Killing Olympia

Day 5/365

It was a lot easier talking about bad guys than actually fighting them, and Sophie was starting to wonder if any of these guys even had a clue of what they were talking about. They'd taken their time devouring the pizza, because bread, meat, cheese and salt were so hard to come by in Lower Olympus now that it would've been sacrilegious to wolf it all down without a second thought. Sophie's body demanded more food. The best she could do was a slice and a half of stale pepperoni that hadn't been fully heated all the way through. But hey, beggars can't be choosers.

She just wished that these people would have a little more sense than to just come up with a plan that hardly involved any thinking. She was all about being fast, loud, partially reckless for the good of it—but on the other hand, this wasn't rookie season either. She was bulletproof. She could waltz into a smuggler's den and start throwing people around without getting too badly injured. These guys? Oh, man, they were probably all gonna die pointless deaths, all because their plan was: We'll just spring a sneak attack on them, take the guns, and get out of there. Ha. Right. Like it's ever that easy. But Sophie was too busy eyeing the final slice of pizza to even bother now.

They were all capable of thinking for themselves, so whatever happened tonight was their problem.

She's just here for the free food, man.

"We've got maps routed out and everything," the guy with black hair was saying, maybe to her—she didn't care enough to know if that smile was meant to impress her either. "We've been staking out their joints for weeks now. Even before…you know." Sophie raised an eyebrow. If he wanted to say Olympia's name, he could. It wasn't like she cared about dead girls either. "We were meant to hit a few days ago, but then the world went crazy."

The girl with the witch hat nodded as she fed the cat bits of pepperoni. "Besides, something didn't feel right about going yet. I get these weird visions sometimes, and I still feel fifty-fifty on it. I mean, they're villains."

"Yes," the Asian girl muttered, arms folded. "And we're heroes."

Sophie snorted. They all looked at her funny. "What?" she asked.

"Aren't you a clone?" the boy with glasses muttered. "Of, you know, a superhero?"

"An actual superhero?" Witch-Girl said.

Sophie's jaw tensed, almost clicking. "And?"

"Look," Black-Hair said, spreading his hands onto the table, ketchup now crusting under his fingernails. "I know we might look like a gang of dumb kids to you, but trust me—we can help each other out a little here, too."

"I already know enough about the smugglers," Sophie said, waving her hand. "I don't need your help."

"Everyone needs a little help," Witch-Girl muttered, not looking at Sophie. "At least sometimes."

"Oh, please," Sophie said. "Don't sway me with that kumbaya crap. I wanted you guys to let me go, so I played nice and agreed, ate your food, and now I'm about to bounce. If you losers want advice, here it is: save it. I've been in fights before. I've been shot at plenty of times. It's fun fantasizing being a hero. Reality? Not so much."

Especially if you had skin like theirs that tended to be a little weak on the bulletproof side of things.

"That's great and all," Black-Hair said. "But we're just looking to see if you'd be on board with us."

"With the people that kidnapped me?"

"We're all going to the same location, aren't we?" he asked.

Irina laced her fingers and rested her sharp chin on them. She stared at Sophie for so long and so silently that it made her skin crawl. She felt something unfurl in her blood, a sort of tension and heat that had been building in her neck simply vanished in a heartbeat. Sophie pushed away from the table, feet hovering an inch off the floor.

She pointed at Irina and said, "Whatever you're doing, quit it."

"You're just so like her," she muttered, almost dreamily. "You're different, though. In a good way. Your body listens to me. Hers had a habit of pushing back, even when she was unconscious. You're naturally obedient."

Sophie blinked, then whispered, "What the fuck did you just call me?"

Irina put up her hands. "I didn't mean to piss you off. I'm just saying that you've got the blood of someone who doesn't have to think for herself. I mean, you flow so easily. Like this tide that just doesn't stop flowing. Ever."

"Keep speaking in riddles, lady, and I'm gonna make sure you can't speak at all soon."

Irina smirked. "Doubt it, but it's nice that you've got such strong self-confidence. You'll need it here."

Before Sophie could speak, the Kaiju-Girl grabbed the final slice of pizza, tore it in two, and offered one half of it to Sophie. She gestured for her to take it, the other half already getting openly chewed apart between sharp teeth. Sophie's stomach turned, watching her tongue shove the food around her mouth. The girl waved pizza at her.

Sophie's better judgement lost this round, because she grabbed it from her hands and quickly ate it. Her powers ran hot and fast, and if it wasn't an IV she was constantly hooked up to, then it was food filling her mouth.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

And, you know, not a lot of people ever offered her half of anything. She didn't exactly 'grow up' around people her age. The ones that did ended up dying during the durability tests, getting so bloated with cancer that it was better they were just put out of their misery, or they'd simply just collapsed one day because their insides had turned into pulpy liquid paste. The fact that she was standing here was proof that she was the better option, that she was the better and closest clone to that golden-haired burden of a nightmare. And because of that, they'd spent a lot of time and money making sure she learnt languages, math, science, math, history, judo, boxing, BJJ, aerial combat, and all for them to miss out explaining why the fuck her stomach had gotten so tight when she'd been offered food.

She knew what happiness was, just not…this, whatever the hell 'this' was.

Sophie swallowed, liked grease off her fingerprints, then shrugged. Not full yet, but I guess it'll do for at least a couple of hours. She only noticed a few seconds later that they were all smiling at her, even the Asian girl. She looked around the room, behind her own shoulder, then said, "Do you guys have some kind of problem now?"

"If Sage hands even thinks about giving you some of her food, it means she likes you," Witch-Girl said. "I've seen her pick fights with packs of stray dogs just for an old hot dog bun. Fresh pizza for free is a massive win."

