Titan Origins

Part 2

 

Chapter 1

I woke up. It was cold, freezing. I couldn't move. Through the ice crystals on the small window in front of me shone a vague light. The temperature rose fast. As the ice crystals disappeared I began to see the face of woman. She was old, had grey hair. The door opened. The warm air that reached my face really woke me up. I started breathing again. I now realized that I had been cryo. I stepped out, looked back and saw the cryo pod, just big enough for one person. I noticed writing above the door. Zeus. "Give him some time" the woman said. I looked around the room and saw three more cryo pods, also engraved. Athena. Aries. Thanatos. They looked empty. There were two men eager to examine me but the woman held them back. "Do you remember me?" She asked. "No" I said. "Good. I am doctor Lacey Cole, head scientist of the CHAOS Project. We are currently on a research base on Callisto, one of Jupiter's moons. Can you tell me your name?"

My name? I didn't know. I thought hard on it but nothing came to mind. I collapsed. My arm was pounding like crazy, my ribs as well. I could barely breathe. "It's okay," doctor Cole said, "the pain isn't real. Before we put you in the pod you had a broken arm and three broken ribs. But we healed you. The pain you are feeling is all in your head." She managed to calm me down. "Doctor Cole, we really need to monitor his vitals and give him a full body check." One of the men grew inpatient. "All right, perform your examinations."  Doctor Cole said. "And you, I'll talk to you later. For now, just focus on regaining your strength."

 

They took me into the examination room and did a few tests. My arm hadn't fully healed yet, it was a bit stiff. They asked me a couple of questions about my past. I tried to remember but I wasn't able to answer any of the questions. They didn't seem to worry about it. They didn't try to comfort me either. Something was wrong, it didn't add up.

"Go find doctor Cole in the training room. It's the third door on the right." One of the men said when the examination was over.

 

 

Chapter 2

The doors opened and I saw doctor Cole. She was staring through a window, a big smile on her face. I walked up to her. "Isn't she amazing?" She asked. The window overlooked a large room. A woman was strapped in to some sort of suit. She had full movability but was stuck on her place. The room was a simulator.

This particular simulation took place in a war zone. Doctor Cole was right, she was amazing. Her movements were fluent. Her strikes deadly. She was strong, fast. I had never seen such a great warrior before. "We call her Athena" doctor Cole said. Athena, a name on one of the cryo pods I thought. "We've almost finished her." What? What did that even mean? We've almost finished her. Doctor Cole could see the confusion in my eyes. "Come, walk with me." she said.

"I assume you have many questions and it's time for some answers. I recruited you in prison where you had been in a fight, thus your injuries. I took you here and patched you up. You were in cryo for a total of three days. The memory loss is a side effect of being in cryo for longer than a few hours at a time. Are you still with me?"
"Yes," I said, "you spoke of a project before, what is it?"
"Ah yes, the CHAOS Project. The reason why you're here. You see I have a vision for the future. The galaxy is a troubled place. Rivalries are everywhere and people are suffering from it. Tell me, what do you know about ancient Greece?"
I replied: "It laid the foundation for life as we know it."
"Correct. But I was aiming for their religion. Ancient Greek mythology. Back then the people used to fear the gods. This fear created order in chaos. I want people to fear the gods again. So I've been creating gods of my own. Athena is one of them. There are two more."
I interrupted her: "Aries and Thanatos."
"Very perceptive of you. And you will make number four."
"Zeus." I said. "Well I can't remember my real name, so it'll do."
"Indeed. As of now you are Zeus, named after the leader of the Olympic gods. I picked this name for you for a reason. You will lead the others. You are a Titan. Titans have always been the bad guys and that's what we need to bring back order. We don't need heroes running around, we need people to obey the law in fear of repercussions."
"But Zeus wasn't a Titan." I said.
"Ah you know your mythology! Again you are correct. The names I have chosen are all based on Greek mythology but not specifically the titans. You are Zeus because Zeus was a mighty leader and so will you be. But enough for today. Get some sleep. You will need your strength tomorrow. I want to see you in the simulation room at 8 am. Don't be late."

