Titan Origins

The Universe is a chaotic place. the Titans were meant to rule it but instead chose to serve its people. Discover the dark past about the Titans' creation.

Chapter 1

"Prisoner B-329 step forward and put your hands behind your back." The warden was a big fellow, you didn't want to mess with him. How did I end up here I thought to myself. I couldn't keep a job so I joined the imperial military. But I still wasn't satisfied. In times of peace the military really doesn't pay well. I was too greedy, I wanted more. There are always ways to get more, illegal ways in my case. The warden escorted me to my cell or as he called it: "Your very own sardine can" He made it sound so nice...

Several days passed, I had a private cell so I had no one to talk to, I felt like I was going crazy. Eventually I was allowed to go outside for an hour a day. Of course there was no outside, I was on a station. Everything here was artificial, including the sun which was really just a big bright light. But I had never been so happy before. After days of solitary confinement it felt good to walk amongst people again. "Hey new guy!" it sounded. A big man walked up to me, as he got closer I noticed that the other inmates stepped out of his way. I figured that this man had to be the one calling the shots around cell block B. "Listen very carefully," he said "you are either with me or against me. In this prison it is mandatory that us, inmates, stick together. The warden doesn't care about us and neither do his guards. So you'll follow me, cause I can't have some new guy stirring up trouble and provoking the guards because then all of us will suffer." I explained to him that I only wished to enjoy the 'fresh' air and the company of others. He seemed satisfied with my reply. "Call me Garret" the big man said. "What do we call you, cause new guy probably won't be available much longer." I replied: "Hudson, I'm Derrick Hudson."

About a month passed and me and Garret had become friends. In this month I had also started to notice some strange things. Every couple of days a strange woman walked around the prison block. After she left there was usually someone missing. Almost Every time an inmate disappeared. The other inmates know it but they don't talk about it. When I asked one of the guards about it I received a beating and was told to mind my own business and that it was impossible for inmates to just disappear. I realized that my current approach wasn't going to be successful, so I decided to confront Garret with it the next day.

"Derrick! How's it going?" Garret asked with a big smile on his face. "Never better," I replied jokingly, "Listen, last night another inmate disappeared. I've noticed that this seems to happen quite often but no one talks about it." The smile on Garret's face disappeared. I realized that I could not have been more direct. Garret stood up and took me a few steps away from the others. He said: "We all know but if we open our mouths the guards respond with force, so we keep quiet and pretend everything is fine. Some advice, Derrick, when the woman comes back be sure not to attract her attention."
"They can't do this" I replied.
"Yes they can! They can because no one actually gives a s**t if something happens to us. This is an independent prison, meaning that neither the Empire nor the Consortium can help us even if they wanted to. We are stuck here in this hellhole and there is no one to save us, so please Derrick just take my advice and lay low. The last thing you want to do is attract attention to yourself."

Before I could counter his words, our conversation was interrupted by a young lad.
"Garret, you won't believe what just happened to Mason! The guards came out of nowhere and just started beating him."
"Well he probably just attracted to much attention." Garret said, while looking me straight in the eyes.
"Derrick I'd like you to meet my little brother, James." I greeted James politely and then the conversation returned to its previous chit chat.

A few more weeks past and a few more inmates disappeared. I started watching the inmates closer and got to know them better. And then one day I realized something. The mysterious woman does not choose the ones that attract attention. She chooses based on skill sets. Everyone she picked was skilled at something. Her last victim was an engineer. Before he went to prison he was building ships for the imperial navy. Even in prison he came up with the most crazy inventions. The one before him had a great tactical mind, he beat everyone in chess. Another was skilled in martial arts and as soon as the guards noticed this the mysterious woman appeared and the inmate disappeared.
Based on this information I started predicting the next victim. I watched the other inmates closely to see which ones were skilled at something. Eventually I narrowed it down to three possible victims. The first was a doctor, Amelia Burton. She had worked at one of the best hospitals in the galaxy and recently started helping out in the prison's sickbay. The second was Evan, a negotiator. Every time a fight was about to break out he stepped in and talked the brawlers out of fighting. He once managed to get the brawlers to hug it out. Lastly a mathematical genius called Gail. Gail was special. He didn't talk much and was always calculating. Everybody liked him but he didn't seem to care about that, he was always calculating stuff. I narrowed it down to these three but I couldn't decide which one would be the next victim so I decided to talk to Garret again.
As soon as I opened my mouth about anything related to the mysterious woman Garret would tell me to shut up. Fortunately, on one of these occasions Garrets little brother, James, overheard us talking. James approached me and made it clear that he wanted to help me. He was young and ambitious, he wanted adventure most of all. With James being the only one even willing to talk about the mysterious woman, I decided to team up with him.

