"Approaching Mediterranean Sea, expect a bumpy landing though, folks. ETA: twenty minutes," Leo mocked a pilot's spiel. The storm had picked up as they'd flown further into it, Jason noticed. Now, even the magic of the Argo II couldn't prevent them from shaking and rocking violently. Percy and Luke seemed the most bothered by this, though they wouldn't say why. Jason could make some guesses; Kronos' influence on Luke probably had something to do with it; the Titan's father, his mortal enemy, was the embodiment of the sky. Any turbulence might subconsciously feel like payback. Percy never liked the idea of flying, since it was Zeus' domain. Piper and Annabeth tried to offer them what comfort they could.

The landing itself was rough, but no more so than Jason had experienced after a sharp dive to catch someone. Then again, he was the only one of the seven with that advantage, except maybe Piper, who never got used to it. Leo whistled as he looked at the various sensors he had. "Man, according my database, another couple of minutes in these waters and we'll be history!" he exclaimed. Percy stood, only to be immediately thrown to the ground along with everyone (but Leo because he was firmly strapped into his chair) from a massive wave smashing against the side of the ship, swaying them to the side violently.

As everyone got back onto their feet, Leo was typing and steering away. "Hey, Jace, can't you, like, call you dad? Make him stop throwing a hissy fit?"

"I don't think this is my father's doing," Jason mentioned. "I'd feel it if it was."

"It'd make sense," Annabeth spoke up, leaning into Percy and Luke so they could support each other. "Tempus speculated that the gods gave up trying to regulate their elements around the Ancient Lands."

"Great, so we're well and truly abandoned," Grover lamented, hanging for dear life onto the back of Leo's chair.

"Or we'll just make like the Romans and work with the hand we're dealt, without the gods," Luke offered. "We don't need them."

"But their help would be nice…" Annabeth muttered. Jason closed his eyes, agreeing with the daughter of Athena.

"Father, please…give us safe passage…" he prayed. He looked to Percy, who he expected to be doing the same for his own father. Instead, he seemed to be straining, his hands tense with finger stiff as if pantomiming gripping something. Come to think of it, after the first big wave, another one hadn't directly hit; they'd been rocking unsteadily, but nothing so violent.

"Um, we've got something on the horizon…" Leo spoke up after a moment. Jason, Grover, and Piper gather around him; the Lost Trio and the best friend. "Looks like…two islands?"

"How far?"

"About forty-five seconds' worth," the son of Hephaestus relayed. As if on cue, the rocking ceased. Percy let out a massive gasp of air and had to be caught by Luke and Annabeth. Jason looked to Leo and his sensors, but all he gave was a shrug, so Jason could assume they were on course for the islands still.

"Odd…" he thought. He started up to the deck, eager to get outside air into his lungs once more. Piper followed, linking her arm with his, in a kind of mutual protection for them, with her free hand on her sword, New Side, as if to threaten anyone who came near them. By that point, she'd far surpassed him in swordplay, probably matching Percy, at least when he was holding back as he is wont to do most days. Compared to them, Jason's own swordplay was…lacking. He was a spearman, through and through, though the balanced gladius did have its tactical uses.

Upon exited the hull, Jason was stunned to silence; there wasn't a single cloud in the sky, as far as the eye could see. Jason couldn't even feel any, as he normally could. It was as if they'd be forcibly willed away by something…or someone. Even the waves were calmer. They weren't smoothest thing ever, by normal standards, but the Argo II handedled everything like a dream.

Jason saw before them two massive rock formations, and in the center stood a small island with a lone man standing in the center. His arms were crossed, and he had a carefree smile on his face, as if this were a normal occurrence.

Jason moved to the edge of the ship to get a better look; the man gave off an aura that the son of Jupiter has only felt when in the presence of the gods, which was a good sign. Well built, standing around nine feet tall, and exuding an almost golden glow, he certainly cut an imposing figure. Jason would need to be sure not to provoke him. Annabeth moved to look with him as the others checked on the ship.

"Did Tempus mention anything?" he asked.

Annabeth nodded. "She said not to mess with him."

"I gathered. Anything else?"

"Said he was a gatekeeper; I guess to block demigods from entering the Ancient Lands. Percy told me that it was forbidden."

"Chiron told me something similar."

"You should let me talk to him," she suggested. "He's apparently not very fond of Romans."

