AN: So not been too long this time since the last update, that said I did take a short break over and after Christmas, just to unwind and chill out. It was nice. But even so, here we are again with another installment. Now originally I was going to write my PJO/GOT story the Last King, but then I decided, hey why not Oncoming Storm instead.
Still, here it is, hope you enjoy it and leave a comment or a review. If you want to chat, make suggestions or anything then feel free to PM me, or if you have Discord I am a part of a Discord group, the link is on my bio.
Other than that I hope you enjoy the chapter, and thanks for reading. I hope the previous cliff hanger wasn't too mean.
Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson or Young Justice/ anything DC related.
( - )
(Last Time)
"Easy there," Percy smiled, as he continued to offer his hand to the girl. "It seems that you, like me, have lost some of your memories. Probably in the same mental attack."
"Mental attack?" The girl asked, a suspicious glint entering her blue eyes as she frowned at his offered hand. "And what do you mean missing memories? Who are you?"
"You certainly have lots of questions." Percy smiled in amusement. "But out of all of them, there is only one that I can actually answer. My name is Perseus Jackson, but you can call me Percy, I'm the son of Poseidon! Now it's your turn, what's your name?"
"T-Tula…" The now named Tula said weakly, her blue eyes now wide as she absentmindedly accepted his hand and allowed him to pull her up and onto her feet. "M-my name is T-Tula…"
( - )
Chapter 20
( - )
(With Robin)
Running through the desert, Robin couldn't help but feel nervous as the Martian Manhunter knockoff continued to fly silently alongside him, her expression as inscrutable as the original Manhunter's, as she seemed to stare off into the distance, seemingly looking at something that he himself couldn't see.
This entire situation was off the wall crazy.
After all, he was in the middle of a desert of all places with only Kid Flash, who he at least knew, and two other random teenagers. Artemis and Megan, neither of whom he had even heard of before, which was odd considering they seemed to be cosplaying as members of the Justice League.
On top of that Batman was not here, and his memory was shot. Sure he had managed to regain a few scraps of memory, including one of Batman giving him a mission briefing and telling him to remain quiet and out of sight. It was only a small thing but did enough to assuage at least some of his worries. At the same time however, the whole memory loss thing was still pretty worrying.
From what Megan, the Martian girl, had said, he had surmised that they had been hit with a telepathic attack of some kind, one that wiped out some of their more recent memories.
Not that he fully trusted the obvious Martian telepath, despite her being the one that had cleared some things up and told them about the memory loss, after all it was all too convenient, what with her just happening to run into , or fly into them, like she had. That and he also didn't trust the fact that a part of him felt like he should trust her.
Considering she could mess with minds, his odd instinct to trust her only made him more tense and suspicious around her.
Despite his worries however he had still grudgingly agreed to her accompanying them. A little extra backup was always useful after all.
Similarly Wally had vouched for the blonde archer, and had said she was good people, which might just be because she was admittedly hot and the horndog fancied her. But considering their current situation, what with them being in the middle of an unfamiliar, unforgiving desert with memory loss, he was willing to take the chance. They needed all the help they could get, which was why the Green Arrow wannabe was loping along behind them with a bow in her hand as she brought up the rear.
Shifting his head down, Robin quickly looked down at his wrist computer, or more specifically at the flashing red light on the screen. It was a gps beacon, one which had been manually inputted into his highly secure and encrypted wristwatch. A feat that could only be done by either himself or Batman.
This at least he could put his full trust in.
"Everyone get down." Megan suddenly said, her words spurring them all to quickly duck down and scan the area. With Artemis quickly nocking an arrow and drawing her bow, whilst he gripped his bo staff tighter and fingered one of the batarangs on his utility belt. As for Wally, well he just leapt onto the ground, his hands covering his head. "We've got company."
"Who is it?" Robin asked, shifting his position slightly as he climbed up the dune to the sandy ridge above.
"I'm not sure, but I felt a large cluster of minds approaching, and they are complex ones too, so not animals but instead probably human." Megan replied softly, landing on the sand next to him as she too peeked out over the ridge of the dune.
In the distance he could see a plume of sand approaching.
"Good call." Robin acknowledged, his freehand pulling out a compacted set of binoculars from his belt, even as he brought them to his eyes and tried to check out who was approaching. "Looks like we've got two jeeps and a truck, painted in desert camo colours, around four or five clicks out. They are not heading directly at us, but on their current course they'll probably pass close enough to see us. I'd say they were army possibly, or maybe mercenaries."
"Just a random patrol, or do you reckon they are looking for us?" Artemis replied softly. "Like I told you before, Kid and I dealt with some of these jokers before we all met up. They had some humvees and some military grade weaponry, assault rifles, AKs, you get the point."
Robin nodded curtly at that, but didn't reply. Instead he continued to use his binoculars, high tech as they were, to zoom in on the possible aggressors. "It seems likely they're after us, why else would they be out patrolling a desert? Besides, I can't pick out a flag or an emblem on the sides of the vehicles, nor see any signs of what country they might be from, they don't even have license plates."
"Then if that is the case, they probably also know why we are out here, and why we are missing memories!" Kid Flash cut in, a scowl on his face as he too scrambled up the sandbank to join them.
"Maybe," Robin replied, a slight frown on his own face. "But as for why we are here. Well I think I remember something about that. I remember something about Batman giving me a mission, and telling me it was a stealth one. I think we are all here on a mission sanctioned by Batman."
"Well why didn't you say? Talk about keeping things close to the chest." Kid Flash grumbled to himself, his green eyes still surveying the desolate landscape around them forlornly.
"That doesn't make sense." Artemis cut in before Robin could reply. "I've never met Batman, nor do I work for him, nor would I ever work for him."
