Three days later, Odie sat on the front porch steps of the school going through his notes for Manny's collar. He had built his manticore's previous one years ago, so he was relieved that his younger self had been taught to take extensive notes, but partially annoyed that the entire notebook was nearly illegible. His handwriting had significantly improved over the years, and he was working on transferring the important information over to a new notebook along with the upgrades he had added to it since it had been first built.

He was pulled off his train of thought by the sound of tires coming up the driveway. It only took a second for the vehicle to pull into view, but he could tell by the sound immediately who it was; Theresa.

She and Neil were the first ones to return, besides Odie and Archie, now that the cops had finished their investigation. Chronos had indeed kept (or created) detailed enough reports to satisfy them, and it had definitely helped that every parent had vouched for their trust in him.

There had been concerns when it got back to the cops that Archie had been taken to the hospital the same night he'd been removed from his home, but a quick interview had seemed to put them at ease. It was apparently more common than they had thought to trip over a pet and end up injured, which was the story they were going with.

"Welcome back." He greeted. "How did everything go at your place?"

Neil waved and walked past him into the house while Theresa sighed and flopped down on the steps beside him, making sure to avoid his work. "Dad didn't see my car until the morning. He's convinced that I had food of some sort in it and the bear came back during the night and trashed my car to get at it. He's warned all our neighbors about the bear and is trying to find the weak spot in our fence where it got in. Which means that we had maybe three conversations the entire time Neil and I were there."

Odie capped his pen and closed it into the notebook he was writing in, using it as a bookmark. "Well, look on the bright side. At least you're not grounded."

"So, your family really… knows? About everything?"

Odie sighed and rested his chin in the palm of his hand. "Yeah. We had to fill them in. They're not happy, but they agree that the safest place for me is surrounded by other people with superpowers."

"How's Archie holding up?"

Odie smiled and nodded towards the house. "Chronos teleported us back earlier this morning. Archie wanted to wait up for the rest of you to return. Chronos, Agnon and I wanted him to relax."

Theresa chuckled and shook her head, knowing full well how difficult it was dealing with an injured Archie. "So what did you settle on?"

"He's in Chronos's recliner with a few books. He promised not to move or aggravate his ribs in any way, and we agreed that we would let him read in peace."

"So he's really doing alright, then?" Atlanta asked, walking up with Herry.

"Yeah. He'll be fine. So long as we can keep him from hurting himself. Or walking." Odie greeted them, moving aside as Atlanta walked by into the house.

"How's Granny doing?" Theresa turned to Herry, who was leaning against the porch railing observing Odie's work area.

"She's good. I had to talk her out of calling the police and chewing them out, and she's ordered me to bring everyone over for lunch tomorrow so she can personally make sure we're not traumatized, but other than that she's doing well."

"So after we get our class schedules tomorrow, we'll go by her place." Theresa made the mental note and got up to kneel on Odie's other side, helping him pick up his stuff. "Is there anything else we need to do tomorrow?"

Herry and Odie thought, but then shook their heads. "No, I don't think so."

A familiar yellow car pulled up and Jay got out, waved goodbye to his father, and walked up.

"Good. Because I think we all need just a quiet day to recover from all that's happened." She sighed. The boys couldn't agree more.

Yyyyy

Chronos knocked on Atlanta and Theresa's bedroom door. He could hear shuffling from the room, and a second later the door opened.

"Hey, Chronos. What's up?" Atlanta asked. She had apparently been going over her inventory (or rather, stockpile) of weapons, as they were all spread out over her comforter. Her poster of Anne Bonny and Mary Read that she had painted in an art class a few years back glared down at him from the wall.

"Changing your mind again?" He nodded to the collection.

"Eh… I haven't decided. I like my spear. It's sturdy, it's deadly, it's compact." She frowned and picked up a dagger. Its sheath had been equipped with small straps that allowed it to be fastened to her ankle discreetly.

"But..?" He prompted.

"We were in a real fight. And, yeah, I know we've been in real fights before against monsters, but these weren't just monsters. This was an actual fight."

"We're just running through our arsenal." Theresa continued. "Trying to figure out if we'd have had a better advantage with some different weapons."

"Does this mean you're deciding on a main weapon?" Chronos asked her. Sure, she and Neil kept weapons on their bodies at all times, but she tended to rely more heavily on her psychic ability than anything else.

