Author's Note: OK, here we go with round two. I hope this first chapter is enough to keep you guys wanting more! Comment/review!

Big Luke

I was in the worst spot of my life: a school dance. However, I wasn't there to dance. You see, I live at this place called Camp Half-Blood where kids like me go to stay safe and learn how to defend ourselves. Last summer, the activities director of the camp; his name is Chiron, asked me to set up this Strike Team to give the camp an advantage in the war that we are in.

This team consisted of a track athlete, Brandon Collins, who was our Combat Engineer and a son of Athena. He wasn't with us that night at the dance because he lived on the other side of the country. You see, Camp Half-Blood is located in New York and Brandon lives in Portland, Oregon during the regular school year.

The other member of our team was behind the scope of a sniper rifle somewhere outside freezing his tail off in the snow. His name is David Yang and he is the best shot at camp. He has great vision, he once spotted me from almost three-hundred yards away hiding in the bushes wearing a ghillie suit. He's that good. He was able to fly in for this operation since he lived much closer to camp in Indiana.

I was standing next to one of the most beautiful girls I've ever had the pleasure of saving. Her name was Brittany Hughes, daughter of Aphrodite. My team saved her and her ten year old brother, Mathew, from a school in Portland, Oregon last summer. I didn't originally want her to be with us that night, but she kind of blackmailed me into bringing her along ever since she learned that we were going to a dance. Our Strike Team was supposed to be super top-secret to all of the other campers but we had stashed her and her brother in our Kill House for a night last summer. After a few weeks of being around us, she figured out quick that nobody was supposed to know that the group existed. She used that to her advantage when she threatened to spill the beans to everyone at camp our secret.

"Fine, you can go. But you have to wear this," I said holding up a bullet-proof vest.

"Not a chance. That won't go good with my dress," she replied.

The dress was short and black. It was held up by spaghetti straps and her feet were in three inch heels. Not ideal tactical apparel. The black was a start but she still had a long way to go before she was "operation ready".

Brittany was almost twenty; had long blond hair that was tied into a bun and had the clearest blue eyes. She had grown an inch over the time she was at camp. She now was six feet tall.

She even felt the need to dress me for the occasion. She managed to squeeze my six-four, two-forty frame into a white, button-up shirt tucked into a set of black slacks and a skinny black tie. I had body armor under the shirt and my custom built 1911 holstered on my right hip. The holster went on the inside of my pants and the shirt covered the dark-wood grips and stainless steel frame. I had two spare magazines on my left side tucked under the shirt as well. I had a radio in my pocket with a earpiece like you might see the FBI or Secret Service wear going over and into my right ear. The receiver part of the communications equipment was attached to the collar of my shirt. I was wearing dress shoes that came from my dress blues back at camp. We were way over dressed, most kids that were there wore typical teenager clothing.

You see, before I ever made it to camp, I was deployed as a Marine. I learned the ways of MCMAP (pronounced Mic-Map, stands for Marine Corps Martial Arts Program). I served my country and made Corporal when I was wounded in combat. I was sent home to stay at my grandparents house on the bayou of Louisiana until it was overrun with monsters and I fled North to New York. At camp, Chiron had me teach the hand-to-hand combat class because of the training I got from the Corps.

"Red 5 to Hawkeye: how's it looking out there?" I said into the receiver.

We used call-signs that were associated with heroes from different medias to hide our identities and the identities of different objects that were associated with the mission. It was Brandon's idea last summer. Brandon was MacGyver, David was Hawkeye and I was Red 5 who, I'm told, was Luke Skywalker's call-sign in Star Wars. Brandon thought it was real funny because I never saw the movie.

"Hawkeye to Red 5: It's cold and white," I heard him squeak through my ear piece.

"I know, bro. Do you have eyes on Peter Johnson Actual?" I asked.

The mission that night was one that we were not used to. We were to take over-watch on a operation pulled off by another set of campers. This set of campers consisted of Thalia Grace, Grover Underwood, Annabeth Chase and the big man himself, Percy Jackson. Peter Johnson was Mr. D's (the camp director) nickname for Percy because he didn't like him, or anybody else for that matter. So we figured it would make a good call-sign for Percy.

