Notice from the Deputy Head of Operations: The Percy Jackson series and its characters are not owned by the writer of this story. MysticalPen is merely the scribe tasked with letting the world know of the lives of our dear heroes—lives lived in an alternate universe. Credits remain to their rightful owners.
Due to this, you will notice that this story and its characters seem a bit different than their original counterparts. The personalities that the characters have are borne of the experiences that they had before we start our story. Their own past melded them to become the person they are now, and so they might seem a bit out-of-character in your opinion. Don't let that stop you from hearing their stories. These heroes are their own people; give them the chance to be heard. With that said, go forth, reader, and learn how our demigod heroes saved the world you live in.
So...is that alright? Is that a good enough disclaimer and first announcement? Gods damn it. This is supposed to be Luke's job. Sorry.
The alarm blared through Camp Half-Blood, its loud honking blowing over the fields of fighting and sparring demigods. It made everyone stop whatever they were doing and turn their heads to the small building right next to the Big House—the headquarters for the League. Though not all demigods were members of the League, they knew what that sound meant—trouble.
Times were getting more dangerous in the mortal world, and, for some reason, more monsters frolicked in the local streets of the Earth, harming and killing humans. The poor mortals didn't know what to do. With minds clouded by the mist, in their eyes, a new war was looming, threatening to destroy their normal lives. In their eyes, there was nothing they could do stop the death toll from hitching up a tall height; and though Lord Zeus wasn't particularly fond of all the mortals that lived on Earth, he knew action had to be taken into the hands of those with more powers than humans, balance must be restored to nature and to life, the humans must be protected. With this in mind, he formed a group of heroes whose first responsibility was to serve mankind, to protect and defend the humans against the forces from whom they cannot protect themselves. The group was dubbed as the League of Heroes. Now it had been two years since the group was formed, and not once had the group failed in their mission.
Handpicked personally by Zeus, the greatest and strongest fighters in Camp Half-Blood were chosen to protect the mortal world. There were only four of them; four heroes that were allowed to exit the camp and rescue the mortals, four fighters allowed in the battlefield. These four were considered the elite in the camp, the group that everyone feared, admired or idolized. They symbolized what each and every demigod in the world should strive to become: brave heroes who risked their own lives to save others'. These four were the pride and glory of their godly parents. They were Jason Grace, Annabeth Chase, Nico di Angelo and Arianne Wakeham, children of Zeus, Athena, Hades and Demeter, respectively.
"Guys, looks like we're just gonna have to continue our playtime later," Nico di Angelo said to Connor Stoll, a son of Hermes he was sword-fighting, while his eyes were still glued to the roof of the house where the loud sound of the horn came from. "We're needed somewhere else." He wiped the sweat off his brows and brushed back his shaggy black hair with his pale fingers. When he looked back at the other demigods, he saw Annabeth Chase already standing beside him.
"We have to go, Nico," she said, rearranging her blonde, wavy hair in its pony tail. Her tanned skin seemed to be emanating excitement and thrill, but her grey eyes were tinted with worry, and a little bit of fear. It was inevitable. Yes, all of them were brave, all of them were used to fighting, but with these attacks in the mortal world getting more and more frequent, they couldn't help but wonder that maybe one of these missions could also be their last.
Taking a deep breath, Nico replied, "Right, you are." With that, he offered his arm for Annabeth to take, and as soon as their skins connected, he outstretched his hand over the shadows cast by the figures around them, his face twisted in concentration as he felt the familiar pull of his powers at the pit of his stomach. It wasn't easy business, shadowtraveling. In order to tap into the shadows, one must let the darkness swallow them whole. Nico had never asked the others if it had happened to them while shadowtraveling with him, but every time he did it, he could feel coldness wrap around his chest. It went away as soon as they were done, but of course it still bothered him whenever he felt it.
Those people who were there had seen this happening multiple times before, of course, but they still gasped as the shadows cast by their own bodies started crawling towards Nico and Annabeth, covering first their feet, then their legs, then their torsos, their necks; and as soon as their faces was wrapped in darkness, the shadows retreated back. But right where Nico and Annabeth stood, there was nothing but open space, the shadows on the ground decreasing by two. Everyone was impressed, of course. Not all demigods had powers like that. They knew that power like that was blessed to children of the Big Three. But sadly, none of them knew that there was a consequence to it.
