Hello, probably good morning on my end.

I was bored and came up with this in my spare time. Don't worry, Magnetic Pulse will still be getting worked on, but I realized that focusing too long on it might burn me out, so I'm going to do this one as well. I work 10 hour days 4 days a week now, and not all of it is exciting. In fact, not even half of it is. This place is dead on the graveyard shift. So you guys get my ramblings.

There might be some grammatical errors in this one because it's me putting what pops into my mind on paper, and I'm probably not gonna get it beta read until I start putting out more chapters. So I hope you enjoy what has come from my boredom.

By the way, this will be taking place after The Time Paradox and after the Heroes Of Olympus series.

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Holly looked over the acorn in her hand, her eyes moving from it to the ground. Truth be told, she had been long overdue for the ritual, but she just didn't have the time normally. She wasn't planning on doing it tonight, but after the earthquake, she needed to be at full strength to help Haven and the people.

As she started scooping up dirt, she thought over what had happened. Normally the city didn't get hit with them, not with how deep underground it was, nor with the magic surrounding the city. But even with all else failing, Foaly should have given them a heads up. She knew the centaur had equipment that should have told them months before. This one came out of nowhere, and shook Haven City to its core.

But it wasn't just that, she thought as she covered the acorn with dirt. Every city that wasn't like Atlantis, stuck under the sea, was hit. What was stranger still was that there was barely anything above ground, like the Mudmen just hadn't felt the shaking of the entire Earth under their boots.

Her thoughts were interrupted when her Helmet crackled to life. "Captain Short, get to LEP Headquarters immediately. We have a situation."

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\/\/\/

Captain Holly Short stood in front of Commander Trouble Kelp as the man paced to and fro, ranting as he explained the very situation she had been thinking about herself. She didn't blame him. He informed her that there were no casualties from the quake, but still the issue stood that Foaly had, in fact, had no warning until the ground was already shaking, which the centaur adamantly stated was completely impossible.

However, that wasn't the biggest issue. What Foaly's equipment was able to tell them was that it wasn't natural. It originated in America, and unlike normal, shifting plates, this started aboveground and seemed to target underground spaces like Haven City. But before any damage was done, it stopped as abruptly as it started. It was harsh, but luckily with how quick it was, barely a few minutes, nothing was destroyed. That was almost more terrifying, as it meant one of a few things, none of them good. The one hanging over LEP's head was a simple, but terrifying conclusion.

Someone set that earthquake off as a threat.

They couldn't rule out that idea, so Foaly immediately started doing research on the origin area. It was an area in the state of New York called Long Island. Of course Foaly couldn't help but make a remark at the name being very original before going on about how he was truly amazed that they didn't call Australia "Big Island" with how creative the Mud Men were.

Why Holly was there didn't have to do with names, however. It was what Foaly found. Or, more, what Foaly didn't find. The area where the earthquake started was a simple strawberry farm where the only electronics around in the area was a corded telephone.

"What was this place living in, the dark ages? What place doesn't have a single smartphone? What about the workers? The owner? Nobody has anything! D'Arvit! It's so annoying!" Foaly grumbled as he typed away at his computer, still trying to get through this conundrum even as the LEP recon agent and commander stood, waiting.

Holly raised her voice slightly to be heard over the cursing. "Does Satellite image tell us anything? Or the internet?"

Foaly slapped his head in amazement. "Wow, I never thought of those two obvious ideas! Of course they didn't, Holly! Those were the first things I checked! Satellite images of this place are blurry at best, nonexistent at worst! Almost like they're avoiding the place entirely! And all I found from the internet is that they are called 'Delphai Strawberry Service' and apparently sell Strawberries that are the best in New York." He paused for a moment, thinking it over. "When you go on your mission, grab me some of those strawberries, would you, Holly?"

