Chapter Twenty Three - Human Resources
By incredible happenstance, the train stopped at Union Station. Or maybe it was the only train station around, who knew? Certainly not me. That meant it was a simple matter of crossing the pavilion to get to the Waystation.
"No, not there," I said as Andromeda and Annabeth started for the door to the old building. "That just goes to a party venue. Weddings and stuff like that. No, we're going over here."
I gestured to the wall with a grin, enjoying the confusion that was plainly etched on their faces.
"Do we run through it like at Hogwarts?" Grover asked, poking the brickwork.
"No," I shook my head. "But good reference. We have to trace the door like in Beetlejuice, actually."
"You're joking," Andromeda deadpanned.
"Nope!" I grinned wider. "But I'm a little short to reach the top tracing point, so one of you will have to do it."
"I will," Annabeth said, stepping forward.
"Cool. So, you need to run your finger along the mortar between the bricks starting here and going up to here," I said, pointing. She traced her finger from the ground to the top. "Great. Now, straight across to there. Yeah, that's it. Now back down."
"What the..." She gasped, jumping back and away as the wall suddenly shifted under her finger, pulling back to reveal the ladder.
I grinned; "Welcome to the Waystation. Come on, let's go say hi to everyone. Um... Maybe Grover should climb up first?"
"Why's that?" He asked, though his confusion only lasted a couple of seconds before his eyes widened. "Y-yeah, no you're right. Got it. I'll go on ahead."
We waited until Grover was all the way up before following him. I went next, followed by Andromeda, and finally Annabeth.
"Welcome to the Waystation," I said, grinning. "Be careful where you step, though. The place is sometimes booby trapped."
"Um... Guys?" Grover sounded seriously spooked.
"Oh, shit. You didn't step on a pressure plate, did you?" I asked, turning around to see him pointing a shaking finger at the figure of an all-too familiar headless apparition. Before I could say anything, Andromeda and Annabeth both let out a blood curdling scream that was soon matched by the distant sound of a baby crying.
The headless ghost took a half-step back in surprise, reaching for the Magic Eight Ball at his side. Unfortunately, the innocuous movement must have been taken as an act of aggression on the part of the two spooked demigods as they quickly drew their knives before sinking into identical defensive stances. It was clear they'd had the same combat training.
"Whoa, whoa!" I said, moving to stand between them. "Guys, it's cool. This is Agamethus."
"He's a ghost," Andromeda said.
"He's friendly," I said. "Also, I would really advise against drawing weapons here."
"Solid advice," an older woman's voice said. We all turned to see a tall woman with regal features staring disapprovingly at us.
"Hey, Emmie," I grinned.
"Hello, Penny," She said. "You woke Georgie."
"Ah," I grimaced. "Sorry about that?"
"It's fine," Emmie waved her hand. "It was almost time for feeding anyway. Who are your friends?"
"Oh, right!" I turned to the group. They were still fairly tense, but thankfully they'd put away their weapons. "Annabeth, Andromeda, and Grover" I said, pointing to each of them in turn. "This is Emmie. She and Jo are former members of Lady Artemis' hunt."
"Are we seriously going to ignore the ghost?" Andromeda asked, still keeping a wary eye on Agamethus.
"He was just checking on who had entered the Waystation," a familiar voice called out from above. "So, when were you going to introduce me, Skipper?"
"Hey, Brit," I grinned, as the mischievous goddess dropped down from somewhere near the ceiling - likely one of her many hidden perches. She really was so much like the griffons she loved so much. "You don't really need an introduction, but I guess I can do it anyway. Everyone, this is Britomartis, the goddess of nets. This is her house."
Almost immediately, Andromeda, Annabeth and Grover nearly fell over themselves to bow or kneel before the goddess - much to her amusement.
"So what brings you out this way?" Brit asked. "Given your current troubles, I doubt it's just a social call."
"No, sorry," I said. "We could actually use some help."
"Hmm," Brit tapped her chin ponderously. "Sorry Skip', not much I can do. Artie's been forbidden from helping you out, and that of course extends to her Hunters."
"What?" I asked, taken aback. "Why?"
