Heya! Welcome back to another chapter of my sub-par story! Sorry it took so long and that it's a bit short this chapter! Also, this a bit of a long AN, so I apologize in advance.

* So I decided to answer Omega's questions's via this AN rather than a DM because it is some info everyone could get some use out of. First off is what generation of Spartan Percy is/will be: he and the other Spartan's mentioned later on will be Spartan-II's (AKA the John/Master Chief Spartan Generation) unless otherwise stated. Secondly, did Percy kill Gabe: yes. Last question is what was Percy's ability? This will be explained later on, however, as a hint it has to do with the mentioned "Seraph" term at the end of last chapter. I'm going to be playing around with the religious aspects that are already present within the series, more specifically with the covenant. I'm going to make sure that it won't be ridiculously overpowered, in fact, I'm hoping to make it the opposite of that, so if anyone is worried about OP as fuck Percy, don't worry I got you. Also, don't worry about dates and what-not as they aren't really that important. I'm not going off of the chronological timeline of the Halo series, so expect different events to happen. *

=DISCLAIMER- I don't own PJO or Halo, yadda yadda and all that legal jazz.=

~EDIT- (1/11/2017)- Fixed some grammar mistakes~


-Chapter 2: Birth of a New Era-

=(Percy)=

It was cold.

Percy didn't know where he was or why, but the first and only thing his mind registered was the temperature. He tried to move his body but found that he couldn't even move a finger. He strained to open his eyes but found that like the rest of his body, wouldn't react from his efforts. He idly thought that maybe he was dead, that maybe he had died in the snow in Central Park.

However, he could hear incoherent, muffled sounds of someone speaking from somewhere nearby, shaking the thoughts of death away from his cold form. He sat there for a moment while thoughts swam in his mind. Suddenly, he could feel warmth envelop his body, it eventually hugged his entire body and he could begin to feel his fingers move on his command. His body slowly began to regain its normal feeling and eventually was able to open his eyes.

He took in his surroundings with blurry vision and found that he was in some sort of... tube? The thing he was in had metal on both sides, some light cushioning behind his back, and a thick looking piece of glass directly in front of him. On the other side of the foggy glass, Percy could make out two figures.

The tube suddenly sprung to life, and the glass in front of him lifted up accompanied by the sound of air forcefully being pushed out. He attempted to step out of the tube, but his legs didn't seem to want to cooperate, and he fell face first out of the metal pod. He braced himself to land ungracefully onto the metal floor beneath him. Instead of the floor however, he found himself in the warmth of someone's arms.

"Woah. Easy now kiddo. Cryosleep takes a bit to come out of." The voice was male, it was soft and somewhat caring. "Just take some deep breaths to give your body time to adjust."

Percy did as the man instructed, taking deep breaths in and out. After a few minutes of breaths, he felt good enough to stand on his own. He now stood in front of the man who had just caught him and brought his gaze up to the man's face.

In front of him was a tall man with salt and pepper colored hair, calming blue eyes, and a bright white smile. He was dressed in black combat boots, gray cargo pants, and a black t-shirt with the letters U.N.S.C lettered on the front of it.

"Feel a little better now?", The man asked nicely seeing the child before him finally stand on his own weight.

"Y-yes I think so.", Percy strained, his voice was quiet and rough. "Thank you."

The man gave him a small dismissive wave of his hand before he spoke,"Don't worry about it. My first time was actually way worse, I was super nauseous and-". He was stopped before he could go any further by a voice from somewhere behind the man.

"Hermes.", The voice warned, but was gentle and soft despite the warning tone. The man now identified as Hermes snapped out of his train of thought and took a glance at the queasy looking child in front of him, mumbling a quick,"Oh, right. Sorry kid."

A woman emerged from behind the newly identified Hermes until she stood next to the taller man. She made eye contact with the small child in front of her.

"Sorry sweetie, Hermes tends to speak without thinking sometimes." She supplied with a kind smile. Percy had heard her voice, it was the same as the one that had spoken to him while they held him in Central Park.

He looked the woman over. She had mousy brown hair and beautiful eyes. They were a mix of brown, orange, and a small amount of yellow. They reminded Percy like a campfire as they seemed to dance like flames. She adorned the same clothing as the man, Hermes.

She then seemed to remember something as she bent down to be at eye-level with Percy. "I'm Lieutenant Hestia, and that-," She jerked a finger towards the man beside her, "-is Lieutenant Hermes. We're with the UNSC... do you know what that is?" She held out her hand as she spoke, still with a kind smile on her face.

Percy had learned a little about the UNSC at school. The United Nations Space Command was a military force that was created by the UN. It was designed to be a unified fighting force as intergalactic travel became common in society. Over time, humans began to colonize other planets, so in turn the United Earth Government was created, and the UNSC became the military force that protected Humanities vast number of growing intergalactic colonies. The last he had learned was that they had been fighting terrorists know as the Insurrectionists, who fought the regulations imposed by the UEG and UNSC.

