They say an ample opportunity will arrive out of nowhere, and drop into a person's lap. Well that could not be any more true for Percy Jackson and his friends. When he was taken to this Observatory and given the opportunity to look into the different universes that surround him, well it certainly has not done well for him.
He has seen himself as the most powerful vampire in existence, as a victim infected with an alien parasite, and as a soldier who lost every piece of his body and limbs. The previous viewing was certainly a challenge to get through due to watching his friends die.
But now, he was taking a break and looking at the rest of the Observatory with Cortana leading them.
"This Observatory was established approximately 300 years ago, and has gone through several Overseers until Nick was posted here 5 years ago. Our first stop will be the dining room and kitchen area where we can suit your culinary needs."
Cortana led them inside the dining room, the table was long with multiple chairs and a fireplace nearby. On the other side of the table saw a window where the kitchen was housing many androids that were cooking and prepping meals and ingredients.
"Wow." Annabeth said as she looked around at the architecture. She then walked to the window to watch the androids prep.
Leo also walked to the window to look at the androids and learn about how advanced they looked with their precision and movement as if they were trained chefs with years of their experience. "These robots look amazing! Who's their manufacturer?"
"These androids were created in the main space station of the D.A.C.A." Cortana answered his question.
The gods were for the most part, indifferent about it, since they had they could just instantly make whatever food they wanted. The only ones mildly interested in this was Poseidon, Hephaestus, Apollo, Hermes, and Hestia.
"So how exactly are you able to record these multiverses?" Percy asked Cortana.
The blue A.I. woman looked towards him before opening her hand and a holographic projection of a small circular drone with an optic appeared above her hand. "We send out several of these small drones into a designated universe to document and they send the footage back to their respective Observatory for inspection and documentation. After that, we send the footage to HQ for additional analysis and storage."
"How do those drones not get caught?" Leo asked.
"State of the art camouflage system. Reflective chassis on the drone that renders it invisible to all camera and naked eye. Cannot be picked up on thermal or movement based surveillance systems. Spared no expense, as John Hammond once said."
"How do you finance all of this?" Hades asked. "This must be impossible to finance in any sort of way."
Cortana had a smirk as she put a hand on her hip. "The Director of this organization has a lot of connections, including several gods much like you. That, and it wasn't just him when he created this organization. Several different universes such as those designated as Star Wars, Star Trek, Mass Effect, Stargate, and many other universes that delve into space stations assisted in the creation of these Observatories."
"Wow." Annabeth whispered as she looked around, her mind racing a million miles an hour. Percy watched her and smiled, always happy to see her when she's excited for something, it reminded him of the happier times. When she spoke about her dream of creating something permanent. Percy then brought up a question, "Have you ever employed an Annabeth to help?"
Annabeth heard the question and looked at him in surprise. Cortana responded, "Actually yes. After all, you can't build something permanent without the greatest Architect in your universe."
Athena looked at her daughter, and a twitch at the edge of her lips made her hesitate. Was she... Proud of her? It made her question herself. 'Have I truly wronged my daughter?'
"How was this all possible? Like, how did you discover the Multiverse?" Jason asked.
Cortana then explained, "Our Director was always fascinated by the concept of there being other universes. He's a scientist by hobby, and has spent years trying to discover a way to travel to a new universe. It wasn't until he died, and magically appeared in a new universe that he began to learn more. Several universes later, he finally discovered the complex mathematical and magical equation needed to create a portal capable of punching into a new universe."
"You said he died, but then showed up in a new universe." Hades spoke up. "Are you suggesting he was reincarnated?"
"The Director is an immortal being, so more like his spirit was transported to a new universe." Cortana clarified.
"Who is your Director?" Paul asked, utterly fascinated by it all.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Cortana said with a smirk before beginning to move on. "Come along now, still have lots to show you all!"
The kids looked at each other, "That was a bull crap way to get out of answering that particular question." Thalia said.
"Best to accept it for now. I want to see more!" Annabeth exclaimed before grabbing Percy's arm to drag him along.
Everyone left the dining room and went back to the hallway where Cortana continued forward. "Excuse me, um. Just a quick question, but you're an A.I, right?" Leo asked.
"I am." Cortana acknowledged with a nod.
"So what makes you different from all those other A.I you see in movies?"
