The Warfighter, the Storm, and the Moon

Chapter 20: Rancor

'Rancor'

03-Sep-2030, 0030U

Hazel Levesque, Hero of Olympus, Daughter of Pluto

Joint Operation with Hunters of Diana, Legion XII

North McCullough Wilderness, Nevada, USA

Nico and I were walking in Berkeley, spending some time among the mortal populace (just for the sake of some normalcy and because I wanted to learn more about the modern world from time to time), when he suddenly collapsed next to an alley, clutching his head in pain.

"Nico!" I exclaimed as I knelt beside him. "Nico, what's wrong?"

"Agh... Hazel, back away! Back up!" he hissed as he convulsed.

"What do you mean—"

"I don't... I can't... get Frank! Reyna! Help!"

"Holy—kid, you okay?" a passing policeman asked, running up to us. "What's wrong? Is he having a seizure?"

"I'm calling 9-1-1!" a bystander said, walking towards us as more nearby mortals began noticing.

"Nonono—" Nico gasped before his face went blank and his body became completely rigid. He slowly turned towards me before speaking. But what came out of his mouth wasn't his voice. And his eyes were pure black—even the whites were gone.

"Autodikos is no more," a deep voice said, sending chills down my spine. "Your brother is mine, Ecaterina."

"What the hell—" the policeman began before Nico exploded... or more accurately, he caused an explosion, knocking myself and the mortals back and sending black smoke everywhere. Chaos ensued as I tried to get my bearings, seeing blood—some of it mine, some of it the mortals'. The policeman and bystander from earlier laid on the ground some distance from where Nico's body used to be, both bleeding and unconscious. People were screaming around me and it didn't take long for sirens to become audible in the distance. Panicking, I ducked into the alley, shadow-traveling back to Camp Jupiter, specifically the Principia. I couldn't shadow—travel quite as well as my brother—nor did I have the same sort of understanding and sense of the matter-but I could do it well enough to track his location.

"Holy—Hazel, what happened?!" Frank exclaimed, standing bolt upright along with Reyna, the legate, and the praetors, catching me before I collapsed, still shocked by the incident.

"Nico... he's... I..." I stuttered out, still trying to make sense of the whole deal. "He's in trouble!"

"Define 'trouble,'" Reyna requested, giving me her chair.

"Something's taken control of him. Like the eidolons. It said 'Autodikos is no more,'" I recalled, shuddering at my memory of the voice. "Then he exploded... mortals got caught in the blast, I don't know if any are dead. Nico's still alive and I can track him, but he said to get you two first."

"I can scramble a detachment to provide support," the legate offered.

"No way. Nico's too strong, too dangerous. Get a team inside the city and investigate however you can, conduct damage control if necessary," Frank ordered. "But whatever you do, stay out of sight!"

"Yes, Consul."

"We need Leo's help too," I pointed out.

"No, he's still handling the situation in Texas," Frank replied with a shake of his head. "And that's critical too. We need to work with what we have."