The first reaction out of Abeiron was shock, naturally. He hadn’t seen Athene in two days. They reported her missing, but could do nothing to locate her with the immediate problem of the intruders. “Lieutenant Commander Athene!” Abeiron rushed to meet her, seeing the shambles of an appearance. However, she stopped him with her hand stretched out. “Where were you? We would have sent a search party if we could, but—“

“Where is Captain Simonides,” she repeated, cutting him off. ‘He’s covering for something…’

“Are you hurt? I’ll have one of the MPs tend to you.” He delayed his answer with the best words he could. Abeiron knew he couldn’t trick her for long. ‘Should I tell her about the Captain? She needs to come back with us.’ Keeping up his ploy, he motioned to one of the soldiers to come forward. ‘If I say what I should…I know what she’ll do.’ Under ordinary circumstances, he knew Athene to be level headed. She wasn’t one for rash actions. ‘Ever since we captured that kid, she’s been unstable. Something happened to her in his mind…’

Athene brushed off the aid. “I’m not injured, Abeiron. I might be blind, but I’m not ignorant.” A metal device rose up from the ground. “Now answer my question before I take a more direct approach.”

Cornered, his options ran out quickly. Against her skills, he knew she could learn everything she wanted and everything she should not. ‘Maybe it would be better that way… No…I can’t think like that…’ Abeiron turned back to the men. “You stopped long enough! Keep marching!” He motioned to his second in command to get the men moving again. Once they begrudgingly resumed, he stepped aside with Athene.

“What’s going on, Commander?”

‘It’s the only way.’ Abeiron felt miserable already lying to his men; he had to repeat his sins again. “Captain Simonides is…no longer with us.” He was still delaying.

Lines formed between her brows with the indirect answer. “What are you saying?”

“He’s not here!”

“I know that all ready!”

“Dammit, Athene! Don’t make me…”

“Abeiron”!

“He’s dead!” The deed was done. His hands shook. The words repeated from his lips once more. He hoped everything worked out in the end just as the Captain believed.

Athene staggered back finally having the clear answer she needed to the question she already knew. She feared the truth, but needed it. ‘Dead?!’ A flurry of thoughts flew through her mind. The world disappeared for her.

“Come back with us,” he offered. His words didn’t make it to her. He noticed it affected her as deeply as he imagined. Abeiron tried to approach her cautiously. However, the moment he touched her she slapped him away.

Anger and rage fueled the light in her dull eyes. “What happened? Tell me everything!” Her presence turned dark with a crazed expression developing. It only made things worse for her.

Abeiron hesitated in an answer. He began to regret his decision. ‘Her mind wasn’t ready for this…what have I done?’ Everything was already dug for him, by his own hands. He had to step forward, no matter the pain. “It was…them. Those kids.”

The answer seemed to spark something in her. “What?!”

“The Captain had them cornered, but they broke through our lines and hit the command post. He was caught up in the chaos.” Lies beget more lies.

“So it was him, again…” She started to mutter her words afterward. Nothing came out clearly other than her intent. Athene turned in the direction she saw movement. “They’re that way I assume?”

The mistake left Abeiron a little confused until he remembered she never seemed to fully connect with his eyes. “No, that’s the direction of South Gate.”

Athene’s hand jumped out lightning fast to grab Abeiron by his uniform. “The Captain’s dead and you’re walking back while the bastard that killed him is out there still! What the hell’s the matter with you, Abeiron?!”

“We’re under orders!” yelped the Commander, surprised at her reaction. It took him several seconds to recover enough to fill the rest in for her. “We were tracking them, but Command told us to stop.”

“And you listened to them?! The Captain’s dead, what matters more than revenge?!”

For the first time since he met Athene, he actually feared her. Not because she was a MP. No, anyone could have the look she had. It was madness he never saw in her before. It possessed her completely. “They’re deploying Omega to deal with them! I had to make a choice between revenge and the lives of the men!”

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

She glared at him with almost animal like qualities. Nothing came from her lips, but nothing needed to. Her words came out through pure presence.

“You know how they are! They’ll take down anything in their way, even if it is us! Especially in this situation!” Athene threw him away from her. He stumbled on his feet trying to get his balance back, but fell anyway. Prone on the ground, she loomed over him.

“Which way were they going?”

“The Capital,” he answered, but thought about how meaningless it had to be for her. “10 o’clock from your position.” She already started in the direction with no more words to him. “Be careful.”

“Tell that to those that stand in my way.” Athene disappeared a moment later.

It took Abeiron a full minute to recover himself from everything that occurred. He remained seated, his men marching in the distance. Everything moved into difficult directions. It made him sigh. He turned his head to the clouds above. ‘Captain, I’ve sent her to you. Hopefully, she’ll be of help in your plans.’

Chapter 219 – Waking the Titans

A large stone door stood with imposing embellishments decorating the door and frame. It ended in a long hall with no doors. This door only existed because sometimes normal humans needed to enter. The rest of the rooms were only for MPs. So doors were unnecessary.

Such a design was less about security. The original reason was long lost on them. A fact that bothered Demosthenes. So easily was the truth lost.

Demosthenes kept walking at the same pace he maintained through the hall. The door looked to refuse him at his pace and he seemed uninterested in such a fact. In the last moments, the door opened as though bowing to a superior. Within the large chamber was a long granite table and twelve matching chairs. The backs of the chairs rose high towards the ceiling, clearly impossible to move despite most pushed in properly.

