Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter.
Consul of the Underworld: End of Disc 1
Chapter Twelve: Titanomachy II - Black Ops Save 1
Beta: ShadowofAxios
The very next day after her eventful visit to the Jackson-Blofis home, Alkaid found herself sitting in the seats of the amphitheater that was Camp Half-Blood's Sword Fighting Arena and distractedly observing as down in the actual arena, Percy, fresh from receiving the Curse of Achilles from a dip in the River Styx, sparred against a number of Year Rounder volunteers and training automatons. Considering how the Curse had granted him greatly increased strength, speed, agility, reflexes, endurance, fighting skills, enhanced his demigod abilities and made him invulnerable, it was necessary for him to train to get used to his new capabilities. Hence, why Alkaid and Pyrrha had brought him to Camp to do just that.
Mina, who usually accompanied them whenever they came to Camp, had opted out of visiting this time, instead choosing to stay home with her sisters.
Probably so she and Kura can have a prank war or otherwise try Gracie's patience. Alkaid thought with some exasperation at her younger daughters' antics. Thankfully, Gracie had the patience of a saint. Between her and their nanny for the day, Alecto, their house probably wouldn't be in too much of a mess when she and Pyrrha got home.
Shaking her head to clear her mind of such distracting thoughts, Alkaid focused on the task at hand, that being the selection of recruits for the team she was organizing to carry out reconnaissance, sabotage, and demolition operations to undermine Kronos' forces. Why was she doing so instead of keeping an eye on Percy, you might ask? Well, that's where her darling wife came in. As a daughter of Ares she was better at the task anyways. Thus Alkaid was able to instead focus on making the final selection for her team. An endeavor that she had just completed when Pyrrha nudged her shoulder.
Turning to her wife, a little smile curled her lips. "Yes, my dear?"
Pyrrha curled her lip at the use of the term of endearment as an address. "What did I say about calling me that, 'Kaidy?"
"Don't do it?" Alkaid said with a smirk.
Pyrrha's eyebrows twitched in irritation. "You're doing this on purpose."
Alkaid just smiled mischievously. This prompted her wife to mutter something unintelligible under her breath in irritation but she otherwise decided to drop the matter.
"Whatever, 'Kaidy." She said before gesturing to the arena where Percy was using his new curse granted invincibility to run straight through a rain of javelins thrown his way by a number of automations, not flinching even as the missiles literally bounced off his skin and he closed into close quarters and started cutting the machines to pieces with Riptide. "Anyways, as I was saying, Jackson seems to have gotten the hang of being invincible."
Taking another moment to observe Percy down in the arena and how he was totally ignoring any and all attacks being directed his way, Alkaid nodded in agreement. "It would seem so. Though I am not pleased about what helped him survive his time in the Styx."
"Hey, you still unhappy he used Chase as his tether to life?" The redhead asked.
"Of course I am." Alkaid huffed. Her annoyance over Percy's choice bubbling to the surface. "Doing so means he loves her."
"What? You think he loves her? Like love her, love her?" Pyrrha asked, looking surprised.
"Honestly, I think it's just a crush. Or, well, maybe not? Either way, it is love and I guess it might be enough." Alkaid dithered about it.
"Eh, I doubt a crush is enough for something as major as the Curse of Achilles." The daughter of Ares said with a shrug. "But I'll leave it to you. You know curses better than me."
The sorceress sighed and nodded, "Indeed I do. Which is why when Percy told me who he used as his tether I was so upset! My little cousin can do so much better than that wishy-washy Chase. Honestly, if this was an Anime she'd be a tsundere. How vexing."
Pyrrha giggled at the pout on her face, shaking her head in amusement at Alkaid's behavior as she replied. "I'm still not a hundred percent convinced using Chase as his tether means he loves her, 'Kaidy. But even if it was, it's Jackson's choice about who he loves. He doesn't need his overprotective cousin or anyone else to tell him who to have feelings for."
Alkaid huffed. "I know that but I don't have to like his choice either."
Her wife just laughed. The daughter of Hades pouted playfully at being laughed at which just prompted Pyrrha to laugh harder.
It was thus to the scene of Pyrrha laughing at her expense that Alkaid's siblings, Bianca and Nico, arrived.
"Big Sister, what's Pyrrha laughing at?"
"Me, unfortunately." Alkaid answered Bianca honestly, eliciting curious looks from both of her younger siblings.
"Don't sweat it, Bianca, Nico." Pyrrha said as she finally stopped laughing.
Both di Angelos pouted at having their curiosity denied and looked ready to press the issue. Alkaid's dignity could not allow that however and quickly tidying up her things, and thus signaling that she was moving on, she handed a series of files to her wife. Bianca didn't seem ready to take the hint but Nico, bless him, was and nudging his sister lightly, he offered Alkaid a smile and changed topics.
"Big Sister, sorry if we're a bit early. Bianca and I both finished our evening training sessions early so we could spend more time with you."
A quick Tempus spell confirmed that the di Angelos were indeed a good fifteen minutes earlier than Alkaid had been expecting them. Even as she did so however, Bianca, the good girl that she was, was scolding their younger brother for his oversight.
"And Pyrrha." Bianca added with a long suffering sigh and a look at the boy. "Did you forget about her, Nico?"
"Sorry, Pyrrha." An unrepentant Nico said half-heartedly.
"It's okay, Nico." Pyrrha said, accepting the apology dismissively, before looking to Alkaid. "These files you just gave me, are they for the ones you want to recruit for the team?"
"Yes, they are." Alkaid confirmed. "I would like to hear your opinion on my choices before we contact them however."
"Gotcha." Pyrrha said with a nod. "I'll take a look later and tell you what I think."
"Um, Big Sister, what is she talking about?" Bianca asked curiously.
Nico however seemed to have an idea and was bouncing on his heels at the idea. "Oh! Oh! Are you putting some super team together to attack the Titan Army?"
"Hehe, that's exactly it, Nico. But it's more a Black Ops team."
"Eh." Pyrrha see-sawed her hand. "It's more a Spec Ops team if we're being technical. But yeah, 'Kaidy's mostly right."
"Only mostly right? That's new, usually I am completely right." The sorceress teased, getting an eye roll from her wife.
"Cute." Bianca said in a whisper without meaning to. Not if how she proceeded to cover her mouth and blush brilliantly at the slip up was any indication.
Ignoring Bianca's gaffe and Alkaid and Pyrrha's flirting entirely, Nico, seeming fixated on the idea of the Spec Ops team, spoke up excitedly. "I want in on your team, Big Sister!"
His behavior seemed to snap Bianca out of her embarrassment and she shot him an exasperated look which Nico ignored with what Alkaid imagined was long practice. In response, a resigned Bianca turned to Alkaid with a look that practically begged her for help. Being the helpful older sibling that she was, Alkaid was only too happy to assist her sister. Thus she offered Bianca a smile before turning to their brother and proceeded to burst his bubble.
"Nico," she said, addressing him in as sad a tone as she could muster. "I'm sorry but I can't have you on the team. I want it made up of people that the Titans won't expect and so won't have counters for, and that means no one from Camp Half-Blood."
And more importantly so that it won't be a drain from Camp's limited manpower.
Nico let out a disappointed whine.
Alkaid couldn't help herself in the face of that and reached out to ruffle Nico's hair affectionately. "You look adorable making that face."
"Big Sister!" Nico whined even more adorably as he backed away, adjusting his hair all the while as the three ladies chuckled at his expense.
"Alright, Squirt." Pyrrha said, getting her laugh under control first. She glanced at the arena where it seemed Percy had finally decided he was done for the day and was cleaning up with some help from his sparring partners and some satyrs and dryads. "We should probably head out."
