"I cannot control what the mentors decide is best for their pupils, Jay," Hera said, gazing at him solemnly with her arms folded in her sleeves. "They wish for the prophesy to be fulfilled just as much as you do. It's been over two years and you won't be teenagers for much longer. Perhaps they feel as if what they have been doing is not enough?"

Jay blinked at the goddess, a bit surprised by her tone. "You… agree with this?"

Hera bowed her head. "I cannot control destiny Jay. We can only do our best to guide you through this. I know that must be hard, but if that means extra work…"

Jay fervently shook his head. "My team comes first. They're exhausted. They can't go on like this, they'll…"

"Perhaps…" Hera began walking away. "You should take a look for yourself."

She led him into the main training hall, where he spotted five of his six teammates. Theresa was doubtlessly in for another rigorous session with Persephone, who felt the extra lessons were more beneficial than the group sessions.

"Keep going Atlanta!" Artemis hollered at the blur that was circling the track. Apparently some of them had started individual training early. "Your speed is fine, but you need to be able to maintain that for longer! Come on, let me see your endurance!"

Jay refocused his attention to the middle of the track, where the rest of his team was being trapped by the essential wall that was Atlanta. Hercules and Ares stood outside of the track to give the four more room. Jay couldn't see Aphrodite or Hermes anywhere, but quickly realized that Ares had taken Neil and Odie under his wing for the day on top of Archie. The three were circling each other, each with a long baton in hand.

"Archie!" Ares bellowed. "You have an opening! Stop being soft and punish them for it!" He scowled and clenched his fists. "You two will never learn if you can get away with those bad habits!"

Archie readied his weapon, but seemed unwilling to actually strike. Neil and Odie shifted their sticks defensively, preparing for the blow –

"Your stance is way off – Archie, hit them!"

Archie grimaced at the directions. Jay couldn't hear his response over Hercules –

"Drop that one, Herry!" Jay shifted his gaze and watched as Herry obediently dropped a large barbell to the ground. He couldn't read how much weight was on it, but Herry was out of breath and drenched in sweat. It was doubtlessly more weight than Herry routinely pumped at the sessions.

"Alright, let's try a bigger one now, Herry!" Hercules smirked and lifted a gigantic barbell easily with both hands. The fact that Hercules had to use two hands to lift anything was alarming in and of itself.

"Jay," Hera said, her voice soft compared to the others in the room. "Consider this my training for you: I give you permission to interrupt the other Gods."

Jay whirled around and gaped at her. "Wh-what?!"

"Look at this situation; do whatever you need to do to fix it."

Jay stared silently. The three mentors' voices blended together into a loud stream of chaos.

"Pick it up, Atlanta! You're slowing down! Can't you tell?!"

"NEIL, get up this instant! Archie, pick up your weapon!" Jay's gaze flicked to Neil, who was lying on the ground and rubbing his head. Archie was fervently apologizing while Odie stood to the side, stunned.

"I-I can't do this, Hercules!" Herry argued, shakily straightening his stance and staring apprehensively at the new weight with tired eyes.

"Consider this a final test for you," Hercules chuckled and tossed the barbell over the track to Herry, who caught it correctly on his shoulders, but struggled just to hold it, let alone lift it properly above his head.

Jay felt a surge of panic and his leader instincts took over. Any nervousness about defying the gods quickly vanished. "Archie! Get to Herry!"

Archie's head shot toward Jay, confused at first, but he obediently stood and turned to Herry, then broke into a run once he realized what was wrong. Herry was forced into a kneeling position, the weight suspended dangerously over his head.

"Get back to training!" Ares barked. Neil and Odie followed Archie, and the three desperately tried to help relieve some of the weight in Herry's grasp.

"Atlanta!" Jay called to the blur. "Slow down, get to the center!" Atlanta had rounded the track three times by the time Jay finished his sentence, and he doubted she heard him or had any idea what was going on.

Artemis glared at him. "What are you doing? You are not to interrupt – Hey!"

There wasn't time to wait for Atlanta to stop. Jay broke into a run, grabbed the baton out of a stunned Ares's hands, and used it to propel a jump over Atlanta (who circled beneath him twice as he flew overhead). He landed squarely and rushed to assist the others.

