Jason kept on running, turning down ally-ways and cutting through the deserted streets. Any sensible person would be tucked away safely in a bomb shelter or running the opposite direction once this madness started. Jason could see the orphanage only a few blocks away when he heard a deafening explosion overhead.

He looked up and saw brick and broken glass raining down. Diving out of the way, Jason took cover in the arched entrance of the collapsing building hoping it wouldn't fall like the rest. Once the dust had settled and his ears stopped ringing from the explosion Jason stepped out from the arch and continued to the orphanage.

When he arrived at the fence of the small building he was breathing heavily. Jason looked upon the familiar brick building; memories of his life here after his mother's death came flooding back to him. He quickly pushed the memories aside and focused on his mission.

Children's Hope Orphanage had a dome on the roof; standing proudly upon the dome was a medium sized flag pole, Jason's plan centered on that pole. Whenever the bombs were dropping close to this part of London he would run to this pillar hoping to defend this one building.

Willing the air to carry him, Jason leaped upwards towards the dome. Grabbing the flagpole he closed his eyes and focused feeling the motions of the sky; all the clouds, the wind wailing far above his head, the birds flying to safety from the Nazi bombers- Jason could feel everything it felt like someone was lightly touching his hair. Within seconds of Jason entering this meditative state he could sense the bombs falling nearby. Focusing on that specific projectile Jason willed a lighting bolt from the clouds above to strike the pole.

This was the part he didn't like; within seconds of calling for the bolt he felt the electricity surge through his body. Despite having done this many times in the past it wasn't exactly the feeling having pure electricity surge through his body that made him feel bad, but the fact that this all powerful feeling reminded him of Zeus. As soon as he felt the sensation of the current running though his body he willed it back to the pole and focused on the falling bomb; a lighting bolt fired from the top of the flagpole striking the missile causing a premature explosion hundreds of feet above the city.

Jason let go of the pole and tried to regain his composure. He felt his everyday drowsiness catching up to him; sleep was rare for him and the large amount of energy he was conducting wasn't helping. Closing his eyes he could still sense the bombs dropping around the city, he soon felt another coming and coming fast. Grabbing the pole again he repeated the process, calling for lightning and shooting down bombs, over and over until he could barely stand.

Images passed through Jason's mind; leaning against the flagpole all he could think about was this building- how he grew up, how this building gave him a chance for a normal life.

"Only a little bit more," he panted placing his palm onto the cold, makeshift lightning rod. Jason refused to let this war take this place away. Ages passed until the bombing stopped. This wave seemed longer than the last. Jason collapsed with his back against the flagpole. It was a strange sight, a boy on the rooftop during a bombing. But anyone sane enough to be outside would be dead already. At least that's what he thought. His breathing was heavy and he could hardly see straight, but something was bothering him. His gut twinged with discomfort. Out of the corner of his eye Jason saw something moving swiftly on the streets below.

His demigod instincts told him to get up, but his brain reminded him to move with caution. Moving slowly to the edge of the roof he peered down at the mysterious figure, shape looked like a young girl.

"What the hell…" Jason could barely finish his sentence before feeling a sharp point being pushed against his back.

"Look what we have here," an woman's voice hissed "a child of the 'almighty' Zeus?" Jason did his best not to collapse right there; the energy he used for the bombs drained him.

He heard a second woman's teasing voice, "This one doesn't smell like a demigod Sister. If it wasn't for the flashy lightshow he put on we might have completely overlooked such a yummy morsel."

He slowly turned around to face his assailants. Despite the small amount of light illuminating the rooftop he could tell they were not human. The two women standing in front of him were covered in scales they both had sharp snake-like eyes and pointed fangs. Their blue dresses and dress shoes contrasted their hideous image. Their hands reflected the burning city, burning like twisted metal; their hair was slithering and hissing. Jason quickly adverted his eyes downwards, his mother told him many Greek myths growing up and he knew exactly what he was faced with: Gorgons.