Percy had gotten a message from Grover who was undercover as a student at Westover Hall. Percy, Annabeth and Thalia were going to meet Grover at the school. Our job was to oversee the operation and only lend a hand if it was absolutely necessary. Brittany and I had gone undercover disguised as dance-goers so we had eyes on the inside of the building. David was positioned outside, camouflaged in the snow with his M110 sniper rifle.

It was slightly humiliating if you thought about. We were supposed to be the best of the best that the camp had to offer and here we were... babysitting.

"Still no eyes on Peter Johnson Actual," David replied.

Brittany and I were in the gym standing off to the side watching people dance as we waited for Percy's team to show up. Even though I was the tallest guy in the room, it was hard to see in the dark gym. Brittany just sighed.

"Why don't you dance with me?" she asked.

"Because I've got a job to do. Besides, I dance like a chicken with Parkinson's anyway," I said.

"I'll lead then. Come on," she beckoned.

"You better do it, Red 5. You remember what you told me in the bank last summer?" I heard David squeak through the earpiece.

I remembered my own advise well. Hell hath no fury like woman scorned.

"You really want to dance?" I asked.

"Yeah, let's go," she replied as she pulled me onto the dance floor.

I was nervous... and I don't get nervous. I'm not a dancer and it was a fast song. Brittany put a hand on my shoulder and put her other hand in my hand. She put my other hand on her waist and we basically stepped in a square. We started out slow and we eventually went a little faster. I had to look down to make sure that I didn't step on her feet.

"Is this all you know how to do?" I asked her.

"No, I was on the dance team and a gymnastics team in high school. I'm just not willing to teach you everything I know in a matter of a few minutes," she said. "You never learned how to dance?"

"They taught us how to fight and kill in the Marine Corps," I replied. "Dancing was not high on their priorities list."

"What are you going to do on our-, your wedding day?" she asked as I was still looking at my feet.

"Wing it."

Brittany had a thing for me. I never really understood it. Normally, hero syndrome wears off with a little time, but Brittany's case seemed to be going on a bit longer than I expected. My guess is it is something her mom is doing but what do I know. We continued to dance until I heard David call over the headset:

"Hawkeye to Red 5: I have eyes on Peter Actual."

"Good copy, Hawkeye," I replied.

"What did he say?" asked Brittany who didn't have an earpiece.

"He said Peter Actual is inbound," I told her.

"Peter Actual?" she said with distaste.

"Yeah, you know: the real reason we are here," I said.

"What do we do now?" asked Brittany.

"We dance. They will eventually make their way in here, I think," I replied.

"You think?"

"I think a lot," I grinned.

She just rolled her eyes and we started spinning slowly in circles. Brittany had put her arms on my shoulders and I put my hand on her waist. With every revolution of our spinning, I looked at the door to the main hallway waiting for the three demigods and the satyr to walk in. I had spotted Grover Underwood a little while ago but I didn't know where he went. The group eventually found their way into the gym. They sat there and talked for a minute and discussed a plan of action. At one point, Thalia shrugged her shoulders and mouthed something along the lines of act natural.

She grabbed Grover's hand and started dancing. It looked like it was the girls teaching the boys how to dance because Thalia was leading Grover and Annabeth was leading Percy when they finally decided to start dancing.

"They look like a great couple," mentioned Brittany.

"No way. Thalia and Grover? That's just weird," I replied.

"No, not them. Percy and Annabeth. Sure, she's taller than him but that doesn't matter. It's all about the chemistry," she said.

"Not exactly, it's what ever your mom says it is."

We kept dancing in circles and watched as the tall guy moved into the gym. Percy's eyes went wide as he watched the tall guy move around the room. He tried to "act natural" but it wasn't working out for him. I saw the tall guy grab two kids in the back of the gym and hurry them out the door when Percy wasn't looking.

"Gotta go," I said as I tried to leave but Brittany grabbed my arm.

She looked at me in the eyes and told me, "Be safe".

"I got this," I winked at her and headed for the door that the tall guy went out of.

