Force Your Way Chapter 6

Lower Level of the Tower of the Gods

The elevator took me down for what felt like forever, but was probably only a few minutes. I kept the Venger Blades out and ready to swing at the first sign of trouble, as I glared around at the elevator shaft around me (which was coated in bronze, for some reason).

When I finally emerged into light, I had to quickly blink as my eyes got stung by the sudden change. When I blinked them back into focus, I let out a gasp as I saw where I was heading.

It was a massive arena, looking somewhat like an oval in shape. A flash of knowledge gave me the knowledge of what I was looking at: a Hippodrome, an ancient racetrack for horse-racing and chariot racing. Why it was the Ancient Greek term rather than the Ancient Roman one I didn't know, but at the moment, that didn't matter.

What did matter were the eight mechanical horses, in two teams of four, racing around the oblong race track. Each team was pulling a chariot behind them, with one of them being empty. The other one had the figure of an automaton in it.

How I knew it was an automaton was beyond me, but I ascribed it to the mysterious knowledge that the scroll had given me about the Legionnaires. I wasn't entire certain if having information downloaded into my mind counted as being a Master or Thinker power (probably the latter), but I wish it would give me a heads up before it happened.

After another minute of movement, the elevator 'thunk'ed to a stop at the bottom, and I looked up to see a bronze iris whisper closed above me. I looked around and saw a large pair of double doors behind me, emblazoned with the 'Ω' symbol, the Greek letter omega. There were lines, four of them, leading from the door towards the Hippodrome in the distance.

"How the hell did my power make all of this?!" I muttered in disbelief. "Or was it Ziz? Why? What's the point? Gah, this is going to be annoying. Well, better get going. Aaaannnnd now I'm talking to myself. Wonderful."

Trying to make sense of either powers or Ziz were pointless endeavors; you'd pull all your hair out before you managed to figure anything out other than the obvious.

With a frustrated sigh, I stomped forwards towards the hippodrome, as I could tell that the door was not opening unless I jumped through some hoops. Likely activating the unlocking mechanism or powering up the door to let it open. I was going through all of this just to open a damned gate, in order to open an even larger gate.

The avenue leading up to the hippodrome was narrow and reminded me a little of my mindscape…mostly the 'getting ambushed by random undead Greek Warriors' bit. They were dispatched just as easily as I had done so before, but they were more numerous. Annoying, but sill manageable.

When I reached the entrance to the hippodrome, a massive stone edifice with bronze statues of chariots being raced on either side of it, an enormous barrier of red energy slammed into place behind me, with a smaller one appearing over the open doorway before me. In the next instant, a black portal appeared on the ground and an honest-to-goodness centaur pulled itself free of its grasp before bellowing in anger. Its equine half was larger than a regular horse, even a carthorse, by half a body-length, with its human portion equally large. Clad in Grecian-style armor and wielding a spear, the massive thing charged at me in a gallop.

I grinned and shifted the power of my blades to the Ice of Poseidon with a thought. Throwing the twin blades up, I slammed them down to the ground in an instant, unleashing the Poseidon Tremble attack that sent a wave of ice right at the monster, freezing it solid up to the base of the neck. It weakly struggled before I lashed out in a scissor motion with the Venger Blades, cutting its head off in a spray of blood.

After the death of the centaur, the two forcefields vanished, alongside my ice and the body of the centaur, leaving behind an old key as long as my forearm on the ground. When I bent to pick it up, it vanished as soon as I touched it, but I somehow knew that I could take it out again if it was needed. I also knew it was the Stable Key.

Okay, so I had some kind of hammerspace going on here too? How many powers did I have?!

Deciding to just roll with it, I strode through the doors as was presented with a choice; one route, according to some handy signs, would take me to the racetrack and stables, while the other would take me to the stands. As I had a key to one of them, it was a reasonable guess that all of them were behind locked doors and I'd get a new key for a different area once I conquered the stables, so I allowed myself to be funneled, heading off to the correct direction..