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Robin scowled, turning away from the soldiers now to instead scowl at the blonde archer.
"It means I'm not one of Batman's sidekicks." Artemis shot back. "I work on my own."
"I'm not his sidekick, I'm his partner." Robin replied acidly.
"Woah, woah, let's calm it down a bit now. Let's instead, you know, focus on the armed soldiers that are heading this way, probably to kill us. I mean the last group we ran into, they weren't exactly pulling punches." Kid Flash jumped in, once again trying to play the mediator.
"He's right. You're angry and frustrated, losing your memories and waking up in a strange place is frightening and disturbing, I get that. The last thing I remember I was on Mars, and somehow I've arrived on a different planet with no idea how I got here and who knows how many memories are missing. I am freaking out too. But we shouldn't fight amongst ourselves." Megan broke in, her voice soft but her words strong.
"Whatever," Artemis grumbled, before she sent Megan the stink eye. "And stay out of my head."
In response Megan shot the blonde a scathing look, but didn't reply.
"She has a point though, what are we going to do about those soldiers?" Kid Flash piped up. "Do we confront them, or avoid them. The ones we fought before weren't that tough, sure they had training and were armed, but they had no powers or fancy gadgets, anything liek that really."
"No, if we fight them then they might get a message back to headquarters, and considering we don't know who they work for, that could be pretty bad. Still, if they are specifically looking for us, then they probably already know we're here..." Robin replied after a moment, nodding to Megan as he did so, before he brought the binoculars back up to his eyes and focussed back in on the convoy. "And shit yes, we should definitely get the hell out of here!"
"What is it?" KidFlash asked at once, his tone one of concern as he obviously picked up on the sudden strain and anxiousness in Robin's voice.
"Yeah what's with the aboutface?" Artemis tagged on. "I think I preferred it when you were being snotty and arrogant."
"You're scared." Megan said simply, her brow furrowed. "What can you see?"
"Deathstroke the Terminator." Robin said simply, pulling the binoculars back from his face as he instead shared a suddenly nervous look with Kid Flash. "He's a part of the convoy. I would recognise his mask anywhere."
"Ok shit, shit, shit." Kid Flash said quickly. "So we need to get out of here."
"You think?!" Artemis snapped, her previously olive skin going slightly pale as she drew back from the ridge of the sand dune. "What the hell is someone like him doing here?"
"Well he's a mercenary, he is probably being paid." Robin replied. "And if they are willing to hire Deathstroke, then they mean business. Let's get out of here and head for the gps beacon as fast as we can."
"I approve this course of action." Kid Flash said thickly.
"Yep, no time for arguing on this. Though I take it this gps beacon of yours is not just going to lead us into the middle of the enemy base?" Artemis added quickly.
"No, this beacon is for a fallback position. We have them coded. This beacon should take us back to a point where we should be able to get in contact with Batman, and probably pick up some proper gear and supplies." Robin said.
"I still don't believe I would ever work for Batman, but whatever, anywhere is better than here." Artemis replied, compacting her bow and attaching it onto a sheath on her back.
Nodding at that, Robin slid down the dune and led the way, their pace substantially quicker than before.
"Who is this Deathstroke?" Megan asked, swooping down so she was gliding down alongside him once again, only now her attention was fully on him.
"He's bad news," Kid Flash answered for the younger boy, bringing Megan's attention back onto him. "He's a ridiculously deadly and ruthless mercenary with enhanced strength, speed, reflexes and regeneration. He's basically like Batman, but stronger, and much more evil."
"He isn't like Batman at all. Batman doesn't rely on powers, he uses his wits and skill to win." Robin snapped back.
"Look you two can be fanboys later, for now let's keep going. It is fucking hot, and we're all probably thirsty and tired, and the sooner we get to this fallback point the better." Artemis cut in.
"Right," Robin nodded curtly.
Rising up into the air slightly, a frown spread crossed Megan's face. "Wait, we might be in luck..."
"Huh, what do you mean?" Kid Flash asked.
"That angry boy from earlier, the one I mentioned before." Megan said.
"Knock off superman, what about him?" Kid Flash asked curiously.
"He's just entered my range and is quickly moving to intercept this Deathstroke and the men with him." Megan finished.
"Well shit, sounds like some good luck for us. Hopefully they'll take each other out." Artemis cut in a little callously. Not that Robin could blame her, after all from what Megan said the guy was hyper aggressive, and if that wasn't bad enough had super strength as well.
"We don't know who that guy is. He could be like us and missing his memories, he could even be an ally or something." Robin shot back all the same, a reprimanding note in his voice. The guy might be nuts, but if he was their ally… well then the old adage applied, the one where you never left a man behind.
"Well from what Megan said the guy is super tough, so we can think about that later. For now let's get somewhere safe." Kid Flash said.
"Yes, and then I can try and see if I can bring back our memories." Megan added in.
"You can do that?" Robin asked sharply, slowing down slightly as he turned to look up at the Martian.
"I think I can, but I am not sure how long it will take." Megan replied with a shrug.
"Well that's one thing at least." Artemis grumbled.
"Wait heads up!" Robin called out, pointing up in the sky now, even as he heard a whirring sound and saw a plane shoot by overhead, the plane in question angling through the air to head slightly west of them. Fortunately due to their position and the topography of the land they were pretty well hidden.
"Do you think they saw us?" Artemis asked quickly.
In answer to her question the plane dipped down a bit in the distance, and the sound of gunfire started to echo through the still dry desert air.
"Well if they did, they are either terrible shots, or they are targeting something else." Kid Flash replied, his gaze on the plane as it swooped up again and then swerved through the air to do a running pass on whatever it was aiming at.
