Can't tell you I feel sorry for your children either. Only one person I feel sorry for, my child, and I wonder how he's doing…"
00000000000000000000
Mt. Thanatos, 09:11 PM:
Dusk had been only ten minutes ago, and already, the home of the clan was again a buzz of activity. All of them were busy with their given tasks. It made the New-Olympians, who had now nothing to do, look like the fifth wheel on the carriage. They were however, concerned about the whole Achilles situation, since they had been told right after waking up that he had struck again, this time at his own family… a reminder that he wouldn't hesitate anything to follow his mad logic.
Cassy hadn't been thrilled to hear this, too. It was a terrible reminder that Achilles could come back at any minute, trying to take her away and force her to do his bidding.
What Taurus hadn't told them, but what was equally disturbing, was that Boreas had vanished. He had told his office that he would be gone for two hours at a maximum. But he hadn't returned, and there was no sign of him at all... as if he had vanished from the face of Earth. It would be a disaster if something had happened to him. For most people, Boreas had been a political key player since long before their birth. If he would go missing, it would be a political crisis.
At the moment, they were sitting in the main room. Taurus, Cassy, Sphinx, and some of the warriors, trying to make sense of what had happened. Helios was sleeping with some of the other guards in one of the back rooms. 2 guards where standing beside the entrance door.
"...So from what we know, what he has done was a revenge plot to hurt the ones who are responsible for what I think as a traumatized childhood. But nothing of it seemed planned, from what I have heard, so it must have been a moment's decision to do it..." Taurus told them now in more detail.
"You said that you have evidence that this Raon is the father of Achilles… What about that?" an elder asked Taurus. While most of them disliked the strangers, the chief of security gave them the respect they deserved. So while they didn't have to like him, they at least knew that talking with him put them on the same eye-level.
"We hadn't time yet to act on it, since you understand that some more...pressing things are more important now. But after the attack, which injured him more than first thought, he was moved into the medical wing of the security centre. Sure, it is not the Med-Centre, but good enough, and far harder to get into. That and we already have him, where we want him anyway," he told them.
"Taurus, what exactly can Raon expect from the courts?" Cassy asked him, curious. She had never heard much about the justice system, only knew that it did exist. They weren't so far in school yet, it would have been the topic for next month.
"Considering all we know… He and his wife had conceived him without genetically treatment, resulting into what he is, and then getting rid of the child, despite us not knowing the details... even his high position won't save him." Taurus had no illusion, the intent to get rid of a child, accepting its most likely death, alone, would be worth several years.
"I can only wonder how he did survive and grow into that... thing you showed us pictures of," Sphinx asked him, shuddering at the mental picture.
Taurus looked thoughtful. That question had kept him busy, too. "We ask that ourselves. For us, he is an enigma. Looking at his DNA-code, the doctors had said that while he is still a mixture of Centaur and Minotaur, his brain, strength and toughness are totally illogical. He should still have developed normally, but it almost looks like his brain was systematically so much damaged, that he became the primitive brute we know. And they have no idea at all how he was toughened up so much, only say that his body always works at the limit. They said, that with so much constant stress in his system to keep that up, he won't last more than ten years from now on at best."
Cassy looked sick when hearing that. To imagine someone or something had done this, well knowing that in the long run it would kill him. "Who does such things...?"
"Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
"What was that!?" Sphinx shouted, jumping up.
zzam zzaam CRASH "Raaahhrrgh!" rrriitsch "Aahh!"
There were screams and weapon fire outside in the corridor, mixed with lots of noise from the three guards at the entrance, with orders to warn them at once, if something came their way.
"ALARM! Get ready for anything!" Sphinx shouted as loud as she could, and the clan ran into the main room, every one of them even the elders, shielding Cassy from whatever was going on at the other side of the door.
Suddenly there was silence... Careful and alert, they neared the door, preparing for the worst...
CCCCAAA-RRRAASHHH
...Only to see the big doors that connected to the main corridor, and therefore to the entrance, explode open when a wrecked hoverbike came bursting through them before crashing to the ground!
Smoke rose up from the wreckage, and the mangled remains of the three guards at the entrance were thrown at their feet, bloody corpses with their innards ripped out. Some of the clan felt sick when seeing that.
The smoke partly obscured him, but they had no illusion as to who it was. Somehow, he had managed to enter their home, their sacred home, defiling it with his darkness. The clan saw him for the first time, and many were horrified at what they saw.
Achilles, crimson with the blood of his latest victims, didn't care. "I'm here for my mate..." he told them like a volcano, ready to explode.
To Be Concluded...