Chapter 3.

Percy:

A week had passed, and I was different. I was now invincible.

"Use the energy! Harness it! Force it out! If you don't, Order will win! Are you going to let Order win?" Chaos yelled.

"No! Never!" I screamed, and suddenly it all flooded out. All my power, all my strength, all of me-my energy was pushed out in a wave. It was amazing. It was incredible.

That was earlier. That was then. I was ready. But there was something that needed addressing first.

"Elite, to me." I said, sending the message to their brains.

Iroas was the first. Then Angel, Nekros, Astrapi, Floga, Pax, and everyone else.

"We are going to Earth soon," I said, and mostly everyone gritted their teeth.  "And I know it's not fair.  I know we don't like that planet.  But we all deserve the truth.  Because mostly everyone knows everyone here, even if they don't know it."

Everyone looked at each other, shocked.

"What do you mean?" Iroas said.

"All of us were on Earth around the same time.  And almost all of us were demigods of Camp Half Blood."

Almost everyone's mouths were open in shock.

Floga grinned.  "I suspected-I was always handsome-now everyone can see my face-the Supreme Commander of the Argo 2, Leo Valdez is my name."

Forge looked at him in amazement. 

"You?  You're the fire user?"

"Yup!"

"So you're my brother!"

"Uhh..."

Beckendorf threw off his mask.

"Hey, you're Charles Beckendorf, you are a legend," Leo's eyes lit up.

"If you all know Charlie, you know me.  Maybe."  Silena pulled off her mask.

"None of you probably know me." Pax said, and took off her mask. 

"Calypso?" Star cried, and took her mask off as well.

"Zoë?"  Angel said.

"How do you-?"

Angel revealed her face, and Thalia/Astrapi and Zoë/Star looked at her in amazement.

"Bianca?" Astrapi asked.  Thalia took off her mask, and the three ex-hunters grinned at each other.

"Thals?" Iroas said.  He seemed in shock.  I was right again as his mask fell to reveal Luke Castellan.

"Luke?"

"Would this be a good time to show my face?" Nico said, and took his mask off.

Slowly, everyone turned to me.  Nico, Thalia, Calypso, Bianca, and Leo smirked, knowing the truth.

"It's great to see all your faces again.  Miss me?"  I pulled down my mask with a cocky grin, revealing my unkept jet black hair, startling sea-green eyes, and tan skin.

"Percy?"  They all had tears in their eyes.  Zoë hugged me first.  Than Silena and Beckendorf.  Luke looked at me.  I grinned, and he smiled, embracing me too.

"Now we can work better as a team.  We need to stay strong, seeing the Olympians and demigods again.  My friends betrayed me-which is how I come to you today.  None of us like the Gods and demigods much, but we all love and respect Chaos and each other.  And we need to protect the heart of power for Chaos.  I ask you, not as your leader, but as your friends.  Are you ready?"

Silence at first.

"Look, Percy, Nero, whatever.  Pinecone Face, Repair Boy, Calypso and I followed you here.  And we'll follow you anywhere."  Nico said.

"I messed up, big time when I was alive, I'm going to make it up to you," Luke said.

"Your my husband.  If I don't come, you'll end up getting mad and destroying the camp."  I pouted, and everyone laughed.

"Well, it's true," Bianca laughed.

"You proved yourself to me all those years ago.  You are our leader and our friend.  There is no debate.  You go, we go." Zoë said. 

Everyone nodded, and I grinned.

"Good.  Now, let's freak out some gods, huh."

"Let's," Luke smirked. "I can't wait to see their faces."

"Imagine, they were once stronger than us. Imagine," Thalia snorted.

I rolled my eyes. "Time to board the ship."

"Which one?" Forge asked.

"The Pegasus."

"Ohh, that's my favorite!" Silena said.

"Why couldn't we take the Argo III?" Floga whined, and Pax slapped his head, rolling her eyes."

"The kids are already on board. And we are taking the Pegasus because it is the biggest, and has the best training center. We are staying and training for most of everything. We only fight when Giants and Order come into the picture."

"Right," Nekros nodded.

"And the training will be extremely intense."

"How so?" Iroas asked wearily.

"We are ready the perfect warriors. We have mastered every weapon, and our abilities. The only thing we could do is get stronger and faster. So that's what we will be working on."

"How? Running and lifting weights?" Floga grinned.

"Yes." I smirked. "In double normal gravity. Then we will work up."

Everyone stared at me.

"Don't worry. Chaos gifted all of us so our bodies could handle the strain. Our work will bare results, trust me."

They still looked at me like I was a nut job, but hey, my exercises and drills work wonders. This, though hard, will do the same.

I decided to explain my thinking.

"See, originally, we are demigods. That means our tolerance for everything is better than humans. We can be stronger and faster, because of our godly blood. But now, since we are Immortal by Chaos, we can physically and mentally handle so much more. So much more, at the end of training, any of us could probably lift a Giant. If we work at our natural ability under a lot of strain, it will bare results even faster."

"You are insane...but so are we, so I guess it is fine," Astrapi grinned.

...

Hestia:

A ship landed on Olympus, and panic was spreading with nymphs and satyrs and minor gods.  The rest of us, however knew them to be the people Chaos promised would be our salvation.

A ruggedly handsome man, with black hair and sea green eyes came out smirking.  He reminded me of Perseus Jackson, but they weren't the same person.

Next was a boy, maybe fifteen, with glinting black eyes, black hair, and olive skin.  His nose and smirk were the same as the other.

