Saving Thalia Part One: The Quest Begins (Thalia, Inferno)

Odysseus sighed, as the five left the camp with Samuel driving. He was the only one old enough to drive, so the others wouldn't be allowed to. They were headed west, but he was still unsure where. "Hey, what does it mean about the Titan Lord's hand? Anyone have any ideas?"

He waited for someone to answer.

Kyle was the first to speak up. They had to get to the place as soon as possible, and get it over with. He was getting tired of Lord Kronos controlling his life. He wanted to have his own life, again, one with Solania in it. That was the dream, but he knew it was only a dream.

"Maybe, it has to do with Mount Othrys on Mount Talmalpis in San Francisco. That was the original capital city of the Titans. The throne of Lord Kronos is there. Perhaps that is where we should go? I mean if there were any Titan Lord, that's where they would be.

Liz had askedOdysseus to take her as far as Manhattan so she could go to the Library, there. She couldn't go on the quest since only five could go, but she needed to study up on some mythology. They needed every advantage in the war against the Titans. It was out of the way, but they had to be prepared for the worst.

"That is most likely, but let's get Liz to the New York Public Library first. Then we can decide what to do."

Kyle replied,"It just makes the most sense if you think about the first war agains the Titans.,Mount Othrys crumbled when the Titans fell. That is their seat of power, just as Olympus is the seat of power for the gods."

He closed his eyes and laid his head back.

A smirk tugged at the corner of Samuel's lips as he remembered telling Magnus Starkweather that there was no room for him on the quest. The son of Zeus had launched into an epic tangent about how stupid it was to follow "those worthless numerical restrictions on quest groups", and how his resources and military training would be invaluable on a rescue mission. It was exactly what Navy SEALs did, and he'd been taught by a few of those boys during his time at his mother's private military company.
"Hell, if push came to shove, I might be able to call helicopter gunships on Mount Tam, if that is where you're going," Magnus had said. Samuel had reminded him that bringing mortals into contact with any aspect of mythology was highly dangerous for both sides, which Magnus had glibly ignored.

In the end, the son of Zeus did calm down, but insisted on lending as much help as he could without actually going. That's why Samuel was driving Magnus' custom Hummer H1 Alpha, complete with armour plates, a V10 turbodiesel under the hood, bullet-resistant glass and an M249 squad automatic weapon in a hidden trunk compartment. Only Samuel knew about the light machine gun--he didn't tell the others because he kept picturing Kyle stealing it and massacring them all in their sleep. The glove box was password-protected because it held a number of forged documents--again only Samuel knew that password.
"Library's coming up in a few minutes now," the son of Morpheus said as he maneuvered the bulky Hummer through New York traffic. "No sign of hostiles yet. Which can only mean there's a Cyclops waiting around the next corner."

Samuel rolled his eyes at Liz. "It's a sarcastic remark, alright? I don't know that for sure. And unless my pessimism is right for once, I'm wrong."
The son of Morpheus turned to Zoey. "Listen. The Oracle may have gotten you a spot on this quest, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. You smarten up and treat your teammates with due respect, or I'll kick you out of this vehicle and give Magnus a call saying that he can come in your stead. Meanwhile, you'll be finding your own ride back to camp. Understood?"
Samuel stopped at a red light--the library was just beyond.

"I said, shut up." With the last two words, Samuel activated one of his powers, inducing fear in Zoey's mind. He grinned as the girl's eyes suddenly widened. She whimpered, trying to hide behind Odysseus.
"If you'd like more of that, by all means, keep being snippy." The light turned green, and Samuel pulled up beside the library. "Your stop, Liz."

OOC: If you'll allow me to place a monster encounter near the library, Odie, I can intro another character of mine for the first time.

Odysseus held his hand up,"Guys, can we just get along? We have a few day trip before us, and we have to finish the quest before the Summer Solstice, so we have something to report to Olympus. I know not everybody can stand each other, but until we get Thalia back and finish this quest, let's try to get along better, okay?"

He looked at Zoey, and said,"That means, everybody. I know you don't really like most of the people, here, but you are going to be nice. Do you understand? I won't deal with you guys hating each other while we are on this quest. So, unless anyone has anything nice to say at all, don't say it."

