Chapter 8
Greetings readers! I hope that all of you enjoyed the previous chapter!
In response to Zoe Hunter of Artemis' review, I am glad you liked the suspense. I just love making a big announcement at the end of a chapter or ending it with a cliffhanger. Thank you for your continued support!
Responding to the guest reviewer, don't worry, this story will focus primarily on Percy but I will also need to occasionally focus on some of the characters for the sake of the plot and for giving more depth to the story. Thank you for your support!
In response to J's set of raving reviews, first of all, I am so thrilled that you liked all my stories. Even though I am unable to respond to your reviews of my first two stories, I just want you to know that I was very, very happy to read that you enjoyed them!
I am glad that the one shots were enjoyable. I was a bit apprehensive when I wrote them but now that I look back on that decision, I think it was a good way to expand the AU. I hope that this story lives up to your expectations as well and I hope that you enjoy the rest of it as much as you enjoyed the first two stories! Thank you for your continued support!
In response to CeCe's review, you phrased the cycle of Percy's character development perfectly. In the first book, he was a young hotshot who was obsessed with winning a war and adopted an ends justify the means approach. In the second book, he's matured significantly and after seeing the horrors of war, he is obsessed with maintaining peace, sometimes even through force and turns into a type of moral police. In this book, I want to portray him trying to find his way in a new world and adopt a more central personality. Thank you for your support!
Responding to ' review, that is exactly the reason why I cut out Leo Valdez from the story. It's hard enough with the OC Leo being confused with canon Leo. If I had kept Leo Valdez, it would make writing conversations involving the two of them a massive headache. Thank you for your support!
In response to Ben's review, trust me, that sweet Aston Martin DB11 is very, very close :) Thank you for your continued support!
Responding to Disco's review, that's a very interesting theory that you have there. We will just have to see if it's true or not :) Thank you for your continued support!
I would like to thank the emoticon using guest reviewer for your continued support!
I would like to thank Nice for your continued support!
In response to Walter Ha's review, trust me, the Percy X Diana crossover will definitely happen as soon as I am done with this story. I have already written snippets of the first few chapters of that story and have made notes of the general plotline that I intend to follow. The only thing that prevents me from working on it in parallel to this story is that I want to give both stories my entire attention so that I can make them more enjoyable.
As for the Atlas vs Percy tiff, it will be full of action, emotion and more action. I started writing this trilogy for the purpose of that tussle so I will do my best to make sure that it is the best arc of this series. Thank you for your continued support!
In response to IceFire99's review, I know that Percy seemed a bit Gary Sue in the second story but I did that so that the difference between his portrayal in the second and third books is more evident and the slightly fluctuating personality is just the tip of the iceberg of what I intend to portray. Thank you for your continued support!
I would like to thank the guest reviewer for your support! I am just as thrilled as you are to write the Percy X Atlas arc!
Responding to the guest reviewer (the one who reviews without fail), you are not wrong about him fighting like a Captain America with a spear, except the invulnerability of course. In fact, it was the concept of Cap's Vibranium shield that gave me the idea for Percy's shield but it won't be the last you will be seeing of his swords. Yes, as of the previous chapter, Leo, Annabeth, Thalia, Jason and Reyna are all a part of the DSS. Nico will get involved too but I'm not so sure about Bianca.
I like her character and all but like I said before, I don't want to give myself too many demigod characters to develop as that will take the spotlight away from Percy. But I really want to develop the demigods that do become a part of the DSS and develop their relationship with Percy. So Bianca will be involved but not as much as Nico. I never liked Octavian either so I think that may be part of the reason why I just disposed of him. And writing an arc that follows his transformation is of no use as it won't add to the plot in any significant way because the Romans and Greeks aren't sworn enemies in this story. As always, it's a pleasure to answer your reviews and thank you for your continued support!
In response to Hunter's reviews, as an author, nothing makes me more happy than to hear that you feel like this story is getting progressively better. That is the perfect validation for me. I honestly think that Reyna's intelligence and foresight is a bit overlooked. She managed to predict the Greeks' intention, Octavian's schemes and many other events even before they even took place. And since there's no Bellona in this story, I wanted Minerva to be Reyna's mother which gives even more attention to her intellect. Thank you for your continued support!
