Project GODS

Project GODS: Information

    AUTHORS NOTE: Just a quickie to say how much I love you if you're actually reading this mess. You all are awesome, thanks for coming this far with me :) Over 2,000 reads on this thing, all thanks to you guys. I love you all lots, hope you like this chapter! ~Zanintia

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     Ignoring his outstreched hand, I hauled myself up into the house, now warmly lit by a latern. I sat down cross-legged, as far away from Hermes as possible. He turned his back on me, rummaging through a stone chest of some sort.

     His trust surprised me. I had never turned my back on anyone before, be they GOD or otherwise. Especially not the feral, semi-insane GOD I came off as. I knew perfectly well that my sanity was questionable and possibly non-existant. He was too at ease, completly unafraid of me, or the dangers around us that never left.

     "Think fast," he said, and threw a pomegranate at me. Catching it easily with one hand, I cracked it in half and smelled it, checking for any poison. My reaction pulled another laugh from him.

    "What?" I snapped, pulliing out a seed. Detecting no poison, I popped it into my mouth and stared at him warily.

    "You don't trust me." He stated simply, sitting across the lantern and meeting my eyes without fear.

     "No, I don't," I agreed, putting another seed into my mouth. "Now tell me."

     "Tell you what?"

      "Everything. You aren't supposed to exist. At least, I've never seen you."

     "Hmm...Interesting questions. You know, I am Hermes. I want something in return for answers."

     I narrowed my eyes at him. "Like what?"

     "Well..."

     "How about I leave here without killing you?"

     "Okay, Okay! Chill out." He leaned back, exasperated.

     "Tell me."

     "You asked for it." He took a deep breath, and began to speak.

     "I was born just like all of you. I came from a fertilized embryo, but I was a secret. No one knew I existed, and you're right, I'm not supposed to be alive. My creator was doctor Rachel Nisrel, a lonely, desperate woman. She would have been one of the creators of the A-team. Yes," He said as I started a little bit, "I know all about your 'A-Team.' I know more than you ever could even dream of, about you, our dear founder Garland, and every scientist that ever worked at the Garland Order of Defensive Science." Ignoring my look of shock, he continued. "She created me because they had said that Hermes was a theif, a prankster, not strong enough to become a secret agent for them. She created me because they were going to fire her. They found her to be mentally unstable, incapable of working, especially in a high-end Scientific Branch. She was allowed to remain on the island for a few weeks to observe what was happening. Rachel did observe, and she took careful notes. Then, she created me a week before she was due to leave forever. I have little memory of her, only a few pictures. We were generated, you know. Neither of us was ever really a child." I nodded, agreeing with him. "She was forced to leave a week later, and turned my training and development over to her assistant, Kassandra Bullock. Kassandra was sworn to secrecy, and given the burden that was me.

      "Kassandra was the person I opened my eyes to on that first day. Kassandra was the one that I remembered. She taught me everything, from material arts to survival skills. I was every bit as well trained as any of you were, possibly better. She was determined to carry on Rachel's creation, and made sure that I was every bit as trained as it was possible to become. She would come back after a long day and tell me everything, every bit of information. Her trust may have been her undoing..." he faded off, biting his bottom lip in thought. "I was never allowed out of a certain facility she had created. I was constantly alone, and learned to enjoy it as much as possible. She was the only person I ever talked to. For a long time I thought I was the only one of my kind. It was when I dared to look outside, for the first time. I had always just followed her orders, never really thinking that anything beyond my own home could exist. It was a dangerous, unreal world outside and I knew that I wasn't supposed to leave the shelter.

      "It was the day I saw someone...I don't remember who it was. I dared to look, out the window, and I saw someone. It was a girl, and obviously a GOD. I can't recall who it was, but she was running. She flew by, skidding to a stop just below me. I remember being struck by the fluid movements, and the pure joy that she had from running on its own. It made me jealous, so jealous that it was nearly terrifying. I wanted what she had. And when Kassandra visited, I demanded information. She broke easily, and told me everything. After that, she never hesitated to tell anything to me. After all, I'd never have the chance to tell anyone." I nodded, staring at my feet for a second at the memory of pure isolation. "Anyway...Garland wasn't planning to use any of us for the greater good of the world. I learned this right before the explosion. We were for his own devices. Apparently we all were supposed to be genetically planted with a deep seated loyalty to his agency and all the ones...maybe that was destroyed in the explosion...or maybe it was never there." I bit my lip, thinking deeply.

     "You probably already know why the explosion happened." I nodded again.  

     "When the building first imploded, I heard it. I left the shelter and ran over to the smoke plume. It was a nice little mushroom cloud...You saw what it looked like." I nodded again. Then I remembered. 

      "You..." I said, sitting up straight and pointing at him. "It was you. Wasn't it?" I asked, a little accusingly. "You saved us. You're responsible for it." With a smug smile, he shrugged his broad shoulders in defeat. 

      "Yeah. It was me. I didn't want you all to die. And you all looked in so much pain...You see, while you are were training to kill people, I was learning all about healing. Kassandra invented a new type of medication, a kind that can heal anything at a superfast rate, a type of Ambrosia. Food of the Gods. It was a medical breakthrough, but when she showed it to Garland he wanted the 'Messiah Meds' to himself. She hid much of her stockpile, and I used half of that on you and yours. We heal fast as it is, but that stuff could easily save any of us from death."

      "Messiah Meds?" I asked, a little skeptically. He reddened.

      "It's just what he called it, okay!?"

      "Okay, okay..." My voice trailed off. "How'd you survive undiscovered? Did you know what was going to happen to us?"

      "One at a time," he said. "I survived easily. I merely took everything I had from the bunker and brought it here. this treehouse was previously built by someone else, I don't know who or why. Hunting, maybe? Who knows. It's well hidden, and I can easily mask my smell with dirt. I've had everything I needed right here, and despite what you all may think, I am good at hiding."

      "You didn't answer my second question."

      "...Well..." He hesitated, breaking his firm gaze for the first time that night.

      "You knew." I snarled, clenching my fists. "You knew what would happen to us. And you let it happen?"

       "No!" He nearly shouted, standing up. I stood with him, dropping the pomegranate to the floor. "I had no idea! Really!"

       "Your eyes betray you, Hermes. You may be a trickster, but I am the huntress."