Rise of the Titans

[Tight_n_ready]

Lyra

"What exactly do you think you've been doing?"

Her voice was flat, hard, and coldly furious. It was not the kind of voice you'd want to mess with, not even the darkest hounds of Tartarus would mess with her, the mood she was in she was likely to end it here and now. Her face was shadowed but even so it was clear that harsh lines of anger had marred her countenance.

"I hire... a professional" there was a disdainful emphasis on the word, it was clear what she thought of him at this point, "to remove a few obstacles, college kids, no less, and not only do you fail to kill even one of them, but you manage to broadcast them on the news?"

She shook her head, but didn't move from the chair as he opened the lager, content to sit, legs crossed, arms seemingly relaxed on the arms of the chair but her fingernails were digging into the edges.

"Would you care, to explain yourself?"

 

[HotCider]

Jessup King

Slapping the edge of the cap against the counter, it popped free to clatter across the floor. Jessup raised the bottle to his lips, gulping down the wispy vapors along with the cold, hoppy liquid. He craned his head, his throat pumping away and draining the bottle until half of it was gone before he lowered it and exhaled a gasp of breath.

I hire…a professional…

Jessup’s cheeks inflated as a heavy belch left his mouth, muting some of Lyra’s next words—showed how much he cared. He didn’t know what to make of all the super-powered nonsense he witnessed, but he knew before he started working for her none of that shit existed. The mercenary walked over to his bed and plopped down. He set his rifle next to him. He hadn’t forgotten that the woman sitting in his apartment had powers also. Placing his beer on the lamp desk, he grabbed the TV controller and cut on the tube to see the news Lyra had just been talking about. Jessup nonchalantly changed the channel and started his surf for something that would take his mind off of everything he had experienced today.

“Ah’m done workin’ for you, so get out or ah’m gonna shoot you in the face,” Jessup warned.

The threat had been a threat, but it didn’t sound like one with how relaxed he seemed. He was tired; not just exhausted tired, but mentally tired. He didn’t want to hear about super-powered kids or anything. Tomorrow, his life was going to go back to normal. He was going to wake up, call the ACA, ask them if they had any jobs for him, and he was going to be back on contract. He also was going to check out where Victoria was currently staying and pay her a stalker visit. She would never know he was even there.

 

[DeathsKnight]

Hayden Condan

He floated? No...flew. Steve could fly? Hayden shook his head, then reached up and pulled the shocked teenager down from where he floated,

"Come along...fly boy."

He grinned at Steve and shook his head again,

"Your parentage left you with a useful power. We got to get..."

Shots rang up from the rooftop and Hayden noticed a figure fleeing from the building, he pulled Steve after him, reached the van and found Lydia waiting already there. He pointed a thumb at Steve.

"Got ourselves an air god, Stevie boy just flew."

He pushed Steve into the back,

"Better get out of here, your boyfriend almost got to kill Steve and I for one do not want to face a guy who has that kind of power radiating from him."

He got into the driver's seat and pulled a key from his jacket pocket, starting the van.

Steve Denver

He could not believe how calm Hayden took all of this, actually grinned at all of it. He was still shocked from the chase, the confrontation and the fall. He could swear that he could feel his insides quiver trying to recover from it all. The only thing that Hayden said that actually made some sort of sense was that they should get away.

"He did not look like Hayden said. He...he had some sort of thing on his forehead...it loked like...skin?"

He knew that his voice shook, but he had almost died, he got shot at and chased by a man that just didn't seem to know why he tried to kill Steve. He sighed and placed his face on his arms.

 

[heartofcourage]

Lydia Pruitt

She got into the passenger seat, glancing back at Steve as he spoke. He looked like he as in shock and she reached back to take his wrist in her hand, checking that his pulse was fine and he wasn’t going to pass out on them.

“I don’t think he’ll follow us anytime soon.” She said as she made sure that Steve was truly okay before she looked at Hayden, her cheeks flushing bright red. “I…um….I slashed the tires on his bike.”

She sat back in her seat, her mind running through numerous possibilities as she listened to Steve and Hayden talk.

