A flaming figure bolted from the jungle, his arms waving spasmodically. He tripped and fell just shy of Lazarus, tumbling down the hill. Lazarus was quickly in action, ripping off his shirt, sending buttons flying. He wrapped up the burned man, patting him down until the flames were out.

  From the sickening odor that hung in the air and the smoke that tumbled off the man’s body, Samantha knew it was too late. She covered her mouth and nose to avoid retching.

  Lazarus pulled away his ruined shirt, tossing it aside. Jakob joined him in examining the dead man. He was too badly burned for any kind of visual identification and all of his belongings had been reduced to ash.

  “Prometheus did that,” The Black Terror murmured. He was staring off in the direction that the burning man had come. “I’d bet my dollar on it.”

  Lazarus stood up, his impassive face showing no reaction to the dead body before him. His eyes, however, shone with fury—death in any form disturbed him greatly, especially when it could have been avoided.

  “We can’t be far behind them,” he said. “If we hurry, we might catch up to them before they can finish their business in the village.”

  Sporrenberg quickly followed his employer into the jungle, but his eyes strayed back to the burned corpse behind them. He knew how Lazarus felt about killing but he was a former soldier and had no such qualms. In fact, he thought it was the only real way to deal with madmen like Schmidt. When the time came, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill his fellow German.

  And Lazarus Gray would simply have to deal with that.

  Chapter V

  Village of Blood and Death

  “This is it. I’m sure of it.”

  Prometheus stared at the splintered remains of a half dozen tents and what was once a fire pit… and he couldn’t help but feel a sense of disappointment. “Are you sure?”

  McIness moved through the dusty paths and nodded. “Yes. I can feel it in my bones. This is where the Indui lived.”

  Schmidt reached up and unsnapped the bolts that held his helmet in place. He pulled it off, exposing his sweaty features to the air. Gesturing to his men, he said, “Look around. See if you can find anything that appears useful.”

  The men snapped to it, each of them eager to be done with this trek into the jungle. They were some of Sovereign’s finest but South America was far outside their range of expertise, and whatever bravery they had mustered before had been spent after the incident with the spider.

  Schmidt followed McIness, who was wandering through the village like a bloodhound. “You’re still sensing something here?”

  “Yes.” McIness glanced at him, a hungry expression on his face. “I can’t describe it but there’s something here… something that’s calling to me. It… it’s like my mother’s voice.”

  “You didn’t have a mother,” Schmidt pointed out but McIness ignored him.

  The Titan stopped in front of a large pit, capped by some sort of metal covering. Prometheus moved closer, his eyes widening. The material didn’t seem to be anything that he’d ever seen before, and it was definitely shaped by unnatural forces, meaning that a native tribe shouldn’t have been able to make such a thing.

  “We’re not alone,” McIness whispered and a second later the screaming began.

  Prometheus looked around as gunfire rang out. He saw two of his men cut down by spears thrown from the trees and another stepped into a trap, the ground beneath him giving way. His screams stopped abruptly as he hit whatever lay in the pit.

  Schmidt quickly fumbled with his helmet, intending to put it back over his face. Before he could do that, he felt McIness grab hold of his shoulder, twisting him so that they were face-to-face. “Let go of me,” the German demanded. “We’re all going to die unless we do something.”

  The Titan drew his fist back and drove it hard into Schmidt’s face. The impact was so great that most of the German’s nose was obliterated, sending bone and blood flying. McIness gave Schmidt a shove and the twitching body fell backward, landing hard on the ground. It flopped around for a long moment and then grew still.

  The Titan shook the gore off his hand and stood there for a moment, until the sounds of battle came to an end. He saw that several of the Indui were approaching, spears held tightly in their hands. He smiled at them and they paused, as if sensing what he truly was.

  One by one, the natives began to fall to their knees before him. They chanted in their strange tongue and McIness knew they were welcoming him home.

  ***

  “We’re not far.”

  Lazarus glanced over at The Black Terror, who was staring into the jungle. “How do you know?”

