Colossus
Chapter One
By mushy guillotine
Chapter start:
A staccato noise permeated the room of the penthouse - a drumming of the fingernails of a man who had just earned hinself a good fortune through honest means. The jovial mood inside the room was contrasted starkly by the din outside. Of the helpless cold of December. People trying to forget a winter season's frigid coldness inside the warmth of the supermarkets' embrace of wanton spending.
Christmas was nigh upon the world and with it as usual the shopping season. While the world was running helter-skelter for things that they hardly needed, the man inside the room was just drumming away. Life was being good to him lately.
It was such a good day for Tony. His wife had been so sick that she hadn't even gotten up in the morning. So she couldn't really find out the hotel bills that he had forgotten to hide from his pant pockets. Moreover, the roads were uncharacteristically empty. Maybe that was also because he had left early from home. And also he had got paid handsomely.
He had just finished investigating the cheating wife of the Senator. When, where and with whom had been duly submitted to the Senator. With an icy glare at the photographs of his wife with a blonde man, he had ushered him out.
The impoliteness of the Senator was understood by Tony. He would have done the ssme if his wife had cheated him with a two-bit good for nothing assembly line worker. But forgiveness was still hard to come by. At the end of the day, he was a Child of the Wisdom Goddess. Which meant he was a Child of Ego Goddess as well. But considering the circumstances, the indecency was to be forgiven. In time.
But the fees he had gained later, made the forgiveness of the indecency even more resolute.
Feeling a lil bit Gleeful at his 'good joss'. He had been in the Vietnam war where the natives had a good word for everything. It was 'Joss'.
Joss was luck, omen, wrath, God and the devil all rolled into one. Today it was 'joss' that he wasn't feeling his true age of fifty seven and was instead brought back into his tender years of twenty, when war had come calling. That too just when he saw who was on the other side of the door. As War had come knocking on his door again.
Tony Stuart, son of Athena sighed as he saw who was his next visitor. Ares. Bad joss.
Goddamn insane Ares. Complete with fiery eyes and his torn leather jacket. Really bad joss.
Putting on a fake plastered smile he wished the war God a good morning. Which literally had no effect on the fiery war God. If only Tony seemed to think, Ares' eyes were flaming even more brightly. Now the god called Ares' was a special case in behaviour. Content to be ridiculed for being relatively dumber than his relatives, Ares was dangerous at only one circumstance. When Ares wanted someone dead. And when Ares wanted someone dead...
"I want this avenged." Ares dropped the photo on his table without preamble or greeting. Typical of the brute. Walking right into his office and expecting favor without a blessing or a gift in return. Nevertheless he had to do it, so that his mother could have one up over her rival. His mother would just pay him back at a later stage.
Tony looked into the photo on his table. It was old Richie. Old nasty Rich. Richard Mercer. Slayer of Minotaurs and Harpies. Scourge of Prometheus the last time he tried to escape. Richie still had that nasty scar on the nose that he had given him on that mission to the Rockies. Tony had bragged that anything a child of Apollo can do, he could do better and carried only a bow and a rifle that mission. His terrible aim had ended up with a scarred nose for the poor bastard of Ares.
'Sorry Rich. I should have listened to you. And now you are dead.' Tony inwardly sighed. He was getting old. He was loosing old friends faster than he was making new ones. In fact he wasn't making any new ones.
So this case would be quite important for him. Rich and him went way back. Back into the time when people had thought that offsprings of Ares and Athena don't gel well. They had proved everyone wrong.
But now.
It had been thirty something years or so that they had even communicated. They hadn't even witnessed the change they had brought about. Not that they had to. They knew the repercussions of their actions.
Now contrary to earlier belief, the children of Ares and Athena got on well. They were just two sides of the same coin after all.
Children of Athena had better strategy but the execution was always better on the Ares' side. The roles of advisor and strategist were as interchangeable as the general and commander. So the dynamics between them changed but the result was always when offsprings of Ares and Athena teamed up.
Total annihilation of the enemy.
And so it wasn't unreasonable when Tony uttered the next words, "I need some help from your end. I know you won't pay for this."
"You ask your divine to pay in mortal means." Ares grunted.
"I have to. Or maybe the world will again start to be governed from the Empire State Building?" Tony wondered. Seriously it would solve a lot of his problems.
