Sorry for the short and shitty chapter, but I have published two new stories, that I think you guys will really like. PLEASE CHECK THEM OUT. Just go onto my profile, and they'll be there for you.
I have been really busy, but I'm trying to write as much as possible without getting bored, so bear with me. I'll try to update one of my stories every week depending on the mood that I'm in. The problem with me is that I always get bored really easily, so to maximize writing time, I have created three stories of my best ideas that I will work on because I'm always in the mood to write one of these three.
As Always, Remember to read, review, and recommend.
Leo,
He stood against the forge, furiously hammering away, he wasn't sure what time it was, and quite honestly he wasn't sure if he cared. 2 Chainz Saturday Night blared from one of the speakers, muffling all the distractions of the forge.
His new and perhaps greatest project was a time-taking project, and he had been working on it for almost two years now. All of his free time was spent working on it, and he knew if he completed it, it would be his crowning achievement.
He placed the band in Stygian water with the intent on cooling the semi-molten metal but gasped in pain, as the water stung his hand leaving a red burned impression in the skin. He frowned, but retrieved a pair of tongs and dipped it in the water and held it there for a few minutes. He absently mused over a digital report one of his engineers had submitted to him regarding a new tracking system for the short-range defense system on the USS Hornet. It was a well thought out proposal, and Leo tapped the "approved" key on the laptop and sent it to the Engineer Corps.
He extricated the ring out carefully and began to polish it again. He was interrupted by the frantic breathing of a tired son of Hermes, which was somehow louder than Travis Scott rapping furiously in Antidote. Leo sighed and switched off the music, and asked quietly.
"Report, Nuntion."
The boy no less than fifteen in a tired voice said "The fleet has returned-" but before he could finish, Leo had pushed past him, striding towards the doorway. Without looking he called back "Dismissed" in a firm voice. He continued and walked out of the sweltering forge into the cold, harsh sunlight of Mount Olympus's peak. While Leo had many workshops and forges throughout the continent, the workshop he had designed for his father was his undisputed favorite. He walked onto a balcony large enough to fit a helipad that had a prime view of Neo Roma.
Hovering over the city was the entire flotilla. Some ships were beginning to land in the water, but for the most part, they floated over the city, troop transports flitting between them, and going to the ground.
He tapped his watch and spoke the command phrase.
"Super Hot Baby Mcshizzle." The balcony neatly split into two, and a large bronze dragon slowly rose out of the split on a rising dais, waiting for Leo to activate it.
He had to admit what he did with Festus was genius, even more genius than he usually was. After thorough experimentation, he had realized that Festus was a rudimentary AI, instead of the advanced maintenance program, that Leo had designed him to be. Leo through the efforts of various late nights had infinitely expanded his consciousness, effectively (and mistakenly) creating a new race. Festus was capable of being omnipresent in every Imperial holding, making it possible for a common foot soldier on the field, to tap into the Overwatch System, the PUOM protocol, and the Archangel contingency.
Leo slung his body onto the dragon and tapped a panel beneath the long bronze neck. He willed his hands to ignite, warming the cold metal. There was a large creaking noise, and red light flared in Festus's eyes. The dragon took off at its top speed of seventy miles per hour
Forty-five minutes and an argument with Festus about Quantum Mechanics later, Leo was waiting inside the towering Imperial Citadel in the near distance, for the imperial procession to arrive. He wasn't sure what to expect. They hadn't had any intel about the defenses about Annabeth's camp, so they had assumed, that it was strategically well defended, in typical Annabeth fashion. They had predicted, that the invasion would take two weeks, and another two weeks, to establish their hold in the Alaskan region.
Now that he remembered that, he realized that the flotilla didn't have the bootleg Argo's among it.
Jesus, the bootleg Argo's. The wave of anger, that erupted in his mind was so great, that fire began to erupt from his ears. In his mind, there were many forgivable offenses, but copying a man's warship design, that was unforgivable. Especially botching it so horribly for the sake of convenience was- was- it was blasphemous!
He remembered literally erupting into flames when he had seen the crashed Argo XXI.
His thoughts were interrupted by the massive doors that had taken him three months to carve violently swing open and smash into the wall, leaving a slight indentation in the marble. He winced slightly before regaining his composure and leaning against the marble pillar behind the throne, in a typical greaser fashion.
Jason stalked into the room, his face grim, and proceeded to sit on the throne stiffly. It worried him, the expression on his face, a picture of pain and... sadness.
