Disclaimer: I own nothing but my original characters and works; all other characters and worlds belong to their respective owners. I'm just playing with them.
Betad by Priapus, Marethyu, Beans, Malcolm Tent
The Celestial Demigod
Chapter 03: Capture the Flag
– Annabeth Chase –
"Why do we even need to plan? We're against the Hermes misfits and Aphrodite's pretty boys and girls," Clarisse scoffed. "This match is laughably one-sided. Mr D clearly had had too much to drink when he set this one up."
"And Dionysus and Demeter's Cabin, both of whom tend to have the power of Chlorokinesis, while we're fighting in a forest," Annabeth replied simply, letting out a tired sigh. "Luke is a smart leader and strong enough to be a problem by himself. Rushing in without a plan is just going to get us humiliated. Adon is the wildcard. I can't say what he's going to do."
"Please. Chiron said he couldn't use his pet monster. Just don't let him speak, and he won't be able to pull off his charm-speak bullshit. Aphrodite kids are easy to beat if you just rush them before they can speak," Clarisse grunted. "We have the Apollo archers, Ares warriors, and I guess the Hephaestus kids can help. Assuming you're not busy drooling over Silena."
"I'm more than capable of separating my relationship from the match. Silena wouldn't want me to throw the match for her anyway," Charles drawled, looking as annoyed as Annabeth felt. She did not want to lose this match when her mother was at the Camp. "I'm with Annabeth. Luke is tricky enough without a son of Eris pulling whatever the hell he wants out of his back pocket. Lady Athena wouldn't be here if Adon wasn't worth worrying about."
Lee, the head of the Apollo Cabin, just hummed in agreement, making Clarisse let out a disgusted scoff. Something about Adon seemed to get under Clarisse's skin, and she was practically vibrating with a desire to beat him. Maybe it was the attention he was getting, or maybe she just took his loud comments about her glaring as sexual tension worse than it first seemed, but it was clear Clarisse wanted to humiliate Adon.
At the very least, the hot-head was listening as they worked on their strategy for the capture the flag game. The Hephaestus Cabin would handle defence, aided by some of the Apollo and Athena cabins, while Ares would go on the offensive with the rest of the Apollo and Athena cabin members.
The annoying truth was that they just didn't know enough about Adon and his skills to properly plan around him. He could shapeshift, which they'd need to be on guard for, and turn invisible. If she had that power, she'd simply try to steal the enemy flag and run off with it, as finding an invisible figure in the forest would be nearly impossible. The Hephaestus cabin would set up some traps around the flag to try to trip up any invisible figures, but it wasn't a foolproof plan.
Could Adon make other people invisible? If so, Luke was bound to take advantage of that to lead a small group to steal the flag. Their best bet, despite her reservations, was speed. They needed to capture the other team's flag before Adon could pull off any nonsense and besides Luke, her own team did have the advantage in a head-on battle. Ares' kids might be arrogant, but most of it was deserved, as they were very good in a fight.
Aphrodite's children were beautiful and charming, and Clarisse wasn't wrong to fear their charmspeak… even if she'd never admit that it was concern that they'd take control of her that was driving her words. An invisible trickster with charmspeak sounded like a nightmare waiting to happen, if he got in close and whispered into the ears of the weaker-willed members he could cause their entire team to fall apart to infighting. So, the less time he had to sneak around, the better.
She was not going to lose in front of her mother.
– Later –
"I've never seen a more obvious trap in my life," Lee snorted, his eyes fixed on the golden lyre that Adon was plucking at with exactly zero skill and yet still somehow managing to make a pleasant tune.
Sitting on a log, Adon played with the lyre carelessly, ignoring their presence as the flag stood right behind him.
"Have you heard of the Empty Fort strategy?" Annabeth asked, her lips twitching as Lee shook his head, and she regaled the footnotes of the tale of Zhuge Liang playing his guqin while sitting atop an open gate. His rival retreated, fearing an ambush, where there was none, simply out of the fear of Zhuge Liang's reputation. "The trick could be that there isn't a trap at all."
"Or you're overthinking things, and we should just beat his ass. He's all alone, and the flag is right there," Clarisse pointed out, glaring at Adon, who blinked in surprise, seemingly noticing their presence. Stopping his playing, he gave them all a friendly wave.
