Project Cronus (RP Thread)

Hatred. That's what they taught us from the beginning, despite their notions to believe otherwise. I don't know anything about my past, nor that of the others, but I was tortured for as far back as I can remember. Day after day, night after night, experimentation and constant poking and prodding until the day came that I would be deemed worthy by Diaz and his little minions. I despised them. All of them... Zeus was the first to suggest escape. He brought it up over a conversation throughout our "dinner" one night, and the rest of us agreed it was well worth the effort. Such an impetuous thought, on our behalves, but we didn't care. Artemis and I discussed throughout the night in our shared cell, trying to decide what the outside world must be like. Well, now we're out, and it's Hell out here... I love it. End personal log, Hades. Day One

Hades looked up from a small, leather-bound journal he had just talked a local bookstore owner into giving him, closing it as he noticed the streetlights cutting on, the light rain outside starting to turn into a moderate storm as the city's traffic died down for the night. His initial reaction was to remain where he sat, though he knew that would be reckless on his behalf. Sighing, running a hand through his thick, black hair, he pulled his hood up, pocketing the journal into a pocket in the lining of his jacket, and stepping outside of the hotel lobby in which he'd spent the last of the daylight hours. The meeting spot had changed, and knowing Zeus would be furious, he had missed the group's meeting earlier intentionally, deciding it was time to set his own course of action, time to kick fate to the curb. His only thoughts right now were to find Artemis, his only true friend in the world, and drill her for advice on their next move.

Ares smiled thinly as he spotted Hades: "Hey! Zeus is pretty pissed off by your behaviour!" He shook his head as if pitying Hades: "It just ain't very friendly to just miss out on such important meetings, especially unannounced." His voice dripped with sarcasm. He himself had only been there because he didn't have anything better to do. The real world was relatively boring. The others might be fed up with the constant fighting in the labs and even of the running away now. But he was named after the god of f*cking war! At least those experiments had provided him with daily adrenaline but here there was no fun to be had. Ares half hoped that they'd be found so that he could have some action against some government slaves. He leaned against a wall: "Only because Hades and Zeus didn't like eachother in myth doesn't justify you rebelling against his little plan. He was the first to come up with escaping after all eh?" Ares didn't really care about Hades not popping in for the meeting and Hades knew it. All Ares wanted was a nice confrontation between the two.

Hades continued walking past Ares, as if to try and ignore him, although he quickly noticed that it wasn't going to be an option. "Ares, you and I are both very aware of the fact that I really just don't care either way what happens in these little... 'group get-togethers' everyone seems so gung-ho about. Honestly, aside from Artemis, I don't even really get along with any of you." He lit a cigarette as he continued walking, the smoke blowing past as he exhaled. "I'm not conforming, just because you guys consider Zeus to be a leader, nor do I have any desire to see any of you more than necessary." He wandered to the road, casually avoiding the sparse traffic as he continued onward, noticing that Ares was still following him. "Alright, Ares," he sighed. "Because I'm sure you're dying to tell me, what happened at the stupid f*cking meeting?"

Artemis jumps down from her tree top resting spot in the city park. "Looks like it's gotten dark." She stretches and yawns. "Guess I better find Hades. He's gotta be walking around the city somewhere." Starts walking toward the parks nearest exit as a light rain hits. "Well shit. And when I'm in a t-shirt too." She curses mother nature as a guy wearing a blue and white jacket with a hood, walks by her. An evil smirk runs across her face as she grabs the guys shoulder. "Hey, you. Give me your jacket." The man turns around knocking her hand away from his shoulder, "Hell no." he turns to walk away, "I sorry but that wasn't a question." She grabs his shoulder and quickly turns him around, before he can react she punches him in the face instantly knocking him out, he falls to the ground and Artemis takes his jacket. "Ah, that's better." She starts to walk away but then stops. "Hmm, better move the body so it won't look suspicious." She picks the guy up and lays him on a near by bench. "There now he'll just look like a drunk." She walks out of the park and stops again. "Wait do they have camera's in parks? ...Naa, that be stupid." She contuines walking down the street.
--Later--
Artemis spots Hades and Ares on the street and runs toward them. "Yo guys! What's up?" She gets to them just as Hades says, 'Stupid f*cking meeting?' "Meeting? Wait there was a meeting today?"

