Steve's POV
Tony was talking to Percy for almost ten minutes, before they came to the agreement that Percy would leave the phone on speaker till Annabeth and Will arrived, then they would let him know if it would be safe to turn on the camera again. I wasn't entirely sure what was unsafe about technology, or what the arrival of Will and Annabeth would do to change that, but I stayed silent. What I didn't know about technology could fill several encyclopedias, presumably Percy knew what he was talking about.
I was awkwardly sitting there with my hands folded in my lap when I heard the front door close with a loud bang. Elsie called out again, and everyone visibly relaxed at the sound of a young female voice - Annabeth. Their conversation became quieter, presumably as Annabeth went into the room to talk with her Aunt. Her elderly voice led me to believe that she might be a great aunt, rather than an aunt, but I was quickly distracted from my rambling thoughts by Will's entrance into the room. He was sporting a shallow gouge across his cheek, and a rapidly forming bruise across his forearm.
"Perce, Kelli found us about two minutes after you guys left, I think our combined signal was too much to immediately disappear with you. We killed her quite quickly, she didn't put up much of a fight. Anyway we didn't see any others on the way here but lets not get too comfortab-" He stopped mid sentence, catching a glimpse of Nico's sleeping form next to me. His face softened, and he strode over propping Nico's body up so that he could sit next to him. "Percy I take it we're going to need Nico to take these guys back?" He asked, Percy nodding back at him.
"I only have enough for one dose of Ambrosia, I was planning on stocking up when we returned to camp tonight. Have you got any serious injuries or can I use it on Nico?" Percy held up one finger before slipping out of the room, presumably to check that Annabeth wasn't too injured. Whilst he was out of the room I exchanged a confused look with Natasha. Ambrosia? It must be some sort of medicine, but I'd never heard of it before - and judging by Natasha's confused look neither had she. The casual way that Will had referred to them killing someone called Kelli was also worrying, and I was hoping very hard that was a nickname given to one of these monsters. Percy returned as these thoughts were flooding through my head, gesturing that it was okay for Will to use the Ambrosia on Nico. By now Nico was now laying down across the chair, his head resting on Will's thigh. Will gently swung his rucksack off, retrieving what seemed to be a small golden cube, popping it into Nico's mouth. I was about to say something, feeling that there was something incredibly wrong with the scene in front of me when I let out a shocked gasp. Before my very eyes some colour returned to Nico's cheeks, and he seemed to stir slightly from his sleep. He began to mutter in what I'd come to realise was a Greek dialect, which Will replied to quickly, a slight smile on his face.
"Sorry to interrupt your flirting, but do you have any Nectar, or at least some bandages in that med kit of yours Will?" Percy stated with a grin. Will sighed, rummaging through the bag that had made its way to the floor. "I have a bit of Nectar, you and Annabeth share that. I'll get some when I stock up back at camp, some antiseptic should do for now ... if Elsie has any?" Will trailed off his attention focused completely on Percy, his hands absentmindedly running through Nico's hair. I felt as if the teens had forgotten that Natasha and I were here, and awkwardly began to play with a hang nail. Percy left the room once more, swiftly returning with a tub of half used ointments and creams.
"See what you can find Will," he said, taking a few sips from the canteen offered to him in return. His cuts to began to heal, though not to the point that they were completely healed. Obviously Nectar wasn't as strong as Ambrosia, from the different effects we had seen both had. I shook my head slightly, surprised at how much I had taken these events in stride, ignoring the strangeness of it all. It was that moment that Tony chose to interrupt the teens, loudly.
"Didn't you say that when the other two arrived you'd be able to make a decision about whether I could turn my camera back on? I'm not that comfortable with only hearing, voices, especially because its been a while since I heard either of my team members say anything. For all I know, you guys could have taken them out, and be pretending that everything is fine." Tony's voice was rising again, and was almost back at the level that it had been before Natasha and Percy had been able to calm him down.
"I'm fine Tony," I stated, doing my best to keep a level tone, not wanting to worry him any more than he already was. "And so am I Tony," Natasha continued. "I'm offended that you don't think that we can take care of ourselves." Our words had an immediate effect on Tony, as we heard his breathing slow through the speaker, and his next words were far less frantic. "Is it safe for me to turn on my camera or not?"
"ANNABETH," Percy yelled out of the door, "CAN WE TURN THE CAMERA BACK ON". After about 30 seconds of no response, Percy shrugged. "If there was any immediate problem she'd have stormed in here or said no so feel free to turn it back on. It won't affect Steve or Natasha too much even if there are problems, because the house is protected by wards and they'll be leaving the same way that, it might just put Annabeth and I in a bit of a dangerous situation when we leave." There was another period of silence, before Tony let out a quiet noise.