At this point, Trouble coughed lightly into his fist before saying, "Speaking of which, we must discuss that mission." He turned to his most trusted agent, looking her up and down. "Captain Short, we will have to rely on our Recon agents a bit more than normal here. We're completely blind when it comes to this place, with all our fancy tech being completely worthless against whatever is in that area. We need to send a recon agent in, and you're the best we have. Whatever is there, we can't be sure that they know about the People yet, so keep out of sight, but if they do… Well, we need to find out as quickly as possible so we can take out this threat."

Holly nodded slowly, thinking it over. "It's in America at least…" Foaly finished for her, stating, "So it's not gonna be Artimis this time. Good thing too, I would rather not have to deal with him more than we already do."

Commander Kelp grunted. "It's not the Mud Whelp, but that might make this worse. This might mean there's another group who knows about us… But we just don't know enough to assume!" He glared at Foaly, who glared back.

Captain Short thought it over before nodding. "I'll get the info for you, sir! I won't let these Mudmen do anything to harm our home!" She glanced at Foaly, who nodded, his glare clearing away. "Your gear's on the shuttle at Chute A2. Trouble wants you leaving ASAP, so I prepared it before the brief. Good luck, Captain Short! Come back in one piece, would you? The gear you have is too expensive to lose."

Holly rolled her eyes. "Thanks for the vote of confidence. I'll make sure when I'm dying, your gear gets back on the shuttle safely."

She jogged out of the room, catching a shuttle all the way over to A2. It was a further distance than she normally had to travel when her main human issue was Artemis Fowl, but she was just thankful that he wasn't doing another hair brained scheme. It left all parties happy when they found out he was going on the straight and narrow.

That joy was compounded by the fact that it meant that she herself didn't have to deal with him plus this mysterious new threat, one that even Foaly couldn't get info on. As much as the commander glared and ribbed him, both her and Trouble knew that if he had issues, this wasn't just a normal Strawberry farm.

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Holly's wings made barely a sound as she flew above Long Island, following a blinking red dot on her helmet visor, her destination straight ahead. Her shielding was up to protect her from prying eyes as her own searched the ground below her. She flew only 30 yards above the ground, wanting to get a good look at the ground. After the main area of New York City, at least the smog and stink of trash was less thick here.

The strawberry field was quickly drawing closer, and as it did, Holly made sure to check yet again that her shield was up. She was at full power, but it didn't hurt to make sure. Missions had gone horribly awry because LEP officers forgot to shield themselves. Herself included.

She watched the dot on her HUD, and when she was nearly on top of it, she stopped.

Now, she didn't stop because she wanted to. Instead it might be better to say she was stopped as she hit what felt like a wall of jello. She pushed into it, and it bent around her, but didn't let her through, causing her to rebound off it and away from the farm. She looked down, noting that she was already above some of the strawberries, and she had to admit they looked good. But what was this type of barrier thing doing in a strawberry field? It almost felt like…

"Holly? What's going on up there? Your helmet-cam cut out for a moment." Foaly's voice buzzed in her head as she refocused her attention on the way to the barrier. "It's a magical barrier of some sort… Or at least I think it is. I don't think humans have anything like this. It's almost like someone made the air into something to keep intruders out."

The voice that came over the com in her helmet was gruffer than Foaly's as Trouble Kelp weighed in. "Can you see any weaknesses?" Foaly rebutted, stating, "She said it was air. I don't think she can see air molecules." "Shut Up Foaly or I'm cutting your department's funding. You already showed you can't use it well when you can't even sense an Earthquake with those gadgets!"

Foaly grumbled under his breath, not enjoying the threat, but instead of speaking his mind, his only response was "Yes, Sir."

Holly did her best to tune the two out as she thought over her problem. She moved forward, much slower this time, and put her hand against the barrier, giving a small push. It felt… strange. Not solid. She remembered the give it had, and an idea sprung into her head.

She flew a small distance away, turning back to glare at the barrier. "Foaly, sorry if this breaks your suit." She heard the surprised almost whinny from the scientist before he said, "Don't you dare!"

She shot forward like a shot from a Neutrino 3000, the very weapon in her hands that she prayed survived going through the barrier. She couldn't be sure whether or not what was on the other side would start attacking.

