Disclaimer: Set in the universe created by Rick Riordan. All characters used are either of his creation, or are OCs created by myself, my partner, or other writers by whom we have gained permission for use.
Author's Note: This is the first part in a collaboration story written by myself and a friend. Both writers with publish through this account in accordance to when they finish certain chapters. This first chapter is written from the first person perspective of Blake Courtenay.
CHAPTER ONE
The Rescue
There was static. I cursed and pulled the communicator from my ear, throwing in on the ground. "Are you serious? Can someone please stop making these things so cheap? I mean, we could die because we can't hear each other." I said. The other marksmen standing next to me began to giggle and I stuck my tongue out at them.
"Stop overreacting, Blake, this is serious, you know how dangerous Greek fire is. You aren't a child anymore." Howard's voice came in loud and clear through the speaker system built into the room. I made a rude gesture to the direction Howard's voice was coming from and sighed. Howard used to be so fun, when we were kids, after our parents died, he took care of us all, even though he was only a year older than Wyatt and I, he was always so much more mature. With that maturity and his incredible fighting ability, it was no surprise that he was appointed leader of the Team, by Lupa, Chiron and the Legacy Initiative staff, but that was also when his personality changed. He became more serious, almost strict, he was like a second Lupa, but believe it or not he joked around less. His new personality didn't change his ability to lead us, however. When we were out on the field, Howard knew exactly what to do, heck, I was supposed to be the Tactical Coordinator during battle, the one who suggested the appropriate battle plan, but half the time we did a mission together, it was Howard who chose the formations. I didn't mind though, it wasn't worth arguing about, Howard was the leader, and I didn't want to make a big deal about it.
Another voice came from the speakers, this time it was Ralph, our weapons maker. He was a son of Hephaestus, and one of the last anti-supremacy demigods left from our parent's generation. He had no children, but before my dad died, he asked Ralph and about half a dozen other demigods to help Chiron and Lupa raise and train us. "Okay guys, you all will be testing out different versions of our Greek fire arrows. Blake and Lily, you have the most powerful ones, they're designed for battle against large and heavily armored enemies, like drakons, dragons, a Hydra and Hyperborean giants. They pack a punch, which is why you guys are standing so far away. Your target today, is that very life like model of Ladon the dragon." We all couldn't help but crack up at Ralph's sarcasm. The dragon model was made from a bunch of old machine parts, and the armor was painted bright pink, no doubt Cindy's doing. I was sure Howard would have a 'talk' with her about that, but no matter how much he talked to our trainees, they never listened.
"Okay, okay, that's enough joking around, just shoot our beautiful she-Ladon before that vein on Howard's forehead pops." Ralph said, a bit more seriously this time. "You're up, Blake and Lily, and remember, the armor is basically as strong as the ones the Supremacist monsters use, so aim for the same weak spots." We nodded and notched an arrow onto each of our bows, then glanced at each other.
"I got the right shoulder." Lily claimed, and I nodded again, I decided to go for the weak spot right under the neck. I raised the bow and arrow, aiming at the target and pulled back on the bow string. I took one deep breath and released the arrow, sending it sailing towards she-Ladon. Two soft thumps came from the scrap dragon's body, which were followed by two large explosions. Green fire burst from the arrows, engulfing the model dragon's body. The model quickly began to disintegrate, in typical Greek fire fashion. For those of you who don't know, Greek fire isn't like ordinary fire, for one, it's green and two, it's not any hotter than ordinary fire, but it is magic, which makes it a whole lot more dangerous. It doesn't really melt stuff, even ice doesn't melt, Greek fire literally disintegrates whatever it's been set on. Scary I know, but we have to work with things like this if we're going to stand a chance against The Supremacist. Anyway, we watched as she-Ladon took her last breath and crumbled to ash before Howard came back on the speakers. "Good job you two, you can go now, the others will handle the rest of the testing." He said, opening the automatic door, allowing us to leave. Lily walked a bit in front of me, and as we got out the door, she slowed down to let me catch up. "You know, you should give Howard a break, he's really stressed out being leader and all. Is it so hard to just follow orders without making a smart remark?"