"I'm not sure. Keeping my hands free means I'm able to have far more control in high-stress situations, but it might be smart to start carrying something just in case."

Chronos nodded and said goodnight, leaving the girls to their weapons and decisions.

He knocked on Neil and Archie's door next. There was no answer so he pushed the door open slowly. The room was dark and silent, but the light from the hall let him clearly see both occupants sound asleep on the bottom bunk. Neil, who tended to be a bit clingy, had one arm draped over his brother.

Chronos shook his head, momentarily reminded of when the two of them were younger. Archie hated having anyone touch him for any reason, and would shrug off any forms of physical affection his friends tried to give him. Touch starved Neil, however, gradually became the exception.

Quietly, Chronos shut the door and moved on to the next room.

Odie's door was open and his light was on so Chronos just leaned in the doorway in lieu of knocking.

"Hey, Chronos." Odie greeted. He was seated in his window, throwing a basketball for Manny to chase around his pen. The manticore would bound after it, bat it around a little, and then bring it back for his human to throw again. He had been full of ecstatic energy ever since the kids had returned home, and despite the fact that he had been working tirelessly on both the collar and his teammates' PMRs, Chronos knew Odie was just as happy to be reunited with Manny.

"Are you planning on going to bed soon?"

"Yeah. I just want to wear Manny out a bit so he's not trying to get me to play with him all night." Odie took the muddy, orange ball and threw it as far as he could. "I think I finished upgrading my PMR if you want to test it tomorrow."

"Of course. What did you change?" Chronos walked over to Odie's bedside table and picked up the device. It didn't look all that different from before. Just a little thicker.

"I added an external battery so the taser wont kill it. It's still only good for one attack, but it will be strong enough to take a giant to the ground. The thing I want to test, though, is whether or not we can make the barrier protecting us treat the PMRs like some kind of access card. So no one who doesn't have one can get in."

"Hmm. That's not a bad idea."

"Yeah, well…" Odie trailed off, throwing the ball to another area of Manny's pen.

"Yes?" Chronos prompted.

"We have more people than just us who come up here. If we're able to make this work, we'll have to come up with a separate device that allows out parents in. Not to mention Atticus. He's been up here to pick up Jay before."

The god set the device back and frowned. That… would be a problem. "Why don't you think about it more in the morning. I assume you're going to be heading to bed soon?"

Odie grabbed the ball again, but held it instead of throwing it. "Yeah. I'll probably be in bed in… maybe twenty minutes? I think Manny's starting to get tired out. And I know we have to go pick up our class schedules tomorrow."

Chronos nodded and left the room, shutting the door behind him. Odie and Manny continued their game. Across the hall, he knocked on the last door.

"Come in." Herry called.

Chronos opened the door and was mildly surprised to see that the descendant of Hercules was the only one in the room. He was seated on his bed, one leg stretched out in front of him, and leaned back against his pillow. He had his glasses on and Chronos could see that he was reading.

"What's up?"

"Just making the rounds, checking in on everyone. Where's Jay?"

Herry dog-eared his spot in his book and pushed his glasses up on his head. "He's outside watching the meteor shower. I saw him setting up a camping chair about half an hour ago."

"Alright. How are you doing? Now that you've gone up against gods for real?"

Herry crossed his arms and thought for a moment. "I hope they don't come after us when we're around civilians, and I'm thankful they didn't show up at Granny's house." He responded slowly, thoughtfully. It didn't escape his teacher's attention that he didn't make eye contact once, or that he bit his lip when he was done speaking.

"Herry, I don't believe I need to tell you that we do not have the upper hand in this war. If there's something you're hiding…" He trailed off with a prompting look at the teen.

Herry closed his eyes and sighed in resignation. "It's just… something felt off. I don't know. We've had practice fights, and you've sent us after loose monsters, but this just…" Herry thumped his head against the wall behind him. "I know Archie got hurt. And I know it could have been so much worse. I just can't help feeling like we got off… 'easy' doesn't seem like the right word here."

Chronos crossed his arms. "You think they were up to something else?"

"I don't know what to think. I just know that something feels wrong. I don't know. Maybe I've just spent so long imagining what it would be like to fight them that that's why actually doing it felt off?" Herry didn't like that he didn't have the words he was looking for.

