Chiron walked across the fields, a pack on his back.
It was rare for him to be away from the camp or away from camp duties. When he wasn't running around chaperoning Demigods, he was usually playing some mortal role to nudge budding Demigods to the camp.
Taking up teaching positions had been his go-to in the past. It was easy to slot into a teacher role since he had been playing at it for thousands of years.
History teacher, mythology, even things like math or P.E., he's done them all pretty much.
He had looked up at the sky and saw Apollo completing his ride across the sky, about to turn things over to Artemis, and picked up the pace.
He knew he was getting close when he saw the signs of battle, if it could be called that. There were craters here or there, signs of destruction, and parts of the terrain that had been demolished. But to call it a 'battle' would imply that one side stood a chance against the other.
Chiron is newer than that.
There were a few lights in the distance, and as he got close, he noticed someone sitting at a newly built fire, seemingly whittling at a piece of wood while some meat was cooking over the flames.
He noticed Chiron as well.
"Hercules."
"Chiron."
The two greeted each other, as awkward as it was. Perhaps neither of them knew what to say to the other, as it had been a very long time since they had spoken.
Hercules had the intention to go visit him now that he escaped his fate as a god, but every time he almost did, he found himself making excuses.
Chiron had heard about what happened, but he had never considered going to seek Hercules out until now.
"Should I call you Alcides now?" Chiron asked.
Hercules snorted. "I don't mind Hercules; the Roman name is what I'm more famous for, and it's a lot better than my Greek one."
Chiron just nodded lightly, trying to be delicate. "...you look good."
"Come on, stop just standing there awkwardly." He pointed to the side.
Chiron slowly trotted over, putting his bag down as he took a spot next to the former God. "Is this where you're living now? I see there are a few houses around."
"It's just what happened. I felt bad about those nymphs from the garden. And you know how the deer queen is when someone hurts her feelings. You know how many times they've snuck Golden Apples over the years?" Hercules shook his head. "She had pushed some monsters from the beginning to give them hell."
Chiron didn't retort because he knew exactly how the queen was.
"I was surprised when I heard what happened. Giving up your godhood…."
Hercules cast him a look. "Yeah, you would know what that's like." It wasn't sarcastic. Their last parting wasn't on good terms.
Through an accident, Hercules had shot Chiron with a Hydra Venom Arrow. He was immortal, so it didn't kill him, but it left him in agonizing pain. To save himself, he had to give up his immortality.
Suffice to say, it caused a huge rift between the teacher and student.
"You look happier." Chiron noted.
Hercules was going to respond with something along the lines of, "How would you know? You never visited me on that island," but he held himself back. "Yeah, I probably do."
The awkwardness didn't go away.
They sat in silence for several minutes before Hercules spoke up again.
"How come you're not at camp?" He finally asked. "You don't usually run around from what I remember."
"I'm no longer the activities director at the camp." Chiron gave a wry smile. "It was determined that I had become complicit with the poisoning of Thalia's Tree, so I was fired."
Hercules paused. "What?"
Chiron let out a long sigh. "It's complicated."
"I have literally nothing but time."
Chiron adjusted his sitting position before letting out a long breath. "Thalia, your half-sister."
"I remember her name."
"When she died at the border of the Camp, Lord Zeus turned her into a tree and made her the barrier around the Camp. Someone poisoned the tree, and the barrier began to fail. Monsters have been appearing in the camp, and the barrier had been noticeably weakened. Considering who my father is, well…"
"So they're being paranoid idiots. How surprising." Hercules deadpanned. "After all these years, after serving them for how long? And they just up and decide that you're involved for some asinine reason and kick you to the curb."
Chiron chose not to comment on that in case any of the gods were listening. He would rather not dig himself into a deeper hole. "I figured it would be nice to travel around. There were some people I hadn't seen a long time, and now I don't have to stay at camp."
"...and you chose me?"
Chiron looked down at the fire. "It's been awhile."
"Yeah."
Chiron smiled faintly. "I only heard what happened, but…how did you end up…here?"
