Olympus has Fallen Ch. 06

As the roar subsided, his eyes grew even wider in terror as he saw winged creatures begin to emerge from the four towers. "What in the fuck is this now!" he cried as one buzzed over his head and straight towards the temple of Zeus on an adjacent hill. Seeing the animal fly by he could observe it carefully and saw that the flying menace were scorpions. Not normal scorpions, though, but Giants just like the elephant. It was apparent that some foreign Egyptian God had perverted their normal state to these gargantuan proportions. As they swarmed over Zeus's temple, his horror turned to complete shock as he saw fire begin to shoot from their jaws and light the sanctuary ablaze.

Watching the temple alight, the bright red flames engulfing and consuming the work and treasure of hundreds of years, his fear quickly turned to rage. Now shocked out of his temporary paralysis by the dreadful sight, he looked down and winced as he realized he was still naked, only his hated cock cage hanging from his manhood. Running back inside his palace, he quickly put on his tunic and shoes.

"This must be the long expected attack Zeus warned us about!" he thought to himself as he prepared to finally leap into action. One of the God Ballistas that he had created for Hephaestus had just been installed a week earlier on the Acropolis, so the timing was fortuitous. Glancing up towards the temple mount, he saw that streams of soldiers were rushing up the temple steps to stage their final desperate defense against the attackers. He now knew that this was his time of action, and racing towards his stable, he quickly mounted his fastest horse and charged off towards the Acropolis.

The streets of Athens were packed with scores of panicked and terrified citizens, their happy and peaceful Solstice morning shattered by the sudden and violent, dramatic attack. Scores of women and children packed the streets and as Archimedes bent down to help an elderly woman up onto his horse, his face was splattered with her fresh blood as an arrow pierced right through her skull. Looking up, he saw that the Fortress bearing creature was directly overhead, and his jaw tightened at the sounds of countless laughing Egyptians slowly taking aim at the people fleeing in the streets. At this moment, all fear left his body and he knew that no matter what else happened, he was going to make these fuckers pay.

Kicking his steed harshly in the ribs, he continued on his race up the steps to the Acropolis, ducking and weaving as arrows rained down upon him and the rest of the population. There was no escape from the perpetual onslaught and countless scenes of barbarism were witnessed. Archimedes felt himself grow ill as he watched in horror and saw a man protecting his wife laying still and gray in the street, his back studded with dozens of arrows that had been fired from above. No one was safe and his heart sank as he watched innumerable women, children and the elderly all fall under the hail of fire.

Adding to the pandemonium of the assault of arrows, and the screams of the victims, he found it increasingly difficult to see as the air was thick with smoke and the sounds of explosions echoed across the bay. The Scorpions were not interested in human victims, leaving that task to the soldiers, but they did have a target in mind; the temples to the Gods. The flames engulfing Zeus's temple now reached fifty feet in the air, and in quick succession the temples to Poseidon, Hera and Hephaestus were systematically and relentlessly attacked and razed to the ground. The efficient swarm of fire scorpions ensured that no temple was left standing within minutes of being attacked.

Now finally reaching the top of the Acropolis, Archimedes' heart sank even deeper at the sight of confusion, despair and disorganization in progress. The God-Ballista was intact, but to his amazement, had not yet been employed. Still standing frozen and unused, the fifty-foot long black iron machine had not even been loaded yet, the thunderbolts of Zeus still glowing in the iron silo to its side.

"Commander!" Archimedes screamed. "Why have you not employed the God-Ballista yet? Did I not tell you that it was designed just for just such an attack?"

Captain Patroclus, his face white with terror, mumbled something as Archimedes dismounted.

"Oh for fuck's sake man!" Archimedes barked as he called out to the other soldiers. "You there!" he screamed as he pointed at the sergeant in charge of the archers. "Take up your positions along the wall. You need to keep a suppressing fire on those towers while I get this machine up and operating."

"Yes sir!" the sergeant replied as he pointed his men to the battlements.

Frowning in disgust at the panic and disorder around him, Archimedes also was growing more enraged as every moment led to another victim of the archers on the Fortress. Walking over to the Captain to give an order, Archimedes was stunned when his body fell apart into a bloody mass, sliced clean from a tsunami of missiles fired at him from above.

Now with his fists clenched, he ran to the silo and with all of his strength, pushed it over onto its side. Luck was with him as the silo landed directly over the hopper feeding the ballista. Hearing the sparking and explosive noises of the Thunderbolts entering the metal missle chamber, Archimedes grinned in determination as he now knew that the fight was about to be taken to the enemy for the first time all morning.

Spinning the metal disk on the front of the machine he heard the gears begin to grind into motion as the contraption started to revolve on its base. Turning another large nob, the front of the weapon swung out over the defensive wall of the Acropolis and pointed out towards the bay. Looking through the sight he saw the enormous beast clearly in his cross hairs and his mouth turned up into a fully toothed grin.

"This one is for Zeus, Mother Fucker!" he yelled as he stomped down hard on the foot pedals and the first thunderbolt shot out from the barrel.

One half a mile away, the laughter coming from the decks of the fortress were deafening. This had been the most satisfying expedition any of the soldiers had ever been on. Riding this enormous beast topped by an impregnable fortress, the expedition was less of a military operation than a hunting excursion. All one had to do was to lean forward and aim and a victim fell to the ground dead. Protected by the walls of the fortress, as well as the terrifying monster carrying it, there was no fear of retaliation or counter attack.

