Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter.
The Ever Twisting Wind: Threshold Breakthrough
Chapter Two: Stepping into the Robo Tomb
Beta: ShadowofAxios
After finishing cleaning up the leftovers of her strange dream, Andi decided since it was morning already - even if it was absurdly early - that she might as well get ready for the day. So it was that about half an hour later, she was all but finished getting ready for the day.
There was just one problem.
With the Triwizard over and done with, what exactly was she supposed to do today?
I guess I should check in with Ida, Andi mused as she slipped on her hairclips. Speaking of checking in, I probably should check in with Camp. Didn't Adrasteia mention them being all worried about something Chiron didn't want to tell me? Maybe now that the Triwizard nonsense is done, he'll open up?
Andi stretched her senses a tad and tried to listen to see if Ida was awake or not. If she was, she'd usually hang out in the common room they shared to wait for Andi to be ready for the day. There was no sound of movement from the common room though, so Ida was probably still asleep or busy doing something.
Guess I'll check on Camp first then.
"Irides (Rainbows)." Andi incanted with a flick of her wrist, conjuring a rainbow with her spell.
Flicking a drachma into her conjuration with the ease of practice. The rainbow absorbed the offering even as the daughter of Zeus began invoking the goddess Iris.
"Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering. Let me speak to Chiron please."
The rainbow immediately turned into a screen of sorts, one that showed her the ancient centaur looking rather haggard.
"Chiron," Andi gaped, shocked by his appearance. "What happened?"
"Hello, Andi." Chiron greeted with a tired grin. "Good to hear from you too."
"Um, sorry, forgot my manners." The daughter of Zeus said with a embarrassed scratch to the back of her neck. " Good, um, morning?"
"Yes, it's morning. Around 2 o'clock to be precise." The centaur replied.
That might explain why he looked so exhausted.
"Long night?"
"Long week," the centaur said with an uncharacteristic yawn that he visibly tried but failed to stifle. "I've been very busy."
"Are you okay though?"
"I've dealt with worse than a lack of rest. I assure you."
"So what's the reason for the long nights?"
The centaur frowned at her question and replied with one of his own. "Is the Triwizard Tournament concluded?"
"Yeah, I won. Even managed to finish off Voldie along the way," Andi informed him, quite pleased with that last bit. "Earned me some brownie points with Lady Hecate and Uncle Hades I hope."
"It should," Chiron reassured her distractedly as he ran a hand through his beard nervously. "I take it to mean that all your responsibilities in Britain are dealt with?"
"I would think so," Andi replied with a frown, confused by her mentor's strange evasiveness. "Why?"
"I just want to be sure. I would hate to add to your burdens with-"
"Does this have to do with the problem Adrasteia said Camp is having? Is it causing you all these late nights?" Andi asked, putting two and two together. It wasn't painting a pretty picture. Whatever was so troubling the immortal trainer of heroes could not be a small matter.
Chiron hesitated for a long moment, before sighing in resignation.
"I suppose there is no reason to keep it from you any further," he mused quietly under his breath before raising his voice to properly address Andi. "Camp is likely to be attacked soon."
"What!?"
The immortal held up his hand for silence and Andi snapped her mouth shut. Satisfied, he continued with his explanation.
"We've come by some reliable intelligence that Luke is planning to attack Camp soon via the Labyrinth. As a result, I've been spending the past week fortifying it for such an invasion and searching for the nearest entrance to the Labyrinth so as to determine where the attack might come from."
The Labyrinth? If Luke attacks through that maze, he could pop up anywhere!
"I can see from the look on your face that you understand how dire the situation is."
Andi just nodded, still just processing everything.
"And why I didn't want to tell you until all your business in Britain was concluded."
"I get that," The half-blood said as she regained her composure. "But it's done now. And I'm coming home. Now. No way, I'm staying here while Camp needs me."
"I wouldn't expect any less from you." Chiron said with a nod. "I'll see you soon."
"You will," Andi assured him. "And in the meantime try and get some sleep, okay? You look dead tired."
"I'll try," the centaur said with another yawn. "Good night, Andi."
With that the exhausted immortal cut the Iris Message's connection.
The moment her mentor's image disappeared, Andi jumped to action. Swinging open her room's door she shouted at the top of her lungs.
"Wendy, Ida, Adrasteia! We need to head back to Camp ASAP!"
Andi was thankful that Adrasteia had taken the time while she and Wendy ate a rushed breakfast - at the two mountain nymphs' insistence - to pack a bag of essentials for her and Wendy.
It meant that by the time they'd shoved the last bite down their throats, they were ready to go.
