ktkat99

[ktkat99]

I know a lot of good whump or hurt/comfort fics come from the trope of touch-starved people getting held and completely melting or falling apart, but consider for a moment- touch starved people who now can't stand physical contact

-Tim gets deaged to just a few years old and Bruce has to take care of him while the spell wears off. Tim trips, or tries to take a nap, or something and Bruce tries to hold him but Tim flatly refuses to be picked up and angrily swats his hands away

-Even years after his adoption he still stiffens up when hugged.

-Bernard offers to let Tim spend the night and Tim sleeps on the couch

-No matter how roughed up Tim's gotten he always insists on walking around on his own

-Tim gets sick and Bruce knows it's getting really bad when Tim starts getting clingy

[ktkat99]

My picky as fuck cat, who has one singular type of kibble he will eat, despises any treats other than sour cream, cheddar cheese, and fish, just had his first taste of Doritos.

[ktkat99]

Unfortunately you now have to explain to a very upset Lex Luthor why you're in his space, eating his rations and wearing his bunny slippers.

As a doomsday bunker builder for billionaires, you secretly give yourself admin access. Now that the apocalypse is happening, you are glad you did.

[ktkat99]

One of my very first ideas with Bernard was that since his parents were being shitty and he needed the money, he wound up working at the Penguin Lounge. I randomly made him really good at pool, so his job was to play against clients and win for the house. Clients don't mind losing because playing against expert eye candy is just part of the entertainment. Most of the experts are women, though there is also a Silver Fox player. And if you're really rich you can watch them play/flirt against each other.

Bernard's shtick was playing ingenue. Just getting flirted with all the time while pretending he doesn't know what sex is. He didn't really see the big deal about this because clients aren't allowed to touch him. Instills that this is a classy joint.

Obviously this exists to drive various plots and also to drive Tim crazy once he finds out about it, because 1) Bernard's working at the Penguin Lounge?! and 2) His pants are how tight?!

[ktkat99]

They do it but don't tell each other and it ends up like that one Brooklyn 99 episode where Terry eats like four tracking chips in a day

Everyone talks about Bruce wants to put a tracking chip in his kids, but why doesn’t anyone talk about how much his kids would want to put a tracking chip in Bruce.

[ktkat99]

Not only do I once again feel the drive to write (yay!) but thanks to Whumptober the Zombie Apocalypse Civilian Batfam AU I wrote for Whumptober 2023 is now getting a sequel!

Tw: Character Death

Dr. Bruce Wayne and his wife Selina had discovered soon after their wedding that they'd never be able to have their own kids.

But, being both rich and resourceful, that hadn't stopped them.

They'd always intended to foster, but Dickie had won their hearts easily.

Jason had been through enough, and the way he blossomed under their care was enough to convince them that he was home. They couldn't let him go with anyone else.

Timmy was so sweet despite a childhood of neglect that he'd been the next permanent addition to the manor.

Cass had fit so perfectly into the household as soon as they all met her that adopting her had hardly even been a question.

For a while, everything seemed so perfect.

The kids were handfuls, but they always had been.

Work was hard, but when wasn't it?

And then Tim had fallen sick.

He'd always been the first one to be taken out every flu season, but this time he was still in bed bundled under too many blankets and only able to hold down water days later.

Despite his father being a doctor, nothing either parent tried had worked.

Bruce had even wrapped a thick blanket tightly around Timmy and carried him all the way down to their living room, hoping that curling up in front of a roaring fire would help.

It hadn't.

But he'd liked the change of scenery and had asked to spend the night on the couch, so they'd decided to let him.

Around midnight, Bruce was shaken awake.

"Wha..? Jay? Wassit?" Bruce propped himself on one elbow, rubbing his eyes.

"I was getting a glass of water, and… something's wrong with Tim."

That woke Bruce up.

He pushed back the blankets as he swung his legs over the side of his mattress. "What do you mean? What's wrong?"

Jason explained as he led their way down to the living room. "He… he's laying on the floor. I can't get him to wake up."

Bruce, heart in his throat, ran past Jason and down to the living room.

Sure enough, Tim was splayed out on the carpet. His blanket was dropped next to the couch, and it looked like he'd gotten up to walk somewhere.

"Tim. Tim, son, wake up. Can you hear me?"

There was no response.

Bruce felt for a pulse and breathed a sigh of relief, feeling a faint flutter.

"Is he okay?" Jason asked, staying back but looking worried.

"Go get your mother. And my phone." Bruce directed. "I'm calling an ambulance."

Jason tore off back up the stairs and Bruce carefully checked Tim over to make sure he wasn't hurt.

Finding that he, thankfully, wasn't, Bruce lifted Tim and carried him back to the fire.

Lowering himself to one knee while still holding Tim, a skill he'd developed after years of parenting, he picked up the dropped blanket and wrapped Tim's limp form up. He then paced back and forth in front of the fireplace, trying to wake him up while they waited for Selina and Jason.

Yyyyy

"Does your son happen to spend much time near Gotham Harbor?" The doctor asked, hours later.

So much later, in fact, that the sun was already up. The emergency room had been so busy handling so many other patients with the same symptoms as Tim that the only reason they'd even gotten a room in the first place was that Bruce was a doctor.

"Yes, actually. He likes to skateboard around there. Why?" Selina answered.

The doctor gestured back out the door, towards the packed waiting room. "Unfortunately, we're starting to see a pattern. Scarecrow toxin looks most likely, given what we've seen before. Seems that freak's got a new blend he's trying out."

"Scarecrow toxin? I thought that was meant to incapacitate someone almost instantly, and then wear off in like an hour?" Selina carefully brushed Tim's bangs out of his eyes.

"Yes, well, it seems that he's got a new plan now. We don't know what his goal is, but everyone affected has been in close proximity to the harbor recently, so that's what the police are focusing on. As for your son, I'm afraid the only thing we can do for him is provide some mild painkillers for when he wakes up. You also might need to restrain him to his bed, once the nightmares hit."

"Wait, you're discharging him?" Bruce asked.

"Yes. I know it's not ideal, but we don't have any more space. As he has a doctor at home already, we're releasing him to you." The doctor looked genuinely apologetic. "He should recover in a few days." He tried being optimistic, but Selina and Bruce just looked at each other, both feeling uncertain and worried.

Yyyyy

The doctor had been wrong.

Bruce realized that the next morning when he was woken up by his wife crying and shaking him.

"I just saw the news. Whatever Timmy's got, three people have died so far."

"What?" Bruce snapped fully awake in an instant.

"People are dying."

Bruce kicked off the covers and held out his hand for her phone, scrolling through the headlines and articles talking about the strange sickness sweeping Gotham. Sure enough, it had already claimed three lives, and the number was expected to continue growing.

"I need to go check on him." Bruce mumbled, stuffing his feet in his slippers and throwing on his robe as he hurried out the door.

Tim, who had recovered enough at the hospital the day before to have walked from the car back to his room by himself, was now shaking, scarily pale, and covered in sweat.

"Tim." Bruce pressed the backs of his fingers to Tim's cheek and forehead.

He was burning up, fever dangerously high.

"Tim, wake up!"

He pulled back the covers and took his closest arm, carefully checking for a pulse.

It was racing.

"Tim, can you hear me?"

There was no response, so Bruce quickly scooped the small teen up and hurried back down to the car.

Selina, car keys already in hand, was just ahead of them.

She started the car and helped Bruce get Tim situated when Bruce's phone rang. He would have ignored it, given the circumstances, but the noise caused Tim to let out a pained whine.

Quickly, he grabbed his phone and, seeing it was the hospital, answered it while she started driving.

And then he told her to stop.

They hadn't even left the driveway.

"What? What is it?"

"The hospital's on lockdown." Bruce grimly relayed, shoving his phone back in his pocket.

"Lockdown? Why?"

Bruce looked down at Tim, bundled limply against his chest. "The bodies of the three people who've died were stolen from the morgue. The police have no leads so far because… whoever did it, killed the entire morgue staff."

Selina just stared at him, mouth open.

Tim made a small, pained noise and moved his head slightly, leaning into Bruce's warmth despite his raging fever.

Feeling somewhat helpless and scared, Bruce just hugged him tight. "Okay. Let's… let's get him back in bed. I'm a doctor. And we've got enough medical supplies here to make do."

"Are you sure?"

Bruce just held his boy closer.

"We don't have a choice. If this is contagious, you and I have already been exposed. We'll tell the kids to stay… On second thought, I was going to suggest they go to friends' houses, but I don't want them traveling. Not while we still don't know what's going on."

"We can divide up the house with the kids. We have enough space." She turned and placed a hand on the back of the passenger seat, backing them into the garage again.

They then sat in silence for a minute, the gravity of the situation hitting them.

"We're not losing him." Bruce whispered firmly.

Selina exhaled, looked him in the eye, and nodded.

Yyyyy

Tim blinked slowly up at Bruce, skin nearly gray.

It had been two days since the hospital had gone on lockdown, and the death toll due to this strange sickness had grown to over fifty.

But this was Gotham.

As horrible as it was, this wasn't too abnormal.

The thing that had everyone rattled, though, was the fact that every single body had been stolen.

People who died in the hospital.

People who died at home.

Even people who'd died in various isolated places.

No bodies were left behind.

They were all stolen.

And everyone in the vicinity who happened to catch sight of these crimes?

They were slaughtered.

Every one of them.

Those bodies were left where they fell.

Tim coughed weakly, eyes slipping closed again.

Bruce took the damp cloth from his forehead and re-wet it.

"Tim, can you hear me?" He whispered, placing the cloth back where it had been.

Tim's eyes cracked open and he managed a small grunt.

"Are you thirsty?"

Tim turned his head slightly one way, and then the other.

"Do you want anything?"

Tim's eyes slipped past him, fading to stare blankly into space, and then they closed again.

Bruce sat beside him and rubbed a thumb over Tim's cheek, wishing he could do more.

Wishing he knew more.

Timmy had been conscious off and on, but with less and less frequency.

He wasn't getting any better, but Bruce and Selina refused to let that deter them.

They'd informed their other kids of what was going on and had ordered them to stay in the downstairs part of the house.

