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Peter
Of all the beings I wouldn’t have expected to run into here... I guess things have come full circle, huh, Luke?
Baal...I didn’t know he would be here. He almost killed Luke once. I’ve seen some of his power firsthand. One demigod isn’t enough to stop him. Unless...is Lindsey planning on sacrificing herself? Like Brooke almost did...
Something brushes against my arm. I jump. Luckily, I wasn’t holding the door at that second, or it would have given us away. It was Carla. She’s barely conscious. I hold my finger over my mouth signaling her to be quiet.
“My forces brought to their knees by a ragtag bunch of demigods and two angels! Where are the other pieces of scum?!” Baal demands.
Lindsey doesn’t face him, “I’m the only one here.”
Baal scoffs, “YOU? You think that I believe you single handedly held back my troops all these weeks? Impossible.”
“There were a lot of wounded when I arrived even from my own ship. Others have been keeping them stabilized, but yes, I am the main reason you have been held back.” She says.
Baal sneers, “Wounded? You mean all those people I killed on the way here?” My blood runs cold.
Lindsey turns. Her eyes are filled with bloodlust, “You didn’t!”
Baal laughs mockingly, “Oh, I did. Most of them didn’t feel a thing as they were already on the verge of death, but there were a couple of fighters. A few that even tried to stop me from coming up here.”
Lindsey leans against a table. Her prosthetic opens apart slightly, “I-I fought so hard to keep them safe. You destroyed all of that...”
Baal grabs her by the neck. Lightning crackles from his free hand. Lindsey isn’t looking at him. She’s watching her prosthetic open up a little more.
Should I help her? She said to stay in here no matter what. I can’t just watch her die though. I move the door slightly open, but Baal’s lightning shoots from his hand.
Lindsey raises her prosthetic at the same time, and it somehow absorbs the lightning. She clicks a button, and her prosthetic glows as bright as a flashbang. Baal covers his eyes and drops Lindsey. She slides across the room.
Lindsey aims her prosthetic at Baal. Her hand detaches and hangs limply. In the new opening, there are multiple holes. One hole has an odd projectile sticking out. It has a tip sharp enough to be an arrow, and four metal extensions under the tip. The projectile fires from the arm to reveal an attached cord, so it must be a grapple gun of sorts.
Baal can see again right before impact. He glows brightly and appears to turn his whole body into electricity. The cord runs right through him, but he just laughs.
“Not a bad trick. If I wouldn’t have been at full power this might be a different story. I think it’s time we end this little game.” Baal’s electrified body says.
Lindsey’s face doesn’t seem concerned... Actually, she only looks more determined, “You don’t remember who I am, do you?”
The cord is retracting back into Lindsey’s prosthetic arm, but strangely, it’s holding its place in Baal’s electrified body. If it didn’t have any effect on his pure electric body, the whole cord should have just fallen straight to the floor.
Baal holds his arms up, “Should I remember trash like you? All you pitiful humans look the same to me.”
Lindsey says coldly, “You’re the one who took my arm, my friends, and all of my attention. Know that whatever happens next is not up to you.”
The grapple section digs into the back of the electrified Baal. Baal reverts back to his regular demonic form. He looks confused.
Baal takes a step forward, but Lindsey steps back towards the door leading to the base’s balcony. Baal asks, “What did you do?”
The cord is sparking as Lindsey talks, “I have been studying god DNA for almost eight years. I upgraded this arm to break down your lightning characteristics from your own DNA and inject it into my bloodstream into a form that will fuse with my own. Every being’s power has their own essence built into it. At first, I needed you to give me a sample of your power. I’ve already processed your blood before, so the groundwork was already laid out.”
Baal pauses, “My first attack...you wanted me to.”
She points her normal hand up, “Bingo! There are tiny microneedles all along this cord. Your blood is being run through the cord into my arm. The arm then breaks it down into your actual essence and fuses it with my own demigod DNA. I made all of this specifically for you. It actually wouldn’t work on any other being. Ah, I’ve been waiting a long time for this day.”