  “It’s hard to explain… but it feels like there’s a humming in my brain as we get closer.”

  Lazarus lowered his voice, so that Samantha and Jakob would not hear. “It may not be my place to say this but I hope you’re not laboring under some misconception about your humanity.”

  “What do you mean?” Bob asked tersely.

  “You’re as human as I am, whether you were born in the normal fashion or not. I believe that the measure of a man has more to do with the quality of his soul than it does with the origins of his conception.”

  “I’m not sure I have a soul.”

  Lazarus reached out and touched The Terror’s arm. “No man could risk as much as you have for the benefit of others and not have a soul. I’ve seen the worst of this world—men and women who could truly be described as soulless. And you are not one of them.”

  The Black Terror nodded, touched by the other man’s words. All of them had been on high alert since finding the burned remains of what appeared to be a giant spider, and as they neared the remains of the Indui camp, Bob was increasingly on edge. “Thank you. I appreciate that.”

  “Look out!” Sporrenberg shouted, bringing the two men in the front to a halt. Lazarus spotted McIness on the rim of the next rise. Six men who were dressed in native garb and who brandished spears flanked him.

  “The Indui,” The Black Terror whispered. “I thought they were extinct.”

  “Some of them must have survived the attack,” Lazarus murmured. Raising his voice, he shouted, “Is Maxwell Schmidt with you?”

  McIness shook his head. “He and all his men are dead.”

  The Black Terror took a few steps forward. “You finally realized how dangerous he was?”

  “Something like that. More like I figured out that I didn’t need him any more. I’d always had it in the back of my mind that I might betray him once he got me here but it wasn’t until I saw that the Indui were still alive that it really took hold. I’m like a god to them—and so are you. If you want to join me, that is.”

  The Black Terror studied his ‘brother’s’ face. “Do they still have the ability to make more like us?”

  “They’re nursing one of the plants back to health,” McIness said. “In a few months, they can start growing more. We could be the kings of a whole new army!”

  Lazarus saw Bob clench his fists and he knew what The Black Terror’s answer would be. The leader of Assistance Unlimited bolted forward, clambering up the hill with astonishing speed. The Indui reacted slowly, amazed at the rapidness of their enemy. McIness started to shout something but before the words left his mouth Lazarus was barreling into him, knocking him back.

  The Titan was far more powerful than Lazarus but the hero was an expert in the human body. He knew every pressure point and just how to manipulate them. McIness howled in pain as Lazarus delivered three quick punches, each aimed at a different nerve cluster.

  McIness recovered far more quickly than a normal man would and he backhanded Lazarus with such force that the leader of Assistance Unlimited was knocked away a good five feet.

  By this time the Indui had sprung into action. Though they didn’t know what exactly was going on, they considered McIness to be one of them and were eager to protect him. Their confusion mounted when they saw The Black Terror, however. There was little doubt that he, too, was born of the sky-gods and their magic plants.

  Sporrenberg and Samantha had no such doubts. They followed their leader with gusto, each dispatching members of the tribe in their own preferred fashion. Jakob shot two of the tribesmen in the legs, wounding them enough that they were hobbled for the rest of the battle, while Samantha used her jujitsu to flip one and disable another with a well-placed kick to the neck.

  The Black Terror dispatched the rest of the Indui, though it pained him to do so. He delivered a series of taps to the men that were enough to send them into unconsciousness but not enough to do any permanent damage.

  The black-garbed hero saw Lazarus go flying just as the last of the Indui was hitting the ground. The Black Terror barely had time to gird himself before McIness charged him. The two men were carried back by The Titan’s momentum, vanishing over the side of the hill. They tumbled down, each man raining blows down upon the other, until they vanished from sight.

  Samantha ran over to help Lazarus to his feet. “Are you okay?” she asked, her eyes scanning his face for any sign of pain. It was always hard to read his emotional and physical state, given how expressionless his face usually remained.

