Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter.
The Ever Twisting Wind: The Gaean War
Chapter One: Wild-Techno Alliance
Beta:
Trigger Warning: Public Nudity, Sexual Slavery, Bestiality, Underage Sex
It was a balmy summer day and Andi was preparing to leave the fantastical combination of a zeppelin and a greenhouse that served as her palace. It should not have been a difficult thing to do. She had to head to an important meeting, but despite that she was finding it very difficult to bring herself to do so for two very important reasons.
"Must you really go, Mum?" Pikralída (πικραλίδα /Dandelion), her daughter with Antheia of the Charities and the goddess of dandelions, said as Andi gave her a hug and lovingly kissed the top of her head. All the while, the light green skinned young goddess - who now looked like a five year old thanks to her accelerated divine rate of growth despite barely chronologically being little older than one - with her electric blue eyes and white and puffy hair with streaks of yellow like highlights genuinely looked sad to be parted, even temporarily, from her.
As if that was not bad enough, her sad look was reinforced by that of her sister, Xenýchtis (ξενύχτης/Night Owl). Even though she was visibly sleepy, her nocturnal daughter by Pannychis of the Charities was still nevertheless doing her damned best to tug at Andi's heartstrings. The five year old looking harpy shaped goddess was truly pulling off a desolate look. Her feathers usually gave the appearance of a charming cloudless night, with starry white speckles passing for stars against the dark blue and black main coloration, but was currently giving her an utterly somber look. A melancholy look that was added to by the tears that seemed to threaten to fall from her electric blue eye as she played nervously with the curly black hair that she was wearing in a braid.
"Yeah, Mum, can't you just stay with us?" Xený pleaded.
Pulling away from Pikra, Andi turned to her harpy daughter and spread her arm invitingly. In response, without hesitation, the goddess of nocturnal birds literally threw herself into the goddess of the wild's arms. If she was not a goddess and had divine strength, she would likely have been sent toppling over by Xený's enthusiasm. This was a good thing as it allowed her to avoid embarrassing themselves and simply proceeded to tighten the hug and like with Pikra, she leaned down and kissed her head.
"I'm sorry, girls, but I can't." Andi said as she pulled away from Xený. "The meeting I am heading to is super important."
""Awwww~!"" Both of Andi's daughters whined.
"You need to learn some delayed gratification, girls." Andi told them kindly. Gah this cuteness wasn't fair! Is this how people saw her when she pleaded? "It's an important skill to learn."
"Delayed gratification, Mum?" Pikra asked, tilting her head in confusion as Xený flew the short distance to join her where she stood next to Ida.
"Yes, Pikra." Andi said with a nod. "I'll play with you once I get back, so just be patient."
Pikra just frowned, clearly not understanding what she meant. Xený though seemed to get it. "Oh! So like, absence makes the heart grow fonder?"
"Yup. You've got, Xený." Andi nodded and tweaked her nose, getting a cute cross eyed look from her little girl. "Do you get it now, Pikra?"
"I think so, Mum." The goddess of dandelions agreed with a more hesitant nod of her own.
"That's good to hear, Lady Pikra." Wendy chipped in, causing Andi to glance at her partner and her Aurae lieutenant with a cocked eyebrow. Catching the look, the wind spirit added with a shrug. "We need to go, Andi. We're about to be late."
Andi took a fortifying breath before replying. "Yeah. I know."
"Um… Andi?" Katie spoke up from her spot where she'd been standing with Ida and helping to look after Pikra and Xený.
"Yes, Katie?" Andi asked as she turned towards the young Dryad and reincarnated Half-Blood daughter of Demeter that served as her lieutenant among her kind.
"Are you absolutely sure that this meeting is really a good idea?" Katie asked with a worried frown. "We're talking about the Technodjinn here. Aren't you their Bane? You might be sincere about seeking an alliance with them but are we sure they feel the same?"
"There's no way to be certain about that." Ida chimed in. "But war makes strange bedfellows and against a foe as dangerous as the Earth Mother, we must expect to make the most unexpected allies in order to achieve victory."
"Ida, as usual, has the right of it." Andi replied, nodding towards the Oread.
Katie frowned worriedly but reluctantly nodded in acceptance. She was clearly still hesitant and Andi would've wanted to appeal to Hunter and Hedwig to help her in reassuring Katie that she knew what she was doing, but sadly her animal companions were away doing something important.
Their absence honestly filled her with worry. What Hedwig was attempting was beyond dangerous even with Hunter looking after her, but her stubborn Post Owl was determined to complete on what she'd embarked on and nothing Andi said could change her mind. Andi thus had no choice but to set aside her worries and have faith in her friend.
"Andiiii~! We need to go or we're really going to be late!"
"Yeah, got it, Wendy." Andi said with a sigh and offered her daughters a final goodbye wave.
"See you soon, Pikra, Xený, everyone!" The goddess of the wild said as she reached her power out and grabbed hold of herself and Wendy.
"Bye, Mum!" "See you soon, Mum!"
With her daughters' farewells filling her ears and warming her heart, Andi's power finished taking hold of her and her partner and teleported them away.
Andi's teleport deposited the two of them on a balcony of some palace made of exquisite marble with a fantastic view of a sea of clouds which, her senses as a Aurae told her, was built atop a set of floating islands high up in the sky. A palace that had seen better days. The marble looked top quality but was visibly weathered by the ages and not well maintained. It was discolored and, in places, chipped.
"Andi, where is this place?"
Before her goddess could reply there was a burst of green binary nearby that faded to reveal Lady Alice had teleported in.
"I'll answer that, Wendy." The Conscience of the Technodjinn said with a smile. "This used to be Ouranos' palace in the Primordial Age. It is still permeated with his power and because he is technically an enemy of Gaea, Olympus and not associated with us, Technodjinn, it serves as a nice neutral ground."
"It totally is." Andi said, nodding in agreement. "Though, I have my own question, Alice."
"What is it?" Lady Alice asked with a quirked eyebrow.
"Well, I just want to know why you're dressed so fancy? Should we have dressed up too?"
