Disclaimer. I own nothing but my character, all rights go to Rick Riordan.
The Return of The Asgardians Chapter 2
Good Kitty, and Heli-Danger
"I still don't know why I cannot drive" Zoe said from the backseat as we were doing my favorite thing when it came to being on the road, speeding.
"You're driving will probably get us in more trouble than his, I look closer to sixteen than you do" Thalia said with a sigh.
"Perhaps, but I have been driving since automobiles were invented" Zoe snapped back.
"Damn you are old" I said shaking my head.
I knew Percy was still following us, on a black Pegasus of all things but my clone couldn't do anything to him though, apparently the maximum distance I can have between me and my clones is a mile and some change.
"Far older, yet far wiser than thee" she said snidely, by father what was her problem?
"Don't forget far weaker" Thalia snapped, aww she was defending me how lovely.
Zoe regarded her for a few moments, "getting attached again Thalia? One would think thee would be more cautious" she said steel lining her voice.
That got me interested, I glanced at Thalia but she was completely silent and staring out the window which was unusual, looks like whatever Zoe said actually got to her, I couldn't have that.
"Nightshade" I said lowly, she regarded me with a cold gaze, "I've never killed a person before, but you're grating me" I said keeping my eyes on the road.
I was completely serious surprisingly enough, Grover and Bianca fidgeted in the tense atmosphere Zoe however was as silent as Thalia so seeing as nothing else was being said, I turned the music up and focused on driving as we were nearing Washington. The Washington Monument was in sight now and I parked us at a curb at Grover's behest.
"All right Grover, what now?" I asked looking around at the many buildings that surrounded the monument, a strong piece of good old American history that is, freedom at it's finest.
"Over there" he said pointing over to a large building lining…a mall.
"Are you playing with me?" I asked staring at him incredulously.
He shrugged "that's where we need to go" he said lightly.
Thalia just sighed, "well come on then" she muttered trudging towards the building.
I could tell she was in deep thought as she stared at the ground biting at her lip, she pulled her jacket tighter around her body as another chilling wind passed us, would she tell me what was on her mind if I asked? I would hope so, we stopped in front of the large building and I read the sign.
National Air and Space Museum, I grabbed Grover by the shoulder and pulled him into my side as I stared up at the building, "Grover, what does air and space have to do with anything right now?" I asked him.
He stuttered out a response that I didn't listen to as Thalia checked the door, it was open despite the small amount of people actually paying attention to the building. On the door, there was a sign that said "Closed For Private Event" and I sighed.
"Who wants to guess that it's not a coincidence there's a private event going on the exact day we show up" I said lightly as we slipped inside.
All joking aside, I've never been a huge fan of museums I could never explain it but seeing all the completely rigid faces and snippets of time just sitting there has always creeped me out. Everything looks like it could come to life at any second.
"Bad feelings" I muttered looking around at the many rockets lining the walls and hanging above us.
We've been looking around for a while now and have come up with absolutely nothing, we were on the top floor at this point and I was getting rather bored, I thought about jumping on one of the shuttles that hung below us but thought better of it, so I remained bored, until entertainment literally barreled into me at top speed. I took a couple steps back as the body bounced off me, I looked down at the sprawled person and realized it was Percy, everyone else seemed to figure this out quickly as many shouted his name in a mixture of disdain, surprise, happiness, and confusion.
Zoe and Bianca had arrows notched and ready to go, Bianca must be a natural at this Hunter thing.
"Well hello there, was wondering when you would pop up" I said grabbing him by the front of his coat and lifting him until we were eye to eye, he wasn't that heavy surprisingly.
He struggled but I shook him, "calm down and explain" I growled as he finally stopped.
He looked around at everyone else before stating something that had impact on everyone but me, "Luke, he's here" he said.
Thalia made a small noise and touched her silver bracelet, hmm, not a fan already, "where?" she asked and he began relaying everything he saw in the Natural History Museum, our esteemed Dr. Thorn, this Luke fellow, and someone called The General.
"General of what?" I asked, but I was completely ignored which kind of irritated me but I let them continue, I put Percy back on the ground.
"The General is here?" Zoe asked looking very pale, "That is impossible! You lie" she sneered.
"Why would I lie? Look, there's no time. Skeleton warriors—" he said but I cut him off.
"Okay, Skeleton warriors, something familiar, good thing too because I was feeling a bit violent" I said pulling my daggers.
"How many?" Thalia demanded coming to my side.
"Twelve, and that guy the General said he was sending something over a here, a playmate" he said as I gazed behind him looking for anything out of the ordinary.
They began to argue but I was distracted, I sent out a couple of clones to scope out the area and they came up with something rather disturbing, "bad, very, very bad" I said catching their attention.
