Hi Everyone! This is my very first fanfiction ever! Please be nice and no harsh comments. There are few things I'd like everyone to know. First of all, all the characters in the Percy Jackson world that you're all familiar with belong to Rick Riordan (Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Frank, Hazel, etc.), however, I won't be having them in the story much. Think of them as secondary characters. I've made a whole bunch of original characters, so prepare to remember a lot of new faces! Second, the universe in which my story takes place is a shared one with my friend's story (I like it so much, I wanted them to be in the same universe). His story takes place during Blood of Olympus, while mine is going to take place after those events. Check him out: The Blood of Olympus: Prophecy of the Sun by SonOfApollo. He's really good!
Back in ancient Rome, there existed an elite guard unit tasked with protecting the emperor. Emperor Augustus, the first emperor of Rome and its founder, formed this guard unit from the most elite soldiers of all the 10 cohorts.
Each member that was part of this guard unit had the same military rank and power as a Praetor of a legion. Not only that, but they played a huge part when it came to politics.
This elite guard unit was named the Praetorian Guard. This guard unit was usually led by 2 commanding officers. They were known as Praetorian Prefects.
Think of these guys as both a secret service and special forces kind of thing.
Pretty cool right?
Then, in the year 312, Emperor Constantine disbanded the guard unit after deeming them untrustworthy.
See, that's what happens when you assassinate too many emperors and try to take over the crown. This is the kind of stuff that makes you seem like a douche. I mean, did these guys honestly think after centuries of betrayals that they WOULDN'T get kicked to the curb? Pfft… idiots.
Well, the gods up in Olympus seemed to think that the idea of an elite task force was an impressive one. Not that they needed any demigods protecting them 24/7. They had entertained the thought of having a secret elite task force of powerful and special demigods that would take on missions for them that were deemed too secret or dangerous for normal demigods to do. A plan Z if their thrones were to ever be usurped against their enemies.
So the gods gathered the most powerful demigods of every era and had them personally trained and prepared to take on any threat against Olympus. Ever since then, the Praetorian Guard has been kept secret from anyone except the gods. Keeping the world safe from the shadows without interfering with fate or prophecies.
Somewhere in an abandoned factory in Detroit...
THIRD PERSON POV
In the middle of the abandoned factory, there was a cauldron bubbling on top of a hot fire. Standing around the cauldron were two large cyclopes putting in ingredients and stirring the cauldron. There were old conveyor belts surrounding them, but pushed to the sides forcibly to give them room. Chains were hanging from the roof that were hooked onto old engine blocks dangling in midair. Old car parts were scattered around all over the floor. The windows were broken and boarded up, with moonlight shining through the cracks. Next to the smaller looking cyclops was a young man tied up with chains and sitting on the floor.
"You're putting in too much hot sauce! Don't you know that that will just ruin the taste?" nagged the cyclops, while it tried snatching away the hot sauce. "I want to eat the demigod boy with more natural flavors!" it whined with a pout and folded its arms.
The smaller cyclops easily looked to be 10 feet tall with a hairy muscular body. On top of its head was greasy blonde hair sporting twin pigtails tied with snow chains. She definitely had a face that ONLY a mother could love. If their mom had REALLY bad eyesight. She was wearing a chainmail dress that went all the way down to her fat knees.
"Yeah, I'd prefer to not be eaten with hot sauce. I'm too sweet and the spice would just clash with me. Yuck!" exclaimed from the tied up demigod.
He looked to be 5'7 in height, with long jet black hair on top with the sides shaved short in an undercut style. He had dark brown eyes, with black thick-framed glasses. He was wearing a white long sleeve tee with black sleeves and dark denim jeans with dark blue Vans.
"NO! I like eating my demigods with spice." Declared another cyclops while it continued to pour in more hot sauce into the cauldron. "Just because you don't like spicy meat doesn't mean we should do what you want, Frump." lectured the older looking cyclops. The cyclops then glared at the demigod and said, "Food doesn't get a choice of what sauce they are boiled in."
This one was maybe a couple of feet taller than the blonde one. She had her greasy black hair tied into a ponytail with motorcycle chains. Her face was swollen like she enjoyed sticking her head in bee's nests for fun. She was donning a tarp-like dress that was splattered with stains of car oil, hot sauce and human blood.
