Chapter 55:
Percy's day started off as it usually did: fan-fucking-tastic.
As if getting attacked by mortals, having their camp breached, and dealing with the fact that their Oracle was now blown to dust wasn't enough. No, now he had to deal with the usual routine of dealing with different campers.
It turns out that most of the campers didn't learn from last time that trying to pick on Percy for things out of his control. First, it was dealing with them finding out that he was the son of Poseidon. Then, it was due to having a Cyclops for a brother. Now, it was due to having a god-killer for a brother.
Despite his misgivings, Percy still loved Markus dearly. That didn't mean that he sometimes felt like cursing his name sometimes due to his actions. But no, he'd learned from his last experiences. He wasn't going to fully blame his brothers or himself for things he couldn't control. Instead, he found a... somewhat healthy way to handle his problems.
A son of Ares cried out in pain when Percy drove his fist into the demigod's nose, breaking it instantly.
Busting faces in seemed like an appropriate response.
The war child stumbled back clutching his nose. Percy glared deeply as six Ares campers came towards him with their weapons raised.
"How many of your siblings have I sent to the med wing? Six this time?" An uncharacteristic sneer crossed his face. "You think you'd learn by now. I guess you inherited more than I thought from your dead father."
The group paused uneasily, the logic behind his words halting them for a moment. But the insult registered soon after, causing the one with the broken nose to roar nasally.
A shield sprung from a bracelet on Percy's wrist - he really needed to thank the Hephaestus kids more - along with Riptide appearing in his hands in a flash. He blocked a strike from him with his shield as he used his sword to block the other. Percy jumped back smiling in anticipation as he watched the oncoming demigods closely.
One of them charged again, swinging his sword in a diagonal downward arc towards the son of Poseidon's head. Percy slowly turned on his heel as the strike closed in. Acting impulsively, he struck his sword into the ground as he raised his now weaponless hand, pushing the flat of the blade off course just enough to miss his head and send the camper stumbling forward towards him. Swinging his shield, he aimed it straight into the demigod's unprotected head with a thunderous crack as the camper crumbled to the ground, unconscious.
Percy didn't miss a beat as he charged the other camper, Riptide being picked up straight from the ground as he dashed towards his next opponent. The now nervous Ares camper swung her sword, trying to fend Percy off. Percy's response was to do a baseball slide under the strike, using the flat of his sword to sweep the demigod's legs out from under her. Percy was on his feet before the camper hit the ground where he kicked the side of her head with enough force to knock her out.
Percy turned to see a spear aimed for his head. Dropping to a knee, he sliced forward quickly, opening up a large cut in his opponents' stomach. This caused the child of Ares to groan painfully. This allowed for Percy to drive an uppercut into the kid's jaw before he joined his siblings on the ground.
Two older looking campers stepped forward, rolling their sleeves in a supposed threatening manner. Percy quirked an eyebrow. "Really? Rolling up the sleeves?" Cracking his neck, he beckoned the group forward. They charged together, one slashing her sword towards Percy's shins while the spear was driven at his chest.
His fury driving him, Percy effortlessly stepped forward and parried the spear and he jumped, moving out of the range of the weapon. The war child tried to pull his sword and attack again but Percy spun and headbutted him cleanly in the face, making him drop instantly.
Wiping his forehead and seeing no blood - that wasn't his own - Percy hummed. "Huh. Not a scratch," he remarked, mocking the girl before him. Snarling, she charged forward like a rampaging bull.
Percy charged at the camper as well, kicking the side of her knee and allowing a sickening crunch to sound through the air. The camper cried out in pain as she dropped her spear and Percy grabbed her by the shirt. Giving a few punches to the gut and face, Percy made sure to throw her over his shoulder, driving her face into the ground painfully.
Percy turned back to the last two Ares campers. One of them turned to the other, who ran away promptly. "Fuck this," was the retreating reply, slipping back into the crowd of fearful demigods.
"I thought children of Hermes inherited their daddy's running legs," Percy mocked, a dark glint in his eyes.
Snarling, the kid responded with, "At least my brother isn't a freak."
"Better a freak for a brother than a bitch of a deceased father."
Roaring in rage at the insult, the Ares child charged forward. Percy let him get a good distance, before launching his fist forward, acting like he was going to hit something. Mid-swing, he vapour-travelled, appearing in the path of the rushing opponent. The punch connected cleanly with his jaw. The son of Poseidon followed this with kicking his legs out from under him, knocking him onto his back. He pinned the demigod to the ground and began wailing on his face.
He wasn't usually this brutal, but the anger at having to deal with shit from everyone, the creeping loneliness that he felt and the frustrations of the upcoming war front caused his mind to be lost in a bloody rage.
Roaring, Percy landed seven or eight brutal punches before he was pulled off by slender yet strong arms.
"Percy! Let him go!" Annabeth cried out, pulling him away from the bleeding and now unconscious camper. "You've proven your point, just stop!"
Breathing heavily, Percy calmed the storming rage going on his mind. He looked to his bleeding knuckles, taking a moment to wince at the brutal action. "S-Sorry," he muttered. He looked to see some children of Apollo lifting the beaten demigods and carting them off to the med bay.
Percy watched them go, part of him feeling slightly guilty. A part of him felt even more guilty at the fact that he had enjoyed what he had done.
"Let's go. Chiron's called a meeting," Annabeth said, breaking him out of his thoughts. Nodding hesitantly, he followed her.
XXX
"Where were you, Percy?" Chiron questioned, seeing the daughter of Athena bring him inside the rec room.
Sighing, Percy gave his reason. "Sorry, just had to deal with a bunch of dumb Ares campers."
"Of course you'd resort to violence to solve your problems," Castor mumbled, though his complaint was heard by practically everybody.
Before Chiron could reprimand him, Percy swooped in. "What was that?" he asked calmly, although the anger in his eyes grew as he glared at the son of Dionysus.
"I think it's pretty obvious," Pollux remarked, stepping in for his brother. "Seems you and your brother are more in common than you thought."