He paused, and took out a book. He was going to spend some time reading up on the Titan Pallas. He was trying to remember how he had nearly defeated him before. He knew that only a child of Athena could defeat Pallas, and that he would be fighting him alone. What he didn't know was that the dreams that him and Solania were having were fake, created by Kronos to lure them into a trap. Thalia was really getting ready to lead the attack on Camp at Kronos command.

Kyle looked up and saw Solania's head on his shoulder. He smiled. She looked so beautiful sleeping. Then, she started whimpering in her sleep. He reached down, and stroked her hair. He was worried about her. He was sure that she was dreaming about Thalia. He had no clue how she was doing since he hadn't had anything to report to Lord Kronos for a few weeks, but he was sure that the Titan Lord was training her to be the ultimate weapon. That was what he had promised, and Lord Kronos always followed through with his promises when they were convenient for him.

"Hey, Solania," he said softly, so as not to wake her,"It's okay. We're here for you."

He turned to Zoey, and said,"Enough, Zoey. Solania is not a dog. Just focus on something else.

OOC: That is fine. I just have one stipulation, we must lose the vehicle, and be forced to find transportation here and there across country, so we can make the quest longer.

I nodded at Odie even though I hated Solania. I saw Kyle stoke her hair and almost gagged. What is with him? I layed my head back and went to sleep.

I was dreaming of Thalia again when I felt someone touch my head and say it was ok. I knew it was Kyle. I smiled in my sleep and curled up to him. Then I saw Pallas and Thalia. He was patting Thalia on the head and saying good girl like she was a dog. She looked beat up. Almost like she had just finished a training session. Then Pallas walked off and her face turned to sorrow. She started crying and that boy Jake showed up again. He hugged her and whiped away her tears. He kept saying that they would kill her if she stopped. Then he did something that shocked the heck out of me. He lifted her head and kissed her......and she kissed back. I shot up and screaming "No!" Then I looked around the car and blushed. "I-i-i-i am sorry." I pulled out a notebook peice of paper and wrote down my dream. I passed it to Liz.

I nearly jumped out of the car when Solania jumped up and screamed. I looked at her like she had lost her mind. Then she passed me a note and gasped when I read it. This was bad. This was very bad. I looked at her with worry and passed it back to her. I hoped nobody saw. I wanted to cry right now.

Samuel glanced back when Solania screamed. He saw the Aphrodite girl write a note and pass it to Liz, but he didn't ask judging by their expressions. He knew that some secrets best remained that way.
All of a sudden, there were screams from up ahead. Samuel looked up to see a number of hellhounds loping up and down the street, barreling into civilians, overturning vendors' carts and causing general bedlam. Further down the road, the son of Morpheus spied a hulking figure, at least fourteen feet all, smashing cars aside like toys.
"Everybody out!" Samuel yelled, opening the door and rushing to the back of the Hummer. "Take cover, take cover! I got this!" Throwing open the trunk, he typed in a quick password, opened a hidden compartment, and pulled out the M249 light machine gun.

Odysseus jumped, and looked up from his book when Solania screamed. He looked puzzled, and said,"Is everything okay back there?" He looked back there, and saw Kyle already comforting Solania. He smiled. Kyle really liked her, and he was happy. What better than one of his best friends to get the girl of his dreams. It made him happy to know that Kyle like someone so strongly.

Kyle looked at Solania when she screamed, and said, with alarm,"Are you okay, Solania? Is there anything I can do?" He stroked her hair, and looked at her with worry. "I'm worried about you. Do you need anything?"

He noticed Odysseus looking at him, and blushed. He knew that Odie knew how he felt about Solania. He mouthed, Please don't tell her. Give me time to.

OOC: Odie, perhaps your characters have a reaction to the monsters in the street?

Samuel checked the safety and began firing from the hip, sweeping the street with his machine gun. Since celestial bronze rounds would not hurt mortals, he didn't have to worry about precision--and precision was not what his weapon was designed for.
Two hellhounds found themselves unlucky enough to be caught in Samuel's line of fire and disintegrated. The others kept coming, moving erratically to become harder targets. Meanwhile, the giant kept advancing. As it got closer, the son of Morpheus saw that it had a single red eye and was dressed in shabby leather armour that was messy but thick. Unusually thick, it seemed. The beast ripped a small tree out of the ground and used it as a club to bash a pickup truck out of it's way.
"Looks like I was right," Samuel muttered. "Cyclops, everyone! We got a Cyclops heading our way! Odie, get to the trunk compartment and pull out the assault rifle! It's mine--use it to help me cut these monsters down!"

