10. Entering The Sea Of Monsters
Quick AN: Just a reminder that 'Kushina' is the AI and 'the Kushina' is the sub.
Story Start: Thirteen Hours After Departing Camp Half Blood
Percy was back in the Kushina's command chair talking with Dauntless and Red Reef's captains. A beeper sounded and Kushina shimmered into visibility as she stated "We are five nautical miles from our chosen entry point sir."
Percy nodded and said "Right. Captain Gregory, Captain Andrews, we'll send you our coordinates the moment we're out. Hopefully you two won't be waiting out here too long for us."
"Good luck Lord Jackson." Captain Gregory, the Cyclops captain of the Dauntless bade.
"Safe journeys." Captain Andrews, the sea nymph captain of the Red Reef added.
As the images of the two captains left the screen, Percy turned on the sub's PA system and announced "Now hear this! We are on final approach to the Charybdis-Scylla entrance to the Sea of Monsters, Estimated time, six and a half minutes. We'll be using the whirlpool Charybdis generates to sling shot around just outside of Scylla's reach. Secure all loose objects and brace for whirlpool entry."
There were several footsteps as members of the retrieval team came to the bridge to watch. As they did so, the map which had been displaying our route expanded from its shrunken size so that way it took a quarter of the screen. A chevron appeared ahead of the mini sub denoting Kushina's position and the image zoomed in to show an island with cliffs at least a hundred feet tall. Directly south was a whirlpool, so large that even with the rim brushing the edge of the cliffs its center was half a mile away.
A red diamond appeared on the cliffs and a second screen appeared, showing a zoomed in close up of the cliff. Sunbathing on a ledge of the cliff were twelve reptilian necks attached to a humanoid body like a 'darkizised' Ursula from the Little Mermaid.
A blue diamond then focused on the whirlpool and a third screen showed Scylla's sister, Charybdis. She was, put simply, an Orthodontist's nightmare. Her nose was a black crag of corral with a fig tree clinging to the top. Water curved downwards into a funnel, much like light around a black hole. Anchored to the reef just below the waterline was an enormous mouth with slimy lips and mossy teeth the size of rowboats. And worse, the teeth had braces of all things, bands of corroded scummy metal with pieces of fish and driftwood and floating garbage stuck between them.
"Damn they're ugly." One of the Cabin Five campers stated.
"For once, I agree with you." One of Annabeth's cabin mates said, sounding a little green around the gills.
As they spoke, the blue line showing our route went from going directly between the cliff and the source of the whirlpool to shifting in a curve as Kushina began running calculations for the best entry point. Once Kushina had it, she stated "We will need to decrease our speed by twenty knots for two minutes to avoid being in the whirlpool during the exhale stage."
"Understood." Percy acknowledged and it felt like someone was lightly pressing on the brakes in a speeding car as a timer appeared on the main screen.
As the timer counted down, Darak, the one who had doubted the Kushina's speed when they left camp asked "Question, if this sub is supposed to have some really good guns, then why aren't we using them to blow those two away?"
Percy glanced around the command chair as he said "Because we're expecting to run into an enemy held cruise liner on the way out. If we blow those two apart it'd allow that ship in, allowing it to possibly beat us to the prize before we can secure it."
Darak grunted and said "Fair enough."
Percy looked forward again and when the timer ran out, Kushina put the metaphorical pedal to the metal and the Kushina accelerated back to top speed. The people on the bridge watched as the sub's icon on the map quickly approached the whirlpool. The sub began shuddering when she entered the current but easily remained on course as she used the power of the swirling water to her advantage. The local sea life however was not so lucky and they saw a school of fish, a shark, and a large squid flash across the screen, dragged into the center of the vortex. Fifteen seconds later though they were out and the shuddering abruptly ended.
Percy let out a loose breath as he somewhat needlessly said "We're through." A moment later, he said "Kushina, use the satellites overhead to find Circe's Island. It should be relatively close and I owe her a visit from my Shadow Clones for trying to turn Grover into an Animagus."
"Yes sir." Kushina stated and the now unneeded images of Scylla and Charybdis disappeared, the map zooming out to show the islands near the entrance of the Sea of Monsters. A moment later, the map zoomed back in on an island with a small mountain in the center, a dazzling white collection of buildings, a beach dotted with palm trees, and a harbor filled with a strange assortment of boats: Pleasure yachts, several dugout canoes, an old fashioned three-masted sailing ship, even a U.S. Navy submarine. There was a helipad with a "Channel Five Fort Lauderdale" helicopter on it (Kushina had matched the tail markings to the report of said missing helicopter) and a short runway with a Learjet and a propeller plane that looked like a World War II fighter.