"I want to know where he got that lyre," Lee said simply, his eyes fixed on it as he nocked an arrow. "Annabeth?"
"Try it, we might as well see if this is an illusion," Annabeth agreed, watching the arrow fly straight and true toward Adon. Oddly enough, it was not encouraging when the arrow flew straight through his form, dispersing it entirely.
"Ugh!" Clarisse scoffed, storming forward toward the flag as her brothers and sisters followed behind. Annabeth went to call out, before she paused and shared a look with Lee. Well, they'd found the canary to test the mines with. If this was a trap, it was better that Clarisse be the one to blunder into it as she admittedly had probably the best chance of fighting her way out of it.
Lee kept an arrow ready, and Annabeth scanned the area for any ambushers with her sword drawn. Clarisse marched forward, snatching the flag from its post and instantly, everything went to shit. Thick smoke flooded the clearing, as they heard Clarisse let out a shout of surprise and anger, several pitfalls opening up and dropping some of the Ares kids into the muddy water below.
What caught Annabeth by surprise was the fact that nobody stormed the field to take advantage of the chaos, as she watched the Ares kids pull themselves out of the holes, covered in mud, all scowling angrily. Clarisse clawed her way out of her pit, and Annabeth heard Lee stifle a laugh at the sight of her covered head to toe in glitter, clutching a bright pink cloth that was certainly not the flag.
"Not a fucking word," Clarisse snarled, trying in vain to wipe away the glitter.
"All I'm wondering is… why did nobody try to take advantage of this?" Annabeth asked, frowning. One of the Ares kids had twisted their ankle, but Lee healed it with a tune, leaving them embarrassed but no worse off than before. "Why set up a trap when nobody is here to spring it?"
Clarisse just let out a disgusted sound, tossing the fake flag to the ground. It wasn't until it was already falling that she spotted the tiny silver disk falling out of it. Her eyes widened in surprise, and a cry left her as it hit the ground, only for another pitfall to open up and drop all three of them into the thick, sticky mud. Lee let out a sigh, almost seeming amused as Annabeth scowled and Clarisse let out a screech of frustration.
As they clawed their way out, Clarisse 'accidentally' kicking her as she tried to get out first, Annabeth wondered what that thing was. It was gone now, no sign left behind but was it some kind of magical item? Using magical items wasn't against the rules, after all.
"Watch out for anything silver," Annabeth told Lee, knowing that an enraged Clarisse wasn't going to listen to them. Lee nodded, and it wasn't long until they found the answer to their earlier question.
Nobody was around for the fake flag… because Adon had set up more. They barely walked for a minute before they came across another fake flag, hanging from a branch. Then another, stuffed into a log. Then another, and another, and another.
One of them was simply on the ground with a sign saying 'real flag' next to it and a conspicuously suspended giant net above it. Annabeth took one look at it, before she sighed deeply and wondered what she'd done to deserve this.
"Where is everybody? What the hell are they playing at?!" Clarisse growled, finding no opponents to take her anger out on. It was an apt concern, after all… if none of the other team were on their side of the creek, then how was their own flag faring? Had Luke left Adon on defence to frustrate and confuse them while he led the entire team on a raid?
Clarisse slashed at a nearby tree in a temper tantrum, and Annabeth could only watch with bemusement as a net sprang from beneath her feet, wrapping around her and hanging her upside down from the branches as her curses and shouts no doubt alerted the entire forest to their location.
At least, as they helped her down, they hadn't lost anyone yet.
– Luke Castellan –
Listening to the shouts, Luke chuckled to himself.
Adon was having fun.
Slowly crawling out of the pit, he gave Silena a nod as they moved onto the next phase of their plan. The sleeping Clarisse remained in her glitter-filled prison. Adon's charmspeak was powerful, and between him, Silena and Drew, even Clarisse stood no chance when caught by surprise.
And being dumped into a glitter-filled pit was definitely a surprise. The hotheaded daughter of Ares was under their thrall before she'd even managed to realise that she wasn't alone in her pit. And it wasn't like any of her team were going to investigate the hole too closely when 'Clarisse' crawled out of it.
