Beyond Hades: The Prometheus Wars (49 page)

The craft dove deep, the jets - or whatever propelled it - driving it swiftly to the depth of the sunken city of Atlantis. Talbot caught a glimpse of what looked like the outline of a huge whale before the murky depths swallowed them, and he lost sight of it in the inky blackness.

"You might want to brace yourself," said Wes.

Talbot looked at him quizzically, but Wes indicated he should watch the screen instead. He turned back just in time to see -

A wall!

They crashed into the pyramid, cutting through it and down, slicing the stony walls like cream until they smashed into a huge pocket of air. There was no real impact, and Talbot remembered what Wes had told him happened when he'd crashed into the aircraft carrier after his initial jump through time. By cutting between the dimensions, there was less friction, and when he'd hit the aircraft carrier, he'd carved through it without pause.

The same happened this time, only now the ship had cut through centuries-old stone blocks on a massive pyramid within a sunken city. It had somehow sliced cleanly through the stone of the pyramid all the way down to the open space where it suddenly halted, throwing Talbot forward with a jolt, but the PCM held him secure, preventing any sort of injury.

He looked up at the viewing screen, noting several marines and what looked like engineers running around in a panic. Glancing at the side of the viewing screen, Talbot saw the reason for their panic, tons of water were pouring in from somewhere behind them.

It was at that moment Talbot remembered something else about when Wes had crashed into the aircraft carrier - it had sunk.

He kept watching the screen as the PCM retracted and he was allowed to step clear. After several moments of witnessing the crews bring in various pieces of equipment along with what looked like some sort of heavy duty waterproof panels, the water slowly subsided, and finally stopped. They'd obviously had plenty of practice with all the beasts crashing through after escaping the Syrpeas Gate.

"What now?" he asked Wes.

"Let's greet the natives," said Wes with a grin.

The door to the ship opened silently, and Wes jumped out into the middle of around fifty heavily armed marines, weapons drawn and pointed directly at his head. Talbot climbed out of the vehicle and stood silently.

"G'day fellas," called Wes jovially. "Have you missed me?"

"What the hell are you doing here?" barked a marine with the insignia of a sergeant-major.

"Just thought I'd stop by for a visit," replied Wes amiably.

"What's
he
doing here?" said the sergeant-major, pointing at Talbot. "I thought he was supposed to be down in the command room with the rest of them. They're going to start up that machinery soon."

Talbot suddenly realized they'd arrived at the exact time when the military had initially tested the machinery of the Olympians. The Syrpeas Gate hadn't even been opened yet, and the marines thought Talbot was his brother Thomas. Having come back in time they had no way of knowing -

Thomas!!!

Talbot staggered and leaned back against the ship, suddenly feeling faint. In amongst all the excitement of travelling back through time, he hadn't realized the simple fact that his brother would still alive when they got here. He'd been so focused on completing the mission and closing the Syrpeas Gate once and for all that he hadn't realized the most incredible thing:

In this place, in this time, his brother still lived.

Wes jumped on the opportunity immediately. "Yeah, I was just bringing him in for that exact thing. I'd better get him up there now."

"It's down," corrected the sergeant-major.

"Yeah, but I'm Australian, so your down is my up."

Wes grabbed Talbot and pushed through the soldiers into a rough stairwell before they had a chance to question either of them. The fact they didn't mention the oddity of their dress - both of them were still in their Olympian armor - told Talbot that either his brother Thomas was highly respected, or Wes was. He suspected it might be Wes, because as soon as they'd realized it was the Australian commando, all the marines had lowered their weapons without being ordered to. Only someone ranking very high up could command such respect.

Wes dragged him through the tunnels, turning left and right at different intersections. Talbot remembered their first meeting in this very place, so many lifetimes ago. He recalled how he'd thought Wes to be slightly mad at the time.

Boy did he nail that little fact right on the head... but in a good way.

Talbot would have never survived up to this point if not for the man dragging him along now; he owed Wes his life many times over.

Soon they approached the main control room, marines posted on either side of the heavy steel door. The marines stepped forward and shouted a challenge as soon as they saw Talbot and Wes, both garbed as they were.

"It's only us, heroes. You can relax," called Wes.

"We already saw you enter," replied one of the men, a sergeant.

"Does it look like we already entered? We had to go and get changed."

The two marines looked them up and down. "Changed for what?"

"For the damn mission!" snapped Wes. "Now get out of our way."

Unable to argue, the marines moved aside, and Wes pushed open the heavy door, causing it to clang as it swung wide and bashed into the wall. Talbot followed as the commando strode purposefully into the room. Once inside, Talbot saw several people spin around in shock at the sound of the clanging door. He saw his brother immediately, standing beside General Sharpe near the control panels for the Syrpeas Gate.

"Thomas!' called Talbot, "Don't touch that panel."

Instantly, chaos broke loose within the large room.

The soldiers at the door glanced inside and saw there were now
two
Professor Harrisons where there should have only been one, and they burst through the door with their guns raised.