"Still surreal," Piper McLean murmured, shaking her head with a thoughtful smile on her face. Time and time again before, she had heard other demigods saying they were envious of Nico and Jason, children of the Big Three. A lot of the other demigods were jealous of powers like this, but she wasn't one of them. Once, when Nico and her had talked after a mission, he had mentioned the downside of shadowtraveling. It wasn't as magnificent and amazing as everyone thought it was. It was a power that came with a bigger responsibility and a bigger payment. What she held for Nico instead was amazement not for his power alone, but for his dedication. No matter how hard it was, according to his words, he still did it. He still shadowtraveled with the League because it was necessity. Though it came with a price, Nico never complained. With her mind completely absorbed by her thoughts, she didn't see someone approaching her. She only looked up when she heard a familiar voice.
"Hey, Pipes, catch!" yelled the voice, deep and a little raspy. Piper looked up just in time to catch the apple that Jason Grace had tossed to her. She barely managed to see Jason's wide grin before he was gone from her sight again, zooming towards the Big House while riding a swirling tornado the way a surfer would ride the waves. Seeing the figure fly away from her, she only shook her head gently with an amused grin of her own painting her face before biting on the green apple that her boyfriend gave her.
Thrill shot through Jason's veins, the excitement and adrenaline fuelling him, as he zoomed towards their headquarters. The air whipped his blond hair around and his blue eyes gleamed with energy. The sun felt so good on his skin. It made his mood all the better, causing him to zoom even faster towards the headquarters. When he arrived in front of the building, Annabeth and Nico were slowly emerging from the shadows. Landing on the ground with a gentle thud, his tornado ride immediately evaporated into nothing at the same time the shadows that brought Nico and Annabeth there morphed and took the shape of their own shadows. "Hey, where's Arianne?" he asked the other two as they walked towards the door.
It only took another second before they heard the rustling of the leaves of the tree beside the headquarters, a sure sign of the arrival of their last member. "Present, sir" she said, rubbing her dark green eyes sleepily, her voice sounding groggy as if she'd just woken up. Knowing Arianne, she probably really had just woken up. As the branches and leaves tangled all around her body deposited her on the ground, she stretched her arms and consciously ran her fingers through her wavy brown hair, trying to tame it to no avail.
"Were you asleep up there on Juniper's tree?" Nico asked, an eyebrow hitching up his forehead in inquisition. His steps halted for a moment.
"What? Of course not," Arianne huffed in reply, crossing her arms over her chest. "As much as I love the trees, they're not very comfortable to sleep on. I was asleep in the field. I woke up because of the alarm, and the trees were more than happy to help me get here fast." She walked towards Nico and slung an arm around him and Annabeth, the rumpled orange Camp Half-Blood shirt she wore riding up due to Nico and Annabeth's heights. "Now, come on before they complain about us being slowpokes again."
No more words were exchanged after that. They quickened their steps, the sense of urgency fuelling them. In no time at all, they were inside the headquarters, being swallowed by the hustle and bustle of the place.
If the atmosphere outside the building seemed a little calm, only a bit shaken because of the sudden blare of the horn, the inside of the headquarters was a different issue altogether. The lights that were usually dimmed were glaring brightly, illuminating the busy bodies doing their duties. Beeps and ticks echoed all around the room from the monitors, computers, gadgets and apparatus. But those sounds were drowned in the sea of murmurs, orders and inquiries flying around the room along with the voices of news reporters. The TV's occupying one wall from floor to ceiling were all on, showing news channels and programmes. Half were reports of mortals, the other half were news programmes from Olympus. While the mortals were reporting terrorists attacking their city—thanks to the mist—the channels from Olympus showed monsters ransacking New York.
"Two monsters in New York—one Manticore, one Colchis bull; been attacking for the past three minutes now. We just received the order from Olympus. You're to take over. You have to be fast," came the urgent order of none other than Charles Beckendorf, a son of Hephaestus, and also the deputy Head of Operations in the League. Now, the obvious question was...where in Hades was the Head of Operations?