 

 

Chapter 2

 

"So doctor Amelia, negotiator Evan or human calculator Gail... Well I don't think it's going to be Gail." James said. "I don't think that the guards even know he's a human calculator, you really have to pay attention to notice it, the guards rarely pay attention." There was truth in James' words, so we ruled out Gail. We decided that James would go find out more about Evan, while I went to talk to Amelia.
The easiest way to get to her was to end up in sickbay. I complained about chest pains to one of the guards and he took me to the doctor.
"Got another one for you doc", the guard said, "Prisoner B-329."
I greeted her, she asked for my name.
"Derrick Hudson" I answered.
"Well Derrick Hudson what's wrong?" She asked while she started her examination.
I quickly made up a story about my 'chest pains' but as soon as the guard stepped outside I explained why I was really here.
"Listen, the guard is right outside. We don't talk about the disappearances here."
"But I suspect that you will be next. The woman picks her victims based on skill sets. Right now you have one of the biggest skill sets among the inmates."
"Nonsense" she replied looking a bit shocked.
" There's not much time. Her last visit was 5 days ago, she'll return soon. Please tell me more about yourself so I can be sure that I'm not mistaken."
"If this is your way of flirting mister Hudson I can ensure you that it is not working. Now I'd like you to leave my clinic!"
As she waved her arms at me I noticed some scars. I asked her about it.
"I got them in battle"
"you were an army doctor?"
"Yes, now leave!"
I had over stayed my welcome but I knew enough, she would be the next victim.

Unfortunately, it was already too late. On my way back to my cell I saw the mysterious woman. There was nothing I could do for the doctor. The next day my fears became reality, doctor Amelia Burton had disappeared. I went looking for James but couldn't find him. Then all of sudden I saw Garret running towards me. He hit me a couple of times and yelled that is was my fault.

Once I had calmed him down he told me that the mysterious woman had taken James as well. Garret saw him getting dragged away. We talked for a very long time and came up with a plan. It was going to be very difficult but it had to be done, it was time. If we were going to save James, we would need to break out.

 

 

 

Chapter 3

We had a plan, it wasn't exactly watertight but it was the best we could come up with. One of Garret's friends helped us design the plan. Raymond Locke had been in this prison longer than anyone else and knew all of its secrets. We had to do it soon to have any chance of rescuing James. The following day when all B-block Prisoners were in the garden we took our chances and decided to do it.

I was in position, the waiting was unbearable.

Through the garden ran an artificial river. The entry point of the river was protected by a force field. Garret was to sneak out and get to the armoury. Once there he would place a bomb, which he manufactured himself out of pretty much nothing, on B-block's power generator right next to it. It was only lightly guarded cause no one would expect that anyone could actually build a bomb to take it out. Once the power generator was down Garret would transport as many weapons as he could to the garden using the river. Locke had mustered a handful of brawlers to cover me while I convinced the inmates to pick up arms and follow me to freedom.

As I said, the waiting for that bomb to go off was truly awful. I looked around the garden and all I saw was pain and despair. They had all accepted their fate. How was I going to convince them to help me? Then the bomb went off. This was it. I rushed to the centre of the garden and addressed the inmates. The guards were taken by surprise, they didn't know what was happening. Locke's brawlers did their job well. They quickly got behind the guards and took them out.

"My friends! The road to freedom is open! The blast you just heard was a bomb that took out the power generator. Soon weapons will flow down the river and give us the opportunity to fight the warden and his guards."

I looked to my left towards the river's entry point and I noticed that the force field was still up. Could it have gone wrong? Did Garret misplace the bomb? Was the force field connected to a different power source? I looked towards Locke hoping for answers but in his eyes I could see that he had many questions himself.

Most inmates went back to what they were doing before the blast. Some kept their eyes on me hoping that my words were true.

Then it happened! The force field went down. I felt so much relief.

"Look towards the river's entry point and see for yourself! My words are true! I know that many of you have given up. I know that this prison is a living hell. Strange things have been happening here. You refuse to see it but deep down you all know that those who disappeared weren't released... It is time to rise."

I heard a loud rumbling noise and realized Garret had done it. A large amount of weapons came through the hole in the wall on an improvised boat. I now had to get the full attention of all the inmates, who looked surprised and were stunned by what was happening.

"Rise! Take up arms and fight! Together we can secure our freedom. Who wants to be free again?"