I rolled my eyes. Lily always defended Howard. She had the world's most obvious crush on the guy, but it was a bit one sided, since Howard never seemed to notice. Really takes after his grandmother, he does. And it kinda sets up a terrible love triangle since Trent Epperson seems to have feelings for her, but poor Lily is too busy chasing after Howard to notice, but that's besides the fact. Point is, Lily always jumps at the chance to defend Howard, but that doesn't mean I can't argue.
"Oh come on Lily, I know he's great and all, you don't need to justify every wrong thing about him. Howard is a tightly wound stick in the mud, who doesn't know how to have fun anymore. You should move on, there are other fish in the sea." I told her, though my comment seemed to have been taken the wrong way.
"What are you talking about, haven't you and Kat been going out for like a month? I'm definitely not going there Blake, take your mind out the gutter." Lily retorted abrasively.
I groaned dramatically. "Not me, Lil, I'm talking about Trent or one of the half a dozen other guys around here who think you're hot?" I said, earning myself a punch in the shoulder, which was a good sign. Lily punched my shoulder pretty often, so much that I think my left arm is pretty much bruise-proof.
"I dunno Blake, all those guys, they're nice and all, but they're just not right." Her voice was kinda sad, but she spoke with a smile. "I've tried to like other guys, especially Trent, but they're just not right, they're something not there."
I was baffled by her words. With all the wealth our parents left behind, I was slowly beginning to think we should focus less on fighting the tyranny of The Supremacist and start looking at what exactly went through girl's heads when it came to love. "What d'you mean? What's wrong with them?" I asked as we rounded the corner to the Dining Room.
Lily sighed, stopping just in front of the door. "They're not Howard." I was about to respond but she cut me off. "Can we please just drop it, Blake? Please?"
Something in her eyes convinced me to accept her wishes. The sadness in her eyes told me that she didn't want to, no, that she could talk about it any longer, so I let it drop. If there was one thing I had figured out by now, it was that Aphrodite was cruel, and Lily was proof. "Yeah, sure, let's just go eat." I said, opening the Dining Room door.
It was as loud in there as ever. Apparently Lily and I were late, because everyone was already seated at one of the three tables. I told Lily good-bye and went to my usual table, taking a seat between my best friend Wyatt and Katrina, my girlfriend. "Hey guys, what'd I miss?" I grabbed a roll from a basket and broke it apart.
"Nothing much, man, we just got here. Trent's been telling the same joke over and over the entire day, so if he asks, no, neither children of Mars or Ares do not have souls." Wyatt said, rolling his eyes. "Give that guy a good joke and boy does he go overboard. Anyway, I feel like I should ask this in Kat's presence so that she doesn't suffer when the truth comes out, so is there anything going on between you and Lily, because you guys have been coming to dinner together quite a lot."
I smacked Wyatt on the back of his head. "You think I'd even be brave enough to two-time Katrina? I thought you were a rational guy."
Then came the other punch to the shoulder, the excessively hard punch that I'd come to attribute with Katrina. "I can't tell if you're insulting me or not, babe." She said 'babe' in an especially maniacal and threatening manner, the kind and insane villain would make right before bombing a million people.
"Oh, hey Kat how was your day?" I asked trying to get off the subject, but Katrina just punched me again. I cringed in pain. Katrina's punchs were on a whole other level than Lily's. It must have been that Mars blood she got from her father, because unlike my left shoulder, my right would never become bruise immune. "Oh come on, Kat, that's the arm I use to shoot thing with, if something happens to it, then who's gonna be our marksman?"
"Ohh, big loss, losing one of our half a dozen marksmen, plus we've got Gwen, who unlike you, uses a wicked awesome rifle." Wyatt said nudging me in the ribs. Katrina shrugged like she agreed with him.
