"We just spent like a hundred dollars," Thalia began. She stared at the plethora of McDonald's bags that were spread across the table. They went inside to order, and Thalia felt really bad. The worker at the counter had been pleasant enough, until he saw the paper filled with the orders from their friends. His shoulders had drooped, and he seemed to resign himself to his fate. "I call sitting on the couch and eating fries while you guys sort food."
"You can help us with the food," Annabeth said. She picked up a bag and cradled it in her hands. Thalia caught a glimpse of what was inside the bag and realized that Annabeth was holding all of the fries hostage. Thalia stared at her best friend.
"Annabeth Chase, this is a literal crime. I will have my father put you in jail," Thalia threatened. Annabeth smirked and kept the bag away from Thalia. After a few moments of glaring, Thalia resigned herself to her own fate of having to help. She started to dig through the bags and separate out the food.
The others were currently with their mentors or parents. They were training and finishing up their yearly review. Thalia had her own review a few days prior, and Diana had been the one who reviewed her. Thalia's mentor held back no punches, but unlike the other heroes, Diana didn't mention anything about Thalia's mental state.
Everyone else was so worried about Thalia, and they didn't need to be. Thalia knew what was best for her. She knew how to get over her grief and manage it. Diana didn't worry about Thalia like the others did. She let Thalia do her own thing. Thalia felt like Diana was the only true parental figure in her life.
Thalia's step mother wasn't much of a mother, or much of a human being really. She cared more about her company than the two children Jupiter had taken in. Thalia's real mother had died when she was in middle school, and she still didn't know how to feel about it. In all honesty, she did everything in her power to not think of her mother.
Diana was a mother figure not only to Thalia but to a few other heroes. Diana vowed to never have any kids, and her twin was so sure that she was lying that he had made a bet with her. Thalia knew that the prize would be what each twin loved the most. For Apollo, it was his fancy sports car. For Diana, it was the bow that she had received from her long lost parents. Apollo threatened to make a lyre out of it if he won it, but Thalia knew it was all just talk. Apollo would just display the bow like Diana did but never let his twin live it down.
Diana, whether it be out of spite for Apollo or just the fact that she wasn't attracted to anyone, already had surgery to ensure that she wouldn't have kids. The look on Apollo's face had been picture worthy, and they all took plenty of pictures. He had almost cried when he finally handed over the keys a month ago.
"There's a Happy Meal for Nico," Thalia said. She pushed it off to the side and saw a hand grab it. Thalia turned her head and looked at the hand that had grabbed the happy meal.
"Sooner or later, Nico is going to have to eat a real meal," Bianca said. She looked at Thalia and smiled. Thalia engulfed the younger girl into a hug. The last time she had seen Bianca had been months ago. Bianca went on a retreat with Diana and a few other girls from the orphanage that Diana ran.
"When did you get back in town?" Thalia asked. She pulled away from the hug only for Annabeth to engulf Bianca in another hug. Bianca smiled and hugged Annabeth back. When Bianca first went on the retreat, she had been shy and also wore a floppy, green hat that covered her eyes. Now, that hat was buried in her jacket pocket, and her hair was braided behind her back, showing off her face.
Thalia had seen a few pictures of Bianca's mother, and Bianca looked almost exactly like her mother, but her eyes looked exactly like her father's. They didn't talk about Bianca's father though. That was not a subject that anyone would touch.
"Last night," Bianca replied. She helped them sort the food and sat at the table. "It's pretty quiet at home, so I thought I would tour the city. Diana told me to come here and find you guys. She said that Thalia would be mentoring me on missions."
"So, we have a new superhero joining the fold?" Annabeth wondered. There was a small smile on her face. "It took us forever to get Nico to work with us."
"Nico wasn't too happy to see me," Bianca said. She lost her smile and looked down at the ground. It looked like she wanted to elaborate. Instead, she looked up. "So, what is the first thing I need to know about being a hero?"
"You need a hero name, to be able to disguise yourself," Annabeth began. Thalia shook her head.
"You need a cool costume, to properly disguise yourself. The hero name is something we have to work on, but we have to beat the reporters to the punch. They give out terrible names," Thalia said, and she gave Annabeth a pointed look.
"Costume and name. Got it. Any actual advice for when I go out in the field?" Bianca asked. She sat down at the table. "Diana was telling me that they have a new buddy system and communication system for everything, after what happened at city hall."
"We'll go over that later," Annabeth said quickly. Her eyes moved towards Thalia, but all Thalia did was stare down at her food. "I have a manual of rules and procedures that you can read over. It had my notes in it as well. It's only about five hundred pages. I'll go get it."
Bianca's eyes widened, and she stared up at Annabeth. There was a dead serious look on Annabeth's face, but it only took a few moments for her to smile and laugh. Bianca breathed a sigh of relief. She went to speak, but they heard the sound of an alarm. Thalia quickly grew serious and stood. She grabbed her work phone from her pocket and opened it. Thalia pressed the green button on the top corner of the phone. Annabeth did the same.
