Thank me later
It was his first morning on the Argo II and Jason was awoken by shouting. He sighed and buried his face in his pillow, trying to drown out the sounds—it was going to be a long quest, wasn’t it? This was another part of the Greek world that constantly confused him. In the legion, the chain of command was absolute. Power flowed from the gods, to the Praetors, to the Senate, to the, Centurions and finally to the legionaries. That was the system, and that was absolute. Commands didn’t simply get disregarded, and arguments simply didn’t happen. Order was everything in the legion, and anything less was tantamount to treason.
But with the Greeks? -well the Greeks, Jason had concluded, were odd creatures. They tended to be a bit more free-spirited, command flowed fluidly, and each warrior was encouraged to take individual initiative. It definitely had its benefits. It was part of the reason why the Greek nation had survived so long despite being in a far more precarious position than New Rome, it made Jason reconsider his initial beliefs that New Rome could easily crush the Greeks, because, well- its hard to predict and plan for your enemies’ strategies when they themselves barely seemed to know their own strategies. So yeah, the Greek way had its benefits, but it also had its downsides. Case in point.
"Where is he!?" Judging by the accent that Bianca, and judging by the tone she was angry.
"I’m flattered, truly I am, but do you really think I have the power to remove a god?" Ah, and that was Chase.
With a groan, Jason pulled himself out of bed. Their quest was already precarious and damn-near suicidal, the last thing they needed was more infighting among the ranks. He pulled on a shirt and ducked out into the hall. He met Leo, who was radiating uneasy energy as he wrung his hands.
"Hey, what’s going on?"
Leo looked up at him and grimaced. Wringing his answers nervously, he pointed to the cell that functioned as Annabeth’s cabin. "They’ve been at it all morning, Percy’s nowhere to be seen, and Bianca’s blaming Annabeth."
Jason sighed and pushed past the other demigod. Piper was nowhere to be seen, but he had a feeling that her skills would be sorely needed. He reached the door and peaked his head inside. Chase was sitting cross-legged on the small bed, looking the picture of innocence. Beside her, Bianca looked about a second away from throttling the smaller girl.
"Where is he Chase!"
Annabeth rolled her eyes. "I already 𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶, I don’t know"
Bianca took a step forward "Bullshit! I heard you two talking last night." She reached out and grabbed Chase’s shirt, "What did 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰"
Jason stepped forward, trying to nip any potential fight in the bud. "Uh, guys, I think-"
Simultaneously, both girls turned towards him and spoke in perfect unison.
"𝘕𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘑𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯!"
Jason blinked a few times. Well, that was disconcerting. He turned, and Leo gave him a small thumbs up from the doorway. Behind him, the girls were back to fighting. Ya, this called for divine intervention, or more accurately, Pipers' intervention. He gestured towards Leo to go find the daughter of Aphrodite.
"Like I have told you time and time again, I didn’t say anything that he hadn’t heard before." Annabeth paused and stared up at the roof as if begging for salvation. Not for the first time, Jason was stuck by just how…How normal she seemed. "And even if I had wanted to get rid of him, I’m just a girl. I don’t have fancy powers like the rest of you." Bianca scoffed at that, and Jason was tempted to agree. "Plus, I have these pretty little things keeping me docile." She shook the stygian iron cuffs that were clipped on her wrists.
Now it was Bianca’s turn to roll her eyes. "Oh, cut the crap, Annabeth, we both know you're more than familiar with cuffs-"
"Hm kinky."
Jason nearly choked. And he saw Annabeth glare at him from the corner of his eye. That was another weird part of Greek culture that he still didn’t really understand. They were incredibly open when it came to the topic of sexuality. That had been another culture shock that had taken a while to get used to. The legion operated on a pretty strict don’t ask, don’t tell, method.
Beside him, Bianca was fanning her face. It felt good to see that someone agreed with him. Though, in hindsight, having the same social views as someone from the 1940s was probably not a good thing……..Jason would have to look into that.
"Heard you two were arguing?"
Piper, thank the gods, stuck her head into the cell and saved them all from the mounting awkwardness.
"Yes, Percy is missing, and 𝘴𝘩𝘦, won’t tell us where he is."
"For the last gods-damned time, Di Angelo, I’m sure your boytoy will turn up fine."
Piper sighed. "Ok, let's just all calm down for a second, throwing around accusations isn’t helping anyone."
