Disclaimer: All characters and ideas are developed from the world of Rick Riordan, and his fans. Characters used that are not of Rick's creation are either our own, or those of writer's by whom we have obtained permission for use.

Author's Note: This is the second chapter in the collaboration story known as the Legacy Initiative. This chapter is written from the first person perspective of Wyatt Ward.

CHAPTER 2

The Confrontation

The beach. It was perfection, immaculate, inexplicable beauty. The water was my home, and I lived and breathed water. Literally. A day at the beach, oh was that a dream. Volleyball, catching some waves, drinking some Coke as I worked on my tan. Yeah, that was the perfect day for me. And there was one other thing that always got me running to the beach.

The girls.

Layla Lobo and Hannah Copperfield. Those girls sure as Hades know how to pull off a nice two-piece bikini. No doubt about that, not in a million years. And I knew that Scott wouldn't disagree at all. Hannah had caught his attention quite a bit lately, not that the shy bugger would actually say anything. She even seemed a bit interested in him. Poor kid, got beautiful girl like that standing right in front of him, won't even make the move. See me, I don't really need to make the move. Layla and I, we got a thing. Not official or anything, but we've been at the "more than friends" level for quite some time. I guess, neither of us were ready to make the actual commitment yet, with all the missions going on. That didn't seem to hinder Blake's hormones from going crazy though, because he and Katrina, my cousin, had started dating a month or so ago. Everyone else saw it coming, though I can't help but to think that if their relationship gets in the way of everything, I will kick Blake's butt if I gotta. Who knows, maybe I won't have to. Katrina seems to do a pretty good job of that already. Blake's arm looks like a permanent purple color. Katrina packs a punch.

So, admiring my surroundings, (aka, Layla in a very attention-grabbing hot pink bikini), I laid back in my beach chair, just soaking up the sun, closing my eyes. Might as well enjoy myself a bit when I wasn't training, which seemed like all we'd do recently. We hadn't gotten a good mission in quite a few weeks. Ever hear that old adage "evil never sleeps"? Well, I guess evil hadn't gotten the message, throwing itself into a nice long nap. A nap. That sounded like a really good idea actually. Just as I was about to nod off for a nice little beach snooze, Layla called my name out from a distance.

"Wyatt…Wyatt. Wake up! Wyatt. WAKE. UP!" I opened my eyes slightly to find that…I was in my room. I sighed, looking up at Layla groggily. "Wyatt, it's 11 am. Come on, get up."

"I don't wanna get up!" I groaned, flipping my body over, burying my face deep into my pillow.

"I don't care what you want, loco. Get up." She used the word loco in an endearing way at least. Craziness, it's a specialty of mine. "You're late for training again." This last statement was met with a similar response to the first, and Layla apparently doesn't like it when I ignore her. She abruptly ripped the covers off of my bed, revealing me to be only in my boxer shorts, which ironically, was not all that unusual. Layla had to wake me up often, and this seemed to be the routine at this point.

"Ugh…just have Trent cover for me!" I couldn't see Layla's eyes with my face still buried deep into the pillow, but I could feel the death glare burning against the back of my head.

"He has been covering for you. For over an hour!" Layla exclaimed, forcefully ripping the pillow out from under my chin. I turned over to look up at her beautiful, sparkling blue eyes, a wide grin spreading across my face.

"Fine…I'll get up. Hey, just tell him I'll be there in a minute. Just gotta get dressed."

"Oh, speaking of you getting dressed, I took the liberty of choosing your clothes. They're on the dresser. Gods only know how long it'd have taken you if I didn't," Layla said, rolling her eyes as she stepped outside, taking the short walk from the room in the Mansion, down to the large training complex, the Gym. I silently thanked her for picking out my clothes, which were a folded neatly on my bedside dresser. There was a simple white t-shirt, black jeans and two different socks, one purple, and one white. I chuckled at that. Layla and I had made a bet a while back to see who could go the longest without wearing matching socks, the total so far working its way up to nineteen days in a row for the both of us. It proved to be a tough challenge for either side, with Layla's almost inability to wear things that didn't match, and my forgetfulness and lack of focus on my clothing. But the whole experience definitely was fun, and one of the many little dorky things that we demigods would come up with to keep ourselves amused in between our missions. The little things kept us from going crazy a lot of the time. Well, everyone except me of course.

I quickly threw on the attire my voluntary fashion designer laid out for me, and also slipped my blue harmonica into my back pocket. The harmonica was a handy, portable, smaller form that Ralph had created for my shining blue trident. All I had to do was think it, and the small musical instrument morphed into a 6-foot, three-pronged weapon, which I could use for slicing, dicing, and just about any other sort of –icing you can imagine.