"Here you go, Andi." Adrasteia said as she handed Andi her bag.
"Thanks Adrasteia, Ida." Andi replied earnestly.
"Don't worry about us," Ida reassured the anxious demigoddess as she passed a similar bag to Wendy. "Adrasteia and I will finish packing up our things and tie up loose ends here before joining you. Shouldn't take long. If all goes well, I'll be seeing you by dinner at the Dining Pavilion tonight."
Nodding, Andi turned to face the common room's fireplace even as Wendy scurried over to her side. She was just about to offer a silent prayer to her Aunt Hestia for passage through the Floo Network when she was interrupted by the sound of a throat clearing behind her.
All four of the room's occupants startled at that, and the daughter of Zeus nearly jumped a foot in the air.
Whirling around, her hand tight on her bag in preparation to throw it at the intruder's face, her grip grew slack when she saw who it was.
"Oh! Um, hello Lady Athena." Andi stumbled out a greeting as the stern eyed goddess stood there glaring at her with crossed arms. She was dressed in flowing grey silks, with an owl with blue and grey feathers resting on her right shoulder.
Please don't read my mind, especially the part where I thought you were an intruder!
Thankfully the goddess didn't comment on her aborted attempt to brain her with her bag. Hedwig, in her cage, that Ida was holding, offered a salutatory hoot to the goddess. Andi had a feeling she might be a fan.
"Andromeda." The goddess addressed.
"It's wonderful to see you again. I was just heading back to Camp to help." The half-blood explained. "You know, with the upcoming attack."
"You'll have to delay that," the matron of Athens said with an apologetic frown. "I have a mission for you. One more important than Camp. It'll just have to defend itself without you for now."
"A quest? Of course." Andi smiled as she snuffed out the urge to return to Camp. "It must be paramount."
"Not a quest per se," Athena hedged. "That would require a prophecy, but urgent nonetheless."
The blue eyed girl pondered this and frowned, "Right. I'm at your service then, Lady Athena."
Athena nodded, looking relieved.
"I'm glad you're so amenable. I was honestly expecting more resistance."
Andi felt an urge to groan. Did all the gods think she was some defiant, disrespectful brat? Fortunately, she had enough self-control, hard-earned mind you, to suppress the urge. She didn't even need the nudge Wendy gave her as a reminder to do so.
"I see your teachings have had an effect, Ida." The goddess said, offering the respectfully silent mountain nymph a nod.
"I try, milady." Ida replied with a bow.
"Back to the matter at hand," Athena said, abruptly shifting gears. "This is about those machines. As per our discussion during the Winter Solstice the mechanical menace has been neglected and is now potentially a major threat. I would like you to rectify this."
"Father hasn't given them the attention they deserve?" Andi asked worriedly.
"I've been trying to convince him of the necessity, but he honestly seems to think they are not worth the effort." Athena said with a frustrated sigh. "As such I've had to do what I can on my own."
Gnawing her bottom lip, the witch could easily understand Athena's frustrations. The Titans were a massive threat. There was no doubt about that. But that didn't mean Olympus could just ignore other threats! Especially this entirely new one! They had no idea just how much danger it could pose!
"These efforts have paid off recently." The goddess of wisdom declared. "I've discovered a cluster of activity by the machines that I'd like you to investigate. One which, if my suspicions are correct, might be part of an operation to somehow support Castellan's attack on Camp."
That really caught Andi's attention. If GLaDOS and her robot army was really supporting Luke then…
I have to stop them! Monsters are bad enough but ones armed with laser guns? We wouldn't survive that!
That said, she did have one question though.
"Um, I dunno if it's polite to ask this, but…"
Andi waited for Athena to give a permissive nod, before continuing.
"Why does it sound like it has to be me when it comes to GLaDOS?"
"Because the Fates have decreed it," Athena informed her. "Or as they put it, 'She opened this Pandora's Box, she must go handle the consequences.'"
Andi winced. That actually made a good bit of sense.
"I'd rather this problem didn't exist at all," Athena confessed. "Fighting a two front war is difficult. But we cannot change the reality we're faced with, just make the best out of it. Something I believe you've learned as well."
Andi just nodded. She had. Oh, she had.
"Then if you're ready I'll be sending you to your destination."
"I'm already packed and ready to go." Andi said, gesturing to her bag. Wendy, standing next to her, patting hers.
"Excellent, then good luck Andromeda."
With that the goddess of wisdom snapped her fingers and Andi was suddenly overcome with a sense of vertigo.
