Natsu

Ω Heroes of Olympus: The Next Age of Heroes Ω

Andy & Arthur

Location: Camp Half-Blood
Date: July 7th

---

---

Andy had woken up early and gotten food. She hadn't told anyone but Madalyne what today was. She hated her birthday. It marked another year of her abandonment. It was to her another day, but when foster parents had tried to make a big deal of it it always felt fake. She preferred to spend the day just doing something she liked. Hopefully, Madalyne didn't tell anyone. She hadn't even told her half-brother. So technically only her aunt knew, which was super odd to think. Her family had grown so much over this summer. She had half-siblings and a dad, and an aunt. Anyone related to Trivia was her family in a way now, which made the loss of Rebecca a bit harder. Rebecca was family and she never knew. Just ran away. Andy ate her muffin, she never tried to eat bagels anymore, thinking about what she wanted to do that day.

Arthur was a lot better now, having been removed from the tides of war and set back into a much more peaceful and calm place. Camp Halfblood had a mess of feelings in his heart; it was where he lost his sister and where he met Andy, it was a reminder of his duality as a demigod, and yet also a safe haven. He was working through his emotions over everything more now, but things still felt messy. At the very least, he was able to make it days at a time without bursting into tears, and he marked that as a success. Trauma had left its mark on the boy, but between Andy and the others, he at least felt somewhat stable, like he wasn't going to shatter into a million pieces at the faintest hit. Entering the mess hall, Arthur quickly grabbed an apple, and sat down across from Andy, taking a bite into it, and saying, "Morning Andy, how're you today? Any plans?" Arthur hadn't quite come up with anything he wanted to do yet, but he was sure between the two of them, they could come up with something fun.

Andy smiled brightly as Arthur joined her. She decided it didn't matter what she did that day. As long as she got to spend the day with Arthur. "Well I didn't have much in mind yet. I was considering climbing the rock wall. Or going for a walk. I like the beach, so I thought maybe a walk there. Would you like to join me on any of that?" She asked seeing what he wanted to do, making sure that whatever it was they did was something he wanted to do too.

Arthur took a bite out of his apple and swallowed. The beach was nice, though, depending on when they went, maybe a bit crowded. Arthur didn't not like people now, or anything, but he would appreciate quiet alone time with his friend. Still, it sounded really nice. "A nice walk sounds good, maybe through the forest and onto the beach? That sounds like it could be really pleasant." The shade of the forest and serenity of the Long Island Sound was exactly what he needed.

It sounded perfect. "We should pack a picnic." It was like from a movie. Spending the day with one of her favorite people taking a nice walk just enjoying each other's presence. It would be the best birthday ever. "I have to grab something from the cabin. Meet me back here. We'll pack the picnic and then go for the walk?"

Arthur grinned at the idea of the picnic. "Right, I'll raid some food from here, and meet you out front, maybe grab a bag from your cabin while you're there?" And with that, he went to grab some picnic food. Sandwiches, drinks, and something sweet, a few danishes of different fruit varieties. Arthur had never actually gone on a picnic before, but food that could be eaten anywhere seemed like the thing to go with. When he was done, he waited with his bounty out near the front of the mess hall.

Andy dashed to her cabin and grabbed her bag. The bag part was helpful, but the important part was what was in the bag. She double-checked that the two small boxes were in there. The first item was from some random bar. The matches had been given to Andy when she was at a homeless camp, by someone. The other item was older. It was still in its box with the price sticker. Well beat up from years of being buried under stuff, but unbroken. A wax number five. Stolen. For a cake she never got.

She dashed back to the pavilion to meet Arthur. "Okay, got my bag." She said holding it open for him to dump the food into it. "Looks like you got some good stuff."

Arthur quickly dumped the food into the bag and was absolutely beaming, "Yeah, hopefully, this can be nice, I'm really glad we're doing this together." It was, dare he think, normal. He'd be spending a day with his friend having lunch and a walk. It was just, lovely. It made him feel excited and happy and with a kind of peace flowing through him. "Alright, if you're all set, let's go then."

And with that, Arthur walked away towards the forest with Andy, leading them up to the entrance of the main path, before saying, "You know, things have been kinda crazy and just... I'm glad you've stuck with me through everything, you know? I don't know how I'd be here without you." Arthur felt sappy saying something like that, but it was true, and he wanted her to know how important she was to him.