The door to the stables was big…stupidly big. It was twice the height of Armsmaster, and four times as wide, with a single lock bang-slap in the center of the door. Leaping up to the lock and grabbing on with one hand, I pulled the key out of nothing and slammed it home with the other, using my strength to turn it the correct way, whereupon it vanished as the door started to sink into the floor.

I pushed off and landed lightly on my feet, ready to take care of anything that came at me when the door opened fully. Drawing the Venger Blades again, I prepared myself for what was to come.

Same Time

Long Distance Conference Call Room, PRT ENE Building, Brockton Bay

"…and Cinereal is chomping at the bit to try and go in after her." finished the beleaguered man in chart of the PRT forces stationed around the Tower of Ellisburg. "Fortunately, whatever forcefield is surrounding the tower is proving far beyond the capabilities of any Parahuman currently stationed here to break through."

"Thank you, Scott." Chief Director Costa-Brown nodded to him. "You may leave now, and be certain to inform Cinereal that if she sets so much as a foot inside the Tower, she will be promptly ejected from the Protectorate."

As the nervous and wounded man disappeared from the conference, the Chief Director looked around at her subordinates.

"Two dead, thirty wounded among the PRT Troopers, several wounded Capes." she stated. "Not to mention millions of dollars worth of damaged and destroyed equipment. Emily, I believe this 'Bia' came from your city. What is known about her?"

"Virtually nothing aside from the fact that she is powerful." the overweight woman that was Emily Piggot admitted. "The first altercation that we are aware Bia was a part of was against Hookwolf of the Empire 88, who was swiftly and decisively defeated. He was rescued after Bia's departure by his subordinates and is still recovering, according to word on the street. After that, aside from interfering in numerous instances of petty crime ranging from muggings to break-ins to carjackings, the only other Parahuman who has fought Bia is Oni Lee of the Azn Bad Boyz. This is again word on the street, but apparently, Oni Lee was forced to retreat."

That set a cat among the pigeons. Hookwolf and Oni Lee were well known for their powers and viciousness, even outside of Brockton Bay. For one to be outright defeated while the other was put to flight was worrying, and spoke a lot of the power that Bia possessed.

"Watchdog cannot predict, read or see Bia." the representative of the Thinker Tank offered. "Everyone gets headaches or fits when they try. She must have an Anti-Thinker power of some sort."

"That is most concerning." Deputy Director James Tagg frowned. He was standing in for Director Abraham of the Indianapolis PRT, who was hospitalized. "Are we facing another Pastor?"

Pastor, a Trump that made Teacher look weak by comparison, had taken over the city of Freedom, California and was quarantined inside of the city limits. He also possessed an anti-Thinker field that stumped Watchdog.

"There is no sign that she is a Teacher-style Cape, James." the Chief Director stated. "I have the preliminary report Emily filed in front of me right now. Bia appears to be a Brute with Striker powers, as well as the Mover ability that she used to travel between Brockton Bay and Ellisburg, a portal of light. She may have Tinker abilities as well, given the armor and weapons that she wields. The exact range and power of her abilities are unknown, but the Brute portion must be at least equal to his Changer state's if he was defeated as swiftly as Emily suggests."

"We cannot see her or predict her with Watchdog, and she walked right inside of the Tower built by the machinations of that bitch, Chief Director. I feel that allowing her to run free is more dangerous than can be tolerated." Tagg said darkly. He had been assigned to the Lausanne Quarantine Zone, the first place on Earth where the Simurgh had descended. He had nursed an abiding hatred of Masters in general, and the Simurgh in particular, ever since.

"She arrived there to warn the PRT of the explosion, however she found out about it." Director Armstrong of Boston pointed out reasonably. "That doesn't really speak to me of someone who was acting maliciously. Cinereal is an iron-clad bitch with a caustic attitude, not to mention she hates being beaten, so it's of no surprise she's taking the hard line with Bia. I say we simply ask her what's going on once she comes out."

