Jason Grace
The wind blew against Jason's face as the son of Jupiter stood just outside the Roman camp's border. He and the other demigods had been watching Camp Half-Blood for hours, they watched the campers try their best to ready their defenses. Their attempts at shoring up their defenses were noble, but Jason knew it was ultimately useless.
He knew the campers weren't anywhere near ready for the first barrage of mortars. All across the hills surrounding camp, Roman campers were getting their mortars set up. He watched as the shells were being brought to each site.
"Man, those poor guys aren't going to know what hit them." Thalia said next to him. Her bow shifted on her back as she paced back and forth.
"I hope those shells work." Jason said.
Thalia nodded, "Be careful, you guys are going in there first."
Jason knew there was a chance this plan could go wrong. If those mortars failed to fire, the plan would go bust. The same would happen if the gas failed.
The sound of marching came from the left of the camp. Jason and Thalia looked over and found the first cohort moving towards their forward position, the plan relied on them just as much as it relied on the mortars and their gas shells.
The lines of campers on Half-Blood hill were trying their hardest to form some form of a defensive line but the issue was that there were so many of them and the slope of the hill made it difficult to form any firm formations.
Jason turned to his sister, "I need to go."
Thalia waved him off, "Go ahead, I'll make sure the camp doesn't burn down."
Jason smiled before walking towards where the first cohort was currently waiting. They were at the bottom of the hill, staring up at the campers who were now surrounding Thalia's pine tree.
He knelt down in front of the cohort, "Keep your heads down, they have archers!"
The wind blew ahead of them, forming the perfect storm. Jason had remembered Frank telling him that they needed to be careful with the gas attacks. Apparently, Frank had done some homework and found that gas attacks relied heavily on the weather. If the wind was blowing the wrong way, they could find themselves being gassed.
The sound of a high-pitched whine caused Jason and his cohort to look back at camp. A red illumination arrow flew above the camp, basically forming a red star against the clear blue skies of Camp Half-Blood. The it made a loud boom as it bathed the surrounding area with red light.
Not long after the flare popped, the sound of thumping could be heard. Jason knew what that sound was, that was the sound of the mortars being fired. He could hear the whine of the shells coming in.
"The gas has a five-minute dissipation period!" Jason called back to everyone, "Once it's over, we march!"
The rest of the cohort nodded or banged their weapons in acknowledgement. They all turned their attention back to the hill. Sure enough, the white trails of the mortar shells started coming down from the sky.
Jason could hear the campers on the hill panicking as they too saw the shells coming. Just as planned, Leo's defenses didn't activate as the first wave of shells exploded above the half-bloods, spewing a purple cloud down on them. Jason and the cohort watched as the campers seemed to grow drowsier by the second.
Jason looked down at the stopwatch Hazel had given him. He started the timer. If the campers still managed to stay awake, then the second wave of mortars would come in, but Jason had a feeling a second wave wouldn't be needed. Some of the campers succumbed to the gas almost right away, falling over and passing out. Some of the other campers were stronger and seemed to try their hardest to resist the gas.
"One minute left." Jason told his cohort.
As soon as the stopwatch beeped, Jason whistled and drew his sword. The cohort got to their feet and let out a war cry before charging up the hill. Their spears and shields were held with tight grips, the sound of the formation advancing up the hill let out a rumbling sound.
"Be careful!" Jason ordered, "Don't step on anyone!"
The legionnaires quickly started restraining the sleeping demigods, there was no guarantee that they weren't still going to be under the mind control potions when they woke up. Frank and Hazel made it abundantly clear that this invasion would be the end of this whole thing.
Jason couldn't help but feel that the end of Hektor's reign was coming soon. Between him and Percy and Annabeth, they'd all pretty much gotten back all the missing symbols of power, all except one: Ares's shield. Jason had nowhere to look for that, and he could only hope that Percy and Annabeth were already on that.
Jason marched down the hill and into the campgrounds flanked by a dozen of his legionnaires. Nico seemed to have done his job well, there wasn't a sign of anyone who had evaded the shelling.
Speaking of Nico, the son of Hades walked out of the Big House with a smile on his face. He wasn't really dressed for battle, he didn't have any armor on. He had his stygian iron sword strapped to his side, but he wasn't showing any signs of aggression or hostility.
He walked over to Jason, "I take it your plan went well?"
"Yeah," Jason smiled, patting him on the shoulder, "Thanks a lot. Without you, this could've turned messy.'
Nico seemed to be relieved now that the camp was under Roman control. Jason couldn't have imagined how terrifying it must've been when he and Piper had left. Every time Hektor took a loss, he grew more and more unhinged, going as far as to hurt people who really didn't do anything wrong.
"It's not over yet." Jason said, "Do you know where Hektor's at?"
"Last I checked, the ship he's on is still at the beach." Nico informed him, "But I don't know how you and your people are supposed to board it. We don't have any boats to carry everyone and even if we did, that warship would blow you guys out of the water."