"I once tried to steal her fries, and almost ended up getting turned into her chew toy," Glasses-Boy said.

"Big deal," Sophie said, folding her arms. "It's just some food. Now, where's that door again?"

"You know where it is," Black-Hair said softly. "If you really wanted to go, none of us would've been able to stop you. Heck, you would've flown right through the ceiling and into the subway if you were really desperate."

Sophie chewed the edge of her tongue. "In my state right now, I wouldn't have been able to do that."

Witch-Girl snorted. "Right, and I can raise the dead."

"Can't you?" Glasses-Boy asked.

She shot him a hard look.

"C'mon," Black-Hair said, smiling a little. "You stayed because you're curious about us."

She shrugged one shoulder. "I mean, ants and insects are also pretty interesting to look at."

The Asian girl bristled. "You'll have to repeat yourself, because I don't think I heard you clearly."

"You heard every syllable of what I just said." Sophie shrugged again. "And so what if I'm curious?"

Since when was it a crime for a girl to have interests? How many superhero teams even existed nowadays, anyway? Zilch. The ELS didn't really count, because they were more of a collection of whoever came looking for a place where laws didn't govern how much terrorism they could commit. The Olympians were either dead, missing, or so far removed from that old name that they walked around in broad daylight shaking their heads at the mention of it. And here are these guys, a bunch of teenagers who lived inside of an old sewer, sharing bunk beds and a crappy washing machine, training with old dummies and mannequins and thinking they were hot shit because they had each other watching their back. Yeah, right. It was a disaster waiting to happen. Another story that Lower Olympus would tell its children to ward off even the thought about becoming a superhero. They'd be dead in a year.

And hey, if it meant her month-long stay in Lower Olympus wasn't going to be boring, then fine—she'll watch them actively try to get themselves killed. Gold-Star was as interesting as drying paint. And besides, this was her technically gathering intel on what was going on underneath the cracked and fragile skin of Lower Olympus.

"You know what?" Sophie said. "Sure, I'll join. But only 'cause this is gonna be a funny shitshow."

"You've heard her, gang," Black-Hair said. "Knockoff Golden-Girl thinks we're a shitty side show."

"Or maybe it's because she doesn't have friends," Witch-Girl said under her breath.

But, you know—super-hearing.

"Fuck you," Sophie said. "I'm sticking around because I can't wait to laugh when my kidnappers screw up so badly that they'll beg me to save them. And I'm not a fucking knockoff. My name is Sophie Blackwood and I've got my own goddamned two feet I use to stand on. And a heart. And enough brains to know that you're cosplaying as Shrike or whatever." Black-Hair leaned back a little, not with anger on his face, but instead a massive white grin.

"Yeah?" he said proudly. "He used to be my favorite growing up. He was awesome. I even saw him once."

And probably for the last time ever since Olympia put him in the dirt.

"Everybody saw him once," Glasses-Boy said. "It's like saying you saw a ghost once."

"I've seen ghosts before," Witch-Girl said. "They're just creepy jerks most of the time."

"We've got nothing to prove to you." The Asian girl stood up and wiped her hands clean on a napkin. She folded it and tucked it into her pocket, and then stared dead at Sophie. "You're violence. It's all you are. A hammer without a cause and a gun without a safety." Sophie's mouth soured. "If I have to prove myself to a bloody sword, then I'm not worth the air flowing through my lungs. The world wants Olympia back. And instead, we have you." Black-Hair stands up, opens his mouth to speak. The Asian girl speaks first, slowly walking closer to Sophie. Her blood is hot. Raging. It crashes past her ears in tides. "If anything," she said quietly, now so close they were eye-to-eye, so close she could smell the ozone in her short black hair, "you're the one who needs to prove herself."

"I've saved this city more times than you've ever saved a single person," Sophie said stiffly.

"We both know every single one of your fights means nothing. Not without a director to shout action."

Sophie's hand moved on its own. The Asian girl wasn't standing in front of her anymore. Where her throat should be is open air, squeezed so tightly it made her fingers blossom white. She stood beside Sophie, watching her breathe, watching her arm quiver with so much power the cords of muscle running along her forearm painfully tightened. The Asian girl slowly shook her head, arms still folded, her eyes now crackling with violent blue electricity. Neither one of them moved. Not until Sophie forced her fingers to relax and her arm to slowly drop.

"I was wrong," she said, almost right into Sophie's ear. "You really are just a pair of bloody knuckles."

"Rin," Black-Hair said dryly. The Asian girl glanced at him. "Cut it."

The electricity vanished. Her hair, floating with static, fell back onto her scalp.

A sudden silence swept through the room. Sophie could only hear her own heartbeat, so loud it hurt. She swallowed. A ball of heat sat in the base of her throat. Sophie breathed out, shoulders shuddering with the effort. She stared at the girl standing next to her, stared so long she could almost see through her. She mustered her voice.

Sophie poked a finger into the girl's chest, making her step back. "Whatever, insect. If sticking around makes you this pissed off, then I'll stick around for so long I'll make sure you end up leaving all on your own."

"To take my place you'd have to have a place here first," she said quietly. "You belong in a tube."

That. Now that almost did it. Almost.

Very fucking close.

"Well, uh, with that," Black-Hair said uncomfortably from the table. "Welcome to the team, Soph."

"Sophie," she said bitterly, staring at the Asian girl. "Or Tempest for short."

"Cool," he said. Tension sat thick in the air. So thick you could feel it, almost smell it. "So…who's up to go and beat up a supervillain? Show of hands?" Silence. So absolute it almost screamed. "Alrighty! Let's go."