In response to Ryan Fowler's review, I am very sorry for your loss. I know how hard it is to lose a grandfather so I totally understand your loss. I am glad to know that the previous chapter could uplift your spirits at least a little. I do have you to thank for the shield idea! I actually read a bit of that story you recommended and I felt like it was a very good story. But I don't think the Percy I have in mind for the next story is as warrior like. He's more of an indifferent character. I am very reassured to know that you are enjoying my stories and I hope it stays that way! Thank you for your continued support!
I would like to thank HellRaiderS for your continued support! Sorry for the delayed update!
In response to Shadowhunter2077's review, yes, that is the point that I am trying to portray as Percy's fatal flaw. His fatal flaw of personal loyalty manifests in a way that makes him obsessed with trying to protect his family. In the first book, he does this by ruthlessly defeating the enemies of the gods and in the second book, he tries to create a perfect world so that no one can harm his family. I want him to go through a reformation phase in this book and learn to finally accept that he can't always be in control of everything. Yeah, I am not arguing with the fact that even the canonical version of the gods are tons of times better than the Titans.
You described Percy's power level very accurately. In the start of the first book, when he's just ready to fight, he can clash evenly with most of the younger Olympians with Ares, Athena and Artemis holding a slight edge over him. By the end of the first book and in the beginning of the second book, he is already a sliver ahead of even those three and by the end of the third book, he's even stronger than the female Elder Olympians with the only people stronger than him being the Big Three. I guess you know what comes next :) That's a great analogy comparing Percy and the Big Three to Nero and Dante and Vergil. Thank you for your continued support!
Responding to Inhaled Atoms' review, well, that's a very bold theory you have there which unfortunately I cannot confirm whether it is true or not. But what I can confirm is that the Second Giant War won't be happening in this AU. That's because I already covered the First Giant War in great detail and don't want to risk my stories becoming repetitive and boring. I hope you like what happens in the future chapters! Thank you for your continued support!
In response to PowerSeeker7545's, yes, that Percy vs Atlas arc which I envisioned well over a year ago is almost here. And trust me, you won't be disappointed :) Thank you for your continued support!
I would like to thank Arden2709 for your continued support! As to what will happen to his swords, I guess there's only one way to find out :)
In response to Jubby1905's review, Percy is still invulnerable but that doesn't mean he can't get hurt. He's just very durable and has a truckload of stamina. Will Percy have his swords when he fights Atlas? Maybe. Maybe not. I am thrilled to know that you consider my stories to be your favourite! Thank you for your continued support!
Finally, coming to RReaperOfSouls' review, don't worry, Leo will not be getting Percy's swords. Like I said, the main character of this story is Percy, not Leo. Thank you for your continued support!
All credit for the characters goes exclusively to Rick Riordan.
Athena was exasperated. Along with Percy, she had gone to Olympus to attend the Divine Council meeting as soon as her aunt had informed her that Atlas had escaped. And they had materialised in the midst of a fierce debate between the members of the Divine Council. Thankfully, her father finally managed to calm everyone down.
"ENOUGH!" Zeus bellowed and all the immortals in the room went silent, after having argued for tens of minutes.
"I know that this situation is far from optimal but rather than debating uselessly, we should try to find a solution. Daughter, nephew, what do you think our next course of action should be?" Zeus asked.
"We wait." Percy flatly replied, puzzling everyone else.
"Very eloquent cuz. Very eloquent." Hermes dryly stated.
"Nephew, I think that you underestimate the threat that the General of the Othryian Forces – Atlas, poses to the very existence of Olympus. This is the same Atlas who was rightly known as the Terror of Olympus. His strength and endurance are unmatchable. In the early stages of the First Titanomachy, he impaled your father with enough strength to almost destroy his physical form and it was four months before Poseidon recovered. This is the same Atlas who not only survived a point blank blast from Zeus' Master Bolt, but also recovered enough to put up a grueling resistance during the Siege of Othrys." Hera revealed, causing worried murmurs to erupt among the worried members of the Divine Council.
"This man was hands down the most powerful Titan after the Titan King and in fact, in terms of brute physical strength, stamina and endurance, he still has no equal. You may be comparable to him in terms of endurance but head-to-head, apart from your father and uncles, no one, not even you, can defeat him. And even your father and uncles had to rely on their elemental abilities to defeat him. As a combatant, he can be devastating but as a general, he can be much, much worse." Demeter grimly stated.