"You can't be serious, I'm definitely the best marksman we have, there's no doubt about that." I responded proudly. "Besides, I could use a rifle if I wanted, but then I wouldn't get to use this quiver that was enchanted by Grandpa Apollo himself. I don't see Gwen walking around with a quiver of endless bullets."
"Touché." Wyatt turned away from me to talk to his our shared cousin Joanna, leaving me to face Katrina on my own, not that he was much help in the first place.
As I was about to really ask Katrina about her day, she began to speak. "How were the arrows you tested today were, were they field ready?" she asked plainly.
"The Greek fire arrows? Yeah, I guess, they made a big explosion, and they took down our scrap metal dragon without any trouble, though we should only use them when there's no one near the unfortunate monster." I explained. "What'd you do today?"
Katrina nodded. "I didn't do much; helped Christine demonstrate some new moves to the Trainees, then did some training with Trent, nothing out of the ordinary." She told me. We spent the next hour or so chatting about whatever came to mind. Eventually Wyatt or someone else would join in on the conversation, but for the most part, it was mostly Katrina and I, and I loved it. I had feelings for the legacy of Mars and Neptune for as long as I've known her. There was just something about her that made me want to fight for a world where we could live in peace, and that's what I intended to do. After we cleared the Dining Room, Katrina and I took a walk around The Compound, which was big enough to take up another hour of our time.
The Compound was where we lived and trained. You see, before they died, my parents as well as a few others pooled together money and left it for Chiron to build a place where we would be safe from the Supremacist and where we would be able to develop our skills until we were able to take him down. The Compound consisted of several large buildings; one of which was the Mansion, where we all lived. It was one of those really gigantic fantasy mansions, the kind that royalty would live in. According to Chiron, it's a miracle of architecture that some lady named Annabeth Jackson designed; actually she designed the entire place.
The Gym is where we trained, and was also the largest building on the Compound. Inside there were several areas build to sharpen our senses and techniques, like moving targets, a lava wall, and several dangerous booby traps that we shouldn't have been allowed to train on, I mean seriously, who puts pressure spikes and flamethrowers on a teenager's playground? Even if we're stronger and faster than normal humans, we aren't immortal. I'm sure it was one of Lupa's ideas, a way to weed out the weak and make sure the rest of us are in tip top shape.
As we passed the Forges, Ralph popped his head out the window. "Hey you two, don't stay out too long, we got word that a couple enemy transports are going to be passing this way, so everyone's gotta get inside pretty soon, okay?"
"Don't worry Ralph, we don't have much further to go." The son of Hephaestus gave us a thumbs up, then pulled his head back inside. He was probably working on his multi-metal weapon project. It was something he'd become obsessed with ever since he saw Katrina's gladius, Vicis. It was one of a kind, and made from several different mystical metals, and up to now, no one has been able to remake it, or anything similar for that matter, including Ralph.
Katrina looked up at me, "I think we should just go over to the Lake and then head back, we aren't going to have time to make it all the way around today." She said pulling me along. Of course she wanted to go to the lake; whenever we walked together we always spent the most time at the lake. Katrina loved swimming and the water, obviously, but me, not so much. I mean, water's pretty and all, but it's also scary, and I'm allergic to most seafood so you can see where I'm coming from, but at least I can swim in it. Chiron told me that my dad and his brother's couldn't even go into most bodies of water, especially the sea.
The lake had its good parts too, Chiron and Lupa thought it would be a good idea to have the Compound surrounded by water since we had so many legacies of Poseidon and Neptune on the Team. It was a good strategy, but it made me a bit uncomfortable from time to time, but I still managed to hang out there, because it made Kat happy, I think it reminded her of her mother.
As we walked towards the lake, a siren came from the mansion. Katrina and I looked at each other and nodded. "There's a passage way to the underground around here, next to that tree." She said pointing at an old pine tree. We ran towards it, and Katrina put her palm on the trunk of the tree pushing a little. Suddenly the ground shook beneath us as a passage way opened. So I guess I should explain about the passage way, huh? Well, every building in the Compound is connected underground, through a series of tunnels, so if there is ever a threat on the grounds, we can move around undetected.
