Previously on Immortal Warrior,
"You'd better return that chariot," I told him.
"Or what?"
"Or I'll open you up balls to brain, to see what gods are made of!"
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Clarisse backed up into the street, swinging her sword wildly.
"Stop it! NOW!" I told demanded, digging my sword a little deeper against his throat, but he simply vanished, reappearing back at the telephone pole.
"Don't get so excited, Lukey-boy," Phobos said. "I'm just showing her what she fears."
The glow faded from his eyes.
Clarisse collapsed, breathing hard. "You bastard," she gasped. "I'll… I'll get you."
Phobos turned towards me. "How about you, Luke Castellan? What do you fear? I'll find out, you know. I always do."
"Our commander wouldn't let us fight! Bullets raining all around us and he was like 'A soldier with a full stomach cannot fight. I command you to shit!'. Can you believe him?! The cretin!"
Percy laughed a little too loudly, garnering attention from the other passengers. He slowed down to a chuckle. "Holy shit. Thank the gods I'm not drinking anything now. Damn it Pieter!"
The son of Athena smiled. "So, what about you? Any interesting stories?"
Percy scratched his head. "Well ... there was this one time I accidentally teleported to Persephone's bedroom."
Pieter's eyes widened. "Impossible! What did you do?"
Percy looked aghast. "What'd you mean 'What'd you do?'. I teleported the fuck out of there, that's what I did! Imagine what Hades would've done if he caught me." Percy shuddered.
Pieter smirked. "Are you sure? You did not help yourself to a slice of godly fruitcake?"
"Dude!"
Pieter sighed. "You know what? I was one of the soldiers who took part in the siege of Berlin, to capture Hitler."
Percy's eyes widened. "No way! Me too! Bloody hell! Which front were you on?"
Pieter smiled. "The Belarussian front. First Division led by Marshal Georgy Zhukov. You?"
"I was with Ivan Konev at the Ukrainian front. First Division."
Pieter sighed, remembering the war. "Too many people died that day at Seelow Heights."
Percy shook his head in agreement. "Way too many. A million soldiers, out of which at least four hundred thousand were either demigods or legacies were deployed, but most died. The mortals died first."
"But," Pieter interjected, "we ended it there. That son of Hades killed himself didn't he? Stygian Iron bullet to the brain?"
Percy chuckled. "Hitler was always a coward. Even Hades didn't hesitate to put him in punishment, even though he's his son."
"How do you know?"
"Hitler's head was actually a contract given to me by Hades himself. He didn't want to kill his own son I suppose."
Pieter frowned. "Then why wait for the demigod forces of Zeus and Poseidon to encircle Berlin? You could have sneaked in. After all, your stealth is legendary."
Percy laughed. "The fact that it's so popular means that it's not legendary at all. But that's besides the point. Hitler, the bastard, had nearly ten thousand of his brothers stationed in Berlin itself. ALL of them can recognise a son of Poseidon. No way I was getting him myself. He even had anti-teleportation buildings and power dampeners, so I couldn't use most of my powers if I wanted to."
Pieter nodded. "True."
For a while, there was an awkward silence as neither of them knew what to talk about, so they simply leaned back in their seats. Percy used the entertainment system.
Pieter stared at Percy, his eyes narrowing. His ruby red eyes briefly glowed bright red before he composed himself and turned his head to the window, staring at the clouds. He took out a phone, but it didn't look like anything on the market. It was very sleek and had virtually no buttons, and the UI was different.
The white haired demigod opened an app, a messaging app, and typed a message.
'I'm in. Gather the armies and proceed to march on the Roman camp. I want Jason Grace alive.'
(Luke Castellan's Point of View)
"Give the chariot back." I tried to keep my voice even. "I took on your father once. You're nothing."
Phobos laughed. "Nothing to fear but fear itself. Isn't that what they say? Well, let me tell you a little secret, half-blood. I am fear. If you want to find the chariot, come and get it. It's across the water. You'll find it where the little wild animals live – just the sort of place you belong."
He snapped his fingers and disappeared in a cloud of yellow vapour.
Now, I've got to tell you, I've met a lot of godlings and monsters I didn't like, but Phobos took the prize. Something about him pissed me off. Perhaps it was the smug face he had? The way Phobos laughed at me ... I felt like beating the shit out of him.
I helped Clarisse up. Her face was still beaded with sweat.
"Now are you ready for help?" I asked.
Now normally Clarisse would've pushed me aside and gone after them herself, but two gods are a bit too much. They may be minor gods, but they're gods nonetheless.
"Fine." She muttered, still reluctant for help.
"So, how's are these gods exactly? How do they work?"
