CHAPTER 101

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‘This has been a long time coming,’ Zeus said. He took a step forward. His arms were so long that his knuckles dragged on the ground as he moved.

‘It must be quite the moment for you,’ Zeus continued. ‘With all the research you’ve been doing, I’m sure this is a well earned revelation.’

Ardia stared, her mouth hanging open. Homer took a step forward, placing himself between her and the hybrids. He did this so instinctively that Ardia doubted he was aware that he had done it. But she was.

Ardia said, ‘You’re Zeus?’

‘I am indeed. You’re surprised?’

Ardia stammered, ‘You’re a…’

‘You’re a hybrid,’ said Homer.

‘Indeed I am. Even though I prefer to think of myself as simply just something better.’

Homer said, ‘You’re my grandfather? Then, you’re Prowler’s father?’

Zeus nodded. The other hybrids were arrayed about him. They stood like soldiers, or bodyguards. Zeus said, ‘We prefer to call him Perseus, though I cannot deny that he has very much earned his nickname. I would have brought him with me today, but it’s time for him to… Do what he does.’

Ardia said, ‘Did you kill my mother? Have her killed?’

Zeus chuckled softly. He said, ‘No. Not, I. That was done at the behest of Troy.’

Ardia said, ‘Is he a… hybrid as well?’

Zeus laughed harder now. ‘No! Goodness, no! He’s just one of you. A simple little human. Even though, at this point, he’s probably a little bit more than that. Just as you are, Ardia.’

Ardia said, ‘Where is he?’

Zeus spread his arms wide. He looked for all the world like a performing ape. He said, ‘If I knew that, then he’d be dead, Ardia. I want him dead every bit as much as you do.’

‘Why?’

‘Because he opposes me. Because he made me a slave. True enough, he made me. But he turned me into a breeding machine. He tortured my kin, my children in the name of science. Why do you think Perseus behaves the way he does? He was damaged beyond repair by what that animal did to him.’

Homer said, ‘And you’re pure?’

Zeus stiffened. He said, ‘I’m principled.’

Ardia shouted suddenly, ‘You killed all the people at the settlement in Chad.’

Zeus did not react excessively to this accusation. He said, ‘They were only humans, Ardia. That’s the funny thing about how this whole series of events has come full circle. Troy started working on apes, combining them with humans. The idea had been to produce a perfect soldier. That’s not his goal. His goal has always been science. Making us into soldiers was the goal of his employers. How I enjoy it though, the result. He made something better than humans, when he made me. He made the natural successor to humanity. Look at us, Ardia. And you, Homer, look at your kin. Look at your grandfather. Look at your uncle, Hercules. How can you waste time with the likes of her? We’re stronger. We’re faster. Smarter.’

‘Smarter than the man who made you?’ said Ardia.

‘Very much so,’ said Zeus. ‘The things I have done, in my work, makes Troy seem like an infant.’

Homer said, ‘So now you want The Crucible?’

‘Not want, Homer. I need it. And you need me to have it as well. I am truly sorry for what happened to you. Being raised out there, in the jungle, by a human. Lost and alone. Not knowing what you really are. Living in the shadows like a monster. I blame myself for that. My son, your father, has his own woes. But he is an incredible specimen. And, he has successfully bred with a human, at least once. You’re special. You have a unique bloodline.’

Zeus moved to Hercules and patted the massive creature on the shoulder. Zeus said, ‘I can’t pretend that my work is done. I am not the finished product. Hercules here, he’s not it either. Even you, Homer, you’re not all of it. But you contain unique genes. I can breed you with some of our females, incorporate what you are, to reach that final product.’

Homer watched him. Slowly, he said, ‘How many more are there? Like us?’

‘Yes, Homer,’ Zeus said. ‘That’s the operative word. Us. You have to realize that you are one of us. There are hundreds of us, Homer. There are more every day. And we need you. You can found your own dynasty with us.’

‘I have no interest in breeding for you,’ Homer said.

Zeus faltered. Worry, or sorrow, flickered across his face. He said, ‘But you have to. What does this world have to offer you? Hiding in the back of cargo planes? Shaving yourself? What an indignity!’

‘And there’s no hiding for you?’ Homer asked.

Zeus said, ‘Soon there won’t be. We’re going to take our place, Homer. It’s our turn. Evolution demands it. Nature might not have made us, but it is nature’s will that the fittest rule. Bring that female with you, if you must. I find it distasteful, to consort with a human. At least this one is better than most. I doubt we can use her genes, but if, like father like son, you’ve developed a little fetish for these things… Well, we’re an open minded society.’

Ardia was shocked, listening to the exchange. Homer seemed taken aback by the suggestion as well.