"Funny, I was thinking the same thing about you two. Both of you share the same traits as your father; whiny, pathetic, and has a need to butt in when he's not needed." Usually, Percy wasn't this rude, but he was done dealing with other people's shit.
Pollux grew angrier. Percy sneered. "What? Are you actually going to do something about it? Gods know that I'd beat your ass before you could even try. After all, you are the son of the weakest Olympian." Percy blinked. "Oh, I'm sorry, my mistake. Former Olympian."
The two sons of Dionysus made to charge at the son of Poseidon, but were promptly held back by the Stoll twins.
"Enough!" Chiron yelled, stomping his hoof down and quieting the others from whispering. "All of you are acting irresponsibly! We have a war going on with the Titans! We cannot be fighting amongst ourselves otherwise we will lose! Put aside your grievances between each other! From all of you!" This time, his eyes veered across the room, making sure each cabin councillor looked him in the eye. "Markus' actions aside, we are now fully focused and can prepare for the Titan war, and will continue to be so until its hopeful end! Are we clear?"
There were murmurs of "Yes" and "Alright", before Chiron was fully satisfied.
"Alright," the centaur nodded, now fully calm. "Now, we have picked up some new information that could be invaluable to us. Travis."
Travis stepped forward, seeing that his child of Dionysus was secured. "Yeah, well. Dad contacted us, saying that there are open communication centres that we could use to our advantage. Some mythological, some mundane. So, me and Connor decided to work with the latter."
"One of our siblings has a pub set up in Boston." This time, Connor jumped in. "Apparently, from Dad's boasting, he inherited his communication skills and silver tongue. His name is Billy Newman. He knows guys who know several guys. He has his ears open to any news he can pick up on, mythological and mortal. He's bound to have heard news on any suspicious mortals. Mercenaries, criminals, unknown cults. He's our guy."
"So, we get to meet this Billy guy, and he gives us information on the mortals that the Titans are using?" Katie questioned, skeptical.
"Yep. It's a guaranteed deal. Hermes-approved," Travis assured, smiling.
Thalia turned to look at Beckendorf. "You managed to mix mortal steel and celestial bronze to our weapons?"
The son of Hephaestus nodded. "Yeah. You can pick your weapons on the way out. Depending who wants to go, at least."
"I'm going," Annabeth chimed in, eager to contribute to helping the camp.
"So am I," Percy remarked.
"Me too," Thalia offered.
"Count us in!" Travis and Connor replied at the same time.
"Well that's good. I'm glad to see that you're working together, but we need everyone here," Chiron said, causing the others to quieten. "We need to make sure nothing like the recent attack ever happens again. That is why I suggest that we go with the traditional three members per quest arrangement."
"Hey, that's not fair!" replied the Hermes children.
"We should all go, Chiron! The more people there are, the better chance we have of completing the mission!" Thalia protested.
"And the more defenceless we leave camp," Chiron countered, causing most of them to freeze at the thought. "I'd rather we think this out properly. I admire your passion, I truly do. But we need to keep our heads in the game. This can be labelled as a reconnaissance mission than an actual quest. The questers gather intel on the mortals, and thus we learn to strike with precision."
Eventually, Chiron's logic won out with most of them.
"That being said, I will assign who will go on the mission." Looking at the group, Chiron seemed to be slowly making his decision. "Percy, Annabeth and Silena."
The combination left some confused. "Not that I'm complaining, but why?" Annabeth questioned, curious.
Chiron gave a small, tired smile. "For Percy, he's a child of the Big Three. So, he will be the 'muscle', so to speak." All of them nodded at this. "Annabeth, your brain is valuable, and I hope that you use that, along with a clear mind, to complete the mission." Giving her a look made Annabeth nod sheepishly, knowing her pride would get in the way of certain things.
"And Silena, I hope that her charmspeak would make her a good diplomat."
The aforementioned demigods nodded, knowing that no words were needed to let them know how important this mission was.
Chiron smiled grimly. "May the gods be with you three. As for the rest of us, we will continue to protect the camp. Travis, Connor, inform the questers of the location that Lord Hermes gave you. You will depart early on tomorrow."
With that, the meeting promptly ended, with each of the demigods drifting off to go their own way.
XXX
Percy, Annabeth and Silena stood at the top of the hill, doing their best to ease all of their nerves. Silena packed her arrows in a memorable formation in her quiver, strapping it to her back. "So, is there some sort of... I don't know, speech you guys say before going on quests?"
Percy and Annabeth looked at her incredulously, causing her cheeks to flush. "What?! This is my first quest, cut me some slack!"
"I guess there isn't a customary speech," Percy answered, humming. "Chiron gave me some encouraging words... right after ending it on a sombre note. My second quest, I sneaked out, but Hermes gave me some helpful advice. Specifically for Luke-"
Hearing the name, Annabeth instantly became depressed, giving Percy a side-long glare. He cringed. "Uh... sorry about that. I-"
Silena sighed. "Alright, we need to get this out of the way. Annabeth, Luke was a traitor-"
"Of course, you'd say that," she snapped angrily, a dark expression on her face. "You'd obviously defend your trigger-happy boyfriend-"
"Don't you dare assume that that's the reason I'm happy that Luke is dead!" the daughter of love suddenly barked, causing the two to jump from the bite in her tone. "You have no idea what he's done to me. What he's done to all of us..." She sighed, doing her best to control herself. "You don't know Luke. Not at his worst. So don't go assuming that just because you have a crush on him doesn't mean that you get to speak in his defence!"
Annabeth - initially stunned - made to retort, only for Chiron's trotting to come closer to them. She closed her mouth, but gave her a silent glare.
The centaur came forth, nodding briskly but reassuringly at them. "Right. I assume you know the plan?"
"We go to Boston and find out all we can from said contact, grab a slice of pizza or something and get back here in time for the next Capture the Flag?" Everyone gave a deadpanned look at Percy's answer. He shrugged. "What? It's a plan worthy of Athena."
Annabeth stared at him, blinking for a good while, before she sighed deeply. "Percy, don't ever put those words,and any plan you make, in the same sentence."
"But, I-"
"Don't."
