Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson, any of the characters, or some of these concepts. Original Characters and technology is created purely from my mind and should not be taken seriously. I used a lot of creative licensing with this.
Chapter 12: A decision
The decision Arianna was about to make was weighing heavily on her mind as she stared at the piece of paper in front of her. Simply put, the paper was a list. A list of options she had and their success rate. Arianna was extremely aware of the fact that if she accepted she might be committing treason, something that was punishable by death or life imprisonment and that it would be the greatest act of defiance towards her country. "It's not worth it," Arianna whispered to herself.
Sighing, Arianna looked down at the paper and tore it apart with a fierce brutality she didn't she was capable of. With her decision in mind, Arianna went back to the paper she had been thinking of publishing with her newly acquired knowledge, and deleted it as well as get ready to take down her previous story on the DPA. Arianna's finger hovered over the mouse. She couldn't quite bring herself to press delete as every nerve in her brains urged her to stop. This was a real story- an important one even. Could she really bring herself to do it? Sighing, she entered Malcolm's number into her phone. Perhaps directly saying no to the man would give her more confidence, but before she could press dial she heard a knock on her door.
Maybe Malcolm decided to confront her personally. It was an important decision, after all. Preparing herself, Arianna got ready to open the door for him and calmly deny Malcolm of his proposition. Instead, Arianna found herself face-to-face with a man in a dark suit. "Are you Arianna Mathis?" the man asked.
Cautiously, Arianna nodded her head and eyed the man. "What do you need?" She tried to ask politely, failing overall.
"Ms. Mathis, I am working on a case and I have heard you could help me with it. Do you mind coming with me to get a formal questioning?" The man asked, flashing a badge.
Arianna was still on alert, but agreed to go with the man. "OK, but can you tell me what this case is for?"
The man was already turning around and heading towards a car parked next to Arianna's driveway with Arianna following behind. "I'll tell you in the car so that we can avoid the rush hour traffic," the man said over his shoulder.
Arianna didn't know what to think of this man as well. First some guy claiming to be a demigod comes to her house, asking her to act as some sort of liaison and now there was some man trying to take her away for questioning. Arianna had no doubt that this talk also had something to do with the article she wrote.
Secretly, Arianna slipped her hand inside of her pants pocket and gripped her mobile phone. Arianna decided to give Malcolm the benefit of the doubt, and would call him if her interview with the agent in front of her went wrong. He led her to his car, some sort of Chrysler from 2001, and opened the door for the front passenger seat. Nervously, Arianna entered the man's car, trying to stop herself from fidgeting with her fingers or to start biting at her lip.
The man walked over to the other side of the car, casually getting into the driver's seat and placing his key in the ignition. As he started to pull away from Arianna's house, Arianna suddenly gathered up enough courage to question the man. "Now what is it you wanted?" She finally asked after they had already driven past Arianna's neighborhood and were back on the main road.
"Ms. Mathis, I work with the government," the man began, confirming Arianna's guess that he was an agent. "We believe that you are at risk for serious harm from a group you have already had experience with"
"Oh?" Arianna questioned, feigning calmness. Her heart was hammering in her chest, but Arianna knew she couldn't let her panic show. She was a reporter, for goodness' sake; this encounter wouldn't be the only time she would have to deal with several threats. "And who would this group be?" she continued, fishing for information.
The man turned to flash a look at Arianna. "I believe you already know who ma'am. Let's not play around," he said seriously.
"I rather resent that accusation," Arianna replied coolly. "I'm a busy women, agent, you'll have to be more specific." It was a lie, and both occupants knew it, but Arianna wasn't about to admit it.
The agent sighed. "Here, I'll give you a hint," he suggested. Glancing at Arianna once more, as he drove through the New York traffic, the agent fixed her with a no-nonsense look. "I work with the DPA," he stated.
That was the only thing Arianna needed. She slipped her hand in her pocket once more, and tried to casually press the call button while remaining inconspicuous. "Them? I don't know anything about them besides from that article," she said.
The agent scoffed. "I know when you're lying, Ms. Mathis. Why not tell the truth. You've been approached, haven't you?"