Andy had a lot she wanted to say in response to Arthur but had no idea how to say any of it. Everything culminated to, "I wouldn't be here without you." She said. It was true. She wouldn't have stayed. Between Arthur and her brother she stayed. And now she supposed she wanted to learn magic. She stepped into the woods. It was a beautiful July day. And she was going to spend the day with her best friend. Her only friend.

Melancholy, that was the word. There was a kind of softness in their being together, but the fact that it was by its nature a reprieve and not the default state of things that made it sad. It felt to Arthur that they only had calms before neverending oncoming storms. Still, it was a nice day with a close friend, and he wasn't going to let anything get in the way of him enjoying it. As far as he was concerned, they were two normal kids today, spending an afternoon at a summer camp. Arthur followed Andy into the woods, taking in the shade happily, not having much to say in response to Andy, just happy to be there with her.

They walked for a while together in the soothing quiet of the woods. Andy found a small clearing that looked perfect for their picnic. She stepped into it and sat on the grass. It didn't bother her it was a little dewy. "This looks beautiful." It was a peaceful spot. "Perfect spot for a perfect day." She smiled.

Coming upon the clearing, Arthur followed Andy's suit, and sat down next to her, looking up at the sky. "Right?" The sense of ease was nice to bask in, and as he did, he turned to Andy and asked, "So, How've you been dealing with everything? I... I think I've been getting better, but our first adventure was a lot." He was still having nightmares of watching Des die, and the reanimated corpse of his sister liked to show up sometimes too, but he'd managed a few restful nights since returning to camp

She looked at Arthur, tilting her head. Considering how best to put it into words. "Our first adventure was a lot." She nodded in agreement. "For me though it's been like..." She trailed off. "Like I was in a dark room with no lights for so long, and then coming here turned on the light switch. I had stumbled along and found the shape of things in the dark, but I didn't know what any of the things were. Now that the light is on I understand it better." It was the best metaphor she could come up with. And it accurately depicted what she had felt before coming to camp. "I have answers." There was more to it. But Andy didn't have the words to express what she was feeling. "Yeah it hasn't been pleasant getting those answers. But now that I know. I can use it."

Andy was endlessly more eloquent than Arthur was, or at least, that was how it felt to him. In a way, it made sense, they'd been living with this existence their entire lives, but only now did they have the chance to wrap their heads around the actual size of what it all meant. That was the big thing, they had an identity now. They're weren't just weird, or different, or anything that anybody might call them, they were demigods. Even if he'd rather be a 'normal' kid, it didn't change the fact that now, at least he knew what he was. "That's... a really good way to put it." He agreed, "I feel like, all my life, I didn't have a real place. I never felt at home with my family, and the school so many of us were at before was terrible. At least now, everything here is in the same boat, and people actually care about one another. I feel like I have a real family here." He hoped that made sense, it seemed to be the best way for him to vocalize his feelings.

Andy nodded in agreement. She didn't know much about Arthur's school, or much of his life before camp. She did know that he hadn't known anything was weird before he had come to camp. "I never had a family before here. It was all...Fake." Arthur was like family, but not like a brother. It was different. She didn't know how to explain it to him. Andy wrapped her arms around her knees and rested her chin on them. "I haven't been to school in a long time. What was it like?"

Arthur paused at the question, "Well... It wasn't great." He said honestly, "It wasn't as bad as monsters or anything, but as far as schools go. I have trouble imagining a worse school." He tried to explain, "The camp on it's own is a much nicer place. I'm glad to be here. It's just.... The strings that come along with it that make me feel icky." He said, before asking, "What do you think of camp? All this?"

Andy nodded as Arthur spoke listening closely. She paused before responding. "It is nice to have people I can trust to have my back. You, my brother, and now my aunt." Her eyes went wide. "I haven't told you yet. The Preator Madalyne she's my aunt. The book she got before the battle at New Rome. We looked at it on the first. We found out that my mom was her cousin. And it gets weird from there. So my mom died the same year I was born only a few weeks after I was born. But I wasn't in the system until I was two. So someone had me for a couple of years before leaving me at the hospital." She was rambling a bit, which was rather unlike her.

Arthur nodded along with Andy, before asking, "Your mom died after giving birth to you? You don't think it had something to do with you being a demigod, do you?" That sounded like it would be hard on her. He could only imagine that a lot of demigods didn't even make it out of diapers, with how monsters seemed to swarm on the unprotected. If not monsters, maybe somebody wanted a child of Zeus for something? "It all sounds messy, are you going to leave it alone, or look into it more?" He was worried about what Andy would find if she pried, but he'd be there with her if she needed him.

