Questions:

Going Dark: First Question - answer is in the AN in Chapter 2. Second Question - you'll just have to see as the story progresses.

Onto Chapter 4.

"So ... I see life's been treating you well."

Leo led Jason through his house, giving him a little tour of the rooms, the bathrooms, the pool and even the basketball court, where he had a rack of basketballs waiting for them to use. They took turns lazily shooting three-pointers and passed the ball to each other while they talked.

"Yeah, I guess it has," Leo replied.

"I always knew you were talented, but to see you become … this? It certainly took me by surprise," Jason said. "I'm real proud of you, Leo. You've come a long way from that kid that created my suit in his garage."

Leo chuckled. "How has the suit been treating you?"

"Ah man. It's lasted a long while," Jason said. "I can still don it to this day with no sign of wear or tear."

Leo caught the ball from Jason and took a shot. "I'm glad to hear that." The ball swished into the net and he passed the ball back to Jason. "So … my guess is you didn't come hear to chit-chat. You need my help."

"How'd you figure?"

"Why else would you have come?" Leo stated, like it was obvious.

Jason sighed and took a shot. "I haven't been a good friend to you, Leo. I know that."

"It's alright," Leo dismissed. "I mean, it's pretty much bound that friends kind of go their own way after high school."

"But you're here now, in the Bay Area," Jason argued. "Your business is in San Francisco and you live in the Oakland Hills. You're only a fly away."

"Jason, don't beat yourself up over it," Leo said, catching the ball. "You had jobs to do: being a reporter and being a superhero. That kind of took your time away. Trust me, there are no hard feelings coming from me. As a matter of fact … I'm kind of proud of you, too."

"Well … I don't think you would be if you knew what happened to me two days ago," Jason said.

Leo frowned. "Why? What happened?"

"I was attacked," Jason explained bluntly.

Leo scowled at his reply.

"And it's only the first of many."

...

"So me let this straight," Leo said as he led Jason into his personal office. The office was one of the most advanced that anyone could ever imagine, with a glass table and a massive holographic touchscreen that was installed into it that he could bring up whenever he got busy. The evening sun shone brightly through the window, showing off the green pastures of the Oakland Hills. The shelves behind Leo's desk were full of Leo's creations and tinkers from his youth, showing off how he had started from the very bottom. And of course, a personal coffee machine for Leo's daily morning intake of coffee.

"Your boss sends you off to Greece to gather some info on the Parthenon, you wound up at Zeus's temple, some guy attacks you and actually ... beats you," Leo raised an eyebrow at Jason in disbelief, "and now you're here."

Jason nodded with bottom lip jutted out. "Sounds about right. Also, you forgot the detail about Coeus."

"Coeus?"

"An Elder Titan, he called himself," Jason explained.

"I don't know who Coeus is but FESTUS might know who he is," Leo said.

"FESTUS?" Jason questioned with a frown.

"Oh, right, you haven't met him yet." Leo clapped once and rubbed his hands, looking upwards. "Wake up, FESTUS."

"Evening, sir," a gentle voice replied, lighting up the room and startling Jason.

"Whoa!" Jason exclaimed. "What the-"

"That would would be my very own Artificial Intelligence," Leo casually explained. "I named him Faceless Established System That Utilizes Statistics. But you can call him FESTUS."

"Dude ... you created your own AI?" Jason asked in amazement. "That is ... amazing, Leo."

Leo grinned widely and nodded. "I know. It's like everything I touch turns to gold."

"Like King Midas," Jason suggested.

"Who?"

"Nevermind."

Leo regarded FESTUS. "FESTUS, tell me about … Coeus. 'Cause I don't know a damn thing about him."

"Coeus was the Elder Titan of Resolve and Intelligence. As one of the Elder Titans, whom were the offspring of the ancient Celestials, Gaia and Ouranos, he was raised with his five brothers: Cronus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus, and Oceanus. Together, they banded and became known as the six Elder Titans. The six of them would rule the planet, with Cronus taking the land, Oceanus taking the oceans and the four other brothers each getting a corner of the world. They would rule until Cronus's offspring, known as the Elder Gods, came along and dethroned him," FESTUS informed.

