So, in the start of chapter 11 during an author monologue, I said that Aura would be around for the arrest of Wilson Fisk. I'm not so sure anymore. In my head when I was first coming up with a basic plan and villains list (I say plan, that's an overstatement, it was more of a general idea with the intention of taking it chapter by chapter, which I've been doing. If anyone has ideas or directions to go, I'm super open), I thought Aura would be a lot more involved. But that was before I rewatched Daredevil and realized that since she doesn't have his magic senses to know where things are taking place and listen in on plans, the only way she can really be involved is by being brought in by Daredevil, who's a super loner that is generally morally opposed to roping people into his vigilantism, especially a teenager. That's a pretty big aspect of Matt's personality that's tricky to fully bypass, so although I know how to involve Aura in my expansion of the Daredevil plot, Matt has to get there himself, poor man.
This takes place around May. I know, another time skip, sorry. Assume that Aura had a lovely somewhat belated Christmas celebration/break from work at CHB, went back to work in February, and has had a quiet few months since then. Daredevil was chasing Wilson Fisk, making slow but sure progress as Wilson entered the picture more and more through his takeover of Hell's Kitchen. There's not much point in Aura being around for that anymore considering it won't carry any significance, as Aura's not invested in taking down Wilson. Which means it's time to get into the overarching plot, whoopee.
…
Chapter 18: Well, That Isn't Good!
Aura stared at her phone.
The text stared back menacingly.
"We need to talk"
From Daredevil, dated at 3:17 in the morning.
Aura didn't know how to feel. There were a lot of things that the text could be about. Maybe Daredevil didn't mean it in a menacing or negative way at all. After all, the few times Aura had heard him speak he sounded educated, articulate, generally calm, and mostly monotone.
She texted him that her shift was over at noon and asked about a meeting place and whether she should come armed.
Then she put her phone in her pocket and tried to ignore her niggling sense that things were about to go haywire.
…
Her niggling sense that things were about to go completely haywire was correct. Daredevil asked her to meet at his apartment.
He even specified that it would be better if she was unarmed, though she could bring her sword if she liked.
Aura's kopis was an almost permanent fixture to her belt. Not having it was basically an invitation to be attacked, so unfortunately she didn't really have the decision whether or not to bring it anywhere.
Rain pattered around her as Aura walked through the bustling city.
Aura had always liked rain. The magical barrier around Camp Half-Blood moderated the weather, stopping it from being too hot or cold to train and blocking rain and snow, though the snow block was often lifted around December.
Growing up in Seattle, Aura felt the absence of rain deeper than most, and missed its regular comfort. When it rained, she would often walk up the hill to Thalia's pine tree and sit just outside the border.
As she got older and snuck out of Camp Half-Blood more and more, usually with other demigods, she also realized how distant from the mortal world she was starting to feel. Simple things like gas stations and suburban neighborhoods felt untouchable, monuments to a life she hadn't felt attached to until it was gone.
After the Battle of Manhattan she didn't sit in the rain anymore.
After the Giant War, Aura didn't leave the camp borders at all.
Aura slid her hood off as she rang the buzzer to Daredevil's apartment. A cheery masculine voice that was most certainly not Daredevil's said, "Hello, is this Aura Davis?"
"Yeah," Aura said, trying not to make it sound like a question.
She was buzzed up.
Aura checked the apartment number on her phone, only hesitating a second before firmly knocking.
The door swung open.
"Hello. Thanks for coming," Daredevil said.
Though, it felt weird to think of him as Daredevil when he wasn't wearing his mask or black clothes. Daredevil was a middle-aged man in a suit, with brown hair and opaque red-tinted glasses, indicating that he was blind.
Aura had seen weirder than blind superheroes. She stepped inside the apartment.
It was small but nice and well-kept, though there were coffee mugs and papers on every flat surface. There was an old but comfy-looking dark grey couch and matching chairs.
On the couch was a man, also in a suit but minus the jacket, with dirty blonde hair.
Daredevil lead her over to the couch and chairs, sitting on the couch next to the man while Aura chose a chair across from them.
"So, it might be easier to get all of your questions out of the way in one go," Daredevil said, with a light smile. "I'm Matt Murdock, I'm blind but my other senses are extremely enhanced and I can 'see' heat signatures and vibrations, and this is my partner, both in law and life, Foggy Nelson."
Foggy extended a hand and Aura shook it. "Nice to meet you," he said. "Cool sword."
"Thanks," she said.
It was still so weird, mortals being able to see through the Mist to some degree. Aura had no idea what was going on.
"So, why am I here?" She asked.
