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Intruder Alert

The cold, dark water enveloped the five demi-gods, and Percy immediately dispensed oxygen bubbles to everyone's aid. What greeted the five in them in sight was utter chaos. Ruins and rubble were floating everywhere mid-water, constituting what Hick believes to be the now ruined walls of the tall, majestic citadel towering just before them. Danger, the shadows cautioned her. Hick reached for the brass knuckles in her pocket. Her teammates followed suit, drawing their weapons.

Everyone met Hick's eyes. They could not converse underwater, but her dull violet eyes spoke to them. Stay safe.
Grabbing hold of Jason, Hick willed the shadows of the ocean to propel them forward into the battle raging behind the citadel. Hazel and Nico followed suit, while Percy activated his water propulsion and shot ahead of them, leaving behind a trail of bubbles.

The water was murky with blood. Percy stared in despair at the bloody remains of sea serpents, sharks and other sea creatures floating mid-air. These were sea creatures he knew, sea creatures that served him well in Poseidon's domain and called themselves his subjects. He wanted to hurl.

Hick finally caught up and released her grasp on Jason's arm, ostensibly unfazed by the butchered remains floating, covering the landscape. It seems that they arrived a few minutes shy of the real battle to witness the aftermath of it. Jason nudged Hick's arm urgently, trying to alert her to something.

"What?!" Hick exclaimed, to which Jason could not hear. She sighed. She forgot that sound could not travel through water. Following Jason's gaze, she saw a creature slowly making its way towards Percy.

Hick squinted her eyes at it through the foggy, crimson water. She had never seen anything like it before in her life. It looked like an incredibly mean, angry bee. Not the kind of happy bumblebees Hick have seen in cartoon shows, but a real angry bee with a dangerously sharp stinger and scuttling spindly legs that gave Hick the goosebumps. And it didn't help that it was elephantine in size… and terribly injured. There were gills at the side of their faces, translucent wings that acted like fins to help it glide through water, and worst of all, the sharp canine teeth it had, frothing with blood and saliva. Rather shakily, it raised one of its feeble legs, ready to run the sharp end of it through Percy.

No! Percy! Hick thought in despair, hurtling towards it while Jason following close behind. Grabbing the leg of the monster, Hick propelled forward and turned around, punching the sea bug's green compound eyes repeatedly. Blood squirted out of the sea bug's eyes from the impact of the brass knuckles and it finally pushed Hick away, grimacing in pain. It was wounded and evidently blind as its limb flailed about frantically, but it was far from dead. All of a sudden, the monster gave a jolt, and a blade protruded from its chest. Jason's head poked out from behind. This was her a hard swing, Hick pummeled her right fist into the bug and pulled out what appears to be its skeleton. The creature gave one last shudder and finally succumbed to death.

Hazel, Nico and Percy caught up to the scene and stared at the creature Hick had just slain. They were never taught in camp about the existence of such a creature. Everyone was puzzled.

Hick Valkyrie. I've been awaiting your arrival, a voice boomed in the demi-god's heads. Everybody jumped in surprise at the sudden telepathic conversation.
All of a sudden, a dark shadow fell upon them and the weary demi-gods looked up. Hick pulled Hazel and Nico behind her back. Towering over them was what appears to be a monstrously mountainous merman, with upper body of a muscular man and the lower torso of a sea serpent. He had an iron grip on a magnificent trident, and his white beard moved with the ebb and flow of the ocean current. Hick could see the wrinkles etched across the merman's face, like the parched thirsty landscapes of dry continents.

Percy recognized the merman. It was Oceanus, the titan who almost succeeded in killing Poseidon. He looked much weaker compared to when Percy last saw him, as if the titan was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. He thought the titan would be sneering at him in contempt, but his eyes looked too fatigued and weary to bother… like his life was being drained out of him.

As you can see, my temple has been under attack. The war has been raging on for months. I have lost my kingdom and many lives. What you just killed, daughter of Hades, is an unknown specie that encroached upon my territory and killed most of my subjects, as well as the reinforcements Poseidon sent, the titan continued. It is a breed clearly destructive by nature, with the goal to wipe out every living being in this world. We suspect a creation by Gaea, before the gods banished her back into Tartarus. The humans' lives are at stake here, along with the gods, the titans… even the protogenois. I've been informed by them to bestow on you what has been in my possession for a long time. With that, the titan beckoned the demi-gods to follow him.

