Chapter Title: The Fruit Of Our Labors
After that train wreck of an encounter in downtown Tehachapi, things were pretty much uneventful for the rest of the short car ride to the loop itself. Even so, my mind was constantly wracked by thinking about exactly what that encounter meant. Why the hell was the Catholic Church even interested in Colton? Why did they not want him to give Argonaut back to us Romans?
It was pretty confusing, if you ask me. Really, really confusing indeed. I mean, you could chalk maybe at least part of it up to just him being the Monster King after all. Since he was the ruler of all monsters, the more I thought about it, the more it made sense to me at least that he had to perhaps deal with other religions as a result of his title. But, I don't think that totally explained it all to be honest. There had to be more, much more to this — stuff that I currently had no way of knowing at this moment. So, I was just baffled really by all of this — more or less.
I honestly would have to say now that if anything, this whole quest seemed to be more designed to give me a crash course into Greek demigods — and how Michael and Colton operated in particular — than anything else.
But either way, I had little time to even reflect on this quest and how it served to shatter every single old assumption and prejudice Romans had against the Greeks, one by one. For, we still had a job to do. It was time to retrieve Argonaut, after all. It was what this quest was all about.
I sighed as Charís brought the car to a halt on the side of the road next to the Tehachapi Loop Overlook on the opposite side of the road from us. I turned my head now to look at the loop, since I had been looking the other way at the hillside for some reason. I do not know why, but I just wanted to. The sound of locomotives pushing and roaring hard up the uphill track towards Tehachapi could be heard echoing in the air, most likely since the rear end of a train had just passed the loop and was howling off into the distance.
At the center of the loop, the same sort of golden light we had seen emitting from the location when we passed by the loop yesterday was still there, still rising on up into the morning sky. It seemed beautiful in a way, to be honest - from where I was looking at it. Either way, Colton wasn't wasting any time on this morning just to get this whole thing moving - regardless of this site being private property, which according to him it was at this time, we were going down to that hill in the middle of the loop to get Argonaut one way or another. I didn't see any way around it at all.
(Mid-Chapter A/N: As of late June 2023, when I visited the Tehachapi Loop last year, according to some students studying nature from a university in the Midwest United States (forgot which one it was), the Tehachapi Loop is now currently a nature preserve instead of a private ranch property. Much of this preserve is on the east side of Highway 58 in the area, but the loop which sits on the west side of the highway is also part of the preserve. At the time of the events of the Heroes Of Olympus - both in canon and in this fanfic - though back in 2010, the Tehachapi Loop was private property, something to be noted going forward as the author does not endorse trespassing on private property at all. Thank you.)
The aforementioned boy opened the passenger door in front of my seat, since I was sitting behind him, and hopped out of the car like he was going straight into a battlefield, once he got the Whitworth out first so he didn't twist his ankles or legs getting out with it between his legs if he did so, of course. He turned back to the car, looking at me - and probably Michael too. "Come on, guys.." he said as I heard Charís open his door on the other side of the car. "..the sooner you two get out, the sooner we can grab Argonaut and get out without anyone noticing."
I groaned, and started to do so, slowed down a little by having armor on and also carrying a sword - my manubalista still being in the bag which was with Michael in the seat behind me. I'll be honest, I didn't get much sleep last night - I was wracked with anxiety about retrieving Argonaut. I mean, this was a legendary sword we were talking about here - a weapon that was actually used by Jupiter for gods' sake - and I really didn't want to mess this up at all, okay? Like, I really did not want to mess this up as a Roman. The rest of the legion would never let me or the rest of the 5th Cohort live it down - well, almost all of them.
Michael let out a litany of mumbled phrases upon being told to get up, and even though I couldn't make out all of what he was saying, I was pretty sure that there was some profanity intermixed in there too. I had to admit, these two were pretty prone to profanity a lot and to be honest, I couldn't blame them. Being a son of Mars couldn't really excuse all of it in Colton's case, because as I had learned from both him, Michael, and what I noticed between him and Percy back before the war games, there was so much more that fueled his angry, yet surprisingly level-headed personality that seemed to be a pure contradiction in and of itself.
