Hello readers.

Welcome to what I hope is the first of many chapters in this fanfiction.

I hope you enjoy the story as much as I have writing it.

Disclaimer: Rick Riordan owns PJO. I own Val. Allison, Amber and John are sole property of their respective owners..

Warning: as per usual, this story has violence and all that good stuff. Be advised.

And enjoy.

The Half Blood Heros. Book 1. Chapter One.

The Beginning of the End.

Dizzy... that was the first sensation I felt when life slowly began to return to me. It was a slow daze at first, like a small head rush from standing up too fast. I awaitted a few seconds as the feeling grew into something much stronger.

My mind was pretty jumbled at this point. I didn't care where or how I was... four words were the first thing to come to mind. 'I'm gonna be sick.' And then I proceded to follow up on that, head lurching forward to vomit... only letting out some burning bile.

I leaned back and smacked my lips together as a burn filled my throat and my mouth tasted something awful... my eyes were still closed as my other senses took in the world around us.

I smelled rust. Mixed with some vile scent that made me want to purge a second time. But I choked it back as I realized something else.

My wrists were bound... and quite sore. I suppose I struggled after being cuffed. I opened my eyes finally and took in the room. I wasn't pleased at all with the sight I took in.

First of all, it was as bright as a neon lit christmas tree. Yellow flueroescent lights buzzed harshly in the rusty orange room... or that may have just been the flies in the room.

My hearing kicked in as I jumped in surprise from a voice beside me. "Hey now... don't make the shit fly, Nico..." he said, his baritone kicking up a few tones as I realized I was wet... sitting in a foot of dark murky water.

Then it started to hit me, and I remembered getting here in this literal shit hole. Me and my team had been close to uncovering why we were here in the first place... and we were captured.

"Val, where the Hades are we?" I asked as my memory began to collect... I remembered faces with no names as my head pounded

I turned my head to see my cheeky partner, his bright green eyes regarding me already in their usual creepy way. He swallowed a bit, "We got caught Nico... I don't know about the others, but they beat us and gave us a toss in the shitter." He said as he motioned toward the water.

Well that was pleasant. To top of this perfect morning, I discover I'm sitting in their damn sewer? Well, beating me up was expected... but this was simply unforgivable.

Val squirmed a bit, "You know, you still look great, clean or covered in monster crap." He said, small smirk playing on his lips. I glarred at his pitiful excuse to brush his words off.

How subtle if him. Ah well, not like I can expect him to be any different. "Less flirting Val, more finding a way out of here. If the others got captured, we need to get to them." I said, politely pushing him back to arms length... where I wish he would stay at times.

Val sighed and struggled against his bind, "If these a-holes would just throw away a plant... a flower or something I could use, I could get us out of here." He said as I inspected his wrists... they were red and swollen.

I looked to him with a pitied stare, "Just like you got us in here in the first place?" I said, sarcastically, reminding him as a bashful ashamed frown adorned his face, "It was a solid plan... how was I to know she would find the letters?" He said.

I set about reminding myself of the past few days...oh, how excited my group had been from the start of this mission. After spending the last set of missions in the cool embrace of Northern Europe, this one was nationally local. It resided in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

I remembered seeing the Sun God appear in my room that evening at Camp Half Blood. He appeared to be somewhere warm and dry and he looked happy.

I had been currently trying to rest from a long day at camp, and having just returned from Norway with the group, and it is expected that I greeted the sun god with a reception one might expect from a wild tiger.

"Hey hey, hero. Just getting some Z's?" He said, nonchalant and friendly. I fixated him with a glare that even made him shiver. "Sheesh kid, if looks could kill... you definatly got your dad's glare." He said.

"Will you get to the damn point? Its 3:30 in the morning here. I may answer to you, but this isn't the ideal time to do so." I practically growled, combing through my messy locks as I then rubbed the sleep from my eyes.