Now Jason really wished Percy was here, this was something that he would be more than capable of doing. Jason could swim but naval warfare was never a strong suit for him, if he was being honest, he was a little apprehensive about sailing. Just like how Percy hated flying, he hated sailing.
Then he smiled, he had just the solution. He put his fingers to his lips and whistled.
Nico stared at him, "What was the point of that?"
"Just wait." Jason said while looking at the sky.
Tempest flew into view, coming down towards him and Nico. It had been a while since he had seen Tempest and to be honest, he sort of forgot about him.
"You're boarding the ship alone?" Nico asked.
Jason nodded, "Like you said, there's no way we can get everyone on board to capture the thing. I'll just have to work quick to grab Hektor and leave."
Nico sighed, "Good luck. I'll stay here and see if I can help when everyone wakes up."
Jason gave him a smile before mounting Tempest. He gave the camp one last look before taking off and flying towards the sea.
Ω
Jason found the ship Nico was talking about rather easily. He thought he was going to have to go further out to sea but for some reason, the warship was just sitting close to the shoreline. He couldn't help but wonder why they hadn't already left, if he were Hektor he would've been long gone.
The wind howled in Jason's face as he guided Tempest into a dive. The wind slapping his face made it feel like he was on the world's most dangerous rollercoaster.
Just before Tempest slammed into the water, Jason pulled up. He needed to be careful, he could see all the guns on the warship, he wasn't sure if he could out-fly those guns and he really didn't want to find out.
The closer he got to the ship, he couldn't help but notice there was something wrong. His eyes scanned the deck, but the entire ship seemed to be deserted, he didn't see a living soul even walking around. A cold feeling filled his chest, he hoped this wasn't some diversion by Hektor.
Jason steered Tempest so he was hovering just above the ship. He climbed off and jumped down, landing on the ship with a grunt. He was sure everyone had to have heard him as his shoes slammed against the steel deck. The smell of seawater filled his nostrils.
He drew his sword and inched forward, making sure to progress as slow as he could without taking too long. He didn't want to get caught off guard by any mortals or Hektor, but he knew if he wasn't fast enough, Hektor would leave the ship and escape, then his job would be much harder.
As Jason advanced, he found disturbing signs that pointed towards an escape. There were cut ropes where the lifeboats should've been, like someone had taken them in a hurry. He noticed all of the slots for the lifeboats were like that, at least, on the side that he was on. It was like the whole crew abandoned ship for some reason.
That's when Jason found an open door. He peered inside and found a mortal wearing a black uniform sitting against the wall. His nose was bloody, and he barely looked alive, Jason couldn't help but wonder what happened to the poor guy.
The mortal looked over at him, "Get out of here, kid. There's an abandon ship order in place!"
Jason noticed the guy had a set of keys next to him. The door next to him read 'storage', he must've been going to get more lifeboats but someone or something stopped him.
"What happened?" Jason asked as he knelt next to him.
"I don't know, I'm just trying to get off this damn ship." The guy said, sounding terrified, "Some guy, I've never seen him before, he got on somehow and it was like we couldn't hit him at all, he just tore us apart."
So, Jason wasn't alone on the ship. He had an idea of who it might've been, but he needed confirmation.
"What did he look like?" Jason asked, grabbing the guy by his collar.
"He was young, maybe eighteen? Had black hair and green eyes. I don't know anything else, but he was like a demon, we just couldn't do anything."
That all but confirmed it for Jason, Percy was on the ship. He could already piece together what had happened. Percy must've boarded the ship when these guys weren't expecting him, then he took them out and was probably going towards where Hektor was.
"Good luck." Jason said as he got to his feet.
He turned and ran down the hall. The deeper he got into the ship, the more destruction he came across. The walls were dented, blood was on the floor, and the light fixtures in a couple of hallways were hanging loosely by their wires, some of the lights were flickering or broken all together.
Jason couldn't help but wonder how Percy had managed to take on the whole ship by himself. He knew Percy was strong, but this was the first time he'd seen him fight mortals. At this rate, he was more concerned that Hektor would be dead by the time he got to him, if Percy got his hands on him there was no telling what he'd do.
Jason climbed a flight of stairs and ended up in a hallway just outside the bridge of the ship. The door was closed but he could hear people behind it. He listened closely. He heard Hektor's voice cry out in pain before the door shook as he was presumably thrown against it. Jason knew he had to move fast, Percy had to have found Hektor.
He ran over and opened the door.
In front of him, Percy had Hektor on his knees with Riptide held against his throat. Riptide's bronze blade glowed with a lethal light. Hektor's eyes darted around frantically as blood dripped from his nose and mouth. He had a black eye, Jason wasn't sure if Percy had punched him or hit him with Riptide.
"Hey, Jason." Percy said with a smile, "Welcome to the party."