Even with five of them fighting with the weight, it wasn't until Atlanta finally appeared at Jay's left that they were able to toss the barbell to the ground. Herry and Atlanta both collapsed to the floor, their sides heaving as they struggled for oxygen. Archie, Neil, and Odie were panting as well, but they stared questioningly at Jay. Neil was grasping his right ear, his white shirt stained with blood.

"What is the meaning of this?" Ares yelled, the three mentors finally able to approach the center. Jay noticed Hera watching from a distance.

Herry turned quickly and began retching. Atlanta groaned at the noise and rolled onto her side. Archie immediately went over to her, while Jay worriedly went to Herry. "This is too much," Jay argued, staring at the three mentors with resolve. "That was extremely dangerous. Herry had nobody spotting him, and with Atlanta circling the track you had no easy way of helping in an emergency. Look at them!"

Jay could feel his teammate's five sets of concerned eyes boring into him, but more pressing were the skeptical stares of the three Olympian gods. "It isn't your place to question our methods," Ares huffed, crossing his arms. "How dare you interrupt this session."

"Ares," Archie nervously pressed. He was kneeling on the ground next to Atlanta, who was still gasping for air. "Jay just saved Herry's life, I mean, nobody even noticed…" He broke eye contact with Ares and stared at the ground. Archie's hotheadedness typically stopped short when it came to his mentor – Jay could understand, after all, he was the God of war. Jay felt a rush of appreciation that Archie would brave Ares to support him.

"Herry should've been more than capable of lifting that weight," Hercules interjected. "Custom made by Hephaestus, that one was." He chuckled. "He must've just caught it funny. Two thousand pounds of some fancy metal mixture."

"Two thousand?!" Odie exclaimed, the crew staring in awe at Herry.

"I-I can't… lift that…" Herry argued.

"Course you can," Hercules insisted, "you just need to train harder."

Herry grimaced and Jay put a warning hand on his shoulder. "No," Jay said firmly, "that's enough training for one day."

Ares stomped over to Jay and he braced himself for another scolding -

"I agree." Jay and the others looked over to see Hera approaching, her expression neutral. The faces of the other Gods dissolved from anger into confusion. "But you will resume training tomorrow."

Jay met her gaze. "On my terms."

For a moment, Jay could have sworn he saw Hera crack a smile. "Very well. Class dismissed."

The other Gods mumbled to themselves but began filing out. "W-wait," Atlanta called, still on the ground. "Miss Artemis?"

"We'll resume individual training tomorrow," Artemis said, shooting Jay a scowl before exiting the room.

Jay looked back down at Herry, offering an arm to help him up. He accepted, and fortunately seemed to be okay. "Are you hurt?"

"Nah, thanks to you..." Herry sighed. "Thanks for the save, buddy."

"Anytime." Jay walked over to Odie and Neil, who were tending to a wound on Neil's head. "What happened?"

"It was me," Archie said quickly, then glanced away when Jay turned to him, ashamed. "Ares kept pushing me to strike and Neil deflected it weird."

"It's not your fault," Odie insisted. "Anybody would have done it with Ares ragging on them like that. And besides, the deflect was lucky – I thought it was going to break Neil's nose, but it hit on the right side of his head."

Neil sighed dramatically. "I guess that's lucky." He pulled at the shoulder of his shirt, which was splattered with blood. "I'm more worried about the shirt – it's cashmere, it won't wash out – but you can't see the cut... right?"

Odie shook his head. "Nah, its behind your right ear, somehow."

"Still," Archie continued, "I'm sorry, man."

"I'm heading out," said Herry. He seemed deflated by the events, as if they had taken a toll on him both physically and mentally. "You guys coming?"

"Yeah," Neil agreed. "I want to go to bed." Odie followed as well, but Archie and Atlanta hung back. Atlanta was still on the ground, which Jay found odd.

"Atlanta, are you okay?" Jay asked.

The others hesitated and turned to Atlanta at Jay's question. "I-I'm fine," she insisted weakly. Archie nudged her. She sighed. "I will be fine, my legs are just cramped up from all the running."

Jay quirked a brow. "Does that happen often?"

"No... Artemis is really trying to push me past my limits, and then I stopped without cooling down properly." Atlanta looked away, embarrassed by the concern. She gingerly tried to stretch her right leg out and grimaced in pain. "You guys go home, I'll wait and go with Theresa."

