Notes: Hello everyone, long time no see! I apologize for awful formatting here, I've become so accustomed to Ao3 that I've forgotten how to make documents compatible with . With that said, this is also x-posted on Ao3 (my name's the same). As such, enjoy!
Warnings: This is teen for a reason, as there is some surgical getting all up inside somebody's arm and stuff, and later chapters will get rougher. Mild swearing.
"There is nothing better than fighting," Archie declared, "not even pizza."
Theresa snorted, "Sounds like somebody got a little worked up."
Archie limped over to join the rest of the group. They'd just driven off several of Cronus' giants, but had seen no sign of the titan himself.
"Yo are you okay?" Odie asked, coming up behind him.
Archie shrugged, "It stings a bit but I'll be fine, don't worry."
Odie shuffled from foot to foot, "Look, thanks, uh, for taking that hit for me. Sorry you got hurt though- are you sure you're okay? It looked really bad from where I was standing."
"Nah," Archie waved him off, "I love taking a hit."
"Well that explains why I always kick your ass in training," Herry laughed.
Archie rolled his eyes, "You know what I mean! The thrill! Hitting things, getting hit!" He slammed his fist into his palm.
"You're adorable," Atlanta chided, but she was flushed from the fight still and bouncing on her toes, "but yeah, I get it."
"I think it comes with the whole 'hero' territory," Herry said. He gave Neil a good-natured slap on the back, "right?"
"Heroine," Theresa reminded him, "Atlanta and I kick twice the amount of ass you do."
Herry whistled, "Them's fighting words, Theresa."
"C'mon children," Jay called from near Herry's truck, "stop playing around before you actually do start fighting."
Theresa and Herry laughed, linking arms and walking back to Herry's tuck together.
"Yes dad!" Neil shouted.
Atlanta tapped Archie's leg with her own, "You sure you're okay?" she asked, "I didn't see anything but if Odie's worried…"
Archie stood on his injured foot, bounced a few times, "I'm fine, serious. Odie's a worrywart."
"Am not," Odie snapped, "but I think you should get Chiron to look at it."
"Race you!" Atlanta shouted, relieved that her friend was okay.
The two of them nearly hit Odie on their rush out, "Not fair you cheater!" Archie whined.
"Dude you need to get your leg looked at," Odie said, "I am sure I saw it break. It's fractured for sure."
"But I'm fine!" Archie protested. Jay made him sit sideways out of the truck while he felt Archie's thigh for any internal injury.
"Ow!" Archie winced, "it's not broken but it still hurts!"
"It doesn't feel… right," Jay said, "like, you feel really hot right here—Herry, don't—but it's probably not broken."
"It'd be really swollen and red," Theresa commented, "that's how my arm was when I broke it."
Archie jumped out of the truck, "Exactly! I'm fine, just don't touch it! It'll bruise up tomorrow."
"Plus you shouldn't be able to walk," Atlanta shrugged, "you're a big baby. I'd have to carry you because you'd be crying everywhere."
Archie maturely stuck his tongue out at her.
"Go get it checked out anyways," Jay said, "better safe than sorry."
"Think I pulled something in my shoulder," Herry said, "I'll come with you."
For lack of anything interesting to do—and to see if he was right—Odie decided to tag along to Chiron's study.
"You think it's broken?" Chiron laughed.
"Well, Odie does," Archie said.
"You walked into the room on it, it's not broken," Chiron snorted.
"Yo, I saw it break. Something is for sure cracked in there, okay?" Odie said, "trust me on this!"
"Odie it's my leg. I feel like I'd know if something was wrong," Archie shrugged.
He was sitting up on an examination bench Chiron had set up several months ago, leg up so Chiron could inspect is magically while his other leg swung back and forth.
"Yes," Chiron nodded, still laughing to himself, "just leave the medical examinations to—" he frowned, his hands hovering over Archie's thigh.
Archie's eyebrows lifted, "Is something broken?"
"I—my skills are a little rusty. Let me fetch Persephone. Something isn't quite right, but we'll have it taken care of shortly," Chiron said, then trotted off down the hall.
"If it was broken I'd feel it, right?" Archie glanced to Herry and Odie for backup.
"You and Chiron just told me to stop diagnosing," Odie shrugged, "so I'm going to laugh if I'm right."
"Adrenaline high?" Herry offered, "like those crazy guys all hyped up on drugs that keep going even after they've been shot like ten times?"
Archie looked torn between laughing or being angry, "Dude what? Like hell I'd go down after ten shots—it'd take twenty at least. And I'd get away."
Odie snorted, "Arch it'd take one warning shot and you'd be on the ground crying," he paused, "actually, you're stupid when you're aggressive. Warning shot and then like one in your arm. You'd cry and Atlanta would have to carry you to the hospital."
Archie flipped him a middle finger salute and Herry laughed.
Chiron and Persephone moved back into the room. Archie lifted his leg up onto the bench for them.
Persephone's hands glowed as she moved her hands up Archie's leg, starting from his ankle. She was feeling with magic for anything out of the ordinary. She stopped over Archie's thigh and gasped.
"Did you walk on this?" she asked.