"The Elder Gods, huh?" Leo questioned.

"They would be like Zeus, and Neptune and Hades and all that, right?" Jason asked.

"That would be partially correct," FESTUS said. "The Elder Gods were first known as the just three sons of Rhea and Cronus, but over the time, the Elder Gods would procreate and it would consist of many deities; including Ares, Athena, Hecate, Hades, Hercules, Hestia, et cetera."

"What about their lost possessions? Coeus was talking about that," Jason asked.

"As the story goes, Five Elder Gods lost their prized possessions during their fight in the Second Great War and allegedly would be found by mortals many years later. They consisted of Zeus's bolt, Neptune's trident, Hades's helm, Artemis's bow and Hecate's talisman."

Jason snapped his fingers. "There! That's it!"

"What?" Leo asked.

"You know why Coeus attacked me? Because apparently I was carrying Zeus's bolt with me, that pendant that I was always wearing," Jason explained.

"How?"

Jason shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe if I knew the history of my home planet. Just wish ... there was a way to talk to my ancestors or something. I didn't get live there long enough to know anything. Not even close."

"So ... if Coeus came after you for the bolt ... is he coming for the other ones?" Leo wondered.

"Coeus was talking about how 'Lord Cronus was going to clean this planet' or some shit like that," Jason said. "Cronus might be the big baddie here."

"FESTUS, what do you know about Cronus?" Leo asked.

"Cronus would be the Elder Titan of Time," the AI replied. "The Father of the Elder Gods."

"So ... Father Time?" Leo asked half-jokingly.

"Yeah," Jason agreed. "We need to stop him. He's going after the other items."

"How are we supposed to stop Father Time?" Leo asked incredulously.

"By assembling a team," Jason answered. "A team with people like us who stand a chance against him. Will you help me out, Leo? I know you don't like ... well, your abilities, but ... I could use your help on this one."

Leo sighed, staying quiet for a good minute. "I suppose I can. But, frankly, I don't know anyone who'll join us in this suicide mission."

Jason had a pensive expression as he rubbed his chin. "I might know a few people. Do you have a computer?"

"Sure."

Leo led Jason over to his desk and tapped some buttons on the glass screen. The holographic screen hovered over the desk and he let Jason have a seat as he got to work, Leo standing over his shoulder.

"Quick question: how is it that you know people?" Leo asked.

"I'm a reporter," Jason replied. "It's kind of my job. Here, take a look at this. This happened a few days ago. A group of Somalian pirates hijacked a French submarine. They took the whole crew inside as hostage and demanded that the French military pay them a ransom for the hostages and in return they keep the submarine. And then something happened and footage inside the sub captured this."

Leo and Jason watched the CCTV footage as it played. In the footage, it appeared something crashed into the sub, making the pirates stumble. Seconds later in another hallway, the roof hatch clattered to the ground, making the pirates in that room twirl around and aim their rifles at the sudden opened hatch. A shirtless figure landed inside the sub on one knee.

"Who ... is ... that?" Leo demanded.

"You'll see," Jason said ominously.

Whoever he was, he was incredibly fast. Bullets flew in the air as the figure rushed the first pirate, took his gun and kicked him into a wall. The second pirate was stupid to charge at the figure, who grabbed his head and slammed it onto the ground so hard, his helmet broke into several pieces. A third stood behind him and fired his handgun at the back of his head but it did literally nothing but annoy the stranger, who took his gun and broke it in half before punching his chest and sending him flying. He walked over to the metallic door and proceeded to literally kick it open.

"Whoever he is, he's fast … and strong," Leo complimented.

"He kicked the submarine door right off the hinges," Jason said. "Strong is an understatement. He's got legs stronger than that of a kangaroo."

The door went flying and crashed into two other pirates, knocking them out. A third frantically fired his rifle at the figure who was unbothered by the bullets, and he shoved the pirate upwards, knocking him too as he hit the ground. The last pirate was clearly the captain and as soon the figure entered the room, he tried to set off a grenade, but the figure seemed to pull out a sharp knife out of nowhere and he flung it at the captain, impaling his neck, killing him before he could set off the grenade.

