Greek God High: Chapter 15, Part 1

In the lunchroom... Thoth, Hephaestus, Athena, and Ares were sitting on a table together. Ares was bragging about how he got Black Ops II. "Yeah, not that much improvement from the last one to me, but the new maps and Zombies levels I thought were the most fun. I just got it and I'm already on Prestige 30!" "Oh you play Call of Duty?" asked Thoth. "I'm more of a Halo fan myself." "Really? You play Halo? But there are no classes in Halo!" Thoth snorted. "Halo 4, buddy. THAT has classes." Ares's eyes lit up on this. "Halo 4 has classes!? All right, I gotta call my dad!" And he sped away. Athena asked, "Why'd he run off like that?" "Because he was too stupid to buy Rachel's app," Hephaestus answered, "and seeing as he's a guy that buys nearly every new and popular game on the market, that's saying something." "Speaking of games Hephaestus, what's your favorite?" "Hmm... Thoth that's a good question... I was addicted to World of Warcraft a few years back-" "Really!?" Thoth interjected, "Me too! And then I stopped because I had a really bad row with some idiot on a server." "Wow, that happened to me too! I remember it was somewhere in a forest-" "Next to a hut with a pig farm?" "Yeah it..." Comprehension dawned on both of their faces, and Athena muttered, "Uh oh." "Well... It's been a long time, Dark-elf," said Thoth bitterly. "Same to you EliteDarklord_Dragonslayer_3.14159," Hephaestus responded in equal bitterness. Both of them were now staring daggers at each other. Athena, after a tense moments silence, came into the middle of them and pushed them both apart. "Okay guys, lets not take this out of hand-" Both of them quickly stood up, and Hephaestus interjected, "Field of Fire match. My place. Be there at five, bring your team." "You're on. And you're going down." Both of them stormed away from the lunch table to the opposite exits, both muttering, "He'll never see what's coming!" Five hours later at Hephaestus's house... The news that Hephaestus was holding another Field of Fire party spread through the school like wildfire, so everyone turned up, even the Thebes High members. "Field of Fire? Again?" "Ah, I remember the last time I was here. It was so beautiful..." "I like Cheetos!" After five more minutes of random chatter, someone screamed, "Ooh, here they are!" A long white Hummer limo arrived, and after the driver opened the door, Thoth's team began to go out one by one, and Apollo announced them one by one like a sports team. "Looks like its the opposing challenger's team! Hmm... They seem very popular, don't they?" It was true, for as soon as they walked out the limo they were all extending hi fives across the aisle the crowd parted for them. "So the challengers have arrived! We have: Horus, Seth, Shu, Nut, Sekhmet, Osiris, Bast, Babi, Geb, aaaaand... Thoth!" At Thoth's name the Thebes High students screamed even louder, and the Hellenes High students politely clapped. Apollo! "Yeah what?" Well!? You're up! "Oh god, I forgot-see ya!" Apollo disappeared. Now it is my turn! Ladies and gentlemen! The home team! Another white Hummer limo rolled into the driveway, and the home team pulled out to meet the challengers. With another ten person team we have: Thanatos, Athena, Artemis, Cupid, Ares, Hermes, Zeus, Apollo, Pan, aaand... Hephaestus! Now the reverse happened; the Hellenes High kids were clapping and whooping furiously, and the Thebes High kids clapped politely. Hal 9001's voice now boomed over all the cheering, "May all the players proceed to the Arcade Atrium. Master H, what background music should I play?" Hephaestus responded, "Hmm... Violence Baguettes Violence remix, LilDeuceDeuce. If I played something by Tomska the last time, one of his friends ought to be perfect." Both of the teams entered the building, but before they both went up separate elevators, Thoth and Hephaestus shared a look that said, "May the best one win." After them the rest of the crowd followed suit. Like last time there was pizza and soda, and salads for the vegetarians, and Hellenes and Thebes High students alike socialized and played on PS3s and XBox360s while both teams got ready on the computers, taking bathroom breaks, customizing classes, preparing the map, and plugging in any personal gear they brought. Thoth and his team surreptitiously and simultaneously each plugged in a flash drive into their respective computer with no one noticing. After half an hour Hephaestus grabbed the PA. "Ladies and gentlemen, take your seats! The Field of Fire match will begin momentarily. I will advise you to reserve