All three had been extremely worried about not only Tim, but their parents as well, but had complied.

So far, neither Selina nor Bruce had shown any sign of being sick, but they still didn't want to take any chances.

"Bruce, what are we going to do?" Selina sat on the other side of their son, carding her fingers through his hair, her other hand holding his.

"I don't know. I've been reading every medical journal and textbook in the house and nothing I've found has helped. Nothing I've done has helped. I'm at my wits end-,"

Bruce was interrupted by the sound of Tim's breath suddenly sounding harsh and raspy, and then almost immediately turning into a bad coughing fit.

"Turn him on his side. Turn him on his side." Bruce hurriedly directed, already moving to do just that.

The fit ended, but when Bruce went to roll him back over, Selina suddenly grabbed Tim by the shoulder and held him still, intently examining something just under his shirt collar.

"Bruce." She muttered faintly.

"What is it?"

"Bruce, what does this look like to you? Does this look like a needle mark?"

Bruce leaned over to see and his blood turned to ice.

A small mark he'd seen days ago and just brushed off as a mosquito bite was now black and green.

"It does look like a syringe, but I've never seen a reaction like this."

"But a syringe mark means someone did this to him. Someone did this to Timmy."

Bruce could only nod in agreement.

Yyyyy

Since it seemed Tim's illness had been caused by someone, he was deemed to have not been contagious and Dick, Jason, and Cass were allowed to see him.

Selina used this time to call the police, letting them know what they had discovered.

Bruce stayed with the kids, monitoring Tim's condition while also making sure his siblings didn't overhear what their mother was discussing.

They were all too focused on Tim to even notice she'd left the room.

"Timmy? You're going to be okay. Okay?" Dick, curled up alongside his brother, kept whispering to him.

Encouragement that he was going to recover.

Bruce was going to make him all better.

Assurances that they were all there for him.

They all loved him so much.

Tim slept through it all.

Cassie lay on Tim's other side, head on his shoulder and holding his hand with both of hers, fingers laced tightly together.

Jason just sat on the foot of the bed, looking like he was in shock.

Bruce, knowing how close the two boys were, wrapped what he hoped was a comforting arm around Jason's shoulder.

"Is… is there really a chance? That he could…" Jason trailed off and looked up at him.

Bruce wished with everything he had that he could give Jason honest reassurance, but he'd seen enough patients over the years to know that Tim's chances were bad and slipping lower.

"Bruce..?" Dick asked softly, voice breaking.

Timmy had grown up unable and thus unwilling to trust anyone. He'd been on guard so much when they'd first met him that he'd stress himself right into panic attacks on a worryingly frequent basis.

Dick had been the first one he'd allow to comfort him during these times, sitting in front of him and softly talking him through calming tricks.

Timmy had latched onto him as a bit of an emotional support brother, and Dick had taken his job seriously and passionately.

Dick had been the one to coax out Timmy's personality.

"I'm… I'm sorry."

Cass gasped out a brokenhearted sound, head flying up to stare at him. "No. He's… you can save him. You're a doctor." She took one of her hands and reached it across his chest, hugging him.

Tim, being the youngest, and Cass, being the last child they'd adopted, always ended up being the ones to team up for just about anything.

Sibling prank wars.

Sneaking a few pet gerbils into the house.

Covering for each other whenever something broke.

Dancing and skateboarding.

"I'm doing everything I can. Trust me. But… I don't know what's wrong with him. The hospital's closed. People are getting killed everywhere so we can't risk traveling. I'm not giving up on him. But I'm… I'm also going to tell you three that you'll need to prepare yourselves."

Jason stood and paced across the room to the window, one hand on his hip, the other over his mouth.

He and Tim had started off at each other's throats, Jason believing his adoptive parents were replacing him with a more easy to handle kid, and Tim picking up on Jason's hostility immediately.

Despite both parents and Dick trying just about everything they could think of to get the boys to get along, nothing had worked.

And then, one night, Jason ran away.

As he just packed a bag and snuck out through his window after everyone had gone to sleep, Bruce and Selina didn't know he'd left until the next morning when he and Tim, covered in scrapes, mud, and bruises, walked in the front door.

Neither boy would reveal what had happened, but after that night the two of them seemed to have gotten over their differences.

"Bruce! Come down here!" Selina called from down the hall.

Bruce rose and left the room, turning back at the door to check on his kids once more before he left.

Downstairs, he found Selina at the front window, peering around the curtain while trying to stay hidden.

"What is it?" He asked, coming over to see.

"Someone's in the driveway. I heard the gate rattle and saw them climb over it." She spoke in hushed tones.

Bruce jogged over and looked for himself.

Sure enough, there was a figure running and stumbling, turning back to check behind them as they headed for the house.

"Wait." Bruce narrowed his eyes. "That looks like… that's Steph." He hurried towards the door and opened it, letting her inside.

She threw herself in and sank to her knees, gasping and clutching Selina as soon as the woman knelt beside her.

"What happened? Sweetheart, are you okay?" Selina asked, rubbing the teens back.

"Th- the dead people-," she spoke frantically. "The dead people. They're not being stolen."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"They're not being stolen!" She demanded. "They're moving themselves. They're zombies!"

Before either parent could process what she'd just said, there was a loud commotion upstairs.

Bruce shot back to his feet and bolted for the stairs, only to freeze when a figure appeared at the top.

Staring blankly, standing all too still, and dripping blood from his mouth and hands, was Tim.

[ktkat99]

WHUMPTOBER 2025: PROMPTS LIST

Welcome to Whumptober 2025 — The Eighth Year!

WHUMPTOBER is a month-long, prompt-based creation CHALLENGE (think: Inktober, but whumpier). There are four prompts for each day of the month, giving 124 for you to play with! There is also a list of 18 alternative prompts that can be subbed in for any day to give participants as much creative freedom as possible.

All prompts are meant to serve as inspiration without being taken literally (e.g. you don’t have to include the exact wording of prompts into your work). Feel free to run rampant on interpretation. For example, if the prompt is “flame", you could create something with reference to a candle/campfire, your character could have suffered a burn, or the flame could be a reference to an ‘old flame’ - an old relationship. It’s truly down to you!

You can produce work in any media you choose, including but not limited to: writing, visual artwork, photo/video/audio edits, paper crafts and elaborate recommendation lists (not just a list of links). You can participate as much or as little as you want (i.e. you don’t have to do ALL the prompts if you don’t want to) and prompts can be used in any order. They are also free to use even after the event ends.

Please make sure to read the Event Info and FAQ carefully, as most of your questions will be answered there already. For everything else, you are welcome to come to our ask box or ask questions in our Discord server here.

Information on how to TAG is here.

This year’s AO3 Collection can be found here.

This year’s playlist can be found here.

The ‘Anatomy of a Whumptober Prompt’ post can be found here.

And our 'Resources for Writing Sensitive Topics’ post is here.

We’re very excited to see the community come together for yet another year of Whumptober! Go ham with the prompts, and support your fellow creators - we wish you all the best of luck, but most importantly: HAVE FUN!

Happy whumping,

Mods Vanne, Yenn, Kitty and Surro

Text versions of the prompts, including a google doc format, are posted below the cut!

A Google Doc of the prompts can be found here for easy copy-and-pasting!

Whumptober 2025 Prompt List

No. 1: “Please don’t cry” Lamb to Slaughter | Ceremony | Beg for Forgiveness

No. 2:  “You’ve got a lot of nerve to dredge up all my fears.” Prophecy | Sewer | Taking Accountability

No. 3: “I look in people’s windows, transfixed by rose golden glows.” Isolation | Candlelight | Found Family

No. 4: “Don’t be scared, I’ve done this before.” Non-Human Whumper | Iron Rod | Loss of Powers

No. 5: “My panic’s at the ceiling, but I’m face down on the carpet.” Quivering | Dream Journal | Phobia

No. 6: “No grave can hold my body down.” Caught in a Net | Medical Restraints | Pinned to the Wall

No. 7: “Tell me that you’re okay, and I’m fine.” Trapped with the Enemy | Elevator | Pushed Beyond Breaking Point

No. 8: “Oh horror, oh horror, what did you see?” Self-Inflicted Injury | Held at Gunpoint | Dissociation

No. 9: “We’ll make it alright to come undone.” Touch | Flashbacks | Scalding

No. 10: “There’s nothing you can ever say, nothing you can ever do.” Without Consent | Secrets | Lips Sewn Shut

No. 11: “Can you get through all the pain inside you?” Hidden Injury | Laceration | Forced Reveal

No. 12: “It’ll be for nothing.” Cardiac Arrest | Sacred Place | Withholding Medical Treatment

No. 13: “How dull is it to pause, to make an end, to rust unburnished.” Never Enough | Insignia | Forced Retirement

No. 14: “In the end, it’s worthwhile.” Ignoring an Illness | Body Bag | Wounded Caretaker

No. 15: “You can take a break, if you just tell me that it hurts.” Failed Rescue Attempt | Body Part in the Mail | Live-Streamed Torture

No. 16: “I’ve had the rug pulled beneath my feet.” Repressed Trauma | Permanent Marker | Disorientation

No. 17: “Tell me there’s a hope for me.” Internal Bleeding | Coma | Redemption

No. 18: “As the world caves in.” Dystopia | Ruins | Environmental Whump

No. 19: “You’re on your own, lost in the wild.” Dehumanisation | Living Weapon | On Patrol

No. 20: "That's New." Symptomatic | Fancy Event | Resignation

No. 21: “Sold my soul, broke my bones.” Kneeling | Makeshift Splint | Brainwashed

No. 22: “All the battles I want to win, nothing mattress but giving in.” Self-Sacrifice | Collar | Hunted for Sport

No. 23: “How’d I get to this place?” Intubation | ICU | Choking

No. 24: “I must confess that I feel like a monster.” Came Back Wrong | Painful Transformation | Amnesia

No. 25: “Have you earned your stripes?” Lost Faith | Collision Course | Left to Die

No. 26: “Nothing like a relapse to rehash the kid who was scared.” Relapse | Drawn Curtains | Power Cut

No. 27: “Would you even want me, looking like a zombie?” Surgical Scars | X-Ray | Bedside Vigil

No. 28: “I could always see straight through you.” Backstabbing | Constellation | Creative Restraints

No. 29: “I hope you see the sun someday in the darkness.” Fainting | Broken Dishes | Last one Standing

No. 30:  “I’m putting my trust in an entire half-empty glass.” Burn it Down | Mirror | Confrontation

No. 31: “Even with the smallest cuts. You can still lose so much blood.” Bleeding Out | Gunshot Wound | Rescued by the Enemy

Alternatives List:

"A smile so bright, he’s the devil in disguise.”