So, as Adon led Annabeth and Lee on a wild goose chase around the forest, he had his own work to do. Clarisse wasn't going to stay asleep forever, and the rules forbid you from binding defeated enemies. Instead, a couple of Hermes members would move her to the jail. All the better, they wouldn't need to protect her to stop her from being freed because nobody even knew she was captured.
"Your brother has quite a few tricks up his sleeve," Luke chuckled, tossing a silver disk into the air with a curious look. Adon's ability to forge traps was intriguing; maybe it came from Loki? And yet, that didn't feel right to him. "Come on, we have our part to play in this script Adon has written," he joked.
If he knew Annabeth, she'd already be worried about her own flag thanks to the complete lack of people on this side of the creek.
Time to make that worry into a reality.
– Annabeth Chase –
She knew it.
As they rushed back, the horn sounding out warned them that their flag was under attack. Their raid had ended in failure, simply stumbling into trap after trap, with no sight of the real flag or even a single member of the enemy team.
And yet, as they reached their flag… the battle was over, and the flag remained untouched. It just didn't make sense. Nothing was adding up.
"Charles?" Annabeth asked, getting the Hephaestus counsellor's attention. "What happened?"
"Luke and Silena led a raid, but… I don't know. It felt off. Luke's a good fighter but it felt like he wasn't even trying and he retreated the moment he heard you were all coming back," Charles admitted.
"Coward," Clarisse scoffed, glancing at the flag with a deep scowl on her lips. "We should chase them down before they can go into hiding again."
"I agree," Lee admitted, getting a nod from Clarisse. "This is the first time we've even seen them, and we're not going to win if we can't even find our opponents."
Clarisse moved up to the flag, moving her hand toward it with a suspicious scowl. Despite herself, Annabeth also let out a sigh of relief when her hand didn't pass through it. At least Adon hadn't snuck it away in the chaos.
"I agree as well. We need to follow them carefully, which way did they go?" Annabeth asked, getting their direction as Clarisse led the charge. It wasn't hard to follow the many footprints back to the creek and across-
"The Blue Team wins!" Athena's voice called out as Clarisse stepped over the creek and they all froze, sharing confused looks. What- but the flag was back with Charles? How could-
Adon could shapeshift.
"Man, you are Athena's daughter. Well, she'd have caught on like an hour ago but still-" Clarisse said, hands behind her head with an uncharacteristic grin on her face as Annabeth stared at her, both angry and embarrassed. Her figure shimmered, Adon revealing himself and the sword in his hand fading to reveal… a red flag.
They'd let him walk right into their hiding spot, grab the flag and then escorted him back to the creek.
"You wouldn't believe how glad I am that we didn't get into any fights. I can walk and talk like our angry friend, but I sure as fuck can't fight like her," Adon admitted, tossing the flag into the air lazily.
"Which is why Luke pulled back so quickly," Lee sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well played. Well fucking played."
"Why Clarisse?" Annabeth finally asked, watching him scratch his chin.
"Oh, I figured she'd be the easiest to impersonate. I was watching you lot wander around and you didn't strike me as close. Besides, you were enjoying watching 'her' fall into my traps too much to look too closely. I saw that little shit-eating grin when 'she' got caught in the nets," Adon explained with a cheerful smile.
"Wait- where is Clarisse?" one of the Ares lot finally asked, catching up and realising the depths of how badly they'd been played.
"Either still in the glitter pit or in the jail. Luke was going to smuggle her away after we left," Adon explained, tossing Clarisse's weapon to one of her brothers. "No hard feelings, right?"
His smile was radiant, and seemingly entirely unaware of the glares of every Ares demigod as he wandered off toward his team, whistling to himself. Annabeth wasn't glaring. Instead, she was cursing herself and looking anywhere but toward her mother. She didn't want to see the look on Lady Athena's face after Adon had pulled the wool over all their eyes so easily.
Luke clapped Adon on the shoulder as the Aphrodite, Hermes and Demeter cabins surrounded him. Already, arguments were breaking out between the Ares and Aphrodite campers but Annabeth tuned them out with practised ease. Her eyes fixed on Adon, both furious at how badly he'd tricked her and… reluctantly impressed.
She'd identified the biggest threat right at the start, his shapeshifting. She'd told herself and the others to watch out for it. Then, she'd fallen hook, line and sinker for it anyway.