 

I couldn't sleep. I kept thinking about the conversation I had with doctor Cole. I had seen Athena in action. People like her would indeed put fear in to one’s mind. Was that a good thing? I wasn't sure.

 

 

Chapter 3

The next day I went to the simulation room a bit early. I hadn't slept well because I was still pretty rested from cryo. When I entered the room doctor Cole was already waiting for me. She had a training simulation planned for me. She strapped me in to my suit and started the simulation. I wasn't convinced that I could pull it off but when the simulation started my instincts took over. I moved fast with fluid movements all my senses suddenly felt enhanced. It was amazing.

Doctor Cole could read the expressions on my face, she said: "We have made you faster, stronger and even smarter. We upgraded your senses. You can hear, see and smell better, making it easier to control the battlefield."
I had never before felt so alive.
"The only thing we can't enhance, is the way your mind works. Sure, we can increase your coping capabilities and increase the speed of your thinking. But we can't implement morals. We can't make you a leader if leadership isn't already part of your skill set."

I trained for a few hours. After that doctor Cole told me to take a break and that I should come find her in engineering afterwards.

And so I did. I walked around the facility a bit. There weren't that many scientists, I found that a bit strange. I came across a room that attracted my attention. When I walked in I discovered a large hall, filled with cryo pods. There must have been hundreds, stacked besides and above each other. None carried a name like the first four I had encountered and all appeared to be empty. How was that possible? I had walked around the base and only saw a few people. Where did they all go? Were these spare pods? Had the future owners just not arrived yet? It got me wondering how many Titans doctor Cole was planning on making.

I reported to engineering. There were two men waiting for me. One of them was clearly part of doctor Cole's team. The other was wearing full armor, I could only see his face. "Let's do it" he said. As he walked in to the next room the front of his helmet closed as well. There wasn't a part of his body left unprotected. I looked through the window. The soldier stood in the centre of the room. The scientist pressed a few buttons and machine guns popped out of the roof and started firing on the soldier. Not a scratch. The scientist monitored his life signs. "All is good." The soldier stepped out of the room again. "So new guy, you got your power yet? I'm Thanatos by the way. Call me Thane, it's easier."
"Zeus" I said, "And by the way, I'm your commanding officer." I joked.
The scientist interrupted us. He was gonna fit me an armored suit. "I'll see you later, commander." Thane said as he left us.
The scientist took his time and when he was finished it was my turn to be fired upon. I won't lie, I was scared shitless. But the suit did exactly what it was designed to do. I didn't feel a thing.
"This suit is synchronized to your body. It is now part of you. You do not take the inner part off unless absolutely necessary, do you understand?"
I nodded. The seriousness in his voice stunned me.
"I see you have your suit. Come with me please." Doctor Cole, who just entered the engineering area, said.

I walked with her.
"How does your new suit feel?" She asked.
"I can barely feel that I'm wearing it."
"Good. It's a state of the art suit with inbuilt life support. In a few days we'll get you some weapons as well."
Something Thanatos said was still in the back of my mind. Have you got your power yet. I asked doctor Cole about it.
"You'll see soon." Is all she said.

I decided to ask her about the room with the cryo pods. She told me those were just backups. I wasn't convinced, there were way to many pods to be just backups. But I decided not to argue.

"All right, here we are."

We entered another room. I was instructed to take a seat in a large chair in the centre of the room. "It's time to activate your power. You see, every suit is balanced out perfectly for its user. Well almost perfectly. There is room for a little extra firepower. A special power. Each Titan has a different power. Athena, for instance, can slow down time to a point where it is almost frozen, giving her the time to respond to a surprise like a sudden explosion. Or when overwhelmed by her enemy she can tactfully choose her targets to get her out of the situation."
"What's my power?" I asked.
"You are Zeus, god of thunder. We're going to program your suit with the ability to overcharge. With it, you could potentially shut down an imperial dreadnaught, given you are next to it's power core."
Doctor Cole stuck some needles into my suit and started programming.
"Be careful, though, cause powers need to recharge. It could take up to month to fully recharge. The power is a Titans safety switch, a means to get out of a sticky situation." She finished programming and told me to go to the simulation room.

