Authors note: Hi guys! Sorry for taking long to upload. I appreciated everyone's patience and thank you for being interested in this story. I know I´m making slow progress and not writing as much as I would like, but I assure you this is going somewhere. It´s funny because I have imagined this scenario, plot, and everything a long time ago, and now that I finally had time to sit down and put words into it, I´m always puzzled about where to start. But enough with the babbling and on with the story. Hope everyone is doing fine, I know these are tough times, so I send my best vibes to you all.

Chapter 5: Blood on your hands

…

A piece of glass from one of the windows found its way to my arm. Jay was right next to me making a tourniquet, his hands were covered in blood. In a matter of seconds, everything that was planned fell like crumbles. Thurman stopped responding, as well as all our radios, and then we heard a shooting follow by a massive explosion, or what it felt like one. We were shocked by the din. Some of Onora's soldiers found their way to us. Jay´s immediate orders were to close the bunker, even if we did not make it in time, but we couldn't reach them. We weren´t aware of an attack occurring back there, not a single sign, not even basic radio. Nothing was working.

It took us some time to operate the Humvees. I could hear Odie´s words about not depending fully on electronics. Gladly it didn't take us much and we made it to the bunker. It was all chaos, people running everywhere not sure of how to respond, it was the first time we got attacked like that. So many battles, against Cronus, the government, and… this one, was the first to shake us so bad. Whatever happened, managed to disorient us. But especially that blast, I swear I have felt that before, but where?...

As soon as we arrived, we rush directly to the HQ, Jay insisted, and also it was protocol in case of disaster. My head was pounding, as I felt dizzier, but there was a ton to process at the moment. And just by looking at Jay pacing, it was going to be a long night. Soldiers were rushing in and out, everyone talking at the same time and no one saying anything at all, it only made my headache worse. I decided to lay on one couch, Onora was treating my arm.

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF HADES WAS THAT!" A familiar voice yelled in the Hall, Archie. He entered the room; his eyes were scanning everything until they found mine. "Are you alright?" he scanned me from top to bottom and held my chin with tenderness. He closed his eyes and before I could give him an answer, he turned his sight to Jay. I made a gesture trying to stop what was coming, but it was in vain.

"I TOLD YOU! I BLOODY TOLD YOU!" He grabbed him by the collar. At that moment Herry entered the room and block Archie. He tried to free himself, but it was pointless.

"Archie…"

"NO ATLANTA, I HAD ENOUGH! I´M NOT GOING TO STAND HERE AND DO NOTHING AFTER THIS MOROON PUT YOU AND EVERYONE IN DANGER!"

"Man, chill, it not Jay's fault," Herry said still holding him down.

"It´s not his fault?" he made a pause. "And whose idea do you think it was to attack tonight?" He freed himself from Herry's grasp.

"Archie… we´re fine" I managed to say.

"FINE? Atlanta your definition of fine is all messed up! You´re bleeding, nothing is working, we know nothing of a whole troop, and too top that we´re all over the news, should I keep adding to the pile?!"

Jay turned and faced Archie "What do you mean we´re all over the news?"

"So that's what caught your attention?" both faces were millimeters away from each other. I sighed and stood up. Archie's wrath was something to take seriously, his anger tends to escalate quicker than lighting a match. "Could you both please stop acting like kids?" I groaned "I can believe I am the one bleeding in the room, and you are making more drama than me".

"Atlanta has a point" closing a folder and right behind Neil, Medelia came in "I need all three of you to fill us in with every single detail, so we can know what to say to the press because believe me, it's a mess". She said pointing to Onora, Jay, and me. For a few seconds, there was only silence cover with distant voices coming from the hall and beyond.

"What happened with the distractions?" Jay asked slowly roaming through the room while ruffling his hair. Old habits tend to remain.

"Man, we had no power," Neil complained. "Aside, you guys detonated a bomb, really subtle of you."

"A bomb?!" we scowled in unison.

"Wait… I thought you guys were only helping to extract some papers and looking for the weapon. You never mention anything about a bomb" Herry said.

"We did not detonate anything," Jay answered, almost doubting himself. He looked at me searching for reassurance, I only shook my head. "Every single weapon that gets in the Humvees passes first for my approval, and believe me when I said, there was not a bomb in there" I assured.