They arrived at what appeared to be graveyard of sunken war submarines. They were green with moss, and spotted with barnacles.
What are we suppose to do with these? Percy asked.
These are sunken battleships from the war the humans once waged. You call it the 'World War II'. I gathered these ruins upon the goddess of war and wisdom, Athena's request, knowing a child of Hades would need an army of the undead when the Lone Prophecy was announced.

Ignoring the telepathic conversation going on, Hazel tugged at Nico and Hick, swimming over to one of the warships. Before Hick could stop her, Hazel had disappeared into the submarine, pulling Nico along with her. Hick was about to swim after them when something caught her eye. There were white, capital letters on the submarine: SHE. Ever so lightly, Hick brushed the barnacles away.

THRESHER SSN-593

That was the label of the submarine; one of the many submarines that sunk and snuffed out the lives of several men that were inadvertently embroiled in the ugliness of the war. Hick traced the 'T' with her index finger, feeling a little mournful.

What happened next was too abrupt for Hick to fathom. The barnacles on the submarine withered and fell off the submarine, and brand new metal seemed to bloom and spread from beneath the rust that Hick touched, slowly unfurling across and blanketing the rest of the submarine. She drew her hand back, gaping in awe as THRESHER rose from the ground, gleaming in the moonlight.

Hazel! Nico! Hick realized. In a flash, she shot herself through the gap on THRESHER's side before it closed up upon its repair. The power of the shadows left her upon entering the now lit up submarine and she dropped to the floor.

"Welcome aboard, ma'am."

Hick looked up. It was another one of those undead warriors she had seen when she summoned a pack to her rescue against an army of monsters during her grade five camp. Reaching out for his skeletal hand, she picked herself up and let him unload the waterproof backpack she had been carrying. She looked at the nametag stitched into his uniform.

MATTHEW ANDREWS

"What about the other submarines, ma'am? Would you like to summon them for your venture?" Matthews asked. Hick looked at the gaping hollow eyes of the skeleton sailor that stood before her, and out of the window at the undead peering out of their ruined submarines, apparently awakened by her arrival. They looked so feeble and sad, as if they were still worn out from having fought the second world war, even after all these years.

"No. I hereby lay these brave sailors' souls to rest in the underworld." With that, the undead sailors peering up at her from the seabed turned into black smoke that dissolved into nothingness.

Hick surveyed her surroundings. Undead soldiers in American sailor uniform in the submarine she was in were busy operating the submarine. Hick felt uneasy. This was not right. The undead should be resting in peace in the underworld, not working as war slaves for her. It was one of the reasons why she would only summon the undead to her aid at the very last resort.

"Hick, look!" Nico called out, standing before one of those many circular submarine windows that offered them a view of the ocean. There was Percy, Jason and Oceanus, squinting at them. Oceanus had noticed the disappearance of the undead, realizing that Hick had laid them to rest. What a waste, rejecting the aid of a great, powerful army of the undead. Oceanus had never seen someone act so kindly, yet so foolishly. The heavenly beings would not be pleased with the warrior's choice, especially the protogenois.

Hick immediately shadow travelled to where Percy and Jason were. Sorry, she apologized to Oceanus. I was side-tracked by my siblings' mischief.

Do not be, daughter of Hades. Your arrival is a relief, for this war has been raging on for far too long. I only have so much to tell you. You are the only one prophesied to solve this sudden mystery and remedy the situation. Go forth now. I shall watch over you, lone warrior, the titan replied graciously with a smile, bowing down to her. With that, Hick returned the gesture with a thumb up and grabbed onto Percy and Jason, shadow travelling them back into the submarine.

Percy tossed and turned in his bunk bed, unable to sleep. One of the undead sailors had shown them to an empty bunkroom, where they were to rest. Jason had offered to stay up first and keep watch of any signs of attack against the submarine.
Percy was unable to shake off the ghastly images of his dead subjects, floating in smithereens and chunks in the bloody water. He heard a whimper from the bunk bed beside him and sat up. It was Hick. She was lying on her side, facing him. He could see her face contorted into a grimace of anguish and fear, beads of sweat rolling down her face.