"What is?" Thalia asked looking where I was.
"We have to get out of here, Skeleton warriors are the worst, the most horrible" Zoe said from behind us, Percy agreed but Zoe cut him off by reminding him that he was not a part of this quest.
While she was right, now was definitely not the time.
"You really shouldn't have come Percy, but you're here now, come on let's get back to the van" Thalia said leaving my side.
I was still watching what my clones were watching, "that is not thy decision!" Zoe snapped.
"No it's mine" I growled finally turning to them, "Nightshade, put a sock in it, Percy I'll deal with you in a moment, Thalia keep looking feisty, I love it, Grover, do Satyr things, and Bianca, do whatever Zoe tells you because I don't care, but we are leaving before—" I was cut off by a rather loud roar.
"Kitty gets here" I groaned turning back to the ramp, and yep there it was, a very large, very gold, and extremely angry Nemean Lion in all its mythical glory.
"Fuck" I sighed, as it stopped in front of me and let out another roar.
"Wow, your breath is very unpleasant" I said waving the smell away it growled as if in understanding of my insult.
"Nice kitty, good kitty, you want some Meowmix?" I asked stepping back slightly, if it was angry before it was down right incensed now.
"Move!" I yelled hopping back as it swiped at my chest, everyone scattered and arrows immediately flew over my shoulders to impact the lion only to do, absolutely nothing, impenetrable skin everyone.
Two clones were immediately at its sides hacking away and leaping back as it thrashed around in a rage, I stood there calmly already knowing what needed to be done, the only way to kill the damn thing was to either A have the strength of Hercules and break its neck, or B get it from the mouth.
Zoe and Bianca had climbed the Apollo capsule to get a better sniping position, Grover was playing some cadence on his pipes which was actually helping my clones keep the monster distracted, Percy was attacking as well and trying not to get run over as my clones skipped and jumped around the creature. Thalia was looking for an opening to jump in as well but I had a different plan, not a good plan, but a plan nonetheless.
I grabbed her shoulder "you want to help me do something completely crazy?" I asked she looked at me sharply.
"What?" she asked but I already grabbed her shield, "hey!" she shouted but I shushed her.
"On my cue, stab it in the mouth" I said quickly.
"What's your cue?" she asked but I merely grinned.
"You'll know it when you see it" I said.
I turned and ran towards it as she shouted after me, my clones immediately began pushing Grover and Percy out of the way before wrapping dagger and chains around it's forearms, they then began to engage in a brutal game of three way tug of war. I felt like a referee for a second and I think it was time to throw out the red flag, or whatever professional tug of war referees do. It bucked wildly and they could barely hold it, sliding across the wooden floors, one even lost it's footing for a second before pulling back with a fury, it was messy but it was enough as I jumped in front of it.
With its arms currently occupied, not to mention the rage that blossomed in it's eyes when it saw me, I knew it could do only one thing, it's maw opened to reveal the many, many gleaming sharp teeth. It lurched forward to take a nice bite out of me at the same time that I shoved myself into it, my foot stomped into the space between two of it's bottom teeth as I shoved the shield into the top row, it immediately began to try and crush me.
The shield groaned at the strain, or was that me? But with a roar I managed to force its mouth back open a bit, "Thalia!" I yelled but she was already there shoving her spear down it's throat with a war cry. It went in deep and blood began to spill quickly covering me as it chocked on the spear, it reared back wildly ripping the spear from Thalia's grip and taking me with it, I heard a horrible screech come from the shield while it's pain induced strength managed to pull my clones completely off their feet and drag them forward as it tried to retreat.
"Oh no you don't!" I yelled pulling my left leg up and smashing the back end of the spear forcing it all the way through the roof of its mouth and into its skull.
It made a pitiful gurgle before falling onto it's back, I spilled from its mouth covered in it's thick blood which was completely disgusting by the way, it twitched once, twice, and then lied still, I stood over it breathing heavily, my arms felt like jelly and the shield slipped from my grasp clanging on the museum floor, okay, that plan was definitely not my best but if it works it works I guess.
Alarms were blaring and security was scrambling up from the lower floors, I watched as the Nemean Lion began to melt, but a very interesting thing happened, the pelt, the impenetrable golden pelt stayed behind, shrinking to that of a normal lion. The spear was still sticking from its mouth, and I shakily grabbed the end and heaved the whole thing pelt and all onto my shoulder, I grabbed the shield and trudged over to Thalia who stared at me, as our group reformed.
Thalia just stared, hell no one made a sound and it was making me slightly uncomfortable, I silently returned her shield, luckily there were no dents just a long scratch down the front from where the lion bucked with me trapped.
