Chapter 2: When Legends Return

Winchester, England...

Everyone's lives following the fall of Olympus was now a living Tartarus. Every single nation, big or small, was now under Atlantean rule, and it was just the worst thing ever. Every hour, people were being harassed, mistreated, and even straight up killed. No one did a thing about it because they feared incurring the wrath of the ruling gods.

But there were those who fought back. Sporadic attacks, resistance movements, anti-Atlantean propaganda, you name it, they've done it at least once, despite the fact that it has only been a few days since the fall of Olympus. However, in response, the Atlantean forces, along with their benefactors for the war, Triumvirate Holdings, tightened the grip on the populace, striking more fear in their hearts. Those who were caught opposing the Atlanteans were imprisoned and/or publicly executed.

Those who didn't have the strength or the courage to oppose the worldwide regime stayed in their homes, fearing for their lives.

But some who had strength, skill, and courage...they just didn't want to be seen, like Project-001. The mysterious lookalike of the only living child of Artemis hid in one of the rooms in the abandoned Mercure Wessex Hotel. She sat against the far right corner, holding her bloody katana. She also swapped out her blue and gold robes for a red shirt, light blue jacket, torn jeans, and white rubber shoes, all covered in blood as well.

All Project-001 ever did since she sneaked, slashed, and stabbed her way to the hotel was cry.

"Why? Why did they try to...lock me...in the freezer?" she asked herself as she sobbed. "Lianna...promised me they would never do that again...Is that all I am to them? Trash?"

Project-001 gripped her bloody sword tightly and her expression changed from sorrow to hate as she wiped her tears away.

"Maybe...I really am a freak of nature...just like what everyone else has been saying. The Planetary Barrier is up, so they decided to throw me away?"

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of an explosion that shook the room. Project-001 quickly shot up from the floor and held up her katana. She looked out the window to see an entire squad of Atlantean soldiers surrounding the hotel.

"Bollocks." Project-001 cursed, until she noticed that one of them was different. One of the soldiers had dry blood covering his armor and a duffel bag slung around his shoulder.

Which was strange. Who in their right mind would wear such dirty armor?

But, the answer to that question didn't matter now. What mattered for Project-001 was that she needed to escape the building. She took her sword and ran through the hallway towards the stairs, reaching the lobby only to find it swarming with Atlantean soldiers.

She took the few precious seconds she had left before they noticed her to stab one of them in the back then turn him into a meat shield for their laser fire. A shootout of yellow energy ensued for a few seconds before the Atlanteans decided to close in on Project-001 in an attempt on close combat. Project-001 tossed the meat shield away and was about to strike when she heard,

"FREEZE!".

The incoming fighting stopped almost instantly when she turned around to see herself surrounded by more Atlantean soldiers, including the bloody soldier with the duffel bag. They ALL had Laser Tridents pointed at her.

They caught her.

"Drop the weapon and put your hands in the air, Project-001." the bloody soldier ordered. With an angry huff, she dropped her sword and raised her hands up in surrender, but she didn't break her glare at the bloody soldier, who calmly approached her. Then, she noticed there was something glowing in his belt, like some kind of strange energy. Did the other soldiers even notice that?

The bloody soldier stabbed his trident on to the ground and was about to do something when one of the other Atlanteans spoke up.

"Let's just kill her and be done with it." he complained.

"That won't be necessary." the bloody soldier calmly replied, then all hell broke loose.

He threw Project-001 to the ground and pulled out whatever was glowing red strapped on him. She saw the bloody soldier pull out a...six shooter that appears to be glowing red on the inside. He started...shooting at his own comrades! The mystery woman grabbed her katana and hid in the corner as practically all the soldiers, except for the bloody duffel bag one, were dead in seconds.

She felt something she never felt for a long time: fear. This one soldier saved her from an entire squad of Atlanteans in a really short amount of time. That was something she can't really do very quickly. She could've sworn the man's eyes were glowing red underneath his helmet.

Anyway, with all the other Atlantean soldier's dead with holes punctured through their armors, the bloody one looked at Project-001, who raised her sword at him out of fear.

