Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter.
The Ever Twisting Wind: Of Monsters and Titans
Chapter Ten: Operation Owl Liberation
Beta: ShadowofAxios
"Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering." Andi offered in prayer as she tossed a drachma into the rainbow she'd created with a little magic, where the coin shimmered away. "Annabeth Chase, Camp Half-Blood."
Seated in the room she'd been assigned room for the Triwizard Tournament, she frowned as once again, the Iris Message failed to connect. Which was weird. It had been the fourth time that the daughter of Zeus had tried to contact her friend. And her fourth drachma non-refunded.
Maybe her blonde friend was busy?
That doesn't makes sense, I.M.s don't care about that. Andi scratched her head in confusion. She should know, she once I.M.'d Chiron when he was in the tub with a shower cap and a rubber Ichthyocentaur, a fish centaur.
Talk about awkward.
Feeling frustrated, the daughter of Zeus just decided to I.M. Chiron instead. She just prayed he wasn't in the tub again.
"Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering." Andi prayed while tossing yet another drachma into the magical rainbow. "Chiron, Camp Half-Blood."
There was a brief pause before the image of Chiron standing in the rec room of the Big House appeared.
"Chiron!" The demigoddess exclaimed in shock at how haggard the ancient centaur looked.
At the sudden shout, the centaur nearly jumped out of his horseshoes. He whipped around towards the voice and spotted the I.M. Breathing a little quickly, he rubbed his face and chided the girl gently. "Andi, please don't do that."
Andi just snickered. Breaking Chiron's normally unflappable composure was fun.
Said immortal clearly disagreed though, as he glared at her. He didn't really have much of a sense of humor about things like this. Personally, Andi blamed Mr. D for that. The god always got a laugh at Chiron's misery and after years of abuse, the centaur must have gotten sick of it.
I guess I would too if I was Chiron. Andi reasoned. Now I feel bad.
"Sorry." The girl said sheepishly.
The centaur nodded graciously, accepting her apology. "It's good to see you, Andi. Is something the matter?"
The daughter of Zeus nodded, before launching into an explanation for her call.
"It's just I've been trying to get in touch with Bethy for the past twenty minutes! But my I.M.s aren't connecting with her. She around or something? I kinda wanted to talk to her about this golden egg issue again. I think we're getting close-and why are you looking like that?"
Chiron's face was twisted into a pained look as he glanced to the side. "Yes, well, things are rather trying at the moment."
"Trying he says, that's a good one old chap." Mr. D's voice chuckled from somewhere just out of view.
"Oh gods, what did Percy do this time?"
The centaur didn't respond. Instead at the mention of Percy, his already careworn posture just sagged even more. In fact, he looked like he just wanted to go to bed and sleep off a bad hangover. It was clear that whatever had happened, it was weighing on him immensely.
Andi was about to ask what was the matter, but was preempted when the rainbow image suddenly turned around somehow to show Mr. D laying on the couch, flipping through a wine magazine.
"Well Amy, Peter decided to leave camp and chase after a group of questers looking for my femnazi of a sister who went missing. Terrible shame."
Andi's first response was to think that he didn't sound very broken up over his sister's disappearance.
However, as she processed what the god had said, Andi's eyes widened and she gasped out. "Artemis is missing?!"
"Yes, now lower your voice. It's annoying."
"Mr. D, please stop-"
The god ignored Chiron and just kept going. "Someone else, that Annabell girl went missing, or died too. Again, shame."
Again, he didn't sound broken up over it. Andi only noticed this in a distant way though, most of her focus was centred on something a lot more important to her.
"Annabeth's missing too?!"
"That's what I just said." The god of wine said with a dismissive nod.
"Chiron, I'm coming back to camp! Just let me grab a few things." Andi declared at the confirmation.
Mr. D lowered his magazine, and shot her a annoyed look.
Before he could say anything though, Chiron's face appeared in the image blocking him out.
"Andi, please stay where you are." The centaur ordered sternly. "A group of campers and some of Artemis' Hunters have already departed for the quest. They have this under control."
"Or they could fail miserably."
"Mr. D!"
The god shrugged. "I'm a pessimist."
"I'll see you in an hour or so Chiron." Andi said, waving her hand through the rainbow.
"Andi, wait-!"
The I.M. ended and Andi rushed to grab the basics of what she'd need and stuffed them into her newly purchased magical 'bottomless' messenger bag. Hastily, she slung the bag over her shoulder and bolted out the door.
"Andi, where are you going?" Ida asked with a raised brow as Andi stormed out of her room and pass her while making a beeline for the fireplace in their suite's common room.
"Annabeth's missing!" The frazzled girl explained in a rush. "I'm going back to camp to help search for her."
Ida blinked, a little confused as she processed Andi's words. Once she did though, her reaction surprised her charge.
"Go on then." The nymph said as she gave the halfblood an encouraging push. "I'll cover things here."
Even frantic with worry about her friend, Andi was stunned enough by her nanny's response to freeze. "You're just letting me go?"
"Of course," Ida said even as she turned in the direction of Wendy's room and called out. "Wendy! Come out, Andi's going on a quest."
The young Aura burst out of her room as a gust of wind and materialised right next to Andi.
"Ready! Let's get going." The wind nymph enthusiastically announced her presence.
Ignoring her partner for the moment, Andi turned to Ida and asked in a thoroughly confused voice. "Why?"
"Because you're a hero and more importantly friends mean the world to you. Taking that into account, I would be a fool to stand in the way of you trying to save one of your friends." Ida offered as she gave the stunned demigoddess another nudge towards the fireplace. "Now go, I'll make sure the wizards don't even realise you're missing. Maybe have one of the dryads from the Forbidden Forest act as your body double for a while."
"You sure that'll work?" Andi asked skeptically, even as she reached the fireplace and it automatically turned green. "I don't want you to get in trouble covering for me."
As much as Andi was determined to go help find Annabeth, she was still worried about making her nanny's life difficult. She was honest enough to admit that taking care of her was quite the chore, so she felt really bad when she made doing so even more trying.
"I appreciate the sentiment, Andi, but I can handle the wizards. With a little Mist, they won't even notice that you were gone." Ida reassured.
"If you're su-"
"If Ida says she can handle it, then everything will be fine." Wendy cut Andi off while tapping her foot impatiently. "Stop worrying."
Andi was still unsure but Ida just gave her a nod. Satisfied, mostly at least, that Ida had things under control on her end, the daughter of Zeus turned to the green flames and declared "Camp Half Blood" before taking a step into them.
Wait for me, Bethy! I'm coming.
Andi and Wendy arrived to a camp that looked just like it did last year during winter. Snow blanketed the cabins and the grounds, with red fireballs bouncing up and down around the camp providing the lighting.
Andi didn't take the time to admire the picturesque scenery though, instead the demigod rushed to the Big House with Wendy hot on her heels.
The door to the Big House echoed with a bang as a frantic Andi unconsciously applied her power to slam the door open as she walked in. "Chiron? You here?"
"Yes, yes. Andi, please calm down." Chiron said as he moved towards her. He raised a brow at Wendy and said. "Hello child, Ida's told me about you. A pleasure to finally meet you."
"You too, sir." Wendy bowed her head a little.
Andi felt on a knife's edge and was in no mood for pleasantries. "So what are we doing for Bethy? Do we already have a team out looking for her? Where do you need me?"
"Right here." Chiron said sternly. "Andi, I did not want you to come back to Camp. You were safer in Scot-"
"I don't care about my safety right now Chiron. Bethy needs help, so what are we doing about it!?"
"Oh Us, the little Banshee actually came back." Mr. D groaned from where he was lazing on his usual couch.
Nice to see you too. Andi thought sourly as she looked at Chiron expectantly.
"...Nothing at the moment."
You could have heard a pin drop, if Mr. D didn't burp at that moment.
"Say what?"
Chiron pursed his lips. "When Annabeth went missing, Artemis said she would search for her on the side while she hunted a dangerous monster."
"And now said goddess is missing." Andi drawled, causing the centaur to wince.
"Yes, quite problematic."
"Then send me out there!" Andi insisted. "I can look for her! Or maybe join the other questers. I can't just sit here, Chiron."
