”Are you going to call?” Axel teases Ethan, smoothing his palm across his five o’clock shadow—a self-soother; it’s always been his tell.

He’s got a good hand, but I suspect Willow’s is better. She’s always been difficult to read, her fluidity in her movement, she’s mastered this incredible passiveness.

“I can read you both like a book. Ethan save us the facade and raise.”

“Hush I’m thinking.” The deep bellow of Ethan’s voice rattles the room slightly, I love it when he does that.

He scans his cards, measuring his odds. He won't, he never takes risks.

“Fold.” He says, placing his cards face down.

“Really? You won’t even match me? Damn Grandpa, you’re losing your touch.”

Willow’s gaze darts to Axel. When I’m certain she’s going to match it she throws twice the chips that Axel did.

“What’s it gonna be Fitz? That expression tells me you’re in over your head.” Axel taunts, mouth then forming an ‘o’ when I thrust every chip I have to the centre.

“Okay, enough talk. Lay em down.” J requests, neatening the chips placed in the middle. Hard to take anything he does seriously, especially with that damn bow tie.

Axel smacks his cards down on the table,

”Lets skip that, hand me the chips, J.”

I place mine face up, Axel grunts as if in pain.

”Straight flush, you lucky bastard.”

“I’ll pay you triple whatever he’s offered you.” He turns to J, conspiratorially.

“You’re too obvious brother, that mouth gets you in trouble. See you coming every time.”

He sucks his teeth in response, shuffling his cards back and forth.

“We should get going, meeting in ten.” Willow moves to her feet, an unusual urgency vibrating off of her.

Axel and I share a baffled expression.

Most if not all actions we take are predicted, measured, usually at least weeks beforehand. Urgencies are a rarity. But it’s not a question of if we can handle it, we do.

The three of us turn out of the room, and into the corridor, the glass walls of each room offering no privacy.

“Wait, I just realised, where did Ethan go?” Axel calls out from behind us.

“I told you, meeting in ten. And boss isn’t happy.”

“You mean?..” Axel’s face was quite the picture, he put on a huge front, but when it comes to _him_, there isn’t room for egos.

He’d reserved the largest room in the Altea, the one held for crises only.

We sit on the glass chairs surrounding the black malachite table.

Axel takes the seat behind me, attempting to look anywhere but where the boss stood—his back to us. I can’t tell if it’s purposeful, to command attention from the room.

It commands my irritation, sure.

“What do you think’s happened?” Axel leans toward me, a tinge of fear in his voice.

I shrug in response, keeping my eyes pinned on Ares.

Trent storms in, our first in command essentially, the bridge between us and the gods. His wrath is visible—something serious has gone down.

Motion at the door forces my attention towards it, you have to be kidding me—Deimos.

“Is this how you greet a god? You should all be stood to my attention!”

“Hardly a god, not even six foot tall,” Axel snickers under his breath.

Deimos fumes at Axel’s words, his face crimson with anger.

“Have some respect! You’re nothing without the gods!” He screams,

Slamming his hands down for emphasis.

“Hey, how’d you escape the height requirement for Olympus?”

I struggle to contain my amusement at that one.

“ENOUGH!” Ares thunders, shaking the room to a degree only Ethan could.

Deimos retreats immediately, slipping back into position next to his father, his posture that of a soldier.

“So what’s happened?” I finally ask, done with the suspense bullshit.

Trent looks to Ares, concern etched into his olive-tinted face. With a swift nod from Ares, Trent takes the reins.

“There’s an issue, below.” He takes a breath.

“An issue? Could you expand?” I question.

“This isn’t something we’ve dealt with before. Ever. But the humans.. well.. they need us. It’s gotten out of hand.” Trent looks at the back wall, contemplative.

“What has?” Willow asks, her voice brimming with worry.

“There’s an organisation, the trafficking of narcotics, explosives, other valuables.” He swallows, his eyes slightly erratic.

“Surely this is human territory, no? They’ve got SWAT, special forces? Isn’t that what they deal with?” Axel voices our thoughts.

Trent shakes his head.

“They’re out of resources, this group is expansive, elusive, they're funded with dirty money. They have connections that make them untouchable. It’s out of police jurisdiction."

"You want us to go above the law?" Ethan questions, in disbelief.

Trent raises his brow responding with a look that says, _we are the law._

Ares steps forward, his palms encasing each other slowly, it made everyone in the room straighten their backs a little, chin up a touch; it made me impatient.

“Those above me have requested that it be this way, that you four handle this. You are our best option. There is no room for failure.” Ares is stoic, his voice a threat commanding each one of us to listen intently.

Natural disasters we’d dealt with, it’s nothing, frankly. But affairs of the humans, emotional distress, it’s new to us.

“So what are we stepping into, how big is this operation they’re running?” Willow asks.

“I won’t sugar coat it, you won’t be prepared for it. What you’ll witness, no one should.” Ares responds, his gaze burning into willows.

“Tell me though, tell me that’s it’s not..”

“It is.”

“How many?”

“It increases as we speak.”

The air in the room turns unbearably cold, each of us awash with a sombre understanding.

I feel a wave of serenity come from Willow, her expression determined. “How would you like us to proceed?”

Trent steps forward, waving his hand in a motion that commands the screen to come down in front of us.

A blueprint of the building I’m assuming we will be infiltrating, comes into view.

“This is one of a thousand.”

Axel blows out a breath.

I feel a hot liquid anger begin to pour throughout my veins.

Each second we sit here feels like a second wasted.

“Your qualities will make us a force unable to be reckoned with. Willow, you can manipulate water, and you’re calm to the extent that frankly outperforms each one of us here. Versatility is key here too; you’re elusive. It’s not just in the physical power of water itself but in the character qualities you possess, you are vital; you are level-headed.

“Ethan, earth, you have a power that frankly worries me sometimes. You could and have split the world in half. They aren’t a match for you, because you will wreak havoc on the ground they walk on.

“Axel, you’re aware of your capabilities, as you remind us daily. Something you haven’t tried yet—I need you to start trying. You harness air, you control it. I need you to take the breath from their bodies, momentarily if possible, we want to keep them alive, but I need you to weaken them.

“Fitz, I can feel your rage from here. I need you brutal in there, unrelenting. Those girls, deserve nothing less, they deserve to be avenged. Keep the fire at bay, if you can, until you’re certain the victims aren’t present. I want not a single hair on one of those girls' heads harmed. I may be entrusting you but everything is on the line here. I need every one of you to go into this as if it’s personal.”

Trent’s chest heaves with a fury I’d never before seen in him.

“You said you need them alive? Those accountable? Sure that can’t be looked over?” I question, cracking my neck, buzzing with energy to move in.

Trent fails to hide his smirk, “This isn’t about playing the big dog Fitz.” He warns.

“But if a few dozen we’re burned beyond repair, I wouldn’t ask questions.”