CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY

Super Massive Black Hole, Part 1

The blinding flash of purple light mellowed out, but the anguished screams did not let up. They echoed throughout the valley, leaving those who heard them with the impression of a hundred ghosts crying out from beyond the grave.

Sam and his friends brushed off the flash that had caught them by surprise, and they hurried down toward the valley using their varied gifts to speed up.

They’re dropping like flies! Chiron reported. Better hurry it up, kid!

Sam was sliding down a slope when he heard the whirling of cogs from above, prompting him to glance over his shoulder and feel hopeful. The Argo VII’s brand-new ballista had popped out of its roof. Two javelins were propped up on its arm and ready for launch.

“She’s not using the ‘Violator’ javelins, is she?” he asked.

Sam was reminded of the heavy-duty javelin they’d fired on the Nemean Lion that had also leveled the nearby surroundings.

I don’t think Farsight’s crazy, Chiron answered. These are probably those concussive javelins that Marsday made for subjugating a lot of bad guys… or you know, zombies.

Despite that last bit about zombies, Sam felt a little relieved. At least until he heard Thunder yell that she was going ahead.

“What”—Sam glanced to his right—“wait!”

He worried that she meant to take on all those Chimera agents on her own so he tried to chase after her, but Thunder was already soaring upward. Her body was wrapped in cords of forked lightning, tell-tale signs of the electromagnetic energy that helped to slip her out of gravity’s tether.

“When did she learn to fly?” Jackboot asked in surprise.

Not one to be left behind, Jackboot leaped high and took that steep decline down into the valley floor on a hop. Meanwhile, Miracle Girl was hanging onto Ice Brand’s waist as he conjured an ice slide for them to surf on.

“Fastball special?” Dr. Hearthstone asked.

He and Sam were the only ones left behind.

“No thanks…” Sam had already dropped to his knees. “I’ve got this.”

He pressed his fists to the ground and began storing up power in his limbs.

You’re going to try that… now? Chiron sounded skeptical.

Sam didn’t respond as he was focused on not messing this up and breaking all his bones in the process.

“Herculean,” he whispered.

As the power originating from his legendary bloodline sprang forth inside him, everything around Sam began to shake. The ground rumbled while bits of rock and dirt floated up an inch off the ground. It was an effect caused by the aura of power now enveloping him, spreading out around Sam in bright teal sparks that snapped against the ground.

“Doc, I’ll see you down there.” Sam’s gaze drifted up toward the sky. “Burst!”

With a single mighty stomp, he leaped into the air with incredible force.

As he rose higher and higher into the air, and with the wind buffeting his face, Sam couldn’t help feeling excited that he was flying into that orange-tinged sky. The crazy situation in the valley below was quick to sober him up though.

For a hastily thought-up movement skill, Burst ain’t bad at all… but you probably should have figured out how to land afterward, kid, Chiron commented.

“Working on it!”

A loud whirring reached Sam’s ears, and a moment later, he was flanked by two bronze javelins with sleek bodies whose orb-shaped tips glowed with the tell-tale signs of enchantment. They followed him higher into the sky with Sam realizing that they would eventually slope down to the valley floor, and that’s when a light bulb lit up inside his brain. He reached for the tail end of the javelin to his right just as it began to tip downward, and then used its flightpath to help lead him down into the valley.

Chiron guffawed in Sam’s brain. I always knew you were crazy!

I’ve got a plan, Sam insisted. It’ll work. Right, Triple-A?

He didn’t need to spell it out loud because the system could read his thoughts. Its response to Sam might as well have been a shrug and a “Maybe” though.

With the javelin’s momentum carrying him along, it didn’t take long for Sam to zip past Thunder who was floating in midair and suddenly looking at Sam with a bewildered expression.

“What are you doing?!” she yelled after him.

He knew that she probably didn’t need his help. He was being an overprotective boyfriend. But Sam didn’t want his girlfriend to wade into such danger without him. Or before him, as it turned out.

The closer he got to the valley floor the more worried Sam looked. Not for his safety—he’d given up being worried about his safety after his battle with Apex—but because he could see a terrible scene playing out below him.