"For all we know, the inside of the Tower has an effect similar to the Simurgh's scream!" Tagg slammed a fist on his desk as he argued back. "We can't risk her going anywhere but the Birdcage!"

"To use your own argument about the fact we know nothing about what is inside that tower, for all we know it might be filled with candy and chocolate." Armstrong snorted. He didn't like Tagg in the slightest, considering him an extremist. "Until we know that the tower has any kind of negative effect on someone entering it, we cannot treat her like we would an S-Class criminal; we'd scare off every Cape who thought about joining us if we did that."

"I would suggest that we place Bia under the Master/Stranger Protocols as soon as she emerges." Piggot put in. "Then we ask her what the hell's going on. She has not be exposed to the song of the Simurgh, therefore she is not a Ziz Bomb. We cannot throw people into the Birdcage simply because they have been somewhere that the Simurgh has been; we'd lose too many Capes and PRT personnel that way."

Tagg threw her a look of betrayal at this. Emily supposed that he'd been hoping that her abiding dislike of Capes would put her on his side. What an idiot.

"Emily's suggestion is the most suitable." the Chief Director decided after a few more minutes of debate. "Director Santiago, you are to recall Cinereal at once. Having her on-scene will do more harm than good. I shall request Alexandria move to take point on this."

"Isn't that overkill? There are several members of the Protectorate who could beat Hookwolf that aren't a member of the Triumvirate." the Director from Illinois asked.

"It's also a test of the anti-Thinker field that Bia possesses." Costa-Brown explained. "Alexandria has a Thinker power of her own; if hers work then the anti-Thinker field only affects a certain group of Thinkers."

"Ah. Makes sense, I suppose." Armstrong nodded. "Alexandria's Thinker power works on her own memory, as well as in person with other people. If only the ones that don't require the user to be in person are blocked, then we can use the ones that do work to try and get some information about her."

"Exactly, Director Armstrong." the Chief Director nodded. "Additionally, this is quite possibly the largest and most permanent alteration that Ziz has inflicted on the world since the destruction of the Swiss people. There is no telling what it is capable of doing, what its intended purpose is or what any accidental side effects it may possess. Having Alexandria there to force the issue may prove to be a necessary precaution."

"What if Bia manages to portal out before Alexandria manages to collar her?" Piggot asked reasonably. "If she can take down Hookwolf and force Oni Lee to retreat, the Protectorate ENE would have to muster its entire roster to deal with her. That leaves us vulnerable to villains."

"A point. I shall ask Legend to make a trip to Brockton Bay for when the operation goes into effect." the Chief Director nodded judiciously. Legend, in addition to being the strongest Blaster in North America, was also one of the fastest fliers. He could make the trip between New York and Brockton Bay in under a handful of minutes if he pushed himself slightly.

The meeting continued on for a few more minutes before ending. Emily Piggot sat back in her custom-built chair and sighed.

"Fucking Capes." she muttered.

Later

Entrance to the Hippodrome Stands Area, Beneath the Tower of the Gods

Beneath my helmet, my right eye was twitching in irritation. Going through those damned stables had not been pleasant. All of the enemies had been mechanical horses, which were pains in the ass to beat. On the bright side, I did get a chance to try out the Lightning of Zeus, which was really effective against the metallic equines.

The 'boss' of the area, if you could call it that, had been a large, half finished mechanical horse, made of black metal and had rubies for eyes. Most of its back was incomplete and I'd just needed to smash three jewels that were presumably the power source for the thing, in order to beat it. Behind the area where the horse had fought me had been two things; a key for the stands, and a lever with a large '1' on the wall above it.

Having pulled it, I'd watched as a line on the wall leading away from it had lit up like neon lighting, and I just knew that one of the locks/hinges had disengaged/powered up.

Presuming that each area unlocked another one of the locks/powered up one of the hinges, there was one missing, but that was a problem for Future Taylor. Right now, I had doors to open and enemies to kill.