“I hear you’re alive, how disappointing.”

“If all my days are numbered, why do I keep counting?” 

Concussion

Viral

Suicide

Immortality

Jealousy

Organ Theft

Ziptie

Deal with the Devil

Yearning

Innocent Bystander

Unreality

Soulless

[ktkat99]

30 minutes to go!

[ktkat99]

Do you think it would be okay to make jewelry themed after the whumptober prompts?

This would be absolutely amazing! What a cool idea! 😍

[ktkat99]

It is August 25, and I just saw my first Christmas ad of the year

[ktkat99]

STOP ✋

To continue past this point you must pay the scroll toll.

Please deposit photos of your pets down below

Thank you and happy scrolling!

[ktkat99]

I was trying to work on my blanket when Damian fell asleep on it

[ktkat99]

Chronos and his Titans

Chapter 19

Hermes stared off into space absently, head resting on one hand, while the other was busy tapping a pencil against his desk. He had been all over the school attendance list to find out where ‘Phil’ was, but he didn’t appear to be in any class at the moment. Hermes couldn’t find any trace of his son in the computer system, which meant he must have just walked onto campus. Which also meant that he had no way of tracking him down.

Manny, mistaking the tapping as a game, backed up slightly, wiggled his rump in excitement, and pounced on the poor god’s hand.

Hermes gasped and jumped back, dropping his pencil. Manny happily batted it around the desk, completely oblivious to the fact that Hermes very much hadn't wanted to play with him, and was in fact just staring at him in fear. He eventually did notice that something was wrong, however, when he batted the writing implement to the floor and it wasn't picked up and returned to him.

"Maooo?" He tilted his head in confusion.

Hermes sighed and scooted his deck chair back to where it had been a moment before and, keeping his eyes fixed on the mini-manticore, opened the drawer containing the kitty treats and shook a few out for him.

"Here." As soon as the treats had left the bag, Hermes pushed his chair away again. He wanted to make sure that, should the young ones ever discover their ruse and send their pet to attack them, he at least had a chance of being seen as a friend to it.

"Any sign of Pan?" Aphrodite asked, making her presence beside him known.

"No. We might be able to catch him wandering around, but I really don't want to do it that way." He groaned.

Aphrodite nodded in agreement. "Yeah. That would be risky. We don't know how he'd react to seeing us."

"Exactly. That's why I held back when I saw him during lunch. Atlanta, Neil, and Archie have every reason to be suspicious of us at the moment and I don't want Pan to say something that could blow our cover. But he's not listed in any classes, and I haven't heard from any teachers that they have an extra student, so I think he's just showing up between the classes to hand these out." He scooted a bit closer to the desk to grab two papers from it, which he then handed to her.

"So he's going by 'Phil' now?" She read over the flier depicting the demi-god grinning confidently at the camera, headphones around his neck, behind a DJ table.

Hermes tapped a line at the top of the paper. "Stage name, DJ Panic. He always has been a bit dramatic."

"Yeah, well. Like father, like son." She nudged him, trying to get even a small smile out of him.

"Maooooo!" Manny called, not happy with being ignored.

"Maybe we're going about this wrong?"

"What did you have in mind?" Hermes held out his hand for Manny to sniff, but yanked it back when he instead licked it. "Ah, no. Don't do that."

"Not everyone on staff is a god. We could pass off the poster of him to a few of our new coworkers, have them keep an eye out for him. We just need a chance to talk to him without risking any of the kids seeing."

"You know, that might actually be our best bet. Let's do it."

"Alright. I'll go hit up the bulletin boards by the entrance to see if he left any more fliers there."

Hermes stood and took back the ones he had handed her. "I'll go leave these in the teacher's lounge."

"Maooo!"

"I'll leave a note saying there is an issue with his schedule and I have no other ways of tracking him down."

Aphrodite paused, one hand on the doorknob. "What if they suggest calling him over the announcement system?"

"We don't know what last name he's going by, or I would have done that to start with. I'll just say that my computer glitched and now I don't have any information about him in my records."

Persephone stuck her head out of her office and cleared her throat. "Um, you could call him by his DJ name. Most of the school has already seen his poster, so even if he doesn't come down here himself, someone might at least let us know where he hangs out."

Hermes and Aphrodite just stared at each other in silence. "That… that's an idea we hadn't considered." Hermes doubled back and hurried back to the intercom.

Yyyyyy

Atlanta found Archie almost as soon as she walked into the gym, leaning against the wall. The entire class had been told to change into their swim clothes, as the old pool had been cleaned and filled for the first time in two years. As she had guessed, Archie was the only student who hadn't listened, instead opting to stay in his hoodie and shorts.

"I really hope this is just the new gym teacher trying to win everyone over with a pool day. If swimming is going to be a regular part of class, I'm asking to be switched to Herry's weights class." He grumbled as she walked over to join him.

"Maybe you can just stay in the shallow end?" She offered. Neither of them had met this 'Mr. Rams' yet, but the idea of having to get into a pool with twenty or so hyper and rowdy teenagers wasn't making Archie look forward to the class.

Over in his office, Ares took one last look at his clipboard, confirming that not one but two of the heroes would be in his last class of the day, and exhaled. He'd handled armies, gods, beasts and monsters… this would be easy. Not to mention, his previous classes had loved him.

This wouldn't be a problem.

"Alright class, line up."

As his students hurried to do as they were told, Ares was mildly surprised to see that Archie was the only one who hadn't changed for the class. Despite that, though, he and Atlanta lined up with the others. No matter. He'd expected some degree of acting out. Even as a young child the boy had always had a bit of a problem with authority. Combine that with an up bringing at the hands of Chronos and the usual aloofness that came with being seventeen and Ares felt fairly confident he knew how to handle his student.

"Here's how this is going to go. We're going to head outside and have a fun pool day to end your first day. If you work hard and do as you're told, this will be a reward you as a class can earn in the future. That being said, it can also be taken away. Does everyone understand?"

Everyone nodded, a few cheered. Archie scowled.

"Then let's go have some fun. Your real work will begin tomorrow." He opened one side of the double doors leading outside and held it so that his class could all exit head to the pool. Several walked down the steps into the shallow end, carefully testing the water temperature, while others just jumped off the edge. One of his previous classes had informed him that the small shed at the far end of the pool housed some pool noodles and inflatables, so those were already in the water waiting for them. As soon as the last student had exited, he also came over to stand by the edge of the water.

"Mr. Rams? Can I talk to you?"

Ares turned around to see that Archie had come up behind him, hands in his hoodie pocket.

"Yes? Is this about why you ignored my directions to change for class?"

He wasn't expecting the teen to hesitate, bit he did. "... Yeah. The thing is-,"

"The thing is, teach, Archie's too scared to get in the water." One of the boys who'd jumped in, Jacob, laughed.

Archie's scowl returned and he turned to walk away.

"Hey, hold it." Ares grabbed his arm. "Where do you think you're going?"

Archie yanked his arm back. "Inside. Look, I can do something else, but I don't swim."

"Well, today, you do. You can stay over by the steps, but you can't just get out of a class activity because you're scared."

"Mr. Rams, please. Archie isn't trying to start a fight. Maybe-,"

Atlanta was cut off when Jacob swam over to the edge of the pool and hauled himself halfway out of the water, just far enough to grab Archie by the bottom of his hoodie and yank him into the water.

Archie hit the water with a shout and immediately began flailing, trying to both stay above the water and reach the edge.

Atlanta and a few classmates who had seen what had happened helped him out and back onto dry land while some others scolded Jacob, who just laughed at the scene he had caused. He loved attention of any kind and saw nothing wrong with getting a laugh out of another student's misery.

Ares, however, was quick to order him out of the pool and off to the principal's office. Once the boy had left, albeit rolling his eyes and grumbling the entire time, he turned his attention back to Archie.

The young warrior was on his knees by the pool, soaked to the bone. He was done coughing up water, but Atlanta was still seated by him, rubbing his back.

The rest of his students had stopped playing and were now just staring. One of the girls climbed out and silently grabbed a towel from the nearby stack and handed it over to Atlanta, who draped it around Archie's shoulders.

"Are you alright?" Ares knelt down, but Archie huffed and bolted to his feet, clutching the towel tightly. "Hey, wait. Where are you going?"

"I'm outta here. Atlanta, I'll see you at home." He didn't turn around to address his friend, just bowed his head and quickly made his way back to the gym.

Ares hurried after him. This wasn't going well. "Archie, stop."

He did, but when he whipped around, all Ares could see was a young Achilles. The fear was very obvious on the teen's face, despite his desperate attempt to hide it under a mask of anger and aggression.

"Don't touch me! Look, go ahead and assign me detention, or suspension. I don't care. I'm leaving." He took a few deep breaths, calming himself down. "I think it would be best of I just transferred over to Mr. Kent's class."

Yyyyyy

It wasn't until over an hour later that Ares was able to make it to the school's front office to talk with his fellow gods. The slamming of the door announced his presence.

"I hope you all had a better day than I did."

Hermes scoffed and leaned back against his desk chair. "Nobody's seen Pan since lunch. I'm pretty sure he just showed up before first bell and during lunch to hang out with the students and hand out his fliers. We're going to try again tomorrow to track him down, but hopefully he's already left."

Aphrodite held up a paper that he couldn't read from all the way across the room.

"Neil came by earlier and asked permission to come in for weekly check-ins. He said that one of the nurses he volunteers with recommended that he start seeing a counselor regularly."

