Falling Beneath The Sea

Chapter One, Inception

St. Leisure Science Laboratory is known for their testing on animals with the idealistic goal of increasing the human lifespan on a molecular level as well as increase one's resistance to radiation from future nuclear attacks. On paper this is very formal and official, only investigated and experiencing trials every now and then but outside of the influence of the social media and the managers of the company, the citizens of the country are very much unaware of the human trials going on in the most classified sectors of the building. A place where only those with the highest security and most extreme security checks for their workers are even allowed through.

Because inside that building, secluded in an underground operating chamber lay nine subjects undergoing the human trials with the highest success rates - and incidentally the highest death rates as well.

Enclosed in a small, dark, windowless room are caged these subjects where they are subjected to inhuman acts so cruel no one speaks of it outside the bunker. Where power and glory seeking scientists enjoy the scientific and methodical art of twisting human genes into all types of forms that are capable of super-human abilities as well as nuclear protection for oncoming wars.

It is believed that this unit was made to create super-human soldiers to save the world from the death counts caused by war. How the country's weapon's research has paid of in being able to alter the human body to better suit their needs in war, assassination, and mass evolution for the human species.

But for now, the scientists are starting at the base of operations before making their way up this food chain called natural selection and evolution. Survival of the fittest and every other scientific theory for how humanity will prevail in face of the end of the world. The list goes on and on.

Meanwhile these scientists believe their work to be noble in the way they both work to "save" the human race as well as how they "rescue" orphans from the streets who would no doubt last in the winter or buy children from the Black Market to spare them from a less than pleasant experience in their future... whichever the case, every single one of their test subjects for the human trials are children from toddlers to pre-teen, with the worst cases being those purposefully born for testing only. Donated sperms and eggs have also been fertilized with genetic engineering in hopes to create something different before birth but so far the success rate has been less than ten percent and that only counted those who lived, and not so much became something new.

Others have been left alone, to grow and be tested, studied and trained until they are older for more advanced and thorough testings but most have been put down before they even reach the age of ten. These children are pitied and were believed to have barely a life from the start. Born simply for another's use. It is perhaps the cruelest, most unspeakable act known in the entire organization, and they know it.

With each toddler, they were taken off the streets before they had matured their minds enough to remember the way things were. Some still remember the sights and the smells but not of families or people or even how to interact with them. The children were taken and locked away from such a young age, isolated and conditioned to think a certain way. They never question what is done to them. Never wonder why they become hybrids of creatures that shouldn't be apart of them.

None of them know any better.

Not even the child of a God, the laboratory's pet project. Although some of the highest classified information available only to the highest and most loyal workers, some are aware that there is more to the world than what meets the eye. Gods who have laid their powers to rest in their descendants; children who had dyslexia, ADHD, and are capable of a "magical" power or inexplainable ability such as prodigal level of understanding war; tactics, and weapons skill. Abilities such as seduction, advanced engineering and mechanics, and their favorite ability of all: elemental control. These things were not as well hidden as the Gods seem to believe and they wondered if it was perhaps the lack of their presence in their descendents lives which caused this.

Either way, their lack of responsibility won over in their favor, which eventually led to one of their discovery of this other world.

And eventually found their way into gaining one of the most powerful children of the gods, a son of the Greek God Poseidon, to their cause.

A teenager stared at his hands in wonder as shadows wrapped around them in the appearance of invisibility. He would never get tired of seeing the shadows bend to his will.

Around him his chamber was in its usual state: clouded in darkness with the only light being artificial cast from inside lamps around the room outside the bars. There was a bowl filled with shallow water and a plate of food he always had, although later learned was unique for everyone based on their genetic testing in nutritional value. He didn't really understand all the criteria and never really cared to. He never found a reason to so long as he only left his chamber once a day to undergo testing and came back with his roommates safe and sound in their own chambers.