I checked my room to make sure that it wasn't in total disarray, and sharply shut the door behind me as I took off down the hall and into the yard, making a quick run out of the short trip to the Gym. I nonchalantly slipped in the back door, down the eastern hallway, and into the northern-eastern corner of the large Gym area, which was where Trent Epperson was holding lessons with some of the younger kids. I approached my cousin from behind going in for a quick kidney punch, but he was too fast for that, and I knew that I had no chance going in. He moved his right fist, blocking my playful punch, and turned around to face me.

"Wyatt, you do remember that workouts start at 9:30 on weekdays, right?" Trent had a huge grin on his face, and I knew there was no way he was annoyed by me not being on time. Trent and I often ran morning workout sessions with the Trainees together, and always covered for one another if one of us were just too lazy to get out of bed on time. It was a mutual agreement, and so far, there was no harm done.

"Thanks for covering for me Trent. I was having a good dream, you know the deal. Beach dreams, I don't like to wake up from those, if you know what I mean?" Trent nodded, giving a quick glance over to the other side of the Gym, where Blake and Lily were leaving to get in some archery practice, probably try out some new arrow designs that Ralph has been cooking up. I still couldn't tell how Trent felt about her, but there was something about her that Trent liked. No doubt, she was a pretty girl; a good girl for Trent, if he would go ahead with asking her. But I didn't blame him for keeping quiet, if he actually had feelings for her. It was way obvious that Lily was way into Howard, and that is some big time competition. But Trent, he is a good guy. Easy going. Not like pipe-up-his-butt Howard.

"No problem dude. Anytime. You want some updates on how the kids have been doing in the past hour and a half? Maybe we could split the group in two, I take half, you take the other half?"

"Yeah, that sounds good to me dude. So how have our kiddos been doing on this fine morning?"

Trent smiled a bit, turning to our little group. Generally, with morning stuff, we would get different kids every day, on a rotating schedule. Sometimes that changed depending on missions, and sickness and whatever, but for the most part, we'd get 5 different sets of kids on any given week. Today we had four group members. Jacob Darrow, our cousin, Andrew Wood, who actually is more than just half god, Cindy Ward, my cousin from my dad's twin brother, Clancy, and one of the older trainees who had yet to qualify to become a field member, Joshua Masterson.

"Josh is improving incredibly. I think he may be able to pass the Trials soon, if he stays focused on his combat. Cindy is as deadly as ever with that gun, but we gotta try and get her to use a sword or something. She is good with her other powers, but she can't rely on the pistol all the time. Jacob, he is already mastering combat very quickly. He's kicked my ass twice already. If he were old enough to be a field member, he'd be a shoo in. And that leaves Andrew…the lover. Let's just say that he could use a bit more work in…just about everything. He's got the potential, definitely, but he just isn't trying. Too busy checking out his hair."

Trent's comments filled me in quite well enough that I could at least know what to look for. I contemplated his comments for a few moments before turning back to him. "Alright, how you wanna split this? I'll take Jacob and Cindy, you have Josh and Andrew?" Trent seemed to think that this option was satisfactory as he had already turned to pull Joshua and Andrew off to the side for a more private lesson. I called Jacob and Cindy over to my side, having them take a knee on the grassy turf in front of me.

"Alright you two. How about, a random weapon showdown?" Both seemed eager about this, so I pulled out my PDA, threw a bunch of data in with numbers and corresponding weapons before throwing it through a randomizer. I had them each pick a number one through ten, which would ultimately decide which weapon they would use. Many of the trainees loved this exercise, as it gave them a chance to prove themselves more versatile to the field members such as myself, a way to earn some kudos for when they would be old enough to face the Trials. Once they face the Trials and pass, then they also have to be approved by a majority of the current field members, and then they can become full field members. Because neither Jacob nor Cindy was 14 yet, they did not yet qualify for the trials, so now was the perfect time to build up a reputation with an experienced member. Jacob chose the number seven, with Cindy choosing the number three.

"Seven," I said walking over to the weapons rack. "That means you get to use a gladius Jacob. Nothing special, but reliable." I tossed the gladius to Jacob, who caught it on the fly, preparing himself for his duel with Cindy with a few practice swings. "Three, Ms. Cindy, means you will need to make do with this pugio and shield." She sulked at that, but took the weapons anyway.

"Okay, both of you ready? Here are the rules. All powers are acceptable. First to be knocked down twice loses. Good? Alright. 1…2…3…Fight!" The pair both stood there, bouncing back and forth for a few moments, analyzing the others motions, emotions, any factor they could decipher. I was impressed that neither of them attacked rashly, both keeping a rather cool head in the beginning of the fight. Cindy decided to make the first move, getting bored with her analyzing, but maybe made her advance just one moment too soon. She charged forward, needing to get in close to attack with the dagger, her shield lifted to block attacks from Jacob. She got in close enough to try and strike him, but overlooked the fact that he was both other and physically stronger than she was. He lowered his shoulder, bumping right against her shield, giving himself some space. He then brought his gladius down with a strong over-head swing, forcing Cindy to lift the shield to block, exposing her legs to attack. Jacob quickly took his opportunity, sweeping his leg under Cindy's, taking her feet out from underneath her, which resulted in a nice big flop as Cindy landed square on her back with a groan.