"Hick?" Percy slipped out of his bed and rushed over to her bedside.

Hick looked up at giant that stood before her, disgusted at the sight of his rotting teeth and black, beady eyes as the mud coloured giant sneered at her. His body was etched with tattoos and he held a spiked club in his right. He raised his left hand and settled two goblets of wine before her.
"Drink up," the giant hissed, globs of saliva flying out onto his chin through the gaps in his teeth. "One is poisoned, another is not. Choose the one not untainted, demi-god, and I'll let you live."

Why did she have to choose?

Without a word, Hick leapt up at the giant, gouging his left eye out with her hands. She scrambled into the giant's body through his hollow socket, finding her way into his beating heart, just like how she killed the horrible Cyclops that Zeus once sent to her. With her fist, she punctured the heart, feeling the heart pulsating slower and losing its life. Sure that it was dead, Hick reached crawled her way through the gullet, emerging through the giant's mouth.

She looked down at the dead giant, her body slimy with blood and saliva. And she trudged on in what appeared to be a dry, barren land with nothing in sight except the cave that was standing before her. Hick squinted at the mouth of the cave. There were people waiting for her. "Ryan? José?" Recognizing her friends, Hick broke into a sprint. "Guys!"

They were waving at her. As she got nearer, they disappeared into the cave. "Hey, guys! Wait up!" she yelled. She stopped at the entrance of the cave, hesitant to enter. She looked around. Nobody was in sight. As quietly as she could, she stepped into the cave. A body of water greeted her, and a stone path divided it into two semi-circles. There was a lady in the middle of the stone path, standing in front of what appeared to be a black, oval egg. She had the same flaming red hair as Hick, tied up into a messy ponytail.

"Mom? What're you doing here?"
She looked Hick up and down, and gave her a sad smile. The green flames of the underworld appeared, surrounding Hick's mother.

"No! Mom!" Hick screamed, stepping onto the stone path as she realized what was about to happen. She ran towards her. "Mom! No, you can't! You can't leave!"

The flames engulfed her and she was gone. Hick tripped and collapsed onto the stone path, sobbing. "No… Mom, please! Come back! COME BACK!" Her sobs echoed throughout the hollow cave as the egg that stood silently before her, in her line of sight where her mother once stood.

Hick gasped and opened her eyes. There was Percy, shaking her awake.

"Hick, you alright?"
"I… I… Mom… Mom! Mom!" Hick sputtered as she sat up, the nightmare still fresh in her head. Her white shirt was utterly soaked with her perspiration.
"Hick, calm down. It's fine. Your mom's fine. Here, have some water," Percy said, uncapping his metal tank and pressing it on Hick's lips. "You were having a nightmare. It's okay now, Hick. Everything's fine."
Hick gulped the water down her parched throat, handing back a half-empty tank of water to Percy. She heart was racing from the trauma she had just experienced in her dream. What had it all mean?

"You know what? Let's get you out of bed for now," Percy said, still seeing the anxiety in Hick's eyes, so different from the calm and collected person he knew could kill that weird bug creature underwater without a grimace of some sort. It scared him a little. "Come on, let's go."

Hick still looked pale and petrified from the nightmare, but she held her composure as she listened to the undead sailors who had bumped into her and Percy when they were making their way to the pantry. One of the sailors had reported sighting an insect-like sea creature through the periscope and Jason confirmed it was exactly the one he and Hick had slain.

Percy watched as Hick looked through the periscope. "It's limping badly. Hold fire and follow it for now," she smiled at the sailor.
"Yes, ma'am," the skeleton sailors saluted her, heading off to perform their various duties.

"What's the point of following it?" Jason asked.
"It'll most likely lead us to its hideout to recuperate. We need to find that hideout and exterminate the whole lot of them from there. I believe we're armed on this submarine?" "A few dozen torpedoes and two ballistic missiles, ma'am," one of the sailors piped up. "Got it," Hick forced a smile at the cheerful undead sailor, giving him a thumb up.