The Hades siblings all nodded in agreement and they began walking towards Cabin Eleven and the magical tent that served as the di Angelos' home while they were at Camp.
With the looming war, and the very real possibility that one or all of them could die, Alkaid wanted to spend time with her siblings as much as possible. Thus, she had arranged time for them tonight to simply enjoy a pleasant evening in each others' company. An experience that she enjoyed immensely.
The short reprieve from their responsibilities was nowhere near enough but it did make the frantic week of back and forth with the prospective recruits for their Special Operations team bearable. An effort that was finally reaching fruition and had brought Pyrrha and Alkaid to the dining room of a restaurant in Lebanon, Kansas, where they would finally meet said recruits and finalize things for their team.
With the town being the geographic center of the contiguous United States, she and 'Kaidy had chosen to arrange this meeting there because its location made it the most neutral place possible between the Greek Camp Half-Blood in the East and the Roman Camp Jupiter in the West. A necessity that had been born out of them recruiting their little Spec Ops team to help fight the Titans from retired and exiled Campers of both Camps.
Originally, to avoid having to deal with the conflict between the Greek and Roman children of Olympus which followed them wherever Half-Bloods from both Camps met, Pyrrha and her wife had wanted to have two separate teams, one Greek and the other, Roman. However, factors such as cost and a 'suggestion' from Lady Hera, who had sent a missive when she had learned of their plan, for them to create a joint team, to test out the possibility of the Greeks and Romans working together, had forced them to reconsider.
They had been leery of this risky move but one just did not deny the Queen of Olympus. If what she'd said in her letter was any indication, she had a plan and she was hoping this team of theirs would be helpful in seeing it being carried out. It didn't take a genius, and Alkaid was one, to figure out that Hera was aiming to somehow get the two Camps to work together. Especially not when it was something of an open secret, to those in the know about the gossip on Olympus at least, that the reunification of the Camps was a long term plan of the Patron of Women which she had usually left on a back burner. In light of this, their team was a golden opportunity, should it succeed, for Hera to use as a proof of concept that coexistence, even cooperation, between the two groups of Olympus' mortal children was possible.
After learning of the history between the two sets of Olympus' children however, including a Civil War that saw hundreds dead and the Romans besieging Camp Half-Blood, Pyrrha knew this plan of Hera's was likely doomed to failure. But again they couldn't just refuse the Queen of Olympus. So here they were in Kansas waiting to meet with their team of both Greeks and Romans.
Thankfully, their recruits had started arriving. The sooner they could get this first stage of things over with the better.
If there really are going to be problems with Greeks and Romans working together, then the more time we get to train to overcome them, the better.
The first recruit to arrive was a brunette Englishwoman with gray eyes by the name of Peggy Rogers. A woman who for some reason had shown up in a blue and white skirt suit and red vaguely fedora style hat, the exact style eluded Pyrrha, that would not have been out of place in the 1940s and who carried a briefcase in lieu of a purse.
It was hard to imagine considering the retro look she had chosen for herself today but Rogers was a daughter of Athena who had inherited her mother's sadistic and warlike aspects and after leaving Camp Half-Blood a decade ago had gone on to become an assassin cum mercenary. Based on what 'Kaidy had dug up on her, she was well versed in the use of modern firearms of all types but favored a pistol of her own creation she had dubbed 'Athena's Wisdom'. And when she needed to fight monsters, she used a bog standard Celestial Bronze sword and a trick shield she called 'Athena's Wrath' that thanks to an attached tether she could toss around like a boomerang just like Captain America's own iconic shield.
"Miss Rogers, thank you for coming."
The sharply dressed woman waved away the thanks, "It's no trouble. You are offering good money and the chance to fight for Olympus. What Half-blood would dream of rejecting an offer like that? But first, my contract if you wouldn't mind? I would like to do a final check that everything is in order."
The hunger in her voice when talking about the money was all too telling and rubbed Pyrrha the wrong way. Wasn't fighting for Olympus enough of a reason to join the fight?
She said nothing though. She knew doing so could risk chasing Rogers away and finding a replacement for her would be troublesome. Besides, as a daughter of Ares, she knew full well that every warrior or soldier had their own reasons to fight and whilst she did not agree with Rogers being motivated by money, it was as valid as any other.
Even as Pyrrha was thinking this, Alkaid had conjured a shadow portal and pulled out two copies of a magically binding Geis contract and presented one to Rogers.
"I assure you that its terms are exactly as we discussed."
Rogers nodded but took the contract and read through it anyway. Pulling out a pair of Gale-Force Reading Glasses, that 'Kaidy had invented way back when they were still just kids in Hogwarts, to help her read through the document in record time. Once she was done, she looked up at Alkaid with a frown.
"Must we really include clauses demanding that I not go overboard?"
"I am afraid so," Alkaid said firmly. "You have a reputation for being excessive in terms of collateral damage in the carrying out of her missions, Miss Rogers. Need I remind you of what you did in Nairobi? Burning down a whole block just to kill one man was unnecessarily extreme."
"That pedophile deserved it." Rogers retorted before sighing and calming down. "But yes, I understand why you would think it necessary if you know about Nairobi. Very well, I'll sign."
She acted on her words and proceeded to sign her copy of the contract. Seeing this 'Kaidy did the same on their copy before they exchanged copies to finish things. This took them a few minutes before, with the contracts signed, Rogers looked up and they both put their copies away, Alkaid via a shadow portal and the daughter of Athena into her briefcase.
"Is the team just going to be the three of us?"
"Of course it isn't." Pyrrha told her, "Just be patient, the rest should be arriving soon."
As if on cue, and from what she knew of the gods and her wife, it probably was, the words had barely left her mouth when the next prospective member of their team arrived. Said individual was Caelus Vipsanius, a vaguely Asian man with a head of shocking blue hair that Pyrrha could tell was completely natural and predatory red eyes. He was dressed in a biker's outfit that consisted of a white T-shirt, black pants and a black jacket. The biker look was spoiled a little by the pair of silver earrings he wore, but they nevertheless added immensely to his overall aesthetic.
He is really as hot in real life as he is in his photos. Pyrrha couldn't help but think as she stared at the man making his way towards the table where the rest of them were gathered.
She might be a total lesbian but she could appreciate when a man looked good and with his statuesque, muscled physique, Vipsanius looked like a brand of masculine perfection. Considering her wife, who had a very mild bisexual bent and so could appreciate his appearance even more, agreed with her when they had discussed the matter upon first seeing his photos, Pyrrha was confident that Vipsanius was in the top percentile in the looks department for men.
Shaking her head to clear it of such thoughts, Pyrrha took a moment to recall something pertinent instead, namely what she knew about the guy.
He was a Roman Legacy that worked as a freelance monster hunter for the Federal government and was a descendant of Izanagi that the god and his family had recommended when they had met him when they last visited Japan. Seeing as Vipsanius had the Shinto primordial father vouching for him, there was no way that they wouldn't include him in their team. If for no other reason then they didn't want to insult said primordial god.
But he wasn't just a Legacy of Izanagi. Vipsanius was also a Legacy of three other bloodlines including Ceres, Victoria and Leucothea. Divinity flowed in his veins to the point it was ridiculous. Apparently his family were a bunch of legacies of a host of minor gods who had lost their powers over the generations and had been desperately trying to gain them back through selective breeding.
The whole idea disgusted Pyrrha when she'd first heard it. Having a kid just so they might have a power? That sounded gross!
But 'Kaidy pointed out just how common it was. According to what she knew, there were literally hundreds of communities of legacies, from multiple pantheons, across the world who were actively engaged in the practice. Famously, there was a group of them in Pylos, Greece that had regained the power of shapeshifting through such methods.
