A/N: I do not own the Percy Jackson series Kane Chronicles or The Stand Cut or Uncut version. I have however posted 'The Tales of...' series. This story takes place after The Tales of Magicians and Demigods: The Crown of Ptolemy but before the events of Trials of Apollo. Before reading this I suggest to read if you haven't yet:
The Tales of the Son of Poseidon: The Early Adventures
The Tales of the Son of Poseidon: The Lightning Thief
The Tales of the Son of Poseidon: The Sea of Monsters
The Tales of the Son of Poseidon: The Titan's Curse
The Tales of the Son of Poseidon: The Magical Labyrinth
The Tales of the Son of Poseidon: The Stolen Chariot
The Tales of the Son of Poseidon: The Sword of Hades
The Tales of the Son of Poseidon: The Bronze Dragon
The Tales of the Son of Poseidon: The Last Olympian
The Tales of the Son of Poseidon: The Staff of Hermes
The Tales of the Heroes of Olympus: The Lost Hero
The Tales of the Heroes of Olympus: The Quest for Buford
The Tales of the Heroes of Olympus: The Son of Neptune
The Tales of the Heroes of Olympus: The Mark of Athena
The Tales of the Heroes of Olympus: The House of Hades
The Tales of the Heroes of Olympus: The Blood of Olympus
The Tales of Magicians and Demigods: The Son of Sobek
The Tales of Magicians and Demigods: The Staff of Serapis
The Tales of Magicians and Demigods: The Crown of Ptolemy
Also I'm going to let this out. On rough decisions based on what I know from The Stand, any mystical creatures Monsters, and automatons that are usually associated which characters from The Tales of and/or Percy Jackson won't be in this story
Also there's no character list for the stand, but if I had too pick two from the book it be Stu Redman and Fran Goldsmith as a pairing, and if I was allowed to add a fifth character to show, it would be of course Mother Abigail.
For the list of pairings which would be spoiler alert for those showing up later:
Percy Jackson/Annabeth Chase
Leo Valdez/Calypso
Jason Grace/Piper McLean
Frank Zhang/Hazel Levesque
Stu Redman/Fran Goldsmith
Larry Underwood (no relations to Grover obviously)/Lucy Swan
Other Important Characters
Mother Abigail
Nick Andros
Tom Collins
Glen
Ralph
Trashcan Man
Susan Stern
a few more demigods as extra characters to help out.
Antagonist but still important
Randal Flagg
Harold Lauder
Nadine Cross
Lloyd
And of course the two main forces that are mention but more of Lead Supporting Roles without actually making a character appearance: God and Devil
Also if you see '-' after a letter and there's a space before the next word, that me censoring a curse word.
Now, since at this point the Heroes of Olympus were introduced and paired up with key characters of the "Stand" when Captain Trips hit (at least those that aren't among the antagonist), I decided to include chapters more focus on chapters with the main characters of the "Stand" without the demigods. The reason being is that I would have to anyways with Lloyd and Flagg since they an important antagonist character. So if those chapters are too much like the original, apologize in advance.
Lastly (for now), I am aware of the 2020-2021 version of the mini-series of the Stand and I did try to watch the first part, but frankly I couldn't even finish watching the first part and didn't dare to watch the rest of it nor do I planned to. I don't like it. I don't like many of the changes they made since the 90s adaptation. But there are a few changes in the 2020-2021 adaptations that actually involved info from the books the Stand. May I remind you this crossover involved the UNCUT VERSION of the books, so if you see parts that seem to come from 2020-2021 adaptation, it's because those parts/info actually came from the book itself
Stu Finally Cooperates with the CDC
Denninger had been at wits end trying to figure out a way to get Stu Redman to agree with test. He finally turned to two healthy people from Arnette that might help them: Percy and Annabeth. Of the remaining survivors from Arnette, they been most cooperative since the rooming experiment started—even though they still cannot poke Percy with needles without breaking them, along with Eva Hodges. Plus, from their study Denninger came to learn that both Percy and Annabeth were smart and can read people, so he hopes they might have something to offer.
"So, you want us to give you advice on how to handle Stu," Percy asked.
"Yes. Besides you two and the little girl, he is the only one we know of still immune," Denninger said. "We need to find out the key to your immunity to see if we can use it to cure others. It doesn't help that you, Percy Jackson, seem to break every needle we try to poke you with."