He was about to ask why, when his question was answered for him. A smooth black mahogany coffin was being carried into the room. It was covered in the symbol of the twelfth, and the Praetorian Guard was acting like pallbearers signifying that whoever was in this coffin was important.
He thought, his mind racing through possibilities, eliminating candidates and options, Percy, no it couldn't be, there was no way he was dead. Reyna, no she most likely wouldn't participate in the fight, but would she? He forced himself to calm down, thinking too fast would give him an aneurysm and by Styx did that shit hurt.
Styx.
Nick.
The realization was not shocking; it was pain, sadness, and resonant grief.
Leo hated it. He hated everything about it, the feeling of sadness, and loss ripped through him, as he collapsed on the floor. Jason who hadn't addressed him so far looked with concern as he fell on his knees.
Jason stood up and helped him off his feet "Grieve later," Jason murmured to him as they walked, "you'll make them feel better."
"What do you-?" He began before seeing who had just entered.
Members of the Guard were holding chains, pulling three women on the floor, two were horribly familiar and the other was unfamiliar, though he knew who it was, based on descriptions from Jason and Percy.
"Oh yes," Annabeth said with mild sarcasm, "sitting on a throne and having everyone bowing and scraping must suck."
Jason didn't answer her, but after making sure Leo was alright, sat down on his throne and watched her.
Thalia Grace, Annabeth Chase, and the other girl were surrounded by an escort of four guardsmen. Their limbs were chained to each other, and each guardsman was holding a chain that connected to a collar around there respective girls' neck.
"Anéntimos Fylakisménos" Leo whispered. Dishonorable Punishment was the worst form of punishment in the Empire. It was exclusively reserved for Deserters, Adulterers, and Racists(They had dealt with a rather stubborn group of Neo Nazi's at the beginning, which had annoyed Jason to no end. His mother was Jewish)
was simply annoyed it had taken this long for Jason to make a move – any kind of move – outside of territory consolidation. She didn't know what it was the Imperator had in mind, but she knew in her gut that it was going to be a historical event when it became public knowledge. Whether that was good, or bad, however? Well, that was something she was going to have a judge for herself. As were, she had a feeling, everyone else who heard his impending announcement.
"The city has changed," Annabeth commented after a moment. "The citizens seem happy. Living under a dictatorship."
"Shut the hell up," Jason replied coldly, looking down upon her.
"What's the wrong emperor ?" she said with a weak attempt at derision.
Jason spared her a disdainful glance, that irritated her to no end. It was the same look that Hera had perfected.
Leo was staring at the black coffin in the center of the room. He had seen death before, but this was different, this was... unfair. He was just a kid, he didn't have a girlfriend or anything yet.
Fury ripped through him, as he strode out from the camouflaged veil he had built around the throne. He felt flames wreathe his body and unconsciously put his hand on his face, before realizing he was slowly shifting into his diablo form, without even knowing.
Annabeth noticed him and her eyes widened. Leo walked forward noticing, that Thalia's eyes were streaked with tears, and was entirely silent. He walked towards Annabeth, fury enhancing every step. He motioned to the guards to let go of her collar.
The guard obeyed, and Annabeth sighed in relief, as the biting metal fell from her neck. Her reprieve was short-lived, as her throat was lifted roughly by a flaming hand. Leo had grown, he wasn't the scrawny kid he had been before. He was now six foot two, shorter than Percy, Jason, Frank, and Reyna, but taller than most people.
She tried to scream, but his hand began to suffocate her, while the flames began to cause second-degree burns on her neck, charring it and leaving the tan flesh blackened. He had seen all of his friends change because of her betrayal. Percy had become cold and hard, Piper had become withdrawn and sad, Jason had become paranoid, Frank no longer interacted with the rest of them unless it was for a military purpose, and they barely saw Hazel anymore. All because of this woman.
He wasn't even sure how Frank and Hazel had been effected, and quite frankly he didn't understand. Who was this person? She wasn't powerful or strong like the rest of them, she was.. she was weak. She had stopped struggling because she had come to the same realization that Leo had arrived at.
He could end her. With a thought, he could just incinerate her, and she couldn't do jackshit about it. So she opted to try to talk her way out of it, but as she attempted to open her mouth, she noticed his skin slowly melting, his eyes so similar to Ares, his skin was glowing so she could see his bones. She remembered watching Suicide Squad with her little brothers
"Why did you do it?" he asked softly, a guttural growl echoing through his voice.
Annabeth watched in fear and fascination before answering "I didn't kill him... She did." Annabeth jerked her head towards the other girl who looked terrified as the flaming demon turned its head ominously.