"Gee, talk about fangirling." Apollo muttered under his breath, causing Hera and Demeter to shoot annoyed glass in his direction.
"Aunt Hera, Aunt Demeter, calm down. While we do realise the danger of Atlas being freed, there is nothing we can do about it because it has already happened. Not only that, all our enemies are out there. All of them – the Titan Lords, Oceanus, Themis, Theia, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Perses, Menoetius, Pallas, Astraeus, Lelantos, all of them are free. Phobos, Deimos, Khione and the Hesperides have already defected. And there are countless Potamoi who have left to join Oceanus. So that's a humongous list of enemies. But most of them have just gotten out of painful punishments that have lasted for millennia." Athena revealed, pausing to let Percy continue.
"And Atlas is no different. He held the sky for four millennia. I can wager that he is severely exhausted and thoroughly depleted of his energy reserves. While he will recover much faster than the other Titan Lords, we should still have about two years before he reaches full power. And until then, we will not be seeing him. So that also gives us time to prepare and focus on other tangible threats in the Othryian Forces." Percy expounded.
"Why don't we just divide ourselves into task groups and start a nationwide hunt. Anyway the Titans are all scattered across the country and most of them are not at full power." Nike suggested.
"That would have been our plan of action if it weren't for the fact that each of these bases has a standing army of at least a few hundred monsters along with skilled demititans and demigods. Until DSS agents start scouting and we catch traitors and force information out of them, there is no way to estimate just how many bases the Titans have or how many enemies are present in a base. Adding to all that, they have a weapons supplier who is equipping them with mass quantities of weaponry that is only one step behind our own. We cannot afford to go in blind." Percy grimly stated.
"So tell me, how will we know how many immortals to send to one base? How do we reinforce them? Do we send demigods and legacies who are not ready for a war of this magnitude? Do we use nature spirits like living shields and cannon fodder?" Athena intensely questioned and an uncomfortable silence enveloped the room.
"I know that all of you want to end this war as soon as possible. I also share that sentiment but even if, and that is a very big if, we can win with this impatient, all-in approach, I can assure you that it will be a pyrrhic victory. While you are right to assume that the enemy is unprepared to a certain degree, you forget that we are in a similar predicament." Percy concluded.
"How long do we wait? How will we know when they are ready?" Artemis questioned.
"We have at best two years before the General fully recovers and engages us directly with his armies. However, we require only a year to train our new DSS agents and for Chiron and Lupa to identify and train talented demigod commanders. In six months, Olympus, New Rome, New Greece and all the other places directly in our control will be free of spies. Once my agents are ready to go into the field, we will clip the wings of the Titans – their weapons supplier. Once that is done, we will chip away at the Othryian Forces continuously until they run out of both soldiers as well as advanced ammunition." Percy explained his and Athena's methodically crafted strategy. And all the immortals present in the room looked impressed.
"If there are no more questions, this meeting is dismissed." Zeus stated with a hint of a proud smile before disappearing in a spark of showers. And the other immortals followed suit a few moments later. They had a war to win.
A fourteen year old Nico Di Angelo was very nervous. Half an hour ago, the greatest hero in history had just casually popped in during his sword fighting lesson and after giving a rousing speech to all the campers, General Perseus had asked him whether he would be interested in joining a secret intelligence agency.
He had jumped at the chance to finally be a part of something. He had grown up in New Greece his entire life since his mother had abandoned him and his twin sister as soon as she had found out that they were children of Hades. But despite that, he had never felt like he belonged in Camp Half-Blood.
Regardless of the fact that he was very skilled in wielding his Stygian Iron sword and was easily one of the strongest demigods in the camp, his intensely private nature and brooding personality had alienated him from practically everyone except his sister, Thalia and Annabeth. And his sister had also abandoned him to join the Hunters of Artemis two years ago.
He could never understand why all the other campers were so afraid of him because they had seemed to love the shy yet bright personality of his sister. His train of thought was interrupted when they arrived at their destination which was an armoury. And to his pleasant surprise, he saw some very familiar faces.
"Annabeth? Thalia? Jason?" Nico asked with surprise evident in his voice.
He had only seen Jason once through an Iris Message but Thalia had told him a lot about her younger brother whenever they talked and Thalia and Annabeth were one of the few people who talked to him regularly.