We moved quickly through the dimly lit tunnel. Neither of us were fond of being underground, it felt like we didn't belong there, and we probably didn't. After a few minutes we arrived at a metal door with a number lock on it. I quickly punched in the code, 1-4-7-2 and the door opened automatically, leading us into the Mansion. We dashed up the stairs and made it to the briefing room as quickly as possible. We met Trent and Joanna at the door. "You guys know what this is about?" I asked.
"Nope, but we're about to find out." Trent answered opening the door and allowing us inside. Everybody was already present, sitting at their designated seats. Howard, who had the biggest seat on round table, gave us a stern look as we parted ways.
"Good of you guys to join us." He said, before looking back at the papers that were in front of him. I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, we weren't exactly in the other room." I said, and I would have said more if someone didn't stop me. Hannah Copperfield, my cousin on the paternal side placed a firm hand on my shoulder, and shook her head. I took her unspoken advice and sat back in my chair.
"Now that you're all here, I will brief you on the mission." Lupa said in a commanding voice. "We have been alerted by the presence of three different enemy transport envoys, and after closer inspection, we have deemed them a threat, and thus need them taken out." She informed us, looking up at Chiron, giving him his queue.
The centaur cleared his throat and then began. "As usual, you will be split into different teams. For the purposes of this mission, you will be split into three. Alpha squad will consist of Howard, Katrina, Wyatt, Gwen, Joanna, Hannah, and Trent." That was strange. Chiron put a marksman on Alpha squad and it wasn't me? I was always the Alpha squad marksman. They got the most dangerous mission, and therefore the best of us were chosen to run that mission. Maybe there's something special about Beta. I thought to myself, but was disappointed again. "Beta squad, will be Lily, Cameron and Layla." I raised an eyebrow. Maybe I'm going on a secret covert mission? I thought. "And Gamma squad will be made up of Blake and Scott."
I nearly choked on air. "What? Gamma squad? Since when were me or Scott ever even considered for running a Gamma mission?" I asked getting up from my chair. I was a bit annoyed to say the least; it was the stupidest thing I ever heard. I never went on the Gamma mission, I mean, I hardly got the Beta mission.
"Sit down and stop overestimating yourself, Blake." Howard said sternly from his seat. His face was passive, but his eyes betrayed him. I could see the anger in them, the restraint. I was sure he was ready to try and make me sit back down.
"Shut up, Howard, I'm not talking to you." There was a collective gasp in the room. No one talked to Howard like that, not since he became leader anyway, but before I realized what I had said, Howard was already out of his seat and coming towards me. I wouldn't have had enough time to defend myself, but luckily, Lupa wasn't in the mood to watch a fight. She jumped across the table pushing both of us back.
"Howard, take your team and get ready." The she-wolf commanded with a growl. Howard eyed me for a second, then glanced at Lupa and took off. Wyatt put his hand on my shoulder and gave me a look that clearly said, 'We're gonna talk about this after the mission'. Katrina and Lily had similar expressions, but they soon left with the rest of the legacies. Soon only me, Scott, Chiron and Lupa were left in the room.
"I apologize if I offended you two by putting you in Gamma squad." Chiron began. I glanced at my younger cousin Scott, who was also visibly upset. Neither of us was used to being left with the easy mission. I could hit any target from any distance, and I wasn't too shabby with my powers either, and Scott was awesome at mid range. "But while this Gamma mission may not be as dangerous as the others, we thought you two would be particularly interested in it."
My head tilted in curiosity, but Scott spoke before me. "What is it? What's so special about this mission that you didn't put us on Alpha squad?" he asked, which was basically what I was wondering.
"One of the envoys consists of only one truck, but it isn't meant to carry cargo. We've confirmed that one of our allies is being carried in this truck, but we don't have concrete evidence. We need you both to track down the truck and confirm who is inside it." Lupa said, though she seemed to be beating around the bush, which was strange, Lupa was the most direct she-wolf I knew.