"I was with Odie when the seismometer starts going crazy, I saw it," Archie refuted. "After that, the power was gone, and everything summons into chaos."

"Wait… but how could it reach this far?" The mine was almost 150 kilometers away from Biel, how was that even possible?

"If you allowed me," Onora stood up and looked at us all. "In all my years in the military, I can guarantee you whatever artifact causes the explosion, it was not manmade" she sighed. "That was not a bomb." Even do she used to display herself as a rough person, her eyes showed concern and I could not blame her; Thurman and his troop were missing, and also two of her boys. Both were last seen inside of the building, right before the blast. A tear rolled down my cheek. I knew that feeling, I knew it to well.

"… so, you´re telling it was a God?" Medelia's comment cut me out of my train of thoughts, Onora raised her eyebrow. "I do not know about that, I´ve never felt something like that before," she looked at me then at Jay, looking for words. "You´ll say I´m crazy," she chuckled "But I even felt sadness, not my own, but someone else's." At that moment it clicked me, the beach… My sight cross with Jays, and I could see he was thinking the same that I was. He tilted his head back and swung it in denial.

"You know what that felt like," my hands were trembling just by the mere thought of it. "That's the reason you hadn't said anything since we arrive here, the bloody damn reason" my breathing was shortening, my arms were slowly getting numb, "YOU KNEW THIS WHOLE TIME!" with the only force I got left, I slammed my fits in his desk, as I felt a hot thread running through my arm.

"JAY! ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING!?"

"Look I´m also trying to process what happened back there," his gaze was fixed with mine. "But what you´re implying, it is not possible."

"Possible?! Are you seriously questioning the possibility of it? YOU came back from death! If you did it, why can´t—"

"ENOUGH!" Medelia snapped. "I'm getting tired of this topic, and we have more important things to worry about" She walked to the door and opened it, one hand on her hip and the other sustaining herself at the frame. "Atlanta why don´t you go to the infirmary, you´re bleeding and going to stain the rug; Onora why don't you go with her," her disdain look swept me from top to bottom "While the rest of us take care of what we´re going to say to the media." I fumed out of the room feeling desperate, I heard Archie protesting in the back but didn't wait to hear what he had to say. Onora was jogging behind me trying to keep my pace, but my body was almost moving on its own. The adrenaline kept me from realizing the amount of pain that my body was feeling.

For three years we— I been dealing with her. She thinks she's the savior of the team, just because she pulled Jay out of the mental abysm he was when she arrived. But she just messed with him more, and with the system, we had by that time in the resistance. Yes, she had done wonderful things controlling the press and adding new high members to our cause, but at what cost. Jay had been transformed into a dull robot, and our suggestions or advice often come after hers. She treats us like puppets on a string, and more than often the guys just let her. How could Jay be so blind?

"Atlanta! Wait!" the concern in Onora's voice brought me back to reality. I stopped and looked around, soldiers were running up and down, most of them holding promethium lights. Major things were going on and I was focusing on the topic that didn´t matter at all. "I´m sorry Onora, I´m just—" I look for words, but none of them pay justice to what I was feeling. "You don't have to explain yourself" she paused and held my arm. Until now, I notice how deep the wound was, and the hot thread I felt on the HQ, remains to pour off my arm.

"We need to threat you soon we are not far from the infirmary," she commanded. "After that, you can punch anyone in the face" we both chuckled.

The coldness of the concrete on nights like this tends to remind me we were underground. Living too much under these circumstances, and the stress of the mission combine with the loss of blood, maybe was the reason I was seeing things where they weren´t. That made me question if what I felt was real; august was around the corner, maybe it was a mixture of all. "Do you think I´m crazy?" Onora looked at me confused.

"You? Crazy? HA!" she snorted. "Atlanta, you are the least crazy person I know, and we are battling against mythology, so that's saying a lot," she answered.

"But I´m being serious," I stopped at the entry of the infirmary. "You do believe what I said?"

"Look, you need to fill me in first, with a lot of information," she made a pause to open the doors and light up the way with the promethium lights. "I didn't know General Marrow died, and also who where you were referring—" at that moment, the light came back, and we could see that we were not the only ones in there.

A soldier covered in blood and holding a medical kit was in front of us.

"Carter?!" Onora asked.