To 8Ball3- I NEED SEASON THREE NOW, WHO'S YOUR FAVOURITE? I LOVE FIVE, HE'S A LITTLE SHIT XD And yes! I liked that his godly powers weren't reliable and constant, that he had to figure out normal, mortal ways of doing things, a lesson in humility! ^_^ And some stuff I change, maybe like the wording of things, or stuff I didn't agree with- like the whole Leo-Hazel-Frank drama and Estelle's eye colour and whatnot :P OLD MAN JASON WAS THE ONLY TIME HE GOT TO BE OLD D': Pensieve? I'm not sure on the spelling, but I know what you mean! :D
To Writer2006- Thank you very much! XD
To propheciesandbluecookies- I loved Idiot Mode, I've got such a pet peeve about teenage heroes not getting to be dumb teenagers D: I've got the snow day chapter ready and waiting, but I'm nowhere close to posting it when it comes to Lou's Past- she's still nine and I'm stuck :(
To Percy Fan- Here you go! ^_^
As Nico helped Apollo to his feet, Leader Guy collapsed into a pile of bones. Perhaps controlling an animated skeleton while hauling his sorry butt off the floor was too much even for Nico.
He was surprisingly strong. Apollo had to lean most of his weight against him since the room was still spinning, his face was throbbing and he was still suffering from a bout of near-death giggles.
"Where- where's Will?" He asked.
"Not sure." Nico pulled Apollo's arm tighter around his shoulders. "He suddenly said, 'I'm needed' and darted off in another direction. We'll find him." He sounded worried nonetheless. "What about you? How exactly did you… uh, do all this?"
Apollo figured he was talking about the piles of ash and rice, the broken chairs and control panels and the blood of his enemies decorating the walls and the carpet. He tried not to laugh like a lunatic.
"Just lucky?"
"Nobody's that lucky. I think your godly powers are starting to come back more. Like, a lot more."
"Yay!" Apollo's knees buckled. "Where's Rachel?" Nico grunted, trying to keep his new charge on his feet.
"She was fine last I saw her. She's the one who sent me here to get you- she's been having visions like crazy for the last day now. She's with the trogs."
"We have trogs! Whee!" Apollo swayed, almost toppling backwards in his relief and glee. Nico cursed under his breath, grabbing the front of his shirt to pull him back.
"Don't make me drop you." He warned, Apollo slumping on his shoulder.
"Your hair smells like rain against stone."
"What?"
"It's nice."
"Stop smelling my hair, weirdo." Nico shrugged his shoulder, making Apollo stand upright. "You'd better not have put nose blood on me."
"Sorry." Apollo croaked, then he laughed again. That kick to the face must have rattled his brain loose.
Nico half-dragged him down the corridor as he briefed him on their adventures since the trog encampment. Apollo couldn't concentrate and he kept giggling at inappropriate moments, but he gleaned that, yes, the trogs had helped disable the Greek-fire vats; Rachel had managed to summon help from Camp Half-Blood and Nero's tower was now the world's largest urban-warfare play structure.
In return, Apollo told him that Big Lu now had silverware for hands and had gone to get Nero's fasces from a leontocephaline.
"A what now?"
"Lion, snake-entwined. Mithras stuff. I have to get to the southeast corner of the residence wing. I have to find Meg."
"You're three floors too low."
"I knew something was wrong."
"It'll be tough getting you through all the fighting. Every level is, well…" They had reached the end of the hallway. Nico kicked open a door and they stepped into the Conference Room of Calamity.
A half-dozen troglodytes bounced around the room fighting an equal number of mortal security guards. Along with their fine clothing and hats, the trogs wore thick dark goggles to protect their eyes from the light, so they looked like miniature aviators at a costume party. Some guards were trying to shoot them, but the trogs were small and fast. Even when a bullet hit one of them, it simply glanced off their rock-like skin, making them hiss with annoyance. Other guards had resorted to riot batons, which weren't any more effective. The trogs leaped around the mortals, whacking them with clubs, stealing their helmets and basically having a grand old time.
Grr-Fred, Mighty of Hats, Corporate Security Chief, leapt from a light fixture, brained a guard, then landed on the conference table and grinned at Apollo. He had topped his police hat with a new baseball cap that read TRIUMVIRATE HOLDINGS.
"Good combat, Lester-Apollo!" He beat his tiny fists against his chest, then ripped a speakerphone from the table and threw it in the face of an oncoming guard.
Nico guided him through the chaos. They ducked through another doorway and ran straight into a Germanus, whom Nico impaled with his sword without even breaking his stride.
"The Camp Half-Blood landing zone is just ahead." He told Apollo, as if nothing had happened.
