Luke took charge as he put on a charming smile, "ah yes. You see me and my friends here have a dilbert for Mr. Edward," he then waved his hand over his backpack manipulating the Mist, "we need to see him."
The blond woman continued smiling as she looked at the bag, "that's a bag."
Luke looked stumped, he waved his fingers again, "no this is a box."
"No....that's a bag."
Luke sighed in defeat, 'a clear sighted mortal great.' "Just tell Edward his family is here to see him."
"I was unaware Mr. Neak had family," the blonde said in surprise.
"Yeah. I'm his half-brother, and those two are his cousins," Luke said pointing at Percy and Grover who waved.
"Hm, you do have the same smile as him," the secretary said, "okay I'll tell him. By the way whatever drugs your own please make sure Mr. Neak doesn't find out, he hates the stuff."
"What? I'm not on any drugs!"
"You just pointed to your bag and called it a box," the blonde explained with a raised eyebrow.
"Ju-just call him, okay?" Luke said with a sigh as he walked away to a laughing Percy and Grover. "Shut up!"
Percy and Grover agreed to stop and the three then sat down on the couch in the corner of the room and waited. Soon, after what felt like forever, the blonde woman called them over, "Mr. Neak will see you now."
Luke muttered, "finally," under his breath as they walked to the door on the other side of the room, "look guy's while we are in there let me do all the talking. Maybe we can convince this guy to help us instead of kicking his ass."
Percy and Grover nodded, "lead on."
The door lead to an office which had glass windows instead of walls on two sides, leading to an amazing view over the Boston skyline. There, standing behind a large desk, was a man in a grey suit whose back was turned to them.
'Drama queen,' Percy thought as the man slowly turned around to face them.
Edward Neak, CEO of Half-Blood Inc.
Lv-32
HP:2800/2800
MP:500/500
Race-Demigod
Str-23
Vit-44
Dex-32
Int-42
Wis-21
Luc-9
The son of Hermes, he ran away from camp when he was young and built himself an empire using his skills as a son of Hermes. He now owns a powerful company and uses it to try and help whoever he can. A nice guy at heart, but seriously, do not trust him with you food. Dude's a stress eater.
Edward Neak then smiled a familiar smile, "I heard a little brother of mine wanted to speak to me." Edward had a old smiling face, if Percy was to guess he looked around 30 years old, making him the oldest demigod Percy has ever seen.
Luke stepped up, "my name is Luke Castellan, I'm a son of Hermes."
"Edward Neak," then gave stretched his hand out which Luke shook, "now how did you know I was a son of Hermes? I kept that secret well hidden and away from public eye."
"Well hidden?" Percy asked with a look of disbelife, "bull shit! You have Greek painting and statues littered all over your lobby and a 8 foot tall statue of Hermes right outside."
Edward shrugged, "I was hiding in plain sight."
Luke sighed, "okay looked we found you because we need your help in our quest."
Edward's eyes light up with a spark of mischief, "oh is this a questing party? How exciting! But that still doesn't explain how you found me out."
"With this," Luke then handed Edward the note they found in Hephaestus's forge.
Edward looked at it and smiled, "ah yes. Uncle Hephaestus' forge. I remember that. You have no idea how difficult it was to sneak in there, get the chain and get out without activating the giant robot snake. Who even builds something like that in the first place?"
"We know," Luke said with a sigh, "we recently got very...personally with the thing."
"You actually fought that thing?" Edward asked impressed.
"More like ran away," Luke replied as the two half brothers nodded in memory of the robot.
"So what do you need?"
"We need the chains," Luke replied frankly.
"Well okay then, how about....no."
"Why not?"
"Well basically their mine and I don't want to give them to you."
"Well actually their Hephaestus," Percy cut in, "and I am sure he would love to know you have them."
"Are you threatening me?" Edward asked with narrowed eyes.
"Basically...yeah," Percy replied back shurgging.
Edward smirked as he sat down in his seat, "well good luck with that."
Percy frowned, "look we need your help. I promise I'll give the chains back after we are done using it."
Edward raised an eyebrow, "really? You promise?"
Percy nodded, "yes I do."
"Do you swear on the Styx?"
Percy was about to open his mouth when Luke cut in. "Percy wait," Luke interrupted, "you don't know what you are doing. If you swear on the Styx you will be making an unbreakable promise, and if you do break it something bad will happen to you, something really bad."