"So, Clarisse isn't going to take the whole knocking her out and stealing her identity thing personally, right?" Adon asked, a beaming grin on his face. Somehow, she knew that he was well aware that 'taking it personally' was going to be an understatement. "Or do you think I'll… La Rue the day I met her?"
In the distance, she saw the real Clarisse, now free, storming toward them with her weapon clutched tightly but Adon didn't even turn to face her as a flurry of petals engulfed him and dispersed, Adon nowhere to be seen.
After Adon had taken advantage of her willingness to watch Clarisse get humiliated to trick her, she really shouldn't have found Clarisse's scream quite as amusing as she had. Somehow, she doubted she was the only one smothering a small smile as Clarisse cursed and shouted for Adon to return.
– Adon –
Hehe.
Sneaking away, I am glad my illusions can affect sound as well as sight, as I giggle to myself at the sheer rage the angry girl is showing. Ah, she's fun. Silena warned me about the 'initiation' Clarisse and her goons like to do, and I've enjoyed frustrating her attempts to find me over the past day.
100cp granted. 100cp total
Feats Achieved: Win the Capture the Flag game, 100cp granted. Embarrass Annabeth in front of her mother, 100cp granted. Become Clarisse' eternal rival, 100cp granted. 300cp granted. 400cp total.
Heh.
I get to embarrass people and get paid for it? This place is pretty cool.
[Specialist's Hammer] - 200cp, 200cp remaining
Bridging the mystical and the mundane, with the tools of man, are there many acts more satisfying than that? With a solid hammer and good ember, you are capable of just such feats. You may harness the qualities of magical, supernatural or just outright strange materials to improve existing constructs not composed of such things. An iron sword could be imbued with the arcane nature of the soul to better bypass armour, or a shield with the power to halt darkness-infused attacks. You are also bestowed skills in smithing, although these skills are quite basic outside of infusing equipment with special qualities.
Neat. I don't exactly have any supernatural materials right now, but I'm sure I'll get my hands on some eventually. And besides, surely the Hepatitis C Cabin won't mind sharing the forge, right? I had to make my traps in my bedroom because I didn't want to give the game away, but I… maybe borrowed some materials from the camp forge, but only because Luke said it was communal, not just for the forge kids.
[Medicine Set] - 200cp, 0cp remaining
Chances are, you are going to get hurt when fighting Shadows. Nothing will help to rejuvenate your spirit as quickly as this handy set of Tae Takemi's special medicine. Holding five relax gels, five doses of Takemedic-All Z, Five Soul Foods, Five Life Ointments, Five Hiranya's and Five Kundaclear-R. All that is used from this Set will be restored the next day.
And given the Ares cabin's desire to make my internal organs external, having a bunch of medicine isn't a bad thing! Wait, which god is the god of medicine again? Have I insulted that one? I think it's… oh right, Apollo.
Maybe I shouldn't have fucked around with his Lyre on the mission, but it was worth it for the baffled looks on the Apollo campers faces. Besides, Athena didn't take it off me so I'm sure there's no real issue with me having-
As I arrive at the Teahouse for my celebratory snacks, I pause as I spot the incredibly handsome man sitting at the counter, flowing blond locks that make me mildly jealous before I remember that I'm also super hot.
"Hey," the guy who is definitely not Apollo (please, Zeus, don't let it be Apollo) says, giving me an almost lazy wave. "This place has some good snacks."
"I know, right?" I agree easily, seeing Senko trying to tell me something through hand gestures.
"Nice giant chameleon as well. It did try to spit at me, but I've dealt with worse. My sister is definitely gonna want to see it," he continues.
"Is she cute?" I ask before I can stop myself.
"Eh," he says after a moment, his lips twitching. "So, you gonna pretend you don't know who I am, or are you going to show me the Lyre you pulled out of thin air?"
Why did I pray to Zeus? He hates me. I should have prayed to… Hera? No, I'm a bastard. Athena? Nope, she'd just give me that scowly look. Mom? Dad?
Mom, come pick me up, I'm scared.
"I'd like to start this by saying that it was totally not my fault and please don't shoot me with arrows. My good looks are all I have going for me and a few extra holes would not help them," I say, clicking my fingers as the Lyre appears in my hands.