"Listen, kiddie pie, I been noticing some extra pollution in the area... like more than your aveage man made wastes. And I've been meaning to check it out but..."

"You've been taking a break to drink and party, as opposed to your usual year of drinking and partying?" I finished as he smiled sheepishly.

"Point boils down to the fact that I need you to check it out. Come on now, do it for your cousin, Nico." He said.

I complied with absolutly no complaint, "We'll set off in the morning. I expect a map and coordinates before we leave."

It wasn't as if I had a choice as I took a quick glimpse at the tattoo on my wrist. The brand that forever served me to the Half Blood Heros.

Ah yes. That was the name of my little troup. The Half Blood Heros. Despite the fact that none of us were what one would describe as heros, and more or less describes as freaks, lead a small specialty unit group unbeknownst to almost every camper, exckuding those of us in it and a select few others.

Whats our purpose? That part is simple enough. We deal with everything the Gods themselves are far too busy to handle themselves... despite having a limitless amount of time left to them to do as they pleased.

And now the burning question... where the Hades were we now? Well, after Apollo left us his detailed information, the five of us hopped on a bus and hightailed it down to the Gulf.

And like I had said previously, they were incredibly excited to go there in the first place. I could almost laugh at the thought now, considering we were trapped like rats now.

When we had arrived, we immediatly get to work on discovering the source of the pollution. Not that it was the difficult part of the mission or anything, but tracking down a monster in one city is not only tedious, but it makes people question your intent there.

But we found it, and dear gods if we didn't freak out at the sight of it... especially Val, who was even more vocal about protecting the environment than any of us... I guess it came with his Mother.

He had suggested we go in blazing and demand we see their leader immediatly, but we knew that was just his heart talking louder than his head.

At the time, we didn't even know what horrors lay beyond the sights of the factories main foyer... which was filled with monsters making various items. Mostly weapons and armors.

They produced massive amounts of it, and worked in such perfect sync that you would think they had a conductor at the front of them, directing them on how to do what.

It was crazy, and we knew it needed stopped... but after we helped Val regain his sense, we decided that silent infiltration was out best bet.

And even then it wasn't enough. Val and I were still captured like animals and thrown to the ground. At the mercy of their leaders head... a rather pale woman who resembled that of a porcellin doll.

She had called herself Madea... her eyes shone with magic power. It was terrifying to see... someone was this close to taking out lives from us. Her guards were damn Giants. One snap of her fingers and they would crush us. No powers needed.

But Val had to make it difficult, reaching out with his mind to a nearby potted plant, and causing its leaves to grow madly, attacking Madea and her guards.

She decided, after blasting Val, the plant and I with some Wicked Witch magic, that we would not get to experience a quick and painless death. Oh no... she wanted us to writhe and suffer pain for our motions against her.

And thus, we ended here. Trapped and awaiting our punishment... despite this place being enough of a punishment already, sitting and trying not to force myself to gag.

Val quickly shook his head, "Well, I always did say that outmr enemies thought shit pot poor of us. Maybe now its official?" He said as he turned to me, "Wouldn't you agree, O great leader?" He said, smiling sensually and giving me a wink.

I felt my cheeks tinge a bit as I looked away, "Don't go there, Val. We discussed this." I said plainly. But he muttered, "More like you disussed and didn't let me say anything..." he muttered as I sought to change the subject.

"Look, we need to get out of this room. Hades, we need to get out of this place and Raze it. We can't keep letting this place run." He said as I turned to offer him my ideas from observation...

But they were uneeded as I watched the door latch open to reveal three faces I could almost kiss in appreciation.

Amber took a step forward, cautious as she drew her knife and stepped into the muck... visibly shivering. "You two need a hand?" She said, cutting our binds.

Val sighed as his wrists were released. "Took you guys long enough." He said, giving them one of his smiles that screamed appreciation.

Allison decided to counter him, "Oh what, and let you miss out on all this free time with Nico? I couldn't bear the thought."