Almost as soon as the door was down and I walked in, the undead legionnaires were on me in droves. Seriously, they're as bad as cockroaches! And now there were ones with bloody shields that I have to destroy before I can kill them! Stubborn bastards…not like I was one to talk, but still.

In the brief reprieve between groups, I looked around and saw the probable end destination, a large boxed-off area that was either the equivalent of an announcer's area or noble's private box. There was a gate leading further in, but I couldn't see it clearly.

I seriously had to fight my way around half of the Hippodrome in order to reach the box, which wasn't easy, let me tell you. The Cursed Archers showed up in the middle of me fighting another group of Legionnaires and I got hit by several arrows, which hurt like a sonofabitch. It didn't stop me from winning, but it did remind me that for all of my power, I wasn't invincible.

Suitably chastised, I started acting smarter. I started using the Undead Legionnaires as shields if necessary, but for preference I eliminated the Cursed Archers first. The simplest and easiest solution if often the best.

In the box, the boss this time was a fat corpse in a toga that flung purple energy around like it was going out of fashion. Being it hurt like hell, so I made sure to repay that by kicking the bastard into the path of the charging horses down on the track.

When it died though, a stream of purple energy lanced out and struck the gate leading onward, which seemed to let me see it more properly. Much like the gates I'd seen in my dreams, it was large and had something engraved on it. The upper torso of a large muscled man, wearing a large helmet with a pair of down-turned horns sticking out of the sides and a grill covering its face, was shown. The grill, plus several open lesions on the figure's chest, were glowing with purple fire. And as before, a brazier sat in front of it, purple fire emanating out of it.

As I approached it, words in Ancient Greek appeared above it.

IF YOU SEARCH FOR THE TRUTH, THE SOULS OF HADES WILL AID YOUR QUEST.

Welp, that makes all three of the most powerful Greek Gods that have given me powers.

I did as I usually did and stabbed the Venger Blades into the brazier, and absorbed the purple fire. As the brazier dissolved into nothing now it had lost the force keeping it intact, I had to wonder how the hell I was going to use this power.

"Hgn!" I hissed in pain as knowledge on exactly how to use the purple energy to summon souls and the like to fight for me was shoved into my mind. Fucking ow!

"OK, that hurt." I winced, shaking my head to clear it. Right, where to now? Ah…"

The gates that had blocked my path swung open before me, revealing another Minotaur. It was just like the last one, carrying an axe with a wickedly-sharp blade. And it looked more foul-tempered than Sophia. Which was saying something.

"Ah, good. A volunteer." I smirked as I accessed the Souls of Hades, purple energy emanating from my blades. I lashed out several times with quick strikes in the combination I knew was called Hades Fury. Accompanying each strike was a sense of something building up. When I finished the fourth strike, a being I knew to be a Shade of Hades appeared and attacked the Minotaur, taking it off-guard. I followed up with Underworld Agony, ripping a portal through to the Underworld beneath the distracted beastman and blasting it with pure necrotic energy straight from the pits of Hades.

As the beast fell, dissolving into nothing, I indifferently moved past it, sheathing my weapons on my back as I did so. I'd had to kill so many undead soldiers that it was actually a welcome reprieve to face a flesh and blood opponent. I wouldn't be so blasé when facing a Cape or a regular human, obviously, because they were a lot less durable.

For the first time in a while, that gravelly voice spoke up in my mind.

To fight with a worthy foe is the pinnacle of a warrior's desire. To not give one's all in combat is an insult to one's own skill and to one's enemy.

Yeah, well, thing is, Mr Gravel Voice, I don't want to be hunted like a criminal. So no indiscriminate slaughtering is going to happen unless it's in this damned tower! And even then, only if it's the beings created in this tower!

I sensed some amusement from someone before the feeling vanished along with the presence. Was I being Mastered by my own power or something? That was a worrying possibility. Not exactly much I could do about it other than keep aware of myself and hope I notice something awry.

