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Chad POV:

Stepping out of a dimensional portal was pretty cool. Stepping out of a dimensional portal with half of the occupants throwing up though, isn't.

Everyone, except for me, Crystal and the Vanguards, needed a few minutes to recuperate. Ty had told me that since dimension travel was a natural ability in all Vanguards, we were able to recover fast upon exiting the portals. Since my Dad had the power, my sister and I were more immune than the others were.

While the others were given sometime to gain their senses, I decided to scout ahead and Lory wanted to tag along. I admit I felt uncomfortable being around her, it wasn't because I didn't like her, it's just was…well…I don't know really, but I've could have sworn I heard Aphrodite laughing inside my head.

"You okay?" She asked, her voice breaking my thoughts. I looked at her, our eyes staring into one another for who knows how long.

"Yeah, I'm just thinking about some stuff." I replied. I continued walking while asking, "So, know anything about this Forge character?"

Lory thought for a moment before replying, "Not personally, he left long before I was born, but I have seen the awesome stuff he makes though."

"Like what?" I asked, curious since we were going to this guy to get new weapons for my sister and me.

"Well for starters, I know he was the one who built your Dad's new sword, Storm Terror." Lory stated. "Along with other weapons and gear for only the best Vanguards and that he created the Junkers."

"The who?" I asked confused at what she meant. Lory rolled her eyes, amused at my constant questions.

"The Junkers are these living machine organisms who are, literally, made out of junk. I think they act as Forge's security guards, guarding the entrance to his workshop. That's all I really know."

I just nodded when I spotted something. In front of us was a field of large piles of metal. From kitchen appliances to cars, planes and tanks, it at least covered perhaps a small suburb neighborhood. And in the center of it all was an orange orb that glowing like crazy.

I look at Lory for confirmation. "Is that…?"

"Yeah." Lory said plainly, getting out something from her pocket. "That's the portal to Forge's workshop." She finally pulled out some sort of phone. "We better call the others to get here quickly."

Ty let out a puff of smoke from his mouth has he stared at the hills of junk. "Well it looks like we weren't the only ones who found this place."

In front of us, were the remains of what Ty labeled as Fade's soldiers. The way that the bodies were laying here, it almost seem someone had disposed of them to separate them from the surrounding junk.

"I wonder if any of grandpa's inventions are in any of these piles of junk." Luke asked as he stared. I was hoping there weren't any because I remember hearing stories about how Hephaestus's failed inventions usually end up causing trouble.

"We'll I guess will found out, lets go." I said as I started walking ahead, keeping my eyes open for attacks. Soon the rest followed and we entered the junkyard. But the deeper we went in, the more I felt that were being watched.

I think the other's had the same feeling because some had already pulled out their weapons. Suddenly something appeared out of thin air and landed right in front of them. At first I thought it was a robot except it was the freakiest one I've ever seen.

His parts were all different colors, sizes and shapes but appeared to be supporting himself well. Along with that he had a bicycle wheel attached to his back along with a microscope lens on his head, making it look like a third eye, oh and he had a very deadly club in his hand.

He charged at me and I just barely got my sword up to block his blow. At the same time multiple more of these things, each with different appearances, came down and attacked us.

"Everyone get back, get back!" I ordered as we tried to push these things back and then started running, trying to find a place to lose them.

We managed to find shelter under a bunch of wrecked cars. Once I made sure everyone was here I let out a sigh of relief.

"What the hell are those things?" I asked.

"Those are Junkers." Ty answered. "Beings created by Forge. They're really just exoskeletons who can magnetically attract any nearby metal and fuse them together to make an actual body for themselves."

"That is so cool." Luke said, whose love for machines override his concerns in this situation. "What kind of alloy and power do they used to do it?"

"You can ask Forge that, if we ever get to him." Ty mumbled as he pumped his shotgun.

"YEAH, LET'S GET EM' BOYS!" Ka-Boom shouted with enthusiasm as he pulled out his rocket launcher but he was pulled down by Lory.

"We don't have time to fight them; we just need to clear a straight path to the portal." She said.

"Wait, wait." Yelled Darius, "You guys are Vanguards, can't you jus tell them to stop or something?"

"Nah, only Forge can tell these guys what to do, da only way for us to get through if we fight or had a pass, allowing us to get by, which we don't have." Ty replied. "Da only one who could get through with no problem is Blade."

My Dad's name gave me an idea, wish would either get me killed or not. Moving quickly I climbed out of our hiding spot, ignoring my friend's warning, and walked right in front of the Junkers.

"Hey!" I shouted, getting their attention, "I'm here to see Forge."

The name stopped them from advancing; still growling though, but at least it was going how I thought it would go.

"Chad, what are you doing?" Crystal asked from behind her hiding spot. I just stood there, saying my next lines.

"My name is Chad Jackson; I'm with my sister Crystal Jackson. Our dad is Percy Jackson, or as you guys might know him, Blade."

The name caused all the Junkers to gasp, their eyes widening, some were even whispering among themselves. I was able to usher Crystal to stand beside me as one of the Junkers moved forward.