any remaining pizza that is left, and place your bets in the special edition Hogwarts Sorting Hat on the pedestal beacon." At this fifty people placed money-filled envelopes with labels of money and who would win. "Now... Let the CTF tournament... begin! Please allow the scanner to Hal took over from here and boomed, "We will have one minute of preparation for the match. Establish strategic positions to be in the best place when the match starts." In game with Hephaestus's team... Hephaestus's team spawned next to Ascension Parish, with their blue team flag waving on top. "Ah, Ascension City. Remember the party we had second quarter? This was the map we used-" "Yes Ares," interjected Hephaestus, "this is the map we used, so we're all gonna have a home team advantage. Artemis, Cupid," he nodded his head to the two of them, "you're both gonna head up the rooftops, okay, protect the flag, act as lookouts. Apollo, you're gonna be covering them," Hephaestus now pointed to Ares, Hermes, and Zeus, "as they run to the enemy flag. Ares, you have experience leading your own team, do you?" "Yeah punk-I mean, yes sir!" "Good. Pan and Thanatos, you're team two. Cover Ares's team, and if they die before, get their flag and get the heck out of there!" Both shouted in unison, "You got it Chief!" "Okay everyone, happy hunting! Positions!" Everyone began sprinting toward their positions, but Hephaestus caught Athena before she left. "Athena, I'm giving you one the most important job of all." "What?" "Your position is in the First Sons' Square. Take this," and he tossed a pulsating blue hexagon locator to her, "if you equip it for ten seconds there, you can enter the Control Ark. You'll be able to see the entire battlefield, call in attack strikes, and be able to communicate with-" Hal's voice boomed like a PA: "Fifteen seconds remaining." "D'arvit! Gotta go! Don't forget, go to the First Sons's square!" A minute earlier, on the other side... Thoth's team spawned on the top of the Kessler/Marais Inc. corporate building at the south of town, with their flag sitting on the tip of the City Hall building. "Ascension City? Odd choice for a map, don'cha think?" Seth asked. Thoth didn't pay attention and observed the city. "Hmm... good... all right! I've only played Ascension City once, but the fact is that this map is all enormous skyline. So Shu, you're gonna be our air-controller. I have one helicopter in use right now, use it well," Thoth pushed a button and a helicopter spawned on the helipad. Shu nodded and began to walk toward the helicopter. "Nut, you're on orbital uplink duty. Oversee the whole field, find their flag ASAP." "You got it sir, I'll get straight to work." At these words Nut opened her silver briefcase and started typing. "Geb, you're exploring the underground. I don't have a full map of the subway yet, but I have a feeling it'll be good to know them. Work with Nut, she can help." Nut blushed a little, but no one noticed. A second later she said, "I found their flag! It's on top of Ascension Parish on the north side of town!" "Perfect! Horus, Osiris, Babi, you two are the flag team. Sweep the north of town, make it to the parish. Sekhmet, Bast, Seth, you're following them." Hal's voice boomed like a PA: "Fifteen seconds remaining." "That's our cue! Everyone to their positions!" "Yes sir!" everyone responded. "Wait Thoth," Nut said. "I thought we were gonna have external help. You said we were-" "-and you are right, they should be here any moment now..." Hal's voice now boomed, "SAFETIES ARE OFF PAST THIS MOMENT." In the First Sons' square... Athena calmly walked into the park and stood at the center of the compass. She equipped the device Hephaestus gave her. It immediately pulsated blue for ten seconds and said in an androgynous voice, "Squeeze two sides together to enter Control Ark." Athena followed these instructions and was beamed into the sky. Another androgynous voice said, "Welcome to Installation Double-Zero." Athena immediately moved to the control table, and was given an overview of the map. "Amazing!" She exclaimed. Then she pressed a button and holographic links popped out for everyone's names. She tapped the one labelled Hephaestus. "Testing, testing. Come in, Red Leader." "Red Leader copies, Gray Leader. So, like the place?" "Yeah! I can definitely get used to this-" "Good, 'cuz I need your help. My scanner shows fifteen enemies near me, and they only have ten people. Can you run a scan?" "Certainly-whoa." "What?" "There are seventeen enemies next to you. And my sensors detect a very large UFO. I don't even