"You feel it?" Chiron asked, digging his fingers into Archie's skin as if he could physically feel whatever was shocking them. Archie tried to pull away from the discomfort.
"Is it broken?" Archie demanded.
"Cut it off!" Odie added helpfully.
"Shut up!" Archie snapped, trying to push Chiron's hands away.
"You don't feel any pain?" Persephone asked, "is that normal for mortals?"
"Yeah it's bruised! Stop touching it!" Archie told her.
"In some cases mortals do not feel their pain," Chiron told her.
"What's going on?" Archie asked again.
"Your bone is shattered," Persephone said, "I am not well-versed in mortal bodies but you should be in extreme pain."
Archie, Herry and Odie were all staring at Archie's leg. It looked totally normal.
"But… I can't feel it—the bone. Or break. I can't feel it," Archie said, as if that explained everything, "I can't feel it," his voice started to get shrill and high, "why can't I feel it? If it's broken then why can't I feel it? I walked on it!"
"There's something else," Persephone said, "there's something holding your bone together."
She scratched Archie's scraped knee, taking off the scab and tasting the blood off of her fingertips. Herry gagged loudly while Archie whimpered.
"Have you taken any medication for pain yet?" she asked.
Archie, eyes wide and rendered mute in shock and horror, just shook his head.
"Your blood is full of pain medication," Persephone said.
"There's something holding it together?" Odie asked, having long accepted that the gods did weird things, "like ligaments? The body does have some natural painkillers."
"Like… a cast—a web, wrapping around the broken pieces," Chiron said, "I believe the bone is already healing."
"Someth—what is it?" Archie whimpered.
Chiron shook his head, "I'm not sure."
Persephone took Archie's wrist in her hands, "Archie, sweetie, do you trust me?"
The way she was holding his arm made Archie start to shake.
"I will heal it immediately," she said, as if that made everything okay.
"I need to leave!" Herry shouted, sprinting for the door.
Odie lunged forwards, trying to get a calming hand into the increasingly frantic fray, "Hold on! There's no need to get drastic!" he cried.
"It's not—you don't understand. This thing, in your body Archie—it's living. But it's not human," Persephone explained, "I can feel it. There's something inside of you and it's running through your body, and because of it I don't think you can feel this!"
On 'this' she snapped Archie's wrist between her hands. Archie screamed, white hot pain flaring up his arm. Odie was shouting and waving his hands. Chiron and Persephone were both looking into Archie's wrist, the entire sequence apparently not bothering them. The doors to Chiron's study burst open as Hera and Jay, led by Herry, ran into the room.
Archie's arm didn't hurt anymore. He'd stopped screaming and was staring in horror at his hand.
"Persephone!" Hera was furious. Herry sagged into a chair, unable to handle the sight of Archie's hand at an angle to his arm, and Odie rushed at him with a bucket.
Archie couldn't take his eyes off of his own wrist. He felt fine, even though his fingers were nearly perpendicular to the rest of his arm. He flexed his fingers, and they responded as if nothing was wrong. Nothing felt weird other than the sight of his hand at an angle it should not be at. His head felt light as if he'd stood up too fast.
Archie's wrist suddenly cracked loudly, halting all of the yelling in the room, and they all watched as Archie's wrist realigned itself of its own accord.
Odie wasn't fast enough with the bucket, but thankfully Jay had been moving to stand beside Archie and was able to get the wastebin under Archie in time.
"What the hell?" Archie screamed as he vomited, "what's wrong with me? Get it out! Get it out!"
Persephone reached for him and Archie tore his arm out of her reach, "Not you!"
Hera was much gentler, taking Archie's wrist between her hands, and she frowned at what she could feel, "It's still broken."
"I know it's broken I just watched it happen!" Archie shouted, "she broke it but I can't feel it oh my god what's inside me?"
"We don't know," Chiron said, "I've never seen anything like this."
"Heal his bones," Hera commanded, "and then the children will go home. Unless there's any danger?"
"It just seems to be healing him," Persephone said, "but I would need to get a better look."
"Not today," Hera said.
"It's going to require surgery," Chiron said, "to see exactly what we're dealing with. I need to see it with my own eyes."
Jay was rubbing Archie's back while he hyperventilated. Persephone was mending the bones in Archie's wrist, while Chiron dealt with his leg.
"I'm taking him home now," Jay announced, "we'll talk later about all of this."
Chiron handed Archie some pills, "These will help calm you down and put you to sleep. All you need right now is rest."
Archie took them in a shaking hand. Jay coaxed him to let go of the wastebin and then Archie let Jay guide him out of the room. Odie and Herry followed close behind. None of them wanted to be around when Hera lost her temper.
Archie still looked on the verge of hysterics during their walk home, and he was barely holding himself together.
"My arm and my leg are broken but I'm fine! Anyone have anything else they want to add to today's crazy?"
Herry groaned nauseously at the memory.
"Hold on big guy," Odie said softly.
"My name isn't Jay," Jay offered.
The other three stopped, "What?" The following silence stretched on and on.
"Keep moving," Jay finally ushered them into walking again.