  “I’m fine,” he said. A few of the Indui were beginning to stir and Lazarus hastily led Sporrenberg and Samantha down the path to the village. “We’ll have to trust that The Black Terror can take care of himself. I want to get a look at the village and see how much of that technology remains.”

  The German member of the group reloaded his pistol as he ran. “If we find that plant of theirs, we’re going to destroy it, yes?”

  “That’s my plan,” Lazarus admitted. “But I might want to let The Black Terror have some say in it. That thing might be the only chance for him to ever have anyone else like him in this world.”

  “Given the way all the others have turned out, I’m not sure that’s a good thing.”

  “We don’t know that the ones the Indui produced went insane. All we have to go by is what the project did… and for all we know, they may have missed something.”

  The trio slowed to a stop as they entered the village – because standing before them, his face a horrific mess, was the still very-much alive Maxwell Schmidt. The villain was swaying on his feet, blood streaming from the remains of his nose, but his eyes were clear enough. The villain held his helmet in one hand and he quickly dropped it over his face, snapping it shut.

  “Schmidt,” Lazarus said. “Stand down. You’re in no shape for a fight.”

  “I am Prometheus,” was the reply. “And I shall bring the gift of fire to the world.”

  Raising both gauntlets, Prometheus unleashed a powerful wave of flame at his enemies.

  ***

  Abby, Eun and Morgan passed the time by playing cards, having set up a small table just outside their plane. Though Morgan was an experienced gambler, he soon found himself consistently outfoxed by Abby, who used her beauty to great effect. She laughed gaily, flirting audaciously, and it kept Morgan off-balance. He tried to remind himself that she was deliberately teasing him but it was impossible when he was confronted by her lovely features.

  Eun, meanwhile, was absolutely horrible at poker. Never good at hiding his emotions at the best of times, he was completely unable to hide his reaction to whatever hand he held.

  The young Korean groaned and tossed down the last of his chips. “I give up,” he said as Abby raked in her winnings.

  “Don’t quit yet, sugar.” Abby said in her sweetest Southern twang. “I’ll even let you borrow some of my chips so you can keep playing. But I’m gonna charge you interest,” she added with a wink.

  “You’re a card shark,” Eun said hotly. He stood up and paced about, unable to contain his frustration.

  “Calm down,” Morgan laughed. “It’s just a game. And we’re not even using real money.”

  “I just hate losing.”

  Abby rose from her chair and arched her back, stretching. She didn’t seem to notice the way Morgan stared at her up-thrust breasts—or else she didn’t mind. “I wonder how things are going with the others?”

  Morgan cleared his throat, suddenly very warm in his coat and tie. “I feel sorry for Schmidt and his friends. Lazarus and The Black Terror are going to tie them up like pretzels.”

  “No offense, but I’d rather be with them. I can’t stand waiting.”

  Eun looked at Abby and nodded. “I’m the same way. It’s ridiculous! I’m a fighter and you’re a witch—we should be with Lazarus, not Jakob or Samantha.”

  “Samantha’s a fighter, too,” Morgan pointed out. “And so is Jakob. ‘They also serve who stand and wait,’ remember?”

  Eun was about to reply in a rather filthy fashion when Abby touched his arm and directed his attention towards the mountain that Lazarus and the others had attempted to climb. There were two men tumbling down the mountainside, rolling end-over-end. Remarkably, they were both exchanging blows while doing so.

  Morgan sprang up, his pistol in hand. Even from that distance, it was obvious that one of the combatants was The Black Terror, and the other matched some of the wanted posters of McIness that they’d studied.

  As the two men hit bottom, they both scrambled to their feet, continuing to punch at one another. Both were bruised and bloodied, the force of their attacks echoing through the jungle.

  The Black Terror drove an elbow into the side of The Titan’s head and as McIness slumped to the side Abby cast a spell that created a small funnel of air between them. The two combatants were driven apart and both of them noticed for the first time that they were no longer alone.

  The Black Terror held up a hand towards the members of Assistance Unlimited. “Stay out of this!”