"Who is it?" I asked curiously. "Who's the person we're looking for?" I insisted. Chiron and Lupa glanced at each other, and Lupa gave a short growl, to which Chiron nodded.
"You are to confirm that it is this man." Chiron handed us a piece of paper with a picture of a blonde man with a five o'clock shave and sun glasses. I nearly dropped the paper when I recognized the man.
"Uncle Gary?" There was a tear in Scott's eye, and I could feel one forming in mine as well. Gary Hound was a son of Apollo from our parent's generation. He survived the longest of all his comrades. He even stayed here at the Compound for a while, but he disappeared about a year ago. We suspected he had been killed while running a dangerous mission, but there was always hope that he was just in hiding and now it was looking like a reality.
"I'm sorry." I said, to both Chiron and Lupa. "I should know by now that you always have a reason." They both accepted, so Scott and I went out the door, but before we got too far, Lupa stopped us.
"Blake, Scott, your mission is only to observe and confirm. Come back home as soon as you do that Understand?" she said menacingly. We both nodded and made our way to the weapon's room, where we began to stock up for the mission. I strapped my quiver and compound bow to my back, and attached two long hunting knives to my belt. Scott stocked himself up with an array of throwing knives and brought a sword with him just in case, and then he went rummaging for something else. "Scott, what are you looking for? We'll be late if we don't hurry."
He was silent for a second, and then he pulled a crossbow out from under a sheet. "Uncle Gary'll need this for when we break him out of the truck, don't you think?" Scott asked, grinning happily.
I couldn't help but chuckle. I was also thinking about saving our uncle, despite Lupa's warning, but it seemed Scott was a step ahead. "Of course he'll need that, crossbows are his thing." Scott strapped the ranged weapon to his waist signaled that he was ready.
The hike to the road went by quickly with all the anticipation. If Uncle Gary was really alive, then we had to save him. The Supremacists made a big mistake putting him in the least guarded envoy, but it did make me wonder what was in the others. Uncle Gary may not have been a fighter, but he was no slouch. He could probably take each of us down if he had to, yet he was only kept in captivity by six guys on motorcycles and the driver of the truck.
Scott and I waited on a hill at the side of the road, covering ourselves with the bushes and using our light manipulation abilities to camouflage even better. It didn't take ten minutes before the first set of headlights appeared from around the curb, then the sound of several engines came roaring in our direction. As we were told. There was a truck towing a cage, and it was accompanied by six motorcyclists. Scott pulled out a pair of binoculars, and peered through the holes in the cage. He smiled a little then looked up at me. "It's him." Scott said, and I took that as my queue.
I notched an arrow onto my bow and let it sail towards the guard in front. A moment later he flew off his bike with an arrow sticking out his shoulder. The other began to slow down, which was a mistake, because it only made it easier for us, or so we thought. By the time I had picked off the second biker, they had pin pointed our location. "They must be able to read our heat signature." Scott said, adding a couple curses.
We took off in different directions. We'd trained for situations like this; we could make ourselves virtually unseen to the naked eye for short periods of time, but often times the enemy was able to find us using other methods. Heat vision goggles and sonar were common, but sometimes they had machines that could disrupt our powers, though they were rarely used. I shot an arrow at another guard, but he dodged, easily. I stopped, no way would he be able to do that, Scott and I had closed the distance significantly, now we were fighting a mid ranged battle, he shouldn't have had enough time to dodge. I grabbed another arrow and shot it, but the guard dodged it again. Something was different; this guy had been trained way better than the average supremacist soldier.
