AN: Yo yo yo wassup guys! First of all, I would like to apologize for my absence. I know that there are some of you that have been waiting on the cliffhanger for a hot minute.
But I'm here now! So like let's like forget about all that time that I didn't update this story. And let's focus on the fact that there will finally be a conclusion to the Luke problem.
Without further ado…
All I saw was red.
I can't say that I remember processing my decision to charge the large group, nor do I even remember counting how many of them there were. I was just so angry that I kinda blacked out from all the rage in my bloodstream.
I was raised on the streets of New York, and let me emphasize, on the streets. Being a boxer in that environment, you gotta be tough. I was raised to think that way. Big Henry always said that I had a soft spot for the small and weak. Beating up muggers in alleyways and giving the victim back whatever was taken. It made me feel good, like I was Batman.
So you can imagine my thoughts when I heard that this Luke character was running the camp like a fucking prison, doing whatever he wanted to whomever he wanted. Even so, my new sister of perhaps 14 hours now, felt insecure because of something he tried to do.
Just like Clarisse, Macy was my new sister. A sister that I had been lacking for 16 years, that I would now protect fiercely. That protection runs from the past and present, and undoubtedly the future.
All of that just to say… that I don't remember the whole thing. I regained consciousness in an odd position, if an odd position meant being impaled in the leg by the man himself, Luke. However, this did not slow me down as I felt my body move by itself and grip down on the blade with both hands. Ripping out the offensive tool as I kept my grip while I stepped towards Luke. Raising my good leg I kicked his hands that were holding the sword, effectively disarming him.
All the while this was happening, there were various clanging sounds around me. My armor vibrates from what I can only guess is other campers attempting to slice through my armor and defend their leader. But they felt like mosquitoes really.
"Wait, hold on a second!" He pleaded with me as I shot towards him, wielding his sword like a baseball bat. Swinging for the fences on his face I hit him square in the cheek with the hilt of the blade, the result of such an attack left him unconscious and with fewer teeth.
Home run!
I stepped backwards to maybe confront some of these offenders, only for my foot to unintentionally kick against someone who was laying on the ground.
"Oof!" The prone figure exuded. I glanced down to find a dusty looking Percy who was looking very put out by all of this. I suddenly remember the reason that this whole altercation happened in the first place.
I hauled him up by his armor and escorted him outside the group sword fight, seeing all my brothers and sisters fight Luke's goons with practiced ease. My armor was pelted with various stabs and attacks while I made my way out.
Finally we broke through the mass of people, stumbling on the ground as Percy and I fell on the sandy ground outside the altercation.
"Form up!" I hear a distinct female voice yell above the noise of the battle. Suddenly Macy, Clarisse, Ellis, and Mark stood in front of me facing the enemy group poised for a defense. All of them breathing hard like they just ran a marathon. We stayed like this for a minute, both sides unyielding.
"Guys this ain't worth it! Like, let's retreat!" Said a voice in the crowd. As if waiting for those words the group suddenly disembarked in the direction of the infirmary.
My siblings continued to be at the ready until the last goon stumbled out of the arena. When he exited, Macy collapsed in a heap on the ground while the rest of them took a seat on the sand of the arena. Percy and I sat up on the ground.
"Well I don't know about you guys but I could go for a shower and a nap." Said Mark sarcastically. But in reality, a shower and a nap sounded really good.
My hands went up to the nipples on the breastplate and circled them, causing the armor to convert to its previous bracelet form. I felt a rush of cold on my skin as it was exposed to air.
I felt Percy get dragged away from us as he protested profusely. I turned to see Annabeth hauling him up by his armor, a grin adorning her face.
"I thought you said you were gonna kill him." She teased me.
"I did?" I questioned her. I guess I kinda forgot about that in the excitement of everything.
"Shut up Annie! I've about had it up to here with your smart ass remarks!" Clarisse responded for me, raising her arm above her head with her hand cocked to the side.
"Henry managed to take out Luke, LARRY, with no weapon!" Annabeth said Larry as if it was something to be emphasized. Just then Macy sat up and pointed a finger at Annabeth.
"You do not, under any circumstances, call her Larry." Macy said so seriously to Annabeth. She then dug around in her pocket and pulled out some ambrosia, swiftly passing it to me. I chewed that shit up and swallowed like a champ, although I wish I didn't. Because I got a brief taste of juicy steak in my rush to chew and swallow the square.