"You will do no such thing, young lady." The trainer told her with an authoritative look. "Percy already fled from Camp to do the same thing. I will not have yet another possible child of the Great Prophecy out there if I can help it!"
"I don't ca-"
"No, you will not be running off." Mr. D said with authority, cutting Andi off even as he continued to casually flip through his wine magazine. "Frankly, your little blonde friend is completely unimportant in the grand scheme of things. We'll not be wasting good soldiers looking for someone who is almost certainly already dead."
"I don't take orders from y-"
Andi never finished her sentence before she clutched her head and cried out in pain. The wine god had by now discarded his magazine and had teleported right in front of his mortal sister. He loomed over her, his eyes ablaze with purple fire. The same fire that Andi could feel coursing through her veins, burning her from the inside out. The demigoddess would have collapsed to the floor but the god grabbed her by the front of her shirt and lifted her to his eye level.
"You forget your place, little mortal." The Olympian said his voice echoing with power as his free hand roughly grabbed Andi's cheeks and forced her to look into his flaming eyes. As her eyes locked onto those fiery orbs, her skull felt like it was spinning under her skin.
"Mr. D." Chiron hissed at the god.
The god snorted and dropped Andi right on her butt, but it felt like she just crashed through a building. Wendy was by her side immediately, holding her as she looked at the god in terror.
"I'm going for a walk. I feel annoyed now."
Andi shook her head hard. So hard in fact, it felt like she'd her rattled brain.
Chiron knelt by her and shook his head.
"You shouldn't have said that. I understand you are upset, Andi, but I thought after what happened with Hecate you would use your head."
Andi looked down in shame. "I know I wasn't, but…"
Chiron patted her shoulder. "I understand, but please, Andi. We don't need to have you vaporized by a god. Not with how tense things are right now."
The daughter of Zeus nodded solemnly.
"Wendy, please help her to Cabin One. We'll be having dinner soon."
Wendy nodded and wordlessly helped Andi to her feet.
"Thanks." The demigod said as she was wobbled on her feet. "Hey, Wendy?"
"Yes?"
"If you see me about to mess up, stop me. Please." Andi said with a groan. I really need a filter.
"Yes ma'am!" The Aura declared with a determined nod.
When the horn sounded for dinner, Andi and Wendy sat at Table One as the few year rounders sat at their own tables. The only thing new was that Table Eight was filled with a lot of young girls, all of whom had silver winter gear and glowing auras of the same color. From the brochure that was forced into her hand by one of the over enthusiastic girls -Again! She still remembered the one she got after killing the Calydonian Boar - Andi figured them to be Hunters of Artemis, the goddess' personal handmaidens that followed her on hunts. Though all of them had this nervous feel about them, most likely from their matron's capture.
Andi could understand how they felt to a degree, but the girls also had this icy feel to them. Especially when they were shooing away this little boy who kept pestering them with questions.
From what she'd - well, mainly Wendy - gathered, the boy was a new arrival to Camp whose sister had recently joined the Hunters and had gone on the quest to rescue the goddess of the Hunt. So being new to the situation, both in terms of his sister being a Hunter and being a halfblood, he was worried and curious about things. He thus naturally turned to the one group of people that could best answer his questions. Only to be coldly rebuffed.
Frankly, that pissed Andi off quite a bit. She understood that the Hunters were uneasy and didn't really like boys but there was no reason to treat the brother of one of their own like this. Not when he was just worried about his sister, their comrade.
He had messy black hair that looked like he just rolled out of bed, big brown eyes and an olive complexion. He like everyone else was bundled head to toe in winter clothing. More importantly though, Andi realized after giving the boy a good look that she recognised him.
"Nico?!" The child of Zeus looked surprised, as the sense of recognition set in.
The boy turned towards her, his brown eyes widening in his own surprise as he spotted someone he knew. "Andi!?"
He scampered towards her table, his seemingly ever present Mythomagic cards clutched firmly in his hands. He hardly looked like he had changed since she had seen him and Bianca in the Lotus Casino.
A guilty feeling washed over Andi at that moment. Back then, she had left her new friends inside that cursed casino. Abandoning them to be eternally trapped out of time. Yes, she had to worry about World War III, but it still made her feel bad.
"You're a demigod too?" He asked as Wendy wrinkled her nose, inching away from him. Like Nico had just came out of the stable or something.
"Wait, you sit at Table One, that means, uh, Zeus is your dad!" Nico rambled on, without so much as letting Andi respond, looking proud of himself for learning his way around camp enough to point that out. The pride vanished as he knitted his brow as he seemed to realize something. "So that also means you're related to that spiky haired girl."
"Thalia, yeah." Andi answered with a tired sigh. Is it just me or is Thalia becoming as much of a recurring problem for me as the Dursleys?
"She's kind of a butt to people and didn't really like Bianca for joining the Hunters. And she crashed the sun."
Andi raised a brow at that. "Do I even want to know?"
"Probably not. But that's not what's important!" Nico shook his head, panic in his eyes. "Bianca, she joined those girls. And their jerky leader made her go on that quest to save Artemis. When I ask them about details, they just shoo me away because I'm a boy."
He looked so disheartened, like a kicked puppy.
"She joined the Hunters?" Andi asked the boy, and he nodded sullenly. She racked her mind at that, she knew Bianca wanted to have some separation from Nico, to be her own gal, but she never thought she'd join the Hunters to do it.
Then again, I only ever talked to her once. Andi realized. What do I know about her. Or Nico.
Seeing the boy so sullen, Andi did her best to try and give him some hope. "Hey, listen to me."
At her words, he looked at her.
"I know you think it sucks that Bianca joined the Hunters. But look at it from where Bianca is coming from. She's probably just trying to figure out where she fits in. You guys just barreled into a scary new world, one that's difficult to wrap your head around. Trust me, I've had years to deal with it and I'm still trying to get the reins on this life." Andi gave him an encouraging hair ruffle, getting the boy to whine. "All I'm saying is-"
"If all of you urchins can shut up. That goes especially to Amy over there, quit your asinine rambling." Mr. D announced from Table Twelve, his purple gaze narrowed as he looked in her direction. "We're here to eat, not talk out of our asses like you so often do."
Andi kept her mouth shut, but balled her fists. Wendy nudged her under the table while shaking her head to remind the demigod not to raise to the bait as the god smacked her down in public. Nico looked at her in concern, but the daughter of Zeus just told him to get to Table Eleven and eat his dinner, telling him they'd talk later.
Andi's friends gave her worried looks, but she waved them off with a smile and a shrug. She didn't want to worry them about her own dumb mistakes, though she had to wonder about what set Mr. D off.
What is Mr. D's problem? I get he doesn't like demigods… But why is he targeting me like this? It can't be because I disrespected him earlier, everyone else does that and he doesn't suddenly want to vaporize them. What the hell?
After Mr. D's 'intervention', the atmosphere in the Dining Pavilion became exceptionally gloomy. Everyone was either worried about setting the obviously upset god off or, in the case of the Hunters and friends of the questers, worried about their friends out on their quest.
Things just got worse from there as Mr. D, probably feeling vindictive, cancelled the singalong, saying he'd had enough headaches today and sent everyone back to their cabins early. Even the Hunters, who looked ready to set his cabin on fire for ordering them around. Their defiance didn't sit well with him though and like the god he was, Mr. D didn't take any shite from them and locked them in Cabin Eight with a snap of his fingers.
All in all, with the Camp's resident god in a unprecedented bad mood, the Campers' day ended rather abysmally.
Andi furrowed her brow as she looked at her mosaic ceiling. She stapled her fingers on her stomach as her other hand stroked Hunter's head. Wendy was on the couch, pushing buttons on the remote in an attempt to figure out how a Telly works.
Judging by the scream she released at turning to a hack and slash horror movie, it wasn't going well.
"How does this work? The other Aura all make it sound so easy." The frustrated nymph said as she threw the remote to the ground in a fit of pique.
"Haven't you ever seen a Hephaestus Telly? And don't throw that please." Andi chided her.
"Sorry. And No." Wendy shook her head with a pout. "I lived in a nice and quiet tropical area. Well, quiet until a storm would come by. We didn't really need or want stuff like H-TV."