He didn't know much about Leo but the son of Poseidon seemed like a nice guy. But he was completely clueless about the identity of the raven haired Roman girl next to Jason. The only thing he could figure out by looking at her was that she was a daughter of Athena's Roman aspect.
"Hello Death Breath. Looks like you signed up for the DSS as well. What happened? Did you miss me?" Thalia teased. Before Nico could reply, Athena materialised in front of them, prompting all the demigods to bow to her.
"Good evening demigods. All of you know why you are here, so let's cut to the chase. You were our first choice to be the agents of the recently reinstated Divine Secret Service and to our relief, all of you agreed to join us in this mission to defeat the Titans." Athena started and let Percy continue.
"Kids, when we offered this job to the six of you, we told you that this would be a very, very dangerous job. I would offer you a chance to reconsider your decision once again but the raw determination that I sense in all six of you tells me that you won't have any second thoughts. And just like that, you have learnt your first lesson. All the power in the world will fail you if you don't have ironclad determination and indomitable will." Percy stated in a serious voice.
"Now that you have shown us that you have the willpower required to survive the dangers of this job, leave the rest to us. We will train you to unlock your full potential and arm you to the teeth with the most advanced machinery you can think of. Not only that, if you succeed, you will be granted partial immortality as a reward for your service." Athena revealed and an atmosphere of silent excitement enveloped the room.
"But most importantly, you are an integral and indispensable part of my family. So I promise you that I will do my level best to protect you. Let me make it clear, we don't expect you to fight our battles. If it were only the Titans that we were fighting, I would not have gotten all of you involved. But unfortunately, we will be fighting an entire army and to defeat that army, we require your assistance." Percy stated with a sigh.
"We will not let you down, Salvator." Jason determinedly stated.
"Jason, I know you won't. All of you are the best team I could ever ask for. Don't think of me and Athena as your commanding officers. Think of us as older familial figures who are here to guide you and take your help in defeating an enemy that threatens our entire family." Percy stated with an encouraging smile.
"Another piece of information that you need to know is that you will be staying on Olympus for the duration of this war. We will be training you to not only be excellent spies but to also be capable commanders." Athena informed.
"The six of you will be sharing my palace. There are individual rooms for all of you upstairs." Percy revealed.
"Salvator, we would not want to intrude on your life." Reyna respectfully stated.
"Did you think that I would be living with a bunch of teenagers? Chaos almighty, that would give me a headache which even Apollo can't cure. No, I will be moving into Athena's palace to give the six of you some privacy. However, all the Naiads here, who are unquestionably loyal to the House of Poseidon, will be ensuring that you're well fed and will take care of you. They'll also double as your baby sitters to ensure that you don't get into trouble. Even though I doubt how effective they will be." Percy stated with a wry smile.
"Now that all of you are a part of this small family known as the Divine Secret Service, the four of you can drop all the honourifics. You can call me Athena." Athena stated with a kind smile but all the demigods in the room except Annabeth and Reyna seemed to be a bit afraid of the prospect of not being respectful enough to an Olympian.
"Geez, the six of you are way too uptight. The gods are very nice people. Especially Athena. She won't bite anyone. Well, at least she won't bite anyone other than me." Percy stated with a sly smirk, causing the demigods to choke on the air that they were breathing.
"Percy!" Athena admonished with a slight golden dusting on her cheeks. She did not want to traumatize her daughters.
"That joke was too early wasn't it?" Percy asked with a sheepish smile and all the demigods vigorously nodded their heads at him.
"Is this really General Perseus Diaboles?" Reyna whispered to her sister.
"You'd better believe it." Annabeth replied in a low voice.
"Now you know what I have to put up with everyday." Athena stated with an exasperated yet fond smile.
"Hey! I heard that. Looks like both of you inherited your mother's sass and sarcasm." Percy grumbled.
"All right, the six of you have had a long day and trust me, you will have an even longer day tomorrow. I have customized your rooms to suit your tastes and you will find that it's no less luxurious than a five star hotel. Just because we're fighting a war doesn't mean we can't have fun. Now, off you go." Percy waved them away with a mischievous smile as all of them, even Nico, seemed excited at that prospect.
"Four children of the Big Three and my most talented daughters. It looks like they will be the strongest but most rambunctious bunch of DSS agents we have ever had." Athena stated with a resigned smile.