The others, he didn't really know them well but when you have little to do and are tired of talking to yourself in an isolated space one learns to reach out. He hadn't really meant to but when they brought in a new girl to undergo testing for a new branch of genetic engineering he was kept up late all night with her whimpering and whining. It was annoying and so unlike the others, he had grown up around who minded their own business and kept their peace to themselves. That night he ended up talking to her late that night and gave her half his water when she dehydrated herself crying after her first testing.

He knew it hurt sometimes, the testing, but after a while, he got used to it while looking forward to the other parts of testing; the training.

The docs would bring in teachers to train him in hand-to-hand combat, weapons, and firearms. He learned martial arts from every known culture and even though he was often an inch within the end of his life he came back stronger and knowing what not to do every session. They taught him how to read people, to be stealthy, and most of all how to avoid detection.

Best of all the docs helped him to maximize the potential of his water affinity. They sometimes sat him in front of a screen to watch action movies where others wielded elements like it was an extension of their own body. His favorite was Avatar: The Last Airbender which he was permitted to watch an episode of once a week so long as he learned a new ability with his water. So far he could heal himself from serious wounds (after a particularly painful martial arts session), heal others of surface wounds, turn his entire body into water, and could make water limbs which were in case he was even incapacitated of his arms or the ability to use his limbs. His biggest weakness was, however, that he could only certain attacks based on the water available to him and hated to turn to last resort water sources which included taking the life out of plants by stealing their water, breaking sinks and fountains, bleeding himself, sweating, or even crying.

He envied those who could use the air around them but doubted he could ever have the temper to use them like Aang just as he thought Earth was too much for him. Too determined and passionate to get somewhere while he just wanted to step back, sleep, and refine his skills.

He did like the Fire though, the idea of being able to use the element of dragons, to channel his anger into something so beautiful. He loved his water affinity but he also wanted to master fire like he was mastering water.

If only he could convince the docs to train him in it.

Every time he asked they just said they were already working on the formula to add to his genetic makeup or if he added one more thing he'd end up hearing the cries of his genes at night. He didn't really mind what they were adding to him, he was just glad he was able to do something with himself now that he was older. When he was smaller his life felt like endless testing and recovering in his cage. The docs said his body wasn't strong enough to have the extended testing days he has now - how before he was too weak and underdeveloped to take the strain of his body being altered too greatly in the state it was at in that time.

Now that he was older and bigger, he could use almost all the hours of the day outside his chambers learning everything he could within reach. The docs listened to his thoughts on the matter, the way they altered his genes based on the way he improved, and how he could do so much more afterward. Sure it was painful but he wouldn't have gained anything these last few years if not for his advanced genetic engineering. He was, after all, almost everything he wanted to be.

He could change into a wolf like the werewolves in the stories he grew up reading about based on what he was feeling. He could smell people's fear and negativity in the air, growling like a creature of the night, and even mesh with the shadows. He remembered one of the docs told him that there were others with affinities like him as well as others with powers that were more than just fiction. That these people didn't make it outside because they hadn't been trained, they were made oblivious of what they could do because their own parents feared what they were capable of, and he wanted to be sure he was ready before he ventured outside. Those people who lost their lives because they were too weak in the face of reality... their DNA now ran through his veins and he would let them see the world through his eyes - and use their power in the way they should've been trained in all along.

But that was a topic for another time.

He loved being a werewolf; able to walk on all fours and blur through the building as though he were traveling at the speed of sound. The way he could extend his claws as a human and gut someone was such an amazing feeling. It was an experience he wouldn't exchange for anything... well, maybe for the fire affinity.

Not that he could exchange anything in the first place considering once his genes have been altered he cannot be returned to his old state, only create something new out of it. But why would he want to go back to what he was before? Weak and alone, stuck in a cage all day except for being on the table for gene altering. Why would he go back to that when he was free now?

No, he would never regret what he was now.