The warm, mid to high 70s air was nice to feel stepping out of the car, but it was well-known that it would get much hotter today, so the faster we dug up Argonaut and got the heck out of dodge, the better. Besides, who knows who or what Gaea has sent up here in the mountains to make sure we don't succeed and she gets the sword? Despite not having much sleep, those thoughts seem to jolt me wide awake now because seriously, I didn't want to have to see the sword fall into the wrong hands. I really didn't.
I chewed on another pack of bubblegum I had started to chew on when this car ride started as I got out, and just simply watched as Colton quickly walked around to the back, opened the trunk, and got out the shovels that he had Charís buy last night. The herald himself stood next to the roadside to my left, gazing out at our objective.
Michael was still grumbling as he got out behind me as another car passed by on the road. "We really have to dig there..?" he asked, and Colton shot him a look as he came back around after closing the trunk.
"Yes.. what we're after is located there, so the sooner we can get it out of there, the sooner we can get out of here and back on the road back towards Camp Jupiter.. because remember, that army Gaea sent will strike in less than two days.." Colton said, and I shuddered. I forgot that the 24th of June was the day after tomorrow. So we had to hurry and quickly here, if we wanted to make it back in time or at least with plenty of time to spare as of now.
"Gods, I hope everyone is getting ready back at camp.." I said nervously in between chewing bubblegum, gripping my sword tightly.
"I'm sure they probably are.." Charís said without turning his head towards me, and to be honest, that made me feel a little better inside. I turned to Michael, who was standing right next me, bow in hand and quiver of arrows on his back. His eyes were darting left and right frequently, as if he was looking for something it seemed.
"Doesn't seem like any monsters are in the area.. that's nice.." he said, and I sighed in annoyance. It most likely was not going to be that easy, and the fact that I can say this knowing that it was inevitable that an encounter with monsters when things seemed this easy would occur, since according to past questers it had happened before, automatically disqualified this from me jinxing us. I may have been a very hyperactive soul, but I knew what I was getting into here.
"Yew.." Colton muttered. "Don't get complacent now. We had no idea what might be waiting for us or what might encounter us here. So keep your eyes peeled at all times." The way he stressed that emphasized how much he wasn't taking any chances with this at all - because I could tell even he sensed that this was too easy.
It had to be - there was no other way that it couldn't be right now. "Yeah.. quests are never meant to be this easy.." I said. "I don't like it at all."
Colton handed me a shovel, while he handed Charís the other one, and grasped the Whitworth firmly in his hands, the weapon capped and half cocked while held under his right shoulder, muzzle at the height of the eye. Since the weapon was at half cock, it was very likely that he already had a round from his cartridge box loaded into the muzzle. To be fair though, looking at a guy wearing Roman armor with Civil War-era equipment attached by the belts of the era fitted perfectly around the armor did still seem a bit weird for me at this point. Anyways, rotating it counter-clockwise now, he let the butt of the piece lower to the ground without shock, and held the piece now so that the muzzle of the weapon was now about two inches from the right breast, the toe of the butt against, and in a line with the toe of his right foot from what it looked like, the barrel perpendicular to it. His left hand had the forefinger extended along the stock alongside the thumb, his other fingers extended and joined. It seemed very similar to what he had done prior to the War Games a couple of days before, yet also different as if he was doing a different set of motions silently now.
His right hand left the weapon and traveled to his right side, which his body concealed from view. He seized something, and then began to draw it from whatever it was held in. Once the object was fully drawn, it was obvious what it was. A bayonet, drawn out of its scabbard. A weapon meant for close quarters combat, just like our swords.
I couldn't help but sweat a little. He really was taking no chances indeed. The fact that he was doing all of this silently only added to how intimidating it seemed to me, because at least prior the War Games, you could hear him call out the motions he was doing. Here though, you couldn't, so you could only guess until you saw it as to what he was actually doing.