Arianna didn't know how the agent could have possibly known that, and it made her uncomfortable. "You're at risk, Ms. Mathis. Those people are dangerous. We are just trying to help," the agent explained. He seemed to grow more confident as he continued to speak, like he thought he was winning Arianna over. "Come with us, we can protect you."
It was Arianna's turn to scoff now. "Yeah, no," she said. The car had stopped as they sat in the traffic caused by hundreds of people rushing to get home from work. "I think we're done here, Agent," Arianna continued, unbuckling her seatbelt and preparing to leave.
In all honesty, she really should have known better than to think she could just walk away. The agent reached for Arianna, trying to stop her escape. "I don't think so," he said, easily reaching over and stopping the car door from opening. Arianna glared at the agent. "I have the right to walk away right now, and you shouldn't stop me," she declared. The agent just shot her a grin and Arianna felt sick to her stomach. "Sorry ma'am," he said simply.
Arianna sat forward in her seat once more. "How are you going to protect me then?" she asked.
The agent grinned again. "You'll see," he said.
"What about my family?"
"They'll be under the same protection."
"What? Are you putting them through the same treatment as me?"
The agent paused in his driving to flash another look at Arianna. "No, they're not at as much risk as you. They'll be able to stay home while we keep a watch on them through outside surveillance."
That's just perfect, Arianna thought. I am so dead for the next year. Her parents were totally going to kill her for putting every one under government protection because of an article. Her mom already warned her not to do exactly this at least five times a day.
Arianna sighed and looked up at the roof of the car. "How long will this last?" she questioned.
The agent laughed. "You're going to hate this answer, but this will last as long as it takes for the DPA to do their job."
That certainly didn't sound very professional. The agent laughed again. Arianna glared at him.
"We're almost there, Ms. Mathis. You'll be rid of me soon enough," he said.
Arianna pretended to look annoyed and turned to stare out the window. She vaguely recognize the street they were on, which was not good since she had made it her job to memorize every street within 15 blocks of every article she wrote. She figured it might be useful to do so for future reference, but Arianna now knew it wasn't enough for her now. She would have to do more exercises next time. At the moment, she just tried to remember what street it was.
She continued to stare out the window while her hand slipped into her pants pocket and tightened around her mobile. It was one of those cheap 30 dollar phones that could really only text and call because she had to buy it herself, and didn't want to get an expensive one for fear of breaking it. That decision came in handy now as Arianna discreetly pulled it out and glanced down at the screen. She unlocked the phone, and did a little internal cheer when she found that Malcolm's number was still on display. She put the phone back in her pocket to make the keys a little quieter, the moving off memory, she chose the "write a message" option and quickly tapped something out, using a lot of simple words to make it less likely for the agent to hear the noisy tap of the keys.
Pressing the enter key, Arianna took a deep breath and prayed that it sent and was mostly clear. Back in Camp Half-Blood, the Big House phone pinged and Chiron picked it up.
-This story will now switch perspectives-
Leo Valdez was having a really weird month, all things considered. First he gets a check-up at school and the scanner went haywire, then he got placed inside some holding facility with a couple other kids and his mechanic skills get tested over and over again (but thankfully no one finds out about his affinity with fire), then he gets some tag with the name Hephaestus carved under his own name and 3C written under it- which really confused him- and then his great aunt randomly appeared in his room in a burst of feathers. He finds out Hephaestus is his father, he's a demigod, the other demigods need his help, and that he has brothers. Plus, the real kicker, his aunt is actually the goddess Hera, and that deserves double emphasis. He doesn't know what to think about all of this, so of course the first thing out of his mouth is: "Why me? I mean, you told me all this stuff and you saved me, and that's cool and all, but why me? I don't know anything about the demigod world, I'm a highly problematic orphan kid, and I'm nothing special."
Hera just frowned as if the answer was the most obvious thing in the world. "Of course your special, Leo Valdez. Maybe you don't realize it yet, but you are extremely important for the sake of this," she replied in a total 'duh' fashion.
One of his supposed brothers (he thinks the guy's name is Jake) walks up to Leo and puts an arm around Leo's shoulders. "Don't worry, Leo, it's a lot to take in. We'll need all the help we can get anyway."