"That was a wonderful stab dear" I said lightly handing her the spear before pulling the pelt from the tip.
Her mouth was set in a grim line, but I ignored her in favor of throwing the pelt across her shoulders and tying it off at the front paws. It grazed across the floor because of her height but I'm sure we could figure that out later, but then it shifted and shrank until it became a long coat much like my own, with golden fur lining the edges, interesting.
We stared at each other for a few moments, and she looked like she really wanted to say something but Grover spoke up then.
"We have to get out of here, everybody won't be distracted for long" he said and I nodded.
"Let's go" I stated shoving my hands into my coat and walking swiftly back the way we came, luckily the blood faded from my person as well, as we made our way through the small crowd of very confused people.
Apparently, Grover had played a confusion song, it wouldn't last long but it was enough for us to get out of the museum and back outside,and despite the addition of Percy everyone still had plenty of room in the car. Percy was surprised because he thought they were bunched up in the back seat, I wasn't really in the mood to answer him, still tired from the amount of strength I used against the Nemean Lion, Thalia had replaced her coat with the new impenetrable one but still hadn't spoken a word to me.
I decided it was best to let her stew until she inevitably blew up at me for a reason I think I know, so I turned on some music, keeping it at a reasonable level on the off chance that she decides to explode while I was driving and got back on the road. It wasn't for long though, we were just crossing the Potomac when I heard it, the sound of rotors on the air, just why?, I looked to the skies and spotted it heading right for us, a similar attack helicopter to the one that attacked us at my academy.
Great, I swerved into the fast lane and gunned it, from 4th to 5th and finally to 6th gear, we were zooming down the road going about a hundred and sixty but it was still gaining on us. D.C. traffic was not a problem as I pushed from lane to lane, they were talking again but I was much too busy not killing us to listen, and therefore father would have been very good to have at this point.
"We have to ditch the car" Percy called at me.
"No shit" I growled back barely avoiding an SUV.
"There! That parking lot!" Bianca yelled and I didn't argue, I shot across the lanes and drifted into a mall parking lot just as she specified.
I brought us to a screeching halt and hopped out, everyone else rushed out as well as I came to the hood and slapped it pulling the golden coin from the metal as the car morphed back into the white van.
I would have suggested getting back in but the helicopter already spotted us, I saw them rush down some steps and quickly followed, I made it to the group as they were at the ticket purchase.
"Let's go south, Alexandria" she said quickly and Thalia nodded.
"Anything" she said.
I bought the tickets while they were agreeing and handed them over, "let's move, they could be leaving the chopper at any moment" I said grimly flipping the coin before placing it in my breast pocket.
We got through the turnstiles easy enough but everyone was flighty, checking behind them at every little noise, surprisingly nobody was actually following us from what my clones could see, I dispelled them when we got on the almost empty train and was promptly hit with a wave of nausea.
I leaned over and placed my forehead against the cool glass of the window, I was using too much magic, how many clones did I summon so far? Dammit, and the physical exhaustion from the quick bout with the Nemean Lion was definitely not helping anything, getting weak this early on was shameful but it didn't change the fact that I needed to rest soon. The train came above ground and I spotted the chopper still circling the parking lot, it didn't move after us thankfully, I sighed heavily as the group began to talk, there were barely any people with us so they spoke freely of the situation.
I blocked everything out as I focused on resting, but a strong grip on my arm ripped me from my break, I looked down to see Thalia glaring up at me before dragging me from the window and pulling me to another car. The quick movement as well as the jostling of the train had me wanting to vomit again, so when we entered the next car I immediately sat down in the nearest seat and put my head in my hands to try and curb the ever-growing annoyance.
"I'm going to assume you're going to yell at me" I muttered before looking up at her scowling face, emotions swam across her eyes wildly.
"You're an idiot" she growled before beginning to pace in front of me.
"May I ask why?" I asked closing my eyes.
"You're suicidal, overconfident, and stupid" she spat whirling on me, sparks shot off her clothes in her anger I stayed silent waiting for her to continue.
"Do you think you're invincible? Running off to fight a Nemean Lion like it was a Sunday stroll? You could have died! Are you fucking crazy?" she screamed at me, I was shocked as I had never heard her curse before, she was worried.
"You don't need to do things alone, it's a five man quest! We're supposed to be a team! Work together… what do you want me to do when you run off and do stupid shit like that? You picked me to watch your back, yet you don't tell me anything! If this is what you're going to do every time we run into trouble you're not going to be in any good shape to fight this Titans Wrath or whatever!" She yelled.