His right hand brought the bayonet over to the muzzle of the Whitworth, his hand flipping it around so that the long pointed blade extension of the attachment now pointed upwards, careful not to cut himself on what obviously looked like points that had been sharpened to a fine edge, it seemed. Lowering the bayonet to the muzzle, he forced it down onto it with an obvious click, which was followed by another couple of clicks as he turned the clasp of the bayonet towards his body with his right hand, securing it in place. With the little pinky finger of his right hand now placed on top of the ramrod, he slid his left hand further down the barrel extending his arm as he did so.
With his right hand, he now raised the piece vertically while keeping his hand clamped firmly around the upper end of the weapon, sliding his hand down a bit as he did this while turning the musket lock to the front. His left hand grasped the weapon a few inches above the half cocked lock, allowing his right hand to slide all the way down and grasp the small of the stock with it. Placing the musket on his right shoulder, he grasped the flat of the stock with the right hand across the top, the left hand shifting downwards a bit as he did so, before he left his left hand drop back to his side.
I shuddered some more, very much intimidated by the sight of Colton using a bayonet, something that he didn't use during the War Games. To be fair, at least looking back on it, I imagine that he probably saw that he wouldn't have to use it much as one, he knew that he wasn't going to have to contend with defenders coming out to attack him, and two, in the confines of the fort, he likely saw that a bayonet tipped rifle would probably be much less useful than his swords. But here, anything could happen, and I imagine that he knew it full well too.
"The old silent type again huh, Reynolds?" Michael quipped, trying to lighten the mood. It seemed like he still hadn't grasped the seriousness of the situation, but then again as I turned around to look at him, he had an arrow nocked on his bow now and was holding it pretty firmly, indicating that he was at least aware of it - at least that's what it seemed to me.
"I can do every motion from Gilham's manual of arms in my sleep, Yew. Shut up.." Colton responded. Michael did after that, simply rolling his eyes and shrugging his shoulders a bit in the process, the grip he had on his bow and the arrow he had nocked on it not loosening a bit at all. I had to admit though, that did sound pretty impressive indeed - and also very scary as well. The thought of being shot in the head from a distance and the last thing you see is a guy with his eyes closed doing all of these motions in his sleep was a pretty scary thing to imagine, I'll be honest.
Another car passed by, the sound of it fading into the distance much quicker than the train as it disappeared around the corner and given the fact that both mortals inside didn't even give a glance at us, I was willing to bet that the spell that Charís has placed on us yesterday was still active at this time, which was nice. How much that would conceal what we would be doing, since in getting at Argonaut we would have to be trespassing on private property, remained to be seen though.
"Alright, we move now.." Colton said, and we all crossed the road, beginning the careful descent down the slope above the loop towards it and the spot where the light displaying Argonaut's location rose out of the ground, and most likely through it since again we did shovels, and into the sky. Colton, Michael, and Charís' eyes all looked around, scanning the area for enemies. I did a bit of that as well too, because like I said before, I felt very uneasy about all of this to be honest. The fact that we had still encountered no enemies in being this close to our objective, as thanks to Charis' fire melting the barbed wire fence in front of us, we walked through the gap in it that Charís had created.
The noise of the train from earlier had faded into the distance, meaning that since the owner's car was not at the house right next to the loop, except for the rumble of cars at times behind us and also constantly from the highway nearby everything was quiet up here on the loop, which did nothing to ease my anxiety and worry about all of this. Nor did it seem to make any of the other three people with me feel any less anxious either, given how Colton, Michael, and Charís were all still very much on edge.
We crossed the tracks now, walking along the short straightway section of track between the curves leading up to the end of this short section of double track and the tunnel that through it went track that went on up to Tehachapi and the downhill angling curve that went down to the other end of this section of double track and the tunnel directly under our feet now. "What are the odds that this might be a trap?" Michael muttered, only raising the anxiety in me even more now.
"I.. don't think so, Yew.." Colton muttered. Michael looked at him, surprised.
"Why?" Michael asked him.