My speech was answered by a loud cheer. The inmates armed themselves. It was just in time, more guards had now arrived. A brief firefight took place.

"Derrick you actually did it." Said Garret who had just returned.
"Yes, but this is just the beginning." I replied.
I knew that we had a tough fight ahead.

The next step was to take over the control room. From this point the five cellblocks were managed. From here we could free the other four blocks. I knew that we would have need of the extra manpower if we were to take the docking bay.
We fought our way to the control room faster than we initially expected. We met less resistance because the other blocks were causing trouble as well, the guards were spread thin.
Once in the control room we suffered a setback. The warden had shut down the systems meaning that we could not free the other blocks. Garret went berserk. He knew as well as I did that our chances of taking the docking bay were close to none without the other cell blocks.

After Garret had cooled down we decided to try to take the docking bay anyway. After all, after what we just pulled off, there was no turning back.
Locke overheard us talking. "Go," he said as he looked through the window and saw more guard approaching.
"I'll make sure they won't bother you. The hallway leading to the docking bay is narrow. Just give me some ammunition and I'll buy you time."
"No, you have as much right as we have to get out of here." Garret said.
"I have been here longer than anyone else. I have always known that I was going to die here. Just go, nobody is waiting for me on the outside."
"Thank you Locke, it's been a pleasure working with you." I said.

We left Locke behind with a few others that volunteered to cover our backs. We continued towards the docking bay with a few dozen men and woman remaining.
If we had only known what was waiting for us at the time...

We arrived at the docking bay's door. When we opened it more than half of us were gunned down. The guards had set up a machine gun behind the door, waiting for us to open it. We fell back into the hallway. We started taking fire from the front and back, which meant Locke had fallen. We had no choice but to surrender. The guards swept in quick and used force to knock us down onto the ground. It was bloody. All I heard was screams. When I fell to the ground I stared into the lifeless eyes of Garret before I lost consciousness.

Chapter 4

When I woke up I was strapped to a chair. I was in pain. My ribs were hurting and I was sure my arm was broken. I was one of the few that survived. What followed was intense torture. The warden yelled at me: "You dare to escape, to undermine my authority?!" I was unable to reply. The warden broke my fingers one by one. Every time I passed out he gave me an adrenaline shot to wake me up again. The torture continued for what felt like eternity. Until I heard a woman shouting.

"Stop!"
"How dare you march in here and give me orders!" The warden shouted.
"We had a deal Morpheus! I get to pick anyone I want and you deliver them to me UNHARMED. Or do I need to reveal your terror reign to the galaxy?"
"Curse you woman. If you want this troublemaker so bad than be my guest and take him away."
The warden left the room an slammed the door behind him.

My eyes were a bit blurry but I was pretty sure that the mysterious woman, responsible for the disappearances, was standing right in front of me.
"Hi there, Derrick. My name is doctor Lacey Cole. I've been watching you closely as you led your fellow inmates to freedom. I am truly sorry for your failure. But if it's any consolation I highly admire the way you rallied the prisoners against the guards, it takes a lot of guts to do something like that."

She talked to me like I was a two-year-old.
I tried to talk but I only managed to mumble a bit.

"I'd like to make you an offer, Derrick. I am a scientist and I could use your help with one of my tests. So what do you say? Would you like to stay here and be tortured by the warden or do you want to help me achieve a scientific breakthrough? Uhm.. just nod your head if you want me to get you out of here."

I nodded.

Not because I wanted to get as far away from this prison as possible, although that did play a role, but because I promised Garret to find his little brother.

Doctor Cole gave me a sedative. My eyelids became heavier and I slowly went to sleep...

 

 

 

Chapter 5
I woke up. It was cold, freezing. I couldn't move. Through the ice crystals on the small window in front of me shone a vague light. The temperature rose fast. As the ice crystals disappeared I began to see the face of woman. She was old, had grey hair. The door opened. The warm air that reached my face really woke me up. I started breathing again. I now realized that I had been cryo. I stepped out, looked back and saw the cryo pod, just big enough for one person. I noticed writing above the door. Zeus. "Give him some time" the woman said. I looked around the room and saw three more cryo pods, also engraved. Athena. Ares. Thanatos. They looked empty. There were two men eager to examine me but the woman held them back. "Do you remember me?" She asked. "No" I said. "Good. I am doctor Lacey Cole, head scientist of the CHAOS Project. We are currently on a research base on Callisto, one of Jupiter's moons. Can you tell me your name?"

