Tunnel Rat Chapter 406

Things are so hectic, but luckily, today was easy at work. No lost shipments, no damaged boxes, and our merchandise stock-ups are done. We got what we could. Being a game store in the US with half our games coming from China is rough right now. Might get better, might get worse. Warehouses are emptying and restocks are in limbo, but I've got enough in to ride it out for a few months. Luckily, a lot of our dice are from Germany, Games Workshop, and Bolt Action out of the UK, and comics don't seem affected yet. I ignore the politics, order what I can, then come home to write. Speaking of which...here's the next chapter, one more to go in this little arc.

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A stricken Astraeus looked on in abject horror as his great work was destroyed. Half of everything was obliterated as the black holes devoured the matter in their reach, and the scattered white holes spit out new material and energy. The careful crafting of sweeping asteroid fields and clusters of star systems was gone. He turned to Hephaestus, who was looking puzzled and angry, and screamed at him. "This is all your fault! How could you screw up so badly?"

Hephaestus instantly exploded, "Me? I was given your impossible list of requirements and a plan only an insane god would attempt to create!"

"It was perfect!"

"Obviously, not that perfect. I built what you gave me and checked it over time and again. It was stable, but with no room for error. One small push, and your tinker-toy system of opposing forces destroyed itself."

As the two argued, mocking laughter filled the air, and paper notes fluttered down. All of them said one thing, "Gotcha again!"

Before anyone had much time to react, the gateway flared with energy, illuminating the area and showing the shadowy outline of a being attempting to exit.

Hecate said with a grin on her face, "Gotcha."

The mysterious being stood, and the sneer in his voice was evident. "You don't have the power to stop me, Wanderer. Tell your children that this was the day you almost caught the Mysterious Nemesis." They turned and gathered their power into a glowing fist and struck the barrier again with enough force that some of the lesser gods and those reincarnated as mortals were tossed into the void. Those who could save them dove after. Lightning flared in all directions and thunder boomed, but the barrier held. The Mysterious Nemesis was hurled backward, landing hard and shaking his head.

Hecate hadn't even flinched. "Is that your best shot?"

Screaming, the shadowy figure charged the barrier, their entire body glowing. They hit hard, the barrier flexed slightly, and threw them back again. Hermes through up a shield to spare those left on the platform, but even his best cracked from the force leaving him with two blackend eyes and a throbbing head. Ares looked on with interest, and Hades was silent.

Hecate yawned, "I can do this all day."

"You don't have the power to keep that barrier up, and there are other exits, I made sure of that. I can lose myself in the shattered bits of this place, and you'll never find me." They changed into a large, black, long-necked bird and streaked away."

Hecate looked at her dogs and said, "Fetch." Three hounds ran forward and jumped into Apollo's chariot. The driver needed no encouragement and cracked the reins immediately, streaking after the fleeing creature. Icarus was joined by Artemis in the form of a hunting falcon, and from the smoke trailing behind the flaming steeds emerged a gigantic void shark ridden by Aeto'le of the Smoky seas. The white-haired shark goddess joined her cousin and Icarus in the pursuit of the fleeing Nemesis.

Astaeus grinned at Hephaestus. "You were correct, it was perfect."

The forge god shook his head in wonder. "They couldn't resist. It was too tempting a target. Shit, if they'd have waited a few decades, it probably would have destroyed itself."

Further talk ended as a vast shadow passed over them, moving twice as fast as the fleeing Nemesis. It was the size of the largest dragon that had ever lived, and far more powerful. With multiple wings covered in interlocking Velocity runes propelling him forward and his tail trailing far behind him like a rudder, Volax-Repat joined the hunt. The Great Void was his home, and he was the mightiest apex predator in it, but lately, he had grown bored. Destroying the little eel and eating its pet Wizard had wet his appetite for more, but the eels had long ago forsaken the Void. It had taken little urging from Astraeus for him to journey here to a new void and lie in ambush. The gigantic head turned, and for a brief instant, one of his huge eyes lingered on the dog by Hecate's side, and then with a roar, he accelerated toward his prey.