Right, there was still one member of the team Jay needed to check up on. "I'll go get her," Jay said. "You sure you're okay?" They were all a little guilty of hiding injuries. Atlanta was usually the worst of all of them, but right now she was doing a poor job of masking her pain.

"I'm good, promise. I just need a minute, and besides, somebody should wait for Theresa." Atlanta grinned over at Herry. "You go home and make the popcorn. I'm ready for movie night after all this."

Herry perked up and grinned back. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot it was movie night."

Neil yawned. "I'll pass. Can we go now?"

Archie squeezed Atlanta's shoulder. "I'll go get a heat pack from Hephaestus." Atlanta nodded appreciatively.

All save Atlanta exited the training room, with Herry, Neil, and Odie leaving through the opposite door to head to the high school. "Hey," Archie said quietly once it was just the two of them walking. "Thanks for standing up for us back there. Things were getting crazy."

Jay nodded. "Yeah. Thanks for having my back with Ares, too."

"I had to," Archie said with a frown. "The things he was saying out there... it's like the Gods stopped thinking of us as real people." He looked over at Jay, who mirrored his concerned expression. "Does that make sense? Nothing matters to them except getting Cronus back in Tartarus."

"That's not - "

"Jay," Ares barked, causing Jay's heart to leap into his throat and Archie to assert a defensive stance, as if ready to fight. Ares was carrying several large, heavy books. "Can I speak to you for a moment?" He shot a look at Archie. "Alone?"

Archie glowered at Ares and opened his mouth to say something. "It's fine, Arch," Jay swiftly cut him off. "You go help Atlanta." The reminder about Atlanta seemed to snap Archie out of warrior mode. He straightened and nodded, but shot Jay a worried look as he left.

"Hm..." Ares hesitated a moment, then extended the books in his grasp over to Jay, who accepted them with a confused look. "I've spoken to Hera. I'll permit you to have more of a say in group training, but you're to read these first."

Jay awkwardly adjusted the multiple books in his arms. This was going to be a long night. "What are they?"

"The same strategy guides I use when devising group exercises for you seven," Ares huffed. Jay looked at the old books with new admiration. "Maybe I was a little hard tonight. But don't take that as an excuse to slack off tomorrow."

"Of course not," Jay said with a grin. "Thanks, Ares."

Ares shook his head and left. Jay carted the books over to Persephone's office, realizing once he got there that he didn't have any spare hands to knock. "Miss Persephone? Theresa?" he called instead, and gently pushed the door open with his forearm. Persephone turned, her eyes wide in surprise, and Theresa -

"Theresa!" Jay dropped the books at the door and ran over. She was on the ground, unconscious, her long hair splayed across the carpet. "What happened?!"

"I... I don't know..." Persephone said. She was kneeling by Theresa's head and staring at her pupil in shock. "She was saying... saying something about a movie... and then she just collapsed..."

"Saying what?" Jay asked, then reached over and gently shook Theresa's shoulder. "Theresa?!"

Theresa's eyes fluttered open and slowly focused on Jay. "Ugh..."

"Careful," Jay warned as she started to sit up, and rested one hand on her back to support her. "Take it slow."

For a moment, Theresa sat quietly to get her bearings, then she glared over at Persephone with such uncharacteristic hostility that Jay looked at Persephone to gauge her reaction. "That's it," she announced, still glaring at Persephone, who frowned. "I'm done for today."

"Theresa - " Persephone started.

"She's right," Jay readily agreed, "everyone else is done too. The group training was too harsh; I cut it short." Theresa looked at Jay curiously, but stayed quiet.

"I..." Persephone frowned at the firm looks on both teenager's faces. "Alright. I agree. You can rest, Theresa – but we will pick up tomorrow where we left off."

Theresa didn't look pleased by that suggestion. "No," Jay said, earning confused looks from both women, "Theresa can train with the rest of us tomorrow, give her psychic abilities time to rest."

Persephone's brow furrowed, and for a moment Jay expected her to burst into an angry demon like she so often did, but instead she showed restraint and said "are you suggesting you know what's better for Theresa than I do?"

"Yeah, he does," Theresa interjected, and Persephone turned grey.