"Show those Goat Fuckers who is boss Private Ra!" Commander Sar called out through his bout of intense laughter. His joy at seeing yet another corpse added to the growing pile of their sworn enemies, the Greeks, was beyond exhilarating. His glee only increased as he also watched the devastation wrecked on the grand temples of the city from the swarms of fire scorpions. Swooping down relentlessly onto the sanctuaries of their lesser Gods it would take decades, if not centuries, to repair the damage that they had done in just minutes. Closing his eyes in complete satisfaction, his mind reeled in the dreams of the accolades and blessings he knew he would confidently receive from Ammon Ra when they returned from their successful raid.

Glowering as he watched another child cowering and weeping while his archers mowed down his mother, Sar prepared to select a new target. Ordering his men to take aim on a couple below he and the rest of the platoon were suddenly and violently thrown down onto the deck of the fortress.

"What the fuck just happened!" Sar called out as he struggled to get up on his feet and he felt three more explosions rumble beneath him. Seeing the morning sky begin to spin overhead, he felt a wave of nausea overtake him as he heard a mournful trumpet call blast out from the elephant. His sense of doom grew only stronger as he felt the monster begin to lurch to the left.

"Yeah!" erupted the collective cheer from the Acropolis as the bolts of Zeus slammed into the thick hide of the Elephant and exploded in a wild pyrotechnic display into the beast's thick gray flesh. Beading his eyes to focus, Archimedes now took aim squarely at the face of the beast. With another forceful stomp of his feet on the firing pedals, four large glowing lightning bolts shot out from the barrel and exploded directly into the eyes of the monster. Now raising his trunk riotously in the air, the enormous pachyderm fell down onto its right knee and began to wobble. Seeing countless Egyptian soldiers thrown erratically from the turrets of the fortress as the monster stumbled, all plummeting to their deaths hundreds of feet below, the cheers from the Greek soldiers grew even bolder. When the animal finally collapsed to its side, causing the fortress to collapse into the bay, the screams of joy and relief from the walls of the Acropolis grew deafening.

Rushing forward to congratulate Archimedes, the platoon leader was stopped by Archimedes commanding voice.

"Sergeant!" he barked. "Line your men up into battle formation and go down to the beach to capture any survivors. We must take as many alive as we can, as I am sure the Gods will want to question them thoroughly."

"Yes sir!" he yelled back before Archimedes called him forward again.

Looking out in triumph over the scene, his victory lap was short lived as the swarms of scorpions now paused and began to hover over the remains of the fortress and elephant. Swirling into an enormous mass, it was apparent that they had a new target to focus on, him.

Gulping hard as he watched hundreds of scorpions massing for an attack, Archimedes knew that no matter how good a shot he was, or how devastating the blast from the Thunderbolts might be, there were just too many to fight off at once. His mind racing as he tried to think of a way to up his odds of success, his face brightened as an idea rushed into his head. Looking over at the sergeant he asked, "Is there any fishing net nearby?"

"Fishing net sir?"

"Yes, fishing net. Preferably chain, but at the very least, extremely strong rope."

Glancing back to the Acropolis, the sergeant pointed at one of the smaller temples and said "Yes, there is a Gold net in the temple of Poseidon, but I do not..."

"Do not question me!" Archimedes shouted. "Get four of your men and bring it here quickly. We have one shot at this, and may Zeus protect us, I hope I do not miss."

"Yes sir!" he replied as he took several of his soldiers and ran into the green and blue marble shrine to Poseidon.

The three minutes they were gone felt like three hours as Archimedes watched the swarm continue to grow out over the bay. The scorpions were clever, and quite quickly figured out where the shots were coming from and the most effective way to fight back. Swarming the Acropolis individually would be hopeless, as Archimedes could easily shoot down one, two or even three at a time. Swarming in totality, however, would be impossible to defend against. With sweat pouring down his face, Archimedes watched the last of the scorpions fly into place and then pause; pulsing in mid air like the breathing living lungs of a single enormous monster in the sky.

Seeing the soldiers return with the net, Archimedes grimaced as he knew that this would be a one in a million chance, but was the only one with any hope of working. Loudly pointing and shouting at the soldiers he yelled "Ok, on my say, throw the net as far forward and as far up into the sky as you can."

Nodding grimly, they waited.

The wait was not long, and with a sickening hum, the swarm attacked. Seeing the thousands of enormous flying insects heading straight for the Acropolis, Archimedes prayed silently to Hephaestus for guidance. Screaming out "NOW!" his heart stopped as he watched the golden mesh glint in the morning sun and sail out high into the air. Biting his teeth down hard, he immediately aimed and forcefully stomped on the foot pedals.

Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam! The shots rang out in quick succession, catching the four corners of the net and miraculously scooping the swirling fire breathing insect horde out of the sky. Now entangled in a mass of stinging burning fury, the bulky stinging mass plummeted down to the earth in front of the Acropolis and was staked down to the ground by the four bolts.

"HOORAY!"

"You have saved us!"

"You have saved Athens!"

"Three cheers for Archimedes!"

The shouts echoed through the air as the exhausted genius slumped over the controls of the God-Ballista and collapsed in relief. For now, Athens was saved, but just barely; the charred ruins of multiple temples filling the skies with the smoky remains of their glory and the bodies of hundreds of victims littering the twisting narrow streets.