"Figures you're the lucky one, Aphrodite." Persephone laughed ruefully. "Hera and I had to call a student's mother to let her know that her son had been bullying another student. She stormed in here while everyone was going home and yelled at us for 'being mean to her son' and 'making filthy accusations against him without any proof.' If I wasn't pretending to be a mortal, oh, I'd have let her have it." She shrugged. "But I think I'll just call my dearest and ask him to set aside some special arrangements for her for when her time comes. Anyway, what happened with you, Ares?"

Ares crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall behind him. "You all told me to be nice and make a good first impression, so I made today a pool day. Every other class loved it, so I-, what's that look for?"

Hermes held his incredulous expression for a moment longer before asking, "Don't you have Archie in your last period?"

"Yeah. And I was expecting him to be a bit of a problem student, but-,"

"Let me guess. He didn't want anything to do with the water?" Hermes sank back in his chair, hands covering his face. He desperately hoped that being the god of luck would be enough to keep the plan from falling apart after just one day. They were so close…

"Is that a regular thing for him?" Ares thought for a second. "Is it because of his ancestry?"

"Did you read any of the background information I wrote out for you?"

"Uhh, I meant to?" He'd forgotten the binder back in New Olympia, but hadn't had time to retrieve it.

"The reason he was in foster care in the first place was because his mother drowned when he was five. Right in front of him. Don't you think that might have some lasting traumatic effects? Not to mention he had a close call and nearly drowned just a few weeks ago."

"Great…" Ares pinched the bridge of his nose. That would have been good information to have had earlier. And now he wanted to transfer to a new class. Anger, he could deal with. Defiance, too. But fear? Fear led to mistrust. Mistrust was harder to work with, especially since the kids were eventually going to find out who they were. The entire reason they were here in the first place was to get close to the kids and gain their trust so that they'd have at least a fighting chance of convincing them to switch sides.

But now? This couldn't have gone worse, and he was well aware of the fact that he might have just severed any chance of saving his student that he'd had.

Yyyyy

Archie looked up from his book at the sound of someone knocking on his open bedroom door. Jay stood in the doorway, one hand in his pocket, the other now just resting against the door.

“Are you free to talk?”

Archie closed his book, not even bothering to mark his place. Jay wasn’t looking at him, and his stance was stiff. Awkward. “What’s wrong?”

Jay nodded his head down the hall. “Let’s go for a walk. I, uh… there’s something you need to know. And I’d rather not risk someone overhearing.”

Archie nodded and stood, pausing only to grab and pull on his hoodie before following Jay.

Jay remained silent as they walked. Archie didn't try to push him to talk, just followed along as he was led out of the house, across the driveway, and into the woods.

It wasn't an uncomfortable silence between the pair by any means, despite what had happened the last time they had been in these woods. It was more companionable. The sun was still high in the sky, so their way was well-lit.

Atlanta and Chronos had gone into town to pick up dinner for everyone, Neil was at the hospital doing his volunteer work, Theresa and Herry were helping each other with homework, and Odie was out running Manny.

It didn't take Archie very long to realize where Jay was leading him, as it was a path they had traveled together for years. It was a trail they used to be able to navigate blind. A secret place just for the seven of them to be kids. Not superheroes. Not a team. Not the scholars their parents thought they were. Just friends. It was their one true escape from their lives.

Archie held out a hand to feel the indents on one of the trees as they passed it, scarred by years of graffiti, stab marks from being used as target practice, carved names of school crushes they may or may not have had. Because what else were a group of unattended, knife-wielding kids supposed to do?

Barely a minute later, they rounded the final bend in the trail and reached their destination; the old treehouse.

The ladder that hung down the trunk of the large oak tree was old and having been exposed to the elements had been really bad for it, but after a brief test Jay determined that it was still strong enough to hold their weight. They reached the top and found the floor of the treehouse had been covered by leaves, pine needles, branches, moss, and a few nests from various animals. Archie felt a pang of nostalgia as he looked around, remembering all the times they had spent together up here.

There had been a few times in which he'd felt overwhelmed at home and run off, only to have someone, usually Agnon, Neil, or Jay, find him camping in the treehouse.

Atlanta had a bad habit of stashing extra hunting equipment in some of the storage boxes they had originally hauled up to hide their toys.

He almost tripped over the cables left strewn around from the two summers Herry and Odie had spent trying their hardest to set up a series of zip lines leading down to several different trail heads-

"Hm."

Archie turned back to Jay, who had picked his way through the debris to lean against the railing and look out at the trees. The warrior felt slightly thrown off guard by the feeling of being pulled so harshly out of his memories. He had always hoped that the care free camaraderie they had all shared as children was something that would never leave them, but the slump in Jay's shoulders… this wasn't the time for a walk down memory lane.

"What's up, Jay?"

"I… I've been trying all day to put together what I want to say to you."

Archie joined him in leaning against the surprisingly sturdy railing, noting that Jay wasn't really looking at anything in particular. He was just staring blankly down at the ground.

"But I've never been good at planning talks like this ahead of time."

"Jay… is this your way of telling me you've changed your mind about having me as your second-in-,"

"No!" Jay's head snapped up, cutting him off. "No. I trust your judgment. I know your instincts are good. I-," he broke off again and shook his head. "Archie, during the test, you… expressed certain frustrations regarding-,"

"Look, I'm sorry about that." Archie interrupted. "I was frustrated and angry. I didn't mean to take it out on you."

"You were frustrated and angry. And I understand that. I know that springing that test on you all was wrong of me." Jay sighed and turned back to the trees. "I still regret not just… taking you and Theresa aside and talking to you about my plans in private, but I can't change that now."

"Jay, it's alright."

"No, it's not. You were right. We need to be able to trust each other. That includes trusting me. And I haven't been completely honest about why I wanted help."

Archie took his leader's pause as an excuse to study his face a bit closer. It was subtle, but the skin under his eyes was starting to grow dark. His bottom lip looked like he had begun chewing on it again, which made Archie glance down at Jay's hands, resting on the banister. Sure enough, every nail had been torn down to the skin.

Archie looked away. He hadn't realized… he should have realized before now that the stress had started taking a physical toll on his friend.

"Jay, what's going on?"

"That night the gods went after us? The night that you got hurt?"

"We were all spread out that night. You can't blame yourself for-,"

"I almost left!" Jay interrupted, eyes squeezed shut in frustration.

Archie opened his mouth to respond, but closed it again when he couldn't find any words.

Jay opened his eyes and took a deep, slow breath. "I… I almost left. There. I said it." He whispered.

"Jay, what are you talking about? You- you almost left?"

Jay sighed and raked his hands through his hair. He then turned around and sank to the floor, knees pulled up to his chest.

Archie knelt beside him. "Jay?"

"I'm… I'm trying. So hard. I- I'm the only one on the team without an ability, but I came to terms with that years ago. But then, I'm the leader. I'm the one in charge of keeping you all safe. I- I almost let you drown. I saw your life vest had a-,"

"Jay! Stop it!" Archie grabbed his friend by the shoulders. "I'm seventeen. That was MY mistake. That was MY fault. You need to stop blaming yourself… for…" He sat back, puzzle pieces falling together in his mind. "Chronos."

Jay narrowed his eyebrows slightly in confusion, unable to follow Archie's train of thought.

"Did Chronos blame you for me falling off the boat?"

"It's not that simple. Basic boat safety means that I was responsible for making sure that-,"

"Jay. You're our leader, not our babysitter. Stop shaking your head and listen to me. Accidents happen. People make mistakes. You can't always protect us from everything, no matter what Chronos says." He reached out and took Jay's hand, running his fingertip over the jagged edges of the other boy's nails, frowning when he saw flecks of dried blood in the crease where nail met skin. He'd bitten at least one short enough to draw blood. "In the end… I'm fine."

"They were watching us."

"We know. They wanted us separated. Vulnerable. But we beat them."

Jay took his hand back. "Archie, please. Let me finish. Everything that happened that day, from almost losing you, to when the cops wanted to send you and Neil to a civilian family, to the gods attacking us. Even when we got back to the school to help Chronos against Artemis and Chiron… I was just reacting after things went wrong. Herry was the one who found you-,"

"While you called Odie and got the boat ready to head back to shore. Which is what ultimately saved me."

"Archie, stop."

"No. Jay, you don't need to explain yourself to me. To any of us. If you need help, you just need to ask."

Jay swallowed the lump in his throat. "I know you mean that, but-,"

"But nothing, Jay! We're all on the same team here."

"And I'm telling you I almost ditched that team and ran away! I don't…" he sighed and thumped his head against the old wood railing he was leaning against. "Please, just let me finish. I called you up here because you were right; this will be a change to the team's entire dynamic, and I should have involved more than Chronos in the decision."

"Can I ask… why you didn't?"

Jay bit his lip and sighed. "What's going on with you and Chronos? What happened?"

Archie looked away and adjusted his position to be more comfortable. "It's… it's nothing, Jay. You know me. I'm just paranoid, given what's been happening lately. Come on. Stop avoiding the question."

"I do know you, Archie. That's why I chose you to take over in my absence. And I know that, when you stop trusting someone, it's because something broke your trust."

The wind knocking a few branches against the treehouse was the only sound for a while. Archie didn't face Jay, trying his best to keep his expression neutral as his mind was suddenly back in Odie's family's kitchen, watching their teacher, his father, mind control Doris and Helena. He swallowed and tried to ignore the sound of blood rushing in his ears. If… if Odie ever found out, they'd lose him in a heartbeat. Would… would they lose anyone else? Had Chronos done that trick on any other parents?

Had he ever done that to any of them?

But Jay didn't need to know any of that. Chronos had only done that to keep Odie safe. To keep them all safe.

"It's nothing, Jay. Really. Everyone's still reeling from the attack and the fact that the gods found your families. I'll be fine." He cleared his throat and did his best to turn the conversation back on Jay. "Just tell me. Why did you almost leave? Was it because I got hurt?"

