Disclaimer: I don't own either PJO or TES
Sorry this update took so long, and this one is shorter than expected, but midterms and finals rolled up on me like a truck. Luckily though after next week I am out for winter break and can write much more frequently.
It had been two days since Percy, Annabeth, Katie, and Grover set off on their quest to retrieve Zeus's Master Bolt, and they could safely say it probably could have been a smoother ride. First little bump in the road was the Furies showing up on the bus they were taking and it gets destroyed. Next they end up in Medusa's current, now former, lair, Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium. Katie had sniffed her out rather quickly and then they proceeded to brutally murdered her with Annabeth freezing her eyes closed, Katie blasting her arms off with lightning emitted from some weird tree amulet she now had , and Percy looping off the Gorgon's head.
Grover had watched in shock as the three rookie demigods utterly demolished one of the most famous monster ever. Percy had then sent the head to Olympus which resulted in Annabeth calling him a "Morbid person like Katie". But currently the Chimera, which was ratted out due to smelling like three different animals, and another monster up on the Gateway Arch with them and a group of tourist was their latest problem. As luck would have it though a ten year old girl going through the process of lycanthrope was a bane to hiding monster sents. Groover could sniff things out, but if it was hidden by Mist it could be fooled. Katie had no such limitation on her senses.
"I don't know what the other sent is guys. It smells like really bad though." Katie mumbled to the group as she covered her nose. Percy and Annabeth looked towards the monsters disguised as a woman with a chihuahua.
"Well she looks pretty grouse to, so no doubts from me on the smell." Percy said as he held Riptide in pen form behind his back. At first Katie's werewolf senses and Grover's sniffing/ talking to animals (among all the other magic his friends would do and offer no explanation for) would creep him out but he had gotten more used to his strange friends, stranger habits.
"Uhh, guys maybe we should NOT fight every single monster we encounter!" Grover pleaded with the group of demigods. This was his first quest and half of the group was homicidally insane in regards to monsters. If he didn't die from being eaten, it would be from a heart attack induced by his friends.
"Look as long as we approach this with a good strategy we should be fine. Katie can tank a good bit of damage so she should be up front with Seaweed brain, I can cover with spells and maybe sneak in and back stab one of the two. Grover….uh kick them while they're down?" Annabeth suggested. The demigods began thinking it through but then Katie began sniffing the air again. Her eyes widened and her head snapped towards the elevator.
A 5'11 male individual wearing a very nice and golden trimmed black tuxedo adorned with a black shoulder cape, a black fedora with a red band around it, and completely black sunglasses. The person had the palest skin they had ever seen, midnight colored hair and a light beard that was very well kept. As out of place as the man looked already the closed umbrella in his right hand made him stand out even more amongst the tourists gathered. The man walked over to one of the displays on the creation of the Arch and began to read it, ignoring the stares. Those looks mostly coming from the demigods and two monsters gathered.
"...That guy reeks of blood and just death in general." Katie informed her friends as she covered her nose to prevent his stench from overwhelming her. Annabeth began to calculate on why the man was here but noticed the woman monster and her Chimera dog walk over towards him.
"Katie, listen in on what they are going to say." She told her younger sister. Katie nodded with her hands still covering her nose and began to focus on listening.
"...The guy has a weird French/Romanian accent….,the woman is asking him why she does not recognize him…., he is talking about some facts he is reading on the Arch….,woman is now upset sounding….,and he just said he has other business to attend to." Katie recited the surprisingly boring conversation to the group as they watched the man walk over to a group of guys dressed like bikers. There were six members of the group in a circle poking fun at the man's dress choice as he approached and looked at them with very critical eyes. Or so one would assume due to the inability of looking at the man's eyes.
"What are you looking at chump?" The largest guy among the group sneered at him. The response from the man was to insert his fist through the man's skull. The entire room stood there, utterly shocked by what had just happened.
"Holy crap!" Annabeth cried out as she saw the remains of the biker's face fly through the air. In fact it looked like they were just floating there in the air. Actually, now that she looked around, everything but the group of demigods and the mysterious man were frozen in place. The world suddenly had this blueish haze to it as the man looked over to the group and began walking towards them. Percy looked towards Grover and found as frozen as everyone else present and was filled with anger.
Acting without thinking, he uncapped Riptide and charged at the man. With a wave of his hand, and one green glow latter, the man paralyzed Percy mid charge and walked right past him. The Stormcrown sister followed in their freinds steps of drawing their weapons, but were then soon frozen in place as well.
"You know, where I come from it is considered very rude to draw your weapon on someone who has not wronged you. Though this place is rather…..encouraging of preemptive strikes, so I shall let the lack of manners pass." The man calmly talked as he pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the blood from his fist. Annabeth attempted to open her mouth to reply but being paralyzed tends to halt all forms of movement so a muffled groan is all that came out of her mouth. The man raised an eyebrow at her then nodded in apparent realization.
"My apologies, I tend to forget how hard it is to communicate when frozen." With another wave of his hand the frozen demigods felt their jaws become unpetrified, though the rest of their bodies were still stiff as a board.
"Who are you!?" Annabeth and Percy yelled out in synch. The man smiled as he looked back and forth between the two.