"Well after that public bollocking you gave Zeus, he's not exactly too pleased with you," the goddess said. "He's not used to anyone, let alone a tiny mortal girl, talking back to him. Of course, it didn't help matters that Artie spoke up in your defense. She was very outspoken in her judgement of your character. Something her father took great offense to. He accused her of bias, and ruled that she could do nothing to aid you as she had already denied your oath."
"But you're not a member of the Hunt," I pointed out. "At least, not full time. Is there really nothing you can do?"
"There may be something," she said, and I wasn't sure I liked the way light gleamed in her ruby-red eyes. "But first, you'd have to do something for me. A debt owed will be a debt repaid."
"I don't change diapers," I reminded her.
"I can," Grover spoke up, eagerly.
"Satyrs never change," Emmie said with a small smirk.
"Well, while I'm sure Em' and Jo will appreciate the enthusiasm, I'm actually talking something a little more dangerous," Brit said, tweaking Grover's nose. "While it isn't quite to the same degree as in Manhattan, there have been a larger than usual amount of monsters nesting in the area. You of course know what that means."
"Miasma," I said.
"Bingo!" Brit clapped. "Normally we'd have to wait for the other girls to show up, but since you're here now, we can get an early start on things."
"Um, not to sound inconsiderate," Annabeth spoke up, "but we are on kind of a time sensitive quest."
"That's fine," Britomartis said, waving her hand dismissively. "If all goes well, it should only be the work of an afternoon. A few hours at most, really."
"Last time we had the entire hunt spread out across the island," I pointed out. "That's considerably more than seven people."
"Oh, you've misunderstood me," Brit frowned. "This is a job for only your group of four. Emmie and Jo have little Georgie to think of now. Not to mention they are well passed the age where they should be crawling through monster nests. As for myself... Well, I could certainly handle the extermination of a few monsters without overstepping the bounds of interference, that would mean your services would not be required and I wouldn't be allowed to lend my assistance on your quest. This way, everybody benefits."
"What do you guys think?" I asked, turning to Andromeda and Annabeth. Given the starstruck look on Grover's face, I was almost certain what his answer would be.
"We have been making pretty good time so far," Annabeth said, slowly.
"Oh, pick your jaw up off the floor, goat boy. You're getting drool all over yourself," Andromeda said, smacking Grover on the shoulder. "And to answer your question, Penny, I'm in favor. Besides, having help from a goddess is something you just don't turn down."
"So, we're in favor?" I asked, getting twin nods from both other girls. "Alright, Brit. What do we have to do?"
As it turned out, the monster nesting issue really wasn't on the same level in Indianapolis as it had been in Manhattan. The real problem was that a bunch of mortals had begun mysteriously going missing, prompting involvement from local law enforcement agencies. According to Britomartis, the likely culprits were a pair of the unfailingly polite, cannibalistic race of monsters known as Blemmyae that had set up base in an old scrapyard nearby.
Apparently Emmie and Jo had heard about them from Karen - another Blemmyae, and frequent visitor of the Waystation. Karen had heard it from Cheryl, who'd overheard Nanette - a Blemmyae who worked in the police department - talking about it with a store clerk while off duty. In her words, it would have been 'rude to have overheard and not tell someone else about it'. It was more than a little unnerving, if I'm being honest.
"How are they polite if they're trying to eat you?" Annabeth asked as we left the Waystation.
"They say thanks before digging in," I replied.
Chrome Z Scrapyard had a large property on the other side of town, with a twelve foot high sheet metal fence surrounding the perimeter. Luckily for us, it was a simple matter of bending a sheet out of place to make a gap large enough for us to crawl through.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" A security guard asked, shining a bright flashlight into our eyes. This was particularly annoying considering it was the middle of the afternoon.
"Can you please not do that?" I grumbled, feeling relieved when the guard clicked the light off.
"Since you asked so nicely," the guard shrugged. "Why not? So, what are you doing here?"
"Um... What are you doing here?" I asked.
"I asked first," the security guard said.
"Does that sound suspicious to anyone else?" Annabeth muttered.
"Yard's closed," a second guard said, approaching us from behind, his voice firm. "Trespassing is not only illegal, but incredibly rude as well."
"Th-that's right!" The first guard said. "And dodging questions, too. That's also very rude."
"Tsk, guess well have to punish these kids," the second guard said, shaking his head. His bronze head.