"Partially." He ran his fingers through the pine needles they were sitting on and shook his head. "I tried so hard. I know I've been driving you all nuts, but I increased our training because it looked like the gods had finally found us, but then they just disappeared for weeks. So, now, we're just training for a battle that might never happen, and I can see you're all frustrated. But i- it's more than that. What you said earlier? That you're seventeen? Well," he scoffed, and Archie got the sense that this was something Jay had needed to get off his chest for a while. "I'm eighteen! I can't handle being in 'leadership mode' twenty-four/seven. I'm giving everything I have. I'm losing sleep, all my free time goes to planning or helping Odie with our security and communication systems or sparring. I-," he absently started picking at his fingernails, needing something to focus on besides the panic setting in as he laid out all that had been weighing on him. "I know that this isn't new, that I've been team leader since I was eight, but before… I knew the stakes were high, but I never had to see them before. First, knowing that you and Odie were out there alone with Artemis? Chronos usually takes over when actual danger is involved, but we didn't have him."

It wasn't until he winced and paused that Archie noticed the tip of one of Jay's fingers was slowly turning red. He had picked another nail too short, and Archie didn't like that just talking was stressing his friend out this much. But he didn't say anything. He just nodded for Jay to continue. And he pulled the sleeve of his hoodie down a bit so he could use the excess material to press to the injury. Jay needed to vent.

Jay let Archie take his hand and looked away. "I handled it that night, and we ended up okay. But the whole time, all I was thinking was, 'Chronos wouldn't be hiding. Chronos would be out there fighting.' And I was right. As soon as he got home, he was out the door, searching." He took his hand back and held it in his other hand. "You guys are my friends. We're practically family at this point. I'd never do anything to put you in danger. But lately it seems like I can't do anything to keep you safe. Heading back home after chasing off Artemis and Chiron, I… I was alone. And I couldn't help but wonder if you'd all be safer with a leader who actually knows what they're doing. So, when I saw a sign for Gizaville, it felt like… I don't know. It felt like a solution. I could ditch my PMR so you couldn't track me, and then just… keep driving. Chronos could take over, and you'd all be better off."

"... What changed your mind?"

"Atticus called me. Right as I was about to drop my PMR out the window. He'd heard something on the radio that reminded him of me and wanted to leave a voice message for me to wake up to. There was just something about talking to him, pretending everything was normal, that I guess snapped me out of my thoughts. And it occured to me that running wouldn't solve anything." He sighed and, for the first time since they've started talking, looked Archie in the eye. "I don't run. I'm a strategist. If the way things have been isn't working, then we need to change how things are."

"And so you decided you needed help leading the team." Archie nodded. "I understand that. But what I don't understand is why this is the first time I'm hearing about this. Jay, I know I've said this several times already, but we're a team. It seems like you're not really grasping that that's a two-way street. You need to rely on us a bit more when you're struggling, and not just when you get pushed over the edge." He reached out and grabbed Jay's hand again, holding it up to show Jay the damaged nail. "Clearly, you're not okay. We're all here for you, but you can't keep hiding when you need help."

All the conviction that had been in Jay's expression drained away in an instant. "I'm the leader. You guys need-,"

"Oh, for crying out loud, Jay! What do we need? A strong leader? Fearless and confident? Always making the right call, never failing? Is that what we need?"

"I don't know, Archie! I'm trying my best, but in the end, I don't know what I'm doing! No matter what I do, it's the wrong thing!" He dropped his head into his arms, crossed over top of his knees.

Archie sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Jay, why do you think we follow you? Do you think it's just because the prophecy says we have to?"

Jay looked up at him. "We all have our roles in the team."

"No. We follow you because we know you. We trust you. And we know you're good at being our leader. Besides, the thing about growing up together is we won't hesitate to call you on your bullshit."

That at least got a small smile.

Archie scooted closer and wrapped an arm around Jay's shoulders. "Do you know what we call Herry and Theresa when you're out of earshot?"

"No, what?"

"We call them the 'Jay Protection Squad.'"

"Protection squad?" Jay sat up straighter, confused.

"You haven't noticed? Those two are pretty protective of you."

Jay thought in silence for a moment, seeing his friends in a new light. "Is that why they tagged along on mine and Atticus's date?"

Archie grinned and gave a little chuckle. "Yeah. Chronos had to talk them out of tracking Atticus down and giving him a piece of their minds when we thought you'd been stood up. I'm pretty sure they're starting to warm up to him, though"

Jay didn't respond right away. He glanced down and ran his thumb over his injured nail again, feeling the sharp, jagged edges he had created. Then he exhaled and leaned into Archie's one-armed hug. "I don't know how I didn't notice before."

"We're all here for you, Jay. You don't need to pull rank or anything like that. And, just try to keep in mind, some old dude might have seen the future years ago, but he's not here right now. We are. And sometimes it's not a bad thing to forget about destiny and all that. Sometimes, it's okay to remember that, yeah, we may be heroes with powers and a mission, but we're also teenagers. It's okay for you to just be a teenager."

"Thank you, Archie. And… I'll," Jay swallowed, stealing another quick glance down at his hand. "I'll do better about relying on you guys in the future."

Yyyyyy

Atlanta held out the sleeve of a winter jacket and examined the material. It was dark green, and designed to be lightweight but warm enough to be worn in cold weather. Interested, she flipped the tag to see the size and price. She hummed in thought, weighing whether or not she really needed a new jacket for winter, or if her old one would hold up for another year.

Ultimately, she shrugged and wandered away from the rack. She and Chronos were hanging around at the mall while the pizzas they had ordered were being prepared. They had about twenty minutes left before they would be ready. Chronos had left her at the store right across from the pizza place in case their number was called early while he did a bit of grocery shopping.

She was just considering heading to the pet store two doors down to see the animals, when a rack of hoodies caught her eye.

There were an assortment of various colors, and she walked over and began flipping through them until she found what she was looking for; blue. It hadn't escaped her notice that Archie's hoodie was still being held together by the stitches Jay had put in after it got slashed up in training.

Satisfied with her selection, she headed for the register. A few minutes later, she was out the door.

From where she stood in front of the store, she was able to see into the pizza shop. There was still time to kill, and the pet store was close enough that she'd still be able to hear if their number was called, so after not very much deliberation she took out her PMR and sent Chronos a message letting him know where she was going to be and made her way down.

The large front window allowed her to look in on a pen of adorable, rowdy puppies flopping around and playing with either their pen mates or the various toys they had scattered around. One small pup, a basset hound, saw her and ran to the window, tripping over its long ears in the process.

"Aw. Hey, little guy." She knelt down to be at eye level with the dog, who began licking the glass in excitement.

"I think he likes you."

Atlanta stood and turned around, recognizing the voice. "Hey, Phil. What are you doing here?"

The taller teen gave a small shrug. "Just checking out what's here. And grabbing some dinner. What about you? Picking out a new pet?"

"No." Atlanta turned back to the puppies. The basset hound had rejoined the others and was now pawing at a rope toy. "I'm just hanging out here until our pizzas are ready. We always get pizza for dinner on the first day of school." She gestured across the way to the shop.

"'We?'" Phil looked around, eyebrows furrowed. "Is Archie here? I feel like the two of us got off on the wrong foot earlier."

"No, sorry. Archie's at home. We attend an additional, secondary school. I'm here with our teacher, Chronos." She gestured behind him, waving a greeting to the god himself. She didn't see the flash of terror that Pan was just barely able to hide.

"Hello. Atlanta, did you make a new friend?" The god asked. He was carrying a grocery bag in each hand, but shifted one to the other so he could have a free hand.

"Chronos, this is my friend from school, Phil. Phil, this is Chronos." Atlanta introduced.

Chronos put on his best smile and stepped forwards, hand extended. "Why, it's nice to meet you. Phil, was it?"

Pan's heart beat in his chest louder than he had ever heard it before. This couldn't… Why was Chronos here? Was this why nobody had been able to find him? He'd gone undercover as a mortal? He had obviously recognized Pan, but was pretending he hadn't. Moving almost robotically, and desperately thinking of any way to get Chronos away from the civilians, he accepted the offered handshake.

The instant his hand made contact with Chronos's, the world turned ever so slightly purple, like he'd suddenly put on a pair of colored glasses. He gasped, and wasn't entirely sure if it was out of fear or just how hard Chronos was squeezing his hand.

"Tell me, Pan." Chronos growled, cheery facade dropped.

Pan's ichor turned to ice in his veins as he noticed that, aside from himself and Chronos, everyone else was still.

Frozen.

Time had been frozen.

"What, exactly, brought you here? And for that matter, who else is with you?"

[ktkat99]

Chronos and his Titans

Chapter 18

Archie reached out to touch a broken twig, then turned to scan the trees. Jay might have come this way, or he might have left a false trail to throw them off his scent.

“So, when we find him, what are we doing first? Dragging him back to Chronos or beating him for making calls like this on his own?” Atlanta brushed past him and took the lead, tracking their leader with a better-trained eye than Archie had.

“I think I see something out there.” Odie pointed off down another trail. He had taken a few minutes back at the house to change clothes and saddle up Manny, who he was currently riding.

“What does it look like?” Theresa closed her eyes, using her ability to ‘see’ if it was their leader.

“I… I can’t tell. It looks like… maybe a jacket?”

“This is Jay, remember. He’s going to have left things to cover his tracks and throw us off.”

“Yes, Archie. You’re right. We should ignore obvious things. That seems like something a smart leader would do.”

Archie’s icy glare was her only response for several seconds. Herry, Neil, Atlanta, and Odie stood awkwardly by the pair, close enough to step in should their fight escalate.

“What’s your deal? We all want to find Jay. Atlanta says his trail leads towards the lake, so we’re heading towards the lake.”

“And Odie says he sees a jacket back there. It will take just a few minutes to go see what it is.”

“You want to know what it is, Theresa? Let’s see. We’re tracking Jay. At night. Through the woods. For a surprise test. A test, mind you, to decide on a smart stand-in leader. You add all that together and it’s not hard to see that two plus two equals a trap.”

“It is way too obvious to be a trap. This is Jay. He’d lay a trap for us by making it something subtle.” She pointed further up the lake trail that Atlanta was currently standing on. “Like leaving a path for us to follow.”

“Guys, this isn’t really the time. Can we get moving?” Herry did his best to redirect them.