"Huh, nice to know." Andi mumbled to herself. So Wendy is basically a country bumpkin? Interesting.
Wendy grasped the head on the couch and looked at her intently. "So what are you going to do?"
"What do you mean?"
The Aura shook her head. "Our bond, remember? I can just feel you ready to zoom out of here."
Now that was awkward. She didn't get the thrill of a reveal to her coming escape attempt.
"So, I've got a plan."
"Which I figured."
Andi glared at her from the resting place of her bed. She's getting a mouth, this one. Does that make me a good or bad influence?
Shaking her head, Andi replied. "Simple. I'm going to Sonic Move out of here. You and Hunter stick with me and later when we're clear of New York and anyone looking for us from Camp, we ride Hunter west. Hopefully we meet up with the others and then recuse Bethy and Artemis."
"...I have so many questions." Wendy stated.
"Save them for when we're out of camp." The daughter of Zeus sat up. She glanced to her side. "Hunter, puppy mode."
Hunter barked happily and morphed into a small, cute, and portable puppy.
"Aww." Wendy cooed at the little guy.
"I know right? Now if only he could shoot celestial laser beams out of his eyes, then he'll be completely perfect." Andi snickered.
Wendy's eyes widened to the size of saucers. "He can't really do that, can he?"
Andi held Hunter up and his tongue flicked her nose. "I don't think so. If he can, he's really holding out on me."
Hunter just whined and shook his head. As if trying to say that he would never do that.
Andi rubbed her nose against his wet one. "Alright, I'll believe you. For now."
Her puppy whined at her tease. She hugged him and got to her feet. "Alright, Operation Bird Flew The Coop is a go!"
Wendy pumped her fist in the air as Hunter barked.
The daughter of Zeus secured her bag, shooting Hunter a glance to make sure he was comfortable in it. She found her dog poking his head out in excitement. Smiling at his enthusiasm, she turned to her partner. "You set, Wendy?"
The Aura nodded as the two exited the top of the cabin. Seeing all of camp asleep, the demigod nodded to her partner. Wendy wrapped around Andi and turned into a fiery red twister that spun around her. The two had dubbed this mode Storm Mail, mainly because the name had an epic ring to it.
Andi looked towards the entrance of the camp, by Thalia's tree where the Golden Fleece laid and said two words.
"Sonic Move."
Her body tensed as she was propelled forward in a blur of motion that resembled a streak of blue lightning as she blitzed out of camp.
The girl had to do this repeatedly as she rushed across the the rural countryside around Camp and made distance from any possible pursuers.
Gotta keep moving. Andi reminded herself. More distance the better, can't do this forever.
Unfortunately for Andi, she barely made it to East Hampton before she was intercepted. She had just dropped out of a Sonic Move on the roof of some building and was prepping up another one when suddenly she was entangled in vines. Wendy tried to help her but found herself similarly entangled, impossibly so since she was currently in her wind form. Even Hunter had been pulled out of her bag by the vines and bound up like an adorable present.
Andi had a good idea who was responsible, so knowing that she was on thin ice with him, didn't try breaking free. It would likely just have pissed the god off.
Sure enough, moments after the vines had successfully restrained all three of them, Mr. D materialized in front of their bound forms. His eyes ablaze with both a violet inferno and malicious satisfaction, he addressed his victims.
"My, my, what do I have here?" The god said gleefully as he rubbed his hands together. "A arrogant little half-blood who thinks she knows better and decides to run off even after immortals and gods decide it's better for her to stay put."
Andi wanted to retort, wanted to tell him that she had to go help save Bethy. But she didn't need the nudge Wendy gave her to tell that saying anything right now would just make things worse for her.
"Nothing to say?" The god of wine said sounding genuinely surprised. "Incredible, the brat actually learned some restraint. I wonder which of us granted this miracle."
Again the daughter of Zeus had to fight down the urge to say something to defend herself.
Still smirking, the god shrugged. "Well, it doesn't matter I guess. After all, I already have all the reason I need to punish her. Running away from camp, against orders mind you, is quite the offense."
The god started pacing while rubbing his bearded chin in thought. "Should I turn you into a squirrel? No, no. Too boring. Oh I know!" He stopped his pacing and turned to face Andi with a self-satisfied smirk on his face, like he'd just thought up something fabulous. "I'll take that dog of yours."
Andi's heart lurched at the very idea even as Hunter barked in defiance. "Oh shut your yap, you mongrel. I don't mean permanently. Zeus would not like that. But you're definitely not going on this little excursion."
With that he snapped his fingers and Hunter disappeared.
"Where did you send him?" Andi shouted, her fear and anger at what the god could do to her dog overwhelming her sense of caution.
"Back to that kennel you call a cabin."
The sky rumbled in offense, but Mr. D paid it no mind this time.
"After all, having a divine beast like the golden dog along with you is an unfair advantage. I mean with him around, most monsters won't even pose a challenge. And we can't have that can we?"
"It sounds like you hope I'll die." Andi noted.
"Oh, I do." Andi wanted to say she was surprised, but by this point? She honestly wasn't. "Frankly, I hate all of you brats. But you? You're the worst of the worst. I utterly despise you. You're just like a shrimpy Herakles. Always getting help from dear old daddy. It disgusts me. Where was he when I needed help?"
This coming from the guy who marched into India with an army of frenzied Maenads and Fratboy Satyrs drunk on wine. Andi thought to herself, but knew better than to say.
It seemed Andi's thoughts were a little too loud though, as the god seemed to have heard her if the increased intensity of the flames in his eyes were anything to go by. Fortunately, he seemed to not want to act on it. Maybe he didn't want to out the fact that he was reading her mind? Whatever the case, the demigod was just thankful to all the gods - yes, even Mr. D himself - that he didn't take more of an offense. She liked not being a vegetable.
Instead of reducing Andi to her constituent atoms, the god just continued with his angry rant. "More importantly, while Zeus gets to spoil you, I can't do the same for my children? I know he has the whole double standards thing, but this is just like back in the old days. Perseus, Herakles, and the rest of the trireme full of his little bastards. And now you're added to the list."
Suddenly, the god's demeanor changed. His previous anger draining away, only to be replaced by a deep sadness. "Why is it that he can set you on track to immortality and I can't even intervene to save my sons when they are in mortal danger?"
"What, where are they!?" Andi's blurted out, worried about her friends.
The god just snorted. "Like I need Little Miss Gasoline for that fire. Frankly, even if you technically fall into my realm already, I don't want that touched head of yours near them. You are trouble Andromeda Potter. Too much trouble for me to care for at my camp."
Andi looked away, feeling hurt that he legitimately claimed that she was crazy. Because as the god of madness, if he says it then it's true.
"And that's why I hope you die on this fool's errand." Mr. D admitted, his fiery anger rekindled. "Why I'm gaming things so that the chances of that increases."
"...Well, I'll either save a goddess or die trying to keep the world on the right path." Andi looked into his eyes, mustering her courage the best she could.
The god scoffed. "So you think, you little self-centered brat. I'm sure the outcome would be the same even if you weren't there."
The daughter of Zeus shrugged. "If I can help, that's all that really matters to me."
"I know." Mr. D said with a gleefully malicious smile, even as he snapped his fingers and the vines released her and Wendy. "It's what I'm counting on to get you killed."
Andi took that as her signal to leave. She glanced at Mr. D and said. "Hope the twins will be okay. See you later, maybe."
She murmured her spell and was gone in a flash of lightning. All while, she ignored the mad cackling of the vindictive god of madness that echoed across the town.
In a streak of lightning, Andi and Wendy arrived on a rooftop in Manhattan. The hustle and bustle of the city raced below them, producing thousands of varied noises that hit Andi's ears. The young demigod rubbed her face in frustration as she tried to sort out her situation.
Hunter was her best shot to find the other questers. Mr. D knew that too, so by sending him back to Camp he had pretty much screwed her over.
Typical.
"I'm sure it will be alright." Wendy tentatively said.
No it wouldn't, not unless something changed, and they both knew that.