As I reached back for another arrow, the guard charged. He was ran at me like lightning, one second he was near his bike, the next he was right on top of me. I barely had time to dodge, rolling out the way of his attack. I sized him up, he didn't look like anything special, but I could tell he had experience by the way he held his sword. His stance wasn't basic; he knew what he was doing. After a second he charged at me again, and instinctively I drew out my knives, meeting him halfway. I used one of my knives to parry his slash, redirecting it. The momentum made his lose his balance and I took the opportunity to take him out. As the guard fell I spun around, bringing my foot up to meet his face. There was a satisfying crunch, and the guard went limp on the ground. That was three down, and but I could tell things weren't going to get any easier. The other three guards stepped off their motorcycles in unison, and faced me. This time I wasn't going to take any chances and allow them to get close to me. I sheathed by knives, and pulled my bow out, notching three arrows on it. I aimed to the guard in the middle, he had blonde hair, and like the others, his eyes were covered by goggles. When they didn't make any moves, I figured they were trained to counter, to judge the situation and act accordingly, but fortunately they had forgotten one thing. Scott.
I caught a glimpse of my cousin sneaking behind the guards, creeping closer to the cage where they were keeping Uncle Gary. I had to buy him some time. If it was three of us against three of them, the tables would be turned, no way could they take on the three of us, but that would only happen if my plan worked. I still couldn't let them get too close to me; I could hold my own, but my true talents lied when there was a distance between me and my enemy.
I tilted the bow a bit, just to see how the guards would react. Other than the obvious tension in their muscles, they made little movement. Excellent, I thought, and then let the arrows fly. The blonde guard in the middle ducked, while the other two jumped to the side. Now Scott could focus less on hiding himself and more on helping Uncle Gary. I jumped back a couple steps as the blonde guard charged at me. He had a spear, which meant he had to be taken down quickly. The added range would be troublesome, but I had a plan.
I reached back, and pulled an arrow out of my quiver. The arrow had an orange tip that was semi-transparent. As I drew it back on the bow, the arrow slowly began to vanish. That stopped the guard in his tracks. You can't stop what you can't see, and he couldn't see this arrow, heat vision or not. I winked at him and released the bolt. There was a sickening piercing sound as the arrow entered blondie's chest. Then I turned to my right, to face the other guy. That was a mistake.
The second my attention was turned to the right, the guard on the left took his chance. I felt a sharp pain to the back of my neck that brought me to my knees. I cursed and tried to roll away, but they didn't let up. Their spears barely missed my head as I rolled across the ground, I barely had time to get to my feet, and when I did, I was quickly knocked back down.
There I was flat on my back, trying to think of something quick witted and insulting to say as my last words. The two guards hovered over me, like they were contemplating whether they should kill me or take me prisoner. Frankly, I hoped it was the former; I had no intentions of being held prisoner by The Supremacist, I'd rather die and join my parents and the other heroes who gave their lives for humanity.
Finally, they came to a decision. Looks like I'm dying then, I thought to myself as one of the guards raised his spear. I looked him straight in his, err, goggles and as he was about to bring the point down on me, there was a flash of light, and the guard flew backwards.
"All those months in captivity and I can still shoot like a mad man." A familiar voice said. My heart jumped as I looked back to see who it was coming from. It was a thin blonde man, a few inches taller than Scott. He had a comedic smile and his eyes were covered by a pair of shades that resembled the one the guards were wearing. "Anyway, I suggest you step away from my nephew, guard. You have no idea the kinds of things I've been waiting to unleash on you guys, and I'm sure you don't want to know." His smile told me that he was having fun, but it just made him seem all the more dangerous, especially to the guard, who dropped his spear and took off on his bike.
I sighed in relief and hauled myself up from the ground as Uncle Gary and Scott made their way over to me. "Thank you, both of you. You saved my life, and I am grateful." Our uncle said, embracing both of us. "Huh, you both grew, a lot. I mean, it's almost been a year, but yeesh, you're turning into giants. And what's with this hair Scott, you look as ginger as ever!" His laugh was refreshing, actually everything about him as refreshing, even his dirty, torn up clothes. Just having him there was one of the best feelings I've felt in a long time.
