Chapter 19: Chapter Nineteen: Secret Service
Loki and his brothers tried to defend themselves against Athena, as Athena kept aggressively attacking them. However, the battle never caused much damage around them. They were careful to not use too much force to fight each other. By the end of it, all five of them lay in exhaustion on the ground next to each other. Each of them breathing heavily, trying to catch their breath. "Heh..." a short laugh escapes from Thor's mouth. "Heh heh... bwa-hahahaha! Like old times, eh Athena?".
"Don't... remind... me" Athena says between breaths. "You were an awful sparring partner".
"Kindness and kinship can build trust, and trust is important when fighting alongside each other too" Thor says.
"Is that your excuse for being soft and always going easy on me?" Athena asks. However, Thor remained silent. "I knew it" Athena continues, "you don't view me as an equal, do you?".
"Athena, we all participated in that war" Thor says. "We're all guilty of something. But, at the very least, we fought as brothers and sister at least once. However, you're a little special... as far as gods go. You're the daughter of Zeus!".
"One of many" Athena corrects.
"Right, one of many!" Thor says. "But you're the only one who openly fought out of Zeus's grasps and lived".
"More than that, you can use shapeshifting magic, right?" Loki asks.
"Huh!?" Athena asks.
"Shapeshifting shouldn't be within your abilities as a god, within your domain" Loki continues. "But I also know that you're half titan... you're changing your appearance, aren't you?".
"Where'd you hear that I was part titan?" Athena asks.
"It's not that hard..." Loki says. "You inherited that gene from Zeus, but you're the only one who retained that strength. It showed when you broke out of Zeus's skull".
"Y-you... know about that?" Athena asks.
"Most of us do" Thor says. "Zeus ate your mother while she was pregnant, and you came out of Zeus's head when Hephaestus split Zeus's skull in half".
"Frankly" Yngvi adds, "only a titan could survive, while growing where no other life could exist".
"Because of that, I don't view you as an equal" Thor says. "I view you as superior. You've had your fair share of trials before birth".
"Also, you're a twat" Loki says.
"Nice to see you again too" Athena says. "So, how's the son doing?".
"Viscous and carnivorous" Loki says. Loki laughs to himself for a short bit, then says "Fenrir is fine. He's kept himself out of trouble for this long. He's really not a bad kid, trust me".
"I'll remember that next time he eats my familiar" Athena says.
"Speaking of eating, gods and titans" Loki says as his voice drops to a sudden sense of seriousness, "I have some important news about this universe".
"News?" Athena asks. "Why are you even here?".
"We're not here by choice, unlike a certain misbehaving child" Loki retorts. "We were sent here on a job. You're not allowed to know by whom, for what, or the cause of such things... yet. As for the news, I want you to look out for a few things".
"Is it Ishmael again?" Athena asks.
"It's... a few things like that" Loki says. "First off, there's no bipedal foxes in this universe".
"Aw, there isn't?" Athena pouts. "But they're so cute!".
"Yeah, well... they're dead" Loki says. "Ishmael's dead, so is Inari, as well as all of their children. There are no more super natural foxes on this plane".
"Oh..." Athena says in a saddened voice. "I didn't know Ishmael well, but Inari was such a nice and gentle goddess".
"Pfft- yeah, until you pissed her off" Loki jokes. "Anyways, Inari and Ishmael have also been reincarnated here, like in most other universes".
"Then... Gaia must feel really guilty" Athena says.
"Guilty?" Loki asks. "She's using him for more dirty work!".
"What makes you say that? Hm?" Athena asks.
"Why would you take her side?" Loki asks.
"I have my reasons!" Athena says. "And you don't get to know why that is... yet".
"Ha ha... very clever" Loki says sarcastically.
"But I'm serious" Athena says. "That day, when Gaia came back to Valhalla without those two... she was terribly saddened. I mean, Chronos for sure is sketchy, but Gaia... she was always just wanting more and more of nature and life. That ain't so bad, is it?".
"She made her son kill her other son" Loki emphasizes.
"Naris was out of control!" Athena protests. "Sure, Ishmael sounded like he was kind of a dick to everybody, but at least he didn't freaking eat us!".
"She let them kill each other!" Loki protests.
"She cried for a century over their dead bodies!" Athena says. The group fell silent for a short moment, then Athena continued to say "and she visited Naris frequently while he was locked up too. She might've created them out of hate, but she only showed love towards those two. That day that she lost her two sons, she also lost her daughter-in-law, and an entire species that she held dear. You realize that impacted nature too, right? It struck her domain, but she held onto that pain quietly. Meanwhile, Chronos...".