"Okay, whoa, whoa," Jay held his arms out, as Persephone now looked ready to devour his soul, "No, I just – I got permission from Hera – and Ares! I'm going to run the group session tomorrow, and - "

"Fine!" Persephone growled, a flash of lightning erupting dramatically behind her. "Do as you wish!" She dissolved back to her normal self with a resigned sigh. "Whenever you are ready, Theresa, I'll be here for you."

Persephone turned away, and Jay helped Theresa to her feet. He recollected the books and the two quietly exited, heading back to the training arena.

"Thanks," Theresa mumbled.

"Look, I get it," Jay offered sympathetically, and Theresa met his eyes. "They were pushing everyone too hard today. I'm going to read these tonight and figure out a solution."

Theresa eyed the several giant books in Jay's arms. "That's not... you need a break, too."

"Not at the cost of the team," Jay insisted. Theresa frowned at the ground and bit her lip. He could tell she wanted to tell him off for overworking himself, but they'd already reached the doors to the training arena. Jay cracked it open just far enough to spot Archie on the ground with Atlanta, their lips pressed urgently together and their hands buried in each others' hair -

Jay hastily shut the door. "What?" Theresa prompted at Jay's wide-eyed expression. Stall, stall, stall. His mind went blank.

"I – we – we can't go in there – uh - "

He stepped aside as Theresa curiously cracked open the door and closed it about as fast as Jay had, but her shocked expression quickly dissolved into... jealousy? She crossed her arms and looked away. "Hmph... I'm glad at least two of us are still living their lives..."

"Huh?" Jay asked, genuinely perplexed on what she meant.

"All I ever do now is train, and..." she trailed off with a sigh. "No, never mind. I should be happy for them – I am happy for them!"

Jay eyed the door awkwardly, his leader instincts falling short on this particular situation. "Uh... how long should we give them?"

Theresa backed away. "We should go," she insisted, throwing a thumb back toward the exit. "They can walk home."

Jay shook his head. "Atlanta was hurt. They might need a lift."

And so the two loitered awkwardly outside. Jay shifted the weight of the books around as his arms started to ache. After giving them a few minutes, Theresa quietly edged the door open to check if the coast was clear, but didn't have to look long before giving Jay the negative in the form of a wide-eyed head shake.

There was the sound of a door creaking open, and Jay glanced past the books with a quirked brow to see why Theresa was checking on them again so soon. Theresa looked back at Jay with equal confusion – the creaking was not coming from the door they were in front of -

"What in TARTARUS are you two DOING?!" Artemis screeched.

"Oh no," Jay muttered. Of all the people to be walked in on by, the virgin Goddess of chastity would be low on anyone's list, let alone if you were their personal protege. Theresa was glaring at the door, her scowl growing more intense as they heard Artemis continue.

"Is this why you wanted a break from training?!" Jay could hear Atlanta's voice saying something in response, but it was so quiet compared to Artemis's yelling that he couldn't make it out. "Up, both of you! Oh, you just wait until Ares hears about this!"

Theresa's snapped her fingers in front of Jay's face, so he stopped staring intently at the door and blinked over at her. "Aren't you going to do something?" Theresa asked haughtily, her hands rested on her hips.

Jay stared blankly back. "Uh, no? I don't want to die tonight." Theresa stared bitterly at the door for a few moments, then shoved it loudly open. "T-Theresa!" Jay panicked, but couldn't help peering around the books in his arms to gauge the reactions of Artemis, Archie, and Atlanta as Theresa stormed in. Jay felt a small part of him die of embarrassment for the latter two. Atlanta in particular looked like she wanted the floor to swallow her where she stood, though Archie caught Jay's eye and smirked triumphantly. Well, at least there was that.

"Leave them alone!" Theresa demanded to Artemis, who looked just as dumbfounded by the request as her three teammates. "They want to live a normal life for five seconds and you won't even give them that?!"

"It was more than five seconds..." Archie muttered. Atlanta smacked him. Artemis narrowed her eyes at Theresa and opened her mouth to interrupt, but Theresa plowed on.

"We give you Gods everything and you treat us like little kids – aside from being practically adults, we're heroes!" Theresa spat. There it was again – that uncharacteristic glint of rage in her eyes. "Didn't every other hero in history have a sex life – otherwise how would any of us even be here right now?!"

