It had been a week from when They had put Bakuda down. They had been training Taylor nonstop, and it was showing. She now had a decent basis of knife fighting, batons, and was halfway up completing her helmet. She chose their suggestions of a Nemes, and was formidable enough to take the name Khepri. The mass of bugs descending on the battlefield like a biblical plague, sufficiently blinding you, not knowing where she was going to strike, who she would take next. They had found out that Taylor had a mean streak, and it often showed itself in her fighting. They had encouraged it, knowing that it would save her life to make an image of being a harsh punisher. They would think that she had shown them mercy, and didn't make her bugs eat them alive. A few harmless bites and stings would sell the image. After asking her about her control, they discovered a great level of multitasking that astounded the mind. Having absolute control over the millions or billions of bugs in her range, with no apparent upper limit, was an amazing gift. If only it wasn't from the seeds of the damn abomination. Maybe they could find a way to keep the power.

Through the week, Taylor had thought a lot about what they did to Bakuda. One time, Lisa got i. contact with her, and after hearing her side of the story, she realized that the choices were few. She had calmed down a little, but doubled her efforts to learn what they could teach her.

There was a knock on the door, and when opened, Three elder ladies came in. The one in the middle had a dress of earthly designs, flora and fauna, with hair the color of deep brown, intermixed with gray. the one on the right, had a dress with a galaxy design, that when she moved seemed to rotate around itself. The one on the left had a pure white dress, and an expression of sadness when she looked at her. The one in the middle spread her hands wide, and said,

"Hello my beautiful grandchildren! come give grandma a hug!"

The teenagers were left looking gobsmacked, eyes wide and mouths hanging open. She then locked her eyes on Taylor, and grabbed her in a tight hug. " Who's this young pretty lady?" unbeknownst to her, Gaea had a wicked grin on her face, looking at the demigods.

"Grandma, this is Taylor Hebert, a friend we found. She's a pretty great girl." Percy said, sounding like he was swallowing gravel. He then said, "Taylor, this is my great grandma Gaea, and those are great aunts Nyx and Ananke." Seeing her incredulous face, he added, "Our family was weird like that. My father's name was Poseidon."

"It's nice that you found someone to complete your set dears, Thirteen isn't a good starting point."

"Wait a minute, you're all family?!!!??! And they know??!!"

"Hey don't look at us like that, it's not that weird. It's not like we have incest."

Taylor still had that weird look on her face, but finally she let it go. it was obvious that she wouldn't let it go easily.

Gaea looked a little sad, and said, "The times were a little rough these past few years, for the whole family. The kids were affected the most. Most of them became capes as a result. Better not remember those terrible times." Taylor remembered how she herself got her powers. She decided to not to pry. behind her back, the demigods were a mixture of incredulous and outraged, some hands twitching towards weapons. They schooled themselves when Taylor was looking back, trying to not show the rage they felt towards Gaea. Gaea in return did not care much about their opinion of her. She was who she was.

"So, we thought that now that the group is complete, you should pick a name." Then she changed language, and spoke in Latin,

"We have decided to name you, demigods, The Costudes. Each of you shall Guard this earth, until the day that they shall not need you. And worry not, It Will be soon."

They all felt the words take effect, their names given power. Each of them would become a Custos, a guardian of this earth. Taylor was looking at Gaea, so she didn't notice the brief lightshow surrounding the demigods.

At that moment, there was another knock on the door, and a middle aged woman came in. "Oh, Hemera! Nice of you to come over! This is Taylor, and she's a cape! She's gonna go by Khepri."

"Khepri, you say? The Dung beetle carrying the sun in the skies, representing the morning, and rebirth of the sun. Huh. Nice choice." Sneakily, she blessed Taylor with an affinity for the Sun, with the Dawn giving her a power boost. She would have the power to Summon scarabs, bringing them into the world around her. She wouldn't instantly know of this, it would take considerable stress and a lack of bugs nearby for her to Summon the scarabs.

There was a lot of small talk, with the primordials playing the role of mortal elder women of the damn family, so the nervousness of the demigods was understandable. They adored Taylor, treating her like a very beloved grandchild. Taylor was a little confused, that the 9ld ladies had abandoned their grandchildren and had focused on her, especially Ananke.

After they left, Taylor asked if they didn't mind her hogging the attention, and was answered with 'Better you than me' from the lot of them. That left her baffled, she didn't think the attention was that bad, but some of them had pitying looks when they noticed Ananke giving her special attention.

The day ended, with the lot of them giving her hugs, even the dour Nico, and wished her good night.

The next morning she shot out of the bed at the crack of dawn, brimming with energy. She was practically bouncing off the walls, and was very energetic throughout the morning run. at noon, her energy levels returned to normal, and were the same as every day. She went to bed, tired out, and slept restfully. Again, She shot out of bed at the crack of dawn. This time, she told the guys about it, and somehow, she could Sense something in them. From Percy, she sensed an "aura" of restlessness, unpredictability, Defiance, that strangely reminded her of the sea. Each of them had a unique aura, feeling different from one another. The only ones similar to one another were the Stoll brothers, like a shiftiness, that if you took your eyes off them even for a minute, they'd pick not only your pockets, but the rest of your clothes too. Even then, there was a slight difference between them. She chalked it up to a little weirdness. They evaded the topic, but the next time she saw Gaea, and the feeling of her power brought Taylor to her knees, they found that they couldn't keep it from her anymore.