Homer took a step forward, further blocking the others from Ardia. At first, Ardia thought this was another subconscious gesture of protectiveness. Then he waved at her, inconspicuously, with one hand behind his back. She understood. He was blocking their view of her, and the hole in the ground.

Homer said, ‘The only thing I want from you is my father, so I can end him. Perhaps you as well, Zeus. You harbor a rapist and murderer. You employ others to kill for you. These things are wrong…’

Zeus cried out, ‘They’re only humans, Homer. Be reasonable.;

‘NO!’ Homer roared. There was a passionate intensity in his voice. ‘They are not. They are no lesser. I know them. They are my friends! They are worth every bit as much as I am!’

Behind him, Ardia eased herself toward the hole, and the metal box.

‘You’ve been seduced, Homer,’ Zeus said. ‘You’re father has the same weakness. I’ve told you, you can keep her. When we move on the world, you can have a hundred more. They can be your playthings. Just spare a little of your seed for our females as well.’

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Ardia lifted the box from the pit. None of them could see her. When she lifted the lid on the box she would have had time enough to destroy it. The thermite grenade was in her hand. The lid groaned as she lifted it, and she knew the hybrids would hear. As fast as they were, they could not hope to reach her.

But, she froze when she opened the lid. She was shocked by what she saw. And that gave them time.

Ardia stared into the box, at The Crucible. The thing was a human hand. Or, a very close approximation of a human hand. The skin was bone white, the fingers a little bit too long. How could this thing be sitting here, all this time, and not have decomposed. There wasn’t so much as a hint of decay about it.

‘Stop her!’ Zeus yelled.

The hybrids moved as one. Hercules and four others swamped over Homer, pushing him aside. Two more tackled her. The grenade fell from her hands and clattered away. The other two hybrids dragged her from the pit.

‘Don't hurt her!,’ Zeus said. ‘I promised that she wouldn’t be hurt. Put her here.’

Zeus stood by the open door of one of the specimen cages. Ardia struggled against the two hybrids and she could sense their shock at how much she could resist them. Even Zeus seemed impressed. A third had to join them, lifting her by her legs as well, to move her to the cage. They threw her inside and Zeus slammed the door shut. She heard a spring latch the door tight as it closed.

‘Now leave him be,’ Zeus said to the other hybrids. They peeled themselves from Homer, who leaped to his feed.

‘Leave her out!’ he roared, fury engulfing his voice.

Zeus held up both hands in a placating gesture. He said, ‘Calm down. She’s not harmed.’

The hybrids returned to gather around him, resuming their protective stance.

‘Leave her out!,’ Homer roared again.

Zeus said, ‘Homer, please. We need to be reasonable. She’s fine, she’ll be right there when we finish. We need to stay attuned to what’s important. The Crucible, and you.’

‘FUCK YOU!’ Homer roared. The room seemed to vibrate with the volume and anger.

Ardia shook the bars of the cage. They were impossibly thick. She kicked at the door, but it hardly even shook. She looked to Homer and saw the thermite grenade by his feet.

He glanced at her and followed the direction of her eyes.

‘I have no interest in you! Any of you!’ Homer said. ‘My only interest is to hurt you!’

Homer swept up the grenade and ripped the pin free. Even as Zeus screamed, it was too late. He dumped the grenade into the box and there was a blinding flare of white light. The white flames sparked and roared within the box.

‘NO!’ Zeus’s scream was a plaintive wail. Zeus rushed to the box. As he moved he said, ‘Hercules, teach him!’

Hercules charged at Homer.

Homer stood ready, eager even. As Hercules reached him, Homer swung at him. He struck the giant with all of his strength, connecting with his jaw. Hercules staggered back, shock flashing across his face.

Zeus reached the box and wailed at what he saw. He tried to touch it, but the intense heat of the grenade was already turning the heavy steel box into molten slag.

Hercules charged again and this time Homer shoulder charged him. He struck Hercules another staggering blow and the beast stumbled, clasping his chest. Ardia could see the satisfaction on Homer’s face. She kicked at the door of the cage again and again, but she achieved nothing.

Zeus whirled on Homer. He screamed in a high-pitched agony, ‘Kill him, Hercules! This was a mistake! Kill the human-fucking wretch.’

Hercules moved again. Homer moved to meet him. This time, the head on collision, was doom. Hercules had the strength and the momentum. Homer was tossed from his feet and crashed to the hard floor.

‘No!’ Ardia screamed.

Hercules landed on Homer and began to hammer him with both fists. An ape-like series of howls began to emerge from Hercules’s lips as he hit Homer again, and again and again.

Zeus watched. Ardia screamed.