Cindy mumbled some sort of curse as she brushed herself off, causing me to raise an eyebrow, surprised that she would use such language. She chuckled a little, pacing back and forth as she analyzed Jacob's style once again. This time, she paid more careful attention to detail, and was not so quick to rush forward, waiting for Jacob to slowly advance on her. He made a few simple pokes just to get things moving, and Cindy instinctively blocked them with ease. She pushed him back, slowly moving the fight as she pleased, inching the duel closer and closer to the brick wall on the eastern side of the training area. I watched in amazement as the two young legacies made their moves, and Jacob took a powerful swing at Cindy, looking for the same result as before, but this time, Cindy was not so easy to trick. She quickly blocked the sword, and ducked low, driving the shield directly into Jacob's chest and launching them both into the wall, with Jacob taking the brunt of the impact. The brick crumbled slightly, and Cindy backed away as Jacob staggered and fell.

I was shocked at the fact that Cindy had bested Jacob even once, with their size and skill difference, Jacob should've made quick work of her. But she used her shield as an advantage, and it was tied at one point a piece. Jacob slowly rose, anger reddening his face, and a small red tint filling his eyes. I quickly rushed forward in between the two children. I had heard stories of the way that Jacob's father would become when his eyes turned red, and there was no way I was letting something like that happen here. I stepped closer to the enraged Jacob who glared over at Cindy, who unsurprisingly looked a bit frightened by Jacob's reaction. Trent having noticed what was going on, went and stood next to Cindy. I slowly stepped forward, calm as could be, and placed my hand on Jacob's shoulder.

"It's okay Jake. Things happen….it's no biggie. Just calm down, okay? Just calm down." Jacob didn't take kindly to me placing my hand on his shoulder and quickly slung me into the wall with much more force than a 12 year old should be able to possess. I heard a frightened shriek come out behind me, most likely coming from Cindy. I felt my face crunch as it smashed into the brick, and I quickly grabbed a hold of Jacob's arm to try and stop any further damage. I covered my bleeding nose with my free hand.

Lupa and Chiron were here, out of nowhere, calming Jacob down. They had dealt with this sort of thing before I guess, so I let them handle it. Once Jacob had cooled off, and Cindy had been calmed down, the two leaders decided it was time for everyone to go on break to get something to eat.

After some casual conversing, making fun of Blake at the table, Trent telling a few too many jokes, and eating quite a bit of food, I decided to go back to my room for a bit. "Hey Trent, I'm heading back to the room. Wanna come with?" Trent shrugged and followed me to my room where we chatted away about the incident in training for a few minutes until a knock came on the door. It was Chiron.

"You two are to report to the briefing room immediately. We have a mission for you." Chiron said. Trent and I exchanged excited glances as Chiron trotted away. We'd finally get another mission! It'd been a while since the last, and I had been itching to get outside the Compound for a little bit, and a nice mission would be just what he needed to let loose a bit.

Trent and I quickly got our stuff ready to go, and made our way to the briefing room. As we reached the door, Trent saw Joanna and started to chat with her, and I made my way into the room sitting down next to Hannah. Slowly everyone else trickled in, with Blake and Katrina showing up last. I leaned over and whispered in Hannah's ear.

"Psst. I wonder what they were doing that made them take so long." She rolled her eyes at me, but then when she saw my sly little grin, she couldn't help but let go of a little giggle. "It's a miracle! She can laugh!" And I got a quick, well-earned punch in the arm for that one.

"Good of you guys to join us." Howard said in a stern voice as the couple entered the room. Blake had some retort to that, but Hannah stopped him from saying more.

"Now that you're all here, I will brief you on the mission." Lupa said in her 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."

Chiron then spoke up, taken control of the briefing. "As usual, you will be split into different teams. For the purposes of this mission, you will be split into three." I better be in Alpha.

"Alpha squad will consist of Howard, Katrina, Wyatt, Gwen, Joanna, Hannah, and Trent." I poked Hannah, who once again rolled her eyes and fist-bumped Trent to my right. Wait, no Blake? That was odd. Blake was almost always with me on Alpha. After Chiron continued the listing and Blake ended up in Gamma, I felt kinda bad for him. Gamma was always a softie mission. Obviously, Blake felt the same way.

"What? Gamma squad? Since when were me or Scott ever even considered for running a Gamma mission?" Blake seemed furious, and it made sense, at least to me. Howard on the other hand, disagreed.

"Sit down and stop overestimating yourself, Blake." His strict and serious expression said that he was not messing around.