"Father says Man should be interfered as less as possible." One of the few good decisions made by Zeus in Tony's opinion even though it seriously affected him adversely. "Nevertheless I accept. I accept that you have taken it in all seriousness."
"Understood, Sir." After graduating from the camp, he like many of his ilk had joined the army. He had rosen up to a full Colonel and retired. As he wanted to dabble in the world of private eyes. Now he was one of the best in the business.
Ares smirked when he saw the prompt obedience of Athena's kid. For all of her bluster against him, she and her children were quite naive when it came to posturing tactics on the field. She and her children may make strategies that continue to boggle his mind. But there was no one better than him and his children when it came to field leadership. Other than perhaps his father.
On hindsight, Ares scratched out even his father Zeus. His Father wasn't known for his battlefield prowess. His victory against the Titans came through trickery and not through battle fought with blood.
"Remember I am Ares. God of all War. I was born to give orders. Is that understood?" Ares imperatively remarked with quite a bit of smug authority in his words. He had outsmarted the smart again. Bah! Wisdom! Just hot air on a ear of corn. Give him guts and determination any day and he could defeat a hundred of these so called wise men without breaking a sweat.
"Yes sir." The paunch-bellied detective blurted out without thinking. The battle frenzy had affected him. Tony cursed himself for being allowed to be bullied by this brute. His mother would give him a sound scolding soon.
Ares nodded to him like a superior would to his junior officer and pointed out of the balcony of Tony's condominium. Gesturing something, a few split seconds later Tony realized he meant for him to follow to the balustrade of his balcony.
Pointing to a girl sitting below, on the God's Doom machine, an Indian Scout bobber. In fact, now that Tony thought about it, Ares and his children did like their cruiser motorbikes. Apollo's and Hermes' kids being the speed freaks that they are preferred the crotch rocket variety. He himself included. More efficient and effective.
After all that was what being a progeny of Athena was meant to be.
Efficient and Effective.
Ares snapped his fingers to catch the attention of the daydreaming brain-child. A common problem he had become quite accustomed to handling.
"My daughter Clarisse will help you. She is waiting downstairs." Ares said and vanished into thin air. He had better things to do. And anyways, the task was in capable hands.
Tony sighed. Expect him to just do something like that.
He tucked in his shirt a little, which had puffed up at the waist after he sat down. He had put in some weight recently. Scratch that. A lot of weight. Steady eating and steady sitting on a desk does tend to do that to you. He should really exercise more as his wife told him everyday. Also, Ares kids size you up very quickly. It was as similar to a hound dog dealing with a wolf pack. Show weakness and you will be gobbled up.
Tony slyly put on his progressive glasses without which he could hardly see. The world again made sense to him. He looked over the balcony that his office enjoyed and below it to see what had his divine relative thought of gifting him.
And he was thoroughly let down.
From a full Colonel who led grown deadly trained men into battles to this. Babysitter of the War God latest failure case.
Clarisse La Rue was not even eighteen.
No license to drink after the case starts to hit a dead end. No license to drive to clear out some last minute snags or escape from a nasty turn. No license to have a gun either, though that could always be worked out in California. That was not the most infuriating part but. No license to have sex after all the hard work was done by him.
He was duped.
He should have just acted as if he was asleep when Ares was here. He needed a drink.
And inevitably, Tony Stuart cursed his rotten joss.
"So what have you found till now?"
"He's not a monster. Plain and simple." The woman to whom the question was posed, replied with a scoff that she had practically patented. "He's something else. Do you know of anyone who can control the wind like it was second nature and be faster than lightning?"
Apollo squinted his eyes in confusion as the description fitted their father very aptly. And as much as he knew it, Zeus had put a firm chokehold on his divine phallus. Power was the one thing his father liked more than physical pleasures. That was why he had only twice cheated in his marriage after the Great prophecy.
Twice, because he was weak willed on top of being power hungry.
It was a miracle that Poseidon or Hades hadn't already usurped their father's throne. But that was also mainly due to the fact that Zeus was an adept practitioner of the divide and rule policy. Ares against Athena. Athena vs Poseidon. Hades against Demeter. Demeter against Hera. Hera against Aphrodite. Aphrodite against Artemis. Artemis and prior to that, Pan against Hephaestus. And finally, Hephaestus against Ares.