"It was a few weeks." Her cheeks warmed a bit, she hadn't told him today was her birthday yet. "Uh. She died on August 17th." She paused and looked at her hands. "Madalyne and I might look into it. Someone was taking care of me. I want to know why they stopped. I don't remember anything from that long ago."

Arthur's ears perked up at the date, and quickly did the math. "Wait wait, so like, your birthday is coming up? When is it?" He asked excitedly, before pausing. It occurred to him that it wasn't unlikely that Andy had never had a birthday party. "Do you wanna do something for it? I get it if you don't, but-" He then realized he was barraging her with questions and stopped, giving her a chance to respond.

Her face got warmer. Arthur cut himself off. "I want to spend my birthday with you." She said. Then from the bag she pulled out the candle, it was a sad-looking box she held in her hand, and she produced out of it a small number five. It had melted in a few places and was a little chipped, but overall it hadn't broken in the five...six years she had carried it. She put it on one of the pastries he had grabbed. "I already am, it is the best birthday I've ever had."

"O-oh." Arthur said, as his expression dropped to surprise and found himself smiling a big, dumb smile, before grabbing her into a hug. He was glad she trusted him, and cared about him like this. Squeezing her, he said, "I'm so glad I pushed you out of that tree." Before letting her go, and looking her in the eyes. "Now, let's make this your best year ever."

Andy giggled hugging him back tightly. It felt good. She loved the warmth of his hug and didn't want the hug to end. "I'm glad you pushed me out too." She said with a crooked smile. Returning the look. "Same for you. Alright. When is your birthday? This is going to the best year for both of us."

Arthur smiled. A part of him really believed that they could do that together, make this a good year, even with the monsters and scary things they'd have to do. He thought they could really do it. "September 12th, two whole months away." Arthur didn't really have much in the way of feelings about his birthday, but he'd be looking forward to spending it with her. "Now, pastries!" He said, grabbing one of them, and taking a big bite out of it.

Agents of SHIELD - Concluded

---

---

Oliver Sullivan

---

---

Location: Batron Homestead
Skills: JAck of All trades(Engineering)

---

Oliver could guess that some of the team was less than thrilled with him choosing to keep the information to himself, and he didn't know if, should he have to do everything again, he would have done things differently. Parsing the branching paths of decisions was hard, and not something he could really do. Attacking the white house sounded like a suicide mission, given that it was probably the single best defended fortress on the planet, but hey, they were Shield's best, right? Oliver sighed, and passively wondered if breaking into the White House would get his green card revoked, or if it would just get him a permanent residence in Cuba.

Oliver's mind switched onto the practicality of the team's latest act of domestic terrorism. Kwassi's initial idea didn't sit well with him, "Sneaking an emp into the White House might be possible, but the second it goes off, we've left a trail and we run the risk of collateral damage tipping them off. Dampening though, could maybe work, or something like it." Oliver said sitting down at last, and popping open his phone, doing a quick search, before continuing, "Those scanners link back to a security room, probably through the White House's intranet, I might be able to write a virus that could make the scanners read mutants as humans. I'd favor interfering on the software side of things myself, but that's also where I'm best, so I could hear opposition." If they could pull that off, they'd just need to worry about deployment of it, and any inhuman precautions the White House might have

Ω Heroes of Olympus: The Next Age of Heroes Ω

Arthur Stanford

---

---

Location:Deck -> Infirmary -> Emergency Infirmary -> Deck
Skills: N/A

---

"Right, ambrosia." Arthur mumbled, easily taking orders from Andy. Honestly, the mere existence of that stuff but his mind at ease in so many ways. Magic healing items tended to make lives easier, and it was a crutch it felt like they needed, given how their lives seemed to be in constant danger, keeping it on them and easy to access would probably be the difference between life and death. Heading into the infirmary, he started rummaging through the cabinets, and eventually found what he was looking for, those lovely squares of healing bliss. He paused for a moment as a thought crossed his mind, and made a "Hmm." noise.