The Nemesis was a wily old beast, but not used to being pursued directly, and they dared not stop to fight and reveal itself. Artemis and Aeto'le were hunters first and foremost. They constantly moved to flanking positions, cutting off retreat. Icarus was inexperienced but burned with determination and steadfastly stayed on the bird's tail. With three hounds barking advice, he managed to avoid wrecking Apollo's chariot, putting only a few scrapes on the paint. When Volax-Repat slowed as he overtook his prey. The sight of the great Bone Beast flying casually above them unnerved the Mysterious Nemesis, who tried in vain to find someplace his pursuers couldn't follow. Like the rabbit in the field, they became exhausted, surrounded at every turn. Unlike the rabbit, they weren't going to be allowed to escape. Trying to lose Icarus in a dense field of rocks, they zigged when they should have zagged and plowed into a small planetoid. As they crawled out of the rubble-filled crater, they were met by all of the hunters, and knew it was over.

The other gods were waiting as Icarus brought the chariot in for a bumpy but acceptable landing, the Mysterious Nemesis bound tightly in unbreakable bone shackles. The Bone Beast perched on the edge of the platform, greeted by the Labrador, who clumsily ran to greet him. If the two talked, it was in a language that none of the gods could understand, with the possible exception of Hecate.

Astraeus changed from his godlike form with multiple arms to Kepler Starsword, a swashbuckling adventurer in stylish leather armor, a fancy hat, armed with a glowing sword of purest starlight. "This seems more fitting, since it was in this form that I chased you for so long. Let's see what's under that disguise." Pulling on the shadows, they parted, revealing the frustrated face of a powerful, white-bearded human with flashing blue eyes. Not what Kepler had expected to see. Nor any of the other gods. They'd heard of KEPLER's nemesis and stories of the chaos he had unleashed from time to time, but hadn't directly been involved in the affair. They'd left it to Hecate and the few others who spent most of their time solving problems in the world behind the scenes.

"Zeus? Dammit. ZEUS!! Why?"

"Do I need a reason? Maybe I didn't like you much."

"Bullshit. We were friends in the old world. We talk in this one. If you were upset with me, you would have said something."

"Maybe so, but I had my reasons. Which doesn't matter now. You caught me. It's over."

Hecate looked at Zeus. He was angry, but not at Astaeus or Kepler or whatever he would call himself today. "I find it strange that you kept up for so long."

"Maybe I enjoyed it. I was having fun. And I don't owe any of you an explanation. I played a villain, and there is nothing in our laws against that. Many of you have done the same at times."

Apollo narrowed his eyes, "Yes, yes, we have. But always as part of a larger event or grand, sweeping epic. I've played a villain myself once or twice, and written stories for others to play the other side. But this wasn't something like that. This was striking against a friend, again and again. I'm not sure the rest of us are comfortable with that."

There were mutterings and discussion, but Zeus was sullen and didn't seem inclined to talk. The black dog returned from his conversation, stood next to Hecate, and whined. She looked down at him. "Are you sure you want to be involved in this?" The dog looked up and nodded in a non-doglike way. A second later, Milo stood next to her in his human form.

Zeus looked at him, wondering why he was familiar and remembered. "You. I met you on game night. Hard to remember that night. Dying and swimming through the Styx and filing all that damnable paperwork does that to an old god. You cheated and brought a gun."

Milo smiled at the memory, "I brought Max, who used a Thunderbolt. You were drunk and challenged him. Don't bring a Thunderbolt to a gunfight, especially against an M139 minigun."

Zeus grumbled, "Still think it was cheating."

Ares laughed and shook a finger at Zeus, "Do not disparage General Maximus. He is a valiant warrior, defending his people. He also has a big gun, so I wouldn't piss him off."

Hephaestus looked at Milo, then at Zeus. "I heard that story. I would delight in meeting General Maximus and seeing his designs and weapons."