Walk with a purpose and people don't ask questions. It's a philosophy that I had come to respect. I made it out of the gym and moved in on the tall guy who was walking with the two kids. He didn't hear me until I was on top of him. The guy was much taller than me but he buckled like a tree when I jumped on his back. He landed face first and the two kids ran off. I tried to go for my gun but couldn't reach to untuck my shirt. (I'm considering this as the noise that Percy heard before running out into the hallway). The tall guy had flipped me over and was on top of me. His tail came up and I punched him in the face. He rolled over and I was able to get away as he chased me down the hallway.

I rounded a corner, just barely missing being impaled by the thorns that he threw from his tail. I found a storage closet and climbed inside. I reached down and pulled my shirt from my slacks and drew my gun. The black slide of the 1911 slid along the plastic holster with very little noise. I held it with two hands as I took it off safety with my right thumb. I held the gun down and waited for Thorny to make his way down the hallway. I had the door cracked ever so slightly so I could hear, trying to slow down my heavy breathing.

"My name's Percy. I'm going to take you out of here, get you somewhere safe," I heard Percy say down the hallway. His voice was muffled like he was facing away from me.

Thorny showed up a few seconds later. I heard Percy talk to Thorny and he eventually left as Thorny's prisoner, I couldn't interfere because of my orders but I could put David on them.

"Red 5 to Hawkeye: I have one manticore with Peter Actual and two kids, possible half-bloods, held hostage. They are heading outside in the snow, probably towards the cliff. How copy?" I radioed to David as I headed back for the gym.

"Good copy, Red 5. Scanning for manticore and Peter Actual with two possible half-bloods," he replied.

I re-holstered my 1911 and made sure my shirt was covering it. Then I made my way into the gym. I found Brittany sitting on the bleachers with a disappointed look on her face. I felt bad for ditching her but I didn't want her getting hurt on my watch.

"Where's Annabeth and the rest of them?" I asked.

"Annabeth is looking for the rest of them. She's over there pushing through the crowd."

She pointed and I could see Annabeth walking around with a distraught look on her face. I could see Thalia and Grover still dancing in the corner of the gym. Grover had this funny look on his face like he was trying to hear something but couldn't over the music (Empathy link).

"OK, I need you to go up to Annabeth and tell her that Percy is outside and that her friends are over there," I said pointing to Thalia and Grover.

"Why me?" she asked.

"Because she doesn't know you as well as she knows me. Would you please go talk to her?" I asked again.

She let out a big sigh and got up and trudged over to where Annabeth was. She put some falsetto act on like she just happened to notice her frantically looking around and that her friends were over in the corner. I saw her pointing to the corner and to the door that lead outside the gym into the cold. Annabeth had a weird look on her face like Who are you? Then she left Brittany standing there in the middle of the dance floor.

Brittany walked back over and asked, "Happy?".

"A little," I said.

We waited for Annabeth to regroup with her friends and left through the door that Brittany had pointed to. We followed their lead and walked in the snow a little ways, Brittany was slow in the those heels and I practically had to drag her along for her to keep up. We couldn't see the other team but I was following their tracks in the snow.

"Red 5 to Hawkeye: what is your position?" I said into the receiver.

"Right behind you," I heard David's voice behind me.

I turned around and David was standing there in a white ghillie suit that we had to special order for this one mission. The ghillie suit was being inflated by a large parka and heavy snow-pants. He looked like a heavy-set Eskimo who graduated Scout Sniper school from the fluff of the jacket and the ghillie suit. His M110 sniper rifle was covered with white tape to help camouflage the weapon. Since last summer, I had taken the liberty in getting him a suppressor for the noise. We drew too much attention from the police in Portland from the sound of gunfire echoing through the suburbs. He had taken the hood of the ghillie suit off, exposing the black stocking hat under it. The left side of the hat bulged out from his headset.

David was a short guy, only about five-six and one-forty. He was Asian and real feisty when you got him agitated. It was usually short lived.

"Where did they go?" I asked him.

"I saw Annabeth, Thalia and Grover walking through the woods but I had to change my position when they moved out of sight. They were heading that way," He said pointing towards the cliff.

"We can't be spotted by them. We'll hide somewhere in the bushes and maybe you can provide covering fire from there," I instructed.

