Scene from A Heroes Blessing: Chapter 8

Author's Note: I am currently in the process of writing Chapter 8 of A Heroes Blessing, and I wanted to share this scene. It's very rough at the moment, but this particular scene is one that I've had in mind for over a year, and I'm very excited to actually have it written down and out of my head.  

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(After we left off from chapter 7, Hebe drives them to the Hoover Dam, where they pause to take a break. Hebe in particular needs to recollect herself, as her oath is a constant itch. Herakles and Hebe find themselves in the cafeteria, where they talk about several things. Herakles knows she’s a goddess, but is not aware of which one. 

Their conversation is interrupted by the sight of the Dragontooth warriors, and Herakles heads over to take care of the issue.)

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Herakles walked after the skeleton warriors, and they paid him no mind. 

Dragontooth warriors. Zoe had mentioned them. They were supposed to be hunters - relentless and immortal until their prey was captured. 

That… Wasn’t quite what he would have expected of them. But by this point he’d seen plenty of evidence that showed creatures from this world weren’t the same as his own. 

“Excuse me!” He called out as the skeletons were heading to one of the restrooms, and they turned as one towards him. “I hear you’re looking for a kid, right? Boy, young teen, dark hair? I saw him just a little bit ago.” 

He scoffed as they all immediately acted on his words, walking towards him as he waved them over, and Alcides walked over to a door. He had no idea where it led, but it looked less used, which was good enough for him. 

The moment they were close enough, Herakles forced the door open, reaching out his arm and managed to sweep the entire group into the closet. He walked in after, closing the door behind him, forcing them back further. It wasn’t a small closet, but it was hardly big either. Still, he had enough room to move his arms around. 

“So, I was told you lot are immortal.” Alcides murmured darkly. Gone was his smile. Had they any thoughts, they’d have frozen at the look on his face. 

Herakles didn’t even bother when the closest brought out his sword and stabbed him, the blade hitting his skin with a clang, yet doing nothing. 

“Let’s put that to the test.” 

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Percy had no idea how long they stood watching the door. 

The moment he heard Alcides, he’d been ready to jump out and help. Sure, the guy had a bow and arrow, and showed he could use them when he fought the fake Talos, but it wasn’t like he’d be able to do that sort of thing here. 

And then he forced all them inside a closet, where if Percy was hearing right, a fight of epic proportions was happening. 

Or the lot of them were trying to form a band by banging on a kitchen’s worth of pots and pans, but Percy chose to believe it was the former. 

Percy and Rachel both stared at the door as it shook, mouths open as loud crashes and sounds of chaos came from the room. He barely registered as more and more people around were stopping and looking at the closet as well. 

“Don’t worry everyone!” 

Both teenagers jumped as Mrs. Hebert slid forward with a smile and a wave of her hand. “Just a bit of construction work is all, we apologize!”

The various onlookers all nodded, panicked looks fading as they chatted with one another and began walking again.  

Percy felt himself calm down as he heard the words, and his brain felt fuzzy for a moment. Right. Just construction work. Probably expanding the closet or something, that would explain the sounds. Both Herakles and the Dragontooth Warriors. That made… 

… Wait.

Another loud crash, followed by the grind of metal against concrete. 

That made no sense at all!

“They, they can’t have believed that.” Rachel looked in disbelief between the now disinterested onlookers and the shuddering door. “There’s no way…”

Mrs Hebert gave the girl a surprised look that transformed into something more sympathetic. “You have the Sight.” She noted, drawing Rachel’s attention. “You’ve seen a lot, haven’t you?”

Um, what? 

“Uh, well, I uh -“ Rachel stammered, only to jump when the closet door slammed open and one of the Dragontooth workers stumbled out. 

It was… In really rough shape, and although Percy had had every intention of attacking he could only stare. Its shirt had a large hole right in the middle, like somebody had punched right through it, and its pants were in shambles. One of its arms had been torn off, and though the bones of its right leg were healing you could easily tell it was heavily fractured. 

It made exactly two steps as it tried to scramble out of the closet before a large hand grabbed it by its skull and yanked it back, the door closing immediately after. 

Cue another loud crash, the noise echoing down the hallway. 

Rachel stared at the closet. “This is probably the strangest I’ve seen.” She admitted faintly. 

“Wait, so you two can see what they are?” Percy was having a hard time understanding that little bit. What, was the Mist on vacation or something? 

“Some people have what is called ‘clearsight’.” Mrs. Hebert explained absently, not looking at them as she appeared to be focused almost hungrily on the closet. Her fingers twitched, like she was restraining herself. ”It, ah, lets them see the truth behind the Mist.”

