Everette

I watched from the observation deck as thick clear shields rose up from the ground, forming a barrier between the open space of the gymnasium and the demigods. I instructed my guards to go for the leader type boy first. I'll admit I wanted some entertainment.

The agents separated Perseus from the rest and brought him to the center training area. I grabbed my pen and prepared to take notes on his performance.

Without giving him time to think, they injected him with a serum I invented. It would give the demigods a powerful hallucination tailored to their fears and effectively get them to use their powers to their fullest extent.

I pulled up the screen that would show me what was in his head. I twisted a pencil between my fingers, my hand poised over my note sheet.

In the bottom right corner of the screen, a name popped up. Poseidon it read. So my serum was working! It would detect a godly parent so I wouldn't have to get it out of the little pests myself.

I looked up the name Poseidon in my Encyclopedia of Greek Entities. Poseidon was apparently the Greek god of the seas, nicknamed the "Lord of Horses" and the "Earthshaker". He was a brother of Zeus. Second most powerful among the Olympians.

I pressed a button to contract the roof on the gymnasium and told my agents to bring in some water. I was starting to expect great things from this Perseus. I was eager to see what he could do for me.

The image in his head that I viewed from my screen showed a dark and gloomy place. The color scheme was red and black and brown.

"Send in the dummies," I ordered through the coms. Remote controlled dummies rolled into view, good for impersonating the monsterish beings seen on the screen.

Perseus took a pen out of his pocket and it transformed into a full sized sword and he slashed right through a dummy and in his dream scape, the monster burst into golden dust. I scrawled a quick note in the corner of my paper to update the power dampening in the cell blocks to extend to magical weapons.

A dummy knocked the sword out of his hand and lunged at him. I rubbed my hands together as a maniacal grin split my face. Here's where the action happens.

I was surprised by the utter strength of the boy. He was tall and thin, muscular but not overly so, so his strength over the bot was interesting. I jotted a few things down.

Perseus felt for water around him and pulled it to himself. He soon had formed a full fledged hurricane and used it to decimate my dummies.

"More!" I yelled and more bots poured into the arena. Perseus didn't feel the need to do anything more then his hurricane, but I could feel him holding back. This wasn't all he could do.

I cranked up the hallucinations and people started to appear on the screen. I recognized them as the ones who had followed Perseus around mere minutes earlier. I deducted that they must be near and dear to his heart. In the dream scape, they were being threatened by the monsters and I felt the boy's rage simmering to a boil.

I felt the tremors in my observation deck. The ground split open and water raged every which way. It was terrifying and amazing at the same time. I continued to crank the knobs, pushing Perseus to his limits. If the other demigods weren't separated from his area, they'd all be dead.

I turned the knob further when I felt he had reached the limit of his powers, but it seemed to have unlocked a whole knew level. He screamed, such a raw and horrible sound, full of pain and rage as he unleashed everything he had in him.

The ground split in several more places and water poured from the sky where there were no clouds moments ago. A crackling sound filled the air as everything went into a flash freeze. Ice and frost coated the walls and the dismembered bots. My breath fogged in front of me.

There was silence for a moment before Perseus collapsed to his knees, totally spent. Agents immediately rushed forward, or slipped and shivered, to take the boy back to his cell. He hung limply in their arms as they dragged him out.

It started as a chuckle, deep in my throat. Then it became a rumbling laugh.

I tapped my pencil twice on the paper before writing in big capital letters, EXTREMELY POWERFUL.

Next the guards wrangled a blond boy to the center of the arena. He wore glasses and even from here I could see the crack right down the middle of the left lens as the sun glinted off it.

This time he knew what to expect so he fought to keep away from the serum. He didn't last very long against it and soon succumbed to my creation.

The name Jupiter popped up on the screen and I did my research, discovering that Jupiter was the Roman god of the skies, Zeus's counterpart. Another useful and powerful asset to Earth's revival.

"Identify him," I ordered into the comms. After a few seconds, "Jason Grace," came in reply.

He stood still for a moment before reaching his hands up to the open air. At first nothing happened and I thought that maybe they mislabeled him, or he wasn't that powerful.

But then the clouds started to bend to his will. The sky instantly darkened and thunder rumbled, shaking the facility. The rain came next, pitter-pattering and then progressing into a pour.

The air around me became thick with static and the hairs on my neck and arms stood on end as a resounding CRACK broke through the air, hitting Jason and wreathing him in crackling tendrils of lightning.

Sparks flickered across his knuckles as he threw a punch at a dummy. Being a robot, my creation went hiccuping to the ground, spasming with electricity.

I thought about the absence of electricity since 'Gaea' fell. If I could just find a way to extract all that energy...

The storm clouds continued to churn. They got darker and darker and I clapped in glee. Now this was a show. So many powerful resources to exploit. I would be known as the man who saved the earth. They'd be thanking me someday. They all would.

The clouds began to form a funnel, a raging tornado about to touch down. Tapping my fingers on the desk I decided I'd seen enough. I turned a dial and Jason Grace let go of his hold on the storm. His shoulders slumped and agents came forward to escort him to his cell.

"Let's speed it up please. We've got a whole bunch of demigods to get through here," I tried to communicate my impatience. We really would have to speed up this process if we were going to get through every one.

They plucked another young man from the crowd next. He was big and muscular with pale skin and dark hair.

"Frank Zhang," an agent reported while injecting he serum into him. Mars popped up on the screen. Roman god of war. Interesting.

What I was not expecting was the entourage of animals that burst through him. He changed so fluidly it was almost hard to follow. One moment he was a lion, the next a rhinoceros, and then an eagle.

My mind whirled with ideas on how to convert that energy into the depleted animal chain. He could be very useful to me.