"Judging from the behavior of Chrysaor and his crew yesterday, I don't think they or any of Gaea's minions had any idea of where Argonaut would be, and I imagine they likely thought it would be somewhere else in the mountains away from an environment where the risk to mortals is greater.." Colton answered back, and I had to admit, that did make sense - to an extent. Even though Gaea was the earth herself, until she had eliminated us demigods and the gods, I doubt she would have her forces go out of their way to hurt mortals unless absolutely necessary.
That didn't excuse what Chrysaor and his crew had probably done to Leclerc though, honestly. But as we left the dirt road next to the tracks on the opposite side of the cut that the tunnel below was at the start of, and headed onto the hill in the middle of the loop, it was a better explanation as to why things seemed way too quiet than anything else I could think of, that was for sure.
We all walked up to the spot of glowing light that indicated where Argonaut was, and as I had suspected - and Colton already had determined based on the fact that he had Charís get shovels last night, the light was coming from under the ground, close to the single tree at the crest of the small hill.
"Perceptive as ever, Colton.. no wonder you had Charís get shovels.." Michael said dryly, and without any hint of surprise, which I guess was natural. After all, Michael had spent quite a few years with Colton and some months with knowledge of Charís' existence, even if he had been amnesiac for over a week along with Colton and the others, so I guess such a comment was natural.
Either way, I sighed. Digging for the sword would most definitely take some time, which hopefully meant that now I was praying that it wasn't too deep, or we would be definitely drawing some serious unwanted attention to our location. Either way, we had come this far for the sword, and we weren't about to walk away from it now. The look in Colton's eyes said this more than the rest of us, full of determination, perseverance, and initiative. "Alright.. Lavinia, Charís, start digging.." Colton ordered. "Michael, you and me take watch."
Michael nodded, while Charís simply said, "As you wish, young master.." in a polite tone before forcing the tip of his shovel underneath the ground and began digging. Likewise, I started to do the same without question, as Colton and Michael simply began to walk in a circle around us like vultures, their eyes always trained on the terrain around us.
It was slowly getting hotter, that I could tell as it seemed to rise in such a way you could almost be certain when it had shifted at least a quarter of a degree higher than before, which seemed weird but I really didn't question it much. It almost felt like we were digging for treasure as the old pirates had done in those stories I had heard of as a child before Camp Jupiter, except instead of an island in the middle of the ocean, we were digging on a hill in the middle of mountains next to a railroad while still on a major land mass. Quite a downgrade, isn't it? I guess that just went to show how much real life is not fiction, if I had to be honest here.
Anyways, nothing much was happening as we dug, which only made me more and more worrier about what exactly might show up to challenge us for the sword. The deeper we dug, the more that worry became more and more evident inside of me. The silence up on the loop was just too unnerving. Taking quick glances at Colton and Michael, you could tell that they felt it too as Michael's hands fidgeted quite a bit more with his bow and arrow as the minutes ticked by, while Colton's hands slid a bit up and down the rifle as well.
5 minutes in, we had dug at least maybe a good bit of earth, but it seemed there was still more dirt to go before we reached Argonaut. It felt very, very frustrating to be very honest here. The longer we dug here, the sooner Gaea would be able to lock on our position and send whatever kind of monsters she had in the area at us. That alone caused me to pick up the pace, determined to get to the sword, get it, and then get the heck out of dodge before that happened. I hoped it would be the case here that this scenario would be the case.
I kept chewing bubble gum in my mouth all the while as we kept digging, my eyes glancing every which way for the most part as me and Charís continued at it, my anxiety pretty much completely visible not if it hadn't been before now. We had now been digging for perhaps 7 minutes - I had lost track by now to be honest. The two Greeks were still at it keeping lookout, their concentration having not decreased any bit at all since we had start digging here. Finally, I felt my shovel hit something solid.
I gasped. Hopefully, I didn't just damage Argonaut, I thought nervously. I would never let myself live it down if I did.
"Hey, I think I got something!" I called out, and Colton and Michael both turned around towards me.
