was a renamed chooser of the slain in Etruscan mythology. He was a winged god ofdeath,â Brigid explained. âAn invulnerable fog or a wave might be in reference to the river Styxâs alleged properties of making anyone dipped in it invulnerable, like Achilles.â
âYouâve been hitting the research hard enough,â Kane mentioned. âSometimes, itâs best to put speculation aside and put feet on the ground.â
âAnd hope that weâre not stumbling into a trap,â Sinclair added. âYou want us to come with you?â
âIn general, we rarely send both teams into the field together, but in this instance, it would be beneficial to have you along. My ankle still isnât at a hundred percent, so my running and jumping will be impaired, and DeFore still wishes to make certain Kane hadnât received anything permanent in regard to the crack he received on his head. Iâm under the presumption that the reason the expedition encountered such a powerful surge was due to the size of the intrusion,â Brigid said.
âSo if we show up with three to six people, we can slip under their radar, so to speak,â Edwards concluded. âI can figure out why you want Beta with you.â He glanced toward Domi as if to provide clarity.
âIndeed. Weâll also be heading to Olympus in two groups. One via traditional mat-trans, and Edwards and Grant in the Mantas,â Brigid added. âWeâll see if our jerry-rigged weapons systems for them might prove sufficient to deal with a superhuman threat.â
âIf we have a target that we can use the Mantas against,â Grant added. âWho knows if the thing generating that weird black mass will be out in the open.â
âWeâll cross that bridge when we come to it,â Kane said. âThe first thing we need to do is get to New Olympus.â
âAnd since weâre taking the Mantas, weâll catch up to you in a few hours,â Edwards pointed out. âDonât drink all the hospitality before we get there.â
Kane chuckled. âItâs not the hospitality you should worry about.â
Edwards didnât say it out loud, but looking at the concerned features of Brigid Baptiste in the wake of the briefing, he knew that something out there was going to be a terrible challenge.
Then again, that was the reason for the existence of the Cerberus Away Teams, he added grimly and silently.
Chapter 3
The arrival of the strangers was nigh, as the radio signal came through from across the gulf of land and ocean that separated New Olympus from the Bitterroot Mountains. Diana Pantopoulos was at once relieved at the response, and guilty for having drawn the Cerberus warriors back into their continent.
Diana had inherited the role of âqueenâ of New Olympus, an unenviable task alongside Aristotle Marschene stepping into the âbootsâ of Z00s, in the wake of that last visit. As of now, Greece was actually working on a charter and constitution allowing a representative government, but also allowing Diana and Ari to act as âranking managers.â
The two were still commanders of the Gear Skeleton forces, having risen in rank with the loss of Z00sâthe Magistrate formerly known as Thurmondâand Hera OlympiadâHelena Garthwaite, the scientist sent by Baron Cobalt to uncover ancient technology that the baron recalled on a genetic level. Those two, and another Magistrate, had been sent on an expedition to find the tools of Marduk, Cobaltâs original Annunaki form, and in the process, they had built Greece into a fortress-like society with remarkable Spartan Gear Skeletons as the backbone of their mechanized military force.
It was an empire built upon clay feet. Through the use of clone production facilities, Helena Garthwaite had initiated a program of terror to unify the Greek countryside.
It was the effort of Kane, Grant and Brigid that ended that