The Great Eight (Temporary Hiatus)

Chaos 101

At the dormitory, Herry and Atlanta sat at the island in a quaint little kitchen. But the most stunning thing in the kitchen wasn't the food being served to them, but rather the woman serving it. With her gaunt features and cool, calculative eyes. And let's not forget that comfortable-looking but somehow also warrior-esque blue dress with an apron around her waist.

"Thanks! Looks great!" Herry said, thrilled with the food presented to him after such a long day. Who would have thought they would be served such tasty food after getting rescued from giants and then taking some God-overseen tests? Not Herry.

"Your welcome. I can see cooking for you will keep me busy. Would you like some toast?" The woman asked after she served them each a plate of flapjacks, eggs, and bacon.

"Yeah! Sure!" Herry cheered with a thumb up in the air, the other hand busy holding the bit of food he had momentarily gobbled on with such a gusto that Atlanta grimaced beside him.

"I thought you were a Goddess of War? I was expecting you to be mean, not making me breakfast." Atlanta inquired, desperate to familiarize herself with her "den mother" in order to distract from Herry's zeal over food. But, she realized too late that perhaps the woman, Athena, wasn't exactly the kind of distraction that she wanted for the occasion. As she sat gob-smacked when the woman pulled a sword from under her apron with a flourish as she eyed a stack of toast on a cutting board.

"Don't be silly, I love to cook. Toast?" She proffered as her sword sliced the stack of toast in half. Deftly sliding her sword's face under one of the cleanly made halves and bringing it around to the teens. Balanced to perfection on her sword like it was a silver platter.

"Uh, no thanks." Atlanta politely waved the offer away as she recovered her confidence. Herry on the other hand was smiling ear to ear as Athena slid the toast onto his plate. Which had been cleared of any food in record time.

"Did Jay say where he was going?" Athena asked the teens.

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In another part of the city, Jay walked up to a crossroads full of busy New Olympian traffic. Was this moment a part of his life to be taken as a metaphor? Most definitely, but we will ignore it for now. Since a certain, wayward giant decided it was going to use the road itself as his sidewalk right in view of Jay and everyone else. If the drivers hadn't made notice of Cronus and his entourage before when they arrived at the Oracle's stall, they certainly were forced to now! As the giant smacked a car coming his way with an angry snarl, managing to bash it over his head so that it sat with an obvious hole in its engine hood on the wrong side of the road and in the opposite direction.

"No way." Jay spoke softly to himself, still too confused for an appropriate response. Meanwhile the giant had taken to shoving a telephone pole until it broke in half. Unfortunately for an elderly woman, she happened to be under its projection as it fell. However, like before when he was swimming for his life, Jay's immediate response was flight. And he certainly used this to swoop in to save the elder from being crushed. Carrying her over his shoulder to a nearby alcove in an alley where he placed her down and silently asked her to keep quiet as they witnessed the giant draw close.

Though their hiding spot was ruined when Jay peeked his head out the side, allowing the giant to see him and causing a fateful encounter. Jay backed from the elder, drawing the unknowing giant past her as the boy prepared to fight off the giant. This time, there would be no Hermes or griffins. Though there was a snaking electrical cord from the fallen telephone pole that was sparking up a storm.

Jay used a convenient split of wood to maneuver the cord in the air. Managing to wrestle it around him safely enough and then send it off at the giant. It wrapped around his closest arm before its sparking end touched his skin and gave the giant quite the shock. When the giant's reflexes kicked in after a few moments of agony, the giant tossed the cord away from his body and took a moment to shield his welted arm before taking off past Jay and back to where he came from. Leaving only a trail of smoke to follow him, smelled like barbequed giant.

"Thank you, young man! You're very brave." Now out of danger, the elderly woman came up to Jay to thank him.

And with absolutely zero social skills, Jay just looked at her with a blank expression before taking off to where the giant ran to. One could explain his behavior as being acutely focused on the task at hand, or perhaps our fearless hero isn't so fearless at all when it comes to little women? By any means, Jay was after the giant and the woman was saved.

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"Back so soon are you?" Cronus berated the fried giant who was kneeling at his master's feet and begging for forgiveness. Somehow, the giant managed to get back to the crane vessel with no military or police coming after him. Giving the creature ample time to groan out, in the mangled giant language of grunts and gargles, that at least one of the heroes sent to defeat Cronus was here in the city.

"What?! He's here?!" Cronus glanced at his right-hand giant before looking around the area with a solemn frown. Scouting the alleys around them until he saw a head of sandy brown hair poking around a corner. His crimson irises narrowed at the teenage mortal who dare oppose him.

Jay, on the other hand, out of breath from the long run and also now thoroughly spooked whipped back around the corner to hide away from the tyrannical God. " Come on Jay, it's only a couple giants and a crazy immortal God." He tried pumping himself up for the fight. But with a twist of his feet he decided not to with a quick, " I don't think so." Avoiding the fight altogether and racing back to the safety of the Gods who weren't so keen to slay him. " Not today."