Titans on Earth/Volume 1:Prologue

Prologue
The Tale of the Master Builder

"Well, there is no going back now."

Even though he knew he was talking to himself and was probably having the attention of an occasional old man, Benjamin Voight didn't cared.

He stepped into the security reception of that certain airport as he left all his belongings in big recipients and walked through a rectangular metal detector. Behind him were boys and girls from an average age of 13 to 18 years old, all of them were the same as him, not only because they carried a very similar amount of luggage, but also because they possessed something he did as well.

Just as his thoughts had reminded him, there was no going back. Military soldiers maintained constant surveillance in that airport with heavy assault rifles armed and ready to point at any sign of danger.

In a normal situation, even the most dangerous killer or the smartest of thieves would not want to step into that airport specifically. Danger was out of the question in normal terms, but those were not normal terms. The soldiers with the "Mexican Special Forces" band hanging in their arms were looking straight at them, suspicious of every threatening move Benjamin Voight or any of those youngsters could make.

It was August 20th. They were on El Cairo International Airport, ready to take off to the nearly empty lands of Siberia and Northern China.

He was given green lights, and Benjamin picked his stuff as fast as he could as he was escorted by two of those aggressively looking soldiers. As they walked, the boy could not only notice the cameras in the corners following him and taking a series of photos with a blinding flash, but he could also notice the tip of those rifles aiming directly to his stomach should he resist.

Benjamin had wandered countless times why he deserved such treat, why those soldiers were so ruthless with him and the guys behind him on the security station. But he reminded himself of what happened to him, and that sort of gave him counsel, after all, ever since he acquired his power, he was marked as a monster by his dearest friends.

He sighted, and then felt a rather gentle hit from one of the soldier's rifles.

"Be quiet" the soldier ordered.

Benjamin was close to complain, but he decided to stay silent when he looked at the angry eyes of the person that told him that, which were still observing the path ahead.

"All passengers to Tartarus state, report to gates 12, 14 and 15 according to your passage's specifications."

The voice repeated over and over again as the "passengers" walked escorted by two or four soldiers each towards those gates.

Benjamin was taken to gate 12 and boarded into a fancy automated bus that drove towards an enormous plane. It was an Airbus 380 as Benjamin recognized the model. He always liked big planes, and the Airbus 380 was one of the models he always dreamed on getting in, as he watched photos of interiors and luxurious decorations.

Well, that plane's interior decorations were nothing compared to those he had seen.

Basically, the plane was redesigned into what seemed to be ten lines of uncomfortable seats aligned in 10 lines of several dozens.

Benjamin sighted, again.

He looked at his passage, the he looked back towards the entrance and held a long breath of the last fresh air he would smell from his homeland for the rest of his life.

He took a seat on the farthest seat near one of the plane's window and laid back until his head remained rested as much as it could.

"Well, there's definitely no going back."

A sudden tremble from outside the plane broke his thoughts. He and all the people who were also on board stood up as the plane crumbled.

"Now what?" He yelled.

The soldiers pointed guns at them immediately so Benjamin had to seat again. Gunfire started to be heard from outside. He immediately looked towards outside from his window.

His eyes opened wide as he saw one of the soldiers to scream in agony as an enormous dog composed from a strange green, glowing energy mauled his throat and threw him away, dead.

The young man froze on his chair, and felt a big, cold drop of sweat slipping his forehead and meeting his nose.

"Shit, this can't be happening" he thought. He saw a group of soldiers going out with their guns ready and with combat stances.

More firing was heard, so the last of the soldiers had to come out eventually. Benjamin took this as a chance to go out and witness the fight for himself, probably help, he needed a good reason to make them forget that idiotic sentence of transferring him to Tartarus.

He unlocked his seatbelt and ran towards the plane's gate.

He saw the soldiers from the Mexican Army coming out from all places trying to fight a pack of those energy dogs that killed every armed man. From his position, Benjamin could notice a group of youngsters apparently from his age, but with a more delinquent appearance ordering the pack of dogs to fight as a green aura surrounded them individually.