"Wait, where's Luke?" Annabeth voiced what everyone was wondering after she had swept the place and didn't find their Commander anywhere.
Charles shook his head, his eyes silently apologizing to Annabeth. "I have no idea, Annabeth. He didn't report in today. When I sent someone to check up on him in the Hermes cabin, his brothers said he left early. We don't know where he is." As Charles spoke, the younger children of Athena started in on their routine work, which was to strap the Heroes in their armours and their gadgets. "I'm gonna have to take over for this mission, I hope you guys don't mind. I won't fail you," he told them with determination glinting in his brown eyes, but on the inside, his heart was drumming fast and hard against his ribs. He wasn't much older than these guys, unlike Luke was. Wherever the son of Hermes went, he carried with him an aura of authority, an aura of responsibility, something that Charles didn't naturally have. And for a Commander to be effective, people had to believe in him. Charles wasn't too confident about that part.
The job of a Head of Operations was probably the most delicate job in the whole headquarters. The Heroes' jobs were dangerous because these fights could possibly end their lives, but the job of a commander was delicate because he held in his hands the safety of the Heroes. While the four were out there and fighting, the headquarters was to become the place of main operations. These other demigods—composed of children of other gods who had expertise and knowledge in this field—that were present in that place were there to assist the heroes. Cameras, speakers and microphones were attached to the armours and headgears of the Heroes. Whatever the Heroes would need, the demigods from the headquarters would supply them with. And in the middle of all of these assisting demigods stood the Head of Operations. He gave the orders, he supplied the commands. Most importantly, when things get intense in the battlefield, it's the Head's duty to come up with a gameplan that would combine the powers and abilities of the Heroes so they could defeat whatever monster they were up against. It wasn't an easy job, but for the past two years, Luke had been doing amazing in his job. Never once had any monster beat them. Never once had anything fatal happened to the Heroes. It was completely understandable that Charles was hesitant to step in Luke's shoes. Everyone understood that.
The four looked at each other, as if exchanging either an agreement or a disagreement among them. Even though it might have only been two seconds, to Charles it seemed like forever. Thankfully, though, Annabeth smiled and gave Charles the thumbs up. Being the daughter of Athena in the group, the one who thought things over very carefully and the natural strategist, it was a big deal getting Annabeth's approval. So her turning to Charles and saying, "Great, then. We trust you, Beckendorf. You're not Deputy for nothing," was as good as a blessing from the gods in the eyes of the Hephaestus child.
Releasing a deep sigh of relief, he returned Annabeth's smile with a sincere, "Thanks." As soon as the smile dropped, though, the serious tint came back on his face, taking over and dominating his features. "But now, you really have to move fast. Guys, double time, triple time!" his deep voice boomed throughout the room. And by the the other demigods hasten their movements, and the four heroes straightened their backs, it was effective. Suddenly, the doubting Charles was gone, and in his place was this confident guy. A guy as confident as Luke. They couldn't have asked for anything more. The Heroes smiled to each other, silently asking what the point was in Charles' doubt for himself. Clearly, he could do it.
The hustle and bustle swallowed them whole and digested them right then. The tray of armour, gadgets and weapons were rolled in. The air seemed to be charged with both urgency and excitement. Everybody moved fast. The demigods hastened their assistance of the heroes, but made sure everything was done right. In order to make even better haste, the heroes put on what they could.
"Could you set the fit a notch looser, please? Last time I fought, I could barely move my arms and turn my torso from side to side," requested Nico to the demigod assisting him with his armour. In a way, these demigods were referred to as their squires. But the four, though, never coined them that title. They were comrades, all of them, and they made sure the others knew that too.
The son of Athena, Alfred, nodded with a smile. He swiped his fingers over the shoulder pad that he had draped over Nico's shoulders. The gesture opened a secret number pad hidden under the armour. Easily, he typed in the size that the armour needed to be, diminishing it by one like Nico requested. As soon as he hit the "OK" on the number pad, he stepped backwards—a safety precaution because just a second later, the rest of Nico's armour sprung out from the ends of the shoulder pads. The material expanded and hugged Nico's figure. "Perfect," Nico said with a grateful smile towards Alfred as the locks of the armour on his sides and back clicked securely. From around him, other clicks sounded as well, signalling that the others' armours were already strapped in place.