At his pout, Chiron gave a small chuckle. "His optimum is appreciated." He gave them a tired smile. "Alright then questers. I wish you the very best of luck. And remember, make sure to retreat if things go south."
"Understood," the three said as one. With that, Chiron trotted back into camp. They headed towards Argus' van, Percy giving a small sigh once seeing that the two girls were still giving each other glares.
The three got in and soon they were all being taken to New York City. Percy - the unfortunate bastard that he was - seated himself between Silena and Annabeth as they glared at each other throughout the ride. Now, usually he'd be happy to be between two pretty girls, but the problem here was that one was his brother's girlfriend, and the other was still hung up on her dead crush.
How the hell does Markus handle three girlfriends? he thought to himself.
Shaking his thoughts, he decided to pull a classic ADHD moment to make the mood more comfortable. "You know, Argus. This white van kind of looks creepy."
His blue eye that was on the back of his neck blinked at him in confusion, as if asking why.
"Well - and don't take this the wrong way - the van looks like something a kidnapper would drive," he replied quickly.
Argus was so shocked from the description that he narrowly avoided hitting a truck that came too close to them, almost crashing into them due to his surprise. Horns blared in response as Argus did his best to control himself.
Once the girls readjusted themselves, they glared at Percy. "What the hell, Percy?!" Silena exclaimed, trying to stop her beating heart.
"What?! It's true! Other campers have complained about the same thing!"
"That doesn't make it look like a kidnapper's van!" Annabeth interjected.
"Oh, really? Large white van, driven by a guy who won't speak, who usually drives kids around the country, doing things that we can't explain to mortal police officers! Tell me that doesn't sound like a kidnapper's M.O.!"
The girls paused, even as Argus' eye glared at Percy for the comparison. "That... is incredibly comparing," Annabeth admitted after a moment.
Percy gave a smug smile as he crossed his arms. "See?! I told you... uh..." Percy shrank at the large glare Argus was giving him. "Sorry?"
It was still silent following Percy's words, but at least the tension was somewhat gone. Soon, they got to the train station and got dropped off by Argus. When Percy went to wave him goodbye, the multi-eyed being responded with a middle finger in response.
"That was harsh," Percy mumbled as they bordered the train.
"You did compare him to a child predator," Silena remarked.
"I was just making a comparison. I never said he actually was one!"
Annabeth sighed. "Okay, enough about the child predator bullshit!" Her exclamation got her odd and worried looks from the other nearby mortals, prompting her to hide her face. "Uh, let's just go over the plan."
"We go meet Billy, gather any information we can on the mortal group we have, then bring it back to camp," Silena summarised simply. Percy hesitated, causing her to frown. "What is it?"
"I was thinking... maybe we could use Billy to locate their nearest base and... take it down," the son of Poseidon answered, seemingly gaining more confidence as he spoke.
Silena immediately shot the idea down, though. "That's a bad idea, Percy. We'd basically be going in blind. Even if Billy could give us all the information we need, we're just three demigods. These mortals were able to storm through camp and kill dozens of us."
"But if we could use Annabeth's cap, we could-" "No, Silena's right, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth denied, cutting him off. "We don't know their full capabilities. Trying to storm a stronghold with just the three of us is suicidal."
Percy scowled. "Do you guys hear yourselves?! If we have the chance to take them down and cripple them, we'd be essentially freeing our workload for the Titan war!"
"At the cost of our lives?!" the daughter of Athena snapped, stunning Percy. "Sacrifices need to be made for war, but not when trying to undertake stupid missions that have a 80% chance of killing us! And that's the optimistic outcome!"
Despite his anger, Percy's mind focused on the random bits of her rebuttal. "Did you just-"
"Calculate the most sure-fire way in which your stupid plan leads us to death? Yes, but that's not the point! The point is that we should stick with the mission Chiron gave us, so we can be successful!"
Cowed by her logic, Percy bit his lip as he remained silent. Annabeth huffed slightly, looking to the other side. In the middle of it all, Silena sighed to herself.
Three hours passed by fairly quickly, despite the silence. The three got off at Haymarket Station near the north end of Boston, getting into a cab that lead them to Downtown.
"So where are we meeting your contact?" Silena asked.
"At a bar called the Hole," Percy remarked, having memorised the name upon talking with the Stoll twins. Their cab took a right, entering the afternoon traffic and cruising through.
Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "'The Hole?' Really?"
"Hey, I'm not the one choosing the names," the son of Poseidon remarked.
"There any rules we need to know before going in to meet Billy?" Silena questioned.
"Apart from the usual rules when dealing with a child of Hermes?" Percy snarked, before sobering up. "Don't be too free with information, prepare to use charmspeak as a backup, make sure not to take anything, and don't offer him any drugs."
The two girls blinked. "Why-" Annabeth started to say, only for Percy to shake his head frantically.
"Don't ask," he pleaded. "Please." He couldn't get the long list of problems that had occurred as a result of drug addiction out of his head in regards to Billy. Most of the problems too graphic for his mind to properly conjure.
The two girls hesitantly nodded as the cab dropped them off at the bar. Getting their game faces on, Percy walked in first as he opened the door, mentally preparing himself for what was inside.
Amusingly enough, the inside looked like a regular bar; the bar table, the seats, tables strewn out, a selection of drinks on the shelves, and even a jukebox. That was the normal stuff out of the way.
What wasn't normal were the residents. Some looked humanoid, with only certain body parts depicting their true nature. One female was short, with fairy-like wings fluttering behind her back as she floated above the ground, giggling tipsily. Another being was was a satyr, which was normal to the Greek demigods. The only thing that made them blanch and look away was the fact that he was currently having sex with two women at the same time, all of them moaning with wanton abandon.
The sheer shamelessness and noises made all three of them blush heavily and try to look away, especially since most of the people there either walked by or stared lustfully at the actions.
Other different types of residents included what looked like goblins and trolls. Percy almost uncapped Riptide upon seeing a Minotaur walk across the hall, a bloody axe in hand. Only Annabeth's hand on his shoulder managed to calm him down. Because of that, he managed to notice distinct differences from this Minotaur, and the Minotaur that he had faced around two years ago.
