Chapter Twenty Seven - Part Two: Embrace The Suck

As Allister made the calls, Leta almost wished that Ismene would pop up with another well-timed prophecy or insight, but she wasn't so lucky this time around.

He was just hanging up the phone when Koa, Afra, and Hayoto came staggering in, looking a bit more bruised then when they'd jumped from the train.

Leta stood up from the table with a frown. "What happened?"

"Thralls." Hayoto groaned, nursing a sore arm. "Caught us just before we reached the tunnels."

"Good thing it was just a pack of old ladies, but holy hell do these purses weigh a ton." Afra continued as she flopped onto one of the sofas.

"So, we're on lock down?" Koa asked once everyone got settled.

Allister sighed with a nod, "Aye, lad. Settin' aside their interest in Leta, the number of thralls prowling above is unsettling. I reckon there are at least ten times the number there was yesterday, an' bodes ill for us all. Huntin' monsters is all well an' good, but if the general public is literally throwin' fists, we'll all be dead before sunset."

Afra sat up, knees on her elbows as she leaned forward with the hard expression of a woman who could easily recognize war when she saw it. "What's the plan?"

"Fer now? We sit tight. Simon, Eriene, and Huda are with Ismene. Atreus is headed that way as well. We'll then be getting more information and will have a plan for what comes next. Until said otherwise, all of us are campin' here. The brawl at the end may have been caught on camera - if not, then when thralls start ending up in the hospital people will start asking questions."

Two minutes later, a loud phone chime echoed off the concrete walls.

"Atreus." Allister confirmed as he grabbed the remote for the large TV.

A badly lit video of the Penthouse living room flashed on screen. Huda and Eriene were sitting close together on a loveseat, Simon in a side chair reviewing something on a laptop with Ismene sprawled out on the opposite sofa. The sound of her soft snores mixed with the crackle of white noise from hidden speakers. At the forefront was Atreus, whose beard had grown longer and more disheveled in during his absence.

His usual scowl was even harder then normal as he frowned at the display, eyes going around the room as he mentally took a headcount of all present.

when he was satisfied that all were accounted for, he growled, "Does anyone want to start with explaining to me what the actual f*** is going on?"

Allister, Koa, Hayoto, Afra, and even Bonnie turned their heads to glance at Leta, which didn't go unnoticed by the General.

"Why… every damn time…" He groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose as if to control a coming migraine. "Leta… please explain why I am now getting calls from the Governor himself asking about why a massive fight with thralls is on the news labeled as a brawl over swindled money…"

"Uh…" Leta licked her suddenly dry lips, "Have you met Alaric?"

"Yes, unfortunately."

"Well… Short version is he seems to have gotten this idea that I need to join the dark side and is not above resorting to kidnapping and extortion." Leta twisted her hands nervously. She was positive it was a passive intimidation ability on his part, but she always got nervous when speaking with Atreus.

"Atreus…" Allister spoke up, "We knew this was a possibility from the go. The leech has been lookin' fer ways ta get a leg up on the Chosen for centuries. Course' he'd see an opportunity in a fresh Arisen with interesting gifts."

The General took a deep breath, leaning back as his agitation at the situation seemed to morph into a deadly focus. "Agreed. Leta, I'm sorry that you did not have enough time to prepare for what is to come with this world, but I must inform the Governor of your presence. Maybe you're a Crown. Maybe not. That is for him to decide - it is out of my hands at this point."

Leta gulped, nodding, "I figured this was probably the end of the line with you all."

"Not necessarily." Allister said with a playful grin, "He could come ta tha conclusion tha yer no Crown an decide ya just need better trainin. Or he ships ya ta some other Sect somewhere and thats the end of it."

"Unlikely for both scenarios, but not impossible." Atreus confirmed. Everyone, sit tight tonight at the Outpost. I will speak with the Governor and then get back to you on what to expect next. Understood?"

A round of 'yes sirs' later and the video feed was cut out as the call ended.

Silence blanketed the room until Afra leaned back into the sofa with a sigh. "So we're just going to sit here and stare at each other for the foreseeable future?"

"Course not, lass!" Allister chuckled, "As Atreus said, Leta here dinna get enough time fer trainin', so we'll do what we can while we can."

Leta groaned, "You mean torture, right?"

"Depends on how ya look at it." He laughed with a wild gleam in his eye before slapping his hands on his knees as he stood. "Let's not waist a moment. Who knows what madness we'll be facing soon with all this."

~~~

After all the excitement for the day, it was close to high noon by the time they had made their way through the twisting tunnels to arrive at the gym.

As all secret hideouts did, this one sported a large concrete room with a few sparse exercise equipment for training. An elliptical, a punching bag that was probably left over from the Great War, and a set of metal bars for god knows what sort of physical torture were the only pieces of machinery, making the rest of the space wide open for sparing.

Leta was happy to see that the floor was old but slightly padded.

She had a feeling she was going to get intimately accustomed to seeing close up.

Allister had her take off her hoodie, his head tilting as he saw her leaner form before waiving his hand, "Well, lass? Get that shiny stick a' yours out."

She pursed her lips at the jab but did as instructed, Inimus melting into his spear form at her command.

The Hunter shook his head, "I'd be a liar if a wasn't jealous. Truly a beautiful thing ya got there, lass. Now, I'ma show you some basic…"

He trailed off as Leta kicked up the weapon and held it in a proper defense stance, going through a few paces of standard spear attacks and footwork.

Her audience watched stunned as she focused on invisible enemies, her minds eye seeing vacant eyes and clawing hands reaching for her, supplying a mental motivation to overcome.

Thrust.

Parry.

Sidestep.

Thrust.

She had the book smarts to do the actions but not the muscle mass to keep it up indefinitely, soon working up a sweat that drenched her shirt and stung her eyes.

"Gods above!" Allister called out once he was able to pick is jaw up off the ground, "Yesterday ya could only beat Koa with them thunder fists a' yours. Where'd this all come from."

"Remember," Leta slowly stopped, wheezing as she tried to catch her breath, "I said yesterday… that I know what to do… I just don't have the muscle memory… and stamina to really… do a lot of damage."

The Hunter shook his head, "It's hard ta keep up with ya, Leta girl. Every time I blink, it seems like yer' evolving more and more."

Koa threw her a water bottle and she poured it down her throat quickly, stewing on those words.

That's exactly what was happening.

She was evolving, transforming from human to Atlantian with each passing hour.

"I need to get stronger; I need to get that muscle memory. I've survive by sheer dumb luck for the last three days. Eventually my luck is going to run out, so I need to get tough. It's gonna suck. I know I'm going to hate it - hate you during it - but it needs to happen. So…" She sighed, squaring her shoulders, "This is me embracing the suck. Lets do this."

Koa smirked at the saying, recognizing the mantra of the U.S. military rangers during training.

Allister nodded, "Right then, Lass. Let's begin."