"There certainly was!" A flash of light temporarily blinded the group, and there he stood - The would be king of the gods - Zeus. Even though he looked calm, he was definitely showing the subtle signs of extreme anger that has become habits for him. That, and the fact that sparks of electricity were popping all over his body, completely out of his control, clearly indicated that he was severely pissed off. He was using all of his considerable willpower to hold back the storm... Literally. "I'm not angry that you missed the meeting." he said, walking towards Hades and the others. "I'm not even angry that you've decided to stubbornly follow your own path. No, what pisses me off is that you did not come and tell me what you were doing." He pointed directly at Hades, and as he did so, a spark erupted from his finger, which popped mere centimetres from the man's face.
"The only way we will survive is if we stay in contact with each other!" Zeus continued, looking at them all. "I don't give two sh*ts what you think of me, but you will answer my call if it's given, if you expect to last a week!" Zeus sighed, then turned his back on them. "Basically, what you missed isn't exactly 'news'. Cronus is sending people after us. But not just grunts and idiots with guns. Agents. People with powers like ours. I've seen Medusa myself." That name should, at least, get their full attention, Zeus thought. Medusa was as deadly as any Olympian here, maybe even more so. A real threat, or challenge, if one were to think that way.

Aphrodite slowly walked next to Zeus while making sure to keep a safe distance from the electricity flying off his body. “ Lets cool off gentlemen and lady. Last thing we need is to making a scene in public since Zeus has seen this others like us. Since those agents like us are hunting us now we need to stick together like a family, or at least how legend had it during the great war. By the way who is the cute guy over there on the bench. “

Ares smiled at Aphrodite out of pure instinct when she appeared on the scene: "How legend had it? Please Aphrodite! We are acting nearly exactly like the ancient gods as a side effect of these experiments!" Ares shook his head at Aphrodite: "Which cute guy?" He looked around, spotting the person almost immediately. He turned back towards Aphrodite: "How about I make the bench he is sitting on kill him?" He sighed at his uncontrolled outburst: "See? Why else would I care about you talking about the little b*stard over there like that?" Actually he might just do that... He could use some action and it would be fun to see how Aphrodite reacted to the idiot's death. Maybe he could turn it into an electrical chair if Zeus helped a bit...

The air around begins to become a bit lightened with a cool wind. Ares feels a very cold thrill move over his shoulder as a hand then appears.. Poseidon stands behind him now and steps forward, his hand just above Ares shoulder. "Killing people isn't why we are here, we are here to find a freedom for our kind" he whispers. Poseidon would be the first to jump at such a meaningless kill usually; just the thrill it would bring. But there is something not quite right. He coughs lightly and moves his hand from Ares, then to his chest to let out a louder cough. "Ahem.." Poseidon turns to Zeus. "This place is becoming like a meeting zone in itself. Already the six of us have arrived, there is clearly significance about it. Should we really trust that staying here is a good idea?" Poseidon questions this way of reasoning, seeming to suggest a new one. "Rather we stick together or separate, I suggest we make our decision on what to do next quickly."

Hades stood there, annoyed, and stepped right up to Zeus, pressing an outstretched finger against the other man's chest. "Look, here, old man, I think this little leadership role is going to your head. I answer to no one. Got me? As long as I can remember, I've been taking orders, and I'm not about to turn in now, listening to someone who's just as f*cked in the mind as I am." A dark aura grew steadily around him, emanating a feeling of pain and suffering around him. Neurotoxins... The word echoed through his mind. He knew that the only explanation for the aura had to be the neurotoxins he'd been pumped full of for so long slowly being released from his body. He smirked inwardly and allowed some of this darkness to overtake Zeus's aura, curious if it would have the same effect it had exhibited on the people with Cronus...

----1 Year Ago, Project Cronus; Site: Classified; Test Chamber Gamma; Project: Hades----

A voice came over the loudspeaker as Hades was ushered into the room, his body still sore and aching from the last day's testing. Noticeable scars were beginning to form along his back and chest from various wounds he would sustain in the chamber. He looked around, slowly, taking in his surroundings. Seven this time. It had been just six a day ago. "Alright, Hades, here's the drill today: We've upped your targets to seven. We want you to use your power to the fullest potential possible. Take them all down as quickly as possible. You know what happens if you don't comply, at this point... BEGIN!"

