Fortunate Son of the Sea God
A/N: Here's the update I promised and I hope you guys like it. I'm so sorry for the delay but writer's block took it's toll on my brain. Also, I have some prompts I wanted to run by you guys. One is this idea about an O.C getting separated from his mortal parents at a young age and then ending up on the run with Luke, Thalia, Annabeth, and maybe more! I also have multiverse idea that I would like to try along with a big idea I have based on Percabeth getting stranded on Mars like in the book/movie "The Martian." Leave a review or send me a PM what you think but if you'd rather not please leave a review for the story if you can! Thank you! :D
Disclaimer: I own nothing besides any O.C
Chapter 15: Stories from Vietnam
Frank POV
It's now official.
Frank HATES Vietnam.
Whether its the mosquitoes, the humid weather, or the threat of getting killed every day, everything was awful.
At least Frank had Hazel with him. They were currently clearing out tunnels that the Viet Cong were using to ambush American soldiers. Frank had an embarrassing moment earlier when he lept into one of the tunnels but got stuck on his rear-end.
"A little help?" Frank asked back to Hazel who was outside the tunnel.
She giggled a little bit at Frank's misfortune before widening the tunnel so he could fit through.
Frank couldn't help but chuckle at that now that they had gone through a few more tunnels. Everything had run smoothly so far but Frank kept on his toes. He was hoping for the best right now but he knew that bad things were bound to happen.
As if on cue, a bullet whizzed by frank and he instinctively hit the dirt of the tunnel.
He heard yelling at the end of the tunnel that he couldn't quite make out but it definitely wasn't english.
Frank practically buried himself in the dirt trying to protect himself as more bullets screamed over his head and flew down the passageway. Frank really wished he had Hazel with him right now.
Frank then mentally face palmed, he's carrying a radio right now and can easily radio for help.
"Hazel, the tunnel is full of V.C and I need some help!" Frank shouted as more bullets whizzed overhead.
"Ok, just give me a sec," Hazel's voice answered back through the radio.
"Ummm, I don' think I have a sec to give," Frank answered back uneasily.
Almost on cue, the ceiling of the tunnel rumbled and Frank could hear the sound of screaming as rock and dirt collapsed the other end of the tunnel and the gunfire stopped.
"You're welcome," Hazel said through the radio.
Frank couldn't help but chuckle before changing into a dog and quickly making his way out of the tunnel.
When he made it out he quickly found Hazel and she understood that he was in dog form and gave him a scratch on the head that Frank had to admit felt great. He let Hazel know that by giving her a happy bark. Hazel giggled in response and motioned for Frank to go behind a jeep so he could change back.
Frank gave her another bark before making his way over behind the jeep and changing back into his human form. He walked back over to Hazel and gave her a hug.
"Thanks for the assist back there," Frank said.
Hazel playfully nudged him on the shoulder, "Just repaying you for what you did back at Kent State," she replied.
Frank looked back to the memory. It was a disturbing one to look back on. Hazel almost died in Frank's arms...er claws when the military opened fire on the protestors.
Frank noticed a line tear make its way down his face before Hazel wiped it away.
"How about we go back to base? Maybe get something to eat" she said and Frank nodded before they hopped in the jeep and rode back to base.
Leo POV
It was a great day to go out looking for mines.
Leo was accompanying some engineers who were out clearing minefields that the NVA had placed in the jungle to take out American troops.
They were out in a field with metal detectors searching for the mines.
Leo couldn't help but feel nervous today. He was without Calypso and his other demigods. They had learned that the president was actually a son of Athena and had arranged for the demigods, especially the more ones like Leo, to serve in the military as a unit and to advise mortal soldiers as well. Chiron had trained them to be careful with their abilities while with the mortals. He advised them to not use their abilities unless it was absolutely necessary. There had been several clear-sighted mortals who had reported "strange" incidents with some hellhounds and some empousa. That had been difficult to explain but Hazel and Thalia had learned how to manipulate the mist and had passed it off as some stray dogs and some VC women fighters.
Leo sat up against the jeep he rode in on casually smoking a cigarette. He had made sure to light it with his fire ability when the mortals weren't looking.