Andi pursed her lips. Maybe I could I.M. Percy or Bianca? No, I don't even have a location! What if I call that demon taxi Bethy told me about? Again, location. 'West' the Prophecy said. Where in the West?! That's so damn vague.
From her perch, the demigod looked to the street far below for some hint of anything that could help her. She glanced up, hope flickering in her eyes.
Hey Fates, wanna give me a hand here? A moment of silence, or what passed as silence in the city, was all she got. Yeah, I figured as much.
She wasn't even a member on this quest, so why would they even bother to help her?
Not like they've done anything but screw me over anyway. Andi scowled to herself as she turned away from the street and began pacing in thought. Wendy meanwhile had settled on an AC unit and watched her go in circles.
Frustrated that her pacing had not helped her to come up with anything, Andi stopped and began verbally tossing out some ideas. "Okay, so we've got no real clue where they are right now right? Maybe we could ask some spirits or something for sightings? Might take a while, but that's the best I've got."
"Or you could wait for your prayer for help to be answered." A voice chimed in.
"Yeah, or that, but I don't think the Fates are-" The daughter of Zeus paused her reply and turned to face the direction of the new person on the roof. Or rather the goddess.
There on the grungy roof was Aphrodite, the goddess of love, looking as gorgeous as ever. She still looked like Lily Potter to Andi and was dressed in a sleek black peacoat that was accentuated by a green scarf, black leggings and knee high boots. Overall, her outfit was pretty casual but she somehow still made it look like it had come off a runway.
Which it probably did.
Looking at her surroundings for the first time, the goddess wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Couldn't you have picked a better roof to think on? Like Macy's? Or Tiffany's? I just love that place."
The goddess smiled then, probably at the idea of Tiffany's. Andi looked away, a little unnerved by the goddess' sudden mood swing. "Um, sorry?"
The goddess waved it off. "It's fine this time. Now, what's one of my favorite little projects in need of?"
Andi was about to ask why the goddess had called her a project, but found herself sitting on a cushioned couch that had appeared out of nowhere with Wendy now sitting next to her. Looking just as confused by what was going on in fact.
The goddess sat across from them, laying on another identical looking couch as she played with an end of her scarf. Her emerald green eyes glanced at her, a crimson brow raised questioningly. "Well?"
Andi swallowed nervously, after her recent experience with gods, she knew she had to be very careful in how she spoke to the goddess. "I'm trying to find the questers looking for Artemis-"
The goddess groaned at that, kicking her feet in the air, kinda of like a child. "That lost cause? I swear, if Apollo didn't pull this favor, I wouldn't be here, Andi my dear."
"Apollo did what?"
The goddess rolled her eyes. "Apollo may act the airhead at times, but that's because he only cares for certain things. His mother Leto, his children, his two true loves, and his boring prude of a twin." She sat up, sighing dramatically. "So tall, bronzed, and handsome is calling in as many favors as possible to help the questers. Even some to help along another sister of his."
The goddess winked at her, very obviously indicating to Andi that Apollo wanted her help to rescue Artemis too.
That certainly gave the demigod a warm happy feeling, it was nice to have someone counting on her.
"Now I can't do too much or people will get all grumpy." Aphrodite's well manicured fingers stroked her chin for a moment, until her eyes widened as she got an idea. "Oh that should do it! Yes, he'd be a great help in your current situation." Turning to look Andi in the eye, she began to explain her idea. "There's this little settlement out in Union county, New Jersey. You should be able to find some assistance there. Just head in the direction of Watchung Reservation, you won't miss it."
"Who's there?" Wendy curiously asked.
Aphrodite only smiled and deflected the question. "That's all I feel like saying. Be good Andi! Or don't, I won't tell." She tittered. "Also, don't freak out too much when you get there. Now I have to get ready for a date. Tootles~!"
The goddess, and her couches, disappeared in a plume of lavender perfume, leaving Andi and Wendy to land on their rumps.
"She seems...nice." Wendy fiddled with her hair nervously, looking all around them.
"I'm just glad to know a god out there likes me." Andi quipped dryly as she stood up, helping Wendy to her feet as well. "Alright, time to head for Jersey. Let's grab a taxi, the last Greyhound I went on got blown up."
Finding a taxi station in New York was frankly the easiest thing that had happened to her today. She talked to someone working there and they said they could get someone to take her to New Jersey in twenty minutes or so. It was going to be kind of pricey, but Andi wasn't that worried since she had about four hundred dollars. More than enough, she she was sure, to cover the ride.
Deciding to do something productive while waiting, Andi went off to stock up on some food for the trip.
The sky child was just paying for her piping hot cocoa from a Starbucks down the street from the station, when a odd clunking noise hit her ears as something landed a few feet away from her. Andi turned to see what had caused the strange sound and her eyes widened in horror as she recognized it as a grenade.
Reacting instinctively, she jumped back in shock. Thankfully, Wendy reacted just as quickly and begun transforming into the Storm Mail, picking her partner up and pulling her further away from the explosive in the process.
The Aura was just in time. A moment later, it went off, unleashing an intense light and a massive boom. With her super senses, Andi was overwhelmed, leaving her blinded and deaf as her eyes were covered by white spots and her ears rung.
She didn't know what was going on, but all of her instincts were telling her to get the hell out of dodge.
Suddenly Wendy jerked her to the side, even as Andi screamed in pain as her body was peppered by what felt like molten hot pellets that burned through any unprotected flesh it could find.
In pain and with her sight and sound still impaired, the daughter of Zeus, felt herself lowered to the ground. She was still struggling to come to grips with what was going on when something was forced into her mouth. The demigod struggled to not choke, but the familiar taste of ambrosia on her tongue convinced her to swallow.
As the food of the gods worked its magic, the pain lessened, her vision began to clear up, and the sounds of New York City returned to her ears. Andi didn't completely recover though, it seemed she'd need more ambrosia to be fully healed.
Her vision was clear enough, even if there was still white spots that left things slightly blurry, for her to see a worried looking Wendy kneeling in front of her. They were ducked behind a counter as shredded dollar bills rained down on them.
"Andi, Andi!" She shouted, making Andi wince a little.
"I'm fine." The demigod said as she looked at her shoulder, to see her entire back was covered in blood and her bag was badly shredded. "What's going on?"
"Mortals are shooting at us. They threw this tube thing at you and it hurt you and made you disoriented, then threw an exploding pineapple at us! And that's when they started to shoot those guns at you too."
"Mortals?" Andi asked incredulously, even as she summoned her bow and took a peek over the counter to take a look at her enemies. "Where are they-"
She was interrupted by the sound of intense gunfire and she quickly dove back behind cover, however not before narrowly missing a bullet that grazed her cheek.
"Shite." She said in a pained hiss. Her fist tightened around her bow as she tried to come up with what to do next, even as the enemy seemed to be content to pepper the sturdy counter with gunfire. Something made difficult with the blurred vision, the ringing in her ears, and the pain of her wounds.
I need protection. Andi thought sluggishly. Can't take another of those grenades.
Turning to Wendy, she ordered. "Storm Mail, now."
The Aura nodded and engulfed Andi in the fiery twister armor while the demigod tore her ruined bag off her shoulder. Another clanging noise alerted her as a pineapple shaped grenade landed in front of her.
"Brace!" Andi said as the devilish thing went off. She was unfortunately midway through standing up to dash away from it though and the blast unbalanced her enough that she crashed into the back wall. Hard.
Thankfully, her armor kept her from getting any more injuries. At least for now.
The fall also had the added benefit of causing her to fall back behind the cover of the abused counter as heavy gunfire rained on her position.
Ok. I need a distraction. Andi observed as she scanned her surroundings for something that could serve her purposes. Spotting her battered bag, she smirked as she pulled it towards her.
"Get ready, Wendy. We're going out the back. Full speed." Andi whispered as she formed a ball of air in her palm and stuffed it into the remains of the messenger bag. She popped out of cover and tossed her bag by the strap.
"Grenade!" One of them shouted as heavy footsteps stomped furiously, presumably getting away from Andi's improvised explosive.
Payback's a bitch, tossers!
"Go!" Andi shouted as they blitzed to the rear exit while the planted wind bomb went off on her command, creating the distraction that they needed.