Leaving it at that, she headed for the door out of the operation unit. All that anxiety from the nightmare had sapped the energy out of her. There came the sound of quick, light footstep heading toward her.

Percy grabbed her wrist, "Come on, we're going outside. Let me show you something."

"Not now, Percy. Please? I need to sleep."
"Just this once, and we'll be back quick. I promise! I'll put a huge oxygen bubble around and you'll be totally dry, and once we come back, you can totally hit the sack right away. Cross my heart, hope to die!" Hick watched in amusement as Percy held up three fingers in solemn oath.
She relented, "Fine. Five minutes."
She reached her hand out to Percy and he grabbed it, forming an oxygen bubble around both of them. In a heartbeat, Hick had settled both of them atop the submarine, wisps of black smoke from the shadow travel dissipating into thin air.

Percy sat himself down on the submarine's cold metal, absolutely at ease in his domain. Colourful schools of fishes swam toward them. Some had managed to dodge the protective barrier of the oxygen bubble, while some were unfortunate enough to crash into the invisible barrier and recline in shock, sending the other fishes behind into a flurry frenzy. He gave a small sigh of relief as Hick finally laughed, utterly amused by the slapstick comicality of those busy, bumbling fishes. She turned to face him. "Did you see that?! Oh gosh, Percy! Did you see that?! Did you see their faces?!"

Percy laughed as Hick mimicked the fishes expression and head bobble.
"Yeah, they do give the stupidest expressions, don't they?"
Hick wiped the tears of laughter with her sleeves, gasping for breath. "Haa... You brought me up here to see this?"
"No… actually, I brought you up to see what's above us."

Hick followed Percy's line of gaze. In the shimmering navy blue waters above the submarine, millions of luminous pink and purple dots floated above them. Hick lay down and rested her head down on the submarine's roof, staring up at the beauty of it all. "What are those?"

"Jellyfishes."

Jellyfishes, Hick thought. They reminded her of the stars that constituted the Milky Way in space, except that they glowed gently instead of sparkling so harshly.

"Thanks for saving my life back then, Hick. I really owe you one."
A pause. "You saw how long it took me to kill that bug, right? Jason had to help."

"Hick, it was the first time any of us encountered that weird... swimming bee thing. You reacted the fastest, before it could –"
"Not unless there were a dozen of them. I'm not as great as you think I am, Percy. I don't know this species' weakness, its motive, why it attacked Oceanus' citadel... You're right. That thing is not like those mythical beasts I've fought against on the streets. Not that I had fun doing with those buggers, but at least they were familiar."
"Hick, you're not figuring all this out alone. There's Jason, Nico, Hazel... and me. We'll figure this out together. As a team."

A smile spread across Hick's lips. It was one those smiles that was unsure, uncomfortable, patronising.

A shadow fell upon them and the smile turned into a gape. Hick sat up, watching in awe as a magnificent whale swam above them, chasing away the colourful schools of fishes. It seemed to have noticed Hick and Percy, and with a flip of a tale, had swam down to journey beside the demi-gods.

"You can touch him," Percy urged Hick. Reaching out, Hick felt the tip of her fingers followed by the rest of her arm permeate the barrier of the bubble and feel the cold currents of the ocean water. The bubble was still intact. Reaching out further, Hick patted the sides of the huge whale, and it belted a low, nasal note.

Hick looked over her shoulder, smiling at Percy. Do you see this? Her eyes seemed to say, as they shone with pure delight. She watched as the whale nuzzled its huge head against her hand. "Hey, big guy," Hick whispered, stroking the whale. She looked up at the glowing jellyfishes above her, once again having the gorgeousness of it all take her breath away. And as she smiled at the sight of it all, Percy couldn't help but feel as if he had to protect that smile.

"No matter what the prophecy says… Hick… you won't die. I won't let you," Percy whispered, grabbing hold of her hand.

She withdrew her hand from the whale that moaned in protest and turned to look at him. Percy shifted uncomfortably. The way she looked into his eyes, as if she was reading into his soul, made him nervous.