Only this time something went wrong as a massive cloud of sand exploded into the air, consuming the plane.
"Okay, what's that?" Artemis asked suddenly.
In answer to her question the sound of an explosion echoed through the air, even as a plume of black smoke began to spiral into the sky just a few clicks from their current position.
"Megan can you sense anyone out there?" Robin asked urgently.
"Yes, there are two minds. But they are odd… they don't feel entirely human. One of them especially, it is far too vast and complicated, it is old too, and... it feels familiar, very familiar." Megan muttered, a slight frown on her face.
"Allies maybe?" Kid Flash suggested.
"Or more enemies?" Artemis added on a bit cynically.
"Only one way to find out." Robin replied. ""We should investigate the crash."
"Okay… and what about Deathstroke, you know the walking, talking death machine?" Artemis asked, her gaze shifting over to where they had seen the convoy, the ridge they had previously been on a distant speck now thanks to the hard pace they had been going at. Behind which could be seen yet another couple of dark plumes of smoke and sand, probably from the fight between budget superman and the terminator..
"Megan, can you keep an eye out." Robin ordered.
"I'm already on it." Megan nodded.
"Good," Robin said with a tight smile, before they pressed on. "Now let's check out the situation at the plane crash, it's in the path of the gps marker anyway."
( - )
(Previously with Percy)
"Tula," Percy tested out the name. His eyes straying over her lithe, armour clad, athletic form for a moment, before returning to her pretty, slightly freckled face. "Well it's nice to meet you. Did my father send you here?"
"Your father… Poseidon?" Tula replied, her face scrunching up into a look of confusion. "No, I-I've never even heard of you before, I didn't even know that Lord Poseidon had any children walking the earth."
"Ah, well that's surprising." Percy muttered, idly scratching his chin as Tula shifted around uneasily in front of him. Time, he knew, worked differently in Tartarus than it did on the mortal world. As such it could be that many, many years had passed since he went down there, hundreds of years even. But still after all he had done for Olympus, he thought he would have at least been remembered. "Are you sure? I mean I did fight in the Titanomachy. I fought Atlas and helped put him under the sky. I defeated Hyperion in single combat. I threw Iapetus into the River Lethe. Hades, I even fought Kronos in single combat and came out alive. Surely there is at least some mention of me?"
Tula just gaped at him, and shook her head. "I don't know about any of that stuff. I learned about the Titanomachy in the Academy, but I've never heard of you before, sorry."
"Ouch, burn." Percy winced, and it really was a bit of a blow. Everything he had done, all he achieved, it had been erased.
"I also know that Poseidon hasn't walked this earth for millenia. Not since he and the rest of the Olympians left the earth and this universe more than a thousand years ago, and returned to the realm of Olympus, which is in like a pocket dimension… or something like that…" Tula shrugged helplessly, a thoroughly nonplussed look on her face. "Are you sure the sun hasn't gotten to you or something?"
Percy snorted at that. "No, no the sun hasn't fried my brain or anything like that. I am one hundred percent a son of Poseidon. What year is it?"
"Year? As in what year are the humans using?" Tula asked, before at his nod she continued. "It's 2010."
"So I've not been gone that long then..." Percy frowned. He was feeling very confused right now. This didn't make any sense. "Are you sure you're an Atlantean?"
"Yeah, I was born and raised in Atlantis by Atlanteans, so you know, I'm pretty sure…" Tula replied irritably. "And where exactly have you been?"
"Tartarus." Percy replied bluntly. "For more than a hundred years."
"You've been in a hell dimension for a hundred years?" Tula winced, taking a few cautious steps back and away from him, as if suddenly afraid that he might grow horns and eat her, that or like he might explode in a fit of murderous rage.
"A hell dimension? Yeah, that would be a pretty accurate description." Percy nodded.
"H-How are you not mad? H-how d-did you get out?" Tula asked nervously.
"I found the Doors of Death and forced myself through." Percy shrugged. "As for why I am not mad. Well, first things first, who is to say I'm not? And secondly, well I am a demigod, we're born and bred to adapt and thrive in the worst of situations. We're also immune to things like trauma or crippling grief. Basically our brains, like our bodies, are wired differently to mortals."
"That sounds… healthy…" Tula muttered, her gaze still cautious.
"It is what it is." Percy shrugged, before pinning her in place with a curious look. "Now getting back on track. You said something that confused me. You said that the gods, as far as you are aware, left the earth millenia ago?"
"Well, yes, they did." Tula nodded. "I learned about it in the Academy. After the fall of Rome, there was a great battle of some sort between the gods, and after the fighting subsided, those that remained left earth. A few have occasionally returned since to cause, but not Poseidon, or at least not as far as I know."
Percy frowned at that. It really didn't make sense.
"But their bloodlines are still around." Tula added in quickly, an odd look on her face as she took a step closer to him. "The gods might have left, but their legacy remains. The Royal House of Atlantis is directly descended from our Patron God, Lord Poseidon's bloodline, and his trident is even passed down as a symbol of their authority. The Noble Houses too, they are all also descended from the different sea gods that used to walk the ancient hall of Atlantis millennia ago. As for the rest, they were bred into, or from the noble lines, or are descended from Naiads, the servants of the gods. Or well, it is pretty complicated to fully explain."
"So you're all Legacies?" Percy asked, a slight frown on his face as he got to the crux of what she was saying.
"It's the reason for our connection to the sea. The blood of the sea gods runs in our veins, it connects us to the sea and to the flow of magic in the world, it is the basis for our powers. When we use magic, we use our blood ties to our gods as a catalyst to manipulate the world around us." Tula said softly, earnestly.