It still skeeved her out, but Pyrrha held her tongue. If everything was done consensually, she had nothing to say. But if she encountered any of these groups who coerced their members, as 'Kaidy said some of them did, well… She would happily introduce them to Miló (Speak)'s flamethrower.
Argh! Damn! I got distracted again. Pyrrha mentally scolded herself as she belatedly regathered her wits and offered the approaching Roman Legacy a smile as she waved him over to join them at the table they were occupying.
Offering a cautious nod in acknowledgement, he proceeded to stalk over with predatory grace that hinted at the superhuman strength, agility and general physical ability that were the powers he'd inherited from the divine ichor flowing through his veins.
Something he showed off further when he took a whiff of the air.
"You're all Greeks aren't you?" He said with a scowl. "I can smell it."
"Yes, we are." Rogers said, shooting him a dangerous look as her hands slowly drifted towards her briefcase and the weapons that were almost certainly hidden within. "Will that be a problem?"
"Of course not," Vipsanius scoffed. "I'm not like the idiots from New Rome who don't even know the Greeks exist. My clan might still send some of our kids to Camp Jupiter but we've mostly grown beyond it. We're our own thing nowadays and have nothing to do with the petty rivalries of New Rome."
"And that's one of the reasons we're hiring you." Pyrrha said as she put the Geis contract that 'Kaidy had handed to her down on the table in front of an empty chair of their table.
Taking the hint, Vipsanius sat down at the indicated spot and began reading through it and casually asked, "Did you change anything from the last draft you sent me?"
"Not a word," Alkaid assured him.
Nodding in satisfaction at her assurance, Vipsanius pulled a pen out of one of his jacket pockets and proceeded to sign the magical contract.
This prompted Rogers to turn and look at him like he was an idiot. "What are you doing!?"
"Signing my employment contract." He deadpanned.
"Without even checking the terms were unchanged from what was agreed?"
"Yeah, why not? I trust the Diplomats of Olympus to not screw me over, they have a reputation to maintain after all." Vipsanius said with a shrug. "Besides, I ain't doing this for the money like you are, Rogers. And yes, I've heard of you. I'm here to fight for Olympus. The money is just a bonus."
Pyrrha could not help but nod at the Roman's words. She recalled how he'd balked at at the very idea of it when they had even suggested the need of a contract to Vipsanius during the recruitment process. It took 'Kaidy's silver tongue and the reminder that not everyone else in the team might be of the same mind as him and the need for some equality regarding the terms of employment to make him agree to the necessity.
"You are being naive, Roman." Rogers said, rolling her eyes at him.
"Think whatever you want, lady. So long as you can keep it professional when we're on the job, I don't care. Can you manage that much?"
Rogers looked affronted by his accusation that she would be anything but professional but forewent a retort, choosing instead to take the high road. "That won't be a problem."
Pyrrha coughed lightly, cutting the two's bickering short. "Are you done?"
Rogers and Vipsanius both nodded, but not without shooting each other glares, and quieted.
Cutting into the quiet, Alkaid spoke up. "Vipsanius, your contract please."
"Right. Sorry." The Roman said sheepishly as he handed over the signed contract and received Alkaid's copy so that he could sign it too.
It took both him and Pyrrha's wife a few minutes to finish signing the second copy of his contract and once it was done both put their copies away. 'Kaidy did so via a shadow portal whilst the Roman just rolled his up and stuffed it into a pocket of his jacket.
Rogers looked at him with disdain for that but thankfully did not comment. Vipsanius noticed the look but besides a roll of his eyes, he said nothing about it, instead choosing to look towards Pyrrha and Alkaid. "Is this all of us?"
"We're still waiting on two others." Pyrrha answered him with what she hoped was a placating tone. She was still only just getting the hang of being diplomatic and was sure she screwed up all the time. 'Kaidy didn't feel the need to step in and correct anything though, so she was probably safe.
Instead, her wife just nodded in agreement with her words before casting a Tempus spell. Checking the time against the display that was conjured by the spell, she added. "They should be here soon. We are running a bit early, so we will probably have to wait for a few minutes."
"Then let's order something while we wait." Pyrrha suggested.
"Order food? From whom? I scoped this restaurant out before I came in. There's no staff here."
"We could cook our own food." Vipsanius said with a careless shrug. "Or are you above that, Rogers?"
Before Rogers could retort and start an argument, Alkaid cut in. "There is no need to worry, Miss Rogers. It is true that I dismissed the restaurant's staff for the day when I rented the establishment. Even with the Mist, we could not trust them with what we discussed today. But I have made alternative arrangements with my household staff to fill in the gaps."
"What do you mean by household staff?" Rogers asked, shooting Alkaid and Pyrrha a skeptical look.
Deciding that just showing the woman would be easier than explaining it, Pyrrha tilted her head to the side so she was facing the empty space at the end of the table and called for the head House Elf of the Potter home. "Cappy."
Immediately, the dignified looking Elf apparated in with a small popping sound and offered them all a bow. "How may Cappy serve?"
"That will be all, Cappy." Alkaid said as she, Pyrrha and their two new teammates finished placing their lunch orders.
"Understood, Mistress Alkaid. Lunch bes ready in ten minutes." The loyal Elf said with a bow before he apparated away to oversee the preparations of their meals.
He had just barely dematerialized with a soft pop when the door to the restaurant they were occupying opened and the final two members of the team that she and her wife had recruited stepped inside. Considering the perfect timing, Alkaid was sure that some divine intervention was at work. She had planned everything about this meeting meticulously of course, but not even the best of plans could have played out this perfectly.
I wonder who is being so helpful? Lady Hera perhaps?
The Queen of the Gods did after all have something of a stake in this project, what with it being her latest experiment to prove that reunification between the Greek and Roman children of Olympus was possible.
Unraveling the mystery of who is helping us can be saved for later should I have the time, for now I have recruits to greet.
The aforementioned recruits to the little team she was building took the form of a pair of unaffiliated Romans that came as a package deal. One of them was a Half-blood of Vulcan whilst his partner was a Legacy of Venus.
Michael Bertinelli, the son of Vulcan, was an arms dealer trying to push human weapons to a more fantastical side of things with his skill in smithing. He had been recommended to her by Mana after the daughter of Hades had reached out to her old acquaintance to seek her opinion on who might fit the bill for her little Black Ops team. And after some research had shown her some of the marvelously destructive creations of his, Alkaid had known she wanted him on her team. And where he went, came his partner in crime and life.
Said woman went by Helena Holt and she doubled as the smith's bodyguard and fixer. She was a Legacy of Venus whose inherited divine ichor allowed her to stay in peak physical shape no matter what. Alkaid knew that some daughters of Aphrodite could shapeshift in small ways, but a power that let oneself always have your body in peak shape? She would have to admit that it left her feeling a bit envious.
If I had that kind of power, I would never have to hit the gym ever again!
Though seeing Pyrrha after her wife finished a workout was always worth it in the end. It was almost enough to allow Alkaid to set aside her envy entirely. But alas, Alkaid's distaste for physical exertion was too strong and she could not help but covet the Legacy of Venus' power.
Thus it remained a struggle to smother her jealousy as she watched the blue eyed, black haired Caucasian woman as she walked over arm in arm with her partner. She did not linger enviously at the other woman's perfect hourglass figure, perky breasts and nicely shaped butt, all of which were in stark display in the crimson dress she wore. Anyone who said differently were liars!