"I can sense it Athena. These six are the future." Percy confidently stated. He knew for sure that the six of them would leave their own, indelible mark on history.
Percy grunted with effort as he squatted a few thousand tonnes for the thousandth time while simultaneously maintaining a mini hurricane around himself. After almost six months of almost uninterrupted training as well as spars with Athena, Ares, Artemis and his father, he felt like his body and mind were back to their peak condition.
However, he felt like he had hit a stagnation point a few weeks ago. And no matter how much he tried, he had not been able to consistently maintain the level of power that he had had before blowing himself up.
While his physical attributes were back to their pre-coma levels, his speed and agility had taken a slight hit due to wielding a shield and spear rather than twin swords. While his spear and shield had been modified to be as light as possible and gave him better protection as well better range, the slight weight difference as well as the larger size of his current weapons prevented him from making the most out of his invulnerability and especially hurt his speed.
He was naturally not as fast as Athena, Artemis or Hermes but wielding twin swords had allowed him to use all his speed but that was not the case now.
The occasional deficit in terms of metaphysical abilities and elemental powers was also evident to everyone who sparred with him. His spear neither drew out all his energy naturally nor did it allow him to control the flow of his immortal essence through it so Percy had to force out all his immortal essence manually, leading to a very inconsistent level of power.
This sudden fluctuation of power, where he suddenly went from being comfortably stronger than the younger Olympians to regressing to a point where he was only a sliver ahead of them had proven to be very troublesome.
During heated spars, he would involuntarily stop forcing out all his power and his attacks would suddenly become weaker, allowing his opponents to get a jump on him. If that happened during a fight with a Titan, it could potentially make him susceptible to attacks that would put him out of commission for a long time.
He had been working on controlling his power output and knew that he would eventually manage to find a solution, but he was afraid that he would run out of time before he found a solution.
His thoughts were interrupted when Annabeth and Reyna walked through the entrance to the arena. And they were soon followed by Leo, Thalia, Jason and Nico who had finished training their elemental abilities with their fathers.
The hurricane instantly dissipated as Percy dropped the giant, dense barbell on his shoulders and with a snap of his fingers, he was back in his usual attire of a button up and slacks.
"I hope my two favourite daughters of Athena have some good news for me." Percy stated with a wide smile.
His smile only grew when Reyna and Annabeth tossed a file to him. A file that contained the names of all the traitors in New Greece and New Rome.
"I knew that I could rely on the two of you to find out all this information in just one month. You have passed your first field test with flying colours." Percy proudly complimented.
"If you had allowed us to join them on the mission, you with have had this file in ten days." Thalia grumbled as she made her way towards Percy.
"Instead you sent us to our fathers who somehow managed to make our already hellish training even more intense." Leo added in an unhappy tone.
He had loved visiting Atlantis. It was a great city and even his stepmother and stepsiblings had been very nice to him. But his father had drilled him for one straight month in the skill of using his elemental abilities. While he was still far from his elder brother's level of mastery, he had become very proficient in his elemental abilities and his very high natural affinity for swordsmanship had made up for his lack of experience.
"Kid, the four of you should consider yourselves lucky. None of your siblings have had the opportunity to learn to use their abilities under the Big Three themselves. Adding to that, my sparring sessions were very intense the past month because I was attempting to break through a stagnation point and I would not have been able to train you effectively. Besides, you forget that I am only a son of Poseidon. While I could have trained Leo, I wouldn't have been as effective for the three of you." Percy explained.
"A heads up would have been nice." Jason stated as he remembered the awkward memory of waking up and seeing his father's face a month ago when he was transported to his father's palace in his sleep. That had given him a mini heart attack. But the rest of his stay there had been great, even if it was jam packed with training.
"Sure, I could have given you a heads up but then I wouldn't have gotten to see you almost pass out due to shock when you first woke up in Uncle Zeus' palace." Percy replied with a hearty chuckle.
"But you sent those two on such a cool mission." Nico argued.
"That is because the four of you will raise heads everywhere you go until you master the abilities to effectively conceal your energy signatures using the Mist. And that is because your presence tends to stick out in a crowd. In contrast, by nature, these two have a less noticeable energy signature. Besides, the past month was for you to learn to use your demigod abilities effectively. And that's exactly what these two did." Percy answered with pride evident in his voice, resulting in Reyna and Annabeth having beaming smiles on their faces.