“He’s got to be a professional because why else would he try to disguise his appearance. I left him a note after I slashed the tires and told him that we would tell him what he wanted to know but he had to stop trying to kill us. Who knows, maybe he’ll listen.”

She glanced at Hayden again as he drove, her mind going back to the cup at the museum. She was working up the courage to tell them what she had in mind, but it would be a lot more serious than slashing the tires on a mercenary’s bike.

“That cup in the museum. I get the feeling that it somehow belongs to me. Like it was my mothers.”

 

[DeathsKnight]

Hayden Condan

Hayden looked at Lydia and smiled an enigmatic smile, he knew something had captured her attention, she may have tried to hide it, but he knew most people.

"Give me two hours and you should have it, with the museum knowing nothing more."

He nodded towards Steve,

"I'm pretty sure that he will appreciate the tyre slashing after what the big guy did to him."

He looked at Steve,

"There wasn't enough shadows for me to manifest into, if I used what I had I would have drained myself and most probably would have fallen asleep."

He turned his attention to the road and stopped outside a Gallery,

"This is the place Steve mentioned, let's have a quick look-see and see what we find"

 

[heartofcourage]

Lydia Pruitt

“Oh, Hayden, I can’t ask you to do that. We can’t steal from a museum.” It was the diplomatic thing to say but in reality she really wanted that cup any way possible.

She looked out at the gallery as they drove up and she nodded at Hayden. She was still worried about Steve and if he were alright. As she stepped out of the van, she moved to him and took his hand, giving him a smile. It was a lot to take in, suddenly realizing that you were the child of a powerful being. If anyone understood that in the world, it was Hayden and her.

“Come on and I’ll bore you with all the details about the artists inside.” Passing Hayden, she grabbed his arm too. “Don’t think you’re immune to it either.” She smiled up at the big guy not wanting to admit that having the two of them close made her feel safe.

 

[DeathsKnight]

Hayden Condan

He gave a low chuckle and followed Lydia and Steve,

"I might just disappear a few times on you, but I will tag along."

He looked up at the building and got the distinct impression that somebody is going to get answers here. It would be either Steve or himself...the thought made him smile. Steve could do with some answers round about now. They entered and he listened to Lydia when she started to explain and point out certain paintings and sculptures, he wasn't focused on her though, his mind was far away.


Steve Denver

He could fly, the whole trip those words ran through his mind, the sheer power of the implication this held, shocked him to the core. He had grown up believing stoutly that there was no such thing as magic and that the mythos was just that, stories. Now this...he could fly. He dutifully followed Lydia and then a slow smile crept over his face.

"I can fly."

He chuckled,

"I always wanted to do that. I were going to enroll over two months into the Air Force Academy."

He felt a touch on his shoulder, much like a parent would to ensure a child and then he was led away. He grabbed Lydia's arm, pulling her after him as they walked deeper into the gallery.

"This is what happens every time I start to doubt, something takes control and pushes me to where it wants me."

They stopped in a Greek section filled with statues, the statue they came to a stop by was a large carving of Zeus holding his weapon, a Thunderbolt. Steve looked up at the face and knew without having to check that this was his father. When he spoke his voice was small and trembled.

"He looked just like this, the beard and everything, he just didn't carry that robe thingy and the bolt."

 

[heartofcourage]

Lydia Pruitt

“You can’t really go wrong with Zeus. Well, except for the serial philandering.” She said with a laugh as she watched Steve come to terms with what he saw before him. “Now we just have to figure out who your mother was.” Putting two pieces of the puzzle together would do wonders for Steve’s confidence. “Lord help you if it was someone that Hera despised because you might have more to worry about then a man chasing you down on top of the roof of a museum.”

She turned as she talked to see if she could find Hayden and found herself staring straight into the face of a hellhound. She screamed and darted behind Steve, her heart racing as people in the quiet gallery turned to stare at them. She glanced around him, sighing in relief when she saw it was just a statue.

"I hate to admit that I'm a little jumpy right now." She confessed to Steve as her face blazed bright red.

 

[DeathsKnight]

Steve Denver

Lydia's scream froze his blood and he turned, ready to run if it was that man again, instead he looked into the marble face of a hellhound. At her words he noticed the stares and placed an arm around her shoulders,

"It's OK, I'm sure that turning around and seeing a face like that would make anybody jump."