Next to be worn were the armbands and knee pads. The armbands were styled like clasp-on bracelet, but they were not for the purpose of looking good. Attached on the left armband were screens. These screens showed trackers and maps remotely operated by those demigods manning the computers from the headquarters. Whatever kind of map and tracer that the Heroes needed, it would show up. Aside from that, with a simple click of a button, shields would pop out from the left armbands. The right armband contained an enchanted inventory. Anything can fit in, and it carried no weight at all. The contents of these inventory containers vary for each of the four.
In Nico's case, it opened up into a void containing bones of the dead. Admittedly, it was creepy, but it was very useful, especially when he was in sudden need of a skeleton army. Usually that didn't happen because if emergency called, Nico merely used his command over black flame. To him, everything can be solved by burning the monster with black flame. It was instant death for the weak ones, after all.
For Jason, it only held one thing. That one thing was not to be belittled, though, because it was a gift given to him by his father. Inside that armband was Jason's very own little lightning bolt. It took a lot from his energy whenever he used it, of course, so he barely even took it out. But when the situation would demand it, it was the best weapon he could ever hold.
Arianne's held something simple. Simple in everyone's eyes, but with Arianne's power to make any plant grow even into the size of the earth, those simple little vines and seeds were deadly, especially since at the bottom of the container sat the most poisonous plants her mother had.
Lastly, but definitely not the least, was Annabeth's armband. Hers contained the most number of items. What were they? Daggers, swords, knives, Chinese knives and spikes. Though Annabeth didn't have control over elements like the other three did, she was chosen for a reason. Nobody else in camp can beat Annabeth in a fair fight. Even Nico, Jason and Arianne couldn't beat Annabeth if they were restricted from using their special powers. Annabeth was the best battler in the whole camp. Holding two swords simultaneously with a knife held in between her teeth, it was close to impossible to beat the girl. And with a whole armament in her inventory, no monster stood a chance.
Soon after the armbands were easily clicked into place, the kneepads were being strapped. Now, the kneepads weren't really simple kneepads. Just like the armour, with a click of a button, it expanded and turned into armoured boots. For Nico and Annabeth, the boots had special features. It helped Nico ride the shadows the way Jason rode the winds, while it helped Annabeth have the same means of travel as the three of them.
Finally, the headgear had to be checked. The girls, in routine, pulled their hairs into tight buns and pinned their fringes to the sides to keep them from obscuring their view. Their headgears looked similar in style, but differed in designed. Sleek and meant to feel light so it would not be on the way, they were meant to be worn like laurel wreathes. In Arianne's case, it really looked like a laurel wreath, instead of laurel leaves, though, the precious metal was designed to look like intertwined flower stems. In the middle of her forehead was a rose, with a green emerald sitting in the middle. It hid the activation button for the headgear. Annabeth's was designed to look like overlapping wings of owls. At the center was an a sculpted face of an owl with brown eyes. The right eye served as the activation button.
The boys' headgear differed from the girls'. Jason's was sleek and simple in design. With his close cropped cut, his hair was never an issue. The headgear fitted perfectly around his head, the golden, straight band perching over his ears. At the middle of the band was a blue lightning bold that hid the activation button. Nico's was pure black. It was designed similarly with Jason's, just a straight band around his head, except that in the middle sat criss-crossing bones that served as a perch for the scarlet skull in the middle that served as the activation button. For Nico's floppy hair, though, a special feature was installed in his headgear. A tiny comb served to brush back his fringe out of his eyes.
"Time to check your microphones and earpieces," they all heard Charles say. They took it as the normal signal for them to turn on their and activate their headgears. With a push of the buttons on their foreheads, the side supports of the headgears sprung out, elongating and covering the sides of their heads like a gladiator helmet. Attached to these side supports were the earpieces and microphones that served as their way of communications. It was to be used by the four to talk to each other even at a distance, and also a way for the Commander to issue orders and strategies to the fighters from the headquarters.
"Can you hear me? Mic test, mic test," Charles said to his own microphone strapped around his head.