"Oh stop with the oh no! I can't look at the ugly snake ladies or I'll turn to stone,'" one of the Gorgons hissed angrily.

"That is only with our sister Medusa, her curse given by that she-devil Athena. Let's just kill this ignorant demigod Sthenno," the second gorgon said pushing her short spear harder against Jason's chest.

"I agree Euryale; a child of Zeus will make a fantastic meal" Sthenno said smiling. Jason's heart was racing he could barely stand, and his mind was to blurry to think of a way out of this situation the only thought going through his mind was the thought of that monster who killed his mother all those years ago. Euryale moved her spear back readying her strike when a loud bang echoed through the barren streets. Euryale instantly vaporized in a cloud of golden dust, dropping the spear. Confused Jason looked at the other Gorgon who was just as confused as him, and another shot rang out.

The monster screamed clutching her side. Jason fell backwards onto the roof of the orphanage trying to figure out what was happening. A silhouette of a man walking towards the fallen Gorgon holding a sword appeared in the corner of his eye.

"Stay back!" the monster bellowed trying to crawl away from the man. Jason felt a wave of fatigue pouring over him once again. He internally groaned while trying his hardest to stay awake. He watched as the man stabbed Sthenno before stepping towards Jason. Panic gripped him as the man got closer. Jason raised his sword slightly off the ground before darkness overtook him and carried him away from the war and into the realm of Morpheus.

When Jason finally awoke he was on the floor. The air was dry and the room was completely dark. Confused, Jason closed his eyes gathering his thoughts. He replayed his last memories in his mind the raid, the Gorgons, the two mysterious people who saved him, or kidnapped him.

Something felt wrong…the sky felt far away and he couldn't feel any electricity in the dark room; usually he could sense the electricity flowing through the wires but in here it was as if he was in a large metal holding cell with no bars. Despite his throbbing headache Jason felt around on the floor until his hands felt something he wasn't expecting,

"Wood?" Jason thought. Confused he stood up and steadied himself on the waist high crate. Jason's stomach felt heavy as he realized his mother's locket wasn't around his neck. Thinking me might have dropped it he started searching in the dark franticly trying to find the small metal keepsake. Suddenly he heard a series of turning and clicks as though tumblers of a safe were being popped into place then the far wall of the room slowly creaked open flooding the room with light.

Standing up he let his eyes adjust to the light. Jason observed his confines, the room was about the size of large bedroom with wooden crates scattered throughout. The crates themselves were various sizes and lengths all with long serial numbers and IWM London written in a large font across the side. Turning his attention to the large door that was now open he saw a girl standing in the entrance of the metal storeroom. Automatically suspicious Jason held his hands up in a fighting position. They might've taken his weapons, but he still had his hands.

The first thing Jason noticed about this girl was that she couldn't have been any older than 16; she was a little shorter than he was and had dark auburn hair tied into a bun on the top of her head. She was wearing loose black pants tucked into black combat boots you would commonly see worn in the British Military. She also wore a brown leather tunic over a long sleeved white shirt and from what Jason could tell wore little to no make-up. She wore a haughty expression but the most intimidating feature of this girl was her cloudy green eyes; even from this distance it felt as if her eyes were staring through him, like she was reading his mind like an open book.

"Looks like you're finally awake. Glad we can get started," She smirked slowly walking into the vault having the door swing shut. Fear gripped Jason, whoever this mysterious woman was she was dangerous. Instead of the room being completely dark like it was before there were suddenly lit lanterns sitting on top of the crates giving the cold steel room just enough light to clearly see. Jason knew those lanterns weren't there before she closed the door, but pushed the thought away.

"Who are you? And where am I?" Jason asked trying his hardest to hide his fear.

"Relax, you aren't in any danger… well unless I determine you could be a threat," she paused, smirking to herself. "First things first, my name is Susan Lowsley and I'm like you Jason Hall. I'm a demigod."

The fear Jason felt from this girl intensified when she said his name, his mind was racing trying to figure out how she knew who he was he never met this girl before in his life.