Leo took a few puffs of smoke letting the nicotine take its toll before returning his attention back to the task at hand. He walked over to where some mortal soldiers were using metal detectors to check for mines.
"Watch your step," one of them warned Leo who nodded in understanding.
"Any luck?" Leo asked.
One of the soldiers shook his head, "Haven't found anything yet but command said some N.V.A. retreated back through here a couple of days ago so they wanted to make sure this area is safe so we can roll the tanks in."
"Alright, I'll go grab my rifle and I'll keep an eye out for you guys," Leo said before returning back to the jeep and retrieving his gun. He grabbed some extra clips of ammo along with some fuel pods for the flamethrower. He did a quick inspection making sure the gun was cleaned and ready to go before cautiously walking back.
Leo had done some extra work on his demigod platoon's guns. The M-16's that most of them carried had been prone to jamming when they first got them. So he had taken each one and worked some of his son of Hephaestus magic on them to where they wouldn't jam ever again. He'd also painted some Greek and Latin writing on some of their guns.
On his gun, it read: φωτιά Μίζα, or "Fire Starter" in English.
On David's gun, it read: Νότια απόλαυση, or "Southern delight."
On Hazel's shotgun, it had: BUTIO lignum written on it in Latin instead of Greek which meant "Boom stick".
The last person to have some cool writing on their gun was Frank who had cibum MOLARIS written on his M60 machine gun. That translated to "meat grinder" which Leo could understand because Frank's machine gun could tear people apart.
Leo was shaken from his thoughts when one of the engineers signaled that they found something. Leo carefully eased his way over to the spot where the mine had been found and told the guy who found it to hold his gun while he disarmed it.
"Can you guys not stare at me while I do this?" Leo asked "I could do without the added pressure."
The soldier gave him a nod before looking away to cover him in case of an ambush.
Leo started to examine the mine itself. It was hidden very well in the dirt by a pile of leaves and twigs that would've hidden it completely had it not been for the mine detector. The mine itself was simply an old bomb from a past war with a pressure plate to arm it. Despite it's ancient age, the mine, if stepped on, could easily take out a whole platoon or more of unsuspecting soldiers.
He reached into his tool belt and pulled out some tools before getting to work. He first carefully disabled the pressure pad that activates the mine when stepped on. He then pulled the mine all the way out of the dirt to disable the bomb. Even though he had taken care of the means of activating the bomb, it was still capable of exploding.
Once the mine was extracted from the ground, Leo wiped some sweat from his brow before creating a small blowtorch with his finger. He carefully created a hand sized hole in the side of the bomb before reaching into it to cut off the detonator. He felt more sweat form as he anxiously fidgeted with the inside parts of the bomb.
After a few close calls in which Leo nearly killed everyone, Leo finally disarmed the bomb.
"All clear," He signaled.
Suddenly, a bullet whizzed by Leo's head and hit the guy who was holding his gun in the leg.
The guy fell to the dirt clutching his leg in agony as more bullets flew by.
Leo went prone and crawled over to the guy to see if he could assist him somehow. The guy started screaming from the pain before Leo put a hand over his mouth.
"Settle down dude, Dr. Leo is gonna make everything feel all better," Leo said trying to keep the guy at ease.
The guy gave him a confused look but he at least stopped screaming. He needed to remain calm in order to make things go smoother. Leo reached into his tool belt and pulled out some medical supplies. He ripped open the guys pants to reveal the wound. It wasn't too bad but it would still require immediate medical attention. Leo grabbed a syringe of morphine and jabbed it near the affected area.
The painkiller must've worked because the guy's shaking got less intense and he looked a bit more at ease despite the bullets flying over their heads.
"You're gonna be okay buddy," Leo assured the guy.
The guy gave him a hopeful look before Leo called for some help.
"I need covering fire!" Leo yelled to his comrades who were engaging the enemy.
They quickly adjusted fire as Leo got up and dragged the guy over to behind the jeep that was currently riddled with holes.
"We need to get this guy out of here now!" Leo yelled to a soldier who was taking cover behind the jeep.
The guy was yelling coordinates into his radio for what Leo assumed was an air strike.
"Tell command we need a medevac NOW!" Leo yelled trying to get the guy's attention.