"Shut up, Howard, I'm not talking to you." Howard didn't take very kindly to Blake's mouth, and lunged after him. I quickly reached for my harmonica, but there was no need. Lupa was already in between the pair, intervening and raging.

"Howard, take your team and get ready." I got up as quickly as I could and deliberately placed my hand on Blake's shoulder so that Howard could see, then gave Blake a look saying. 'We'll talk later.' I then exited the room after Howard. Outside of the briefing room, Howard stopped the Alpha squad, passing around a manila folder with details in it.

"Okay, we take off in five. We wait for no one." With that, Howard left to prepare for the mission, leaving the remaining Alpha's to do the same.

Trent gave me an odd look, like something was on his mind, motioning for me to join him. When I reached him, he pulled me to the corner and whispered softly.

"Wyatt, I gotta bad feeling bud. There is something about this mission. It feels different. Notice how Lupa and Chiron were overly tense? I mean, Howard is always tense, but everyone else is usually more relaxed. Something tells me they are hiding something from us. I know how to hack into the Compounds network. I need to know what this is about before we take off."

I felt a bit uneasy using such a corrupt way of finding out information, but if Chiron and Lupa and Howard were hiding something, I'd want to know. I nodded. "Alright. Let's hack in."

Trent started going to work on his digitally enhanced watch, typing in codes as numbers popped up in a holographic formation. Generally demigods didn't mix well with technology, but Trent was able to work quickly enough that nothing could ever track him anyway. His demigod signatures were basically off the grid. He looked hard at the files and swore.

Puzzled, I asked, "What is it?"

"That convoy we're tracking? It's got something on there that we need to grab."

"Yeah, so? I saw that in the mission plans. Seems like a simple snatch and run."

"But it isn't. The mission details only state there to be 2 cars guiding the info convoy. But for such important info, that doesn't make sense. So I decided to track the convoy as well."

"You can do that?"

"I can do a lot more than that. The issue isn't tracking it. The issue is our info is sour. They have a 5 cars guarding it. And what seems like 2 motorcycle escorts as well. The only issue is, the guys riding those cycles."

"What about them?"

"They're human."

"You mean mortals?"

"No. Demigods."

"Shit. So this is a Supremacist envoy. Why wouldn't they tell us that?"

"I don't know, but whatever cargo is on that truck, it had better be important. If we're going up against some other demigods, this fight is going to be hell."

Dpha-dpha-dpha-dpha-dpha-dpha-dpha

The Compound's CH-53K Super Stallion transport helicopter landed in the front yard, where all other members of Alpha Squad boarded the high tech chopper.

Sonava. They were taking off without us. The chopper rose high into the air as Hannah scanned the Compound for us, but we were well into the shadows.

Trent cursed, grabbing my arm and running.

We took off running, and Ralph said something to Howard, who looked out of the co-pilot's seat right at us. He shook his head and said something back to Ralph. The chopper continued off the Compound. I glared up at him and shouted a large number of explicit words as he began to fly away.

Trent stomped on the ground.

"What do we do now?" I said, seething.

"I've got an idea, but you won't like it. Grab my hand." I gave him a look. "Just do it."

I complied and immediately felt as though my insides were turning inside out. I felt like I was on fire. Every inch of my body went numb, then tingled, then felt engulfed in flame once more. My vision blurred. I cried out in pain, but no sound came out. I heard a humming sound as I felt my body tearing itself apart, piece by piece. I blinked. I blacked out for two seconds.

I opened my eyes. I was in the chopper now, Trent was holding me steady. I opened the hatch and threw up outside the chopper. Disgusted groans came from the girls. Trent and Ralph chuckled. Howard was not amused. I grabbed Trent by his collar.

"You ever pull that again and I-I-…" I rushed back to the window and continued as I had before. "I'll…kill you."

Trent's face went slack. He looked me in the eye, unable to gain any perspective on my emotions. I cracked a smile.

"Just…warn me next time." He nodded apologetically.

Howard cleared his throat. I gave him a look. "Nice of you two to be here on time."

"Shut up Howard."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me."

After the little altercation between Blake and Howard in the Briefing Room, and learning that Howard, Lupa, and Chiron were keeping information from us, I was in no mood to take any sort of crap from the pipe master.

"Wyatt, watch your tone. We're on a mission."

"Howard, shut your mouth for two seconds or I'll show you the meaning of defenestration."

Hannah looked impressed by my apparent extensive vocabulary. Actually I just knew the word because of some stupid vocab game I played in high school.

"How dare you speak to me-"

"How dare he?" Trent cut him off. "How dare you Howard. Why don't you tell the rest of the group what this mission is really about."

Howard's face was stern, not giving in an inch. "I have no idea what you two are talking about."

"That's bull and you know it. Either you tell them, or we will." I stared him down, purple flashes in my eyes. I'm not usually the angry type, but when I do, I often get purple glowing eyes much like my father had. I never got the chance to reveal what Trent and I found.