As she pushed, her whole body felt like it was squeezing through a tube of toothpaste. The barrier pressed at her from all sides, forcing a grunt from her chest as it was squeezed. But the speed she hit it at was too much for the barrier, and finally, it gave way. However, it didn't give quick enough to keep her from sprawling through the air, doing her best to right herself. And the fireball that flew by her head didn't help as she nearly got burnt to a crisp.

Fireball?

Holly looked down and found herself staring at a golden dragon who seemed to have just woken up from a nap and had its somewhat bleary eyes fixed on the one who had ruined its beauty sleep.

"Holly? Your video cut out again. What's going on?"

She didn't even register who had spoken as she stared down at the great lizard. "F-Foaly? Umm… have you been tracking any dragons?"

The centaur's voice sounded incredulous. "Dragons have been extinct for over five hundred years! What's going on, Holly?"

Holly swallowed, watching the dragon stretch, almost like a giant cat, before it seemed to start getting ready to pounce, yet again like a giant cat.

"W-well then, I get to be mauled by an extinct mythical creature, because that's a-" The dragon pounced, and only her trained reflexes kept her from the blaze that roared by her as she did her best to avoid not only the fire, but the claws and teeth. She decided to stop the quip, instead going with what her instincts told her. "FOALY THERE'S A GOLDEN DRAGON GUARDING THIS PLACE!"

"WHAT?" Two voices yelled in unison before she heard the Commander yell at her, stating, "Short, get out of there!"

She looked to the barrier, then back to the dragon. She thought over how much the barrier had slowed her and had a feeling if she tried to get back, she'd be scorched. So she did the only thing she could.

She spun around, her Neutrino 3000 pointed directly at the dragon's face as he stared at her, almost in confusion at something as small as her turning to fight something as big as him. "Sorry 'bout this."

She fired an energy blast of what would have been the highest level for the 2000, the version before. On fairies it would cause cranial damage and would take any fairy out for 8 hours, at least. Holly's fingers were crossed that it would do the same here.

The dragon flew for a few more seconds, causing Holly's heart to sink into her stomach, but slowly the dragon dipped down, falling into a heap on the ground, stunned.

She breathed a sigh of relief that was cut off by the dragon almost immediately starting to stir. "I've stunned it, sir, but it doesn't look like it's out just yet."

Foaly sounded relieved. "Thank goodness you're alright. Now, get out of there, Holly! We have enough to know these guys are dangerous. We can send in a retrieval team for the dragon soon."

Holly's eyes moved from the dragon to what should have been further into the strawberry field, but to her surprise, the field stopped shorter than what she had seen before. The fields were still large, but something new had appeared where a good amount used to be. To her, it seemed to be some sort of… summer camp?

"Foaly, the barrier isn't just physical, I think it's visual. I'm seeing a camp here. Like, a summer camp. I think I'm-" Her statement, whatever it might be, was cut short by a thunderclap that flung her from the air, frying the electronics in her helmet and wings as she was flung to the ground by the lightning that had come out of nowhere. Darkness came the moment she hit the ground.

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Foaly was already in a bad mood after finding out that whoever they were dealing with was using one of the last, if not the last dragon in existence as a guard dog. But that annoyance was increased 10 fold with the boom.

Holly was cut off mid sentence by that crack, and when it came, everything went dead. The camera was already dead, but they lost communication with her as well as vitals, so they couldn't even tell if she was alive.

Commander Trouble Kelp was yelling at him the instant everything went offline. "Get her back up, Foaly! I don't want another Artemis Incident!" Foaly already knew how bad that would be, but he wasn't a miracle worker. Whatever happened completely destroyed the suit's functionality as anything but clothing and light protection.

"I can't, sir."

Kelp growled before spinning on his heels, heading towards the entrance. "I'm getting the LEPretrieval unit. Get ready in case we need a time stop."

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"You didn't have to blast her out of the sky like that!"

Those kind but heated words came from a femanine voice, one that drew Holly from the depths of unconsciousness. Her body ached, but even that seemed to be disappearing due to her natural healing.