My name? I didn't know. I thought hard on it but nothing came to mind. I collapsed. My arm was pounding like crazy, my ribs as well. I could barely breathe. "It's okay," doctor Cole said, "the pain isn't real. Before we put you in the pod you had a broken arm and three broken ribs. But we healed you. The pain you are feeling is all in your head." She managed to calm me down. "Doctor Cole, we really need to monitor his vitals and give him a full body check." One of the men grew inpatient. "All right, perform your examinations."  Doctor Cole said. "And you, I'll talk to you later. For now, just focus on regaining your strength."

 

They took me into the examination room and did a few tests. My arm hadn't fully healed yet, it was a bit stiff. They asked me a couple of questions about my past. I tried to remember but I wasn't able to answer any of the questions. They didn't seem to worry about it. They didn't try to comfort me either. Something was wrong, it didn't add up.

"Go find doctor Cole in the training room. It's the third door on the right." One of the men said when the examination was over.

 

 

Chapter 6

The doors opened and I saw doctor Cole. She was staring through a window, a big smile on her face. I walked up to her. "Isn't she amazing?" She asked. The window overlooked a large room. A woman was strapped in to some sort of suit. She had full movability but was stuck on her place. The room was a simulator.

This particular simulation took place in a war zone. Doctor Cole was right, she was amazing. Her movements were fluent. Her strikes deadly. She was strong, fast. I had never seen such a great warrior before. "We call her Athena" doctor Cole said. Athena, a name on one of the cryo pods I thought. "We've almost finished her." What? What did that even mean? We've almost finished her. Doctor Cole could see the confusion in my eyes. "Come, walk with me." she said.

"I assume you have many questions and it's time for some answers. I recruited you in prison where you had been in a fight, thus your injuries. I took you here and patched you up. You were in cryo for a total of three days. The memory loss is a side effect of being in cryo for longer than a few hours at a time. Are you still with me?"
"Yes," I said, "you spoke of a project before, what is it?"
"Ah yes, the CHAOS Project. The reason why you're here. You see I have a vision for the future. The galaxy is a troubled place. Rivalries are everywhere and people are suffering from it. Tell me, what do you know about ancient Greece?"
I replied: "It laid the foundation for life as we know it."
"Correct. But I was aiming for their religion. Ancient Greek mythology. Back then the people used to fear the gods. This fear created order in chaos. I want people to fear the gods again. So I've been creating gods of my own. Athena is one of them. There are two more."
I interrupted her: "Ares and Thanatos."
"Very perceptive of you. And you will make number four."
"Zeus." I said. "Well I can't remember my real name, so it'll do."
"Indeed. As of now you are Zeus, named after the leader of the Olympic gods. I picked this name for you for a reason. You will lead the others. You are a Titan. Titans have always been the bad guys and that's what we need to bring back order. We don't need heroes running around, we need people to obey the law in fear of repercussions."
"But Zeus wasn't a Titan." I said.
"Ah you know your mythology! Again you are correct. The names I have chosen are all based on Greek mythology but not specifically the titans. You are Zeus because Zeus was a mighty leader and so will you be. But enough for today. Get some sleep. You will need your strength tomorrow. I want to see you in the simulation room at 8 am. Don't be late."

I couldn't sleep. I kept thinking about the conversation I had with doctor Cole. I had seen Athena in action. People like her would indeed put fear in to one’s mind. Was that a good thing? I wasn't sure.

 

 

Chapter 7

The next day I went to the simulation room a bit early. I hadn't slept well because I was still pretty rested from cryo. When I entered the room doctor Cole was already waiting for me. She had a training simulation planned for me. She strapped me in to my suit and started the simulation. I wasn't convinced that I could pull it off but when the simulation started my instincts took over. I moved fast with fluid movements all my senses suddenly felt enhanced. It was amazing.

Doctor Cole could read the expressions on my face, she said: "We have made you faster, stronger and even smarter. We upgraded your senses. You can hear, see and smell better, making it easier to control the battlefield."
I had never before felt so alive.
"The only thing we can't enhance, is the way your mind works. Sure, we can increase your coping capabilities and increase the speed of your thinking. But we can't implement morals. We can't make you a leader if leadership isn't already part of your skill set."

I trained for a few hours. After that doctor Cole told me to take a break and that I should come find her in engineering afterwards.

And so I did. I walked around the facility a bit. There weren't that many scientists, I found that a bit strange. I came across a room that attracted my attention. When I walked in I discovered a large hall, filled with cryo pods. There must have been hundreds, stacked besides and above each other. None carried a name like the first four I had encountered and all appeared to be empty. How was that possible? I had walked around the base and only saw a few people. Where did they all go? Were these spare pods? Had the future owners just not arrived yet? It got me wondering how many Titans doctor Cole was planning on making.