He was more humanoid then the others, though that didn't make his appearance any less intimidating. His metal body was mostly tan or steel color but looked brand new. His right eye was covered by a bandana on his head and a shotgun inside his left arm as well as a machine gun fused to his back. In his right hand was a makeshift axe that looked like it could do some serious damage.

He didn't say anything, but gestured to Crystal and me to follow him, right towards the portal. I looked at Ty, wanting to know what I should do. Ty just made a head gesture that it was okay, leaving me the feeling that they weren't coming.

I grabbed Crystal's hand and made her followed me, with the Junker leading us. The others moved to the sides, staying far away from us, making sure not to come in contact.

We were now literally in front of the portal, larger now that we were so up close. The Junker gestured to follow as he walked into it. My sister and I both looked at each other, gripping the each other's hands and walked in…

…Into a room that would make Hephaestus believe he was in paradise. The room, if you can call it that, must have been at least 50 km wide, everywhere there were objects hanging, standing or just lying around, from just junk to weapons, and tools to armor and vehicles and who knows what else. The only things that were moving were these tiny drones that were the size of midgets, carrying stuff back and forth, both on the ground and in the air.

"Chad." My sister said, snapping me out of my thoughts. She was pointing towards the direction that the Junker was walking in. "Look."

I looked and saw another person was in the center of the room, doing some repairs on what looked like a tank. He wore a loose jacket with no sleeves and jeans. His head was bald but I could see some red hair as we got closer and he had a scar over his lip and another over his left eye. Speaking of his eyes, their color would change from a dark brown to a burning orange. The most intimidating thing I noticed on him was the hammer hanging from his waist, with weird inscriptions on it.

He looked away from his work and spotted us. Getting up he walked up to us and turned towards the Junker. "Thank you Scrapheap, you can go now." He said.

The Junker, whose name was Scrapheap, bowed and left. Forge then turned his attention on us, his eyes looking down at us.

"So, you're the ones who claim to be Blade's kids?" He asked. We just nodded our heads while he leaned down to get a better look at us. "Well beside the fact that you're with Vanguards, along with that you even know his name, you two look like him too."

He gave a chuckle before asking, "So, what can I do for you runts?"

I lifted up Tidal Wave so I show it too him. "Our weapons, we were wondering if you could upgrade them or give us new ones. I know that we're not Vanguards-"

"Then you'll my answer will be no." Forge said quickly.

"But if you could just make an exception just this once. Please, we want our weapons to do actual damage if we want to help our dad." Crystal pleaded.

Forge just looked at us, as if trying to see what was making us thinking that we could even possible help our dad. After a while he gave a sigh. "You two definitely have your father's personality. Fine I'll do it."

My eyes widen, "Really, you mean it?"

Forge held up his hands. "I won't make you two new weapons, but I can upgrade your current ones to a degree."

Crystal raised an eyebrow, kind of annoyed he wasn't giving us a good deal. "That doesn't sound like much if you ask me."

Forge shrugged, "Can't help it, you're not Vanguards so I can't give you too much high tech, get in trouble with the big boss."

"You mean the Council that Ty told us about." I asked.

"No, not them." Forge said. "If I meant them I would have said bosses. I meant Chaos, the council only has authority over the Vanguard, I'm no longer a Vanguard so I take orders from the Creator now but I still supply Vanguard with weaponry and stuff."

I leaned my head towards Crystal, "What do you think sis?"

Crystal just shrugged, "It's your call Chad."

Sighing I handed my sword and shield to Forge, Crystal following my example. Forge took them and handed them to a drone, which scurried off. "This shouldn't take me too long." Forge said.

2 minutes later…

"All done." Forge said as he came to us with our weapons. They had a new glow to them, more blackish with a shine it.

"Wow; that was fast." Commented Crystal while taking her daggers and examining them.

"It was nothing; I once made a legion of 20,000 sentry drones the size of a truck in just 12 minutes." Forge said.

My sister and I didn't say anything, just stared at the guy in awe.

Once we passed the columns of creepy looking Junkers, our friends gathered around us, asking us a whole bunch of questions and looking at our upgraded weapons. Ty though looked like he was talking to someone, like on a phone.

"So what do we do now?" Jack asked.

"I guess we head back to Miserix, we're done here right?" I replied. I noticed some of the guys were nervous of going through a portal again. "Don't worry; Forge gave me some pills for you guys to take. It should help ease the queasiness."

Everyone took a pill while I took out the gem. I was about to activate it when Ty spoke. "Yo Chad maybe we shouldn't, uh, go right away." He responded nervously.

I raised an eyebrow, "Why, we have what we want and it seems better that we go back to the big dragon."

Before he could say another word, I activated the gem and went through the portal…

…To see my dad talking with Miserix, both looking at me due to my sudden arrival. And the Minotaur was coming up right behind Dad, axe drawn.

Sorry about that, I've been very busy with Boy Scouts and school, I'm an 11th grader. Remember keep sending me messages about characters or stories for my community

Wacko12