Wes - the one from the current time, not the one who had entered with Talbot - jumped forward, his M4A5 assault rifle raised to his shoulder, an eye peering down through his sights, aimed directly at Talbot.

General Sharpe snarled, his lip curling as he began to shout orders.

Dozens more marines in full battle attire charged in and surrounded them, heavy steel doors slamming shut and locking down every entrance to the room.

And then Wes - the one in Olympian armor who had accompanied Talbot - shouted, his voice booming out with authority, the glowing sword of Chiron now in his right hand.

"You!" He pointed at his other self. "Suzie Watson had a birthmark shaped like a love heart on her left tit, and you told her you loved her in order to get a look at it."

The other Wes paused, his rifle lowering slightly. "You broke through time again?" he asked Wes.

"Had to, we had no choice. Bad shit going down."

"Roger that," said the other Wes, grabbing Thomas and stepping through to stand beside Wes and Talbot, snapping his weapon around to point it at the marines surrounding them.

"General," said Wes, twirling the sword of Chiron as he stepped toward General Sharpe. "Or should I call you Prometheus?"

The general's eyes narrowed. "I don't know what you're talking about. Now, I have no idea what's going on, but I assure you that if you surrender your weapons, we'll discuss it fully."

Wes stepped closer to the general, the surrounding marines tightening their grips and dropping their fingers down to rest upon their triggers.

"Talbot, what's going on here?" asked Thomas.

"If you start that machinery, all hell is going to break loose, Thomas. This guy is full of shit; he's not General Sharpe, he's an imposter."

"Looks like we've got a stalemate here," said Wes. "How about I just put down my sword -"

Wes was bending down to place the sword on the ground when he suddenly surged upright, the blade slicing up and severing the general's left arm, hurling it across the room.

"HOLD YOUR FIRE!!!" boomed Wes, holding up his hands. The marines hesitated. "Look at him," commanded Wes, pointing at General Sharpe.

The marines kept their weapons trained upon the four of them, but most eyes flicked over to look at the general. Several gasped, and their murmurs drew the inquisitive minds from the rest of the squad to look over as well.

General Sharpe - or the figure they thought was General Sharpe - was holding the severed stump where his left arm used to be. No blood poured forth, however, and the only reason he was clutching at it was to try to hide what was emerging....

Fingers.

Fingers were sprouting from the open, bloodless wound and soon spread out to become a full hand. The marines gazed on, awestruck.

The hand pushed out from the stump and finally General Sharpe gave up trying to hide the regeneration, instead standing still and glowering at the troops before him. The process seemed to speed up, and within seconds the arm hung fully reformed.

"Give it up, Prometheus," demanded Talbot.

"So, you know who I am." His body suddenly stretched and grew, exploding out and up into its natural visage. Prometheus stood casually, some fourteen feet tall, clothed in black Titan armor.

"Are you going to come peacefully?" asked Talbot. By now every gun in the room was no longer pointed at Wes or Talbot, but at the towering figure.

"Hmm... let me think about it," said Prometheus, holding his chin and looking contemplative. His gaze became malicious. "I'm going to have to decline."

Prometheus threw his hands outwards and a hundred finger-thick spikes shot out from his body, covering the space to the marines in an instant and skewering them all. Several got off shots, but these were simply absorbed by the Titan, and his hollow laughter filled the ancient room.

Wes had grabbed Talbot and thrown him behind the cover of the stone console-like apparatus. The other Wes had similarly grabbed Talbot's twin and protected him in a similar fashion.

"Great minds think alike," grunted Wes.

"Yeah, whatever," grunted the other Wes. "Can you tell me what the fuck is going on?"

"Bad shit. That asshole can regenerate, even if you slice and dice him. This thing," Wes tapped the console, "will open a hole into other worlds and eventually destroy the entire universe. This sword can destroy it, but we need to take out that dipshit before we even think about it."

"Got it."

Talbot shook his head slightly in wonder. He'd thought one Wes was bad enough, what would the world do with two of them?

"You flank left and draw his attention," snapped Wes to his doppelganger. "I'll go right and cut his head off. We'll need to find a way to stop him from regenerating by cauterizing the wound, but I'll figure that out later."

The other Wes instantly broke from cover, darting left and firing at Prometheus with his M4A5. The Titan swung around, preparing to attack, just as Wes rushed from the right and snuck around behind Prometheus. He was just about to strike with Chiron's sword when the Titan spun, grabbing him by the throat with his right hand and lifting him cleanly off the ground.

"You think you have thwarted my plans, you stupid monkey?" screamed Prometheus.

"Nope," gasped Wes. "Just your sex life."

Wes sliced up with Chiron's sword, cutting cleanly through Prometheus's right arm and flinging it across the room, sizzling and dissolving as it landed. Wes dropped neatly to the ground and made a slash for Prometheus's abdomen, but the Titan jumped backwards, twisting and sprinting away, heading directly for the passageway through which Wes and Talbot had entered.