"How do you know my name?" Jason asked hoping she couldn't tell that his body was shaking.

"We know quite a bit about you Jason," She said leaning with one hand against a crate by the door. "We know about how your mother was a professor of Ancient Greek languages and mythology at the University of London, how she was killed by a Cyclopes, and how you were raised in the same orphanage we found you at last night. We also know you never got adopted by anyone because of 'strange activity' whenever people were visiting."

This was the last straw Jason knew he had to get out of this room and put as much distance between him and this girl as possible. Jason noticed a gap between two crates that he could pass through but there was still no way out of the room with the massive vault door shut behind Susan. The only way out would be to fight her, he didn't like the idea but his options were limited and she was dangerous. Clenching his fist Jason attacked her, he had hoped to get the first punch clean across her jaw and knock her out without much trouble but Jason took two steps forward and suddenly felt cold metal chains grip his wrists, legs and around his waist holding him in place. He thrashed around trying to get out, but found they kept getting tighter. Soon the demigod son of Zeus couldn't move. He glared at the girl.

What was happening? He knew for a fact he wasn't chained before he decided to attack this girl…could she have chained him up without him noticing? Impossible, Jason thought, he was watching her the whole time and it was only the two of them in the room.

"What the hell?" Jason exclaimed panicked

"Like I said before I'm a demigod, just like you, and just like you I have my own 'talents.' I don't exactly control lightning or anything…but I wouldn't say I'm powerless. I control magic," she smirked. "My mother is Hecate, the Greek goddess of witchcraft and magic."

She paused as if to wait for Jason to take in this information.

"I volunteered to be in charge of you down here because you have something that interests me greatly," Susan continued. "You had an incredibly powerful magical item that could have only been enchanted on Olympus by my mother, and I want to know where you got it."

Lifting her finger to point at the chain around Jason's right wrist she continued, "I suggest you tell me soon or I will be forced to ask not so nicely." As if on cue the chain surrounding his right wrist started to glow and feel warm.

"It'd be a shame if you lost that hand of yours…" she shook her head.

"I have no idea what you're talking about! What magical item?" Jason exclaimed. His eyes darted around hysterically while he struggled to free his wrist from the glowing metal.

"I didn't even know there were other people in the world like me! Let alone that magic was real!" Jason felt the metal around his wrist getting hotter.

"You had a locket around your neck with the similar properties as Hades' Helm of Darkness! Don't play dumb with me, if you're a spy for Hades I will end you right here and now without any remorse!" as soon as Susan finished talking another chain appeared around Jason's neck glowing hot.

Jason's eye flashed but before the chain could tighten itself around his throat the large door opened again with a bang.

"Susan, stop!" the man yelled quickly walking over to the furious girl and lowered her arm. The chains surrounding Jason instantly vanished in a puff of cold mist, as did the lanterns around the room. Jason fell to the floor, the pain from the chains vanishing just like the chains. He looked at his wrist expecting burns but they looked exactly the way they always did, no marks or burns to prove the chains were ever there.

Jason got up and looked at the man who had stopped Susan from chaining him up like a burning pig. He was as tall as Jason but more muscular, he had the body of a military man and definitely wasn't someone Jason would ever want to fight against. He looked to be the same age as Jason but it was more difficult to tell. His blonde hair was cut short enough to barely cover his scalp. He was wearing a long wool coat and military boots along with military style trousers. Jason also noticed under his coat he was wearing a bronze chest plate and had a sword strapped to his belt, he looked like an Ancient Greek warrior in modern day clothes.

Having calmed Susan down enough the soldier turned his attention to Jason who was leaning with his back against the cool metal wall of the vault.

"Gerald Cross, son of Ares, and the commander of the 300, I must apologize for Susan's harsh questioning. She's had some…incidents with the new recruits." Now that he was close Jason noticed Gerald had a scar on the left side of his head running from the base of his hairline down to the corner of his eye

"An incident?" Jason asked regaining his composure.