"And you are connected to one of the gods?" Percy asked curiously, still trying to get his head around what was happening. By the sounds of things, this was not the world he knew.
"Yes, I was born into House Marius, and we claim descent from Lady Amphitrite." Tula shrugged.
"My stepmother…" Percy said dryly, a slight frown on his face. "I remember meeting her once, she didn't like me…"
Tula laughed awkwardly at that. "Still sticking to the whole son of Poseidon thing then?"
Percy just shrugged. "So the gods, you said they left?"
"Yes, Queen Mera told me that they are extra-dimensional beings, and that their realm is a pocket in space, one outside of the universe as we know it." Tula said.
"Queen Mera?" Percy quiered, curiously.
"Yes, she's the Queen of Atlantis and wife of our King, King Orin, or Aquaman as you might also know him as?" Tula replied promptly, her tone noticeably quite warm when she spoke of her queen. "She took me and my friend on as her apprentices, and taught us nearly everything we know about magic."
Percy nodded at that, before pausing as he thought back on what she had just said. "Wait, your King calls himself Aquaman… isn't that a bit on the nose?"
Tula laughed at that. "It is certainly an odd alias, but he is a superhero, the humans seem to expect all heroes to have such names. My friend Kaldur, who also studied with us, actually left to serve as King Orin's protege, and he adopted the name, Aqualad…"
Percy had to hold back a snort of laughter at that.
Tula also let out a slight giggle too. "It's weird, but he seems to be enjoying it."
"Well good for him." Percy nodded, enjoying the brief moment of levity. "But back to before, none of this makes sense. I know I am the son of Poeisdon, he claimed me as his own and I've met him several times. More than that he is the King of Atlantis, not this Orin guy, and the gods themselves, they were still walking to the earth."
Tula frowned at that comment. "It's possible you're from another world. King Orin has mentioned before that he and other members of the Justice League have come into contact with alternate worlds, earths that were similar but also very different to our own. I've also heard that there could be countless alternate versions of earth out there..."
"Yeah, I had that thought too." Percy muttered despondently.
"But," Tula quickly pressed on. "Queen Mera and many of the other academics at the Academy. They have theorised that celestial beings, like the gods, are not connected to our earth in the same way we are. But, they are in fact beings of pure celestial energy that are not connected to any one dimension or universe, but all of them. Which means that they are unique beings and that there is only one of them throughout all universes and dimensions in existence."
"That doesn't make sense, how can there only be one version of Poseidon, if we both know, or have heard of different versions of him?" Percy asked, a slight frown on his face.
"Well the gods are known to split themselves. So it's possible that the Poseidon that you claim is your father and the King of Atlantis, and the one that existed in this world, and is the Patron God of Atlantis, are both aspects of the same being. With both of them acting independently, but still being an extension of the same singular existence and adding their memories to the collective knowledge of the actual god Poseidon…" Tula pressed on, her face scrunched up cutely in confusion, as she seemed to confuse herself halfway through her own explanation.
"The gods do have different aspects. The ones I met had a Greek Aspect and a Roman Aspect. I've seen it before, and they both act very differently to one another and seem to have different sets of memories, feelings and personalities." Percy muttered to himself, before sending Tula an odd look. "How did those Academics come up with this theory?"
"They have far too much time on their hands." Tula shook her head, before smiling slightly as Percy laughed. "So you really might be a son of Poseidon then?"
Percy nodded. "I know for a fact I am."
Tula also nodded to herself for a moment, before without another word she bowed. "Then it is an honour to meet the son of my Patron God."
"Hey now, let's not get into that." Percy said quickly, waving his hands as he tried to stop her bowing.
Standing back up straight, Tula sent him a cheeky smirk. "That embarrassed you didn't it?"
"I've never liked it, and after spending more than a century in The Pit, formality just… doesn't sit right with me." Percy shrugged.
Tula winced. "Yeah a century in a hell dimension, that sounds rough. You're looking good for it though!"
Percy cocked an eyebrow at that comment.
Tula meanwhile went bright red and looked resolutely away. "So what do we do now? We're in the middle of the desert and, well I'm not sure about you, but this isn't really a climate I am well suited too."
"Well we need to find some help." Percy muttered, before he looked down at his armour. "From what I have worked out at the moment, we were hit by a mental attack of some sort. I have scraps of memory, blurred images in my head, but everytime I try to focus on one I get a headache. Still, if you were also hit by the same attack then it is possible we knew each other before, and that if the few scraps I can remember are right, there might be others out there who were hit with the same attack."
"There might also be the attacker." Tula muttered, before frowning slightly. "I can't really remember anything. The last thing I remember is swimming back home from the Academy early after… well after my friend Garth confessed his feelings to me…"
Percy shifted uncomfortably at that.
"Yeah sorry, didn't mean to bring it up." Tula said quickly. "I just can't remember anything else. No scraps of memory or anything, it's just blank, and then I woke up here."
"It might be because we have a different physiology… or well honestly, I don't have c;ue." Percy shrugged. "And don't worry about it. I literally don't know you at the moment, and have no idea who this Garth is."
"Yeah but still, me whining about teenage drama is hardly helpful. Especially since you just escaped a hell dimension." Tula said.
"Well that's the thing. I'm not sure I did just escape." Percy replied. "Like you said before, I don't look anywhere near as gaunt or weak as I remember being. That and this armour is fitted to me, but completely unfamiliar. From what I can guess, I escaped from the Pit a while ago now, but just can't remember anything that happened since then."
"That must be painful." Tula muttered.
"It's not pleasant, but it's not about to emotionally cripple me either. Like I said before, I am a demigod, we're wired differently to mortals." Percy shrugged. "Now you mentioned magic before. Do you have a way to get in contact with anyone?"
