The Olympians: The Fall of Kin

Best Laid Plans

Much as she wanted to kick Apollo's ass, she wasn't in the mood. She was weak. Too weak.

Sure, she'd bested Hamir. But that was because he hadn't fully mastered his Bane. Once he did, odds were that she wouldn't stand a chance.

I need a break. Tired of all this bullshit.

She left the hospital room and jutted her hands into the pockets of her gray shawl, her white boots clacking loudly against the pale tiles. She neared the elevator and promptly mashed the button.

A few moments later, the elevator arrived. She entered and rode it down to the fourteenth floor, which housed her "Zoo." That was where Gray's physical form resided, as well as many small animals, and even a few larger ones that she took in over the years. She exited the elevator, moving down the hall. At the end of the hall were a set of stairs on the left, and a large hatch on the back wall. The hatch led to the Zoo. And the stairs to the Gym and her room.

She lumbered up the stairs, made it to her room, and closed the door.

The room was spotless, and dust lay on everything, save the dresser.

One could call this her room, but it was really just storage at this point. She spent most nights with Gray, sleeping in her make-shift forest. It was where she was most comfortable. The only thing she bothered with in this room was the dresser. Nothing else suited her needs very well.

She grabbed a pair of sweat pants, a white t-shirt, and her workout shoes. She peeled her boots off her feet, ignoring the sharp pains of the wounds that lined her body from Kaliko's attack. After dressing, she left her room and crossed the hall into the gym. It was large, expanding for half of the entire floor at nearly eighteen thousand square feet. Countless machines were lined up in various rows, leaving narrow aisles to maneuver between them. To the left were the free weights and punching bags. The section she tended to linger in most often.

She grabbed a pair of gloves and slipped them on.

A moment later, she began her routine, which was an hour and a half of hitting the balls out of a heavy bag and then a full-body workout to boot.

The bag weighed in at nine-hundred pounds, and barely budged under the weight of her punch. And yet she still persisted. Punch after punch. Unmitigated rage burned deep within her; each punch harder than the last.

And...

Still...

I can't even move this thing...

She gave one last punch to the thing, using gray's power for an instant. The bag broke apart like paper.

"Dammit!" Why did she need her Bane? Why couldn't she fight up close on her own!?

"You shouldn't use just your arm." A baritone voice appeared behind her.

"What the hell!" She turned on the voice with an instinctual jab, but stopped when she saw it was the assassin, Kyn. "Damn! Make some noise when you walk, asshole! The hell you doing sneaking up on me!?"

"I was already in here, to begin with." He muttered, gesturing to the long-sleeve gray shirt that clung to his body and every finely tuned muscle on his upper body, along with the shorts and shoes of the same color. Sweat lined his brow, and his white-blond hair was pulled into a tight braid.

"Oh. Well, you didn't have to come talk to me! Can't workout in peace?"
"I mean, I really just wanted to help you out. You seemed a little pissed that you couldn't budge the bag."