The vertigo lasted for only a second before fading and as it did, Andi registered that she'd been teleported somewhere.
"Where are we?" She muttered aloud as she looked around trying to get her bearings.
"Looks like a train station," Wendy supplied helpfully from where she was leaning against a wall. Apparently Athena's teleport didn't agree with her. "If the sign is anything to go by, we're in Lanesboro? No idea where that is though."
The partners' pondering on their location was interrupted by the sound of merry barks and Andi being tackled to the ground by an enthusiastic dog. One which the daughter of Zeus recognised instantly.
"Hunter, get off me!"
Said canine did nothing of the sort, instead choosing to lick its mistress' face eagerly.
"I think he missed you," Wendy commented teasingly.
"Andi!?" Silena's voice called out unexpectedly. "What are you doing here?"
Demigod contact! It had been so long! Pushing Hunter off of her, Andi jumped to her feet and gave her older friend a happy hug in greeting.
"Well, that explains why Hunter insisted on coming along." Bianca said from just behind the daughter of Aphrodite. "I guess I win the bet."
"Bianca! Join the hug!" Andi beamed.
"No hug for me?" Will said as he walked up behind the two girls. "Hi, Andi."
"W-Will!" Andi beamed, her cheeks warming at the handsome smile her boyfriend was offering her. "W-What are you doing here?"
That was when Wendy stepped on her foot.
"Kiss him first then ask that!" The Aura whispered harshly.
Will heard it too though, and both he and Andi blushed brilliantly.
"And where did you learn that?" Silena asked the little wind nymph.
"Romcoms," the little girl confessed. "They're Ida's secret pleasure. She lets me watch with her from time to time."
"I knew she was a softy." Bianca mused.
"Don't let her hear you say that~" Wendy teased the daughter of Hades.
"So are you going to kiss or not?" Silena asked, smirking mischievously.
Andi shuffled her feet, glancing up at Will with tepediation. This left it up to her boyfriend to take the lead and stepping up to the task, he leaned over and gave a chaste kiss to Andi's cheek in greeting.
Andi's blush went atomic at that.
"S-So, um, why are you guys here?" Andi managed to stutter out despite her embarrassment.
"Lord Hephaestus gave us a quest." Silena explained, looking perplexed. "It was kinda strange though. Not only did he come down personally, he chose who was to go on it specifically instead of just the leader."
"And his prophecy? It was just a series of coordinates that led to more coordinates!" Bianca whined, her arms crossed in irritation. "We've been crisscrossing the country for a week following his clues until it led us here."
"And where's here exactly?" Andi asked, glancing around. American geography wasn't one of her strengths. "I mean, which state is this town of Lanesboro we're in?"
"You don't know?" Will asked curiously.
"Nope," Wendy said with a sigh. "We just got dropped off here by Lady Athena literally a couple seconds before you guys showed up."
"Well, we're in Minnesota." Silena informed them kindly. "Does that help?"
"I guess?" Andi shrugged. "So Lord Hephaestus bother telling you where in town we can find GLaDOS?"
"That's what we're here to deal with?" Silena asked with a frown.
"That's why Lady Athena sent us," Wendy said with a shrug. "I imagine Lord Hephaestus sent you guys out to deal with the same problem. Not that Lady Athena told us he did."
"Wendy," Andi hissed warningly. Even Hunter barked at her reprovingly.
The Aura blinked, but quickly realized her mistake. "Sorry, Lady Athena. No offense."
The other three Campers looked at each other in confusion.
"Can't risking offending her," Andi explaining. "Offending a goddess is never a good idea."
"Okay~" Bianca said, shaking her head at what she probably thought was Andi being paranoid. "Why don't we get started then and try to figure out where the robots have set up shop? Let me get out the map I bought."
"The bed-and-breakfast capital of Minnesota, Lanesboro is a paradise for the nature lover, culture enthusiast and foodie?" The Italian girl said incredulously as she unfurled the map. "All that nature, ugh! I guess it's the perfect cover though. After all, you can never trust a nature lover."
Andi quirked a brow at this and Silena sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose.
"She and Katie did not hit it off too well. Especially when it comes to you."
"Not my fault Gardner is a such a stick in the mud." The olive skinned girl scoffed. "Oh, I stepped on a flower. Hate me for life. Bleh! Forget to recycle my cup. Curse me for life! Eco-nazi!"
"Me? What about me?" Andi asked, ignoring Bianca's little tirade even as she just kept going.
"They've been arguing whose a better friend to you." Silena told the girl at the heart of it with a long suffering sigh. "I must have had to break up a dozen fights about it already."