He smiled at the nearest people,

"Bad experience with big dogs recently, still a bit jumpy."

Some made compasionate sounds and nodded, soon the people moved away. Steve looked around.

"Just where did Hayden go?"

He shook his head,

"I'm sure that he will be allright, let's see if I can't find somebody or something that represents my mother."

 

[heartofcourage]

Lydia Pruitt

“Hayden has trouble in the light. He’s probably hiding in the shadows.” She said as she noticed Steve’s arm around her shoulder. Before she would have jumped away from someone that touched her, but for some reason she found she didn’t mind.

He led her through the halls of paintings and statues, searching for something that only he seemed to know. She watched his face intently, trying to gage what he was thinking and just what he was searching for as he stared at the faces of the women in the gallery.

“You know Zeus took practically anybody into his bed. My own sisters are the daughters of Zeus. It could be anybody.”

 

[DeathsKnight]

Steve Denver

"That may be, but did he stay with them for longer than six years as a married couple?"

He smiled at her,

"I did some homework on my parents, just did not think that one or maybe both would turn out to be deities."

He stopped at a murial of the Titans, nothing seemed familiar to him, so he moved on, crossing into the Roman section without realizing it. He finally found the painting that he saw in the book, but it was not Theia, it was Dianna, the goddess of hunting. He frowned, then started to look around, Pluto, Mars... These were not Greek were they? He wandered further, came across a cluster of statues, Venus, Nike and another of Dianna. That settled it for him, he turned to find Lydia,

"I think there was either a printing error in the book, or these depictions are wrong."

He pointed at the statue and then at the painting.

"That is how my mother looked."

 

[heartofcourage]

Lydia Pruitt

Lydia was staring up at a large mural of the Titanomachy, wondering just how much of this was about the come true when Steve found her again. She looked at him as he asked if there could be an error in the book she had given him and she tried her hardest not to laugh. She took him by the hand and led him back to the sculpture of Diana, staring at the goddess that her had identified as his mother.

“Steve, my friend, welcome to Rome. You could think of the Roman deities as close cousins to the Greeks. It’s not a mistake. It’s two different cultures.” She cocked her head to one side as she stared at the stone face of the woman. “She’s very beautiful. I’m sure your father was very protective of her around the other Gods.”

She grinned at him, pleased that he had identified his heritage. The son of two Gods, he would prove powerful. Hayden could control his powers surprisingly well and seemed to know his father intimately. She wondered if Allison could control herself in such a situation. Suddenly, Lydia began feeling very underpowered. While those that were in this fight could certainly defend themselves well, she only had the power of knowledge. It suddenly didn’t feel like such a good fight and the knowledge of that showed on her face.

“Let’s go find Hayden.” She said, giving his arm a tug as her thoughts turned melancholy.

 

[DeathsKnight]

Hayden Condan

"Oh no need to find me, I'm back."

He came from behind a statue of Orcus, wearing a cat-ate-the-canary grin. His beard has grown longer and his relation to Orcus seemed even clearer now.

"I need a shave, I'm starting to itch."

He placed a hand on Steve's shoulder,

"Two gods? My friend you have indeed been blessed. If you can learn to control the powers that you do not believe in, you will realize just how much."

He turned to Lydia and that grin came to his face again, he pulled open the left side of his jacket to reveal the cup stuck to his belt, then he closed his jacket again.

"It is a forgery, the best money can buy. A collector in Italy might wonder why his collection suddenly sports a small sculpture of Hermes."

He closed his jacket and chuckled,

"I did not steal. I replaced it with an artifact of equal value and of course I could not resist the pun."

 

[Tight_n_ready]

Lyra

“Ah’m done workin’ for you, so get out or ah’m gonna shoot you in the face.”

She laughed, it was humourless, dead. Though she looked for all the world like any young business woman her bearing, her stance, and her starkly beautiful face was as cold and proud as a Prince of Hell.

"Oh Mr King, you have taken the money, you're locked into the contract now. As to your threat, lets call it an idle threat, because that's all it can be Mr King."

