"Leave me alone!" Jace whined.

"C'mon Cat Ears!"

"No. I'm suffering from Mana Withdrawal."

"Um..." Ral stared at him for a moment, "I don't think that's a thing."

"Yes it is," Jace muttered.

"That's not a thing."

"It is a thing," Jace insisted.

"No it's not," Ral shook his head.

"Yes it is."

"I don't think so."

"It is now," Jace muttered.

"Cat Ears. You can't just come up with some ailment that doesn't exist in order to stay in bed," Ral said.

"Jace get your sorry ass up!" Chandra yelled angrily, "Elspeth has told me that I can beat you up for being a sneaky little prick now!"

"I'm dead! You can't beat me up if I'm dead!" Jace yelled at her through the door.

Jayden poked him, "No you're not."

Jace pulled the white haired boy down so his face was gently imbedded in the pillow and hissed, "She doesn't need to know that."

Jayden had insisted on staying with Jace in the school dorms even though he wasn't allowed to by the school's rules. Chandra had suggested they just hide them and had entrusted Jace and Ral with his care. Jace still didn't think entrusting the two of them to look after a little kid around the age of six was a very good idea. Ral couldn't ever tell the kid no. Jayden was more spoiled than Jace.

"Oh really?" Chandra asked.

Jace heard her messing with the lock. He got to his feet and jumped out the window. He landed in the tree and bolted across the courtyard.

"Hey Jace!" Jenny called out to him.

Jace shook his head. Not now Jenny!

"Get back here you damn coward!" Chandra shot across the courtyard, easily closing the distance with a bit of added firepower.

Jace dodged to the side and circled around the school courtyard again. The air tasted like spring. Hopefully it would warm up quickly without getting too hot. He hated the snow and the cold but he also didn't like being uncomfortably hot. Part of his hatred for snow came from Michael and David showering him with it if they decided he was being too lazy. He skidded to a surprised stop as someone appeared in front of him. There were actually two people.

"Hey! Watch where you're going you little brat!"

Jace glared at the dark haired woman angrily, "Then maybe you shouldn't come out of nowhere."

Her companion stopped her from continuing the argument and led her away. Jace rolled his eyes, "Jeez." He slid into the school building and away from Chandra.

"R-Rheah?!" Michael and David stumbled over themselves in the Lady of Justice's presence just as Jace entered the cafeteria. "That's Rheah?" he looked at Kurai curiously.

Kurai nodded, "Yep."

Jace looked back at the Avenger in surprise, "Wow. I expected her hair to be shorter. I mean she's a warrior isn't she?" He decided to leave out the part about him crashing into them while running from Chandra earlier that morning and then snapping angrily at them. It didn't embarrass him any but he didn't want anyone apologizing to the two of them on his behalf. "I also expected her hair to be darker. She's not all that intimidating either." He had, naturally read all the stories about the extremely powerful and often feared Archangel of Justice. She wasn't as ruthless and cold as her predecessor but she was known for being extremely unforgiving once someone managed to incite her wrath. According to the stories actually making the Archangel genuinely mad was very difficult.

Rheah had long strawberry blond hair pulled into a single bun just to the right on the back of her head. A small clump of her hair was left out of the bun and hung down, reaching the small of her back. She appeared to be an adult female woman instead of taking on a younger form. The armor that covered most if not all of her body seemed to glow even without any light reflecting off of it. It was silver trimmed with gold.

"She's not intimidating?" Kurai asked in amusement.

Jace glanced at him, "No. Not really."

"You'd be among the few who think so then," Kurai shook his head.

"Do you find her intimidating?" Jace asked.

"Not particularly but then again we are on a very similar power level," Kurai reminded Jace, "There is no reason for me to be afraid of her."

"Oh," Jace looked around, "Why is she here? And is the person next to her Aemeira?"

"Amy?" Kurai nodded. He looked at Jace, "It'd be best if you called her Amy. She'll fillet you otherwise."

Jace snickered as he watched Michael and David panic and begin apologizing desperately after having made the mistake of calling her Aemeira just then, "I can see. Even so. I expected Rheah to be more intimidating than her."

Amy had long dark red or black hair, depending on how the light hit it. Her armor appeared just as heavy as Rheah's but was pitch black or dark grey. Her eyes were opaque and a creepy glowing orange. She was also taller than Rheah by about two inches.

Jace noticed that everyone in the cafeteria was on their very best behavior and was glancing at the two uneasily. I wonder why they're here.

"Rheah was a child of prophecy and is the daughter of a god," Kurai explained, "Amy however was alive before the weapon. She spent her life slaying dragons for the fun of it."

Jace's eyes widened, "That's the reason for their difference in placement?"

"Yes. Amy, in life, killed other living beings for sport and prize," Kurai explained, "She got tired of the politics of the Realm of Shadows and returned to the mortal world shortly after her inception into the ranks. There she gathered and led a band of criminals."

"Why's she a...good guy now then?" Jace asked.

Kurai shrugged, "No clue. I didn't exist."

"You didn't?"

Kurai looked down at his summoner dryly, "I'm not that old."

"Oh," Jace sighed and looked back at Rheah and Amy. She slays dragons? "What kind of dragons did she slay for...fun?"

"Dragons similar in power to the ones you currently face," Kurai said as though it wasn't a big deal.

Jace's eyes widened and he stared at him, "What?!"

Kurai looked at him, "What?"

"Then why doesn't she just-"

"She may be a being from another realm but she is not a planeswalker. She cannot leave the shards."