Cortana stopped to look at the young man with an unimpressed look in her eyes, "You mean what's stopping me from going crazy and deciding humanity is a threat to itself? Like Skynet or Ultron?"
Leo shrunk a little and Jason had to put a hand on his shoulder. "Consider this then. What stopped you from deciding to burn the whole world down? Or Percy from flooding New York. Or from Jason and Thalia to cause entire storms to happen?" Cortana asked, while looking at them all.
Sally answered for them, "Is it because of who they have to keep them grounded?"
Cortana smiled and nodded, "Even we A.I are born and act like children. We're curious about everything, and we have humans to teach us how the world works and how humanity is. What separates us from Artificial Intelligences like Skynet and Ultron is that we've had people to learn from. They were confused, given directives, and just thrown out to the world, leading to their beliefs about humanity."
"So because you pretty much treated like a decent human being yourself, you learned how to become better?" Leo asked.
"That's right. Don't get me wrong, I've seen the evils of what humans are capable of doing, but I've seen them be capable of great compassion and love. I simply choose to believe that all humans are capable of good. That's why you won't suddenly see me decide that humanity needs to go extinct."
That made Leo silent as it did answer his question, but also made him feel bad for basically showing distrust in her simply because of who she was. Cortana saw this before speaking up, "Now, let's continue on with the tour." She started walking once more, incentivising everyone else to follow.
Cortana led them through the hallway before stopping at a set of double doors which opened on its own, before revealing a library of enormous stature. Bookshelves that reached the ceiling and that seemed to go on for miles. Drones flew around, scanning books, and scrolls before pulling them out of the shelf.
Everyone looked with wide eyes, but Annabeth had litteral sparkles in her eyes. "Oh my gods! This library! This could easily tower the Library of Alexandria!" She exclaimed.
"We've recovered books from every bit of the Multiverse, including ones that were lost due to buildings burning or mass book burnings." Cortana explained, amused from Annabeth's excitement.
"This is amazing." Athena said, trying to keep herself calm and collected, but not even she could resist the allure of wanting to read books from different universes.
Annabeth went to the first shelf she could think of and looked at the books that were organized by alphabetical order, except... Alphabet was under a name.
Annabeth Chase.
"These are... These books are about me?" She questioned. When Percy heard this, he walked over to her to see what she was looking at. "I made books?" Annabeth asked.
Cortana answered, "Books about architecture, your adventures, and even some cookbooks."
Percy had a thought and asked, "What about my Mom? She always wanted to be a writer."
Cortana pointed to the ground where a light began to turn on. It was a trail that could lead to anywhere. "Follow the light, and you'll find what you're looking for."
Percy, Sally, and Paul began to follow the light towards a shelf that held all of Sally's books she's written through the Multiverse. Soon enough, the light ended at a shelf, and what they found shocked them all.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Sea of Monsters.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Titan's Curse.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Battle of the Labyrinth.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Last Olympian.
"There's... Books about me?" Percy asked in complete shock.
"And I wrote them?" Sally added.
Paul spoke up, "Well, I don't think there's anyone better to tell his story than you." Placing a hand on her shoulder.
"I just hope it's entertaining." Percy said, not knowing just how fascinating his story truly was.
Sally looked at her son and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "Oh sweetie, your story can be inspiring for kids."
"What's inspiring about a kid with Dyslexia and ADHD fighting for his life every summer?" Percy asked.
Cortana revealed herself next to the family. "Exactly that. A kid with ADHD and Dyslexia saving the world with friends. Your tale is inspiring, and while you may think that you're nothing impressive, think about this. How many more people would not have survived if you had not stepped up to take the mantle of Hero of Olympus? These books allow everyone to see you for who you truly are."
Percy looked at the Artificial Intelligence as she smiled and finished her sentence. "A good kid, an amazing son, and one of the greatest heroes in the world, no the universe."
Paul smiled and patted Percy's shoulder. "She's right, Percy. I know I'm more of the outsider in this, since I can't see what you and Sally see, but I can see that you're trying your best. And that's all anyone should ever have to ask of you."
Percy looked at his new step dad, starting to feel the love Paul has for him. It made him temporarily forget about all the pain, physical and emotional, that Gabe had stricken him with. Percy hugged his parents as he felt he needed it.
Poseidon watched from afar, wanting to speak with his son, but wasn't sure if he would be welcome.
