Standing in a 7-Eleven bathroom, I leaned against the bathroom counter, stinging hands gripped on the edge of the basin as I stared my reflection in the eye.
I was older now, around the age I had been when the ROB had first grabbed me. It was strange, although not exactly unwelcome. At least I wouldn't have to worry about people underestimating me because of my age now.
A spike of pain drew my attention back to my white-knuckled hands. The cuts were mostly gone now, thanks to a granola bar containing ambrosia, but they still weren't quite back to normal.
Flexing my fingers again, I watched as the lacerations slowly closed. Ambrosia was the food of the gods, and if I'd been mortal, I'd have burst into flame upon eating it. Even with the knowledge that I was the child of a deity, I was still surprised at how quickly I was recovering.
I glared at my hands and the closing cuts. After being around Harry Potter magic for five years, this shouldn't have been so fascinating. Yet I was still unnaturally intrigued. Shaking my head, I put it down to the ROB screwing with me, even as I turned towards the door. I needed to get moving.
The teller gave me a nervous look as I strode through the store and out into the dark carpark, but I ignored them, blearily rubbing my eyes as I glanced at the light-polluted sky above. I'd been traveling all day, and I was beyond exhausted. But I was also so close to my destination.
"Oy!"
I glanced back at the speaker. A man in a black suit, flanked by two identically dressed spooks.
"You Hal Walker?" the man demanded, stopping beneath a streetlamp.
Wearily, I pulled out the silver flashlight. They had to be more monsters sent by the Triumvirate. Holding back another yawn, I squared off against them, preparing for the fight. I was too tired for this shit… but at least I now knew the full name of the ROB's fabrication.
"Yeah," I said slowly. "Who're you lot?"
"The Emperor has asked us to escort you to New York," the head spook said, ignoring my question.
I nodded slowly. Triumvirate Holdings was run by three emperors. Caligula in the west, an emperor with a Hercules fetish (whose name I couldn't remember) in Kansas or Oklahoma or one of the flyover states, and Nero in New York.
Nero, the guy who burned Christians. He wanted to see me.
Slowly nodding again, I glanced up. It'd be easy enough to leave, but I needed more info than I had. I knew the Emperors were Jeff Bezos level rich, that they financed Cronus when he attempted to overthrow the Greek gods, and that they were working with Apollo's enemy, the Python, but there were still gaps in my knowledge. I hadn't finished the Trials of Apollo series, where they were the main antagonists, so I didn't know how they were brought down. I needed to learn more.
Hopefully, these spooks were the monologuing type. It worked on the Skiritae after all.
"If you'd just follow us, please," the guy said, gesturing towards the dark street beyond the carpark.
"What does Nero want with me?" I queried, stepping forward, even as I prepared to switch on the flashlight.
"I don't know," the man said with a shrug. "We were just dispatched 'cause we were closest."
"What tribe are you?" I asked. As far as I knew, the Emperors employed mythical tribes, like the Skiratae, Germani, Blemmyae, and Pandai. If I figured out who this lot were, I'd have more success in taking them out.
"Tribe?" the spook asked. "What…?"
"Probably the supernatural shit," one of the other men in black said. "You a demigod?"
"Wait… you aren't monsters of demigods?" I queried. This wasn't good. There was some degree of separation between the regular world and the world of monsters and heroes and gods. The fact that these muggle goons were in on it…
"This is going nowhere," the third goon commented. "The Emperor doesn't like to be kept waiting!"
I grimaced. I wasn't going to get answers here, and I sure as hell wasn't going to throw myself back into the triumvirate's clutches.
"Let's move," the head spook said firmly, but I ignored him, slowly backing away.
I needed to get out of here.
"Walker," spook two said, watching me as he flicked his jacket aside to reveal a gun. "I wouldn't-"
In an instant I lunged, jamming the silver flashlight under his jaw and flicking it on. The silver lance flashed through the top of his skull, and he gasped, stepping back, the lance shimmering through his head as if it wasn't even there.
"The fuck!"
"Put down the spear!" the head goon yelled, as guns were levelled at my chest. "Put it down!"
I stared at the lance for a second, mind whirring. The lance was a magic weapon. Magic weapons didn't work on regular people… I'd forgotten!
"Protego!"
Shots rang out as the shield spell flashed into existence. I stared in shock as bullets crumpled against it, tinkering against the tarmac. The goons stared at me wide-eyed, and I grimaced.
Too close. Far too close.
"Expelliarmus!" I said, and the guns were snatched out of their grips and flung off across the carpark. "Vestio anima."
"What the fuck!" goon number one screamed as his black suit began to move on its own accord.
"Incarcerous!" I intoned, and ropes shot out of my fingers, wrapping around the two remaining goons, leaving them to collapse to the tarmac in squirming bundles.
"Jesus fucking Christ!" the head spook screamed, fighting against his suit to glance at his teammates as they began to scream and cuss.
'That was too easy,' was my first thought. My second was the fact that this fucker was screaming for Christ when his boss was known for turning Christians into burning corpses.
"What the fuck are you!" the goon screamed as his suite slammed him into the ground. "Jesus Christ! What the fuck!"
Shaking my head ruefully at the easy takedown, I stepped forward and wordlessly fired off three stunners to knock out the goons.
Standing there, in the now-silent carpark, I couldn't help but shake my head again.
After so many fights for my life, It was bloody weird to have an easy takedown… and now I've jinxed myself. Great.
With one final glance at the three unconscious goons and the still-flailing suit, I shot up, once more, into the night.
I needed to get to Camp Half-Blood before I killed myself by tempting fate.
