Chapter 12: Missions
There are many other schools, however my research and questions have led me to categorize them into five major schools of Hunters: Olympians, Titans, Atlanteans, Gigantes and Firstborn.
Poseidon's Notes, Page 2
Annabeth paced Chiron's office with quick and nervous steps.
"Calm down, woman, you're going to bore a hole in the beautiful mahogany flooring." Luke said from her side, where he stood with his back pressed to the wall and his arms crossed.
"You don't understand, Luke." Annabeth said, "It's Zeus we're talking about! It could be anything from the rebirth of Gaea to losing his underwear, anything could spark a war with him, and that is not good! Not good at all!"
"It won't." Luke said, "Look, I'm not saying that it's going to come to that, but when has war ever started amidst the council? Besides, I'm sure its something petty again. Zeus' felt offended again, he threatened a war."
"I'm afraid there's more to it." Chiron said as he wheeled into the office. "Someone has stolen his symbol of power."
"What?" Annabeth gasped, "How?"
"It happened late last night. Someone broke into Tartarus, freed a few prisoners, and managed to make their way outside Underworld." Chiron said, his eyes red from lack of sleep, "That's not all though. They also infiltrated the Council chambers this morning in the chaos of the news. Zeus' Masterbolt has been stolen."
"The Spear?" Annabeth said, "That's impossible. No one can steal someone else's symbol of power."
"They can if they have one themselves." Chiron said, "Symbols of power are a tricky thing. They are concentrated, solidified Enlightenment. Very few people ever express one, and I can count with my hands the amount of people who currently possess it. Zeus, Hades, Poseidon, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Hermes, and Athena. Luke is another person with a symbol of power, and Nico's sword is in its final stages to becoming one."
Chiron took a deep breath.
"Ten people." He said, "Ten people are powerful enough to fragment their Enlightenment into a weapon, and only those ten people could have stolen Zeus' spear and Hades' Armor. Zeus and Hades are out of suspicion for obvious reason, and so are Apollo, Artemis, Hermes and Athena. They have no reason to do this and they have reliable alibis to where they were when this happened. That leaves us with four suspects, Luke, Nico, Ares…and Poseidon."
"Nico was here last night." Annabeth said, "I saw him with Percy, and Luke was also here…" Annabeth blushed.
Chiron raised an eyebrow, but ignored the insinuation.
"Ares has perfect reason to wish to start a war, he always has wanted one." Luke said, ignoring Annabeth's comment, "are we sure it wasn't him?"
"According to Aphrodite, they were together when it happened." Chiron said, hiding his disdain for the woman. "And although she is known to lie and manipulate, she presents a strong case since a few people…heard them."
There was silence amongst the three. It began as an awkward silence, as they had just been given too much information, yet the silence slowly turned into a cold one when the realization set it.
"Zeus thinks it was Poseidon, doesn't he?" Annabeth said.
Chiron simply nodded.
"A few days ago Triton announced that he would marry Thalia to join the House of Seas and the House of Skies and tie them together. Thalia didn't take it well and we haven't heard from her for a few days, Jason is looking for her." Chiron reassured Annabeth, "Yet Zeus thinks it isn't a coincidence that a few days after announcing that the House of Skies was basically absorbing the House of Seas, his symbol of power disappeared. Something that would leave him at a great disadvantage if a fight occurred."
"So they think Poseidon came back, stole his symbol and now is preparing for a fight?" Annabeth said, "That's ridiculous."
"It makes sense." Luke said gravely, "The House of the Seas, although literally sunken, has perhaps one of the most profitable assets out there: Sailing. Zeus controls the skies, Hades controls the mining industries…The House of the Seas has thousands of smaller houses working with him to ensure intercontinental travelling, mining expeditions, and discoveries within the sea. If Zeus absorbed them, he wouldn't just become the most powerful Hunter with all those assets behind him, he would literally become the most powerful man in the mortal world."
"So why is no one suspecting him?" Annabeth said, her natural distrust of the man shining through her logic, "It seems that the only one benefited by this is Zeus."
Something flashed in Luke's eyes, and he stared at Annabeth with a strange expression.
"Of course…" he said, in a disbelieving voice, "Zeus might very well be behind this…" he said.
"I'm afraid that's a possibility, however it is unlikely. Zeus right now is in the balance with half of the council against him. While it would make sense that he hid his symbol of power somewhere, he wasn't the one who broke into Tartarus."
"Wait, Tartarus was broken into? What happened?" Annabeth asked.
Chiron looked down at the table.
"Charon's dead." Chiron said, "Underworld is a mess, three high security prisoners escaped, apparently they tried freeing more but Charon stopped them before he died. Hades and Thanatos found a few more this morning, and a small battle ensued. Well, small when it comes to what Hades is used to doing. Thanatos is pursuing the other escapees."
"Do Bianca and Nico know?" Annabeth asked.
"Not yet, I will tell them in a few minutes. However, I didn't simply call you here to tell you all this. Currently, Poseidon is the prime suspect of this…heist. Triton seems to have locked himself in Atlantis in fear of him, and Zeus' supporters are trying to orchestrate a plan to bring him out."
Annabeth knew immediately what that meant.
"Percy…" She gasped.
Chiron nodded.
"They will try their best to get their hands on him in any way possible. I managed to find a loophole of the rule of non-intervention. If the Council orders a mission, and recommends a Hunter to go, then there's not much I can do to stop it. If I could find this loophole, it will be only a matter of time before Athena finds it too, and they send Percy on a mission that will end with him captured."