"Another thing to consider is that the gods are well known for their trickery. They've always enjoyed messing with the minds of mortals. Perhaps what you're sensing is just seeds of doubt they intentionally sewed."

Herry bit his lip, mulling over the possibility. "So, you don't think our instincts will be able to be relied on if we go into battle with them again?"

"Not necessarily. I just want you seven to be aware that your opponents are well versed in deception. You'll need to be on guard. Prepared."

Herry sighed, looked back at his book, and then grabbed his glasses out of his hair, fiddling with them absently. "Which means we should probably have our heads on straight."

"Herry?"

The teen got up and jerked his thumb towards the window, through which Jay was clearly far enough away that there was no risk of them being overheard. "He's had his head in the clouds ever since we got back. And not in the normal Jay way, either. You know how he obsesses whenever things don't work out like he thought they would."

Chronos huffed and closed his eyes. His resident problem child was the one he had been worried about the most, and it appeared that he hadn't been worried for nothing. "I figured he might be spiraling. He's the only one left to check on."

Herry nodded and looked out at his leader, seated in an old deck chair he had dug out of storage. He had set up his telescope, but didn't appear to have any intention of using it. "He was going to be watching the meteor shower with Atticus tonight, but I overheard them talking earlier. Atticus heard through the grapevine that the police had been up here for some sort of investigation. He's really worried about how Jay's doing, but the two of them decided that, since we all just got back a few hours ago, it might not be the best time to have a guest over."

Chronos nodded and the two lapsed into silence.

"Should I infer from your lack of irritation that you've changed your opinion on Jay's romantic interest"?

"... I don't know. Jay likes him, and it's ultimately up to him who he dates, but…"

"You're wary?"

"I don't want Jay to know my opinion. As you said, he's almost an adult. He needs to make these choices himself, but at the same time…" Herry hesitated, gritting his teeth. "At the same time, Jay only came out barely a year ago. He's still figuring himself out, and I don't want to spend his first real relationship filling his head with reasons he should end it." He shook his head and turned back to his book. He grabbed it and sat back on his bed, but didn't put his glasses back on. "For now, I've just made sure that he knows I-, well, all of us, really, will be here for him if he ever needs us."

"Sometimes, that's all you can do."

Chronos left Herry and made his way down the hall, through the living room, and out the front door.

Jay didn't move his eyes away from the night sky, not wanting to miss any lights streaking by, but spoke softly into his PMR resting on his shoulder and ended the call he was apparently on.

"Was that Atticus?" Chronos asked, walking up.

"Yeah. He's out on his balcony right now watching this."

A meteor flashed across the sky, gone in the blink of an eye.

"You're not usually this quiet. Something on your mind?" Chronos slipped his hands into his pockets, watching the sky. When he didn't get a response, he looked down and noticed that Jay appeared to be trying to find the words he wanted.

"We're not ready. If they come after us again… I'm not sure we'll win."

"You think the team needs more training?"

"I don't know." Jay sighed and rubbed his face. When he spoke again, he wasn't looking up at the night sky. He wasn't looking at anything. He just closed his eyes and whispered. "Do you think I should break up with Atticus?"

Chronos had to admit, he hadn't been expecting that. "Did something happen?"

Jay shook his head, going back to watching the sky.

"Did you jump into a relationship too fast?"

"No. I mean, I don't know. I like him. I really like him, but… maybe I shouldn't be dating at all. I could have been killed that night, and he would never have known what happened to me."

Another meteor went past.

"Let me ask you this, then. Why did you start a relationship with him in the first place?"

Another meteor shot by.

"... I think I wanted to believe that, even just for a little bit, I could have some semblance of a normal life."

Two meteors, one following the other.

"And you no longer believe that?"

"What, that I can have a normal life?" Jay looked at Chronos. The god was studying his expression.

"Do you believe you can? Do you think there will ever be a time after this? A future?"

Jay remained silent.

"You don't think your team has a chance." It wasn't a question.

Jay didn't argue. He didn't defend them. He dropped his eyes to his hands.

"You were in a real fight, Jay. It's normal to feel overwhelmed. But that's no excuse to give up."