Moving on, I pulled the lever that I found in the next room, and grabbed a key off the hook on the wall next to the door that it opened, which was frankly shockingly bad security. May as well have left the damned door opened for all the good it did.

The next area, which was the slave pens, disgusted me. The poor wretches in the cages may not have been real (they were a bit too repetitive in their screaming to be from real people) but I hated the idea of slavery point-blank. The Merchants, ABB and Empire all basically enslaved people, whether it be by drugs, by force or by coercion. I'd rather die than let that happen to me.

That being the case, I slaughtered the human-like slaver masters with something akin to glee. Every single one was armed with a whip and sword and tried to keep their distance while whipping me to death…not that it did them much good. My Venger Blades were stronger, had a longer range, and were able to cut right through the whips so easily. They stood no chance whatsoever.

I finally found the area boss after kicking open a bunch of doors; it was again a fat bastard, this time one wielding a massive scimitar-like sword that was taller than he was. It didn't make him shock proof, so I used Blinding Rage to electrocute him with every strike and block I made. Even just activating Lightning of Zeus gave my blades a slight electric charge, but using Blinding Rage really turned the strength of it up by quite a bit.

In less than three minutes, the fat bastard was down, I had pulled a third lever and gotten ahold of the Racetrack Key. Now all I had to do was to beat that charioteer out there and I could progress on further.

Retracing my steps, I found myself in front of the door to the racetrack itself. Unlocking it went as usual, and when it was clear, I walked on through to confront the charioteer.

"Hah! Yah!" the figure called out, lashing out with his whip at the horses. Quite why he was doing that was puzzled me, as the horses were automatons as well,

"Whooaa, there." the figure called drawing his chariot to a halt next to me. The automaton was taller than me by a head, and was made of finely worked bronze, steel and other finer metals. In one hand, the reins of the horses were clasped, whilst the other held a long whip. On his chest was emblazoned a snake symbol.

"Well met, warrior!" the automaton called. "I am Erichthonius, once King of Athens in its early years and blessed by the goddess Athena!"

"I know you…you're the charioteer who impressed Zeus so much that on your death, he raised you into the night sky and made you a constellation; Auriga, the Chariot!" I said in recognition.

"Ha! That I am." the ancient king laughed. "My quadriga chariot, invented by the blessing of Athena, helped me to accomplish this feat to make up for my lame feet! Should you wish to continue, you must defeat me in a chariot race!"

"Defeat a professional charioteer in a race without having any experience in it myself?" I questioned skeptically.

"You have had knowledge of things come to you as if you had learned them already, no?" Erichthonius questioned knowingly. "This is proof you have the blessing of my own patron, Athena the Wise, warrior of the modern age. The creation of my chariot, the knowledge on how to smelt silver and how to plow the land, all came thanks to my blessing from the goddess."

More like forced into my head with all the subtlety of a cannon being fired, but OK, I'll give you that.

With a gesture from the automaton king, the empty chariot halted next to his, allowing me the chance to step aboard it. As I did so, knowledge once more entered my mind on how to control such a thing, which seemed to lend more weight to Erichthonius' claim that I was 'blessed' by something. Whether that was by an ancient goddess, or by something else though, was entirely up in the air.

Taking the reins, I snapped them, making the horses rear up and start to gallop. It was very different from a car, what with the lack of suspension, but the feeling of power that controlling the chariot was something else. I could see why they had ruled the battlefield before the advent of cavalry.

To give Erichthonius credit, he gave me a couple of laps to get used to the chariot before he pointed at the start line. I slowed down and halted at the line while the best Grecian charioteer in history did the same with a skill that made me look clumsy by comparison.

"Let us begin when this coin lands on the ground!" the ancient king called. "First one to make five laps wins!"

"Sounds good to me!" I said determinedly. I doubted I'd win, but I was going to give it, as Mom once told me the English put it, a 'good-old college try', whatever that meant.

With an easy and dexterous flick of the thumb, Erichthonius flipped the coin into the air sending it spinning in front of his chariot. Clever. He could see it perfectly, but I would be a hair's second slower to react than he would be.

