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Rating:

Explicit

Archive Warning:

Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories:

F/MMulti

Fandoms:

Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick RiordanParahumans Series - Wildbow

Relationships:

Percy Jackson/Crystal PelhamPercy Jackson/Victoria Dallon

Characters:

Percy JacksonCrystal Pelham | LaserdreamVictoria Dallon | Glory Girl | AntaresLisa Wilbourn | Tattletale

Additional Tags:

Implied/Referenced Character DeathAlternate Universe - Canon DivergenceExplicit Sexual ContentIsekai and TransmigrationPowerful Percy Jackson

Language:

English

Stats:

Published:2024-03-13Updated:2025-10-27Words:102,097Chapters:39/?Comments:338Kudos:1,381Bookmarks:553Hits:100,133

Lost in Foreign Seas

ThatGit

Chapter 7: Marooned

Chapter Text

Hours later, curled up on a makeshift bed of soft sand and wrapped in a blanket of warm currents, my eyes finally closed as sleep took me into its comforting embrace. It had been a very long two days and I was utterly exhausted.

Despite my weariness, sleep did not come easily to me tonight. My conversation with the Undersiders had left me with far too many questions and far too few answers. They were just… people. Ordinary mortals with mortal problems and mortal ideas. Well, maybe they weren't quite ordinary mortals, ordinary mortals didn't have super powers after all, but they weren't gods, monsters, demigods, or anything else I had ever seen in my life.

They were just so very human. These weren't cartoon supervillains like I remembered seeing in movies, with their grand plans and impractical ambitions. Grue, Bitch, Tattletale, and Regent were all doing this for such… common reasons. Simple mortal greed and necessity combined with supernatural abilities. I didn't know how I felt about it. How I was supposed to feel about it.

In the end, I'd spent about ten minutes interrogating the group before I finally let them go. Tattletale had proven to be a fountain of information, happily answering each and every question I bothered to ask about the other local villains. I hadn't learned all that much more than what I'd already seen online, but I found hearing it again from someone to be much more informative than reading it all myself.

Somehow, the biggest shock tonight had been seeing a perfectly ordinary dog climb out of the fleshy remains of the monster I'd knocked aside. Bitch had cleaned the dog off somewhat with a towel and then done something that made a new meat suit to grow around it until there were once more three giant monsters. Well, not monsters. Just ordinary dogs in monster costumes apparently. That had been very, very weird.

Despite my curiosity, I had held back in checking if Riptide could hurt the dog itself. The information would probably have been rather valuable, but it would have also needlessly antagonized the dog-loving girl. It was something I would have to do sooner or later––it would be really, really bad if my sword suddenly passed through someone while I was fighting them instead of, well, stabbing them––but that could wait for now.

After I'd let the Undersiders leave, the villains bounding off into the distance on the backs of their dog-monster-thingies, I'd spent another few hours wandering futilely around the docks before finding an abandoned pier and diving back into the sea for the night. I needed time to process and decompress, and a full night's rest in the depths of my dad's domain sounded like just what the doctor ordered.

Of course it was never going to be that simple. It never was for a demigod. My eyes closed at the bottom of the sea and opened within the crumbling ruin of an ancient temple.

"Oh for fuck's sake," I mumbled, my voice echoing within the confines of my mind. "Of all the nights…"

The temple sat at the peak of a mountain, surrounded on all sides by little more than barren rock and scraggly bushes. A winding road led past the ruins and down towards a distant town. Far below I could feel the sea, gentle waves lapping the hulls of small fishing boats and crashing against high cliffs.

I felt at home. At peace. This was where I belonged. For a moment I could almost imagine that I was standing in the halls of Atlantis, surrounded by pillars of shining coral and warm water.

This place was mine, something familiar in an alien world. For the first time in days I could feel the comforting echo of my Father's power, a boundless storm of the ocean's fury lurking just out of sight, but tinged with warmth and love.

I took a step forward and ran my hand along sun-kissed marble. I could feel the sea in it, in every inch of once-pristine marble now worn and weathered by the passage of time and the hands of man. This place had been loved and cherished once. The target of countless pilgrimages and hopeful petitioners.

In my mind's eye, I could almost see the temple's former glory. Echoes of prayer and sacrifice rang in my ears like forgotten song lyrics, ancient Greek words hanging at the tip of my tongue before fading into darkness. Burnt offerings filled my nose and I smiled as I remembered joyful meals at Camp.