"And I haven't given up. I promise I'm going to fight with everything I have-,"

"You've already lost."

"What?"

Chronos held his stare. "You've already resigned yourself to defeat. You don't see yourself and the others winning. You don't see yourself or the others making it out alive. In your mind, they've already beaten you. You've lost."

Jay blinked and looked back at his hands, clenching them into fists before forcing himself to relax them and grab the armrests of his chair. He let out a breath and turned his head away to examine the grass, or what little of it he could see in the dark. "I… I gave it my all. In that fight. I've been fighting with a sword for years now, I'm no stranger to combat, or leading the others in a fight… I-I've increased our training. We've all been working on preparing for this. None of it was enough. If they come after us, we don't stand a chance. I can give it my all, but… I already did." Jay felt his hands begin to shake and clenched his fists tightly to hide it. "I gave all I had already. I don't have any more to give. If they come after us again… I don't think I can do that. I don't know that I can get us all out alive."

Chronos knelt beside the chair and put his hand over Jay's closest fist. "Take a breath, okay? Calm down." He reached his other hand up and gave Jay's shoulder a squeeze. "This is an awful situation that you didn't get a say in. I get that. You have every right to feel helpless and in over your head. But you're not doing this alone. Your team has your back. They're here for you, and you can rely on them more than you do. You're not doing yourself or them any favors by pretending you're not worried."

Jay pulled his arm away and held it to his chest. "I'm not doing them any favors by worrying them more than they already are, either."

"No. You're not. And right now, they need advice. They need their leader." Chronos rested his forearms on his knee. Jay still faced away from him. "Being their leader might seem like an impossible task at the moment, but you don't have to do that alone either. You still have me. And, if you want my opinion, I don't think you should break up with Atticus. You need something to be able to look forward to. You need to allow yourself to hope."

Jay glanced down at the PMR in his hand. He wanted to call Atticus back. He wanted to just continue their conversation, wanted to go back to earlier, when who saw what meteor first was the most important thing in the world at the moment. He wanted to hear his voice and pretend that… no, he didn't want to pretend. He wanted to actually be next to him. Jay wanted to watch the meteor shower in person with Atticus.

"As… as leader of this team," Jay turned to look at the god. "I get to make decisions regarding what I think is best for the team."

"Yes?" Chronos's response was both confirmation, and encouragement to continue.

Jay hesitated, suddenly wondering if this was what would actually be best for everyone. "I want a second-in-command. If we're ever separated again, or for whatever reason I can't make it to everyone in time, I want them to be able to turn to someone with no hesitation."

"Do you have someone in mind?"

"I think so. But I still want to discuss it with everyone else. They should have a say in whether or not they want to lead. Just because I never got a choice doesn't mean they should be forced into this as well. Besides, I think this will be something that needs everyone's input."

Chronos stood back up. "Alright. We'll give everyone a few days to rest, recover, and refocus, and then we'll select someone."

Up above, another lone meteor went by.

Yyyyy

Hera wasn't expecting her heart to skip a beat as she watched three familiar teenagers, a blond boy with several rope and string bracelets around both wrists, a redhead girl in green cargo shorts who's eyes seemed to be paying subtle attention to everything going on around her, and a taller boy in a blue hoodie with dyed purple hair, and black sweatpants, walk through the school's front door. She hadn't seen them since they were small, but there was no doubt about who they were.

"That's Atlanta, Archie, and Neil. We call them the triplets."

"I'm sorry?" The goddess snapped out of her memories and turned to face the chipper principal beside her.

"Those three." She indicated the trio Hera had been watching. "They're part of that private school I told you about earlier."

"Oh." Hera silently reprimanded herself for getting distracted. "I was under the impression that none of the students were related?"

"Technically, none of them are blood related. But Neil and Archie are brothers through adoption, and Atlanta is their best friend. The three of them are always seen together, so we just call them the triplets."

"Ah. I see." Hera forced herself to refocus on what she had been doing; learning where everything was in her new principal's office.

The previous principal was a kind woman in her fifties who, maybe through the benefit of good genes or her seemingly eternal sunny attitude, had only recently begun to gray. She wore her reading glasses on a string around her neck that she had shown off twice within the first half hour of their meeting, proudly stating that her new granddaughter, who had only been adopted a few months prior had picked it out.