"Guys..." Andromeda said, reaching for her weapon.
"Yeah, we see it," Annabeth said, drawing her knife.
"Oh, dear," the first Guard said. "They're armed, Chad."
"Looks like it," the guard named Chad said. "What will we do? Oh, right. We're armed too."
Saying that, the two guards drew identical firearms. I'm not a gun nut, so I couldn't tell you what the make or model of the gun was, but it was black, compact and deadly.
"Looks like you brought a knife to a gun fight," Chad said, the bronze face twisting into a cruel smirk. "Brad, you wanna do the honors?"
"Drop 'em," Brad said. Reluctantly we dropped our knives to the ground, raising our hands. "Aww, see now they've got manners. Didn't even have to ask. Start walkin'."
"Where are you taking us?" Annabeth asked.
"We've got to get you processed with the other Human Resources," Brad said, snickering at his own terrible joke. Get it? Human Resources. Because they eat humans, so we're just... Oh, you got it? Okay.
"I'm sure you'll taste much better than the last few meals we've had," Chad continued. "Dirty clothes, unwashed bodies and too skinny by far. Not to mention definitely past the sell by date."
"Ah well, they cleaned up well enough and a few extra dashes of seasoning helped cover the rest," Brad added.
I had to struggle to resist the urge to throw up as they casually talked about eating people. They had killed and would kill again unless we stopped them. Even if Brit hadn't tasked us with this, just knowing about it made it our responsibility. With a quick glance to the others, and a shared nod, I broke away from the group.
"Now!" I shouted. "Maia!"
The wings on my shoes sprang to life, lifting me effortlessly into the air. Annabeth stomped down hard on Brad's foot as he raised his gun, throwing off his aim while Andromeda slammed her head back, knocking Chad's bronze head off his shoulders. I raised my hand, drawing out my inner flame and shaping it into a ball before throwing it, hitting Chad center mass - right in the face! He went down howling in pain as the flames began eating at his clothing.
At that moment, Brad backhanded Annabeth with his handgun before lining up another shot - only for Grover to rip off his Rasta cap and rush forward to headbutt him in the chest, knocking him back. His horns, while under-developed, were definitely sharp. Judging by Brad's screams, I'd guess Grover had hit an eye.
Andromeda, meanwhile, lunged forward with a high kick that caused my brain to momentarily short circuit. By the time I recovered, Brad was gone and there was a pile of golden dust in his place.
"What the..." I blinked. Twice. Then I noticed the glint of a bronze knife in Andromeda's hand. Where had she gotten that?!
"That wasn't very nice!" Chad growled, ripping his burning shirt off to glare at us. His face, probably once conventionally handsome, was now a patchwork of burns.
"Tell it to Santa Claus," Annabeth snarked, swinging Brad's bronze head like a cudgel into Chad's face - breaking his nose with a satisfying crunch. Andromeda took advantage of his pain to get in position behind him, repeatedly stabbing her knife into his back like he was Caesar and she was the entire senate plus Brutus. I landed as Chad erupted into a burst of golden sand. The fight, if it could be called that, had only lasted a few seconds.
"Great work," I said, and I meant it. "I figured I'd have to lay down a rain of cover fire from above while you got to cover, but... Where did you get that knife, Andromeda?"
"My boot," she said, lifting her pant leg to show a hidden sheath. "I always carry a spare."
"Guys," Grover said. "I don't think these two were the only ones here."
"You're probably right," Annabeth said. "The main force might be concentrated in the warehouse ahead."
"I can torch the place," I said, igniting my hand for emphasis. "We can barricade the doors and just... Burn them to the ground inside."
"Probably a bad idea," Andromeda said. "For one, we don't know if there are any mortal captives being 'processed'. For two, setting a large fire would attract emergency response, and according to Lady Britomartis, these guys are kind of all over the place in emergency response services. Cops, firemen, even hospital staff."
"Yeah," Grover agreed. "Best to keep it as quiet as possible. No need to shake the whole tree to get at a single apple. I vote for stealth."
"Seconded," Andromeda said.
"Third," Annabeth said.
"Motion passed," I grinned. "Let's get our stuff and move."
We all nodded, backtracking to where we'd left our weapons. I felt better having my knife back in hand. I just hoped that Brad and Chad really were the only security this place had.