 

 

Chapter 4

"Zeus, isn't it? I'm Aries. I'm gonna be training you today. Doctor Cole has somewhere else to be."
In front of me stood a young lad, hadn't even reached his twenties yet. It was strange, I felt like I had seen him before but I couldn't remember.
"Have we met before?" I asked.
"I don't think we have, though you do have a familiar face. Kinda."
Aries told me to step in to the simulation area. It felt so real. I was in a forest, grass and trees and plants everywhere.
"All right I'm gonna send some soldiers your way. Try not to get killed." Aries said over the intercom.
Five men ran towards me. I managed to fend of the first two but the third took me down. I was surprised by how lively they felt. I couldn't tell the difference between what was real and what wasn't. I knew the soldiers were fake, as soon as you killed one it would disappear. The simulation from the day before was so much different, it seemed doctor Cole had gone easy on me. An alarm went off. The room was lit by red lights. I died.
"I said don't die! That really sucked." Aries said while barely holding in his laugh. "Try again. This time don't think, let your instincts kick in."
Aries ran the simulation again. This time I took my opponents down with ease. "Wow that was really good!" Aries shouted.
"This time I'm gonna make you sweat."
A dozen soldiers ran my way. I took them down.
A turret appeared and opened fire on me. I took cover behind a tree, trying to decide what to do. Then, another turret popped up. I switched cover.

Three more soldiers ran my way. I was pinned. I decided it was time to use my power. Just thinking about an electrical charge was enough. I curled up then sprung into the air, unleashing a powerful blast. I felt the energy flowing through me and suddenly I remembered. I remembered everything. The prison, the warden, the disappearances... Garret...The turrets went down, the room started flickering. The simulation couldn't cope with the charge. I quickly took down the three soldiers.
"I thought you were gonna make me sweat?" I said jokingly. "You did it! No one has ever beaten the simulation before. I've never seen the green light. You're amazing!" It seemed I had impressed Aries.

I walked back to Aries. When I saw him again I knew where I had seen his face before. It was James. "I remember, James, I remember my past." I said. He frowned at me.
"Who's James?" Aries asked. "I believe you got quite a shock, you should get some rest. I'm ending the training session. I'll see you tomorrow." He was very confused but he was right. Using my power tired me out, I needed some rest.

 

​

Chapter 5

I couldn't sleep. More and more details about my past came back to me. Including some dark memories about how I got here. I remembered doctor Cole giving me a sedative. The next memory I have is being taken through a hallway on a stretcher. I remember waking up briefly. The men escorting me weren't exactly gentle. I looked to my left and saw someone else being moved on a stretcher, he was covered up with a white cloth. He was dead. I saw the men take him into a room. I saw more bodies. Brutal, gashed, and swollen faces; their mouths wide open. Gaping wounds and scars. They were barely recognizable. One of the men saw that I was regaining consciousness and gave me another sedative.
These must have been the test subjects. Doctor Cole was a murderer. A cold blooded killer. I had to get out of here. The others had lost all their memories. They probably had no idea what was really happening. I decided to have another look around the facility.

There wasn't much to see, most areas were locked. I did find a computer terminal. I didn't need a password or anything. There were a lot of files on it. I found a map labelled subjects. 113 subjects, all deceased. That's how many lives were lost to achieve Cole's goal. I dug a little deeper and noticed that the CHAOS Project was a hoax. Cole was supposed to be investigating the impact craters on this moon. Another map caught my attention, it was labelled Titans. Ten names were in it including my own and those of the three others. But there were also some new names. Artemis? Damocles? Who were they? Were they out there already? Were they still under construction?  It was wrong. I had to get out of here, but how? Then I realized it. I was a Titan. This facility was built to keep unwanted people out and to keep the test subjects in. But I was no longer a test subject, I was so much more. I knew it was going to be hard. I needed to get the other Titans on my side. How hard could that be? After all, I was created to lead them.