Percy frowned at the image on the screen and said "Well that complicates things. We can't leave a most likely fully operational US Navy Sub where anyone could get their hands on its missiles, never mind if it's possible to restore its crew back to human form if they're still on the island as animals." There were several animals of various shapes and sizes visible on the screen lounging around and on the buildings and Percy had a feeling there were more on the mountain.
Annabeth moved to Percy's side and squinted at the image as she looked at the three mast sailing ship and said "So long as your clones don't restore the crew of that sailing vessel, I think that's a Jolly Roger on the center mast."
Percy hummed and asked "Kushina, can you get us a better angle?"
Kushina shook her head as she said "The weather satellites I'm using are used for seeing large parts of the ocean so they're spread out too far to get a more angled shot from them without drastically altering their orbits."
"Shame." Percy stated as he tapped the arm of the command chair with his fingers for a few moments before he stated "I'll have my clones store everything, humans and animals included. We'll pick them up on the way back and can sort everything out once we're back at camp with the Fleece." To be honest, Percy felt a bit like an idiot for not taking the people Circe kept prisoner on the island, both females and males, into account before. All he had been thinking about was knocking Circe's block off for what she tried to do to Grover then using the island as a testing ground for his Poseidon granted Earthshaker powers. (Kind of hard to safely test making earthquakes on land, never mind in New York City.)
"I suppose I wouldn't mind having a chance to slap Circes in the face when she's in chains rather than just letting your clones flatten everything." Grover mused from his seat in the back of the bridge.
"We'll have to do some serious memory modification on the mortals before we let them go though." Annabeth pointed out.
"Hmm, hardest ones are going to be the Navy Personnel. We'll have to go through all of the transponders as well." Percy mused before he shook his head and said "That's for later though. Kushina, adjust our course to come within twenty miles of Circe's island. I'll send my clones out once we're close then we'll continue on to Polyphemus' island."
"Aye Captain." Kushina said, complete with naval salute and once again the blue line denoting their route shifted.
Time Skip: Twenty Minutes Later
The vast expanse of ocean was a picture of repetition, nothing but waves to be seen for miles. That singleness was abruptly broken as a conning tower broke through the water followed by the rest of a submarine rapidly traveling through the ocean waves. The hatch popped open and a line of blond figures shot up through the hatch before landing on the water. The moment the last clone was out the hatch closed and the sub began diving again, having not once slowed in its rapid dash across the ocean surface.
The clones hadn't stopped moving either, splitting into three lines of four, the clones ran for a hundred feet from the sub before they too dove into the water. They sank for a good hundred feet at a rate much faster than a normal human would sink and then shot forward through the water like they were person sized torpedoes towards an island on the horizon.
When the clones arrived at the island, there was a woman standing on an empty dock. An empty dock that the surrounding water currents converged on and which prickled at the clones' hydrokinetic senses. Definitely done by spell. The woman looked like a flight attendant, blue business suit, perfect makeup, hair pulled back in a ponytail. Unlike a safety trained flight attendant though, she was standing right at the end of the dock, staring unblinkingly out at sea. She should have been looking down.
Just below the surface of the water, hand signs were traded and a moment later, a 'rouge' wave hit the dock just right to throw up a massive spray of water behind where the woman was standing. When the water fell back down, the woman was still staring out at sea. Or at least, that's what anyone else on the island would see.
In reality, the woman was now below the dock, sprawled out on the sand in an air bubble while looking fearfully up at the eleven identical blondes standing in a circle grinning menacingly down at her.
The one by her feet gained an extra molar in his grin as he said "Hello Poppet, we've got some questions for you."
Ten minutes later, a bevy of eleven otters slinked out of the water. Three of them made their way to the dock where the naval submarine was anchored. The other eight though pawed their ways inland with a relaxed, some would even say lackadaisical gait. The transformed otters made their unhurried way up through terraces with swimming pools on every level, connected by waterslides and waterfalls and underwater tubes you could swim through, like a water park where all of the rides were interconnected rather than requiring visitors to walk on hot sidewalks. There were fountains as well which sprayed water into the air, forming shapes impossible without magic, like flying eagles and galloping horses.
The animals scattered about all seemed lethargic and willing to snooze wherever they could get a good deal of tropical sun. A sea turtle was napping on a stack of beach towels while a leopard was stretched out asleep on a diving board. The majority of the female guests of the island seemed almost as lazy, very few of the ones in the water were doing anything other than floating, either with or without assistance from beach tubes and rafts. The women out of the water were almost always lounging in deck chairs, drinking fruit smoothies or reading magazines while herbal gunk dried on their faces and manicurists in white uniforms did their nails.