Hal Jackman, son of Hephaestus, had been trying to get back to Camp Half-Blood for weeks. When he left, all he wanted to do was to take a breather, roam New York a bit, and then get right back to the forges where he was needed. Unfortunately, every time in the past 20 days that he'd neared the camp, there had been no shortage of monsters in his way. Hal had been forced to alternate between cheap motels and trash-filled alleys at nighttime. The alleys were nasty, but the smell of the trash helped mask his half-blood scent from monsters. Still he'd had a number of close calls, and he was certain the authorities had their eye on him too.
When the hellhounds showed up, Hal was initially reluctant to involve himself--especially seeing that a number of other demigods were already fighting them. However, he didn't want to just watch the scene either, and decided to make a surprise attack on that Cyclops in case the other demigods needed assistance.
Ducking into an alleyway, Hal reached into his magicked backpack and pulled out his customized repeating crossbow. The son of Hephaestus had plenty of bolts hidden inside his large brown jacket. He loaded his weapon with an explosive bolt and waited to see how things would unfold.

Kyle was pulled out by Solania. The son of Hephaestus pulled out his double blades battle axe and shield, and rushed toward a Hellhound. No doubt the cops would be looking for them by the time this was over, but he was sure what it would be for. Mortals couldn't see through the mist, so he wasn't exactly sure what they were seeing with the Cyclops and Hellhounds.

He dove underneath the Hellhound as it swiped, and swung one side into the monster. It vaporized. He looked back to make sure that Solania was safely away from them. No need for more half bloods to get hurt than necessary, he thought. He charged and quickly took out two more. The idea was to open up Samuel's line of fire straight to the Cyclops. "I'll keep the Hellhounds busy, you two focus on the Cyclops."

Odysseus picked up the note, but didn't have time to read it. He stuffed it in his pocket, and quickly rushed to get the rifle. Though better with a sword, he set the weapon to three-round burst, and started laying down fire on the Cyclops. Kyle was doing an excellent job keeping the Hellhounds focused on him, but he wasn't sure he could take all of them alone with a melee weapon.

"We need to hurry and get rid of this Cyclops," he said. No sooner had he spoken, then the Cyclops picked up their Hummer, and threw it at him and Samuel. They scattered and Odie returned fire, hoping they could end this soon. They had to get out of here.

Samuel jumped to the left, the Hummer sailing past his head. It smashed into a parked Mercedes-Benz, completely crushing the luxury car. The Hummer itself looked to be still operable, thanks to it's added armour, but it was nevertheless upside down.
"Magnus won't like that," the son of Morpheus muttered. He leveled the squad automatic weapon and drilled the Cyclops in the chest with a good 20-round burst. The monster stumbled, but kept coming.
"That beast is wearing a lot of leather," Samuel said. "It'll take us too long to shoot through. Aim for the head!"

Aim for the head. Well alright. With a yell, Hal rushed out from the alley and faced the Cyclops, standing barely ten feet away. The son of Hephaestus raised his crossbow.
"See you later!" he exclaimed, and pulled the trigger. The explosive bolt flew straight into the Cyclops' eye a split second before the beast's head blew apart. The giant's body disintegrated.

I was battleing a few hellhounds with Solania when I heard an explosion behind me. I turned around and saw the boy who had shot the bolt and smiled. "Nice job." I turned to continue fending off the hellhounds but I turned to late. One claw caught me across my face and got Solania chest. I quickly jabbed my sword into it and it desintergrated. I looked at Zoey but she was just sitting on the ground, doing nothing. I looked back at Solania with worry.

Liz and I were fending off the hellhounds when an explosion erupted behind us. She turned around and said Nice Job. When she turned back, a hellhound caught her in the face and landed a blow to my chest. She stabbed it and looked at me with worry. I was just glad it didn't get my heart. There was a gash an inch under my collar bone. I smiled at Liz. "That was a close one." I wanted to cry but I didn't because Kyle was here. I didn't want him to think I was a wimp. Plus, I had to get that note back from Odie before he read it.

I sat on the ground and sighed as I watched Liz and Solania fight the hellhounds. I didn't have a weapon so what was the point in trying to commit suicide by fighting those. I giggled when they got cut. Serves them right.

