Charles came to with a mild migraine that made him slightly wince as he tried to figure out where he was. The dim lights and a slight chill that blanketed him brought back some very old memories. Memories he wasn't fond of.
He realized he was strapped on an interrogation chair with all his limbs and torso restrained. On his left, there was a table full of all kinds of medieval torturing tools that made him groan inwardly.
A door opened, and footsteps approached, soon he was assaulted by a smell he was very much familiar with. The scent that had haunted him for over a millennium. He knew exactly who the other occupant was.
"Charles is it?" The voice belonging to the woman he would forever hate sent a chill down his spine. She paused and came into view before continuing, "or is it Charlie—or should we just call you by your real name, Chiron."
"I didn't realize grunt work was your thing." Charles's jaw clenched as he fought against his restraints.
"Normally no, but when one of Athena's legendary foot soldier gets brought in, you'll have to admit, it warranties a personal visit. I'm curious, what are you doing in Argo? You never pegged me for the western type?"
"I'm on vacation."
"I'm sure you are. Is that why you spend your time in abandoned warehouses? Who's your friend by the way?"
"I don't know who you're talking about."
"Tall, muscular, blue eyes and dark short hair…?"
"Sounds like you just described a good portion of the world's population." Charles replied humorlessly.
"You don't really expect me to buy that. But don't worry, you and me, we have a lot of catching up to do." Her demeanor changed, and a sinister smile drew on her face.
The woman then slowly unhooked her belt; getting rid of both her badge and gun. She placed them on the table next to the torturing tools. She also removed her windbreaker and put it next to her belt.
She then folded her sleeves before grabbing two black leather gloves that easily reached her elbows before turning her attention to Charles and grinned. Charles' stomach tightened as he visibly trembled at the anticipation of what was to come. He knew firsthand how sadistic the bitch was with her interrogation schemes that easily broke him the last time.
Considering how tough his kind was, it says a lot about what was about to be done to him.
…
Raymond and Emma hadn't gone too far when they were assaulted by several soldiers. He had a slight frown plastered on his face all the time. He expected to find the exosuits by now especially with all the chaos he instigated out there.
Instead, it was the regular soldiers—though still good—they were less tactical and easy to dispatch. He took the front while Emma took the back. There wasn't much he needed to do rather than blow the soldiers away with a compressed blast of air.
"Didn't you think it was important to tell me that you were a god—ESPECIALLY—a resurrected one?" Emma asked, her hands raised and ready to cast a spell at a moment's notice. "Sorry, I was advised against it, besides I assumed you were Pro-Poseidon."
"What does that have to do with anything? Still, you could've told me." She replied before opting to raise a dark purple shield to block any bullets fired at them.
It was the best she could do; especially when the visibility was piss poor. Otherwise, her best spells took a few words; against guns, it was a little unfair. Your best bet was to shield and then cast the spells. It turned out to be a good idea as three hidden soldiers ahead of them made a sneak attack; only to be blocked by the purple shield.
She dropped her shield just as the three soldiers began to reload and sent three arcane bolts that hit the three of them, making them scream in agony.
"Cool!" She heard Ray say as she readied another spell. Ray had also dropped a few bodies on his front. Soon they went down to the basement and just like Bob told them, it was at the bottom. Their victory was however short-lived when a blue plasma bolt smashed onto his chest, for the second time.
A deep groan escaped him as he glanced angrily in the direction of his attacker. There were six of them; three on either side of the two walls. They branched out to give each other as much room as possible for accurate shots when they took cover behind the walls.
It was fine with him, he longed for revenge after last time and didn't care how he got it.
"Are you okay?" Emma asked as she quickly moved to his left, leaving him the right.
"I'm good, just a minor injury. You should probably watch out though, unlike you, I don't use shields." He replied before ducking to avoid another round.
Luckily the bolt went past Emma but not without her hissing. Well, at least he wasn't the only one that didn't like them. He reached out with his mind and grabbed one of the soldiers before using him to smash the next two.
The others quickly reacted to the attack and dropped on the floor before unleashing another volley.
"Get down," Ray shouted before he dropped low too, this time they aimed straight for his head. Channeling his power again, he slammed both his palms on the floor and let out several threads of electricity that immediately shocked the soldiers dropping them all down.
"My path is clear," he announced before approaching the blast door that led into the cell block. Behind him he could hear Emma's breathing elevated; the constant use of magic having taxed her stamina. It was a good thing majority of the soldiers rushed outside after the transformer exploded.
Just like the staircase, the lowest floor was also dimly lit by the red emergency lights. Ray guessed it wasn't connected to the main circuit, otherwise he would've fried it too. Emma too came to a stop at a fried bio scanner. Trying the door with a lot of effort Ray wasn't able to pry it open.