This Minotaur had slightly less muscle than Percy's second monstrous foe. Still larger than any mortal man could ever be, but his body didn't look like bowling balls were stuffed under his skin. Also, he seemed to have a cup of wine in his hand as he guzzled it down with gusto. He burped, his axe knocking down a table accidentally, as well as those sitting on it. The occupants were a group of what looked to be a cyclops family, complete with a massive one for a father, a slimmer version for a mother, and a baby-looking (almost adorable) version for a child.
The father yelled at the Minotaur, causing it to look back. Blinking with its dark eyes, the bull just mooed out loudly. Following his cry, a human-looking waitress came out with a tray of glasses of alcohol, gesturing it to the two monsters.
With a yell of excitement, the father cyclops grabbed two glasses, passing one to the mother. Mooing happily, the two male monsters sat down at another table with joy, cheering each other on. The rest of the cyclops family joined somewhat cautiously.
"This is... so weird," Silena remarked, stunned at all the beings before her. The cyclops family, the rest of the monsters that didn't particularly look Greek, even the satyr having sex (admittedly, that last one allowed her head to be filled with raunchy images. Particularly, ones with her and Markus).
"Yeah," Percy remarked, still dazed. Suddenly, the sound of giant footsteps became clear to them, causing them to turn and see what looked to be a large troll. Instantly, all three of them looked repulsed.
The troll was fat, with mouldy green skin and yellow teeth that appeared crooked. Its eyes were dark with lust as he gazed at Silena, a dark pink tongue travelling across his crusty lips. "You, girl," he grunted at the daughter of Aphrodite. "Come with me. We'll have a good fuck for tonight."
While Percy and Annabeth were shocked at the troll's bluntness, Silena sneered. "No way in Hades."
Growling, he picked her up, causing her to yell out in surprise. "That wasn't a request," he snarled. His thick fingers started to tear at her shirt, revealing her toned stomach. Before he could go any further, Silena summoned her bow and fired an arrow at the troll's face, causing him to bellow out in pain.
Snarling, Silena dropped to the ground and looked to find the Minotaur close by with the cyclops family. She quickly stomped over to where his axe was and grabbed it. Her anger giving her strength, she dragged the axe to the downed troll and raised it up, bringing it down with a mighty swing.
Shocked, the audience watched as the axe cleave the troll's head into two, blood and pieces of bone flying everywhere. The daughter of Aphrodite was breathing heavily, glaring angrily at the dead corpse.
"Godsdammit, who killed who this time?!" a loud voice called out, causing all eyes to turn.
The man was handsome, looking almost similar to Hermes. He had baby-blue eyes with shaggy blonde hair. He looked to be in his twenties, a fact that had shocked the three demigods there, having not seen many adult demigods in general.
He wore a simple white shirt and black slacks, complete with expensive dress shoes that practically screamed wealth. He sighed at the corpse of the dead troll. "Poor, poor Grendel. He will be missed." He turned to look at Silena. "I assume that he was a little handsy?"
Silena's glare was his answer, making him pinch the bridge of his nose.
"Alright, fine. You get a pass. But don't go around killing people around here. Gives the place a very bad rep." He turned to the gathered audience. "Show's over! Move along!"
The crowd eventually dispersed, allowing for the man to head to the bar desk. The demigods reluctantly followed him, assuming that this was Billy. They got to the desk, and looked to see that he had taken a phone out and dialled a number, holding up a finger for a moment of silence.
"What do you want, fatass?" he complained. "I already sent your ass out of my place a week ago."
"Fuck you, Billy!" the voice cried out in anger. "Why don't you ever show proper respect, you little shit?!"
"To be honest, the only 'respect' I'd give is mocking you behind your back," Billy snickered. "I'm sure your skin is thick enough to shield your petty feelings."
"I'm going to take everything from you, you son of a bitch! When I'm through with you, I'll own everything! You won't even be able to work at a fucking McDonald's afterwards!"
"Sticks and stones, fatass," Billy remarked, before cancelling the call. He looked towards the demigods. "Well, well... a son of Poseidon, and daughters of Athena and Aphrodite. What a surprise."
Slightly stunned by the immediate reveal of their heritage, it took a while for them to properly respond. Annabeth managed to recover quickly. "How were you able to use a phone? Monsters will-"
Billy snorted. "Oh, please. You still haven't updated yourselves? Man, Chiron really is old-fashioned." He waved his phone in his hand. "A little trick that I learned when leaving camp. It's... modified to suit my purposes. If I like you enough, I can tell you all about it later. But you're not here to talk about my phone, you want information."
Nodding, Silena stepped forward. "We need information, on a group of mortals who attacked Camp Half-Blood recently."
Billy hummed. "I can do that. But drop the charmspeak, darling. It's starting to piss me off."
Stunned, she nodded back slowly.
"Alright, I can tell you what you want to know. But you have to pay me."
"You want money?" Annabeth asked, almost incredulously.
Billy scoffed. "Please. I'm currently running Barnes Global while running this dinky little bar. I don't need any new money coming in, soon."
Annabeth's eyes went wide. "The billionaire's company?! The one to completely change the platforms and ideas for structural engineering and architecture?!" She had a huge smile on her face. "That's amazing!"
Billy gave a cocky grin. "But of course. But back to my main point. I want information."
"What kind of information?" Percy asked, before Annabeth could go all fangirl.
"Give me all the details of the attack on your precious little camp."
"What do you want to know?"
Billy grinned. "Everything."
Percy sighed and began narrating the story out for Billy. He told him how the campers barely managed to rally up amongst themselves and fight back against the invading mortals, the destruction of the Oracle of Delphi, the steps taken to train the camp, and the possible interference of outside forces.
Billy hummed as he went to pour himself a glass of vodka. "Interesting," was all he'd managed to say, before downing his glass quickly. "Before I tell you what you want to know, you should understand something. My bar, my occupants, myself; all neutral in this shitstorm. I am just an informant, doing my job, stealing candy from babies, all that good shit. But if you bring me into your little war, I promise you I will make you regret it."