Hera had been caught a bit off guard by her energy, but had quickly decided that she was far better off with 'Former Principal Bev', as she had introduced herself, than Hermes was with the secretary.

Shirley had learned of her new replacement, almost immediately announced her retirement, and then decided that Hermes only needed a short tour of the office. He had tried asking questions regarding procedures, her filing system, navigating the computer system, but the previous secretary made it clear that she viewed her job as completed.

The school had received a long awaited grant and some new staff to help out and she was all set to leave and be done with work for the rest of her life.

"I should have retired years ago," she had grumbled, "but that would have left the school short handed. Everybody always said, 'oh, just hire someone,' like it was the easiest thing in the world, but in order to do that, you need people to apply. And not only that, but qualified people. Do you know how many people are applying for a secretary position for a school as tiny and in the middle of nowhere as this? We are the only high school around for miles, all the surrounding towns are too small for their own schools, so the kids are shipped out here every day and even with that we have barely eight hundred students. Actually, we have even less than that this year, since the freshman class that's coming in will be smaller than last year's senior class. We've never had a big enough student body for the local government to bother with frivolous things for us like, oh, I don't know, new equipment? Buses that don't need a hope and a prayer to make it through their routes? Or maybe just staff? You know how I know for a fact that I'd be leaving everyone short handed if I were to retire?" Shirley didn't wait for Hermes to answer. "It's because the janitor left two years ago and we've all been taking turns or bribing students to do his job." She broke off and stared into space for a moment, lips pursed in thought. "What was your question, again?"

Hermes let out an almost defeated sigh, but repeated himself slowly. "When a student is out sick, I need to fill out a form. Where. Is. That. Form? Please?" He was almost begging at this point.

Shirley nodded absently looking around the office at the filing cabinets, then stood up and gestured that she'd be right back.

Hermes dropped his head to the desk with a thud, resisting the urge to scream. This was so frustrating, and the weight of the world rested on this whole plan going well, and Ares had already decided it was a good idea to introduce himself to far too many people as Mr. Sir so that was an issue he'd have to deal with, but he couldn't give up. This plan had to work-,

"Here you go. New best friend."

Hermes jumped when a student was pulled over by his sleeve and directed to sit where Shirley had been. The elderly woman in question was already distracted moving her wrist closer and farther away from her face in an attempt to read her watch.

"Uh, Shirley-," Hermes tried, but she was already heading for the office door.

"I'm taking my break. Odie knows this place better than me. He'll teach you… whatever you don't know." She gave a half wave and the door clicked shut behind her.

"Hey, so… you're the new secretary?" The student started, and Hermes had to fight to keep himself from reacting when he turned back to him.

The boy seated beside him was black, with glasses, a firetruck red hoodie, and a cat. He was also very much Odie. Hermes was certain that, had he been human, his heart would have stopped.

"I'm Odie. And this is Manny." Odie tried again. Manny, curled up in his human's lap, sniffed the air and flicked the tip of his tail.

"Oh, I- I'm, um, I'm Herbert." Hermes finally forced out.

"It's nice to meet you." Odie held out his hand to shake and Hermes, after a brief moment of hesitation, took it.

This was real. This was really Odie. He thought he'd have more time to prepare before meeting one of the heroes in person. And this wasn't just ANY one of the heroes. No. No, this was Odie. This was HIS kid. The one he'd been assigned to mentor. The one he'd watched grow for the first few years of his life, back when the mortals still believed him to be a her. This was the same kid who had repeatedly declared with determination that when he grew up, he'd be a member of the Rescue Heroes, and nobody could stop him.

Which meant that… the cat…

Hermes felt his heart stop again. That… that cat. Could… no. He couldn't be. But Hermes couldn't deny that he had seen what Odie's tech had done to Kämpe. And the cat seemed to be wearing a very similar collar. Had… had Odie brought a dangerous, carnivorous, venomous beast to school with him?

He was suddenly reminded that, however cute Odie had been as a child, however heroic he was prophesied to be, however curious and friendly he seemed now, he had still been raised by Chronos.

"Are… you allergic to cats?"

Hermes blinked, caught off guard by the sudden question. "I-, w-what?"