"I'm sorry," Andi offered genuinely.
"Not your fault," Silena assured her, patting her on the shoulder. "It's my job as a head counsellor anyways. Just wish I didn't have to do it so often."
Ignoring the byplay, Will, Wendy and Hunter were busy examining the map. A bark from the latter had the three girls turning to them.
"There," Will said, pointing at a building on the outskirts of town. "It's a newly opened, fully automated factory. If there's anywhere in town where a bunch of homicidal robots would set up shop, it's there."
Wendy and Hunter both nodded in agreement.
"Right then let's go," Andi declared. "The sooner we wreck some robots, the sooner we can get back to fighting the Titans."
This was met by enthusiastic nods from everyone. It was thus in high spirits that they set off to face whatever GLaDOS had in store for them.
"This is a factory!?" Wendy asked, skeptically as the group of Campers found themselves in front of the building they'd pegged as GLaDOS' base.
Andi could understand where her partner was coming from. The building looked very unconventional. It was a large pyramidal structure with black metallic walls and an open top with a single large crystal sitting in the open rooftop plaza that acted like some kind of strange billboard.
"Maybe they were trying to stand out?" Will asked with a shrug.
"Well, I think they certainly succeeded there," Silena drawled. "This is a little much."
"What's the problem?" Bianca asked, blinking uncomprehendingly. "I don't see the problem."
"That's not surprising either. You children of Hades are famous for your rather unique tastes." Silena said with an amused smile.
"What's that mean?"
"Just that your tastes are pretty different compared to others," Will said soothingly. "No more than that, right Silena?"
The daughter of Aphrodite nodded.
"Okay, enough bantering," Andi declared, cutting her arm sharply in the air. "Let's figure a way in without getting caught."
Much to their chagrin there was only one entrance into the monolithic building, a single large opening at the base which served as a loading bay whilst also having a more standard entrance for foot traffic. Thankfully, Andi had magic. Using the Disillusionment Charm, she allowed the whole party to turn into chameleons that took on the exact color and texture of their environment. She'd have used the Invisibility Spell but she doubted she could maintain the draining spell on so many people for long, so had opted for the weaker spell instead.
It seemed to be more than enough though as they successfully sneaked through the facility. The whole place was eerie. There was not a single person. Not in the lobby, which was manned by a touch screen kiosk instead of a receptionist. Not in what might have passed for the offices for another business, which was instead filled with servers for what they assumed were its automated systems.
It wasn't until they reached the factory floor that they encountered something that actually moved. Though, for some reason that was much worse. Why? Because in addition to the standard factory machinery, the factory was apparently manned - if that word was even applicable here - by swarms of scarab like robots and skeletal androids, all of which were glowing with sickly green light.
"Why does this place look like some kind of twisted ancient Egyptian tomb?" Wendy whispered under her breath.
"GLaDOS has weird tastes?" Andi returned with a shrug that she doubted her partner could see.
"Mother does not!" A mechanical voice with a decidedly feminine voice shouted over the PA system.
For a moment Andi wondered if it was Chell, shivering at the thought of facing that homicidal maniac again but this seemed different. Unlike the daughter of Hephaestus whose vocal synthesizer produced a genderless, purely mechanical voice this particular voice actually put in the effort to sound like a woman.
"I think we've been made." Bianca muttered amongst them.
"Of course you have!" The voice replied, sounding annoyed even as in a burst of green light a group of the skeletal robots materialized in front of them. Unlike their worker counterparts however these were each armed with tube like rifles that were crackling with green lightning. Or what looked like lightning, but which Andi knew instinctively wasn't.
"Scatter!" Andi shouted, dropping the Disillusionment Charm now that they'd been discovered.
As the Campers obeyed, the androids opened fire, unleashing a storm of green lightning. Each time a green bolt hit something it stripped holes into whatever it touched. At this sight, Andi couldn't help but think, Damn, where do I get that not lightning?
"Don't let those bolts hit you!" Bianca shouted, once more stating the obvious. A barbed lance of the deepest black Andi had ever seen appearing suddenly in her hands as it transformed from its hidden form as a bracelet on her wrist.
The daughter of Hades stabbed it into the ground, earthen spikes rising and stabbing multiple androids. This should have killed the damned things, but the Fates seemed to hate her as instead the robots just broke off the earthen pikes and advanced on them while their wounds literally closed in front of their eyes.
"Bullpoop!" Bianca growled as she raised her spear and glanced at the strange metal. Clicking her tongue, she back stepped to the rest of the group.