Edward laughed, "he doesn't even know that? What type of idiots did the Gods send on this stupid quest of theirs."
Percy got angry, he was pissed beyond belief. Gamer's minds kicked in and helped him control himself but that didn't change the fact that Percy wanted to slap Edward across the face, "look here asshat, the Gods did not send me. I am doing this quest to find my mom and bring her back."
"Really?" Edward looked intrigued, "so you didn't get a quest from the Oracle sending you to get something or another for the Gods?"
"Yeah I did, but I don't give a damn about that. All I care about is getting my mom back."
"And where is she right now?"
Percy looked Edward died in the eyes and in a serious tone replied, "in the Underworld."
Edward looked surprised, "w-what?!"
"Hades kidnapped my mom and is holding her for ransom. He want's the lightning bolt of Zeus, which he thinks I stole. So I need the chains to capture Hades and get my mom back, because I didn't steal the damn lightning bolt."
"Who the hell are you kid?"
"My name is Percy Jackson, I am the son of Poseidon."
Edward looked at Percy, at his face, eyes and then smiled and threw his head back laughing, "haha! Oh Gods this is amazing! You're like a modern day Orpheus!"
Percy grimaced at the comparison, it was similar. Orpheus went to Hades to bring back his lover and he was going to bring back his mom, only difference is Orpheus failed, he wouldn't. "So will you help me?"
Edward looked at the three kids in front of him and then got up and paced around his large office. The silence hung in the air for a long time before Edward spoke, "do you know I named this place Half-Blood Inc.?"
"No I don't," Percy and Luke replied with Grover simply shaking his head.
"It's because of Hera," Edward explained, "her contribution to camp is just as important as the other gods there. You see while she couldn't have demigods of her own, she still loved them all. It's just Zeus she hates and by extension some of his children. But when camp Half-Blood was built Hera took this opportunity to protect her new family. She placed a spell over it, this spell influenced everyone there to consider the people there family. It wouldn't affect everyone there directly, more like made way for them to think in such a way."
Percy looked stumped. So did he like camp because of this spell or because he liked them? No. Wait, his Gamer's mind made him immune to tricks like that so he must just like camp because he does.
"When I left camp I never wanted to return, the way the unclaimed were treated were inhuman, neglected, forgotten. I didn't want to see that anymore, so I came here. I used my demigod skills and built my empire. Whenever I can I help this city but for now this is my home. But that being said, I still love camp Half-Blood. Despite how fucked up it is."
"But things have changed now," Grover replied in a pleading tone, "people are being treated better."
"Sure they are," Edward replied with a dismissing wave, "they will try, but in the end the unclaimed will remain the unclaimed."
"No, they aren't," Luke spoke up finally as he looked right in his half brother's eyes, "the unclaimed are no longer unclaimed."
"What? How is that possible?"
"It's because of Percy," Luke then turned to the son of Poseidon, "he came into camp and the first night there defeated the Minotaur. The second night he revealed himself to be the son of Poseidon and the next night told each and everyone of the unclaimed there just who their godly parent was."
"WHAT?!" Edward yelled out loud, "how did you do that?"
"I just... I just knew I guess. I can't really explain it, I just get a feeling from demigods that helped me identify who was how."
Luke nodded, "yup, though that was a lucky guess you made when finding out Ethan Nakamura's mom, serious how did you feel he was the son of balance and vengeance?"
Percy shrugged, "he just felt very balancy to me, and did you see his eyebrows?" Percy shivered, Ethan had some big ass eyebrows.
"Look why should I believe a word you are saying?" Edward interrupted them, "it would be nice if they were treated fairly, but that only happens in fairy tales, and this isn't a fairy tale."
"I Luke Castellan swear on the Synx that everything I just said about Percy and the unclaimed was the truth," the blond son of Hermes said and just then thunder cracked outside drawing everyone's attention to the clear blue sky.
"Ah, is that supposed to happen?" asked Percy worried.
"Yes it is," Edward replied as he turned to a smirking Luke, "since your still alive you must be telling the truth."
Luke nodded, "told you so."
Edward then looked at Percy and grinned, "so...son of Poseidon huh?"
"Yup," Percy replied.
"Fine, I'll help you guys get the chains."
Percy fist pumped, "yes!" But then something popped up in his head, "wait, what do you mean you will help us get the chains?"