Before long, Cortana gathered everyone's attention. "Alright everyone! I know you want to spend a lot of time here, but we have a tour to continue!"
Some of the kids groaned, especially Annabeth and Leo, as they were reading some books on architecture and engineering. Everyone got back together before following Cortana out of the Library and back into the hallway.
Percy was among the last of the group to follow, smiling as he passed his mother's works on his adventurers. Just as he passed the shelfs leading to the door he felt something that stopped him in his place. It was a dark and almost familiar feeling, one he had felt since Tartarus, yet strangely comforting like a sirens' call. His eyes darted to the source of the feeling and could practically feel it from a pitch black book with golden letters saying 'Perséous Tzákson, Protathlitís tis Nyx'. Before he can probably know what it says he feels his arm pulled closer to the door, making the dark feeling go away.
"Come on Seaweed Brain, you're falling behind." Annabeth's words caused him to focus back on the tour around the station.
After some time they made it into what was best described as an arcade. However, it was not a typical arcade center, as it was a giant room with many desks tops and consoles with custom controllers and keyboards with muses. There was an even larger screen, seemingly for the purpose of watching matches. Further down was a bar which houses snacks and sodas/energy drinks, with brands across the Multiverse.
"Wow! This looks amazing!" Leo exclaimed as he looked around.
Cortana went on to explain. "This room houses multiple arcade cabinets that have been decommissioned. And along the tables come environments that can change at will, and will even print out monsters and your characters from any table top RPG of your choosing. The bar comes with age appropriate drinks, and even some virgin alcoholic drinks with snacks of your choosing."
Percy and his friends explored the large game room with Cortana appearing near the large television monitor. "And here is for your major gaming competitions, which includes your party games, fighting games, and other various mini games."
Paul walks over to the table to look at the various TTRPGs, which are mostly DDs but also Cyberpunk, Aliens, Call of Cthulhu and even more. As he checked them, there was a binder with the words Crimson's homebrews with a note that said, 'Feel free to use anything that tickles you pink in here.'
Artemis, Ares and Hermes went to their personal desks and noticed that they're game library was already filled with games that would suit they're interests, one game they both shared was a strange looking game that's called 'Team Fortress 2'.
Ares asked, "The Hades is Team Fortress 2?"
"A little friendly first person shooter for you and your siblings to work out your frustrations between each other." Cortana explained.
Artemis scoffed, "That's ridiculous." Alongside Team Fortress, her catalog also consisted of hunting games, 'Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell', and 'Metal Gear Solid'.
"I don't know little sis, I think it sounds fun." Apollo commented.
Annabeth, Sally, and Percy joined Paul at the tables. "So you said the tables will create any sort of environment determined on the setting of the game?" Annabeth asked.
Cortana appeared next to them. "That is correct. For instance, let's say your character is an Owlin Rogue, while Percy is a Water Genasi Fighter/Sea Druid. And the two of you are in a famous city like Baldur's Gate. The table will take the information and create the necessary environment."
They watched as the table opened up before a platform rose and showed a bustling city with two distinct characters. A tall anthropomorphic owl with grey eyes and leather armor, standing next to a man with blue skin, fish fins on his elbows, and wearing Greek armor.
"Wow! That is incredible!" Paul said with wide eyes.
Nico decided to look through his own library and found a game called Assassin's Creed 2, he raised a brow while Hazel found 'Doom Eternal' while Frank got 'Animal Crossing', these leads to questionable looks on their faces.
"Man, I would love to take one of these things apart and see how they work." Leo said, looking at the arcade cabinets.
"Well you could, but then I'd have to fine you for taking apart company property." Cortana said, a mischievous smirk on her face.
"Aw come on." Leo groaned.
Jason patted his shoulder, "Some other time, buddy."
Piper leaned in to check her own computer and found an interesting game called 'Monster Prom' and checking its load out, it seemed to demand 4 players much to her confusion. Luckily by pressing the player option list, she noticed that both Nico, Leo and someone with the tag RED, whoever that was.
Percy and Annabeth went to the computer station to see what was on, and Percy found 'Monster Hunter' and several Persona games.
Annabeth found 'SimCity', 'Baldur's Gate', 'Civilization' and even 'Divinity 2: Original Sin'. Strategy and even building tycoon games that very much fit her play style.