The partners burst out of the cafe's back door only to be greeted by gunfire that forced them to dive behind a dumpster for cover. One that was annoyingly occupied by a man toting a strange looking shortened rifle who promptly levelled his gun at Andi.
The daughter of Zeus wasn't about to let herself get shot at. Acting on reflex, a conjured blade of wind snapped into being around the now sword formed Skyline and she swung her weapon at her foe.
There was no finesse to her swing, only the barest hint of her training shone through. It was a wild thing driven entirely by instinct, but it still served its grisly purpose regardless.
No gunfire greeted her face as two meaty chunks fell to the ground. Blood and entrails painting the alley and herself as she cut the bloke in half.
Realizing what she'd done, horror begun to raise up, but Andi squashed it. Now wasn't the time, besides he deserved it.
She didn't get much time to think about her latest kill though, when a bullet ripped into the ground right in front of her. Spinning back in the direction of the cafe, she spotted a half dozen men cautiously making their way out of the back door, their guns aimed right at her.
Andi flung her free hand out and a blob of air appeared in front of the men. Before they could even shout 'Scatter', the air mine went off, sending the group flying.
Not waiting to see more, the demigod mentally cried out. Wendy, rooftop. Now!
Her partner obeyed immediately and the duo blasted into the air. Gunfire cracked off once more, but Andi felt confident that her Storm Mail could handle it. She was thus flabbergasted when a shot punched through her armor and grazed her side.
Andi jerked to the side in pain and reacting to the prompt, Wendy swerved to the side causing them to crash onto the roof of the building that housed the Starbucks.
"AP rounds work." A dispassionate voice observed through his radio as he cautiously walked towards her with his rifle aimed at her. "Roger." The man said in response to whatever he heard over the radio, even as he opened fire.
Andi rolled to the side and into cover, but not before a bullet once again grazed her left arm.
They're like a damn infestation. Andi snarled in her mind, even as she pushed the fresh pain to the back of her mind. She changed Skyline back into its bow form and popped out of cover, earning herself another couple of grazes as the man adjusted his aim. Before he could get a proper bead on her, she fired a wind bomb arrow point blank at the gunman.
The bomb exploded into a vortex as the arrow hit the man's chest, tearing his body to pieces that rained across the roof.
Much to her annoyance, her display of power seemed to have drawn her the wrong attention as bullets from other rooftops peppered her. Fortuitously, it seemed these gunmen hadn't switched to AP rounds yet and Andi's armor kept her safe. Not taking chances however, the daughter of Zeus scrambled for cover once more, and hid herself behind the stairwell exit to the rooftop.
You know what, I think I'm starting to hate military people. Ares must be laughing his arse off at me.
What are we going to do Andi? Wendy asked through their link. Maybe we can use some magic to run away? Or the Mist?
The child of the sky pondered this, Andi would honestly have loved to get the hell out of dodge at the moment. But that would need her to either use the Mist or Sonic Move, neither of which she thought she could successfully pull off with her senses still out of whack from the flashbang.
Desperate for inspiration, she looked around at her surroundings but nothing came to mind until she looked at the reptilian eyed ring on her finger.
"Wendy, lose the armor."
Are you crazy! You need me to protect you from the bullets!
"I'll be fine… I've got a-a plan." Andi swallowed nervously as she put away Skyline and summoned her drakon bone dagger.
Wendy returned to normal, looking as nervous as Andi. "And that is?"
"I'm going to leap to that other building." Andi pointed out the one to the left of their cover. "I'm going at it from the side and need you to give me a lift when I do."
"Okay, I'll do my best." The little Aura said with a determined look.
Andi gave her a small smile and looked at the stairwell. The wankers were almost certainly climbing up it right now.
Well, it's only fair to leave them a little surprise.
With a malicious little smirk, Andi placed a small blob of air right at the center of the door.
With her back covered, it was time to move on to the next phase of her plan. Andi moved to the side of the building and hung off of it, before swinging herself to the adjacent one. Wendy transforming into a breeze to give her that extra distance when needed. She continued her silent creep as she moved from rooftop to rooftop, until she made it to the one with the first soldier on it.
Using her powers, Andi stilled the air around herself effectively silencing any sounds she produced. With what little skill she had picked up from sneaking around Hogwarts, she stealthily searched the roof for one of her enemies. Spotting one that was thankfully looking the other way, at where she'd been just a few minutes ago, she approached the man.
"Re-positioned." He hissed into his radio bead. "Target lost. I repeat. Target lost. She must have moved." He was silent for a moment as someone on the other side responded, before he replied once more. "Roger. Don't worry we'll get her."
Andi snuck as close to him as she could manage and waited for her chance. That came when the mine on the stairwell exploded. The man in front of her turned towards the stairwell and eyed it in concern for a moment.
Capitalizing on the chance this provided to her, she jumped on him and thrust her poisoned blade into him repeatedly. Her dagger slid easily in and out of the soldier's body, leaving bloody gashes that wept blood. He wheezed as the life drained out of him, but otherwise gave no sign as he dropped to the ground as a corpse.
Andi pilfered the corpse, looking for his radio. The movies always made taking that seem so useful. Just as Andi was going to continue her stealth takedowns, sirens wailed in the air.
"Withdraw! All remaining units head to the rendezvous." The radio crackled. "Repeat. Withdraw and head to the rendezvous."
"Now the Bobbies show up." Andi grumbled, she thought New York's PD was way faster than that. Or maybe these guys had some of the Mist working in their favor? Andi didn't know, right now all she was sure about was that she hoped she wouldn't run into them again.
Wendy landed near her, fretting over her injuries. "We need to get you bandages, or some nectar."
Discarding the radio, Andi took out her wand and mended her clothes, cleaning herself up in the process. She gave the Aura an assuring smile. "I'll be fine, Wendy. Been worse than this, trust me. Let's just head for our ride."
Wendy looked ready to say more, but when Andi hopped over to another rooftop, she just followed after her.
Sneaking past the police line was simple enough as they just leapt pass it while still sticking to the roofs and made it to the taxi station in no time.
"You're five minutes late, kid." One of the drivers said to her when she showed up looking for their ride. "Ya said you were getting a drink."
"It was a long line." Andi told him. "So let's go to Jersey, yeah?"
"Fine, hope you got some cash, little girl." A grumpy balding man said as he took a sip of his coffee and entered the yellow vehicle. Both Andi and Wendy sat in the back and buckled up as some Latin music oozed out of the radio. Wendy quickly fell asleep, resting her head on the daughter of Zeus' shoulder.
Aw, she looks adorable.
Feeling herself dozing off, Andi's mind drifted towards what had happened in the cafe.
She hadn't thought about it earlier, what with being preoccupied with fighting for her life, but they were plenty of innocent people in the coffeeshop. Many of whom were likely dead or injured because of the battle. That weighed on her conscience.
What didn't though was the deaths of the gunmen she'd killed. Those arses deserved it. They weren't just trying to kill me, they were perfectly willing to kill innocent people too. Taking them out was the right thing to do. Even if they were mortals. Besides, they knew what they were getting into when they picked a fight with a demigod.
At this morbid thought, Andi let out a tired yawn. The hectic day was catching up to her.
I guess I could use a nap to-
The daughter of Zeus never finished the thought as the pull of Morpheus captured her consciousness.
Andi handed over seventy dollars to the cab driver as he dropped the duo off at the entrance of Watchung Reservation. The air was crisp and the sun was just starting to peek over the horizon. It was actually quite the pleasant winter day, though Andi would disagree. She was too busy hugging herself to keep warm even as frost escaped her mouth each time she breathed.
"Where in the world should we go from here? Lady Aphrodite said there was a settlement around here somewhere, right?" Wendy asked Andi, as she herself looked perfectly content in the cold.
Andi huddled closer to her as the Aura gave off a warmth that chased the chills away. "Pretty much. I guess we go for a hike."
Without a clue on how to proceed, the two began to trudge through the deep snow of the forest, in a seemingly futile search for wherever the goddess wanted them to go. Andi was careful as she walked, her wounds had finally stopped bleeding on the ride over, but a misstep could easily reopen them.
