The Son Of Hercules

by Echoxenvy

Follow Matt Beckett, the Son of Hercules, as he and his friends wage war on the Primordial God Ouranos and his wide variety of allies. Love, hardship, battle, loss, and glory are just five of the many things he will experience on his epic journey. Current Book: The Rising Sun. OC-Centered.

5. We Form A Plan (Sort Of)

That last chapter was something else, I'm really glad with how it turned out. Now we are finally getting into quest territory, so enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters (except the OC's), Percy Jackson & The Olympians, Heroes Of Olympus, or Trials Of Apollo. All of that belongs to Rick Riordan.

Now then, on with the fifth chapter.

5. We Form A Plan...Sort Of

I floated in the darkness, a void of black surrounding me, the only figures in the black were me and the god killer Malachi.

All though he hadn't actually killed a god yet...I hope.

Wait, why do I care? I'm not a fan of the gods, usually I would be saying, have at it buddy!

But Camp Half Blood relies on them. The campers there, some of them look up to their godly parent, and even like them. So maybe they weren't all bad. I knew that they were at least better than the titans and giants.

Malachi wore almost the same thing since the last time I saw him. He had on the black trench coat with the big collar, dark jeans, but this time he had on dress shoes, and a vest underneath the coat, like he was dressing for a semi formal event.

His dirty blonde hair parted in the middle of his forehead, a few bangs covering the sides of his face. He studied me then said, "Still don't believe me?"

"What?"

"That I am the god killer."

"Well, I don't know if you've actually killed one yet."

He nodded, "Well you've got a point, I haven't. But I can, oh yes I can. In fact I would have killed Hera by now if it wasn't for master."

Wait, so Hera really was on that island, bloody and battered. I couldn't believe it, this guy had beaten up and captured the Queen of the Heavens by himself?

He nodded, smirking, "Oh yes. It wasn't that hard actually, she never was a fighter, more of a talker. I had wanted to test my new powers against Zeus or Poseidon, but master said the process wasn't complete, and that the last step required a more...easy source. Hence, I attacked her one week ago, defeated her fairly easily and took her to our headquarters. It was only a couple of days later that the process was complete. I had wanted to kill her after her duty had been fulfilled, but master figured it best to have a hostage, so to speak. A hostage that you will allegedly try to rescue."

I was stunned, Hera was defeated fairly easily by Malachi? An Olympian against a...I wasn't sure exactly what he was.

He said, "Fine, if it takes proof, I shall give you proof." He then waved his hand, and an image showed up like a projector in the darkness. I saw Hera scraped and bloody with Ichor, and she was fighting Malachi, she shot surges of energy at him and white light with enough power to destroy a skyscraper, but Malachi stuck out his hand at each one and repelled them, causing them to dissipate.

"You are not a worthy opponent" Malachi had said.

"You caught me by surprise, but you won't be able to capture the rest"

"On the contrary, I don't have to. Once I am done with you, I won't be taking prisoners."

Hera unleashed a shockwave of godly energy, it surged in a circle, Malachi stumbled slightly, but he jumped through it and grabbed Hera by the throat, picking her up off of the ground.

I had never seen or even heard of a god or goddess being afraid, but Hera's face seemed to express fear. Malachi smiled a wicked grin and growled, "look into the eyes of the new Bane of Olympus." He then opened his eyes and mouth wide, they turned red.

"You might want to look away" He told me.

But I didn't, I saw that his eyes and mouth had widened to the point of impossibility, his mouth was as wide as a soccer ball, and his eyes were like two flames. They brightened like crazy, they began to look like the sun, and I was nearly blinded, so I looked away at the last second, and heard a loud BOOM! and felt the surge of power through the projection. I turned back after a few moments and saw Hera ragdolled on Malachi's shoulder. He then smirked and warped into thin air, like teleportation.

I was speechless, I had just watched the figure in front of me knock out the Queen of Olympus, the wife of Zeus, with not much difficulty, and he said that I was his challenge?