"Geez, fine. As long as you don't mix me with soy sauce. I'd have to put my foot down if you do." muttered the demigod.
"But, Corque- "whined Frump.
"GIRLS! NO MORE ARGUING OR PA IS GOING TO GET ANGRY!" bellowed the largest looking cyclops.
He tore through a garage door like cardboard, ducked and walked into the factory room. This cyclops was about 16 feet tall with a face that looked like the mix of an English bulldog and a prune. He was fat and muscular with a stench that was a lot like roadkill. He wore a pair of trousers fashioned through sewn together carpet pieces from the insides of cars.
"Sorry Pa.." silently muttered both of the girl cyclopses. Both of the girls lowered their heads and backed away from the cauldron.
As the largest cyclops walked towards the demigod, he grabbed his huge makeshift hammer that was a steal beam melded onto the giant wheel of a Road Roller. The cyclops held the giant hammer menacingly over the demigod.
"You, demigod! You make too many jokes for someone about to be eaten." Said the cyclops. "I don't like my demigods to be sassy. I like my demigods begging for their life and screaming. They taste more delicious that way!" he stated.
"You're right, you're right. I'm sorry. I'll do that RIGHT before I get eaten," the young demigod said, rolling his eyes.
"Good! I'll be the laughingstock in the cyclops community if they hear I ate a demigod that wasn't scared of Pa Gasket"
"Yeah! Pa is the scariest cyclops in all of the North! You don't wanna mess with him!" shouted Corque. She then proceeded to chop vegetables messily and dump them into the boiling cauldron.
"Yeah! Ever since Ma left, Pa is the scariest cyclops!" giggled Frump as she clapped her hands giddily. She started handing out dented in car hoods to both Pa Gasket and Corque that were fashioned into looking like bowls.
"Bah! Don't mention that crazy woman! She can have Motor Monocles, but without me, that place fell apart!" grumbled Pa Gasket. "Now hurry up! I haven't eaten a demigod in days and your Pa is hungry." he said. He put a tarp around his neck like a bib and began smacking his lips in anticipation.
"Awwww, it's okay, big guy. I still think you're biggest and scariest cyclops I ever met. I'm practically shaking in these chains," teased the demigod as he got up to his feet. "Actually, that might just be because of the stink, but it still counts, right?" asked the demigod.
"SHUT UP! Hurry up, Corque! This demigod is getting on my nerves." said Pa Gasket
He turned back towards the demigod
"It's hard to talk back when you're being eaten." Growled Pa Gasket.
"It's done, Pa!"
"Now, hold on! Before you eat me, I should probably let you know that I have a bomb stashed in your warehouse full of your pretty weapons and inventions. It's going to go off in 2 minutes and only I know the code to shut it off. So let me go, and I'll help you turn it off," bargained the demigod. He walked toward Pa Gasket and nodded towards the chains bounding him. "Now, what do you say?" he said with a smile.
"Bah! You're bluffing. You don't know where that warehouse is." He said while crouching towards the demigod, looking him in the eye. "How'd you even know that this warehouse existed?" asked Pa Gasket.
"I have my sources. Besides, how could I NOT notice it? It's literally 20 miles up North from here and the only abandoned factory there for miles." Said the demigod.
"Ha! Now I know you're bluffing! That's not where the warehouse is! It's in the next town over, next to the docks! Now stop talking, and prepare to get eaten!" he said smugly.
All three of the cyclops stood menacingly over the demigod and looked down at him. As Pa Gasket reached down for the demigod, he did something that surprised him. The chains around the demigod went loose and fell to his feet. The demigod rubbed his wrists and walked away from the cauldron while the three cyclopses eyes followed his every move, their jaws dropped in shock.
"Aw damn, I lost the bet. Oh well, no use crying over spilt milk." Grumbled the demigod. He looked upward to the roof and covered his eyes with his arm. "Alright you two! Time to bring down the house!" ordered the demigod.
Suddenly, four metal cylinder-looking objects fell from the roof and exploded with a flash bang, in mid-air. The light was blinding and the sound was deafening. The cyclopses put their hands to their eyes and stumbled around blind, screaming in irritation. The demigod walking out of the way from stumbling cyclopses again and again. In the midst of the confusion, two figures slid down the chains attached to the roof and landed on the engine blocks, suspending in the air.