"Landing zone?"
"Yeah. Pretty much everybody came to help."
"Even Dionysus?" Apollo would have paid real drachmas to watch his little brother turn their enemies into grapes and stomp on them. That was always good for a laugh.
"Well, no." Nico said, shattering that mental image. "Not Mr. D. You know how it is. Gods don't fight demigod battles. Present company excluded."
"Yay, I'm an exception!" Apollo cheered, kissing the top of Nico's head in delight. Nico gently pushed him away.
"Please don't do that."
"OK! Who else is here? Tell me, tell me!" Apollo felt like Nico was guiding him towards his own birthday party and he was dying to know the guest list. Also, he felt like he was really dying!
They arrived at a set of heavy mahogany sliding doors. Nico dragged one open and the setting sun nearly blinded Apollo. A wide terrace ran along the entire side of the building, providing multi-million dollar views of the Hudson River and New Jersey cliffs beyond, tinged burgundy in the sunset.
The scene on the terrace was even more chaotic than the one in the conference room. Pegasi swooped through the air like giant seagulls, occasionally landing on the deck to unload new demigod reinforcements in orange Camp Half-Blood shirts. Nasty-looking Celestial bronze harpoon turrets lined the rails, but most of them had been blown up or crushed. Lounge chairs were on fire. Their friends from camp were engaged in close-quarters fighting with dozens of Nero's forces: a few of the older demigods from the Imperial Household, a squad of Germani, mortal security guards and even a few cynocephali- wolf-headed warriors with nasty claws and rabid, slavering mouths. Against the wall stood a line of potted trees similar to in the throne room. Their dryads had risen up to fight alongside Camp Half-Blood against Nero's oppression.
"Come, sisters!" A ficus spirit yelled, brandishing a pointy stick. "We have nothing to lose but our potting soil!"
In the centre of the chaos, Chiron himself clopped back and forth, his white stallion lower half draped with extra quivers, weapons, shields and water bottles, like a combination demigod soccer mom and minivan. He wielded his bow as well as Apollo ever could have (though that comment should be considered strictly off the record) while shouting encouragement and directions to his young charges.
"Dennis, try not to kill enemy demigods or mortals! Evette, watch your left flank! Ben- whoa, watch out there, Ben!" This last comment was directed at a young man in a hand-powered wheelchair, his muscular upper body clad in a racing shirt, his driving gloves studded with spikes. His wild black hair flew in every directed and as he turned, blades jutted from the rims of his wheels, mowing down anyone who dared to get close. His last one-eighty had almost caught Chiron's back legs, but fortunately the old centaur was nimble.
"Sorry!" Ben grinned, seeming not sorry at all, then he wheeled himself straight into a pack of cynocephali.
"Dad!" Kayla raced over to them. "Oh gods, what happened to you? Nico, where's Will?"
"That's a great question." Nico sighed. "Kayla, can you take Apollo while I go look?"
"Yeah, go!"
Nico sprinted off while she dragged Apollo to the safest corner she could find. She propped him in the only intact chaise lounge and began rummaging through her med pack. Apollo had a lovely view of the sunset and the carnage in progress. He wondered if he could get one of Nero's servants to bring him a fancy drink decorated with a tiny umbrella. He started to giggle again, though what was left of his common sense whispered, Stop it, stop it. This is not funny.
Kayla frowned, clearly worried by his mirth. She dabbed some menthol-scented healing ointment on his busted nose. "Oh, Dad. I'm afraid you're going to have a scar."
"I know." He giggled. "I'm so glad to see you." She managed a weak smile.
"You too. Been a crazy afternoon. Nico and those trogs infiltrated the building from below. The rest of us hit the tower on several levels at once, overwhelmed their security. The Hermes cabin disarmed a lot of the traps and whatnot, but we've still got fierce fighting pretty much everywhere."
"Are we winning?"
A Germanus screamed as Sherman Yang threw him off the side of the building.
"Hard to tell." Kayla said. "Chiron told the newbies this was a field trip, like a training exercise. They gotta learn sooner or later."
Apollo scanned the terrace. Many of those first-time campers, some no older than eleven or twelve, were fighting wide-eyed alongside their cabinmates, trying to imitate whatever their counsellors were doing. They seemed so very young, but then again, they were demigods. They had probably already survived numerous terrifying events in their short lives. And Kayla was right- adventures would not wait for them to be ready. They had to jump in, sooner better than later.
"Rosamie!" Chiron called. "Sword higher, dear!" The young girl grinned and lifted her blade, intercepting the strike of a security guard's baton. She smacked her foe across the face with the flat of her blade.