I reported to engineering. There were two men waiting for me. One of them was clearly part of doctor Cole's team. The other was wearing full armor, I could only see his face. "Let's do it" he said. As he walked in to the next room the front of his helmet closed as well. There wasn't a part of his body left unprotected. I looked through the window. The soldier stood in the centre of the room. The scientist pressed a few buttons and machine guns popped out of the roof and started firing on the soldier. Not a scratch. The scientist monitored his life signs. "All is good." The soldier stepped out of the room again. "So new guy, you got your power yet? I'm Thanatos by the way. Call me Thane, it's easier."
"Zeus" I said, "And by the way, I'm your commanding officer." I joked.
The scientist interrupted us. He was gonna fit me an armored suit. "I'll see you later, commander." Thane said as he left us.
The scientist took his time and when he was finished it was my turn to be fired upon. I won't lie, I was scared shitless. But the suit did exactly what it was designed to do. I didn't feel a thing.
"This suit is synchronized to your body. It is now part of you. You do not take the inner part off unless absolutely necessary, do you understand?"
I nodded. The seriousness in his voice stunned me.
"I see you have your suit. Come with me please." Doctor Cole, who just entered the engineering area, said.

I walked with her.
"How does your new suit feel?" She asked.
"I can barely feel that I'm wearing it."
"Good. It's a state of the art suit with inbuilt life support. In a few days we'll get you some weapons as well."
Something Thanatos said was still in the back of my mind. Have you got your power yet. I asked doctor Cole about it.
"You'll see soon." Is all she said.

I decided to ask her about the room with the cryo pods. She told me those were just backups. I wasn't convinced, there were way to many pods to be just backups. But I decided not to argue.

"All right, here we are."

We entered another room. I was instructed to take a seat in a large chair in the centre of the room. "It's time to activate your power. You see, every suit is balanced out perfectly for its user. Well almost perfectly. There is room for a little extra firepower. A special power. Each Titan has a different power. Athena, for instance, can slow down time to a point where it is almost frozen, giving her the time to respond to a surprise like a sudden explosion. Or when overwhelmed by her enemy she can tactfully choose her targets to get her out of the situation."
"What's my power?" I asked.
"You are Zeus, god of thunder. We're going to program your suit with the ability to overcharge. With it, you could potentially shut down an imperial dreadnaught, given you are next to its power core."
Doctor Cole stuck some needles into my suit and started programming.
"Be careful, though, cause powers need to recharge. It could take up to month to fully recharge. The power is a Titans safety switch, a means to get out of a sticky situation." She finished programming and told me to go to the simulation room.

 

 

Chapter 8

"Zeus, isn't it? I'm Ares. I'm gonna be training you today. Doctor Cole has somewhere else to be."
In front of me stood a young lad, hadn't even reached his twenties yet. It was strange, I felt like I had seen him before but I couldn't remember.
"Have we met before?" I asked.
"I don't think we have, though you do have a familiar face. Kinda."
Ares told me to step in to the simulation area. It felt so real. I was in a forest, grass and trees and plants everywhere.
"All right I'm gonna send some soldiers your way. Try not to get killed." Ares said over the intercom.
Five men ran towards me. I managed to fend of the first two but the third took me down. I was surprised by how lively they felt. I couldn't tell the difference between what was real and what wasn't. I knew the soldiers were fake, as soon as you killed one it would disappear. The simulation from the day before was so much different, it seemed doctor Cole had gone easy on me. An alarm went off. The room was lit by red lights. I died.
"I said don't die! That really sucked." Ares said while barely holding in his laugh. "Try again. This time don't think, let your instincts kick in."
Ares ran the simulation again. This time I took my opponents down with ease. "Wow that was really good!" Ares shouted.
"This time I'm gonna make you sweat."
A dozen soldiers ran my way. I took them down.
A turret appeared and opened fire on me. I took cover behind a tree, trying to decide what to do. Then, another turret popped up. I switched cover.

Three more soldiers ran my way. I was pinned. I decided it was time to use my power. Just thinking about an electrical charge was enough. I curled up then sprung into the air, unleashing a powerful blast. I felt the energy flowing through me and suddenly I remembered. I remembered everything. The prison, the warden, the disappearances... Garret...The turrets went down, the room started flickering. The simulation couldn't cope with the charge. I quickly took down the three soldiers.
"I thought you were gonna make me sweat?" I said jokingly. "You did it! No one has ever beaten the simulation before. I've never seen the green light. You're amazing!" It seemed I had impressed Ares.