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

“This way.”

They both walked a few steps up the different trails, the other four had just enough time to look at each other, not sure which way they should go, before Archie and Theresa were back at it.

“I thought we just went over this? He went towards the lake!”

“How far do you think we’re going to get in this test by ignoring things?”

“Alright, that is enough!” Herry stepped in and shoved the two away from each other. “This is getting us nowhere. I don’t know what’s going on with you two, but end it. Now. Or at the very least, grow up and handle it later.”

“...”

“...”

“Alright?!” He repeated himself.

“Fine.” Archie snapped, shoving Herry’s hand off his shoulder.

“Alright.” Theresa agreed. “Now let’s-,”

“Let’s split up.”

“What?”

“Obviously you’re not going to listen to me.” The warrior was already walking back to the lake trail. “And I’m not about to blindly walk into a trap just to keep you happy. Besides, if we split up, then we’ll have two teams searching the woods for Jay instead of one. We’ll be twice as likely to find him and end this that much sooner.”

“I don’t know about this, Archie. We should stick together. Utilize all of our abilities to track Jay.”

“That’s sweet, Theresa, but you know as well as I do that neither of us works well together when we’re fighting.”

“Archie’s right. It’s better if we split up.” Atlanta gave Theresa a reassuring pat on the shoulder before following her friend up the lake trail. Neil shrugged and waved, trailing after her.

“Herry, Odie? You with me?” Theresa asked.

Herry nodded and Odie turned Manny towards the thing he had seen.

Yyyyy

Atlanta picked her way slowly through the dark woods, stopping every now and then to investigate something further, while Neil and Archie kept their full attentions on their surroundings.

“So, what’s with you and Theresa?” She kept her voice low, knowing Archie would be able to hear her with no problems.

“Nothing. We’re just-,”

“Theresa accused Archie of not caring about our home lives because he doesn’t have one, while Archie-,”

“We both said things that were out of line. I’ll… I’ll apologize later. I’m just not in the mood to talk to her right now.”

Neil rolled his eyes at Atlanta, letting her know that this wasn’t any kind of fight she had to be concerned about.

“Do you think you’ll be ready to talk to her tonight? You know how these things can snowball if they’re- Stop!” She froze and threw her arms wide, catching Archie and Neil behind her before they triggered the trip wire she had just seen.

“Looks like we were right. Jay really did come this way.” Archie grabbed his bullwhip off his belt and started scanning the trees. “Neil. You armed?”

“I’ve got bolas, and Atlanta’s practice staff.” Neil stood back to back with Archie while Atlanta crept along the tripwire to see what it led to. He reached for his belt and grabbed the compact staff, flicking his wrist so it elongated like his friend’s spear.

“Atlanta, what have you got?”

“It’s too dark to see where the wire leads. I’m going to turn on my PMR light.” She let them know.

Right after the light came on, though, the wire went slack and Archie had barely a second to throw himself on top of Atlanta, knocking her out of the way as a net flew just over their heads.

Neil, as he had been standing, got caught in the net and hauled halfway up a tree.

“Neil!” Atlanta was on her feet and scaling the tree in an instant while Archie jumped up to tackle the figure that had taken advantage of their distraction to attack.

Jay hit the dirt and rolled to his feet, using his momentum to rip Archie’s whip out of his hands. Archie snatched a branch off the ground and ran at Jay again, swinging with all his might.

Jay dove to the side at the last second, sticking out his leg to trip Archie.

“Agh. Hey!” The warrior grunted as he hit the ground. “Are you going to tell us what this is all about?” He twisted his body to chuck the branch at Jay’s legs. Jay fell hard and Archie wasted no time in pouncing on him.

“Chronos told you-,”

“That’s the problem. He’s not our leader, Jay! You are!” Archie held one hand firmly between Jay’s shoulder blades to keep him pinned while he reached for his whip, but Jay thrashed around and managed to throw him off.

“Look, I’m sorry I didn’t give you a heads up about the test but-,”

Archie flicked his wrist and his whip wrapped tightly around Jay’s forearm. “Who cares about the test?” He yanked on the whip,causing Jay to stumble into him. Not in the mood to give his leader a chance to recover, Archie pinned him back against a tree, arm braced against his chest. “You’ve been looking to change the entire dynamic of the team, and you couldn’t even discuss it with us?”

Jay grunted and tried to shove Archie away, but the teen was livid and took the opportunity presented to him to unleash a bit of it.

“You know as well as I do that having only one leader in a war like this isn’t smart.”

“‘We need to trust each other and be prepared for anything!’ That’s what you’re always saying, right?! How do you expect us to do that when we can’t even trust those leading us?!”

Jay got his leg between himself and Archie and kicked him away. “I’m sorry I can’t keep you in the loop for every decision.”

Archie recovered before Jay could say anything else and lunged at him again, only to wince and grab his chest. His ribs had mostly healed, but the fight had agitated them.

“Archie!”

He felt Jay grab him by the arm and shoulder and try to get him to sit, but he shoved him off. “I’m fine!” He snapped, trying to calm his breathing. He closed his eyes and bent over, resting his free hand on his knee.

“Archie!” Atlanta dropped down from the tree, Neil right behind her, ran over and grabbed his arm, forcing him to sit.

“I thought you said you were recovered.” Jay knelt in front of him, giving him space.

“I’m fine.” Archie growled, gesturing for Atlanta and Neil to leave him alone. “I just landed wrong.”

“Regardless, you’re not fighting anymore tonight. I’m benching you.” Jay stood, along with Atlanta, who looked like she had something she needed to say.

“Chronos said that if we didn’t want the position of stand-in leader, we wouldn’t be forced?”

“Yes?” Jay nodded at her, casting a worried side-eye at Archie, who was still seated and scowling at the trees.

“I don’t want to, just in case you were thinking of asking me. Normally, I’d jump at a chance like this, but right now? With all that’s going on? I can’t. There’s something going on that my brother’s not telling anyone and between that, school, and… and the gods, I really don’t think I’d be able to effectively lead the team if anything happened to you. Just heading out the night the gods attacked us, I didn’t realize I was being followed.”

Jay nodded. “Thank you for your honesty. And I’m pretty sure I already know who I’m choosing. This test was mainly so Chronos could see how well you all did when you’re suddenly and unexpectedly without me.”

“Chronos set this up?” Archie raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah. He was the one who wanted it to be a surprise. You three head back to the house, I need to go find the others.”

Yyyyy

Manny and Odie led the way up the path, the manticore loudly sniffing everything they passed, while Theresa and Herry brought up the rear.

The ‘jacket’ had ended up being one of Jay’s hoodies that had been laid out so that the sleeves pointed off in the opposite direction from the lake. If they had taken the entire team to check it out, they would have had to decide which trail to follow. As it was, they were moving slowly, carefully, and very much on guard.

“You want to talk about what happened back there?” Herry ventured.

Theresa was holding tightly onto his arm so he could guide her while she kept her eyes closed to use her ability. “Not really.”

“Well… I do. Our team is split in half. Your fight with Archie has now affected the rest of us, so now it’s a team problem. Start talking.”

Theresa heaved a heavy sigh and opened her eyes, no longer able to concentrate, but kept a hold on Herry’s arm due to the post-third-eye headache.

“You saw our fight earlier. You know what happened.”

“I know that we’re all stressed out and picking fights is the opposite of what we need at the moment. I know that you and Archie are good friends and work really well together-,”

“Something’s up ahead.” Odie interrupted, pulling Manny to a stop.

“What is it?” Theresa let go of Herry and crept forward until she was side by side with the manticore. “I don’t see anything.”

“Up there.” Odie pointed to a tree near the next bend in the trail. Something dark was hanging off one of the branches about eight feet off the ground.

“Alright. You two stand guard. I’m going to see what that is.” Theresa closed her eyes again, letting the dark images flow into her mind. There weren’t any creatures in the surrounding area that could possibly be Jay, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t rigged anything for them.

“Got it.” Odie tapped Manny’s side with his heels, nudging him to walk again.

Manny dropped his head and snuffled the dirt as he went, looking for any hint of a trap.

Herry cracked his knuckles and turned around, backing up with the others so Jay couldn’t sneak up on them.

As a unit, they crept towards the thing, confusion growing when they realized it was a chunk of tree bark that had been hung by vines from a branch. Carved into the bark was an arrow directing them up another path. This one was less well-used and more than a little overgrown.

“Okay, this is getting suspicious. Do we continue?” Herry crossed his arms.

“Yeah. We know Jay’s leading us somewhere, but for what?”

“I don’t know, Odie.” Theresa closed her eyes, letting her third eye search the area. “I know he isn’t hiding anywhere nearby.”

“So… do we go?”

Theresa bit her lip and sat in thought. “We were ordered to defeat Jay and capture him. That means we have to find him. And we know where he went. I say, we stay on guard, be ready for anything, and keep in mind that Jay’s alone while we are three powerful teenagers with a trained manticore.”

“Alright.” Herry nodded in agreement. “Sounds good to me. Odie?”

“Let’s go.”

Once again, Odie and Manny took the lead, with Herry and Theresa following behind. As it was harder to both see and move around the much smaller path, they moved at a slower pace.

“Who do you two think Jay will choose?” Theresa broke the silence in an attempt to lighten the mood a bit and give them all something to focus on.

“Herry’s level-headed and doesn’t panic under pressure.” Odie let Manny fall back a few paces so that he could nudge his friend on the shoulder. Herry flashed a quick grin, showing he appreciated the compliment but was busy watching the bushes. "What about you guys?"

"Well, this is Jay. He'd probably pick someone he knows can handle thinking fast during combat situations." The psychic squinted at something ahead on the trail.

"Archie or Atlanta would fit that bill perfectly-, hm?" Herry didn't notice Theresa had stopped until he walked into her.

"Is that another arrow?" She pointed at what appeared to be three large branches laid out on the ground. They had indeed been arranged to form an arrow.

"Okay, where is he going with this?" Herry, deciding that there was most likely no risk in approaching the sign, left his teammates where they were and walked up to grab one of the branches. He held it up and examined it. "Looks like he cut these with his sword. But why the hunt? We've made all of these trails ourselves so it's not like we're going to get lost. Maybe he was just wanting to see if we started turning on each other?"