Half of the two-hundred Chimera agents were convulsing where they stood while the soft teal glow of their life force was being sucked into the soul stones they held aloft with their own hands. Medea stood at the head of this gathering, and from the violet runes spilling forth from her fingertips, it was obvious that the sorceress had begun to cast a spell. One that was making the puddles on the ground rise into the air as water droplets so that it seemed to Sam like rain was falling in reverse.

Even more alarming, Sam could see something growing behind the sorceress. Blackest night drawing in light to cling around its circumference—a miniature black hole.

It was around this time that Sam let go of the javelin he’d been hanging onto while also whispering a prayer to the gods that he and his team would be enough.

Seconds later, the javelins struck the ground right in the middle of a cluster of willing sacrifices and unleashed a concussive blast that sent Chimera agents flying in every direction. Not enough to kill them, but certainly enough to disrupt Medea’s spell.

The concussive blast spreading outward also helped slow Sam’s descent so that a counter shockwave made using his Herculean-powered fist was enough for him to land on the ground unharmed, something he calculated fairly well with Triple-A’s assistance.

“What about Serena?” Sam asked as he glanced over his shoulder.

Medea and her party had been protected by the wings of the solar dragon wrapping around them. Many of their agents weren’t as lucky though. A lot of them had been blasted away, with Sam even catching someone who fell right on top of him out of instinct.

“Hey there,” Sam greeted the white-clad soldier who’d crashed into his arms. “Sorry about this.”

He headbutted the man, making the agent go limp in his arms before Sam dropped him onto the ground.

At this point, the concussive blasts had subsided, and Chimera agents who’d been too far to be affected were beginning to rush Sam with glowing violet katanas in their hands.

“Huh, that’s new…” Sam stretched his arms wide while sending Herculean’s energy into his hands. “I didn’t know you guys were part ninjas too.”

The first time Sam used this particular skill, his hands felt like they were on fire while the power built up around them. This time, however, as sparks of teal-colored energy crackled across his fingertips, Sam barely felt any pain. Instead, he felt liberated.

“You guys should look for new employment… looks like this job’s in the wind,” he joked.

Chiron sighed. Leave the jokes to me and just concentrate, lame-brain.

Smirking, a more confident Sam drew his hands forward and slapped his palms against each other. The shockwave that spread out from the point of impact was so powerful that it caused gale-force winds to devour everything in his field of view, sending those Chimera agents flying as if they’d been struck by another concussive javelin. Of course, Sam’s Clapper—the second skill he’d manage to create—struck only those who were in front of him. The Chimera agents behind Sam hadn’t been hit though, and they were charging him now with their violet blades aimed at his back.

The sound of crackling thunder could be heard from above just as forks of lightning fell onto the ground like a curtain crashing into the Chimera agents who were intent on backstabbing Sam.

“Holy”—He looked up and saw Thunder descending toward him—“Zeus.”

“Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing,” Thunder snapped as she landed behind Sam and pressed her back against his. “I don’t need you to protect me, Sam.”

“Sorry,” he replied. “Couldn’t help it…”

Thunder sighed. “I guess I would have done the same…”

She snapped her fingers and summoned her Lash into her hand.

“You did…” Sam called Gram into his right hand. “I was just faster.”

“We’ll see who’s faster in a second, babe,” Thunder countered.

It was the first time she’d called him by that nickname, and it was enough to keep Sam rooted to the spot while Thunder dashed forward and whipped her Lash across the Chimera agents charging toward her.

“Babe?” Sam repeated uncertainly.

Wipe that shameless grin off your face, Chiron chided. Or haven’t you noticed what those Chimera agents are doing?

Sam frowned. “What?”

Chimera agents who had been too far to be affected by Sam’s Clapper were scrambling to pick up the soul stones rolling onto the floor, and Sam realized too late that these psychopaths were intending to replace the sacrifices who’d been blown away.

“Styx… this is crazy… How do I—”

Sam’s danger sense kicked in, giving him the awareness necessary to use Gram to repel the dagger that would have sliced into his blindside.

Then a voice Sam wished he’d never have to hear again called out, “Herculean! I’ve been dying to see you!”