"No, I'm the leader. He will speak with the leader, not a messenger…no offense…"

She gave him a hard stare. "…Alright, but if this goes wrong, it's on you."

"I'm willing to accept that," Jason said, vaulting over the edge and gliding down to meet the man. He seemed a lot bigger up close, towering over the already tall demigod.

As Jason approached, his smile faded. "I'd expected to speak with the Titan Slayer, or one of the others who defeated the Titans," the man mentioned, his voice low and booming. He spoke with a natural gusto in his inflection, like he was always playing up to a crowd. "And yet they send me an Aduro?"

Jason's fists tightened, but he forced himself to stay calm. "We're here on official business by the gods," he claimed, and the man nearly bust out laughing, shaking the rocks beside them with his bellows. "Did I say something funny?"

"Yes you did, because we gods have not spoken to an Aduro is over a century!" he continued cackling.

"You're a god?" Jason came off a bit brattier than he intended. He quickly rectified this with a bow of his head. "It's an honor, Lord…uh…"

"Heracles."

"Lord Herc- I mean-"

"Either one is fine, Aduro," he offered, though the name still made Jason's blood boil.

"Lord Hercules, we would like passage into the Mare Nostrum. It's important."

"I have no such intention until you divulge the exact reason, Aduro."

"Could you please…never mind. One of our crew is a daughter of Athena; she was tasked with retrieving a lost artifact which would mend the bond between Greeks and Romans. We were told to work together to combat the threat of the Giants, and this would solidify that."

"I see," Hercules lowered his arms to his side and spread his feet a bit further apart. Then, without warning, he socked Jason in the gut, sending him flying back onto the deck of the Argo. The force of the hit felt like he was hit by a train, knocking the air out of him for several seconds. Piper, Luke, and Grover rush to his side, helping him up, though he was still coughing. "Send me someone of substance! Only those who can overcome the mighty Heracles can reenter the Ancient Lands!"

"Heracles?" Percy questioned, numbly recalling when Zoë had told him of his role, as the reason why they couldn't just go attack him right after that quest. His body tensed as the god continued to boast.

"Have modern heroes fallen so far? Surely at least one of you can best me?" he challenged, pointing to Luke. "You! You look reasonably powerful. Come down here!"

The man glared down, his eyes pulsating as Kronos repeated over and over to just go down and murder him. He took a deep breath, and continued watching. He wouldn't be baited into letting Kronos free himself.

"If you cannot send a worthy hero, then you will have to turn back whence you came!"

"Then it's a good thing we've got a hero more than worthy enough!" Percy snapped, stepping onto the railing. Annabeth tried to hold him back, and Grover quickly started helping.

"Wait! Percy, the curse!" Grover reminded him, but it fell on deaf ears. He was already falling. He landed in the water and lifted himself up.

"You bastard…you really hurt a good friend of mine. Her name is Zoë!"

The god looked confused. "…Who?"

"She helped you get the golden apple! She gave up her whole life for you!" he yelled. "And now I'm gonna pay you back for it!"

"Oh," Heracles smirked. "Then the challenge has been issued," he said as Percy stepped off of his water and onto the island. Immediately, he doubled over from shock. He let loose a scream of pure and unbridled agony as his body twisted and tensed in ways that it definitely wasn't supposed to. His skin turned deathly pale, as if all of the blood in his body was evaporating from within it.

"Not good, not good!" Grover exclaimed. Heracles took a step forward.

"What the hell happened?" Annabeth demanded.

"It's the Achilles Curse, it's leaving him now that he's set foot on foreign soil!"

"Oh gods!" Annabeth and Piper both started off the edge to help. Piper turned back briefly.

"Jason, save him!" she ordered, and suddenly the son of Jupiter rose and darted through the air. Luke was flexing his powers as well. The two men reached the action at the same time. Jason had drawn his Regalius in sword form. Right as the god slammed down onto Percy, Jason was there, stopping and raising his blade to block the strike. The force nearly made Jason's knees buckle immediately, but they didn't.

"Is he…not as strong as Percy was? Or is he just holding back?" Jason wondered, though he didn't get much time to do so. "Or have I gotten stronger?"