"How is that even relevant?" Archie demanded, "I am a freak of nature and you're suddenly living under an alias?"
"I also drowned as a kid," Jay added helpfully, "like legally dead, heart stopped and everything."
Archie threw his arms up in frustration, "Who are you?"
"The guy trying to get you all home," Jay said, "no—keep walking. Herry, dude, c'mon hold it together."
The four of them walked the two blocks home without Herry puking until they got inside. Archie had gone pale and quiet in his shock, despite Jay trying to prompt him out of it. Odie and Jay directed him into the living room to sit on the couch.
Theresa and Neil had been watching a talk show and were on their feet when the three boys walked in.
"What happened?" Theresa asked, pulling a discarded sweater out of the way to make room for Archie.
Archie snapped out of his stupor at her voice, and pointed at Jay, "He's a liar!"
"Something's up with Archie," Jay explained.
"Obviously," Neil snorted.
"Persephone broke his wrist," Odie said.
"What?" Neil and Theresa shouted at the same time.
Archie made a loud whining sound and started hyperventilating again.
"I was also kidnapped by a human trafficking ring," Jay said quickly, sitting down beside Archie.
"Who are you?" Archie demanded in a near sob as Neil exclaimed, "What the hell?"
"Get some water," Jay told Odie.
'Arch you have to take the pills and calm down. There's nothing to be done right now, everything's okay," Jay turned to Neil and Theresa, "he's in shock so I've been trying to distract him from getting worked up."
Theresa sat down on Archie's other side and started rubbing circles on his back. Odie returned with water and Archie swallowed the three tablets at once, nearly choking himself.
"Was his leg broken? Why did Persephone break his wrist?" Theresa asked.
Odie nodded, "They said it was shattered—totally broken. But there's something in Archie that's holding it together and healing him. Something not human."
"Like a tapeworm?" Neil asked.
Archie snorted but made no move to berate Neil like he normally would have.
Jay shrugged, "it's giving him painkillers and keeping him functioning. We don't know how it got there—but we saw it fix Archie's wrist when Persephone broke it to see what would happen. There's no way to tell if it's good or bad just yet."
"I just want to know how it got there," Odie said, "and how long it's been there."
Archie lifted his head, barely able to hold himself up and looked at Jay, "What's your real name?" he slurred.
Jay smiled, "You won't believe me. And you'll laugh."
"Will not," Archie said, struggling to make his face look neutral.
"It's Jerome," Jay admitted.
Archie snorted so hard water came out of his nose.
"So you see," Jay said, "you think you're in pain right now. You haven't felt pain until your parents name you Jerome."
Archie pitched forwards into Jay's shoulder, laughing until he was shaking. Theresa and Jay manhandled him onto his side so that he was lying across the couch.
"Jerome," Archie was still laughing.
Herry brought a bucket from the kitchen to put underneath Archie, while Neil grabbed the extra blanket from under the entertainment system to throw on top of Archie.
"I just want him to sleep where we can keep an eye on him," Jay explained, "I'd be freaking out if I went through what he just did."
"Jerome?" Theresa finally asked, stifling a laugh.
"That's nothing," Odie said, "were you serious about being kidnapped? About drowning?"
Jay shrugged, giving nothing away, "You guys all assumed I was boring because I'm responsible. I've got tons of great stories."
Archie's never had this dream before, not of this house or these particular people, but he recognizes the start of it. He's had so many variations over the years. This is the house he doesn't remember and these must be the parents he's never met.
It's blurred like he's trying to paint but used too much water—everything's overflowing its lines and mixing into unintelligible messes. He can't make sense of any perspective and only has a sense of movement. Time is slipping between his fingers.
He's aware of the tension in his dream only after it's broken, and the splash of maroon across his vision only makes sense when Archie realizes it's coming from him and he's smearing it across the entire painting. It's obscuring everything Archie might have attempted to make sense of. He knows he's done something bad—this is something he should be afraid of. This might not be a good dream but Archie is laughing.
Somewhere in front of him, in the haze, are his parents—the real parents he finally stopped dreaming about— and he knows them by placeholders rather than any discernable features. He knows there is something he should be paying attention to but he can't see through the gloom.
Archie wakes up to his stomach lurching and he thinks he's going to be sick. He's trembling and sweating and falls off of the couch with a shout.
He's never been so terrified in his entire life.
"You sure you're okay?" Odie asked over breakfast, "like dude you were full on screaming when you woke up."
Archie finished his water, waving Odie's concern away with a lazy gesture, "Yeah, I'm fine. Whatever drugs Chiron gave me—really messed up dreams and I didn't know where I was, ya know?"
"What were you dreaming about?" Herry asked.
"My parents," Archie said quickly, "like—not my real ones, but just people that could have been them."
Neil snorted, "And the thought of actually meeting them was that scary?"
Archie rolled his eyes, "Obviously other stuff happened, but just forget about it."
"Do you think you'll ever find them," Jay asked conversationally, "like I know it's not a high likelihood, with all the kids that got kidnapped, but I managed to find my parents again."
"About that," Archie nodded, "I was really outta my mind—but are you telling me you're one of the kids who made it home?"