"Good shot," Samuel said, taking out a couple more hellhounds with a burst from his machine gun.
"Thanks. Name's Hal Jackman, son of Hephaestus," Hal replied, firing three more normal bolts at the last three hellhounds. All of them melted into shadow, and the bowstring on his weapon snapped back into place after every shot.
Samuel went over to Liz and Solania's side once all the monsters were defeated. "You two alright?"

Kyle was fighting for his life. Once he killed three more Hellhounds, he turned to see Solania, and Liz get hurt. He tried to rush over to them, but another one barred his way. He ducked, rolled to the side, and cut off the monster's head in one fluid motion.

"Solania," he exclaimed, as he reached her,"Are you alright? Please tell me you are going to be alright." He reached for her, and said,"Here, lean on me. Let's get you set down for a moment. You need to rest."

He added, looking at Liz,"You don't look so well yourself. Take my other arm. There's a bench right over here."

He dropped his shield and battle axe, and led them to a bench just a few feet away.

Odysseus ignored the newcomer. He had other important things to deal with. They had to ditch the vehicle, because most likely every monster and cop in New York would be after them after this incident. He turned to Samuel, and said,"Let's get away from the vicinity, regroup, and figure out what happened. The cops will be here in a moment, and we will get the blame. Leave the vehicle, we can find another way to San Francisco."

"Give me a sec," Samuel lowered his voice to a whisper. "That glove box is full of forged documents. If we bring them along, they might come in handy. If we leave them and the authorities break the lock on the glove box, we'll be in deep crap."
The son of Morpheus walked briskly to the overturned Hummer, crawled in and punched a ten-digit code into a keypad. The glove box slid open, revealing a batch of fake IDs, credit cards and even passports. Samuel grabbed them, stuck them into a jacket pocket and returned to Odysseus.

Hal met him on the way. "Alright, I'm thinking you guys are on a quest." When Samuel nodded, the son of Hephaestus continued. "Good luck. I'll run interference for you, give the cops a false testimony. And I'll wipe your fingerprints from that SUV."
Hal produced an aerosol can filled with a chemical specially designed to remove fingerprints. He went to the Hummer and began spraying the vehicle down thoroughly.
"Thanks. Take care." Samuel nodded curtly to Hal, and then turned to Odysseus. "Hey, could you toss me that backpack? It's magic--we can hide our bigger weapons in there."

Odie nodded, and tossed him the backpack along with the rifle. He had never been a big fan of projectile weaponry. "Here," he said,"I believe this is yours as well. I didn't want to say this, but I know the answer to the last two lines of the prophecy. It has to do with me and Jacen. We will talk about it when we get away from here." He looked sad, but didn't say anything else.

Turning to Hal, he said,"Thank you for your help. Perhaps we will see you again."

Then, he looked at Liz, and said,"You should get back to camp, since only five of us can go. Besides, sis, they need you at camp to prepare for it for a battle should something go wrong. Why don't you go with Hal, here. That way I don't have to worry about you being alone."

Hal snapped a quick salute. "I'm counting on it, man. I'll be at camp welcoming you all when you get back." One thing was for sure--this son of Hephaestus was a heck of a lot more optimistic than Kyle.
Samuel put the machine gun and the rifle into the pack before throwing it over his shoulder. He waved to the girls. "Let's move, before the cops get here."

Kyle came over and helped Liz and I to a bench. I smiled and hugged Liz goodbye. "We will bring Thalia home. Don't worry, Liz." I looked at Kyle and smiled. "I am fine. Just a scratch." I pulled my jacket on so they wouldn't have to see the blood. My first priortit right now was to save Thalia. But first I had to get that note before he read it. "Hey, Odie. Any plans as to our transportation?"

I nodded at Odie. "You just better bring Thal home, Bro." I hugged Solania. "I will worry anyway." I turned to Kyle and whispered to him. "Protect her." Then I walked to Hal and smiled.

I ran over to Odie and kissed him. "Are you ok, Sweetie?" I watched Liz walk to Hal with a smirk on my face. "Good bye, Sister Dear." I hugged Odie and smiled.

Hal finished spraying the overturned Hummer. He nodded to Liz.
"I'm Hal Jackman, son of Hephaestus," he said, extending a hand in greeting. "What's your name? And what kind of mission are y'all on?"
Samuel shrugged. "We can figure out transportation after we get away from the scene of the crime. Let's go guys. Hal's gonna cover our tracks for us."