Taking a closer look at the Technodjinn goddess - who was ironically her own goddess' friend despite being a member of the pantheon of gods that was her Bane - and finally noticed what had got Andi's attention. The mechanical goddess was dressed in an outfit that was a far cry from her usual blouse, blazer and thigh-length skirt, and was instead currently wearing a crimson off the shoulder party dress with a fitted bodice
"Compared to you and Wendy, wearing anything would be considered dressing up." Lady Alice said with a giggle as she gestured at the two of them. "What with both of you currently being au naturale."
Wendy blushed at this but Andi just shrugged without a hint of care. "I'm the goddess of the wild, being a nudist comes with the territory."
The robotic goddess nodded. "That explains things for yourself but what about Wendy?"
Stepping up so that her partner didn't entirely speak on her behalf, Wendy spoke up. "I'm Andi's partner, Lady Alice. Where my goddess leads, I follow."
Offering them a smile, Lady Alice offered Wendy some high praise. "You are such a loyal follower, Wendy. You've got a good one here, Andi."
"Oh! Don't I know it?" Andi said with a chuckle, causing Wendy to preen with pride. "But setting that aside, should Wendy and I get dressed?"
"No, that's not necessary." Lady Alice assured her. "You do you. Like you said, you're the goddess of the wild and being a nudist indeed fits with your domain."
"Okay. Then, another question."
"You want to know why I'm wearing a party dress, right?"
"That's right." Andi said with a smile. "So…"
"It's simple really." Lady Alice said with a shrug. "I'm only dressed like this because Mother insisted. She was in the mood to play dress-up."
"Why on earth did you let her?"
"Didn't I tell you? I literally can't tell Mother no." Lady Alice replied. "Plus, it was the price of her agreeing to this meeting."
"That's her price? Nothing else?" Andi asked with a frown.
"That's all. Really." Lady Alice assured them, waving the question away. "Mother wants this deal we're here to discuss as much as you do."
Andi nodded. "Then let's not keep her waiting, shall we?"
"Indeed. Please follow me."
"Lead the way."
With a nod, she wrapped all three of them in her power and teleported them away.
Alice's teleport deposited them inside a massive chamber with large windows that allowed natural light to pour into the room and a round table beneath the center of its domed ceiling. A table that dominated the room and across from which were the entire assembled ranks of the Technodjinn.
Standing to the extreme right of the row most of them made was a largely white robot with a humanoid upper body, three insectoid legs and a triangular shaped head. A god whose body had an appearance of being incomplete due to the many cables that dangled loosely along much of his legs. This was Aksis, the god of logistics for the Technodjinn.
Standing next to him stood Dr Borg, the Technodjinn god of biotechnology, who like always looked disturbing. Unsurprising when he was a Frankenstein monster made of the stitched together parts of multiple people and augmented with an assortment of cybernetics. A monster that had a grotesque, ten feet tall body that maintained a vaguely humanoid shape with at least three arms, each of which, by the skin tone still visible under the inhumanly pale pallor alone, obviously originally belonged to a different person. On its shoulder was mounted a large cannon with a liquid metal muzzle that was constantly reconfiguring itself. Its face was a mishmash of grafted skin stretched across a metallic skull and had a pair of implants for eyes that vaguely resembled a set of googles.
Argh! Just looking at him is making me sick! Andi thought as she eyed the abomination against nature that was Dr Borg. But I'll just have to suck it up! The alliance I'm here to make is too important to let my unease torpedo things.
Setting aside her unease, Andi continued her scan of the rest of the gathered Technodjinn. Next to Dr Borg and standing to the immediate right of the seat they were all standing in front of was Alarak, the Technodjinn god of war, who as always assumed the form of a robotic Protoss with eyes that glowed an ominous red and was dressed in elaborate black armor with glowing crimson lights and was covered in a multitude of spikes and sharp edges.
In the middle of the row and directly behind the chair was Chell Johnson, daughter of Hephaestus and the Technodjinn goddess of innovation. The young woman in her mid twenties with dark brown hair in a small ponytail, pale blue eyes, and light brown skin was like Alice dressed up all fancy. In her case, she was dressed in an ivory tweed dress with a pleated skirt.
It seemed that GLaDOS was indeed in a mood for playing dress-up with her daughters. How very mom-like. That made Andi herself want to dress up her own girls.
Next in line, past an empty spot that seemed to be reserved for Alice, was Andi's friend's twin, Sibyl, who was attending via an avatar that allowed the usually immobile Technodjinn Oracle some mobility. Said avatar was a brain in a jar in some kind of limbless, tube-like robotic body with a tacky skull decoration. Andi knew that the Tecnhnodjinn favored villainous themes in the aesthetics, but this was ridiculous.
Is Sibyl trying to be edgy or something!?
Something like that. Alice told her telepathically, having guessed the direction her thoughts had taken. She was, after all, fairly sure her friend couldn't read her mind. At least not without her sensing it and there hadn't been any hint of it.
Your sister is weird.
Tell me about it. Alice replied, sounding tired and resigned.
Suppressing a chuckle, Andi finished her survey of the Technodjinn. Looking at the last in their little line, she eyed the Chameleon, the Technodjinn god of intelligence and their resident spymaster. It seemed the shapeshifting god was currently taking the form of a humanoid made entirely of silvery liquid metal and perhaps to satisfy his mother's seeming desire to play dress up, said humanoid form was feminine in shape and was wearing a white A-line, sleeveless jacquard midi dress with a round neckline, ribbed bodice, and was decorated by a pair of bows that were attached on chest and neck.
Okay! GLaDOS really wanted to play dress up.
Speaking of the Mother of the Technodjinn, she was seated in front of her children in a high backed chair. She was in the same avatar that Andi had seen her the last time they'd fought back in the Technodjinn's Antarctic base, namely a female robot with blue eyes and pink hair that had a portion standing up in a large ahoge. A robot that had a long white scarf wrapped around her neck and with legs that were a strange mix of humanoid and segmented at the same time. An avatar that in accordance with her desire to play dress up, she'd dressed in a ivory and light blue sleeveless, V-neckline dress with embellished straps, a fitted bodice adorned with rhinestone embellishments and which flaunted an open back, a waist that was cinched in a thin band, and which flared into a mid-thigh A-line skirt.