She frowned. "Deimos is bigger and uglier, I guess. He's good at freaking out entire crowds. Phobos is more, like, personal. He can get inside your head."
"That's where they get the word phobia?"
"Yeah," she grumbled. "He's so proud of that. All those phobias named after him. The smug douchebag."
"So why don't they want you driving the chariot?"
"It's usually a ritual just for Ares's sons when they turn eighteen. I'm the first daughter to get a shot in a long time."
"Good for you."
"Tell that to Phobos and Deimos. They hate me. I've got to get the chariot back to the temple."
"Where is the temple?"
"Pier 86. The Intrepid."
"Really? War museum? I suppose it makes sense though."
"We've got maybe thirty minutes before sunset," I guessed. "That should be enough time if we can find the chariot."
"But what did Phobos mean, 'over the water'? We're on an island, for Zeus's sake. That could be any direction!"
"He said something about wild animals," I remembered. "Little wild animals."
"A zoo?"
I nodded. A zoo over the water could be the one in Brooklyn, or maybe… someplace harder to get to, with little wild animals. Someplace nobody would ever think to look for a war chariot.
"Staten Island," I said. "They've got a small zoo."
"Maybe," Clarisse said. "That sounds like the kind of out-of-the-way place Phobos and Deimos would stash something. But if we're wrong –"
'We don't have time to be wrong.'
Clarisse sighed. "But how? How can we get there in half an hour?!"
I almost felt insulted. "Hey! Son of Hermes? Super speed?"
"Oh. Right." She muttered.
I didn't use my super speed to travel much, mostly because it's really boring. I might be going faster than the speed of sound and I might get to my destination before you could finish a sentence, but the problem is for me. When I run fast, time goes slowly for me. So, I literally feel like I'm running all the way there at normal speed. It gets infuriating, but there's nothing I can do about it. Imagine running across a city at your regular pace. That's what I'm going to do now.
Clarisse frowned. "Wait, you aren't goi –"
I suddenly picked her up and ran. Inertia allowed me to keep a loose grip on her body, but it didn't allow her to fall off.
I still marvelled at the extremely slow movements all around me. I couldn't help creating mayhem along the way, ripping money out of people's hands at a coffee shop, or scratching lines on a car. I know we had only thirty minutes left, but for me, that's a lot of time.
A long while later, which was probably only a few seconds in real life, we reached Times' Square. Without slowing down, I took notice of the signs, which showed me the way to the ferry terminal.
Water. I suddenly stopped.
"ng to carry me across are you?!" Clarisse demanded. Then she noticed where we were. "What the?! WHAT?!"
I cringed at her voice. "Sorry. Now that's where we need to get to." I said, pointing towards Staten Island. Mortals couldn't see it from this distance, but a demigod's vision is much better than a mortal's. Thalia even claimed she could see the separate air molecules if she concentrated hard enough. But she was a daughter of Zeus.
Clarisse nodded. "So get us there! We don't have time!"
I looked at the water surface. Now I know in comic books, speedsters can run on water, but I've never actually put that to the test.
I felt like slapping myself. "Clarisse. Do you have a phone?"
The daughter of Ares looked at me disdainfully, before handing it over. "What for?"
I directly dialled up Annabeth's number. Thankfully, she picked up. "What do you want, Clarisse?"
"It's Luke!"
For some reason, her voice suddenly changed, becoming less bitchy and more friendly. "H-Hi Luke!"
"Listen, Annabeth. Could you tell me how fast I need go to run over water?"
I could imagine her frowning. "Well, ... you need to go just over Mach 1. Faster is better, but Mach 1 is minimum, or you'll sink."
I let out a sigh of relief I didn't know I was holding. "Thank goodness. You're the best Annie!"
I looked at Clarisse. "Let's go."
Without warning, I dragged her across and positioned myself on the docks before taking off. I dipped my hand, letting Clarisse's lower half submerge into the water as I ran across, just for kicks. After dragging her halfway down the island, past a lot of suburban houses, a couple of churches and a McDonald's, I finally saw a sign that said ZOO. I turned a corner and followed this curvy street with some woods on one side until we came to the entrance.
The lady at the ticket booth looked at us suspiciously, till I realised it wasn't us she was looking at, but behind us. How could she look at us? We were well above the speed a human can track with eyesight. I didn't dare to go supersonic in the zoo. Sonic booms in suburban areas are not good.
I suddenly stopped ad let Clarisse down. She glared at me, her pants dripping. "I'm not a mortal! I saw you purposely dip your hand lower, asshole. You'll pay for that!"
I gulped, and followed her. It was easy to forget, but demigods weren't as slow as humans, and I wasn't going full speed like before. Obviously she noticed.