"What are you waiting for?" Colton called out. "Bring it out!"
I dropped my shovel next to me near the hole me and Charís had been digging, my hands now grabbing handfuls of dirt and flinging it out, as Charís used his powers to burn away dirt on his side. It soon became obvious that much to my relief, I had not damaged Argonaut like I had previously worried, to which I let an obvious sigh expressing that relief. Even so, I was stunned to what we found after me and Charís had pulled or burnt away dirt with our hands. Apparently, my shovel had struck what looked to be the top of a metal box.
I pulled it out of the hole we had dug once we had removed enough dirt to do so. The metal seemed a bit rusted, consistent with having been buried underground for quite some time. This matched up with the time frame of Argonaut having been missing for quite some time, since the Legion had lost the sword when it was stolen by a thief in the early 1900s. Either way, it seemed, the sword would once again be back in the hands of the legion and very easily.
Of course, in saying that, I just had to jinx us because as soon as I thought that, the ground started shaking.
"What the..?" Michael said, stunned.
Even as I looked around, I noticed Colton cock his hammer of his rifle from half cock to full cock, meaning that he was now ready to fire. If so, that could only mean one thing.
We were about to have an encounter with some serious opposition.
"I have a bad feeling about this, Reynolds.." Michael continued as the rumbling just got louder and louder, almost like another freight train was climbing up towards the loop, which to be fair none were at this time thankfully. Because right now is the worst time for any trains to be near this location.
"You don't fucking say, Yew.." Colton shot back, as he gripped his rifle tightly, awaiting and looking around for what might be coming to fight us.
Seconds later, part of the hillside around the loop to the northwest of us midway between the base of the slope and its crest exploded, dirt and chunks of stone being flung into the air and all around as we all hit the deck, all except Charís that is. When the dust cleared and I looked up where the hole had been, I gulped in fear, because what had come through the earth, despite being familiar, definitely wasn't normal at all.
What had just burrowed through the Earth was the Trojan Sea Monster, the same beast Jason had slain that one time, except this time, he had features that were not normal for the creature at all. The beast looked the same as it had been back when Hercules had slain it and when Jason had too, a long shark-like beast with a spiny back, an undulating tail, and three long scars just behind its mouth on either side of its head. What was not normal about this creature though was that this time, the Trojan Sea Monster had legs and feet.. legs and feet that looked just like those unfamiliar creatures that attacked us at the gas station a couple of days ago.
Then, I noticed something emitting from where the legs met its body. Glowing particles of energy that flickered briefly as they rose up from that area and disappeared, just like particles of.. magic. That disturbed me, and judging from the reactions of Colton and Michael, it was clear that they had noticed too.
"Wait.. what the fuck? Is that magic there..? What the hell is this beast doing having magic give it limbs from the Serpo.. whatever those things were called..?" Michael shouted over to Colton and the Trojan Sea Monster eyed us hungrily, looking at us like we were a meal.
"Serpopards, Yew.. and I have no clue.. but this is not good at all.." Colton said back, and this was the understatement of the moment. This was absolutely unheard of in any sense. "In any event, looks like we're going to have to kill that if we're going to get out of here."
"Like how..? Get swallowed by it like Hercules had and stab it from the inside..?" Michael shot back.
"Maybe, though hopefully it doesn't have to come to that.." Colton said, angrily eyeing the beast all the while with a fierceness in his eyes that seemed almost unnatural to him.
To be fair, given what Mars had said about Thanatos being chained, it made sense that Gaea and her forces would be able to bring back the Trojan Sea Monster much quicker. But it didn't explain why it now had legs and feet seemingly attached to it by magic - it didn't make any sense. None of Gaea's minions had the ability to be able to do such things.. unless..
I quickly shoved that thought to the side as the Trojan Sea Monster, with its new legs now leaped from its perch on the hillside near the hole it had burrowed out of towards us, drawing my sword. No time to think of that now, time to battle Lavinia. Besides, there's no way that this monster had been given legs and feet by an unknown force from another mythology entirely..
..could it?