"Thank you, Alice dear, for showing your friend in." GLaDOS said, offering Andi's friend a smile.
"It's the least I could do, Mother." Alice said with a smile. "I did set this up, so it's only right for me to play usher."
GLaDOS nodded. "Yes, you did. But come over here now, Dear. It's time to start things."
"Yes, Mother." Alice said with a nod before turning to offer Andi a smile and walked over to join her family.
And as she watched Alice move to stand next to Sibyl in the empty space immediately to her mother's left, GLaDOS turned to Andi. "Have a seat, Bane."
"Thanks." Andi said with a smile as she moved to take the lone other empty seat at the table and Wendy moved to stand to her right. A seat that Andi was amused to note had a back that was just slightly shorter than GLaDOS' own chair.
Playing power games with our chairs? Really, GLaDOS? Can you be any more petty? Though, I suppose I can't really fault her. Not without being a hypocrite.
"Before we do anything, answer me this Andromeda Aurae, why are you and your pet Aurae nude?"
Andi shrugged. "I'm the goddess of the wild and wild animals do not wear clothes."
"That's a petty power play, Bane." GLaDOS said with narrowed eyes, hypocritically not acknowledging her own attempt at such with their chairs. "Emphasizing your domain in opposition to my children and I like that."
"I don't know what you're talking about, GLaDOS." Andi said with a coy smile. "I'm just expressing my primary domain."
"Whatever you say, Bane." GLaDOS returned with a disbelieving roll of her eyes. "We're wasting time. Let's just get to the point of this meeting."
"Before that, I would like to offer you my thanks for agreeing to this meeting, GLaDOS."
"I was driven entirely by self-interest, I assure you." The Mother of the Technodjinn said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "We share a common enemy. Seeking an alliance is merely logical. More logical at least than Hera's foolishly reckless plan to unite the Greek and Roman Half-Bloods so they can fight the Earth Mother and her Gigantes children together."
Andi could not help but wince at the reminder of the insane plan that she's heard via the MGS (Minor Goddess Society) rumor mill that the Queen of Olympus had come up with.
Seriously! The last time the Greek and Roman Half-Bloods were even aware of each other they fought a catastrophic war against each other! What is Hera thinking? Forcing them back together again is a recipe for disaster!
Unfortunately, no one dared tell the Matron of Women that. She was easily offended as is. Pointing out the flaws in a plan that she had invested as much she already had - She had even effectively kidnapped and wiped the memory of the Hero of Olympus, Percy himself, to make it happen - was just asking for getting onto her shitlist. A place that no one, not even Father, wanted to be.
"Then are you willing to become allies in this fight against the Protogenos of the Earth?"
"While I am open to the idea, I feel you, Lady Andromeda, must first and foremost prove that you can work with us. You are our Bane after all and common enemy or not, we need proof that you can be trusted to not turn on us at the earliest opportunity for us to even consider allying ourselves with you."
Oh great. Well, this is how gods operate so just roll with it.
"Alright, so how can I do that?"
"Fortunately for you, you will not need to wait for the opportunity." GLaDOS told her. "You can do so by carrying out a joint operation with my children against the Earth Mother's forces."
"Oh! I'm game for that. I take it that you have something in mind?"
"Indeed, I do." GLaDOS said with a smirk. "You see, Chameleon has recently discovered that the Gigantes have been actively recruiting an army. I believe it would behoove us to undermine these efforts."
"Yeah, that sounds like a great idea. Any particular Gigantes recruitment effort you have in mind to attack?"
"I might." GLaDOS said with a coy look.
Shortly after coming to her agreement with GLaDOS' terms for an alliance, Andi and Wendy found themselves preparing to set off with Alice and Alarak to target a Gigantes recruitment center set up in the thick forests of Olympic National Park in the State of Washington.
"Alarak, why do you need to accompany us?" The Conscience of the Technodjinn asked as she shot her brother a peeved look. "I am the one that has been tasked to work alongside Andi, not you."
Alarak returned her look with an unimpressed one of his own. "Are you asking me not to, Sister? Even when, if Chameleon is correct, you might very well face a Gigantes at the base you are targeting?"
"So what if there is a Gigantes there!? I can take care of myself."
Andi, is it strange of me to be surprised that Lady Alice and Lord Alarak are behaving like actual siblings? Wendy asked Andi telepathically.
I know what you mean. Andi sent back. I know that they are siblings and Alice is my friend but seeing her and Alarak behaving like this is surprising.
"I am sure you can." Alarak said in reply to his sister with a dismissive shrug. "But Mother insists. She made it clear that I am to make sure that you do not get hurt."
"Urgh! Mother!" Alice said with an exaggerated sigh, even as Andi and Wendy exchanged amused smiles at the siblings' byplay.
Smirking at his sister's response, Alarak turned towards Andi. "If anyone is strange to be here, Sister, it would be Bane over here."
Andi blinked in confusion before shooting Wendy a confused look, wordlessly asking her partner if she knew what he was talking about. Of course, her Aurae lieutenant was just as confused as her and simply shook her head.
Alarak just sighed and explained himself. "Hasn't Zeus forbidden the Olympian gods from interacting with the mortal world?"
"Oh! That!" Andi said with a shake of her head. "You're asking about it now? Why would you guys ally with me if you think that I'm not actually allowed to do anything?"
"Because we realize you must have a workaround." Alarak said with a roll of his eyes. "I am simply curious what workaround you used to defy your father's edict?"
"It's simple really." Andi said with a mischievous smirk. "What I'm doing isn't interfering with mortal affairs. I'm just working with a bunch of my fellow gods, no?"
"I suppose you are." Alarak said with an amused snort even as Alice giggled at Andi's sneaky little trick. "However, as we are about to go into battle, shouldn't you put something on? Armor perhaps?"