"Okay, I have the camera back on, though I don't have audio without the earpieces, so if we can leave the phone lines open that'd be much appreciated." Tony's voice had a remarkable polite tone, which I had initially assumed had sparked from being scared, but had stayed from the teens' easy going attitudes. It was at that moment that Annabeth walked in the door, and involuntarily I let out a shocked gasp. Whilst Will had a shallow gash on his cheek and a dark bruise forming on his arm, Annabeth's injuries were far worse. Her jeans were torn around the knee, where I could easily see deep scratch marks. She too was sporting several minor cuts and grazes over her arms, but it was the limp she walked with that was most worrying.
Immediately Percy held out the mostly full canteen to Annabeth, who gladly took it, before pulling her onto the chair next to him. "Will if you chuck me some bandages I can cover up this, whilst one of you does the explaining. I'm sure I left a knee brace and a pair of crutches here a couple of months ago, so we'll be fine without Ambrosia, but neither of us can afford to get an infection right now." A knee brace, and a set of crutches? That made it sound like they were injured a lot, were these monsters always attacking them? Trying to focus again, I tuned into what Will was saying. I knew that this could be the only chance I would have for a long time to get an explanation for the days events.
"- the monsters that you saw today are called empousa and they use something called the Mist to disguise themselves. That's why Tony and whoever else was watching through the cameras saw a beautiful woman, whereas in reality their hair is fire, they have talons, and have one bronze prosthetic leg, and one donkey leg. Percy removed the mist from Natasha and Steve, but because he didn't know that there were people watching through a camera he could remove it from them. Unfortunately the Mist will probably be back soon, as its not any of our strengths. Nico is slightly better than us at removing because of his ... specific abilities, but if we need it to be removed in the long term, we would need to contact Hazel. What we've done will probably last about a day or two."
Tony interrupted Will, quite obviously curious about why he had stuttered on the word abilities. "What do you mean by abilities, and why would Nico have an advantage? Also who is Hazel?" I saw the four of them exchange a look, before Annabeth took over the explanation, her newly bandaged leg resting on Percy's lap. She toyed with her hair for a second, before slipping her hand into Percy's and giving him a reassuring squeeze.
"We can't tell you everything quite yet, because we don't know anything about you. You could endanger not only us, but also all of our friends and family, so forgive us for being a little vague." Annabeth sounded very matter of fact about what she was saying, not in the least apologetic for her ambiguous statement. "What we can say, is that all of us have inherited powers or abilities from family, that make us different to your average teen. These powers however come with a certain signal, that attract monsters. Things like using or being around technology, or when there are large groups of dem ... us acts as stronger signals to monsters. You've already met Empousa, and there are hundreds of other monsters that we encounter regularly, and some not so regularly. In an attempt to prepare us for constant attack, our families set up a camp - of sorts - where we can learn to defend ourselves, and stay if our home situations aren't great. I stayed all year round at camp from the age of 7 till pretty recently, and I met Percy when he first arrived when he was twelve. Will and Nico have also been there for several years, both all year round pretty much. And Hazel is Nico's half sister - her abilities tie in with Mist, which gives her more power over it than most."
"Wait," Tony interrupted once more, his voice distorted by the phone's speaker. "So have these signals I've been tracking have been you guys all this time? When we followed you back after school, when you were covered in yellow dust Annabeth, you gave off a weakening signal that disappeared when you got back to Percy's apartment." Watching the teens I saw a confused look make it's way onto both Annabeth and Percy's faces, and they conversed quietly for a minute. "I don't think so Tony. We give off a constant signal but its never been detectable by anyone by monsters, our friends have tried in the past when we were ... missing." The pair had unconciously tightened their grip on each other at the mention of going missing, and my interest was peaked. Could this possibly tie in to the nightmare we had overheard, the pained screams and the reaction it had caused in both Mrs Jackson and Annabeth?
"Anyway, I reckon that you've probably found a way to track monsters, or at least the energy they give off whilst they're alive. The yellow dust I had on me was the remains of a monster that had attacked me at school, and was almost gone when we got home, which would make sense as to why you lost the signal. We've never been able to track monsters before, maybe we could get into contact once we know a little more about you, and potentially swap some information. We definitely have some information that would benefit you in return, especially with how close those monsters got to skewering you guys today. You already have my number, so you can text me your names, so that we can talk to our parents about if we can trust you, and I can text back when we're sure. If you want to research us, if you haven't already, feel free, but I think we've proved today that we're really not out here to hurt you guys. Our full names are Annabeth Chase, Perseus Jackson, Nico Di Angelo and Will Solace, you can probably find a lot for all of us online. We've ... done a few things together, some of which haven't necessarily been reported correctly."