Ralph cleared his throat in the pilot's seat, nodding to Howard. "Objective A is 100 meters away."

Howard nodded back to him. "Okay, the plan is-"

"Not for you to decide," I interceded. "Hannah will take care of planning. If you object, I can pin you to the wall." I drew the harmonica from my pocket and it quickly became a trident as I willed it to do so. I stood there menacingly, and Howard stared at me defiantly.

Just as we were about to come to blows, which would no doubtedly have ended up badly on my end, we were surprised by the voice of Joanna Peake.

"Howard, just appease him. We can't afford to ruin the mission, regardless of the bad blood between you two." I silently thanked my cousin, I preferred not to get the crap kicked out of me, but my pride wouldn't have allowed me to back down. I willed my trident back to its harmonica form.

Howard reluctantly nodded his head, gesturing over to Hannah. "By all means, tell us what the plan is." His tone was sarcastic, and Hannah scowled at him.

"I'll have you know, I am plenty qualified to run an Alpha mission. Your sarcasm is not appreciated, Howard." She said his name as if it were a curse. I rarely saw that sort of attitude from Hannah, but she was very prideful. That's Minerva's fault I guess.

She continued, ignoring Howard. "We'll have multiple strike teams. All converging on this point, each with a different point of entry. Trent, can you use that teleportation business right out of the chopper?"

Trent nodded. "I've been working on it while moving, this'll be a good test."

"Good. Take Gwen with you. You will enter from this forest here." She pointed to a point on the map. "Ralph, fly around for a few miles, return to this area in about 5 minutes, envoy is set to get here in 7. We'll want to set things up before we begin our assault."

"Katrina and I will approach from above. I don't have a lot of experience with air manipulation, but I know enough to create a cushion for us to ride down on."

Hannah spun and looked pointedly at me. "Wyatt, you and Jo will lead the assault on the front of the envoy, entering from the river."

That means we get the demigod motorcyclists. I really hope Jo is ready for that.

Hannah tossed Howard a parachute. "You'll enter from the air once the conflict starts. You'll be aiming to land right in the middle Jeep. According to the plans, the files we're looking for are in there." Howard nodded, apparently approving of his duties.

Whoopty doo for him.

Hannah took a quick look at her watch and nodded at me. "Jump location. ETA 15 seconds."

I never liked chopper jumps, but at least we were going into the water. I opened the hatch.

"10 seconds."

I stuck my hand out for Jo to grab onto. She grabbed it and squeezed hard. Secretly Jo had a fear of heights, and only Gwen and myself knew of it. She would never live with herself if her fear cost her Alpha missions. So Gwen and I kept her secret, and went about trying to help her as best we could. I nodded at her.

"Close your eyes, I'll take care of the rest." She nodded slowly, closing her eyes.

"5…4…3…2…1..." I gave Jo's hand a slight tug and we dove out of the chopper, flying headfirst towards the raging waters below. Generally a 750 foot jump without a parachute into open water was no problem for me. But that was before I saw how narrow the river was. Maybe 300 feet across, at most. Not a lot of area for mistakes to be made, or there would be a Jo-Wyatt sundae on the riverbed. Luckily, I timed the dive perfectly and descended very quickly towards the Earth. Jo's eyes were locked shut as we hit the 200 foot mark.

"Impact in 5, Jo." She nodded her head hard. I tugged her arm again, pulling her towards me, wrapping my arms around her, giving a slight cushion between her and the water.

We hit the water hard.

As we hit the blue, I saw Jo open her eyes and give a relieved smile. We had two minutes before the Envoy would round the corner down the road. At that time, Jo and I were engage the enemy forces. But the others didn't know that these were demigods we were going up against. Well trained, professional demigods. Easily our match if the numbers were right. My eyes tightened with concern.

Jo seemed to see my concern as we reached the surface again. "Wyatt? What is it?"

"Remember what I said about Howard on the chopper? He and the others in mission control were hiding something from us. Trent and I found out that the envoy we're tracking? It's a Sup envoy." Jo couldn't hide her surprise.

"What?! Why in Hades wouldn't they tell us that. What are they trying to get at here?"

I shook my head. "I dunno. That's what I was trying to warn all of you about. There are two motorcyclists at the front of the envoy. Demigods are on those bikes."

I heard the rumble of engines in the distance.

"Speaking of the bikes. Here comes the envoy. You ready?"

"If by ready, you mean completely unprepared for this mission, I guess I am ready. I can't believe this. Howard is going to get a piece of my mind when we get back to base."

"You're telling me cuz. You're telling me."

We saw the headlights as the envoy rounded the corner. Jo nodded at me. "Wanna try number 8?" she asked. I nodded.