 

First up was James. I thought that maybe if I could remind him of his brother he would start to remember his past. Luckily Cole kept files on all prisoners, including Garret. My new suit came in handy because of the inbuilt data port. I downloaded Garret's and James' files. I couldn't find Athena's or Thanatos', there were just to many files to look through. It would take hours to find their files without knowing their real names.

Another training session was planned in the morning. This time all four of us had to work together. We got pretty far into the simulation but we failed, as expected. Afterwards doctor Cole asked me to walk with her.

"I heard you beat the simulation, very well done. It seems that I was right about you, Zeus."
"It's Derrick." I said proudly. "I'm starting to remember things."
Doctor Cole stopped. I could see the disbelief and shock in her eyes. She wasn't expecting this.
"I see. That's good news, isn't it."
"It is."
"Do you remember anything else besides your name."
She was trying to figure out how close I was to unravelling her scheme.
"No." I said. "But I think it will only be a matter of time before I do."
I noticed she was fiddling with her necklace. Some sort of stone was attached to the chord. She was nervous.
"Is something wrong? That's a beautiful necklace."
"Thank you, it's an Onyx. And no, you've given me wonderful news. Now if you would excuse me I have some place I need to be."
She walked away in a hurry. I didn't want to dwell on our conversation. I went looking for James to show him his file.

"James! Come here I need to show you something." I shouted.
"Again with the James? I told you I'm Aries."
"No you're not. You are James Porter, 19 years old. You had a troubled childhood, your parents were killed when you were two. You had a lot of bad luck, trouble seems to follow you around. You came in contact with the authorities multiple times and were eventually thrown in prison with your brother, Garret. Do you remember him?"
"Listen man, I think you should check in on the medbay. You might have hit your head or something."
"I have your file right here, James."
"I'm gonna go now, all right? Please don't follow me."
"Wait! Promise me you'll look at the files." I transferred the two files to him.
I stared straight into his eyes and could see the confusion. Then he turned around and walked away.
It had been a long day. I decided to go back to my chambers and get some sleep.

 

 

 

 

Chapter 6

That night I slept with one eye open, expecting doctor Cole to make a move any minute. About half way through the night I heard some noise. Then all of a sudden a dozen armed men with tranquilizers marched into my room. If I hadn't been expecting them they would have taken me down easily. More of Cole's men came through the hallway. I was outnumbered and worn out from all the tranquilizers, some of the men managed to inject a small part of the tranquilizer. I knew that if I stopped Cole would ensure that I would never remember my past again.
Then I heard gunfire. Cole's men were taken out fast. I finished the last one off and looked up. A Titan! His mask retracted. It was James.
"I remember his face, Zeus. I remember Garret's face. I don't remember what he was like or even what I was like. But I can see his face clear as day. I know that something isn't quite right about this place. Bad things have happened here, haven't they?"
"Yes, they have. I saw mutilated bodies on my way in. I remember Cole abducting people from prison. I saw the files. 113 subjects died."
"Come on we have to get out of here. Athena and Thanatos will be waiting for us, I told them about the files you gave me. Do you have your weapons yet?"
"No not yet." I replied.
"Then we'll have to stop by the armoury first. Thane, Athena meet me in the armoury" James said through his suit's microphone.