Shit, this is also probably coming from the capture the flag incident as well, wow she can hold emotions in like a champ.
"What am I supposed to tell Nico if you go and die doing something stupidly heroic? You don't need to show us that your the damn best, we already know it! Hell even Idiot Zoe knows it, and what about your father? What's he going to do when I tell him that you died on this quest because we couldn't keep up with your random bouts of "badass"? What about? What about?" she stopped and looked away with a sigh.
She didn't have to go on, what about her? Dammit I'm an idiot, our fucking weakness, the need for me and father to be in the spotlight completely overwrote my need for planning a hundred moves ahead. I rose to my feet unsteadily as she wrapped her arms around herself, she refused to look at me, I grabbed her arms and brought her in for a hug.
She fought for a second but calmed down, only to start hitting me in the chest, I grunted at a particular hit and she stopped finally sated with her physical outburst.
"You can't even fucking stand straight your so damn tired already" she growled out, her voice muffled by my turtleneck.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry I was being an idiot. I'm lucky to have brought you because if I didn't I probably would have kept putting my life in danger, the prophecy may say that I will fight the Titans Wrath but prophecies can be broken, I won't put you through that again" I said soothingly rubbing her arms.
"Just, let me help, tell me your plans, let me watch your back like I promised to do" she muttered before returning the hug, that made me feel much better, we stayed like that for a while before something began nagging me.
I called her name, and she responded with a small grunt, "who's Luke?" I asked lightly and I felt her tense.
"Please, not now" she sighed and I nodded into her hair.
"When you're ready" I muttered, dammit now I really don't like this Luke guy...
For half an hour, we hopped from train to train, twice I believe and at this point I had no idea where we would end up, the helicopter was lost sometime during the last ride, and we were now at the end of the line an industrial area from what I could tell. Railway tracks holding abandoned carts surrounded us and the cold was biting for anyone that didn't have some sort of magical coat, luckily Thalia and I did, however I did feel sorry for the others as they pulled their coats tighter, teeth chattering.
My turtleneck was enough when it came to blocking out the cold, my long coat was just an add on, so I decided to give my coat to Bianca. She stared at it for a few moments before staring at me.
"Take it, while Nico may be a bit cross with you at this point, I don't think he would want his only sister to freeze out here" I said lightly, I glared at Zoe who was about to say something as Bianca took it with a quiet thanks.
I returned to Thalia, who glared at me "what? I already got you a coat" I chuckled.
"What? Nothing's wrong" she said looking somewhere else, I hugged her.
"It's okay, she has the coat but you get me to heat you up" I whispered.
"That wasn't the problem but whatever, and get off" she muttered pushing me away.
I laughed and she smiled rolling her eyes, good thing damage control is one of my strongest skills, we kept exploring the place when I got an odd feeling coming from a homeless man standing by a fire can, he gave a toothless grin and called us over to get warm by the fire. We huddled around it placing their hands out, well they did I just stood back a little bit and kept my eye on the homeless man, I don't know what it was, but he seemed familiar.
"Well this is just great" Thalia sighed warming her hands,
"My hooves are frozen" Grover whined, Percy corrected him for the sake of the homeless man as Bianca brought up the idea of contacting the camp for assistance.
I don't think they would even try to help us if we did and Zoe voiced just as much, I looked out realizing that somewhere out west a goddess was chained up having terrible things done to her more than likely, I may not like her very much but the idea of torture has never sat well with me. Some monster was going to destroy the Greek pantheon and I really wouldn't care about that if I didn't have Nico and Thalia to think about, and we were stuck in an old rail yard, on the outskirts of D.C. Hmm I wonder if I can turn a train cart into a car? No, the protean coin has limits I think, and damn I'm exhausted.
"You know, you're never completely without friends" the homeless man spoke up, and that caught my attention.
"You kids need a train going west?" he asked and I narrowed my eyes.
"How did you know that?" I asked but he merely chuckled.
"I've met many people, you learn to read them at my age" he said with a smile, yep I definitely know this guy, just add some pearly white teeth and there you go.
"You know of any?" Percy asked and he merely pointed a greasy hand over to the side.
A freight train we never noticed, completely free of snow and massive, carrying at least a triple decks worth of cars with steel curtains protecting them, the trains name was SUN WEST LINE. oh yeah, I know this guy but at least he's not a blonde pretty boy this time.
"that's… convenient, thanks uh" Thalia said turning back to the guy, but when we weren't looking the guy was gone, as well as the fire.
"I believe you want to say, Apollo" I grumbled as they looked at me confused.
"Seriously?" I asked them.
"That didn't look like Apollo" Percy said looking at me oddly and I sighed.