"It's good to see you, Uncle Gary, but what happened to you? How did you get captured and what were you doing?" I asked. Uncle Gary's arms were still wrapped around me and Scott as we walked into the woods.
"I'll tell you all about that later. Right now we have to get to the Compound quickly, that guy's probably already called in to his headquarters and reported the attack, back up is likely on its way by now." He said, pulling us along with him.
This time, the walk seemed slow, more enjoyable. Scott and I had done it, we save one of the last relatives we had from our parent's generation. On the way, we filled Uncle Gary in on what we he'd missed in the past year. We informed him about the untimely death of Mr. and Mrs. Rêveur, and how they too left three young children behind. Uncle Gary spat in distaste, obviously upset that more of us had died, but he was also relieved that all the children were safe.
The Compound wasn't just a home to us on the main team, who were known as Field Members, but we also had several Trainees, who practiced as a team until they turned fourteen and were allowed go on real missions, and aside from the Trainees we had the other, much younger kids. Like Romulus and Remus North, who were four years old, and the Rêveur triplets, who were three. They'll stay at the Mansion until they are old enough to undergo actual training and later graduate to being a Field Member.
"I think I'm starting to recognize these trees, are we almost there?" Uncle Gary asked. He looked a little tired, but that was expected. He'd been taken prisoner for a little less than a year, he was probably given just enough food and water to survive.
"Yeah, the Compound's just behind those trees. Of course we can't see it because of the enchantments over the borders." Scott reminded him. After a couple more minutes we crossed the barrier that was hiding the Compound from the outside world. We could see the Trainees on the balcony of the Mansion, no doubt waiting for our arrival, but there was someone else with them. As we got closer, I began to recognize who it was. "Katrina." I said grimly. It wasn't that I wasn't happy to see her, I was glad she was safe, but that meant that the rest of her team had returned, and I wasn't ready to face Howard. I'll admit I got a little carried away back in the Briefing Room, but he had it coming, someone had to tell the guy off, but I was still debating whether or not I should apologize to him.
Wyatt met us at the door, greeting Uncle Gary welcomingly, then he turned to Scott and I. "You two are in big trouble. One of Lupa's wolves followed you and reported what you were doing, Lupa's furious, and so was Howard, but Lily talked to him, and he seems to have calm down a little bit." He told us.
"They're in trouble for saving me? Are you kidding, when we were your age we were praised for helping our allies." Uncle Gary sounded surprised, but then he laughed. "But then again, it is Lupa we're talking about, and Howard's a Roman isn't he. They've always been strung up too tightly, that bunch. Don't worry, I'll talk to them, I'm a bit afraid of that she-wolf, but Chiron likes me, and I'd like to see Howard yell at me!" he said with a smile.
Uncle Gary led us to the Briefing Room, where according to Wyatt, everyone was waiting for us. "We have big news from our mission. We found about some major plans, and we've been waiting for you guys to get back so we could discuss them." He explained. As we turned the corner we met Katrina standing in front of the door.
"Finally, I've been waiting here forever." She said. She didn't sound angry, though she avoided my gaze, smiling up at Uncle Gary instead. "It's nice to see you, Mr. Hound. You look well for a man who's been held captive for a year." She said kindly.
"Thank you, Katrina, but why were you waiting for us?" Uncle Gary asked. "I mean, we all know where the Briefing Room is."
"Things are… a little tense. Howard's eager to get started, so I decided to wait out here." She said. "If you're ready, we should go in."
"Right, let's go." I said, opening the door and leading the others in. As usual, everyone was already seated. I was getting a little tired of always arriving late, and I could see that I wasn't the only one. I could feel several disappointed eyes on me, but strangely Howard's were not among them, well, he wasn't glaring at me, but he was watching as we went to our seats. Uncle Gary used one of the guest chairs, sitting next to Chiron and an annoyed Lupa.
"Right, since everyone's now here, we need to talk." Howard began. "On our mission, Alpha Team got a hold on some very important information. The transport envoy we attack was carrying certain plans, plans that could endanger us all."