"Ma'am?"

Anton stepped inside as the doors slid open, revealing the youthful-looking head of the organization to which he'd sworn himself. Intellectually, he knew the teenage girl sitting behind the ornate desk was likely older than he was, but it still threw him every time he was allowed inside to see her so... petite. Most who took a leadership role preferred to take a sleeve that looked more mature and controlling, but the Administrator had remained youthful for the entire decade he'd been in service.

The silver-haired girl held up a finger, reading something on the screen... then turned to look, nodding assent to continue. Anton, as usual, tried not to look at the eerie blue glow in the eyes, another factor he never could understand. Instead, he cleared his throat and concentrated on his report.

"Target M has been sighted and tracked. It's not clear how, but it appears that she's ended up on Mars, a few hundred kilometers from Olympus Mons." Anton saw the girl's lip twitch at that, but pretended not to notice. "We have two strike teams nearby en route to intercept and capture, on your order."

Shaking her head, the youthful Administrator raised her hand. "No, cancel that. Normal strike teams would simply be a loss when confronting Target M," the girl sighed. After a moment of thought, "Withdraw Orbital Drop Team Nova from Phobos and send them on the retrieval mission. Highest priority."

"Drop Team Nova?" Anton blurt. "But... yes, Ma'am. As soon as possible." His misgivings were brief, as Anton knew that Nova wouldn't be deployed unless absolutely needed, especially not when they were already in a mission. "I'll send the message."

---

As the young man hurries out, the silver-haired girl sighs. She leans back in her chair, arms behind her head, only for the cool voice of the terminal AI next to her murmuring out, "Are you sure that he's ready for this? Leading Nova has certainly given him more experience in curbing his impulsiveness, but that uncontrollable hot-headedness is part of his nature. And even he is not likely to be a match..."

The girl shrugs, "Hopefully it will be enough. He's weaker than some of our other assets, but he's also loyal. Athena would ask too many questions, Ares is too full of himself and may not understand what we're doing. We don't have a lot of options, Beloved."

That silken voice of the AI murmurs, "I know that, dearest. Have you considered Persephone? My analysis shows that she has assets of her own that we have yet to fully understand or catalogue."

Another shake of the head, "No. I damaged her trust too much in the mythic age, so unless we can offer her something like a solid lead on Hades, she's unlikely to trust anything we give her. This is how it has to be, my love."

The computer is silent for a long moment, before finally assenting. "You are right. I hate that you are right, but we just don't have enough influence yet. Have you considered my proposal?"

Pursing her lips, the Administrator nods reluctantly. "I see no other way. It's a good idea, and maybe if I'd listened to you more in the past, we wouldn't have ended up like this."

Another digitized chuckle, "True, but neither of us carried ourselves as gods should have. We have another chance now, let's not dwell on the mistakes of the past. Are you certain you will not resleeve?"

Sigh. The silver hair tumbles as the oddly youthful Administrator shakes her head again. "Maybe once you claim a body of your own. Until then, I think this is the best way for me to get over my own... flaws of character. I don't want to ruin what we have again."

A quiet tsk rises from the terminal, "Perhaps for the best, yes. Just remember that my actions, wrong as they were, would never have been done if I hadn't still cared."

"I know," comes the quiet reply, with only a flicker of doubt. Oh, she didn't doubt the AI's sincerity, or her own... but she knew her memories of the mythic times were spotty at best, even now, and so were all the others. How much of what they did were their human halves filtering out for their own sanity? Were these really mistakes, or were the godlike powers they'd merged with simply that cruel and callous? Did they really love one another in the past?

She knew what her feelings were now, but would they remain if their latent powers fully blossomed? Or would their affection be crushed under the power or the myth that gave them strength?

The AI was silent, off doing something else. Leaving the Administrator, and her thoughts on all this, to brood in silence.