I laughed at her despite her jab at me... I had to take a little good natured teasing. John decided to speak next, "And even better, while you two took your nap, the grown ups did your job for you. Got some good files on this place. I'm sure Apollo will want to see them personally."

I actually smiled this time. This is why our team was the best.

I stood and adressed my team as I latched my sword to my side (which Amber was thoughtful enough to retrieve) "Did you guys get here without notice?" I asked just as a Siren sounded a moment later... Amber covered her ears and screamed, "Doesn't look like it!"

"What?!" I screamed back. She winced at the loud alarm as she screamed again, "I said, it doesn't-"

"Get them!" Came a voice from the hallway. I turned back to Amber before drawing my sword, "They found us!" I said... having her fixate me with a glare before twisting her knife into position.

We were in for a long night.

"You reek." John said from his position beside me. A fact I never understood was why people enjoyed engaging in casual conversation in the heat of battle.

"Can't my hygene wait until we're out of here?" I said as a spear impaled itself on the wall next to us. "Its kind of tough when you have to smell it, pal." He said as we bolted down the hallway, attempting to escape thenear half a dozen Dracnae in pursuit of us. I was insanely worried about the others safety... we had split up when we broke off from the original gang of enemies.

Back in the hallway when the battle began, it appeared simple enough. Nothing too major. Of course there were a couple of Dracnae, a few stray Giants and a handful of Harpies. We had certainly dealt with worse back at Camp Half Blood before... trust me on that.

So you can imagine our surprise when we suddenly realized the corridor was filled with guards... oddly enough I could only think of how paranoid Madea must have been to keep this much security on staff.

After cutting down the first wave of foes, we set about engaging the rest of them in a slow fashion... biding our time until we could actually make an escape... as it seemed the room we came from had one entrance and exit.

It left the lot of us to attempt to engage this massive group of enemies. Val and Allison dove to the edge of the door and took to firing from defensive cover with their bows, picking off a number of Dracnae and a few Giants alone.

Their defensive fire gave Amber, John and I the advantage over the foe, allowing the three of us to engage the gangly monsters at close range, albeit still being outnumbered.

I returned my attention to the clumsy Giant who was lubering toward me. I wasted no time on him and plunged my Stygian Iron into the belly of a Giant before ripping it out and watching dust fall to my feet. But in his place came another, just as mean and angry as the last and slightly less clumsy.

I parried his club away as he attempted a furious barrage... that made me wince in its pure strengrh but it was incredibly easy to navigate.

Sure the group of us was able to deal with most of these monstrosities, but it didn't take a genius to realize that even the five of us didn't have unlimited reserves of stamina... eventually, we would slip and that would be our end.

We had already made it this far, and I will be damned if one of us dies in this pustule of a place.

I took to parrying the giant instead of simply killing him... looking for one sign... as I finally saw it. I looked at the grating and saw the drop below. It looked a lot steeper than it really was, seven feet at the most. Still, the risk for injury was there.

I looked at Amber as she plunged her dagger into the Dracnae, turning her to dust after letting out a pained screech... and I turned to John, bronze spear dualing off with a few harpies as he stabbed the tip into the torso.

I know my team... we could hold out for a while longer... but the beads of sweat were already forming on our foreheads, stating that we were getting tired. I decided it was best to keep a little strength for this idea.

I gave them a sign, "Just follow my lead!" I said as I turned to the side and stabbed the giant I had been dualing straight through before leaping over the grating and landing on the walkway below.

And Hades did it hurt.. at first it felt okay but a second later, pain up the entirety of my body as it settled and numbed my ears as a small ringing settled in them... but I was okay.

I looked up to watch Val and Allison leap from their position, falling to the grating beside me, soon followed by John and Amber. The five of us paused for a second, recovering from the fall, each of us remained unscathed.

