Contrary to what Bella told him, Carol was not agreeing with the sea. Minutes after they got out into the open sea, he felt like he was going to vomit. And he did.
"Please, next time, throw up over the side. Nympholia doesn't like getting it on her floorboards," Bella said, wiping the vomit away with a mop. A low creak emitted from the yacht, as if it was agreeing with her.
Part of the reason why Carol was so seasick was because of the sheer speed the Nympholia was travelling. The yacht was literally skipping across the water because of how fast it was going. One wrong misstep on the deck and you would be thrown off because of how much the ship was buckling. The ship was going with the speed of a rocket; at some point they passed an airplane that was flying high above them. Carol hoped that the Mist would cover their presence from whatever mortals that were looking down at their super-sonic rocket boat.
The trio was below deck, and Carol felt safer, knowing that he couldn't be launched from the ship due to a sudden jolt.
"Here, take these," Bella said, giving each boy a pill.
"What do these do?" asked Erin.
"They were originally created for Apollo and his sun chariot, for guests who could not handle the speed," Bella answered. "I have a few leftover ever since Nemesis had me sneak on there to do some work stuff.."
"Okay, another question: if we're going as fast as I think we are, how in Tartarus is this boat still one one piece?" asked Carol.
"I gave Nymphoila pretty much unlimited good karma; basically, it leveled up all her abilities to the maximum, including her speed and integrity," Bella replied.
"Ah," Carol concluded. It didn't comfort him much; who knew how reliable "unlimited good karma" was?
Besides, he was pretty sure that wasn't how karma worked, but he wasn't going to tell that to Bella, the literal goddess of restoring balance.
"Alright," Bella said. "Until we reach the coast, I'm telling you what you need to know. So, first off, you're breaking into a government building-"
"Wait, so the British government is behind this?!" Erin exclaimed.
"Well, no. Yes, actually. Sort of. Arg, nevermind. Just pretend I didn't say that," Bella said. "Let me start over again. You are breaking into a building. Whatever you do, whatever you see down there, don't let them see your jaw drop. Just proceed like those objects are ordinary."
"Are you going to tell us what those jaw-dropping things are? Or at least a bit about the people there?" Carol complained.
"No," said Bella, picking at her fingernails anxiously. "It's best, for everyone, that neither party knows about each other. When you are finished, I'll employ the Mist to hide anything out of the ordinary that you saw there. For all you know, well..."
"Seriously?" exclaimed Carol angrily. "You expect us to continue on with the quest after you told us that you're going to wipe our minds?!"
"You can't turn down a quest given by a god," Bella said with infuriating calmness. "And besides, the fate of your sibling and all demigods lies in your hands. Shall we continue with the strategizing?"
"Yes, of course," Carol quietly mumbled.
"As I said, you will be breaking into the building, in a disguise. Thanks to your height difference-"
"Height difference?!" Carol exclaimed. Erin smirked at him.
"-Erin will be posing as a rich American businessman and Carol will be his son. If anyone asks, you say that you are taking a look around to see if there is anything worth investing in, but no negotiations will be done that day, so there is no need to contact anyone. Say this with a bit of charmspeak, if you can manage it, though I doubt you will be able to produce much."
"American businessman. Investment. Got it," said Carol. "Though I'm still a bit ticked about me being the son. And won't it be weird if we look the same age?"
"That's where your guys' makeup skills come in," Bella said.
"It's going to be a bit tricky to apply the makeup while the yacht is being a super-sonic skipping stone," Carol noted. "Especially if it has to be so detailed like that."
"We'll arrive at shore in four hours. We'll practice and refine the acting and drill scenarios and when night falls we'll rest. The next day, you will apply the makeup and we'll depart on a London-bound train at six am. I'll take you as far as the entrance, and then you'll be on your own. And don't worry, I'll provide you with plenty of info, so you'll know what to do," Bella said.
"Okay. But, hmm, let's say things don't go as planned and we get caught. What happens then?" Erin asked.
Bella shifted anxiously. "Ah, yes, about that... well, while they start murdering all the demigods, I'll go hide with Nemesis somewhere. Preferably in a bolthole in Alaska. Yes, I'll suppose I'll have to stock up on my winter coats and ushankas..."
"An ushanka? What are you, a communist?" Carol asked. (Remember, that during the 70s the Cold War took place, and since I'm a nerd, I decided to include it, sorry. Yesterday I literally watched an hour long video about the trading history of China-)
"Ushankas existed long before communists," Bella replied. "And don't care if it was made by Tartarus, I just want to stay warm while you guys die."