"Relax. I'm not going to hurt you." he said to her firmly.

"You'll just kill me without hurting me." she growled back.

"No, I won't."

"That's what Atlantean asses like you say."

"I can assure you. I'm not Atlantean."

"Then who the bloody hell are you?!" Project-001 screamed.

"I will tell you once we get away from them." the bloody soldier calmly replied.

Kansas City, Missouri...

There weren't a lot of people around the place, but some still managed to navigate the reality of being under the worldwide rule of a literal god through whatever old cars they could muster.

Elise...was one of those people. She used a beat up, purple 1971 Plymouth Hemi Cuda which she stole from her earlier captors.

She felt like she was in a ghost town. There was barely anyone around. There weren't any Atlanteans, so were they that afraid of them? It baffled her.

A few seconds later, her car was slowing down.

"Damn. Out of gas." Elise groaned as she stepped out of the car to push it to the nearest alley. Since she knew her robes would make her suspicious, she switched to her plain green shirt, white hoodie, ragged trousers, and boots. She kept her hidden and pivot blades with her and the rest of her gear, she hid in the sack she took from Matt. The raven haired woman sighed as she wandered around the ruined city, observing the horrors of what had happened.

Her heart broke when she saw a woman desperately console her crying infant child inside one of the damaged buildings, both in rags. The sight reminded her a lot about herself and Bran. Elise couldn't help but walk over to the woman as her baby's cries grew louder and louder.

"Are you okay?" Elise knelt down and asked the woman.

"My poor baby won't stop crying...He misses his daddy so much." the woman replied between sobs.

"What happened to him?"

"He was killed when the Atlanteans visited our place. They murdered him in cold blood, even forced me and my child to watch it happen."

"I'm sorry I asked."

"What about your father, young lady?" the woman asked Elise, who paled at the question. What was she supposed to tell her? That her father was the man who saved the world more than once? That her father was Perseus Jackson: the long gone Savior of Olympus? She couldn't bring that up right now, and what if someone's listening to the conversation?

"Also gone. Atlanteans got to him." Elise answered. She wondered how many times did she have to lie about her father. "I noticed there aren't any Atlantean soldiers around here. What's going on?"

"Some people around here..." the woman started, continuing to cradle her baby. "they get paid to enforce Poseidon's rule here. You can tell if they're wearing blue and white outfits with swords and bows."

"I didn't see any one of them when I got here." she answered.

"Well, you're lucky. I bet they're off drinking and harassing women." the poor woman said.

"Have they done that to you before?" Elise asked out of curiosity.

"Not really, but I heard they like to harass this young nature spirit girl because her father is too injured to help her."

"Nature spirit? Where does she live?"

"She lives with her father in that little shack in West Terrace Park."

Elise gave her thanks to the woman before leaving the building. She might have a lead on what she has to do next.

Project-001 was really confused right now. It didn't stop her from navigating the alleyways of Winchester, England with her mysterious savior: some guy in a bloody Atlantean soldier's armor. That didn't stop her from thinking about questions she was going to ask him at the end of all this. She kept hearing the sounds of Atlanteans shouting at one another, scrambling in order to find the two.

Suddenly, Project-001 found herself in the cellar of an old building. The mystery man seemed to be shaking at the cramped space. He managed to light a lantern.

"Alright, Project-001, now we can talk." he said.

"Who the bloody hell are you really? And how do you know who I am if you're not an Atlantean?" she asked him, narrowing her left brown and right silver eyes at the mystery man.

"I've been told about you because Atlanteans are fools." he replied. "They mistook me for one of their own, so they told me about you: a perfect clone of Lianna Trine, the first and only living daughter of Artemis, created from a test tube after Lianna was retrieved from the Titans solely to serve Poseidon...until a mission in Greenland went wrong and you almost killed your own escorts. So, they decided to freeze you once the war ended."

Her blood instantly boiled all the way to the point where it could heat up and melt a block of steel. She took out her sword and brought it down on the mystery man's head.