The enemies rushed their way toward Hades, knives and chains brandished. He knew they were only made to look like common street thugs, as no one in their right mind would allow such people into a facility as top secret as this. "Alright... You want full force? C'MON!" He forced his aura outward, encircling the nearest three with the darkness and causing them to stop for a moment, as though in fear, before dropping to their knees, screaming. The next four were quick to learn, however, and split up, all coming at him from a different angle. It would be difficult to judge what was going to happen with all four, and Hades knew it. He stood there, drawing his aura back in, giving them room to move in on him...

Alexander was a lowly member of the Project Cronus staff. He'd been thrilled that he was going to work with one of the subjects so soon, but when they'd dressed him as a street thug, handed him a knife, and tossed him in this chamber, he'd felt confused... scared, even. Now, after seeing three other grown men drop without a finger making connection with them, he was outright about to piss himself. He watched the others, his radio lightly buzzing with another's voice as he stood there. "We move to jump him in three... two... one..." Alexander rushed the mark, moving on two. He brandished the knife with expert precision, moving to slash Hades' throat, but feeling his momentum stop almost instantly as he drew within range. The room had become very dark. Almost as though the lights had been completely removed from existence. He looked down at his hands, and the knife, noticing he could still see them clearly. What is this? He looked around the room, finally stopping when he heard his radio fire up again.

"Private Jameson... I got some interesting news for you." He felt confused, although he did recognize the voice as a fellow member of the Cronus staff.

"Rodriguez? That you? What happened? What's going on? I can't see anything!"

"Jameson, your wife's a pretty little thing, wouldn't you say? I mean... Way out of your league, kid. But then again, once she met me, she started to agree with that, too."

"Wh-what? The Hell are you talking about, Rodriguez, you've never met my--"

"Jameson, I did things to her that you couldn't dream of. And she enjoyed every second. Begged me not to stop. So what're you gonna do about it?"

An overwhelming surge of emotion hit Alexander, a mixture of rage, confusion, and depression. Had she really left him? Was it true? He looked down at the tactical knife he carried one last time, a voice in his mind screaming for him to make good use of it. The last thing he heard was the distant sound of his own voice as he screamed, bringing the knife quickly toward his own face, and falling in a pool of blood, the room clearing to show his comrades all screaming or dead... And then it all went black.

----Present Day----
Hades remembered that day well. It had both been his most prideful venture, and his most regretted. He withdrew the aura before it had time to hit Zeus, not willing to cause a scene... Just in case there were others in the area from Cronus, as the others had said. "Artemis... A word with you, sister? Apart from the others?" He backed down from Zeus, walking off into the park and lighting another cigarette. It was going to be a long night... He could feel it in his skin.

"Oh! Is mighty Poseidon, master of all liquids afraid of a little action?" Ares was dissappointed with Poseidon. The two had been immediately connected by their love for the thrill of the kill. He walked away from his brother and the others, thrusting his hands towards the sky with annoyance: "You really are a sissy! All of you are sissies! You can talk to me again when you have toughened up a bit!" With that Ares walked away from the group, into the trees, looking for something more interesting than that bunch of peaceloving idiots, shouldn't be too hard. What was there to be had by conversations? Taking the initiative was what had freed the olympians from the oppressive titans in the ancient days and today. Not a a treaty made while sitting together over a nice cup of tea! It had been war that had brought freedom! A long, bloody war!

Poseidon began to felt anger.. a long thirst for revenge against people for acting off so ignorantly. He stepped forward, but held his tongue. He glared at Ares as he walked away.. but began to follow. It was not well known though Poseidon took a constant anger filled obsession against those who acted so ignorant to him. He raised his hand and glared at it.. water seemed to be filtered coming from the sediments of the earth beneath Ares. Poseidon's eyes grew angry; even had he tried to control this anger, he would still be directed in violence. "Ares.."