Hercules understood what he meant, as he was just being polite about the wording. "I met a strange Cyclops."
"...I have a feeling I know who you're talking about." Chiron was almost certain in fact. The moment he said 'strange cyclops,' there was only one person that came to mind.
"He said something that I had been avoiding for a long time. I guess I just needed someone to give me a kick in the ass to confront it." Hercules poked the fire with a stick. "It's hard to ignore a problem when someone throws it in your face. So I had a decision to make. Swallow my pride, lose what remained of what made me, or raise my middle finger to the gods and tell them to fuck off."
"I have a feeling I can guess what you chose." Chiron said dryly.
Hercules smiled. "And it felt great."
Chiron couldn't help it; he let out a laugh. "And you've been left alone?"
"More or less." Hercules shrugged. "Sure, I've been visited by Artemis, trying to command me back to my position. Told her to fuck off. Hermes was nicer, but I told him I wasn't going back. Realized something pretty important. You see, they all have things they care about. Not people, but themselves. They have things, items, and possessions. They don't want to lose their toys. And me? I had nothing left to lose, so I made it clear: leave me alone, or I smash all their toys and flip the table over. Going against Olympus, I know I wouldn't win. But they also know that if they tried to do anything to force me, they would lose."
"Be careful of that overconfidence; it had always been your downfall. If you get complacent, too arrogant, thinking you're untouchable…that will be your biggest weakness." Chiron reminded him.
Hercules, however, didn't take offense. In fact, he felt a small warmness fill his chest, getting scolding by his teacher for the first time in a very long time.
"I know." Hercules said simply. "I'm not blinded by arrogance. I'm just…deciding to live freely. Let whatever come; come. I'm just taking things one day at a time now."
"As long as you know." Chiron just nodded.
He didn't feel like it was his place to lecture him anymore.
The strange, awkward atmosphere between them had lessened somewhat.
"If…you have nowhere else to go. You can stay here." Hercules offered. "There's more than enough room."
Chiron was surprised by the offer but found himself smiling. "I think I'd like that."
[Line Break]
The Sword Heart Sect crouched behind a hill, peering over it to look down below.
Ocean Song, Medusa, Daedalus, Tyson, Aristaeus, and Calypso.
"Fellow Daoists, you all know the plan." Ocean Song told them. "Fellow Daoist Calypso, you're the distraction."
"Okay!" She nodded.
"Fellow Daoist Medusa, you're our getaway driver."
"Sure."
"Daedalus—"
"I'm clearing the way, I know, I know."
"Junior Brother Tyson."
"Um…I'm stopping anyone from getting close to the truck?"
"Good job." Ocean Song gave him a thumbs up. "And Cheese Daoist?"
"Protecting the truck?" Though he said that, he wasn't too sure.
"Excellent. You all know your roles." Ocean Song clapped his hands.
Aristaeus looked at him, at his fellow 'sect members,' then at the location down below. It was an Amazon warehouse with several trucks out front getting loaded with pallets of boxes.
"Don't worry, Fellow Daoist. We've hit the location before." Ocean Song reassured him.
"Are…we the bad guys?" He asked.
"It's a matter of perspective." Ocean Song answered. "Remember, Fellow Daoist. It's not stealing if it's being taken from an evil sect. And they have committed the most evil act of all."
"What did they do?"
"They obtained wealth while we lack it." Ocean Song explained. "Therefore, they have committed a grave sin."
Aristaeus opened his mouth, but looking at the others, they didn't even blink.
"Fellow Daoist, let me put it this way." Ocean Song put a hand on his shoulder. "Doesn't your daughter need a college fund?"
His expression immediately changed. "They're evil, you say?"
"The Evilest." Ocean Song nodded. "Think about it: they're standing between your daughter and a fully paid college education. How is that not evil?"
Suddenly, the Cheese God understood why all of them were on board.
"Fellow Daoist Calypso, it's your move." Ocean Song told her.
"Okay! I'll do my best!" She psyched herself up. She grabbed her very large sword that was lying flat against the ground, picking it up as she then started running downhill.
