My life was already shit, so why did this have to happen now….
Archer woke up and started her day as usual; with coffee and rushing to classes. Today marked her first day as a highschool junior but that didn't change how she acted towards it. As she headed downstairs to get her coffee, she was greeted by her mother, who was also rushing.
"Morning sweetie, have you seen my keys?"
Archer could tell she had been out late drinking with her friends. She wasn't sure what gave it away more, her frazzled hair, look of dizziness or that she was still wearing yesterday's outfit.
"Check in the freezer, that's where you usually leave them." she said as she poured coffee into her thermos. Her mom checked and as expected, found the keys. She then rushed out saying that there was money under the toaster for pizza since she'll be home late.
Typical…
She left the house soon after her mom. She lived only a few blocks away from the school, so lateness was never a problem. It seemed this day was just like those from her sophomore year, and if her predictions were correct, she knew exactly what was about to happen at school.
Not even 2 steps into Westview High and her back was pushed against a wall by her 'bully', Juno. Juno wasn't much of a bully and just resorted to constantly teasing her. She was a year younger than Archer; 16 to her 17. But what she lacked in age was made up for by her enormous stature. She towered over her classmates at 6'5 inches and her tireless exercise and basketball training gave her strength comparable to that of a senior jock. Compare that to Archer, who was 5'1 and despite being skinny avoided all forms of exercise, and you have a real David vs Goliath match.
"Well if it isn't the half-goblin. Can't believe I'm gonna say this but I actually missed making your life hell."
Archer didn't even bother to try and resist knowing it would be futile.
So it really is going to be like last term…
She slowly drowned out Juno's words with her own thoughts, making up scenarios on how today would go as she usually did when she dealt with Juno's teasing. Then something unexpected happened. She was taken from her thought's when Juno asked a question.
"You weren't listening to anything I said, were you?"
Her voice did not sound angry, but disappointed. She then removed her hand and straightened out Archer's clothes, leaving in silence.
   Archer flopped on her bed, letting out a heavy sigh. Today was so much different than she expected. First, Juno started acting weird after their encounter this morning, pretty much avoiding her the whole day. On top of that her best friend, Jack, didn't show up at all. For all the years she knew Jack, he'd rarely miss school, especially the first day. And if he did miss a day, she was the first to know. Archer decided to pull out her phone, deciding to text him to see what was up.
Archer: Heya Jack... Everything ok?
Hmm no response, that's weird…  Even weirder that he didn't receive the message…
She was a little concerned at this point, it was one thing for him to not be at school, it was another for him to not respond to messages or not receive them. She headed down stairs to watch some tv, thinking to herself that he was probably just busy. After a couple hours, he responded.
Jack: Hey, can I come over, we gotta talk…
Archer: Yeah sure, is everything ok?
Jack: I'll explain when I get there
Archer wanted to question more but decided against it.Whatever it was, she knew it was either too important or too complex to talk about over the phone. So while she waited for him to arrive, she ordered pizza, as good a time as any. She sat there wondering, what trouble could he have gotten into. Jack always loved to find the weaknesses in something, it's why he became a hacker. He would hack into online stores and get free things or to win those rigged raffles, but the better he got, the deeper he wanted to go.
Her thoughts were broken by a knock at the door. She suddenly felt a little uneasy about the entire situation. Archer placed her hand on the knob, not to open the door, but to keep herself standing as nervousness pulsed through her body.
"Who is it?" she said, her nervousness very apparent in her speech.
"No need to be nervous Arch', it's just me, and I got your pizza."
Archer let out an audible sigh as she opened the door. There stood Jack, already helping himself to the pizza.
Jack entered and made his way to the couch. He sat placing the pizza box on the coffee table and his backpack to the side. After locking the door, Archer sat next to him, taking a slice of pizza.
"So…. What didyah want to talk about?"
She was a bit nervous but played it off as best as she could. Jack said it would be a long explanation and began to explain. He was on one of his usual chat forums when he caught wind of something, a secret military server. No one on the forum was sure what was on it because anyone who managed to get into it, promptly disappeared. This however didn't stop Jack, he just thought it was a little joke. Even though it may have been a joke he made sure all his firewalls and protections were in place, even hiding his location just in case it was some elaborate doxxing scheme.Â
"The hardest part was actually finding it… When they said a secret, oh they meant it. And when I did finally manage to find it, the only way to bypass the firewall was to brute force it, which took like 16 hours."
He took a bite of pizza and waited a bit before continuing. He began speaking of a secret government mission. It was to film, document and eventually capture what they called 'vessels'. Essentially they were people who are direct descendants of gods and myths. I thought he was joking at first but by the look on his face I knew he was serious. As he continued it sounded more and more ridiculous. He recounted an entry he read about a captured vessel codenamed 'The Feline'. 'The Feline' told of the awakening of her powers, or more accurately, the awakening of the goddess Baast within her body. It seemed as though these vessels would have the god of their ancestry awaken in them at random, some awakened early in life, some later.
That's when he looked at me.
"Arch… I read through all of the names they had being monitored… there were hundreds but three stood out… it was Juno's, yours and your dad's…"
I looked at him with shock. It was all a lot to take in. I mean how wouldn't it be. First you're told gods are real and that they awaken within certain people and then told that you may be one of those people. I just scoffed and took a bite of pizza.
"Jack, you really should stop falling for your internet friends' pranks."
I looked back at him but his face was still serious. He turned and took his laptop out of his bag which he had brought and opened it up. He then opened a folder.
"It took all of my abilities for me to get this file undetected, maybe this will change your mind…"
He opened the file. It was a pdf… of me. It was more of a case file or a patient file.
SUBJECT NAME: Archer Sullivan
ALIAS: The Flame of Humanity
GENDER: Female
AGE: 17
DATE OF BIRTH: June 1st, 2005
EYE COLOR: Amber
HAIR COLOR: Auburn
SKIN COLOR: Warm Ivory
PARENTAGE: Emilio Sullivan
                        Katrina Thompson-Sullivan
This subject appears to not have anything awoken within them yet, following the same trend of subject Emilio Sullivan. We are not sure if her god or powers will ever awaken but we have theorized based on her lineage it should be the greek god of fire Prometheus. If the subject does have an awakening, subdication and capture will be top priority as the subject's mental state may become unstable.
This… this couldn't be real…
Archer was now in more shock than she had been in before. She thought to herself that it couldn't be real, but she also knew Jack wouldn't have come all this way for nothing. Even if this was remotely true, what could she do about it? Whoever this military organization was, they knew a lot about her and her family, so who's to say that even if she gained powers that she would be able to fight them off. But she then had a realization.
"Wait, you also said you saw Juno and my dad there. Did you read any information on them?"
He looked at me as he played with his hair nervously.
"Well your dad's file didn't have much of anything. They barely knew his whereabouts and if his powers or god had actually awakened yet, even the picture they had of him was a blurry CCTV image. Juno on the other hand, well her file was interesting."
Before he could continue there was a knock at the door. Jack got up to check the door, walking slowly trying not to make a sound. As soon as he got to the door it burst open knocking him to the floor as some men rushed in. I tried to run but was shot with a taser and hit the ground hard. My vision was blurred but I felt cuffs go around my hands and before I passed out I saw the face of one of the men. Or I should say woman as I saw Juno.