"We can't fight them head on," Will shouted even as he tossed a Greek Fire grenade. "Not with those guns of theirs."
Several wind arrows snapped from Andi as they drilled into the regenerating androids. This was joined by a flame wave from Wendy.
Their combined elemental barrage finally seemed to have an effect as the green lightning they were shooting at them were cut by a third. Hopefully that meant that they'd managed to take a few of them down.
"Okay, we're retreating." Andi ordered as she fired off another three arrows. "Bianca! Give us some breathing room!"
"I'll do one better!" Her cousin replied and waved her hand in the air. The ground split with a moan as a mass of bones rose out of the ground, all of which were weaved together into a horrific wall.
Okay, that's just metal. Andi thought at the macabre sight.
"This way!" Silena said, running back from the lobby. "I Charmed the kiosk to tell me where the building's powerstation is. If we blow that up, we'd knock out this base."
"Good job, Silena." Andi praised her older friend. "Lead the way."
They followed the daughter of Aphrodite as they raced through the corridors, harassed all the way by more of the green lightning gun equipped androids that the enemy kept teleporting in to attack them.
Throughout her mad dash, Andi's wind rope string moved in rapid succession as the daughter of Zeus continued her sniping as fast as she could. Each time her eyes caught a flash, she was already shooting in that direction. She stuck to wind bombs mostly, knocking the robots over and buying them time to run past them before they could get to their feet. Will helping along by tossing a Greek Fire grenade here and there. Seriously, where was he keeping them all?
"Will, stop wasting our Greek Fire," Silena hissed as she ducked under the swing of an android attempting to use the oversized bayonet that ran the length of the tubular length of its gun to cut her in half.
Retaliating with a slash of her own sword, she cut the machine in half before replying. "We need to have some to blow up the power plant."
"Don't worry, I still have loads." Will replied as he shot a pair of arrows in quick succession through the eyes of one of the attacking robots, blinding it. "I filled up this magical bag with all the bombs and whatnot we found at Lord Hephaestus' last stop, you know that arsenal in Kentucky?"
"Still, it's not infinite." Bianca replied as she finished off the blinded android by bisecting it horizontally with her lance. "So listen to Silena."
Hunter barked in warning, clearly sharing the sentiment even as he finished biting off and crushing the head of an android.
"Less talking, more running." Andi ordered as she cut the last robot blocking their way with a series of wind blades. "How far to the power room?"
"It's in the basement," Silena said as they once more broke into a run with her at the lead. "The stairs down should be just ahead."
"Of course it is."
"Why do baddies put everything important in the basement?" Wendy whined, Hunter nodding his own agreement.
"It's harder to snipe something from the outside if it's in the basement," Will reasoned. "Especially if it has multiple sublevels."
"Does it?" Andi asked, eyeing how the team was getting increasingly winded. She doubted they could keep this up if they had to keep fighting their way down multiple underground floors.
"Thankfully, not." Silena said as she pushed open the door to the stairs down and pulling out a Greek Fire grenade, tossed it down. Dodging back from the door and a few stray bolts of green lightning from the other side, she dove for cover.
Following her lead, everyone did the same even as her, apparently overpowered, grenade went off and hopefully cleared the stairwell.
"Would we call that a plot hole?" Bianca asked with a crooked smile, blowing a few strands of hair out of her face.
"Haha, Bianca." Will coughed dryly, wiping his face. "By the way, Silena, a little warning next time?"
Hunter whined in agreement.
"Right. Next time." The daughter of Aphrodite said as she jumped to her feet and rushed into the stairwell. Whatever she found there had her groaning in dismay.
"You wrecked the stairs," Bianca said in a deadpan. "Good job, Silena."
"Wendy, could you carry us down?" Andi asked, turning to her partner.
Before the Aura could answer, Bianca had fixed their problem by creating a new set of stairs out of jutting pieces of rock she'd called out of the ground.
"Okay, you got really good while I was away." Andi pointed out with no small bit of awe.
Bianca's cheeks flushed, "This quest has given me a lot of chances to practice."
Bolts of green lightning shooting over their heads reminded the Campers that they were still in hostile territory and they raced down the makeshift stairs. Bianca retracting them once they were down to buy them some time. Not that it would much, since the enemy could teleport but every second counted.
"That's their powerplant?" Andi gasped out at the single large crystal floating in midair in the middle of a nimbus of raw energy and which crackled with green lightning.
"It's gotta be. I mean, big, glowing and radiating power? Unless it's the backup." Her cousin quipped dryly.
"The kiosk said this was the only one." Silena explained as they eyed their surroundings. "It also said teleportation down here should be impossible. Too much interference from the power core."