"Percy, what will happen to all these traitors?" Leo questioned with some concern and Percy's expression instantly turned sober.
"Once Athena and I round up all these spies, they will be interrogated by Ares one by one to extract as much information as possible from all of them. After that depending upon on how treasonous their acts are, we will decide their punishment. We will also try to understand what motivated them to commit these actions and if they deserve a shot at redemption, they will get it. Of course, that will come only after they swear on the River Styx to never go against Olympus ever again. For those of them whose treasonous actions have led to the death of other demigods or mortals, it's the end of the road." Percy stated with a sigh of resigned maturity.
This was the part of his job that he hated the most but he had to do what he had to do. So unfortunately, he had been desensitized to death a very, very long time ago. While he was still fiercely against killing just for the sake of it, he had regularly resorted to that punishment to deal with the most serious offenders.
"Will you really be killing some of those demigods?" Thalia asked as an expression of discomfort made its way onto her face.
"We won't if we don't have to, Thalia. I assure you that we will not kill demigods to set an example or do anything barbaric like that. And I will personally ensure that they will be judged fairly and objectively. We will reserve capital punishment only to those who have been directly involved in the death of innocents." Percy solemnly promised, alleviating most of their concerns.
"Look, since we are not in the heat of battle, it's not a kill or die situation so we don't need to make a split second decision. But, in our current line of activity, there will come a time when you will have to be a judge, jury and if need be, executioner. The toughest part of this job is not the seemingly endless amount of conflicts that you have to resolve or the anxiety you experience from knowing that the existence of everything you love depends on what you do on the field. No, the toughest part of this job is looking into an opponent's eyes. Because when you do that, you gain access to the motives of their soul and that is when, in a split second, you need to decide whether you have to pull the trigger or not." Percy stated in a somber voice.
"How do we know what is right or wrong by only assuming what the other person's motives are? If we back away and only knock them out temporarily, they could harm us or someone close to us later on. But if we jump the gun, we could have taken the life of someone who was just misguided." Nico asked in a low voice.
"My young cousin, the eyes of a man or woman confronted with his or her mortality will never lie to you. Once you stare into their eyes, you will need to deduce their motives and decide what is right or wrong. You need to decide whether to kill or to not kill. And you need to do this again and again and again. You will not always make the right decision. Sometimes, you will panic and make a misassumption. But that is all a part of the spy gig. You won't always be on the bright side of morality and the ends will never completely justify the means. But regardless of whether or not you made the right decision, you will sleep at night knowing that you did what you had to do for the sake of your family and that at least offers some consolation." Percy answered in a gentle tone as his mellow sea green eyes shined with wisdom that had been acquired through decades of pain and wrong decisions . The six demigods in front of him went silent as they processed what he had said.
"Moving on, I know that the six of you have worked very hard for the past month so I have gotten you a private balcony booth to watch Dionysus' newest play. It's what the mortals call a rom-com. After that, you will be having dinner with Aunt Hestia, who dearly wants to spend some time with you. Enjoy your evening." Percy stated with a small, affectionate smile as he gestured the demigods away.
Once they were out of the arena, his smile morphed into distant, sorrowful grimace as he rubbed his temples. He found it extremely saddening that these demigods would have to go through painful tribulations that would burden them with grave maturity at such a young age.
That was the effect of war. It forced boys and girls to become men and women. It forced them to make hard choices that would inevitably leave behind scars on their psyche. But that was why he had chosen these six. They had a strong will. And the hardest choices always required the strongest wills.
Beads of perspiration dropped from Jason's forehead as he narrowly avoided a sword thrust from the son of Hades in front of him before promptly executing a disarming maneuver that Percy had taught him a few days ago. However, what he didn't know was that Nico had mastered the counter to the same maneuver.
The result was that both of them ended up disarming each other. They heard applause in the grand stands and to their pleasant surprise, they found Selene looking at them with a proud smile.
"Aunt Selene." Jason greeted warmly while Nico nodded at her with a small smile.
In the past year, all of them had grown close to all the Olympians as well as Selene, who regularly gave them very valuable life advice and stuffed them with gifts.