"Don't look so grim. I promised Athena I wouldn't smite you. That is undeniably a golden lyre, empowered by a God of Music," Apollo agrees, tilting his head as I offer it to him with some reluctance. "But not me. It feels like me, but…"
As he speaks, he clicks his fingers in the same gesture as his own, slightly different, lyre appears in his hands. Lazily, he strums his and the sound sends shivers through my entire body as the idle gesture produces music that puts anything I've ever heard to shame. Then, it vanishes and he takes my version into his hands and does the same. Once more, the world seems to fade away as he effortlessly plays a song more beautiful than I have words to describe.
"This is the Lyre of Apollo. It's just not the Lyre of Me," Apollo finally decides, ending his performance. I'll admit, it takes me a moment to shake myself out of the trance, something that seems to amuse him. "But there is a clear piece of divinity in this… I wonder if-"
As he speaks, he tries to do something to the lyre in his hands before a wave of golden light knocks him flat on his ass. I'd be mildly amused if the same light didn't send me flying out of the door as I tumble through the garden of the Aphrodite Cabin.
Hope Senko is alright, she's so tiny compared to us big muscular men.
As I rise, shaking my head, I watch the Teahouse repair itself as Apollo brushes himself off. It's not until he stares at me that I realise that I'm holding the lyre now. Instantly, I go to speak but he cuts in.
"Lemme guess. Not your fault? Yeah, I get the idea," Apollo snorts, looking unamused as he glares lightly at the lyre that sits in my hands. "Probably wasn't my best idea, anyway. I get the feeling that thing doesn't like me."
"Adon! Are you alright- oh fuck," Luke trails off, spotting Apollo with wide eyes as he and Silena freeze. Apollo just gives the pair a raised eyebrow before turning back to me. How does he still look so good after he got put on his ass? There's not even a single hair out of place. Damn it, he does have better hair than I do.
"I don't suppose you've pulled any more of my things out of your little bag of tricks?" Apollo finally asks.
"...does this weird medicine count?" I ask, producing a handful of my new medicine. He actually pauses at that, scratching his neck.
"That was a rhetorical question," he admits, taking one of the Life Ointments and sniffing it. "Huh, this is good stuff, for mortals anyway. Athena has her hands full with you, huh?"
"I would never go out of my way to make Lady Athena's job harder," I reply instantly, but his laughter tells me that he may have heard a few stories already. "So, uhh, can I keep the lyre?"
Apollo pauses at that, staring me down.
"Do you even know how to play it?" Apollo finally asks.
"I can learn?" I answer without having to actually admit that, no, I don't have fucking clue.
"You've got a month. If you can't give me a good performance at the end of the month, I'm using you for target practice and taking it back," Apollo finally decides.
"I can learn fast," I correct, getting a laugh from him.
"Oh? Then you'll do it in a week, instead," Apollo agrees.
"Wait, no," I say, but he holds up his hands.
"No takebacks. Next Sunday," Apollo says bluntly.
"Shit," I say simply as he vanishes in a golden ray of light. "Hey, Luke. I don't suppose you know anyone who can play the lyre?"
"Yeah, Lee. You dropped him into a mud pit, trapped him in a net, then covered him in glitter," Luke admits.
"But he's a good sport about it, right?" I ask, definitely not desperate.
"Honestly, you did worse to Clarisse so… probably. But hey, you got your first quest already!" Luke says, cheering me up as he throws an arm around my shoulder. "So, that really was Apollo's lyre, huh? Lee had a million questions after you slipped away."
"Are you okay, Adon? We saw the golden blast and figured it was you," Silena admits. It's nice to know that I already have a reputation.
"Well, I'm okay for another… eight days at least?" I say optimistically. "That's eight whole days when I'm not a divine pincushion. I can do a lot in eight days."
"You have a plan, then?" Luke asks, as I give him a confident grin.
"Absolutely fucking not," I admit.
Feat Achieved: Survive hurting Apollo's ego, 200cp granted. 200cp total.
"But look and behold at my almighty power. Power, give me… something. Anything," I demand.
[Red Tinted Spectacles] - 100cp, 100cp remaining.
Okay, it's not quite like the vision of a certain time-travelling assassin, but looking at people – or pictures of them – gives you enough of an insight into their skills and capabilities – or lack thereof - to let you know if they'd make a valuable pawn for whatever plan you have. Maybe they're in debt? Perhaps they're ill? Maybe they're just an idiot? Either way, this should help getting people on your side that you know how to manipulate, though you'll need to find out what they're good at another way.