"What do we do?" Annabeth asked.
"For now? We do nothing, but I want you two working on the side-lines. Annabeth, if it comes to it, I want you to accompany Percy on his mission and keep him out of trouble, you're the only person smart enough to see through Athena's plans."
Annabeth nodded, grabbing Luke's hand under the table.
"Luke, I need you and your team now more than ever. Find out who stole Zeus's spear, and return it before this escalates into a bigger conflict. I doubt Poseidon is aware of this, but if he is…"
It was remained unsaid. Poseidon was, like many knew, extremely loyal to his family and friends. An attack against his son would surely take him out of whatever hiding place he was, but that didn't mean he would come quietly. It was already a running promise that was spoken between the Hunters, The Sea must never be disturbed.
"Don't worry, Chiron. We will find them and return it to Zeus before you can say Olympus. However I must inform you of something. When we were on our trip, we saw strange happenings with Monster groups. One of them mentioned a he. Now, I'm not the quickest thief in the bank, but I know that when somoene says he it's about someone important. I'd keep my eyes out, it seems someone may be influencing events behind our backs."
Chiron seemed pensive at this, contemplative almost. He seemed to ponder on this for a moment before his eyes widened.
"Could it be…" he muttered.
"What is it Chiron?" Annabeth asked.
"Hopefully nothing." Chiron said, "You have your assignments. Protect Percy Jackson and find Master bolt. The council plans of meeting during the next solstice to carry on Thalia and Triton's marriage, we must act before then."
"That's only three months away." Annabeth said.
"It will have to be enough, lest we find ourselves in the middle of a conflict." Chiron spoke.
Annabeth and Luke nodded and made their way towards the cafeteria, where dinner would start soon.
"Do you think Percy was involved?" Annabeth asked.
"Him?" Luke scoffed, "No way. He's talented, but not the type of guy to carry out something like this. If he did, he's either more dangerous that we all thought or a brilliant actor. Anyway, I don't like you spending so much time with him."
"I thought you liked Percy." Annabeth said surprised.
"I do, he's a good boy. A little dull but smart in an endearing way. Its just…" Luke seemed to struggle finding the words, yet Annabeth chuckled at him.
"Are you jealous?" Annabeth laughed.
"It's not funny, Beth." Luke pouted, "I see the way he looks at you. He likes you."
"From where I sit it looks like he prefers Bianca." Annabeth smiled. "But don't worry, there is nothing in the world that would make me choose him over you." Annabeth took his face and planted a deep kiss on his lips.
"Uh, yeah. Sure." Luke said, avoiding her eyes.
Annabeth took this as an opportunity.
"Hey, we have an hour before dinner. Say, why don't we find an empty classroom and we…have some fun?" Annabeth said in a seductive voice.
"Careful now," Luke chuckled, "keep talking like that and I might mistake you for a Lovie."
"Well, come and let me show you that we Owls are better than those Lovies." Annabeth smirked as she dragged Luke into an empty classroom. Luke smiled, and Annabeth reciprocated. Before the door was closed she had already pulled off his shirt.
Hello peeps.
Here we are, the beginnings of Part II. You will see that in the 'Part II' page there is the names -Percy- and -Annabeth- this is something new that im going to add. They are basically the POVs of that part, as there will be characters that won't have POVs in some parts, and others that will have a short chapter here and there outside from the interludes.
Talking about Interludes. The interludes are there to add some flavour to the story, as a bit of a break of the main group and seeing how things are in other places. This part, Part II, will be also around 10 chapters and will be less action heavy, however there is lots of info to unpack and already in the first 2 chapters there are some important things that maybe perhaps will come up much later.
If you have any particular feelings, questions, etc, please keep in mind that this story is planned and that there are things that will be explained much later, or changed. I know people don't like the Luke/Annabeth pairing, and while I see why, I'm using it as an opportunity for character growth and as a main point in the character of both Annabeth and Percy. Luke in this story is everything Percy aspires to be, and he also won't be completely evil. You'll see what I mean later in the story.
This leads me to a bit of a chat in what one can call 'How to build a character?" that I want to share with all of you. If you ever want to build a character for a story, there are three major things you need to take into account.
1. Likability
2. Proactivity
.
Those three things make up every character, and to have a 'good' character you must balance the 3 in a proper amount. Gregory House (House M,D.) is not Likable, but he's Knowledgeable and Proactive (drives the plot forward) which makes him a good character, Harry Potter is Likable and Proactive, but not Knowledgeable, etc. A good character starts with a balance of 2 of these three elements, while working towards leveling up the third. This is my philosophy to create characters. Percy is Likable and Proactive, and his story will focus on the 'knowledege'. By the end of the story, you must be able to say 'yeah in the Beginning Percy didn't know how to do that, but now at the end he does, that's growth'.
Anyway, its just a little thought that I wanted to put out there to remind you that characters change in the story, and while you may not like one now, you may like him later, and if you don't like one now, its for a reason that i'm making him unlikable.
That's all for this week. I hope you enjoy the 2 chapters, I know there's not much action in them and its mostly exposition, but bare with me while I publish this.
Tartarus broken into, Masterbolt missing, and Percy giving his book to Bianca. I wonder what can happen now?
Happy Reading :)