"The two of you along with Leo, Thalia, Annabeth and Reyna have truly blossomed as warriors in the past year. I know that both of you are here because you are anxious about your first mission. But don't worry, all of you will do a fantastic job." Selene stated with a warm smile.
"Aunt Selene, I really don't want to disappoint Percy. I mean he's invested so much of his time and energy in us. And if this mission involves all six of us, it seems like an extremely important one. Along with Athena, he probably has made a plan that is the best way to wipe out the enemy. It would be disastrous if we fell short of his expectations." Nico stated as he shared his anxious thoughts with Selene. That was when Percy decided to pop in.
"Kid, don't put too much pressure on yourself. If you are too worried about not botching the mission, chances are that you will botch it up. Just focus on the mission and you'll do great. Besides, even if you do make a mistake, it's not the end of the world. Chaos only knows how many gigantic mistakes I made during the initial stages of Gigantomachy. But neither am I dead nor are we living in a hell scape ruled by Gigantes. Fate always gives us another chance to correct our mistakes." Percy reassured as he emerged out of the shadows.
"How long have you been hiding there?" Jason questioned.
"Long enough." Percy replied with a cheeky smile before his face turned serious.
"I also don't want to hear any of this nonsense about letting me down. I will always be proud of you. Me being proud of you has nothing to do with how you perform in your mission. And don't say I have invested in you. That sounds so cold and mercantilist. Such terminologies and definitions do not exist in a family. I have taken your help and all the training and advanced equipment that I can give you is my way of keeping you safe." Percy firmly stated.
"Now come on. Let's go. Athena, Leo, Thalia, Annabeth and Reyna are waiting for us in the war room. We'll take our leave Aunt Selene." Percy announced before politely saying goodbye to Selene as he, Jason and Nico disappeared in a blue mist.
What he didn't see was the proud smile on Selene's face. There was another nephew she was extremely proud of. One who had risen above all his pain and suffering to become a paragon of virtue.
Percy, Jason and Nico materialised in the armoury of Athena's palace which also doubled as a war room and found that Leo, Thalia, Annabeth and Reyna were waiting for them along with Athena and they were sitting around a mahogany table. Nico and Jason quickly pressed their emblems, their armours turning into casual clothes and then took their place at the table along with Percy.
"Recently, Ares managed to force the information from one of the traitorous demigods about a meeting point where supposedly, one of the leaders of this organization which supplies weapons to the Titans will be meeting a daughter of Mnemosyne in Indianapolis to discuss the sale of highly advanced and very dangerous weapons." Athena revealed.
"Our mission is simple. This meeting will be taking place in a building belonging to this weapons supplier. We will go to Indianapolis and infiltrate the building. It should be relatively simple because I assume that the Titans as well as this weapons supplier will want to keep this meeting low key so they won't have too many monsters with them. Once we reach the floor where this meeting is taking place, we will storm in and capture this mysterious weapons supplier as well as the daughter of Mnemosyne." Percy calmly stated but his voice had a subtly authoritative undertone.
"And to simplify your decision on your first mission, these will be the only two people who you will be taking captive. Put a bullet into the head of every other monster, mortal, demititan or demigod you find there." Athena strictly ordered, and a mildly uneasy expression made its way onto the faces of the demigods. They had been readying themselves for this day but that didn't make the thought any less uncomfortable.
"No, I veto that order. Your instruction is to kill any monsters you come across. If you come across a mortal, demititan or demigod, your only instruction is to put them out of commission. Whether that is temporarily or permanently, is entirely up to you. I have no doubt that you will make the right choice." Percy rebuffed Athena's order and gave the six of them a reassuring smile.
"Percy, this is not what we agreed on. You know how important this mission is. We cannot afford to have any lose ends. The Titans cannot know that we have a set of elite agents tracking down demititans and hunting them." Athena shot back with a steely gaze.
"I know that I agreed to it initially but I'll never force my kids to do something they don't want to do." Percy defended with a similar look of steely determination.
"Your kids?" Thalia asked with some shock. It was what all of them were thinking and none of them could deny that it felt very heartwarming to hear that from Percy.
"Yes, you are all my kids. I do not want to replace your fathers or anything. I still think of myself as your elder brother who always looks out for you. But after having watched all of you grow for the better part of the past year, I have become fiercely protective of all of you and refuse to make you to something you don't want to do." Percy confessed with a small, fond smile that did nothing but embolden the spirits of all the six demigods.
