Disclaimer: I don't own either PJO or TES
Percy sighed as he sat next to Annabeth in the back of a semi carrying zoo animals. After being so kindly asked by Ares to retrieve his shield from a stupid water park they had been given this way to get to L.A, or at the very least closer. He was also yelled at for grabbing a scarf, apparently coated in Love Magic, as Annabeth had since confiscated it. That water park could have turned out way worse in his opinion but luckily his friends own magic had an answer.
Getting the shield was no problem when two people in the group were able to telepathically lift things up and pull them closer. Must be nice to never have to get off the couch to get the remote.
"So, is there anything you guys can't do with magic?" Percy asked Annabeth with a raised eyebrow. Katie and Grover were busy talking to a lion (never thought that would have to be something he said), leaving him alone with his best human friend.
"That would probably be something to ask dad since me and Katie are still learning. Lifting that shield took a great deal of effort from us, but someone more skilled in Alteration would be able to lift entire buildings." Annabeth replied after mulling over the hypothetical. As smart as she was, she had only two years of knowing this stuff versus her dad who had centuries. Anything she thought impossible would more than likely be completely easy by his standard.
"...Your dad can lift buildings?"
"Not to my knowledge. But he can resurrect the dead."
"Oh cause that's soo much easier." Percy deadpanned. Annabeth looked sheepish as she scratched the back of her head.
"Actually yeah it is. Me and Katie can resurrect animals but not people…..yet." Images of Annabeth raising hordes of dead historical figures to question filled Percy's head as he let out a single laugh.
"So was there like, no problems in your dad's world? Cause it seems to me if you can just magic anything fixed there would be nothing to fight about."
"Actually there were lots of wars of territory, threats of undead hordes, possible demonic invasion, dark gods meddling with the mortals and forcing them to worship them, and fierce political strife." Annabeth informed Percy.
"...Ok so there are problems." In comparison to that retrieving a Master Bolt from the Lord of the Underworld didn't seem so jarring.
"Don't forget the threat of some guy ripping out your soul to enchant a ring of carry-five-more pounds." Katie yelled to them from across the truck. Rubbing his eyes in exasperation Percy made a note to not piss off his friends, less they use his soul for something stupid like that.
"Well, reason I ask is that guy back in Saint Louis stopped time. Shouldn't that be impossible or is it common as well?" Percy asked.
"Oh no. What that guy did was definitely not normal. I don't know if that counts as Alteration or Mysticism but it would definitely take a long time to master." Annabeth mumbled having a hard time getting used to the fact another person from her dad's world was here. And apparently he knew her father well enough to have dirty secrets on.
"Great, so evil wizard with time powers. Really loving our odds." Percy sarcastically drawled. Not only did he have to handle all this Greek stuff to, but add in another world with evil wizards that can just alter time and space? He was starting to get a little overwhelmed.
"Eh, could be worse." Annabeth tried to encourage her friend. Murphy's Law, sensing its presence would make for ample comedic timing, decided to act.
The semi slammed to halt, causing the group to be launched into the various cages. Percy's impact had been more or less cushioned by Annabeth's body as he was the first to recover. Standing up and uncapping Riptide Percy could hear the sounds of muffled movement and talking outside.
He couldn't make out what was being said, but the sounds of a struggle from the front of the truck was heard and then very quickly ended.
All of a sudden Grover, Katie and all the animals flinched and let out cries of distress. Katie and Grover tried to cover their ears but they still seemed very bothered by the noise.
"What was that?" Katie grumbled as she rubbed her ears. That was the most annoyingly high pitched ringing she had ever heard.
"Dog whistle maybe. But that was way worse than normal." Grover commented. The scent of mortals was very clear outside, but there was someone else. I smelled like Njal with the old draconic scent, but there was traces of lingering werewolf and vampire (assuming Annabeth's guess about the blood smelling man in Saint Louis was correct.).
The back of the semi opened up and revealed it had since fallen into night time and two guys in darkened clothes with bulletproof vests on. The M4s in their hands also seemed to be pointed at them at the moment so the group slowly raised their hands in surrender.