And she could feel it. He was lying. She knew how their life was going to be like, their destiny as demi-gods. Once they enter Camp Half-Blood, they'll keep going on missions, defending the lives of gods and keeping the world safe, until one final day they'll encounter an enemy too strong to conquer and the result… is death. That was partly why she didn't want to go to Camp Half-Blood.

"Hick, I promise," Percy insisted, interrupting Hick's morbid thoughts.
"I know, Percy. But it's not your duty to keep me alive," she replied. Her hand slipped away from underneath he is.
Both of them blushed, hearts beating hard against their chest and they looked away in embarrassment. Percy hadn't realized he had held her hand.

He tried to change the subject. "How'd you get those brass knuckles?"
"It was a gift from Phoebe. Annabeth said it was a big deal because having a titan interfere in a demi-god's business was unheard of."
"Well, it is a first in Camp Half-Blood's history."
"How about that pen of yours?"
Percy took Riptide out of his pocket. "A gift from my dad, Poseidon. His name is Riptide. It shape shifts into a sword when I click it."
"Huh. Obviously not as cool as my weapon!"
"Hey! It has feelings, okay…" Percy protested as he pocketed Riptide. He deliberately wore a hurt expression.

Hick laughed at the sight of his face. "Oh gods. Seriously? You look like a baby seal."
From the submarine, Jason was witnessing the whole scene from the periscope: the hand holding, the blush and the laughter.

"You don't think Percy likes Hick… do you?"

Jason immediately shifted the periscope back to the sea bug that was still on the move and turned to find Hazel peering over his shoulders. Her eyes were still red and puffy from having just woken up, and her tight curls were sticking out in all directions like the metal springs of a wrecked alarm clock.

He checked his watch. It was almost seven o'clock in the morning. The rays of the sun were starting to filter through the wall of jellyfishes.

"I don't think it's that simple… Percy's love for Annabeth is stronger than you think, Hazel. He's known Annabeth years, been through life and death with her during the Great Prophecy and the Prophecy of Seven..." Jason replied, but he didn't find his tone so convincing. After what he had witnessed, he felt unsure. He sighed and stood up, taking a break from periscope. "I think it's best we pretend we saw nothing. You keep watch on that… bee… freak... thing now. I'll be in bed if anyone needs me."

Nico heard footsteps approaching and poked his head out of the cupboard. It was Hick.

"Hey, Hick! Over here!" he whispered. Hick saw him and immediately approached him, squeezing into the cupboard with him. She had wanted to grab a bite in the pantry and go back to her hiding place in the storeroom, but being with Nico wasn't so bad.

"Man, Hazel is so bad at this!" Hick giggled, closing the cupboard door on them. "She just passed me by when I was laying down on one of the empty shelves in the storeroom."
"Where's Jason hiding at?"
"I caught a glimpse of him running around the second level. Probably hiding out at the maze in our sparring quarters."

The door creaked open and Hick signalled Nico hold his giggles in. "Hick, you here? I think we've found the creature's hideout," Percy called out from the door. Hick burst out of the cupboard, what traces of glee that showed on her face before now completely gone.

Along the corridor, Hick, Percy and Nico bumped into Hazel and Jason as headed towards the control unit. Something was up.

Beyond the pane of the submarine windows, a tall black fortress towered over THRESHER. It was definitely not of nature's creation. It looked too carefully constructed… too manmade for Hick's comfort.

"Let's launch a torpedo at its base and topple it over," Nico suggested.
"What if they come swarming out?" Jason asked.
"That won't be a problem. I've got another idea," Hick said, looking up from the periscope. "Hazel, Nico. You guys know how to perform illusions?"

Nico shook his head but Hazel shrugged.

"If you mean Mist Manipulation, sure I can do that."

Controlling the Mist to make them look like two schools of sardines, Hick and Hazel managed to infiltrate the fortress without alerting the enemy. They kept close to the ceiling, trying not to bump into any of the bugs that were drifting about. They seemed to be moving in the same direction. Hick beckoned Hazel to trail the bugs.