Thus the cycle was complete.
All the poor fools at the end had to resort to Zeus for their petty disputes. And that's how Father kept his power. All the reason, he himself was under intense scrutiny by Athena and Ares, even Helios earlier fron time to time. Also the reason, Apollo acted like a teenager on a sugar rush most of the time. No suspicion on him as he was thought to be without ambition or real power.
Lost in his ruminations as he was, Apollo failed to see the irritation on his less patient sister. A strong nudge to his shins and he yelped back to attention on his dear sister.
"What the hell are you thinking?"
"None of your bizness, Lil' sis!" Apollo drawled out in his sunny and upbeat mood. When actually he wasn't.
This was the whole reason why he was left alone by his father. Duplicity. Also he was a prophecy God who could literally see it coming. Alas Daddy dearest had forgotten the most alarming prophecy.
Zeus had forgotten the prophecy that he would share the fate of his father and grandfather before him.
Then all of a sudden, a theory burst into the Apollo's intelligent mind. It was not a pretty theory. Rather it was a scary theory. Something that threatened the very existence of Olympus more than the impending awakening of Kronos. Now that Zeus had broken his oath on the Styx and there was not anything stopping something worse than death ascending on the one's who had broken the oath.
As Artemis increasingly saw the ascending worried expressions on her brother's visage, she grew worried. Apollo wasn't one to panic. Nor was he one to slide away things as unnecessary. Just plain impartial.
"Apollo if you need my help, you just have to say so? We had long ago decided that there shall be no favor system between us like the others of our kin?" Artemisia begged her brother to reveal what was troubling him. "Please, little brother you promised. You promised not to hide anything. However hard it may be."
"I have a theory to prove." He finally let something be expectorated from his mouth. It was hardly brought to his notice that his words were a little on the benign side. For these were also the words he used when he wanted to found out if blonde were more promiscuous than brunettes or why society had become acceptable of old protagonists in his stories.
Apollo really had a theory to prove.
But to prove it he would need help. Of a female even more annoying than his annoying little sister. Someone who adored his Father more than life. Someone who believed she was smarter than the average girl which is saying much.
His half sister from Metis.
Athena. Goddess of wisdom.
Who still thought she was the most smartest being in the Universe.
Apollo cried wolf on that, for if she was so then she would have understood the tangled webs that Zeus had weaved in their families to control them.
"Sister." Apollo beckoned his one and only annoying sister. "Can I count on you to do something for me?"
"No." Artemis said looking totally serious. Seeing the astounded look on her brother's visage, she gave a fist of victory mentally. She had finally one over her brother. "Come on doofus! You can count on your sister."
"This is serious, Artemis!" Apollo screamed in rage. And Artemis was suddenly reminded of the mastiff that she used for hunting. Gentle when stroked and ferocious when provoked was the motto of both the dog and her horndog of a brother. Both are large and powerful, but shy to show it off. Brave but the bravery tempered by a monk's temperament. Just like a mastiff who will be kind to the mischief of its master's offspring but vicious to the robber in the master's house.
"OK. I am listening." She ceded to her brother.
"I think we will need our sister Athena's help here. I am not yet informing Ares as he's like a bull in a China shop. He will destroy everything." Artemis looked at her dumbfounded. She thought Apollo stood for justice. He was the deface God of Justice. That Zeus was God if Justice was bull and a big misunderstanding. She thought he would need the Lamia killed for impersonating and killing a demigod.
Apollo noticed the disbelief on his sister's face, he eventually reluctantly explained himself, "I need that Richard Mercer to answer some questions of mine. I don't want him killed yet."
"What questions do you want him to answer?" Artemisia fished for answers.
"Just one." Apollo's supplied further with a audible gulp, "Where did Metis hide him till now?"
Artemis gasped as suddenly everything fell into place.
Of what the impending catastrophe that had her brother of far-sight worried.
Another cycle of patricide.
Uranus was killed by the youngest offspring of his first wife. Kronos.
Kronos was in turn killed by the youngest offspring of his first wife. Zeus.
Now it was Zeus's turn to be killed by the youngest offspring of his first wife, Metis. Whoever that son of a bitch was.
