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.”