"So you have no backup plan, whatsoever, other than hiding out in Alaska while everyone we know dies. This all depends on us," Carol said.
"Yep. No pressure," said Bella.
They arrived at a port in Brighton, English after about four more hours of travelling and continued practicing scenarios after Bella told them all the information they needed.
"Alright, let's do this again," drilled Bella. "Do the posh walk! Good, you're not failing that anymore. Now, tell me something!"
"Why hello, I've travelled a long way to get here, so don't disappoint me," said Erin, trying to act as snobby as possible.
"Give me a bigger American accent!" Bella commanded.
"But I literally am an American, I can't make my voice more American!" complained Erin.
"Well, the Brits won't believe that you are American unless you step up that accent!"
Carol snickered, and Bella turned to glare at him. "You are part of this, too, even though you won't be talking as much. And when you're goofing off, remember that I won't be taking you into my bolthole with me, if you fail." Bella said.
Carol sobered up pretty quickly after that.
"I'm getting tired," Erin said. "It would already be one am back in Rhode Island. It's already evening here. We can't get any better if we are exhausted, and we need to rest up for tomorrow."
"Alright, you can go to bed," Bella said. "But we'll have to take turns taking watch. We don't know what monsters lurk in Britain. One of you is taking first watch." With that she left for one of the two quarters on the yacht.
Carol and Erin looked at each other.
"Not it!" Erin shouted.
"Come on," Carol complained.
"See you in the morning, loser," Erin said and disappeared into the remaining quarters.
Carol sighed and grabbed a lantern and his choice weapon: a Swedish M/41B Sniper Rifle.
This was an odd choice for a demigod, because most carried traditional Greek weapons like javelins, swords, daggers among other things. Some time ago, about a decade or so ago, some children in the Hephestus cabin thought it would be a good idea to modify some gun models to make them suitable for demigod use.
And it was applauded, at first. The first and second tests went smoothly, so the Hephestus cabin gave out the first prototypes to some Ares kids and had them step out of the camp borders to see if they worked on monsters. And they did, but they also backfired on the Ares kids. One exploded in a poor kid's face, another's bullet bounced back and landed in the heart of another kid, and things too gruesome to describe happened to the other Ares kids.
When the Ares kids arrived, there were only three left of the seven who ventured to test the weapons. They dumped the weapons in the back of the shed as the funeral rites proceeded for the four who died.
Everyone got the message: demigods and technology didn't mix.
However, the weapons stayed in the shed. It was camp policy, that as long as it could be used to kill monsters, it must stay, no matter how cursed. There were already some weapons with long and deadly histories hiding in there, what would a couple more make?
And so that was how he found his weapon, in the back of the weapons shed, thirteen years after they were first dumped there.
It took a bit of time to figure out how it worked. It wasn't a taught subject at camp and no one used any guns, let alone snipers.
After he finally learned how to use it, he was amazed by the results. He could only use it outside of camp though, because it was considered dangerous to use it against a demigod, especially during war games. He was confined to bow and arrows during those.
But when he was in his apartment, he would go onto the tiny balcony and take aim, looking down at any monsters. His apartment was fairly high up, so if he missed the first time and the monster was alerted of his presence, he had a good amount of time to run. Unless it was an emposia, which would jump onto his balcony in two leaps. That's why he also had a dagger handy, though he knew no techniques or tricks of using it.
All of this ran through his mind as he got on deck and searched for a good point on the yacht where he could see in all directions. He finally settled on the mast which carried the big sail.
Getting on the mast was no easy task. It was not meant to be climbed on, so it had no ladder. It was also metal, which made it very slippery, and it was very hard to balance once you were on top.
Nevertheless, Carol was satisfied, and he started looking out for monsters.
Eventually, with the gentle lapping of the waves, the small rocking motions of the ship, and the distant sound of the city lulled Carol to sleep.
What Carol's body and mind forgot when he was being lulled to sleep was the 30 foot drop from the top of the mast all the way to the deck below.
1810 words.
Well, I made a backstory for a weapon. yay.
i was rather happy with this chapter.
and i just wanted to say a quick thanks to you guys. not that i owe you anything, but the fact that by voting and commenting, you make this story more available who desperately search wattpad for nico goes to hogwarts fanfics, just like me.