"What should we do in the meantime?" Atlas asked, perplexed by Apollo's words.
They were back inside the cafe itself, and Apollo had some new instructions. Clyde and the descendant of Hermes–who he found out was called Mers–had returned to the cafe after completing their missions.
According to the reports given, most people they asked didn't accept even when presented with the money. They all thought the gang wouldn't succeed. When they told Atlas about this, he merely scoffed.
"Leave them. We have no need for hired hands, anyway."
The other two club members had also returned from their own assigned missions. They were a boy and a girl named Finn and Ellie. They were twin siblings and were the direct descendants of a more modern god named Rell, who was known for her frightening vision. Both inherited a small part of her power.
Their job was relatively simpler compared to Mers' job. It was to scout around for any demigods in the area. They took Clyde along because he was a walking encyclopedia of that kind of knowledge.
In total, they had found only five other demigods and three of them were unaffiliated.
Atlas was just about to speak when Apollo gave his sudden instruction.
"Good job. Keep doing that for now. The three of us will lie low until the weapons arrive. By that, I mean you Atlas."
The others were okay with the instructions, as it didn't affect them at all. However, Atlas was more perplexed, as his mom was on his mind when Apollo said that.
'So I'm just supposed to sit around and wait for someone to attack her?' he thought angrily, clenching his fists.
Apollo seemed to read his mind and quickly answered.
"No. You'll be training with me and Rin. Same thing with Mers. After you're done looking for recruits, come here to train with us."
Atlas admitted defeat and collapsed to a nearby chair. He was exhausted, both physically and mentally. Ever since that large sum of money arrived, he found himself doing things that he never expected he would ever do.
'Money really makes a man blind, huh?'
He promised himself that he wouldn't make any rash decisions anymore and closed his eyes to rest.
As he decided to do that, Apollo called out to Finn, who was the closest to the remote.
"Turn on the TV, put it on the news."
The black-haired boy with a lot of piercings picked the remote up and turned the television on. Atlas wanted to ask why, but he remembered what they had just done.
The news report came on instantly.
"Just earlier today, three gunmen attacked the Zeus Local Bank. Thir identities were unknown as masks of different colours hid their faces rather well. These gunmen did not steal any money or kill anyone. However, their random shots appeared to have damaged the building,"
"Their leader, a figure dressed in a very eye-catching red shirt and white sneakers, wore a peculiar black mask. When leaving the bank with his accomplices, he claimed they killed no one and stole nothing. However, he did pass along a message for Zeus which reads as follows: 'Just tell Zeus that some Titans are smarter than others'. The meaning is unknown"
"After that, there have been multiple footage of the leader and his two accomplices jumping over several cars simultaneously. It is unknown whether this is real or not."
As the news anchor said that, Apollo told Finn to turn the TV on and all eyes in the room turned to Atlas at once.
"Was that the result you were heading for?" Clyde was the first to ask as he looked at Atlas curiously.
Atlas shrugged, as he didn't know how to answer the question. He was also more worried about something else to bother answering.
"Didn't they see the bodies of all those other guys, though? Those weird puppets?" he pondered, hands stroking his chin.
Apollo shook his head.
"No. It's an application of that deity's power. Remember that guy that entered the bank without anything happening? That's a perfect example. Ordinary people can't see them under normal circumstances."
Atlas understood and thought back to when the news anchor said that there weren't any casualties.
"That means they hid that Charles guy's body,"
It confirmed his suspicion, as Apollo immediately nodded affirmatively.
"Hey, Rin, is there a technique that I can practice outside of the usual times?" Atlas asked Rin when he saw that no one else was speaking.
The blue-haired teen thought for a moment, then turned to Apollo.
"May we go to my place?"
He was oddly polite. Maybe it was because Apollo was a high-levelled god, almost comparable to his mother. Atlas didn't care for that, though. No matter how mighty gods acted, they were still people.
Apollo nodded, but just as they were about leaving, he held up a finger. "Hold your horses. You can't go out wearing those clothes, they'll recognize you easily!"
As he said that, he pulled out a set of clothes from behind the chair he sat on. There, Atlas recognized both sets of clothes as things from his wardrobe.
"We should really get uniforms or something along those lines…" he grabbed the clothes and grumbled loudly.
He looked at the pair of red shoes that came with the clothes and stuck out a tongue at Apollo.
"You have really poor taste in colour."
The god ignored him and gave the new set of clothes to Rin.
"Changing rooms are that way,"
Apollo pointed the way to the toilet and soon after, they were both changed and ready to head for Rin's house.
They finally reached the teen's house, and Atlas realized that it was the most important piece of information he had on the boy aside his name.
"Here we are."
****
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