Jay nodded, "Yeah. I mean, I was still missing for six months and," he shrugged, "zero idea what happened to me. I don't even remember being grabbed, but my parents said it was the whole sketchy mobile home grabbing us off the street—"
"Us?" Theresa asked.
Jay bit his lip, suddenly looking nervous, "Yeah. Me and, uh, my big brother."
"I didn't know you had a brother!" Herry sat up, "why didn't you tell—oh. Oh," he realized.
Jay nodded grimly, "Yeah. I made it home, but Jason never did."
"Jason?," Neil said, "what's the deal with the name thing?"
Jay laughed weakly at that, "Yeah, well, when I finally came home I guess I looked a lot like my brother did when we were taken, and so my parents kept starting to call me Jason, and then they'd realize it was the wrong kid and stop halfway. I eventually just told them to start calling me Jay—it's better than Jerome in any case. And it just kinda stuck—which I have to add that if you start calling me Jerome I'll kill you."
Archie snorted again at Jay's real name.
"I shouldn't laugh," he chuckled to himself, "at least you have a real name. I just got named after the first thing I showed any interest in after social services found me."
Atlanta barked a laugh, "Could you imagine if it was something worse? You could be like, Marmaduke or Charlie Brown!"
Archie was laughing too hard to come up with a witty retort.
Theresa slid closer to Jay, "How are you doing? That's a lot to drop in one sitting."
"I'm good," Jay smiled, but it was a little strained.
She sighed, settling back against the counter, "I didn't… I thought Archie was the only one of us who was affected by that kidnapping spree," she admitted, "I mean, my parents increased our security and I actually had a bodyguard for a few years, but I didn't know anyone and no one tried to get me."
"A few people tried to grab me," Neil said, "but I always got away."
"That's why my parents left me with Granny," Herry offered, "they figured it would be harder to find me out on the farm. Then once I was older she ended up moving into the city and I just stayed with her."
Odie drummed his fingers on the table, "I remember the foster system was real tight for a while, and my foster parents at the time were really scared. But nothing ever happened to me, thank god."
"Wow," Atlanta said, "I mean, we were super cut off from the news up north, but even we heard about all the kidnappings going on. Nothing happened—like we were too small a town for any stranger to come and go without being noticed, but we were even scared about it. But like, even then I didn't realize it was that big."
"Shit's crazy," Archie said, shrugging, "life's crazy. But it's cool that we—hold on! One last thing Jay—you said you drowned! Dude what happened?"
"That's how I was found, actually," Jay said, "early morning fishermen found me in the water when they went to head out in the morning. I'd been in the water for hours, no idea how I got there, and even though they tried CPR they couldn't revive me. The ambulance showed up like ten minutes later and they were able to get my heart started, but I didn't wake up for like three days."
"How far away from home were you?" Odie asked.
"Crazy part," Jay said, "we were living in Greece at the time, and I was found in Gabon."
"Where?" Herry asked slowly.
"African country—uh, it's in the middle, on the Atlantic side," Jay explained, "but pretty far away from Greece. Took a while for me to contact my parents and get home." It was a weak joke.
"Too bad I never made it home—my parents could probably shed some light on this whole super healing thing going on," Archie, rather bluntly, changed topics. He flexed the hand that Persephone had broken, rotating his wrist as if testing that it actually was properly healed.
"Have we talked to Chiron about when—actually— what day is it?" he asked.
Atlanta grinned, "You were only asleep for the night."
"It's Saturday," Theresa told him, "don't freak out. But you're out of bed before noon so that's an improvement."
"Chiron wants to do it today, if you're up for it," Odie informed Archie.
Archie plastered on a confident grin, "Of course I'm up for it. Why wouldn't I be?"
Archie was obviously nervous about coming back to Chiron's study. The last time he'd been in Persephone had broken his wrist and he'd watched it heal itself. Thankfully the goddess was staying back, though her presence still made him a little wary. On top of that he'd never been fond of doctors or needles or anything that involved things being put into his body. Considering he'd never been sick a day in his life, he'd never really visited a doctor before. Supposedly it was silly to be afraid, but fear of the unknown on top of too many late-night 'ER Accident' marathons had Archie's heart pounding against his ribs.
Atlanta bumped against his side, offering a little support without making it obvious. If she did, he'd have to make some joke about being too cool to be scared. Archie didn't want to admit it, since it was plainly obvious, but there was something foreign in his body that he hadn't known about and had no idea how it got there. He was plenty scared.
Hera was present as well, which made Archie feel a little more secure that no one was going to surprise him by breaking another one of his bones to test a theory.
"Alright, Archie, can I get you to sit up here," Chiron asked.
They'd set out a long metallic table that looked exactly like an operating table from all of the medical shows Neil and Jay loved to watch.
"You guys seriously don't have to all stay," Archie told the others. He wasn't sure if he wanted them around or not, but he was trying to maintain his act of 'too cool for this'.
"And miss you cry for like two hours? Not a chance," Neil snorted.
"I'm out," Herry said quickly, waving, "sorry man, not a chance."
Theresa stomped on Neil's foot, "We're here for support, but if you don't want us here we can leave," she said.