Aphrodite rolled her eyes at Ares. Most of her fellow “gods” were going off half cocked for nothing ,and to make matters worse where was Athena when you needed her to talk some since into these people. This world was very different from what could be considered the old world. “ Yeah, next time Zeus you might not want to speak to them like that. You know how emotional most of them are.” Though Ares stayed on her mind. She would have tried to stop him but there was something about him that she always found more interesting than the other males of the group. Maybe it was his passion for being a bad ass. “ So what shall we do now?”

Zeus stopped sparking. "Suit yourself, fool." He snapped at Hades' retreating back. "Don't expect me to save your sorry ass from the stone prison that's waiting for you. As for the rest of you - DO NOT draw attention to yourselves! We are not yet strong enough to take on Cronus, so don't even try." Zeus didn't mention that he was secretly going to check up on each and every one of them, to ensure their safety. He turned and teleported away into the darkness.

"Hey come on dude don't be like that." She said turning around and following Hades. "He's just looking out for us. I mean, some action now an then to keep our skills in check wouldn't hurt but we just got out so we need to keep a low profile for a bit." She smiles and puts her hand on his shoulder. "Now--" She stops as she senses malice, outside of the group. "Shit! Looks like they found us!" She yells to alert the group that there is agents near right before a bullet comes whizzing by her head narrowly missing it and embedding itself in a tree behind her. Luckily, her reflexes where as sharp as ever or it wouldn't have missing it's target.

Hades turned as Artemis yelled out, raising a hand and directing his aura in the direction from which the bullet had come, missing his mark by a few feet, although he could see them now. About five targets. "Alright... I'm officially getting good and pissed off now..."

"When I said, 'some action now and then,' I didn't mean right the minute!" She says in a half pissed voice as Hades barely misses one of them with his aura. "Well guess we better get rid of'em quick or more's gonna show up. So how shall we do this guys?" She asks to the group hoping a fight together will get everyone on better terms...some how.

Zeus was only a hundred metres away when he heard gunshots. "Sh*t, I leave them for five seconds..." He teleported back, moving in and out of existence every ten metres or so until he reached the group. The bullets started whizzing towards him, but he raised his arm and a small blast of lightning zapped the bullets out of the sky. Looking in the direction of the gunfire, Zeus saw a group of masked agents, each holding a different weapon. They were far spread out, probably to prevent being all taken out at once. There were even more gunmen on the rooftops and ledges around the area. One teleport, one flash of lightning later, and three of the men were down, either comatose or dead. Zeus reappeared next to the others, to offer more protection with his lightning shield. "Poseidon was right, we are too exposed!" he shouted at the others, making himself heard over the gunfire. "Let's finish this lot and leave!"

This is madness... The thought crossed his mind multiple times. He'd never dreamed that they'd have to battle agents this soon after escaping, and he was just starting to get used to the quiet of this... "world". He took a quick second to look over at Artemis and the others, his hands now glowing with the neurotoxins that shaped his aura. He would give them one chance to prove their usefulness to him. In the meantime, he had other things to attend to. "You want me? Come and get me!" He ran toward the agents, dodging behind a car for cover as they began firing at him. Leaning around the side, he threw a bit of his Aura into the air in their direction, unsure if it would hit or not. For the time, though, he didn't care. He was merely the distraction, and hopefully the others wouldn't be too slow to catch on.

Alone and almost defenseless Aphrodite pressed herself against a tree at the echoing sound of a gun. Conflict wasn’t something she was really big on but every now and then she had to protect herself at the expense of harming others though she was never the type to strike first unless provoked. She could see the others just ahead of her. She made her way toward the agents while appearing to be a totally different person in all their eyes. She seemed to be a normal civilian caught in the battle which would prove to be a mistake on the part of these agents. Though her fellow Olympians could see it was her. As she moved closed avoiding the gun fire a pinkish dust began to swirl around her. It would cause anyone who looked at her to become fixated on her beauty

"Heh, heh. Time to hunt." An evil grin runs across Artemis's face. She quickly notices Hades distraction and runs around behind three of the ones shooting at him with precision and speed she takes them out with throat, heart, and kidney stabs and twist from her daggers she was never one to leave an enemy alive and all her years in the lab thought her that sympathy for an enemy would only get her hurt. With each kill her eyes turn red and her bloodlust built. "HA, HA, HA!!! I had forgot how great it feels to kill someone!"