"Hey, I apologized like a thousand times already for that," Percy responded.
"Just tell him the truth," Annabeth said. "From what you're saying that's all-what Stu wants."
"But we can't tell him everything! I'm risking a lot just telling you two this."
"It doesn't have to be the whole story, just enough to gain Stu's trust," Percy said. "Stop treating him as a patient or a drafted soldier. He's an innocent civilian just trying to find out what is going on and what happened to the friends he grew up and worked with."
"Maybe include him in the social experiment with us once in a while," Annabeth offered. "Not as roommates but to see how fast the virus could spread in a short time if one of us is infected."
"We have considered doing that before Mr. Redman started his strike," Denninger said.
"Offer it as part of his cooperation," Percy recommended. "We didn't know Stu very long, but in the time, we been in Arnette that he knows to trust us, so he might cooperate in this experiment just to be around familiar faces he trusts."
"I'll see what I can do." Denninger responded.
Although it was difficult to arrange it, Denninger and his co-worker Dr. Dick Dietz agreed Percy's and Annabeth's advice was the best approach, but that it should be Dietz that tell Stu as much as they can of what Stu wants to know. Dietz hope that maybe seeing a new face will help ease Stu into listening.
…
The red light went on. The pump hissed. The door opened. The man who stepped through was not wearing one of the white all-over suits, but a small shiny nose-filter that looked a little bit like a two-pronged silver fork, the kind the hostess leaves on the canape table to get the olives out of the bottle.
"Hi, Mr. Redman," he said, strolling across the room. He stuck out his hand, clad in a thin transparent rubber gloves, and Stu, surprised into the defensive, shook it. "I'm Dick Deitz. Denninger said you wouldn't play ball anymore unless somebody told you what the score was."
Stu nodded.
"Good." Deitz sat on the edge of the bed. He was a small brown man and sitting there with his elbows cocked just above his knees, he looked like a gnome in a Disney picture. "So, what do you want to know?"
"First I guess I want to know why you're not wearing one of those space-suits."
"Because Geraldo there says you're not catching." Deitz pointed to a guinea pig behind the double-paned window. The guinea pig was in a cage, and standing behind the cage was Denninger himself, his face expressionless.
"Geraldo, huh?"
"Yes, since you been quite uncooperative, we decided to test your air with Geraldo there. He been breathing your air for the last three days, via convector. This disease that your friends have passes easily from humans to guinea pigs and vice versa. If you were catching, we figured Geraldo would be dead by now."
"But you're not taking any chances," Stu said dryly, and cocked a thumb at the nose-filter.
"That," Deitz said with a cynical smile, "is not in my contract."
"What have I got?"
Smoothly, as if rehearsed, Deitz said, "Black hair, blue eyes, one h- of a suntan…" He looked closely at Stu. "Not funny, huh?"
Stu said nothing.
"Want to hit me?"
"I don't believe it would do any good."
Deitz sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose as if the plugs going up the nostrils hurt. "Listen," he said. "When things look serious, I do jokes. Some people smoke or chew gum. It is the way I keep my s- together, that is all. I do not doubt there are lots of people who have better ways. As to what sort of disease you have got, well, so far as Denninger and his colleagues have been able to ascertain, you don't have any at all."
Stu nodded impassively. Yet somehow, he had an idea this little gnome of a man had seen past his poker face to his sudden relief.
"What have the others got?"
"I'm sorry, that's classified."
"How did that fellow Campion get it?"
"That's classified, too."
"My guess is that he was in the army. And there was an accident someplace. Like what happened to those sheep in Utah thirty years ago, only a lot worse."
"Mr. Redman, I could go to jail just for telling you you were hot or cold."
Stu rubbed a hand thoughtfully over his new scrub beard.
"Look, I can tell you is we talked to your friends Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson—"
"They're alive?" Stu asked.
"Yes. Like you they are not catching. We talked to them—I'm sure you aware of this but they're pretty wise for their age, especially Annabeth Chase—they suggest we should at least tell you as much of the truth we are allowed," Deitz explained.
"So, I can serve my country better," Stu said dryly.
"No, that's strictly Denninger's thing," Deitz said. "In the scheme of things both Denninger and I are little men, but Denninger is even littler than I am. He is a servomotor, nothing more. There is more pragmatic reason for you to be glad. You are classified too, as is Ms. Chase and Mrs. Jackson. The three of you disappeared from the face of the earth. If you three knew enough, the big guys might decide that the safest thing would be for either if not all of you to disappear forever."