Next they grabbed a scrawny Hispanic boy. He didn't look like much. Definitely not as imposing or threatening as the other three boys. But there was something about the glint in his eyes. Something I could relate to. The eyes of a genius.

He was identified as "Leo Valdez" and injected with the serum. His father was Hephaestus, god of blacksmiths and fire.  At first he stood, evaluating his position and situation. The bots closed in and to my utter amusement, his hands caught fire. He lobbed a fireball at one of my bots, melting the face right off and short circuiting the core.

I sent in more dummies and watching his dream scape. Things were getting intense so he set his whole body on fire. Suddenly he didn't look so pathetic and weak. Something about him rubbed me the wrong way. I decided then that I didn't like him very much.

Valdez let his flames sputter out and launched himself at a dummy, finding the control panel with his fingers and prying it open. In seconds it was out of commission and he moved to the next. He dismantled and dismembered my dummies all in about thirty seconds. He did more damage with his hands than with his flames. I sent for the agents to escort him out.

I took a sip of my coffee as yet another young man was pushed front and center. He was a moody one, that much I could tell. He pushed against the agent, a clear sign of insubordination. I made a mental note to fix that.

The boy identified as "Nico di Angelo" whose father was Hades, god of the dead. He was pale and skinny with black hair that reached just past his jawline. His vibe was a different one from the others. It was cold and dead and sinister in a way the others weren't. I sat forward in anticipation.

Shadows seemed to form out of nowhere, creeping toward Nico and enveloping him, supporting him. Nico's eyes darkened and instead of reaching up like the Grace boy did, his hands spread out at his sides.

Even from the observation deck, the smell reached my nose. It was dead. It smelt of death and rot and mold. The ground split open farther along the lines Jackson already created.

A bony hand shot out of the crevice, followed by a foot as the skeleton hoisted itself out of the earth. More followed, some only half decomposed, others all bones.

I watched in fascination as Nico himself dissolved into shadows only to reappear in a different place. Though his performance was impressive, his benefit to the cause were undetermined.

The next subject was female. I recognized her as the blonde girl whose fingers I broke. I was mesmerized by the movement of her hips as she was forced to the center of the arena, how she clutched her battered left hand close to her breasts.

Her ratted curls framed her heart shaped face wonderfully. I made a mental note to check up on her later. 

She was identified as "Annabeth Chase" with a mother known as Athena, goddess of wisdom.

I watched the movement of her chest as she evaluated her enemies. She tucked a lock behind her ear and launched herself at the first bot on the left.

With expert skill she ripped its head off and pried it open with her fingers. She wrestled the thick material from inside the head and wrapped it around her right hand, going back in to get some sparking wires.

Another dummy ran at her and she expertly grabbed it and twisted it over her shoulder, slamming it into the ground.

The wires on her hand sparked and fizzled, the material shielding her hand. She brandished her hand like a weapon and thrust it into the core of another bot. My creation sizzled and sank limply to the ground, tumbling into one of the crevices left behind by Perseus.

She soon dismantled all of them without using any powers that I could see. I was impressed to say the least. Athena was the smart goddess so I could only assume she had smart offspring. This Annabeth Chase was very intelligent and could do well to help me with my studies.

After her came another girl, this one just as beautiful as the first, though not as fierce looking. She held herself with confidence, shoulders back and feet apart. Her tan skin looked so soft I just wanted to...touch it.

Her eyes swirled with a million different colors, her brown hair short and choppy. She was identified as "Piper McLean" with a mother Aphrodite, goddess of Love and Beauty. I scoffed. She was supposedly part of the 'Seven' an elite group of demigods, the most powerful of their age. I'd seen impressive shows from five of the seven so far. But love and beauty did little to intrigue me. In the way of resources. I could still use her for...other things.

I frowned and dismissed some of the bots to give her a better chance. To my surprise, she took them out in seconds, instead focusing on the human agents.

"Listen to me!" She yelled, her voice choked with tears and pain. "What you're doing is wrong! We are people same as you! There are other ways we can help you! You don't need to do this."

The way she talked, the way she formed her words together, was mesmerizing. When she talked, everyone stopped to listen.

And the craziest thing happened. I began to see from her perspective. We went into their home and took them to use them for our benefit. This new conscience really screws up my plan.

Then my mind cleared as I realized something and was reassured. I tapped into the intercom that would speak directly into the arena.

"Sorry to interrupt, McLean, but I'd like to point out that according to the Law of Human Rights, humans are superior to other organisms. And if I remember correctly, you aren't human."

And with that I sent a quick, "Get her out of here," and she was escorted to a cell. I mulled over not what she said, but how she said it in my head. She was very persuasive that's for sure. I wonder if that's her 'superpower'. It could be useful.

My guards wrestled another teenage girl into the center. This one was African American. I wrinkled my nose. Well, she did have some curves on her, I'll give her that.

She was identified as "Hazel Levesque" with Pluto as her father, the Roman god of death and riches. I'll admit, that caught my attention.

She golden eyes glowed and she reached out her hands. From the crevices erupted jewels, millions of the precious things. That could indeed be useful.

After her expensive show, she sank to her knees, her hands still out beside her. A groaning sound reached my ears as the crevices began to warp and change. The cracks began to close at her will. I'll admit, I was very impressed. After she was taken away, I continued to sit in my observation deck and sip my coffee long after it was cold.

The evaluation of every demigod took three days. Not all had powers and not all were useful. I weeded out which was which. The 'Seven' were the ones that caught my attention the most and I kept comparing every one else to them, but of course they never came close. I kept Annabeth Chase in my mind. I could use her clever brain to sort out a few things.