Piper turned and in her calmest voice asked. "Annabeth, do you know where he is? Because Bianca is right to be worried, he is a pretty important part of the quest."
Annabeth, who was still sitting on her bed, rolled her eyes. "No, and contrary to popular belief, gods don’t like, explode in my presence, so don’t worry, I didn’t do anything to him."
Piper nodded and turned to Bianca. "See? Now I'm sure there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for Percy’s absence, maybe he’s scouting ahead."
Bianca continued to glare at Annabeth. "Fine, but I still don’t trust her around him."
Annabeth smiled sharply. "Cute, but trust me, if I wanted him dead, he would have never made it past twelve years old."
At that, Bianca scoffed before walking out of the cell.
Piper turned towards Annabeth. "Sorry about that; she gets well."
"She gets aggressive when people she cares about are in danger; Im more than aware." Annabeth groaned. "Now if you two would kindly disappear, I have some sleep to try and make back."
In the hallway, Piper looked up at him. "Getting those two to work together is gonna be a pain in the ass."
"Who would have thought that putting people who spent the last four years trying to kill each other into an enclosed space would be a bad idea."
Piper massaged her temples. "Apparently not the gods."
//
The tension between Bianca and Annabeth persisted through the whole day. Jason could practically feel it in the air. And Leo was complaining that Bianca was making all his plants die thanks to her quote. "Creepy underworld powers." Piper was probably the only thing keeping the two demigods from crossing blades.
Jason ducked onto the top deck of the Argo. The open air had always invigorated him. Something about being so close to his father’s domain filled him with energy and life. He vaguely wondered if that was how Percy felt being near the water or Bianca felt being near…..dead things?? On closer thought, he wondered if Percy got stronger around demigods, seeing as he was the god of heroes. It made his current absence all the stranger.
Leo was at the bridge, bouncing around and fiddling with the various buttons and gizmos like the little ball of hyperactive energy that he was. On the other side of the deck, sitting beneath the shadow of the sail, was Annabeth, she was sketching in some kind of book. Jason felt his sense of curiosity peak; yes, he was aware of the adage about curiosity and cats, but hey, you never got anywhere as a hero without being a little adventurous.
He walked over and sat down next to the shorter girl. "Watcha making there?"
Annabeth glared up at him. "I’m designing." With that, she returned to scribbling away.
He rolled his eyes. "Yea, I gathered that, but what are you designing?"
The silver haired girl sighed and pushed the draft book over to him. He squinted; at first, it just seemed like random lines thrown haphazardly across the page. But on closer inspection, he saw that it was actually a intricate design for some kind of palace, complete with cross-sections and measurements.
His mouth dropped open. "This is beautiful……but like it’s a building?"
Annabeth frowned. "Uh, yea?"
He stifled a small laugh. "Sorry, it's just weird to imagine you spending your time drawing designs of buildings."
She sighed. "I do have hobbies, you know."
Jason was once again surprised by just how 𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘭 Annabeth seemed. Sitting next to this girl with her drawings, it was easy to forget just how dangerous she really was. The scythe pendant hanging from her neck gently reminded him of that fact.
"Uh guys, we've got a bit of a situation here."
Both of them looked up at Leo, who was staring down at one of the displays, a grimace on his face.
Annabeth jumped up and ran to his side. She took a quick look at the instruments. "Fuck"
Jason placed a hand on his gladius. "What is it?"
Annabeth looked up at him. "We got incoming. Get Piper and Bianca."
The two demigods in question were already jumping up the stairs and onto the deck. Piper had her dagger drawn, and Bianca her black blade, which seemed to soak up the surrounding light. Jason drew his gladius and glanced around, the skies were clear and empty, and it seemed calm.
𝘉𝘖𝘖𝘔
The Argo shook, and suddenly grapples were being thrown over the sides of the ship, hooking onto the deck and holding the ship in place.
Jason went to work, running to the closest rope, he raised his gladius and brought it down with a strong thrust. But the blade only glanced off the silver rope. Beside him, Piper attempted to cut through the rope but got nowhere.
Bianca shouted. "Gordian ropes! They can't be broken!"
Well, that was just lovely…
Suddenly the deck shook as four lumbering figures pulled themselves onto the ship. They appeared to be made almost entirely of stone, with great swords made of bone. Jason recognised them instantly, Sparti, or Spartoi, as the Greeks called them, warriors of the earth. His namesake, the original Jason, had fought them in Colchis.