Three individuals sat at the table. Two properly with respect to the table, the last rested their feet on the table. None of them acknowledged his presence. He seemed as important to them as the dust on the table. If it bothered him, he made no reaction to it.

He came to a stop at the head of the table in front of him. The three remained in their own worlds at the table spaced out in a seemingly random order. “Only the five of you are here,” he commented aloud. No reaction. “Come out Rheia, you’re not sneaking up on anyone. Same for you, Nereus.”

Suddenly, a light brown haired woman appeared a meter behind Demosthenes without a sound. A bit of an annoyed expression painted her face for a brief moment before walking out. She took up the seat closest to Demosthenes, the chair moving on its own for her.

Shifting out of another dimension, a slightly older man appeared in the chair at the opposite end of the table, far away from Demosthenes. “One of these days,” he muttered.

Demosthenes pushed his gaze around the room taking in the five members. “You’ve all been summoned by me as the only Titan members in the Capital currently.”

“A special mission, General?” asked Teris, Omega Division agent and member of the Titans, fifth strongest of the Titans. He sat a little forward since the General began talking to them. Teris had a tall figure, but surprisingly thin build lacking in any sort of menacing presence.

“Is there any other type for the Titans?” mocked Glykeria, third strongest of the Titans. The Titans gathered a varied group with none of them like the next. Glykeria was the youngest of the group at the out of place age of nine. She barely came above the table. However, the Titans didn’t care about anything other than power and talent.

“Something to do with the mobilization orders?” queried Ourias. He had a mostly disinterested expression on his face as though only there because ordered. Despite his attitude in front of the General, he was at the bottom of the rankings amongst the Titans, twelfth.

“That’s right. As you no doubt already know, the Council has ordered all of the Omega Division to deploy against the intruders. Being who you are, I expect you all to be aware and up-to-date on current events.”

“Eudokia Ismene…I mean Eudokia, leading some ants through the countryside,” Nereus answered, in a completely flat tone that from anyone else would have sounded condescending. It was simply facts for him. Nereus rested in the eighth seat for the Titans. He had age working on him, but his flame red hair remained as strong as in his youth.

“I always wanted a chance of fighting her,” Rheia added, a playful smirk dug into her face bearing a few teeth. There was almost no arrogance to be found in her. She almost seemed child-like. However, her position as the top of the Titans, the elite of the Omega Division, wasn’t disputed by any of its members. Underneath, the childish expression was a dangerous woman the other Titans respected and feared equally. She didn’t seem to extend such courtesy to Demosthenes, her eyes lacking any sort of acknowledgement of their status or difference.

Ignoring her, he continued with his briefing. “Field agents have already been issued their orders.” The table suddenly lit up a faint green. A map of Atlantis appeared before it zoomed into the last known location of their targets. “Most recent intel has them in two groups, both moving to the Capital.”

Glykeria stood up on the chair to get a better look at the table. She looked a little disappointed. “We’re not going to have anything to do. They’re going to all get killed.” Several dots, marking location of Omega field agents, already moved in on both parties. It was very good odds they would be found.

“They have already defeated the entire South Gate. These kids aren’t to be underestimated.”

“A bunch of weaklings and dirt are hardly going to stop anything,” commented Nereus.

The map disappeared with the faces of Yuki and his friends appearing. Detailed information appeared with each. “These are the nine members of Eudokia’s rebellion.”

Rheia leaned in with her eye catching something of interest. Her finger pushed down on Yuki’s dossier and dragged it over to her. A wider grin came over her face. “I like the way he looks. Something about his eyes.” Yuki’s page suddenly disappeared. She looked up at Demosthenes.

“That one’s mine.” His declaration got the attention of everyone.

“The General’s going to the frontlines now?” Teris questioned.

“Old bones, growing mold,” sang Glykeria.

Rheia's eyes grew a little wider, she caught on to something of interest. “Aren’t you getting to be a little too old to be fighting? An easy retirement playing with the old men in the marble walls is more to your pace now.” She laughed a little making a clicking noise.

Demosthenes didn’t even give her a glance. “He’s more than you can handle.”

“I’ll make that decision for myself. You can’t stop me from breaking in my new toy.” It seemed like she tried to get a rise out of him. The fact nothing seemed to affect his tone or composure annoyed her. The childishness started to drip out of her.

He held his stoic, cold expression. “I’ve already decided for you. Find your new toy among the rest.”

Her hands rubbed against the hard granite surface of the chair. It chaffed her skin making it raw. She started to grin even more as an idea came into her head. “You’re just an old man. You always lost to Eudokia, in fact you were never even a Titan during your time in Omega. You’re just some crippled weakling touting old glories. You can’t—“

Rheia motioned her hand through Demosthenes’ clone or thought she had. It came to an abrupt stop on his forearm. Her eyes flashed over reading him quickly. ‘Not the real one, but even this close.’ A curious brow raised as she understood.

He finally met eyes with Rheia for the first time. Staring at her, he waited the seconds for it to surface. A bead of sweat dripped down the side of her face. The piercing gaze hit her harder than she expected. Weight of purpose and experience, something beyond her and immense, he towered.

Demosthenes turned away marching for the door. “You’re the Capital’s defense. If they reach the walls, you have permission to move.” The door opened soundlessly, waiting for him. “There's a reason I was never part of the Titans. You do well to remember it. It’s not without cause I hold the name of Alexander.” He disappeared behind the closing door leaving them alone once more.

“A fake and still not detectable,” remarked Teris, staggering a little at the sheer control Demosthenes displayed.