"I thought Wilson Fisk was at the top of whatever's happening in Hell's Kitchen," Matt said. "It looks like I was wrong. Something called Triumvirate Holdings is working in the background, pulling strings and providing soldiers. But the more I look into them, the weirder it gets. They don't leave trails, they're staying clean in the eyes of the law but their ingoing and outgoing cash doesn't…"
Matt's words faded into the background as Aura's mind raced, her gut sank, and anxiety crept along her skin. Triumvirate Holdings… Where did she know that from and why did it feel so bad? Hold on-
"Aura? Are you okay? Foggy asked.
"You know what it is," Matt said. He wasn't asking, though Aura didn't know how he could tell.
"Yeah," Aura said.
Triumvirate Holdings. In the cleanup of the Titan War, one of the Athena kids had wondered how Luke got a huge, expensive ship like the Princess Andromeda. Some digging had lead to the realization that Kronos's uprising had been funded by a company called Triumvirate Holdings, which had supplied the Princess Andromeda, weapons, helicopters, and mortal mercenaries. Triumvirate Holdings was so deep in the shadows that a loose web of activity, mostly in New York, could be found but the company couldn't be traced further.
"Triumvirate Holdings is an immensely powerful ghost," Matt said. "The people I talked to who knew of it at all were terrified of it. The people that Triumvirate Holdings sends are… so weird. They talk in voices that feel wrong, sometimes in languages that sound like ancient Greek or Latin. Their heat signatures kind of feel bigger than normal humans are, though the more I try to pay attention the less I'm sure. And a few days after you helped me save Claire, one of them told me I smelled like 'like a Half-Blood. The golden-eyed one.'"
Aura was connecting the dots, and she didn't like what she was finding. The reason there were so many monsters in Manhattan, many of whom were ignoring her. The reason Samuel, a demigod, was kidnapped. But why Hell's Kitchen? What was the goal?
"So, what's a Half-Blood?" Foggy asked, eyeing her.
Ummm…
"You know, I'm curious…" Foggy said, pulling out his phone and googling something. "Aha! It's called a kopis, which is derived from an Ancient Greek word meaning to cut or to strike, and it's an Ancient Greek cavalry sword!" He looked at Matt. "Her sword is like, super weird looking, it's curved with an odd hilt. But this fits your theory."
"Huh," Matt said. "So, are you a demigod? Daughter of Apollo, right?"
"Ummm…"
"The word Triumvirate comes from Latin, it's a system of government where three people share the highest political power. Boards of three officials were quite common in Ancient Rome, and the first triumvirate was between Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus in 60 BCE. At first, this information didn't mean much, but when I heard the soldiers speaking Ancient Greek and Latin I figured Triumvirate was more than a random choice. And this could be a long shot, but Half-Blood might mean demigod, because demigods have half human blood and half god blood. But your heart started beating fast when Foggy said your sword was an Ancient Greek sword and that it fit my theory."
He could hear her heartbeat?
"Y-yes, I'm a daughter of Apollo. The whole singing magic thing gave it away, huh?"
Matt looked pleased. "You owe me ten bucks," he said to Foggy.
"Damn!" Foggy said. He looked at Aura. "You sure you're not a daughter of Euterpe?"
"I am not," Aura said. "Good guess though."
"Alright," Matt said. "Can you tell us what you know about Triumvirate Holdings?"
"That's going to take a lot of context," Aura said. "How long do you have?"
"As long as it takes," Matt said. "You?"
"I have time," Aura said. "So. In 2010, the Titan Kronos rose from Tartarus, gathered an army of monsters, and laid siege to Manhattan."
"What?!" Foggy said.
"That's not the interesting part yet," Aura said. "In order to move around his army, Luke, an enemy demigod who let his body be taken over by Kronos, had a massive cruise ship called the Princess Andromeda. He also had weapons, helicopters, and top mortal mercenaries. Turns out, all of these were funded by Triumvirate Holdings. They also funded the Earth goddess Gaia's attempted takeover a year ago. We researched them, but probably found the same things you did, which is almost nothing."
"That's all you know?" Asked Matt.
"Hang on, I want to go back to a Titan laying siege to Manhattan!" Foggy interrupted. "When was this?"
"August 2010. And yes, that's all I know, sorry."
"Then we have work to do," Matt said. "Let's start with some background information."
Sorry for this chapter being a day late! I have covid (for the second time actually, which super sucks) so I've been feeling really tired and unmotivated. All I've wanted to do the past few days is curl up with my cat and rewatch Brooklyn Nine-Nine. But I'm so happy about getting to use Triumvirate Holdings! Frankly, I think Rick Riordan really underused such a cool concept, and I'm excited to include some Daredevil-type grittiness to my rendition. More evil underworld gang and less combat ostriches and olive jokes, you know? Also, I don't remember the plot of The Trials of Apollo very well so I'm probably going to have to reread them. The emperors have been Lawn Mower, Stupid Face, and Boat Man in my head for a while now and even though I remember their real names that's going to be a hard habit to break.