"He tried to ingratiate himself with the daughter of a Athena. I think he was trying to get the Aegis to contact Athena discreetly."
The said son of a bitch was a few moments prior, lounging at the Blue Nile Continental bar. After he had been found out by those gods, he had been very careful.
Richard's diary first few entries only had the mention of monsters as the supernatural creatures abound in these vast lands. Grotesque mindless beasts with a maddening lust for man and no reason to support it. A paradox in his opinion. Dangerous you were deemed only if you had the brains to hold your balls in check. For what was bravery without temper?
Just the feralness of a rabid dog.
So the beasts had an ulterior motive. Something which Richard and his ilk, the so called God's hadn't been able to find out. Yes Gods. How strange was this world?
Defenseless and greedy civilians protected and ruled by defenseless and greedy civilians, who were in turn secretly ruled by irresponsible and all powerful beings called Gods. Call a experiment bound to fail.
Now that he was more knowledgeable with this world he knew that the woman who had tried to attack him, all that time ago was someone of a divine origin. The golden fluid that he thought was demon blood was actually ichor. Her hair was red, smelled of the forest and could in turn sense that he had some links with a monster. She was either a nymph or Kami forbid Artemis.
'Bollocks' Naruto thought at last. He was hyperventilating. His well known streak of extreme bad luck didn't seem to have followed him here. He just lived. A normal incident free life up until he had met that blasted redhead woman.
He liked the life of comparative quietness and curiosity filled with an ever growing knowledge that he was now used to. What helped was his fresh take on things. What mattered was whether at the end of the day there was food on his table. It didn't matter who he stole or killed for that to appear on his table. For what was man if he couldn't provide for his own?
Just a mindless beast with a lust for violence. Right?
He kept it real.
It was him against the world.
That was until he had got the brilliant idea that the way back must be with these godforsaken, incestuous Olympians. And so he began finding a trace of their work. Demigods.
Long at last he found a demigod, Lorraine Thauvin. A student of the Harvard business school.
"Na. I dinna agree with ya, Lorry. I canna be second best. Simply canna." Naruto's present alias was that of a Scottishman called Culum McCloud. Hence the profound shade of the Scottish Brogue into his language at the moment." Culum McCloud dinna ken how to be second best. Nor does he want to learn."
Lorry or as her real name Lorraine, wasn't in the slightest bit enthused by this over the top, loud man's claims that he was the best spy in the business. That he was a retired MI6 agent. God's blood he looked only a little more than twenty. And the Eurasian thief had the gall to claim that he was approaching his forties.
For what else could she describe the man that was sitting opposite her and also paying for her dinner. The Eurasian part was affirmed with his square Scottish jaw with the bushy jowls she had seen on many old Scottish gentlemen in television and his slightly angular eyes. Almost imperceptible to the naked eye, aye. But she was a daughter of Athena. Wisdom and cognition were her godfather and godmother.
He said he was a dear friend of Richard Mercer's. But there was not proof to confirm that.
"Me and him were as thick as nails twixt the ends. Aye, that man saved me hide from a couple of scary twists." Culum's exact words. Not that Lorry believed him. Coz his stories were full of holes. If his alibi was true then,
Why was Culum driving his Indian? Something Richard loved more than his own life. Or for that matter why wasn't Culum not acquainted with Richard's demigod friends? As far as she was concerned, Fat old Richie only had the cabins of Camp Half-blood as his friends during his entire life. And Lorraine was surprised to know otherwise.
So basically he was probably a thief who had pocketed Richard and was now trying to save himself when he knew he had stolen from a dead man. She dismissed the very idea of him being the murderer, for no matter how deluded the pyschyopath was they can't lie to a Daughter of wisdom.
"What if I say I don't particularly trust a Scot? You have been playing my native, France and England for centuries." Lorry said a totally bullshit reason to extend a firm disapproval of his request. She was not even patriotic. In fact she didn't even know to speak French "What if you are playing me like the lute?"
"I dinna ken how to explain it to yer wax-filled ears! You imbecile French lost against us, the British. Not English." The Scotsmen raged and she was sure that perhaps maybe he was the age he had proclaimed to be. For no reasonable teenager. One with his mind opened with the new Liberal thoughts would glorify an empire based on crony capitalism, exploitation and monopoly. "The empire was made with as much Scottish blood as much as English."