"Roger that," answered Nico. Check.
"Aye, aye, Cap!" said Arianne. Check.
"Yep, clearly," replied Jason. Check.
"Positive," said Annabeth. Check.
"Good. Now check if you all can hear and talk to each other," instructed Charlie.
"Nico, you're ugly." Check.
"Hey," Nico exclaimed, hearing the voice from his earpiece. "Who said that? Arianne!" Check.
"What? That was Annabeth!"
"Huh? Don't look at me. Look at Jason." Check.
"Yeah, 'cause I sound like a girl now," Jason said with a roll of the eyes. Check.
Charles could only shake his head in amusement. Yep, their microphones and earpieces were working well, alright. As the others bickered, he turned to the monitors in front of him, the monitors atop the control panel. These monitors served to show what the cameras attached to the four's armours and headgears recorded in real time. There was one camera attached at the back of each of the four's armours. One was attached on either of the side supports of their headgears, and one at the back. It helped the crew see the situation better even though they weren't on the field. Trackers were attached in the armour as well. Once he saw that each camera was functioning, he turned back to the four.
"Good. Your microphones and headsets are all working, obviously." Charles nodded to the Heroes' armbands and gauntlets. "Check your armbands. Are they working? Your knee pads, too, and your boots."
The four did their routine checks, pushing buttons and making sure their shields properly emerged from their armbands at the push of the right button. Nico tapped the inner sides of his boots, making sure that his shadowboard was working; as did Annabeth with her hover board. As soon as they were all done, they heard claps. When they looked up, they saw Charles taking a deep breath. "Right guys, the coordinates of the place where the monsters are right now have been sent to your trackers."
The four looked at the trackers attached to their arms. True to Charles' words, they found the coordinates of the place at the bottom of the LED screen. Blinking at the center of the grid were two triangles close to each other, symbolizing their enemies. At the edge, the letters Ar, An, J and N, markers for each of them, were also blinking.
Suddenly, the atmosphere turned tenfold more serious. As the other demigods in the room stepped to the sides, the four Heroes were left in the center. Charles addressed the four. "You're to go there and put a stop to this as fast as you can, guys. Once the monster has been sent back to Tartarus, you return here immediately. Let the mortals clean up after themselves. That's not your job anymore. Understood? Be wary of each other. More than anything, you'll do this with teamwork. Be attentive to each other's movements, and listen to orders. Are we clear?" There was intense concentration in Charles' face and it seeped into his voice as well. If the four didn't know better, they'd think Charles had been doing this for years, and not only Luke. They really didn't feel the difference. They felt as secured and taken care of as they did when it was Luke commanding them.
Returning the same seriousness that Charles extended to them, Annabeth, Nico, Jason and Arianne gave Charles a determined nod. With that, they all walked towards the side of the room where the least light reached. Once the shadows had cast over them, Arianne, Annabeth and Jason placed their hands on Nico's shoulders. Just like that, the shadows crawled over their bodies. Soon enough, they were gone; on their way to New York via shadowtravel, the usual and fastest means of transportation they used.
For the time being, they forgot about what could have been happening to Luke. Unknown to them, what Luke was doing in then was the same thing they were about to do. Only, Luke wasn't saving the mortal world. He was saving another demigod, a demigod they all didn't even know existed. Unknown to the other four, Luke was near the place they all were going to. Along with Grover and Chiron, Luke was about to do something that would change their lives forever.
Reminder from the Scribe: In this universe, there is no Roman Camp. Originally, there was no Jason, Piper, Leo, Hazel and Frank that existed when this story was first plotted; but to adapt to present circumstances, the original plot was bent to accommodate these characters. If some are not included and are not part of the main cast, pardon me. I did what I could to share to you this story. This is the fruit of the labour; I hope you appreciate it nonetheless.
Sorry if it's too long. This is the first chapter; it's supposed to set the atmosphere of the rest of the story. This one is going to have a pretty detailed plot and a detailed and in-depth style of writing, especially regarding our delving into the lives, thoughts and personalities of the characters. So it reflects on the chapters. I hope that doesn't turn you away. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed that. Please send me a review, it'll make my day; and of course make updating faster.