"What now?" He asked, frustratingly.
Emma grabbed his hands and trailed them on the blast door before coming to a stop near the scanner. "Use your lightning, it should burn through."
"Well you better step back," Ray warned before unleashing endless torrents of electricity on the metal.
The door rapidly began to melt while at the same time boring a deep hole into it. He was on it for a good ten seconds before he could see through the other end. Emma then directed him to another spot on the blast door and he repeated the same process a few more times. He then tried again, and the door slid open this time.
They hadn't gone that far when Raymond suddenly stopped; Emma bumped into his back as she was facing away from him. Emma was about to ask him when she too turned and saw the silhouette at the other end of the hallway. On each side of the hall there were several cells; all locked.
The figure was a medium height human. At that distance, it took Ray a few seconds for him to figure out it was a woman in civilian clothing. He could feel Emma shudder, and traces of raw fear wafted past his nose. It was followed by a gasp as soon as the figure slowly began approaching them.
As if on instinct, he brought his hands together and focused on the air currents around him; pooling it into a ball between his two hands.
The stranger slightly paused her advance as if to assess the attack but resumed almost immediately. Raymond let loose of the attack, and it flew across the hallway at blurring speeds and smash into the figure; a loud bang was heard.
Waiting to see the results, he was taken aback as he heard a slight chuckle coming from the woman.
"Really?" Was all she said as she got closer until she was a mere five meters away from them. "Judging by that stupid look on your face, you have no idea who I am." She added as she came into view.
"Detective Ross?" (The other detective that interrogated Ray) Ray wasn't sure whether to be terrified he got busted or that his attack was playfully dismissed.
After the two locked eyes, she burst out laughing as a puzzled Ray raised his hands, in anticipation for any retaliation.
"What? Nothing to say?" She took another step forward, and Ray took one back only to bump into a frozen and equally terrified Emma. "Huh…It's all starting to make sense now." She did light a facepalm before returning her gaze to him.
"The name, the tasers, the blood we collected, Chiron… And here I thought you were just some random student high on magic portions. It explained why it was untraceable.
"I even went ahead and put a tail on you. When news came back that you were secretly meeting with a Supernatural in a warehouse near the docks, I sure as hell believed he was supplying the portions." She paused to catch her breath and began circling the duo who up to now were watching her every move.
"Then your capture was a failure. Report says you somehow evaded their capture and the Supernatural you were caught with protected you. You may not know it yet, but that rarely happens." She suddenly stopped in front of Ray.
"So, I come down here to see why a simple snatch-and-grab failed only to find out the Supernatural in question to be one of Athena's. Then you show up.
"Don't worry I am not here to stop you, that's their job." She said while pointing at the roof, reminding him of Bob.
Ray silently hoped he wasn't dead yet, they still needed to bust out of there.
"Your friend is inside the cell on your right at the end of the hall. Assuming you can get past the guards on your way out." She said again before chuckling. "Ares is going to be glad he finally found you." She finished and disappeared right in front of him.
It took him a full minute to shake himself into action and another to calm Emma down. They both rushed towards the room Charles was in and found him strapped to a chair, shirtless. He was unconscious, and his body was full of cuts and burns and a few bruises.
Ray quickly rushed towards him and began unstrapping him while Emma maintained watch at the door just in case someone else showed up. By the time he was done, Charles was beginning to come to.
"Ray?"
"You're welcome." Ray said before hoisting Charles over his shoulders and walking out of the door with Emma leading the way.
Just as they were about halfway across the hallway, they were met by another two figures; they were both women. Without preamble, they shot two dark purple balls across the hall only to be stopped by a dark purple shield, luckily Emma had already erected a shield.
The impact, however, was too strong and she could feel herself being pushed back, colliding with Ray.
"I don't think I can take any more of that," she gritted.
Ray didn't reply but closed his eyes and immediately went into the Astral Plane. Speeding across the hallway, he gathered streams of air through sheer will and building it into a powerful blast that hit the duo, sending them smashing into walls.
"Quick we need to get moving." He spoke, and a disembodied voice echoed as it bounced off the walls. He at the same time willed his body to move, and it immediately responded and caught up with him before he jumped back into it.
Reaching the stairs, they were met by a rushing Bob who almost knocked them over. "I wouldn't go that way if I were you."
"What happened?" Emma asked.
"It didn't take long after the first gunshots before they realized the problem came from the inside. They covered all three exits and began to slowly advance on me. There are dozens of soldiers, and a few Supers I saw before I was overwhelmed."
"So, what now?" Ray asked.
"The Nymphs," Emma spoke up.
"What about them?" Bob was the one to ask this time.
"I had a look at the Barrier Spell used to lock this place up. It was made by Nymphs. We need to find the source."
"How?" Ray asked.