Annabeth blinked. "You're not going to help out in the war with the Titans?!" she exclaimed shocked. "Why?! They're attacking your family!"
Billy's sardonic chuckle made the teens pause. "Family?" he queried with a sneer. "You mean the 'family' that forces their children to follow their orders like slaves and go on outdated quests to either sooth a god's ego, or cater to their laziness? Yeah, we're so family-orientated."
Percy tried to speak this time. "Look, I know that your dad not being around sucks, but-"
"I'm going to stop you right there kid, before I retract my kindness and tell you all to fuck off," Billy snarled, essentially telling the three to keep their mouths shut. "Unlike you, I'm not leashed to beings who are nearly one foot in the grave. I'm not tied down to a military boot camp covered up in niceties to train soldiers. This pub - my life - is a result of me taking ownership of it, and not trying to die for some fucking glory from a deadbeat dad."
Billy breathed out heavily through his nose, pouring more alcohol and downing it in a rush. "The one bad thing that Henderson kid did was allowing the rest of those Olympians to live, rather than cut the head off and leave the body to rot." A loud crack rang through the air, making Billy look down at his hand. He was gripping his glass too roughly, causing it to crack and allow some liquid to spill through.
Sighing, Billy threw the glass away. "Holly, clean that up, please." A young woman of Asian descent around the age of twenty sprung forward, sweeping the broken glass.
Wiping the blood off of his hand with a spare napkin, Billy sighed as he looked at the shocked, horror-stricken or morose-looking demigods. "Look, because I don't feel like being a total asshole, I can tell you what I know about the group. Just make sure that you don't get yourselves killed or something. When stupid people die because of you, rather than because of themselves, it really grates on you."
Annabeth bit her lip to keep from firing back, but her displeasure was shown on her face.
"Their name is the Order of Enlightenment," Billy responded, requesting for another drink. "But I think the first thing you need to know is that there's a rumour that they've been around for over 200 years."
All three demigods' eyes widened.
XXX
(Helheim)
Norse Group
Mallory's knife immediately shattered upon contact from the very brief struggle between the Valkyrie's charge. Since then, she'd been using her instincts to dodge and evade each and every attack brought upon her.
Halfborn performed better, his hammers swinging and smashing into the Valkyries, but doing little damage. He rolled suddenly, narrowly avoiding Sigrún's deadly attack that shattered the ground before her. Wings arching and contorting painfully, she sent a wave of deadly blades at the berserker, who got pierced while simultaneously defending himself.
"Dammit, where is Markus?!" he called out in anger, throwing his hammer like a projectile and cleanly smacking into an approaching Valkyrie, who went down narrowly. Roaring, he gave several smacks and slams into each opponent, fighting with every inch of skill he had possessed.
Alas, it was for nought. Sigrún shrieked in fury as she sailed forward, a scythe magically propping itself into her hands. He made to side-step and swing downwards, but the Valkyrie Queen was too agile. Too swift. Halfborn's side was pierced, his blow halted mid-swing.
""Halfborn!" Mallory cried out. Recklessly, she charged forward to free him, only for her to be quickly scooped up into the air, held by her neck. Ròta cackled madly, holding the almost still Gunilla by her neck as well.
"Is this the standard that Odin keeps his Valkyries at?" Ròta sneered, her madness-filled eyes glaring into Gunilla's weak ones. "Pathetic."
"B-Better than... a w-witch who... kills her own kin!" Gunilla hissed back, spitting blood on the former Valkyrie's face.
Glaring darkly at her, Ròta dropped her before kicking her harshly, making her skid across the icy floor. "Do not dare mock me for that! You have no idea the audacity! To have my own child be brought up in that coward's teachings... death was a kinder outcome, compared to what he'd do to her."
Roaring, Mallory kicked at Ròta head uselessly. "Let go of me, you decrepit bitch!" Desperate, she wrenched the wrist to an appropriate angle and bit down, internally shivering at the horrid, rotten taste. But she kept on biting through, her desperation and anger giving her the strength to tear through the dead flesh.
Ròta screeched, more in shock than in actual pain, as Mallory landed narrowly, throwing her remaining serrated knife at Sigrún, who kept on hacking brutally at Halfborn. The knife landed in her eye, distracting her long enough for Halfborn to painfully dislodge himself from her scythe with a guttural cry of pain. He slammed a hammer into her face, stunning her only briefly as he jumped back to gain distance.
Halfborn and Mallory stood back-to-back, too far from the unconscious T.J. and the groaning Gunilla to properly help them. The berserker chuckled upon seeing his blood on the floor. "Kind of says something... to have your blood... coat the floors of the Realm of the Dead while battling. What a way to go..."
Mallory snorted, biting back tears and anger at his state. "Don't be getting stupid with me."
"Says the girl who bit into a zombie Valkyrie."
Their banter was cut short as the Valkyries charged, forward. Before they responded in kind, the two shared a brief look. One that shared their respective feelings about their situation. Their anger, hope, despair, love. All of them managed to hit the other with the force of an axe to the heart.
The einherjar roared as they ran forward, facing certain death. They kept on smiling, preferring to be nowhere else but at that moment. Even when Halfborn's limbs got cut off, he smiled. Even while Mallory got impaled, she grunted but kept a grin on her face. As they kept on fighting, one thought rang through their heads, even until their final moments.
I love you.
And then the Valkyries beheaded the two of them cleanly, Gunilla's scream of anger ringing across the space around her.
With Markus
The son of Poseidon threw his ball of hellfire through another image, conjured up by the cursed Realm of the Dead.
Since moving on from his battle with Balder, he'd been hit by numerous images of death. He'd seen cries of old spirits, who shed tears at their aged, decrepit state. He'd seen gruesome deaths of different Vikings, with the most brutal being a Viking getting his spine ripped out.
Even after all the gory kills that Markus had performed, each death gave him pause. Some had him halt in his steps, others had him wincing in slight sympathy.