Stu said nothing. He was stunned.
"But I didn't come here to threaten you. We have a proposition."
"What kind?" Stu asked.
"As I told you before, Mr. Jackson and Ms. Chase are part of the same experiment as you are with Geraldo, but whereas they been cooperative we have let them share a room together to breath each other's air to see if the virus can pass between the two of them. In fact, they were currently together when we came to talk to them about you. If you cooperate with us, we can arrange for you to visit them with them every now and then and see how the virus can spread through brief time of shared air. You still have to take part in other experiments just as they do."
Stu had to admit, that sounded like a good offer. But he still wants answers.
"What about the other people? Annabeth and Percy weren't the only ones I came here with."
Deitz brought a paper out of an inside pocket. "Victor Palfrey, deceased. Norman Bruett, Robert Bruett, deceased. Thomas Wannamaker, deceased. Ralph Hodges, Bert Hodges, Cheryl Hodges, deceased. Christian Ortega, deceased. Anthony Leominster, deceased."
The names reeled in Stu's head. Chris the bartender. He had always kept a sawed-off, lead-loaded Louisville Slugger under the bar, and the trucker who thought Chris was just kidding about using it was apt to get a big surprise. Tony Leominster, who drove that big International with the Cobra CB under the dash. Sometimes hung around Hap's station but had not been there the night Campion took out the pumps. Vic Palfrey… C-, he had known Vic his whole life. How could Vic be dead? But the thing that hit him the hardest was the Hodges family.
"All of them?" he heard himself ask. "Ralph's whole family?"
Deitz turned the paper over. "No, there's a little girl. Eva. Four years old. She's alive."
"Well, how is she?"
"I'm sorry, that's classified."
Rage struck him with all the unexpectedness of a sweet surprise. He was up, and then he had hold of Deitz's lapels, and he was shaking him back and forth. How can Eva be classified and yet Percy and Annabeth are not? From the corner of his eye, he saw startled movement behind the double-paned glass. Dimply, muffled by distance and sound-proofed walls, he heard a hooter go off.
"What did you people do?" he shouted. "What did you do? What in C-'s name did you do?"
"Mr. Redman—"
"Huh? What the f- did you people do?"
The door hissed open. Three large men in olive-drab uniforms stepped in. They were all wearing those nose filters.
Deitz looked over at them and snapped. "Get the h- out of here!"
The three men looked uncertain.
"Our orders—"
"Get out of here and that's an order!"
They retreated. Deitz sat calmly on the bed. His lapels were rumpled, and his hair had tumbled over his forehead. That was all. He was looking at Stu calmly, even compassionately. For a wild moment Stu considered ripping his nose-filter out, and then he remembered Geraldo, what a stupid name for a guinea pig. Dull despair struck him like cold water. He sat down.
"C- in a sidecar," he muttered.
"Listen to me, I only told you about Ms. Chase and Mr. Jackson because we want you to be part of their experiment, otherwise they would have been classified too. They wouldn't even know your condition either, but you pushed us into a corner with your un-cooperation," Deitz said. "As for who is responsible for this mess, I'm not the one. Neither is Denninger, or the nurse who come in to take your blood pressure. If there was a responsible party it was Campion, but you cannot lay it all on him. He ran, but under the circumstances, you or I might have run, too. It was a technical slipup that allowed him to run. The situation exists. We are trying to cope with it, all of us. But that doesn't make us responsible."
"Then who is?"
"Nobody," Deitz said, and smiled. "On this one the responsibility spreads in so many directions that it's invisible. It was an accident. It could have happened in any number of other ways."
"Some accident," Stu said, his voice nearly a whisper. "What about the others? Hap and Hank Carmichael and Lila Bruett? Their boy Luke? Monty Sullivan—"
"Classified," Deitz said. "Going to shake me some more? If it will make you feel better, shake away."
Stu said nothing, but the way he was looking at Deitz made Deitz suddenly look down and begin to fiddle with the creases of his pants.
"They're alive," he said, "and you may see them in time. Right now, we want to try the social experiment with those who aren't catching—which besides Ms. Chase and Mr. Jackson is classified."
Stu got the feeling those two might be the only ones that was going to be part of the experiment unless he cooperates and even then, it will only be him.
"What about Arnette?"
