6. We All Live In A Red Submarine

Story Start: Cyclops Foundry #341, Unnamed Underwater Volcano, GPS Coordinates 38.75 °N/38.08 °W

Six AM

The day after his meeting with Ticris Percy hopped out of a mine cart next to Leroy, the large tunnel holding said cart and others of various sizes stretching for several hundred miles back to the Continental US. Thanks to travel magic, their journey had only taken them ten minutes and Percy made a note to study the magic that went into such a feat at a later point of time. For now, he was much more interested in taking in the large factory built into the underwater volcano, built on top of a massive metal grid that had openings in the floor in order to allow buckets of all sizes to dip down into the boiling lava before coming back up with their prize. There was the constant sound of machinery running along with the sharp clangs of hammers striking metal as Leroy lead the way through the various workstations where Cyclopes were building everything from basic shields to a rather long club that was twenty five feet long with seams showing that the inside was hollow and filled with unknown goodies. Percy gave the club a considering look, trying to figure out just who it was for and if he would consider it a fun challenge or a rather nasty hassle to deal with whoever was using it. As Percy continued to watch, a crane set into tracks overhead lowered a clamp that picked up the club and raised it into the air before bringing it over to the carts where it was loaded on a flat bed sized cart and sent down the tunnel.

Leroy nudged Percy as the cart took off and the two continued on to the back of the foundry. There, there was a large two hundred foot long by forty foot wide cradle. And resting inside said cradle was to Percy's eyes a beautiful sight: The crimson painted shell of a submarine, shaped like the Russian Typhoon class submarine though only a third of one's length and half the width. Sparks were flying in in a couple of spots around the hull as Cyclops workers finished welding the last pieces on and at a large workstation next to the cradle the submarine's custom top deck weapons were being given one last check over before it was time for Naruto to get his hands, and more importantly, seals on them.

Grinning, Leroy said "She's quite a beauty ain't she?"

"She is at that." Percy said as he grinned at the wonderful machine in front of them.

"So what are you going to name her?" Leroy asked and Percy's smile gained a slightly sad tint to it as he said "Her name is Kushina."

Scene Change: Camp Half Blood, Two Hours After Dinner

Chiron stood next to a recently dug out channel on the beach, Grover and Annabeth beside him. Percy had told them that he was going to be gone for the day but that he would be returning to this spot. Before he had left, he had made a squad of clones which had carved out a two hundred foot long, fifty feet deep channel, bracing it with temporary seals so that way it wouldn't collapse. They knew that Naruto had commissioned the Cyclopes to build a vehicle of some sort, but beyond it obviously being of a naval nature, they had no clue what to expect.

They were drawn from their musings as the water began rapidly bubbling. A moment later, a dark shadow appeared underwater and all three of them stared as a conning tower burst out, rapidly followed by the main body of a crimson submarine. As the displaced water settled down again, Annabeth couldn't help but comment "And of course he had them build a two hundred foot long submarine, it wasn't enough for Seaweed brain to have his own boat, nooo, he had to make a statement."

Chiron chuckled and said "Well what did you expect, he IS a son of Poseidon after all."

Grover cocked his head and said "You know, for some reason I expected it to be orange."

The hatch on the conning tower popped open and Naruto climbed out of the tower and down to the main deck followed by Leroy. The sight of the large monocular figure had Annabeth and Grover stiffening earing a sympathetic frown from Chiron. They only relaxed after Percy shook the Cyclops' hand and he dove into the water, the big guy swimming out to sea where a Hippocampus surfaced. Leroy mounted the sea horse who dove back down and rapidly left the coast to bring Leroy back to wherever he usually spent his days when not working.

Once Leroy was gone, Percy turned to the others and waved as he said "Come on over guys, I want to show you around." The three traded looks before they used their flight tech to reach the deck of the sub. As they landed on the vessel, Chiron gestured to the conning tower and said "Forgive me Mr. Jackson, but I fail to see how I shall be able to enter this lovely vessel."

Percy grinned and said "Way ahead of you Chiron." Walking over to a spot near the bow of the ship, he waited for everyone to join him as he said "The Conning Tower's the main way in, true, but it's not the only way." Right after he spoke, the deck shifted downwards an inch with a soft thudding sound before the plating the four were on began descending, showing that they were on a twenty foot square elevator. As it descended, Percy continued "This is for when you need to rapidly deploy a squadron or bring something big into her." The lift settled on the ground inside a large hallway that went from bow to stern and Percy led them into the room right next to the lift as he continued "We'll start at the bridge."

Once the other three were off, the lift smoothly lifted back into place, the seams sealing with another soft thud. The room they followed Percy into didn't seem like a bridge. It had a giant half circle screen taking up the front half of the room, a line of padded chairs on either side of the door with another chair that looked rather futuristic with a control panel sticking out of the end of both armrests in the middle of the room next to a metallic podium on its right. Percy grinned as he stood next to the podium and said "Guys, I'd like you to meet this bad girl's brain, the AI modeled after my previous mother, Kushina Uzumaki."

The podium lit up and before the other three's surprised eyes, a woman with long vibrant red hair held in a pony tail with two bangs framing her face and blue eyes wearing the same Jonnin uniform that Naruto had worn during the Capture the Flag event when he first came to Camp, complete with Hidden Leaf Hitai-ate wrapped around her forehead appeared. The woman grinned at them and gave a wave as she said "Hi there!"

