Read New Olympus Saga (Book 1): Armageddon Girl for Free Online

cold demeanor John was affecting concealed a growing sense of anger and
frustration. John was scared of acknowledging this, even to himself. He had
managed to repress those feelings, and if the price was to be seen as
emotionless, he would gladly pay it.
    “Lately it seems like there’s never a
good time, John. And yes, I know most of that is due to things beyond our control.
There’s always some crisis to tend to. But the Legion has over two hundred full
time members. You can afford to take some time off if you need to.”
    “Can I? Can I really, Kenneth? Most of
those two hundred kids are Type Ones and Twos. Things I can shrug off will kill them. Do you want to tell a widow or orphan that their dearly beloved bought
the farm because I had to take some time off?”
    “All true, but how many will die if your
problems get worse?”
    John bowed his head, acknowledging
defeat. “All right. You win. You are right. Yes, I’m not feeling one hundred
percent. And yes, we’ll talk about it. Say, dinner at six today?” He had been
trying to deal with his troubles on his own, and it clearly wasn’t working.
Maybe talking to Kenneth would help.
    Doc Slaughter visibly relaxed. “I’m glad
to hear it, John. Maybe it’s simply our version of shell shock. We certainly
have experienced enough things to warrant it.”
    “We called it ‘combat fatigue’ in my
day,” John replied.
    “Yes, and now it’s PTSD, unless they’ve
replaced it with something even more harmless-sounding when I wasn’t looking.”
    “People are softer nowadays, aren’t
they?”
    “In no small part due to our efforts,”
Kenneth admitted. “I tend to think it’s for the best.”
    “Probably true. See you downstairs?”
    Kenneth nodded. “Let’s go make our grand
entrance. Artemis should be doing the same.”
    They shook hands, and Kenneth called
forth his Brass Man suit of armor. John watched his friend take off, waited a
few seconds, and leaped off the balcony.
    John let himself fall for some time. He
tried to feel the way a normal human would if he was plunging towards the
ground a hundred stories below. Fear was a province of mortality. He felt
nothing.
    A minor act of will, and he soared
towards the sky. That had once been a source of elation. He could fly higher
and higher and leave the blue planet behind. Once, like Icarus, he had gotten
close to the sun, close enough for the heat of its corona to envelop him. He
had almost died that time; his internal temperature had risen well beyond the
melting point of any earthly material and he had been forced to flee for his
life.
    Of late, the sun called to him. If he
went back, he didn’t know if he would turn away from it.
    John Clarke, a.k.a. Ultimate, the
Invincible Man, flew through the sky, his metallic silver, gold and scarlet
costume glittering in the morning sunlight. Once he’d had a cape that fluttered
after him, but he had given it up as too childish. The damn thing would get ripped
up all the time. No matter. Cape or not, his appearance over the waiting crowd on
the ground was greeted with cheers and waves. Amazingly, people never tired of
the spectacle of watching a man fly. Brass Man and a woman surrounded by a
fiery nimbus joined him in the air. Artemis, the Living Goddess, waved and blew
him a kiss as she passed him by. She looked magnificent in her golden breast
plate and tiara, her trademark fiery spear held high in her right hand. John
smiled. Artemis – Olivia O’Brien to her friends and relatives – always managed
to cheer him up. Sometimes he wondered what would have happened if the lady
wasn’t spoken for, but she was all too married, and to another friend to boot.
    It didn't matter anyway. John had not
truly wanted another woman since Linda’s death.
    John dutifully performed some aerial
acrobatics with his fellow Legionnaires, to the elation of the spectators
below. Other than the press corps there was the usual gathering of tourists –
whose financial