Pulling her eyes away from Holt in a bid to squash her nonexistent unbecoming feelings, Alkaid shifted her gaze over to Bertinelli instead. Only then did she manage to get her head back on straight. Not that the son of Vulcan was unattractive. Being a heavily muscled African American man with decent facial features and dressed in a suit that screamed wealth, he was probably able to turn the heads of most women. He was however a far cry from the level of his partner and his relative normality was more than enough to ground Alkaid back in the present.
She thus offered the incoming couple a smile and was about to offer them a polite greeting when Bertinelli unexpectedly spoke first.
"Show me the contract," he demanded curtly.
Holt sighed in what sounded like longsuffering exasperation at this and nudging her partner's side with an elbow, she hurriedly spoke up. "Sorry about Michael."
The aforementioned man didn't seem to get why she was apologizing and shot her a confused look. Instead of explaining however, Holt just nodded her head at an empty chair at the table everyone was occupying.
"Oh! Right! Sorry, Helena." The African American man said with an apologetic smile before he pulled away from the woman and pulled out the chair for her.
"Thank you, Michael." Holt said, offering him a smile as she took her seat with Bertinelli following her lead moments later.
"Again, sorry about Micheal. He's just feeling a touch paranoid about the contract and any hidden clauses it might contain. We've taken on contracts in the past with some of those and things got pretty nasty."
The man in question nodded but said nothing, allowing Holt to speak for the both of them.
"I completely understand." Alkaid said as she summoned a shadow portal and pulled out the contracts for the couple, passing a copy to Bertinelli whilst retaining one for herself. And no sooner had her partner received the document did Holt snatch it out of his hands.
"I'll look it over, Michael. You relax." Holt told the man before continuing in a muttered whisper even as she began reading the contract. "You barely got any sleep last night. Why don't you get a coffee for yourself when you order our lunch."
"Two hours of sleep is plenty." Bertinelli grumbled.
In response, Holt shot him a chiding look that anyone in a relationship dreaded receiving from their significant other. A look that had Bertinelli caving with a sheepish nod.
The exchange had Alkaid hiding her desire to giggle with a demure smile. The couple were just so cute together. How they continued to perpetuate the sham that they weren't romantically involved was a mystery. Anyone with eyes could see that they were practically married!
"Um, Missus Potter, where can I order?" Bertinelli asked, looking at Alkaid expectantly.
Before she could answer, with the impeccable timing that befit his status as her household's Head Elf, Cappy apparated into the dining room and offered Bertinelli and Holt a bow. "May Cappy take your order, Master Bertinelli, Mistress Holt?"
"Uh, do you have a menu?" The African American man asked, looking at once curious about what kind of creature Cappy was and confused by the situation he found himself in.
"No needs for one, Master Bertinelli." Cappy assured him. "Me and the other Potter Elves can prepare anythings that you and your missus wants."
Bertinelli looked skeptical but nevertheless nodded and placed orders for both himself and his partner, notably including a coffee for himself like Holt had insisted.
Rogers rolled her eyes at him, clearly unimpressed by how whipped he was. Vipsanius, probably sharing the same sentiment but finding it amusing, snickered instead.
"Oh, stuff it, Caelus." Bertinelli barked as he shot a mild glare at his fellow Roman. "You'll be just like me once you find a good woman."
"That's never going to happen, Micheal. I'm too much of a free spirit to allow myself to be tied down to any one woman."
"You're making yourself sound like a womanizer, Vipsanius." Rogers observed with a snort.
Vipsanius shrugged. "Yeah? Well, I don't care what you or others think."
Pyrrha coughed and shot all of them stern looks as they turned to look at her. "All of you, be civil. We're a team now. We need to be able to work together."
"Missus Branwen-Potter is right." Bertinelli agreed and Holt looked up from her examination of her and her partner's contract to nod.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it. I'll play nice." Vipsanius said dismissively.
Rogers for her part just nodded distractedly as she eyed the Roman couple with a frown and asked, "Michael, Helena, since when did the two of you drop the act of not being together?"
Bertinelli blushed a little at the question and Holt, who had returned her attention to the contract, smirked.
"Well, you see we got into a little legal trouble the other day." The African American man explained. "And well… We needed to invoke the fact that under common law we're married to wiggle out of it."
"Oh, that's new." Alkaid pointed out. "When did this happen?"
"Uh, about a week ago." Bertinelli confessed sheepishly. "Sorry if I didn't tell you during our negotiation. We didn't think it was relevant."
Alkaid nodded in understanding and waved the apology away. Bertinelli was right. For the purposes of their interactions, that he and Holt were now married was irrelevant. They had been working as a single entity for some time now and their employment had been negotiated on that basis from the onset. That they were married now did not change that.
"I guess congratulations are in order then," Vipsanius said with a laugh.
Bertinelli nodded, blushing hard.
"At least he made me a ring. Even if he couldn't resist making it a weapon and made it so it could fire a poison dart." Holt chimed in with a giggle. "Now I just need to convince him to let me take his name. I'm an old-fashioned girl who wants to take my husband's name but sadly my lovely man has been brainwashed by modern feminist nonsense and thinks it's beneath me to do so. Nevermind that I want to."
Bertinelli just fidgeted in his seat uncomfortably as the others shot him looks that ranged from Rogers' disdainful glare to Pyrrha's unimpressed stare.
"She's joking!" He clarified desperately. "It's the paperwork! It isn't in yet! She'll be Helena Bertinelli by the end of the month!"
Helena giggled at her husband's expense.
"Well, at least your kids will appreciate that their parents are finally married now." Rogers commented as she nodded in satisfaction at Bertinelli's answer. "Honestly, how you convinced anyone you two weren't a couple is beyond me. Not only do you two behave like an old married couple straight out of a sappy family drama from the 50s but you have two kids."
"Speaking of the tykes, how are they?" Vipsanius asked.
"They're good." Bertinelli offered evasively. "If you're really interested, I can update you later. But let's settle business first."
"Yes, let's." Holt said, looking up at Vipsanius and quickly nodding back down at the contract she was reviewing meaningfully.
"Uh, right. Sorry."
"Don't worry about it, buddy." Bertinelli said with a wave of his hand. "As for what you said, Peggy. It's simple really. We control what people see about us. We can't help how we behave around each other, we're terrible actors, but we can limit how much our clients see us together. And we don't exactly advertise that we have kids together. Only clients we trust and we know won't go around spreading our secrets know all that about us. Anyone else doesn't get the full picture and believe what they want."
"Compartmentalization of information like that must make it easier to know who you can trust and make it easier to keep secrets." Alkaid commented approvingly.
"Yeah," Bertinelli agreed with a nod. "It's why Helena came up with the system after she realized people didn't seem to understand we were together when we first started out."
"And that's what I find strange." Rogers said. "I've known you two since almost the start of your operation and you've always come across as a couple"
"It's like Michael said, Rogers. People see what they want to see." Vipsanius said, offering his two cents. "No offense to you, Michael, Helena, but when I first met you two, the first thing that came to mind was that there was no way you could be together. I mean a son of Vulcan and a Legacy of Venus? I'd sooner believe you two were trying to kill each other considering how things are between Vulcan and Venus. Plus, well, Helena is a 10 out 10 and well… Michael, you are maybe a 6 or 7. That didn't factor into my thinking on things, but I betcha it did for some people."
"No offense taken, Caelus, and you've the right of it." Bertinelli said as his wife nodded distractedly.
"You all seem pretty well acquainted." Pyrrha observed, looking between their recruits curiously. "I know that Bertinelli and Holt are big time suppliers of weapons made of the Olympian metals but I didn't know you were all that friendly with each other."
Rogers and Vipsanius shrugged.