Birds chirping and the crunch of dead leaves and snow beneath their feet were the only noise that accompanied the girls as they hiked through the reservation.
A distant footfall put Andi on edge. Reacting to the sound, she pulled out her bow in an instant and notched an arrow. Wendy was also on guard now. "What is it?"
"Something's here."
The demigod's ears twitched as she heard the footfalls try and be silent, but the dead leaves weren't the unknown's friend. She twisted around, an arrow aimed at whatever had approached them.
It was a man, dressed in a red flannel shirt, blue overalls and hiking boots. Oh, and he was over twenty feet tall with twin celestial bronze axes in his hands. He had short black hair, forest green eyes and a wild looking beard that had practically a small bush worth of leaves stuck in it.
It was at this moment that more rustling stirred the leaves and the snow on the ground. Monsters poked out of the trees all around her, each wielding spears and blades of sizes appropriate to their statures. Further back, just at the edge of her sight were dozens more armed with bows, their arrows nocked and ready.
Suddenly the branches in the trees above shook and Andi looked up to see a small flock of harpies perched above her.
Four more arrows appeared on Andi's bow as her heart beat pounded in her ears while Wendy shook behind her. Andi's eyes kept moving from one monster to another as fast as she could, trying to gauge who was going to attack first.
"Who are you, young half-blood? And what are you doing here in our Camp?" The giant, probably the leader, asked in a polite but cautious tone.
Andi's first instinct was to attack them and look for a chance to bolt. These guys were monsters and thus fair game, after all. But she stopped herself, if barely. The monsters outnumbered her badly. Battered and bruised as she was, the daughter of Zeus wasn't confident with the odds in front of her.
Plus for all the fact that the monsters clearly had the advantage, they weren't attacking. That was very strange indeed and Andi wanted to know what the hell was going on.
That didn't stop her from keeping her arrows aimed at the giant.
"Who are you?" Andi asked rudely back, holding her bow string back as tight as can be.
The giant arced one of his eyebrows. "Considering the circumstances, do you truly believe that you are in a position to demand answers?"
Andi would have continued to refuse to answer but Wendy grabbed her shoulder. Turning to look at her partner, she saw her shaking her head. Holding back a growl, the demigod answered.
"...Andi Potter, daughter of Zeus."
The giant let out a snorting laugh. "That suckler? Ah, yes, I can see it in your eyes. You have his lousy temperament too. Now why are you here?"
Andi nibbled the bottom of her lip. "I was told I could get some help if I came here."
Come to think of it, Aphrodite had also told her to not freak out too much about who would help her when she got to this place.
Was this why? Are they like Tyson? Andi thought as she glanced all around her.
"Oh? That's rare. And what help do you need?" He said, spinning his axes and holstering them at his hips. The other monsters looked uncertain at this but nevertheless followed their leader's example and slowly lowered their weapons.
At seeing this action, Andi herself slowly lowered her bow and dismissed her arrows, but still kept the string taut. "I need to find my friends, they're on a quest to save Artemis."
Some of the monsters hissed at the name of the Huntress, but the giant raised his large hand to quiet them.
"Hm, something has happened to her?" Andi nodded. "That would explain why the moon has been strange as of late. Very well, follow me to our encampment." The giant said as he turned his back to Andi. The daughter of Zeus was surprised by this gesture of trust and reciprocated by dismissing Skyline. Seeing this the other monsters relaxed a little more.
Seemingly oblivious to all this, the giant began walking off even as he continued speaking. "By the way, my name is Azeios."
The encampment was really a village of monsters of all kinds. It was a collection of buildings of various styles to accommodate its varied inhabitants. There was a number of caves dug out of the ground that looked like homes for the cyclopes. The harpies had treehouses that dotted the highest trees in the camp. There were also a set of more conventional log cabins that served as the homes for the human sized monsters, with one giant sized one that must have been Azeios'.
Andi took this all in with a sense of wonder. She'd never imagined seeing something like this. Ever.
"Yep," Azeios said happily as he noticed Andi's reaction to his home. "It took some time to make this place after we moved to the USA, but after getting this plot of land, we've really flourished."
"So it's like a monster meetup?" Andi asked as she rubbed her injured side, noting that her wound had reopened. Wonderful.
"More like a settlement." The giant corrected. "After my stint in the Titanomachy, lil Zeus let me go about doing my own thing. So I thought I would help whatever monsters that didn't want to mindlessly attack mortals and demigods to find a place they could call home."
Andi looked the giant up and down. "What'd you do in the war?"
Azeios pounded his chest with a fist and broke out into mighty laughter. "Why myself and my brethren, the Curetes, used our war dances to muffle lil Zeus' baby cries and were Rhea's defenders when her Ex found out she had spirited the young god away. We were amongst the first to join the battle against the Titans. So, lil Zeus honored us after our victory against the cannibal king."
He sounded very proud of himself, which to be fair he had every right to be. Andi still couldn't help but cringe a little though. She never liked listening to someone talk about their glory days.
"We should have Lucy check you out, your little mortal bodies bleed out far too fast." He said, pointing to the blood stain growing at her side.
Andi muttered a curse, great, she was bleeding while in shark infested waters. Azeios did say these monsters didn't want to eat demigods anymore, but she was none the less cautious.
"Who's Lucy?"
"Our shaman, she's a weird bird, but you know that harpies aren't all there to begin with." He chuckled a little.
Andi agreed, the harpies she knew at camp were very weird. And stupid. Hopefully this Lucy was a touch smarter. "This place is pretty cool. Wonder why it's never talked about."
"And why is it so close to Olympus?" Wendy asked as well. Clinging to Andi's unwounded side. "Isn't that a bad idea?"
Azeios grunted. "We try not to let our location get out too much. Some demigods try to find us and think they can wipe us out to get some fame. Idiots end up meeting Charon fast that way. As for why we're in Jersey? Well, as much as being close to Olympus is risky, at least it offers us some protection from other monsters."
"Why would you need protection from other monsters?" Andi asked in confusion.
"Do you think other monsters are happy that we are trying to forge peace with the gods? No. They call us weak and attack us. Only to wind up in Tartarus for their efforts. Still, they take a few of ours in the process. It's a vicious cycle, spawn of Zeus." Azeios said with a tired look. "Some of us here have gotten fed up with the situation and have given up. They even joined up with the rising opposition."
"Granddad and Luke." The demigod frowned.
"Exactly." Azeios pointed a meaty finger at her. "And it's bad, young one. Lil Zeus can't get his head out of his ass to see it and his father is taking advantage of that to the fullest."
Andi balled her fists, upset that her dad was letting all this happen right under his nose while others suffered for it.
"Lucy, you in?" Azeios shouted as they stopped in front of a tree that had a particularly large treehouse perched in its branches.
"Azey? That you?" A shrill voice replied.
"Yes." Azeios called back. "Could you come out? We have a visitor that needs your help."
"What Lulu's help need?" An old black feathered harpy fluttered down. She was wearing a New York Giants jersey. She had one eye that was milky white while the other was beady and black as she looked at Andi. "Not stupid half-blood?"
"No, not a stupid one." Azeios said with a smile.
"Lulu brew fast something." She said as she flapped her wings and went back into her treehouse.
"She seems… nice." Andi surmised her thoughts of the harpy.
"Just pinch your nose when you drink her potion." Azeios advised her cautiously.
"Why?" Wendy asked the giant.
"You'll see, and taste the reason soon enough." The giant quipped dryly with crossed arms.
Wendy took a few steps away from Andi.
The demigod glanced at her. Traitor.
Lucy came back down with a wooden bowl in her claws, the contents of it looking like green sludge.
"I have to eat that, don't I?" Andi looked at the bowl as it was shoved in her hands.
"Swallow. One big gulp."
The daughter of Zeus let out a sigh as she closed her eyes. "Find your happy place." She pinched her nose and tossed her head back with the bowl against her lips.
Think of the nastiest thing you could have ever eaten. Add a few toe nails, mold, and a gym sock. That's what Andi poured down her throat.
It was all she could do to not gag and spit it all over Lucy's number 11 jersey. The only thing that stopped her was that it would likely offending the harpy and thus likely lead to her getting lynched by the camp's monstrous inhabitants.