"Heya Veto, wadda thinkin four kids are doing in the back of a smuggling truck?" One of the guys spoke to the other in a very heavy Brooklyn accent.
"Well if I was a bettin man, which I'm not, I'd wager our little ones are stowaways. Probably gotta bring em to the boss man." The one named Veto replied with the same accent. The other guy jumped into the back of the truck and motioned for the demigods to go outside.
Slowly and begrudgingly they made their way out of the truck and out into a nightly desert. A Las Vegas in 25 miles sign was their only clue to their location as the truck was pulled off the main road. Annabeth counted 12 more of the gunmen around the truck and a few Suburbans parked in the distance.
They were being robbed. Great.
Katie nudged her sister's arm and pointed to the front of the semi, where the driver was on his knees in front of the headlights talking two three shadowy figures. The man seemed to be begging for them not to do something as he began to sob hysterically.
The figure in the middle snapped it's fingers and immediately the man looked up at it. There was some back and forth between the two as the man on the ground began to laugh and nod.
As he slowly started to stand up the figure pulled out a silenced pistol and shot him in the head.
The figured turned towards the demigods as they now decided that freaking out and running away would be a good option. Katie nailed one of the men in the nuts with and elbow and got the other with a knee in the same weak point. Annabeth launched several rays of ice and froze a guard's arms and legs to the side of the truck along with the guy next to him. Percy swung at one of them with Riptide with the hopes of disarming him.
And not Njal's definition where you literally remove their arm.
The blade being Celestial Bronze however ended up phasing right through the guy, as the other guards began to react by pointing their assault rifles at the kids.
"Everybody calm down. And you four from the truck stand still." The middle figure spoke loudly in an irish accent. Much to the surprise of Percy and Co. they found themselves unable to not comply with what he had said and stopped fighting.
"Now then, we got ourselves two lads and two lasses on a truck that may be a wee bit dangerous for them to be on. Well you, blondie, tell me how you ended up in this truck here." Annabeth felt the intense desire to tell this man exactly what he wanted, regardless of the consequences.
"Ares gave us the truck to use in order to help with our quest to retrieve Zeus's stolen Master Bolt from Hades." She replied. The others looked at her like she was insane for telling him that.
"Well now. That is quite interesting." The man walked towards. As he got closer she was able to make out more about him, at least what he was wearing.
A grey tuxedo with key shaped cufflinks and a grey and black fedora that somehow hid his face. Preventing her from seeing the man, or any identifying marks on his person. There was a band around the hat that had blue symbols written across that was out of place due to the color differences.
Annabeth recognized some of them to be the Daedric alphabet. Though she could recognize them, reading was not her specialty. Stupid dyslexia, she had a hard enough time with english, now she had magical writing to try and learn as well.
The one symbol she could actually read said 'Shadow' which really didn't help much.
"So then Miss….." The man left a space for Annabeth to answer.
"Annabeth Stormcrown."
"Well now, that is a very interesting last name to have. In fact where did you get it?"
"Our dad. Njal Stormcrown." Annabeth told the shadowy man. He let out a laugh at her answer and turned to the other two people masked by the dark.
"Ya hear that? Big old ball of anger had himself some children. No wonder the lass here can use magic." Annabeth couldn't see it but the man had a very large smile on his face as he turned back to the group.
"I take it the little wolf pup is your sister then." He pointed to Katie.
"Yes. How did you know she was a werewolf?" Annabeth tried to get some info out of the man. He had to be using some form of mind control to get her to answer, because she was telling him things she wouldn't normally admit to a stranger with a gun.
"Assume I know all, cause that's more than likely true. Now then me and my associates here need this truck to sell, or at least the merchandise in the back. However since I am a benevolent chap, I'll make a deal with you."
"Didn't you just murder a man in cold blood!" Percy yelled pointing to the dead guy in front of the truck. If this man was benevolent, then his favorite color was pink.
"Oh he was hardly a good person, won't be missed either. Anyways I'm talking to your friend here so sush." The man replied and waved Percy off.
"What kind of deal?" Seeing no real way to come out on top of this situation Annabeth decided to limit their losses and listen to the shady Irishman.