"Well, Micheal is the best when it comes to all things Celestial Bronze or Imperial Gold. Any Greek or Roman not affiliated with the Camps and can get their weapons supplied by them, know who he is. They might not buy from him, his stuff isn't cheap, but they at least know who he is."
Rogers nodded her agreement to Vipsanius' assessment of things.
Pyrrha rolled her eyes. "I know that, but you guys sounded like the Bertinellis' friends, not just occasional customers. I'm wondering why that is?"
Finished with examining the contract, Holt looked up and answered Pyrrha's question. "Making your customers into your friends is just good business. Sending holiday cards helps too."
"I take it that the contract meets your satisfaction, Miss Holt?"
"It does, Missus Potter." The Legacy of Venus nodded as she signed her copy. "It is very well written. I expected nothing less from the Consul of the Underworld."
"'Consul of the Underworld'?" Alkaid asked with a cocked eyebrow as she exchanged copies of the contract with Holt. "Since when have I earned that particular moniker?"
Holt shrugged and began checking the other copy, apparently she was even more paranoid about its contents than even Rogers, as she replied. "Since you started doing your father's dirty work. So since you were a kid? It's not exactly your most fancy one, not like Diplomat of Olympus or Princess of the House of Hades, so you might not have heard of it."
"That's probably the case." Alkaid allowed. "I've never been one to keep an ear out for whatever others have been calling me."
"Speaking of monikers." Bertinelli cut in. "Does our little group have a name? Since we're like the Expendables of this Titanomachy, we need a cool name don't we?"
Rogers scoffed. "You're such a typical man, Michael."
"Yeah, it's a silly idea, Michael." Vipsanius added with a chuckle. "But it would be fun to have a cool name. I suggest Olympian Avengers."
"Nah. That's a little too presumptuous." Pyrrha countered. "Let's just keep it simple. Maybe Black Team? Since we're a black ops team but the name is generic enough to not be obvious about it at first glance."
"I like that." Roger said, seconding Pyrrha's suggestion. "It's non-specific enough that it would be almost impossible for anyone who might come across things associated with us to immediately figure out what we're about."
Bertinelli nodded and Alkaid said, "We should vote on it. But before that, does anyone have other suggestions?"
The others, save a still distracted Holt, exchanged looks and eventually all shook their heads.
Just in time, Holt finished reading the second copy of her and her husband's contract and signed it whilst adding her own opinion. "Yeah, I have no suggestions either. So let's just vote on the two choices that we do have."
Everyone agreed.
"Any votes for Olympian Avengers?" Alkaid asked and only Vipsanius raised his hand.
"You guys have no sense of grandeur." Vipsanius grumbled unhappily as he put down his hand.
Alkaid just shot him a placating smile before continuing with the vote. "Any votes for Black Team?"
Everyone else including Alkaid and except Vipsanius raised their hands.
"Black Team wins!" Alkaid said dramatically and an amused smile as her announcement was met with a round of applause from the rest of the team. And with impeccable timing, this was when lunch was delivered by Cappy and the rest of the Elves. "And just in time for lunch."
"Dig in everyone!" Pyrrha encouraged, not that the others needed it as they all began eating.
Thus the newly dubbed Black Team's first mission became a shared lunch.
Black Team's first proper mission however took place a week later and it found Alkaid, Pyrrha, Peggy and Caelus, all of them wearing black tactical gear, hiding in an alley across the street from the Monocle Motors factory in Detroit. The engine company in question was run by Hyperborean Cyclopes and was actually a front for producing weapons for the Titan Army.
"Helena, is the coast clear?" Alkaid whispered into the earpiece she was wearing in her right ear. Despite it looking indistinguishable in appearance and functionally from a standard device, the earbud that Alkaid, and the rest of Black Team, was using actually operated on fundamentally different principles. Thanks to Lamia's curse on them, any Half-blood using any radio based communication would automatically give away their location to any monsters nearby, thus making the use of standard radio equipment a death sentence for the team.
Fortunately, Alkaid's Wizarding friends from her time attending Hogwarts had just the answer to the problem. Using muggle technology as a guide, they had created a magical analogue to radio based systems in the form of the earpieces Black Team were now sporting. Utilizing magic as its carrier signal, such communications were able to transmit information at greater distances compared to, through most methods of blocking, and was generally higher quality than its mundane analogues. It was why they were steadily out competing the antiquated Wizarding modes of communication such as Fire Calls via the Floo Network and two-way mirrors. Blaise and co. were still a ways away from their end goal of producing a mass producible magical smartphone but with the profits they were racking in out of their magical radios, they weren't short on funds to pour into research and development to make their dream a reality.
And I also get to reap the benefits of it. Alkaid thought as she waited for Helena to reply to her question.
"Michael's hacked into their security systems and blinded them to us. My drones also just finished a sweep. The path's all clear, Alkaid." Helena replied after a moment over the magical radio and across the road from the ground team's position, she had one of the small automatons she controlled scamper to the top of the factory fence just across from where the onsite team were hiding. Said drone was a rat-sized, four legged, spider-like machine and was armed with a tiny caliber twin barreled gun mounted on its main body. It frankly looked adorable, especially as it waved one of its front limbs at the team in a come hither gesture.
"Good. Keep up overwatch. We're going in." Alkaid returned as she turned to the rest of the team on the ground and made the agreed upon hand signs, borrowed straight out of the U.S. Army's repertoire, that it was okay to proceed with the plan to blow up the Cyclopes-run factory with a set of Greek Fire explosives provided by Michael.
Everyone nodded back and broke into a sprint across the road to the remarkably sturdily built concrete wall topped by barbed wire that served as the Monocle Motors facility's perimeter fence. It was a pretty formidable obstacle all things told. But to a group of well trained Half-Bloods and Legacies of the Olympian gods, it was barely a hindrance and they jumped over it without breaking a sweat.
Once inside the compound, no words were spoken. They were all professionals and above that. Instead, Alkaid just nodded to Peggy and Caelus and as previously agreed they split off into two groups, Alkaid and Pyrrha going one way and Peggy and Caelus going another, so that they can plant their bombs in as many areas in the factory as possible and better ensure its destruction.
The mission was off to a good start.
Pyrrha had never been much of a fan of stealth. It was a useful skill, and magic made it easy, but her blood sung to be far more loud. She blamed her old man. That said, she could manage it when she needed to. And so she had spent the last half hour and change employing the skill she had developed in the area to sneak around and avoid both the factory's human security, the Hyperborean Cyclopes who owned it, and the latter's monstrous allies in the Titan Army alongside Alkaid as they planted the explosives Micheal got them wherever it looked like they would do the most damage. A successful effort, thanks in large part to Helena and Michael's support offsite. The two had used a combination of the latter's hacked control of the security system and the former's drones to keep them abreast of the security's movements.
"That was almost too easy." Pyrrha said in a quiet whisper to her wife as they reached the spot along Monocle Motors' perimeter wall where they had first snuck into the place, that being the prearranged point where they would meet back up with Peggy and Caelus for their extraction.
"Don't jinx it," Alkaid hissed back as they kept to the shadows cast by the wall. Between Michael's hacking of the factory's security and Helena's drones, they would probably see any trouble coming from miles away. Between that and the invisibility spells that Alkaid had cast on them, they would be fine but that didn't mean they shouldn't be careful.
"Yeah, yeah, I know." Pyrrha reassured her wife dismissively even as she tapped her earpiece and patched herself through to Helena. "Where's Peggy and Caelus? Didn't you say they were gonna be here before us?"
"They were. They've been delayed." Helena informed her. "A patrol on a randomized route unexpectedly turned down the path that they were taking. They needed to take a detour to avoid them."