Edward then grew a sheepish smiled as he rubbed the back of his head, "I, ah.... kind of sold it off."
"WHAT?!" the three questers yelled out loud causing Edward's grin to widen.
Half and hour later Percy and his team found themselves in Edwards limo as they headed to downtown Boston. "I still can't believe you sold the freaking chains of Hephaestus!" Percy yelled out.
"Hehe," Edward rubbed his head again, "I told you I needed the cash, I was just starting up Half-Blood Inc. and well...it was either that or be a stripper and let me tell you I may have the body of a stripper but I got none of the moves."
Luke snickered, "yeah I can imagine. We Hermes kids aren't know for being graceful."
Percy nodded at that, "okay so who did you sell it to again?"
"His name is Biggy. He's the informant for Boston."
"And what does he...ah inform?"
Realization dawned on Edward, "oh right you guys don't know. It's okay, it took me a years to even find out about them"
"Who is them?"
"Tell me what happens to clear the sighted mortals? Like the ones that can see monsters roaming the streets day to day?"
"They just...ah.... I don't know."
"Well most live normal lives, not believing what they see. But the rest, the rest do something about it. There are actually a lot of clear sighted mortals around these days and each have their own powers and abilities to keep themselves safe. Like magic, pyrokinesis, sorcery and even magical martial arts."
"Wait so you're are telling me that there are clear sighted mortal out there who can do magic?" Luke asked with a looks of surprise.
"Yup. Anyone can do magic, if taught properly. Anyway as I was saying, these groups of people live day to day in a world crafted by themselves for themselves. It is known by many names, the Pit, the Hellhole, but most, like me, call it the Abyss. Every city has a place where these members of the Abyss meat up, and Biggy is a member of Abyss. Most of the others in Abyss is.... well not the best kind of people."
"What do you mean?" Percy asked with narrowed eyes.
"Most are hitmen for hire using their skills to make a quick buck, there are....less honorable."
"So what you are tell me is that there is an entire society that is powerful and for hire?" Luke asked with a slight tone of enthusiasm, which Percy found radically strange.
"Yeah, but you are going to need a lot of money."
"So," Percy cut in trying to change the tone of this conversation, "right now we are going into a new world hidden just a few centimeters from us that is filled with monsters and people who can do incredible things?"
"Yup."
"Great, it's like camp Half-Blood all over again," Percy exclaimed throwing his hands up.
The limo pulled up to a coffee shop named 'The Rabbit,' and Percy and the rest got out. "Come back for us in half an hour," Edward called back to his driver who nodded and left them there.
"So...this is it?" Luke asked.
"Yup."
"The entrance to the society that contains magicians"
"But it looks like a regular coffee place to me," Grover said narrowing his eyes, "are they using the mist to block our sight?"
"Nope," Edward replied and then walked in as the three questers followed him inside. The Rabbit looked like any other coffee shop with a barista girl and everything, on a side note, damn barista girls are hot!
Percy looked around and was shocked to see the kind of people in here. Everyone here had a level above 20 and an average of 25. Everyone here was trained and dangerous, "they are not hiding using the mist," Percy whispered out, "they are hiding in plain sight."
Edward grinned, "you can sense the power flowing out of them?"
Percy nodded, "kind of....I think I can."
"Well either way you are right. The Mist is something that can be broken, it can be seen through. But since most of the people in Abyss are clear sighted anyway there really is no point. Also like Percy said, they are hiding in plain sight."
The group then walked to the back of the place and there sitting alone in the back both was a chubby man with a bald spot as big as a plate. He wore a black track suit along with a golden chain and watch. He looked up and smiled, "well well well, if it isn't the son of Boston. I saw that article about you in The Times earlier, really hard hitting stuff."
Edward smiled, "hello Biggy. How've you been?" Edward sat down opposite to him while motioning for the others to join him.
"Oh you know, same old same old. Had a coven of witches come in the other day with the head of a werewolf, wanted a price for it. Needless to say the misses was not pleased with all the werewolf blood leaking on the wooden floors."
Edward laughed, "well that's quite a story Biggy. You'll have to tell it to me later, but for now I came for a job."
Biggy nodded as he sipped his cup of coffee, "yeah I can see that. A son of Hermes, as Satyr and....what's this, a son of Poseidon? Well well well, you certainly have an interesting case for me this time Edward."