"And there's no guards?"
At Will's question, a series of hidden doors all alongside the room slid open and out matched a small army of the skeletal androids.
"Will!" Andi hissed. "You jinxed us!"
"Let's blow and go!" The little Aura screamed.
"Wendy, Storm Mail!" Andi shouted, ignoring her partner's terrible joke. "Guys, I'll hold them off. Set the charges."
"I'll help you." Bianca replied as she leveled her lance into a fighting stance. Shadows wisped around it, like a blender of dark death.
"Αερο (Aero)!" Andi incanted, sending an explosive wind blast into the heart of the advancing automatons' ranks devastating dozens of them. At the same time, she fired a rain of wind bomb arrows with her bow, further decimating their ranks. All whilst she zigged and zagged through the air to avoid the torrents of green lightning hurled her way. She really didn't want to test whether her Storm Mail could hold up to whatever it was.
Meanwhile, jagged shadows branched off from Bianca's lance, skewering the androids like some tree made out of raw darkness. Each branch continually growing and spreading out like slithering snakes. The Italian girl dashing and dodging to avoid being hit by the enemy's return fire.
They were joined by Hunter who grew to the size of a bull and began using its claws and jaws to tear the machines to pieces. He got hit multiple times by the lightning from their guns but each time all it did was distingerate a chunk of his golden fur which promptly regrew. He probably would have been in danger if they could concentrate their fire, but he was too fast for the relatively slow moving androids and before they could line up more than a few shots he was already sprinting out of the way.
"Andi, charges are set!" Silena shouted after a few minutes of fighting. "Make us a hole out of here!"
"Gotcha! επικαλούνται: κατάρρευση (Invoke: Implosion)!" Andi cast, creating a spatial distortion at the far roof of the basement that in seconds sucked in everything and crushing it before detonating in the spell's eponymous implosion. It quite nicely carved a hole that led outside.
"Sweet Tartarus, the hell is that?" Bianca gaped openly at the devastating spell. Sadly, her blatant staring earned her a blast to her left shoulder, taking a good chunk out of it. "Ow! Hell! Ow!"
"Bianca, stop spacing out!" Andi shouted at her and fired several arrows to cover her wounded friend. "Move! Will we've got wounded!"
"Let's get clear and I'll fix it!"
"Hurry!" Silena shouted as she showed off just how strong she was and picked the wounded Bianca up while making a mad dash for the opening. "Bianca, can you make us some stairs?"
"Ugh, s-sure." Bianca growled out through her pain, shaping the smooth earth created by Andi's spell into some crude stairs that the Campers raced up.
All whilst Hunter and Andi kept them safe by acting as rearguard.
"Keep running," Will shouted as they made it into the carpark that surrounded the pyramid. "With how much Greek Fire we used, we need to be as far away as we possibly can."
"Gotcha!" Andi shouted as she fired another brace of wind bombs from Skyline into the massed ranks of hundreds of androids marching out of the hole they'd made. Bianca being too out of it to clear away the stairs she'd made.
"Fire in the hole!" Silena shouted when they were halfway across the open space.
Seconds later a truly massive explosion of green fire rocked the whole area. It quickly consumed the machine monsters' pyramid and the shockwave raced across the carpark, flattening the many androids chasing the Campers and threatening to do the same to the heroes as well.
"Wendy!" Andi shouted, as she dove to the side of her groundbound friends. "Shield us!"
Got it! The Aura replied through their link even as a crude dome of rock shot out of the earth to surround them, courtesy of Bianca. The power of the shockwave was so intense that it easily tore through the injured daughter of Hades' hasty barrier, and almost did the same for Wendy's. Thankfully, though it almost failed, Wendy's barrier held and the heroes successfully weathered the explosion.
"Wow!" Andi said, gasping in awe at the devastation they'd created.
There was nothing left of the pyramid except a pile of rubble that had collapsed into the sizable sinkhole -or was it a crater?- that had been created. Beyond that the shockwave had also toppled the many trees that had previously dotted the car park. Thankfully, there weren't any other buildings nearby for a couple blocks, or who knew what kind of loss of mortal lives this would've cost.
We really should have taken that into account before we decided to blow everything up. Andi mused. We got lucky.
"I'm tired," Wendy said as she disengaged Storm Mail and collapsed onto her bum.
"Take a rest," Andi told the younger girl, ruffling her hair affectionately. "You deserve it."
The Aura just mumbled unintelligibly and fished out some nectar from her pack - part of her supply of what Ida teasingly called her lil Aura snacks - to sip.