He loved the way water felt cool in the palms of his hands, the feeling of his claws raking against metal, and the way he could steal the energy from around him. He was no Azula but he was able to sway electricity in a way that took out the lights in the room and shadowed him in familiar darkness and shadows he could mend with an extra boost of energy from the short-circuit. He loved watching lightning striking and people manipulating it for their own defense. He may not have his fire affinity yet but water and lightning he could call his own.

The only downside of his lightning was that it seemed to despise his water affinity genes. Like they were too clashing powers and personalities fighting within his own blood. The docs hoped he could overcome this and bring both powers together as one but so far he had no such results and could only use one or the other - although he realized with some uncertainty that his lightning loved being added to water (so long as he wasn't using the water as well) and electrifying it. Just as his water seemed to enjoy leaving electrical devices alone when he flooded a room full of electronics like computers, lamps, and anything with an outlet. The docs found it fascinating while he simply felt like a third-wheel of his own strength.

Sometimes he felt irrationally furious at his own affinities and that was maybe why he wanted that fire affinity so badly. He didn't know why the docs couldn't just use the blood of one of the other failed children who couldn't make it outside but he knew better than to ask because after asking the few times he had in the past he was given a walkthrough of genetic engineering and how those formulas are made and he didn't even want to think of how the inside of his body looked.

Another part of it though was the mentality he needed to use each affinity. Lightning is swift and meant to kill, Water is adaptable and constantly change with unrelenting determination to win, and Shadows were lazy, only pushed to do something when curiosity wins over caution. Switching between mentalities was exhausting and took so much focus he was usually drained before he even got into his fighting stance. It was a lot of work and between learning T'ai chi ch'aun (Yang Style) for water and Nothern Shaolin Kung Fu for Fire (when he finally got it) he had little time to think about how he could make her affinities work with him, let alone work with each other.

In a way, he hoped that Fire would not only be his escape from being the peace-maker with his other affinities but hopefully be the peace for him as well. He loved learning the movements of Kung Fu and the way he felt and extended his energy to use Northern Shaolin was freeing in a way where T'ai chi ch'aun felt slow and rigid. Lightning didn't really have a fighting style that he could incorporate to yet so, for now, he's been using his imagination along with working with some experimental Chaquan, Southern Dragon Claw, and Xingyiquan with his lightning but so far it has felt awkward and uncoordinated.

Maybe it's because he's figuring all this out on his own after a training session that teaches him new moves and fighting styles. Maybe he doesn't know if fighting holograms with his affinities and bodies are as realistic as the docs like to think. And maybe he just has too much time in his chambers to think about this.

All he does know is that he has a lot to learn and he doesn't know if things will get easier or harder after the next time his genes are altered. He can only do his best to increase his odds.

"Azazel, I heard the docs were going to record our current progress so that we can test ourselves against each other in the hologram room," A deep voice pulled him from his thoughts and now, interest captured, he moved toward the front of the bars to see his buddy across the room.

The guy had been here only a little longer than himself though apparently hadn't grown up here when he was smaller like him. He was from the outside and if Azazel ever doubted the outside was as the docs said he stopped the moment he learned of Draco's life before the docs took him in. Apparently, he had survived out in a place called The Streets where people were always being snatched in the shadows or at night, where food was scarce and not even food thrown away was dignified to be salvaged. He learned how Gangs liked to torture and humiliate people in the neighborhood, killing people who so much as looked at them the wrong way and no one could ever do anything about it.

He learned that Draco hadn't always been on the Streets but where he had been before wasn't so great considering his mother was something called a Drug Addict and brought over men all the time to keep them from being thrown off the streets. A Prostitute, Draco said. And then one day, one of her suitors tried to knock him around a bit but when his mother tried to defend him, he hit her over the head with a wrench and when she didn't get up he tried to go after Draco. After that, he lived off the Streets hoping that Man never found him because he was what the Pole-Esh called a Witness so his life was threatened just because he knew how his mother was killed. He spoke about how the winters were the worst and how his clothes were never enough to keep him from getting frostbite.