With that, Leo is whisked away to some camp place in Long Island (and Leo still can't believe he's in New York, he was just in Maine) and meets an actual centaur named Chiron. Chiron takes one look at all of the assembled demigods, rubs his forehead tiredly, and trots over to the Hephaestus kids before dismissing everyone else. "These are truly desperate times," Chiron stated when he made it to them, "follow me, you need to see this."
With that the centaur turned around and started trotting towards some semi-foreboding looking woods. Shrugging one of the three teens (Beckendorf?) went to follow the centaur followed by Jake, and Leo who did not want to get lost. They walked for some time before Chiron stopped before a large boulder a good ways into the forest. The boulder was surrounded by mounds of dirt on all sides, and acted as support for a small cliff-face. The boulder looked old and was littered with cracks all around the surface. A very deep one was near the left bottom half of the boulder, and it was to this crack that the centaur walked. He placed his hand inside of the rock and it looked like he pressed down on something before all of the cracks in the rock seemed to move to form a rectangular door-shape in the boulder and swung open like a door. Leo stared in awe as he walked inside the cavernous room left by the door. On the left was a bulletin board covered by two maps and a couple of blueprints, next to it was a fully stocked, working forge and craft table that made the Hephaestus children's hands itch to explore. Even more amazing was the metal dragon resting on the right side of the room. It looked like it was dead and beyond working ability, but Leo still found himself admiring the beauty of it. The dragon was a work of art, and he silently vowed that he would preserve it.
"What is this place?" Beckendorf asked suddenly, making all of the room's occupants turn to stare at him.
"Welcome," Chiron said simply, "to Bunker Nine."
"Yes, but what is it?' Jake asked.
Chiron sighed. "It was a secret facility built during the desperate times of war. I only use it in times of great need, and I didn't think it would be necessary for the war against the Titans. That is, until now. With all of the demigods going missing, and with what little manpower we have, I figure it has never been more necessary to have the Bunker."
"So you would have just kept it hidden from us?" Jake asked.
Chiron sighed again, looking immensely sad. "Yes. And I'm sorry for that, I really am, but you must understand the relativeness of this Bunker. It was built as a last resort, and it is supposed to be used as one. The last time we used it, we were at war with a different pantheon. I did not want to give away the secret of the Bunker to someone who might give it away. It is meant to be impenetrable and hidden, so that no one can find it, and use it against us. I give it to you now as a sign of trust and to aid you in your responsibility to your siblings. Use it wisely."
Chiron walked away then, leaving Leo and his siblings alone in the Bunker to start their work.
Leo spent the next week and a half crafting non-stop. He, Jake, and Beckendorf hardly ever rested, and rarely took eating breaks as they built and designed weapons and traps to fight against future direct attacks to camp. They were also busy trying to establish a device that would help them find and identify other demigods so that they could rescue them before the government agency took them away. It is when they are crafting, that Leo becomes a total blundering idiot and accidently reveals his fire powers. It was a total accident on Leo's part, anyway, he had lost track of what he was doing, and was too excited about his new design idea. Before he realized what he was doing, he was tackled to the ground while a whole bucket of water got poured over him in a rush. Leo spluttered under the shock of the water. "W-w-w-what was t-t-that?" he stuttered out. The water was freezing! "Dude, you were on fire!" Jake exclaimed, "we freaked out and poured some water on you before you got burned."
Leo's heart stopped for a moment. He had lost control. Do they know? Have they realized his secret? Were they going to treat him like a freak now? Leo didn't want to scare them. He liked Jake and Beckendorf, they were cool, and they liked to craft just like him. They understood Leo's little quirks and they had all been supportive of each other throughout the week. Leo really didn't want to lose them. Instead, Beckendorf kneeled in front of Leo and asked if he was okay.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Leo finally replied, "thanks, guys."
"Leo, you're shaking," Beckendorf stated. "Do you want to stop by the Apollo kids? They could check you over?"
"NO!" Leo exclaimed. He tries to calm himself down. "No, I'm fine. Just a little shocked is all," he states.
Beckendorf doesn't look convinced. "Here, let me just check you first. I don't want you to end up having some serious burns."