"Chronos tried to take down Zeus and got defeated, we know" Loki says. "We were there".
"No... Chronos wanted to eat the other gods" Athena says. "Zeus was the only one that stood up to him... however, Zeus didn't exactly have good intentions".
"Wait... eat us?" Loki asks.
"Chronos was an evil god" Athena says. "But so was Zeus. Gaia couldn't fight back against Chronos because he was too powerful, as well as his existence is necessary for life. However, Chronos wanted to save Gaia when she got destroyed because he had a plan of his own".
"What plan?" Thor asks.
"Don't know" Athena says. "Whatever it was, it involved releasing Naris though".
"What!?" Loki panics.
"All I know is, Gaia personally watched over Naris" Athena says. "The whole time he was held in stasis in Valhalla, she watched him. However, when Chronos's last conscious shards began to move, Gaia was pushed aside by her own brother and Naris vanished".
"So Gaia believes this is her fault... because of Chronos?" Loki asks.
"That's likely" Athena says. "She has been sulking for several thousands of years".
"Then... it was Chronos that released Naris... but why?" Loki asks.
"Maybe it was his last hope to get back at Zeus?" Athena asks. "I don't know. Word is, Naris is gone and now there's no more god slayers. I've been employed to keep the gods from running rampant, however, there's entirely too many to stop...".
"Employed by who?" Loki asks.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you" Athena says, "but it is the highest of honors".
"You don't mean..." Meili says.
"I was sent a message from the angel Gabriel" Athena says. "Passed down from The Great Creator himself!".
"The God" Loki says to himself in awe.
"Now there's no god slayers, the many gods now do whatever they want without any fears" Athena says.
"Ah- about that" Loki says. "That brings me to more of this news of this universe".
"What is it?" Athena asks.
"A new God Slayer has been born" Loki says.
"You jest" Athena claims.
"It's true" Thor says.
"And moreover" Loki continues, "I think it's better if we join teams to take down Zeus. We don't know how stable this new God Slayer is... he's only a kid... a human kid".
"Stable?" Athena asks. "You speak as if we're not going to rely on him, rather than to take him down. Are we not taking down the God Slayer? Is he on our side?".
"There's actually... a catch" Loki says. "He's... the current Ishmael's son...".
"Then... which side does that leave him on?" Athena asks. "I haven't met Ishmael".
"He's not on either side" Loki says. "Although, it's safe to say he's on his dad's side. His dad is definitely against Zeus, but... well, Ishmael has never really liked gods. So he's not on our side, but he also isn't actively trying to kill us. As for the boy, he's too young to fight, and doesn't even know about his abilities yet".
"And this Ishmael?" Athena asks. "Why does he hate gods so much?".
"He was created to hate gods" Loki says. "However, he has a soft spot for certain ones, like Inari. With enough care, we may be able to get him to help us too. However, he is just a human now. A human known as Siran. Inari is also reincarnated by his side. She goes by the name of Zia, if I remember correctly".
"What does he know so far about the current situation?" Athena asks.
"Not much" Loki says. "He knows we're gods, he doesn't like us very much, and he's also aware that Zeus is a dick... as well as, they've also been attacked by Dolos and Ares already. So they've already established that those few are their enemies".
"Who else is on this planet?" Athena asks.
"There's also Eris" Loki says. "That's all we know, and are allowed to tell you".
"We're sorry for the secrecy" Thor says. "If it makes you feel better, these jobs are passed to us by an agreement between Odin and Gaia".
"So Gaia does have her hand in this" Athena says, then pauses. "Poor Gaia... she must be grieving so much about these circumstances. Hey, god of assery!".
"It's the god of trickery" Loki corrects.
"Yeah, whatever" Athena says, "how many universes have you guys scouted before?".
"A few... why?" Loki asks.
"How many still have the bipedal foxes?" Athena asks.
"So far that we've seen... about two" Loki says. "Could be more. We haven't seen most of the universes".
"In one of them, they even used a cute name for the foxes" Yngvi says without much enthusiasm. "They were named after one of Ishmael's children. They called themselves Laibah".
"And the other universe?" Athena asks.
"Oh, it was a total shit show" Meili responds. "They used the foxes for war. They called them halves. It was disastrous, but we only did minor background work and left without being noticed".
"And the Ishmael in that universe?" Athena asks. "Did he exist there too?".
"There was a large war" Loki says. "Some rogue group led by a man named Mason Archfield spearheaded a rise against some large military faction" Loki says. "I'm not sure about the details, but if I were to start anywhere, I'm sure that'd be the place to start".