"Let's get some on the job training," Annabeth stated. She flipped open her laptop and quickly signed in. Bianca and Thalia moved behind Annabeth and stared down at the laptop. From the map on Annabeth's computer, the alarm was coming from an office building that was on the other side of town.
"That's an office for Vulcan Industries," Thalia said. Annabeth nodded and picked up her laptop. She walked towards a door that had a keypad on it. Without looking, Annabeth typed into the keypad and watched the door open. She stepped into the room. Thalia escorted Bianca into the room and towards the wall that held their things.
All of their uniforms and gadgets were hanging on the wall. There was a five foot long space for everyone, and a small footlocker on the ground that each of them could store their uniform in. Thalia quickly changed into her uniform and grabbed her mask. She stuck it in her pocket and grabbed her bow.
Thalia slung her bow and some arrows across her back. Then, she grabbed her other bow and handed the rest of the arrows off to Bianca. At the same time, Annabeth was also handing Bianca a mask and jacket.
"Thank you," Bianca began. She looked a little overwhelmed. Thalia took the arrows back, and Annabeth took the bow. Bianca quickly put the jacket on and stuffed the mask in her pocket. Annabeth grabbed a spare pair of cargo pants. Bianca quickly changed and followed them out of the room.
"First rule of being a hero is to stay safe," Annabeth said. She looked like she was going to give Thalia a look but quickly seemed to change her mind. "If we're working on a team, we listen to one person. That's usually the person with the most experience, but it's normally Thalia, since she's bossy."
"You're the bossy one," Thalia said. She led the two towards her garage and got inside the pure black car. The windows were tinted, so no one could see in. The car was like a warning for any criminals. If a criminal was going to commit a crime and saw the car, they knew that the heroes were on patrol.
Annabeth offered the passenger to Bianca and then climbed in the back. Annabeth spoke, "Bossy here likes to drive at insane speeds. Just make sure to wear your seatbelt, and we can probably make it to the crime scene without crashing."
"You said it was at a Vulcan Industries office. Isn't that the guy who makes all of those inventions and robots?" Bianca asked. Thalia nodded. She wasn't sure why anyone would bother to break into the office. There was no corporate secrets inside the office, mostly.
As they drove, Thalia heard a phone buzz. She glanced down and looked at Annabeth. After a moment, Annabeth grabbed her phone and answered it. While Thalia couldn't hear what was being said, she did see the frown on Annabeth's face. Part of her thought it was Minerva, and she really prayed that it wasn't. There was no way that Thalia was going to turn the car around, especially if Minerva ordered it.
"Understood. We'll see you soon," Annabeth said, and she hung up her phone. Thalia gripped her steering wheel and stared ahead. Of course this would happen. She should have known that Minerva would go back on her word and tell Thalia's father. Thalia wasn't just going to back down though.
"Who was that?" Bianca asked. She leaned forward. Thalia glared at the road in front of her and pressed her foot more into the gas pedal. The car sped up, and Annabeth nudged Thalia's arm.
"It was my mother. She told us to meet up with the other heroes after we investigate the break in but to be safe. Apparently, Vulcan has a very important AI chip in his office. It's suppose to be for combat," Annabeth explained. Thalia relaxed and lifted her foot from the gas pedal.
"AI combat chip? I wasn't aware that we were making robots," Thalia muttered. Annabeth gave her a look. "What? Do you remember about a year ago when Vulcan tried making those security drones, and they backfired and attacked us?"
"Wasn't that when you and Praetor teamed up for like a minute to save Thalia?" Bianca asked. Annabeth quickly looked away, and Thalia tightly gripped her steering wheel. Hearing Reyna's villain name didn't bother her. Not at all. It didn't remind her of what happened on that bridge. "What's wrong?"
"Did Nico tell you?" Annabeth asked quietly. Bianca looked at them and looked lost. She shook her head. Annabeth bit her lip. "Do you know how Reyna and Thalia were dating? Well, Reyna was Praetor."
"Oh," Bianca said, and she looked down. Thalia glanced at them and looked back at the road. One of them would have to stay by Bianca and watch her back. This would be her first real mission, and if thieves were breaking into Vulcan's office, they had to be well armed or just crazy. If it was so serious though, their parents wouldn't have let them go alone. It's not like they actually trusted them to get the job done without supervision.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know," Bianca said. Thalia shrugged and stayed focused on the road. She didn't need to think about Reyna. All she needed to do was stay focused on what was in front of her. She needed to overwork her brain and distract herself.
"Bianca, you'll be with Annabeth. The two of you secure the perimeter. I'll go inside," Thalia said. She pulled up a block away from the office and slipped on her mask. Annabeth and Bianca followed suit. The three of them started to make their way towards the office building, but Thalia quickly split off from the two.
As Thalia walked towards the back entrance of the office, she stared at the alley. There was a trash bin that was suppose to be at the edge of the alley, but it had clearly been moved to the middle. There was broken glass laying on top of it. Thalia carefully climbed on top of the trash bin and looked up at the broken window above her.