As the last of the sludge passed her throat, Andi inhaled sharply and coughed heavily. She looked at Lucy with teary eyes and croaked out. "Thank you."
"Iz alright."
A stinging sensation fluttered across Andi's body as her side burned a little before the pain subsided. Her shoulder, arm, cheek and the other spots where she had been hit by sharnel healed over too. Not even scars were left in the wake of the disgusting miracle tonic working its magic.
"Wow, that really worked." Wendy said with a wide eyed look. She poked Andi's once wounded side, making the girl swat the hand away.
"Stop that."
"We done? Lulu watching for fantasy team." The harpy said, looking eager to get back to her football game.
Andi wasn't going to even ask how they had cable out here.
Azeios shook his head. "The little one's trying to reach her friends, Lulu. Perhaps you can help her with that too."
"Why Lulu do everything, Azey? You do." Lucy stomped her talons into the ground.
"You're better with magic than I am." Azeios said, trying to compliment her. "I could never do what you could after all."
"Hm, Azey is dumb dumb." Lucy nodded in agreement, the giant laughing off the insult. "Fine, Lulu do. But Lulu want more bobbleheads."
The giant nodded with a resigned sigh. "Which team?"
"Cowboys."
"Fine."
Lucy crowed in victory as she grabbed Andi. "Up, we go up."
"Wait, I can get up-" Andi was cut off as she yelped when Lucy pulled her skyward and right into her treehouse.
Wendy followed them, glaring at Lucy heatedly, her hair flickering embers.
"Firebug no light house on fire." Lucy hissed at the Aura.
Wendy crossed her arms, trying to look threatening. "Don't go dragging Andi off like that."
Lucy looked at Andi. "You got dumb dumb too."
Wendy's hair grew brighter at that.
"Take it easy, Wendy. We need her help." Andi tried to calm her friend.
The Aura puffed up her cheeks. "Fine." She said sounding like an upset child. She moved to go sit on a blue beanbag in the corner of the treehouse, trying to not set the place on fire.
Lucy rolled her one good eye. "Me read up thingy quick."
She hopped over to a pile of books in a corner, picking them up one at a time, only to toss them to another corner saying no each time.
Andi looked around the treehouse, the boards creaked under her feet and looked warped. There was a large bowl of popcorn kernels by a little Telly that had rabbit ear antennas which didn't seem to be working too well as the image on the screen kept breaking into static.
In a corner, there was a hotplate under a cauldron that bubbled green, no doubt the miracle sludge. All kinds of gross looking ingredients lay all around it. Spiders, snails, puppydog tails, a dead squirrel, and a funky smelling gym bag with a sock poking out. Seeing this made Andi's stomach churn, forcing her to hold it as she fought against her mounting nausea.
Don't think about it. Don't think about it. Don't think about it. She chanted in her mind like a mantra.
"I find it!" Lucy said, waving an old tattered scroll that looked about ready to tear apart at her waving. "Telemove magic old, but way better than silly mortal version."
"Can you perform magic?" Wendy squinted her eyes skeptically.
"Can firebug?"
Wendy's eyes looked like a roaring fire as her hair fluttered about wildly in response to her growing agitation.
Wow, Wendy's got a real temper on her. Who knew? Andi looked surprised at this. She looked towards Lucy and asked. "So how does this work?"
"I dump stuff on you and say words. That all." Lucy told her.
"Do you even know where I'm going to land?" Andi asked her cautiously as she looked at the miracle sludge. She didn't want that dumped on her.
"Up to you. You think it. Lulu just say it."
"Riveting." Andi slumped her shoulders, but stood straight after a moment. "Alright, let's do this. Bring on the miracle sludge."
Lucy raised a crooked brow at her. "Miracle sludge?" She looked at her cauldron. "That my laundry."
...Don't think about it, don't think about it, oh dear gods do not even think about it!
Lucy shuffled over to her cabinet and pulled out a bunch of stuff. There were some flowers, peanuts shells, nuggets of gold, and a vial of what looked like spoiled milk.
"Hold things." She told the demigod, dumping them into the demigod's hands. "Firebug, get off Lulu chair. No want you here anymore."
"Gladly!" Wendy stomped on over to Andi, holding her arm as she glared at Lucy. Even sticking her tongue out at the harpy.
Lucy ignored her as she danced around the duo, grabbing things from Andi's arms as she sprinkled it over the girls. She chanted in Ancient Greek in a very reverent way the entire time, even as she showered peanut shells on Andi's hair and beaned Wendy with a nugget of gold in the forehead.
Lucy grabbed the vial of spoiled milk and smashed it at their feet. "Bye bye."
The girls didn't even get a word out before they disappeared in a whoosh.
The two girls landed in the middle of a desert. All around them was nothing more than arid ground. The only notable nearby landmark was a lonely mesa a short distance away.
It was quite hot, as expected of a desert.
"This is odd." Wendy noted while looking around cautiously. "It should be at least below freezing this time of year. Something isn't right, Andi."
"Then we need to do some recon." The demigod declared. "The spell was supposed to land us near the questers, so they must be nearby."
"Even so-"
A booming thrill interrupted Wendy as a heat wave washed over them.
Andi turned around slowly and saw a massive phoenix the size of a private jet hovering above them like a blazing sun.
"It wants us to leave its nest alone." Wendy told Andi in a small whimper.
"You can understand what it's saying?" Andi asked in surprise. Wendy nodded. "Play translator, would you?"
"Sure."
Now certain that she could understand what the monster could say, Andi held up her hands. "Hey, uh, nice to meet you. I'm Andi, this is Wendy. We are not here to bother you, or your nest. I promise."
The fire bird trilled once again.
"It says he doesn't care who we are, it just wants us to leave."
That was a problem. "We'd loved to, really, but we gotta kind of meet some friends here. How about we shuffle away a short distance and ignore each other, yeah? We'll be out of your feathers in a jiff."
Phoenix trilled back sounding offended.
"It asks whether you think he's a fool." Wendy translated, sounding uneasy. "He thinks that's the only way that you'd think that he'd believe us."
"Come on! I'm not even trying to attack you! I'm unarmed here and trying to negotiate. That's gotta mean something?"
Phoenix trilled angrily and spread his right wing and pointing off in the distance. Andi didn't need Wendy to translate what he was saying.
"He's saying he doesn't care. He's asking us to leave." Phoenix trilled angrily at this, and Wendy gulped nervously. "He's saying that's his last warning."
"Well we can't leave without missing the questers!" Andi snapped, feeling very irritable. She had been shot at, blown up, drank magical tar, and now some teriyaki was telling her what to do!
So if the fire chicken wanted to throw down that's exactly what she was ready to give it.
"Wendy, Storm Mail!" Andi ordered as she jumped away from Phoenix, anticipating his inevitable attack and wanting to gain some distance.
A wave of fire washed over them and Andi used a burst of air to push herself away from harm and landed softly on the ground in a crouch. Andi transformed Skyline into its bow form and fired off a barrage of wind arrows. They shrieked through the air at the monster, but the Phoenix however simply let out a dismissive trill and disappeared in a burst of flame.
Andi clicked her tongue, as her opponent appeared high in the air. "He can teleport huh? Pointblank it is I guess."
The fire bird swooped down breathing a stream of fire directly at Andi, the demigod evaded the attack and returned fire with another barrage of wind arrows. Phoenix just teleported once more, and Andi swerved to the side instinctively thus barely avoiding the rending talon that slashed at her as her opponent appeared literally right behind her.
She hopped back a few paces, bouncing on her feet. "Man you're a tough bugger."
Still, I'm never going to get a solid shot in at this rate. I need one clean shot, a vital one at that.
It flashed away again a twister started to form by Andi's feet. It coiled and spat around her. Just need to wait and-now!
The bird teleported in her face once more and slashed at her. Reacting quickly, Andi jumped away while whipping the twister she'd been building right into its face. Strains of wind shot forth from the twister to bind it, while the bulk of the twister spun around it wildly serving as an insurance to keep it in place.
Notching five arrows, Andi took aim right at the bird's head.
