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"Stop trying to hit me and hit me!"

He could see the rage building in his opponent as he yelled the movie quote. He saw the fist fly at his face and felt the displaced air on his nose as the blow swung just millimeters from contacting. His response was an uppercut to his opponents jaw that sent the sweating man crumpling to his back.

"You know, at some point, you have to at least give them a chance." said Old Walter from the side of the ring. The older man leaned against the boxing rings ropes from the outside and half smiled, half scowled at Jack.
Jack simply shrugged and let out a sigh of disappointment as he replied "But then how would they learn anything?"
From his feet, he heard the still crumpled Marco complain "Learned not to spar with you." as he rolled over onto his side and groaned.
Jack scrunched his face up in thought before conceding "Well I guess it wasn't a complete waste of time." He crouched down to look at Marco on the canvas and prodded him on the shoulder with a padded glove before saying "You've got a lot of potential kid, but I've been doing this a lot longer than you."
Marco narrowed his eyes and stared at Jack in confusion at the use of the word 'kid'. Marco looked to be at least five years older than Jack and at least 100 lbs heavier, yet Jack insisted on using the word kid when addressing him.
The corner of Jack's mouth turned up in amusement at Marco's look before he reached out with both arms to help him back to his feet. He playfully prodded at Marco's stomach when they were both standing and found it funny when the much larger man recoiled.
"If you two ladies are done kissing," said old Walter "You have a visitor."

Jack turned to look at the aging man who had now lost his smile entirely. Old Walter, despite his nickname, was still incredibly fit for a man of 65 and was just about as muscular as the much younger Marco. His nickname of 'The Wall' still seemed very apt. His square jaw was clenched tight in an expression that reminded Jack of the day they met over a decade ago. He had pulled that look when he first laid eyes on Jack too. It was the same look he had whenever there was what he called "a high falutin suit type" around. Jack peered around his old friend to take in the gym. There was the usual assortment of muscleheads and fighters in the dimly lit gym, sweating and panting as they worked out. But there was also one person who stood out like the proverbial sore thumb.

Right there in the middle of the room, bathed in the pale sunlight streaming in through the high windows stood a young woman dressed like she was ready for a business meeting. Pencil skirt so tight Jack wondered how she could move at all. Her hair was perfect. Not a single strand out of place. She clutched a briefcase in both hands in front of her as she waited patiently, trying not to make eye contact with the admittedly gruff and smelly clientele of the gym. One woman, who looked like an amazon passed by and looked her up and down with an expression that was half derision and half lust. There was no denying that [url=http://pixel.nymag.com/imgs/daily/vulture/2015/10/01/01-scandal.w529.h352.jpg]Melodee Bryant[/url] was an attractive woman in that rather uptight way of hers but Jack couldn't help but sigh at the sight of her. Mel had been looking thoroughly uncomfortable surrounded by so many sweaty, half naked men and women but when she saw that Jack was looking at her, she straightened and raised her head up from between her shoulders where it had been slowly shrinking. Jack made his way out of the boxing ring and past Walt who gave him a grunt as he passed.

"Have you considered the irony of the Chairman of a billion dollar telecom company who never answers his phone?" asked Melodee in a half shout to be heard over the noise of the gym as he approached.
Pulling off his boxing gloves, Jack responded "Have you considered the possibility that I didn't want to talk?" He swerved off to the side before reaching her and shoved his gloves down onto a bench next to his bag.
"Oh please." scoffed Melodee with a snort. "The day you don't want to talk is the day I start working out in a dingy hole in the wall like this."
"Oh" said Jack with feigned surprise "So you brought your workout gear in that precious little briefcase?"
She shot him the same fake smile she had perfected for use during board meetings and replied "No, I brought something much better. Papers for you to sign."
Jack's shoulders visibly slumped and he made a show of groaning. "People still sign papers?" he complained. "Don't we live in a digital world?"
"Some people like paper" responded Melody with a smug smile as she retrieved her precious papers from her briefcase. "Penderton being one of them."
Jack cringed slightly at the mention of Penderton's name. Albert Penderton was the owner of a small company that Quicksilver Communications had recently agreed to purchase and the old man was possibly the most boring person Jack had ever met. He was hoping Melodee's forms were the last things he'd have to sign before he could be done with Penderton forever. He gave the papers a quick scan before signing them and handed them back to Melodee who placed them back in her briefcase and stood there, staring at him for a moment before her eyes slowly drifted towards his bare chest. "Hey!" he barked, snapping his fingers at her. "My eyes are up here."
Cheeks visibly reddening, Mel gathered her composure and said "Don't flatter yourself. You're not my type."