There was no humour in her voice, and not much else in terms of emotion, it was strange. In the dark, she didn't seem quite human, the shadows across her face twisted it, deformed it, until it was no longer as beautiful as it had once been. Then, when you looked again it was once again beautiful, once again human.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I don't really care where we're going next Mal as long as there are some good clubs and a good venue for me to perform for my fans."

She was sprawled on the bed, her manager stood just inside the door, attempting to ignore her current state of undress, rather unsuccessfully. She was clearly naked under the sheet, as was the young man next to her, the latest in a long string of boyfriends. She seemed to have a new one every month or so.

"Yes Victoria, they have a great venue, you know I wouldn't take you anywhere you couldn't perform to your utmost potential."

The young man stirred slightly, murmuring as he began to surface from sleep. Victoria threw her manager a pointed look, he went red and hurried out of the 'room' closing the door behind them as Victoria turned back to her waking boyfriend, stroking his chest and then letting her hand trail beneath the sheets.

"Good morning honey."

 

[heartofcourage]

Lydia Pruitt

Lydia’s eyes widened when she saw the flash of brass that Hayden now had attached to his belt. She looked at him with a shocked, but secretly pleased look, her jaw dropping at the fact that he had done such a thing for her. She was touched.

“Can I hold it?” She asked in a soft whisper, forgetting where they were. Of course he couldn’t just give it to her in the middle of the gallery. Her rational mind was chastising the part of her that was pulled to the trinket. It wouldn’t do now to lose all sense of reason.

“Wait, I already know the answer to that. Let’s go back to the van.” Her sense of self control kicked back in, but she couldn’t help the fast pace she picked up as she left the gallery, now the impatient movements of her body as she waited for him to unlock the damned door.

It seemed like an eternity before she was hunkered back down in the passenger seat of Hayden’s van, her hands held out to him and her eyes expectant as if she were an inpatient child.

 

[DeathsKnight]

Hayden Condan

He arched an eyebrow,

"You do realize that this is a forgery right?"

He reached into his jacket anyway and retrieved the cup, handing it to her. He turned to Steve,

"We will have to find if there is more relics bound to our parents in this city,"

He turned to Lydia who was studying the cup intentedly.

"Why do we need them again?"

 

[heartofcourage]

Lydia Pruitt

“A forgery?” She asked as he handed her the cup and she looked over every detail on the surface. It was disappointing, especially after she’d had such a draw to it the first time she saw it. She traced her fingers of the etching, committing the pattern to memory. It was part of her process to touch and see and smell and when those simple actions were finished, she’d never forget it.

“Relics can serve to make whatever is in us stronger. I guess in laymen’s terms you could call them a little enchanted. My mother had the power to take and restore memory. Imagine what I could do with that kind of power.” She said to Hayden, never taking her eyes off the cup in her hands.

 

[Jedi_Khan]

The Golden Eyes and a Start to the Day

A large room built in an old Spanish style during a time when that style was still new. The plaster on the walls was peeling off, exposing in spots the adobe brick that was used in the construction of the building. Wooden shutters covered the half dozen windows that provided light during the day and on a warm night like this, allowed what little breeze there was to come in and cool the hall. Along either side of the hall was two dozen bunk beds, stacked two high. At the head of the room was a small altar upon which an old crucifix stood, two candles burning on either side, providing the only light in the hall at this hour of the night.

A lone figure slowly walked down the aisle between the beds, the candle it carried revealing the figure to be a nun, checking to make sure the children under her care were all sleeping well in their beds. The nun stepped off to the side, kneeling down next the bed of a young boy who seemed to be having a bad dream.

“Xavier, wake up,” said the nun, placing a hand on the boy’s shoulder to try and wake him, her voice light and comforting. “Wake up, Xavier, it’s just a dream.”

The boy calmed down as he started to wake, stretching and rubbing his eyes as he became aware of the nun at his side. As he woke further, he looked at the nun, reassured by her presence. Then he blinked and the nun was gone, replaced by the figure of a man, a man with unnatural golden eyes.