The Outside sounded terrifying and Azazel didn't even want to think about what it was like when affinities and monsters were added to the mix like the docs told him. He needed to be ready.

"Oh yeah?"

Draco nodded and if not for his enhanced vision from the wolf gene he would've missed it. He still remembered what it was like before he could hear, see, smell, taste and even touch better. But he wasn't the only one who had his body changed physically. Where his body had been altered more subtle, Draco fit his namesake quite perfectly as half-dragon, half-boy.

Manipulating the shadows out of the way, artificial light is shown on Draco showing the red scales along his collarbone, ankles, sides of his torso, forearms, and lower legs. Thorn-like spikes protruded from the sides of his arms, legs, and shoulders to serve as weapons while also spiking upwards from his forehead where two horns struck out from the sides of his head and arched back in the shape of a C. They were bone-white, the color of Draco's hair, standing not much out when his skin tone was just as pale. The most eye-catching thing about Draco was his eyes though, which were as unique as the rest of them, but a red like the scales which adorned him. Even his hands and feet were armed with long, razor-sharp claws only challenged with lethal-ness to Azazel's own.

He was a sight to reckon with and in combat, Azazel could only imagine what it would be like to defend against.

"Yeah, the docs recorded my feed today. They told me all about it. Think you're up to the challenge?" Azazel grinned at the familiar tease and he knew the way his canines glinted in the artificial light was answer enough.

"What about you, Echo?" Azazel turned to ask the once cry-baby-now-pre-teen. Silver eyes blinked awake around the shadows of her own chambers before her head tilted in thought, followed by a nonchalant shrug. Azazel smiled slightly, his friend had changed a lot in the past nine years since they first met. He considered her as a little sister and Draco as his best friend, though not quite his brother in all but blood. Echo was so strong, having survived to have her DNA to be altered to mimic his own and although the strain was too much to continue to further enhance those genes, the docs instead gave her the advantage by creating a class of her own.

Where he took after the supernatural Werewolves, Draco the fictional Dragons, Echo took after the supernatural Banshees.

He didn't know too much about it, only knew what she had told him herself, how she was insomniac because her dreams were always telling her possibilities of the future. How she had only the slightest control of it that she could put to use when she was awake which only told the possible futures up to a minute. It sounded like a tough ability to handle but one that seemed to wisened the girl as the years went past. Her body was altered more on the inside, with her longs toughened allowing her to scream loudly and for extended amounts of time. It was like a sonic scream that could break glass or deafen ears. But she had to really want to scream since she always felt like yawning from her constant wakened state of mind. She had in a way developed a lazy tick that tied in with her exhaustion whereas he was in a constant state of needing to do something; constantly improving both his body and his affinities. Draco's tick was always having to talk about something although it was only when the silence got to the point where they felt like they were the only ones there, so none of them seemed to mind.

"Echo?" He asked again causing those silver eyes to blink again and a giggle was heard past the pause from before. "Sorry, was off in my own head again. What were you guys talking about?" She asked curiously, moving forward enough so that they could see her in the artificial light. Echo was smaller than the rest of them, even for her age he thinks, and wonders if its because of her lack of sleep (not that he could blame her). Her hair is cut short and a natural eye-catching red not unlike the color of Draco's scales while the black sclera of her eyes make her iris stand out even more against her pale skin. Heavy bags claim the space under her eyes, thick enough that it almost looks like charcoal has been applied there.

She sent him a lopsided smile as Draco explained the hologram recordings and how they'll fight each other like they usually fight people and monsters to show their fighting prowess to their docs.

"So what do you say, Echo? Up to the challenge?" Azazel asked with a teasing grin of his own sent to her. Echo definitely laughed then and replied with a hearty, "Hell yes!"

Azazel wouldn't lie to himself, he was excited to see the extent of his roommates prowess against his own. He really had no idea what to expect from them but he also couldn't help but wonder why they were only just now testing each other against one another like this.