"Don't worry, I have that covered." Andi said, prompting Wendy to turn herself into twisting burning winds that wrapped around her naked body in the shape of a full set of classical Hoplite armor as she transformed into her Storm Mail. "See? I am armored. Besides, if you're worried about me being inappropriately dressed, what about Alice? She's about to wear a party dress to battle."
"You have a point, Bane." Alarak said as he turned to his sister. "Are you really going into battle dressed like that, Sister?"
Alice blinked at being called out before blushing. "Yeah… I forgot to get changed…"
In a burst of green binary around her body, Alice changed into a dark blazer, a white blouse, a thigh-length skirt, nude colored pantyhose and brown loafers.
"So it seems." Alarak said, sounding decidedly unimpressed even as Alice giggled in embarrassment.
They really do behave like siblings, huh?
Yeah, they do. Andi agreed with Wendy's observation.
It took a few seconds, but Alice quickly smothered her giggling and changed the topic. "Okay! We've wasted enough time. We should head out."
Andi and Alarak both nodded.
"Good. Then let's go." Alice said as she began to stretch out her power, surrounding all of them and teleporting them to their destination.
Alice's teleport transported them on top of a platform of magically hardened air above a truly monstrous camp and recruiting center. And damn! The Gigantes were really going all out to bring in recruits! The camp was full of things to entice the local monsters to join up with Gaea's army.
Well, most of them anyway. Andi doubted that the Gegeines needed any enticement to sign up. The six armed giants wearing nothing but canvas loincloths were practically automatons conjured by the Earth Mother after all. So it wasn't surprising at all to see dozens of them milling about the camp doing chores throughout.
The Gegeines weren't the only type of monsters in the camp though. Dominating its compound was a massive, well equipped forge that was manned by Telekhines. To the forging obsessed canine sea daimons, having access to such an impressive forge would have been super enticing. No wonder there were dozens of the humanoid monsters all over the place!
As worrying as having so many of the monstrous smiths in one place and the prospect of what they could forge together was, the Telekhines were hardly the most disturbing monsters that occupied the camp. That dishonorable position went to the horned Cyprian Centaurs that had come to call the American northwest home. And to cater to them, the camp had large pens full of captured women to offer the monstrous Centaurs playthings and to use for breeding. And it seems it was an effective lure too, what with the hundreds of them scattered throughout the camp. Half of them were training whilst the others were enjoying themselves in the pens of captives.
The latter utterly disgusted Andi, Wendy and Alice as all of them let out angry gasps at the sight.
Only Alarak seemed unaffected by it.
"What a wasteful use of Human resources!" He said with a dismissive snort.
Andi didn't even hear him. She was too horrified at what she was seeing, particularly as she recognized one of the girls in one of the pens for the Centaur captives. There naked and tied down to a pommel horse that was thankfully missing handles, was Christy McKinsey, a daughter of Apollo. Her darling Will's little sister. His fifteen year old sister.
Christy was utterly helpless as she was being mounted by a particularly brutish looking Cyprian Centaur. She might be a Half-Blood but from what little Andi knew of her, like Will, she was more a healer than a fighter. Between that and her restraints, she could do nothing but scream in pain and humiliation as her womb was being filled with the monster's twisted semen as he came inside her.
The monsters are fucking dead! Andi thought with furious indignation at seeing what was happening to an acquaintance, one of Will's sisters no less. Losing her cool, in a burst of her divine power, Andi teleported to Christy's side.
Her angry teleport had been accompanied by a burst of raw energy that swept through the pen, killing the five other Centaurs there abusing the captives. She had however saved the one who had his way with Christy for some personal attention though.
"Wha-" The horned monster began as he reared onto its hind limbs and dismounted off Christy, its shrinking member slipping out of her abused body.
Without saying a word, Andi shot a Wind Hammer at the Centaur that sent it flying across the pen, his body dragging bloodily and painfully along the ground. Raising Skyline (Oρίζοντα/Orízonta), she pulled back on its wind string and conjured a dozen arrows charged with the energies from her domains. In a well practiced motion, she let the missiles of compressed and spiraling winds, bolts made out of the raw fury of the Wild, and the mystic energies of Wizarding magic fly. Projectiles that proceeded to pepper the Centaur and unleash the power they contained. It was cut to pieces by the winds, torn apart from within as the fury of the wild turned its body against it, and the Wizarding magic enhanced its agony even further by greatly increasing its sensitivity to pain. It thus endured a whole long minute of pure undiluted torment before it finally collapsed into gold dust as Andi finished it off by literally pulling the air out of its lungs.
Good riddance to bad rubbish! Wendy cheered as the monster was sent back to Tartarus where it belonged.
Even as she did that and, more importantly, before Christy or the other Centaurs' victims could react, she teleported them to the safety of her palace whilst conjuring an instance there to take care of the poor women. She would have preferred to send them to Camp where hopefully they could get their minds healed by Pollux with some help from his father. However, most of them were mortal and sending them to Camp would be problematic enough in normal times, but with Father's edict against engaging with the mortal world in place, sending them now was just asking for trouble. So she would just have to settle for temporarily taking them in and help them herself alongside her servants. Hopefully, Ida would know what to do. She seemed to know everything.
Even as Andi was rescuing the Centaurs' captives, Alice and Alarak hadn't been idle either. Blitzing all over the camp like a blur, seemingly thanks to some kind of time manipulation, Alice was blasting away any monsters that got into the sights of that gun of hers. The monsters didn't take this lying down of course and tried to swarm her but she had cloaked herself in lightning that kept most of them off her. The Gegeines were literally made of clay and were thus resistant to electricity however, but Alice had that covered too and was out of phase with the normal space-time continuum causing the Earthborns' attacks to go through her whilst she took them out with her gun.
At the same time, Alarak was using his Odikinesis to send the monsters into a blind, murderous rage. Whilst this enhanced the attacks they turned against Alice and him, most of the monsters were driven into such a mindless fury that they turned against each other and began doing their jobs for them by killing each other. Not that Alarak didn't contribute to the monstrous slaughter himself. He was killing his fair share by unleashing waves of destructive red and black energy whilst cutting any monsters that got close to him with his wrist mounted ruby red energy blades.
Andi! They're winning! We need to kill some monsters and catch up!