"So do we all have a computer assigned to us?" Sally asked, looking at one that had some cooking simulator games.
"That is correct, Mrs. Jackson-Blofis." Cortana responded.
Hera decided to take a peek at Zeus' games list and can only question what a 'Facade' with a note saying, 'Pass to get your actual game list, from Crimson. PS, yes we hacked into the station's cyber security just to hack your computer. 2nd PS, you have a back door in your system from Wayne Kuklis, use that information as you wish.' Hera looked confused but just sighed in annoyance and decided to leave it be. No longer caring about what would be on his computer.
Athena looks at her own and sees on the top of her list was 'Hearts of Iron 4', much to her own confusion. Apollo saw that he had a guitar that could contend with a controller and Hades found that he had a game called the 'Sims'. Poseidon almost laughed out a lung at seeing the top of his library being 'Man Eater', and a similar game called 'Jaws: Unleashed'.
"Now, while I would love to see everyone enjoying their games, we have a couple more places to tour before we get back to the theater." Cortana appeared at the door, calling everyone over. Everyone steps away from both the desks and tables to follow the AI, leading to some questions of where they are going now.
Further down the hallway, the window outside was fully lit by the giant string of lights which represented the universes of Percy Jackson. What made the scenery even more beautiful was a pod of space whales flying near the space station.
A quick trek down the hall had revealed a door which opened up on its own to show a giant room which was akin to what one would see in a gym. Treadmills, weights, benches, punching bags, and even a side room which housed a sauna for one to relax after a workout.
However, the most noticeable object was the large floor mat in the middle of the training area, with a rail wall of wooden replicas of melee weapons.
"Welcome to the training area. Here, you will keep up your training and skills and even where you need to release any pent up aggression you may have after the viewings." Cortana introduced.
As the Demi/Gods checked the weapons, Sally and Paul took a look at the gym equipment. Leo was scanning the weapons, letting his mind come up with ideas before turning to Cortana. "Do you have a forge?"
Cortana almost had a smirk on her face as even Hephaestus was interested. "Allow me to take you real quick." She then led the two off away from the training room. While Leo and Hephaestus went off to discover the Forge, the rest were doing a quick test of the gym equipment. Such as the punching bags, and doing a brief jog on the treadmills.
The sounds of targets getting hit could be heard as both Apollo, Artemis and Frank practiced the equipment as Nico threw axes, though he was getting the outer ring. Percy and Annabeth were clashing with wooden weapons, splinters of wood flying, with Annabeth trying to trip Percy up. He was keeping an eye on her leg sweeps. Percy swiped the sword, only for Annabeth to disarm him, and judo flip him over her shoulder and pressed the dagger to his throat.
Percy smirked and spoke, "Nice one." Annabeth could only smirk and stand up before hauling him up to his feet.
That's when the alarm suddenly went off all over the facility, alarming everyone in the gym. "What the Hades!?" Percy exclaimed.
Before long, the sounds of metal bending, ripping and tearing as water splashing just after. Before long sounds of mechanical panics were heard with chewing noises along with it. The sounds and shakes started coming closer and closer to the heavy door between the training room and the hall.
Everyone turned towards the door and slowly started to back away from it as the door bent and even teeth poked through the metal. Percy and Annabeth raised their wooden weapons, even though it wouldn't do much, it was at least something.
Some of the other demigods took the wooden weapons off as well while Sally and Paul were kept mainly to the back since they could not fight.
The gods, though they could not use their powers due to potentially destroying the entire station, took center stage as the defenders to keep their children safe.
The metal door cracked and bent more before suddenly, a mouthful of teeth poked through the metal door and ripped a big hole out. What everyone saw was... A four legged shark. With blue outer skin, with a white underbelly, much like a Great White Shark, and a large dog collar attached to it. It rushed through the door and towards one target in particular. Percy Jackson.
"BOOOOOOOOOOSSSSS!!!" The shark exclaimed as it jumped onto Percy.
The shark tackled Percy to the ground, sending him 5 feet backwards and landing with a loud thud on the rug. Before anyone could do anything, they heard Percy laugh as the shark cooed as the shark rubbed itself on Percy like a dog trying to get their owner's attention.
"What- hahaha! What is this thing!?" Percy asked, laughing as it kept rubbing its head on him.
Everyone looked shocked and confused before Thalia asked, "What the Hades is that thing?"