He couldn't help but wonder if this was another test. Perhaps like a trial to see if they were ready to venture Outside yet.

He could only wonder.

Morning came as the sun rose over the St. Leisure building putting the doctors at work to reconstruct both human and demi-gods DNA into something new and more favorable to their cause. Their goals may have changed but their cause had not. They had once been what their manuscript said they were: People just doing their best to prolong human life-span as the world slowly fell to ruin around them by war, to put it dramatically. After learning of the demi-gene during the human trials they had unveiled another world within their own, one full of powerful Greek Gods and mythical monsters.

Naturally, they wanted to be a part of this new world they had discovered but when they were rejected for not being "one of them" they instead turned to revenge, to prove that mortals could be a greater threat and strength then the Other World thought them to be.

Finding and hiring some of the greatest hackers with questionable backgrounds, St. Leisure soon had full access to birth certificates to all children born along with their files containing their descriptions. Children with ADHD, Dyslexia, and often got into trouble were spied on and if unprotected were eventually Snatched and brought to their labs, so long as they were young enough to be molded into what they needed them to be. They were connected to the Black Market and other questionable, definitely illegal connections allowing them to easily reach people involved in this Other World but were not yet protected by them. They even rescue such people from the harshness of the streets in high crime rate cities or children who had been wormed into the black market process.

Children like Perseus Jackson a.k.a Azazel they had received after his mother was reported to have been murdered in extreme domestic violence by her husband who was now resting in a prison cell leaving their child unprotected and easily snatched to be brought to them. There had been others similar to the boy they had received, children who were too old to accept their body changing suddenly and unnaturally, awakening dormant genes and they didn't wake again. Getting ahold of Perseus was raw luck and they didn't want to waste his life by trying new formulas with his young body. He was the perfect person to mold to their cause, in getting back at the Other World with a child of "The Great Three" with abilities that rivaled their own yet were mortalized at the same time. A child who now bears the blood of their stolen children. A child who doesn't care about them because they abandoned him to a cruel world... or would have been had they not rescued him from that fate.

Then there was one of the mortal children: Drake Dane or "Draco" as they named him who has the genes of a genetically engineered-born lizard combined with their own formula to develop the "traits" or a dragon such as spikes to protect his body from physical attacks, horns from his head that can pierce through like a ram's horns, and a tail that can be used to thrash his enemies. Their most unexpected success was the wings made of his own flesh, yet hardened and thorned enabling him to fly as well as use the wings as weapons preventing anyone from plucking him off of him. He was designed as a mockery of the Other World's monsters like Minotaurs, Cerberus, and the "Drakons." Except he wasn't born of a god but of mortals, designed to be half and half rather than a grotesque combination of both. Draco grows stronger every day and since they rescued him from the streets after his mother was murdered, he is loyal to them.

The last of the mortal children is Alexis Wright or as they named her "Echo" who they had found and taken from the Black Market when she was just four-years-old. Originally they planned to awaken the dormant genes of an oracle, whose blood they had acquired from a human host of the Oracle of Delphi after a planned attack, but when intertwined with her mortal genes it proved to only give a fracture of that "Sight" to Echo. A Sight that from their information shows only possibilities of the future up to a minute. Perfect for making last-minute decisions perfect for combat but not so much for seeing how their plans for their cause fall through. Nevertheless, determined to not let this power go to waste they instead began to mold Echo after a fictional Banshee by strengthening her lungs allowing her to scream on a sonic level for long periods of time. With that, they trained her in combat and tactical planning to make her a unique "super-soldier."

Only one of the children of this Spite-The-Greek-Gods project knew of the outside world beyond their walls while Perseus and Echo have little memory of it, severing any familiar with it. They have used this to their advantage by teaching them what they want to teach them about the world. By threading half-truths into their sessions to further curve their interest and loyalty with them. Making them believe their own decisions were inspired by themselves and not merely influenced by themselves such as raising Perseus with stories about werewolves and watching episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender so long as he used the inspiration to improve his own abilities. They did the same for Drake by giving him books of fantasy filled with dragons and warriors to better incline him to what he is now, part of both worlds - but growing so much stronger than them because of the human condition each day.