This isn't a competition, Wendy. Andi scolded her partner as she pointed Skyline skywards, charged up an arrow and let it fly. As it reached the apex of its flight, her arrow split into hundreds of smaller arrows that rained down on the monsters in the camp, hitting them, detonating in Wind Hammers that crushed them with the weight of her winds and sending dozens of them back to Tartarus.
"What do you think you are doing to my camp!?" An angry voice boomed as in a burst of light, one of the Gigantes teleported in.
Turning towards the new arrival, Andi noticed he was a 30-foot tall giant, who from the waist up, was a humanoid with bronze armor decorated with a flame design and was armed with a spear about the size of a flag pole. He had dreadlocks with bones woven through them, that Andi's divine nature informed her were from demigods he had killed. His skin was bronze and his eyes were marble white. From the waist down, he had green draconic legs and he had clawed feet. A Gigantes that despite her never seeing him or reading up on his appearance before, Andi's powers allowed her to recognize as Enceladus, the Bane of Athena.
"Deciding to fight from the front for once, Enceladus?" Alice asked as she blurred in front of the Gigantes and leveled her fancy gun at the Bane of Athena, pulling the trigger and shooting a beam of sickly green energy whose edges crackled with arching emerald lightning at him.
Enceladus breathed out a stream of flames like a dragon in a bid to intercept Alice's beam. His attempt was futile though and the beam easily shot through his burst of purple flames, surprising the Gigantes as seen by his widening eyes and him desperately swinging his spear in a bid to deflect the beam. However, this attempt was just as futile and the beam disintegrated the spear and washed over the Bane of Athena.
"Huh? I didn't think it would be that easy." Alice said, blinking in surprise as she observed the smoking body of Enceladus. It was covered in deadly burns that left parts of his body literally charred. There were even sections which exposed bone.
"Alice! Watch out!"
"Huh!? Alarak, wha-" Alice began, turning to her brother just as acting with speed that belied his size, Enceladus pushed himself to his feet at lightning speed and swung one of his truck sized hands down to crush the Conscience of the Technodjinn.
Before the Gigantes' blow could land, Alarak slammed a massive crimson and black beam into Enceladus' chest and sent him skidding back from Alice. A move that he followed up by blitzing in front of his still confused sister before he followed up by transforming into his Epic Form, which this time took the form of a quadruped black walker with glowing crimson trim armed with quad cannons. Cannons that he used to fire off a massive salvo of energy bullets.
"Don't you dare hurt my sister, Gigantes scum." Alarak shouted angrily at the Bane of Athena as his attack fell on Enceladus in an explosive rain.
"Argh! This hurts, you annoying tin can! I knew I shouldn't have listened to that annoying Thoon and stuck to my plan and stayed away." Enceladus complained angrily as despite whole chunks of his body being disintegrated by Alarak's unrelenting barrage, he began advancing towards the two Technodjinn.
Wow! The Gigantes are super tough, aren't they? Enceladus is taking a heck of a beating and yet he's still not going down. Wendy said, sounding both impressed and worried by that observation. One that was given further credence as Alice added to her brother's assault against the Gigantes by shooting energy beams from her gun to no added effect.
It's not that. Andi told her partner even as they continued to finish off the rest of the monsters that her Technodjinn allies had stopped dealing with to turn their attention to Enceladus. It's not that Enceladus is exceptionally tough, even if that's true too. All Gigantes are. It's just that he can't be killed. Not without the help of a demigod.
Oh! And we sent the only Half-blood here away.
Wendy! Did you honestly expect Christy to fight after what she's been through!?
No, Wendy replied apologetically as with one last rain of Wind Hammer arrows, Andi finished off the last of the monsters. Sorry. I didn't think of that.
I know. But be more empathetic going forward. Andi sent back to her Aurae lieutenant as she took a moment to make sure that she hadn't let any monsters slip away.
Yes, Andi. Sorry, again.
Andi just sent her a mental nod before she leveled Skyline at Enceladus as he continued to struggle through Alice and Alarak's continued fire at him as he steadily and unrelentingly closed the distance with the two Technodjinn. An effort that he was making good progress at.
"Alice, Alarak! Your attacks aren't getting through! Change tactics!"
"Do you have a plan, Andi?" Alice asked, shooting Andi a look of exasperation.
Alarak on the other hand, perhaps acting based on the Battle Precognition he had as a war god, seemed to have cottoned on to her plan and shifted his attack away from Enceladus and towards Andi instead. An attack that, with a smirk, Andi used the trick to 'steal' supernatural effects that she'd learned from that crazy Golden Sorceress, Beatrice de Limoges, to seize control of and channel into the particularly powerful arrow that she was charging and nocking into Skyline.
"Oh! I got it!" Alice said as she figured things out and fired a beam at Andi whilst Alarak turned his attack back to Enceladus to force him back.
Taking hold of Alice's beam with the technique she learned from Beatrice, she poured it into her arrow, supercharging the already overcharged arrow. An arrow that she promptly shot at Enceladus. A Gigantes that reacted to the arrow shooting at him like a meteor by trying to throw himself out of its way. However, he seemed to forget that it was a god's creation and thus logically could not be so easily evaded. Thus, despite his desperate dive, Andi's arrow homed in on him and struck home.
It did not detonate though. That would not do them any good. As she'd told Wendy, they couldn't kill Enceladus. Not without a demigod there. So instead, she had the supercharged arrow carry him into the sky and acting like a rocket engine, kept him flying off into the horizon.
Oh! Nice! You sent him blasting off like Team Rocket!
Yes, I did, Wendy. Yes, I did. Andi replied with a smirk as she celebrated her and her allies' victory over Enceladus and his twisted little camp of monsters.
A few minutes after leaving the Gigantes' Olympic National Park camp they had wrecked after summoning a small army of her Aurae and the local Dryads to clear away any traces of it, it wouldn't do for mortals to stumble on its remains and mistake it for signs of Bigfoot or something similarly stupid, Andi found herself back in the meeting room GLaDOS had set up in Ouranos' abandoned palace. Where Alarak was giving his mother a report on their joint operation by explaining how by working together, they sent Enceladus-
"Blasting off again~!" Wendy butted in with a giggle.