"Alright, lay her down. Dammit Bianca, you can't space off in a fight like that." Will gently chided her as motes of light licked at his fingertips. He ran his glowing hands over the hole in the daughter of Hades' shoulder, making her wince.
"I-I know, and I'm sorry." The young half-blood frowned, looking away.
"Here Will." Wendy said, pulling her Phoenix Feather out of her hair and handing it to him. All whilst, Andi noted with amusement, still sipping quite happily from her nectar.
"Thanks."
Andi glanced at her cousin, offering a small smile, "It's alright. You lived, so you know not to do it again. Plus, who else can say that they nearly lost an arm to evil robots?"
Silena rolled her eyes, trying to fix her hair as she took slow calming breaths. "Not a lot, but you know the campfire is going to love this one."
Bianca nodded, wincing as her flesh slowly regenerated and knit together. At least she wasn't bleeding. Whatever the robots used, it had the fortunate side effect of cauterizing the wound.
Always an upside, right?
"I couldn't agree more," a cultured voice said from right next to Andi.
Tilting her head cautiously, the daughter of Zeus found an android with flesh that looked like it was made of plastic. One that was leaning on her shoulder.
Reacting quickly, Andi shook it off and slashed at it with Skyline but with incredible grace the android danced out of the way, turning invisible even as it did.
"Where did it go?" Andi hissed, tense as she tried to pinpoint their latest enemy. Her ears perked, trying to hear anything going against the wind.
"Hello, spawn of Olympus." The android's cultured voice said, coming from all around them. "My name is the Chameleon and I've come here today to both say hello and to complete a mission."
"Yeah? What mission?" Andi asked, as she spun in a slow circle trying to spot the disappearing robot. Dammit, it was throwing its voice and escaping her hearing. Stupid robots.
"Why to kill the Titans' spy, of course. Our dear Miss Beauregard here," The Chameleon said as it rematerialized leaning over Silena's shoulder from behind even as it shoved a blade through her gut. A move he repeated a half dozen more times before anyone could even register what was going on. "Can't have our 'allies' win too easily, can we? That would hurt us in the long run."
"Bastard!" Andi snapped as she sent a blade of wind slicing through the air at the fucker. Sadly it missed and only managed to take a few strands off of Silena's head even as he acrobatically dodged out of the way and once more vanished from view.
The daughter of love crumpled to her knees, her hands pressing against the growing red stain on her tight shirt. Blood started to spill from her lips as she tried to speak, but no words came out.
"Looks like my work is done for the day," the invisible piece of scrap said with a demented laugh. "Till next time, Bane."
Ignoring the fucker, Andi turned to her boyfriend. He was on the ball though and raced to Silena's side, Wendy's Phoenix Feather still in hand.
"Hang in there, Silena." Will told her as he combined his own talents at healing with the Feather's awesome power. "Just hold on and you'll be fine."
"I-I trust you," the daughter of Aphrodite choked out through the blood still pouring from her lips.
"Speaking of trust," Bianca growled, hand on her healed shoulder as an ugly hate stewed in her obsidian eyes. "Was what it said true? Are you spying for the Titans?"
"Bianca, now's not the time!" Andi hissed. "That freak might still be around."
Hunter barked and shook his head.
"Hunter says he's gone," Wendy translated. "Seems all he really wanted was to take out Silena."
"Still-"
"It's true," Silena said as Will finished working his magic and she unsteadily pushed herself into a sitting position. "I am a Titan spy. There I said it! I've finally said it. What a relief it is to be able to be honest at last."
The way she said it made it seem like a great weight had been flipped from her shoulders.
In contrast, the rest of the Campers were overcome by powerful emotion.
The daughter of the Rich One, for one, looked ready to maul Silena, the grass nearby blackening in her rage. Fear radiated from her body, causing an uneasy feeling to fill Andi's stomach.
Or maybe that was just from the mix of shock and betrayal she was feeling. It was a coin flip.
"Bianca, stop." Andi ordered, surprising herself at being able to say that as calmly as she did despite the emotional turmoil she was feeling at the revelation. "Let's hear her out."
"Listen?! How many do you think she's gotten killed?"
"Don't you think I know what I've done!?" Silena shouted, as tears rolled down her dimpled cheeks. "That the faces of all the Campers I've helped kill doesn't haunt my every waking moment?"
"Then why did you do it?" Will asked, as he backed away from her and drawing his sword, though he kept it pointed to the ground.