"Percy, how in the name of Styx did you make an AI?!" Annabeth asked stunned. True AIs were still considered to be in the realm of Sci-Fi after all.

Percy shrugged and said "It wasn't all that hard really. I just made a shadow clone and transferred its consciousness into the sub's computer systems."

"He's forgetting all of the preparatory seal work it took to do said transferring." Kushina said with rolled eyes.

"Well yeah, but I didn't want to bore them with all of the small details." Percy said with another shrug before he grinned and said "Care to show them your specs?"

"Naruto! You should know better than to ask a lady to give her figures!" Kushina said with laughter in her voice even as she snapped her fingers and shrunk to half her size so that way she could be joined by a holographic version of the vessel they were currently standing in. The sub began spinning on its horizontal access as Kushina said "My body is modeled after the Typhoon class submarine, more specifically, the Red October, using seals to mimic the Magnetohydrodynamic drive, or caterpillar drive. I'm 197 feet long and forty feet wide. Thanks to magic and seals, I've got a top speed of 65.17 knots, or 75 miles per hour. Instead of carrying ICBMs like an actual Typhoon does, I have two MAC guns that are normally stored in storage seals, one on the stern, and one near the bow just behind the lift you guys took." There was the customary smoke cloud at either end of the sub revealing the armaments as Kushina continued "Theses bad boys have an effective distance of ten miles and fire electrically charged ten foot by one foot rods of Mythantium, retrieval and repair seal augmented of course. Each gun has fifty rounds in them and can fire at a rate of once every five seconds." The guns disappeared again and the bottom of the bow was outlined as Kushina said "I also have two torpedo tubes with ten Mark 48 torpedoes, also kept in storage seals when not in the tubes. Keep in mind this is the same torpedo that the US Navy uses in their submarines so you know that whatever I shoot them at isn't going to stay above water for very long."

The sub stopped rotating and the starboard side faded away revealing the inside of the vessel and parts began being highlighted as Kushina continued "Power plant is the magical version of a nuclear reactor that will last for a hundred years before needing its core replaced, it somehow uses regular iron of all things. Ten personnel cabins with two bunk beds each, five on each side, we've got a fully stocked kitchen and eating area, two smallish but proper bathrooms, shower stalls rather than bath tubs unfortunately, and a medical bay which Leroy was generous enough to also stock with the essentials including about a gallon of Nectar and ten pounds of Ambrosia." Chiron nodded his approval at that last bit.

Finishing up, Kushina dismissed the hologram and returned to normal size as she said "Along with spotlights and cameras at strategic positions on my hull, I've got all of the electronic goodies other subs do, high speed Wi-Fi, able to link up with satellites overhead, good sonar, radar, and lidar for detection purposes, and I can even link up with Poseidon's own naval fleet of Ohio class similes."

"Wait, Poseidon has submarines in his fleet?!" Annabeth asked startled.

"Of course he does young Annabeth, just because the gods are old fashioned doesn't mean that they can't make a good idea mortals had their own." Chiron said before he glanced up in thought and said "I believe that Poseidon has ten in his fleet, half positioned in the Atlantic, half in the Pacific."

"And that's not counting the sunk subs that are also part of his forces." Kushina said with a nod.

"Right, God of the Sea." Grover said in understanding while Annabeth rubbed at her temples.

Chiron nodded then frowned as he said "Of course, Zeus is a bit more traditionalist I'm afraid. As far as I know, he hasn't incorporated mortal aircraft into his forces, deeming them somewhat beneath his station."

Percy snorted and asked "Now why doesn't that surprise me? The spark plug always did come off as stuck in the past."

Lightning suddenly struck the sub with a loud boom of displaced air as Zeus displayed his annoyance. While the others jumped in surprise, Kushina and Naruto glanced skyward as she called out "You're going to need more than that to overload my absorption seals you overgrown Duracell battery!" The sound of rumbling thunder sounded overhead but noticeably there wasn't a second bolt coming even as Kushina stuck out her holographic tongue and went "Nyah!"

"Please don't do that again." Grover said, still looking up nervously.

Percy snorted again before his attention was drawn to Chiron as he lightly coughed and said "Mr. Jackson, despite having an AI, I noticed that this fine vessel also seems to be controlled manually. Is there a reason for that?"

Percy shrugged and said "Better safe than sorry. Besides, sometimes it's better to have a human touch. Instinct can at times trump computer logic after all." Chiron nodded at that answer and Percy grinned again as he clapped his hands and said "So before Kushina powers down and I put her in her storage seal, do any of you guys want to go for a ride?"

END

Author's Notes: Update Schedule and Poll on my Profile

This chapter came out a whole lot faster than the one I wrote for the end of the race chapter for To Be A Master. Maybe because it's all about a kick ass submarine. (Shrug) Anyway, this is the last chapter planned for the summer between Lightning Thief and Sea of Monsters so barring any spur of the moment ideas expect a time skip next chapter.

Finally, are any of you guys interested in doing a TVTropes page for this story? I understand it's a bit of a faux pas to do it yourself.