What happened next was just like magic, the gaping hole in my leg sealed itself up, leaving my leg looking better than ever. I also felt a whole bunch of small cuts all over my body, that I didn't know were there, close up.
Annabeth nervously laughed as she realized that the entire Ares cabin was staring daggers at her. I guess Clarisse was only Larry to the Ares cabin, which made me feel like I was in an exclusive club.
The Larry club.
The tension died down when Annabeth ran out of the arena with Percy in tow. Leaving the rest of us to slowly get our bearings.
After we all caught our breath, we made our way out of the arena to the Ares cabin. Cashing in on the shower that Mark had suggested, but only Ellis and Mark took a nap.
I was not that tired so I loitered around the front of our cabin like a menace, giving the stink eye to anyone that looked at me. Leaned up against the wall with one foot on the wall and the other taking all my weight. I did that for about an hour until Clarisse and Macy came out.
"You think?" Clarisse asked Macy. Clearly engulfed in their conversation.
"Yeah, I think if you practiced dual wielding swords then maybe you could become more effective with the spear." Macy responded confidently. That conversation couldn't be more confusing to someone like me, who used his fists to fight.
The girls walked down the steps to where I was loitering like a boss might I add.
"Sup bro, we were just talking about girl stuff. Whatcha been up to?" Macy said nonchalantly as she tilted her head back and then down in the universal sign of 'sup'.
"Talking about dual wielding swords to get better at the spear is girl stuff?" I questioned them with a deadpan look on my face.
"Shit man, this ain't the Aphrodite cabin. Get real dude, our dad is the god of war. Talking about weapons and killing people is Ares girl shit, not that GIRLY shit you hear someone like Annie spit on the daily." Clarisse ranted. I couldn't help but find that explanation valid so I accepted it.
"The way you fought in the arena was… hmm…. How do I say this without hurting your feelings…" Macy began.
"You kind of just barreled into them with your huge body and punched everyone in the face. Except when you took out Luke, that was awesome bro." Clarisse continued.
"What we're trying to say is that you need a sword, you can't rely solely on Charlie's armor in battle." Macy finished her thought.
Both were staring at me with concern.
"Fine, I'll learn to use a sword, no biggie." I said, responding to their analysis.
Both kind of deflated like they were nervous to bring it up.
"Well you came to the right girls to solve that problem of yours." Macy said with a huge grin. Clarisse followed suit as she too sported a shit eating grin.
"First of all you guys came to me abou-" I started.
"Nonsense Henry, you were just begging us to get you a sword." Clarisse interrupted.
"I wasn't begging for shit, LARRY." I clapped back with her pet name. She didn't seem to mind actually.
"You can't fight a spear user like Clarisse with these brass knuckles anyway." Macy continued. As she dug my knuckles out of her pocket, putting them on and punching the air with admittedly good form.
"I totally could beat Clarisse with my bare hands." I said challengingly… wait a minute.
"How do you keep stealing my shit! Macy I swear-" I began angrily.
"Yeah, I think I'll be watching over these since they keep wandering off into my possession." Macy interrupted again as she took my knucks off and put them in her back pocket where they came from.
I was about to forcefully reclaim them until Clarisse put herself in between us. Macy stuck out her tongue at me as if to say 'haha mom said no'.
"So, you think that me, with my spear, would lose to you with no weapon?" she asked snarkily.
"Well…. When you say it like that, probably not." I admitted to her.
"Then it's settled, we are going to the armory to get you another weapon for capture the flag tonight." she stated as if it was a fact.
From there we headed over to the armory that was beside the forge, the girls in front of me.
Oh the Forge, what a magical place. A place where the clanging of hammers meets a beauty like Carmen. I wonder if she is still there, her and her beautiful upside down house face.
"It's going to be so good Larry, what do you think his weapon would be?" Macy question Clarisse like I wasn't there.
"Well if luck would have it, he'll be a spearman or a swordsman, that's my area of expertise." Clarisse answered back.
The girls continued on to the armory as I felt myself being drawn to the forge, like a cartoon animal is drawn to a pie sitting on the window sill. When I got in the doorway I was roughly manhandled by a pair of large hands, pulling me inside by my shirt.
"Ah, well if it isn't my best buddy. I was just thinking about you!" The man said ecstatically. I looked up at him only to find Beckendorf's smiling, soot covered, tanned face. His coke bottle glasses make his eyes comically big.
"You were?" I asked.