"So it was made with the blood of Indians, the Africans. Us. Thank god we broke free from your yoke." Lorraine said with a cruel smirk and not a hint of remorse to be kicking at old skeletons in the closet. She really hated that phase of world history.
Naruto knew she was baiting him into acting the age that he had told her. Fourty two years. Technically born into the world when the British Empire was still up and running. It was one of the few things he felt connected to in this world. Britain. It was so much like his own mother's Uzu.
Island Nation of considerable power. Wealth. And knowledge. A forerunner of times. But eventually outrun by the numerically superior mainlanders when they did manage to match their technological pace.
And so he had chosen to be Scottish. Because his ego still couldn't accept himself as a full Uzumaki. Just like he couldn't be full British. Not without learning the Hiraishin first.
But now he will have to watch himself or the small fracas he had created to lend more color and ingenuity into his charade may just topple over.
"Forget history. 'tis the now. I just want you as a junior partner to my firm. McCloud, Mercer and Thauvin." Naruto begged her. And Lorry thought that her doubts were horribly misplaced.
"We'll be into real estate and mining." The second was a faux reason but the first was valid. He needed to survey the lands to find out where he could find a portal back to his home."
"Mining would need rough hands." Lorry said looking into his eyes and arms. Big gorilla like arms covered with a ridiculous fuzz of golden hair. "Perhaps you have them but not me. I say supermarket or else I am not aboard."
"I don't care as long as you rake in the money." Naruto at the least tried to act concerned about money.
Money. What a pathetic thing. He was a warrior. Not a merchant. What was money of use to a warrior? It was good only in the hands of women and effeminate men. Not a good worthy descendant of Susanoo and a future Hokage like him. Naruto immediately made up his mind to do a ritual to clean himself of the harmful effects of money once he got back to his land. Away from this merchant-infested and run land.
"You will personally survey the lands while I arrange for the money. Meanwhile, I will be running an antique auction house." He was sure he could sell a few scrolls as an ancient manuscript of the Yamato Shoguns. A million for each. Three million for Jiraiya's 'ancient literary and graphical expression of eroticism.' He was sure he had a few Icha Icha lying around. Ten or upwards for Jiji's paintings. He could also charge fortunes for the weapons he carried on his person locked up securely in scrolls. All in all he could manage at the least twenty million as a starting fund for his firm. The firm would help him in surveying the land.
"I would need a solid proof that you are trustworthy. I can't just extend my help to anyone who was a friend of a friend." Culum extended a hand towards her chest , gesturing her to open it. But she would have nothing of it. "No! You listen, you impatient man! I would need a signed cheque..." She stopped when she saw what the offered hand contained. A single gold bar. Of approximately ten pounds.
He gingerly kept the bar on her palms and proceeded to take four more out of nowhere. Each was of the same size. Together the five was worth enough to pay the rest of her tuition.
"I haven't finished my degree, Culum. I don't know if I can justify that much amount. Or even that much of your trust. I will be as good as a fresh intern. You would get better employees along the way. You may want someone else as a partner."
Culum smiled, knowing that he had her in his palms. In the ninja world only solid bullion had value. Thief's and assassins by birth held little value in promises or bonds or paper. Knowing that they regularly broke the laws, promises and oaths and lied about not doing so in a fashion that was almost foreign to any other profession. May perhaps a deep undercover spy.
So he had a lot of bullion on his person locked up in seals just like his weapons. All his years worth of pay for the numerous C, B, A and S ranks that he had done on a regularly basis. Now was the time to use its power.
Money held no power in his land. Here it was the lifeblood of power.
"Then I will have t' change ya isn't it?" He said at last as a challenge to her. Knowing full well that she would take it as a personal challenge to not let anyone be better than her. Good on the first level. But if she started degrading the quality of the other employees by some means, he was always there to watch over her.
"Then I have to make sure that you don't, ain't I?" Lorraine challenged him back with a grin.
Challenge accepted.
And just like that Naruto was morose. As he looked over the glass window of the cafe. The steam from the myriad number of coffee steaming here everyday had long since caked the glass with a tint of brown vapour. Along with the dust outside the glass had acquired quite a taste of calling itself a painted glass from medieval Florence, when actually it was just a cheap work-glass made in the dirty factories of Utah.