"What's the plan?" Jay asked Chiron.
"We are going to open up Archie's wrist in order to see what exactly is correcting the broken bones, and hopefully figure out what it is. If we can do that then we might be able to determine where it came from."
"No biggie," Archie muttered, hopping up on the table.
"You'll be fine," Odie said, "besides, I'm sure somebody here will hold your hand if you get too scared." He nudged Archie in the ribs conspiratorially.
"I will hit you," Archie retorted, making a fist, "I don't know if you noticed but I can hit hard enough to break my hand and walk away now."
"Children," Hera said, interrupting them, "we'd like to do this sooner rather than later."
Persephone moved forwards slowly, smiling almost shyly at Archie.
"Persephone is going to be aiding Chiron today," Hera gave Archie a look that allowed no arguments, "we hope to have this done quickly so we can determine exactly what we are dealing with."
"Aliens," Neil hissed.
Theresa nudged him again.
Atlanta moved over to the table, "Can I watch?" she asked excitedly.
Archie's brow furrowed, "Why would you want to watch? They're gonna cut me open- hold on are you giving me any painkillers for this?"
"You technically don't need them," Persephone said, and then laughed when Archie's eyebrows hit his hairline, "I'm kidding. Yes, you'll have painkillers. We're going to make sure you don't feel a thing."
Archie let out a relieved sigh.
"What if it's like a chest burster?" Atlanta asked, "and once it's exposed to daylight it's gonna jump out and we're gonna have to fight it?"
"Not helping," Archie muttered. She laughed and propped herself up on her elbows.
"You'll be fine," Jay said, patting his back, "but we have to stay out of Chiron and Persephone's way," he gave Atlanta a pointed look and she sighed dramatically, stepping away from the table.
Chiron and Persephone had Archie lay down on the far side of the table, with his arm extended perpendicular to him so that his hand was just hanging off the edge, leaving his wrist completely accessible.
"We can put up a curtain if you'd prefer not to watch," Chiron said.
"No, no," Archie said dismissively, not wanting to watch his arm get sliced open at all except for the fact that all his friends were watching, "it's fine. I'll close my eyes if I need to."
He purposely blinked so that he didn't have to watch Chiron stick him with a needle, and tried not to panic as his entire arm went numb.
"Are you sure this is entirely sanitary?" Archie asked when he heard the sound of scalpels and knives being pulled out.
"Probably not," Chiron said, "but your body is immune to illness, so we don't have to take as many precautions."
"Right," Archie bit his lip, "lucky me."
He felt the pressure of the blade Chiron was using, and made the mistake of glancing over just as Chiron opened up his wrist from the heel of his palm to halfway up his forearm. From across the room he heard groans of disgust and- probably Atlanta or Odie- a gasp of excitement.
"Archie. Calm," Persephone said the instant his heart rate spiked.
Archie drew in a ragged breath and squeezed his eyes shut. He could feel pressure but no actual pain or other sensations. He knew that Chiron was cutting into his arm right now, exposing parts of him that had no business being exposed to the world because they were supposed to be inside of him. He tried to block all of that out and instead focused on other things. Things like…
Archie couldn't think of anything to distract himself other than the fact that his arm was being torn apart and he was just lying there and letting it happen.
"Oh my word!"
Archie may or may not have blacked out a little bit, and he'd never admit to it, but Chiron's startled words were the first thing he really registered hearing.
"What?" he nearly bolted upright but Persephone pushed him back down, "what is it?"
Archie craned his neck, struggling to lift himself so he could see what was going on.
His arm was pinned open, and there was a shocking lack of blood compared to what he was expecting. He tried not to gag as he looked at the white expanse of his own bones, and then his stomach dropped as he saw something move.
It was thin, and for a gut-wrenching moment Archie thought it was one of his veins, but then it moved unlike anything else in his arm was moving. While it was covered in fluid, the wire was distinctly metal. Persephone froze it with magic, slowly pulling it out. Archie was vaguely aware of everyone else crowding around, staring in mute horror, at the thing in his arm.
The wire extended up his arm, and instead of trying to pull the entire thing out, Chiron cut off the end of it, and Persephone moved it onto the table.
"What is that?" Archie stammered, "what is that thing?"
"It looks mechanical," Odie said.
"There were more," Chiron gestured, "like wires, but they moved away from my scalpel."
Archie nearly told him 'who wouldn't run from a knife?' but held his tongue.
"Okay so there's wires? Why? Is this what's healing-" he stopped, eyes focused on his arm.
Like snakes or tentacles or spiders legs, several strands of silver metal had risen up out of Archie's arm. They hesitated for a moment, and then went for the pins holding the wound open. Archie was frozen in shock. The wires pushed the pins out, and as they all watched, they started sewing Archie's arm back together from the inside-out.
Archie didn't realize he was screaming until Jay was telling him to calm down.
The cut on Archie's arm sealed and they were all staring at his pale, unmarked wrist. Like nothing had ever happened.
"I'm gonna-" Archie managed to say before he blacked out.
