"I can smell your fear, Edwards. So I'll give you - and ONLY YOU - my ʀᴇᴀʟ answer to that stupid question Flag asked me back at Belle Reve. The only reason that I'm here is to ᴡʀᴇᴀᴋ. ʜᴀᴠᴏᴄ. Everybody I know is either dead or prayin' that I'll change...
Harley's voice caught their attention, and Athena turned to face her friend in embarrassment.
"That can wait till after we get this shit done, 'kay?" Harley pointed her bat at them from where she stood by the door before approaching. "Flag's 'bout ta have a cow 'cos Theenie's not comin'. So you, mistah blue eyes, betta get ya ass out here already. C'mon, 'fore I make ya."
"Harley, put that down," Athena said quickly. "It's okay, I decided to come with you. You don't need to threaten--."
"Yer comin'? Great! That means I can threaten th'both of ya! SO MOVE YA DAMN ASSES ALREADY!" Harley grabbed their arms and dragged the both of them outside.
Flag was with the others behind a wall, looking at a small device Digger seemed to be fiddling with. Athena figured that it was a boomerang with a camera, and it was spying on the two demons in the subway.
"We think that thing's a weapon," Flag was saying to Digger. "Here, lower."
Digger stared at his device before slamming it off. Apparently his boomerang had been spotted and destroyed.
"We gotta take out the big one," Floyd said.
"Incubus," Athena corrected him.
They all looked up, surprised to see her there.
"You decided to come with us after all?" Floyd asked.
Athena huffed and rolled her eyes with a bit of her old humor. "What, and let you guys have all the fun? As if."
"Alright, then," Flag said. "You said that thing's name was Incubus?"
"Yep," Athena walked up to them. "But I call him by his real name, Kinich Ahau. He was once the Sun God and supreme god of an ancient civilization in Central America."
"That don't seem too bad," Harley commented.
"He's also a mass murderer and just a huge dickhead in general."
"I take it back."
"How do you know that?" Digger asked.
"You all know what makes him a mass murderer." Athena gestured to the burning buildings and destroyed vehicles around them.
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"But he's also a huge dickhead because he chopped off Ädri's head just cause she talked back to him. Basically he's the reason why there's a witch in my brain."
Suddenly her eyes turned gold, and she said in an entirely different voice, "'åṅå ṡåṭåєṃåĿ qåṭĿåһȗ, 'åṅṅ єɞṅ єĿ ṃєṭåṅåҡå!" Then she was back to normal and she stumbled briefly before Edwards caught her.
"That's a new one," Athena muttered in a tone only she heard.
"What the hell was that?" Floyd asked, voicing everyone's obvious surprise.
"Ädri," Athena said, trying to expel the dizziness she felt. "She wanted to vocalize her anger, apparently."
"Does she do that a lot?" Flag asked.
"She's never done that before," Athena replied, feeling both excited and worried.
"Okay...." Flag went on to break the worried, nervous silence. "Crossbones, how can we take him out?"
Ädri took over and spoke again, using Athena to yell, "ṭåєqıṃ ẇåqåṭåє ŗåṡ ԀһĿҡ ҡåṅıṭһ!"
"Crossbones, get her to stop doing that!" Floyd yelled in annoyance.
"Trying!" Athena mentally slapped Ädri before saying to Flag, "You can't. Kinich heals almost instantly from mortal injuries. Only a god or goddess, demon, or an extremely powerful heat source can take him down." Athena gave a quick glance at Chato, who saw it and nodded faintly.
"Do I look like someone that would carry bombs in my pocket?" Floyd asked sarcastically.
"Hey, if anyone would be carrying bombs in their pockets, it'd be Crossbones," Digger said.
"Joke's on you," Athena retorted. "I'm THE bomb."
"I left a big ass demo charge down there in that subway," Flag cut in. "There's a flooded tunnel... Leads right underneath that building." He pointed to the subway station. "The SEALS can recover the charge, swim underneath that thing's feet. We get in it's face and distract the hell out of that son of a bitch so the swimmers can blow the bomb. That's how we take it out."
"Awesome," Athena said. "Let's go."
Athena noticed Edwards putting on diver's gear. She approached him and ignored Ädri's stream of cuss words.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Flag asked me to blow the bomb," he said.
"I could do it."
"And have you kill yourself by trying to multitask? Hell no."
"I don't need your permission."
"I can't let you do this."
"What I do isn't up to you."
"Athena, go with Flag. That's an order."
Athena's eyes widened as she huffed. "Excuse me, what?" She raised her eyebrows as she repeated herself. "What did you just say to me?"
Everybody turned around at Athena's aggressive voice.
"Uh-oh," Harley muttered.
"Did you just--" Athena gave a dangerously amused chuckle. "Did you just--give me an order?"
"That fool's a dead man," Floyd said to Digger, who nodded.
"I said you can't come," Edwards said nervously.
"I can't--I can't come?" Athena blinked. "I can't come?" She laughed. "He says I can't come." She shook her head as she walked off. "He tried to give me an order. Failed, obviously, but still...."
"Why didn't she kill him?" Chato asked Harley.
"I have no idea," Harley said, before bursting into a fit of giggles. "Somethin's prob'ly wrong wit'er head tonight."
**Translations: 'Ana sataemal qatlahu, 'ann ebn el metanaka!: I'm gonna kill him, that son of a bitch! Taeqim waqatae ras dhlk Kanith!: Sterilize and decapitate that bitch!