In response to the woman's question, Percy just nodded. He then looked at the outstretched hand. Gently, he grasped the larger soft hand and shook it carefully. "Hi." He then forced his eye's to meet a woman's pair. "My name is Perseus. Perseus Jackson." He forced a small smile to adorn his face as he spoke, still locking eyes with the woman in front of him. She smiled brightly at him.

Hestia, as the woman had introduced herself as, softly let go his hand and rose from her kneeling position on the floor. Her face had contorted into a small frown as her eyes seemed to wander over him. He felt a bit self-conscious, so he took a glance down at his current state of apparel.

Red. It seemed like the color had tethered to him as of recently. Memories of Central Park began to resurface from the depths of his still thawing mind. His breathing had picked up slightly at the memories that were currently playing within the confines of his head. Snow... Mom... Gabe... Blood...

Both the adults had opened their mouths to speak to the boy who had looked seconds away from breaking down, but he beat them to it.

"Is-." He inhaled a bit of air. "Is my mom..." He had slowly looked in the general direction of the two Lieutenants. Hestia had given a small frown with her eyes reflecting sympathy, and Hermes just gave a small solemn nod of his head.

Percy brought his eyes back to the metal floor. He had assumed that she had. He felt numb nonetheless, and subconsciously he brought his hand up to his neck. His fingers brushed against cold metal, and he instantly remembered his mother handing him a necklace. His thoughts idly wandered to the blood that was currently splattered on his clothes though. Was it his? Gabes? His mothers? He wasn't entirely sure who's it was, and at the moment didn't really care.

Without bringing his gaze from the floor he asked another question he already assumed the answer to. "A-and Gabe?", He voiced quietly.

He received a quick "yes", from one of the adults. He thought that maybe he would feel something from the answer, however, he didn't. He simply felt nothing; no happiness, sadness, relief, or anything for the matter.

"Why don't we get you changed, hmm? We'll be at our destination soon." Hermes had broken the boy's thoughts and the silence that was blanketing the small room they were in.

Without waiting for a response from him, a hand gently grabbed his own and began to tug Percy along.

They began to walk down the metal pathway of the room until they reached a door. When they were around three feet in front of the metal door, it slowly glowed green around where handles should be, before pushing themselves open quietly.

"Where... where are we going? I don't have a home anymore." Percy spoke softly from behind Hestia, the one who had supposedly been guiding him.

Hestia glanced over her shoulder to look at the young boy as they continued to walk down a hallway. "You're going there-" She pointed a finger towards a wall, and Percy followed the path of her finger until he reached a glass window. "-to that planet." Percy marveled as he set eyes on exactly what the lieutenant had said, a large planet with a canvas of black surrounding it, bright lights littered throughout the darkness surrounding the planet.

"Welcome to Reach. Your new home."


=(Athena)=

Standing alone on a concrete platform in the middle of an amphitheater is a woman in a white lab coat.

She began pacing lightly around the platform she was on, her heels clicking against the concrete. Sighing, she smoothed her hands over her lab coat brushing against the bronze 'Dr. Athena' nametag as she went. She was anxious for the impending arrival of her projects- participants, who were supposed to be here within the hour.

She prepared herself mentally, she knew what had to be done. It was her duty to complete the project for the greater good. In the end, it would benefit humanity, even if it would take sacrifices to produce results. One such sacrifice was her own morality, which even now was teetering on the edge of breaking out once again. Was this worth it? In order to create you have to destroy... right?

"Doctor, are you ready?", a woman's disembodied voice echoed throughout the empty amphitheater.

Dr. Athena took in a breath of air before speaking. "Yes. Thank you, Minerva. Would you please send in Mendez, I want you both present for when they arrive."

A woman suddenly materialized on a podium next to the doctor. She was almost see through yet she emanated a soft glow of light from her body; a hologram. Minerva was Artificial Intelligence, an AI that was specifically created for the project at hand. The AI took on the appearance of that of a Greek goddess: an elegant toga, gladiator style sandals, and long glowing white hair. When Dr. Athena had originally created the AI's, they had surprised her when they each had "self-assigned" an appearance to themselves for when they were holographic. Each and every AI had its own unique color, voice, and appearance that they chose upon their creation. Dr. Athena couldn't help but marvel at how far her creations could amaze her.

It surprised the doctor when this AI had decided to almost replicate her own features for its physical appearance. If the AI could shade each and every part of the hologram, she wouldn't be surprised if Minerva would have adopted black hair, and piercing gray eyes to match its creators. The dull white-ish gray color the AI had chosen however, seemed to fit her in Dr. Athena's eyes; even if it meant she had a gray holographic doppelganger.

"Yes doctor." Minerva responded. Not a moment later, the doors to the amphitheater opened and revealed a man; Chief Petty Officer Mendez. At first glance, the man was nothing special. He wasn't very tall or muscular for the matter, and his face and brown hair was just what one would consider 'ordinary'. His stride and eyes, however, set the man above most of the militaries officers. Both held the truth of all the combat the man had endured.