Leo dropped Annabeth ignoring her cry of pain, as she fell to the hard marble floor.
He started to walk to the girl before something changed. There was no better way to describe it, it's like he had just eaten an entire metric ton of ambrosia. He groaned as the influx of energy flowing throughout his body, forced him to fall to his knees for the second time in the last five minutes.
A similar effect was affecting demigods, around the throne room. They were groaning as veins of light flowed underneath their skin, and their eyes glowed. Jason looked like he was constipated before his eyes began to glow a dangerous blue-purple. Beams of plasma erupted from his eyes, like fucking superman. The lasers burned through the air and melted straight through the finely carved doors of the throne room.
The entire room stared at Jason, as steam wafted up from the two burning holes.
Screams began to erupt from the city. Not screams of fear...
Jason stumbled off his throne and staggered throughout the room like he was drunk, before taking off and smashing through the roof, leaving a gaping hole that allowed the sun to filter through the room, illuminating the marble pillars and the throne.
The Guard looked confused, as they didn't know what to do, so Leo snapped his fingers to catch the attention of the Centurion.
"Watch these three," he said firmly to the bemused centurion, before doing something he didn't think he could do before.
He sprinted off the dais and jumped, thrusting his hands out beneath him like Iron Man. The fire roared from his hands, and his increased energy propelled him through the air, like a rudimentary jet engine. He hovered awkwardly through the air and nodded to the Centurion before flying through the hole.
He wasn't going very fast, maybe forty miles per hour? Whatever it was, it was enough.
He strained his eyes as he noticed Mount Olympus was glowing, lights were flaring. He could barely see what looked like his pride and joy; The Fury Of Poseidon hovering over the golden mountain.
He could see Jason hovering over the city square watching the citizens panic and lose their heads as the home of their gods looked like it was on fire. He accelerated towards Jason and stopped next to him.
"Its the Fury." It was a statement, not a question.
"I know," Leo said.
"Do you want to go check it out?"
"Dude, I literally just came from there like half-an-hour ago."
Jason fixed Leo with an apologetic glare.
He groaned in irritation "It's a fifty-four-minute flight, you have any ideas on how to get there faster?"
Jason looked at him before speaking.
"I might have an idea."
The idea worked.
But on the other hand, it was perhaps the worst idea in the history of bad ideas. A colossally shitty idea, that dwarfed all of Leo's previous shitty ideas.
So naturally, he agreed to it.
Jason had grabbed him, by the scruff of his neck and had pulled him into the sky, and held Leo in a Fireman's carry while he zoomed through the air. Apparently, the universe needed Jason to be the closest thing to Superman since well... Superman. By Leo's calculations, Jason was flying at a speed of about one hundred and forty miles per hour.
From there, their progress was exceptionally streamlined, albeit embarrassing and painful. When they had landed in the garden of Jupiter, Leo had rationally thrown up in the king of the god's fountain, before releasing a hailstorm of expletives on the aforementioned god's son.
Jason had taken it for five minutes before politely reminding him that there was quite possibly a divine threat five minutes away from them. It didn't help that Leo felt like had just drunk a gallon of 4Loko. Whatever was in the throne room, was seriously juicing him up, and he could see Jason struggling to keep his powers under control.
His hands ignited, and he walked towards the palace. Jason looked apprehensive but hovered next to him, his sword drawn and crackling with lightning. It was imperative for them to not to allow harm to the home of the gods. But as they advanced up the steps they noticed that there was a conspicuous lack of irritating cults. Normally the priests and priestesses would be bustling around carrying offerings and food to different shrines, but now there was no one. It was silent.
Their fears soon increased as they heard a loud and monotonous chant reminiscent of the one they heard all those years ago, at the Parthenon. They reached the top of the large staircase that Leo was sure, that Malcolm had built in the impression of the staircase in kung fu panda.
They peered through the massively ornate golden doors and their heart's soared. All twelve Olympians were sitting on their thrones passed out. They were suffused in golden coronas and beneath their thrones were thousands of similarly glowing beings were in miniature form, sleeping on the floor. Standing in the middle of the room was Percy Jackson.
He held his bronze sword out and was watching the scene warily. Jason walked in and accidentally stepped on a minuscule goddess the size of a poodle. Her eyes opened and she snarled before returning to sleep.
Percy looked at Jason and his eyes conveyed an emotion that he couldn't decipher.
Sorry for the shitty update, I am working hard to bring you the next chapter which will come sometime next week.
-Itslittt