Chapter 27
Stitches freshly removed Herry ran to Hercules' office to make up for some seriously missed work out sessions. Having to abandon his intricately detailed exercise schedule had been frustrating. There was hours of extra time he would have been using to be productive that he just had to sit around for instead. He was starting to go stir crazy. The pain in his arm was minimal, defiantly not enough to detour him from a long overdue work out. He was excited to get back to his regular life, to feel rejuvenated from working his body rather than feeling lethargic from never leaving home.
"Hey Herc," Herry said, letting himself in. He scooped up a punching bag and hooked it from one of the support beams. He turned to the hero, who was lounging in his recliner with a glass of wine in his hand. Making fists and standing wide Herry prompted, "Come on Hercules."
"Herry, sit down for a second," he waved off his prodigy and laughed at the television in front of him. Herry hunched his shoulders and scuffled over to see what he was watching, he groaned when he discovered it was a soap opera.
"Come on," Herry whined. The god didn't budge. He glared at Hercules and with an irritated huff he started on his own. He boxed with his right fist first and then, when he felt up to it, hooked his left into the bag. There was a small jolt of pain, but it wasn't too bad, he could keep going. He drew his left fist back and drove it forward with all his strength. The punching bag ripped from its chains, and flew to the other side of the room where it crashed into the wall. Herry let out a satisfied whoop, oh yeah, he was back.
"Herry," Hercules scolded with slight irritation.
"Then come be my spotter," he said to the hero, hooking up another punching bag. Hercules grumbled and kicked down the footrest of his chair, flicked off the television and lumbered over. This was good, feeling the surge of strength through his back, up his shoulder and down his arm with every blow he landed. He laughed shallowly on his short breath and took a step back, bending over to rest his hands on his knees.
"So much better," he said, arching his back as he stretched.
"You're arm's going to be stiff in the morning," Hercules pointed out, he was right. Herry could feel his pulse throbbing through his half healed muscles. Maybe he'd work his legs a bit in the training arena before he headed home.
"Meh," Herry shrugged, "I'll be here tomorrow, rain or shine."
"I don't doubt that," Hercules smirked.
"Catch you later," Herry said and waved on his way out the door. Walking into the brownstone with a happy whistle he greeted his friends at the kitchen table cheerily, Archie and Atlanta the only ones absent.
"What took you so long, I thought you were just getting your stitches out," Jay said.
"Worked out for a bit," he said as he opened the fridge, leaning down to peer inside.
"Don't you think it's a little soon still?"
"No," his voice came from somewhere inside the fridge.
Jay sent him a glare through narrowed eyes. Atlanta stormed into the kitchen, saving Herry a lecture from Jay, footsteps pounding into the tiles. She sent each one of her friends sitting at the table an individualized glare and then began pacing, an angry rampage equivalent to a rhinoceros. Theresa rose from her chair with the intention to calm down her friend, but Jay latched onto her wrist. With a look of shier terror he shook his head and mouthed, 'don't do it.'
"Oh, come on Jay," she shook him off in irritation and walked over to Atlanta, holding her shoulders Theresa asked, "What's wrong?"
Atlanta narrowed her eyes, her face contorting in a sneer. Odie, Herry, Jay and Neil exchanged concerned glances, this may be the last time they see Theresa with her head still attached to her body. Atlanta just might knock it clear off her shoulders and start kicking it around the kitchen like a soccer ball.
"Atlanta, just take a deep breath and talk to me," she prompted, gathering up her hands to squeeze.
The fiery redhead sucked in a sharp breath through her nose and held it for a brief moment, anger still boiling through her she opened her mouth and screamed, "Archie."
Theresa let go of her friend's hands to wipe the spittle off of her face and said, "What about him?"
"He's in the living room with that, that, woman, and their watching a chick flick," she tossed up her hands, fingers flexed into claws, "A chick flick. Archie doesn't watch chick flicks, that bitch is sucking out his soul."
"Atlanta, I think that's a little dramatic," Theresa grumbled.
"What? Archie's with another girl?" Odie asked.
"What's that suppose to mean Odie," Atlanta rushed over to toss a finger in his face, "It's not like he was with another girl before."
"Right, then why are you so upset?" he said.
She flushed red all the way up to her hairline, clenching her jaw so tight the muscles there jumped.