Running her hands down her form fitting armour, and checking in some cleverly hidden pockets, Tula shook her head. "If I was in the sea I could easily contact Atlantis and get help. But without access to the sea I can't. I also don't have any communication device, or anything like that. Do you?"
"Well I could try an Iris Message, but if the gods have left this world that isn't an option. Plus to do that I would need a drachma to offer her, which I don't have." Percy said, checking his own armour. "I also don't have a phone or anything like that. Besides, even if I did, I don't think we would get any signal in the middle of a desert."
"True." Tula nodded. "So what do we do?"
"I suppose we just start walking, until we find someone or something that can help. I can probably draw up some groundwater when we need it, enough to keep us hydrated. But, well I'm not really sure where we are, or what happened, it is difficult to come up with a plan with so many unknowns." Percy said. This was not a good situation to be in. He didn't like it one bit. There were too many unknowns, and although Tula seemed pretty pleasant, she too was one of those unknowns.
"And if we run into enemies, or people out to get us?" Tula asked nervously.
"Then we crush them." Percy replied bluntly.
Tula winced at that, but still nodded.
She was obviously lacking in combat experience, and was very much out of her depths right now, but he could at least admire the fact she was staying strong and muddling through the best that she could.
"Come on then, let's get going." Percy said, jerking his head as he then turned and started to continue walking in the direction he had been going in previously.
"Are we going in any particular direction, or just a random one?" Tula asked as she jogged and caught up with him.
"Random." Percy shrugged. "It beats just waiting around in the middle of a desert until you die of dehydration. Besides if we get up to a higher point, the topography of the desert should allow us a greater field of vision."
Tula nodded at that.
"So," Percy said a few minutes later. "You don't really feel all that anxious to be away from Atlantis?"
"Ha, well I suppose I'm not, or at least not at the moment. I mean Atlantis is all I've ever known, and although I love it, I've never been this far inland before. Just being out here, it is all so new and exciting." Tula replied, before suddenly biting her lip, her blue eyes scanning the surrounding sea of sand. "It's a bit scary, I'll admit, being so far outside of my comfort zone. But it's exciting too, it's something different. Besides, I've been wanting to leave Atlantis for a while now, to get out and explore the world. That and I'm kind of glad to have some space right now."
Percy nodded at that, "Well you've got all the space in the world here, want to talk about it?"
"Is there a point? If we're both missing memories, it's possible all my troubles have been sorted out already. Heh, for all I know Queen Mera and my family gave their blessing for me to come to the surface so I can find myself. Just like King Orin did for Kaldur." Tula replied, a slight smile on her face now. "Is it weird that I'm not too bothered about missing memories, or at least not if it is only temporary. In fact I am kind of excited about piercing it all back together again, like a puzzle."
"Yes," Percy said resolutely, "Yes that is pretty weird."
Tula laughed softly at that.
"So why are you so glad to be away from Atlantis? I mean I only visited my Atlantis once, but when I was there, well it was beautiful, a paradise." Percy continued, curiously, shifting about uncomfortably as he did so. The heat from the sun was unpleasant, especially since the black armour he was wearing absorbed the heat of the sun so efficiently. It felt like he was slowly baking to death.
"It's for a couple of reasons really. Mainly I just feel like I have learned as much as I can. Queen Mera is a wonderful teacher and very knowledgeable. She is probably one of the strongest sorcerers in the world. But I still feel like I have plateaued. I've got the theory all down, and have advanced as far as I can in practical sense, but I am still nowhere near my Queen's level. I think it's because I am lacking in experience, and am just using the spells as I learned them and am not adapting them, or trying to improve on them." Tula said, a frown on her face as she idly kicked at the sand.
"I can understand that." Percy nodded.
"To actually see some tangible results, I think I need to be challenged, I need to have practical experience and feel the pressure and stress to adapt and improve. Being safe and secure in the Academy in Poseidonos," Percy sent her an odd look at that comment. "It's the heart of Atlantis, it's capital and the King Orin's seat of power. But yeah, being safe behind those walls, it's not helping me improve, it is just causing me to stagnate."
"Again, I can understand. I always improved the most when I was fighting. I developed my skills because I felt I needed too, to survive. It's not a shortcut, but it is a faster way of improving than just constantly and repetitively practicing. It's dangerous though." Percy said softly.
"Yeah I know, that's why I don't want to bring it up. I just know what everyone will say, and that they'll try and stop me. I mean it was alright for Kaldur, his parents fully supported his decision, and he had the backing of the King. Me though, my family is overprotective, and the Queen is great, but I don't think she would be too keen for me to go out on my own, or at least not right now." Tula rattled off, the frustration clear to hear in her voice.
"Well considering you're up here on the surface now, that obviously didn't remain the case." Percy smiled.
Tula sent him a coy smile at that. "Yeah obviously something happened. I only hope I didn't ruffle too many scales to get here."
"I'm sure it's all fine." Percy said assuringly. The oddity of his situation aside, he was actually in a pretty good mood at the moment.
The company was pleasant, and he was still riding the euphoric feeling of being free from Tartarus. Not even the heat from the blazing sun, or his hot, sticky armour, or even his temporary loss of memory, could bring his mood down at the moment. Especially not with his memories slowly returning.
Already he was getting more vivid flashes of remembrance. He could now fully visualize the armour clad beauty with raven black hair and sparkling blue eyes, and the striking, amused smile on her face. Similarly he could remember the little blonde bundle of joy that was called… D... something or other, who used to follow him around constantly asking questions and making him laugh.
Every minute that passed, these memories seemed to be getting clearer and clearer, as if his mind was fighting back against whatever mental attack had scrambled it and was instead slowly piecing itself back together.