In the Compound, our training programs were number coded, and often as a joke we used the numbers in missions to try and keep a cool. Number 8 was a water based training program that most legacies of Poseidon faced more than once. Basically the challenge was to move a large enough amount of water to stop opposing forces in their tracks. Usually it was used in open combat, while the opponent already knew you were there, as a game changer. Here, we had the element of surprise, and it would help us get an edge on those demigods out front.

"On my count. 3…2…1…launch!" We both called upon the powers of our grandfather, Poseidon/Neptune, and launched a wall of water towards the road, and ultimately, the vehicles that were traveling it.

The wall of water, which was about 10 feet high, hit the asphalt with a whoosh! The motorcyclists slammed on their brakes and turned, skidding across the water and flying from their bikes. The vehicles following them also quickly stopped, just barely reaching where the water had hit. I barked into my earpiece.

"All forces engage! Repeat, all forces engage!" I turned to Jo. "Let's move."

We leapt from the river, weapons drawn. My trident glowed a deep blue color, shining in the moonlight. At 6-feet, the three pronged weapon gave me great reach, but was also light enough that I could use it for close combat as well. Jo had her spear, which was about the same length of my trident, and seemed like nothing special, but it had been her Dad's and I always felt as though the thing had a few tricks up its sleeve.

Before we even hit the ground, the demigods were back on their feet, glaring at us through their charcoal colored helms. A few men climbed out behind us from their vehicles, guns drawn. Mortals. Not very many demigods carried firearms. There were a few exceptions, but generally the Sup's goons were very traditional.

"I'll take the mortals. Keep these crazies at bay, "I whispered, referring to the two demigods, "until I can help you out."

I wasted no time, turning and throwing my trident like a javelin, missing the three mortals by a few inches. The trident thudded into the side of the jeep, right near the gas tank. It penetrated the armored side, and gas began to flood from the vehicle. The men looked back at the car and snickered.

"You missed," one said. I only smiled.

"No. I didn't." I vaulted over them, yanking my trident from the car and took a swing at the men. They did exactly as I'd hoped, taking a step back, slipping in the gasoline. I took the chance to run back a few feet. The men quickly got to their feet, chuckling. Gasoline dripped from their uniforms.

"Running away kid? You really think some idiot like you could beat us?" They raised their guns and fired. I threw up a wall from the water in front of me, but I was too slow, not making the wall thick enough. One of the bullets made it through, clipping my right shoulder. I tried lifting my arm, and it didn't respond. That arm was useless now. The men emptied their clips into the water wall, but no others made it through.

I dropped the wall of water, clutching my shoulder.

"You're gunna lose kid. You know that, right?"

"I don't think so. And one other thing guys?" They paused. "I'm not the idiots covered in gasoline!" I turned towards the woods and winked. 3 shots fired out towards the Jeep and I turned and dove back into the river. As I hit the water, the Jeep exploded behind me, shrapnel just missing my head. I emerged from the water to the sound of three ground men shrieking in pain, shrapnel piercing their bodies in multiple places, and doused in flames. The men were burning alive, flames licking the ground and their hair. I doused them with another wave of water, killing the flames. The men were injured, very badly, but if they were tended to, they might live. Might.

I whirled around, looking for Jo. She was fighting like a mad woman, blocking and whirling, whirling and blocking, stabbing and keeping her two opponents at bay, just as I had asked. I ran for her location, still clutching my shoulder. Jo blocked a stab from a gladius, which looked to be of a silver color. One of the demigods was of Roman descent. Unsurprising. Many of the Sup's followers were. I held no grudges against many of them, most were just brainwashed into doing what they do, but I had to fight them nonetheless. The other demigod must've been a Greek, as his sword was a bronze color. It was curved, almost like a scimitar. I knew that sword.

Amad Telhran. Son of Apate. A not-so-very-nice goddess of deceit. Someone my parents had saved during the Second Gigantomachy. He was originally from Egypt, and when the Sup came a knocking, he joined their forces. He was a few years older than myself, he had only been a child when he was rescued.

Amad slashed at Jo, who ducked under the slash, only to meet the Roman boy's knee. She fell backward, landing hard on her head. She twitched slightly on the ground before going still. Amad stepped forward to finish off the kill. He inverted his scimitar, gripping it with both hands and raised his sword. Desperate, I threw my trident as hard as I could.

He plunged the scimitar downward towards Jo's throat, freezing at the last second. The blue missile plunged into his partner's throat. The Roman let out a muffled cry before falling to the ground, blood gushing from his neck, staining his leather jacket. The trident, still protruding from the unlucky boy's neck, stood almost straight up. Amad took a step back, ignoring Jo for a moment. Just what I wanted.

He pulled his helm off, revealing his dark skinned face. He had dark brown eyes, which twinkled at me with some sort of rage. His face was covered with a shaggy black beard, and his hair was long and unkempt. His eyes wrinkled with hatred, for me, for the world, for something. But his identifying characteristic was the long, dark scar that ran straight across his forehead. He could thank my Dad for that one, deceitful bastard.