The cause of this exaggeratedly relaxed atmosphere was a Genjutsu like area of effect spell that covered the majority of the island, starting from the first tier after the dock section and covering everything else. The Clones kept their chakra systems in constant flux in order to keep their minds clear as they made their way for where the greeter at the dock said their primary target tended to spend the majority of her days. A woman's signing could be heard coming from the building, their voice drifting through the air like a lullaby. Somewhat surprising, while the language used sounded incredibly old, the words weren't Ancient Greek, but Minoan. Yet the different language didn't prevent the clones from understanding the song- moonlight in the olive groves, the colors of sunrise, and magic, though for some reason what kind of magic escaped the clones' understanding.
Reaching the top of the stairs, the eight clones moved to either side of the entrance doors. The two clones closest to the doors tapped the stone under their feet in Morse code for a few moments before four of the fake critters slipped into the building while the other four went around to continue traveling further up the mountain.
The four otters that entered the building took an immediate right and entered a large room where the whole front wall was windows. With the back wall covered in mirrors the room seemed to go on forever. There was a bunch of expensive-looking white furniture, with a large wire pet cage on one of the table filled with guinea pigs. The otters glanced at the cage for but a moment before they turned their attention to their primary target.
Said target, the lady who was singing, sat at a loom the size of a big screen TV, her hands weaving colored thread back and forth with amazing skill. The tapestry before her shimmered like it was three dimensional - a waterfall scene where the water and the clouds in the sky seemed to move. The weaver had long dark hair that was braided with threads of gold and piercing green eyes. She was wearing a silky black dress with shapes that seemed to move in the fabric; animal shadows, black upon black, like deer running through a forest at night.
As the clones walked further into the room, the woman looked over her shoulder at them and her singing stopped as she frowned at the otters before her. Turning around, she mused with the frown still on her face "Now how did you little critters get past the animal diversion spell on the building?" Standing up, she strode over and said "Alright you four, let's get you out of here and back where you belong, only misbehaving pets go where they shouldn't."
As she reached the clones, they all stood up on their back legs and the one closest to her said "You've been a naughty girl yourself Circes."
The woman's eyes practically bugged out with how wide they went in shock at hearing one of her victims speaking. The next moment, there was a puff of smoke and Circes folded over a punch to her sternum. Her knees were kicked out and she fell to the floor as a hand grabbed her hair, pulling her head back as a kunai rested at her neck. Fear replaced the shock in Circe's eyes as the clone holding her at knife point continued to drawl out "Oh yes, very naughty indeed."
Scene Change: Back Aboard The Kushina, An Indeterminate Time Later
Things had been, dare Percy say it, boring since the Kushina had entered the Sea of Monsters. The most 'exciting' thing so far had been passing a smoking volcanic island that housed one of the forges of Hephaestus. But other than receiving a warning from the island to alter course so that they went around twenty miles from the island rather than the planned ten or be fired upon, even that had been completely mundane. And while it was true that the Sea of Monsters lived up to its name, most of said aquatic monsters living in the sea were perfectly willing to ignore the Kushina when it was going so fast. And those few monsters that could keep up with the sub were never able to physically get close. Hydrokinesis was handy for things like that.
That boredom was about to end though. Percy was staring at the top down view of yet another island. This one though was nowhere near as nice in appearance as Circe's had been. Black craggy rock encompassing a half moon bay, spikes of rocks poking up out of the water like the shrapnel from the deck of a ship hit by plunging fire, several hundred wrecks of ships (and that just on the surface, SONAR was already picking up even more wrecks of ships and even airplanes under the waves as we drew closer, along with a lot of underwater mines), and the main attraction of the horror show, Sirens.
A dozen strong flock of vultures the size of people, with dirty black plumage, gray talons, and wrinkled pink necks. The angle from the overhead weather satellite wasn't the best, but it looked like there were human heads at the end of those necks.
"Bad Birdies." Tyson muttered from where he was standing on the right side of the Command Chair and Percy hummed in agreement from where he was standing behind it with arms on the top of the chair back and head resting on his arms.
Percy studied the image for a few more moments before he said "You know what Tyson? I know they'll come back into existence again sooner or later, preferably later, but I feel like indulging in some target practice with the MAC Guns."
Tyson turned his head so that his brother could see the smile on his face and said "I like that idea."
Percy chuckled and moved around the side of the Command Chair opposite of Tyson and sat down. Tapping at the communications seal, Percy said "Now Hear This! We are approaching the Siren Island. Once we are close enough, we will be surfacing in order to deploy the MAC Guns. Anyone who wants to see a bit of buzzard shooting should come to the bridge."