We walked around the reptile house, and Clarisse stopped in her tracks.
"There it is."
It was sitting at a crossroads between the petting zoo and the sea otter pond: a large golden and red chariot tethered to four black horses. The chariot was decorated with amazing detail. It would've been beautiful if all the pictures hadn't shown people dying painful deaths. The horses were breathing fire out of their nostrils.
Families with buggies walked right past the chariot like it didn't exist. I guess the Mist must've been really strong around it, because the chariot's only camouflage was a handwritten note taped to one of the horses' chests that said OFFICIAL ZOO VEHICLE.
"Where are Phobos and Deimos?" Clarisse muttered, drawing her sword.
I couldn't see them anywhere, but this had to be a trap.
"I'll try to get the reins," Clarisse said. "The horses know me. Cover me."
"Right." I wasn't sure how I was supposed to cover her with a sword, but I kept my eyes peeled as Clarisse approached the chariot. She walked around the horses, almost tiptoeing.
She froze as a lady with a three-year-old girl passed by. The girl said, "Pony on fire!"
"Don't be silly, Jessie," the mother said in a dazed voice. "That's an official zoo vehicle."
The little girl tried to protest, but the mother grabbed her hand and they kept walking. Clarisse got closer to the chariot. Her hand had almost reached the rail when the horses reared up, whinnying and breathing flames. Phobos and another being, who I assumed was Deimos appeared in the chariot, both of them were dressed in pitch-black battle armour. Phobos grinned, his red eyes glowing. Deimos's scarred face looked ugly and horrible.
"The hunt is on!" Phobos yelled. Clarisse stumbled back as he lashed the horses and charged the chariot straight towards me.
Even with my super speed, I barely had time to jump away, landing on a rock island in the middle of the otter exhibit. I grabbed a bucket out of the pond and doused the horses with water, temporarily extinguishing their flames and sending them into confusion. The otters weren't happy with me. They chattered and barked, and I figured I'd better get off their island quick, before I had crazed sea mammals after me too.
I ran as Phobos cursed and tried to get his horses under control. Clarisse took the opportunity to jump on Deimos's back just as he was lifting his javelin. Both of them went tumbling out of the chariot as it lurched forward.
I could hear Deimos and Clarisse starting to fight, sword on sword, but I didn't have time to worry about it because Phobos was riding after me again. I sprinted towards the aquarium with the chariot right behind me.
"Hey, Lukey-boy!" Phobos taunted. "I've got something for you!"
I glanced back and saw the chariot melting, the horses turning to steel and folding into each other like clay figures being crumpled. The chariot refashioned itself into a black metal box with caterpillar tracks, a turret and a long gun barrel. A tank. I cursed. A fucking tank?!. Phobos was grinning at me from the top of a World War II panzer.
'Say cheese!' he said.
If it were a normal tank, I would have stood there for a few minutes (relative to me) and then casually dodged the tank shell. But this was way faster. I rolled to one side as the gun fired.
KA-BOOOOM! A souvenir kiosk exploded, sending fuzzy animals and plastic cups and disposable cameras in every direction. As Phobos re-aimed his gun, I got to my feet and dived into the aquarium. I figured it would neutralise the horses' flames.
I ran through the rooms washed in weird blue light from the fish tank exhibits. I stopped at the back of the aquarium and listened. I heard nothing. And then… Vroom, Vroom. A different kind of engine.
I watched in disbelief as Phobos came riding through the aquarium on a Harley-Davidson. I'd seen this motorcycle before: its black flame-decorated engine, its shotgun holsters, its leather seat that looked like human skin. This was the same motorcycle Ares had ridden when I'd first met him, but it had never occurred to me that it was just another form of his war chariot.
"Hello, loser," Phobos said, pulling a huge sword out of its sheath. "Time to be scared."
I raised my own sword, determined to face him, but then Phobos's eyes glowed brighter, and I made the mistake of looking into them.
Suddenly I was in a different place. I was at Camp Half-Blood, my favourite place in the world, and it was in flames. The woods were on fire. The cabins were smoking. The dining pavilion's Greek columns had crumbled and the Big House was a smouldering ruin. My friends were on their knees pleading. Annabeth, Thalia, Grover, all the other campers. Even Clarisse.
"Wake up, son". At first, the voice was very faint, but it grew louder. Until I felt energy course through me. Raw, powerful energy.
This was an illusion. Phobos was showing me my deepest fear.
I blinked and saw Phobos's blade coming down towards my head. I raised my sword and blocked the blow just before it cut me in two.