Andi shot her partner a quelling look, even as a number of the Technodjinn laughed in amusement at her joke. She only recognized Alice and she wasn't about to try and figure out which of her friends' siblings had a sense of humor too. She didn't want to know. Imagine if she learned that Dr. Borg, of all gods, did!? She didn't want to empathize even in this small way with that sicko!
GLaDOS, thankfully, just rolled her eyes at the unrepentant Wendy before addressing Alarak and Alice, the latter of whom, now that she was in the presence of her mother, had changed back into her party dress. "You did well, Alarak, Alice."
"I merely did my duty." Alarak said with a bow.
"Thank you for your praise, Mother." Alice said with a shy, proud grin.
"And what about me, GLaDOS?" Andi asked the Mother of the Technodjinn. "Have I proven myself to you?"
Letting out a considering hum, GLaDOS tapped her chin thoughtfully before replying. "I suppose that you have."
"That's good." Andi said, looking at her expectantly. "Does that mean we are allies now?"
GLaDOS nodded. "It seems that yes, it does."
"That's a relief." Andi said with a sigh. "Us working together will give us a much better chance in our war against Gaea."
"Yes, it will." GLaDOS agreed, before turning to Alice. "Alice, dear, I want you to continue to serve as our family's liaison with Potter. To facilitate that, would you temporarily move to her palace to serve that role?"
As she said that, in a burst of green binary, a half dozen large suitcases teleported into the room.
"Of course I would, Mother." Alice said with a frown. "But may I know who packed my things?"
"I did." Sibyl revealed in that booming voice of hers.
"You?" Alice asked as she turned to her twin with an angry frown.
"What? Is that a problem?" Sibyl shot back, sounding arrogantly bemused. "I am your twin, aren't I? Don't you trust me?"
"Why would you think I trust you, Sibyl? We are literally designed to be antagonistic with each other." Alice asked with a roll of her eyes. "But whatever. It's fine. I'm sure you didn't sabotage me too badly."
"You know me too well, Alice."
"As you said, I am your twin."
"Alice, Sibyl, stop." GLaDOS ordered. "Please do not embarrass us by arguing like children. In front of our Bane no less!"
I found it quite cute actually. Andi mused. It really drives the point home that despite being machine gods, they are a family.
I know right. Wendy sent telepathically in agreement.
"Apologies, Mother." Sibyl said, sounding contrite.
Alice in contrast just scoffed. "I don't see what's the problem, Mother. Andi doesn't mind. You don't, right, Andi?"
"I don't." Andi confirmed with a bemused smile.
GLaDOS rolled her eyes. "Just stop dawdling and get going, Alice."
"Yes, Mother." Alice said with a shrug and wrapped her power over her suitcase, sending them away to her private pocket dimension as she moved to join Andi. "Ready to go, Andi?"
Andi was but before she said anything, she glanced at GLaDOS prompting the Mother of the Technodjinn to answer her unspoken question. "You are free to go. Any further discussion we might require for our alliance will be done through Alice."
Andi nodded, stood and extended a hand to Alice. "Then, yes, Alice, it's time to go."
"Right. Let's go." Alice said with a smile and allowed Andi to wrap her power around her just like it did with Wendy and proceed to teleport them back to her palace.
Omake: When goddesses play Dungeons & Dragons
Shortly after learning that Alice had temporarily moved in with Andi as part of her alliance with the Technodjinn, Hebe, Andi's half-sister and head of the MGS, had for some reason seen this as an opportunity to organize Dungeons and Dragon (D&D) group. Citing that it was a perfect way to exploit the Technodjinn's presence and build friendly rapport among the participants, particularly between Olympus and the Technodjinn.
Hebe was, of course, as the person behind the idea in the first place, part of the group. And that was how Andi found the goddess of eternal youth and forgiveness visiting her palace in the guise of a teenager with brown hair set in a beehive hairdo and dressed in a pink and turquoise minidress that she paired with white go-go boots.
In addition to Hebe and Andi herself, there was also Alice, who had prompted the game in the first place. Besides, she was resident in Andi's palace anyway, so her presence was to be expected. And in reflection of just how much she loved her skirts, despite essentially just hanging out at home, temporary though it was, she was still sporting a denim skirt right now as part of her outfit in addition to a white and pink striped t-shirt and an orange blazer.
The next member of their group was Astraea, Andi's fellow MGS member and the goddess of purity and innocence. A goddess that had chosen to take the appearance of a young woman with long walnut brown hair that was gathered together behind her head in a dignified manner, had deep indigo eyes that were reminiscent of a sea of stars, and was dressed in a simple kirtle, detached sleeves and a long skirt.
The last participant was, surprisingly, Persephone. The goddess of springtime and vegetation who, owing to it being summer, had the appearance of an exceedingly gorgeous, alluring and beautiful tall young woman with warm brown eyes and lustrous black hair. She was wearing a dress that shimmered with colors and flower patterns - roses, tulips, and honeysuckle - which kept shifting from buds to full bloom and back again.
"Hebe, do we really have the time to do this?" Persephone asked, shooting Hebe a skeptical frown. "What with the war with the Earth Mother underway?"
"Isn't wartime the best time to do something like this?" Hebe replied with a shrug. "War is stressful and we need a way to relax. We won't be able to fight to our maximum ability if we let our stress get the better of us."
"Alright, I can accept that. But why do we have to do this to relax?"
"Well, we don't strictly have to play D&D." Hebe admitted, shooting Persephone a confused look. "But if you didn't want to, why did you sign up to do so?"
Persephone sighed as she explained herself. "I was forced to by Mother. She wants me to get closer to Andi. She seems to think Andi and I will be good influences on each other."
"Sorry for that." Andi, currently dressed in a black cami top and ivory checkered high waisted shorts, said, offering her half-sister an apologetic bow. "Demeter has been trying hard to get close to me lately. Apparently, she thinks that since my domain of the wild overlaps with hers, we should get along."