Slowly her eyes fluttered open as her head slowly tilted towards the voice. Before her was a mudman and a mudwoman, both a bit older than Artemis, and they seemed to be discussing her. The woman seemed rather beautiful, but it was more muted as both her and the mudman wore orange tee shirts and shorts. She had a dagger on her hip that was colored a strange coppery hue. And as for the mud man, he wasn't as tall as Butler, but was still almost double her height, and had the muscles to boot. His hair was blond and his face had a near perfection to it, almost like she was looking at one specifically sculpted to be as handsome as possible. He didn't have any sort of weapon on him

The mudman crossed his arms, stating, "She took Peleus out. I didn't know if she was going to finish the job, so I acted. At least I made sure that I didn't kill her, just knock her out."

It took a few moments for the words to register, and another few for her to get the right amount of righteous indignation for them accusing her of trying to murder a creature like that. But before she could speak up, she heard a voice behind her, on the other side of the cot, say sharply, "She's awake. Let's continue this conversation later."

The two turned their heads to look at Holly as Holly turned to look at the speaker, seeing another boy and girl, both looking around the age of a young adult. The one who noted her condition was a blonde girl with piercing gray eyes, ones that seemed to search for her every secret. Both her and the boy also wore orange shirts, with her wearing shorts and him wearing jeans. She could make out the words "Camp Half-Blood" on their tee-shirts, and had to wonder what the name meant. But either way, the girl in front of her was just as beautiful as the other girl, in a more dangerous way. The type of way that made her feel like getting on this girl's bad side meant that the girl would personally bury her. And as for the man next to her, he was much more laid back. With disheavaled black hair and a playful smirk as he looked at her, she could automatically pin him down as a troublemaker, the type of person that, if he was in LEP, would be constantly monitored by the commander to make sure he didn't try to do anything stupid to jeapordize the mission. But on the other hand, it was almost like she could feel the power radiating off him. Pure and raw. And… magical. But that didn't make sense, the only human who could use Magic was Artemis, and even then he didn't exactly set off alarm bells like this guy did. Just like the other pair, the only one that had a weapon was the girl, but she had a strange feeling that the guy didn't need one to beat her to a pulp, just like Butler.

As she laid there looking at them as they examined her, she realized all of them had that sort of magic feel, but in different ways, and to different levels. Suddenly she felt like she really didn't want to be there.

The girl who had spoken before, the one with the gray eyes that seemed to search for every detail about her, spoke first. "What's your name?" Her voice wasn't as sharp as she would have thought after talking to her allies. Holly decided a name wouldn't cause any issues and supplied it. "I'm Holly. Holly Short."

The girl nodded. "Alright, Holly. Mind telling me why you shot our Peleus? I'm assuming you know who I'm talking about. Our dragon?"

Holly frowned. "It attacked me so I had to protect myself! I did my best to make sure there wouldn't be any permanent damage. I don't like harming animals, but it just came out mouth blazing."

The boy next to her, the one with the black hair, reached up and scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "Yeah, sorry about that. Things have been kind of turbulent here, so I guess he was a bit jumpy. But…" He leaned forward, raising an eyebrow at her, "Still, he reacted because you forced your way through the barrier. That, plus your height, pointy ears, and gear kind of mean you weren't here on normalCare to explain?"

She thought over that, but that was a bit more classified than just her name. "I'm… not sure if I can say." Her body was finally back at full power, allowing her to hop out of bed onto the floor. "Can I have my gear back? And it's pretty rude to ask for someone's name and not give your own." She would have mesmered, but she had seen the knives, and if she mesmered one pair, the other would probably be on her too quick for her to give any orders. So for the time being, simple requests would be the best option. Until she was alone, at least.

The four looked at each other for a few moments before, this time, the brown haired girl who spoke when she originally woke said, "Umm, we might want to take you to Chiron before we allow that. Sorry if we don't fully trust you, but just like Percy said, it's… not been a good time for us. Oh, and I'm Piper. This guy," She pointed a thumb at the tall blond boy, "is Jason. Those two" she tilted her head finally to the two sitting on the bed next to her, "are Percy and Annabeth."