"In exchange for getting you to L.A, more specifically the Underworld, I ask that while you're down there you take a little stop by Tartarus and throw this in." The man held out a black coin that looked similar to a drachma save for the color and the Daedric writing on it.
"That's it?" Annabeth asked skeptically. Seemed like a rather small thing for what he was offering, which was practically getting them to Hades.
"Unless you want to add anything else to the deal, then yes."
"What would we add?" Katie asked in a sarcastic manner.
"Oh you know. Magic weapons, spells, armor, the works." As he spoke a treasure chest appeared in front of him filled to the brim with swords, scrolls, books, and many other artifacts. Annabeth eyed the scrolls and books with extreme intensity. There was the offer of more knowledge and the previous deal was not that big of an issue. Katie and Percy both felt similar feelings, though Percy was drawn to a blue sword poking out of the chest, while Katie could smell rare alchemy ingredients that were hard pressed to grow both at camp and her house.
"...Now this must have a higher price I take it?" Annabeth looked back to the guy.
"Depends on what you take. Everything has a price, some higher than others." The man replied as he rummaged through the chest with one hand. Pulling out a scroll and reading from it the man smiled as a massive Atronach made from metal appeared in front of the group. He whistled
and pointed to a boulder the size of a van nearby.
The metallic entity picked up the boulder with no effort and hurled it through the sky, flying miles into the distance. Percy, Grover and Katie had awed looks at the sight of the metal giant where as Annabeth knew about this type of Atronach before. She just hadn't seen one before.
"For this….how bout a favor?" The man asked while holding the scroll. Having a metal giant in the Underworld would certainly be useful should things deteriorate and fight would be necessary. But once again Annabeth regard him with not uncalled for suspicion.
"Not money?"
"Oh no. If you were dealing with my associates then yes money would be required. I however find favors to be far more useful. And before you ask, no I won't ask you to kill anyone. I can do that myself if need be." The man replied, his voice sounding far more threatening towards the end.
"And if I say no?" Annabeth inquired.
"Oh, I wouldn't advise that. You see I doubt Hades would take four kids breaking into his domain, accusing him of stealing if he didn't do it or stealing from him if he did, and then expect to attempt to leave very well. In fact he may try and kill you. So having a metal Atronach on your side would be greatly beneficial since I doubt Hades knows how to destroy one. Think of it as insurance." Annabeth's eyes glossed over as the man spoke. She found herself incapable of refuting the man's logic, nor wanting to. In fact she clung to every word he said with extreme intensity.
"What's the favor?"
"Oh for now it's an I.O.U. as I'm rather busy at the present moment, but don't worry I'll let you know. But how bout we get this deal set in stone with, oh I don't know, an oath on the River Styx?" Grover opened his mouth to protest, but the guard behind him covered the goat boy's mouth before he could.
Annabeth agreed and made the oath to follow through on her side of the deal as the man handed her the scroll. He asked the other two if the wanted anything from the chest for added capability as Percy and Katie were forced to agree with the deal. Percy got a sword named Chilrend while Katie was given something known as the White Phial. Both also took oaths to follow through with their ends of the bargain.
"Well now that we got this out of the way, you youngins should be on your way. Connor here will take you to L.A. And do enjoy the gifts, treat them right and they won't fail you." The man said as one of the guards, they assumed to be Connor motioned them over to one of the cars.
Getting in the back Grover couldn't help but thinking that the man in grey was playing a far more sinister game than he let on. Which was saying something because he killed someone after they begged for their life, and stole a smuggling truck filled with animals.
The man watched as the car with the demigods drove off down the highway towards Vegas with a massive smile. He had just ensured that Nocturnal would get a meeting with Nyx and got three demigods in his pocket all in one sweep. He really did love and take pride in his jobs.
Pulling up a necklace with a three pointed star in the middle of a circle with three dark sapphires in it, he kissed his favorite piece of apparel. The Amulet of Articulation.
"Those poor kids never stood a chance. In fact neither will anyone else." He muttered to himself as he went to rejoin his fellow shadows. His thoughts turning on how to deal with Njal and the other Dragonborn in this world. As capable as they might be, he had a secret weapon against both he intended to exploit to it's fullest. And then?
Well, then it would be business as usual.