Leo doesn't want him to. He doesn't want Beckendorf to question him when he doesn't find any sort of mark on Leo, but denying a check-up would be worse, so Leo just sighs and scoots over. Beckendorf slowly checks over Leo's body, trying to find any marks, frowns, and checks again. "That's weird," he mumbles. He speaks up, "there's nothing there."
Leo tries to pretend to be shocked by this news, and does his best to seem confused. "Really?" he asks.
They see right through him, a fact that makes Leo both frustrated and happy. "You knew we weren't going to find anything, didn't you?" Jake asked.
"What? No, pshh," Leo said.
Jake and Beckendorf simultaneously gave him a look. "Okay, maybe I did," Leo concedes.
"Why?" Beckendorf asks.
Leo looks down ashamed. "Look, just, promise you won't tell," he says.
Both brothers nod and look at Leo again. Leo squirms under their gaze, but decides he might as well get it over with. "I just.. I may have slight power over fire," he admits.
Jake gasps. "It really is a desperate time," he says. Beckendorf punches him in the arm and gives Jake a look while gesturing to Leo with his head.
"Oh, sorry man. I didn't mean it like that," Jake corrects. Leo doesn't believe him, but lets it pass. "It's just that the last time someone with that power came al-"
Beckendorf smacked Jake over the head before he could finish. "What he was going to say was that the last fire-wielder was from the 1940's."
"Is it bad to be a fire-wielder?" Leo asked nervously.
Beckendorf and Jake shared a look. "Well, kind of. It means that it's necessary for someone with that kind of power to come along, and that's usually bad. Plus, fire-wielders tend to have bad luck"
"So I'm a bad omen?" Leo looked dejected, and moodily stared down at the ground.
All Beckendorf could do was pat Leo on the shoulder. "Sorry, man. It's just how it is," he said not too comfortingly.
Leo didn't have a chance to reply because right at that moment, one of the campers came running into the Bunker. "We found an asset that needs to be saved. Malcolm wants you to bring over some stuff they can use for a rescue mission. Nothing lethal," the camper rushed out.
The trio stirred to action immediately, rushing around the room and gathering various gadgets, yelling to each other about what they should take, and what should be left behind. Leo stopped in front of his latest project, contemplated it for a moment, and grabbed it while stuffing some last minute supplies in the pockets of his jacket. With that, he rushed out the Bunker, following Jake to the Big House.
- I don't know, this is kind of a line break, but mostly not. It's a time skip-
The trio of demigods arrived at the Big House to find a small group of campers already standing around and waiting for them. One of the kids from the group, a tall gray-eyed blonde boy, walked up to the mechanics. "What did you bring?" the blonde kid asked.
Each boy held out their arms full of supplies. Beckendorf took the time to explain each one to the kid. Meanwhile, Leo carefully put his pile down and picked up his latest project. He pulled out his extra supplies and started to work on it, knowing he was almost done. Beckendorf had moved on to explaining Jake's pile while Leo worked, and Leo absentmindedly noted what Beckendorf was saying. With a spark of surprise, he realized that a lot of his project had made it into the pile. Beckendorf moved onto Leo's pile while Leo added some finishing touches and checked his work before placing the cover back on.
"What is that?" the blonde kid asked, motioning to the device in Leo's hands. Beckendorf shrugged and looked to Leo to explain. Grinning, Leo turned the device on and prayed that it would work.
Immediately, the device let out a little beep and a set of metallic arms and hands popped out of the side of the device (a small rectangle with a touch screen, two joysticks and red button.) Using the joysticks, Leo moved the arms around to maneuver around the crowd and pluck the wallet out of some kid's pocket. "Hey!" the kid exclaimed. Leo ignored him and made the arms come back to him and deposit the wallet in his hand before retreating back inside the rectangle. "Mini retrieving system," he said simply.
The kid nodded, and Beckendorf smiled at Leo. "That isn't all it does, is it?" Beckendorf asked.
Leo grinned and shook his head no. When Beckendorf gave the boy an inquisitive look, he only grinned wider and gave him a mischievous look. Beckendorf laughed and shook his head. Then, Beckendorf turned back to the blonde kid and they talked a little more before the blonde kid nodded and turned to the piles of gadgets and picked a few of them out and making his own small pile. While he was doing this, Beckendorf turned back to his partners to speak with them.