"We – we weren't - " Atlanta whimpered, then gave up arguing and blushed at the ground. Archie quietly snickered in response.

"That is enough!" Artemis growled at Theresa, who crossed her arms and didn't let up on her glare. Archie looked really impressed by Theresa's spiel; Atlanta still looked like she wanted to become one with the floor. Jay knew he should say something before the situation spun out of control.

"Look," Jay started, hoping the anxiety in his stomach wasn't showing in his voice as two very angry women suddenly turned their attention onto him, "we're all clearly tired and – and not thinking straight." Atlanta averted her gaze and Archie crossed his arms. "That's exactly why I cut training short today. Come on," he put on his strict voice to appease Artemis and gestured to the door with his head, "everybody home, now. I'm not going to tolerate disrespect toward the Gods. We all need sleep, and," he cautiously met Artemis's fiery gaze, "then we'll be ready for training bright and early tomorrow morning."

Artemis sighed and turned away with a wave of her hand. "Fine." She looked back at Atlanta with a pointed glare. "But if I ever catch you doing that in the training room ever again - "

"Y-yes Miss Artemis," Atlanta mumbled as the goddess exited. Jay sighed in relief. That could have gone much worse.

"What was that all about?" Theresa asked, eyes narrowed at Jay and hands on her hips. "Why didn't you back me up?!"

"...What?" Jay asked, his brow creased in concern. "I was just trying to diffuse the situation, and it worked."

"Artemis has killed people for less..." Atlanta added, glaring over at Archie, who was still grinning despite everything that just happened.

"And you guys seriously just accept that?" Theresa questioned as if in disbelief. "We can't just let the Gods control our lives like this. I'm seriously over it." She dug her car keys out of her pocket and held them in the air. "I'm leaving. Come if you want."

Archie and Atlanta exchanged looks with each other, and then with Jay. Atlanta quietly mouthed 'I'll go talk to her,' and stiffly ran over to Theresa.

Jay fell back with Archie as Atlanta struggled to keep up with Theresa – a sight Jay never thought he'd see. This would be a fun drive home... if not for the books, Jay would consider walking. Archie stuck his hands in his hoodie pockets. "She kind of has a point, you know," Archie muttered. "We can't just do normal teenager stuff without risking the wrath of a dozen angry Gods."

"We aren't normal teenagers," Jay pressed. Archie shrugged and looked away.

Jay and Archie walked silently the rest of the way out of the school, while the girls chatted lowly to each other. Or, at least, it started lowly. "Theresa, what's going on with you?" Atlanta asked, her voice laced with concern.

"I'm sorry, okay?" Theresa bit back, "I'm tired. I haven't slept in days. I just want to go home."

"We're all tired," Archie groaned. "You don't see us calling out the Gods - "

"Guys, stop it," Jay implored as Archie and Theresa glared at each other. "I know emotions are really high right now, let's take the night to cool off and we can reset tomorrow."

The ride home was silent, but at least it was short. The four piled out of Theresa's sports car and quietly entered the Brownstone. At least Atlanta seemed to be walking better. She looked between the three others and offered a small smile to diffuse the tension. "Movie night?"

Theresa just shook her head and started upstairs. Jay frowned after her before looking back at Atlanta. "Not tonight... got some reading to work on." Archie and Atlanta shrugged at him and left for the living room. Jay hurried to catch up with Theresa, which proved to be quite a feat with what felt like thirty pounds of books in his arms.

"Wait, Theresa," Jay panted as he reached the top of the stairs. Theresa turned to him, her eyes puffy and sagging. "Are... are you okay?"

Theresa sniffed and turned away. "No..."

"Theresa - " Her door shut loudly and Jay could hear her muffle a sob. "Hey..." Jay wracked his brain for the right words. Encouragement usually came so easily, but he always felt extra pressure to get it right when it was Theresa. He sighed. "Try to rest, everything will seem easier after you get some sleep." He paused. She was quiet. She was listening. "Don't worry too much about the Gods," he added lightheartedly. "We can handle them."

Jay would later reflect on that choice of wording, but in the moment he was just focused on dealing with the Gods by studying their literature. 'For the team. For Theresa.' Eventually Odie would interrupt his studies. He would sleep for a handful of minutes before their lives were turned upside down. And for years afterwards, he would think intently about the events of this day to gauge what he'd done wrong.