The place was beautiful. Perhaps it was not the match of the temples I'd seen on Mount Olympus or within Atlantis, but so much more because this place had been made by mortal hands. Craftsmen had poured their lives and souls into this place, seeing the beauty within the marble and freeing it to see the light of day.

A statue of Poseidon dominated the temple, bronze polished to a mirror-gleam and easily thrice the height of a mortal man. His face was twisted into a dark scowl, but I could see humor glinting in his bronze eyes and the barest hint of a smile in his teeth. This too was mortal work and made so much more because of it.

Beneath it stood the altar, heaped with gifts and sacrifices. Bronze brazier burned with green and orange fires, casting dancing shadows on the walls and filling the room with warmth and light. A child sat against the back wall, staring up at the statue as she carefully whittled a stick with a bronze knife. She raised her makeshift trident into the air, comparing it against the statue's bronze weapon, and smiled. The statue smiled back and she vanished into memory.

Faint shapes moved around me––priests, sailors, and countless others; shadows of shadows without mass or substance brushed against my skin and moved through me as though I wasn't there. Some few were darker, richer than others. I could see faint impressions of familiar green eyes and black hair. They came and went bearing sacrifices and singing prayers for safety and fair weather.

I was in Greece––the Ancient Land. Maybe I wasn't standing in the sea itself, but this place remembered that it had once been just as much within my Father's domain as any ocean current. Cape Sounion. I mouthed the name, rolling it on my tongue and searching my memories.

I had never heard of it before, but the name was written in the waters around me. The Aegean Sea sang like no waters I had ever ventured within, danger and riches both hiding just beneath the surface. My silent question was answered by the sea-breeze and the crashing of the waves far below.

The Mist was thicker here. Just a little, but after hours of focusing the difference was instantly apparent. It lurked within the stone and billowed in the wake of nameless shadows. My voice joined in alongside a severe-faced priest's prayer, my words inaudible even to me, and the Mist swirled and sang with every word.

I blinked and suddenly I was in another time. Looking to the horizon, I could almost see a fleet of black-sailed ships. Upon the cliffs stood a sobbing man in the garb of a king. He raised his hands to the sky and cast himself down the mountainside, plunging into the merciless depths below with nary a splash.

Moments later, he was replaced by a man that could have been my twin. Jet black hair and sea-green eyes stared back at me from an older, nobler face. This time I needed no aid to know before whom I stood. I soundlessly mouthed the name of one of my most famed half-brothers. Theseus, founder of Athens. Son of Poseidon.

He turned towards me and smiled ruefully. I smiled back. It felt almost like looking in a mirror. Here we were, two brothers separated by nearly three millennia, yet united by divine blood and the death of one uppity cow. Then he took one look down towards the sea, wiped tears from his eyes, and vanished beyond the horizon.

Countless more images flashed past me and the world changed with every moment. Priests came and went, the land shifted with the seasons, roads were built and washed away by rain, and wooden vessels grew more and more complex and sophisticated.

Finally, another black-haired, sea-green eyed man stood before me. He looked old. Tired. Barely more than the idea of a man. There was no priest in the temple. No sacrifice on the altar. No prayers echoing in my ears. He leaned heavily on a golden trident covered in barnacles.

I recognized him. How could I not? His smile had warmed my dreams as a child and in the past six months I'd spent more time with him than almost any demigod child could dream of. "Poseidon?" I called out. "Dad?"

He did not respond. A single tear ran slowly down his nose and then fell down, down, down to splash silently into the emerald waves. Waters raged and storm winds blew. When they passed, nothing but the faint smell of the sea and an invisible glimmer of gold remained.

Then even that was gone. "Dad?" I asked softly. There was no answer.

A profound, overwhelming sense of loss filled me, grief crashing against the hole in my heart where Annabeth had once been and knocking my legs out from under me. I knelt alone surrounded by sixteen weathered columns and bare fragments of once well-polished marble. I could still smell the sea, still feel the salty breeze ruffling my hair, but there was something missing.

I was there for what felt like an eternity, tears leaking down my cheeks like rain water pouring down a storm drain. I didn't understand. Couldn't understand. What? Why? How? The world felt cold and empty. Something crucial was gone and the world knew it, even if people could not see the hole.

Eventually the tears ran dry. I rose to my feet and walked forward, stopping at the edge of the cliff where once King Aegeus had stood and looked out for the sails of his son's returning ships. There was a storm on the horizon, dark and terrible, but painfully mundane. There was no eagle fighting a horse, no flying chariot or Master Bolt. Only water vapor, strong winds, and the faint smell of salt and ozone.