"I'LL KILL YOU FOR WHAT YOU JUST SAID!" she screamed as she swung her weapon, but the man stopped the attack, grabbing her by the wrists and applying pressure until she let go of her katana. Project-001 glared at him, but the man's eyes glowed red again, making her stagger.

"I wasn't finished. You spent...a lot of time with Lianna all the way to the point where you two grew really...close? As friends?"

"As siblings." Project-001 snarled at him. "She was the only one who saw me as a human being. Hell, she even gave me a name that I can go by so I can feel like a human for once rather than a freak of nature."

"And what would that name be?"

"Kestrel. Kestrel Trine."

Elise had no clue what she was doing. She found the West Terrace Park, which was clearly damaged from the massive conquest of Poseidon's forces. It was amazing for her to find out that someone lives here. She climbed up the steps to the park and saw that the flora around the park looked normal, which was strange for a city hit by the Atlanteans. That didn't matter. Elise knew she needed as much information as possible. Maybe the nature spirits might have something in mind.

The raven haired young woman caught something in the corner of her eye. It was a strange wooden hut, with a small group of strange figures clad in blue and white outfits.

"Blue and white outfits...Atlantean sympathizers?" Elise muttered to herself as she walked towards the hut.

And...she was right. She saw a group of hired thugs matching the woman's description of them. They appeared to be surrounding a little girl who couldn't be older than 10. It made Elise furious. She clenched her fists, eager to beat the living crap out of them, but her stomach was barely full, so it was obviously foolish to waste turning into her Fae form on one small scuffle. Regardless, she had to do something, so she dropped her bag to the ground and stormed over to the scene. The thugs were scaring the girl. Elise was now all fired up, figuratively, so she charged forward and knocked the four thugs down.

"Hide." Elise quickly told the girl as the thugs recovered and drew their swords and advanced on the raven haired woman. Fortunately for her, they appeared to be terrible with swordplay. The first guy swung his sword, which Elise dodged before sinking her hidden blade into his neck. Three to go. Two of them advanced. Elise quickly disarmed one then parried two strikes coming from the other two thugs. She then slashed the throat of the disarmed thug with his own sword. Elise turned back to the last two and dropped the sword she was holding, egging them to charge. They did, then she eliminated them with her hidden blades in one go. As the last two dropped dead, Elise turned to the wooden hut, where she saw the little girl look at her in fear.

"Cherry? What's going on out there?" a voice called out.

"Daddy, this woman saved me!" the girl, whose name is apparently "Cherry', squealed.

Elise was shocked when she saw a middle aged satyr wearing a torn up bathrobe. He looked at her with shock.

"Who are you?" Elise asked.

"Grover Underwood, Cherry's father." the satyr replied, instantly shocking Elise with words alone.

"Grover...Underwood...? Percy Jackson's protector?" Elise squeaked out. Grover's look of shock hardened as he pulled out a club made of tree wood.

"How do you know him?" he asked her.

"My name is Elise, and I'm his daughter."

"So, who are you then?" Kestrel asked the mystery man, who suddenly turned off the lantern. The woman the Atlanteans called Project-001 only heard the sounds of armor hitting the floor for a few seconds before a red energy ball formed in the man's hands. To her shock, he was covered in some sleek machinery, like some kind of cyborg ninja. His body was covered in black and silver plates made of some form of otherworldly metal. Red lights shone around his body, including his horizontal visor. There appeared to be some strange weapons attached to his arms, a holster on his belt for his red six shooter, and he was now holding a cane that looked deadlier than it looked. (imagine Genji from Overwatch, but with some Assassin's Creed touches and his armor is black and silver and his lights are red)

"I was a hero. A Hero of Olympus who fought in the Titan and Giant Wars, but I wasn't just their hero. I was their greatest hero, until my half brother rose to power and sullied my good name."

The man took off his visor to reveal the handsome face of a slightly pale man with sea green eyes ringed with blood red irises. The right side of his face was so scarred it looked like it was pushed onto a pile of burning coals.

"My name is Perseus Jackson, and I'm going to need your help to end this tyranny and save my son."