"Okay, so here's the deal," he said, "Malcolm's going to need someone to make sure all of the devices are used properly and can work. That means one of us needs to tag along to help them. Who's willing?"
The trio spent a couple of seconds awkwardly staring at each other, none of them really wanting to leave their work, and trying to convince another to leave. The silence grew on for what seems like a long time before Jake cleared his throat and spoke up.
"I personally think Leo should go," he suggested.
Leo frowned. "Why should I go? I'm new. I don't even know how to be sneaky," he said.
"Which is exactly why you should go," Jake continued, "you need to learn how to keep up with the rest of us. Besides, I know for a fact that most of the stuff Malcolm was interested in was something you helped with. You've been working like crazy, man, get out."
Leo vehemently disagreed; Beckendorf did not. This is how Leo found himself in a crowded van with a group of three other people and a couple stacks of strawberries. He was nervously fiddling with the rest of the spare parts in his pocket. "It will be really simple," Malcolm said. "You probably won't even need to leave the van, we just need you to handle the tech."
Leo felt that this would probably go horribly wrong, and then grew concerned because he didn't want to end up back inside the holding facilities. They weren't a very good place for a hyperactive teenager with ADHD, and the food sucked. Leo grew caught up in his thoughts and his mind flew away with him while he continued to fiddle. All of a sudden, he heard Malcolm shout out: "WE'RE HERE!" and he suddenly dropped the metal dinosaur, only to watch it get up and walk around, clacking its' jaws.
Leo stared at the creation distractedly, wondering how he managed to build it, before remembering the task he had and looking out the window confused. They were just turning down a street towards an official-looking building. There wasn't any name on the front of the building, nor any other type of indicator for the building except for a medium-sized logo etched on the building's surface on top of the screen doors. The logo had a U with a wreath wrapped around it, and simple pitchforks on either side of the U, pointing slightly towards the letter, and the initials DPA emblazoned under that. Leo knew the symbol well; it was on everything he had seen in the holding facility, including the tags they had given him. Leo didn't know what the outside of the holding facilities looked like, so he didn't know if that was where they were, but he could only assume.
Malcolm put on a hat and opened the car door, turning his head down as he did so. Walking over to the side of the van, Malcolm opened one of the doors and nodded to somebody else in the van, another blonde kid (this time a girl) who looked like him. The girl turned to Leo and held up and open bag. "Is there anything really delicate over there?" she asked, motioning to the pile of gadgets in front of Leo.
Leo looked down at the pile and sorted through everything, picking up the small ones and the recently made ones. "Here," he said, gently handing them to her. The girl nodded and gently placed the various pieces in the more secure compartments of the bag. Then, she took the rest of the gadgets are stuffed them inside the rest of the bag before she threw something at Leo and jumped out of the car, pulling a baseball cap over her head. Leo blinked as he thought he saw the girl disappear as soon as the cap made it over her head, and then shrugged it off as a trick of the light. People couldn't actually disappear like that, right? The thing the girl threw at him beeped, and Leo looked down. It was an earpiece.
Leo stared at it, and then decided to take his chances and place the earpiece on his ear and sat there, waiting for something to happen. I'm an idiot, he thought. He reached his hand up and took the earpiece off to look at it again. He saw a blinking blue light on the underside of the earpiece, and upon further inspection realized it was a button. He pressed the button and put it back on his ear.
He heard a static crackle, which told him, it was working and the sound of someone frantically moving stuff around a bag. "Hello?" he asked uncertainly.
"Oh, finally," came a whispered reply. The voice sounded feminine, and Leo thought it might be the girl. He was alone in the van since Malcolm had left while the girl had been organizing the bag, taking a crate of strawberries with him, so he had no way of checking for sure. He was decently certain, though.
"Anyway," the girl continued, "I need to get through a door, which thing will help me?"
Leo considered it. "What kind of lock is on the door?" he asked.
"Standard metal lock-and-key with a pin code. Rubber keys," she replied quickly.
"Metal ball, medium sized, it has an inscription of a mask on the top, there's a blue button," Leo replied just as quickly.
He could hear the sound of rummaging continue on at the other end of the line until the girl gave a noise of triumphant and zipped up the bag. "Do I just press the button?" she asked.