Something glimmered in the depths. Something gold. It called to me. The sight of it made the ichor in my veins twist and writhe in agitation. It was something familiar, but unknown. Mine but forbidden to me.

'This is not the time,' a voice whispered suddenly in my ear. Sand and rock shifted beneath my feet until I stood facing the temple ruins with my back to the sea.

There was something here. Something massive. Just out of sight. Just out of reach. The weight of countless millennia pressed down on my shoulders. The voice was weak and tired. It sounded small and scared, a child asking their mother to check for a monster under their bed, and yet it dwarfed me like a mountain dwarfs an ant. The voice was familiar, but not. A different note played on the same instrument

I looked up at the sky and found that it had been replaced by a sea of stars. Something lurked up there, two coiling shapes that blocked out the sun and dwarfed the moon. It hurt to look, hurt to see. There was something in the way, not the Mist, not anything I'd ever seen before, but a massive hand peeled back the curtain for a single fraction of a moment. 'Know. Awaken, but do not forget.'

My eyes shot open, my brain feeling like it was about to burst out of my skull and burning knives stabbing my eyes. Well, that was certainly one way to spend the night. Not nearly as restful as I would have liked, but… informative. I had so many questions and no one to ask them. Just the way I liked it… Not. Sometimes it really did feel like the Fates hated me. Stupid old ladies with their stupid giant socks.

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Entire Work ← Previous Chapter Next Chapter → Chapter Index Comments Share Download

Work Header

Rating:

Explicit

Archive Warning:

Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories:

F/MMulti

Fandoms:

Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick RiordanParahumans Series - Wildbow

Relationships:

Percy Jackson/Crystal PelhamPercy Jackson/Victoria Dallon

Characters:

Percy JacksonCrystal Pelham | LaserdreamVictoria Dallon | Glory Girl | AntaresLisa Wilbourn | Tattletale

Additional Tags:

Implied/Referenced Character DeathAlternate Universe - Canon DivergenceExplicit Sexual ContentIsekai and TransmigrationPowerful Percy Jackson

Language:

English

Stats:

Published:2024-03-13Updated:2025-10-27Words:102,097Chapters:39/?Comments:338Kudos:1,381Bookmarks:553Hits:100,133

Lost in Foreign Seas

ThatGit

Chapter 8: Preparations

Notes:

Sorry about the formatting :sob:

Chapter Text

It took more than two hours of tossing and turning, but eventually I did manage to fall back asleep despite my racing thoughts and the stabbing pain behind my eyes. Several times I was tempted to reach for my meager reserves of ambrosia, but I was disciplined enough to push through the pain while I let the soothing waters around me do their work.

As tempting as it was, I could work through this pain, and ambrosia was simply too valuable to waste like that. If something managed to hurt me despite the curse of Achilles, it might be my only chance at recovery. And in a world filled with mortals with strange and powerful… powers––well, I certainly had some ideas. Sometimes even Chiron's warnings were filled with tactical advice.

This time, thankfully, I slept like a log. No demigod dreams disturbed my rest. No horrible memories or haunting nightmares plagued me. I wasn't even bumped awake early by a worried dolphin or turtle tangled in a six-pack ring, an unfortunately common occurrence when I was resting in shallow waters like these.

I woke up with the sun, feeling much less rested than I would have liked despite having spent hours literally in my element while I slept. It was still mostly dark down here, only a smidgeon of sunlight reaching down this far this early in the day, but rising early had become a habit over the years.

It was around seven, seven-thirtyish, maybe. I was feeling rather hungry––the curse of Achilles meant I needed more food and sleep than an ordinary demigod. Unfortunately, today was Friday which meant that the little cafe I'd gone to yesterday didn't open until nine, and I wasn't really feeling fast food right now. That blueberry pie had been absolutely delicious and I'd been craving another slice since lunch.

I also kind of wanted to see if that girl would be there again. I was almost certain she was a parahuman and maybe I could try to talk to her. I knew capes were pretty protective about the entire secret-identity thing––outside of a few exceptions I'd read about––but maybe she'd be willing to talk? She'd definitely noticed something about me, so perhaps capes had some way of recognizing each other?

Wait no, that didn't make sense because I wasn't one of them. I was a demigod, not a parahuman. Weird. Well, it didn't really matter now. I'd cross that bridge when I got to it.