"Well yeah, you were in here like an hour and a half ago, still kinda fresh on my mind bud." He clarified.
When he puts it like that, his logic is undeniable. I guess when you've gone through an ordeal, it takes your mind off things.
"Of course, I knew that." I explained.
Charles let me go and straightened up to his full height which was a couple inches taller than me. He still had the denim and the leather apron on which didn't surprise me. He pushed his glasses up on his nose like a real nerd… or someone that can't see too well and needs glasses.
"What brings you in here today?" Charles questioned.
"Umm… I guess I'm looking for Carmen." I responded.
"She's not here I don't think." He answered.
"Well where is she?" I asked.
"Come on man what's with all the questions, you act like I know everything. I thought you and I were buddies after I gave you that armor I randomly made two months ago." Charles responded, clearly put out.
"Well, yeah dude. It was actually pretty handy, I used it to take down a group of campers. I came out of it pretty much unscathed." I said, trying to turn this conversation around so maybe I could get more cool shit.
"Ya know I did hear about a group of kids who took out Luke's faction earlier. You wouldn't happen to have anything to do with that would you?" Charles interrogated. Crossing his arms over his chest like he was a father talking to a child.
"Yes actually, I was like the main reason they lost." I responded nervously. I wonder if Charles sided with Luke at all, what was he going to do now that I am publicly against him?
"He was kinda like my best customer… but he's also a dick so nice." Charles responded, which made me relax some.
Beckendorf looked me up and down while he pursed his lips like he was examining me. He then slapped his wrist and stared at me. When I did nothing in return, he once again slapped his wrist and eyed me.
"Dude wha-" I began.
"SLAP THE BRACELET! Show me how much damage my baby took!" He shouted frantically.
Immediately I slapped the shit out of my wrist, accidentally missing the bracelet. An intense pain shot up my arm, making me wonder why I have to slap my wrist so hard.
"Fffffffffffuuuuuu-"I exuded painfully.
"Listen man when I was sixteen and three quarters, I saw this as THE BEST way to make any armor appear. That's because I watched Ben Ten religiously, but you don't need to know about that. Just kinda throw your arm down so the bracelet moves next to your hand and then slap it. Or you can bring it up like when you check the time on a watch and slap it. There are a lot of techniques that you probably would've figured out on your own. I'm just saying that you're kind of embarrassing me when you injure yourself like that." Charles explained pushing up his glasses.
"What the hell is Ben Ten?" I asked Charles, the pain in my wrist slowly fading.
Charles just stared at me with a look of disappointment until I got the courage to try and activate the armor again. This time I brought my wrist up like a watch and slapped the bracelet making the armor slide up my arm and cover the rest of my body. Then suddenly the helmet was put on my head and my vision was restricted.
"That was something straight out of Ben Ten! With perfect form as well." Charles ogled as he took a look at the armor.
He then gasped like he just found out his puppy died and I killed it. Grabbing my shoulders, he spun me around so he could look at the back of the armor. He started to choke up and sob. As he turned me back around I looked at his face, his eyes were not tearful at all but his face was warped by sadness.
"What, what's wrong?" I asked nervously.
"It's just… ugh I uh… I forgot to uh… dammit." He responded with a defeated tone, shoving me towards the mirror in the forge.
I looked at my armor to find that there were massive gouges across the front and on the back. It looked like Wolverine had a field day and fucked up my armor. Horrified I turned to Charles with a what the fuck look on my face. Staring at the armor, he had one hand crossing over his chest while his other arm rested on top of it, his hand over his mouth as he was silent for the longest time.
"So Henry… when I was… ya know… like sixteen and nine tenths, I was uh kinda into the whole fantasy rpg kind of gig. What I'm trying to say is that your armor is weak to attacks from butter knives." Charles admitted somberly.
"So let me get this straight," I began bitterly, "you made armor that could repel ANY attack from swords to spears and clubbed weapons like magic. You even made it immune to some acids apparently. But you're now telling me that A BUTTER KNIFE, A KITCHEN UTENSIL, will cut through this metal armor like butter. When in reality, I would be the most vulnerable at MORNING BRUNCH than on the battlefield. Even then, MY OWN SKIN could stop a butter knife. Not only that but it has STUCK ITSELF to me not letting me take it off. FURTHERMORE, somebody attacked me with a butter knife?!"
"…yeah." He admitted with dumb expression.