As soon as I heard the sound of the coin smacking down on the dirt track, I was off, the chariot clattering across the ground, almost in pace with the Charioteer next to me.

"Hahahaha! It has been an age since I last rode a chariot against someone!" Erichthonius laughed joyfully. "Yaah!"

I will be the first to admit that 'competitive' isn't something you'd really call me; I prefer to get along with people wherever possible. The closest I used to get was when people challenged my knowledge of books. Then I'd become a pariah thanks to the Bitch Trio.

Now though? Yeah, I could see why even someone as thuggish as Sophia got competitive during Track Team meets. Adrenaline rushed through my veins, and I grew tunnel vision; nothing existed aside from my chariot and I, my opponent and the track itself. Excitement and determination ruled me; the desire to win.

As we completed lap after lap, there was very little in it between us; first he'd pull ahead, then I would, then he would. It was odd, he should be crushing me like a bug, yet something let me match his experience. Like a sense of pure instinct that allowed me to react in the appropriate manner to each shift of balance, each turn and each jarring bump on the track.

As we came up on the last stretch, I mentally urged every ounce of power from my mechanical steeds that I could. As we crossed the finish line a bare inch ahead of King Erichthonius of Athens, I let out a whoop of victory before pulling my reins, forcing my chariot to a halt.

"Aha! An excellent display!" the automaton king laughed as he pulled himself to a half beside my chariot, seemingly not irked that he had lost. "In all my years, this is the first time I have lost by such a close margin. You have earned your victory, warrior."

He clapped, and a lever appeared in the middle of the track.

"That will allow you to open the gate where you descended into my hippodrome." he informed me. "Additionally, take this."

Flinching when he opened up his chest, like it was a cupboard or something, I watched as he pulled out a bronze and gold talisman of some sort and tossed it towards me. Catching it carefully, I saw that it was a palm-sized disk with the constellation of Auriga engraved into it. Greek letters appeared above it as I watched.

King Erichthonius gifts you the Auriga Talisman, allowing you to summon his chariot whensoever you wish it.

"Thank you…this is a…well, kingly gift." I said, the talisman vanishing into my hammerspace pocket.

"Think nothing of it." the old king said. "Now, go forth warrior. Go forth in the name of the gods."

With that, he snapped his reins and sped off, vanishing chariot and all into a golden portal that appeared before him. It looked suspiciously like my own Light of Hyperion. Was someone manipulating things around me? Not sure I like that, but for the moment, I had a lever to pull.

Getting off of my chariot, I wasn't surprised when it also ran off into the open portal, which then closed.

Wasting no time, I pulled the lever which made the whole hippodrome light up before reverting to normal. Odd.

I left the hippodrome and returned to the doors, finding them swung open already. Cautiously advancing inside, I found myself in a large hall that I guessed was right underneath the main hall that I'd entered initially. The ceiling wasn't nearly as high as I had descended though, so…ah-ha, so that's the trick, is it?

There was a lever in the center of the room, so it was probably an elevator like the one which had brought me down here in the hippodrome area. At least I don't have to run up a spiral staircase…with how deep I was, that would be tiring, even for my now-superhuman endurance.

After giving the room a cursory once-over, I strode into the center and pulled the lever. The doors slammed shut and a bronze latticework cage gracefully rose around the elevator platform, which had a diameter of about eight meters, before the elevator started to oh-so-slowly rise.

Blood-colored mist erupted around me as several more skeletal soldiers appeared to confront me.

"You guys never give up, do you?" I asked rhetorically as I drew my weapons again. "Well, no matter how many of you come at me, I'll still win! Let's get this over with!"

So…yeah. Here's my return to writing Worm ficlets after being absent from it. I have been pushing myself to write my main stories for too long without resting, so I managed to get into this again. Hopefully it means my writing will become smoother. Who knows.

As usual, review if you have something nice to say, if you don't, please save me the bother of deleting your guest review and not say anything.