"You think gods can't change their forms? Have you seen my father? Come on the damn train's called Sun West Line, we just so happen to need to go west where his SISTER is being held captive" I explained.
Finally, a light of recognition flashed in their eyes and I shook my head, "come on, let's get on the train" I sighed heading towards the gleaming locomotive.
Thalia walked by me and I was reminded of the first time we met Apollo, "still think Apollo is hot?" I asked snidely as she stumbled, she shuddered.
"Definitely not when he looks like that, though the other form" she trailed off grinning at me.
I nodded, we can play this game I looked over at Zoe as she led Bianca up towards one of the cars.
"You know, if Zoe wasn't so bitchy all the time, she'd be pretty hot herself" I said idly, Thalia whipped her head around to look at me.
"You did not just say that" she said, I shrugged.
"I mean she's no goddess but, she's up there" I said, quickly hopped away as an electrified hand reached out at me.
"Ah ha! Now you know how I feel when you talk about Apollo" I said wiping an imaginary tear from my eye.
She glared at me with a huff before raising her hands, "alright, doesn't feel so good" she said crossing her arms.
"Thank you" I said with a bow returning to her side, then my arm went numb again and I glared at her.
"Just kidding I don't understand at all" she laughed.
Her laugh was contagious and soon we were both chuckling as we made our way over to a black Mercedes SLK, she immediately began to hotwire it but I slapped her hands away and placed the Protean Coin on the radio. It came to life immediately, Justin Timberlake's voice began blaring from the speakers and I was two seconds from stabbing them until Thalia changed the station and some unknown alternative-rock began playing.
Percy joined us when a band called The White Stripes as Thalia happily informed me started playing, I let him in so that I could get to know the guy, as well as make him feel really stupid because he probably made this quest a bit harder with his presence.
"So, Percy" I said lightly, Thalia cut me a look and grinned, we get along so well.
"Yeah?" he asked from the backseat as Thalia turned the music down a bit.
"What made you fly all the way from camp to join us?" I asked turning in my seat to look at him, he looked a bit sheepish.
"I had a very bad feeling" he said looking me in the eye, I thought about that and yeah, I've been getting bad feelings since this thing started.
"I can understand that, however, don't you think those bad feelings come from the fact that the Prophecy said that some of us might die?" I asked and he shrugged.
"Maybe, but, I don't know I felt like I had to be here, to help" he said looking out the window.
I nodded, classic hero attitude straight from a comic book, "okay, so this bad feeling was so bad that it forced to you climb on a Pegasus and fly all the way to us, and in the process probably piss off the fates so bad that they are going to make it very hard for all of us to get through this alive?" I asked staring at him.
He blinked, "what are you talking about?" he asked shaking his head.
I continued to stare at him willing for him to get the point "how many people did the prophecy say were going on this quest again?" I asked.
Thalia snorted and Percy's eyes widened, "five" he whispered.
"Yes five, and we now have?" I asked causing him to look down.
He gave the correct answer of six, well at least he wasn't a complete idiot, "good, now what do you think the fates are going to do?" I asked.
"I don't know!" he shot back probably berating himself for his leaping without thinking.
"I think you do know, it's probably changed a might, or a may, to a will, and a definitely" I growled at him, I did not like his snappy tone when it came to something he did wrong.
"Dude the seat!" Thalia shouted pulling my hand off the leather seat, it was smoking slightly dammit I was angry again.
I really need to learn how to control that it could come in handy but not right now, calm down you know why he did it, you would have done the same for Thalia.
"Sorry, sorry, okay I know why you did it, I do, but now you understand why you need to think first so here's what we're going to do" I said extending a hand, it just so happened to be the hand that was smoking a second ago and he stared at it.
I sighed and switched hands, he looked at it for a second before taking it, "I am the strongest demi-god on this quest, I am taking it as my job to make sure everyone gets back alive, you jumped in without thinking so now it is your job as well, repeat after me EVERYONE. Returns. Alive." I stated.
He repeated what I said with a nod and a determined gleam in his eyes, I smirked "we'll be the best of friends, I just know it" I said releasing his hand and leaning back into my seat with a sigh.
Well, at least I got someone else who's prime objective is to keep these guys alive and well, maybe this quest won't be too bad? Oh, who am I kidding, this is going to be a shit show of epic proportions starring Alfred Loki Von-fucking-Stein.
Chapter End
Things are starting to heat up a bit, I wonder what I'm going to have Alfred do about the whole Luke and Thalia situation, jealous or understanding? Questions for later.
Anyway, same as always Read, Review, or Flame it doesn't really matter to me, I'll read them all to alleviate my ever growing boredom.
Take it easy, Vonstein signing out.