"Oh," Jace sighed. He glanced at her, "And she seems like the type to decide not to help for her own sick amusement."

"There is that," Kurai nodded, "And not all the dragons of that time were as powerful as the ones you face. They're comparable yes, but they are generally weaker. Their status as planeswalkers makes them exponentially more powerful than any dragon Amy killed."

"Oh," Jace nodded, "Similar to how planeswalkers are generally more powerful than a regular mage then."

Kurai nodded, "Exactly."

He looked at the demon, "Do you know why they're here?"

Kurai nodded once.

Jace rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to Rheah and Amy, "You aren't going to tell me are you?"

Kurai shook his head, "You'll know in time. For now you have more important things to worry about."

"Oh yeah. The fact that we still have yet to figure out exactly where Nix is," Jace sighed.

"And that Chandra is insistent on beating you up," Kurai's warning came moments too late. The redhead assassin had Jace pinned to the ground in an instant. Jace growled. I swear. You're plotting against me just as much as she is.

Maybe. Even so. At least I warned you.

Jace rolled his eyes. He looked up at Chandra, "What?"

"WHAT?!" Chandra's face was suddenly millimeters from his own, "You're stupid ass goes and gets yourself caught without telling anyone but Ral and then you leave Ral to explain to the rest of us that you don't want to be rescued and then you decide to play the victim?!"

"It wouldn't be a good guilt trip if I didn't would it?" Jace asked dryly. He knocked her off of him and jumped up onto a table and leaped up onto the steel bars that supported the lights that illuminated the room. He sat down and smirked down at her, "You're too short to get up here aren't you?"

"I'm taller than you you little shit!" Chandra yelled angrily.

"But I obviously have more jumping power than you," Jace offered in amusement.

Chandra glared up at him. He heard her growl. She was going to find her own way up into the maze of bars if it killed her. He had no doubt that she'd be able to balance along them once she got up there but he was content just watching her try to get up.

Rheah watched in amusement. She glanced at Michael and David, "Does this happen often?"

"About every time Jace makes a choice on his own without telling anyone so...yeah," Michael shrugged.

David's eyes widened, "Oh no! Michael."

"What?" Michael glanced at him curiously.

David pointed to where Jace was crouching near a trigger for one of the ice bucket traps. Chandra however dodged the icy water that came cascading out of it. She glared up at him, "Oh you are dead."

"I told you that this morning," Jace said flatly. He sat down again and looked down at her, "Besides, Michael and David put it there. I just triggered it for you."

"I don't care. They'll get what's coming to them later."

"Why?" Jace whined, "It's not like they've been nice to you at all."

"Ral's spoiled you too much," Chandra muttered. She managed to get up into the supports with a couple more attempts. Jace jumped back away from her as she shot forward, adeptly keeping her balance on the thin metal bars. Jace teleported behind her, "Wow. You really are slow." He ate his words a moment later when she knocked him off the bar he was standing on. He dropped towards the ground. He managed to land successfully and glared up at her, "That's not fair!"

"Then maybe you shouldn't run your face when you haven't one yet," Chandra crouched on the bar she was standing on.

Jace pouted. He telekinetically pulled on her boot, messing up her balance. She fell towards the ground. She landed on a table and rolled off of it. He appeared above her, standing on the table, "Maybe you should follow your own advice."

Chandra scowled up at him.

They were interrupted when Jenny came crashing into the cafeteria, "I found her!"

"Nix?" Sakura asked.

Jenny nodded, "Izzy and I-"

"Isabelle," Isabelle corrected heatedly.

Jenny shrugged, "Izzy and I managed to locate her."

"Where is she?" Sakura asked.

"Way way up north," Jenny said.

Jace rolled his eyes, "Of course.

"Northern coastline of Canada," Jenny shrugged.

"Not exactly. Near there," Izzy corrected.

"That's the Arctic Circle!" Erin cried in horror.

"It's the perfect place to hide a facility and organization that engages in illegal activities," Jace shrugged. He hopped off the table and walked over.

"You are not going by yourself again!" Chandra snapped as she pulled to a stop beside him.

Jace looked at her, "Why not?"

Chandra leaned over him just slightly, "You may have a personal endeavor against these people but-"

"It would be suicide to go alone," Sakura cut in calmly, "The deities are named based off of their intended relative power levels. Athena is probably more powerful than even Zeus but that was not what was intended. In mythology Nix was more powerful than Zeus. Her wrath was something he feared."

Rick whistled softly, "So it's going to take a good number of us to take her on."

"That's if they've re-purposed her like they intended," Ral said.

"They have," Jace nodded, "They had already begun the process by the time I found out about it."

"Oh," Ral sighed, "So she won't be in a friendly mood."

"That depends on how dictated by her programing she is," Sakura explained, "The reason she was allowed to be on her own was so she could develop a personality and not remain entirely dependent on her programing to function."

"Would she be able to override it?" Chandra asked.

Sakura shook her head, "She would have if this had happened after she had returned with Apollo and me."

"Great," Izzy sighed, "So we're planning on taking on a god that had Zeus running with his tail tucked between his legs."

"That certainly sounds like suicide," Lilianna nodded.

"Don't you think we should do more to prepare for this?" Rick suggested.

"Well," Sakura spoke up, "That depends on whether or not we want to go and hope we can get there before her personality is completely over powered."

"Never mind," Rick sighed.

"Let's just go and hope we don't die," Izzy rolled her eyes. She ran her fingers through her hair.