"It is of little consequence who I am. God, demigod, monster, mortal, they all are simply titles that are used to define what an entity is. I for one, happen to prefer the title of monster to the other labels I would be associated with. That particular title may hold many negative connotations but I believe it to hold many beneficial and accurate meanings as well."
"...So you're a monster that likes to be called a monster, but don't see yourself as a monster?" Annabeth asked as she tried to follow the given line of thinking." A laugh from the man was the initial response as he walked over towards Katie.
"No, no, no." The man said as he shook his head at the daughter of Athena. "I do in fact possess a very self aware view of myself on the subject of my being. One your father shares as well though he dare not admit aloud." A smirk that screamed 'I know something you don't' lined the man's face as he stared at the Nord's daughters's confused faces. He then walked over to where Katie was held in place, warhammer stopped mid swing, and looked at the wooden tree necklace that was adorning her neck.
"Now, tell me young one, do you see yourself as a monster? Some hideous creature that lurks in the darkest areas of the worlds and preys upon the innocent? Afterall, a werewolf is in most people's definition of a horrid monster. Though from what I have seen, romanticizing the afflictions of Lycanthropy and Vampirism is common here, so perhaps I am mistaken. BUt I have the feeling that those who do know what the actual creatures are like, despise them. Am I wrong?" The man asked Katie as he looked down at her. A harsh glare was shot his way by all of the demigods.
"I may be turning into a werewolf, but that doesn't make me a murderous creature!" Katie spat at the man. Annabeth noticed that her sister got more worked up about the question than she normally would have. If they made it out of this situation alive she would have interrog-, uh, question her little sister. "And don't you dare talk about my dad like he is some horrible monster!"
"Hmm, the first part is nice to hear, it is always nice to see one so young have a proper grasp on man versus monster. As for your father though? He is a "horrible monster" believe it or not. I say this not from a moral high, as I am far, far more of ravenous beast than he. But is is just as guilty of committing the foulest acts of evil as I am."
"How would you know anything about our dad? And what acts are sooo evil that makes him a monster?" Annabeth asked from behind, as she tried to formulate a plan to escape the spell's bindings and attack the well dressed man. Percy was starting to feel awkward about the whole situation since he couldn't really contribute. It was like watching a friend you know yell at someone you don't, but the conversation being really heavy.
"I could give you a list of them but I will name off a short few. Genocide, war crimes, heresy, crimes against nature, Murder, Assault, Grave robbing, and much more." The demigods eyes were all wided as the man listed off Njal's supposed monstrosities.
"...Wh-what?" Katie muttered.
"Oh yes, granted half of those were done in a war, and the winners are entitled to view themselves however they please, the surviving losers have much to be furious at."
"I really doubt Mr. Stormcrown would do have those things. He is violent, but I don't think he would commit genocide." Percy now interjected.
"As much fun as it would be to counter your points, I must be going now after I handle some business here….other than this." The man waved his arm over the the still standing corpse of a biker, and his gathered gang.
"If you do wish to challenge my argument, talk to Njal himself when this is all over. Just ask him about Lucia, Sofie, and Mjoll." With that last bit of info stated the man began to walk away as Annabeth and Katie shouted numerous questions that all fell on deaf ears.
The world returned to its normal color as motion returned to the world and everything went to Hades. The gathered bikers saw their friends body launch threw a wall as screams filled the air from the tourists. The man held his hand towards the group as their blood violently jetted out of their bodies and was seemingly absorbed by the man. Shadows rose from the floor to create a door that the man passed through and then vanished, leaving the demigods, the now running tourists, the bodies, and the monsters in the room.
Confusion adorned Percy and Katie's faces as they were unfamiliar with Shadow Magic. Annabeth however, did like reading her father's notes on magic and had known of the obscure school of magic. A growl emerged from the direction of the chihuahua as the Chimera began to show its form. Acting quickly Annabeth shot into "General" mode, i.e, bark out orders.
"Uh…..focus on the Chimera!" Annabeth quickly ordered out as Katie and Percy charged the beast, weapons in hand. The snake head of the beast lunged towards Percy, but he was able to quickly slide out of the way. The snake's head smashed through a chunk of the wall and recoiled back and glared at the Son of Poseidon. Katie was engaging the lion head in Mortal Kombat with her Warhammer. The feline head swered from side to side avoiding the giant metal instrument as it clawed at the equally evasive demigod. Annabeth threw on her hat and began to sneak around the creature. As she came closer and closer to the monster the words the mysterious man, now she guessed Vampire if that blood magic was anything to go off of, rang in her head. Who were those people he mentioned? If what the man said was true, why had her dad never mentioned it? He was almost always up front about things as he didn't like keeping things from family. Whatever the reason the daughters of Athena and Demeter would get their answer, though it would not be one they liked.
Njal had to admit something to himself as he drove along a stretch of California highway. When he got to the Underworld, he would more likely than not try and release Sally in the least violent manner possible. Not out of fear of Hades, he couldn't care any less about the ruler of the Underworld trying to stop him, no it was more for his children's sake. He already had Artemis pissed at him, entirely her own fault she lost that fight, but he knew she would not go after his daughter's due to them being small little girls. Hades though? The dude would hold a grudge, one that might end up on Annabeth and Katie. The Nord shook his head at the thought of his children dieing for something he did. It was not a feeling he wanted to live through.
Especially after last time.