"Ward." The man said, looking at me hatefully.

"Jackass." I responded coolly.

"I'm going to kill you. Just as I killed both your parents. You will feel the pain they felt. You will scream. You will bleed. You will pay for your father's treachery. You will pay."

This guy was nuts. And coming from me that meant a lot. Nonetheless, he knew how to get me angry.

"I'm going to gut you Amad. I'm going to kill you, slowly. Painfully. I'm going to make you pay for your treachery." I roared with rage, and the son of Apate only laughed.

"Good luck." He said, smirking.

I charged at him, weaponless. I didn't care. I'd tear him apart with my bare hands.

He only chuckled, raising his scimitar. "You ready to die, boy?"

He swung at my head and I tucked my head low, dodging the sword, and planting my good shoulder hard into his hip, driving him to the ground. He grunted, and we both scrambled to our feet. Circling each other, snarling. I feinted to the left, still weaponless, and rolled to the right, driving my right fight hard into his kneecap.

Amad looked enraged, screaming in pain. He swung his sword low, clipping my leg, but not badly. I cried out in a mixture of pain, rage, and a need for vengeance. I landed hard on my back. Amad took the chance, jumping on top of me, pinning me to the ground. I struggled, but he pressed harder. I raised my head hard, banging my skull into his. He grunted and I kicked his sword away.

A hard elbow clipped my jaw. I groaned. Amad reached into his boot, drawing a knife. It was short, maybe 8 inches at most. It glinted as he pressed it to my throat. I struggled but he pressed harder, and it started to draw blood. My leg and shoulder were still gushing. I could feel myself getting weaker. The throat wound was slowly getting deeper as Amad pressed harder and harder. My vision blurred. My voice was faint.

"I'm going to kill you Amad. Like it or not. You will die by my hand."

He smiled his deceiving smile. "Ward. It's all going to burn."

He lifted his arms, ready to drive the dagger into my heart. My arms wouldn't move. I had lost too much blood already. This was it? Wow. I had been expecting to at least go out in a cool way, getting bested in equal battle, or going down with a battleship or facing 20 guys or something. This was quite the disappointment. I looked up at my soon to be murderer.

A combat boot came from my left, kicking Amad square in the head. There was a crunching sound as foot met skull. He slipped off of me, unconscious.

I closed my eyes, barely able to keep them open. I heard voices. I opened my eyes again, slowly, to find the entire team hovering over me. I was back in the chopper. Katrina was closest to me, and Gwen was tending to my shoulder.

"How you doing Y?" She asked me, endearing for once. Katrina was so menacing sometimes, even as my cousin she scared the crap out of me.

"Doing good, I think. How'd the rest of the mission go Kitty?" She punched my good shoulder, not too hard, but enough to make a point.

"Don't call me that. But it went well; Howard recovered quite a bit of info. Trent and Gwen did well with the coverage from the woods. That teleporting does wonders for positioning." Trent grinned.

Gwen whispered in my ear. "Does a number on your stomach though, huh?" I smiled, struggling to keep my eyes open.

"What about you and Banana? Was that you that put a dent in Amad's forehead?" I asked. Hannah scowled at me for using that name, but then smiled.

"Well….yes. And I kinda crushed an entire Jeep. Hannah couldn't stop us fast enough, so I landed pretty hard, and we almost flattened the entire thing. Hannah actually smiled in battle."

I gasped dramatically, regretting it immediately. I coughed hard, a bit of blood filling my mouth.

"What…about Jo? Is…is she okay?" I said in between hacks.

"She's fine. She's cleaning your trident as we speak. You saved her life Y." Her life would've never been in danger had Howard told us the whole truth, I thought. I filled with rage, I could feel my eyes glowing, and Katrina eyed me. I pushed the anger down quickly, hiding it with a smile.

"5 minutes till we reach the Compound." Ralph said over the intercom. Good.

A few minutes later, we landed on the front lawn of the Compound and I hobbled out of the chopper. I turned to Trent.

"What happened to Amad?"

Trent sighed. "We tried to take him into custody, bring him on the chopper, but somewhere in the confusion of getting both you and Jo onboard, he escaped. I'm sorry Wyatt. We'll get him. I promise we will."

I nodded, hardly listening. I was angry. Angry at Amad. Angry at Howard. Angry at my Dad for leaving me alone. Angry at Lupa. Angry at Chiron. Angry at the Sup, at the world, at everyone. I was just angry in general. The last thing I wanted to do was attend another briefing meeting.

But I was curious of Blake's success on his Gamma mission. And Beta's too. Plus I needed to talk to Lupa and Chiron.