"Quarantined."
"Who's dead there?"
"Nobody."
"You're lying."
"Sorry you think so."
"When do I get out of here?"
"I don't know."
"Classified?" Stu asked bitterly.
"No, just unknown. Along with Ms. Chase and Mr. Jackson, you do not seem to have this disease. We want to know why you three do not have it. Then we're home free."
"Can I get a shave? I itch."
Deitz smiled. "If you'll allow Denninger to start running his test again, I'll get an orderly in to shave you right now while I arrange for you to take part in the social experiment."
"I can handle it. I've been doing it since I was fifteen."
Deitz shook his head firmly. "I think not."
Stu smiled dryly at him. "Afraid I might cut my own throat?"
"Let's just say—"
Stu interrupted him with a series of harsh, dry coughs. He bent over with the force of them.
The effect on Deitz was galvanic. He was up off the bed like a shot and across to the airlock with his feet seeming not to touch the floor at all. Then he was fumbling in his pocket for the square key and ramming it into the slot.
"Don't bother," Stu said mildly. "I was faking."
Deitz turned to him slowly. Now his face had changed. His lips were thinned with anger, his eyes were staring. "You were what?"
"Faking," Stu said. His smile broadened.
Deitz took two uncertain steps toward him. His fists closed, open, then closed again. "But why? Why would you want to do something like that?"
"Sorry," Stu said, smiling. "That's classified."
"You s- son of a b-," Deitz said with soft wonder.
"Go on. Go on out and tell them they can do their test and I'll take part of the social experiment."
…
That night Percy Jackson had what he thought was the strangest dream vision yet.
Being a demigod Percy was used to strange vivid dreams. Most were visions of past or present. But this was the strangest of all.
He was standing on a country road, at the precise place where the black hilltop gave up to bone-white dirt. A blazing summer sun shone down. On both sides of the road there was green corn, and it stretched away endlessly. There was a sign, but it was dusty to the point if Percy were not dyslexic, he still could not read it. There was the sound of crows, harsh and far away. Closer by, someone was playing an acoustic guitar, fingerpicking it. Ten years of campfire songs with Apollo Cabin at Camp Half-Blood, Percy recognized it, but he did not recognize the tune being played.
Am I in Kansas? Percy thought.
Percy been in Kansas before, searching for Bacchus with Piper and Jason to try and negotiate him into helping them fight the giants. But something told Percy he was not in Kansas, but somewhere in the western states.
Then the music stopped. A cloud came over the sun and Percy had a sense of danger. Something was in the corn watching him.
Karpos! Percy's first instinct thought. He met and fought Karpos—also known as grain spirits—and know they can be rather nasty.
But whatever was in the corn, it was not karpos. It was something dark, and as Percy stared at the corn, he saw two burning red eyes far back in the shadows, far back in the corn, too high up to be some karpos as they are normally the size of human toddlers.
The eyes filled Percy with paralyze, hopeless horror.
"Hades! Is that you?" Percy shouted, hoping it was indeed his uncle—lord of the dead. Hades had powers to hide in the shadows and even travel it. Hades' demigod son Nico di Angelo could do the same and often can visit others in their dreams, but Nico cannot paralyze fear into people like his dad. "What are you doing here? Where's Nico? Is he in the same world as Annabeth and me?"
The eyes did not answer but stared menacingly at him which would not really surprise Percy if it were Hades or one of his minions. But still, Percy cannot help but shake this feeling it was not Hades either, but something evil.
The dream was fading, and he awoke in his bed. Percy saw movement and look to see Annabeth sitting up.
"You had a dream vision too?" Percy asked.
"Yeah, a strange one." Annabeth said. "Cornfield, guitar music—"
"Glowing red eyes?" Percy asked causing Annabeth's eyes to widened. "I had the same dream."
Little did they know, Stu just woke up from the same dream they experience as well. But he was more clue less than them on what it mean.
A/N: And those red eyes, ladies and gentlemen, is the first technically the first appearance of Randall Flagg. Guitar playing on other hand is Mother Abigail but she won't officially appear until later.
It's not that uncommon in the books or miniseries of the Stand for characters to have the same dream visions. That's how Mother Abigail and Randall Flagg call on their followers. But unlike the Stand Characters, demigods are use to dream visions, so they can tell its not a figment of mortal immagination of the subconscious as many the Stand characters first mistaken it as.