"Understood. Should we wait?" Alkaid asked, proving she had left her comms channel open the whole time. "The coast here is clear, correct?"
Pyrrha winced slightly at the sound of her wife's voice both coming from beside her and from the device in her right ear. As melodic as 'Kaidy's voice was, especially as she screamed in ecstasy as a result of Pyrrha ministrations, hearing her in stereo like this was jarring.
"It is. You can wait. The others will be there soon."
"Then we'll wait." Pyrrha said, giving her wife a taste of the same medicine she had just been subjected to before toggling off the microphone of her earpiece and turning to Alkaid.
The daughter of Hades looked at her questioningly at this but obligingly followed Pyrrha's lead and toggled her own microphone off as well.
"What is it, Pyrrha?"
"I know you explained it already but I just want to confirm again, 'Kaidy. Why aren't you just blowing this place up with a magical bombardment?"
Alkaid let out a tired sigh at the question but nonetheless answered. "Like I've said before, doing that would be incredibly flashy and would draw too much attention for our team. Plus we are in the middle of a city, the risk of collateral damage is too high."
"That's all?" Pyrrha asked skeptically.
"Well that and that this is more of a test for if the team will work or not."
"Ah! I guess the last point makes sense." Pyrrha said with a considering nod. "The others are bullshit though. I mean it's not like the Titans wouldn't figure out who was responsible when we blow this place up. They might not be able to tell it was us specifically, but they'll correctly realize Olympus is responsible. And collateral damage? I know you have enough control to avoid that."
"You're probably right." Alkaid allowed with a shrug. "But they were good enough reasons to justify keeping this mission the way it is and use it as a test for the team."
"That's true." Pyrrha agreed. "So how did they do so far?"
Alkaid made to reply but stopped herself as a pair of figures began skulking through the shadows towards their position. Spotting them herself, Pyrrha tensed. Though they both soon relaxed as they recognized them as Peggy and Caelus.
Pyrrha waved at them to signal to their teammates their position and received a thumbs up back in response as the other duo began moving towards them. Such that, a few moments later, the whole onsite Black Team was reunited.
"Any trouble?"
"No, everything went smoothly." Peggy said with a shake of her head in answer to Pyrrha's question.
"Yeah." Caelus concurred. "Thanks to Helena's support, the whole thing was a cakewalk."
"That's good." Alkaid said with a pleased smile. "Now then, let's make our getaway shall we?"
They all nodded and Peggy stepped up to the perimeter wall first, where she proceeded to fire a grappling line over the fence from the center hub of her shield named "Athena's Wrath". Said weapon was a Celestial Bronze shield with a titanium rim and center hub with the image of Athena painted on the disk and was chock full of various tricks.
"Peggy, Caelus, any problems getting along?" Pyrrha asked conversationally as Peggy tugged on her grappling line to make sure it was secure.
"Nah. We're professionals." Caelus assured her. "We can put aside any differences we might have and get the job done."
"I second that assessment." Peggy added as she finished securing the rope and gestured for Pyrrha to climb first as agreed. As their heavy tank, as 'Kaidy would describe it, it just made sense for Pyrrha to go first.
Pyrrha nodded back and stepped forward to begin using the rope to climb over the wall. Less than a minute later, she was jumping down the other side and swiftly fell into a defensive position.
"It's clear." She announced over the radio, prompting Alkaid to follow her over the fence. She was soon followed by first Caelus then Peggy, the latter of whom proceeded to retrieve her rope once she was back on solid ground and put it back away into the Hammerspace inside the center hub of Athena's Wrath.
"So is everyone ready for some fireworks?" Pyrrha asked with a smirk once everyone was over the wall.
A few moments later, Black Team's frontline squad stood upon the roof of a building a good distance away from the Monocle Motors with a good view of the factory complex.
"Everyone ready?" Alkaid asked as she exchanged looks with the team.
At the series of nods she received, the daughter of Hades gave a small smile. "Excellent."
Still sporting that smile, though it grew steadily more bloodthirsty, she raised a detonator she held in her right hand and pressed down on the trigger button.
"Boom." She declared dramatically just as the expansive Monocle Motors compound was engulfed in a series of massive green fireballs.
If Black Team was made of Campers, they would have cheered at the impressive sight. However, they were all seasoned warriors and though their satisfaction at a job well done was no less than their younger counterparts would have been, they were mature enough to bottle up that feeling and just smiled.
"Wow. Those are quite an impressive set of explosions. I think Michael went above and beyond with the amount of Greek Fire he put into them." Helena said through their magical radios, giving voice to the entire team's feelings on the matter before turning serious. "Okay, back on the job. I'll need to do a full sweep of the compound with my drones once the fire dies down. Though based on what I'm seeing with them at the moment, it looks like we got most of the monste- Wait! Correction, we missed some. I am seeing a trio of Hyperborean Cyclopes running out of the flames right now."
Alkaid frowned, brow knitted in mild annoyance. "That's a shame."
She turned to the others and asked, "Would you wonderful folks be in the mood to rectify this?"
There wasn't strictly a need to hunt down the one eyed monsters. The destruction of Monocle Motors was more than enough to claim victory for today, but Alkaid felt the urge to test both Peggy and Caelus. To see if they could work together in an actual fight. And pitting them against the monstrous survivors would be a fine way to do so.
A small pleased smile crossed her lips as Peggy and Caelus nodded in agreement to her request with the Roman Legacy flourishing his Imperial Gold trident as he did so and Peggy drew her Celestial Bronze sword from its sheath.
"Well, killing monsters is bread and butter to us Half-Bloods and Legacies." Pyrrha hummed. "No way they'd have turned down the offer."
Alkaid nodded as with a bloodthirsty smirk on her lips, she snapped her fingers causing all four of them to be consumed in a burst of light as she teleported them back to the now ruined Monocle Motors.
Pyrrha and the rest of Black Team materialized back in the now burning Monocle Motors in a burst of the enchanting green light characteristic of 'Kaidy's magic. They had arrived in front of three red skinned Hyperborean Cyclopes, who were hurriedly peeling away the flaming clothing they were wearing and even desperately cutting out whole strips of their own skin and flesh that might be ablaze. All in a bid to escape the deadly green and nigh unquenchable Greek Fire that was clinging to them like napalm and was threatening to consume them.
There was some irony in a bunch of Cyclopes that were afraid of fire. Was that sadistic of her? Maybe Alkaid was rubbing off on her too much on that front.
Pyrrha was still making up her mind on that when one of the younger male Cyclopes finally noticed them and let out a shout as his lone eye turned to them. "Ma! We got Halfies!"
"I see 'em!" The sole female cyclops - And wasn't seeing her something of a surprise? Pyrrha had thought there were only male Cyclopes. - shouted back. "Sump! Torque! Prepare for a scrap! These filthy Halfies must've been the ones to blow up our home!"
Her wife ignored the byplay and instead pointed imperiously like a queen at the monsters. "Black Team, take these cretins down!"
At her command, Peggy and Caelus charged towards the female Cyclops, the clear leader of the monstrous trio, each no doubt itching to lay claim to its head. Unfortunately for them, they were intercepted by the lady Cyclops' two sons.
Unfazed, Caelus responded by pulling off an Olympics worthy running jump that saw him tackling one of the giant monster's feet first with his trident stabbing firmly into the one eye's chest as he did. Sadly, it seemed the giant wore some type of armor. It crumbled like tin foil from the superior quality of the Roman's weapon but it still turned a certain death into a blow that merely left him severely wounded
"Ah! He's fast! He's super fast!" The cyclops cried out in agony as the blue haired Legacy pulled his trident out, bits of blood, meat and metal flying in the air with the motion. And even as the monster flailed his oak sized arms, trying to swat at him, he leapt away.
