Disclaimer: I don't own PJO/HOO/TOA
Jason walked into Fort Sumter, making copious use of his training to carefully sneak around the security. Then he stopped to look anxiously around, running a hand through his hair as he tried to decide where to go.
"Ah! Jason Grace, son of Jupiter," a voice exclaimed. "I have waited a long time to fight a worthy opponent. I hope you will put up a decent fight before I kill you."
Jason spun, and paused to stare at the monster in front of him. The man was tall and grizzled, a smug expression on his face.
"Who are you?" Jason asked cautiously, resting his hand on the pommel of his sword. The man smirked viciously at him.
"Who am I? I am Aigaios, the true ruler of the seas! And now, demigod scum, you will die!"
"How are you planning on killing me?" Jason asked quickly. "I haven't challenged you!"
Aigaios paused, evidently having forgotten that tiny detail before he scowled and pointed his dark staff at the demigod.
"Challenge me!" He demanded. "And then I will kill you and send your head to Jupiter as proof of the Titans' superiority! I will win the bet and be named king of the casinos!"
"Right," Jason answered slowly, trying to think. He wasn't arrogant to claim that he could beat a Titan of all things in combat, and if he didn't get the weapon, Camp Jupiter would fall. That meant he was stuck between a rock and a hard place.
"Let's compromise," he suggested, a plan forming in his mind. "A bet."
Aigios looked reluctantly intrigued at the offer. "What sort of bet?"
Jason licked his lips as he continued with his spur-of-the-moment plot. "You bring your best three warriors to fight me, one by one," he offered. "If they beat me, then I'll fight you. You'll kill me and become king of the casinos. But, if I win, I'm allowed to take whatever I want from your armoury."
Aigios chuckled happily, giving a cheerful nod. "An excellent idea, son of Jupiter. I'll agree to your terms." His face darkened into a dangerous sneer, and Jason felt dread twist in his stomach as he felt the aura of power radiating from the man.
"But, I warn you, Jason Grace," Aigios boomed, waving his hand and transporting them to an old sports stadium, the seats filled with monsters. "Cross me, and you will regret it!"
While Jason was dealing with Aigios, Reyna was creeping up to the herd of horses nearby. She had never been so near a horse before. Her father had kept Hylla and herself away from them as he was highly allergic, Circe disliked animals in general and Camp Jupiter looked down on cavalry fighters.
She looked at the horses nervously, wondering what to do. Which was Scipio, and how would having him help the quest? The answer to the first question came quickly as she spotted one of the animals at the edge of the group.
He was the colour of peanut butter, tall and elegant looking. Strength radiated from him. And, raising from his shoulders to shake themselves, were a pair of gorgeous wings. Reyna was speechless at the sight of him, and she spent an embarrassing few minutes just staring at him before she snapped out of her daze.
She began carefully making her way toward the pegasus, only for him to suddenly buck when she got in range.
"Woah! Woah, easy boy!" Reyna called, stumbling to avoid either falling or being injured by his sharp hooves.
He neighed, skittering back from her a bit. There, he held his ground in an offensive pose. Reyna had no doubt that if she didn't figure out a way to make him trust her, she would sooner be killed by him than riding him. She bit her lip for a minute before an idea began forming in her mind.
Carefully, so as not to startle any of the horses, she began to back away. Once out of the horses' reach, she turned and started to run for the nearby shopping area.
Jason, meanwhile, was facing down his first opponent. It was a demigod son of Trivia apparently, and Jason had thought of Kat immediately upon the announcement. But Kevin Harker was very different from his recently killed niece.
He had dark hair, with eyes that were so brown they seemed black. A feeling of absolute hatred seemed to radiate from him as he aimed his pilum at Jason.
"Time to die, Olympian scum," he spat, before suddenly waving a hand and splitting into three. He laughed as Jason's eyes widened in dismay at the sudden increase in enemies.
"Like my little trick?" The middle Kevin smirked.
"My gifts from my mother Trivia," the right Kevin added.
"I have complete control over my illusions," the left Kevin continued.
"So, which of us is real?" The three asked in unison. Jason clenched his jaw, eyeing each of the Kevins and gripping his sword tighter.
"Let the tournament begin!" Aigios proclaimed from his seat in the announcer's box.
The three Kevin's all attacked together, and Jason struggled to counter. As a Roman, he was trained for combat with help, and while he was able to fight on his own, he still had trouble with it.
His sword clashed with the first Kevin's staff before he spun and jabbed the one behind him through the neck. That Kevin disappeared, but the others all waved their hands in unison, conjuring another to replace the lost clone. The pattern continued, with Jason gaining a broken arm, though at least it wasn't his dominant, and finally he disengaged to think.
Any of the injuries he inflicted on the real Kevin simply appeared on the clones too, and each time a clone died they were replaced by a wave of Kevin's hand. And Jason couldn't afford to try and wait until Kevin was worn down, not with two more opponents to face and Reyna in an unknown danger. He glanced down at his sword, chewing over his new plan.
It was dangerous, Jason had always struggled with his electrokinesis more than his aerokinesis. But did he have a choice, with his friends all counting on him? With Reyna counting on him? Put like that, Jason knew what he had to do.
He looked back up at the Kevins, who smirked at him like a set of evil identical triplets.