"Barrier Spells need anchors, physical anchors or else they will unravel over time depending on the strength of the caster. But if you have an anchor, it stays permanently intact unless someone overpowers it or destroys the anchor."
"How do we know where to find it?" Ray asked, but she didn't answer. Instead, she mumbled a short spell and a dark purple orb appeared. It dangled in the air for a few seconds before shooting straight back to where they came from.
"Quickly, we need to get there before the spell dies." She said before taking off after the orb. They all followed her down the stairs again and into the basement. The purple orb picked one of the cells where it came to a stop at a metallic door.
"Damn it!" Emma cursed her luck.
"What is it?" Bob frowned as he moved next to her.
"The door is sealed shut by a spell."
"What about breaking it?" Ray asked impatiently.
"It's designed specifically for that and by the looks of it. It's enchanted by several nymphs. So, overpowering it is not an option either."
"You can put me down now," Charles picked that moment to speak up.
"You're injured," Ray replied, still carrying him.
"Never said I was."
"You son of a bitch!"
"Guys focus!" Emma interrupted.
"Maybe I can help, if its warded to prevent physical entry, then I can bypass that with a psychic entry?"
"It should work," Emma replied after considering it.
Closing his eyes for the hundredth time, Ray pushed his mind out of his body, but this time he made sure to remain tethered to his body as he easily bypassed the locked door and seeped into the room.
"I'm in… it looks like some kind of a repository."
"Quickly, find any spherical objects." After a quick look around, he saw two glass orbs.
"There are two of them."
"Grab the bigger one and smash it."
Ray willed the bigger one up to the roof before forcing it to the floor. The sound of glass breaking resonated in the room before Ray returned back into his body. He immediately felt the magic preventing him from teleporting already lifted.
Several steps were heard descending the stairs before the first round of bullets were fired. "Hurry up and jump us out of here," Emma shouted before grabbing his hand, Charles and Bob followed suit and Ray closed his eyes in concentration before they all blinked out of the base.
...
Ray couldn't stop grinning. He was a little giddy; Charles told him it was mostly the effects his adrenaline wearing off. He would have been dead tired were he to be a human. After being rescued, Charles immediately left and told Ray to spend the night at Emma's as he wasn't sure of their apartment's safety anymore.
Charles then met with Adrastea at their old apartment and proceeded to erase anything that could trace back to them. Bob on the other was a completely different person after they jumped back, he looked at Ray with a lot more respect and adoration.
It wasn't long before he decided he wanted Raymond to owe him a favor rather than Emma. He pointblank wanted Ray to do the enchanting but with Emma's guidance. They set a date when they would visit; it was to be two days to the contest. After having been satisfied with the arrangements, he too left.
Emma had begun mumbling about sleeping arrangements when she felt large arms grab her waist and swirled her around. Ray stared at her with hungry eyes that hid no intentions of what he wanted from her.
She grabbed him by the neck and pulled him down to her. Ray grabbed her blouse and lifted it off her before they he resumed possession of her tender mouth. Her generous bust pressing firmly against his chest.
Out of all the scenarios and simulations Ray had ever run in his head, he was never prepared for the real thing. His animal instincts took over, flooding his entire body with lust and cutting loose of all his years of repressed urges.
"Please…" Ray ignored her, Emma may seem like she was begging, but she had her hands on his head and trying to control the pace. The best submission is one that is one given, not taken.
Ray had long come to terms with his newly found predilection for dominance and was something he wasn't going to resist; not when it fired up all his synapses, leaving him thirsting for more.
If this was what power felt like, then he probably was the wrong person to receive it.
Pure lustful eyes looked back at him, and Ray took notice of the same slit pupils he saw on Hermes replacing the naturally round blue beauties. But unlike Hermes, hers were blue. The prickling pain of nails biting deeper into his flesh broke him out of his trance.
Within minutes the room was filled with grunts and moans as two supernatural beings wholly dug into their lusts in complete abandon. Raymond gradually came to and was greeted with a handful of red hair obscuring his view. The shallow rise and fall of her body gave him the notion that she was sound asleep.
He could still feel himself buried inside her. All his senses seemed to come back online and at just the right moment, as he heard a third heartbeat. This one was still rapid though it was also gradually slowing down to a more relaxed pace. Twisting his neck in an uncomfortable angle, he was able to glimpse at the door to find Emma's roommate slumped on the floor.
Not wanting to wake Emma, he wiggles his right arm free from under her body and sent a small ball of compressed air straight at her. She gave out a startled gasp, and briefly locked eyes with Raymond before turning scarlet red.
She shakily picked herself up and rushed across the hall; soon she was out of sight. With another gesture of his hand, the half-opened door swung shut. Another gesture took care of the lights, and Raymond finally let the darkness guide him to slumber land.