The first of the Spartoi swung its blade at Piper, who dove under it and slashed upwards with her dagger. The lumbering giant stumbled for a moment, but then the earth pulled itself back together. Behind them, he could hear Leo mutter. "Fuck." Jason was tempted to agree.
The Spartoi charged. One of them swung at Jason, but he blocked it with his gladius. The force of the blow sent shockwaves up his arm. Beside him, Annabeth used her scythe to slice off the head of one of the earth giants. Unfortunately, the Spartoi were seemingly invulnerable everywhere. He ducked as the giant swung again, its massive rocky arm just barely missing his head. He stuck out with his leg, landing a solid hit on the beast, it stumbled slightly but righted itself.
"𝘑𝘶𝘮𝘱 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱!"
Suddenly, the two Spartoi nearest Piper threw themselves over the edge of the Argo. Jason smiled at the daughter of Aphrodite. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he could spy Annabeth staring at Piper with an odd look on her face. Unfortunately, his attention was once again pulled back to the monster in front of him. He jumped back, parrying another strike from its bone sword.
Using the new found space, he focused on the clouds, they darkened, and a bolt of lightning burst forth, striking the earth giant in the head. It collapsed into a pile of rocks. Jason took a quick moment to compose himself. Piper was using her charmspeak to force the monsters to throw themselves from the ship. Jason turned just in time to see Bianca dodge a strike from the nearest Spartoi before ducking in close and placing her hands on the rock. Instantly, black lines began to spread from her hands turning the rock a dark, putrid black. The Spartoi shuddered violently before collapsing. Jason felt a quick chill run down his spine as he was reminded exactly why he feared the daughter of the underworld.
Annabeth, meanwhile, lured two of the earth giants towards the side of the ship. Just as one of them struck, she ducked backwards using the same move she had used back in the prison. The Spartoi’s strike smashed into its brother, causing it to collapse. Annabeth rolled off the ground and kicked the remaining Spartoi off the edge.
Leo who had just finished frying one of the monsters, took a quick look over the edge of the ship. "Uh, great work, guys, but we still got a problem."
Jason ran to the side and looked over. Below them, the Spartoi had simply reformed and were once again climbing up the sides. Jason wracked his mind, how had his namesake defeated these things, it definitely wasn’t through brute force, suddenly it hit him. He turned to Bianca.
"Bianca, I need a rock."
Bianca stared at him. "Um what?"
Jason nodded fervently. "Your dad is the god of the underworld, right? And that includes precious metals."
"Jason I don’t think this is the time for trying to get rich."
He shook his head. "Just give me a piece of gold, preferably a flashy piece."
Bianca continued to stare at him but nodded. She held out her arms, and with a loud popping sound, a hunk of gold appeared in her hands. She handed it to Jason. He ran to the side of the ship and dropped the hunk of metal. Instantly, the Spartoi started fighting amongst themselves for the piece of gold.
He turned to his friends and spread his arms. "The original Jason defeated the Spartoi by throwing a cool rock at them and letting them fight amongst themselves."
Piper snorted. "Apparently they haven’t gotten any smarter over the millennia."
"Congratulations, little demigods! You are smarter than a group of brickheads!"
The ship shook again as a hulking figure vaulted over the side. He was huge, with bulging muscles that would have made Hercules blush. He carried a heavy war axe and wore a ram's-head helmet.
Beside him, Annabeth snarled and gripped her sickle tightly. "𝘒𝘺𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘴"
The warrior- Kyknos, laughed. "Little owl, it has been a very long time."
Annabeth stepped forward. "Not long enough, you fucking creep."
The name Kyknos seemed vaguely familiar to Jason. He remembered reading about him in a book somewhere.
"You fought Hercules." Piper had apparently reached the same conclusion.
Kyknos threw his head back and laughed. "Yes, I did, little demigod! And I would have won too if not for Athena’s arrival." With that, he turned and faced Annabeth, who rolled her eyes.
"But now I work for the earth mother! And she is most interested in all of you, she finds your attempts to stop her quite humorous, but now she has sent me to put a stop to your puny voyage."
With that, Kyknos attacked. He swung his axe at Piper, whose guard was down. Jason rushed forward, using the wind to propel him, he just barely intercepted the warrior's strike with his sword. The force of the blow knocked the two of them back into the mast. Jason opened his eyes his vision blurry.
"Well little owl, shall we get 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥."