Baal coughs, “But when did you acquire my blood? You said that you’ve already analyzed it before now.”
Lindsey opens the door to the balcony and steps outside, “You should know. Do you remember a certain red-headed guy you fought a few months back?”
Baal’s face contorts with rage, “That hybrid brat? You took it from that battle?”
She shakes her index finger at him, “First, his name is Luke. Try not to forget it. You did almost kill him after all. Second, I didn’t personally, but I had Master Paean’s other assistants collect as many samples as possible. Luckily, you lost a lot of blood that day.”
She sounds like she knows Luke personally. Actually, she might look a little familiar. I didn’t think about it until now, but I think I saw Luke talking to her when we were shopping on our first week. Huh, small world.
Baal yells out, “NOT THAT IT MATTERS! I WILL NOT FALL SO EASILY! I AM A GOD! YOU SHOULD KNOW YOUR PLACE!”
Baal strains his body and is able to take his electric form again. He tries to pull the cord from his electrified body with no luck. Lightning streaks in multiple directions. Lindsey’s arm absorbs another bolt.
“How is this cord staying in my body? I suppose it doesn’t matter. You still can’t beat me by yourself.” Baal sneers.
Lindsey smiles, “You’re right. When it comes to combat, I am one of the weakest on Olympus. That’s why we’re both about to go for a little plunge.”
“The only one that will die from that is you.” Baal says, but his body turns normal again.
“I won’t die. You don’t get it yet. You’re no longer the predator.” She walks to the edge of the balcony, “You’re the prey.”
Baal holds his arm out to shoot a bolt, but nothing happens, “What?”
“You understand now, don’t you? You don’t have powers anymore. Think of me as an electronic device, and you, the portable charger. The electrical current is flowing towards me. By the time we hit the ground, all of your powers will be mine.” She glares at him, “The first demigod to steal a god’s powers. I’ll make history.”
Carla has been watching the whole time too. She bursts out the door as soon as Lindsey jumps over the edge. I run after them both. The cord’s slack is rapidly tightening on Baal.
Baal heard us open the door and turns to us. With surprise in his face, he pleads desperately to us, “Help!”
Baal tries to grab on to the door frame, but his body looks weaker. The jerking force from the cord tightening pulls him right through the doorway and over the balcony’s edge. We run to the edge.
The weather has grown snowy. It’s making it hard to see. However, about halfway down, I see a dark figure.
It’s Lindsey. She has shot two smaller cords into the side of the base’s wall. She presses a latch on the bigger cord, and successfully pulls the larger cord out of her arm before Baal’s weight tightens it. She lets it fall.
She looks up at us, “Well, I didn’t say I knew how to use his powers. Could you two help me out here?”
I use my wind to float down to her. It isn’t easy to carry another person, but with the short distance I have to go, it should be manageable. She wraps her arm around my shoulders, and we float up to dig her smaller cords out of the base wall. After that, we fly back to the balcony.
“That was amazing, Lindsey! I definitely couldn’t take a demon out on my own like that.” Carla says to her.
Lindsey reattaches the hand to her prosthetic arm and moves her fingers, “It was really nothing. I actually have no talent when it comes to fighting. That was only possible because of years’ worth of research.”
Lindsey walks over to the microphone attached to the computer, “Lindsey to ground floor. Is anyone still alive? Anyone at all?”
She holds it in her hand for a moment. She sighs and lays the microphone down. Suddenly the speaker buzzes back.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m freaking still alive. Thanks for wondering.” Cal’s grumpy voice says.
Lindsey rushes back to the microphone, “Cal?! Where have you been? I was worried sick!”
Cal says rudely, “Well, this is still my research lab, so I can do what I please. After sending your cure through ventilation, I decided to move more of our wounded to the sick bay. As soon as Baal busted through the main door, I stopped and stayed here. He sent some monsters this way, but I held them off. We didn’t lose as many as we would have, but there were still some in the main hall. I’d say a third of our wounded and the few that were still able to fight are dead now.”