Natasha opened her mouth as if to say something, but instead closed it, shaking her head in mild disbelief. "You mentioned that we would be travelling back the same way that we got here but I don't see that happening anytime soon, with him still asleep." She gestured towards Nico, who was indeed still fast asleep across the lounge chair. "He'll be awake shortly," Will said confidently. "Most of us aren't great at sleeping for long periods of time, he normally manages to grab an hour or so at a time, and we've been talking for nearly that long. I'll start waking him up in a minute anyway, he'll be rested enough to make the journeys now. The distance to travel isn't too far, if were going back to where we picked you up, and he'll be able to get us back to camp before he passes out completely. We can't risk going the long way with you, in case there were any monsters that were able to follow Annabeth and I. The other two will deal with that when they leave."
Percy chose that moment to stand up. "I'm just gonna go and grab that knee brace, we'll need it if we're making a swift exit. Will, if you start waking up Nico he should be able to travel you guys back to the alley in about ten minutes. Tony if you want to head that way you'll be able to meet them there in a little over ten minutes, but if Natasha or Steve tell you that anyone isn't quite what they seem to be, run. Will will hang around for a few minutes before they head back to camp so everything should be fine, we're just used to assuming the worst case scenario." With that he walked out of the doors, and we heard thuds ascending the stairs.
Nico seemed to be stirring slightly from Will's gentle pokes, when suddenly he snapped his arm out, nearly punching him in the face. Will - seeming to have been expecting this - expertly dodged the flailing arm, before once more speaking in the Greek dialect that all these teens seemed to understand. "How come you all know and speak in Greek to each other?" I asked unable to contain my curiosity any longer. Will looked shocked at my question, that I knew he was speaking Greek. "When I was putting Tony's number into Annabeth's phone it was on a Greek keyboard, so I'm assuming that's what you've all been speaking.
"Our parents thought that it was important for us to learn another language, so our camp provides the opportunity to learn Greek, which most of us have been doing since we were kids, so we're all quite fluent." Annabeth hastily answered. "And we've become used to speaking about monsters and things like that in Greek, it limits the chances that we'll get overheard by anyone around us." I couldn't help but notice that regardless of who the question was aimed at Annabeth had answered most of them, with some artfully constructed responses. I knew that I wasn't being told the entire truth, but before I was given any further chance to respond Percy re-entered the room, crutches tucked under her arm, and a knee brace in his hands.
He handed the brace over to Annabeth, who strapped it on over her jeans. The brace was partly made up of metal, and seemed to offer enough support that Annabeth was able to stand up with little pain. However Percy still handed over the crutches, waiting till she was stable before turning back to us. "At this point you're probably best off putting back in your earpieces, because when you arrive at the alley you wont have the phone, and you'll be too disorientated and nauseous to put them back in straight away. I doubt that you'll run into any problems, the signal would have disappeared when we did, but like I said, we assume worst case scenaerio."
I was happy to dig my earpiece out of my pocket, and turn it back on, slipping it into my ear. As soon as Natasha and I had both confirmed that our earpieces were on and working, Tony said a quick goodbye to the teens, and hung up the phone. Nico - now standing up, next to the table - gestured for Natasha and I to take hold of his hands once more. I obliged, dreading whatever ability that this teleportation was. "Annabeth and I are going to stay with Elsie tonight, Will and Nico, she doesn't seem particularly well. If you need to contact us IM should be fine now, but remember that we'll be at school tomorrow so try to avoid it if you can. Text instead, we'll check our phones sporadically throughout the day." He directed his next words towards Natasha and I. "It was nice to meet you, if you ever need to contact us I'm sure you know where to find us. And we'll be sure to send a message to you in the next week regarding what information we're allowed to tell you." With that he nodded and stepped back slightly. I realised that we were about to be teleporting back to the alley, and whilst I was anxious to return to my team, I wasn't looking forward to how this would feel.
Out of my peripheral vision I say Will sling his arms securely around Nico's waist, resulting in a slight blush appearing across Nico's cheeks. "Hold on tight, you'll be back with your friends in literally seconds," Nico muttered. I felt a sudden pulling in my gut, and the world before me began to swirl. As the darkness descended on us, I felt the all too familiar sense of nausea. I didn't think that I'd ever be able to get used to whatever this was.
Hello! Although I said I had this storyline planned out, my plan is very broad, and I rarely plan individual chapters out (unless I need an important event to take place I normally just wing it.) That's largely why the last two chapters are in Steve's POV, because I initially intended for it all to take place in one chapter, but that would have resulted in a 6,000 word chapter which would be incredibly long. I am trying to make my chapters a bit more detailed and longer, but gradually, otherwise this story will be over all too soon!
(Q)Whose POV do you like the most and whose POV are you most looking forward to seeing? (I'm hoping to do at least one full chapter from each main characters POV, though I've definitely already found some favourites.) Leave your answers in the comments, and maybe I'll add in a chapter in that POV at some point!
Anyways, I'll see you soon (whenever I next post a chapter)
- Emily :)
Finished (21/06/2018)