"Do we have field trips every week? This is so cool!" Chiron gave her a pained smile, then continued shooting down enemies.
Kayla bandaged Apollo's face as best she could, wrapping white gauze around his nose and making him go cross-eyed. He imagined he looked like the Partially Invisible Man, which made him giggle again. Kayla grimaced.
"OK, we gotta clear your head. Drink this." She lifted a vial to his lips.
"Nectar?"
"Definitely not nectar." The taste exploded in his mouth. Immediately, he realised what she was giving him and why: Mountain Dew, the glowing lime-green elixir of perfect sobriety. Apollo wasn't sure how it affected mortals, but for any supernatural entity, Mountain Dew's combination of sweetness, caffeine and otherworldly je-ne-sais-quoi-peut-être-radioactif taste was enough to bring complete focus and seriousness to any god. His eyesight cleared, his giddiness evaporated. A grim sense of danger and impending death gripped his heart.
"Meg." He said, recalling what was most important. "I need to find Meg." Kayla nodded grimly.
"Then that's what we'll do. I brought you some extra arrows. Thought you might need them."
"You are the most thoughtful daughter ever." She blushed right to the red roots of her hair.
"Can you walk? Let's get moving."
They ran inside and turned down a corridor that Kayla thought might lead to a stairwell. They pushed through another set of doors and found themselves in the Dining Room of Disaster.
Under different circumstances, it might have been a lovely place for a dinner party: a table big enough for twenty guests, a Tiffany chandelier, a huge marble fireplace and wood-panelled walls with niches for marble busts, each depicting the same face of the same Roman emperor. Three guesses who!
Not part of the dinner plan: a red forest bull had somehow found its way into the room and was now chasing a group of young demigods around the table while they yelled insults and pelted it with Nero's golden plates, cups and cutlery. The bull didn't seem to realise it could simply smash through the dining table and trample the demigods, but Apollo suspected it would eventually figure that out.
Kayla groaned. "Ugh, these things."
"They can't be killed." Apollo warned as they joined the other demigods in their game of ring-around-the-dining-table.
"Yeah, I know." Her tone told him she had already had a crash course in forest bulls during her field trip fun. "Hey, guys." She said to her young comrades. "We need to lure this thing outside. If we can trick it off the edge of the terrace-"
At the opposite end of the room, the doors burst open. Austin appeared, his tenor sax at the ready. Finding himself right next to the bull's head, he yelped, then let loose a dissonant squeak-blatt on the sax that would have made Coltrane proud. The bull lurched away, shaking its head in dismay. Austin vaulted over the dining table and slid to their side.
"Hey!" He smiled. "We having fun yet?"
"Austin." Kayla said with relief. "I need to lure this bull outside. Can you-?" She pointed at Apollo.
"We playing Pass-the-Apollo?" Austin grinned. "Sure. C'mon, Dad. I got you."
As Kayla mustered the younger demigods and began shooting arrows to goad the bull into following her, Austin hustled Apollo through a side door. "Where to, Dad?"
"I have to find Meg. Three stories up? Southeast corner?" Austin kept jogging with him down the corridor, but his mouth tightened into a frown.
"I don't think anybody's managed to fight their way up to that level yet, but let's do it."
They found a grand circular stairwell that took them up one more floor. They navigated a maze of corridors, then shouldered through a narrow door into the Hat Room of Horrors. Troglodytes had found the motherlode of haberdashery. The oversize walk-in closet must have served as Nero's seasonal coat check area, because fall and winter jackets lined the walls. Shelves overflowed with scarves, gloves and, yes, every conceivable manner of hat and cap. The trogs rifled through the collection with glee, stacking six or seven high on their heads, trying on scarves and galoshes to augment their incredibly civilised fashion sense.
Austin and Apollo decided to creep around the edge of the closet, in case the trogs mistook them for chapeau poachers. Thankfully, the trogs paid them no mind. They emerged from the other side of the closet into a marble foyer with a bank of elevators.
Apollo's hopes rose. Assuming this was the main entrance to Nero's residential levels, where his most favoured guests would be received, they were getting closer to Meg.
Austin stopped in front of a keypad with a golden inlaid SPQR symbol. "Looks like this elevator gives you direct access to the imperial apartments. But we'd need a key card."
"Stairs?" Apollo asked.
"I don't know." Austin admitted. "This close to the emperor's quarters, I bet any passage up will be locked and booby-trapped. The Hermes cabin swept the lower stairwells, but I doubt they've made it this far. We're the first." He toyed with the pads of his saxophone. "Maybe I could open the elevator with the right sequence of tones…?" His voice trailed off as the elevator doors opened by themselves.