At the same exact time, Peggy had lifted her shield in front of her and its center hub opened up, revealing a rotary cannon of all things. It was apparently one of its numerous features built into the weapon. Of course, normal bullets would have done jack squat against all but the least durable of monsters and Cyclopes were, if nothing else, up there in the durability department. Peggy's bullets however were, courtesy of Michael, anything but normal.
Based on the deep, bleeding wounds they were creating on the armored giant and the occasional small explosions of Greek Fire that flashed to life around his body, the daughter of Ares wagered Peggy was using some kind of enhanced AP (armor piercing) and Greek Fire powered high explosive bullets. A barrage of which was forcing the giant subjected to it to back away from her in agony.
"Ah! It hurts! Why does it hurt so much?! Stupid little snack! I'll rip you apart and make dipping sauce out of your blood!" He wailed as he covered his eye as best he could.
And while that was all happening, the mother Cyclops had moved to rush past her slowly dying sons to attack the married couple. "The name's Ma Gasket! I'mma break you like bread sticks for destroying my factory!"
She roared after her declaration, spittle flying from her lips as her stomps forward shook the ground.
The hilarious part? The female monster didn't even make it ten feet before a large bola shot out of that fancy shield of Peggy's at her. Leave it to a kid of Athena to have some overly complex weapon. The bola wrapped around the Cyclops' legs, sending her tumbling to the ground in a mighty thump.
"Caelus! Handle the other two!" Peggy ordered as she rushed to engage Ma Gasket whilst the Cyclopes matriarch roared and ripped the bola off her tied legs, freeing herself.
"So, 'Kaidy, think we should do something to help?" Pyrrha asked as she shot her wife a questioning look.
Alkaid shook her head. "No. Let's let them show us what they can do. We'll only step in if necessary. Though, Helena? Please support Peggy and Caelus as much as possible with your drones."
The Legacy of Venus must have agreed because Pyrrha spotted one of her drones skitter its way up a piece of rubble that might have been part of the destroyed Monocle Motors factory's exterior walls and line up its guns with the lone eye of the Cyclops that Caelus had stabbed earlier and take a shot.
The puny caliber of the automaton's gun meant its shot was equivalent to little more than a bee's sting to the red-skinned monster, but as anyone unfortunate enough to have been stung there by an insect can attest, the experience hurt like hell. Thus, Pyrrha was unsurprised when the Cyclops howled in pain and stumbled back. A reaction that proved all the opening Caelus needed as with an almost animalistic warcry that dripped with a mix of bloodlust and triumph, he dodged under the other giant's wild swings and dashed towards the stumbling Cyclops. He was moving so fast as he closed the distance with the temporarily blinded monster that he was almost a blur even to Pyrrha's superhuman Half-Blood eyes and before the Cyclops could recover, he swept the monsters' legs out from under him with a wide swing of his trident and sent it once more crashing onto its back. He followed this up by running up the severely disorientated Cyclop's body and before it could even make sense of what had happened to it, he was jumping off its collarbone and hovering over its head.
"Back to Tartarus with you, monster!" The Roman Legacy shouted with a bestial snarl that if Pyrrha did not know the context she would have honestly mistook for something coming from a monster and plunged his trident into the Cyclops' eye, reducing it to gold dust.
"Torque!" The other male Cyclops shouted in horror at his compatriot's demise, only to back away fearfully when with a flourish of his trident, Caelus turned his attention towards him.
"Sump! What happened to your brother?" Ma Gasket shouted worriedly, turning away from the fight that she was having against Peggy and drawing Pyrrha's attention to it as well.
It seemed that since she had freed herself from the bola tying her legs together, the Cyclops matriarch had also managed to pull out a massive blade that looked suspiciously like one of the blades from some large helicopter's rotor from somewhere and had been attempting to use it to cut Peggy in twain. Thankfully, her fellow Englishwoman was more than agile enough to avoid her swings, though it seemed that she also had not been able to find any openings which she could exploit against the monster either.
That changed with Ma Gasket's distraction however and in a clearly well practiced motion, Peggy sheathed her sword and pulled out her pistol, Athena's Wisdom, and took a shot. But one that at first glance wasn't aimed anywhere close to the monster.
The sound of the gunshot pulled Ma Gasket's attention back towards her own opponent and when she saw the tiny pistol in Peggy's hand, she laughed. "Was that peashooter supposed to do something, Half-Blood? Because if it was, I didn't feel anything."
"Wait for it." Peggy said in reply, a smirk on her face. "Now."
"What are you babbli- Argh!" Ma Gasket screamed as the bullet from Peggy's shot earlier finished the complex series of ricochets she had sent it on and hit its target: the mother Cyclops' eye.
As she stumbled back in pain from the shot to the eye, her surviving son crashed into her from behind as Caelus tackled him into her, his trident buried into the male monster's throat. Thus even as the force of the impact sent her crashing to the ground, she became covered in the gold dust that were her son's remains.
"Ladies, the last one's for you!" Caelus howled like a madman, or a raving beast, as he leapt away from the carnage he'd wrought.
"Don't mind if I do," Helena said over the radio as suddenly dozens of her drones swarmed over the downed Ma Gasket as the monster struggled to push herself back to her feet.
"Get off me, you pes-" The Cyclops managed to get out before the drones latched onto her all promptly began pumping electricity into the monster via their legs. Individually, the electroshock weapons built into each of the drones were probably too low yield to be anything but an annoyance to a monster like a Cyclops, but dozens of them? That was more than enough to leave Ma Gasket spasming helplessly.
"Peggy, could you finish her for me, please?"
"With pleasure," Peggy said as she holstered Athena's Wisdom and unsheathed her sword and strode confidently to stand over Ma Gasket like an executioner over someone condemned to a beheading. Which was exactly what the Cyclops was as the daughter of Athena proved when with a bloodthirsty and satisfied smile, she decapitated the monster.
"Huh, I got its stuffed head as a spoil?" The gray eyed woman asked rhetorically as the rest of Ma Gasket's body crumbled into gold dust, leaving behind only her head.
"Looks like," Caelus said as he sauntered over and picked the head up, before presenting it to Peggy. "Here."
"Why thank you." Peggy said with a roll of her eyes. "How gentlemanly of you."
"I try." Caelus said with a smug grin.
Letting out an exasperated sigh, Peggy turned sharply to Alkaid and Pyrrha, a hand on her hip. "Did we pass your little test?"
Alkaid turned to her, a coy look on her face. "Did they, Py?"
Pyrrha grinned back and nodded. "They did good."
Her wife nodded in agreement. "Yes, it was quite the show! You no doubt pass, the both of you. So no special training sessions are needed to learn to fight as a unit."
Caelus let out a gusty sigh and relaxed a smidge. "Man, talk about a relief. If we didn't, the extra training that would be needed would suck."
The daughter of Athena shot the Roman an annoyed look. "While I wouldn't put it as crudely as my new teammate, I do agree with him."
"Michael and I are in agreement too." Helena piped up from their radio.
Alkaid clapped her hands, looking pleased. She usually did when things went off without much of a hitch. "Then if we are all in agreement, I believe we can call it a day. Shall we head home?"
This was met with a round of agreement from everyone.
It had been a long day for the married couple out in the field as they fought for the Olympian side of the Second Titanomachy. But thankfully they had achieved a resounding success at the end of the day. And after having dropped off their new associates of Black Team, Alkaid and Pyrrha finally teleported into the entry vestibule of their home.
