Chapter 114: DA : Chapter 114: Questions Abound II
"My name is Andromeda Xena Jackson," the winged goddess returned. "Daughter of Sally and Paul Blofis, you know, my parents that you killed and took me from!" she finished with a shout as Artemis recoiled as if slapped.
"The little sister of Perseus Jackson, the Primordial Goddess of Love, Attraction, Procreation, and Desire."
...
Artemis didn't seem to know what to do with that as murmurs broke, several looking at her oddly with the claim of her murder and kidnapping of the family of the legendary hero. Annabeth especially noticed the three or four of Artemis' old Hunt looking confused as well so it stood to reason they didn't know about it. However, it seemed that Artemis didn't see the attention aimed on her as she then looked at Hestia with shock, her fists starting to tremble before she pointed a shaky finger at the previously missing goddess.
"Y-you … you're no longer a maiden," she said with a near choke, as if unable to comprehend the words themselves while any within earshot gasped.
Annabeth was shocked to see Hestia return a feral grin back at the quivering goddess before raising her left hand to display a ring. It looked to be made of white gold, a glowing ruby surrounded by miniature flames of emerald and obsidian.
"I would hope not," Hestia said as she hovered closer to Percy, griping his left hand that only now did Annabeth notice had a ring as well.
Like Hestia's it was white gold but had an obsidian with a glowing icy blue center, surrounded by two miniature wolf sculptures made of ruby and emerald.
"A reintroduction I suppose," Hestia hummed with a clear amusement in regards to the near catatonic Olympians and demigod forces. "I'm Hestia Jackson, Primordial Goddess of Fire, Hope, and Unity, the Lady of Dragons, and one of the queens of the Primordial Council," she stated with a friendly wave, completely disregarding the atmosphere and tension. "Oh, and by the way, who said I was taken against my will?" she added with eyes narrowing at her siblings, her crimson flaming eyes boring into them.
It made it even worse when Percy rolled his eyes and smirked before letting go of her hand and snaking that arm around the goddess' waist to bring her flush against him.
"As much fun as it's been to see you all," he said, the sarcasm evident in his voice as he shot one last venomous look at Artemis and Zeus. "But we'll be going now but remember…" he trailed off as all the other winged gods got closer to him, his raven wings suddenly expanding to nearly five times their original size.
Almost soundlessly they closed around the entire group, before it all just dissolved into shadows and darkness, leaving the space clear as the storm suddenly ended to the shock of several demigods shouting after Athena.
"Only the Olympians need fear us," came his voice from everywhere and nowhere, making several jump as they looked around wildly.
Then all mayhem seemed to break loose as everything finally registered. Athena gone, Hestia's apparent traitorous nature rather than forced kidnapping, Andromeda's revelations in regards to Artemis.
Everything was simply spinning out of control and even with a godly mind Annabeth felt the headache coming in even as she vowed to figure out what was really going on.
The one track mind to eliminate the Olympians explicitly meant there had to be some truth to Percy's claims against them and it was nothing but self-discipline and the need to carefully plan out her next steps that stopped Annabeth from trying to track and chase them down now to get to her mother.
She wasn't delusional enough to think she could get to Athena alone even if she was likely taken to the very same area the military force had been heading towards. All she could do now was heal, rest, and plan.
Judging by the looks of the Argos, they wouldn't be heading out for a week at the least with the damages she could make out so it gave her time. Looking at the fuming remains of the Olympians, with the noted guilt and shame in the way Hephaestus slouched near his control panel told Annabeth that none of them would be forthcoming.
However, that didn't mean she would stop at that. She was very aware of two particular gods she could get to squeal for information, and considering one has caused a number of problems for Annabeth in the recent years of her marriage and previous love-lives, she was more inclined to meet that disgraced goddess. With that plan set she nodded and moved to the demigod forces, trying to reign in her mother's squads with the assistance of Bellona before they could begin setting camp…
...
( Raven POV )
Same Time
Raven hummed softly to herself as she walked around, enjoying the sights. The hustle and bustle as all sorts of mortals ran around with lights, microphones, cameras, and such. Luckily no one gawked too much at her too much aside from one intern that ran head first into a part of some castle set she'd passed.
Poor boy spilled hot and overly expense coffee over himself. She took pity on him and had given a discreet wave, making the mess lessen to only a small stain before he could notice it. Considering the sun had just set, that would be far less noticeable until he could change shirts.
Well, at least that had been within her very limited divine abilities. Being a domain-less or wild goddess reduced what abilities she could use beyond typical immortals such as willing nectar and ambrosia into existence, increasing her size to match her full strength, flashing, and changing her clothes or appearance at will.
All her other abilities were those inherited from her parents or focused through her role as her mother's guardian though her parents had mentioned possibly ascending her to a full god status after the war considering several positions and domains would be left available. At least being a guardian only at the moment left her free of a good deal of the Ancient Laws meant specifically for full gods.
After all, she didn't have a complete divine form but rather an odd, humanoid form of sentient energy, and she couldn't actually control her mother's domains, merely have a very high affinity and connection to them. That all essentially left her in a similar position to Lupa, another goddess who was never actually titled and completed by a deity linked to Fate or governing body.
Lupa was a wolf goddess literally but not a goddess or Lady of wolves. Of course, even if being incomplete goddesses left them significantly weaker and with slower recovery, then again, having the patronage of her parents for each of them still made them far more powerful than they should be otherwise, such as Lupa, Medusa, and Lamia each having the power to match Olympians.
Though, in the case of Raven herself her role of guardianship was taken with a far simpler oath that allows for release of service whereas Lupa, along with Medusa and Lamia were forever bound to Percy, meaning those three were still at a higher tier than Raven was in regards to power and ability.
Although, it would be possible for the three to be ascended to a godhood as well but still permanently bonded to her father. Their relation aside, Raven was in Los Angeles for her own mission. While her father, mother, Uncle Nico, Aunty Thalia, and her step-mother, Hestia, were all up farther north and encountering the Olympians, Raven had another task as a guardian.
While it was the patron god's choice in the end, guardians could look into and recruit possible candidates to create a group for their task. Her mother had been hesitant to try and recruit mortals, unlike her father's wolves which gained from regular wolves or naturally born within the ranks, and considering the specifications of her roles.
Raven had already undertaken three different missions in different areas of the continental US … and it had not been pretty. The first one alone was brutal and she was positive if she had been a regular mortal rather than a divine being already assimilated to such circumstances, she would have broken down on the spot.
A sex slave traffic ring of all things. Getting in had been easy, using minor levels of charm speak and sweet talking some guards, maybe flash a little cleavage and 'gently' dissuade anyone who got a little too … familiar.
But the moment she'd been inside and seen what was actually happening, the faces of either hopelessness or panic, desperate pleas and prayers so thick she couldn't even block them out of her head. In all honesty she had just let go and seen nothing but a red haze until she abruptly recovered only to find that she had been asleep in her father's lap, using her inherited ability to take on a child form.
It was only then that she realized she'd been covered head to toe in mortal blood, not a speck of her own platinum ichor in sight though she felt some welts from bullets definitely having hit her but failed to pierce her skin.
She'd almost panicked but her father calmed her and explained to her what happened since he and her mother had been watching the entire time. Apparently she'd snapped, unused to such an influx of negative emotions and rather horrid desires she could sense off the frequenters of the establishment.
It had taken less than an hour for her to clear out every single responsible individual within the building, whether consumer or producer, and rip them apart by hand rather than use her short sword disguised as a hair clip given to her by her father.
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Don't forget to throw some power Stones, to keep the story going.
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