Further more, Benjamin noticed media groups and reporters taking photos and recording with highly professional cameras from a safe distance.

A spark of hope ignited from within Benjamin's heart, as if it was a call from God himself. He ran down the stairs and went straight towards the young rebels that were giving the soldiers a hard time. Fortunately for him, the dogs were too busy fighting anything that came with an assault rifle equipped with the uniform. After a few seconds of sprinting, he came to be side by side with the boys.

Benjamin was surely looking forward of calling off the battle without having to use that same power himself to stop his fellow "infected", but he changed his mindset to be willing to when he heard the screams.

"Die you sons of bitches!" they yelled with tears in their eyes and the smile of success almost breaking their cheeks, or "No one is taking me away from this place!"

Benjamin noticed that they were commanded by guy who looked extremely different from the other scared faces that cried as they killed their human peers.

This guy calmly directed his dogs towards the soldiers and ripped off limbs and spilled tons of blood with them. He evilly smiled from time to time.

Benjamin noticed a gigantic tattoo coming from his left arm as well as another smaller one on his right cheek depicting a flower.

"A gang member" he thought. Of course he knew that there were many terms to define the kind of man he was looking at, but he always referred to them as "gang members", which was not entirely wrong.

The 'criminal' looked at him with a very serious glance and pointed a hand towards him.

"Hey yo!" He yelled "Come join us you bitch!"

Benjamin got angry, those kind of people were somewhat annoying, they disturbed peace everywhere and their convictions were something that he would never understand.

"Stand down!" he ordered, "You are going to get us all killed!"

"Bullshit!" The criminal laughed, "We've got power, they have those freggin' weapons dude! We can get out of this!"

Just as he said that, a rain of bullets appeared out of nowhere and took the lives of two of those rebels, their heads and chests exploded in red as Benjamin looked how an assault vehicle with an automatic machine gun attached to it fired recklessly towards them.

The criminal swore and changed the directive of his minions, the big dogs that were under his control, two of them in total, charged furiously at the assault vehicles that were mustering ahead of them.

Benjamin grabbed the criminal with one arm and directed one of his fists towards his face. The man fell, unprepared for such strike.

"Stop this madness!" he ordered at the others, who were now too scared and got down to avoid being hit.

"You dick!"

The criminal guy raised his hand and the aura that surrounded him separated a portion of itself to create yet another big and ferocious dog that stood between Benjamin and the man.

"Die idiot!" the criminal roared.

The dog charged, teeth ready to dismember every single part of Benjamin's body.

Before this scene, the young man could do nothing but to stand with a serious look towards his opponent.

"Don't make me laugh"

Benjamin's hand made a swing, and his hand ignited in a yellow energy that blazed the hell out of the dog, disintegrating it.

"W-what?" the Criminal gasped, as he looked in horror as his dog was undone by Benjamin's hand.

Benjamin looked at the cameras, and tried to show his desperation of getting out of all that mess. Yet he noticed that the camera men and reporters were watching in horror how the people they came to fear fought each other.

He then knew he was alone in that mess.

The guy was ready to create yet another dog, but his actions were suddenly interrupted by a wave of shots that crashed into his body and skull. His body fell to the ground, dead, and the dogs he had materialized dissipated like magic.

Benjamin cleaned his eyes before the carnage that happened just before him. He immediately raised his hands, including the one under the yellow flames.

"I'm with you guys!" He yelled.

His plea to ally with the soldiers was never heard. The armed man rushed over him and the other rebels and started hitting them over and over until they were on board. They did not killed them, probably because they had orders of not doing so, but they surely wanted to. The dozen soldiers that had died on that day sparked the cry out of the reporters and other tumultuous people that had joined them soon after the fight had started.

"Die monsters!"

"You don't deserve to live!"

"You are not human!"

Those words surely hurt Benjamin's heart, he was forced to be seated again in his uncomfortable spot in that Airbus 380 alongside the rebels and the others who had decided not to take any sides.

A tear of despair escaped Benjamin's eyes as he looked how the city of El Cairo went smaller and smaller and the void below them became the vast seas of the Pacific Ocean.

He had no choice but to accept his fate.