Lindsey smiles, “I’m just thankful some of you are okay.”
“Whatever. Tell Iona that I am not cleaning up the mess these monsters left behind. I’ll stay here and do what I can for the wounded. Cal out.” He says.
“He seems like kind of a jerk.” I say.
Lindsey lays down the microphone, “Cal does care about people. He just doesn’t want others to see that. He wouldn’t have told me about the plants he discovered here otherwise. The ones for the brainwashing cure. Most scientists would have wanted to take all the glory for themselves regardless of the time it took.”
“How can there be plants in the North Pole anyways?” Carla asks her.
Lindsey gives us an odd look, “Hmm... I think before I answer that, it is time for me to ask some questions of my own but first.” She grabs her telescopic headset and looks out towards where Grace and Gabriel are at, “Only one giant left...I think a few retreated but still. Those two really did it. Gabriel is truly a force to be reckoned with.”
She turns back to us. She pulls a toothpick out of her pocket and sticks it in her mouth, “They’ll be fine on their own. Now, what are you all really doing here? Brooke is an explosive specialist. I don’t see her skillset being the first in line for our backup. Plus, I don’t know either of you. I was at least expecting officers.”
“Actually, we are officers. We should probably fully introduce ourselves, huh?” I chuckle a little, “I’m Major Peter Williams.”
Carla shakes Lindsey’s hand, “And I’m First Lieutenant Carla Beckett. We recently got our ranks though, so you wouldn’t have known.”
That’s right! I just remembered. I say to her, “Our ranks came from our recent mission with Luke. You do know him, right?”
Lindsey’s whole attention turns to every word I’m saying now. Usually, she appears to be thinking about a million things at once. Now, I don’t think anything could take her focus from the conversation.
“Luke’s mission? They sent him on a mission this soon? It’s only been a few months since he even became aware of our world. Wait, so does that mean you are all friends of his?” She asks.
“Yeah, we all came from the same place. He-” Lindsey stops me.
She jolts back in shock, “You all are that new?! He was so obviously a rookie then. To think he has come far enough to take on missions. I’m starting to see what Master Paean and Sir Elijah see in him. Is he coming here too?”
Carla’s gaze darts away, “That’s why we’re here now. He didn’t make it through the mission. Not completely.”
All she says is, “Tell me what happened.”
So, we do. We tell her about how Kaleb was kidnapped by Baal and the other demons. How we trained on Olympus to compete against Kale’s group to take on the mission to Hell. That we escaped Olympus even though we lost. I feel that I can trust her, so I even tell her about Luke’s angel and demon. I don’t know if that was the right move. It wasn’t exactly my secret to tell.
Lindsey grins, “Yeah, I already knew about Luke’s little demon friend. I snuck a peek into Master Paean’s charts. I knew there was something fishy about the boss seeing him. I didn’t know about the angel though. Many things are starting to make sense now. So, you have reason to believe a piece of his soul is here. Hmm... interesting. Now on to your question which I believe might be helpful in your original objective. You wished to know how plants grew out here, correct?”
Carla and I both nod our heads, so Lindsey says, “This is strictly classified information. The court hasn’t even been made aware of its existence yet, but well, the plants aren’t growing here...per se.”
“Then where are they.” Carla asks curiously.
Lindsey smiles mysteriously, “They are in...the lands below us.”
“The lands below us? Are you trying to say there is a whole different place under the ice?!” I tremble with excitement.
“I am. Only Cal has seen it so far, but I know where the entrance is. Apparently, based on his research, some power has formed a thick ice shell around the ground far below us. The ice shell travels to the ocean floor so as to keep the lands from being flooded over. There are large convex lenses embedded at different sections in the ice of the North Pole. Those lenses are magnifying light to reach down there. That light warms the lands below to make it habitable. Cal’s discovery of one of these lenses led to him finding the previously unknown lands.” She explains to us.
“And you think Luke’s soul is down there?” Carla asks.
“I do. If his soul pieces were drawn to places of power, a power that can control the upkeep of a secret continent would fit the bill.” Lindsey says.