Theresa huffed out a laugh. "Yeah, well. That ship has sailed."

"Maybe he wants us confused and off guard? Or he's trying to get us to somewhere he has an advantage in a fight?" Odie tried.

"Hmm, that would most likely be the lake or our old treehouse. But we're not heading towards either of those. We're…," Theresa blinked and whipped around, running off in the direction the arrow was pointing.

Her teammates followed right behind her, weapons at the ready, until she skidded to a stop and cursed angrily under her breath. "We're right back where we started. We just walked in a huge circle!"

"So we were wrong. He did head for the lake."

"Looks like it." Odie turned Manny in the direction Archie's group had taken and tapped his sides.

The manticore obeyed and started walking. "Let's get a move on. We might already be too late, we might not."

Theresa resumed her stance of holding on to Herry's arm, trusting him to avoid walking her into things, while her third eye let her check their surroundings.

*Splitting up was an interesting choice. But do you think it was a smart one?* Jay’s voice rang out from high up… three separate trees.

“He’s got speakers placed around here!” Odie twisted his body to look at where the voices had come from, one finger tapping the side of his glasses, activating the zoom feature. With his other hand, he reached down and grabbed a device off his ankle, which he then pointed at one of the trees and pressed a button on the side.They all heard the sound of something short-circuiting, but before he could destroy the other two devices Manny whipped his head around and snarled at something in the bushes.

Herry wasted no time in swinging his tree branch through the bush, whacking it to pieces and revealing a small live trap that had been triggered by a now terrified rabbit. “He’s trying to distract us!”

“It’s working! I can’t focus-,” Theresa dropped her hands from her head and gave up on her ability when loud music suddenly started blasting out of the remaining speakers, further spooking Manny.

The manticore wasn’t sure which way to look and Odie had to fight to keep him under control, which wasn’t helped by the fact that Herry was wrenching the cage open to free the rabbit.

"Odie, get those speakers taken care of! Herry- Ah!" Theresa yelped as a set of bolas whipped around her, pinning her arms to her sides. Thrown off balance, she hit the ground but managed to roll out of the way as Herry fell nearly on top of her, another set of bolas tight around his ankles.

“Jay, you’re going to regret leaving me for last!” Odie yanked Manny’s head in the direction the bolas had come from and kicked his heels against his steed’s sides.

Manny roared and dove headfirst off the path, beating his wings to soar over the tops of the bushes and taking to the sky. Odie grabbed a weak branch on the way up and yanked it off the tree. As Manny leveled out and circled around, Odie scanned the ground down below. He could see Jay running after them, fishing something out of his pocket, but he was too far away to tell what it was.

Just as he was about to activate the zoom feature on his glasses again, a shrill whistle sang out, piercing the cold night air. Odie gasped and held on tight as Manny banked and circled around, obediently returning to the ground. He landed right at Jay’s feet, all malice gone from his stance in an instant.

“Jay, did you really swipe Manny’s old training whistle?” Odie demanded, sliding off the manticore’s back and using him as a shield.

Years ago, at the start of his training, the first thing Manny had been taught was a recall command. The whistle was their way of keeping the manticore from wandering off which, as they were training him right by a town filled with people, could have proven to be disastrous. Manny didn’t need the training tool anymore, but he still apparently responded to it.

“Chronos wants to see the extent of our skills. The gods won’t be easy to defeat so I was instructed to use any means necessary to win.” Jay twirled the whistle around his finger before returning it to his pocket, other hand already brandishing his sword.

Odie scowled and, holding the branch like a baseball bat, lunged around Manny, getting as close to Jay as he could and swinging with all his might. Jay caught the branch against his sword and blocked it, but wasnt counting on Odie planting his foot and pivoting into Jay’s personal space. As soon as he was close enough, he dropped the branch, clasped his hands together, and drove his elbow into Jay’s chest.

Jay coughed and stumbled back, feeling Odie grab the front of his shirt and throw his body weight against him, fully bringing his leader to the ground. He landed on his back, dropping his sword, and had just enough time to grab Odie’s hands as the other teen had landed on top of him. The pair wrestled on the ground for several long seconds, flipping over each other, collecting dirt, moss, pine needles, and twigs as Manny hopped around them, no longer knowing if they were playing and not sure what to do, but still making excited grunts and howls.

Jay didn’t take much time pinning Odie’s hands behind his back and subduing him.

After Odie sighed and yielded, Jay stood up and took a moment to catch his breath. “Well, that makes six. Come on.” He held out his hand to help Odie to his feet. “Let’s head back.”

Ten minutes later and all seven were gathered in the living room. Odie had put Manny in his pen for the night and Archie held an ice pack to his ribs as they all listened to Chronos. The god paced back and forth in front of the couch and chairs, hands behind his back.

“How on earth did a six against one training session turn into three against three against one? Do you not understand that the gods won’t let you work out your petty differences on the battlefield?” He stopped and whirled around to face them. “Training is no exception. You are to treat each and every battle like you would a real fight! Personal disputes are to be handled on personal time. Do you have any idea just how many wars have been lost, how many armies have been defeated solely due to infighting?!”

“That’s enough, Chronos.” Jay stood and, holding up his hands to signal for the god to calm down and back off, took over. “Theresa, Archie. I don’t know what’s going on with the two of you, but we’ll discuss it further in private. However, I need to know right now if this is a one-time fight, or if the two of you need to be separated for a while.”

Archie and Theresa glanced at each other in silence, both trying to read the other’s face. “It’s… just a minor disagreement. We’ll be fine.” Archie relented, adjusting his ice pack.

“We’ll talk it out before bed. It won’t come up again.” Theresa agreed.

“Good. Because this test was mainly to see how you all fared without a leader. I’ve decided to stick to my original decision regarding who my second-in-command is-,”

“Uh, j-just a moment, Jay.” Chronos interrupted. “I need to have a quick word with you.”

Jay raised an eyebrow, but walked over to his teacher anyway. “Uh, what’s up?”

“It’s just occurred to me that you haven’t filled me in on who you wanted to choose. I was going over our previous conversation on the topic and… you wouldn’t be planning on asking Atticus, would you?”

Jay froze, expression very clearly detailing how bewildered he felt. “What?”

“I ask only because you bright up choosing a stand-in leader right after we were talking about him. I just want to be sure-,”

“Chronos, you see what we have to deal with. Why the heck would I want my boyfriend anywhere near my home life?”

“Wow. That’s a statement.” Atlanta blinked in mild surprise.

“I- no. That’s not…” Jay sighed. “Let’s just get back on topic. As I said, I’ve decided to stick with my initial choice. Theresa is responsible and Archie is fearless. Both of them have already been very involved in helping me lead over the years, and, besides today, they both work together very well. I feel like their teamwork will be what is best for the team should you ever need to go into any kind of risky situation without me.” He then crossed his arms and leveled a stare at both of his friends, noting that they both looked surprised. “Now, is this something you two will be able to do?”

Theresa bit her lip and moved closer to Archie on the couch. “Archie, I can’t apologize enough for what I said.”

Archie shrugged. “I retaliated. Could have handled it better.”

Theresa bit her lip and rubbed her hands. “Do… do you think this is something we can do? Work together to help lead this team to a victory in this war?”

Archie sat quietly in thought for a long moment, fully aware that everyone was watching him intently. Finally, though, he took the ice pack away from his chest and passed it to his other hand, freeing up his dominant hand to hold out to his teammate. “We’ve got this. Teamwork and all that.” Theresa took his hand and shook it, both of them smiling. “Those gods won’t know what hit them.”

Yyyyy

Odie shifted the strap of his computer bag to his other shoulder so he could lean against the wall near the school entryway. He wanted to be out of the way of the foot traffic to re-read his schedule. There were several new teachers this year and he didn’t recognise most of the names on his list. His first class of the day would be history with… Mr. Suez.

Odie hummed under his breath. He didn’t recognise that name, but he knew where the class was.

He had just folded the paper and returned it to his pocket when his arm was suddenly grabbed. He managed to hold back his first instinct (which was to assume that the one grabbing him was Jacob and throw his meanest right hook at his head), when he saw a girl about his age with wide, amber eyes, streaked and braided hair, and lightly tanned skin.

“Oh! Sorry. I got separated from my friend and saw your hoodie and thought you were him.” She let go and pulled her hands back.

“No worries. I’m Odie.”

She smiled. “I’m Callie. My family just moved here a few days ago, so when I said ‘friend’, I kinda meant…” she blushed and tucked a braid back behind her ear in embarrassment. “Neighbor. I don’t know anyone here.”

Odie held out his hand. “Well, allow me to be the first to welcome you to the smallest school in the middle of nowhere. The cafeteria pizza is always lukewarm, the art teacher lets you check out ceiling tiles to paint if you’re an aspiring artist, and the office cat is mine.”

“Office cat?” She turned towards the office, but the crowd was too thick for her to see anything. “Man, this place is going to be different from my old school.”

Odie, deciding to take a chance, held out his hand to her. “If you want, I could show you around. We’ve got some time before the bell rings.”

Callie looked at his outstretched hand and seemed to consider his offer for a quick second. She then grinned and took his hand. “I’d really appreciate that. Thank you.”

Yyyyy

Hera and Hermes, along with Persephone and Aphrodite as the new counselors, were gathered in the front office watching as the students filed through the double doors for the first day.

“That’s them? After all this time… we’re actually this close to them.” Persephone couldn’t stop herself from staring as Theresa walked past.

The teen paused and turned around, looking mildly confused, and the gods were quick to act like they had been observing the entire flood of students. Thankfully, she just kept walking.

“We’ll have to be careful. Theresa’s a psychic, and I don’t know what kind of training she’s been getting from Chronos. There’s a chance she could sense us.” Persephone frowned. “Though, I doubt he’s been able to hone her ability in any way that could pose too much of a threat.”

“He’s not a telepath, so there’s only so much he can teach her.” Aphrodite nodded in agreement.

“Jay!”