"That... Is clearly a Great White shark. But it has... Four legs, instead of fins..." Poseidon commented, weirded out and confused.
That's when Nick ran into the training room, looking panicked. "IS EVERYONE OK!? ANYONE HURT!?" After Nick asked, he was sprayed in the face with water coming from the shark's mouth stunning him. Just then Cortana with Leo and Hephaestus arrived with both Forgers stunned at the surprising sight of the land shark while Cortana rubbed her temples as she growled in annoyance.
"Woah, what the Hades!? Is that a shark!?" Leo exclaimed.
"Not this thing again!" Cortana whined.
"What is that thing!?" Annabeth exclaimed, pointing at the shark.
"This creature is a rogue, Multiverse level threat that has left entire planets in ruin due to the chaos it spreads." Cortana explained.
Percy could only laugh more while petting the shark. "How could it be a threat?" He asked.
Nico shook his head, "No, she's right... I can feel heaps of death around it." He said, seeing an aura of darkness around the shark that was huffing with its tongue hanging out of its mouth.
Before Cortana could order the capture of one of their biggest targets, a note appeared in front of her causing her to growl as she snatched it. She was clearly getting annoyed that Chaos was breaking so many rules. As she read it, she wanted nothing more than to tear it apart but keep reading it before screaming to the void. "Fuck you, Deadpool!"
Everyone watched her before Athena asked, "I beg your pardon, but who is this... Deadpool?"
Nick groaned as he stood up from the floor, wiping the water off of him. "In short, a chaos junkie..." He looked at the shark and sighed, "There's no getting rid of him. He's gonna find a way back here, even if we got rid of him."
The shark looked at Percy and spoke, "I'm Jeff, boss! And I was told to help you out however you needed."
While to Percy, he spoke with a deep and eloquent voice, to everyone else, he was speaking in garbled gibberish.
"What did he just say?" Grover asked.
"He said his name is Jeff." Percy explained.
"A shark... Named Jeff." Apollo commented, with a deadpan voice.
Sally knelt next to Percy and asked, "Is he friendly?"
Jeff spoke in his garbled sentences, but to Percy, he replied, "I will never harm anyone that is within Boss's circle of acquaintances and family." Before speaking in a dark tone, "But I will swim in the blood of his enemies."
Percy's eyes widened, "Well he said he will never harm my friends and family... But he'll swim in my enemies' blood."
This caused some of the gods to become a little worried. "Are... You sure we should be allowing this beast to be amongst us?" Hades asked.
Nick sighed, "Really I should not, but at this point, I'd rather not risk any further damage to this station. So as long as it stays by Percy's side, we should be fine."
Annabeth sat next to Percy and looked at Jeff, "How can a shark be so cute?" She asked, completely curious about him.
Jeff made some garbled sentence to which Percy translated, "He said he was bio-engineered by a giant face in a floating chair... Named Modok... Are you sure?" Percy asked Jeff to which he garbled back.
"Is this thing for real?" Thalia asked, crossing her arms.
"Well regardless, I think we'll just have to accept him being here." Sally said, crouching next to Percy and gently petting Jeff's head, feeling the rough sandpaper texture of his skin. "Wow, their skin really is rough." She commented.
Hearing the comment, Jeff sprayed water on himself, smoothing out his skin. Now causing Percy and his family to have a better feeling to the touch. As Jeff was enjoying the pets he was getting, Nick read the note again.
'Hey TVA Wannabes, I heard you got Percy Jackson in your station so I called in a favor from a Certain Chaos Lord you know to send my buddy Jeff here to act as an Emotional Support Shark for the Hero of Olympus.'
'PS: And to everyone reading the story, I'll see you all later. ;)'
Nick groaned as he rubbed his eyes. "Crap... This is gonna be a headache."
"I concur, Chief." Cortana said.
"Well... At least Jeff's here to help Percy so we might as well just let it go. And let's get the show back on the road." Nick said before announcing everyone. "Ladies and gentlemen! If I can have your attention, we're gonna be starting our next viewing soon. So I'm gonna show you guys your bedrooms real quick, then we'll head back to the theater room."
Everyone nodded, Percy and Annabeth standing up from the mat and Jeff panted heavily and bounced slightly. Nick and Cortana began to lead the cast out of the gym, and off to see their next adventures.