"Yes, as you know we are at war…but as you probably don't know Germany bombing London is a cover for another war which has been brewing for centuries." Jason knew he must have had a confused look on his face from the way this commander smirked at him, "You really don't know anything that is happening do you, Jason?" Gerald questioned with an amused look.

"No, I have no idea what is going on, with you, or that crazy bitch over there who just tried to chain roast me or a crazy war or your fucking 300!" Jason confessed frustrated.

"Again I will apologize for Susan's interrogation techniques, but I highly suggest you don't lose your temper with me Grace," the commanders eyes glinted. "I admit you're an important person here and from what I saw on top of the orphanage last night we could really use your help defending against Hades' forces though, so I will forgive you this once."

"Follow me Jason," he said turning to walk out of the vault. Jason hesitated but reluctantly followed behind the burly man.

Outside of the vault Jason noticed that they were surrounded by crates and ancient artifacts, paintings, and statues from around the world. He felt a wave of nostalgia; he had been here before with his mother when she was asked to come and study new artifacts. They were in the basement of the Imperial War Museum. Climbing the stairs to the main floor they went through the door to the lobby of the large museum; sandbags were propped up on the receptionists desk with pamphlets scattered around the table and on the floor. On the counter was a large machine gun with three boys dressed in Greek warrior armor behind the weapon playing a card game. As they entered the dinosaur exhibit, which was right past the receptionist counter, Jason saw hundreds of people most were sharpening weapons or chatting with each other while others were practicing archery with bows and arrows against the wall or sword fighting in circles drawn with chalk on the floor. In the far back corner Jason saw about 12 teenage kids around a large furnace discussing and drawing plans on paper. Many of the people Jason saw weren't old at all; most were around 14 or 15.

"As you can see we don't have a lot of man power in fending off Hades' monsters. We could really use your help Jason, it's of utter necessity we protect this museum," Gerald said

"Maybe you can start from the beginning? I have no idea what's happening or if I can even help," Jason said his eyes scanning the crowds.

"Of course. Sarah, go make sure everyone is alert, the bombs may start sooner today."

"Yes Sir," Sarah said walking briskly towards the main lobby.

"Here take a seat," Gerald said pointing to an empty bed nearby. Once Jason was in the cot Gerald started explaining everything that was happening.

"Well Hades', the lord of the dead, has been amassing support from various monsters and other lesser gods to mount an assault to try to take over Olympus. Since Hades has control over the Underworld he has legions of undead souls and whatever monsters and gods he manages to persuade to join him under his command. The Germans campaign in Europe is only the beginning of this war; eventually every god, demigod, and mortal will be drawn into fighting the Germans and Hades."

"So if this is all true, how come you and everyone else here aren't out fighting on the front lines, why are you held up in this museum?" Jason asked.

"Hades' forces have been pushing harder against this museum than anywhere else in Europe. We think there is something important here, something Hades needs to take over Olympus. We've had everyone who can sense magical items search through the entire museum and no one can find anything. As long as Hades is using the Germans as a cover for his plans the gods can't do anything. The Ancient rules prevent them from impacting major mortal events. So that leaves us, the children of the gods, to do whatever we can to end this war and put a stop to Hades' plan. Many of us call ourselves the 300 becauselike the 300 Spartans who defended their land against the Persian invasions we are defending our land from Hades and the German army." When Gerald finished Jason leaned back in the bed with his hands on his head.

"So why am I so important? There are a lot of other demigods here, I'm sure that there are others with Zeus as their dad."

"Actually that is a good point," Gerald interjected "But…all of the children of the sky god went to go fly for the Air-force. But that raises another question. Why aren't you, a child of Zeus, who feels most at home in the air, not enlisted? You're certainly old enough."

"I wanted to when I first heard, but I…wasn't fit for service. I…have post traumatic stress induced insomnia," Jason finally admitted. Gerald placed his elbows on his knees and leaned forward as if he was evaluating Jason.

"Well here is your second chance Jason Grace, are you ready to serve the gods?" He asked with a smirk.