He too was like that. Using this false veneer of amiability to hide his true jaws. He had always listened to his heart when making decisions. Logic was decisive yes, but ignoring the heart had been the downfall of many a shinobi. Particularly because, it was arguably the one profession where your heart died the fastest.
But after reaching here he had stopped listening to its pleas and tantrums. Of promised pain and toil in this new land. Revenge to be taken and vanquished. But after a few days, his heart had stopped conversing with him.
It was right after Naruto had killed that defenseless man just because he was hungry and that monster he was riding looked cool. He, the guardian of the Elemental Nations had killed a defenseless man just because it had suited his needs.
This world was not good.
He should just return to his land as a fast as he could.
His heart had stopped beating long back. He had killed children for money. Women coz they alive would have meant his loss of cover. Especially bedded women. Some things people rarely forgot and those were of that category.
He was a monster who took pleasure in killing. And now his heart had started beating again. But with the manic glee of a devil who sees a pious man about to fall from grace. There was something wrong in this world.
This world hated him.
How was he settle down here? A dozen authorities were to be behind your back if someone was killed. Barbaric! This world was not good for him. He wanted to go back. Where killing was not sin but a way of life.
Aye, He was a monster that even the monsters themselves feared. So this world was not good for him.
But this world wanted him for his bigotry and uncleanness. Even though it hated him.
How else was he supposed to say that he had a hunch that he was never gonna leave this place? A hunch. But his hunches were always right. It was right when he suspected that Jiraiya won't return from Ame. It was right when he suspected Sakura was lying to him about Sasuke. It was right when he suspected that he didn't love Hinata though the poor girl was madly in love with him. It was right when he suspected Tsunade would wake up.
And it was also right when he suspected that Sasuke had to be killed by him and him alone.
Oh no, he won't just kill that sour-puss Uchiha. He would downright crush him. Unless the Uchiha himself begged him to erase his useless wretched existence from the face of the earth.
And he was right again.
This world hated him so much that it wanted to smother him and crush his ashes into untraceable ashes.
'Do your best America!" He shouted in his mind knowing that the very Earth was his nemesis. A hunch again. But he was sure about it. "I will be home. Nothing that exists or No one alive can stop me from doing that. I am Naruto Uzumaki. I tamed the very devil and bedded her. I would like to see the man or woman alive who can harm me for good."
The glass window cracked.
"A storm is coming, Culum. How did you possibly have a premonition about it?" Lorraine thought the reason why he had looked into the glass was because of the coking storm. He had the look of a seaman. And seamen were notorious in their ability to read the upcoming weather.
Naruto smirked back at Lorry. Her dark hair coaxing him to switch into his manufactured accent quite effortlessly "I baint, lassie. Perhaps the gods themselves want me to bunk at yer house." He waggled his eyebrows to show his clear intent.
Lorry laughed. Amused that he was trying to flirt with her and trying to challenge her plans for him. She was not alone.
The very Earth laughed back at his odiocity. She was amused at his very nerve to challenge her plans for him. She was the Earth. Mother of all.
Who was he?
If given a chance, Naruto would have really thought hard about that question.
Naruto really wondered who was he really.
No one answered him. For no one in this world really could. Nor could the ones back home.
Could they?
Or could they not?
***The End***
Oooh!
Suspense.
How did you guys like the suspense I am building up. Maybe some of you would complain that there is a break in the story between the last chatter and this. You are partially wrong there as Naruto here is under a alias. So was he in the last chapter.
About the strange English you might see Culum McCloud say when under character, all I have to say is I read it in a book. Tai-pan by James Clavell. It was being said by a Scotsman there and I adapted it. Cockney and Norfolk were also under consideration but I disregarded them. Norfolk is too unknown and Cockney too unpopular.
Now onwards in the subsequent chapters there would be three parts, one for Tony and his associates who would be looking for the murder of Richard Mercer. One for Apollo and Artemis looking for the son of Metis (apparently). And the last for Naruto's adventures in the world he was cast into after killing Kaguya. A long term plan if anything changes I'll let you guys know.
By the way, how did you all like it? Review away!
Merry Xmas
Mushy