Footsteps sounded from behind as all of the Retrieval Team came to the bridge to watch. Annabeth quickly moved to the left side of the chair and said "Percy, I've got a favor to ask."
"Now?" Percy asked with a raised eyebrow.
Annabeth nodded and said "The Sirens, before you take them out, I want to hear their singing."
"What?" Percy asked flatly. Behind him, he could hear shuffling sounds as the rest of the group traded looks with each other.
Annabeth gestured at the screen and said "They say the Sirens sing the truth about what you desire. They tell you things about yourself you didn't even realize. That's what's so enchanting. If you survive...you become wiser. I want to hear them. How often will I get that chance?"
Percy looked up at Annabeth silently for a few moments then ordered "Tyson."
smack
"Ow!" Annabeth yelped, holding the back of her head and glaring at Tyson who had used his long arm to reach across the chair and lightly smack the back of Annabeth's head.
Percy let out a small snort of frustration and said "Thank you Tyson. Annabeth, I understand why you might want to do that, but you're being stupid. If you want to have a self-discovery event, there are far safer methods than listening to a bunch of giant buzzards that want your entrails for lunch. I'll put you in touch with a Seneca Shaman I know when we get back and he can guide you through a Spirit Walk."
"You know a member of the Iroquois?" Grover asked with raised eyebrows as he joined the rest of the team at the Command Chair.
Percy shrugged and said "I had a dozen years to prepare for something involving higher powers before I arrived at Camp Half Blood. I didn't spend all of that time just collecting funds at Casinos. I also investigated some of the local groups in the state including members of the Native American population."
Annabeth opened her mouth, but when Percy gave her another raised eyebrow look, she closed her mouth again and just nodded, turning to look to the front of the bridge.
Kushina appeared over her podium and stated "In extreme MAC Gun Range in two minutes sir, optimal firing range in two minutes, twenty seconds."
"Begin surfacing in sixty seconds Kushina." Percy stated.
Seventy five seconds after that statement, the Kushina's conning tower broke the surface, quickly followed by the main body of the sub. The water had barely had time to stream off the top before two storage seals activated, one at the bow and one in the stern, kept pointed in those respective directions. The two weapons immediately began tracking inwards on the starboard side until they were pointed perpendicular to the direction the Kushina was traveling. The Kushina cut her engines, beginning to rapidly decelerate until she was drifting forward at a sedate five knots per hour.
As the Kushina drifted in line with the bay, down below, Percy and the others watched as every Siren on the beach gained a red diamond mark. Once the last one was marked, Kushina stated "All targets locked."
"Fire at will." Percy ordered.
"Firing." Kushina intoned.
Back outside, the barrels of the MAC Guns crackled with electricity for a moment and one of the smarter Sirens screeched in alarm and flapped its wings in preparation to fly away. That one was the first to die, the electrically charged rod of metal the bow gun fired turning it to red and black mist and blowing a crater in the island behind it.
There was screeching from all of the other Sirens as they began flapping up into the air but the stern MAC Gun got a second before it could get airborne. Five seconds after the first shot, the bow gun took its second shot followed a few seconds by the stern gun again, the guns steadily tracking their next target as the panicking monsters tried, and failed, to get clear of the guns' lines of sight. Thirty three seconds after the first shot, the only thing left of the Sirens were a few feathers falling from the sky, everything else was just dust in the wind and even those turned to dust as they reached the water.
As the Kushina lined up with the opposite side of the bay it had started at, Kushina declared "All targets eliminated sir. All fired rods recovered."
Percy nodded in satisfaction and said "Reseal weapons. Reengage the caterpillar drive, bring us back to cruising depth and increase to max speed."
"Aye Captain." Kushina said with a salute and a smile. Three seconds later, the Kushina picked up speed and everyone felt her tip downwards.
"So Captain," Lou practically purred teasingly from behind the command chair "anymore things to look forward to before we hit our destination?"
Kushina was the one to answer as she stated "At current speed we will reach MAC Gun shore bombardment range of our destination in forty five minutes, and the shore itself in forty seven minutes."
"So not likely." Percy drawled.
END
Author's Notes: Now customary reminder to vote on the current poll on my profile for what I will definitely work on during February-March. Seriously people, PLEASE go vote, there are only twenty one voters so far. Also, thinking about putting previous picks back three to five polls after they've won. DM me if you want to say you think I should or not. (Seeing 'reviews' that just talk about what I say in these Author Notes just depress me.)