"Yes, I know." Persephone said with a sigh. "It's not your fault that Mother is such a smother, Andi."
"Indeed," Astraea agreed. "Demeter has quite a reputation for being overbearing."
"Yeah." Alice nodded. "Even my family and I have heard about it. Though, on another note, I know why Andi, Hebe and, now, Persephone have chosen to join this D&D group but what about you, Astraea?"
I was thinking that too. Wendy piped up over Andi's telepathic link with her partner despite the Aurae not being present.
Wendy, don't butt into this. Remember this is a MGS event, which means it's only for gods and you can't participate.
Yeah, yeah, I know. Wendy sent back. Enjoy your game, Andi.
I'll try. Have fun hanging out with Ida and Katie. Have you decided what you are doing?
Ida decided to take us to the Mall of America to do some shopping, maybe catch a movie too.
Gotcha. Enjoy yourselves.
We will.
Even as Andi was chatting with Wendy, Astraea shrugged and replied to Alice's question. "I like role-playing games. What about you, Alice? Why are you joining in?"
"Well, the last time I explored something new with Andi, it was fun so I thought I'd give this a try too."
"Well, you do love cosplay now." Andi teased.
Alice blushed at this even as Astraea and Hebe smiled at her with amusement. It was no secret among godly circles that after trying it out with Andi that one time, Alice had taken to such a liking to cosplay that she had begun using her instances to attend literally every single cosplay event. Yes, every single one. She was just that obsessed.
"That is all interesting and all, really it is." Persephone said with a smile of her own. "But where's Eris? Wasn't she supposed to be our Dungeon Master (DM)?"
"She had other commitments," Hebe explained with a shrug.
"Then who will be the DM?" Andi asked with a frown.
Before Hebe could answer, all five of them were suddenly surrounded by a burst of bright pink light that teleported them into a large Western style living room lined by Japanese style shoji (a door, window or room divider used in traditional Japanese architecture, consisting of translucent or transparent sheets on a lattice frame) screens, some which were left partially open to reveal the room was surrounded by an engawa (porch/corridor). A hybrid style room that Andi's powers informed her was located outside her reality, specifically inside the home of the overgods that ruled their local branch of reality.
"I will be your DM." The overgoddess Yuno Amano said with a shark-like smile from her place at the head of long table that Andi and the other goddesses found themselves seated around.
Nobody contested what the supreme goddess in charge of their branch of reality in the guise of pink eyed, young teenage girl with long pink hair styled in pigtails, two strands of hair hanging as frontal locks that featured a pair of red bows, and the back pigtails left bare, said. Everyone just meekly nodded at the overgoddess dressed in a black dress with a sweetheart neckline held up by a pair of spaghetti straps.
An overgoddess that Andi found strangely familiar despite never having seen her before. A strange sense of familiarity that forced Andi to speak up even though she was deeply wary of offending the immensely powerful overgoddess.
"Um, Lady Yuno, have we, uh, met before?"
Lady Yuno answered Andi's question with a smile. A deeply unnerving smile that unnaturally stretched across the entire length of her face and which was accompanied by a mad gleam in her eyes.
Gulping nervously, Andi hastily shook his head. "Nevermind."
Lady Yuno pouted at this but everyone just sighed in relief. Clearly none of them wanted to set off the volatile overgoddess.
Well, most of them at least.
"Pardon me, Lady Yuno, but before we begin the game, may I ask why you are getting involved?" Alice daringly asked.
"Why? That's simple." Lady Yuno said with a smirk. "I intend to use the game world that we will use for this campaign as a template for a new universe in Yuki and I's branch of Creation. To that effect, we'll be playing this game a little differently than normal."
"I-I see. S-So! We should get started and make our characters, Lady Yuno. May we?" Hebe asked with a nervous smile on her youthful face.
"What? Mm, no. You won't be making one character." Lady Yuno said with a grin. "Instead, I want you to make multiple characters. Hundreds of them. Each. I want you to role play all of them in the adventures I come up with. We need to populate this world with heroes and villains now don't we?"
"Villains too? Uh, can someone cover that for me? I'm not sure I'll be good at that." Astraea said, fiddling with her long chestnut hair, giving a sheepish look.
"Then you can abstain from that and Alice can pick up the slack on that front and play only villains."
"I approve of this." Alice nodded. "I have generators running ideas now. I am also grabbing psychological profiles of the most horrific people in known history for inspiration."
"Okay, since you all know what we intend to do now. Let's get started!" Lady Yuno said with a clap of her hands and a honestly terrifying smile.
The goddesses exchanged a look before shrugging. Defying the overgoddess was not an option. No one wanted to be brutally stabbed out of existence by her notorious katana. So they just played along.
It was a little awkward at first, but as the game developed things actually started getting fun. Even Persephone got into it, despite having initially been hesitant to be part of the whole thing. So much so that she complained the loudest, though hardly the only one unhappy about it, when one of Astraea's heroes somehow ended up as some kind of Mary Sue super magical swordswoman. Thankfully Alice countered by having her face absurdly powerful opponents that actually, somehow, managed to challenge her.
Thankfully, everyone's other characters, those not caught up in Astraea and Alice's increasingly over the top contest, were able to enjoy much more down to earth and enjoyable adventures. If not, everyone likely would've dogpiled poor Astraea's heroes and wiped them out for how they were nothing more than a bunch of bloody Mary Sues and Gary Stus! Seriously!
By the end of their game, Andi had to admit, worldbuilding, literally in this case, was fun. She even made an order for the world's nature spirits and animals. It was honestly a blast. Lady Yuno really had a flair for dramatics, especially in regards to the graphic detail for the disturbingly common horrendous deaths their characters either came across, caused or suffered. Andi and Pesephone had even banded together to make some wicked nature beasts to frolic around and attack settlements. Alice got a kick out of creating ever more insane apocalyptic threats. And Hebe, strangely enough, spent almost as much time fleshing out the cultures of the new world they were crafting as she did managing her characters.
"Why did the final boss need to be a Demon Lord though?" Andi asked, as all six of them sipped on some nectar laced tea after the conclusion of their game.