"As you can see, not very hard. Granted, had it been one of the big three or the twins, I would have probably lost. But now, that the process is complete, I can conquer any Olympian, I have no superior besides master."

"Wait, what do you mean process?"

"You mean you haven't figured out what I am?"

"Typhon?"

He laughed, "Well...yes and no."

"What do you mean yes and no?"

He then raised his arms, and the images of a dozen horrifying looking monsters appeared, then a moment later, the goddess Hera appeared, huddled in a ball on the ground. I then saw a creature bigger than anything I had ever seen appear behind Malachi, it was a mix of basically any scary thing imaginable, it had smoke coming off of it like crazy, it was taller than all of the skyscrapers in Manhattan combined, I knew that it was Typhon, the most powerful monster of all time.

"I am them, they are me, we are one." Malachi said, his arms still raised.

Then something creepy happened, each thing in the room, including Typhon and Hera, opened their mouths and spoke in Malachi's voice, "We are him, he is us, we are one."

My face was probably something between disbelief and horror. I still didn't understand this, I still didn't know what Malachi was.

He groaned, "Very well, I suppose it shall remain a secret." Then he dropped his hands and the images faded.

It took me a while to form words, I was so out of it that I just sat there with my mouth open. But I eventually managed, "Y-you said you attacked Hera a week ago, but I saw her a couple of days ago."

He nodded, "Yes, she must have projected a piece of her withering consciousness to give you incentive to rescue her. Our island can keep many things out, but it's not so keen on things from the inside."

So it wasn't actually Hera herself? Just a projection? She gave me this punishment as a way of rescuing her? That made no sense.

"Indeed it doesn't" Malachi said, reading my mind again.

"Why are you here? Why did you show me all of this?"

"We will meet in person soon, and I just wanted to give you an idea of what you are up against." He then started walking away from me, his back turned. He waved and said, "Good luck on your mission, Son of Hercules, try not to die before our meeting."

I was then plunged backward at a million miles an hour, I saw light mix with the darkness, and everything began to spin, and then I exited my vision.

I opened my eyes gently, and they adjusted to the brightness. I registered that I was in a bed, the covers up to my chest, I saw other beds around the room and medical kits laying on tables. I looked to my left and saw Harper sitting in a chair, her arms crossed over her chest and her head slightly drooping, she was asleep.

She looked extremely cute asleep, her mouth was partly open, and some strands of black hair in her pale face, her chest rose and fell gently with each breath.

I was staring, being creepy as usual, but I couldn't help it. I can't describe enough how beautiful she is. Whether I may or may not have a crush on her has nothing to do with it, any person could see her natural beauty.

After a minute or two she mumbled and began to stir, her eyelids opened slightly and she noticed me. They shot open and she almost fell out of her chair, nearly falling back on the floor. I reached out and grabbed the chair to keep it from falling and taking her with it, firmly planting it back on the ground.

I noticed my hand was right next to her thigh and I pulled it away quickly, we both were probably blushing, but I didn't care, I was just glad to see someone besides Malachi.

She cleared her throat awkwardly and said, "So...um, you're awake"

"Yeah" I croaked.

"How you feeling?"

I shifted around a bit, trying to register any pain, but I didn't feel any, although I did register that I still had no shirt on, and half of my jeans were still burned off, which only made the chair thing more embarrassing.

"I feel fine, definitely a lot better."

She sighed and nodded, "Percy and Chiron carried you as fast as they could, we fed you a lot of ambrosia, I was worried you were gonna explode from the stuff."

"Wow...how long was I out?"

"A few hours," then she snickered, "You snore by the way."

I felt my face go red, but then I countered, "How long have you been in here, watching me sleep?"

She blushed crimson and said "I've only been in here for thirty minutes, Will told me to keep an eye on you."

"Will? As in Will Solace? Nico's boyfriend?"

She nodded, "Yeah, he's one of if not the best healer in camp. He's part of the reason you're better"

"I'll have to thank him"

I then remembered something, I remembered Harper's face when I was in rage mode, pummeling Jett, she had tears running down her face, and she was pleading with me to stop.