Charles POV
When I was sixteen and nine tenths IN MY HEAD I thought it was a good idea to do that. Have a bracelet that you could slap like Ben Ten and armor would activate. Making you invulnerable to all attacks from virtually any weapons. The kicker is, all I have to do to fix it like brand new, is tap MY hammer on it when it's in bracelet form. It has to be my hammer though, in case you were wondering, I got that idea two weeks after I turned sixteen and one third.
But also at the time I was playing a fantasy rpg, so I was like 'this armor is way too powerful, just in case the dude I give it too is evil, I'm going to nerf it.' So I was like what is the one thing you won't expect to see on the battlefield? A butter knife…and spoons… and other shit that I won't tell Henry because I feel really stupid already. Actually I probably need to tell him all the weaknesses I put on there, just so he doesn't accidentally die.
"You know what Henry I'm going to just list all the weaknesses of the armor so we can just get that out of the way."
Henry bowed his head and slowly took off the helmet and put it under his arm. He then looked up at me with a betrayed look. His face had a very noble bone structure and his eyes were brown and piercing, and his hair cut brought out his cheekbones even more.
"There's more?" He asked gravely in a serious sounding deep voice.
"Yeah…" I replied plainly.
Henry gave a very heavy sigh as he put the helmet down on the ground and then crossed his arms and nodded his head signifying me to continue.
"Well for starters, there's butter knives, spoons…"
Henry POV
"… and if it's 3:24 am at camp on Christmas, then anywhere in the world you will be weak to thrown bricks, but only on Christmas for that minute and specifically to thrown bricks. At 3:25 am at camp you will go back to being immune to thrown bricks. Let's see what else…oh yeah when you're in the forge you are immune to ALL attacks except those that I inflict on you, nobody else but me can harm you in the forge." He finished.
"I like that last one, but can you make it so my armor isn't so weak to random shit? What if I actually run into a gay Minotaur that's missing his balls on the battlefield? I'll be fucked!" I said sincerely.
"A gay Minotaur that's missing his balls would only be a problem if it attacked you with a soup spoon AND if you were friends with a son of Poseidon remember. Besides that's entirely impossible, the conditions are too specific and camp Halfblood hasn't had a child of the big three for a long time." Charles reassured me confidently.
I stared at him incredulously, this man has got to be the most stupid and talented child of Hephaestus I have met in my short time here at camp.
"Big three?" I asked.
"Oh I forget you just got here like yesterday. The big three are Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. They have like the most powerful domains." He responded
"Well what are they?" I questioned.
"They're gods." He responded.
"No dude, their domains." I asked again.
"I don't remember, jeez do I have to remember everything anyone tells me. I'm just the dude who makes the cool armor. Also, again with all the questions man you're giving me a headache. Also why are you here again?" Charles asked
"Clarisse and Macy were taking me to ge-" I started.
"We were taking him to get fitted with a weapon, like a spear or a sword." A female voice interrupted me as I glanced back at the source. There stood Clarisse and Macy, however Macy had a new shield on her back as well as a leaf shaped blade sheathed on her hip.
"Oh yo wassup Larry, we were just talking about armor for like an hour." I said to Clarisse.
"Wait." Charles said, breaking out of his stupor, his eyes going comically wide because of his glasses.
He then turned around grabbed a shovel that was leaning against the wall and walked towards the entrance.
"Stay here." He ordered us.
"Ok Charlie." Said Macy with a complimentary thumbs up.
Charles then exited and turned right as if to walk around the building.
I realized I still had my armor on and circled the nipples so it could collapse into a bracelet again.
"Your armor is kind of fucked up bro." Said Clarisse in an informative tone.
"I know, I'm here to get it fixed." I lied, I was actually really wanting to talk to Carmen.
"Mhm." Macy replied.
We stood for a little bit as we waited for Charles.
"Fuck!" We heard Charles faintly over the sound of the forge.
Charles re-entered the forge with a grin on his face, holding something behind his back. He was covered in dirt from head to toe.
"Ok Henry, I have something for you." He said.
The last thing he gave to me was this cursed armor he made when he turned seventeen. What else could he possibly have to give me? I also just met this dude, why is he giving me all this shit? Whatever it was, I could probably use it.
"What is it?" I asked, racking my brain for what this object was. Maybe it was a sword or a spear, Larry did say that I needed one of those.
He brought his hand out from behind his back to reveal…
A metal spoon.