I walked back to Ares. When I saw him again I knew where I had seen his face before. It was James. "I remember, James, I remember my past." I said. He frowned at me.
"Who's James?" Aries asked. "I believe you got quite a shock, you should get some rest. I'm ending the training session. I'll see you tomorrow." He was very confused but he was right. Using my power tired me out, I needed some rest.

 

 

Chapter 9

I couldn't sleep. More and more details about my past came back to me. Including some dark memories about how I got here. I remembered doctor Cole giving me a sedative. The next memory I have is being taken through a hallway on a stretcher. I remember waking up briefly. The men escorting me weren't exactly gentle. I looked to my left and saw someone else being moved on a stretcher, he was covered up with a white cloth. He was dead. I saw the men take him into a room. I saw more bodies. Brutal, gashed, and swollen faces; their mouths wide open. Gaping wounds and scars. They were barely recognizable. One of the men saw that I was regaining consciousness and gave me another sedative.
These must have been the test subjects. Doctor Cole was a murderer. A cold blooded killer. I had to get out of here. The others had lost all their memories. They probably had no idea what was really happening. I decided to have another look around the facility.

There wasn't much to see, most areas were locked. I did find a computer terminal. I didn't need a password or anything. There were a lot of files on it. I found a map labelled subjects. 113 subjects, all deceased. That's how many lives were lost to achieve Cole's goal. I dug a little deeper and noticed that the CHAOS Project was a hoax. Cole was supposed to be investigating the impact craters on this moon. Another map caught my attention, it was labelled Titans. Ten names were in it including my own and those of the three others. But there were also some new names. Artemis? Damocles? Who were they? Were they out there already? Were they still under construction?  It was wrong. I had to get out of here, but how? Then I realized it. I was a Titan. This facility was built to keep unwanted people out and to keep the test subjects in. But I was no longer a test subject, I was so much more. I knew it was going to be hard. I needed to get the other Titans on my side. How hard could that be? After all, I was created to lead them.

 

First up was James. I thought that maybe if I could remind him of his brother he would start to remember his past. Luckily Cole kept files on all prisoners, including Garret. My new suit came in handy because of the inbuilt data port. I downloaded Garret's and James' files. I couldn't find Athena's or Thanatos', there were just to many files to look through. It would take hours to find their files without knowing their real names.

Another training session was planned in the morning. This time all four of us had to work together. We got pretty far into the simulation but we failed, as expected. Afterwards doctor Cole asked me to walk with her.

"I heard you beat the simulation, very well done. It seems that I was right about you, Zeus."
"It's Derrick." I said proudly. "I'm starting to remember things."
Doctor Cole stopped. I could see the disbelief and shock in her eyes. She wasn't expecting this.
"I see. That's good news, isn't it."
"It is."
"Do you remember anything else besides your name."
She was trying to figure out how close I was to unravelling her scheme.
"No." I said. "But I think it will only be a matter of time before I do."
I noticed she was fiddling with her necklace. Some sort of stone was attached to the chord. She was nervous.
"Is something wrong? That's a beautiful necklace."
"Thank you, it's an Onyx. And no, you've given me wonderful news. Now if you would excuse me I have some place I need to be."
She walked away in a hurry. I didn't want to dwell on our conversation. I went looking for James to show him his file.

"James! Come here I need to show you something." I shouted.
"Again with the James? I told you I'm Ares."
"No you're not. You are James Porter, 19 years old. You had a troubled childhood, your parents were killed when you were two. You had a lot of bad luck, trouble seems to follow you around. You came in contact with the authorities multiple times and were eventually thrown in prison with your brother, Garret. Do you remember him?"
"Listen man, I think you should check in on the medbay. You might have hit your head or something."
"I have your file right here, James."
"I'm gonna go now, all right? Please don't follow me."
"Wait! Promise me you'll look at the files." I transferred the two files to him.
I stared straight into his eyes and could see the confusion. Then he turned around and walked away.
It had been a long day. I decided to go back to my chambers and get some sleep.