"I wonder what Siran is up to now" Thor says. "Knowing Ishmael, he has a knack for not being able to sit still".
Meanwhile, in Ireland, The Six Guns crew had just landed in Dublin. They checked around in town to see if there was anything to learn about recent Endo-Streams in the area. It was confirmed that an Endo-Stream had opened up by the coast near Dublin, however, there was more about it. "There is this tale as old as The Naris Catastrophe" a man tells them, "about this portal thing and what is just like the current Endo-Stream- or whatever ya call it; opening up there once before. A man named Rex should be yer safest bet. His family has record of the event".
"Where can we find this Rex person?" Zia asks.
The man gives them directions and an address. "He's a really friendly guy" the man says. "One of'a nicest people you'll meet!".
The team follows the man's directions, and find themselves at the entrance of a bar. "So, this is where we can find Rex?" Alex asks.
"Guess we should go inside and meet 'em to find out" Finn says.
Suddenly, the front door of the bar flings open violently. At the door, a large bearded man was holding another man by the folds of the back of his well tailored suit. He pulls back a little bit to build up momentum, then tosses the suited man a few meters away from the entrance of the bar. "Fuck off with ye!" The bearded man shouts. "And don't ya ever come back 'round here, cunt!".
As the door of the bar slams, another voice from inside is heard, saying "And tell yer queen to stick it, while yer at it!" with a short laugh.
The crew goes over to the man in the suit, and Siran offers to help the man up by extending and arm out towards him. "Get away from me!" The man shouts as he slaps Siran's hand away from him. The man stands up, straightens out his suit, then looks at the bar and says "How terribly rude!". The man looks back at Siran, then says "Tch... Siran and the rest of The Six Guns... I somehow knew you'd be here too. It's too good to be a coincidence".
"Need... some help?" Siran asks.
"Don't play dumb with me" the man says. "I know why you're here".
"Then, can we-" Siran begins to say.
"There's nothing else to say" the man says. The man starts to walk away from the group, as he says "Remember my name! For it is Thomas Holland, of the British Secret Service! You'll regret showing your faces here today, Siran of The Six Guns!".
"Did we... do something to that man?" Siran asks in confusion.
"Who knows? Who cares?" Vivi asks.
"What are the odds that the angry man that just tossed the Brit... being our friendly neighborhood Irishman?" Alex asks.
"Guess there's only... one way to find out?" Rose responds with a nervous laugh.
The team goes inside, and Siran immediately announces "We're looking to speak with a man that goes by the name of Rex?".
The large bearded man, now standing behind the bar counter with an apron on turns around to face the crew. "Aye? And you are?".
"Oh no, it really is him..." Siran says quietly to the crew. "We're The Six Guns... we're trying to look into the history about that Endo-Stream disaster that has occurred here. We heard that you were our guy for that".
"Aye, I'm yer guy" Rex says as he polishes some glass mugs. "What can I do ya for?".
"That was easier than I thought..." Siran says quietly in confusion. The crew sits at the bar counter to speak with Rex. "So, this stream opened up once before, right?".
"Aye, the portal?" Rex asks. "I know what yer lookin' fer, but I can't exactly recall the tale as well. I'll tell ya what. Stick around a while, maybe buy some drinks to help business. After closin' time, I'll find the ol' journal and tell ya as much as I can".
"Really?" Siran asks. "T-thanks... usually this is much harder".
"It's nothin' really" Rex says with a boisterous laugh. "I've got nothin' against ya! Bwa-hahahaha!".
"Maybe he really is friendly..." Alex says.
"Or really stupid" Vivi adds.
"So, what's your full name, if you don't mind me asking?" Zia says. "Rex doesn't sound like the name a mother would give her son".
"Aye, Rex is just what I'm called" Rex says. "My real name is Cillian Walsh. Most of my friends just called me Rex since high school, so now everyone calls me that. You can call me Rex too".
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Rex" Zia says as she shakes Rex's hand.
Rex grabs Zia's hand firmly and shakes rigorously. "It's always good to see a friendly face!" He says.
Meanwhile on the outskirts of town, Thomas, the British Secret Service agent they had recently met was on his phone. "It's confirmed" he says. "The Six Guns have been spotted in the location of the latest Endo related disaster. The connection between them and these disasters is slowly coming together. I'm sure they're causing these. I hereby authorize the deployment of MI6 personnel to track and apprehend all members of The Six Guns from this point on. The Six Guns are officially an enemy of the state".
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