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"Raymond Palmer."
Ray suddenly woke up from his sleep, a piece of paper still on his face. He blinked a couple of times – he had rested his head a little and he must have fallen asleep afterward. The pile of papers had served as his pillow, but they were now scattered on the ground. He would have to clean that up, but he first wondered why he fell asleep in the lab. He drank a lot of coffee, it shouldn't have been possible…
Then he saw the woman who'd woken him up. He assumed she was Sara, but he was wrong. From the way she stared at him and the way she stood, with her chin up and her back straightened, she oozed confidence and demanded Ray's respect. She was a tall woman and had to literally look down to see Ray. Her blonde hair was barely visible under the Greek helmet. Her legs were similarly obstructed from view by the gigantic circular shield that rested on the ground and reached up to her hips. It bore the image of an owl, and the woman rested her left hand on the top to keep it balanced. In her other hand, she held a spear even taller than her, which almost made a hole in the ceiling.
"Oh my god." Ray had spoken before he was aware of what just slipped out. He quickly plucked the piece of paper from his face. The goddess – there was no way she could be anything else – slightly tilted her head in amusement. Then Ray realized what exactly he had said in an impulse.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to equate you with the Christian god, and—"
"It is forgiven," the goddess said. Ray sighed in relief, a smile appearing on his face.
"Thank you," he said. he took his time to look at her. He may have been busy with researching ways to stop the Giantess and with defeating the Greek monsters they came across, but he still was not quite familiar with the different gods and goddesses of Olympus. This goddess had to be one, he was sure of it, but which one?
He was drawn to the image of the owl, the symbol of study and wise people. That was the main clue he needed to correctly guess her identity.
"You're Athena, aren't you?" He eventually said, hoping he was right. When she nodded in confirmation, he breathed in relief.
"Correct." She extended her right arm to him, the tip of the spear scraping over the floor. She looked ceremoniously at him. "Ray Palmer, I hereby name you my champion. May your mind never fail you and your quick wit save you in battle."
Ray nodded and beamed. He was a champion! That was great. He did not feel any different physically or mentally, but holding that distinct title and now speaking with Athena was great. Since she had not wasted any time, Ray believed she would be leaving soon, without allowing him to ask a question he wanted to be answered.
"Before you leave," he said, "I do have a question if you don't mind. If you're not too busy."
As it turned out, Athena did not mind. She nodded once, granting him permission.
"Go ahead," she said. Ray nodded enthusiastically.
"Okay." How was he going to phrase the question in a way that would not offend the goddess and/or any of her relatives? He hoped Athena would not be offended. "We fight in your name. We have accepted our roles. But some of us are wondering, whether you will be present yourselves? Are we on our own as champions, or can we expect you to be there when the fight with the Giantess begins?"
Athena took her time to think of an answer, and Ray waited patiently for the answer. Eventually, she settled with a not-so-diplomatic answer, but one that was close to the truth.
"The balance of religious or divine power is divided according to how many people worship the religion," Athena explained. "We were at our most powerful when the Greeks and Roman worshipped us and we had to give up our might when monotheistic religions rose to power. The little power we still have is not enough for most Olympians. Some of us are as humble as your current president is honest. They want to be powerful again before they will come down again. They may appoint champions, but that is as far as they will go in helping out with this problem.
"As for me, I wish I could be there, but I am needed elsewhere. My city needs protection. Know I will watch over you and nudge you in the right direction whenever I can."
Ray nodded. "I understand," he said, "and thank you so, so much. It has been a privilege to have talked to you."
"You are welcome," Athena said. "Now, you must wake up."
Ray frowned. "What?"
Before he fully realized what was going on, he was back on his stool and he jerked up his head from the pile of paper again. This time, he immediately removed the piece of paper that was on his face. Ray turned his head – Zari stood in the doorway, while Nora stood right behind her.
"Did you sleep here?" Zari asked him – Nora seemed to want to know the answer as well.
"I guess I did. I'm…" Ray stopped himself, remembering the events from his dream. "I-I think I'm a champion now."
"Congratulations," Nora said with the highest amount of sarcasm she could muster. The two ladies left the scientist in the lab. Ray jumped up from his stool, ignoring his research that was scattered on the ground.
"It's the truth!" he said and he followed the ladies to explain what exactly had happened.
This was going to be a long morning.
"Nate! Wake up!"
Nate groaned. No. He had barely processed that someone was yelling at him, but he did not want to wake up. Could they not leave him alone?
"Let him be."
Yes. Please. Let him sleep. Didn't he deserve a day off, a day to sleep? Or at the very least one morning to wake up in peace or stay in bed a little longer than usual? They'd fought a Chimera, he deserved this.
Today was different than the others. Nate could not seem to find the strength or will to leave the comforts of his bed. He could not help it – he was just that tired. It happened from time to time, but even in his state, he had to admit this was the most exhausting sleep-in morning in a long time. He did not really think about it anyway.
Only when he opened his eyes and saw the clock did he sit up. Six PM! He had thought it was eleven AM, or noon at the very latest. How did he oversleep this much? And more importantly, what the hell had made him so exhausted – what was still making him feel exhausted?