They watched as she started screaming, running right at the fence, barreling through it like it wasn't there, holding her sword up high.
The people around there saw her and immediately panicked, and chaos broke out.
A woman carrying a sword the size of a truck just ran right through their metal fence. They expected the worst to happen, but she never swung her sword. She quite literally just ran around screaming with the giant sword over her head, freaking everyone out.
"...good enough. Sword Heart Sect, attack!" Ocean Song jumped to his feet and declared as they all ran down the hill after the area had been thrown into chaos.
"It's you bastards again!?" An Amazoness ran out of the warehouse just in time to see Ocean Song's group run through the new hole in the fence as they began to ransack the place.
Rather quickly, an alarm rang out within the compound.
More Amazons poured out of the building.
"Shit, they're prepared this time." Daedalus noted.
"How many times have you robbed them!?" Aristaeus couldn't help but blurt out but got no answer.
Initially frightened by Calypso, the Amazons seemed to realize that she wasn't actually….doing anything, so they ignored her screaming and running around in circles and instead charged at Ocean Song's group.
"They have new security; the gate is getting locked down. Secure the truck!" Daedalus shouted as she ran towards the front gate that had metal barriers rising up from the ground that would stop any truck from making it through.
Medusa was grabbing the truck driver, throwing him out of the cabin. "I got the key; load it up and close the back!"
Aristaeus awkwardly blocked a spear with his sword as an Amazon tried to stab him. This whole situation had taken him off guard. They had mentioned the 'plan,' but he was now realizing that they were much more experienced than he anticipated.
Tyson was swinging his own sword around, knocking away approaching Amazons and other hired security.
Ocean Song had hopped up onto the top of the truck. "Tyson, on your left. Medusa, help him. Fellow Daoist Cheese, the right side is yours; protect the truck!"
He didn't even know what was going on anymore as he began to fight several Amazons. Even if he was a mortal now, he had significantly more experience and at least had the leftovers of above-human senses remaining within him.
Fighting off a few young kids—in relation to himself—was within his ability to manage.
In her attempt at distraction, Calypso ran over a few of the Amazons—while she continued to scream, which did cause some manner of distraction because plenty of them were completely confused at what the hell she was doing.
"Fellow Daoist Daedalus!"
"It's down, it's down!" Daedalus screamed as the metal pillars began to lower; the silhouettes of several guards had been tossed out of the security building near the entrance, unconscious.
"It's time, Sword Heart Sect, get on the truck!" Ocean Song commanded.
Aristaeus kicked one guard holding a big club away, some kind of monster that he didn't quite make out in the heart of the moment. He quickly opened the passenger door and jumped inside with Daedalus right behind him.
Tyson hopped onto the top of the truck with Ocean Song.
Aristaeus felt a heavy bounce on the back, and from the mirror, he saw Calypso get on top with her massive sword that was weighing down the truck.
"Go, go!" Ocean Song waved them on.
Medusa floored it, and the truck took off, nearly running over several Amazons and charging right through what remained of the gate at the front, all the while the back of the truck was scraping against the pavement from the extra weight added on from up top.
They had swerved out onto the street, flinging a piece of gate that had caught onto the corner of the truck as it whipped around.
Just like that, Aristaeus could see plenty of angry Amazons shouting and making some very rude gestures to them in the mirror.
He let out a long breath.
"Good job, fellow Daoists." Ocean Song peeked over the edge of the truck, looking into the cabin. "With this, we'll have enough funds to keep running the Sect for a few months."
Aristaeus shook his head but noticed something on the inside.
There was a warning taped to the inside of the cabin.
'Dangerous people, be on the lookout.'
There were several pictures listed on it.
…recognizable pictures.
Two of which were inside the cabin with him.
"...how many times have you robbed them?" He asked again.
"....."
"....."
Neither Daedalus nor Medusa answered him, which was far more telling than it should have been.
[Line Break]
A/N
Plot moving along in the background while the new sect members receive their first proper sect initiation. They needed to be introduced to the sect's method of generating cash flow.
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