Leo nodded, and then realized she couldn't see that. "Yeah, but toss it toward the pin pad first. The mask should be facing away from you as well," he instructed.
He could only assume she did it right because seconds later he could hear the sound of the door opening. Leo couldn't actually see what was going on since he was stuck in the van, but he could try to guess through the background noise and the girl's occasional questions. Overall, it was pretty boring from his end. Leo started tinkering again; he found the metal dinosaur wondering around the crates in the back of the van and picked it up, fiddling around with some aspects of it. All the while, he kept track of what was going on with the girl and Malcolm.
Suddenly there was a buzz over the earpiece and Leo heard the faint sounds of a conflict going on over the airwaves. "Leo, do you have something for a quick getaway?" the girl yelled out.
Leo abruptly stopped in his tinkering to consider this question, before dumbly realizing he really had no idea. "You mean like a smoke bomb or something?" he asked hesitantly.
"I'm a bit busy to provide you with specifics!" the girl yelled back.
Fair point, Leo mused. It didn't help him at all, but she had a fair point.
"Hmmm," Leo mused.
"Mind hurrying? The girl asked.
Leo looked down at the dinosaur in his arms, and suddenly a thought occurred to him that made him grin his special grin. "I have an idea," he finally said, "are you near the front lobby?"
As soon as he got a reply in the affirmative, Leo moved from his current spot in the strawberry van to the outside world. He cautiously approached the holding facility, feeling slightly nervous from his own experiences with the buildings, and really not wanting to relive them. He walked up to the building, following where the girl went until he found her in the middle of one of the corridors. She was standing in a defensive position, crouching in front of another girl about her age with light brown hair that fell around her face in a wavy manner, and a pair of loose jeans with a plain t-shirt. In front of the two girls were two conscious guards, with one unconscious. Both guards held some kind of spray in their hands, and a taser in the other, eying the girl in the front (the demigod) cautiously. Leo was still behind a connecting door and saw this scene through a window on the door. "Found you," he whispers into the headpiece. Through the window, he sees the demigod give a small, almost imperceptible nod. She eyes the guards in front of her in distaste while the girl behind her seems to be in some state of shock.
Leo doesn't think about it as he reaches for the door and opens it slowly, dropping the dinosaur onto the floor and watches it waddle forward, startling the guards into turning to stare at it, aiming their weapons at the object.
"What the-?" is the only thing out of one of the guard's mouth before the dinosaur stops, drops its jaw open and releases a cloud of gas. From the throat area of the dinosaur, the metal limbs Leo used for his mini-retriever shoots out of the dinosaurs mouth and wraps around the two guards based on the remote Leo holds in his hands by the door. The two girls run out of the corridor to where Leo is hiding while Leo tries to decide what he should do with the guards. He doesn't want to hurt these people, it would be wrong of him, but he also can't just drop them back down on the ground and try to be on his merry way. The decision makes him halter, but the demigod is trying to convince Leo to leave now, so he settles for whacking the guards against the wall, retrieving the dinosaur, and running out of the facility with the two other girls. They all run off into the strawberry van, Malcolm already waiting for them by the driver's side door. As soon as everyone is in the van, they're speeding away to get back to camp, and Leo finds it odd that that's all it takes to rescue someone, but then he notices they're being chased.
"We've got some company," he announces, because he doesn't know if the others realized this or not.
"Yeah, I see them," Malcolm replies, "got anything to help us?"
"I'll need to see all of the tech we brought with us again," Leo says quickly.
Malcolm nods, and the blonde girl opens up her bag before handing everything over to Leo. Leo grins at her, and scoops everything up in his arms before turning back to look at the DPA van trailing behind them.
"Time to have some fun," he mutters to himself with a grin.
Author's Babble: Happy Holidays from the Philippines! I really wanted to continue this on because I felt like I owed it to you, but I wanted to also make it up to you by writing a longer chapter so here this is. I'm not sure if I'm entirely happy with this, but it is what it is. Thank you all for being patient with me! Also, I know I said no HoO, but I started writing Leo and I couldn't stop. Tell me if his characterization is bad, it's been a while since I read the books.