He was wearing a black military dress uniform, an assortment of medals and stars pinned to his chest swayed as he slowly strode further into the room. He stopped once he was at a respectable distance in front of the doctor.

"At ease." Athena told him. In response, Mendez relaxed a small amount and gave a small nod of his head, his face completely wiped of emotion.

"Doctor, have you read over my recommendations?" Minerva asked Dr. Athena. The doctor moved her gaze back to the AI near her.

"I have. However, I think being blunt and upfront with the information will do well for us now." Athena responded sternly.

Beside her, Mendez gave a small grunt of approval.

"The truth could produce risks." Minerva warned.

"And lies produce even more risks. If we lie now, and they found out the truth later, we would have a coup d'etat on our hands down the line." Athena replied.

"May I suggest a neural paralysis instead then?" Minerva proposed.

"Absolutely not. This will be hard enough with stable minds, never mind ones that are wiped of their memories." Athena shot back immediately.

The room was quiet after that. Dr. Athena had no more to say on the matter and Minerva seemed to understand. Throughout the conversation, Mendez idly watched the two going back and forth stoically. The small period of silence was broken as he suddenly stiffened and brought a hand up to his left ear. "There here." He all but grunted out after letting his hand fall back down to his side.

"Good. Send them in." Athena responded to the man with a small motion of her hand. She took a glance out of the corner of her eyes towards Minerva and spoke.

"Minerva, they'll adapt. If they don't, then they weren't fit for the project." Athena stated matter-of-factly. She took in a breath of air as the doors to the amphitheater opened once again. "I just want to get this over with."

She quietly watched as seventy-five children were ushered into the room. Many if not all of them had dark rings under their eyes. Most likely from being rushed from their respected planets and into cryo-sleep to travel through slipstream space. She would have been lying if she said that she hadn't felt a pang of regret and guilt hit her as she looked over the tired, and thoroughly confused children. She quickly stifled her thoughts however.

Once all seventy-five children were seated in the risers of the room, Dr. Athena cleared her throat and spoke. "As of right now all of you are now drafted, under Naval code 52467, into the UNSC specialty core; codenamed the Spartan program." Might as well get right to the point, she idly thought.

As soon as the words had left her mouth, all the children's eyes were now fully awake and piercing her with their collective gaze. Most, if not all, held traces of confusion and fright in their now widened eyes.

How was she supposed to explain this to them? Hell, she was the one who created the program, but even she didn't fully understand it in all aspects both ethically and in its justifications. How did she expect seventy-five six-year-old children to understand if even the creator didn't fully comprehend what was at hand?

She took a deep breath of air. She would just have to explain this as simply as she could.

"Starting today, you are all now part of the UNSC. You are being called upon to serve, and in turn you will become Earth and all her colonies sword and shield." She glanced around the room, scanning her eyes over the children who now seemed to have their interest piqued. "You will become the Protectors of humanity."

The children sat a bit straighter than when they were first brought in. Their eyes still dancing with small traces of confusion as well as interest as they bore into the doctor.

"Starting today, you will discard any attachment to the places you one called home and anyone you once called family." Dr. Athena pushed out with as much softness as she could. "This is your new home, your fellow trainees are your new family now. The road ahead will be long and perilous, but I have faith that all of you will overcome any hardships. I know that all of you will make it through."

A lie. The only lie she permitted herself to tell throughout this entire ordeal. She wanted to believe her own words, to convince herself they were fact, but she knew it was a lie. She had already broken them down enough today, so how could she tell them that most of them wouldn't even make it the year?

"That's all for today." Athena told them after letting her previous words stew in the room. "Training begins tomorrow."

She turned to the silent man beside her. "Mendez take the chil-... trainees to their bunks, and give them some food before putting them to bed."

In response, the man nodded his head and grunted a "yes ma'am". "Trainees!" He shouted. "Move out!"

The children all hesitantly stood with the nudges from some of the UNSC personnel in the room. Some had glassy eyes and slightly trembling lips- but none let tears or sounds escape; she had chosen the right children. She prayed that she would have the same strength and courage they all seemed to have for what lied ahead.

"Keep them busy tomorrow." She inclined to Mendez as well as Minerva. "Keep them from thinking about what we've just done to them.

She watched as they began to be ushered out of the room. Her eyes however, landed on one child in particular. It was a boy, he had black hair and beautiful sea green eyes. His face was emotionless, and she knew it had stayed that way throughout the entire orientation. Despite herself, a small smile appeared on her lips. "Perseus." She muttered softly under her breath. "My little angel has returned."


And another chapter down! Hopefully, it was alright. As always I appreciate everybody who has favorited and followed. Reviews are always welcomed so don't be shy. Gonna work hard to push chapters out a bit faster as of now, alas, life is a cruel mistress and doesn't always favor us, so we'll see what happens. Hopefully, I'll see you guys in the next chapter!