The stranger walked over to find the hostages and spoke to them in clear French. "C'est bon, vous êtes tous en sécurité maintenant." The French crew visibly nodded before following the figure out of the lower deck. The footage ended there.

"What the hell did I just watch?" Leo demanded.

"This made the French news. And many believe that this concrete evidence of the existence of ... Atlanteans," Jason explained.

"Atlanteans? I thought they were a myth," Leo said.

"Apparently not," Jason replied.

"You know ... it is believed that Neptune's trident was found by who was essentially the first Atlantean," FESTUS added helpfully. "Legend has it that this person would go on to create a whole race of underwater people, known as the Atlanteans."

"So ... Neptune's trident could still be with them."

"And if that's the case ... this guy's people might be in danger," Jason noted.

"If they even exist," Leo argued.

Jason's eyebrows rose in defiance. "You know, that submarine was pushed to the surface while it was 500 feet submerged. I'm not saying this is solid evidence of Atlanteans, but what I do know, this guy is special. And we need to go look for him."

"Fine," Leo conceded. "You might be making some sense."

"Alright, let's check out this other one I found," Jason said, swiping through the holographic screen. "This guy, Frank Zhang."

"Oh, you got a name this time," Leo pointed out.

"Well, he's a government agent, so ... yeah, I do," Jason said. "Although, for a government agent, he has an odd choice of weaponry."

Video footage showed of Frank Zhang at target practice as he hit the marked target over and over again ... using a bow and arrow.

"Yeah, you're right," Leo agreed. "That is on odd choice of weaponry."

"So, Frank get sent on a mission to stop this mad scientist with whatever abomination that he's created and things go a little ... awry," Jason explained.

In the footage, Frank fought it out with the scientist but they both landed in the scientist's machine as it powered on. The scientist was vaporized on the spot but Frank came out unharmed … and bigger.

"What the hell?" Leo muttered. "Dude came out looking like Asian Dwayne Johnson, all big and muscular and shit."

"It turns out that getting zapped by that scientist's machine actually activated his gene variant," Jason said.

Leo's eyes got wide. "Wait, so you're saying-"

"He's a mutant," Jason nonchalantly finished for Leo.

"Just like me," Leo practically whispered. "What powers does he have?"

"Shapeshifting," Jason replied as they both watched Frank Zhang on the footage turn into a bear. "The government knows all about it but they've stayed quiet. But ... I had my sources and discovered this anyway."

Leo crossed his arms. "You are such a sly reporter."

"I do have my days," Jason shrugged, agreeing.

"I have mine, too," Leo retaliated. "You know I hacked the Pentagon on a dare back in college?"

"You did what?"

"It was at a college party back at MIT. We were playing truth or dare and this girl I was with was like, 'I dare you to hack the Pentagon' and I was like 'done.' So I went on my computer and bam … Pentagon hacked," Leo explained.

Jason simply stared at him like he grew three heads before scoffing disbelievingly. "Jesus ... moving on to the next one. This ... happened in New Orleans."

He played a clip of a section of a New Orleans local news website. "As you can see, the building behind me is burning at the stake," the local reporter said. "The firefighters are doing everything they can to stop the fire and save the trapped people inside the higher stories. But I'm not sure there's much they can- whoa! What's happening?"

"Michael, what's going on?" The anchor asked back in the studio.

"It appears there's someone heading directly for the burning building. John, point the camera over there."

A person wearing a hood started to head in the direction of the fire. The cameraman pointed the camera in the hooded person's direction, who glanced at the camera. Jason and Leo managed to get a glance what appeared to be a dark-skinned girl with curly hair and golden eyes before she turned back to the building.

"Ma'am, this is a restricted area, I'm gonna have to ask you to back away," a firefighter told the girl.

The girl ignored him, and her hands started swirling with red mist, making the firefighter back away from her. She made a movement with her hands, as if performing ancient magic before she raised her hands.

"What is she doing?" Leo asked.