Luke had landed at the same time, using his time dilation a bit later than he perhaps would've had he been prepared. Either way, he was back onto the ship with Percy within a few seconds. Within that few seconds, Piper and Annabeth landed and were sprinting toward the action. The god smirked at the new challenge, and seemed to offer little resistance as Jason parried up, knocking him off-balance. The two girls then let loose a synchronized kick, knocking the god down. "We need to go and regroup!" Jason urged.

"But-" Annabeth didn't get a chance to argue as Jason grabbed her arm and tugged her back. Piper came willingly, trusting in the son of Jupiter's judgement. He lifted the three back onto the ship.

"Leo, punch it!" he yelled, and the smaller boy scrambled up to the controls as Heracles stood, looking a bit dissatisfied, but also insulted.

"You think you can accept a challenge and then run away?" his voice was quiet, so they couldn't hear. As the propulsion systems came up and they started rising, the god dug his hands into the ground and yanked up a massive boulder. With his godly strength, he hurled the rock toward the Argo II, hitting it directly in the propulsion area. The ship lurch and leaned back, being back-heavy, before plummeting back into the water. Thankfully, they weren't high enough to where the impact onto the water's surface was enough to break anything, but now they were grounded, probably for a good long while. More than anyone else, this freaked Annabeth out, as her brain raced back to when Tempus warned her about the dangers of going by sea through the Mediterranean. Jason looked back, seeing Heracles hurl another rock, hitting their backside and denting the hull.

"You won't escape before I destroy you!" he yelled, lifting up and hurling another rock. Jason hesitated, thinking he could send the boulder back using his wind, but he was beaten to the punch. A small figure raced ahead of him, lit on fire from adrenaline. Leo leapt off the backside of the ship, body cloaked in red flower, before slamming fist first into the boulder. An explosion nearly engulfed them, and Jason could tell that he'd been practicing with his power to use such power.

Leo himself was shot back onto the deck, unconscious from the impact though otherwise seeming unharmed. The boulder had splintered off into a million pieces, with some of the smaller ones disintegrating into tiny embers and fading away. Grover was too busy with Percy to get to his friend, so Luke dragged him toward the satyr and out of harm's way. "That kind of trick only works once!" the Titan Lord's host called back to Jason. "You've got to take him on!"

The Roman's attention shifted back to Heracles, as he lifted another rock. He closed his eyes as he ran. "Conquer or die," he repeated in his head. For now, he needed to embrace those words. He leapt off the deck right as the god hurled the boulder.

Jason caught himself with the wind and skated just above the rock's arc, forming a kind of latch onto it from Jason's own wind connecting to it. He yanked forward, feeling a tug in his gut, and catapulted the projectile back where it came from. The god didn't move, just punched through the rock and waited. Jason landed. "Please, we don't need to fight. Just let us pass!"

"An Aduro has no right to demand anything from a god!" Heracles roared back, dashing toward Jason and smashing his fists into the ground. Had the man not dove out of the way, he'd have been squashed like a bug. "If you cannot defeat me, then you'll have no hope in the Ancient Lands!"

"I don't want to defeat you!" Jason pleaded, continuing to avoid his opponent's attacks. Soon, Heracles caught his foot.

"Well, you're going to have to," he lifted Jason over his head with the intention of slamming him face-first into the ground, but the man screamed, using his powers to create a sonic wave which just bounced him back up. The suddenness made Heracles lose his grip. "Come on! And you claim to be the son of the mighty Lord of the gods?! An Aduro like you probably can't even make a spark!" he mocked as Jason flew circles around him, literally.

"Just ignore it," he told himself, willing the wind to follow him, flying fast enough to try and create a small tornado. With any luck, it'd throw Heracles off the island, and, hopefully, make the island disappear as that would count as defeating him…hopefully.

Given that it was running on a lot of bad assumptions, Jason's plan probably wouldn't have played out like he wanted. But he didn't ever get to finish it anyway. Heracles didn't just stand there mocking him. No, he followed Jason, leaping up and crashing into him. "Too slow, Aduro!" they landed back onto the island with Jason on the bottom. Heracles dragged the man along the ground before throwing him away.

Jason couldn't tell which way was up, so he couldn't catch himself as he slammed into the ground. Once he got his bearing, he stood. His body should've hurt, but instead, he felt his blood pulsing, his body tense. He'd forgotten the thrill of combat, the things that people like Percy and Reyna lived for, the feeling he'd thought would be gone forever after that fateful day when the Titans attacked camp.