"You look like you're scared of Manny. I can take him out if you've got allergies. He's just always followed me to school and the previous office staff used to let him hang out in here. But if he's a problem-,"

"No! No. I, uh, I was just… spacing off. You know," he tried to come up with something fast. "I haven't had my coffee yet." If there was a worse place for a manticore to be than right next to him, it was out in the hall, surrounded by less than eight hundred rowdy teens and their families. No. He was… safer… with the manticore restrained in its master's grip.

"Oh. Okay. Sooo. Shirley said you were new? Are you new in general, or just to our school?"

"I'm new to working in a school, but I've done similar work before." He didn't feel it was important to specify that it had been as the god of communication.

"Oh, cool. I take it that since you're taking over for Shirley you need help with… everything?" He smiled knowingly and Hermes again had to fight to remind himself that this friendly teen before him, and the cute, cheerful kid he used to know were no longer one and the same.

"Yeah. I know how to turn on the computer, and a few things like that, but nothing else."

Odie laughed and lifted Manny up to be draped over his shoulders. "Don't worry. She wasn't kidding when she said I know this office better than her. I'm ahead in a few of my classes so they've been having me work as an office assistant for a while now." He pulled out a piece of folded paper from his pocket and examined it. "Yeah, I thought so." He mumbled to himself, then held it out for Hermes to see. "Looks like I'm office assistant again this year, so I'll be in here to help out every day."

"Oh, hey! I see you met Odie." Former Principal Bev stepped out of the principal's office, followed by Hera.

Hermes was the only one to see the flash of surprise when that crossed her face when she noticed who was next to him.

"Yes. Shirley went on break." Hermes explained.

Former Principal Bev smiled and shook her head. "Are you at all worried about being able to take on her workload?"

Hermes looked back at his desk, already cluttered with papers she hadn't put away from the year before, the computer, the filing cabinets he hadn't been brave enough to open yet, and his new assistant who was currently petting an agressive, deadly beast. "Nope. I got this." He tried. His voice came out strained

Former Principal Bev laughed and leaned her arms on the high counter separating the staff from where the students would enter. "Just keep in mind that it will only be difficult for the first week or so."

Before the conversation could continue, the office door opened and Jay walked in.

"Hey, Odie. I was wondering where you went." He was holding his own slip of paper and looked a bit surprised to see his friend seated behind the counter.

Odie shrugged. "Shirley's retiring and wanted me to help train her replacement. This is Herbert." He gestured to Hermes, who waved.

"And this will be your new principal, Sarah." Former Principal Bev introduced Hera.

Thankfully, she continued the introductions by filling them in that Jay was also a student at 'that private school', because Hera wasn't sure she could have managed to greet him herself. She had known that they'd be meeting the heroes personally, that was the point of the whole plan, but to actually see them again after all these years? Goddess or not, seeing them again, both together and healthy, caught her off guard.

"Did you need something, hon?" Former Principal Bev asked after everyone had been introduced.

Jay's expression morphed to one of mild frustration and he held out his paper to her. "Yeah. Is there any way you can print out my class schedule? I'm Jay Walker. Not Jacob Wilson."

Hera reached out and took the paper. Sure enough, the name at the top indicated that this was the schedule for Jacob Wilson.

"I know I should be used to this, our names have been getting mixed up for years, but he always blames me for it." Jay explained.

"Yeah, no problem." Odie rolled his chair a bit closer to Hermes and gestured to the computer. "I'll show you how to do that."

"Make sure to print out an extra for Jacob Wilson as well. I'm willing to bet he ended up with Jay's." Hera directed.

"Most likely." Jay nodded. "So you're the new principal? Does that mean you're leaving us?" He turned to address the other woman.

"Not exactly. The district sent over some new staff and funding finally, so I'll be taking a leave of absence to go on my honeymoon, and after that I'll be back as the vice principal. I need a bit of a lighter workload these days."

"Congratulations. I hope you have a great time."

The printer kicked on and dropped out two pieces of paper into the catch trey.

Hermes grabbed both, read carefully whose name was on each one, and handed over Jay's. "Here you go. It was nice to meet you."

Jay smiled, thanked him, and bid the four of them farewell as he left to go compare classes with his friends. Hera and Hermes shared a look. This was the first nonviolent interaction the gods had had with the heroes. Their plan might actually work.