Arthur grabbed what he thought would be enough for Demi and Andy and himself in the moment, but also an extra square. If push came to shove, and either him or Andy were in mortal danger, he'd rather have it on his person than anywhere else. The sooner he could get it in the body of the wounded, the better their chance to survive, he reasoned. He didn't want to be out, away from the ship, have Andy get stabbed, and be helpless but to watch her die. If he could help it, he would never feel helpless again. With the requisite food of the gods in his hands, he headed back to the emergency infirmary, slipping the spare square into his pocket as he headed there. Arriving, he placed the ambrosia lightly into Demi's hands, saying, "Take this and please feel better." Before running off to find Andy, and handing her a square, before plopping one in his own mouth, and smiling as it melted in his mouth. It tasted like hot, buttered popcorn, the kind of cheap movie popcorn he'd only get to have on the rare occasion his family went to the theater. Smiling as most of his injuries faded away, he said, "Eat it, you look like you could use it."

Agents of SHIELD - Concluded

---

---

Oliver Sullivan

---

---

Location: Batron Homestead
Skills: N/A

---

Oliver inhaled and parsed Fury's words for a moment. Technically, technically, what Fury said wasn't incompatible with him being a skrull, but he was sure other people must have caught that as well. Not wanting to waste time though, Oli decided he would address that after giving the debrief. A part of Oli had been preparing for this since the day he learned about the threat; when he would get to share with the team what he had learned, and how they should move forward. So, without further ado, he launched into explaining the background of the threat.

"Right so, like Fury said, the Illuminati seemed to have made first contact, and were what brought the Skrull's here in the first place. If I had to guess, Stark was most likely the initial doppelganger, based on the fact that he led the Illuminati out of the trap they were caught in." He explained, before drawing breath and continuing, "More recently, Dr. Larson informed me that the Skrull's next move, which would be checkmate, is to replace world leaders at the UN summit in Geneva next week. The problem is, we can't act just yet, if we beat the green bastards too easily, the Kree are gonna get spooked and might try to remove us from the board, and if we try to call them for help, they'll probably take us over. So we're stuck with having to barely beat them back, meaning we need to make our stand in Geneva, the day of. Any questions?"

Ω Heroes of Olympus: The Next Age of Heroes Ω

Arthur Stanford

---

---

Location: Gryf's back -> Argo III
Skills: N/A

---

Arthur relaxed a little when Andy lit the harpies up. A small part of him as jealous of her ability to just summon lightning and throw it at people, he wished he had a power as unapologetically cool as that. His mind harkened back to how they first met, her electrocuting him, and him pushing her out of a tree. Things were simpler back then somehow, everyone was alive, and the worst he had to worry about was whether or not he'd screwed up his social life and broken a cute girls arm. Hopefully, he resolved, things would be back to that semi-normal soon.

As they landed on the Argo, Arthur rolled off of Gryf. This was good, and it looked like Dem had finished off the harpies for them. He ran over to him, seeing the damage, and frowning at the damage, but keeping his emotions in check. The Arthur of even a few days ago might have broken over this, but something in him was stronger now. Maybe it was the trauma forming over his emotions like a scab, or perhaps it was the knowledge that there were more important things than how he felt, but he was able to keep himself mostly together in the face of the damage his friend had suffered.

Agents of SHIELD - Concluded

---

---

Oliver Sullivan

---

---

Location: Batron Homestead
Skills: N/A

---

Luckily, they all came up skrull free, so most of Oli's paranoia was assuaged, though there was always a small bit of him itching at the ways he could be wrong. It might be trauma or just his general neurosis, but he found it hard to relax these days. He didn't find this particularly unreasonable though, he had been attacked by a literal demon bear, and they were dealing with a practically invisible threat. Anyone he looked at could be a skrull, and he'd been living with this fact for a long time now. It was bound to wear down a person, and Oli was far from the most stable in the first place. On the flight, Oli debriefed the team, relaying to them what Mar-Vell had told him.

Sleep that night had been one of the best he'd had in months, oddly. Sure, there was still the existential threat to the planet, but he knew his mother was safe, or at least as safe as all the other humans were, for the first time in months. No nightmares, no waking up in the middle of the night, just rest. This was only to be interrupted by Hawkeye unceremoniously rousting him from his reprieve. Waking up, running his hands through his hair to roughly make it presentable, he headed down to see the table of heroes filled with his team and... Black Panther. Oli exhalled. He didn't want to seem angry at the man, but he held the Illuminati responsible for this situation.