Jack was preparing some witty retort when he felt something strange. It was a feeling he hadn't felt for a very very long time. Not since his time among the gods. Not since his life as Hermes.

It was a soul passing on. And not just any soul. A powerful one. Hermes had always been attuned to such things, thanks to his duties as a psychopomp. He was responsible for escorting the departed to the other side. But it had been a long time since Hermes, now Jack, had had such responsibilities. Not since the gods collectively agreed to relinquish their powers. For Jack to be feeling this now, even without his powers, it would have to have been someone of great power.

The color visibly drained from Jack's face and he lurched forward slightly, almost falling into the arms of Melodee in front of him. "Oh my god, are you okay?" she practically yelled in concern. Jack could hear the hurried footsteps of Walt and Marco approaching behind him but he quickly regained his composure before they reached him. He took a deep breath and turned to smile at them.
"I'm fine" he said, glancing between them and Mel. "Still a little hungover from last night...You know me. Party till you drop....There were twins." He shot Marco a wink and Marco smiled back, proud of bro's "achievement". Walt, however, had a face of stone and seemed to know Jack's story was bullshit. The Wall's silent looks of judgement were the worst.

Melodee was obviously still concerned and as Jack pulled on a t shirt, she asked "Are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm fine" smiled Jack, lying through his teeth. His attention had shifted to thoughts of Hades though and he wondered if the creep had felt the same thing he had. He'd have to have felt it, right? Hades was infinitely more powerful than Hermes when it came to sensing souls crossing over so if Hermes had felt it, Hades certainly would have. He decided then to try and contact his creepy old "uncle" to see if he could fill him in on what was happening. "Be right back" he told everyone, snatching his phone from his bag. "Need to make a call."

He wandered off, heading down a nearby corridor as he punched a number into his phone. Before he could enter the last digit however, he noticed a door pop open. What lay on the other side was definitely not the foul smelling bathroom that would usually be there.

Odd.

Curious, he stepped through.[hr][hr][center][img]http://25.media.tumblr.com/b8de124f51156dcb55daa14a96144ddf/tumblr_mxqf74E8r21r9nmxso2_r1_250.gif[/img][/center][hr][hr]
On the other side, he was only slightly surprised to see a number of other gods step through similar doors. Apparently there was something important going on. After stepping through the threshold, he felt an odd yet pleasant sensation. Like an adrenaline rush of epic proportions. He hadn't felt like this since being stripped of his powers.

He wandered into the main room where the others were gathering. He recognized rather a lot of them and gave a few nods to those he hadn't seen in a while. Slumping down into one of the chairs, he looked around and spotted Nike sitting at the back of the room, away from everyone else. He gave her a smile and a casual salute before turning his attention to Athena and Tyr.

Like most, Hermes was shocked by the news about Odin. He had felt him pass but it was still surprising to learn that something like this had happened to someone so powerful. Who could have done such a thing? Despite the mild knot forming in his stomach, Hermes couldn't help but smile when he heard drunken laughter coming from a whose names he couldn't quite remember. It wasn't that he agreed with them, he simply enjoyed seeing people in a good mood. Plus, he was glad he wasn't the one getting into trouble this time. The smile was wiped from his face when Athena mentioned that everyone present would be questioned. They thought someone here had killed Odin? More important to Hermes though was the fact that he couldn't leave. He was about to voice his annoyance at this when, much to his surprise, Nike did that for him.

Hermes knew from past experience that it generally wasn't a good idea to poke the proverbial bear that was Athena but, hey, she wasn't in charge of him anymore. "Yeah, I'm with Nike on this one" he said "In case you haven't been paying attention this last few millenia, I'm a very busy person."