Although trapped and only able to send embers flying everywhere as it lightly struggled, the Phoenix didn't seem to be overly perturbed by being caught in Andi's coiling winds, instead it pulled its wings in and gathered its power. After a moment of this, it released its gathered power in a massive explosion that easily tore the twister restraining it apart. The flames did not stop there however as the explosion expanded away from it like a tsunami of flame.
Damn! Andi thought in awe at the spectacle even as the flames washed over her, her Storm Mail protecting her from the worse of the heat but still leaving her sweating heavily. It left her mouth feeling like sandpaper and she was genuinely worried about dehydration if this battle dragged on too long.
As the intense light of the flaming shockwave faded, Andi looked around and gulped dryly in worry. The whole area had been transformed in the passing of the flames. What was once a cold desert was now a fiery hellscape. The ground was now a blasted, smoking lava field with the occasional open pools of molten lava that bubbled as they released deadly gases. Here and there were volcanoes that spewed out even more lava and burning air. The air had become burning hot and even within her Storm Mail, Andi was suffering from the heat.
Seeing what he had pulled off, Andi had to admit that the Phoenix was a scary monster. Definitely in her top five monster encounters without question.
That just meant that if she wanted to survive this, she needed to end this. Now!
But what can I do? I can't hit it if it keeps teleporting. Hell, I can't even capture it and now I have to fight in a fiery wonderland.
The Phoenix wasn't content to give his opponent time to think of a strategy and with another booming thrill, it dive bombed at her.
It spat fireballs at her as it closed, Andi flew into the air to avoid it. The Phoenix pulled up sharply and pursued her while shooting streams of flame and fire balls at her. The daughter of Zeus was sweating even more heavily now, and not just from the heat anymore, as she jinxed through the air to avoid the Phoenix and his attacks.
I need a oneshot, something powerful enough to get it to have back off to recover. Wait that's it!
The daughter of Zeus drew her drakon dagger out and flipped it in a reverse grip. She swiped her sword at the bird of life launching a vacuum blade at it, forcing it to blink away in a blaze of flames once more to evade an arc of wind.
Andi put everything she had in her senses and waited for an opening, she just needed that one window of opportunity.
A flicker of fire caught the corner of her eyes and Andi's twisted her body in that direction. "Sonic Move!" In less than a millisecond, she closed the distance with the monstrous avian in a streak of lightning to reappear right in front of the Phoenix.
She stabbed her dagger right into the plumage of the life bird, ignoring how her eyeballs seemed to be drying up in her skull at the close proximity to his flaming body.
Her blow dealt, Andi hastily made her retreat.
The Phoenix thrashed wildly at this, not even teleporting as the deadly venom coursed through its immortal body. It trilled in agony and suddenly the flaming landscape transformed into a sea of flame that flowed back into its body, leaving behind the original terrain as it was reabsorbed into its body. Despite this though, the Phoenix's agony didn't seem to relent.
Even after reabsorbing all its power, Phoenix was still unable to fight off the poison tearing its inside apart. Still thrashing in terrible pain, the monster fell from the sky like a flaming meteor in a massive impact. As the dust thrown up by the impact cleared, there was no sign of the Phoenix.
"Did I win?" Andi voiced uncertainty as she landed on the ground, breathing a sigh of relief as her feet touched the ground once more.
An annoyed trill sounded from the center of the impact crater had her tensing, her dagger and Skyline raised, ready for a second round. This was met by another trill, this time slightly scared.
"Where is that coming from?"
Over there, Wendy said in her mind. In the center of the crater.
There exactly where Wendy said it was, there was a small chick that chirped at her in annoyance as it feebly tried to waddle away. It fell down every so often and was thus forced to roll around as it struggled to get back on its talons, trilling angrily all the while.
Overall, it looked absolutely adorable.
Guilt crashed against Andi's core at seeing the small thing. She felt just like she had after the conclusion of the First Task. Once more she had ruined a creature's life just because she needed to do what needed to be done.
Andi put her weapons away and reached her hand out to the literally blazing Phoenix chick. It looked at her fearfully, futilely spitting pitiful sparks at her palm in warning. Ignoring its flames and even as it pecked at her, she patted its head. She could accept the bird's distrust, the girl deserved it.
"I'm sorry. Really, I am. I-I'll leave you alone now." The daughter of Zeus told the defenseless monster as Wendy released their armor.
Any other demigod would have ended the bird, or found a way to imprison it. But Andi just didn't have it in her.
Besides, people tell me I'm abnormal all the time. Why be anything but myself? Andi mused as she turned to leave, but some chirping stopped her.
Andi looked over her shoulder to see the little baby phoenix holding one of its large feathers in its beak, waddling towards her. It dropped the feather at her feet and chirped very heatedly.
"He says since you beat him and even went as far to spare him, you deserve this." Wendy translated with a smile on her face, looking very proud of Andi.
The Phoenix chirped again, causing Wendy to go red in the face.
"I can't say that! Geez, uh, to paraphrase, he's still angry at you, but begrudgingly grateful nonetheless."
"How much is that paraphrased?"
"...Ninety percent of it."
Andi just sighed and looked around the once hellish landscape.
"This day's just gone to the birds."
Bam! Another one done! Thanks to Nameless and Axios as usual.
Well, Mr. Dick strikes again. And he's jelly that daddy loves his girls more. Typical daddy issues. Like every other child of Zeus.
Nameless: So Mr. D hates Andi, especially so even in comparison to the average demigod. This is largely because he's jealous of her. Principally about how she's a living demonstration of how Zeus can get away with stretching the rules and helping his demigod children but comes down hard, making it difficult, for other gods to do the same for their half-bloods. A fact especially true for Mr. D who is already on thin ice with him. As for the mention about the twins being in danger? Well, we did mention earlier that all gods can see the future to a degree.
Now I'm sure you guys have noticed that we gave the soldiers from TTC a bit more depth. Because they are in Manhattan, and yes, they blew up a perfectly good Starbucks. The dicks. With the people inside nonetheless! Dicks. So yeah, flashbangs and frag grenades are not Andi's friends and neither were these guys. At least she's started to learn how to imitate the Assassins of Assassin's Creed fame. But I've gotta be frank, that scene made me pull my hair out. Appreciate the hard work we put into that scene folks. Mainly thank Nameless for knowing a lot about military tactics.
Nameless: I hope you liked how we had the mercenaries measure up against a demigod. They were pretty successful, no? Given a little better preparation, they could probably have killed Andi. Especially since they caught her in an ambush. Now imagine how that would have gone against a less powerful demigod. I hope you can see why Atlas recruited them.
Now the monster camp, that was a nice little idea that we toyed with until we found a good monster leader. Then I stumbled upon Azeios, a giant from the first Titanomachy. So I thought we'd play a bit loose with him and use him right. Peaceful monsters guys! If Tyson can do it, someone else did it before it was cool. Also, #LucyBestMon, be wary of her crazed football skillz! I just had a blast writing her. Plus, this gives Andi some perspective on things. Like with the dragon, and especially with how it played for the following scene.
Nameless: The neutral monsters are basically a critique of the very simplistic view of monsters that most Campers have. That is to say, "All monsters are bad!" In fact, they are a critique of a lot of stereotypes that Campers have in regards to monsters. Like how Lucy, a harpy, is a competent (if crazy) magic user even though harpies are generally thought to birdbrained. But of course things aren't that simple. Even here among this camp of neutral monsters, the unhappiness with Olympus has grown and Kronos' reach can be felt.
Punny. And now for another feathered issue. The Phoenix! Another thing I had wanted to do for Andi for a while. Looks like Andi's got a feather to put into her hat. Or maybe some of you know what a phoenix feather means.
Nameless: Originally, we wanted this fight to take place in the Smithsonian alongside the questers fighting the Nemean Lion, but we eventually decided against it. We felt that doing so would make this story just follow the stations of canon, so we changed things to something more original.
Like D said, Andi is an extra. And that is us acknowledging this. So! We did our best to avoid this and branch off into Andi's own little story and adventure, hope you enjoy that folks.
Anyways! Smash that review button and tell us what you loved! Now no flames, we've had plenty in this chapter already, enjoy the fic and peace off!