Archie woke up to the smell of something terrible. He shoved it away as he opened his eyes, to see all six friends, Hera, Chiron, Dionysus and Persephone all standing over him.
"Did I talk in my sleep?" he joked, "why are you all—oh. Oh shit."
"Are you going to puke again?" Herry demanded.
Archie sat up slowly and held his arm out in front of him. It was perfectly pale and unmarred. As if he hadn't been open to the bone just a little while ago. He traced the skin where Chiron had cut him—where Archie had seen his arm cut open. It felt perfectly normal.
"Okay," Archie let out a shaky breath, "hit me. What are we dealing with here?"
Everyone stepped back when it was obvious he wasn't going to faint again. Archie continued rubbing his wrist and glanced between all of their faces.
Chiron let out a loud huff, tapping his hooves on the carpet, "Well to be completely honest, we aren't entirely sure what it is. It's mechanic in nature, and doesn't seem to be alive, but it's also something I have never seen before."
"But it's also very organic," Dionysus continued, "I did some tests on the sample removed from your arm, and while it's mostly made of metals, it is also organic."
Archie glanced at his friends, "and in English?"
"It grows—it's, well, it's not alive, but it's alive," Odie was straining to explain himself plainly, "like, it's like a parasite, I think? It got into you somehow and it's been growing. Along with you—into you. And since you're its host it's taking care of your body. That's why you can't feel broken bones and why it can fix you up. But from what we gather it's not like a bodysnatcher alien thing, but something man-made. A machine that learns and grows."
"Something humans should not be capable of," Hera added.
"Who said anything about learning?" Archie asked.
Odie gave Archie an 'are you serious' look, "Arch, it figured out that it had to take the pins out of your arm in order to close the wound. It learns. And it might just remember."
Archie shuddered, "Okay, how do we get it out?"
Chiron sighed loudly, "I don't think we can."
Archie's head whipped around to face the centaur, "What?" he snapped, "what does that mean? Why not?"
"It… if this thing has been growing, and it is in your arm and in your leg, then I think we have to assume that it is in every part of your body, Archie. And it is so deeply entwined with every part of you that it is next to impossible to separate you and this thing," Chiron explained.
"Dionysus has said he will have a working machine in the next few hours that will allow us to see how far this machine has grown," Hera said, "we will also be scanning the rest of you for any further abnormalities. But as of right now Archie we are going to assume that it is not malicious in nature and is only better helping you to survive."
Archie put his head in his hands, "Okay, anyone have anything else to add?"
"Well," Jay started slowly, "there's one more thing."
"What?" Archie rubbed his eyes with the heels of his palms. As if he needed one more thing to worry about.
"So that piece we cut out of you—that Dionysus tested? Well, it's dead and falling apart. Like, it's rotting," Jay went on carefully.
"That's gross," Archie agreed with Herry's nauseous expression.
"We—I—want to cut open your wrist again," Odie said, and Archie drew his arm tightly to his chest, "that little bit—it, okay this is going to sound really weird, but the end of it changed shape a few times and when we had it near a computer we were recording some data on, well, it kinda started to look like a usb drive."
"That's really weird," Archie agreed.
"So I think if we can access that part we cut again, I mean the thing's an organic machine so it heals itself, but if we can get back in I think I can plug you into my laptop and then maybe hack it and see what's what with your Yeerk."
Odie looked around his friends for support, who all gave him blank faces.
"His what?" Neil asked.
Odie sighed, "Okay, sorry, it was a really bad reference and Yeerk's go in your brain, whatever. Point being, it's a machine and that means I can make it tell me what it's for."
"That's from Animorphs, right?" Theresa turned to Herry.
Herry's eyes lit up, "Oh man I loved those books!"
"Guys! I'm being serious!" Odie pleaded.
"You… you think you can hack it?" Archie asked nervously.
"Yeah, I can hack anything," Odie shrugged, "and if it'll connect to my laptop, we are good to go. Besides, we have to hang out for a few hours until we can all get a scan. What's the harm?"
Archie wanted to say 'the harm is me slicing my arm open again' but then realized that didn't really matter anymore. He could go through hell and probably come out looking just fine. It finally explained why he always had the fastest recovery time for bruises and scrapes they got in battle and no scars. He'd hoped it had been something passed down from Achilles but apparently all he got from his ancestor was a wonky heel.
About that…
"If this heals me then why is my heel still bad? And," Archie patted his thigh, "I have a scar, right here. Why?"
Dionysus straightened his glasses, "Well, my theory is that your heel is a genetic trait, and therefore cannot be healed through purely physical means, and you must have received the scar before this… Odie, what did you call, oh yes—before your Yeerk was implanted."
Neil and Atlanta started laughing.
Archie gave the god an incredulous look, "We are not calling it that. No way in hell are we using 90's slang for this."
"So can we do it?" Odie asked hopefully.
Archie shrugged, summoning his bravado because everyone had seen him screaming and fainting already, so it was no secret he was scared, "Yeah. Why not, right?"
"Okay, but," Theresa added in, "Odie are you gonna cut him open, because Archie sure won't be."
Odie flinched, "Oh, um, yeah. Nope. I don't even wanna touch it."