"Have you noticed that when you look at us, you feel a sort of aura, a feeling that you can't quite describe? Or what you felt when in Gaea's presence?" Piper asked Taylor. They felt it was best to send her, because she would be gentler with it.

"Yes, I thought that it was my power identifying Parahumans. But Lisa didn't feel like that, so I thought that she was an exception. I didn't know your grandmother was a Parahuman, especially one so powerful."

"Well you see, Taylor, our family isn't from around here, I mean, not from Earth Bet. In our home, we didn't have Parahumans. There were different powers back home, different things. The ones with power weren't so open about it, everything was hidden in secrecy. The normal population wasn't even aware that something was happening most of the time. We worked from the shadows, hiding our traces, hell there was no such thing as superheroes except in comics."

"Yeah, the comic industry never grew, with real-time superheroes and supervillains roaming the streets. My dad has some old comic books about a bat man."

"That one grew to be very popular in our world. Anyway, have you read about the Greek mythology? The gods and the demigods?"

"Like, Zeus and Hercule? those ones?" She noted the distaste on the faces of everyone.

"You remember what did those gods did?"

"Yes, they mostly impregnated mortals and punished people for petty things."

There were a few winces at her blunt answer, the look of distaste growing, and then Piper said, "Well back home, they were real, and they never stopped what they did, somehow dragging themselves to modern times. All those monsters were real, and the gods still had offspring with the mortals." Taylor was looking shocked, understanding dawning to her. What she expected was confirmed when Nico spoke.

"As you have guessed, we are the same children of the gods, born in the new world."

It took a minute, but Taylor finally found her voice and asked, "But why aren't you all Greek? Why do you have a New York accent?" she pointed at Percy, "And why do you have a California accent?" she pointed at Jason.

"The gods moved with the western civilization, moving slowly through Europe, from Rome to Spain, to England, to finally in the 18th century, they moved to America. If they remained in Greece, they would have faded from memory by now, and with them, the monsters. But they do, and so do the monsters." This was a simplified explanation from Annabeth.

And after that, they took a few hours explaining the history of the Olympians up until last august, and how they were sent here. Taylor was properly awed and horrified by meeting mother earth, and the other primordials. "But it doesn't explain my ability, or me always waking up at the crack of dawn. How did that happen?"

"Well, Hemera decided to bless you. Since she's the embodiment the Day, and you chose the name of a Sun god, she decided to bless you, and have a little fun on the side. She then gifted you with the ability to Sense things related to the divine, like our presences. We felt it subconsciously, but they taught us how to pick up on it and differentiate it consciously."

"From now on, we'll start training you in the morning, and you can study in the afternoon."

So went another few days. Taylor had completed her armor, and they had decorated it. It was a Sunday morning, everyone was starting the day, half of the newly named Custodes sparring and the other half warming up for their turn, when an accented, gruff voice called for them.

"You have murdered my leutenant, mutilated her body. You have disrespected me, humiliated me. Now I have come to show you what happens to those who disrespect the Dragon."

There was a sound of something heavy striking the metal doors of the warehouse, revibrating in the in the air.

Lung had arrived.

The man Known as Lung was impatient. It had been seventeen days since they had killed Bakuda. After that, there had been no sighting of the twelve with the ancient armor. His subordinates had looked for them all across the town, they had asked questions everywhere, even the informants in the PRT had nothing. Until they learned of the group of girls moving through the docks every day, always coming from the direction of the pier, and the warehouses there. They had observed them from afar, from distant buildings, as they would lose a tail in no time. Finally, they had found out their hideout, and stood watch for a few more days to learn of their schedule. Every morning a group of girls, from multiple ethnicity would leave, and an hour later would return with one extra. They would wait till noon, then they would go into the city, to return at sunset. Then the group of boys - again, multiple ethnicity- would leave the warehouse, and return two hours later. this had happened for three days, and Lung was ready to attack. He wanted to kill them all. So when everyone was at the warehouse, he gathered his troops, sixty-five Asian gangsters from multiple ethnicity, but all gathered together under his iron hand, and Oni Lee, his faithful friend, and went to surround the warehouse. Then he called them.
The fireball he threw at the end of his speech was ineffective, but that was to be expected. He wasn't at full power, and it was just a warming up anyway. He felt his rage course through him, and his transformation was beginning. It took a minute, but he was eight feet tall, more than ready to tackle the challenge in front of him. He threw the next fireball.