I hobbled through the halls of the Compound making my way to Briefing Room. Blake and Scott weren't back yet. Weird. Beta was already there, but their mission was just recon. Cam, Layla, and Lily were already kicking back, drinking Coke and laughing about their mission. At least until they saw me hobble in, bloody and battered. The mission room went quite. After a few minutes, Howard started to mouth off about how much Blake didn't listen and blah blah blah. So I blocked him out and walked over to talk to Jo. Katrina left the brief to wait for Blake, and Jo seemed a bit woozy but okay. She smiled and handed me my harmonica.

"Thank you Wyatt. For saving my life." I only smiled.

"Any time cuz. Any time."

I went outside the briefing room for a moment, to think.

A few minutes later Blake and Scott entered, accompanied by Katrina, and an older man that I recognized as Gary Hound, son of Apollo.

"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." But I didn't think that would save them.

Howard seemed very angered by the entrance of Mr. Hound, which made no sense to me, but Lupa and Chiron also shared his sentiment.

"Blake. Next time when you are told to observe and report, you will. OBSERVE. AND. REPORT." With each of those final three words, Howard showed a fit of frothing anger, slamming his fists into the briefing table.

He ranted for quite a while, calling Blake irresponsible, irrational, accused him of putting everyone in danger. I chortled at that last one. Hypocrite. After a while I just stopped listening.

"…you need to put other's needs before your own! Selfish. How could you be so selfish?!" Howard was raving now.

"Dude. Chill." We all turned our heads, Howard included.

Gary Hound stood in the corner.

"Last time I checked, it wasn't you out there, rescuing me, so for a minute, shut up. Blake and Scott did what was right. Now, I don't care how you think you run things here, Mr. Amos. But I know that if I was running things, I would've given him the green light to rescue anyone. Mortal. Demigod. Otherwise. Now why don't you take that large pipe you're walking around with that's ridden its way so far up your ass that you can't even see reason, and take that out, because I am done hearing your ridiculous ranting."

Everyone stared, jaws wide open. Howard himself was even shocked that anyone had spoken to him that way. I even started laughing, not caring when Howard glared at me.

Gary continued. "As far as I can tell, aside from Mr. Ward's injuries over there, these three missions went extremely well. The files you found, they can be discussed later. So if you don't mind me taking over, I'm sending these kids off to get some well-deserved rest. If you have a problem with that Howard, you can take it up with my crossbow."

Howard fumed. He planned on discussing matters, regardless. Maybe he was stupid, or maybe he just really liked Mr. Hound's crossbow. "The machine in those files, and the plans. They involved one of our own." Howard looked at Cam. "The Supremacist is planning on kidnapping demigod children to draw power for himself using this machine. He wants to kidnap Cam to study him, especially. I suggest we place the Compound on high alert. Place Cam under quarantine until further notice." Cam looked outraged but Lupa gave him a stare.

Chiron nodded. "Everyone, you are dismissed. Do as Howard says. Except you Howard. And you Trent, and Wyatt. Stay here just a moment." Blake glanced at me, and I shot him yet another We'll talk, look. Trent rose from his chair, and I did so as well, shakily standing. The rest of the team exited, leaving Trent and I alone with the leaders.

"We have heard of what you discovered. And we warn you now, stay out of it. We have our reasons for secrecy." Chiron said it so calmly.

Trent and I looked at one another, and then I spoke.

"With all due respect, we deserve to know when you are sending us into missions that could get us killed."

"That is for us to decide." Howards remark made me want to kill him, right then and there.

"Bull!" Trent screamed at them. "You see Wyatt? You see how badly Amad could've hurt him?"

"And what about Jo?" I continued where he left off. "If I hadn't been lucky, she'd be dead."

They stood there. Apathetic. I fumed.

"We can't tell you guys some things. For your own good."

"For our own good?! What in Hades are you smoking? These are our lives that we are talking about. I am not just going to be some pawn in your chess game. If Howard is leading this team, and you guys aren't revealing us all the information we're due, then I am done."

I pushed my chair out of the way, and walked towards the door. Trent did the same. "You keep this act up, you'll have no team left." We exited the room, slamming the door behind us.

After we walked down the hall, I looked at Trent, calm once more.

"Did you plant it?"

"Of course, have you no faith in me?"

"Well, then let's have a listen, shall we?"

"Of course, my liege…" I smacked him across the back of his head, and he messed with his watch until we could hear talking. Lupa, Chiron, Howard.

"…How could they come to know so much?"

"Epperson is good. He can even hack into Ralph's work now. The Sup will want expertise like that."

"And what about Ward? He showed resilience taking on Tehlran today. That was a nice touch to request him specifically Howard."

"Ward almost died though, if it hadn't been for Katrina…"

"At this point, all that matters is that we go through with the plan. The Supremacist knows we are loyal to him now Howard. You proved that today. Now we can move forward."

"Okay, what next then?"

"We give him what he wants."

"And what is that?"

"You will join his forces soon Howard. For now, keep on alert; make the team members think you are still one of them. And soon, we will have our way."