The shout drew their attentions to the front door, where a tall, lanky teen was running around and between his classmates in his hurry to get to his target.

“They’ve built their whole lives here. Grown up, made friends… this is their home.” Hermes and Aphrodite looked at Persephone. “Maybe…” She broke off and shook her head.

“‘Maybe’ what?” Aphrodite prompted, pulling a hand out of the pocket of her power suit to rub her friend’s arm.

Hermes just looked away, shaking his head slowly. He knew what she was thinking, and he didn’t want to hear it. He had heard it enough times already since they had located the heroes, both from his fellow gods, and, though he would never admit it aloud, his own innermost thoughts.

“Maybe… What are the chances Kampe’s right? They’re too far gone from us. Chronos has had all the time in the world to teach them anything he wants. Are we taking too much of a risk by trying to save them?”

“No.”

“Hermes, you know we all want to rescue them. But what if that’s not possible?”

“What if they’ve become like him, you mean.” He glared, and the spring goddess couldn’t deny that that’s what she had been alluding to.

“We don’t know that for sure. They deserve for us to at least try.” Aphrodite’s eyes locked onto Neil as he walked by, holding his schedule out to compare it to Herry's.

“We have a whole world that we need to keep safe from Chronos. We might not have the luxury of trying.”

“You can give up.” Hermes wasn’t someone who was known for his temper. He was easy going, usually to the point of being a bit of a pushover. “You can quit. You can leave.” Persephone and Aphrodite weren’t used to hearing this tone from him. Low and stiff. Frustration and anger. “I’ve had to deal with enough failed plans. Enough close calls. You’re either committed to this, or you’re a liability. If there is a chance, any chance at all, of getting Theresa away from here, will you take it? Or are you just going to write her off as another casualty of this stupid war?”

“... I’m here, aren’t I?”

“Then act like it. Because, trust me, we are all very well aware that this is a long shot. You don’t need to keep telling us.”

“Besides,” Hera still hadn’t looked away from Jay. “I have a feeling that Chronos’s influence over them isn’t as strong as we feared.”

The three gods followed her line of sight, catching the moment Jay leaned in to give the boy he had been talking to a quick peck on the lips. It was over in an instant, and they both blushed bright red, laughing, but Hera could clearly see that the awkwardness dissipated pretty quickly as the two lapsed back into soft conversation.

“Yeah. He looks absolutely bloodthirsty and ruthless.” Hermes turned to go back to his desk, making sure to bump Persephone’s arm as he walked off.

He then paused and whipped back around, one of the students catching his eye.

“Is- is that…” Persephone’s disagreement with Hermes was forgotten by both sides as they watched the familiar figure saunter down the hall, backpack slung over one shoulder, pausing every now and then to hand out what appeared to be fliers to the other students.

“Yeah. Yeah, it is.” Hermes could feel his heart beating harder in his chest. Not again. This couldn’t end up becoming another failed plan. Not when they were so close. They couldn’t afford another wrench thrown into the mix.

“Did someone call him in?”

“I certainly didn’t.” Hera’s eyes were narrowed at the newcomer as well.

“I wasn’t even aware that he was in town. Nobody’s seen him in years.” Aphrodite took both of her hands out of her pockets and placed them on her hips.

“We need to get him out of here without raising any suspicions.” Hermes agreed. “Of course this is where my idiot son turns up after all this time.”

Yyyyy

Atlanta sighed and rested her forehead on Archie’s shoulder. Neil usually ate lunch with them on the benches by the flower garden, but he was running late due to having to swing by the front office to get something sorted out.

“You alright?” Archie glanced at her, being careful to not move his shoulder.

“Yeah, I just can’t wait for this day to be over. I mean, nothing’s really happened, but when I get back I want to try and call Ricky. But I’ve also already got homework for two classes, and I had to add three textbooks to my backpack. Which wouldn’t be a problem except that I don’t have a locker yet. I got assigned that one doorless locker over by the art room.”

“Dang. You’re just not having a good day, are you?” He dug into his lunch bag and pulled out his trail mix that may have had a handful of chocolate candies added to it and handed it over to her.

“Mm, no.” She took the bag and sat back, out of his personal space. “And I’m still only halfway done. I just hope I don’t have to haul around any more textbooks.”

“Would you like to use my locker until you get reassigned one?” He offered. “I’ve only got two textbooks and my gym clothes in it, and since I have gym as my last class today, they’re going to be moved to a gym locker anyways.”

“That would be great. Thanks.” She ate a bit of the trail mix and then looked back at him. “Which teacher do you have? I’ve also got last period gym. We might be in class together.”

Archie pulled out his schedule and held it out to her. “I’ve got Mr. Rams. You?”

“Same. I don’t suppose you’ve heard anything about him?”

“No. I talked to Herry earlier, though. He had the new weights teacher for his first class of the day and says that the guy’s really nice.”

Atlanta hummed, scanning the lunch crowd for Neil or any of their friends.

“Sst. Don’t make it obvious, but look over there.” Archie dropped his voice to a low but excited whisper as he directed her gaze back to the lunchroom where most of the other students were eating around tables or on the floor along the walls.

“What am I-, Oh, my goodness.” Atlanta saw what had caught his attention and grinned.

Odie was seated at one of the tables, lunch all but forgotten about, locked in conversation with a girl.

“School’s only been open for a few hours and he’s already popular.” Archie chuckled.

“We’ll have to ask him about her after school.”

“What are we looking at?” Neil, slipping a few papers into his backpack, walked up.

“You could be looking at the impending erasure of several miles of natural wetlands and forests, pal.”

Neil blinked and stepped back in surprise as a pamphlet was stuck out to him. He took it and read through it. There were before and after photos of clearcutting, factoids, statistics, and diagrams explaining the correlation of deforestation and erosion, poor air quality, increased animal attacks, and climate change. On the back were times, dates, and locations of the next several meetings for the local activist group ‘The Green Alliance.’

“You’re a member of The Green Alliance? I’ve volunteered with them before.” Atlanta stood and took the flier from Neil. “I’m Atlanta.” She held out her hand to the taller boy.

He grinned and shook her hand. “I’m Phil. It’s nice to meet you, Atlanta.”

“Archie. Are you new in town? Don’t believe I’ve seen you around before.” Archie, attempting to hide the fact that he was feeling slightly miffed about how long Atlanta had held Phil’s hand, introduced himself and stuck out his own hand. “And this is Neil.”

Phil looked at Archie, down at the extended hand, and then back up to meet Archie’s eyes again before smiling and accepting the handshake. “Archie. Is that short for ‘Archibald?”’

Archie stepped back, smile strained. “Dreadlocks are certainly a bold choice. What, are you allergic to scissors?”

“Archie!” Atlanta elbowed him, careful to aim away from his ribs.

“I’m sorry.” Phil raised his hands defensively. “I wasn’t trying to start anything. I was just handing out these pamphlets in hopes of gaining new members to our organization. You said you used to volunteer?” He quickly changed the subject and returned his attention to Atlanta.

“Yeah, I’ve worked with them several times in the past, but my schedule doesn’t really allow me to commit to something full-time yet. What about you? I haven’t seen you at any meetings before. Are you new?”

“Yeah. I moved in over the summer and signed on with them. I’ve worked with several environmentalist groups over the years and this has to be one of the best ones I’ve come across.” Phil removed his backpack from his shoulder and unzipped it, digging around for a moment before pulling out a flier. “Here you go. If you’ve got some free time next weekend, I’m deejaying for a party that’s being held to collect donations. I’d love to see you there.”

“You’re a DJ?” Neil could see that Archie didn’t like this new guy nearly as much as Atlanta and decided to pick on him a bit. “Dang, the ladies must love you.”

Phil blushed slightly, but kept the easy grin on his face. “Well, I do alright, but dating isn’t exactly on the forefront of my mind. Not to mention a growing number of people are joining groups like these to preach veganism. And it’s not like I have anything against vegans, but they always have a problem with those of us who hunt.”

“You hunt too? What do you use?” Atlanta asked.

“Me? I prefer my crossbow.” Phil rubbed the back of his neck. “I take it you also hunt?”

“Yeah. I use a bow and arrows as well. I’ve been winning awards for my marksmanship ever since I was old enough to compete in my hometown’s local fair.”

Okay. Neil was starting to see what had Archie so testy about Phil; Atlanta actually seemed to like him.

“Oh, yeah? Now you’ve got to come to a meeting. I wouldn’t mind setting up a few targets to see what you’ve got.”

“That sounds great.” Archie picked up Atlanta’s backpack from where they had been eating on the bench and slipped it over his shoulder. “Maybe I’ll come too. Since I also hunt. And care about the environment.”

Phil smiled and spread his arms in a ‘welcome’ gesture. “The more the merrier. The important thing is spreading the word on climate change and protecting our natural environments, right?”

“Right. Well, you’d better get back to ‘spreading the word’. Atlanta, I’ll show you where my locker is.” He gave her a push, hinting that the conversation was over.

She shot her friend a quick dirty look, and turned back to Phil. “Well, I’ll see you around. Good luck with the rest of those pamphlets.”

“Thank you. And, hey. Since I’m new in town, you wouldn’t mind showing me around sometime, would you?”

Atlanta grinned, ignoring Archie’s sneer. “I’d love to. I’m free tomorrow after school.”

“As am I. I’ll see you then.”

[ktkat99]

StephCass headcanons

Cain taught Cass how to bandage her own injuries. Bruce and Barbara, after she warmed up to them enough to allow it, would do it for her. But Stephanie was the one to introduce her to her supply of more whimsical medical supplies. As a result, Gothamites treated by Batgirl often have train-print ankle wraps, puppy or kitten bandages, or brightly colored icepacks

Steph steals hoodies and pajamas from Cass. Cass steals workout and regular day clothes from Steph.

Spoiler and Batgirl occasionally swap capes. Gotham News blogs have come up with several theories as to why (dating, rivals, ongoing prank war, etc.) and Steph loves egging them on.

Steph set up a room in her apartment for Cass whenever she sleeps over.

They've attended a convention in cosplay as Adora and Catra

They occasionally go on double dates with Harley and Ivy

[ktkat99]

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