Not been a good time for them?

Holly pondered the meaning of that as the two she now knew as Piper and Jason bowed out of the tent. "You know, that healing of yours is pretty impressive." Percy slowly stood, looking down at the girl. "For most demigods, even with ambrosia, would have probably been down for a bit longer than a few hours after being blasted out of the sky by lightning and crashing onto a dirt floor thirty yards below. Hades, when we got you to Will he said you didn't even have any broken bones!"

Holly stared at him for a few minutes, unable to comprehend what was just said. She wondered if her Gift of Tongues wasn't working correctly, as a few of those words didn't make sense. Demigod? Ambrosia? Even Hades was weird.

She didn't voice the questions, instead just saying a simple, "Thanks." Percy and Annabeth hopped off the cot and began heading towards the door, calling over her shoulder, saying, "Let's meet Chiron halfway. Come on." When Holly didn't budge, Percy gave her a small bit of encouragement, saying, "Don't worry, by the way. Chiron won't do you any harm if you aren't trying to attack the camp. It seemed like an honest mistake, even if you're a bit sketchy with your reasons for coming." He gave her a good hearted wink before tossing an arm around Annabeth, who gave him a small half smile that seemed to turn her face from the calculating one she showed Holly to an adoring friend. Possibly more than that.

Holly stood there for a few more minutes, thinking over what had happened. There were things that just didn't fit. She had her shield up, and she had been full of power, so how did the dragon see her? It wasn't just responding to a disturbance, he had seen through her shield. Then there was the magic inside of the children. They weren't of the People, but they obviously had power. Then there was the final fact that they didn't seem surprised at her appearance. There was curiosity, but they didn't put her under a microscope like normal.

What was this place?

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As she stepped out, the first thing she saw was the sunlight. Great, so no retrieval team until night fell again.

The next thing she saw was that this wasn't a normal camp. Each of the buildings that she had only seen at a distance were close enough to make out each and every one, and they were truly a sight to behold. Some were more… terrifying than awe inspiring. Her least favorite one had to be the one that had barbed wire covering the top and a dead pig's head above the door, but her eyes were soon drawn away from that to a beautiful cabin covered in flowers, grass, and even with a tree growing out of the top. She could almost feel the happiness from the plants, as if just being there was joyful to nature. She wouldn't mind checking out that building sometime.

However, her thoughts of the cabins were interrupted by the final thing she noticed. A centaur. Here. Just wandering around as if he belonged.

However this wasn't an ordinary centaur. He stood tall, his eyes full of wisdom and care for those around him. Unlike most centaurs, who tended to be more solitary, he seemed to thrive in the presence of these children and young adults. His hair was long and he had a beard, but both were well kept and added charm to him. His upper body had a jacket on, with a sweater vest under that, and to finish the picture, a white shirt and tie that barely poked out above. Overall, he was a near opposite of Foaly.

Her eyes went down to his hands, noting that his did not have any fur poking out. In fact, it seemed that the only fur on him was on his back half, which was a wonderful white stallion. Overall, he reminded her of those old stories of Centaurs being noble members of the people.

As he talked with Percy and Annabeth, his eyebrows raised as he glanced at Holly, who shrunk back slightly. Even if he was probably the most handsome centaur she had seen, which wasn't too difficult to be, he still must be a traitor to the people. She had never seen nor heard of this place, and he seemed to be the leader. Had he been teaching people their secrets?

"Holly Short, I presume? My name is Chiron. I apologize for the rough treatment, but we finished a war and the members of my camp are rather high strung." He paused, looking her over before saying, "I think I've seen a member of your race before, almost a thousand years ago. They weren't very kind to me for some reason, but I do hope you'll be more cordial."

She looked at him in utter confusion. He didn't know what she was? What kind of malarkey was that?!

She finally found her tongue, and instead of the scathing remarks that she wanted to throw at him, she decided that she should ask, "Am I a prisoner here, Chiron?" She had a feeling that, no matter how nice they were, they weren't just going to let her go.