And as Pyrrha stretched her arms over her head as they entered the foyer of their home, Alkaid looked with lidded eyes towards the glimpse of her love's midriff as her actions raised her shirt. She was about to comment on it, perhaps with a teasing reminder that it was autumn and she would get cold if she kept wearing something that rode up so easily, when a Kura Missile tackle hugged her around the waist.
"Mina! Gracie! Mum and Mama are home! Okaerinasai, Mum, Mama!" Alkaid's youngest daughter shouted at the top of lungs as her tackle almost sent the daughter of Hades falling to the ground. A fate she was only saved from by Pyrrha quickly catching hold of her and steadying her.
She wanted to admonish Kura for her behavior but before she could even formulate a reply, Mina and Grace had teleported in and cheerfully offered their own greetings.
"Mum, Mama, welcome home!"
"Welcome home, Sensei, Mama."
"Hey! There are my girls!" Pyrrha smiled brightly as she happily returned their greetings and ushered everyone into the living room. "Let's not clog the front door. Come on, let's head on in."
As they moved deeper into the house, Alkaid looked down at her little Kura with amusement as she hung from her waist like a limpet, stubbornly refusing to let go. She had wrapped her little limbs around her, forcing Alkaid to support her by holding her girl from under her legs and back to stay balanced.
She really is adorable. Alkaid couldn't help but think as she kissed her daughter's forehead.
Kura smiled brilliantly at the kiss and asked. "Mum, Mama! When can I go on missions too?!"
At the excitable question, Alkaid blinked in confusion.
"What?"
"I want to play pranks on the baddies!"
"And I want to stabbity stab them!" Mina added in a whine.
"Sweetie, we want to kill our enemies, not prank them." Alkaid said to Kura before turning to Mina. "And no, Mina, you can't come. Since you're a goddess, you'd draw too much attention."
"Pranks can be deadly! Look at Home Alone."
"But Mum~! I'm sure I can stabbity stab anything that might cause trouble because I'm there."
"Setting up a deadly prank would take time even for you, Kura. And that's time where you'd be vulnerable. Your Mum and I don't want you to take the risk. And Mina, you might be able to handle whoever shows up because you were there but the rest of the team might not. So spare them a thought and stay home, okay?" Pyrrha said, taking her turn to try to have their daughters see reason.
"Awwww~!" Both girls whined in unison as the five Potters reached their living room and took seats around their coffee table.
And as she did, Alkaid turned to Gracie and shot her oldest daughter a questioning look. Usually, living up to her role as the big sister, whenever her sisters were thwarted and whined about it, she would have stepped in and said something to back up Alkaid and Pyrrha's edict or offer something comforting to ameliorate her sisters' upset. Thus, her current silence was quite curious.
Blushing at the look Alkaid shot at her, Gracie fidgeted in her seat and pulled nervously at the denim of her jeans she insisted on wearing as pajamas as she answered the unspoken question. "It's because I agree with Mina and Kura, Sensei. I want to go too!"
Buoyed by their sister's admission, Mina and Kura looked ready to start wheedling again but a firm look from Pyrrha quelled the attempt before they could say a word.
This left Alkaid with the room she needed to address Gracie with a tone of honest confusion, "Gracie, you're helping with Black Team's missions immensely already. All the potions you've been brewing as part of the homework I assigned will be a great help in keeping us supplied."
"Yeah, Gracie. It certainly saves Helena the trouble of sourcing from suppliers. At least for some things." Pyrrha agreed.
"That's not the same though!" Gracie complained with a frown that was nearly a pout. "I want to fight alongside Sensei and Mama! I'm not some mascot or potion factory."
"Yeah!" "Uh-huh uh-huh!" Their other girls chirped in agreement.
"Sensei, you promised that we would all go on a mission or Quest together as a family, right? This would be perfect for it!" The daughter of Hecate pressed the advantage of her adorable sisters ganging up on the sorceress.
Alkaid was both proud of and struck by how Gracie was using her sisters' cuteness against her. If there was any doubt that Gracie was her daughter, the way she was using everything she could to get what she wanted would have put an end to any such doubts. Alkaid would have done the same as a little girl.
With a put upon sigh, Alkaid leaned back, Kura snuggling closer to her with a giggle as she did. "Fine, I suppose I did say that. But! You all cannot just go on any old mission. It has to be one that is not too dangerous-"
"Because there's no way we're taking you girls on anything too dangerous." Pyrrha cut in to add.
Alkaid nodded and continued. "Or one where you three coming with us, especially Mina, doesn't cause any complications down the line."
"Yeah, if it does then we'd just be creating problems for ourselves in the future and that's just a stupid thing to do."
"Fine~" Their daughters agreed with pouts of varying intensity.
Too cute! Our little girls are just too cute!
Whilst Alkaid's brain was still resetting from the cuteness overload that had overwhelmed it, Pyrrha finished laying down the law.
"But a promise is a promise." Alkaid's wife assured their daughters. "Just give us some time, okay? It might take us a while but we'll find a mission that we can take as a family and have fun killing monsters together, Mama promises. So be patient, girls."
"Yes, Mama~!" The girls chorused, overloading Alkaid's brain again with their cuteness.
"Good girls." Pyrrha praised and glanced at the clock and saw that it was well past the girls' bedtimes. "Now, it's super late. So off to bed with all three of you!"
"Yes, Mama." Their daughters said sheepishly before they one by one teleported away, hopefully back to their beds.
"'Kaidy, you okay?" Pyrrha asked once they were gone and she turned to her, her eyes twinkling with amusement. Oh, the nerve of the sexy wife of hers!
"Just fine," Alkaid lied, perhaps a tad too quickly. Shoot, it should have been more sedated! "Let's just go check and make sure the girls are in bed and go get washed up. I want to get to bed. I'm exhausted."
Pyrrha giggled at her obvious deflection but otherwise did not mention it, playing along instead. "Alright, alright. Let's go, sleepyhead."
And so like Alkaid said, the couple checked on their daughters before they showered and retired for the night. Thus ended the night of Black Team's first proper mission. It had been a great success but things would just get more difficult for the team from there.
Done and done! Thanks to Nameless and Axios as always!
Black Team! They are the A-Team of Olympus! Just kidding, but I think it's a fun idea we've got going on. I know in canon not many demigods live past like 20, but those that do? They're strong and this is a fun means to show what a strike force of them working together is like. And it's pretty sweet!
Nameless: So about our choices for Black Team… I just wanted to bring attention to Helena and Michael. We didn't emphasize it, 'cos to be honest we think it should be obvious but they are a deliberate reflection of Venus and Vulcan's relationship. Basically, they are what the divine couple could be if they weren't so bloody dysfunctional. Also, just to briefly add on to the matter of how not many demigods live past like 20 in canon… I think a lot of that is confirmation bias on the part of the Campers. They see a lot of their older friends die and so they think it must be because they all died young. However, if the overabundance of famous historical figures being demigods and living to ripe old ages can testify, many do live long lives. Basically? The idea that Half-bloods tend to die young is overblown. It's just not really supported by evidence from within the story. Maybe many do, but it's not quite the automatic death sentence Campers make it out to be.
Yeah, look at some of the locations we got to see in Apollo's story and such. We got the Waystation where older demigods seem to be. Most of them just don't visit Camp anymore to show proof of it at times. And like anything in a summer camp, superstition and cautionary tales are abundant.
Nameless: For anyone that is wondering how eliminating Ma Gasket and her sons will affect the plots of later books, do remember that Gaea happily resurrected the faded Stheno and Euryale. If she needs them for her schemes, she can easily do the same for the trio of Hyperborean Cyclopes.
You know what to do! Smash that review button and tell us what you love! No flames and peace off my peeps!