“And you and Rachel both have that?” Percy looked between the girl he’d just met and the woman that had been helping them since the previous night. 

How common was this exactly? Were there a bunch of humans that knew about monsters and just pretended to not? And how much of them did she know? 

Mrs. Hebert looked taken aback as she finally tore her gaze from the door before giving a small smirk. “Why yes, you could say that.” 

“So, everything I’ve seen - that was real?” Rachel interrupted nervously, but also with hope and relief. “Like, the giant dogs, harpies, and those skeletons? I-I’m not just seeing things?”

Percy could relate to the hope. After being gaslit by the whole school with the ‘Mrs. Dodds’ incident, it had been a huge relief to know he wasn’t going crazy. 

Before Mrs. Hebert could reply, the closet door opened once more, this time revealing Alcides. 

The large man didn’t look like he had a rudimentary cage match against a bunch of undead. Percy could see a couple places in his shirt where he’d been stabbed, but there wasn’t any blood, nor did he look like he was in pain. 

The closet, however, was a different story. 

The inside was a complete wreck. Percy didn’t know what was inside it before, but it was all trash now. 

And on each of the walls was one of the skeletons. Metal shelving had been wrapped around each of them several times, leaving them unable to twitch. Each had two long metal poles stabbed through their chest, pinning them against the wall a foot above the floor.

That was all Percy managed to see before Alcides closed the door and completely crushing the handle holy crap!

“We should get the others and move out quickly.” Alcides instructed brusquely. “They might have backup.” 

….

(Bit of conversation and instruction. Mrs. Hebert admits she can’t go - the urge to drive them to Olympus is getting a bit too strong, not that she admits that.) 

….

“Wait, Alcides?” Rachel squinted up at the large man as he introduced himself before gasping, eyes going wide. “W-wait, y-y-you, you’re H-h-her-”

Percy didn’t get to hear who she thought he was, as Alcide’s eyes widened in surprise before giving a smirk, bringing up a finger in a shushing motion with a wink, and Rachel closed her mouth with a snap. 

“It’s dangerous to go out there alone with creatures like that.” Alicides murmured, reaching into his jacket and bringing out a dagger. It was a rough looking thing. Instead of bronze, it looked like it was made out of a very large claw. "Take this." 

He handed it to Rachel, who took the dagger, but looked at it like somebody had given her a diamond. The poor girl looked like she was about to faint.

“Here, let me get that for you.” Mrs. Hebert suddenly by Rachel's side, one hand on her shoulder supporting her while the other waved towards the dagger, and suddenly Rachel was holding a pocketknife. Rachel looked between it and her a few times in confusion, and the woman gave Rachel a reassuring smile. “Trust me, it’s less conspicuous.”

[END SCENE]

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Author's Note:
I like this particular image of Herakles beating the crap out of the Dragontooth warriors to attempt to figure out whether they're actually immortal or not. And by the PJO universe rules, they are. So he restrains them as thoroughly as he can.

Just because they're immortal doesn't mean they're hard to deal with.

I was a little disgruntled when a few reviewers accused me of making Herakles too OP. And... Ok, in my head I'll admit they're right, but he hasn't done anything OP yet! They have no proof!

The only fights that have happened are the Nemean Lion fight, which honestly isn't that difficult for somebody with enough strength. Then Fate!Nemean Lion vs Atlas, and the Nemean Lion there got a couple good hits in because of things Atlas wasn't expecting. Then there was the Stymphalian Birds, and they didn't even fight Talos, they distracted and made a mess. And even here, against the Dragontooth warriors - from all that I can tell, the Dragontooth warriors aren't all that strong. They're terrifying because they can't be killed, but that's about it. Herakles would have no issue in taking them on.

Also, for my final argument... This is Fate!Herakles. I don't need to change anything about him, he is OP, lol. But c'mon, at least wait until I have him do something OP before accusing me of that, you know?

With Herakles giving Rachel a weapon - it's not gonna be a major plot point. The dagger itself is a Mystic Code made from the Nemean Lion's claw (there's no way that only the hide was used. All of it's body parts would be valuable). Herakles doesn't have any need for a blade that can cut through anything civilized (like metal) so I like to think he's got twenty such daggers that he hands out to people he thinks needs it.

Meanwhile, Rachel is thinking "A god just gave me a magic weapon... Am I the main character?"

Anyways, I hope you found this scene enjoyable, and let me know what you guys think! I know this is kinda small, but I did want to let you know that the chapter is indeed in the works.

Thank you all for being here, and I'll talk to you guys later!
-Shdowstep