"Yes, I'm sure it is." Tula nodded, before with a slight sigh her smile turned into a slight frown.
"You said there were other reasons?" Percy prompted, raising his hand to shade his eyes from the sun as they reached the top of the dune. His gaze, taking in the vast sea of sand that flowed out as far as the eye could see in all directions.
"Well yeah, but they are personal." Tula said uncomfortably, joining Percy at the top of the peak as she too looked around. "There was a guy, one of my best friends really, and he confessed that he loved me."
"Uh-huh," Percy hummed, his eyes narrowing as he saw what looked like a couple of small dark shadows in the distance. Far off, several miles away he could see what looked like a village of some kind, or maybe a campsite. either way it looked like some kind of civilisation. Not too far off from the encampment though, he could also see a plume of sand, and what also looked like pillars of dark smoke slowly rising into the air before dispersing. A fight of some kind maybe?
"But the thing is I am not sure if I feel the same. Sure I love him, but I'm not sure if that is love-love, or the love someone has for a close friend. I'm also worried about what would happen to our friendship if something did happen, and then it didn't work out. I've known him for most of my life, he is one of my closest friends, I don't want to ruin that." Tula continued to speak, worrying her lip with her teeth, even as a slight wind kicked up some sand and sent her short red hair waving about around her.
"Sometimes you just have to take that chance." Percy replied, his gaze still on the far off fight, before it panned back to the nearby encompantment. His mind whirling as he tried to work out if it was worth approaching them when they could be enemies and the ones that attacked them in the first place? "Many years ago, when I was around fifteen or so, I fell in love with my best friend. We'd been together through thick and thin, and were close, really close. Despite that, I still fell in love with her, and after we both turned sixteen we started a relationship."
"So how did that end?" Tula asked nervously.
Narrowing his eyes, Percy saw the cloud of sand from the fight start to disperse. It seemed like whatever had been happening over there, was now over. "It started well, but then I was kidnapped by Hera and six months later was dumped in the middle of nowhere with my memories wiped. After that we met up again, and things once again started going well. Only for her to then be dragged in to Tartarus, and for me to jump in after her. Long story short, she died down there, and I didn't, and now more than a hundred years later here I am alone, and still missing her. And if that isn't bad enough, I am also apparently living in an alternate world to my own..."
Percy turned away from the landscape at this point, and looked back to the suddenly very nervous and uncomfortable looking, Tula. "I don't think I am much of a role model as far as relationships go. My first romance was doomed from the start and ended in tragedy. My romances after that were with monsters and evil goddesses, and none of them were particularly loving, they were more frenemies with benefits kind of arrangements, only they spanned decades, as opposed to weeks."
"Yeah, you sound pretty fucked up." Tula said bluntly. "It kind of makes my own teen melodrama pale in comparison."
"I'm a demigod, we were born distorted and broken. Our lives are nothing but a joke." Percy replied, his gaze once again panning out to the desert and the encampment in the distance, but only for a moment before he saw a dark smudge in the sky that seemed to be heading their way.
"If you want my advice." Percy then continued, turning back to look at Tula now. "Screw duty, and screw other people's expectations. I wasted the best years of my life doing my duty to my father, and doing what others expected of me. And what was my reward? Losing the girl I loved and a century in literal hell. So really my advice is this, do what makes you happy. If you want to leave Atlantis and explore the world, do it. Don't wait for permission, it's your life and no one else's. And if this guy confesses to you, then be honest with him. If you don't want a relationship, or don't feel ready, tell him that. Don't conform to anyone else's desires or needs, instead do what everyone else does, and do what's best for you."
"But what happens if I hurt them?" Tula asked, her voice suddenly very small.
"Then that's their problem. I mean, be nice about it, but be firm and tell them what you want in life. It's far better than remaining silent and just going through the motions, only for you to then be miserable for the rest of your life." Percy said bluntly, a slight smile on his face as he reached out and ruffled Tula's hair. "You only have one life to live, you might as well live it the way you want too."
"T-thanks." Tula nodded, her cheeks darkening slightly as she looked away from him. "You know for a cynical, crazy old man, that thinks he's a demigod, you're alright."
"Old?" Percy asked, before looking down at himself. "I'm not old. Time in the Pit works differently to how it works in the regular world. From what Selene told me, I was time locked whilst I was down there, I didn't age a day, so technically, I am still seventeen."
"Uh-huh, I don't think it works like that. Physically you might be a teen, but mentally you're just a craggy, grumpy old man." Tula shot back, her previous demeanor changing as her full lips twisted upwards into a slight smile. "And who is Selene?"
Percy visibly shivered at that. "She… That's a story for another time, you're far too young and innocent to hear about that sociopath. Besides," Percy gestured up in the sky at the rapidly approaching black dot. "We're about to have company."
Twisting around quickly at that comment, Tula's eyes narrowed as she spotted the approaching plane. "Are we going to flag it down then? They might be able to help!"
"Only if they're friendly." Percy muttered, unsheathing his sword with one hand, even as he gave Tula's shoulder a squeeze with the other, and then gestured for her to get behind him.
In response Tula moved so she was mostly sheltered by his armoured, bulky frame, even as Percy gave his sword a few practice swings and then looked up at the rapidly approaching plane. The whir of its engines was now audible to both of them.
"What exactly are you going to do if it isn't friendly?" Tula asked. "I need water to use my magic, and well since you're a son of Poseidon, you probably need it too."
"Just watch." Percy replied, his gaze still on the plane, even as it continued to unrelentingly approach their position. It turns out standing at the top of the ridge not only made it easy for them to see the land around them, it also made them more easily visible, especially from the air.