Annabeth snarled, rushing forward engaging Kyknos in a flurry of strikes and parries. Bianca joined her, striking at the warriors’ legs with her Stygian iron sword. Kyknos roared, striking out with his landing a solid hit on Bianca, sending her crashing into the mast alongside him and Piper.
Annabeth turned to look just for a second. Kyknos darted forward, grabbing the demigod. He pinned Annabeth’s arms to her sides, and her sickle was too short to reach the warrior.
Kyknos pulled Annabeth in and spoke in a sing-song voice that made the hair on Jason’s arms stand up. "Dear oh dear, little owl, was that hesitation I spied?" he leaned in close and leered.
Annabeth sneered. "I did not come this far to be beaten by a 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘨𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬 like you." Suddenly she flipped her sickle, and it extended into its scythe form. She flicked it forward, and the long blade made contact with Kyknos’s eye.
The warrior roared in pain, dropping Annabeth. Jason felt his strength start to return to him, beside him, Piper and Bianca also seemed to recover slightly. Together, the three ran forward. Jason struck Kyknos in the back as he stumbled. Bianca drove her blade through his arm, while Piper stabbed into the giant’s neck. Kyknos tried to strike out but Jason called down a lightning bolt, which sent his axe flying down to the earth below. Eventually Kyknos collapsed to the ground, bleeding gold from a hundred cuts.
Bianca stepped forward. "Yield."
Kyknos laughed, and Jason saw as Annabeth tightened her grip on her scythe. "Not quite yet, little demigods." Suddenly he threw something long and thin, it flew through the air landing around Piper’s neck.
At first, nothing happened, and Jason almost breathed a sigh of relief. But then suddenly Piper went rigid and her eyes filled with panic. Jason reached out, but Piper’s arm twisted, bringing her own dagger up to her neck.
Bianca turned white. "The neckless of Harmonia."
Kyknos smiled even as gold continued to pour slugishly out of his wounds. "Correct little one, now if you would be so kind as to drop your weapons or the pretty one loses her head."
Jason turned to Bianca; the daughter of Hades nodded. He dropped his gladius to the ground, and Bianca followed, her black blade clattering to the deck.
"You too, little owl."
Annabeth’s grip on Arbiter hadn’t loosened, she stared directly at Kyknos, her eyes glinting as she tilted her head slightly. "No."
A calculating smile spread across Annabeth’s face. "No, why would I?" Jason’s blood went cold, beside him, Bianca turned to face Annabeth a look of disbelief painted across her face.
Annabeth continued to smile. "I mean, this is a 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 important quest." She shrugged and spread her arms. "Why would I jeopardise our entire mission over one little girl."
"What the fuck are you doing, Chase?"
Annabeth turned to look at Bianca a sadistic smile on her face, and then…..she 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘥 ever so slightly.
"I mean, sure, she seems nice, but she is just 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘰𝘥, and what is one little demigod compared to the whole world!"
Piper was staring at Annabeth with a look of horror on her face. Jason felt rooted to the spot, a cold chill filling his gut.
Annabeth spread her arms and shouted. "So go ahead 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘵! I mean, who the hell is going to care about 𝘰𝘯𝘦. 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦. 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘰𝘥!"
The air began to hum slightly, and Jason looked at Kyknos in fear. but the giant looked just as confused. The air began to feel slightly staticky.
"These demigods are under my protection."
Percy materialized into view. He was wearing dark green armour and holding a Greek sword that seemed to pulse with power.
Kyknos screeched. "You will never succeed! Mother Gaia controls all! You will die on this foolish-"
Percy cut him off, a dark look flirting across his face. "These demigods are under my protection, and 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮."
The giant snarled. “You may be fast godling, but are you fast enough to stop the pretty one from slitting her own throat? All I have to do think the words an-“
Then Kyknos’s head exploded...
Jason took a step back in shock as they were all showered in golden dust. Leo looked white with shock. Annabeth, Percy and Bianca only seemed mildly annoyed. Once again he was struck by the thought that those three truly were veterans, blood and death rarely seemed to even phase them.
Beside him, Piper dropped like a puppet without a puppeteer. He rushed over cradling her body close, she seemed fine physically but tears of fear and relief ran down her face.
Bianca hugged Percy before slapping him for leaving them, Percy at least had the sense to look sheepish. Annabeth, meanwhile, turned to look at them a sharp grin on her face. "You can thank me later, Piper."
Vaguely, Jason noticed that the necklace had vanished.