Ω Heroes of Olympus: The Next Age of Heroes Ω

Arthur Stanford

---

---

Location: Gryf's back
Skills: Ferrokinesis

---

Arthur nodded at Andy, only to recoil as the harpies lunged at them, leaving deep and painful marks in his arms. oThis was the first time he had really gotten hit from any of these monsters, and it kind of removed a level of sympathy he might of had for them. That hurt, really hurt, and he very much did not want it to happen again. Reaching down to his side, he pulled out his knife, and floated it in the air. He'd do what he could to take these things out before they caused more permanent damage, but it was hard to concentrate with the searing pain coursing through him.

Dragging a knife through the air, the harpy dodged out of the way. He exhaled, but it was hard to focus on hitting these things between the damage he'd already sustained. He had to have proper combat training if he was ever going to on a mission like this again. Right now? He was still too young and too new to doing any of this to actually be useful. A part of him was worried at the idea that he was putting people in danger here by being inept, a thought that hadn't crossed his mind when he had decided to join this fight. Trying to stab the creature once more time and failing, he huffed in frustration.

Ω Heroes of Olympus: The Next Age of Heroes Ω

Arthur Stanford

---

---

Location: Gryf's back
Skills: N/A

---

Arthur was relieved to see that the zombie-dragon was quickly dispatched, knowing it could have been a massive problem should it stayed undead for too long. He felt so incredibly stupid for letting that happen, but he couldn't start beating himself up now, reflection and grief could be saved for after the fight. In the meantime, he casted his eyes down at Nancy, who'd managed to slay the dragon with just her words, something that he didn't know what to make of. It was impressive and scary for sure, something that made him wonder about the limits of his own powers.

Arthur was paralyzed with indecision though, he could try to raise another dragon to fight off the hoards or fight Polybotes, but if he did, he'd be risking it going crazy again. He couldn't do too much from the air, knives were better for close range combat after all, and even if he could control the blade with his powers, at such a range, he didn't think he'd be at all effective. Arthur cleared his throat and asked Andy, "What should we do next? Sorry about that... I didn't think it would go crazy like that." His voice was soft, clearly self conscious from his screw up.

Agents of SHIELD - Concluded

---

---

Oliver Sullivan

---

---

Location: Boardwalk
Skills: N/A

---

As everyone was checked, save for Raynor, Oli silently prayed that Raynor would come up as not a skrull. It would absolutely drag everything if they have to recheck everyone, and it would throw everything into chaos. The biggest problem, of course, would be that they couldn't identify if Niah was a Skrull or not, and that would throw absolutely everything into chaos. They'd have to go off of hope at that point, and that was not at all the way he liked to do things.

He couldn't really think of another viable option though, unless he choose to keep information to himself. The only possible way at all to keep information secure would be for him to keep information to himself, and tell people the minimum information possible. Of course, the other people wouldn't have any way of knowing if he were a skrull or not, so that wouldn't be at all a good option. They'd have to come together as a team and reassess at that point. Of course, if both Niah and Raynor were skrulls, all certainty went out the window anyway, but they had to take some things for granted.

Ω Heroes of Olympus: The Next Age of Heroes Ω

Arthur Stanford

---

---

Location: Gryf's back
Skills: N/A

---

As they flew on Gryf's back, Arthur felt exhilarated. He didn't like combat, or being on constant fear of death, but flying over New Rome on the back of a Gryphon? That was something else, and it made him appreciate being a Demigod a little bit more. As Andy proceeded to deal with the dragon problem, Arthur wanted to feel useful too. He was better at dealing with smaller targets, and Dragon's didn't exactly match that description. However, there was one thing he could do, and though he felt sticky about it, doing what he could to save lives was the entire reason he was here.

Arthur closed his eyes and focused on the dead Dragon; he knew his father was the god of the Underworld, and he knew he could raise the dead. Arthur had done it before, though it pained him to remember it. The dragon, he figured was just like the fallen he'd returned to life before, only bigger, and much more of a threat. Feeling as if he was pulling on a sort of string, he forced life back into the Dragon, returning it to the mortal coil for now. His head felt dizzy, as if he had poured some of his own essence into this thing, but it was up, and under his control. He thought he would try to force it to go fight the Giant, but he was met with a kind of stubborness, and forced through that, only to feel something snap inside the dragon. The zombie turned its attention back to the Demigods, and Arthur cursed under his breath, "No no no..." A kind of dread filling him that he'd felt when he had tried to raise his sister, that this had gone totally, horribly wrong.