"Every fantasy needs one, Andi. It's a law."
Lady Yuno nodded firmly. "It's true."
"Oh! Let's make a Supervillain Lair, maybe some variation of a Haunted Castle or Evil Tower of Ominousness, for him in the next game!" Pesephone said, embracing her inner villain. "The heroes only just banished him didn't they? We can totally make him return and use it as the set up for the game next time around!"
"Okay, but I want to give him those Leshy Dragons that Persephone and I came up with." Andi suggested. "They can be his heralds or something. Maybe make them the product of some cultists that worship him or something like that."
"Then I want a Church of Light to counter those monsters. The mortal races will need protection from all these horrible monsters you plan to unleash on them." Astraea countered. Truly, even for a goddess of purity and innocence, she was just too pure for all of them.
"Alright, but not a Church of Light please! That's too cliche." Hebe chided with a wagging finger. "Hmm… Maybe a knightly Order of Protectors?"
"Yuno, are you done with your game?" The overgod, Lord Yukiteru, asked his wife as he poked his head into the room where they'd been playing. "It's almost time for dinner."
"Just scheduling the next session, Dear~!"
"Wait, did we name the world yet?" Andi asked as she put away her notes on all the characters, monsters and items she'd created. She really needed to push for her Stoner Druids next time.
"I'm going to call it the Four-Cornered World of Hellen." Lady Yuno said with a shrug. No one said anything. They all knew better than to contradict the overgoddess.
"Well, that's it for today, ladies." Lady Yuno said as she put her cup of tea down. "Till next Saturday?"
The five minor goddesses nodded.
"Then till then, adieu." The pink haired woman said and snapped her fingers.
Immediately, all five of them found themselves back in Andi's palace in their own world.
"Well, that was an experience." Alice said with a sigh. "See you all next Saturday?"
"Next Saturday." Hebe agreed.
"Goodbye everyone." Astraea said with a wave, before the three teleported away, leaving Andi and Persephone alone. Even Alice, despite also living in Andi's palace at the moment, had seemingly decided to make herself scarce.
"Oh, Andi, I have some ideas to hash out with you before next time? Do you have some time?" Persephone said, turning to Andi even as the goddess of breezes looked at her questioningly.
"...You want to avoid Demeter a little longer, don't you?"
"Yes." Persephone said with no shame whatsoever. "And she can't begrudge me working on something for one of the overgods. So help me out here! Please!"
"Oh, alright." Andi drawled playfully, causing her half-sister to sigh in relief.
"You are my favorite sister."
Andi just smiled. Happy to have gained one more ally, or so she hoped, in the never ending war that was Olympian politics.
Done and done! Thanks to Nameless as always!
And so here we are, again! Back in the saddle with Andromeda, the Lady of Breezes and newly made minor goddess! The story that started the trio of heroines and the Heroineverse. And of course, the Technodjinns are the first thing about her. Her natural enemies or in this case, tentative allies?!
Nameless: Against Gaea? Even though it's not always the case, I think the proverb that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" really applies here.
On another note, if you're wondering about our treatment of Andi's nudist tendencies… The in-story nudism that Andi exhibited in this chapter was explained by GLaDOS when they met to discuss their alliance. But on a meta level, we introduced it in Chapter 1 to establish it as a thing so that readers know what to expect. That said, she won't be nude all the time either, as evidenced in the omake, but definitely expect it to happen every once in a while.
E4E: Andi's nature is to be all natural and one with the wild. So, she's pretty much Girls Gone Wild! XD …I'll leave now.
Nameless: [shakes head]
And I'm back! We went pretty dark with the centaurs, but then again, the centaurs, the evil ones at least, are honestly the worst rapists after the gods. Andi's stories cover a lot of the dark stuff as seen from the divine side of things. Of course, Andi still has her mortal morality and cares for her once fellow half-bloods so reacted in accordance with that. Something that was not helped by one of the centaurs' victims being related to her cute boyfriend! Or is it mortal consort? Will needs a proper title XP And yes, before anyone asks, we will get more into Christy as a new angle to explore ideas and other deep thought questions. She was just going to be some no name but her story snowballed into something a lot more interesting the more Nameless and I talked about it and pondered things.
Nameless: Christy! Oh, Christy! We have plans for you alright! I can't wait to write them out. On another note, yeah, the Cyprian Centaurs really are the absolute worst. Actually, I've got to disagree with E4E on whether they are worse rapists than the Olympian gods. Because, unlike him, I definitely think they are. The gods occasionally have their way with unwilling partners but the Cyprian Centaurs reproduce via unwilling partners. That means they do it regularly! They wouldn't be able to grow their numbers if they didn't and like all the monster races, we're given every indication they have a growing population. And that makes them worse in my opinion.
E4E: Hm, that's fair. They are pretty much the worst of the worst, I can concede to that. Anyway! The omake was just fun! It reminded me of the gods in Goblin Slayer and how they treat their world as a plaything along with a mix of the boredom that the gods in Danmachi have. To gods, making worlds and problems are just a game in the end. They could just wipe the board in a manner of speaking. Who knows what's actually happening down there~ Hopefully the unnamed heroes roll a few Nat 20s!
Nameless: Indeed. Now before E4E signs us out, there's a couple of administrative things to cover:
1) Okay, so we misspelled Sibyl as Sybil in the past. Just note that we will rectify this going forward.
2) So I received a PM asking if I'm Dock872210 on AO3. To clear things up, yes. My handle on AO3 is Dock872210 and Nameless 2210 on FFN. And E4E is Engineer4Ever on FFN and has taken over the NamelessEngine account we originally created as a joint account after I made my own account. Hope this clarifies.
URGENT REQUEST
DUE TO IRL CIRCUMSTANCES, SHADOWOFAXIOUS HAS INFORMED US THAT HE WILL NO LONGER BE ABLE TO BETA FOR US. THAT BEING THE CASE, WE ARE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR A NEW BETA READER.
IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED, PLEASE DO CONTACT US BY PMing US.
URGENT REQUEST END
E4E: You know what to do! Smash that review button and tell us what you love! No flames and peace off my peeps!