The Siren and The Sun

6) Pigeons, Elevators, and No Girls

When Atlantis entered the Upper Bay of the New York Harbor, Hermes was sitting on a rail, waiting. "Took you long enough." He remarked, absent mindedly looking at his nails as though he cared about them. "Shut up." Atlantis called to him. "I had to go around stuff."

The god shrugged. "This is why flying- notice I said flying not flight- is the best thing ever."

"Would you like to fly me to the Empire State Building then?"

"You're a slimy-"

"Watch it there, fairy boy! I have weapons that are more powerful than six of you combined!"

Hermes narrowed his eyes and cracked his knuckles. "Fairy boy?! Six of me combined?" The god gestured to several nearby pigeons and they fluttered into a line next to him. Hermes snapped and suddenly there were six of him. "I'd really like to test that theory." They said in unison. The Hermeses flew up and swarmed in a circle before separating again. Now Atlantis couldn't tell which was which. She readied her weapons. Here goes nothing.

The god and pigeons attacked at once, diving at the siren from all angles. She threw the trident, encased in water so she didn't hurt herself, at one of them. It easily sidestepped the missile. "Wow. You literally throw away your most powerful weapon?"

"Treating it like a common spear?"

"Such disrespect!" said three of the Hermeses.

The trident had sailed pass the circle, so Atlantis simply reversed its course with perfect timing. The weapon came back and impaled a Hermes. Turns out it was a clone because the pigeon simply fluttered away after being killed. The remaining five frowned. "Ow!" they said in unison as the bewildered bird flew off.

"Okay, this is boring." Hermes said. Atlantis spun to face him. "Forget the clones." He snapped again and flock of pigeons left. He was the only one left. With a growl, Atlantis raised her mother's crown. It started spinning rapidly and glowing blue. The siren had no idea what it was going to do, but it worked for her purposes. Hermes had started inching away from it until he was directly in front of her. While he was watching the crown, which had begun to hum, Atlantis threw the water-encased trident at him. He gasped as the weapon stabbed him. The crown stopped spinning and glowing. Hermes somehow managed to get to the railing and pull the trident out of his stomach. It and his white shirt were covered in golden ichor. At the sight of the blood, his grip on the metal bar loosened slightly. The god slipped and fell into the bay. Atlantis stared at the sinking form of Hermes until it disappeared. "I- I didn't mean to actually kill him." The siren said. "I thought- maybe- he would move or something."

"And I would have." Said a voice. The two looked, but saw no one. They only heard laughter. "I figured that-" More laughter. "That would be a lot more entertaining. And, boy, was it." Atlantis heard a sigh. "You so fell for it. The look on your face? Priceless! Absolutely priceless! I really should have videoed that." Hermes appeared finally, sitting on the railing, wiping tears from his eyes. "That was amazing. I should fake my death more often."

"You're not dead?" Atlantis asked after a few seconds.

Hermes shook his head. "Impalement by trident would kill me, yes. But that wasn't me."

"But you said 'forget the clones.' You lied!"

He shrugged. "I'm the god of thieves. Most of what I say is lies."

"Good to know." Atlantis muttered. "But if that was the clone, where's the pigeon?"

Hermes jumped down and splashed into the water. He surfaced a few seconds later with a limp pigeon. A red hole took up most of its body. "Dead birds don't fly, Atlantis." He chucked it farther out into the bay. "The sharks will enjoy that."