"I'm going to go be not here," Herry informed them all.
"As much as I enjoy seeing Archie cry, I'm with the big guy," Neil waved a brief goodbye and followed Herry out.
Chiron stepped forwards, "I can help you here, children."
"Thank god," Archie sighed, "no offense guys, but I really don't trust any of you to play doctor on me."
Chiron picked up a scalpel, just as Archie's stomach rumbled. His ears turned pink in embarrassment.
"Lunch is actually a great idea," Jay said, "can we take a break and get back to this?"
Hera nodded sagely, "A little rest and food would do us all well. I'll have Athena make you all something."
At least two hours later (lunch had taken a little while to cook, and there had been a lot of it) Archie was back on Chiron's operating table and very firmly not looking at his arm, which Chiron was sticking tweezers in trying to grab the end of the piece that they'd cut earlier. Archie was trying to hum a song, but of course none were coming to mind, so he was just making noise. Atlanta was tapping her fingers against his ankle brace, watching whatever Chiron was doing with too much fascination for anyone normal.
"It's kinda like when we'd skin deer," she commented helpfully, "though not as much blood."
Archie resisted the urge to kick her.
"Got it," Chiron finally said, "Odie, are you ready?"
"Yeah," Odie replied weakly, moving in close, "I regret everything I said this was the worst idea I have ever had." He patted his computer, "baby please forgive me because we are about to do something really nasty."
"I can hear you!" Archie said loudly, though he still refused to look at his arm.
"Okay, ew, ew, gross, ew, and—there!" Odie narrated.
"Is it working?" Theresa asked, leaning over Odie's shoulder.
"Hold on," he said quietly, opening a few programs and letting them search to see if he could detect Archie. Which was weird to think about.
"Could you make him twitch is leg—like when the doctor hits your knee?" Atlanta asked.
"Only if—wow, oh wow there he—you—are. I've got you!" Odie shouted. The room was filled with the sound of his fingers flying over his keyboard.
"Children," Hera moved into the room, "Dionysus is ready for you now. One at a time, if you could make your way down to his lab?"
"We'll take turns," Jay agreed, "Archie and Odie last so you two can have some time to work on this. Herry and Neil, you two wanna go?"
"Gladly," Herry threw down his newspaper and fled the room.
"So check this," Odie said, "it's heavily encrypted. Like—probably better than most governments'."
"And how would you know that?" Theresa asked coyly.
Odie nodded slowly, aware of both Jay and Theresa hovering over his shoulders, "I obviously have not and will never hack any government system because that would be wrong. And I would never do it to settle a bet."
"What kind of bet?" Atlanta prompted.
Odie flashed her a grin, "I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you."
Archie snorted, "And if anyone cares, no I can't feel anything yet."
They all fell silent after that, letting Odie work. He frowned and muttered to himself as he worked, and Archie kept his eyes closed and tried to pretend he was having a post-lunch nap. Thinking about the fact that his arm was cut open and he was plugged in to a computer was really freaking him out.
He felt something shift in his arm after a few minutes, "I think it's onto us," he announced, stomach lurching, "you probably only have a few more seconds before it heals."
Jay, Theresa and Atlanta all leaned over curiously to watch, as Odie tapped faster at his keyboard. The cut Chiron had made was a lot smaller than the first, but even still, it started closing at the ends just like the first one had. Little threads of metal all came together, stitching every level of Archie together seamlessly. Archie lifted his head to watch the end, to confirm that nothing would go wrong in healing him.
The strand that was hanging out of him, attached to Odie's laptop, stayed out. The wound healed around it, leaving it out.
"Gross," Archie groaned.
Odie glanced over at it, "Sweet," he grinned, "also gross, but mostly awesome. It's not gonna interrupt me."
"Yes," Archie draped his other arm over his face, "Just perfect."
Herry and Neil returned—just to let Theresa and Atlanta know they could go down to see Dionysus now—and then the two of them went to find somewhere to watch TV.
"So how's it going?" Jay asked.
"Remember when I said it was pretty well encrypted, like, y'know, better than some of the more secure places in the world?" Odie asked, and Jay nodded, "well, it's better than that. It's literally changing as I work, like, it's learning. But I think I managed to uncover one file, and so I'm just focusing on getting that out. Another time, and maybe with a little more power, I can try and break through, but for now if I can get a little info on this thing then that'll help us in the long run."
"Good work," Jay said.
"This is very difficult," Odie reminded him.
Jay laughed quietly and patted Odie's shoulders, "Gosh, Odie, you're just so smart. Where would we be without you making all the hard work look easy."
Odie nodded approvingly, "That sounds much better."
Jay leaned over to pat Archie's ribs, "How you holding up?"
Archie cracked an eye open, "As good as can be expected, I guess. Seriously though, I don't feel anything. Like, this is really, really weird. But I guess that's just our lives now. I think I'm over panicking."
"Oh my god!" Odie shouted.
"What?" Archie nearly bolted upright before Odie startled laughing.
"I'm going to kill you," Archie snarled.
Odie wiped a fake tear from his eye, "You're just so funny when you're freaking out. Oh man I wish Neil was here for that."