Raising his hand, Percy was fortunately not too taken off guard when the plane suddenly opened fire, bullets spattering across the sand as it continued to swoop down and strafe passed them.
Instead, having suspected something like this, Percy instead slammed his foot on the ground and thrust his hand out and towards the plane.
Almost at once the sand around him exploded, even as a sudden massive gust of wind hit him and Tula from behind, sending the short redhead crashing into his immovable form.
Ignoring this however, Percy continued to focus on the plane, even as his sword flashed out, deflecting at least two bullets from the plane, even as two more slammed into him. One of them glancing off his side, scratching his armour but nothing more, whilst the other clipped him in the shoulder, shattering the armour and causing shards of metal to dig painfully into his skin, but not hopefully not fully penetrating it.
Gritting his teeth and ignoring the pain, Percy thrust his hand up and unleashed a wall of sand and wind at the plane. A vast tsunami of sand suddenly rising up from the desert, even as the plane turned to initiate another strafing attack, only for it to then be hit and completely swamped by the sudden storm of sand.
With a loud sputtering, and a sudden crashing sound following by the explosion of its engines, the plane crashed down a couple of dozen feet from their current position, its pilot almost certainly dead as the remnants of the plane rolled several times down a dune until it came to rest half buried in sand at the bottom.
"Dick." Percy muttered, sheathing his sword as he instead looked down at his busted up shoulder armour, only for him to then ripped the shattered pauldron off the armour, to reveal more broken up armour underneath, and a small wet patch from where a couple of the broken shards of his own armour had pierced his skin.
"Percy, you were shot!" Tula shouted, helpfully stating the obvious, even as she quickly started to help him peel away some of the broken pieces of his armour.
"I noticed." Percy said dryly, a slight frown on his face as he peeled away the remnants of the armour, and pulled out a couple of the pieces that had embedded themselves in his flesh. Thankfully it wasn't a bad wound though, the brunt of the force had been lost when it shattered his pauldron. Instead he had only been left with what would probably be a magnificent bruise, and a few small shallow cuts.
"It's fine," Percy said after checking it out for a moment, and really it was, give it an hour and it would be pretty much healed. "Let's head down and see if the radio on the plane still works."
"Right," Tula nodded, the concerned look on her face still present, even as she sent him one more worried glance before she slid down the dune and headed towards the plane.
Rolling his shoulder, Percy made to follow her, his eyes still flickering around as he tried to spot whether any other aircrafts or vehicles might be heading their way.
A part of him strongly suspected that that plane had come from the encampment he had seen previously, and that it had been specifically looking for them. Which of course begged the question, what else and who else was out there also looking for them?
( - )
(With Aqualad)
Pushing himself unsteadily up and onto his feet, Kaldur could feel his head spinning wildly, even as he desperately tried not to stumble and fall over.
He had a pounding headache, and his throat was parched, and everything seemed to ache, even his skin.
He wasn't in a good place right now.
"Here," The redheaded girl who helped him up said, holding out a bottle of water to him.
"Thanks." Kaldur rasped out, taking the bottle and quickly taking a few sips. Already around him he could see several other empty bottles. He was not made for the desert, the sand and the scorching sun, it was drying him out, almost making him feel delirious.
"You're welcome," The girl nodded.
Smiling tiredly at this, Kaldur eyed the girl's garb for a moment, taking in the black cloak, and familiar looking black bodysuit, complete with a yellow bat sigil. It looked like a slightly less armoured version of Batman's costume, similar to Robin's usual outfit, only bat themed instead of bird themed.
"So I'm Barbara." The now named Barbara told him. "But you can just call me Barb."
"Kaldur'ahm," Kaldur replied. "But just Kaldur is fine. If you don't mind me asking, where are we?"
"Ah," The girl muttered. "I was actually going to ask you that. I mean I know we're in a desert, because well it's obvious. It's just, well I am from Gotham originally, and well there aren't any deserts near me, so…"
Kaldur frowned at that for a moment, before suddenly wincing as a lance of pain went through his head, alongside of which he also had a sudden flash of Robin, Kid Flash and several others, all standing around a large computer screen on which there was a map of some place and a number of pictures. It was vague, but there was one thing he remembered.
"Bialya," Kaldur said suddenly. "My memory is hazy, but I remember we were sent on a mission to Bialya."
"Bialya… isn't that like one of those evil, oppressed, police state places, which is like ruled by a dictator?" Barb asked, suddenly nervous.
"Yes, Queen Bee, an 'alleged' supervillain rules over it." Kaldur nodded, a frown on his face as he tried to remember why they were sent here. "I'm not sure why we were sent here, but I'm pretty sure it was for an important reason."
"It better be," Barb said, kicking one of the empty bottles away. "And who is this we you spoke of? Oh, and why am I also here?"
"I remember we had a briefing, and I think Kid Flash and Robin were there, but the rest is all a blur. It's like someone has messed with my memory." Kaldur sighed, rubbing his aching head once more. "I'm sorry, I don't know much more. But I can guess, going off the costume and the fact that you're from Gotham, that you may work with Batman?"
"Erm, I think I would remember that…'' Barb said, a bemused smile on her face, before her smile faded as she instead looked around at the desert. "Or maybe that's the problem, I don't remember it. I mean I obviously know who Batman is, my dad is the police commissioner and works with him. But I've never met him personally."
"Maybe you have and you just don't remember it." Kaldur suggested, before finishing his bottle of water. "Either way we need to do something."
With that said, and with him feeling markedly better now, he walked past Barb and instead went to the black box full of equipment and other high tech gear.