“It’s time to wake up, Xavier,” said the man, his voice smooth and filled with power, as he reached out a hand to grab the boy. The boy opened his mouth to yell, then…

“Yeh!” Xavier exclaimed breathlessly as he sat bolt upright in bed, his heart racing and panting slightly. It had simply been a dream, one that had started innocently enough, but then that man appeared, and those eyes…Xavier could still see those eyes as they faded slowly from his mind. Those piercing, unnaturally golden eyes.

Xavier had dreamed of the orphanage many times before, but never had a man with golden eyes appeared before. Why did he appear now? Could it…no, it couldn’t have anything to do with that woman from before, could it? The encounter with that woman is the only unusual thing to have occurred in the last twenty-four hours, but there just couldn’t be any correlation between the woman and those golden eyes, right?

As Xavier sat staring at his hands, a beam of light slowly slid across the bed and onto his hands, drawing his attention to the east facing window. The sun had apparently risen in the last hour or two before Xavier woke. Or was it that it had risen while he had sat there lost in thought? It didn’t matter as Xavier roused himself and set about getting ready for the day. Once dressed the same as he had been the night before, he pulled out his laptop and loaded the pictures that he had taken.

Xavier perused the pictures for a time, mostly admiring the quality of the photos, especially considering the conditions under which they were taken. In his humble opinion, Xavier really was a great photographer. However, the pictures of the mercenary who had started the chaos last night held Xavier’s attention more than the others did. That man was obviously quite dangerous, and if he had crashed the party last night with the feds in tow, chances were he was working for them on contract, which meant that he would probably be looking for Xavier’s target, Renko, as well.

Xavier needed to find out more information about this mercenary, and in New York, there was only one person with the connections to get that info. Xavier had dealt with Mr. Andrews, a ridiculously rich accountant-type person, before. Xavier had insisted on remaining anonymous when dealing with Mr. Andrews, a concept that the information broker disliked so much he almost refused to do the job Xavier was asking for. Xavier had offered to pay more than the usual amount to ensure his anonymity, which Mr. Andrews had accepted. However, when Mr. Andrews tried to determine Xavier’s identity anyways, Xavier sent him a very clear message that Mr. Andrews’ “untouchable” status did not matter to Xavier in the least.

Xavier smiled a bit as he remembered the manner in which he had sent Mr. Andrews that message; it had been one of his more inspired ideas, and it had certainly done its job, because shortly after getting the message, Mr. Andrews had become very cooperative and stopped trying to find out who Xavier was.

Returning to the present, Xavier sent an e-mail to Mr. Andrews using the same anonymous e-mail account that he had used before, a close-up image of the mercenary attached with a request for information. Even if Mr. Andrews didn’t know who Xavier was, he would know who the e-mail was from, and would probably double his security as a result of believing that his anonymous “benefactor” was back in town.

With the e-mail sent, Xavier packed up his computer and the camera, then went out to breakfast and to take care of the rest of the day’s business.

 

[DeathsKnight]

Hayden Condan

"Don't seem so disappointed, I promised you the real one. You will have it soon."

He ran his fingers over his beard,

"The only problem with me is that my father had no known object. I did hear rumours about a staff of some kind, sounded more like a rock star's accesory than a mytholigical fact."

He grinned at Steve and pulled a slightly frumpled book from his jacket,

"Your aim is good, too good. Zeus did not give that, you should check under the hunting goddesses, seems you have a bit more godly blood in you then we thought."

He moved to the front of the van an got into the driver's seat. He looked around for a while then he spoke up.

"Can any object which have been devoted to a god count as a relic?"

 

[heartofcourage]

Lydia looked at Hayden with a smile as he mentioned his father.

“Hayden, I hate to say it, but out of all of us you seem to be the one that’s the most in tune with any abilities you’re suppose to have.”

She glanced back at Steve as Hayden handed him back the book on Gods and Goddesses, laughing as he mentioned hunting goddesses.

“Steve believes Diana is his mother. Goddess of the hunt.” Listening to Hayden talk about objects, she thought about that for a moment before she nodded. “I would suppose so. You’ll know if you come in contact with it. It calls to you. Like that cup did for me.”

 

[DeathsKnight]

Hayden Condan

"I should be, my powers manifested themselves at an early age. Only problem is that I sprouted a beard when they manifested, kind of hard to wake up in the Shadow world after you went to sleep in your bed. Then as my powers grew, my understanding and control grew as well."

