Children of Olympia: Apocalypse

Brooklyn Bash!

"Nico can shadow travel us." Walt suggested.

"Can't risk it." Alex replied. "A son of Hades powerful as Nico will attract attention. You both already are children of major gods."

Will nodded. Alex had a point. The more the importance of a god, the more their scent attract monsters. "The chariot, then." he said. "But we should take a satyr with us."

"Alright!" Clarisse agreed. "I'll get Coach Hedge, you get the chariot."

They splitted in opposite directions. Will and Alex ran all the way to a pile of boulders that was once called Zeus' fist and was a secret entrance to the Labyrinth. Will had his doubts that Echidna and the monsters somehow made that functional again to breach the camp's security, but nothing about the place seemed out of ordinary. It stood the same way it had been since the Battle of Labyrinth. A few metres away, a bronze and gold chariot glistened in the setting sunlight.

"Is that the chariot?" Alex asked. "Won't we need horses to pull that? Or pegasi?"

"Not anymore." Will answered. "Last time when Butch and Annabeth used it, we had to make some, um, repairs, and Hephaestus kids helped us install a solar energy converter. You need to charge it in sun for a day and you're ready to make a trip across US and back."

"Seems good." Alex replied, examining the chariot like he was going to purchase it. "I haven't been on a war chariot in my life!"

"Really?" Will asked in surprise. Somehow he couldn't imagine someone like Alex never been on a chariot.

"When I started my rebellion, the Twelve had already taken over the thrones and confiscated anything superhuman. Anything once in possession of the demigods is either in their hands, or hidden where nobody could find them."

Will nodded sympathetically. He thought he should say something, but wasn't able to decide what. Alex had the most paradoxical personality of the people Will had known- now he was a brave and ruthless fighter, the next second he was a fragile and troubled loner. Will wasn't sure whether he should encourage the boy or console him.

For once in his life, he felt happy to see Clarisse running towards them, followed by Coach Hedge, who was frantically waving his baseball bat, shouting, "Blistering Barnacles!"

Will noticed the Coach was wearing a orange "Camp Half-Blood" turtleneck with a black coat and a black sailor cap on his head. His beard was full and wild, as if he hadn't shaved this week.

"What's up, Coach?" Will asked.

"Billions of blue blistering barnacles!" Coach Hedge replied.

"Oh-kay!" Will spoke, looking at Clarisse for explanation.

"He'd been reading Tintin the entire month." she said, rolling her eyes. "Too much impressed with Captain Haddock's curses."

"The man has a nice sense of cuss words!" Hedge muttered absent-mindedly.

"Whatever." Will said. "We've a quest!"

Clarisse nodded and hopped in the chariot. The next few minutes went flying from Long Island to Brooklyn. For a split second, Will imagined he saw a strange mansion built above a warehouse on the other side of the East River, but shrugged it off as an illusion.

Coach Hedge pointed downwards. "Bloodsucking monsters!"

"An abandoned Monster Donut shop?" Clarisse asked. "These monsters just don't know how to hide."

"So, what's the plan?" Alex asked.

Coach Hedge raised his bat like a sword. "Bang in, slash those bloody bandits-"