Gabriel lands on the outside balcony with Grace in his arms. She doesn’t look conscious. We run out the door to them.
“She’ll be fine. She fought a little too hard out there. This would be her first actual combat mission, and I’ll admit that she has surprised me so far. I might not have been able to hold them back if not for her.” Gabriel says while taking her inside. He lays Grace on a table.
Lindsey pats Gabriel on the back, “Well, it’s good to find out that you came all the way out here to save Luke instead of Olympus’s top researcher.”
“I did plan to tell you, but time wasn’t exactly a luxury. My original orders were to come out here to ascertain the condition of the base. Luke’s soul just happened to be tacked on when we found out it was in the area.” Gabriel says sternly.
“Oh, I’m just teasing you. Always so serious. How’d you get those spots of corruption anyways? No, let me guess. You traveled to Hell to rescue them, didn’t you? You are just a big softy after all.” Lindsey chuckles.
Gabriel grunts, “Lindsey...maybe you’re right. These kids have grown on me for some reason. Maybe it was my loving connection as their previous bus driver.”
Carla and I can’t help but laugh. He used to put Luke and me through the hardest times. It’s crazy how much I’ve grown to respect him. A couple of months back we were arguing with him every day. It sure does feel like years ago.
Lindsey places her hands on Gabriel and Grace. Green pulses flow from her like before. She breathes heavily for a moment and has to hold herself up using a table. Gabriel still has a few scrapes, but I bet it is because of our fight on the ship this morning. The corruption on him looks unchanged.
Her face is red, “That should do it for now.”
“Lindsey, how much have you done that today? You have incredible powers, but you have to be careful not to overdo it.” Gabriel says concerned.
“I’m...fine. It’s not really that. My fight with Baal tired me out. That’s all.” She says.
Gabriel looks around the room, “I saw his streak of lightning, but we couldn’t get away in time. Did you and Peter force him to retreat? That would be impressive.”
We start from the beginning. We tell Gabriel about the cure, Legion leading the army with Austin’s body, and our destination now. Lindsey held off her fight with Baal until last.
“I killed him, Gabriel. Baal is no more. His body is being buried by the snow outside as we speak.” Lindsey tells him.
Gabriel eyes her curiously, “We should check the body. You know as well as I that death isn’t easy to confirm in demons.”
“I received payment for all that he took from me, Gabriel. I stole h-” Lindsey starts.
Gabriel interrupts loudly, “That’s enough. I shouldn’t hear any more. The less I know about this, the better it will be for us all. I’ll take your word for it. We should head out to one of the giant lenses.”
A voice comes from behind us, “Do not worry, Gabriel. I’ll have Cal retrieve Baal’s body. Just in case.”
General Iona has finally woken up. I didn’t even notice her listening from the doorway. Gabriel looks unsettled but nods his head regardless.
Luckily, I don’t have to use my wind to fly to the lens. Lindsey takes us down to the base’s snowmobiles. Iona is in good enough shape that she believes she can protect the base without Lindsey.
We left Grace in Iona’s care since she is still unconscious. Brooke is sorting through the newly freed demigods and waiting for Austin to wake up, so we decide to head out without her as well. Cal also has more batches of the brainwashing neutralizer mixing for all the knocked-out demigods outside of the base.
Lindsey is on one of the snowmobiles while Carla and I are on the other. Lindsey isn’t even driving hers. Her powers over technology apparently allow her to put it on autopilot. She is sitting cross legged with her body hunched over a small laptop and is just typing away. Gabriel is flying high over us. Probably scouting for enemies.
“Youu doing okaay, Peter?” Carla asks in her sing-song voice.
I say as enthusiastically as possible, “Sure am! Not even a scratch yet.”
Which is true. It’s always been true. I act happy, but the truth is that I’m a little worn. Not from fighting but worrying. Through both of our adventures, I’ve only watched others get hurt, while I only mess up and get off scotch free. The last time I thought Carla was dead at Lilith’s lab, I almost lost it. This time, I was watching her die, and what did I do? I froze... I couldn’t help her.