know the signal it's putting out. But it's bigger than a helicopter or a UAV." "Then what is it?" "I don't know-wait. It's spewing more enemies out!" "Huh?" "They're coming in by the hundreds! Look up! Can you see anything?" There was a pause, and the sound of an explosion. "Hello? Gray to Red! Do you copy!?" "I copy, and put me on the team mike!" "What?" "Do it!" Athena quickly wired Hephaestus to every single comm link. "Everyone! We are being invaded by the Covenant! Thoth probably modded them in, so it's likely that they are on the other team's side. Stay alert and check your scanners!" Metro Subway, two blocks from Ascension City Hall... Ares's team immediately took cover in the subway entrance, trying to avoid the Covenant Phantom above them. "Never thought I'd see these nerdy junkies in FoF," Ares whispered. "I would punch Thoth but he's just adding to the fun." "Wait, is that a helicopter?" Hermes spotted a double rotor helicopter tailing the Phantom. The helicopter dropped a large box with a parachute attached, and flew out of sight. Zeus exclaimed, "Yes!" and ran toward the box, which had fallen in the middle of the street. "My order of upgrades," he explained to the other two. "But your guns are already good enough! What could you have possibly order-" Zeus wrenched the box open, and armed himself with Juggernaut MJOLNIR Armor, hooked a rocket launcher to and a classic Gatling gun to his back, jump jets to his shins, attached an Arc Reactor to his chest, and took out what appeared to be a machine gun scrapped from a fighter jet, with a large blade attached. "Well," Hermes said, "You're gonna be slower than a tortoise with all that crap on." "It's okay," Ares responded, "You're speedy enough for both of you." Zeus yelled, "Incoming! Get down!" Ares and Hermes ducked to the pavement, and Zeus opened fire on the Phantom which was aiming its cannon at them. The engines exploded in bluish purple flames and began to fall to the ground, with a sickening crash. Hermes was the first to speak, "That... was... wicked!" "Nice job, Zeus. Lets get to that flag!" Ares yelled. Both Zeus and Hermes said in unison, "You got it, Lieutenant!" Geb, who had been silently hiding in the subway entrance, had seen Zeus single-handedly take down a Phantom. He yelled "Thoth!" into his microphone. "What?" "Remember that kid, Zeus?" "Oh yeah, that big jock guy with the lightning tattoo. What about him?" "Dude that guy's got heavy weapons! He took down a Phantom in twenty shots!" "Wha?! How?!" "I don't know, but call Seth! And tell him to bring a few Banshees!" "Got it Geb! Find their flag!" "Sure, Commander-ARGH!" Geb looked down and saw a scythe blade protruding from his chest. "Gotcha." Thanatos whispered. "And we'll take that," Pan said as he grabbed Geb's GPS. "Wait a minute. Thanatos, look at this." "What?" The GPS showed a flag icon, which was over... "City Hall. Who would've known." Pan was fiddling with his communicator wristwatch. "Commander! We've found the location of the enemy flag!" "Great! Where is it?" "Ascension City Hall! Next to the Kessler/Marais Inc. building!" "Yes! You guys are only two blocks away! Alert the main flag team!" Meanwhile on top of the corporate tower, Thoth was racking his brains on how to approach this. A flag assault team was heading toward the flag, even after a squadron of Banshees attacked them, and he lost contact with the rest of his team. "Well then, I guess it's time," he said. And he activated the last mod. His failsafe. He waited for it to install completely and he jumped off the building. Ares and Hermes were running toward the City Hall building, with Zeus jumping behind them. They were almost at the flag when Zeus saw Thoth approaching the ground, a capsule of red lightning. "It's the Infamous Mod!" Zeus yelled. "Run ahead, I'll hold him off!" Hermes started running so fast it looked as if he was teleporting. Ares immediately ran to the side to protect him. Meanwhile Zeus was doing battle with Conduit Thoth. Zeus switched his modified Voodoo Cannon and pulled out his RPG and shot two rockets. Thoth shot two electrical rockets back. "D'you really think that I can't dodge that?" Thoth said as Zeus shot two more rockets. "I've beat that game, don't look at me like I don't know!" "Oh," Thoth taunted as he threw red electric grenades, "then what DO you know?" "This!" Zeus yelled as he picked Thoth up and jumped into the bay half a block away, pulling Thoth with him to the bottom. Now I know what you're thinking: what did the Egyptians do? Well too bad, it's in the next half! To be continued...