Then, there was a girl, perhaps around twelve of thirteen. Her eyes, they were sea green, a really bright sea green. Her olive skin seemed to glow, and her curly black hair went down to her mid-back.

Then a girl with black hair and blue eyes followed.  She was probably around eighteen.  Then another girl with curly brown hair and warm brown eyes. She must have been sixteen or seventeen.

They stood before the council, practically oozing confidence.

We all expected the tall guy in front to do the talking, but instead the young girl made her way in front, shooting everyone a dazzling, mischievous grin.

"Hello, bickering beings!  I am Andy, short for Andromeda, the most awesome girl you'll ever meet!"

Zeus' mouth dropped open when she said 'bickering beings', and Hermes and Apollo chuckled.  The rest of their party bursted out laughing.

"He," she pointed to the man with sea green eyes, "is my cool brother...we are calling you your code name, yes?  No?  Or just in front of the demipeoples?  Whatever." She trend back to us, ignoring the looks of disbelief she got from the gods.  "So, anyway, I am Andromeda or Mist.  He is Theseus, or Riptide.  That other loser, he is my other brother, Achilles, but is also called Shadow."

Then she winked at us, and said; "And these lovely ladies are my friends, Dove and Esperanza."  Hephaestus made a chocking noise.

"Seriously, it's Essy, Andy." 'Essy' groaned.

"What happened to everyone calling you Espie?  Is this new nickname a phase of some sort?" Achilles/Shadow frowned.

"Only family can call me Espie.  That name is off limits to anyone else.  And Esperanza-well, I love my name, obviously, but it is just so dam long."

Theseus and Andy snorted.

"You...you look like..." Hephaestus stuttered.

"Leo Valdez."  Essy waved it off.  "I know.  He is my father.  I'm Esperanza Valdez.  What do you expect?"

Everyone's eyes grew large.  Especially Hephaestus and Jason and Piper, who just entered the Throne Room, most likely to get an update.

I sat, tending to the Hearth, listening, but not speaking, although I was surprised by this development.

"Although we don't really use last names in the Void." Essy said.  "I can't wait for Uncle Nero to burst out and kick Order's superficial podex into the next century." All of them smirked.

"Uncle Nero?" Hephaestus asked. "Is he a son of mine?"

"Ha! No," Andy smirked. "We are closer than normal families. We are all together. We trust each other. We love each other. We rely on each other. That's why we are different than this council. Auntie Astropi, Uncle Iroas, Uncle Nekros, Aunt Pax, Uncle Floga, Uncle Forge and Aunt Belleza, and Auntie Star, along with Dove, Essy, Riptide, Shadow, and I, along with my mom and dad, Angel and Nero make up our family.  We are a team.  We are united.  Which is a weakness in the Olympian Council."  Just about everyone's jaws dropped.

"So...Floga...is that...Leo?" Jason whispered.  He looked thunderstruck.

"Maybe.  Maybe not.  You, son of Jupiter, shouldn't care one way or another, right?  You all abandoned them?  Percy, one of my dad's oldest friends died because he was so distraught by what you all did to him, he ended up dead.  You are lucky we don't kill you," Essy growled.

Jason and Piper winced. Along with everyone else.

"We will be going now, our parents are waiting for us. No one is, under any circumstances, permitted to enter our vessel. I promise, no matter who it is, god, mortal, or demigod-we don't care. The consequences will be severe." Theseus said, his jaw clenched. "Let's go, guys."

Then, they all did something strange.  They all hung onto Theseus and the one named Achilles.  Then, the did something I didn't expect in millions of years.  They melted into shadow and disappeared.

"How did they...HADES!"

...

Percy:

"I'm worried about them.  Camp could be so...judgemental." Floga said.

"Yeah.  I always felt like an outcast here...I don't want my niece and nephews to feel the same way." Nekros frowned.

"Maybe a few of us should go and help out.  Watch over them.  Kill some monsters." I said.

"I guess I should go.  Pax, you coming?"

"Somebody has to keep you from torching the place," she laughed.

"I think I'll go as well," Nekros said.  "I want to scare the Hades out of everyone.  And look after Thes, Ace, and Andy."

"So you three are going out?"

"We aren't fighting Order," Floga reminded me.  "Sorry, bro.  But that one is all on you."

"You realize that Espie admitted to be your daughter."

Floga shrugged.

"I guess I'll have to reveal myself then. It doesn't really matter to me." His eyes lit up. "Earth—besides all the bad memories and stupid, ignorant gods and demigods—is a good place. There are a lot of good, innocent people that deserve to live, to love, and to die when their life is over. Not before. Either way, it doesn't matter. I am now, and forever, a citizen of the Void, and a member of the Elite, the Assassins League, that you, of course, created."

When he was done with his speech, we were all just staring at him. Did Leo Valdez/Floga actually say something—Chaos forbids—reasonable? That actually sounded deep. Leo wasn't deep. Floga wasn't deep. It was simply unheard of. Pax, what did you do to our beloved Floga?

Then, I started clapping. And everyone followed in suit.

"Agh!" Floga groaned. "You guys won't ever let me live this down, will you?"

"No way! I am so telling Espie!" I said with glee.

"You can't! I'm supposed to her role model!"

"Man," I said, "we will never, ever let you live this down for the rest of our Immortal lives." Everyone of us nodded.

"Oh, pancakes," he grumbled.

I sighed, shook my head, and corrected him. "Oh, blue pancakes."

Everyone laughed, including Floga and I. And I started to think maybe, just maybe...we'd be all right. Get through this workout any complications.

I couldn't have been more wrong.





Annnnnndddd...SCENE! Was that a dramatic ending or what?!

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