Still, he'd trudged forward, body tingling with slight exertion. Maintaining his hellfire took its toll on him. Especially since his aura got progressively more and more corrupted the more he used his demonic form.
Markus grunted as he sighed deeply. The sensations are getting worse. I'd have to find a better method of getting through this realm. Using my demonic powers is a double-edged sword.
Markus was worried for his body, hoping that he didn't fuck it up badly. In hindsight, grafting demonic energy to his being, and using it on a godly-enhanced mortal body wasn't exactly a safe idea, but he was too consumed with thoughts of power to properly take in the consequences.
Just as he was lost in his thoughts, he heard the telltale sounds of battle ahead. Gritting his teeth, Markus moved at super speed and dashed forward, hoping beyond all hope that he could make it in time.
He was too late.
He watched with wide eyes as Halfborn and Mallory were promptly beheaded by what looked to be elder Valkyries. Gunilla's cry of pain quickly snapped him out of his shock as he witnessed the sad scene.
But with that shock, came rage.
Roaring, Markus got Red Queen out and moved forward, his anger at his own helplessness getting to him. While he had just met the two Norse einherjar, they seemed like likeable people. But more importantly, Markus' own independent thoughts of taking on the strongest foe and leaving the others to move forward hit him hard. Maybe if he had taken out Balder faster. Maybe he could've used speed clones to scout ahead, let them take the blows instead of his allies.
Snarling, the demigod promptly hacked and slashed at a few surprised Valkyrie, making their undead forms crumple into dust.
Ròta blinked slowly, before sneering. "So, Odin has been mingling with monsters, has he? Well, you-"
Markus didn't give her time to respond as he kept attacking, his focus sharper than any blade he possessed. His War God Speed Impulse activated, making it seem as if time slowed down in his perspective. Moving in between the oncoming attacks, Markus slashed viciously with Red Queen, the flaming blade tearing through the Valkyrie. More came to flank him, but he was a whirlwind of flames.
Hellfire sprung around him, burning and even destroying a few strays as he attacked from all sides. Instincts kicking in, Markus crouched down swiftly, just avoiding Sigrún flying charge. Kicking upwards, he sent the Valkyrie flying as he leapt up with power in his legs, slamming into Ròta's face and using it as a springboard to jump even further, putting him in good distance with the airborne Sigrún.
Sigrún wiggled, trying to control her flight pattern, but the son of Poseidon wasn't having it. Grabbing her swiftly by the neck, Markus used the clenched hand of his sword to break her face in, each feature being destroyed by the blazing fists of hell.
One final punch sent her spiralling down, with Markus' flaming sword the point of his downward entry. Just as Sigrún hit the ground, he impaled her cleanly through with Red Queen, a flaming cape of hellfire following after him.
Turning around swiftly, he dislodged the sword quickly and struck it onto the ground, a shockwave of flames being produced that knocked all the Valkyries but Ròta - who expertly weaved her way out of the attack - into the air. Moving quickly, Markus swapped out Red Queen for Yamato, and disappeared in a blur of motion. He reappeared in the same spot that he was, body contorted into his traditional katana-wielding stance as he sheathed his sword with a click.
The airborne Valkyrie were quickly sliced into multiple pieces, all falling to the ground. Ròta screeched as he advanced towards her, her wings doing a surprisingly good job of parrying his strikes with her wings.
"Begone, monster! These are Norse matters!" Ròta commented, her molten wings slowly being chipped at by Yamato. "You have no business here!"
"Neither does a dead spirit refusing to stay dead!" the demigod retorted. Just as the two kept on fighting, they paused upon the sudden shift in the air. The winds of Helheim - which were usually cold and filled with death - quickly hummed with power. More specifically, magic.
Markus could practically taste the magic in the air. A different 'flavour' than what he was usually used to, ancient and filled with a sense of foreboding. But what he could sense was that it was dangerous.
Racking his brain for reasons as to why this was occurring, he paled as he came across the conclusion; Loki had succeeded in casting the spell. Snarling, he pressed forward, cutting off one of Ròta's wings and stabbing forward into her, causing her to grunt.
"I don't have time for this," he hissed, before pulling Yamato out and beheading her promptly. He turned to look at the slowly moving T.J. and Gunilla. Sighing in frustration, he summoned speed clones to pick them up. He looked at the two einherjar corpses sadly, hoping that he could do something, like create a proper burial for them. But considering that they were in Helheim, realistically it didn't matter. And he didn't have enough time.
"Take them to a safe part of Helheim, or better yet, try and get them out of here," he ordered his clones, who promptly nodded.
Gunilla grunted as she tried to wrestle her way out of his clone's grip. "No! I can continue forward!"
"You're almost half-dead!" Markus retorted, angered. "Three of our allies are down, and the other one is unconscious! I'm the only one in fighting form. Don't worry, I'll end this quest!"
"You-" Gunilla tried to yell back, but Markus ignored her, dashing forward in the direction of the source of the magic. "Dammit!" she cursed, the speed clones doing their duty and escorting the Valkyrie and demigod away.
As he ran, he was hit further by the exertion of being in his demonic form. Growling, he dismissed it, running further to keep himself warm by moving. After a few more minutes of running, he had finally managed to arrive at the source.
He managed to push past what looked to be an odd-looking mansion palace, decorated with gleaming silver. If Markus were to compare it to Hades' personal palace, he would find some similarities in the aura it seemed to give off, and the floor itself seemed to ripple and shift with a large amount of bones. There didn't seem to be a throne, surprisingly enough, but there was a large slab in the far end of the large room. An alter, he guessed.
There were two people on the opposing end. One was male, with hair that was bleached white. His face - which was once handsome - was now no more than a melted mask of scar tissue. His sickly-thin frame barely managed to fill in the Norse armour that he appeared to wear.
The other person, however, seemed to contrast the person beside her in appearance. She was beautiful, with pale skin and black hair so black it was identical to the night sky. Her beauty seemed comparable to Aphrodite, only her beauty seemed to be darker, like a painting drawn by a nihilist brought to life. She had the same dark, deranged light that Markus had seen in Hades' eyes upon meeting him for the first time. Her Norse armour seemed to shine, following the colour scheme of her domain with silver and black.