"Okay," Theresa placed her hands on Atlanta's shoulders and guided her out of the kitchen before she could breathe fire all over Odie. They went to the hallway between the kitchen and the living room to get a look at this woman Archie was with.
"Emma," Atlanta growled as she watched the blonde tucked up under Archie's arm. They giggled and rubbed their noses together, Atlanta growled once again.
"That is pretty weird," Theresa said.
"It's unnatural," Atlanta corrected.
"Atlanta," Theresa tugged her friend away from the doorway of the living room and over to the stares, "Did you ever think that maybe Archie just got tired of waiting for you?"
"What?" she shot, balling her fists at her sides, "Waiting for what, there's nothing between us."
"Exactly," Theresa sighed.
Atlanta's face contorted with a sour glare, turning she stomped up the stairs. Theresa sighed and placed her head in her hand as she turned back to the living room. She wasn't too fond of this woman either. No one should be able to persuade Archie to watch a movie that didn't have at least one explosion.
"I saw Archie with that chick in the park the other day," Herry said around a full mouth of sandwich, he swallowed and asked Theresa, "So, like is he doing her or something?"
"I don't know," Theresa shrugged and let out a sigh, "I kind of agree with Atlanta though, she doesn't seem like the right match for him."
"Yeah," Herry said peeking into the living room as he took another bite, "She must have him brainwashed to be watching a movie like that."
"Hey why don't you talk to him," Theresa announced on a hushed whisper.
"Me? Why, about what?" he leaned down to whisper back.
"Yeah you, he'll listen to one of his guy friends better than me," She said, "Tell him he's making a horrible mistake."
"Theresa, I can't tell him that."
"Even if it's true?"
"Theresa, sometimes you have to just let things be," he said, "You know as well as the neighbors at the end of the street that Atlanta and Archie are meant to be together, it will all work out in the end."
"Whatever," she told him with a sneer, slipping past him and into the doorway of the living room, "Archie, can I have a word with you?"
"Can't it wait?" he shot back with irritation.
"No," she said, crossing her arms over her chest and jutting out her hip.
"Fine," he growled and looked back to Emma to say with a voice drizzled in honey, "I'll be right back." He stormed over to the door and raised an eyebrow.
"What are you doing?" she asked him in a harsh whisper, dragging him out into the hallway.
"Watching a movie," he scoffed, "What's it look like."
"What are you doing with that girl?" she clarified, "Archie, she's not the right girl for you. Did you just hear yourself? Have you seen Atlanta lately?"
"Atlanta," he said, anger etching into his face, "Atlanta missed her chance and trust me I've given her plenty. Emma helped me realize that, she likes me, she might be the perfect one for me."
"What?" Theresa said, her lip twitching. She glanced to Herry, his face frozen mid chew confirmed her own shock was justified. Archie gave a solid nod and turned back to the living room. That didn't sound like Archie in the slightest. She stepped back to peak into the room, startling when she found Emma starting at her with her narrowed brown eyes, her glare piercing over her sharp cheekbones. Theresa was on Atlanta's side, she didn't trust this girl.
Jay could finally start talking about his plans for Odie's portal shifter now that Herry had recovered. His plan was to wait until Cronus attacked with some kind of monster as he was quite accustom to doing. Cronus wouldn't suspect them to lay a trap for him in a fight that he started. Odie could activate it when they first arrived and when they defeated the monster Cronus would attempt to escape though his portal. It was brilliant and the timing was spot on. Just a couple more months till the New Year, Cronus was sure to attack by then. Jay was jumping with anticipation as he waited for the thoughts from his group gathered around him in the living room.
"Jay, this might just be it," Theresa said.
"I know," he squealed like little girl. Talking in a deep breath he held out his hands and closed his eyes, evenly he said, "But we can't get to excited, we don't know it will work until it has."
"Now we just wait," Odie said, interlocking his fingers behind his head as he leaned back on the couch.
"No, no," Jay shot up a finger to wiggle back in forth in the air, "We have to train, make sure we're the best we can be when the time does come. I've come up with a new training schedule for all of us. You can find them in your e-mails."
There was a collective groan form Jay's team.
"What?" he asked in utter confusion, "We want to be ready."
"Jay," Theresa shook her head and got to her feet, everyone was quick to follow her lead as she left the room.
"At least this might be the last time Jay's going to bust our asses," Neil said as he started up the stairs for his room.
Herry gave a deep laugh and said, "We can only hope Neil."