"Alright. Do what you think is right." Athena finally caved in with a resigned sigh. She realised that she was asking fifteen year olds to kill without thinking twice and that made her understand the error in her ways.
"Anyway, we are going to divide ourselves into three strike teams. Nico and Thalia will be coming with me. Leo and Annabeth will be the second strike team while Jason and Reyna will be the third one. We will figure out our other plans once we get to the building. Athena will be guiding us from here as she will be seeing through me. The eight of us have a mental link that will let us communicate with each other without talking." Percy informed.
"How will we be going there? Are all of us going to go there in your flying warship?" Jason asked with a hint of excitement in his voice.
"Cuz, I am glad you asked that question. Only Nico and Thalia will be coming with me in my warship. The four of you will have two of your own warships. One for each strike team." Percy stated with a wide smile as he snapped with fingers.
Instantly, three beautiful supercars that were the same colour as Athena's stormy grey eyes materialised behind them. In the middle was a sleek Ferrari Roma and on its right was a curvy Aston Martin DB11. Finally, to its left was an elegant BMW M8.
"Could they be any grayer?" Nico stated but he couldn't help but feel mesmerized by the colour of the cars.
"I happen to love the colour of my girlfriend's eyes very much. And that colour also happens to be the perfect colour for stealth. The Ferrari is mine. Jason and Reyna, both of you take the Aston. Leo and Annabeth, that leaves you with the BMW." Percy stated and he heard two sounds that sounded very similar to excited squeals erupt from Jason and Leo.
"Do these have the same features as the previous one we drove?" Leo excitedly asked.
"Buddy, these two flying warships are far, far better than that excuse for a war chariot you drove. That thing didn't even have a ballista and couldn't even go supersonic. These two bad boys have one set of twin ballistae that fire six inch wide shells made of the same material that the bullets for your gun are made of. They have two sets of half a dozen missiles that carry a payload of Greek fire and one set that contains a payload of condensed lightning. The body is sturdy enough to survive one of my radial shockwaves but there's always the insanely powerful self destruct button. The RADAR in the warships is connected to your smartphones so you can remotely control them. And to top it off, they travel at the same top speed as my flying warship which is two times the speed of sound so we'll be in Indianapolis in just under half an hour." Percy proudly revealed.
"Why go in these warships when you can use mist travel to teleport us there in seconds? Mist travel anyway leaves behind only a miniscule energy signature." Annabeth proposed.
"That miniscule energy signature will be enough to notify them that you are there. These warships will get you there without revealing your presence. Remember, stealth is paramount in this mission." Athena clarified.
"If you are done with all your questions, let's get into the cars and go to Indianapolis. We have a job to do." Percy stated as he woke up from his seat and made his way to the car
A moment later, the six demigods followed him. This was it. This was their first mission. And it would put to test all the things that they had learnt in the past year. They dearly hoped that they would succeed in this mission.
Hey guys! Sorry for the one day delay. This chapter was ready yesterday but I lost my internet connection so I had to call a guy to get it fixed.
Coming to the chapter, this chapter kicks off the next arc of this story which corresponds to the same timeline as Sea of Monsters. I will take few, very few parts of canon and for the most part it will be like the first arc, that is, it will be more of an original arc.
Since there was no point in following the canonical plot involving the tree being poisoned and stuff, I came with a plotline that would involve the Divine Secret Service and Percy confronting Triumvirate Holdings.
I know I made it seem like this would be the Percy vs Atlas arc but that was just to mislead you. The next arc will be the one that focuses on him. But that doesn't mean you won't see a cameo or two in this arc ;)
I have tried to flesh out the characters of demigods other than Leo, Annabeth and Thalia a bit more so that they don't feel one dimensional and boring. I want these characters to be well developed as they will be important for the plot and the best way to do that is showing Percy being a mentor figure to them.
Also, I gave Nico and Bianca a different backstory and I cut Bianca out of the DSS because I didn't know how to develop her and I felt like I was already pushing the limit with six demigods to develop while maintaining the spotlight on Percy. She will make an entry when the Hunters are involved but other than that, she won't receive significant development or attention.
Read and review, I hope that all of you enjoyed this chapter! Have a fantastic day!