 

 

 

Chapter 10

That night I slept with one eye open, expecting doctor Cole to make a move any minute. About half way through the night I heard some noise. Then all of a sudden a dozen armed men with tranquilizers marched into my room. If I hadn't been expecting them they would have taken me down easily. More of Cole's men came through the hallway. I was outnumbered and worn out from all the tranquilizers, some of the men managed to inject a small part of the tranquilizer. I knew that if I stopped Cole would ensure that I would never remember my past again.
Then I heard gunfire. Cole's men were taken out fast. I finished the last one off and looked up. A Titan! His mask retracted. It was James.
"I remember his face, Zeus. I remember Garret's face. I don't remember what he was like or even what I was like. But I can see his face clear as day. I know that something isn't quite right about this place. Bad things have happened here, haven't they?"
"Yes, they have. I saw mutilated bodies on my way in. I remember Cole abducting people from prison. I saw the files. 113 subjects died."
"Come on we have to get out of here. Athena and Thanatos will be waiting for us, I told them about the files you gave me. Do you have your weapons yet?"
"No not yet." I replied.
"Then we'll have to stop by the armoury first. Thane, Athena meet me in the armoury" James said through his suit's microphone.

We met up in the armoury. I explained what I had seen when I was brought in to this facility, while Thanatos programmed some weapons for me. They agreed, we had to get out of here. Athena had been here the longest, she knew a lot about this base.
"It's a fortress. It might not look like it from the inside but trust me, no one goes in or out without Cole's permission. She's hired a private militia to guard the base."
"We're Titans, it should be easy for us." Thanatos interrupted her.
"We have a kill switch and Cole controls it." The smirk on Thanatos' face disappeared.
"We need to take Cole down fast before she even knows what's happening if we want to have a chance." James said.
"Athena, what do you know about potential other Titans? I saw some names on one of the terminals, Artemis, Damocles. Ten names in total, including ours."
"I don't know if they exist. All I know is that there are two wings. We are in the first one. I've seen Cole's men move occupied cryo pods to the other wing. It could be that there are more Titans there."
"So what do we do, commander?" James asked me. All three were waiting for my orders, after all I was their leader. It had a nice ring to it I thought, commander Derrick Hudson.

"First things first, we need to control that kill switch. Athena, is there any way to remove it?" I asked.
"No, they put the chip to close to the brain. We need to destroy the controls."
"All right, there's no going back. Athena, I need you to try and figure out where the switch is. Thanatos I want you to go to the other wing, find the other Titans, get them to help us and find us transportation out of here. I have a feeling that we're going to need the other Titans, let's hope they exist. James, you're with me. We're going after Cole."

"I'm with you sir but please, call me Ares. I don't remember who James was."
"Okay, everyone knows what they need to do?"
All three nodded.
"Then let's go."

 

 

Chapter 11

Ares and I made our way to Cole's chambers. It was night so she was likely there.
I told Ares to stay back and be ready on my command. I figured it could go two ways. Either Cole was waiting for me after hearing that her men failed to capture me, or she wasn't expecting me because she thought I was back in cryo or something. Either way, she sure wasn't expecting Ares to be on my side, let alone the other two Titans. Having an ace up my sleeves couldn't hurt.
I went in. She was sitting on a chair in the middle of the room with a gun in her hand, she was fiddling with her necklace with the other hand.
"I figured you'd come for me after my men failed to sedate you, Zeus."
"My name is Derrick Hudson. Do you remember that name? It's the name you stole from me!"
"Oh don't be such a nag. I have given you so much in return. Superhuman abilities, a suit, and I see you've acquired yourself a gun as well. Seeing that you don't know how to program one yourself, it is likely that either one of my scientists helped you or Thanatos did. My men are currently locked away in their quarters, so it must have been Thanatos. Which means that Ares and Athena are probably helping you as well. A true leader. You can tell them to stop hiding."
I told Ares to come in.
"Only him? Gets me wondering what the other two are doing. Ah well, I was expecting some kind of rebellion along the way. So I made sure that all Titans have an inbuilt kill switch, unremovable. I suggest you tell your team to stand down, otherwise I'd have to kill them."
"You wouldn't kill us. You spend so much time to create us, you wouldn't just give that up." Ares said, he was trying to stall her. He had notified Athena that the confrontation wasn't going well, so he was buying her time to figure out what and where the switch was.
"I would kill you. I spend a lot of time researching how to create a Titan. Now that I know, it's easy to make new ones. Next time I just need to figure out how to control one. I'm gonna tell you one more time, Zeus, stand your team down!"
"I'm gonna tell you one more time, Cole, my name is Derrick!"

"Derrick, I found it. The kill switch is in the Onyx around Cole's neck. But you need to be careful, it listens to her heartbeat. If you kill her, you'll kill us and yourself as well. If you try to take her down, she'll press the button inside. I can temporarily sever the connection between the button and our receivers but that would mean blowing up the entire facility, we'll only have a couple of minutes to get out of here. I'm ready on your command, sir." Athena communicated through the suit.
She had done her part. I just hoped that Thanatos wouldn't need much more time  because I was about to rob it all from him.