But sooner or later they had to put their plan in action in sending these three into the outside world, to slowly familiarize themselves with the world the Leisure has sheltered and isolated them from to put them in a class of their own. And when they do this, with time, at least one of them should attract the attention of the Other World and with them, the Greek Gods. They have no way of telling what the future holds for their cause and so they cannot risk failure for the children. They must be ready.

And so, they prepared the hologram chamber where the children are immersed into the world on the outside from fighting thugs to monsters to humans with incredible powers. They've taught the children culture and fighting styles from all over the world, and tutored them in standard education with advanced education on things believed to be influenced by the Gods such as battle tactics and strategy, combat prowess, the ability to play musical instruments, proficiency in their tracking ability, mechanical engineering, gardening, and so much more. To prevent the children from falling to simple things like flues and sickness and poisons they've implanted a cell that fights off anything that hasn't been there before including unknown poisons they haven't built a tolerance or immunity for. They can't get sick or be weak to a bad allergy. They have to be symptom-free in order to face a God's fury after all.

So for now, they stick to preparing the children for the Outside world. They are almost ready to be unleashed but until then, they will be creating new formulas with nearly every hour they have in the day to add to the children, make them more powerful than before, stronger, smarter, and able to survive on their own. But most of all, they must depend on each other.

Studying the hologram recordings of the three on the screen in front of them, they take notes on what they need to improve on for each, and how their abilities coordinate with one another. Each of them could easily survive on their own but to live and face the wrath of the gods and monsters of the other world, they need each other. Plus, it will ensure years of their work wouldn't just perish because of a stray lightning bolt.

Either way, the doctors of St. Leisure had their work cut out for them.

Bringing back this story with my signature twist. Reason for this is because when I posted the original story a few years ago, despite the success, I felt that I had hit a brick wall with the story and so I put it up for adoption. Since it was taken by another I felt it would be a bit... rude, to post the original back up despite being the original writer and having promised to bring back my old stories I still have (still finding a lot of them). My other reason though is because this story really needed to be rewritten anyway, it was seriously bugging me, and when I found myself writing for this story again I couldn't help but find it pretty enjoyable.

It's like a weight of my shoulder, a weight that has lightened significantly since my break from one of my main stories, but a weight lightened nonetheless. So, expect future updates from this story. We're fortunate a story with this potential isn't going to be collecting cyber dust in my Discontinued section. Also, if I find the adopted version of this story (it's been so long I can't remember it like the back of my hand) I will add the name of the story and the author here in my author's notes in future chapters.

And just as a reminder, even though it feels a little unnecessary, if a story has gods in it there's a high chance that the demi-gods are going to be "god-like" so I don't really need to hear about any mary sues or whatever the male name for that is. Besides, have you read the wiki for the Percy Jackson Series? If there's a place where overpowered can be applied, it's there. I mean really, it's insane. Justified, yes, but insane.

Lastly, thank you all for stopping by and feel free to check out what else is on my account. Bringing back these older (once removed) stories has proved to be a longer process than I expected but definitely worth it if it makes us all happy.

Sincerely,

- Gothic Rain

[!]Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. If I did, my favorite characters wouldn't be dead.[!]

-~Here's a little Extra I sometimes leave on my other stories~-

Word of the Day: Boketto (Japanese) - in English this means "to gaze vacantly into the distance without thinking."

Quote of the Day: "Don't smash people's dreams, Linus, because you'll smash your own as well. And you too will stop believing." - Max, in The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl (2005 movie)

Soundtrack/Music of the Day: 0.59 by DANGER

Movie of the day: The Incredibles (2004 movie)

[Disclaimer: See above. I do not own anything there.]