We met up in the armoury. I explained what I had seen when I was brought in to this facility, while Thanatos programmed some weapons for me. They agreed, we had to get out of here. Athena had been here the longest, she knew a lot about this base.
"It's a fortress. It might not look like it from the inside but trust me, no one goes in or out without Cole's permission. She's hired a private militia to guard the base."
"We're Titans, it should be easy for us." Thanatos interrupted her.
"We have a kill switch and Cole controls it." The smirk on Thanatos' face disappeared.
"We need to take Cole down fast before she even knows what's happening if we want to have a chance." Aries said.
"Athena, what do you know about potential other Titans? I saw some names on one of the terminals, Artemis, Damocles. Ten names in total, including ours."
"I don't know if they exist. All I know is that there are two wings. We are in the first one. I've seen Cole's men move occupied cryo pods to the other wing. It could be that there are more Titans there."
"So what do we do, commander?" Aries asked me. All three were waiting for my orders, after all I was their leader. It had a nice ring to it I thought, commander Derrick Hudson.

"First things first, we need to control that kill switch. Athena, is there any way to remove it?" I asked.
"No, they put the chip to close to the brain. We need to destroy the controls."
"All right, there's no going back. Athena, I need you to try and figure out where the switch is. Thanatos I want you to go to the other wing, find the other Titans, get them to help us and find us transportation out of here. I have a feeling that we're going to need the other Titans, let's hope they exist. James, you're with me. We're going after Cole."

"I'm with you sir but please, call me Aries. I don't remember who James was."
"Okay, everyone knows what they need to do?"
All three nodded.
"Then let's go."

 

 

Chapter 7

Aries and I made our way to Cole's chambers. It was night so she was likely there.
I told Aries to stay back and be ready on my command. I figured it could go two ways. Either Cole was waiting for me after hearing that her men failed to capture me, or she wasn't expecting me because she thought I was back in cryo or something. Either way, she sure wasn't expecting Aries to be on my side, let alone the other two Titans. Having an ace up my sleeves couldn't hurt.
I went in. She was sitting on a chair in the middle of the room with a gun in her hand, she was fiddling with her necklace with the other hand.
"I figured you'd come for me after my men failed to sedate you, Zeus."
"My name is Derrick Hudson. Do you remember that name? It's the name you stole from me!"
"Oh don't be such a nag. I have given you so much in return. Superhuman abilities, a suit, and I see you've acquired yourself a gun as well. Seeing that you don't know how to program one yourself, it is likely that either one of my scientists helped you or Thanatos did. My men are currently locked away in their quarters, so it must have been Thanatos. Which means that Aries and Athena are probably helping you as well. A true leader. You can tell them to stop hiding."
I told Aries to come in.
"Only him? Gets me wondering what the other two are doing. Ah well, I was expecting some kind of rebellion along the way. So I made sure that all Titans have an inbuilt kill switch, unremovable. I suggest you tell your team to stand down, otherwise I'd have to kill them."
"You wouldn't kill us. You spend so much time to create us, you wouldn't just give that up." Aries said, he was trying to stall her. He had notified Athena that the confrontation wasn't going well, so he was buying her time to figure out what and where the switch was.
"I would kill you. I spend a lot of time researching how to create a Titan. Now that I know, it's easy to make new ones. Next time I just need to figure out how to control one. I'm gonna tell you one more time, Zeus, stand your team down!"
"I'm gonna tell you one more time, Cole, my name is Derrick!"

"Derrick, I found it. The kill switch is in the Onyx around Cole's neck. But you need to be careful, it listens to her heartbeat. If you kill her, you'll kill us and yourself as well. If you try to take her down, she'll press the button inside. I can temporarily sever the connection between the button and our receivers but that would mean blowing up the entire facility, we'll only have a couple of minutes to get out of here. I'm ready on your command, sir." Athena communicated through the suit.
She had done her part. I just hoped that Thanatos wouldn't need much more time  because I was about to rob it all from him.

 

"Do it." I said
"Do it? Do what?" Cole was surprised, scared even. She wasn't expecting this.
There was a loud explosion. The lights went off but the emergency power generator immediately kicked in. A loud alarm went off. Cole opened the Onyx and pressed the button inside. It didn't work. She was shocked and frightened. Her creations were coming for her. She opened fire. "Secure the onyx!" I shouted. Aries quickly tackled Cole, ripped the necklace off her neck and threw it my way. He jumped back. Cole tried to take back the necklace but I knocked her back down and held her at gunpoint. She started crying.