"Harper...I'm sorry"

She knit her eyebrows, "What for?"

"For losing control and almost killing Jett. I wasn't thinking straight, I was only registering what a jerk he was being, smacking you around like that and revealing things that you didn't want said...I just couldn't hold it in, and I didn't think about how it would make you feel, so I'm sorry."

She shook her head, "I didn't stop you for the sake of that monster, he deserved it. I only stopped you because...I didn't want you to become a killer."

I was stunned, she did it for my sake and not his? She was fine with him being killed? I mean, he was still a human being, a very awful one, but still a person.

"Oh" I said, "you didn't have to, Harper. I'm not that innocent"

She shrugged, "maybe not, but I doubt you've killed another demigod." Her face darkened, "Matt, that...thing, that red thing, and the steam...what was that?"

I cringed, I probably looked like a monster from the underworld earlier, staring into her face, no doubt traumatizing her.

"It happens when I reach my limit of anger. My insides literally burst into flames and I get stronger. It's scary I know"

"Oh, no it's not that. I've seen worse...believe me." When she said that I remembered what Jett had said about her dead father, and something about a missing brother. "It was just, the look on your face, it was so...unlike you."

I didn't say anything, she didn't either.

We sat in silence until it was broken by Will Solace and Nico Di Angelo walking in. "Oh, he's awake!" Will said, "you feeling alright, Matt?"

"Yeah, thanks Will."

He shrugged, "Ah, the ambrosia did most of the work."

Then Nico came over, "Alright, I normally hate physical contact, but I'm gonna make an exception" he held out his hand for a high five.

I high fived him, "What was that for?"

He snorted, "You beat the crap out of Jett Atkinson, I'd freaking hug you if you were standing up."

Will raised his eyebrows.

Nico's ears turned red, "platonically of course, no need to get jealous Solace."

Will turned to me, "Oh Matt, I went to get you a change of clothes but I noticed you didn't have any extra, so Percy said he would let you have some of his spares."

He tossed a orange camp t-shirt and jeans at the foot of the bed.

"Oh, cool"

"Yeah, Percy's a good guy, he said he and Annabeth would be waiting for you at the big house when your ready, whatever that means."

I knew what that meant, "Alright" I said.

He nodded and then dragged Nico out of the infirmary.

Harper looked at me, confused. "What did he mean?"

"I need to talk to them about...a lot. You too. Can you wait outside for me?"

"Why should I-" then she noticed the change of clothes at the foot of the bed and then the fact that I was shirtless and walked quickly out of the infirmary, closing the door behind her.

I smiled, and got up, taking the burned jeans off and putting on Percy's. They were maybe an inch too long, but it was hardly noticeable. His shirt fit really well, and didn't seem to be used that much, maybe it was a recent shirt or something.

I slipped on my sneakers and put on my black jacket, opening the door to the infirmary, I saw Harper waiting about ten feet away, I closed the door and walked toward the Big House, she fell in line with me.

"Does this have something to do with your labors thing?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'll explain it all inside."

"I've been having more nightmares too. They don't...make much sense."

I could relate, what had Malachi meant by I am them, they are me, we are one?

I would have to figure it out inside, because at that moment, I opened the door to the Big House.

---

Harper and I found Percy, Annabeth and Chiron in the living room. Percy was eating pancakes...that were blue for some reason, Annabeth was sitting next to him on a long couch, and Chiron was in a recliner, also magical like his wheelchair I guessed, because I didn't see his horse half.

We walked in and stayed standing, Harper leaned on the wall next to the doorway, I stood next to a lamp.

They all looked at me expectantly, I was the one that had brought them here after all. So why couldn't I speak? Now wasn't the time to get stage fright...even though I wasn't actually on a stage, and there were only four other people in the room- oh forget it.

I cleared my throat, and said, "Thanks for being here everybody, I know it's weird for the new guy to do something like this, but it's important."

They payed attention, all leaning in slightly, and I began to recount pretty much everything.

