Well, here we go again with the Halloween four-shots. How long has it been since I last updated? Sheesh, almost a year! Well, college life is busy, but I do like the challenge of churning out one-shots in a short amount of time. It makes for some interesting ideas.

So, let's get this party started! Who here likes the Percy Jackson series?

Roman

The Roman empire was the greatest of its time, spanning the known world. After nearly a thousand years of prosperity, it fell.

Or Did It?

Jenny made her way down the hill towards the highway just outside Berkeley, California. It had been a long trip, crossing the country, meeting the giant she-wolf, Lupa, and finally following the new homing beacon her mother had given her down the west coast. The beacon was going nuts now, pointing straight at a maintenance gate beside the highway tunnel under the hill.

Along this whole journey, she'd been hoping to find some answers to why she'd had to leave home, but all it had done was raise more questions. She still remembered leaving clearly.

Flashback- two weeks ago

It had started out with just another normal monster attack; some crazy lion-dog-scorpion hybrid with sharp teeth. Jenny dispatched it without too much difficulty, but for some reason it had really gotten to Mz. Wakeman.

"Mom, what's the big deal?" Jen finally asked in irritation after two days of her mom nervously peeking out the window and jumping at unexpected noises. "I've fought off monster three times that size before, but you're acting like it's going to come back and strangle you in your sleep or something!"

"It might," Mz. Wakeman admitted, "But that's not what I'm worried about."

"What?" Jenny asked in surprise, "Mom, what do you mean?"

The inventor sighed and pulled out a large blue-print. "XJ-9, do you ever really look at this?"

"Mom, those are my blue-prints. I look at them all the time. Like whenever I need a tune-up or—"

"I mean really look at it!" She pointed to the bottom left corner where there were two signatures. Nora Wakeman and… Vulcan? That was it. No first name, no initials, just Vulcan.

"Vulcan? Aren't they the pointy-eared people from—"

"Vulcan was a close colleague of mine when I started working on the XJ-series. He became personally involved when I started designing you." Nora explained.

"He helped you design me?" Jenny asked incredulously.

"Yes. I suppose if I'm considered your mother, he would be… well… your father."

"What! My father?" Jenny was now near hysterical, "How come I've never met him? Why didn't you ever tell me this before?"

"Well, he had to… go away before I started building you. He had to deal with some, ah, family matters, as it were."

"And you've never seen him since?"

"No, although just a few days ago, I did get a letter." Her mother admitted, "A letter saying that monsters from the underworld may begin to appear, like the Manticore you fought. It said that when they appeared, you needed to go to northern California."

"Why? Who the heck is this guy, if he knew the monster would be coming, and he wants me to go to California?" Jenny asked angrily. She defiantly didn't want to leave just because some guy her mom used to know wanted her to.

"Well XJ-9, doesn't his name sound familiar to you?" Nora asked.

"Other than reminding me of an old sci-fi show? Well…" She searcher her memory banks, "Vulcan… was the name of the Roman god of fire and blacksmithing."

"Exactly."

"So, what does that have to do with anything?"

"XJ-9, he is the Roman god of blacksmithing."

Back to the present

So Jenny left home, bringing along the letter from Vulcan and her blue-prints. According to the letter, she'd need them as credentials, whatever that meant. Now she found herself just across the highway from the door her beacon was pointing to. It was guarded by a bored looking kid with blonde hair and braces wearing a purple shirt. It wouldn't have mattered if it had been guarded by a whole army of Manticores, Jenny knew that her answers were behind that door.

She jumped across the highway in one leap, startling the blonde kid out of his boredom.

"Hey! Uh, halt! Who goes there?" He pulled out a spear with a golden point, but Jen doubted he knew how to use it well, considering how he was holding it.

"Calm down. My name's Jenny, I've been following a beacon here…" Maybe this was the time to use her credentials… "Here. Do you know anything about Vulcan?" She asked as she handed him the letter.

The boy's eyes widened as he read the letter. "You're an automaton…"

"Uh… yeah." Jenny wondered why he was using the archaic term for robot.

"But you're also a Daughter of Vulcan?"

"Um… if you want to think of it that way."

The boy smiled, showing off his massive braces. "Wow, a new recruit! I'm Chester, welcome to Camp Jupiter!"

Yeah... I hope this wasn't too confusing for people who haven't read the Percy Jackson or Heroes of Olympus series. If you are confused, well, you should read the books. They are very good. Rick Riordan is one of my favorite authors.