"Thanatos, how's the exfill coming along?" I asked.
"I've marked a spot on your map sir, Athena is already here."
"We need to go." I said to Aries.
As we ran away from Cole's chambers I heard a gunshot and looked back. Cole was lying on the ground, blood was running from a head wound. She had shot herself.
"Good riddance." Aries said.

"You know you can never take of that Onyx, do you? You'd kill us all." Aries was concerned.
"I know. But it will be save with me." I said.
"Any chance you want to help me get my brother out of prison after all of this is over?" He asked.
I stopped.
"I'm sorry Ares, but he's gone. He died while trying to rescue you."
"I see. I don't really remember anything from my past...I...I was hoping he could shed some light on it."
A pipe burst next to us. We quickly started running again.

"Hey Thane, any word on those other Titans?" I asked.
"Oh yes, but there are eight of us in total not ten. The other two are a bit different."

"Commander, this is Dinlas captain of the Damocles. We're coming to pick you up, sir."
"Captain? Thane, are you telling me that we've got our own ship?" Ares was really excited
"Yeah, it's big but there are only four crew members. They are Titans like us but a little different, they keep the whole thing in the air."

Ares and I headed to the marker whilst fighting off the militia. The exfill point was outside the base, luckily our suits had an oxygen supply.

Our worst fears became reality, there was no one at the marker and the militia were closing in on us fast. There were dozens of them and we were out in the open, no cover. We had no choice but to surrender. We laid down our rifles and kneeled down, hands above our heads.

Then behind us the Damocles appeared, she had been cloaked all this time waiting for the right time to appear. Damocles opened fire and the militia went down. Damocles opened her hanger bay door and Ares and I quickly got in. "Get us out of here Dinlas" I said.

We left just in time. When I looked back I saw the facility blow up. No one could've survived the blast, not even a Titan.

Chapter 8
"Welcome to your ship, commander. Though don't call it your ship around Dinlas, he's quite attached to it. I am Gaia."
Before me stood the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, she was absolutely stunning.
Gaia escorted us to the ship's bridge, where all the other Titans were waiting.
"This here is Artemis, she is in control of the medbay and the scientific mind aboard this ship." I recognized her, she was the doctor from prison, Amelia Burton. I was glad to see that she was okay.
"And this Vulcan, don't worry he'll grow on you." Gaia joked.
"I'm in charge of the Damocles' engines, armoury and engineering in general. I occasionally pass as a shuttle pilot as well, when Clio is a bit occupied." Vulcan said.
"Clio?" I asked. I had met all four Titan crew members, so I wondered who or in this case what Clio could be.
"Greetings commander. I am Clio, I assist the crew with their daily activities. I can also help you in the field by running quick data analyses."
"Clio is an AI and also my co-pilot. I've spoken with you before, commander. I'm Dinlas, captain and pilot of the Damocles."
"And I see that once again Gaia is way too modest to admit that she keeps the whole thing running, she's in charge of pretty much everything else." Artemis continued.

"The Damocles and its crew are meant to support your team, commander, in both peace and war. Does the team have a name yet?" Gaia asked.
"Yes it does." I said
I addressed my fellow Titans: "I know you've all been through a lot. After what Cole has done with us, we will never be able to return to a normal life. Cole wanted humanity to fear us, she wanted us to rule the human race as gods.
I will not ask you to stay here and rule with me. Instead I ask you to help me safeguard humanity and to help those in need. So I ask you, will you help me?
They all cheered. They were ready for me to lead them.
"Then so be it. Fire team Onyx and the Damocles will be the guardians of humanity, of freedom and of peace."

"I am Zeus. And I am proud to be a Titan."

 

 

Epilogue

 

"So that's how you came to existence, huh, born to rule, live to serve."
"Yes indeed, Alysia, yes indeed."
"Zeus, they're closing in on us, we gotta go!"