Wendy and Hunter moved cautiously behind Silena, the former having summoned her Phoenix Feather back to her and using it to empower the fireball she kept ready in her hands. Hunter for his part just snarled silently at the seated daughter of love. Altogether, the other Campers had the older girl completely surrounded. She wasn't getting out of this without a fight.
Not that she seemed intent on one.
"Because Luke blackmailed me that's why," Silena said looking at the ground shamefaced. "Back before he'd gone all traitor, I'd told him some things because I had a crush on him. Personal things. Gave him certain photos."
"Photos?" Bianca hissed, the shadows around her writhing. "You betrayed us over some photos!?"
"Yes," Silena said in a pained whisper. "They were nudes. That was the start. Then he got me to give information that got people, Campers, killed. He held that over my head too. And then it got worse from there…"
"What do you mean?" Andi asked, a sick feeling building in her stomach. Her grip on Skyline tightening.
"He, he," Silena let out a sob, before continuing. "He had me do things with people he picked out. All kinds of things. Things I wouldn't do for anyone except...n-nevermind. All kinds of people. Monsters, animals, mortals, men, women. He had them all have a turn with me. And he taped it. All of it. All so he had more blackmail to keep me in line."
"And Lady Aphrodite didn't notice?"
"Not when the Crooked One was obscuring everything." Silena said through her tears, rubbing her eyes with bloodied hands. "I honestly don't know how much of it Luke knows, but by the end of it, I think someone else took charge."
"Yeah, I don't think even Luke would have the stomach for this." Andi said, her heart broken by what Silena was saying.
No matter what kind of harm Silena's spying had caused, this was just… too much. She couldn't even blame her friend. What the Titans had done to her must have broken her.
"As bad as all that is, your crime cannot go unpunished." Bianca hissed, her burning hatred unshaken despite the latest terrible revelations.
"I know, I know," Silena wailed, curling into herself. "Just kill me! Let me face Lord Hades and my deserved fate!"
That was too much for Andi and she threw herself onto her friend, pulling her into a hug.
"Stop. It's not our job to judge. It's the council of head counsellors' job." Andi said firmly to the others even as she hugged her still sobbing friend tightly. "So for now let's head home and-"
A whine from Hunter derailed that. Looking regretful, he padded over to Andi with a sheet of paper clutched in his mouth.
"He says it's not over yet," Wendy translated helpfully, her fireball long since dispeled. "There's another machine monster base in town."
Cursing under her breath, Andi grabbed the sheet of paper.
It was a delivery schedule. One for a thousand Necron Warriors - presumably those skeletal androids - which had been shipped to the local distribution centre and ultimately destined for-
"They're attacking Camp!" Andi shouted in horrified shock as she read the final destination of the robotic army.
Done and done! Thanks to Nameless and Axios as always!
Man, that went from a sweet reunion to kind of grim towards the end. Sorry there guys, but sometimes… things get messy with stuff like blackmail and other disgusting shit.
Nameless: Hope you guys liked the Necron theme we gave this latest child of GLaDOS. We have several in the pipeline, each of which we intend to give a unique set of scifi tech to field as its minions. Just a point to note though, the facility in this chapter didn't belong to the Chameleon. Who does it belong to? Well, wait and see.
Bianca certainly has grown. We're giving her a more jack of all trades mid-range fighter in this iteration. Plus guess what her Fatal Flaw is? Go on. Guess! If you said… Grudge. You are correct! Silena is not going to be forgiven for a long, long time, or at all in her eyes! The nice contrast was Andi trying to be fair and just, more than her own daddy. So the comparison of the two to their fathers was a nice touch I feel.
Nameless: We're trying to mix things up between the three verses. Hopefully this will be unique enough.
The classic demo job was tough for our heroes, but they managed to get it done. Until of course the end. Yesh, it was a tough call to go this route, but I think it makes sense and does a good job showing how twisted the Titan side, or any side, could be with such material and just a twisted mind in general.
Nameless: Last thing from me and possibly most important. What we did with Silena. This is our way of commenting on the IRL trend of this kinda things happening. It's a real problem people, and some people have actually committed suicide because of it. They send nudes to people they think they can trust online and end up getting blackmailed. So please, please don't ever do it.
For those of you who're wondering why the hell we did something like this? Well, first and foremost it's because this felt like a more realistic way for the Titans to ensure Silena kept spying for them. More blackmail would after all strengthen their hold over her. Plus Kronos and me since it's primarily my idea are sadists.
E4E: It's honestly such a terrible thing that it hurt to write, but the world is a dark place. No matter how much we wish it wasn't.
You know what to do! Smash that review button and tell us what you love! No flames and peace off my peeps!