I told them about the day at the beach when I killed the shark, the demon birds, the chimera attack, Hera's appearances, my vision of the storm giant, and how I saw Harper, Annabeth and Percy at my side. I talked about my visions of the man in the cloak, which I noticed made Harper tense slightly, I talked about Hera in the cage, the island and what it had to do with Kronos, the supposed operation and people trapped there in the last war, I went into as much detail as I could and told them about everything I know, I had to take a couple of breathers and even drink some of Percy's soda, but I continued. This all took an hour probably, maybe more, but it was worth it, I felt the relief of getting all of these thoughts off of my head and finally sharing them with the people that were allegedly supposed to help me. I finished after I told them about my strange vision of Malachi.

Percy looked like he had just come up on a crazy hard math question, Annabeth looked like she was trying to think of a battle strategy, she had her elbows on her knees and her chin on her fists, Chiron looked pretty much the same, stroking his beard in thought. I looked over at Harper and her eyebrows were furrowed, she was mindlessly fiddling with one of her knives, spinning it in her hand and doing crazy tricks with it.

They stayed like that for what seemed like forever, I couldn't blame them. I had just dropped some major bombs on them, so I was gonna give them all the time they needed.

Chiron broke the silence, "This is...a lot to unpack."

Annabeth snorted, "no kidding. I mean, where do we even begin?"

Harper chimed in, "I could start off by saying that I've had pretty much the same dreams. The island, the face, Hera in a cage, although the figure in the cloak keeps asking me to join him, and I haven't talked to any god killer named Malachi."

"Yeah, what the heck is up with that, god killer? Is he some kind of monster in disguise as a human?" Percy said.

"Hera called him a half blood." I noted.

"That is strange," Chiron said. "I am them, they are me, we are one...I wonder if that means he is the reincarnation of Typhon, he is the father of all monsters, but that does not make sense, Typhon is not dead, just held prisoner."

"This Malachi figure isn't the biggest problem, who is that face in the sky?" Annabeth said, "could it be Ouranos?"

Chiron scratched his beard, "perhaps, he was cut into a million pieces though. Then again, he could have reformed, it has been eons since his death."

Percy held up his hands, "Alright, let's just say it's the sky dude, and let's just say that Hera is in a cage and needs rescuing-"

"Not happening" Annabeth interrupted.

Percy continued, "we're just supposed to go around and complete these five labors, and then go rescue Hera on some island?"

"Pretty much" I said. It sounded crazy when you put it like that. It was crazy any way you put it really.

Annabeth shook her head, "no way."

Percy turned to her, "Uh, Annabeth?"

"No, Percy." She turned to me, "Look, I'm sorry Matt, but we've been through enough quests and prophecies for a lifetime. We can't help you."

Percy tried to protest half-heartedly, "Annabeth, If he needs help and we're in his visions...maybe we shouldn't go against it, it might come back to bite us."

"Percy, we've lived in peace for a year, a whole year. And you want to risk it all on this dangerous mission?"

"I don't want to, but if Matt goes without us and dies, or something bad happens that could have been prevented if we were there, well...that'll weigh on me."

I felt so guilty, "Look guys, I'm really sorry. It's all my fault, because of me you two got dragged into this mess. I-I'll go alone, it'll be fine."

I started to walk out of the room when Harper put her hand on my chest, stopping me.

"Whoa, whoa. Where are you going Shark Boy?"

"To get ready for my mission."

She looked offended, "Without me? Are you forgetting that I've been having nightmares too? I wanna find out who this guy in the cloak is." Then she smirked, "plus, friends stick up for each other right? Even if it means doing something stupid."

I couldn't believe it. She had thrown my words back at me. I didn't care if we had only known each other for a few days, she was my friend.

"Alright, then."

We started to open the door when I heard Annabeth shout, "Wait!"

We turned to look at her.

She shifted uneasily and sighed, "Alright, if it's just one quest and back...I'll do it." then she glared at the ceiling, "but not for you Hera!"

I glanced nervously at Percy.

He shrugged, "How bad can it be? I'm in."