"Well, well," the man - presumably Loki - greeted charmingly, "the man of the hour has arrived. You know, Kronos said that you'd be the first to knock on our door and spoil our little fun. No one likes a buzzkill."
"Shut it, Loki," Markus hissed, taking out Tsunami. "I'm not in the mood to deal with your shit."
"But where's the fun in that?" Loki pouted, a malicious gleam. "And after all that trouble I get to greet you, sending precious little Balder out for some fun. You think I'm being a bad host, oh daughter of mine?"
"I believe that this is my domain, father," came the soft, somewhat raspy voice of Hel. "So, as the owner of said domain, I think I should bring out my own... butler, so to speak." Clicking her fingers, grey smoke started to form in front of Markus, taking on a solid, humanoid form. Features started to form. White hair fell from an ages scalp, and despite being a ghost of some sorts, wrinkles were forming on his forehead and face, showcasing his age.
His eyes were dark blue, but held a power inside them that caused Markus to still for but just a moment. He wore a traditional Viking attire and helmet, aged and torn with scars and slashes. However, the shocking thing was his presence. Norse runes started to form around the ghost's body, bending and twisting the very air around him.
Hel grinned. "Oh, how delightful. And just in time for the main course!" She grinned, showing pearly white teeth as she spread her arms towards the ghost. "Well, I supposed introductions are in order. I'm sure you know of my father, Loki. I am Hel, ruler of Helheim. And my beloved butler/servant/waiter... slave. Let's just stick with slave... is Bor. Father of the beloved Allfather Odin, who I'm sure you're familiar with."
"We've... gotten well-acquainted," Markus commented, mentally demanding his divine energy to enter his body completely. Despite his supposed bravado, he was suddenly very cautious. As he stared at the ghost before him, he gulped slightly. Bor's presence started to affect the area around him as he fully came into being. He hadn't even so much as moved, and yet Markus was already sweating slightly.
Bor's presence felt more large, more powerful, than his son Odin, and was definitely stronger than any individual Olympian he had come across.
Suddenly, runes started to cover the space around the alter. Souls - spirits of the damned - started to draw themselves towards the alter as the presence became larger and larger.
Acting quickly, Markus dashed forward at super speeds, trying to stave away God Trigger in the hopes of ending this all at once. However, he was quickly intercepted by a massive axe that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. No, not nowhere. It was summoned to Bor's hand, the Norse deity looking at him blankly.
Tsunami struggle to hold onto the monstrous strength of the Asgardian elder before him. He was promptly slammed back into the wall opposite him, a slight crack accompanying the collision as Markus groaned slightly.
Loki clapped. "My, my! This is quality entertainment. Do you think that the buffoon Thor would rank this high on his anticipated fights?"
"Knowing Bor's strength, father, it'd be a slaughter," Hel remarked, seeing the soul of one of the Jötnar being revived quickly. A shape was quickly taking form, filling the space beside the alter quite quickly.
A giant burst of divine energy started to sprout from Markus as he entered his God Trigger. His signature Omega symbol appeared in his eyes, his hair raising upwards due to the awesome power being produced. With the roar sounding like a wrathful god coming from his lips, Markus sped towards Bor again, trident glowing with power.
Acting quickly, Bor intercepted the strike easily, the magic produced from his body running through his axe. No force was produced from behind the old god, making Markus' eyes widen briefly. He collected himself, jumping back and spinning with destructive force, Tsunami a whirlwind. He slashed, stabbed and deflected, getting into the ancient dance of combat with Bor.
However, Markus' eyes widened as he quickly batted the trident away with the shaft of his axe and sliced forward at the same time. Markus moved away, vibrating his arm to avoid the deadly strike that Bor had performed. A massive shockwave was produced from this, but Markus didn't let that deter him.
He channelled his golden lightning, his emerald aura creating a stark contrast as he fired a powerful but wordless lightning spell from the tips. Bor looked on in blank nonchalance as he backhanded the lightning with his hand, aiming his own axe towards the demigod. A millisecond later, Markus cried out as he body was instantly struck powerful lightning of Bor's own making.
Crying out in pain, Markus winced as he tried to fight through the powerful attack. This lightning was greater than anything Zeus could pull off. Hell, it was greater than anything Susanoo could pull off. He knew Bor was powerful, but this was ridiculous.
Growling, he resisted the attack long enough to zoom forward, body alight with energy as he raised his trident forward. "Θύελλα! (Tempest!)" he bellowed, slashed his trident two ways and casting off gales of fierce wind and violent waves.
Casually, Bor swung his axe, ice wafting off of the blade as he froze both the water and winds, calming them and bringing them to a standstill, causing Markus to grit his teeth.
"Bullshit!" he called out, because his shock was that great. His Tempest spell was one of his more powerful spells, one he hadn't used on practically any opponent. Still, the destructive capability should've done at least something.
Loki and Hel chuckled, souls being turned into Jötnar at a much quicker rate.
Snarling, he dashed forward again. This time, Bor slammed the butt of his axe into the ground, a rune lighting up on the floor; ᚱ. The rune 'Raidho'.
Space literally distorted, as suddenly the path between the two lengthened considerably. Taking this chance, Markus was about to switch to Yamato, only for Bor to react much more quickly and summon rays of multi-coloured lights aimed straight for the son of Poseidon. Each one looking and even feeling deadlier than the last one.
Thinking quickly, Markus called out, "Sagitta Spiram Verberare!" Dozens of magic arrows were fired off at Bor's own barrage, pitifully intercepting each blast. Markus had to use his War God Speed Impulse and super speed to evade most of the oncoming attacks. Just as he was about to dodge the next onslaught, Bor suddenly appeared in a burst of speed. Shocked, Markus was promptly uppercutted with destructive force, cracking his jaw slightly and making him almost bite off his tongue.
The demigod was propelled upwards, breaking the ceiling of the throne room as he was launched into the dreary sky of Helheim. As he was in the air, he commanded the winds to form and help him fly, just as Bor teleported above him.