"She's casting a spell," Jason replied bluntly.

"She's doing what?"

The girl lifted herself to the fire escape of the apartment building on the highest floor and opened the window before she entered inside. The fire was somehow swiftly put out as she flew inside. Some minutes later, the trapped people safely walked out, but the girl was nowhere to be found.

"There's not much known about her, just that she's a sorceress, just like her mother was before her," Jason explained.

"She can fly?" Leo asked.

"More like she gives herself a platform to hover on," Jason said as he rewinded the footage to where the girl reveals her face. "Look at that, right there."

"Where?"

"On her neck," Jason said. "Now that I look at it ... it looks like a talisman."

"You don't think ..."

"I don't think anything yet," Jason said. "But I'd say there's a good chance that she's wearing Hecate's talisman."

"What was her name?"

"Hazel. Hazel Levesque."

"Then, they could come for her, too," Leo noted. "We need to warn her."

Jason nodded in agreement. "Yeah. And there's one more that I know of."

Jason pulled up the college picture of a certain man with shaggy black hair and dark eyes, with a strained smile. "This is Nico di Angelo."

"Oh, wow, he's pretty young," Leo commented.

"Well, this was his college picture. He was twenty-three years old, so he's just a little younger than the rest of us," Jason said. "He also died."

"What?"

"Technically, yes, he died, cause is unknown. It's even in the records," Jason said, showing the evidence of the paperwork. "But subsequently ... cameras caught him eating at a restaurant some days after his death." Once again, Jason showed the evidence via footage.

"What's his deal then?" Leo asked. "That he came back to life?"

Jason shook his head. "Around the time Nico was seen again, there's this new vigilante that starts popping up in LA. Some guy that seen wearing a black outfit with a black hood and mask and a white skull on his chest. And this guy decides to go after gang members."

In some news footage, police were dragging away certain gang members that looked terrified. One of them spoke with the reporter as he was dragged away. "That guy is not human, I tell you. He was sending ghosts and dead people after us and melting into the shadows. What? I'm telling the truth!"

The reporter raised his eyebrows at the camera as if saying "can you believe this guy?", before the footage ended.

"So he has ... necromancy? Is that it?" Leo asked.

"Yeah," Jason said, looking impressed at the new footage of the vigilante playing that was showing him fighting gang members. "And he can also fight, I have to say. He goes by the name 'Ghost King'. He's another guy that could definitely help us in this fight that's coming."

"How do you know for sure Nico is the Ghost King?" Leo questioned.

Jason rubbed his chin. "I imagine only someone who came back to life could raise the dead."

"So with that, that would be six of us," Leo said. "Anybody else that comes to mind?"

Jason shook his head. "That's it. There might be more out there, but if there is, I don't know about them. We need all the help we can get."

"Yeah, I agree, we should start looking for these people," Leo agreed.

"How are you gonna find them?" Jason asked.

Leo grinned. "Ah Jason, you forget I'm rich. I have my own private jet waiting at San Francisco International installed with my own computers."

Jason chuckled. "Right … of course, you have your own private jet."

Leo and Jason stared at the four profiles that Leo created for the four inquiring recruits. Frank Zhang, Hazel Levesque, Nico di Angelo and a question mark over the last guy, each profile highlighting the abilities that each of them allegedly had.

Jason nodded. "Alright, let's get to work."

French to English Translation: It's okay, you're all safe now.

And there it is, Jason and Leo are starting to build a team. We got four other people joining the team. Now, there is one more in the team, but this one's been quiet in the outside world and only a certain someone knows about her. First we got Percy, the Atlantean. Quite obvious who he'll be compared to, the Aquaman. Then we got Frank, who's like a mix of Hawkeye and Mystique. Hazel's compared to Scarlet Witch and then there's Nico, who's gonna be like Moon Knight, except with powers over the dead. Funny enough, there aren't a whole lot of comic book characters with necromantic powers so it was hard comparing Nico to anyone. Just some mutant named Moonbeam. Weird.

Next up, it's Percy's time to shine. Get ready for some Atlantean action.