I almost jumped for joy and clapped like some cheerleader, but I kept my cool and just grinned. I said, "Alright, we seriously need a plan."

---

We had regrouped in the kitchen, just the four of us, Chiron had left to go supervise the camp. But he didn't walk out of the door without pulling me to the side first.

"Jett will not be allowed back to Camp."

I expected that, the guy shouldn't be allowed within a hundred miles of this camp ever again.

"What happened after I passed out?"

"Well, Harper broke down and told us about everything. Along with many other campers, they confessed to his awful deeds." He shook his head in disappointment, "I was a fool not to see it. Hearing some of his acts, it made me think he was a monster in disguise all along."

"Was he?"

"No. He was a demigod, a very troubled and cruel demigod. Sometimes they can be worse than monster, Matt. Remember that."

I nodded, and he clapped me on the shoulder, going out into the camp.

Me, Harper, Percy, and Annabeth were now sitting in the kitchen, surrounding the table. I was eating chips, and Percy was munching on the spicy Pringles.

"So these labors" Annabeth said, "You have to kill the Hydra, capture the Cretan Bull, capture the Ceryneian Hind, and capture Cerberus, right?"

I nodded.

"Each of those are nearly impossible, Matt."

"But Hera said I could have help, which is where you guys come in." At that moment, I figured out what one of the sentences in my vision meant, "the storm giant said that If I united the Avenger, the Trident, and The Owl, then we would stand a chance. Harper is a daughter of Nemesis, so there's the Avenger. Percy is a son of Poseidon, there's the Trident. And Annabeth's a daughter of Athena, there's the Owl."

Percy tossed a pringle in his mouth, "we fought the Hydra once, and met Cerberus...can't imagine fighting him. But what's the Cretan Bull? and Cernian Hind?"

"Ceryneian Hind" Annabeth corrected, "It's a sacred deer that Artemis hunted, it has golden antlers."

"And the Cretan Bull?"

"It's the bull that Pasiphae fell in love with" Annabeth said, "It's the Minotaur's father. And one of Hercules' labors."

"How did my father do all of this? I mean, these labors match up with some of his, so maybe all we have to do is replicate what he did." I said hopefully.

"Maybe" Percy said unsurely, "but where the heck do we even find these creatures? We don't have any leads."

"I think I know of a way" Harper said. "I've heard about a guy that tracks people and monsters. He's some kind of demigod for hire, and I heard from the Stoll twins that he's been hanging around New York recently."

Annabeth sighed, "That's just a silly rumor, Harper. You can't exactly rely on the Stoll Twins very much."

Harper protested, "It's more than just them, I've heard about him from other campers too. One says that he even saw him in the city one time, walking near the Central Park Zoo."

"Harper-" I started.

"My brother told me about him." Her brother was a touchy subject, I knew now, ever since Capture The Flag. "He said he was in town and a strange guy in a leather jacket and sunglasses asked him if he needed any monsters taken care of for a cheap price."

"Sounds like Ares" Percy growled. I got the feeling him and the War god didn't like each other.

Harper shook her head, "No, this wasn't Ares" then she pursed her lips, "although my brother did say that he had a tattoo of a boar on his arm."

"Let's pretend that he's real" Annabeth said, "He sounds like bad news. And we would need him for most of the quest, so our tracker shouldn't be someone that could potentially double cross us if someone pays him enough money."

She had a point. If the guy that Harper was talking about really was a demigod for hire, then he would definitely double cross us for someone else that pays more.

"But he's our only chance" I said, "Let's just head out tomorrow morning, find this demigod for hire, and talk to him. If he charges too much, or seems like an evil jerk, then we find another way."

Percy and Harper nodded, but Annabeth didn't look convinced.

"Annabeth?"

"I just...don't think it's wise to bring a wildcard in on this. But you're right, it's the only chance of tracking these creatures. So I guess we have no choice."

"Alright. And then after we complete these labors, we find a way on this island and face Malachi and the guy in the cloak, and free Hera."