Switching out Tsunami for Kusanagi, Markus used his atmokinesis to its fullets. The sky literally exploded with noise and power as Markus gathered all of the lightning gathered at the tip of his sword. A funnel cloud of lightning, water and violent winds started to form as the demigod quickly performed his next spell.
"Θεόςέκρηξη! (Godblast!)" he cried out, the colossal blast of storm energy aimed straight for Bor.
Watching casually, Bor's axe lit up again, ᚱ lighting across its butt. A portal appeared before the elder god, swallowing up Markus' Godblast instantly.
The demigod's eyes widened. "A portal?"
Before he could reflect on this information, another portal opened directly next to him where the attack was now coming. While Markus' space-time magic was no joke, he couldn't seal the portal or affect it in any way for some reason. Nevertheless, he dodged the beam as it somehow aimed itself into the sky.
As it shot skyward, a third portal appeared to absorb it. A fourth one then reopened directly next to it firing right back at the demigod. This continued onward for a few moments as multiple portals would constantly open and redirect the attack back towards Markus as he continued to dodge.
This left countless streaks of the storm blast coiling around the dozens of open portals in the sky. Once enough had been formed, Bor then sealed all the portals causing the energy to simply explode. Eyes wide, Markus could only scream loudly as he realised his opponent's plan too late.
He was drawing a cage with those portals! Markus thought to himself, body wracked with pain. Before he could collect himself, a mighty heave of Bor's axe slashed at his collarbone, causing him to yell in even more pain as blood flew freely from his now gaping wound.
Gasping, Markus quickly dislodged himself as he tried to summon water to heal himself from the grievous injury. Bor, however, was relentless and continued to pursue him, fighting him in the air.
Markus knew instantly in that moment that he wouldn't last even a minute under the terrifying onslaught that was Bor. He was a better warrior than Ares or Athena, and even Zeus himself. Snarling as he moved to give himself even the smallest of space, Markus' next spell was on the tip of his lips.
""Αστέρια Οργή! (Asteria's Wrath)!" he intoned loudly. The desolate sky of Helheim struggled to open with the interference of foreign magic, but Markus' power and will managed to allow the spell to work. The clouds parted, opening in millions of places. Falling meteors fell from these openings, aimed straight for Bor.
Not even acknowledging Markus' powerful spell, Bor's axe lit up again, but with a different rune this time; ᚺ, the rune Haglaz. Instantly, a hailstorm started to instantly form among the rest of the falling stars, immediately freezing them. Taking command of said frozen stars, Bor aimed them directly at Markus, who's eyes widened yet again at the casual control of his own spell.
Instantly, he used his speed to move and weave out of the path of each star before him, but it was only a matter of time until he got bombarded by a few lucky ones. He grunted as each force collided with his body, breaking and freezing the parts that connected, causing him to move sluggishly as he bled, bones broken from the impact.
Just as he escaped the icy onslaught, Bor appeared before him again. Exhausted, Markus could do nothing but scream in agony as Bor struck him down brutally with one swing of his axe, cutting deep into his chest and slicing through bone and flesh easily.
Crying out in agony, the pain too much from one simple swing, Markus' God Trigger was dismissed. His consciousness was fleeting before he could even hit the ground. As he fell into the depths of the frozen prison of Helheim, he caught one fleeting image.
Around Hel's mansion palace, Jötnar started to crowd around it, their bodies too large to properly stay within the enclosed space. Small specks started to float around them, and Markus dimly realised that it was Loki and Hel, their mission complete.
They had failed. Loki had resurrected the Jötnar from the dead, with assistance from his daughter, Hel.
Markus couldn't even get the chance to lament his loss as he fell into darkness, his chest torn open as he collided with the icy ground with a sickening chunk.
I'm not sure how to feel about this chapter. Felt off somehow.
Which is probably why it took so long to get out, I think. I dunno.
So, as you guys could tell, roughly half of the chapter was taken from Percy's perspective. I've done it before, so I don't know why I'm making it out like a big deal, but I want to take the story from different views other than Markus. Next chapter may possibly be spoken from his point of view completely.
I know you guys are unsatisfied with the brief introduction to the newly established Order of Enlightenment, but I was drawing a blank as to how to properly introduce them. I wanted to do it right, and not half-assed. Which resulted in me just giving them only one piece of depth. Which I found fucking atrocious. But I was drawing a blank.
Don't worry, I will do my best to fully develop them onwards.
I never really liked Halfborn and Mallory. Or rather, I preferred T.J. and Magnus over them. Which is why I wasn't too broken up about killing them off, but did it in a way that wasn't too bad. I think.
Also, Markus lost against an opponent. It's nothing new for me, since I already planned for it to happen, but it is something. But then again, Bor was an absolute beast. I don't think I need to explain why.
Guest review time:
1.) The points have already been explained. Don't like? Don't read. Also, write your own shit and make your own account if you think you can do better.
2.) Thanks, glad you waited for it. And I dunno if Markus will cause Ragnarok. I never planned for him to.
3.) Lemons will come soon.
4.) That's fine.
5.) Thanks.
6.) Yes. I'd probably still pair him with Will, since I don't think there'd be any change. I'd never change his sexuality, I get annoyed when other authors do that. And pairings for Percy are (currently) Rachel, Reyna and Calypso. Although, it could go up or down. And yes, he'll be stronger.
7.) I don't know if I could incorporate that.
8.) To be honest, I haven't gotten into the Worm series, but your reviews interest me. So, I'll take a look myself. Thanks for that.
9.) She's already added.
Done with that. Also, quick question, could the Guest reviews try to make an account?
I'm not too bothered by it, but I can literally only respond to your reviews until I update my stories, rather than PM you. So really, my request is either delayed, or your review/request is already answered.
This doesn't bother me if you don't do it, but realistically it only affects you guys majorly. I'd still do my best to respond either way.
Also, my update schedule is slower due to me working way too hard to make a comfortable living, so apologies in advance.
Now, to move onto Solaris next. Thanks to all those who f,f,r and r the story.
Peace!