I counterattacked and stabbed Phobos in the arm. Golden ichor, the blood of the gods, soaked through his shirt.
Phobos growled and slashed at me. I parried easily. Without his power of fear, Phobos was nothing. He wasn't even a decent fighter. I pressed him back, swiped at his face, and gave him a cut across the cheek. The angrier he was, the clumsier he got. I couldn't kill him. He was immortal. But you wouldn't have known that from his expression. The fear god looked afraid.
And I was angry. I never liked any of the gods. Though Hermes somewhat changed my outlook, at least towards him, I still didn't like the others. Especially smug bastards like Phobos and Deimos. Even today, I couldn't explain what really happened. I lost control, slashing and hacking at the war god's son.
By the end of it, Phobos was a bleeding mess on the ground. When I walked, I felt a squelch in my boots, and I looked down to see my shoes were wet. Soaked with golden ichor. Phobos was limbless and a deep cut ran from his neck to his lower hips. I guess I really did open him up balls to brain.
I stepped on his face as I walked out, satisfied upon hearing a groan. And then he dissolved into yellow vapour.
Then I looked at Ares's motorcycle. I'd never ridden an all-powerful Harley-Davidson war chariot before, but how hard could it be? I hopped on, started the ignition, and rode out of the aquarium to help Clarisse.
I had no trouble finding her. I just followed the path of destruction. Fences were knocked down. Animals were running free. Badgers and lemurs were checking out the popcorn machine. A fat-looking leopard was lounging on a park bench with a bunch of pigeon feathers around him.
I parked the motorcycle next to the petting zoo, and there were Deimos and Clarisse in the goat area. Clarisse was on her knees. I ran forward but stopped suddenly when I saw how Deimos had changed form. He was Ares now – the tall god of war, dressed in black leather and sunglasses, his whole body smoking with anger as he raised his fist over Clarisse.
"You failed me again!" the war god bellowed. "I told you what would happen!"
He tried to strike her, but Clarisse scrambled away, shrieking, "No! Please!"
"Bitch!"
"Clarisse!" I yelled. "It's an illusion. Stand up to him!"
Deimos's form flickered. "I am Ares!" he insisted. "And you are a worthless whore! I knew you would fail me. Now you will suffer my wrath, you slut."
I wanted to charge in and fight Deimos, but somehow I knew it wouldn't help. Clarisse had to do it. This was her worst fear. She had to overcome it for herself.
"Clarisse!" I said. She glanced over, and I tried to hold her eyes. "Stand up to him!" I said. "He's nothing but a coward. Get up!"
"I… I can't."
"Yes, you can. You're a warrior. The best of the best! Get up!"
She hesitated. Then she began to stand.
"What are you doing?" 'Ares' bellowed. "Grovel for mercy, whore!"
Clarisse took a shaky breath. Very quietly, she said, "No."
"WHAT?!"
She raised her sword. "I'm tired of being scared of you."
Deimos struck, but Clarisse deflected the blow. She staggered but didn't fall.
"You're not Ares," Clarisse said. "You suck at fighting."
Deimos growled in frustration. When he struck again, Clarisse was ready. She disarmed him and stabbed him in the shoulder – not deep, but enough to hurt even a godling.
He yowled in pain and began to glow.
"Look away!" I told Clarisse.
We averted our eyes as Deimos exploded into golden light – his true godly form – and disappeared.
We arrived at Pier 86 soon enough.
Clarisse wrapped the reins around her hand. "About what you saw, Luke. What I was afraid of, I mean –"
"I won't tell anybody."
She looked at me uncomfortably. "Did Phobos scare you?"
"Yeah. I saw the camp in flames. I saw my friends all pleading for help and I didn't know what to do. For a second, I couldn't move. I was paralysed. I know how you felt."
She lowered her eyes. "I, uh… I guess I should say…" The words seemed to stick in her throat. I wasn't sure Clarisse had ever said thank you in her life.
"Don't mention it," I told her.
I started to walk away, but she called out, "Luke?"
"Yeah?"
"You admitted it. I am the best."
I was so tired I didn't argue. "Just don't tell anybody, okay? Or I'd have to kill you."
A faint smile flickered across her face. "See you later."
"See you."
I headed off towards the subway. It had been a long day, and I was ready to go back to Camp and do some good old pranking.
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A/N: Two chapters in a day. Must be a record for me. Anyway, this chapter may seem like Deus Ex Castellan instead of Luke, but you need to know that I've made him much more powerful than in the books. He's at least on Thalia's level in terms of combat. If anyone's wondering about Luke's speed compared to Percy, then all I can say is that Luke has much better travel speed while Percy has better combat speed.
Please review. It helps a lot.