It wasn't even like a normal spoon, it was in pretty rough shape. There were various chips in it, also the whole thing was twisted up. It looked like a car ran over it, it was ugly.
"I made this weapon to go with the armor, but I messed up and tried to destroy it. Only to find that it was indestructible, so I thought why waste metal and continued to forge it into a masterpiece. But I made it when I was sixteen and one half. So naturally I buried it behind the forge until I made the armor, and even then I had to find the person the armor would fit. So I kinda forgot about it, until now." He explained handing me the spoon.
"This isn't a weapon Charles, this is a spoon." I said slowly.
"I know what it looks like Henry, but that is a weapon of great harm if you untwist it till it's straight." Charles explained.
I twisted the spoon straight like he requested and the spoon elongated and grew thicker. In the matter of seconds I ended up with a medieval mace. It had a bronze color to it and the weight was centered in the spiked ball end of the weapon. The whole thing was about three and a half feet long. The terrifying thing about it though, was it felt perfect in my hands. Like how a baseball bat feels perfect in a baseball players hand. Unlike its previous spoon form it was devoid of chips and twists.
While Clarisse, Macy, and I all marveled at the weapon, Charles took the arm with my bracelet on it and tapped it with a hammer, making it softly glow green before returning to normal.
"To turn it back into a spoon you have to lean on it as though it was a cane." He said brushing some dirt off his shoulder.
"That's so inconvenient and would make me lose balance." I said to Charles.
"Alright now get out of here you crazy kids, capture the flag is about to start any minute now." He said to us, completely ignoring me.
"Wait a second!" I demanded, but my sisters were already dragging me out of the forge.
The cold night air surprised me as I felt the heat of the forge leave me. I thought it was just the middle of the day, did Charles and I really talk for that long? Wait, just how long were Macy and Clarisse in the armory?
I was snapped out of my stupor as Clarisse clapped her hands together.
"Alright army Ares, listen up because I'm only going to say this once. We are going to win." Clarisse stated as though it was a fact.
I looked around and sure enough, we were in the middle of a forest at a table surrounded by our allies which had to be in the hundreds somewhere. All of them were wearing leather armor with Greek style helmets and were armed to the teeth, they were all listening intently to what Clarisse was saying.
"The Hermes cabin will charge up the left flank and the rest of the cabins will charge the right flank. Classic pincer." Clarisse authoritatively stated.
"Meanwhile the Ares cabin will stay behind and guard the flag. Everyone got that?" She finished.
There were various people saying 'yes' and 'sounds good to me'.
"Alright the game begins in five minutes, be ready to march!" Clarisse exclaimed.
This time it was a resounding: "HOO-RAH!"
Then everyone went to their stations. Leaving Clarisse, Macy, and I at the table. Ellis and Mark joined us as well, I guess they had a long nap. All of them were wearing armor. Clarisse was armed with her fabled stick of electricity, and Macy was equipped with that sword and shield she had. Ellis' weapon was a double bladed axe, Mark was also armed with a spear but just a regular one. Seeing everyone decked out in armor made me want to put mine on as well. I slapped my wrist real hard hitting the bracelet this time while I twisted the spoon. Soon I was armed with the mace and the armor. Man I've got to name these things.
"I guess we're going to take it easy on you this time Henry, usually Clarisse makes us go out and beat up the other campers." Said Macy
"Ahem." Someone vocalized behind us.
We all turned to the voice. It was Luke, standing with Percy of all people.
"Percy," he began, "I'm sorry I tried to kill you earlier. I just got so worked up, and you're one heck of a swordsman."
"…cool." Percy responded nervously, although you could tell he was trying to keep his cool.
He then looked me in the eye as he slowly backed away towards the Hermès cabin. Leaving Percy with us.
Clarisse and Macy exchanged a knowing look.
"Percy, why don't you stay and guard the flag with us?" Macy asked, as though she were speaking to a nine year old.
"Ok." Percy responded, sounding relieved.
"Nice, just go stand with Henry, he is the strongest among the Ares cabin ya know." Macy said.
"Just try not to get in the way Prissy." Said Clarisse as though it were a warning.
Our flag was set up on a hill that was next to the river, not the river that separates the field but a tributary that was still deep enough to step in.
The five minutes passed quickly as a horn blew into the air to signal the start of the game. Our troops began marching down their respective paths. Leaving the Ares cabin alone with the flag.