The guy was still preoccupied trying to call in the airstrike so Leo grabbed the radio from him.
"Command, this is Private Valdez, I need a medevac at my location A.S.A.P! I have a man down and he needs attention, over!" Leo yelled into the radio.
"Private Valdez, we have a napalm strike inbound and hot, recommend you and the others get to a safe place before the show starts, over" the voice over the radio spoke.
"Roger that," Leo sighed into the radio before handing it back to the other guy.
Leo then tore off a piece of his uniform and wrapped it around the wound on the guy's leg to try and slow some of the bleeding down.
"We need to head back before the napalm gets here. I don't plan on spending the rest of this war charbroiled," Leo spoke up.
The soldiers then took off into the jungle with the enemy still firing at them. Leo took the wounded guy's arm and wrapped it over his shoulder and placed him into the passenger seat of the jeep. Leo then jumped into the driver's seat and gunned it back to base.
The sound of jet planes could be heard soon after as the napalm was dropped on the jungle behind them.
Leo looked over at the guy he'd saved and noticed he had a pistol in one hand and was still checking behind them for enemies. Leo just shook his head and continued the drive back to base. It would take more than that if those bastards wanted to put the ole McShizzle out of commission.
Thalia POV
It's not everyday that a girl gets sent off to fight in a war. Thalia knew this as soon as she decided to join Chiron and his army of demigods.
Thalia was joining a patrol of soldiers as they made their way through the jungle. She brought up the rear of the group and had her trusty sniper rifle in tow. The patrol had waded through streams of water and other annoying obstacles before they came upon a small town with tall buildings and streets. The buildings were tiny in comparison to the ones back home but they were still a few stories tall. Thalia couldn't help but feel a little homesick a the thought of her home country. She had traveled all over the states with her band from New York City to Los Angeles and even to Alaska (Not a very popular place for punk music Thalia found out).
Thalia's happy memories were interrupted when the patrol came to a halt near the entrance to the town.
"Alright, we're gonna scatter into smaller groups to cover more ground is that clear?" the leader of the patrol barked from the front.
"Sir, yes sir!" everyone yelled back.
Thalia accompanied a few guys as they explored the town. She was immediately suspicious because the town was abandoned. Not a soul could be seen as they maneuvered through the streets.
"Stay on alert, they could be anywhere," one the men in her group whispered.
Thalia kept her gun up sweeping around looking for any potential threats. They were doing good until they met back up with the others.
"Alright, I'm going to radio back to command to tell them that we didn't encounter any resistance in the to-," the sergeant didn't even get to finish his sentence as he was cut off by a shot to the back of his head that immediately killed him.
"SNIPER!" Thalia yelled as she dove for cover behind a pile of debris.
Two more soldiers were hit by the sniper while the rest doubled back the way they came away from the sniper. Thalia was now all alone with just an enemy sniper to keep her company.
"Not like I needed help anyways," Thalia grumbled to herself.
She peeked over her cover trying to see if she could catch a glimpse of where the sniper was.
She was hiding in the middle of a four-way intersection with plenty of abandoned cars for cover so she started shuffling in between them trying to get a better look.
She eventually spotted an abandoned motel a few blocks down with some empty windows facing her direction. Thalia scanned the windows until spotting a faint silhouette. She picked up her rifle and propped it up on the hood of the car. She aimed down the scope of the gun and rescanned the motel until she found her lucky guy.
"You're mine," Thalia whispered to herself before holding her breath then gently squeezing the trigger. The gun recoiled hard against her shoulder but she kept her eye down sight. The bullet slammed into where the silhouette stood and Thalia could see it crumble to the ground.
She then quickly jogged over to the motel to make sure her target was dead. The door to the motel was locked so Thalia kicked it with all her might knocking it off its hinges.
Thalia slung her rifle over her shoulder and grabbed her two hunting knives. She had to be ready in case she had to use her knives in close quarters or even hand-to-hand combat.
Thalia searched the motel until she found what she figured was the room that the sniper was hiding in. She kicked in the door and entered the room only to see the most heart-breaking thing she had ever seen. She dropped both her knives in shock and heard them clatter on the floor but she didn't pay them any attention.
The sniper that she just killed was a girl no older than fifteen.