Annabeth groaned, "You can free her, I won't help that stuck up goddess."

A faint thunder rolled in the distance, Annabeth just rolled her eyes.

"So, um" Harper said, "I guess we got a plan, kinda sorta?"

Percy put the lid back on the pringles container, "I don't know. It's a good start, but there's too many unknown factors. What if this Malachi guy shows up? How are we gonna get to the island? How the heck are we gonna capture Cerberus with Hades right next door?"

Valid questions, all of them. And I did not have answers. It bothered me, it was all incredibly overwhelming, so I just said, "The point is, we've got a good start. We can just figure out the rest on the way." It sounded dumb, but it was all I had, I didn't know the answers to any of these future problems.

Harper turned to Annabeth, "Aren't you the smart one here, Annie? I know we can't come up with some master plan, but you..."

Annabeth looked at her in disbelief, "Annie? Really?"

Harper held her hands up, "What? It's a nickname, I like nicknames!" Then she pointed at Percy, "doesn't he call you Wise Girl? You don't seem to have a problem with that."

Annabeth blushed, "That's...different."

Harper smiled, "If we're gonna be sisters in arms I gotta have a nickname for you, and you..." she looked intently at Percy, who's eyebrow raised, "You're...kelp head." She decided, seeming proud of herself.

I couldn't believe it. Harper seemed like a serious person. She looked intimidating and had such skill with those knives, that it was hard to believe she could be a joke cracking teenager. I ended up busting out laughing at the Kelp Head thing.

Harper joined in, Percy cracked up too, even Annabeth smiled.

I knew right then that maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

After laughing for a little bit, we all got back on track, and Annabeth said, "I usually have a strategy, but this is so complicated, there are so many unknown variables involved...I hate to say it, but winging it is all I've got at the moment."

Percy wrapped his arm around her, "So you're finally picking up my philosophy on combat." She rolled her eyes and pushed at him playfully.

I stood up, "Alright, then it's a kinda sorta plan. We should meet back here on the porch in the morning. We only have about a week and a half to do all of this stuff."

They all agreed and we went our separate ways after walking out of the Big House. I would actually be sleeping on the couch in the Big House, I didn't want to invade Percy's privacy, he protested profusely but in the end I wouldn't take no for an answer. He walked back to the Poseidon Cabin, Annabeth to the Athena cabin, and Harper to the Nemesis cabin. I wanted to talk to her more, I felt like I needed to clear the air on what happened earlier with the whole red aura thing. We had been interrupted in the infirmary and even though we joked in the Big House, there was a faint tension in the air.

I decided to go with my gut, and I ran after her.

I caught up with her, "Harper, wait a second."

She turned, "What's up?"

"I just wanted to make sure we were cool...you and me."

She looked surprised, "Of course, why wouldn't we be?"

I mentally slapped myself, she had forgotten all about it? I was stupid to think she was so sensitive that it would be on her mind all day, letting it eat her up. It had been eating me up, I guess that shows which one of us is tougher.

"Well..." I managed, "I mean, the whole red aura thing, and what happened in Capture the Flag-"

She cut me off, "I was never mad at you for that, Matt. I was just worried about you."

"Oh...really?"

"Yeah. I knew that you couldn't control it, and that you would kill Jett without even realizing. So I had to stop you. Killing someone...it's gonna leave a mental scar."

"Yeah, it would. Y-you're right, thanks for calming me down."

She nodded.

I shifted uneasily, still a little nervous, "So you're sure I haven't scared you off with my psycho rage powers?"

She laughed, "It'll take a little more than that to scare me away, Shark Boy." She playfully punched my shoulder, and waved at me while walking to her cabin, "see you in the morning!" she called.

I waved back.

I walked back to the big house, smiling out of happiness and nervousness. Tomorrow my quest/rescue mission would begin, the things I had been seeing in nightmares and visions would become a reality. The face in the clouds, Malachi, and the man in the cloak would become a reality.

But I decided to worry about that in the morning, I pushed my worries down, and stepped into the Big House, hoping to get a good night's sleep.