"Ready to die, son of Jupiter?" They called mockingly, and Jason's expression hardened. He didn't realize, but he looked just like Jupiter when passing sentence on traitors to the gods.
"No," he informed them, raising his sword to the sky. "But I hope that you are."
With that he closed his eyes and concentrated as hard as he could. There was a hard pulling sensation in his gut, and a large bolt of lightning came crashing down towards the ground where he stood. It connected with his sword, and he aimed the weapon in the Kevins' direction. The bolt split into three, each connecting with a Kevin.
The boys, wearing stunned and horrified expressions, screamed in pain. Two disappeared in brief flashes of light, while the one on the right collapsed to his knees with a choked gurgle. He fell to the side, and Jason swallowed back the bile in his throat at the death-stare he was receiving from the deceased demigod.
Aigios had a stony expression on his face as he stood. "The first round goes to Jason Grace, son of Jupiter!" He declared, to a loud chorus of boo's and cheers. "Next opponent, Sess, Queen of the Dracanae!"
Jason braced himself, hiding his exhaustion as he studied his new enemy. She, like all dracanae, looked like a reptilian woman with snakes for legs. She carried a spear and a sword, and wore an arrogant sneer on her face.
"Demigod," she hissed. Jason shivered slightly in disgust at the raspy voice. "I sssshall enjoy your death! I loathe ssssonsss of Jupiter."
"Most monsters do," Jason muttered, too tired to guard his tongue. She scowled, though he wasn't exactly sure what about his statement had angered her, and lunged. This fight, though, was simple. A few swipes of the blade and she was decapitated, making the crowd groan in disappointment.
"No, no, son of Jupiter!" Aigios exclaimed, fury on his face. "That wasn't long enough! The bet was lost! Outrageous, keep your fights interesting and to a minute of five minutes! It isn't entertaining if you don't!"
Jason bowed to hide his eyeroll. "I beg your forgiveness, my lord," he apologized. "My last fight will be sufficiently enjoyable, I swear."
Aigios nodded sharply, still wearing an annoyed expression. "Very well," he decided. "Your third, and final opponent shall be..." He trailed off with a thoughtful look before smirking dangerously. Jason was instantly alarmed, and rightly so.
"Bryce Lawrence, Legacy of Orcus!" A boy strode confidently into the arena, and Jason's eyes doubled in size, his mind rushing back to their earlier conversation.
"Well they still had their scent," Kat pointed out. "Just no shelter. They were probably on the run from monsters constantly, and neither Mrs. Lawrence nor her baby did anything wrong. She swore on the Styx she didn't know what he did. Seems like a prime recipe for resentment against the gods to me. Easy pickings for the Titans."
Bryce was tall and dressed in full Imperial Gold armour, and had a mop of brown hair over his cruel eyes, which were green like pond scum. His broken nose makes his smug and twisted smile look even more sinister, and his two front teeth were different shades of yellow.
"You're Antonius Lawrence's grandson," Jason accused him. "Aren't you?"
The boy smirked smugly at him, making Jason stiffen in suspicion.
"Yes, I am," he agreed. "And now, I will finally gain revenge for Rome's crimes against my family!"
"Maybe your grandmother shouldn't have been banished," Jason acknowledged. "But Antonius deserved what he got for betraying the gods."
"My grandfather was one of the best!" Bryce snarled, a wild look lighting his eyes. "He was framed by jealous Romans! I should be Emperor, and under Lord Saturn, I will be! And I will see all you Romans beg for the mercy my grandmother never got!"
He slammed his pilum on the ground, and a dozen ghostly forms rose from the ground, solidifying into zombie-like forms.
"Attack!" Bryce screamed. "Kill the Roman!"
The zombies descended on him, and Jason was instantly struggling to keep from being overwhelmed. Jason was a son of Jupiter, tired, and injured. The zombies were fresh, unkillable, and driven by Lawrence's intense hatred of anything Roman.
He fought for what seemed like hours before pulling back to reassess his position. A glint from the announcer's box caught his eye, and he half-turned to it.
Hanging from a string on Aigios' neck was a single gold coin. Jason couldn't make out any details, but as he stared at it, he became utterly convinced that it was the weapon. The whole point of their quest. Right there. If he could just get to it-
His thoughts were cut off by another attack from his enemies. He struggled, calling down as much lightning as he dared, flying through the air with his sword clashing against his enemies. But it wasn't enough. He was too tired and weakened by his previous attacks. Jason was just beginning to fear that he was too far gone to fight when he heard flapping wings.
He glanced up, fearing another attack, this time from the air. Instead, he saw his blessing. Flying at him, wielding her sword with lethal efficiency, was Reyna. Her braid flew after her as she raced through the air towards him on a peanut butter coloured pegasus.
Jason grinned, and summoned the last vestiges of his strength to fly upward. She grabbed his hand, helping scrambling on board the flying horse.
"Good timing," he shouted into her ear. "Go for Aigios!"
"Are you mad?" She called back. "We need to retreat!"
"The weapon is around his neck!"
Reyna nodded, accepting his words. She turned toward the Titan, and they flew straight at him. He yelled, but couldn't do anything as Jason used the winds to snatch the coin off of his neck. That was when they finally retreated, dodging attacks the whole way.