He raised a single eyebrow. "Is there a reason you should be, Miss Short? I don't think there is, but if you really think that I might have to reconsider…"

She quickly waved her arms. "N-no! No reason!" She was surprised at the response, but also worried about if he tried to look deeper into her… or at least she did until she saw the glint of humor in his eyes. Her face grew red from embarrassment and annoyance. Not only did he betray them, but he made jokes at her expense as well?

He spread his arms. "You're free to go if you need to, though your gear might not be fully in one piece. The Hephestus cabin pounced on it the moment it came off." He pointed to one of the cabins, and when she looked she felt a bit of pain in her chest. On the bright side it wasn't the one with the pig head. On the less than bright side it looked like a blacksmith's shop on the inside. If someone tried to use blacksmith's tools on her gear, she had a feeling it wouldn't be all that useful for her trek home.

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To her utter surprise, her gear wasn't completely destroyed. Even more to her surprise, it seems that it was upgraded somewhat.

She found her helmet and wings surrounded by children ages 8 to 18, all of them working on different parts. Much to her relief they weren't using hammers and anvils to work on them, but instead they were using more modern gear to get up close and personal with their work.

She went up and tapped an older lady on the shoulder, "Could I have my gear back?"

The lady gave Holly barely a glance. "Ten minutes."

Holly glared at her. "Ten minutes? Might I ask why?" She was slowly becoming more and more done with this place after the traitor centaur, the pig head taunting her on one of the cabins, a near extinct species being used as a guard dog, this place being a possible threat to her home city and all the people as a whole, and now these people not even giving her own gear back?

The lady, a darker skinned and well muscled individual, gave her a small glare. "Do you want your gear put back together or do you want us to give it back to you in pieces like it is now?"

That shut Holly up, making her feel slightly foolish. "One piece, please." Her voice was much less aggressive as she walked over to a stool and sat down, looking at a little machine that walked around, heating up and throwing off popcorn with a catapult on its back, which seemed to always get caught in the mouth of one of the many different cabin members.

Ten minutes on the dot, she received her gear. When she put it on, it seemed… different, but she wasn't sure how.

The 8 year old, Harley, seemed crestfallen, since the others said when they finished it, he would get to try them out, but no dice. Holly patted him on the head, kind of annoyed that the very buff kid was still 2 heads taller than her. "If I come back, I'll let you use them, alright?"

He nodded before giving her a wave goodbye. She walked out the door, seeing the centaur watching her with interest. With a huff, she decided to ignore him, instead starting to head to the edge of the camp. As she drew near she gave the dragon a wide berth, but it didn't seem to care about her. Just as she was about to enter the strawberry field, she heard a bleating almost like a goat, mixed with a "Hey, wait!"

When she turned, she was faced with something similar to a centaur, but not exactly. It was a man with goat legs trotting after her. When he finally caught up, he was breathing harder than normal, but not by much. "Just wanted to say, if you come into camp, please for the love of god just walk. The flying and high speeds make Peleus nervous."

She looked him up and down, not sure what she was seeing, before giving a simple, "Thank you for the warning." She spun around once more, walking off property, grabbing a basket of strawberries from a stand near the front of the field as she did so. They felt so full of life, like the plants at that cabin, that she couldn't help but comply with the favor Foaly asked of her. With that, she put her shield up and took off. The wings somehow felt even better than before, as if whatever those weird kids did made them faster and more maneuverable. It felt perfect. But before she got lost in flight, she reminded herself of her reason for being there. Her comm was still functional, so she turned it on.

"Foaly, you aren't going to believe this."

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Thanks for reading. Sorry if it's a bit more jumbled and unfocused, but yet again it was basically ramblings that came into my head. I wrote this out in a single sitting and felt like I would enjoy alternating a bit between this and my superhero one so I don't get tired of either one.

If you want to see more, let me know! I'm still going to write more, but I enjoy others letting me know they enjoy my work. It gives me the warm and fuzzies.

Anyways, thank you again! Until next time.