What was all of my training for? When Luke was around, he always took control. Audrey is just as good at that sort of thing. Am I only good for being a follower?
I take one of my hands off the steering wheel and rub my forehead. What’s wrong with you, Peter? Get ahold of yourself. It’s thoughts like this that make you mess up. I need to get my mind off things.
“Hey Carla, that laser vision you used. Did you mean to do that?” I ask her.
“Laser vision?” She pauses for a second, “Oh! I barely remember what happened to be honest. I definitely don’t know how I did it, but my eyes have always been very closely related to my powers. If I had to guess, my body must be able to act like my prisms.”
“Even so, it was pretty cool. You looked like a superhero from a comic book or something.” I tell her.
She giggles, “You would say that. Still, it took a lot of my strength. It is even more of a one chance kind of attack than my prism knife. If I can even learn how to do it again, that is.”
“You can figure it out. I know it!” I say to her. I mean it too.
“Thanks for that. Peter, where do you think things will go for us once we bring Luke back?” Carla asks me.
I’m caught a little off guard, “Uhhhh. Where will things go? I haven’t really thought that far ahead. I know I still want to fight for Olympus. I don’t think I could even see my life going back to what it was before.”
Carla sighs, “That wasn’t really what I was talking about.” She perks up, “But that’s okaaay. I hate to admit it, but I know what you mean. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t like fighting, and I’m not exactly cut out for it. When I think of us all going our separate ways after this though, my chest feels tight.”
“Who said we have to go our separate ways? Luke can apply for a base or something, right? Why don’t we have him do that? Then, we can just go on adventures all the time!” I say to her.
She giggles again, “Oh, Peter. You are such a kid sometimes, but that’s something I admire about you. I don’t know if it will be that simple.”
I scratch the back of my head, “I mean, why not? Luke is pretty unpredictable. You never know what he might be game for. Plus, we just totally helped save a base. Olympus can’t just overlook that. I bet we could get three bases!”
I look back and catch Carla roll her eyes but not in a bad way. She smiles, “Maybe you’re right. I hope we can all stay together one way or another.” Me too. I truly do.
Lindsey closes her laptop. She waves her right arm, and her snowmobile begins to slow down. I follow her lead and slow to a stop. Gabriel lands next to us.
“I almost didn’t see it from the sky. It blends in so well with the ice that I’m not surprised no one has found it before.” Gabriel says.
Carla looks around, “Where is it?”
Lindsey hops off of her snowmobile. She bangs her prosthetic against the ground. It makes a loud shrill sound.
She sticks a toothpick in her mouth and grins, “Right below us. Alright, Carla girl.” She shakes her head, “Uh, sorry about that. Some of Master Paean’s habits are rubbing off on me. Take the mini pickaxes from your snowmobile. Cal made the mistake of digging underneath and slid on an ice tunnel all the way to the end. He said it almost killed him, but he has been known to be dramatic.”
“That’s an understatement.” Gabriel grunts.
Lindsey smirks, “Isn’t it?” She turns her attention to me, “Peter, you can also take the pickaxes from my ride if you want. I was doing research on the two of you while we were driving here, and I know you can’t really fly underground. Although, I’m not sure if this qualifies as-” She holds up her fingers and does air quotes, “Underground.”
I give her a confused look, “How did you find out about that?”
She grabs the pickaxes and tosses them to me, “When you all filled out your forms for your new ranks, you listed detailed explanations of your powers. Well, yours was not incredibly detailed, but you did include that. I looked up those forms on my computer. Sorry, I have to know who I’m working with in case I need to make a strategy. Never know what we might run into. It’s a good policy to know all variables.”
“Your computer has service in the North Pole?” I ask incredulously.
She holds up her prosthetic, “I can give you the WIFI password to my arm if you ever need it. It has a direct link to Olympus satellites. Anyways, I think we’re ready to go. Let’s spread out. Look carefully for a gap in the snow at the edge of the lens. With the snowstorm that came by, I’m sure the old hole has been lightly filled.”