Homer lashed back at first. He punched and kicked. He nearly dislodged the attacker.

Then Homer took a crushing blow to the face and his head sagged back against the floor.

‘No!’ Ardia screamed, impotent, enraged. Tears tickled at the corners of her eyes. She shook the bars, focusing all her power on them. This time, they budged.

Hercules kept smashing Homer. Hercules’s breath began to grow ragged. The intensity of his beating did not diminish. Ardia heard cracking noises from Homer’s inert body. She saw his huge rib-cage distend and splinter.

Ardia half-screamed and half-sobbed. ‘No! Please, stop.’ She kept her pressure on the bars and incredibly, felt them begin to sag.

Hercules hit Homer more and more. There were more snapping sounds. Blood sprayed from Homer’s face, and open wounds all over his body. Hercules’s face and chest were soaked with Homer’s blood.

‘That’s enough, it’s done,’ Zeus said.

Hercules delivered one final, incredible blow to Homer. When he stood up and left Homer, Ardia screamed again. Homer was a tangled mess of blood. His shape was distorted by the damage. A fragment of rib bone protruded from his chest, shockingly white against the bloody scene.

Ardia kept tearing at the bars, kept feeling them give.

‘What... do we do... with her?’ Hercules asked, gasping for breath.

Zeus said, ‘We leave her be. I promised that she would be unharmed. I always keep my word. Let us go.’

And they left.

CHAPTER 102

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It took many more minutes for Ardia to free herself. She had to exert a constant and irresistible force on the bars of the cage. As she did this, feeling the bars bend, too late, she cried. Tears ran down her face. Sobs shook her body.

Before her was the tangled mess of what remained of Homer. She saw no movement, heard no sound from him. A pool of blood had spread beneath him, forming a roughly circular shape on the smooth linoleum.

The bars groaned. They had been built to withstand the strength of creatures like Homer. Now, under the pressure of emotions and fear and sorrow, Ardia found a greater strength. The bars bent, groaned, protested. The space between them widened until she was able to wriggle through.

She rushed to Homer. She sobbed, looking down at him. His proud, powerful form was ruined. That rib stood upright, pointing to the ceiling. Blood clotted on his face. His limbs lay at bent angles. Worst of all, he did not move.

She fell to her knees alongside him. Her hands moved across his body, searching for life, trying to shake life into existence.

She cried and her tears fell to his still form.

‘No Homer, please. Don’t be dead. Homer, please, no.’

He didn’t answer her begging. He didn’t answer anything.

She could smell the ozone smell of The Crucible. There was nothing left there but a lump of melted steel.

‘Homer…’, her voice grew weak and she laid her head on his chest, embracing his unmoving form.

Then she kissed him, once, gently and regretfully, on the corner of his mouth.

She held him again, and closed her eyes.

There was a tiny gasp of air. He inhaled ever so slightly. Then exhaled. He stirred, almost imperceptibly.

‘Homer!’ The joy she felt was so sudden it was immobilizing.

He groaned. It was a groan of deep and utter agony. But it was a groan. A groan made by something that had refused to die.

‘You’re alive!’ she cried, an insane glee taking hold of her.

‘If.. you… say so,’ He scratched the words out with the faintest of breaths.

She kissed him again, on the corner of the mouth again, then the cheek, then on the lips. More tears rolled down her face, these were tears of joy.

Homer lay there, feeling every kind of pain a man could feel. His collection of broken bones and ruptured organs could keep a hospital busy for a week. He lay there, in indescribable pain. But there was a satisfaction somewhere as well. He reached one massive, trembling, and broken arm up and held her to him.

Epilogue

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In a strange way, they had won the battle. The war, they felt, had not even truly begun. But there were victories to be celebrated.

The Crucible, whatever it had been, was gone. With it, they had rid the world of the potential for evils that they could not begin to imagine.

Their enemy had a face and a name. Well, one of their enemies. Homer’s grandfather, the father of Prowler and Hercules, had identified himself. And, even though he had left Homer bleeding on the ground, he too felt the defeat of that battle. He had failed to secure Homer, had failed to secure The Crucible. He left no stronger, and maybe a little weaker, than he had arrived. He had lost the power of mystery.

Homer would need many months to return to full strength. Even his incredible ability to heal would be challenged by the damage inflicted on him. But he had won something too. He had picked a hole in the invincibility of Hercules. He had hurt him, had shaken him. When he could stand again, a thing that was far into the future, he would have Ardia to show him how to use his power.

And he had won her too. She had won him. Two beings, all their lives lived alone as something different, had found a matching part.

They had not finished what they set out to do. But, they had started well. And now they would continue what they had started, together until the end.