He shrugged,

"That is when I realized that I'm weak, you saw the power I exibited and you saw how quickly it drained me."

He sighed and climbed back into the back of the van, he held his hand out for the cup,

"Please, the time is almost right."

Steve Denver

He took the book from Hayden and listened to the two of them talk, then he flipped open the book and quickly paged to the Roman gods and indeed there was the same picture of Diana as the one they had used for Theia, he smiled and paged to where he was before the man who tried to kill him showed up. By some miracle the picture of his parents was still there, he took it and slipped it back into his wallet.

"We will need to find artifacts it seems. From what I have read about the Titans in this book we are all in deep trouble."

 

[heartofcourage]

Lydia Pruitt

Lydia handed the cup back to him, frowning slightly. “Almost right for what?” She asked as he closed his hand around it. She didn’t like the idea of stealing but she still couldn’t deny the attraction that the cup held over her.

“Perhaps with more practice you wouldn’t get so tired?” She suggested, already knowing that it was stupid to say that. He’d probably been using his powers his entire life. “Well, we can be on the look out for your father’s staff then. Same for Steve.”

She looked over her shoulder as Steve mentioned something about them being in trouble. “Did you not know about the Titanomachy before you joined us? It wasn’t pretty. We most certainly could die in the pursuit of our heritage and I’m starting to think that our little friend is here to stop us from doing what we were meant to.”

She looked at both men, wondering if they knew what they were getting into.

"Are you prepared to die for this?"

 

[DeathsKnight]

Hayden Condan

"Die?"

He grimaced,

"I'll just go to what is now my home away from home, nothing serious about it for me."

He placed the cup under his jacker,

"Now if you'll excuse me..."

He faded into the shadows behind him, as an afterthought he gave them a grin, almost looking like the Cheshire cat as the last thing they could see of him was his teeth.


Steve Denver

He shook his head,

"No I've never heard of the titanomachy, I only know that titans ruled the earth, their children, the gods overthrew them and that I only know from playing a game."

He blanched when he thought of him dieing, it was not something nice to think about. Of course it would mean nothing to Hayden who had by now probably lived a life full of adventure and action, he most probably have had some good times with a couple of ladies because of his stature. But Steve did not have any of those things, heck he had studied so hard that he bordered on being labelled a nerd. Just that he focused on things far removed from what he was facing now, what did maths and geomotry help him now? Sure he could read a map, but that was about all he could do that actually helped a bit. But what would his life be if he did not know? If he abandoned his quest and clearly abandoned these people which had accepted him for who he was and what he could do? He slowly nodded his head,

"If it comes to it, I will die for this."

 

[heartofcourage]

Lydia Pruitt

“You’re like me, Steve. You live your life as blissfully ignorant as you possibly can be and then one day it just sneaks up and bites you in the ass.” She turned in the seat as Hayden disappeared, taking in the look on Steve’s face as he came to terms with what she said.

“No one would think any less of you if you didn’t want to do this. It takes courage to walk away from something so much bigger than you’re capable of handling.” She reached back and took his hand, trying to sound reassuring.

“I’m scared too. I did something incredibly stupid by facing that stupid assassin and the hellhound, but I did it because there’s something in me that is desperate to know the truth. I don’t have much to lose. I live in a shoebox of an apartment, barely getting by month to month, and my family doesn’t really have much to do with me because I’m so totally different than them.”

She sighed and let go of his hand as she confessed the most deepest of her fears in this fight. “I mean, what do I have besides a brain? You and Hayden and Allison and Asuka all have these wonderful powers that actually can do something. Like that man said, the right bullet in the right place and it’s all over for me.”

 

[DeathsKnight]

Hayden Condan

"You are the most powerful of as all Lydia."

His form slowly melted back into form from the shadows,

"What is power if not known how to be directed? What is an arm, no matter how strong, if there is no brain to direct it? Don't sell yourself short, you know your value to our group."

He reached into his jacket and pulled the cup forth,

"The sun shines through an ocules, at the right time it reflects from a display case and it creates a shadow inside the case. I switched the two cups."

He held it out to Lydia,

"The original cup that you saw and needed."