It takes a little time, but we find a place where the snow doesn’t look as packed in. Carla and I squeeze through first. Some snow slides under Carla’s feet. I grab her arm, but I get pulled through too. We fall over an edge onto the ice tunnel on the other side of the lens. We slide uncontrollably on the ice. I take one of the mini pickaxes and dig it into the ice.
Carla is holding my other arm tightly, “Thanks, Peter! That could have been bad.”
I hear something scrape on the ice. I look to my right and watch Lindsey slide by. She’s almost skiing down.
She spins around and yells, “What are you two doing? Let’s goooo!”
I guess it isn’t a straight shot down, but at the same time, it is pretty steep. She’d have to have some good balance to just slide down like that. A gust of wind comes from higher up, and Gabriel soars past.
He hovers in place a little ahead of us, “Do you need any help?”
Carla grabs one of her pickaxes and digs it into the ice. She lets go of my hand and pulls herself up. Her face is filled with a level of determination that I haven’t seen before.
“No thanks, Gabriel. I can do this.” She says.
Gabriel smiles and turns to follow Lindsey, who sounds like she is having a blast. Carla pulls her pickaxe from the ice and slides backwards. She wobbles a little as she picks up speed. She turns to face down the tunnel and crouches to keep her balance a little easier.
I pull my own pickaxe up. I wasn’t afraid for myself because I knew I could blast wind to help me keep upright. I just didn’t want her to slide down with no control. I even feel like I could still fly if I had to. I’ll save my energy for now though.
At the end of the tunnel, I see another of those giant lenses, except this one isn’t directly in the ice. It has metal beams connected to it that are embedded into the ice. Lindsey is still a good bit ahead of us when I suddenly lose sight of her completely. I hear her yell for a second. Then she swings up onto the lens. She must have used the cables in her prosthetic arm. Gabriel lands beside her.
There is probably a drop up ahead. Carla would fall right over. I blast wind out of my palms and soar down beside her.
“Grab my arm.” I say to her.
She nods and holds tightly. We slide close to the edge, and I blast out wind from my hand of the arm Carla is holding. I hold my other arm towards the lens. As we fly into it, I release wind from that arm and slow our descent. It isn’t a pretty landing, but overall, we’re okay.
The lens is so large that it didn’t even budge. Lindsey is pacing around the edge. Every now and again she mumbles something, until,
“Oh, I see how this works now. The upper lens is for condensing the rays of light into a narrow beam. That keeps the ice tunnel from completely melting out from under the top lens. This bottom concave lens is for spreading that same light outward. Thereby heating a much larger radius. There are three lenses like this one within range of sight.”
Lindsey runs across the lens and puts her arm on one of the beams. She talks rapidly to herself, “Interesting so very interesting. I need to come back and study this. Was this made by some unknown civilization? How long has it been here? Now that I’m mostly done with god genetics, this could be my new hobby. Ohhhh, the things I could learn.” Then she sulks to herself, “But dang, Boss Paean would never let me take so much time off for this.”
“I can’t believe Olympus never knew this place existed.” Gabriel says.
Lindsey has a gleam in her eyes, “There’s so much we don’t know in the world. Mysteries are why scientists such as myself exist. Without curiosity and adventure what truly is life?” She pulls out her goggles from her bag and adjusts the lens.
Gabriel laughs, “That’s probably why the Father never bestowed us angels with knowledge over all things.”
I walk to the edge that Lindsey is standing at. Below us is an island with buildings made of large stones. The stones could almost have been from the pyramids. The ancient city has a stone wall around it. The island is surrounded by water with icebergs in it.
My excitement gets the better of me. I yell out, “WOAH! It’s like we’re in a completely different world!” Carla giggles behind me.
“Behold in all our splendor. The kingdom of the mighty. The kingdom of riches. A land never to be forgotten. The land of-” Lindsey pulls her goggles up to her forehead, “Agartha...”