"GRRAAAHHHH! I CAN'T SEE! I CAN'T SEE! WHEN I FIND YOU, PUNY DEMIGOD, I'LL CRUSH YOU!" screamed Pa Gasket as he was rubbing his eyes. "Corque! Frump! Find him and kill him!" barked Pa Gasket.
"We'll find him Pa! Don't you worry!" reassured Corque as she was still stumbling around trying to find the demigod. Frump was walking around in a 360 motion, making herself dizzier just trying to get her sight back.
The two figures jumped down from the engine blocks and landed right next to the demigod. The shorter figure handed two .45 caliber handguns to the demigod.
"Here you go, can't rush into battle without these on you," the smaller figure said with a smile.
The smaller figure was 5'2 in height and had a slim figure, with black, neck-length hair. The complexion of her skin was brown with dark, forest green eyes. The figure wore a black blouse, with a green waist cincher and black lacing. She wore green skinny jeans and a pair of yellow converse. The weapon she was holding was an 8-foot-long golden staff, with a wicked scythe edge at the top of it.
"Thanks, Harper" said the demigod as he put the two guns in his holsters. "I honestly feel naked without these sometimes," he said jokingly.
"What was with that sweet comment? I almost burst out laughing and could've blown our cover," chuckled the taller looking figure, as she also handed the demigod two combat knives. "Also, you owe me 5 bucks." teased the taller figure.
The taller figure was 5'8 in height and had long, flowy and messy blonde hair. She had a pale complexion, a womanlier figure and lilac eyes. She was wearing a white tank top, while sporting a tight, dark brown leather jacket zipped up midway over it. She wore blue denim shorts and brown knee-high platform boots made of leather. She wore black, fingerless gloves and wore golden gauntlets, with spikes knuckles.
"Ugh, I was hoping you wouldn't remember, Hailey." the demigod begrudgingly said as he handed Hailey 5 dollars. "Now then, shall we get started ladies?" he asked.
All three demigods faced the cyclopses as they had regained their vision and were staring down at them with their eyes, red with anger. Pa Gasket grabbed his makeshift hammer with both hands and raised the hammer above his head, ready to swing downward.
"I'm going to crush you!" shouted Pa Gasket as he swung the hammer towards the male demigod.
Just before the hammer could come into contact with the demigod, Hailey stepped in front of her friend, cocked her fist back and threw a punch at the hammer. Shattering upon impact, the force pushed Pa Gasket onto his butt with a bewildered look on his face.
"Wha- But- How did you do that?!" shouted Pa Gasket.
"The blonde one broke Pa's hammer!" said Frump nervously.
"Yeah, that's the perks of having a friend that's a Daughter of Jupiter AND with strength to match Hercules" the demigod smugly said. "Hailey, you take the one with the pony tail. Harper, you take the blonde one. I've got the big, bad Pa," ordered the demigod.
"Got it," replied Hailey.
"On it," replied Harper.
"Graaah! Kill them all! They're too dangerous!" screamed Pa Gasket, as he swung his fists downward towards the male demigod.
Just like a team, all three of the demigods scattered to come face-to-face with their assigned cyclops. As Corque threw a punch, Hailey caught it with her hands and gripped tight. She lifted Corque off the ground and body slammed her to the ground, making the earth shake. Corque immediately got to her feet and tried to swipe at Hailey. Hailey dodged and rolled away from the swipe, got back to her feet and got into a boxer's stance.
"I'll smash you into pieces," said Corque as she kept throwing punches. "You can't break my daddy's hammer like that!"
Dodging the punches, Hailey found an opening and firmly planted her left foot onto the ground. She motioned her elbow and waist back, and threw all of her weight into her right arm and retaliated with one single punch. The blow knocked Corque through the wall and she was laid out on the floor outside in a daze.
Hailey casually walked outside and stood in front of Corque and announced, "Time to bring down the thunder."
Dark clouds began to gather in the sky, as thunder clapped and boomed. Hailey raised her fists as lightning crackled down from the sky onto Hailey's gauntlets, over charging them with electricity. She pounded her fists together, with electricity crackling all around her.
"Wai- "stuttered Corque, but was quickly interrupted with the sound of thunder crashing down on her body as Hailey punched through her stomach and created a crater.