Inside stood a young demigod with dishevelled blond hair and rumpled street clothes. Two golden rings gleamed on his middle fingers.
Cassius's eyes widened when he saw Apollo. Clearly, he hadn't been expecting to run into him ever again. He looked like his last twenty-four hours had been almost as bad as Apollo's. His face was grey, his eyes swollen and red from crying. He seemed to have developed a nervous twitch that randomly travelled around his body.
"I-" His voice cracked. "I didn't want…" His hands trembling, he pulled off Meg's rings and offered them to Apollo. "Please…" He looked past them. He wanted nothing more than to leave, to get out of this tower.
With all honesty, Apollo felt a surge of anger. This child had cut off Big Lu's hands with Meg's blades. But he was so small and terrified. He looked like he expected Apollo to turn into the Beast, as Nero would have done, and punish him for what Nero had made him do.
Apollo's anger dissolved. He took Meg's rings.
"Go." He said. Austin cleared his throat.
"But first… how about that key card?" He pointed to a laminated square hanging from a lanyard around Cassius's neck.
The boy fumbled to remove it and handed it to Austin. Then he ran. "I take it you've met that kid before?" Austin asked, trying to read Apollo's expression.
"Long, bad story." Apollo muttered. "Will it be safe for us to use his pass?"
"Maybe. Maybe not. Let's find out."
Storm had to keep Louisa on track, but it was becoming increasingly difficult since she woke up from that dream. She was panicking, pacing back and forth along the river's edge they had stopped by. "I'll give you all the apples you want if we go back right now." She bribed. Storm was tempted, so tempted, but she couldn't give in. Something big was going down at the Tower of Nero. Battles, little frog-people in hats, Apollo, Nico. It was seeing Nico that bothered her. "I have to help!" She protested.
We're over a day's travel away, we won't get there in time.
"But-"
And even if you did get there, Storm snorted harshly, you're in no fit state to fight.
"I can-"
Make a hurricane. Make a hurricane bigger than me, right now, and I'll fly you back. Louisa glared at her. She had managed a storm at the archery range, a minor earthquake. Sure, it had been an emotional response, those happened all the time, she had little to no control over it. But if she could do that, she could easily do a hurricane.
"Fine." She spread her hands, glaring defiantly at Storm. Cold air bristled under her palms, she could feel more trickling in, beginning to gather in a spiralling mess. "See, I'm doin' it."
I said bigger than me. Storm's ear flicked, almost smugly. Louisa frowned, concentrating on the gathering. She tried to quell the shaking in her hands before it became too noticeable, but something icy was pinching at her chest, tampering with her lungs.
The hurricane she had summoned so far was slow to take form, no bigger than her head. It lasted for another ten seconds at best, then dissolved, whisking itself away into nothingness. She slumped forward, throwing her hands out to catch herself. Storm whickered an I told you so. Louisa tried to fume at her, but she was a tiny bit busy trying to catch her breath and blink away black spots speckling her vision.
After a minute or so, Storm gently nudged her shoulder. You're still recovering. She said kindly. You need your rest.
"But Nico-"
Is as strong and as stubborn as you are. And he has that sun boy to look after him. You have me and while I'm far cooler than Sun Boy, I'm not a medic. Storm licked her face, then her hair. Louisa sat back, taking a deep breath, petting the mare's neck absent-mindedly. Ready to keep flying? Louisa looked at her, feeling rather deflated. Storm seemed to recognise this, nuzzling her again. Nico will be OK.
"How'd you know?"
I just do. You trust me, right?
"Sometimes."
Trust me now. Storm headbutted her and then shifted, starting to rise. Her wing cuffed Louisa's head playfully, tipping her hair into her face. The blonde streak squirmed before her eyes, a few strands of her own dark colour breaking it up.
Storm was pestering her to get up. Louisa made her wait, pulling her hair tie out. Some of her hair, the Storm-licked hair, wasn't cooperating, but she managed to pull her hair back into a high ponytail. Yes, you look very nice. Storm nodded. Now hurry up. You're boring me.
"Very sorry."
So you should be.
"Are… are you sure Nico will be OK?"
Yes.
"I can't… I can't lose him too."
I know. Please trust me. Let's get going. When you're better, I'll fly you back to see him. She nodded, huffing air in Louisa's face. Her eyes sparkled. And you promised me apples.
"That was if you flew me back now."
You never specified.
"I did. I said if you flew me back right now."
Nope, didn't hear that. I want apples.
"D'ya reckon they have rehab for pegasi?"
Why's that?
"You're addicted. Straight up addicted."
And? I could say the same about you and hotdogs.
"Touché."