"Nice shades," Luke admits. Huh, he's actually pretty fucking good himself. But what is… eh, not my problem, my problem is the god about to shove golden arrows of sunlight up my ass.
"Okay, very funny, power. But knowing what people are good at isn't going to fucking help right now. Go again!" I demand.
[Flight] - 100cp, 0cp remaining
One of the most common abilities among the X-Men, you just don't get anything to go along with the power of Flying. You get to choose what type of flying you have: gravitational, magnetic, telekinetic, magical, or energy.
As I float off the ground, both Luke and Silena stare in a mixture of shock and confusion at my graceful flight, glowing with golden light because I look good in gold.
"Fuck. I don't think I can fly faster than his arrows," I admit. "Well, that didn't work. Fuck it, plan B! Eris! You got me into this mess, get me out of it!"
300cp granted as a loan from Eris. She will be coming to collect later.
"Huh, that worked?" I ask, scratching my chin.
"Adon?" Luke asks, but I hold out a hand.
"Witness," I say simply, focusing again.
[Forbidden Treasures (Lesser)] - 200cp, 100cp remaining
You looking for some weird stuff? Maybe the bottled laughter of a newborn infant, or the dream of a maddened artist? How about the colour of the sunset as seen from a specific mountain peak found only in the South? Well, if you buy this option, you'll have those things. 200cp gets you a regular source every week of relatively hard-to-find exotic resources and reagents, which can be used to dramatically aid in the speed and efficiency of artefact creation. You may specify the type of resource you get each week if you have a particular need or desire in mind, and you may freely choose something different the next week.
Okay, that's super neat and goes well with my new forging perk (which means I should probably assume Hephestus is already on his way to beat my ass). Sticking my hand into inventory, I pull out a bottle of nightmares and shake it, listening to it scream.
"Neat," I admit, scratching my chin. "Yeah, I think I'm fucked. Well, once more onto the breach. I've got one more pull in me."
[The Books of England] - 100cp, 0cp remaining
Value far beyond money to the eyes of any collector or lover of literature, this Victorian-era building contains a copy of every written work published within England and the British Empire. First editions in perfect condition, from the oldest fairy tales and manuscripts to more recent plays and novels, even the scripts for modern entertainment programs can be found. Provided it is public, an impeccably maintained version can be found within this library, which is also fitted with many comfortable lounging chairs, fireplaces and a variety of refreshments to make the reading all the more pleasant.
"Adon, I mean this in the nicest way. How in the fuck did you just make a ye olde building appear?" Luke asks, but I am too busy crying bitter tears.
"It's a library with every written work made by the English. All first editions. HOW THE FUCK IS A LIBRARY GOING TO HELP ME, MOM? Or Dad? Still not sure on that one," I admit. "Eris didn't help, and I'm not sure if it's because she couldn't affect what I got or because she found it more funny to give me a library and a collection of weird materials instead of literally anything that could help me. Also, I might be in her debt now."
"Annabeth is literally never going to leave that place if she hears that," Luke mutters in amusement. "Seriously though, what the actual fuck is going on?"
"My power gives me things when I poke it, but I'm out of energy at the moment. Sometimes it's a copy of Apollo's lyre, a teahouse, the power of flight or a fucking library," I admit with a shrug.
Feat Achieved: Get Kronos' attention, 200cp granted. 200cp total.
"Or not. We're back in business! Thanks, Kronos!" I say, beaming as I roll again, ignoring the way Luke chokes on his spit.
[Intuitive Mimicry of Skill] - 200cp, 0cp remaining.
There's a saying that imitation is the highest form of flattery, but your imitation begins to take on a whole new level. If you are able to watch someone for a time with a higher level of skill than yourself (or if you can temporarily gain additional skill), then you can determine exactly what makes them more skilled and incorporate it into what you're doing. The more advanced they are over your current skill, the longer it takes you, but as long as you can replicate what your target does, nothing is out of your reach.
"Let's fucking go! Kronos has my back!" I cheer, beaming. "Yeah, I'm gonna be fine. This is totally doable. Wait, why are you staring at me like that?"