We then didn't see a single person for a good forty-five minutes. Then Annabeth just appeared from behind a tree about twenty yards away right in front of us.
"Hey Annie! Looking a bit understaffed." Clarisse shouted at her from across the clearing.
"I REALLY don't want to fight any of you." Annabeth replied.
"Then why are ya here Annie?" Macy questioned.
"Just send out Percy. I taught him something today and I wanna see if he remembers!" She yelled at us.
Macy looked back at Percy almost sadly, but then she looked at me and grinned.
"Alright we're sending him out!" Macy answered.1
"Wait what?" Percy asked Macy.
"Why." Clarisse said to Macy.
"We'll just send Henry with him, it'll be ok." Macy answered.
Clarisse seemed satisfied by this answer as she nodded her head.
With that Percy and I made our way down to where Annabeth was standing, who was now concerned by my appearance with Percy.
"What are you doing Henry?" Annabeth asked nervously as she backed up a little
"I'm not gonna hurt ya if that's what you're asking." I replied.
"Mhm yeah right, I'm supposed to believe that?" She clapped back.
"Believe what you want, I'm here to safeguard this little event." I stated.
"Let's just do it Annabeth." Percy requested.
Percy brought out a pen from his pocket and clicked it, making it transform into a greek style sword. Annabeth brought out a knife and got into a fighting stance while also glancing at me, I guess she didn't really trust me yet.
They engaged in a flurry of strikes while Percy had the upper hand. You could tell that Annabeth was holding back though. Percy suddenly pull off a couple of moves and Annabeth's knife shot out of her hand and into a tree behind her.
"Nice job Percy, just keep doing that and you'll be able to do it for real."
Suddenly three guys drop out of trees behind Annabeth and a large amount of green fire circled Percy, Annabeth, and I. Two of the guys took Annabeth and Percy holding swords to their necks. The other guy stepped towards me, his face visible in the flame.
It was Luke.
"Henry!" Clarisse shouted from behind the circle, her voice full of stress.
"Please help." Annabeth vocalized as much as she could with a sword to her throat.
"Ah Henry, we meet again." Luke smoothly delivered.
"Uh yeah man the last time we met, you lost some teeth. How are they by the way?" I asked him teasingly.
"They're doing… better." He replied.
I looked at Clarisse who was joined by Macy, Ellis, and Mark on the other side of the fire. They were looking at Luke and I, their eyes full of concern. I guess if our roles were switched I would be looking at them the same way.
"Since you're new here I'll give you a choice." Said Luke.
"I got here like yesterday my guy, and I already have you as my nemesis? I didn't even know you yesterday." I replied incredulously.
"Enough!" He yelled.
I looked over at Percy who looked very uncomfortable, then again anyone would be uncomfortable with a sword to their throat.
"We can either fight with weapons or without weapons." He replied snakily
"What do you mean?" I asked him, squinting my eyes.
"What I mean is we can fight to the death with swords or we can box each other." Luke replied.
"…Huh?" Was my response.
"Boxing, you know punchi-" he explained
"Yeah I know about boxing, why boxing?" I asked
"Well I was somewhat of a prodigy before I came to camp. Also I don't like the look of your legs so instead of hand to hand, we are boxing." Luke bragged.
I looked at Luke, this guy had to be about 140 pounds, we weren't even in the same weight class, although we were the same hieght. What is going on? This day keeps getting weirder and weirder. So I guess the smart thing would be to… teach him a lesson. I looked at Annabeth, she looked just as confused as I was.
"Is this some kind of sick joke? You want to box Henry, just look at him!" Annabeth exclaimed.
"Why yes I'm very confident in my abilities Annie." Replied Luke.
"Henry, don't do it, you can't box him!" Clarisse yelled through the fire.
"I have to Clarisse, I don't know how to use this fuckin thing." I responded, holding up the mace.
"Boxing it is then." Said Luke as he began taking his armor off.
"Oh no. Wait, don't do it Henry, oh no." Macy said in a bored voice.
Ellis and Mark also look bored but all of my siblings were interested in what would happen. I remember telling them that our father had trained me for years in boxing. I guess only they know that because Luke just challenged me in it.
I circled the nipples on my armor, deactivating it. Then I leaned on my mace, causing it to revert back to spoon form.
Slipping the spoon in my back pocket I turned towards Luke who was slowly advancing with his guard up. He looked like a defensive specialist, kinda like Floyd Mayweather. He was very cautious in his approach.
