Free New Olympus Saga (Book 1): Armageddon Girl by C.J. Carella Page A

see their point. The teenager she had been only saw the world’s greatest
hero standing up for what was right, however.
    Olivia had never been so proud to be an
American.
    Things had changed quickly after that
day, and not for the better. The Chinese Empire had started a war the next year,
only weeks after President Kennedy finalized a major troop withdrawal from the
Republic of China with the claim that it was ‘time to glean the dividends of
peace.‘ As the US and the UN rushed troops back into Asia, that dumb blonde
movie star had gone public with the story of her affair with the President.
There were accusations that both the war and the scandal were payback for
Kennedy’s support for the Civil Rights Act and its equally controversial
counterpart, the Parahuman Registration Act. Southerners and Neolympians had
allegedly joined forces to destroy the President.
    Amidst the controversy, on a cloudy day
in May of 1964, Olivia had been seized by convulsions on her way home from
school and had collapsed unconscious. When she awoke she realized she had grown
three inches in height and become a superhuman being. Her parents’ support for
the Parahuman Registration Act had wavered when it was time for them to send
their darling daughter off to a government facility to have her powers tested
and recorded, but in the end Olivia herself had decided to do the right thing.
    It was there that she had met Ultimate
for the second time, or the first if you discounted that glimpse of him
floating down from the sky. He had been one of her teachers, a kind and gentle
man who had shown her how to control her powers, and more importantly how to
accept who and what she was. Over the decades, as their roles changed from
teacher and pupil to friends and equals, they had become close. They had stood
side by side through battles and wars, weddings and funerals. He had cried on
her shoulder the day his wife died. For a while, Olivia had feared grief would
do to him what no weapon or parahuman power had, but John had recovered and
moved on. Or so she had thought.
    Olivia looked at Cecilia. She knew she
could trust her friend implicitly, and she needed to tell somebody. She wished
she could tell Larry, but confiding in her husband was no longer a possibility.
“I first started noticing something wrong with John about a year ago,” she finally
said. “It started out with little things. Absent-mindedness. Aloofness and
coldness. Memory lapses.” She could not bring herself to mention the time a few
weeks ago when he had called her by his dead wife’s name. It had been
heart-breaking, embarrassing and disturbing at the same time. “In the last few
weeks they’ve gotten a lot worse.”
    “You are saying that Ultimate may be
having some sort of breakdown.” Cecilia said, looking concerned.
    “That’s what I’m afraid of,” Olivia
admitted.
    ‘Neo Psychosis’ was a pop psychology
term, a catch-all phrase that covered a multitude of problems. The fact
remained that Neolympians had a higher incidence of psychological problems than
normal humans. Some were the obvious result of being granted superhuman
abilities, of course. The mere realization one had become an immortal being
with godlike powers could unhinge many minds. Other problems were more subtle
and included a variety of personality disorders: an addiction to dangerous
thrills, sociopathic and narcissistic tendencies, or even megalomania. For the
better part of a century, Ultimate’s presence had acted as a counterexample,
showing the world a compassionate and steady person who retained those
qualities despite being one of the most powerful beings on the planet. If he
fell, what hope was there for the rest of parahumanity?
    A slight tremor shook the building just
as she was about to tell Cecilia more about her worries. In the distance,
Olivia heard the unmistakable sound of explosions. What was going on?
    “What’s that?” Cecilia asked, looking out
the window behind