After a while, Hick and Hazel found themselves entering a grand hall. Bugs were everywhere. They were forming lines toward a row of bigger, fatter bugs, which Hick suspects to be Hive Queens. They were queuing up to mate with the queens and fertilise their eggs, before the queens bit their head off. Hick caught Hazel's eyes and they exchanged looks of disgust.

Is this it? Hazel looked to Hick.

Hick nodded. Since they looked like bees, I suspected they worked like bees. Kill the queen… that's one way to send the male bug workers into a stampeding frenzy, if I recall what I learnt in Entomology 101 correctly.

So the more disorderly and disoriented the colony gets, the longer it'll take for the colony to react when a torpedo heads their way,

Hazel concluded.

Hick took out her brass knuckles. That was Hazel's cue to carry out her duty. She swam out of one of the grand hall's windows, waiting for Hick's signal. Within minutes, Hick had strangled and snuff the life out of the Queens with the shadows, splattering blood all over the Queens' platform. A blood bath was in session. She signaled Hazel to carry out the next course of action.

A hundred meters away, Nico saw three short flashes of light given off by Hazel from Hick's torchlight at the centre of the fortress. "Stand by for attack at the fortress' mid-section," Nico instructed the undead sailors.

"Copy that, sir. Locking down on target."

A few seconds later, two long flashes were given off at the roof of the fortress. That was Hick's cue to commence the attack. "Okay. Open fire," Nico reported.

"Roger. Launching torpedo in three… two… one…"

Everyone from the submarine watched as the torpedo shot through the water towards the fortress. Nico Death Sense triggered, and he felt the end of numerous lives. "Well done, team. We've killed a significant amount of them."

Everyone cheered and clapped in the submarine.

Back at where the fortress once stood, delight turned to horror as Hick stared at what she had done. The fortress was falling apart, but that was not what bothered her. It was mere dozens of survivors scuttling out of the fortress: bug workers and infant bugs, swimming for their lives. There were decapitated bugs, writhing in pain... infant bugs gathered around dead bug soldiers, poking and tugging at them as if trying to wake them... Something was wrong with the picture. She'd seen it before. It was the same nightmare she had back at college camp, before Ryan woke her up... before she left. But instead of people, there were bugs. Piles and piles of bug corpses were tumbling out of the fortress that gave way. "Hick! We did it! We - " Hazel stopped as soon as she saw the look Hick's face. Something felt off about Hick. She wasn't concentrating on manipulating the Mist around her anymore, and some bug workers were starting to notice her presence. Hazel knew she had to get her sister away. Grabbing onto the petrified girl, Hazel shadow travelled both of them back to THRESHER.

Upon their return, sailors and demi-gods alike were either patting Hick on the back or high-fiving her. Nobody noticed the horror Hick had felt, as she concealed it with her smile. Nico, Jason and Percy were outside the submarine now, guarding the submarine for any impending attack. Hick frowned. What she had anticipated did not occur. Why were they fleeing instead of appointing a new queen and attacking the submarine? Where were they fleeing to?

"What should our next course of action be, ma'am?" Matthew asked, awaiting orders.

Hick looked into the hollow sockets of his eyes. She couldn't read his expression, but it felt like he was looking into her soul... as if he was judging her. Stop over-thinking. "The bugs aren't attacking. Call back the guys and we'll trail the survivors," she finally said, wiping the cold beads of sweat that ran down the sides of her face.

After a few minutes of trailing the remaining alien insectoid, what Hick saw next petrified her. A huge trail of bugs that snaked its way across the ocean bed, heading towards one direction, and the swarm of bugs the submarine was tailing had merged with the trail. Hundreds of other bug swarms were arriving at all directions to join the line as well, scuttling frantically along with the rest of the sea bugs.

"Oh no," Jason groaned.
"There are millions of them," Percy exclaimed. Hick could see his eyes widen with shock. How are they to end this huge war?

"How shall we proceed from here, ma'am?" Matthew asked.
"Don't launch any attack, Anderson. Trail the line and find the front of it as soon as possible. I'll manipulate the Mist, so get up close. I think we have a lot more on our plate than we bargained for," Hick turned to face the rest of the crew and her teammates with the best smile she could muster. "Take a break for now, guys. You did well."

To be continued.