Thanatos

Chapter 26

Tokyo, Japan

Megan looked out of the window just as the Chariot parted the clouds and the city below came into view. A heavy feeling hung over her at the sight, at what would become of it in two weeks' time, or might not – the team still hadn't figured out where exactly Thanatos' next attack was in Japan.

"It's going to be fine, Megan," Ricardo said as he came to sit in the chair beside hers. "We've got this."

I'm not so sure about that, Rick, she returned in her head, and that wasn't the only thing she wasn't sure of.

Thing is, Ricardo himself confused Megan; his presence did, at least. While she had figured that he changed his mind about his partnership with Olympus as a result of the grave threat Thanatos posed to the world if not stopped in time, she couldn't quite yet understand why he had felt the need to come back to the mountain in person to combat that threat and against all the logic he held on the issue previously, or why he hadn't thought it important to share that logic with her first before he returned; or ever since then for that matter.

Worse, she was afraid to find out.

Megan had done a good job of preventing herself from finding out too. She had busied herself with the review of the Thanatos case files over and over again till she almost had every word memorized. She had gone over the Japan mission plan with every person on board the Chariot – except Ricardo of course – more times than they would have thought possible in the course of one seating. She had even taken the time to chat up the system's AI; that didn't go as smooth as she envisioned it would.

And all in a bid not come face to face with the elephant now seated next to you, Megan, her mind said to her almost as if in mockery. She closed her eyes and groaned against the tightness building up in her chest.

"Rick, why are you here?" she asked out of nowhere.

What returned to Megan was silence and for a second, she thought Ricardo had left. Opening her eyes though, she saw him sat there, looking at her in a bit of a surprised expression that had her startled for a moment.

"What do you mean?" he finally asked some seconds later. "I'm here to help stop Thanatos."

"That's not good enough," she replied.

"What do you mean that's not good enough?" His expression went from surprised to confused.

"I mean, that's not good enough an explanation for me." She added a shrug for effect. "The last time we spoke, you said categorically that you would never return to Olympus. But here you are, gallivanting like it's just Tuesday. Why?"

Now, Ricardo stood up. It almost looked like he was offended by the question, but he didn't walk away. He just stood there staring at like he couldn't yet believe how the conversation had turned.

"Look, Megan," he tried again, "I thought you might need the extra help against Thanatos so I came to offer my services."

"And I say, it's not good enough," she insisted, standing up to face him now. "What exactly did you return for, Rick?"

"I don't know, Megan!" he returned with a move to almost an inch of her face with a stride; the movement catching her unprepared and she fell backwards.

Ricardo stretched and caught Megan in an embrace, their faces almost to touching now.

The room grew hot around Megan and she felt her body tense at the feel of his against her. Her heart thumped in her chest, almost like it had a sense of what was about to happen next and dreaded it. She couldn't say the same for head though; that one was empty of all thoughts and thought processes.

The sound of glass shattering suddenly reached her eyes and she snapped her back into focus, jumping away from the entangle as she turned to see Kei standing by the door with water dripping all over her boots.

"Sorry to interrupt the moment," the teenage speedster said though the look on her face seemed to state otherwise. "You see, I was going to get my water as quietly as possible, but then he screamed and I was startled, and the glass broke and-"

"Give up on the explanation, Kei." Ricardo brushed past her and went out of the room.

A beeping sound saved the rest of the awkward moment and the duo exited the room to join the others as the team prepared for landing.

Megan didn't see Ricardo again until they had highlighted from the Chariot on the private airfield Olympus had reserved for the team outside of the main city. He was in a conversation with Adolf and Jay so she opted not to interrupt. 

Plus, that was the time Kei rolled a black sports bike out of the garage.

"What are you doing with that?" Megan asked, looking from the teenager speedster to the motorcycle in a mixture of disbelief and disapproval.

"Riding. Duh!" she returned, rolling her eyes.

"I know what you do with a sports bike, Kei. I mean, what do you thinking you're doing with it during a mission?"

"I have to get somewhere first before we settle." She got on the bike.

"Hell no!" Megan said, gripping one of the handlebars just as the teenage speedster thought to leave. "That wasn't part of the plan we discussed on the way here."

"Well, consider it a part of the plan now, Meg," she returned, putting on her helmet even as the other woman still had a hand on the bar.

Kei jerked Megan's hand away and would have zoomed off had the latter not stepped in front of the bike and it was only because of the teenage speedster's quick reflexes that an accident didn't ensue.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Meg?!" She pulled off the helmet in fury, attracting the attention of the others at that point.

"What's going on?" Adolf asked as they came, quirking an eyebrow between the duo.

"Kei wants to go rogue." Megan dared her with a glare to refute it.

"I'm not going rogue. I said I had to get somewhere first and little Miss Overcontrolling here wouldn't let me." She returned the glare.

A look passed between Adolf and Jay, though the latter looked like he couldn't give a hoot about the matter. He turned to walk away, pulling Ricardo with him before the latter had a chance to refuse.

Adolf sighed. "Let her go," he said.

"Adolf."

"Trust me, Megan. Let her go."

Megan looked and saw that Adolf had assumed an expression almost reminiscent of the one Dennis had when he and Kei had spoken of the Japan mission in the last meeting.

There's something about this place that has them concerned for her, she deduced.

However, no matter how Megan tried, she couldn't figure out how Kei could have gotten herself mixed up with Japan and she didn't know about it.

Except for her sneaking off the mountain during the year you were gone, her mind supplied.

Now, Kei herself had dismissed it as a one-time thing that had no significance. But somehow, that kept coming up on Olympus in one way or another since the Thanatos issue began.

How can something so once-over leave a deep impression on all of them? She wondered.

Anyway, time was going and Megan had to make a choice. "Go," she finally said after a while, relenting on the matter altogether. "Come back early."

"Don't worry Meg, I'll be back before you know it," Kei said with a quick smile. "And I promise to bring back something helpful to the Thanatos investigation too."

Megan and Adolf watched the teenage speedster speed off into the busy city in a distance before turning back towards the plane.

"Are we all ready to go now?" she asked as she joined the operatives who were waiting for her by three SUVs they had assigned for the mission.

"All ready to go, Miss Months," replied Sam, the mission master who had come with them. "We're just awaiting your command."

"Let's move out," she commanded. "We've got a long stay ahead of us."