  Eun grinned, the possibility of battle having restored his good humor. “The hell we will!” The young Korean sprinted forward and threw himself into the air, foot first. His heel slammed into the back of The Titan’s head but the villain’s dense flesh had very little give to it. As a result, Eun landed in a crouch, a grimace of pain on his face. His foot felt like he’d kicked a brick wall!

  Abby and Morgan were almost just as trigger-happy. Morgan fired two quick bullets but they ricocheted off The Titan’s chest, narrowly missing Eun. Realizing that his gun was useless, Morgan holstered it and let out a curse.

  Abby’s attack was a bit more effective: she called upon the elemental spirits in the area and charged the air around McIness with electricity. It crackled up and down his flesh like tiny bursts of lightning, eliciting a howl of surprised pain from The Titan.

  The Black Terror knew that this was his chance. They were too evenly matched for a clear victory on either side but now that McIness was stunned, he was free to end the battle.

  Sadly, he knew that it would have to be ended permanently. The madness that held The Titan in its grasp would not be improved—and it could only be slaked through murder and violence, neither of which The Black Terror could allow.

  The Black Terror drew back his right hand and then drove his fist forward; channeling all the inhuman might that he possessed. The blow struck McIness right above the heart, landing with all the force of a bomb.

  The Titan’s eyes widened in shock as his heart skipped a beat… and then another…

  McIness fell forward, his heart seizing up. The villain gasped and then grew still.

  The Black Terror swayed on his feet. He reached up to wipe at his eyes, knowing that he might possibly have killed the only person in the world who would ever be like him.

  ***

  Lazarus Gray shoved his aides toward the ground, landing atop them. He shielded them with his own body as Prometheus unleashed his flames and the skin on Lazarus’ back sizzled.

  When the attack ceased, Lazarus rolled off and stood up. He could smell the burned flesh of his back and knew that he was going to leave today with a new set of scars.

  Samantha let out a gasp when she saw Lazarus but she knew that there was no time to check on him. She and Sporrenberg both looked towards Prometheus, who had fallen to his knees.

  “I’m going to be a god,” Prometheus said. “Bring fire to the world of man.”

  Lazarus approached him slowly, kneeling before the man. He reached out and unhooked the tubes leading from the back of Schmidt’s armor to the gauntlets. Once he felt comfortable that the villain was disarmed, he began removing Schmidt’s helmet, revealing the glazed eyes of a man who was near death.

  “Maxwell,” Lazarus said, ignoring his own pain and focusing instead of the suffering of the man who had just tried to kill him. “We can get you help.”

  “No. I’m broken inside. I can… feel it.”

  Lazarus saw that one of Schmidt’s eyes was filling with blood and he knew that the German was right... but all hope was not lost. “One of our members is a witch. She might be able to heal you.”

  Maxwell’s face suddenly broke into a grin. “I can see it… my golden throne. Everyone is calling my name. I’ve won! I’m a god! Hahahahahahahaha!”

  Sporrenberg stepped up and put the barrel of his gun against Schmidt’s skull. The villain didn’t even seem to notice.

  “Lazarus?” Jakob asked.

  With a weary sigh, Lazarus stood up and nodded. “Do it. We can’t let him suffer like this. Whatever’s wrong inside of him is not going to be easily repaired.”

  Lazarus led Samantha further into the village and the girl jumped slightly as Sporrenberg pulled the trigger, ending the short-lived godhood of Prometheus.

  Epilogue

  Three Months Later

  Bob Benton nervously looked over the script he had prepared. It had been an exciting time in recent weeks, with all that he’d had to do. After the deaths of McIness and Schmidt, he’d helped explore the Indui village with Assistance Unlimited. He’d befriended the natives that remained and Lazarus had pledged to help protect them from the outside world in the future.

  In return for all their kindness, the Indui had given The Black Terror a very special gift. It had taken some time to nurture it into full health but in the end it had bloomed, providing him with not one but two choice fruits.

 

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