Nate accepted he should not be feeling so tired and pushed through the part of his mind that argued doing nothing and to go back to bed. He could not continue lying in bed.
Nate got up and put on some clean clothes. He may not be doing anything productive today, during the few hours of the day he still had, but he was going to look like he had not spent the entire day in bed. He was not as motivated as he usually was, and he hated that.
As he put on a sock, he dropped the other one. with a defeated sigh, he bent over to pick it up. While he was bent over, something bright red lying half-under his bed caught his eye. Something that should not be there.
Nate frowned and he crouched next to his bed, picking up the shapeless piece of red he'd seen. It was a poppy. As soon as he made skin contact with it, a new wave of exhaustion hit him again. It was strong enough for him to drop the flower; when he no longer made the skin contact, the exhaustion disappeared.
Immediately Nate jumped to conclusions; the poppy's presence probably was the reason for his exhaustion throughout the day. But how did it come here and how long was it there? He drew on his knowledge of Greek mythology – he had read up on several gods and goddesses so he could be prepared when they faced him or so he could at least recognize them. He also looked at a group that he called the children of Nyx, who were all personifications of abstract concepts, such as strife or old age. One of them, he remembered, was sleep. Hypnos. It would not be out of the question for this god to show up on the Waverider. But that begged the question, why did he come here? What side was he on, and did he have a hidden agenda?
Nate put on a glove. He picked the flower from his bed and placed it in a small box, closing it. The mystery of the poppy kept him busy for the remainder of the day. Nate snuck into other Legends' rooms to look for any similarly concealed poppies, but he found none. He was also suspicious of Nora, especially since her evil background just made her suspicious in general. He returned to his room and stared at the box that held the poppy.
An idea popped into his mind. He took a pen and used it to crush the poppy until it was nothing more than pulp and powder. He placed that powder and pulp into a small vial from the lab he had randomly lying in his room. Then he put the vial in his drawer – who knows, maybe he was going to need it at some point.
But then came the question: when would he use this flower, and did it still possess its abilities? If not, he had destroyed the thing that exhausted him. Either way, he would be on the look-out for poppies on the Waverider.
Sara sat in the captain's office and drank some whiskey. She just finished a conversation with Ava. She had given her girlfriend an update on recent events, and it apparently explained some strange activity that the Time Bureau could not label. Ava then gave Sara an update of the goings-on at the Time Bureau, but it was not as extensive as Sara's update. They discussed when Sara thought she could return to the twenty-first century, but Sara had to disappoint and told her she did not know. She did promise Ava she would be back as soon as possible.
Then the conversation ended. Sara fell back in her chair and sat there for a while, nothing and everything on her mind.
They had beaten three monsters already. Three monsters who had most likely been sent by Periboea and displaced in time, or who were accidentally looked over as the Legends tried to take care of anachronisms, or who were Fugitives with no affiliation to Periboea who liked to wreck the places they ended up in.
Three monsters. Was this just the beginning? How many more would follow? How many more were they going to have to fight before they finally found Periboea to kick her ass and be done with it?
Honestly, Sara did not like this arrangement. She wanted to go back home to Ava and take a break. But she was a Legend, the champion of Persephone – her current responsibilities did not allow her to leave the timeship, not even for a little break. It weighed on her, the fact that Greek gods revealed their existence and decided this group of highly qualified mortals would do fine in the fight against the Giantess, while the gods themselves spent their times watching them from above.
Time to speed up the process.
"Gideon, can you scan Greek history for any Fugitives or something that looks like it belongs to Greek mythology?"
"Of course, Captain."
There. The first step had been taken. It was just a small step, but it could give them somewhere to start if the results turned up positive. If nothing came up, she could have Gideon broaden the scanned terrain, but for now, Greece had to do.
Sara had no idea for how long she had been sitting in her comfortable chair, deep in thought, when Gideon told her she had found something. The AI placed a picture on the screen but did not say anything. Sara had already been facing the tv screen when Gideon presented the information; she only needed to stand up and approach the screen.
The man on the picture, if you could call him that, was an ugly monstrosity. His bushy beard was as long as his brown unkempt hair. He wore no shoes, making his scaly feet stand out even more. His only item of clothing was a piece of cloth bound around his hips, covering his butt and private parts. Furthermore, something seemed off about him; there was something that did not immediately seem right with him, but Sara could not put her finger on it. Other than that, he could have been a normal homeless man if Gideon had not identified as a Giant.
Periboea had not been the only one of her kind who escaped the Underworld; one of her uncles, named Clytius, managed to break free as well, in another part of Tartarus that held a bigger crack. According to Greek mythology, this Giant had joined the fight against the Olympians and was subsequently killed by Hecate and her torches. Gideon had pinpointed him to the Kassandra peninsula but had yet to figure out the best time to strike.
It was not Periboea. But Clytius was a Giant as well; he may know exactly what his niece wants to do. And if he had bad intentions, he could
"Thanks, Gideon." They had a lead now. It was better to investigate this than to do nothing as they waited for something to happen, for other mythological monsters to strike an important place in time.