As she crumbled to dust, Hailey got up to her feet and dusted her knees off. "Well then, don't know how I'm going to explain the giant hole in the wall, but hopefully no one notices it," she said unconvincingly. She walked back into the factory and watched Harper dodge one of Frump's fist.
Harper was speedily dodging Frump's flailing arms that were aimed at her, while summoning vines from the cracks in the ground to tangle and stop Frump in her tracks. With Frump caught, Harper began making quick work at disabling her legs. She began slicing and dicing at Frump's thighs and ankles, but that seemed to make Frump angrier.
"That hurts! Stop moving so fast and let me kill you!" demanded Frump, as her rage finally gave her enough strength to rip through the vines. "You Daughter of Ceres are annoying with your ability to manipulate plants!"
Frump swung at Harper but missed as she did a couple of back hand springs. As she landed on her feet, Frump started to charge towards her. Harper raised her arm and summoned more vines to trip Frump. She fell to the ground and it shook upon impact. Almost immediately, Frump tore the vines and got back to her feet, yelling at the top of her lungs. Harper was already charging towards Frump as the cyclops swiped at the demigod. Harper leapt onto her arm and swung her scythe onto Frump's arm to stay hooked onto her arm.
"ARRGHH! Get off!" screamed Frump, as she shook the arm Harper was hooked onto.
Harper used the momentum of Frump's arm as she swung upward, to do a high backflip and sliced Frump's head off in a 360 motion. As both Frump's head and body crumbled to dust, Harper landed perfectly on her feet and dusted off her blouse.
"Nice! That was beautiful," exclaimed Hailey as she walked over to Harper giving her a high five.
"Thanks, I'm glad I finally got that move down. I've been working on it for weeks," giggled Harper, as she returned Hailey's high five. "I wonder how he's doing?" said Harper, as both girls turned over the Pa Gasket and their friend's battle.
"He's just playing with him. Like usual." Hailey remarked, as they watched Pa Gasket throwing punches at their friend.
"MY DAUGHTERS! YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!" screamed Pa Gasket as he threw punch after punch towards the demigod, who was dodging each one with ease.
"You know, you keep screaming like that, and you're going to get a sore throat," said the demigod as threw his combat knife with deadly accuracy at Pa Gasket's throat. "Or maybe, I'll be the one to make your throat sore…. That came out wrong." Said the demigod, as he face palmed himself.
Pa Gasket fell to his knees, gagging on the dust his body was slowly becoming. He crouched over on all fours, wondering how can such puny demigods do this much damage without a scratch on them. Demigods of this caliber shouldn't even exist. He slowly looked up at the young demigod, still coughing out dust and saw that he was pointing his .45 caliber gun straight into his eye.
"What –cough- are you?" asked Pa Gasket weakly.
The demigod just smirked at the cyclops and answered, "My name's Dante Lee, and I'm the Praetorian Prefect of the legendary Praetorian Guard. Say hi to Tartarus for me."
A loud bang goes off from the gun and the cyclops' head darts back from the impact, and his body immediately turns to dust. As the dust settles, Dante puts his gun back into his holster and grabs his combat knife off the floor, wipes away the dust with his shirt and sheaths back into its guard. He turns to face Hailey and Harper as they walk towards him.
"I heard that throat comment! Dude, you have GOT to work on phrasing," laughed Hailey, as she crunched over onto her knees laughing hard. Harper was giggling next to Hailey, "Yeah Boss, you can't just say stuff like that while acting cool," she added.
"Ugh, you guys will never let me live that down will you?" sighed Dante.
"Nope," both girls said in unison, with a pop at the p.
As they all made their way to the exit of the abandoned factory, Dante asked," Hailey, did you make sure to contact the other team the location of the warehouse as soon as you heard it?"
"Of course, I'm not an amateur, Dante," reassured Hailey.
"Alright, then let's go meet up with Logan, Barbara and Aiden at the rendezvous point," he said as they began to move out for the meet up spot.
Well then! I hope you all enjoyed my story! I know it's pretty short, but i'm just testing the waters to see how it goes. Expect longer chapters if this story does well! Give this story a chance, and I swear you won't regret it. Remember, if you're interested in knowing what's gonna happen next, favorite and follow this story! Review and Rate it too! It'd mean the world to me to hear from you if you love this series! Thank you everyone!