"I am not laying on the ground in this dress!" exclaimed Brittany.

"Get over it," I said and we trudged to the left of Annabeth's path.

I walked near David and whispered next to him, "This is the last time I bring a daughter of Aphrodite on a op."

"I hear you there," he replied.

We continued to crunch through the snow. There was an eerie quietness to it. No Birds chirping or squirrels running around. Classic behavior for animals in the woods. They were not used to humans so they avoided us. Squirrels and birds who are accustomed to people are not afraid to show themselves.

David was constantly looking through the scope towards the cliff where he thought he would see the demigods. We made it to a certain spot and David held up a closed fist, hold position. He dropped next to a bush and I knelt behind a nearby tree. Brittany just stood in the open and I had to pull behind the tree with me.

"Ow!" she exclaimed.

"Shh!" I told her as I knelt back down behind the tree.

David was adjusting his scope and I peered through the trees. I couldn't really see anything since we were so far away. We certainly had the advantage with Davids optics but I was still relying on what he told me.

"Annabeth, Thalia and Grover are already there and they are engaging the manticore. It's hard to get a clear shot," whispered David.

"This is why we need to upgrade everyone to guns. Fights would go so much faster and be so much more efficient. At this point, you take the smallest opening you can find," I whispered back.

It was a delicate balance, we needed to engage but we couldn't do it so openly. I was getting impatient as I often did. David was just laying prone, slightly moving the rifle from side to side as he tried to find a good shot.

"I think I have a chance," he said as his finger pulled the slack out of his trigger.

The muscles in his hand just clenched up when the Hunters of Artemis went running in around us. I dragged Brittany into a bush to try our best to stay hidden but it really wasn't necessary. The hunters just ran around us, didn't even bother with us. David had pulled his rifle down and put his face in the snow trying to hide in plain sight. The goddess Artemis stopped for a brief second eying me since I was holding Brittany's arm. I tried to smile but she just had this silver fire in her eyes and I let go. They ran into battle and David got his rifle back online.

"Dang, they can shoot," he said, starring in awe through the scope. "They have the manticore at bow-point. It looks like they are having some kind of discussion, oh wait! "

"ANNABETH!" we heard Percy's scream through the woods.

"Oh, no," the three of us said in unison.

"Annabeth went off the cliff with the manticore!" exclaimed David.

"Why didn't you shoot?" I asked, but it came out a little snappier than I had meant.

"I don't know, it just happened so fast," he said.

He pounded the snow with his fist. He kept pounding and cursing at himself. He was really beating himself up over what happened. The truth was I probably felt worse than David did. I was supposed to keep everybody safe. And now I had failed.

"Look, don't beat yourself up over it. You said it yourself, it happened too fast," I told him. "What are they doing now?"

He looked through the scope, "They are standing around talking. Percy's still on the ground. It looks like Artemis is calling someone."

A huge bright light came through the scope and quickly followed to my eyes. The light eventually died down and David opened his eyes.

"It's my dad. He brought the Maserati this time. Oh, now it's a bus and they are all getting on," he relayed. "He's letting Thalia drive."

"That's my Que, right?" said another voice through my headset.

The voice came from my car. A project that I had been working on for sometime now, my baby. The car could talk through artificial intelligence. Her name was KATE.

"Yes it is, KATE. We will meet you on the road by the school," I said into the receiver.

"I still don't like her," said Brittany who was kind of jealous of KATE. KATE didn't catch on.

KATE is a 1968 Dodge Charger R/T, at least her body was, just about everything else was redesigned and replaced. Her AI system was still being developed but she had come along ways since Brandon and I first programmed her. She could look up anything I asked her to and could drive herself anywhere I asked her to. I still had to operate her guns and defense system on my own or who ever else was in the passenger seat while she was moving. KATE had four M61 Vulcan mini-guns that hid behind the headlights. 1968 Chargers had these panels that retracted when you turned the lights on, exposing the bulbs. With KATE, sometimes they were headlights, other times they were the M61's. Her trunk was full of guns and ammunition. We made it out to the road and there she was, sitting in the middle of the street; doors open waiting for us and her engine made the earth at our feet quake.