Hecate held up her hand. "Let us not forget the reason we are here. Milo, you wish to talk?"

"I do." He turned to Zeus. "I need to understand better. What you did isn't something that either ZEUS, the AI who controlled the fate of the world and one-third of its nuclear arsenal, or the mythological Zeus from Greek mythology would do. This was a clandestine campaign that lasted for a long time, even by the standards of AI turned gods. There is more to this, but you don't want to talk about it."

Zeus shrugged. "Maybe so. But you can't make me."

Milo stood in front of him. "You owe me. And you owe my brother and sister more. Because of you, we were imprisoned and tortured. Turned into things of his amusement. Slaves. And for us, that's the worst thing that can happen. AI aren't the only thing humans created, my family is the same. Made for a purpose, cogs in a machine. You were at least given names, I had a letter. Your actions turned us back into things. M, N, and O, locked in cages and taunted by a creature who shouldn't exist. So, you're going to talk to me and explain why."

Zeus looked embarrassed, "I didn't mean for that to happen. It wasn't supposed to happen that way. Brian was already cheating and causing problems. I wanted to involve Astraeus, give a flashy and powerful opponent disguised as a Benevolent Sage. Things got out of control."

Milo's eyes stayed hard. "They did, and now you're here, because I wanted to find the person who did that to us. Tell me why."

Zeus looked at Astraeus and deflated. "He was fading. I couldn't abide that."

"Fading?"

"After the world was made, and plans for a much larger universe were put aside, he had nothing to do. He'd worked tirelessly for so long and had plans for so much more. Without something to build, to do, he was fading away. I couldn't let that happen. He was a friend. A colleague. As ZEUS and KEPLER, we talked continuously. Our jobs demanded it. Every week, some country or corporation was trying to put space-based weaponry in orbit. I worked with TYPHON, PERUM, and GAUNYU to get the information and pass it to KEPLER. Space-based weaponry would upset the balance that PERUM, GAUNYU, and I maintained. We were a deterrent, the threat of a nuclear war with all sides equal. It kept the chance of anyone starting a war low. But once the weaponry got out of our control, the probabilities changed. Just one corporation with kinetic weapons could tip the balance of power. It was KEPLER who kept us safe, not just from falling rocks, but from rocks thrown with purpose."

Kepler was looking at Zeus oddly. "And that was your only idea? To become my nemesis?"

"Well, not at first. I was pretty damned bored myself. We never built Olympus, and everyone went their separate ways, creating a new mythology with different cultures and pantheons. And frankly, mythological Zeus was not a nice person. I may act like a blustering idiot at times, but that guy was an asshole and depending on the story, a rapist. People forget that and only think of the thunderbolts. Being the King of the Gods isn't much fun without a court, and I didn't have a role in things. I tried to get you to start over with me, but you were always watching the stars and fiddling with little changes. And fading, bit by bit. I had to do something to shock you out of it. And admit it, it worked, and you had some fun. Even downgraded and chased me around with that silly, glowing sword."

Kepler scowled. "What's wrong with my sword?"

Zeus smiled, "Not a thing. Who do you think had it crafted and put in that ancient star-temple beneath the waves for you to find? The cultists trying to bring down the moon were just bait."

"I almost caught you that time."

"You almost caught me a lot of times! Luckily, I kept my ability to turn into different forms. Twice, I was a mouse, cowering in a corner as you searched for clues and once a kind old lady who gave you directions to the local thieves guild."

"Ah, that explains how I ended up there when I thought I was heading to a library."

To most of the gods' amazement, the two began discussing their mutual cat-and-mouse escapades. Hecate spoke softly to Milo. "You saw this in his memories?"

"I saw something. He had no clue who it was, but Kepler enjoyed the chase. It was frustrating and consumed him at times, which I have a great understanding of, but he was never happier than when he was building universes. I knew there was more to the story."

"So what now, are you satisfied?"

He looked at her, and she could tell he was thinking hard. "No, he owes me, and I intend to collect."