We took a moment to catch our breath as the monsters clumsily stumbled over the grating, trying to get to us... luckily they were very awkward when it came to climbing over the side. It was almost comedic to watch... if they hadn't been trying to murder us in cold blood

Val looked up from his spot on the grating, "Nico, we can't stay here." He said, as he stood up and reloaded his crossbow. And I didn't give him a snarky remark for once.

I watched the enemies swipe at us with their spears and claws before falling to the floor... where they were quickly dispatched with a stab from my sword.

To my dismay, the monsters were growing half a brain and retreating back down the corridor to swing around, I figured we had maybe ten minutes before we would be overwhelmed.

Well that simply couldn't happen could it?

"Lets split up and see if we can't break up the work between us... and find a way out of here. John is with me, you three take that way... try not to get overwhelmed." I said as as the group gave me a unanimous nod before we split. I took off down the corridor... hoping to Gods we could get out of here.

And that was how we ended up in this situation now, running from some crazy spear throwing Dracnae. We bolted down the walkways as we dispatched any foes in our path, which thankfully were sparse as of this moment.

John took the lead, spear tip bristling on end as we awaited the next foe to make itself known. I stood guarding the rear with my sword poised sideways for a quick slash.

We turned the corner as he spotted a group of Harpies and Dracnae. They still had yet to notice the two of us while they seemed to be viewing a directory of some kind... he nodded at me before we moved forward... and plunging the tip of our weapons into them... watching them silently dust in front of us. I pulled my blade back as we checked our surroundings... looking for something to give us a path out.

We viewed the directory in front of us... and luckily, it seemed that either path would take us to our destination: out.

"Any ideas? Which way you wanna go?" John asked me as I looked around, and I let out a deep sigh, "Not particularly... I don't want to make the wrong choice and meet their smiling faces. You? What way do you think we should head?" I asked, peering over my shoulder at him, observing everything closely as I was... he shook his head, "I can't say..." he said as a growl emitted from the hall to the left.

I certainly wasn't going to argue with that turn out. The best decision is always an easy one. "Well, they made that decision for us, didn't they?" I said as he and I quickly bolted to the right of the walk way... trying to remenber the path on the directory.

He and I bolted into the hallways as the opening we had been seeking finally came into focus and the two of us ran out into the main factory... and its complete and utter chaos.

Val, Amber and Allison were ducked behind a toppled furnace... Amber was busy sparring off with a Dracnae with a sword while Val and Alice took turns shooting at the glowing energy sphere at the center of the room.

Amber looked up at us as I plunged my sword into the snake woman's back. She looked relieved as she wiped some sweat from her brow. "What happened?" I asked as we took cover with the others.

Val quickly poked his head out and fired a bolt against the energy, watching the arrow bounce off it uselessly. He looked frustrated, "Well, believe it or not, she was already pretty damn mad by the time we got here... yelling about how all her guards were useless and they didn't deserve to get paid... then she threw an entire assembly line with one toss." He said as he shivered from the memory.

Allison fired and killed a Giant before finishing the story, "Then some moron made the smart comment about how she doesn't pay them at all and well... this happened."

I let out a heavy sigh as I moved my hair from my face, "Great... so now shes gone psycho." I said as I watched the green ball of energy... it housed her and created a small whirlwind around them.

"Any ideas, boss?" Amber asked as a piece of metal flew past her head. And I bit my lip for a second. "We need to get out of here... but if she catches a whiff of us we're good as toast..." I said as I looked around... but Val looked up. "I refuse to leave until this place is rubble!" He said, "Its an Atrocity and you know it!" He said... and I wasn't inclined to argue.

So I had to think... we were a team but in the end, this group... the pack of us... they looked to me for leadership. I couldn't say why but when it came down to a plan of action, I normally made the move.

Not to complain... I liked it. I knew they trusted me completely. They at least trusted me with their lives in the balance... and that made me feel accepted.