 

"Do it." I said
"Do it? Do what?" Cole was surprised, scared even. She wasn't expecting this.
There was a loud explosion. The lights went off but the emergency power generator immediately kicked in. A loud alarm went off. Cole opened the Onyx and pressed the button inside. It didn't work. She was shocked and frightened. Her creations were coming for her. She opened fire. "Secure the onyx!" I shouted. Ares quickly tackled Cole, ripped the necklace off her neck and threw it my way. He jumped back. Cole tried to take back the necklace but I knocked her back down and held her at gunpoint. She started crying.

"Thanatos, how's the exfill coming along?" I asked.
"I've marked a spot on your map sir, Athena is already here."
"We need to go." I said to Ares.
As we ran away from Cole's chambers I heard a gunshot and looked back. Cole was lying on the ground, blood was running from a head wound. She had shot herself.
"Good riddance." Ares said.

"You know you can never take of that Onyx, do you? You'd kill us all." Ares was concerned.
"I know. But it will be save with me." I said.
"Any chance you want to help me get my brother out of prison after all of this is over?" He asked.
I stopped.
"I'm sorry Ares, but he's gone. He died while trying to rescue you."
"I see. I don't really remember anything from my past...I...I was hoping he could shed some light on it."
A pipe burst next to us. We quickly started running again.

"Hey Thane, any word on those other Titans?" I asked.
"Oh yes, but there are eight of us in total not ten. The other two are a bit different."

"Commander, this is Dinlas captain of the Damocles. We're coming to pick you up, sir."
"Captain? Thane, are you telling me that we've got our own ship?" Ares was really excited
"Yeah, it's big but there are only four crew members. They are Titans like us but a little different, they keep the whole thing in the air."

Ares and I headed to the marker whilst fighting off the militia. The exfill point was outside the base, luckily our suits had an oxygen supply.

Our worst fears became reality, there was no one at the marker and the militia were closing in on us fast. There were dozens of them and we were out in the open, no cover. We had no choice but to surrender. We laid down our rifles and kneeled down, hands above our heads.

Then behind us the Damocles appeared, she had been cloaked all this time waiting for the right time to appear. Damocles opened fire and the militia went down. Damocles opened her hanger bay door and Ares and I quickly got in. "Get us out of here Dinlas" I said.

We left just in time. When I looked back I saw the facility blow up. No one could've survived the blast, not even a Titan.

Chapter 12

"Welcome to your ship, commander. Though don't call it your ship around Dinlas, he's quite attached to it. I am Gaia."
Before me stood the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, she was absolutely stunning.
Gaia escorted us to the ship's bridge, where all the other Titans were waiting.
"This here is Artemis, she is in control of the medbay and the scientific mind aboard this ship." I recognized her, she was the doctor from prison, Amelia Burton. I was glad to see that she was okay.
"And this Vulcan, don't worry he'll grow on you." Gaia joked.
"I'm in charge of the Damocles' engines, armoury and engineering in general. I occasionally pass as a shuttle pilot as well, when Clio is a bit occupied." Vulcan said.
"Clio?" I asked. I had met all four Titan crew members, so I wondered who or in this case what Clio could be.
"Greetings commander. I am Clio, I assist the crew with their daily activities. I can also help you in the field by running quick data analyses."
"Clio is an AI and also my co-pilot. I've spoken with you before, commander. I'm Dinlas, captain and pilot of the Damocles."
"And I see that once again Gaia is way too modest to admit that she keeps the whole thing running, she's in charge of pretty much everything else." Artemis continued.

"The Damocles and its crew are meant to support your team, commander, in both peace and war. Does the team have a name yet?" Gaia asked.
"Yes it does." I said
I addressed my fellow Titans: "I know you've all been through a lot. After what Cole has done with us, we will never be able to return to a normal life. Cole wanted humanity to fear us, she wanted us to rule the human race as gods.
I will not ask you to stay here and rule with me. Instead I ask you to help me safeguard humanity and to help those in need. So I ask you, will you help me?
They all cheered. They were ready for me to lead them.
"Then so be it. Fire team Onyx and the Damocles will be the guardians of humanity, of freedom and of peace."

"I am Zeus. And I am proud to be a Titan."

 

 

Epilogue

 

"So that's how you came to existence, huh, born to rule, live to serve."
"Yes indeed, Alysia, yes indeed."
"Zeus, they're closing in on us, we gotta go!"

Author's Note

English is not my native laguage so please forgive any grammar/spelling mistakes.