And at the same time, Jason felt his blood boil; he wanted to end this arrogant man, and tear down his ego to a more tamable level. He wanted to talk down to Aduros? Then an Aduro would cut off his legs to look him in the eye.

Sparks lined Jason's body, the wind fierce around him. He was overflowing with power. "Father has blessed me for a reason," he thought. "I won't be stopped here."

A barrage of thoughts ran through Jason's mind as Heracles tensed, about to charge. He felt afraid, that he might lose control of his powers once again. His lightning was begging to be used, itching to cause mass chaos and havoc. Jason recalled how Zoë said Thalia used her powers, with a conduit. He debated drawing the Regalius again, but he wouldn't have the time.

"Come on!" Heracles challenged as he ran forward. "Show me that lightning!"

Jason felt power coursing through his, blood, his bones, his soul; flowing out of him and into the air, and into the…earth. Heracles leapt up at Jason. The man let out a roar, building up his power, and slamming his hand into the ground. He felt energy coursing through the ground, a charge waiting to be used. He willed it, and so it happened.

Beneath Heracles, a massive circle of light burned just below the ground, before shooting up as lightning. The bolt was continuous, which was incredibly taxing on Jason normally, and massive, completely engulfing the god and stopping him in his tracks. Heracles was blasted back, disoriented from the sudden assault. When he got his bearings, he found Jason's sword in his face. The man looked down on the god, sky blue eyes piercing through him in fierce judgement and righteous fury. "Yield," he ordered, opening his palm and drawing it air in case he needed to blast away the god for another bout. "Let us pass."

The god kneeled there, silent. Then, he began laughing again, bellows echoing across the ocean, as his form flickered. "Tell me, Roman; who taught you to do that?"

Jason's eyes twitched. No one taught him that directly…

"Lupa, our Mother. She said to conquer or die. It's her law, and the law of Rome in turn."

The words seemed to resonate with Heracles, and his form twitched again, before fully blurring into something different. Hercules stood, now wearing a toga and a purple cape, with the lightning bolt symbol. "Ah, I've not felt this from in centuries…" he said. "You've done well, Jason Grace, son of Jupiter. I've heard of your exploits, especially your recent ones. And I'm proud to call you my brother."

"You didn't act like that before…" Jason said, lowering his sword but not saying anything.

"If you're insulting me in your head, know that you're lucky; our Greek forms are more attuned to the mind and can read those of mortals," he claimed. "Though, I get off topic. For now, you've proven you and your crew worthy," he gestured to one of the two rock formations, where he jumped and Jason then flew to. When they both landed, the island they'd been fighting on sunk beneath the surface of the water, allowing passage. "Be warned; the Ancient Lands hold many dangers for demigods such as you. Some of the deadliest beings you can imagine have never left. I wish you the best of luck."

Jason nodded and flipped the Regalius, putting it back in his pocket. Hercules looked impressed by the weapon. "…Thank you," Jason bowed once again. "And I'm sorry for my ally, Percy. He gets…emotional."

"Don't be. I've made a great many mistakes in my life, both mortal and immortal. I would never say otherwise. Tell him this; if he wishes to come back with that 'Zoë', then I would gladly accept their punishment. Mention, perhaps, that they best find me as I am now; my Greek form may not be so honorable. The Greeks never were."

"Agreed…" Jason found himself saying. "Then…I suppose we'll be off."

"Wait," he stopped the man. "One more thing…I would like to congratulate you. Your powers are incredible; continue to temper them, and you'll make a fine hero."

"…" Jason didn't respond at first, just stared at his half-brother. Then he chuckled, a bit amused. "They're not mine."

Hercules took a second to figure what he was saying, but then he smirked. "If you so wish to believe. All the same, I congratulate you and would see you on your way. I'll be sure to keep an eye out for others like you, just in case."

Jason nodded, and returned to the Argo II. It wasn't long before they'd set off, and Hercules' island was a speck on the horizon.

Author's Note:

A bit on the shorter side today, but I'm curious as to what you all think of how Heracles played out. Some people might be disappointed that Percy didn't get to fight him, but that was kind of the point; it was Jason having to fix Percy's mess, giving him another reason not to trust him. Either way, curious as to your thoughts.

Not much to say this time, but I'll see you guys tomorrow!