Olympus: The Agency (Book One)

29. Saturn Return

"Go!"

All at once, Aquarius, Leo, Saggitarius and Aries leapt out of the cargo bay and launched themselves towards Isis Station. They all had jump packs on their backs, which they used to make micro adjustments in their trajectory. The gravity of Isis Station was not outside, so their fall was faked with a heavy duty magnetic track broadcast by their armour, which would turn off automatically as they approached terminal velocity.

"Flip!"

Aquarius, Leo and Saggitarius used their momentum to flip their feet first, while Aries pulled his fist back, priming his armour systems to smash through the station hull. Aries punched through first, allowing the other three armoured agents to land behind him, but now the corridor was de-pressurising.

"Leo!"

Leo fired a glob of chemicals behind her, and the hole they had just made sealed over with a viscous sealant that prevented further decompression. The ruckus, however, had caused a sizable force to head towards the four Zodiac members.

"Everyone ready?"

Leo and Aries tapped their mic to signal yes, while Saggitarius said 'Yep!'. Aquarius closed her hands into fists and ran ahead, pulling out one of her handguns and firing at the oncoming Wights.

Aries lowered himself as Saggitarius climbed into his grip, and Aries threw the agent over Aqaurius. Torrents of sticky flames escaped the nozzles on Saggitarius's gauntlets, burning the Wights as he moved like an incendiary bio-missile over the fight. Aries punched into the inside wall, and pulled out some of the heavy duty cabling, electrifying his armour. The insulated Aries then ran ahead and punched his way into the Wights with his Thor-like might.

As the other three fought, Leo bit on her tongue as she typed into her wristpad. This was Isis Station, one of the biggest shopping districts in this sector. So, it stood to reason they would have...

A nearby shop kiosk exploded as a mech suit, unpiloted, smashed through the front and grabbed the nearest Wight, using it as a weapon to beat the rest of the unfortunate Wights that could not fight their programming. The cockpit opened and Leo kicked off one of the bodies, pirouetted in the air, and landed in the pilot's chair, the chamber closing over her.

Aquarius fired the final shot, and the final body fell. Zodiac was barely scratched by this battle.

"Pisces, how are you three looking?"

Shortly after the first three had jumped, Pisces, Libra and Gemini leapt afterwards, aiming for a different dropzone. Same drop method, same jump packs, though a less flashy entrance. Gemini and Pisces leapt through the hangar bay shielding and landed at the front lines while Libra landed further back and made her way to the wounded.

"We're fine, Aquarius- actual doctor here, move." she said, kneeling down and concentrating on her new patients. Epione had done okay work, but to be an agent, you needed to be better than okay.

Libra whistled as she worked on Zeus, closing his wounds and mending his bones, then injecting him with a sickly yellow chemical. Zeus's eyes opened immediately and he sat up, like a livewire was shoved into his spine.

"Zeus, your squad needs you on the front lines," Libra said matter-of-factly before moving over to Gunn. Zeus stood, cracking his neck to relieve a little tension, then grabbed a discarded rifle and ran forward.

Gemini had drawn two blades and was cutting his way through the Wights like a blender of death while Olympus, their crew and Pisces assisted with continuous gunfire. The absolute hail of lead and lasers peppered the Wights until there were no more on their way. At the entrance, four more Zodiac agents walked into over the hills of flesh and cybernetics.

"Scorpio," Aquarius said. "Wight protocol six."

Scorpio heard the order and she kicked the ship into combat mode. It wouldn't be pleasant for anyone with an A.I. on that station, but it would kill the Wights in a violent fashion. She fired a beam of energy that hit the hull and enveloped the station in a flash of green.

Tartarus knelt down, gritting his teeth as Alice screamed and glitched in pain, but she rebooted as soon as the energy wave passed over them. The Wights violently shook all over the station as their A.I overload was attacked by a weapon they had little defence against yet, and the Wights detonated like grenades. Zodiac moved quickly and Leo stood in front of the survivors in the hangar, letting the bodies explode in showers of metal and gore.

Everyone and everything, though alive, was covered in blood. Epione's face was one of defeat. Dionysus looked sickened. It was silence in the hangar bay.

"Hurgh!" cried Enyo as she vomited violently to the side, breaking the silence. Aquarius took her blood-covered helmet off, discarding it as she walked towards Zeus and Epione.

"Lucky we came when we did, huh?" Aquarius joked, though the three of them knew it was no laughing matter. No squad should need help.

"Thank you," Zeus said. "I'm a little out of the loop, but-"

"I called them," Epione admitted. "We were pinned down with no way out. I just did what I though you would do."

Zeus said nothing, but he felt a pang of pride as Epione said that. Pride and something else he didn't have time to think about.

"What do we owe you?" Zeus said quietly.

"Already worked it out with Epione, Zeus," Aquarius said, her green eyes glancing around them as she kept note of the crew of the Cerberus moving to prepare to leave. "One life save for one assassination. You're good with that, right?"

Zeus didn't miss a beat. "If Epione made the deal, than I trust in it. She's not stupid."

Epione smiled, though was glad Zeus was in charge again.

"Send the details to Belle after... this and we'll take care of it."

One day later, the members of Olympus Squad, including the newly reintroduced Apollo, were in the conference room on the Cerberus, including the newly healed Thanatos thanks to Libra, they were deciding the best way to approach the problem.

"Killing her is going to be incredibly hard, Zeus," Tartarus said, saying what they were all thinking.

"Killing her is our new mission," Zeus said. He believed entirely that Epione made the deal to save them, but he was apprehensive about sending Olympus into battle against this target.

"I'll point out we've faced her before, though not in battle," Enyo said. "She is his right-hand for a reason."

Epione hated she had roped them into this, but it was the mission.

"I'm sorry, everyone," Epione said sadly, but Thanatos of all people cut her off.

"Stop feeling sorry for yourself, please. You made a choice and saved so many of us, and now we must pay it forward. It's done. Stop thinking about what may have been and focus on what you can do to kill her."

"Killing Renee White, though," Dionysus said slowly. "I read what you guys thought of her and... those swords don't see friendly."

"It's what we need to do, though," Zeus said quietly. "Phil, set a course for... what did she say the sector was called?"

"November Victor," Apollo chimed in.

"Course set," Phil said. "Good luck to us."