The window was too tall for someone to reach on their own, so there was probably two thieves. Thalia placed a hand to her earpiece and spoke, "Annabeth, can you hear me?"
"Loud and clear," Annabeth responded. "We don't see anything out here. There is no get away cars or even a helicopter. There is a sewer entrance."
"Keep an eye on it. I found a broken window, but it's pretty high up. I think there is two thieves," Thalia stated. She lowered her hand and took a deep breath. Thalia jumped up and thought of air beneath her feet. She felt the air push her up towards the window, and she caught onto it. Thalia pulled herself into the office.
It wasn't hard to follow the trail of the thieves. One had cut themselves and left a trail of spotting blood on the carpet. There was also the fact that they didn't bother to close any doors behind them. Thalia carefully walked out of the office she was in and into a foyer. A glance around showed the thieves had gone towards the stairs. Thalia jogged up the stairs and found an open door on the top floor.
Thalia stepped into the top floor and looked around. She could see Vulcan's office right ahead of her, and the door had been torn off of its hinges. Thalia walked inside the office and found that it had been torn apart. Someone knew exactly how to get into the office, but they didn't know where the AI was. It seemed like an inside job but not inside enough to know the important things.
Thalia's wasn't sure how dangerous this combat AI was suppose to be. Vulcan was a genius when it came to inventing things, but most of his inventions were peaceful things. The violent ones always had some kind of kink or flaw to them that caused them to be more dangerous to their creator than anyone else.
A glance around the office showed nothing else that was helpful. The one window in the office was still intact, so the thieves had already left the way they came. Or, they were still looking around. Thalia heard a muffled bang, and she tensed. She felt pain in her leg and looked down. There was nothing there, and the pain seemed like more of a memory than anything. The bang was real though, and it belonged to a gun. Thalia turned and ran from the office. She made it towards the stairs and practically threw herself down them.
It was possible that the thieves had managed to slip past her only to run into Annabeth and Bianca. There was no way that Annabeth would use a gun, and unless Diana's retreats now included gun training, Bianca didn't either. Thalia made it down the steps and ran for an open exit. She ran out of the exit and came to a sudden stop.
A hooded figure was standing over Annabeth. They were holding a gun to her head. Annabeth was sitting on the ground and had a bloody mouth. Her gaze seemed to be focused on a bullet hole that was in the ground near her, probably a warning shot. It seemed like the other thief was missing, and Bianca was as well.
"Let her go," Thalia ordered. She took a step forward and stared at the hooded figure. Her gaze focused on the gun, and that was the only thing she could focus on. The hooded figure said something, but Thalia didn't hear it. She could hear another voice in her ear.
"I am running out of patience. Make your choice," Kronos whispered in her ear. Thalia closed her eyes, and she could imagine herself back on the bridge. Another person she cared for was about to die, but Thalia wasn't going to allow that to happen, not again.
Thalia felt lightning building in her hands. Her eyes snapped open, and she could see that the hooded figure had turned towards her. There was movement behind them, but Thalia didn't care. She would let another loved one die. Thalia threw her hand forward and watched lightning hit the hooded figure. They flew backwards and hit the wall with a sickening thud.
Thalia stared at the man and then looked down at Annabeth. She saw Bianca appear out of the shadows, right behind where the hooded figure had been. It seemed like she had been seconds from intervening, but seconds were more than they could spare. If Thalia hadn't acted, there was a good chance that Annabeth would be dead.
"Call an ambulance," Thalia ordered. Annabeth knelt by the hooded figure and felt their pulse. She looked at Thalia but didn't make a movement for the phone. "Annabeth."
"They're dead," Annabeth said. Thalia stared and shook her head. That wasn't right. She hadn't ever killed anyone with her powers, and today was no different. "I need to call my mother."
"They're not dead," Thalia argued. She shook her head and looked at Bianca. The only thing Bianca could was stare. This obviously wasn't how she expected her first mission to go. "Check again, Annabeth."
"Thalia, they're dead," Annabeth insisted. Thalia closed her eyes and felt her knees go weak. She collapsed to her knees and stared at the ground. How could she have killed someone? That was what villains did, and Thalia wasn't a villain, right?
For now, Thalia wasn't so sure. She had caused Reyna to die, and now, someone else had died because of her powers. This robber was on the wrong team though. She was a hero, and they were a villain. Thalia took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down.
"What did they try to steal?" Thalia whispered. She looked up at Bianca. "What is so important that one of them died for it?"
"My mother said it's a combat AI named Talos, but that's all we know," Annabeth said. She stood from the body and slowly grabbed her phone. Thalia could see all of the stress in her face.
"It's not important right now," Bianca whispered. Thalia shook her head and glared at the ground. There was no way she would be allowed back into the field after this. Minerva would convince Zeus that Thalia would need to stay in her bubble. "Let's get back to the base."
"Yeah," Thalia muttered. She felt two sets of hands gently help her to her feet. All she could do was stare at the ground. She had done what Kronos said. Thalia had made her choice, and it made her sick to her stomach. This was two people that had died because of her. Was she really a hero, or was she quickly becoming one of the villains that she fought?