After another couple of minutes, there was another impact. This time, it was bigger, and you could see the ripples of the shockwave in the air, but the doors didn't budge.
"How can you just wait here? he's gonna bring down the walls around us!" Taylor was sounding a little bit scared, which was understandable. She hadn't witnessed worse.
"Don't worry Taylor, Gaea has claimed the entire building. Nothing short of destroying the planet can affect this warehouse. we'll be fine." This was Connor's nonchalant answer. They had returned to training, like everything was peachy. The next minute, there were multiple bangs, like a giant was hammering the building with it's fists.
"He may go to a rampage to draw us out! We can't do nothing!"
There was a collective sigh, and the demigods summoned their armor. When the poundings stopped, they opened the front door, and the thirteen of them filed outside, and stood in front of Lung. Piper looked at the ones assembled, and in a sweet voice that magically carried throughout the block, told them,
"Isn't this a lovely day? what are you doing here, making it ugly for yourselves? go on, go back to your families, and have fun together! it's going to be an amazing day for you all, in the arms of your families."
Her voice was thick with charmspeak, and twenty gangbangers were weak to the call of their families, and left. For the others, it didn't have much hold, and they only looked less certain to be here. Even Lung was a little affected. He snapped out of it soon after, having reduced in size because of the lack of threat, but after a few seconds he started to grow again.
"Why are you here, Lung? What purpose are you after?" This was Reyna, her voice firm and full of authority.
There was a growl from Lung, because of him not having the ability to speak, his throat being formed differently.
Annabeth somehow translated, saying, "He says that he wants revenge for us killing Bakuda, and for Tempest and Hurricane throwing him in jail."
"We killed Bakuda out of principle. She was no longer a mere criminal, trying to make money. She had started to put bombs in the heads of civilians. She was too unstable and mindless to be left alive. We did the world a service." Percy said, his voice lacking the joking tone that he usually had.
There was another growl, and Annabeth said,
"He says that it was his right to decide Bakuda's fate. That we have no right to meddle in how he runs his gang. Seems that he really doesn't care about them."
Seeing a lull in the talks, Oni Lee suddenly materialized behind them, and before he exploded, the demigods were scattered around the street. Oni Lee was spamming the battlefield with his clones, but the demigods were faster, and had superhuman reflexes. Each stab was deflected, each bomb was kicked away. Percy, Jason and Frank moved to confront Lung. Midway to him, Frank turned into a dragon, one bigger than Lung at twenty feet length. They were attacking him from three sides, and he kept growing, and getting more powerful. Oni Lee often harassed them, but they still persisted.
Reyna and Annabeth were observing Oni Lee, and were trying to come up with a way to contain him. It took a couple minutes of fighting, a few tries at backstabbing, a lot of bombs, and the street being littered with ash for them to realize it.
"He has to look where he teleports! He needs his eyes!"
There was a very loud whistle, and when every pair of eyes was on will, there was a blast of light that blinded everyone who looked. The demigods, having foreseen this, closed their eyes at the last second. Lung gave a roar of pain at the noise, and that was it. He didn't see the light. But everyone else, they clutched at their blinded eyes, the pain unbearable.
One Oni Lee was left, writhing on the street. Jason thinned the air around him, and soon he was unconscious. Nico Joined the three of them in fighting Lung, summoning a host of spirits. They held spears, and sank them in Lung's flesh, trying to hold him to the ground. Lung was still growing, having grown to 18 feet tall, and had four hands and wings on his back. Black, draconian wings that had grown to 40 feet wide. Jason had landed, not wanting Lung to fly away.
Having tied and blindfolded Oni Lee, and the rank and file having ran away, all the demigods concentrated on Lung. They attacked with all they had, each using all they had at their disposal to bring him down. Reyna lent them her strength, boosting their courage. Jason and Percy had together created a storm, rain and thunder attacking Lung. They had him contained, while Will and Katie had huddled together, trying to use their divine inheritance to come up with a poison to take care of Lung. It took a while, Leo used a few sticky bombs, blowing up his limbs, but they grew back in seconds, until they made the concoction. It was a mixture of Belladonna, foxgloves, hemlock, castor beans, poliomyelitis, anthrax, 20 kilos of pure acetaminophen, and some other crap. With their magic, they reduced the size to a single dart, gave it to Frank who managed to get it in his bloodstream. it took a minute, and finally his regeneration was halted, having to deal with the poison and plagues in his system. They gave him a concussion, and finally, he started to shrink. He fell down in a coma, and after examining him, Will said that he'd survive. The fierce battle had attracted the Protectorate, and Velocity had reached them. Assault was there a minute later, and Velocity had called the console to report the outcome.
"Wow. I.. I mean.. Wow. You took down Lung. And Oni Lee. This is... I don't know what to say..."
"Just get them out of here." That was the tired voice of Leo. All of them were breathing hard, the adrenaline still in their system.
"Gods damn it, we should kill him. The next time I don't think we can use the same trick." Percy spoke, then pointed at the Protectorate heroes. "The next time you lose him, you'll fight him your damn selves."
They waited ten minutes for the containment truck to arrive, and when they loaded him up, Will said,
"And don't give him any other drugs. Even an adult cold pill would be poisonous for him. He'll wake up in a week."
"Have you guys picked a name?" Velocity asked.
"Yeah. Call us the Costudes. we'll see you around."
When the Protectorate left, they returned to the warehouse, to see a worried Taylor waiting for them.
"Well, that went well."