Jay gave Odie a reprimanding hit on the back of his head, "Odie, back to work. Archie's been through enough today, and as Leader I'm issuing a 'Don't-Pester-Archie' policy for the next 48 hours."
Odie sighed, "Fine."
Archie leaned over to hold out his free fist for Jay to knock, "Thanks. I'd probably die of a heart attack if this kept up."
"Nah," Jay shrugged, "your Yeerk would keep you healthy."
Archie groaned and dragged his hand down his face, "Please, god, can we call it anything but that? That's such a dumb name!"
"Did you even read them?" Odie asked.
Archie shrugged, making a face that had a frown but neither Jay nor Odie really understood what emotion he was expressing, "If I did, I don't remember. But it's a stupid word."
"You should read them," Odie assured him.
Theresa and Atlanta returned, and Jay went off on his own, to leave Odie and Archie a little more time.
Atlanta poked at the strand connecting Archie to Odie's laptop.
"Can you feel that?" she asked.
"No—yes? Kinda?" he mumbled.
She flicked it again, "Does it hurt?"
"I'm going to be sick if you do that again," he told her.
He stared her in the face, and she grinned fiendishly before leaning down to flick it again, and Archie twisted so that he could pinch her in her side. She burst out laughing, and jumped back. Atlanta propped herself up on the table beside him, dangling her legs off the edge and kicking them absentmindedly.
"Did Dionysus find anything?" Archie asked, trying to take his mind off of things.
Atlanta shook her head, "He's gonna go over everything at the end, once he's got yours to compare it to. So we get to have a group reveal."
"Sounds good," Archie replied. He closed his eyes again, and went through breathing exercises to stay calm.
"What's it like?" Atlanta asked after a moment, "not, like, you don't know your parents or where you came from. I… I can't imagine that."
"It's weird?" Archie suggested, "I mean, I don't know anything else. Like I don't know if I used to like something but don't now, or if I had friends before waking up. I don't even know if I have family out there—which I probably do—but it's doubtful I'll ever meet them. And even if I did, what if they all suck?"
"What if you're like the Bourne Identity," Atlanta offered, "and you were actually raised by the CIA."
Theresa snorted, "There's no way the CIA would take someone like Archie."
"Hey!" he protested, "I could be CIA!"
Theresa rolled her eyes but said nothing.
"Got it!" Odie shouted, leaping to his feet.
"Got what?" Archie asked worriedly.
Odie turned his laptop just enough so that Archie could see the screen, "The file I've been extracting, I got it! That means we can disconnect now."
Archie went slack with relief, "Thank god—but you have to do it."
Odie made a face, "Dude it's in your body. You touch it."
Atlanta sighed and leaned in, unhooking Archie from the laptop. The metallic strand twitched slightly, and then quickly retreated back into Archie's wrist like it was being slurped up. Archie made a retching sound. The small hole in his skin healed.
Odie frowned at his screen, "It's still too scrambled for me to read, but I'm running a decoding program on it. In the meantime let's get down to Dionysus for our scans, and then hopefully it'll be done by then."
Archie got to his feet, "Okay, and then after I need to run. And no more cutting me open for the next little bit."
"You big baby," Odie laughed.
Archie held up a finger in Odie's face, "Remember what Jay said! 48 hours!"
Less than an hour later they were all gathered in Hera's solarium to hear from Dionysus. Archie was flushed and sweaty from several laps, whereas Atlanta, who had run more than him, was looking very put together. She'd done so on purpose.
Jay, Herry and Odie were sharing a bowl of popcorn and discussing what movie to watch that night. Neil and Theresa were sharing funny pictures they'd found on Instagram.
Dionysus cleared his throat, "So, I have good news."
They all fell silent, waiting.
"My machine works!" Dionysus cheered.
All seven teenagers were still waiting, and it suddenly occurred to them that the machine working was the good news.
"And?" Hera prompted.
"Well," Dionysus frowned, "everyone is clear, except for Archie, obviously. No signs of any Yeerks in any of our young children. Except for Jay."
Jay's eyes went wide and everyone turned now to look at him.
"Except for… you mean I have it too?" Jay asked.
"You make it sound like herpes," Archie muttered. Atlanta stomped on his foot.
"But Jay gets hurt all the time," Herry said, "and he bruises really easily."
Jay grimaced, "Thanks?"
Dionysus held out two scans—they almost looked like x-rays—for the kids to see, "This is Archie in my left hand," he explained, "and Jay on my right. From what I can tell, Archie's Yeerk seems to be active and functional, at least it's sending electrical signals, whereas Jay's is not."
The left scan showed a bright network of lines throughout Archie's entire body. Jay had a similar network, but it was essentially dark.
Jay touched his wrist—the spot where they'd cut Archie open—nervously.
"So what does that mean?" he asked.
Dionysus shook his head, "I'm really, really not sure."
"We'll have to take a look," Hera said sadly.
Jay nodded, "Yeah. I want to know where these came from."
In Chiron's study, in the quiet, Odie's laptop lit up and it finished decoding. A small icon appeared on the screen.
It read 'Athena Project'.