I nodded as I continued to look around, and that was when I spotted my saving grace. The bright yellow symbol shinning across the room. I looked at Allison and Val as I pointed at my target. "We piss her off enough, she'll go crazy. Letting off spells and hopefully... she'll toss a spell or two at that." I said as they nodded at my thinking... it was dangerous but thats what we signed up for when this started...

I looked back at Amber and John and nodded at them, "Take the door out. The way we came in and be ready to get out quick. The three of us will distract the Wicked Bitch. We need to get those files to Apollo." I said as they nodded and ran toward the upper walkway that we entered from.

I looked to Allison and Val and nodded, "Pull out all the stops. She needs to notice us. I trust you two to cause ample distraction." I said standing up as the two rushed in a circular pattern around her. I smiled, "Hey, ugly!" I cried as the energy ball stopped and she glarred at me... eyes green and glowing.

I flipped her the bird, "Man, you must be one stupid bitch to hire employees that can't catch a group of kids." I said, winking before she attempted to unleash magical Hades on me... but Val took his place, "Pick on someone your own size, you nasty hag!" He said, paddling his backside and wiggling it at her in mock... she seemed to gkow brighter as I made my move across the floor. I watched Allison stand up, "Gods lady, if you had any more moles, I'd need to call an exterminator!" She said as Madea's hair stood on end and her hands were practically glowing with magical energy... and I stood up in front of the target, "Oh Madea!" I said in a sing song voice.

But she didn't listen to anymore, "Shut up and die!" She said as she shot forth a volly of magic. Just as I expected. I leapt forth and hid behind a toppled furnace as she hit the Gas line... and caused a huge explosion.

Luckily, the three of us caught protection from the incoming blast... unluckily for Madea, her own paranoia had caused her to dust right there.

Still unluckily for us, we were now caught in the middle of a raging inferno. With monsters going crazy around us. And smoke was filling up fast.

I lurched forward to cough as Allison ran by to pat my back, "Come on! We need to get out of here! This place won't hold for much longer, Nico!" She said as I shook my head, trying to regain some composure. I nodded as we cautiously made our way over to Val, who whacked a monster across its head with his crossbow. "I found an emergency exit, lets move!" He said as he grabbed my hand and we ran for the exit.

I normally would be averse but the smoke was really getting to me in there... I honestly don't think I've ever been more relieved to take a breath of fresh air in my entire life. I gasped heavily, taking in deep gulps of air before looking up to watch Allison battle with a Giant who had been lucky enough to escape... she was quick and rolled under his strike... but she was out of arrows. I stood and plunged my swird in before ripping it out, the two of us regarding the other before I said, "Lets go... beach isn't far from here."

With some hard work and effort, the five of us climbed into our motor boat and quickly made our way back to the American shoreline... watching the blazing factory as it vaniahed from sight... leaving only a small column of smoke by the time we got back to the Gulf Beaches.

Everyone looked at us oddly... covered it soot and dust. We looked like old veterans returning from war. I sighed as I shook the sleep out of my eyes and walked across the beach... eyes following us but we ignored them.

"Any idea where we crash tonight?" I asked as I looked at the city shoreline. "I know we need to contact Apollo asap but damn I need some sleep after that one." The thought of a soft bed sounding incredibly pleasing to us all.

Val nodded, "We'll find someplace cheap and call Apollo in the morning..." he said as Amber stood next to us, "Think we could spring an extra room for you two?" She asked.

I raised an eyebrow at her as she fought back a laugh. "I am not even considering staying in a room with your smelly butt."

I raised a hand at her menecingly which she jokingly cowered away from. "We'll see. Come on guys. Lets get moving."

Chapter one of this... it turned out awesomely if I may say so myself. Some gripping action right there at the beginning!

I look forward to this one... the idea struck me and is already starting to become something I hope gets big.

Maybe a web comic? Maybe something will smile on me and let Rick Riordan see this story...

Chapter two up soon.

Until next time.