I guess we're doing this, I thought as I launched at him. But before I could get a punch in he shot a jab in my direction, causing me to put my guard up. He was faster than I thought, his jab was also pretty crisp for a lightweight.
"You're so full of muscle that all I have to do is let you swing yourself out." Luke said.
This guy requires some finesse.
I faked a right hook to the body, his arms moved down to protect his ribs, he fell for it. I pulled my arm back and shot a jab to his face with my left, leaving him a bit dazed as I connected cleanly. It gave me enough time to capitalize on his unprotected left ribs, as I fired two powerful and quick hooks in there. They both connected as Luke's arms covered his ribs. This all happened in two seconds.
I backed off, shuffling my feet a little bit, finding a rhythm.
Luke remained crouched as he coughed, struggling to breathe. He took a knee, as he tried to catch his breath.
"Oh shit!" I heard Macy exclaim.
"Fuck yeah!" Clarisse added.
"Let him get up, let him get up." I heard myself saying.
Luke then got up as he gave me an interesting look. He then started shuffling himself, finding his rhythm.
"So you know how to box." Luke observed.
"Yeah, I do. If you would've bothered to ask me I would've told you." I responded still shuffling in my rhythm.
Luke shot towards me throwing a barrage of punches at my face in rapid succession. I avoided each of them, moving my head to the rhythm of my feet.
"And you know head movement." Luke once again observed.
"Mhm." I replied
He threw a right jab, which set up my counter perfectly. I ducked down to the right, shooting a right hook to his exposed ribs. Which made him quickly withdraw his jab to defend his torso leaving his face open. My left foot slid forward and my left fist was thrown at his jaw, making his brain bounce around his skull. The result was a KO.
"You got KNOCKED THE FUGGOUT!" Clarisse exclaimed, I could tell she was smiling.
Luke's goons dropped Annabeth and Percy, running to their unconscious leader's aid. One of them sprinkled some stuff on the fire and it all vanished leaving no barrier between us and the Ares cabin.
They ran off with Luke in tow. Annabeth and Percy looked at me with awe.
A fully armored Macy jumped on my back causing me to stumble forward a little bit.
"That was fuckin awesome!" She screamed in my ear.
The rest of the cabin turned back to guard the flag, Which wasn't there.
"FUUUUUUUUCK!" Mark yelled. Which was the first time I heard him use his voice until now
The horn sounded once again signifying the end of the game.
"Shit, I think we lost." Clarisse muttered dejectedly.
GRRRRRRRRRR
All of our heads whipped around to a figure in the brush. The owner of the hair raising growl stepped out of a bush. It was a wolf-like beast that was wrapped in shadow.
"Hellhound!" I heard Macy yell.
The beast bounded forth with startling speed towards Percy and Annabeth, knocking Annabeth over and slicing Percy down his front, making him fall into a river.
Then it looked at me, its teeth bared menacingly, like a starved animal. Suddenly a sword flashed into existence, lopping the things head off. It then burst into a cloud of what looked like gold glitter. I looked over and saw Macy standing there with her sword out staring at the pile of golden dust. A group of army Ares started to arrive back at base, and just witnessed the monster attack.
"How did it get past the barrier?" Asked a random camper behind me.
Oh shit Percy, he was hurt pretty bad I bet. I turned to get Percy out of the water, but he was already standing on the bank. The weirdest thing though was the huge sea green glowing thing above his head.
"A son of Poseidon!" Another random camper exclaimed.
Poseidon, one of the big three? I don't really know why he's big, Charlie didn't mention that at all.
Anyways after that whole thing happened then me and my Ares siblings made our way back to the cabin to get some well-deserved shut eye. With Percy being who he is, that shit he pulled on my first day here made a little sense. His dad was the god of water or something.
As soon as we entered the cabin, I made a beeline to my room. I tore all my clothes off and collapsed into my bed and fell into a very deep sleep.
"I don't care if you want to see him or not!" Exclaimed a female voice outside of my door, effectively waking me up.
"I just want to talk to him, nothing else I swear!" Pleaded a deeper, more masculine voice.
I got up out of bed, forgetting I was only in my boxers. Opening the door to find out just what was going on, I was greeted with a familiar bruised face….
Luke's bruised face.
"Train me." Was all he said.
AN: ALRIGHTY THEN, a very very long chapter. But I had to get some stuff out of the way so there you have it. Once again, I apologize for my lack of activity.
See you next time.