"Hopefully we'll be able to find something in here to help us out." Kaldur muttered, his gaze roving over the spare batarangs, water holders, bow and arrows and several medieval looking weapons, before fixing on a small communicator. "Ah here we are, let's just hope we have a signal." Picking it up, Kaldur proceeded to turn it on, only for his expression to turn into a frown as it asked for a passcode, a passcode he didn't currently remember.
"Wait, you might want to hold that thought." Barb said suddenly, her attention no longer on him, but instead on something else in the distance.
"What's the problem." Kaldur said, putting the unfortunately useless communicator back where he found it, as he instead rejoined Barb.
"That." Barbara said, point now at a distant plume of sand.
Narrowing his eyes against the blazing sun, Kaldur quickly went back into the box and then came out again with a compacted set of binoculars, complete with the bat motif on the side.
"Can you see what it is?" Barabara asked nervously, her gloved hands wringing together nervously as she looked to him for answers.
"Trouble." Kladur said, handing the binoculars over to the redhead. "Three armoured jeeps are headed this way, all of them filled with armed soldiers in military fatigues."
"Maybe they are friendly?" Barbara tried valiantly, only for her tone to come out as completely disbelieving.
"In Bialya?" Kaldur said softly. "No, I think we are going to need to get ready for a fight."
Looking back at the box full of weaponry behind her, Barb managed a weak smile. "Well at least we won't be unarmed."
"Don't worry," Kaldur said, trying to project confidence he didn't feel. The middle of the desert was the worst possible place for a child of the sea. "I'll keep you safe."
( - )
(Elsewhere in the desert)
"Make sure he remains under control." A harsh voice called out, even as several Bialyian soldiers dragged the unconscious Superboy clone, one of the Light's more valuable assets, over to a nearby table, only for them to then strap him onto the table, including placing metal bands around his head, neck, arms, legs and waist, and then bolting those bands into the metal table. "It was already annoying enough taking him down the first time."
"Don't worry." A gaunt, pale man in a hooded coat said as he walked up alongside him. "I'll make sure he does what Psimon says."
"Can you not refer to yourself in the third person, you're creepy enough already." He replied, his eyes cold as he glared down at the insipid little telepath, before then looking at the captured clone.
"Understood," Psimon said coldly, his creepy gaze fixing with his own for a moment, before the smaller man looked away from him. The telepath was lacking a spine, he didn't have the balls to cause him trouble.
"Good, now you know what to do with him." He pressed on bluntly, tugging slightly at the black and orange mask he wore, the desert, and this whole country for that matter, it was disgustingly hot.
"Yes," Psimon replied in his sibilant voice. "And what will you do, Deathstroke?"
"I'll continue to clean up your mess." Deathstroke replied irritably. If only the creepy idiot could have just knocked them all unconscious when he hacked into their psychic link, but no, apparently that wasn't possible. So instead he had to waste his time hunting down memory-addled children in the desert. "Make sure the clone doesn't escape, and that things here remain under control while I hunt down the rest of the intruders."
"Be careful out there, some of them are pretty strong." Psimon chuckled nastily.
Deathstroke grunted at that and absentmindedly fingered one of the guns on his waist. If the pay wasn't so good, he would love nothing more than to put a bullet through the smug telepath's freakish head.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, the pay was substantial. Substantial enough that he didn't bother wasting any more time trading barbs with the telepath, as he instead strode outside and mounted up with another, thankfully fresh, convoy of soldiers.
One of the Bialyian's planes had just been taken down half a dozen clicks north of the encampment.
It was time to hunt down the rest of the brats before they caused him, and the Light, more trouble than they already had.
( - )
AN: So what do you all think? Some character development, a little action and a nice setup for the climax of this little arc next chapter. Suffice to say I am excited to write the upcoming conflict. It is going to be messy.
That said this chapter is also important as it explores a bit of the lore, and as some purists might notice I am kind of doing my own thing as far as Atlantis goes. After all DC lore about the Atlanteans is so convoluted, contradictory and all over the place, depending on which iteration or world you look at, that I've decided to take favoured bits from all over the place. Hence the royal and noble houses, their origins, and the reason behind their powers and their connection to the sea. All of which will be fun to explore once Percy comes in like a bull in a china shop.
Added to that it also allowed me to explore gods in the DC, which is also pretty vague and all over the place. Hence why I decided to go with singular celestial beings with a collective memory and countless aspects that conform and then self actualizing to the beliefs of their believers. With their believers acting as a gateway, or tie that allows their aspect to interact with that world. There is more to it, but I do have some ideas for the old gods, new gods and Apokolipsians that I am quite excited to explore. That and of course it gave me some room for character development and character interactions, which personally, was one of my favourite parts of Young Justice, and probably PJO for that matter.
Not much to say other than that. Initially I had wanted to finish this arc in this chapter, but unfortunately I had too much I wanted to add in, and it would have run to 16k + if I wasn't careful.
That said that just means I already have some material for the next chapter, which will be coming at some point soon, though I think I want to get an update of Last King out first, as it really has been a while since I updated that story.
Other than that, thanks for reading and please leave a review etc.
Have a good one, and stay safe out there.
Greed720.
AN2:
18/05/2021: An additional piece of news, is that a YouTuber with a new YouTube channel recently messaged me asking permission to do an audio version of Oncoming Storm on his new channel. I said sure, and he's recently posted the first chapter. If you guys fancy listening to it, or no someone who might want to listen to it, be sure to check it out.
The channel is on YouTube, and is called "Fanfic Reader", so far he has published the first chapter, so please do check it out/ give it a go, if you have the time and desire too. Also, I don't personally have anything to do with the channel, so if you have questions, suggestions or compliments etc, post them there.
Cheers, and as an extra update on progress on the chapter, I have started the new update, and will hopefully have the next chapter out soon.
Greed720.