The promise of blueberry pie kept me going through my usual morning training. I opened up a big bubble of air around me, leaving only a few inches on the ground to keep the sand wet and so I could still move around like I was in the open while benefiting from the rejuvenating touch of the sea. Sometimes I did just train underwater, but for my sword fighting and general fitness it was better to train in an environment that didn't actively help me through every motion.

I spent a few minutes warming up, then spent another hour and a bit doing sword drills with Riptide, unarmed fighting drills Chiron had taught me, calisthenics, and some basic practice using my demigod abilities to finish things off. By the end of it, I was feeling a lot more awake and energized.

I also spent some time trying to see if I could still use any of the techniques I'd learned to manipulate the Mist. What I'd found was that controlling the Mist around here was tricky. You had to be a lot firmer with it than I was used to. Thalia had always said the trick was just making a suggestion and letting the Mist do the rest. Here, that just simply didn't seem to work. It was going to take a lot more practice to get anywhere with it, but at least I now knew not to try anything like that until I had a better grip on things.

I made it to the cafe, Buns 'n' Roses according to the sign, just a few minutes after it opened. The place was almost empty. There was a red-headed young woman sipping a large coffee with her eyes closed in the corner and a mom with a stroller looking at the different breads on display, but other than that it was just me and the impressively built man behind the counter who was busily filling the baskets behind the glass with freshly baked pastries and breads from a large rolling rack.

I ordered a slightly smaller spread than I'd eaten the day before and this time paid for it all with my Lotus Cash Card. The cashier gave me a strange look when I asked for three slices of pie for here, then shrugged and waved it off. I also got a free loaf of whole wheat garlic chive bread because I was one of the first five customers today. I didn't really need it, but it was apparently a new recipe (as the man told me three different times in the space of thirty seconds) and smelled absolutely delicious, so I wasn't going to say no.

I finished most of my food in about twenty minutes, then spent another fifteen savoring my last slice of pie while I watched the morning news on the TV in the corner. The villains I'd talked to were on the news, though I only recognized them because one of the newscasters mentioned the casino they robbed by name. They just called them 'local villains' and the only pictures they had showed clouds of darkness billowing out through the front doors of the casino. I was happy to see that I hadn't been lied to yesterday. No one had been hurt during the attack, just like Grue had told me.

To my disappointment, the girl did not come back while I was eating and I wasn't willing to wait for her any longer than I already had. I had a lot of things to do and figure out today and I could always try to find her another time or just talk to some other cape. I still had Glory Girl's card safely tucked away, and if the need arose I could try to reach out to the Protectorate. I glanced out the window towards where I could see the repurposed oil rig standing out in the bay, its force field shimmering in the morning sunlight. Their base wasn't exactly hard to find.

I brought my plates over to the bin in the corner, waved to the man behind the counter, and left the cafe swinging the brown paper bag with my bread in it. Today I was heading back to the library with a new goal. Yesterday, I had gotten acquainted with this strange new world I found myself in. Today, I needed to figure out what I was going to be doing next.

If I was going to get anywhere with all this, I needed a plan, a base, and allies. Only then could I safely focus on that bizarre dream and the horrifying voice that still made my head hurt just thinking about it. Even without really digging deeply into it, the implications were… disturbing. That bit at the end especially. That had been my dad, I was sure of it. I… I didn't like the thought of what I'd seen.

I shook my head to clear it and focused on the boardwalk beneath my feet. Library first, freak out later. Focus, Percy.

■

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■

♦ Topic: Kyushu, Newfoundland, Who's Next?

In: Boards ► News ► Events ► World

SurpriseFornax (Original Poster) (Kyushu Survivor) (Newfoundland Survivor)

Posted On Jul 9th 2009:

I think you've all seen the pictures by now. It's been two years since Newfoundland and all I can think of is who's next? I haven't been able to look at the ocean without having a panic attack in years and I moved what's left of my family to Montana and I still don't feel safe.

(Showing page 9 of 111)

►BigDEnergy (Verified Cape) (RIP)

Replied On Jul 9th 2009:

Oh shit man, I heard their were people like you, but I'd never met any before. Glad you and your folks made it out. I was on one of the teams doing evacuations, I'm sorry we couldn't do more. It was horrible, really just awful stuff. Seeing all the bodies in the water, all the rubble... That shit hunts my nightmares to this day. We have got to do something about Leviathan and the other endbringers. We can't keep doing what we're doing. On a good day sometimes we drive them off, but sometimes we don't and either way a lot of innocent people die. I don't know what, but something needs to change. For now, I'm going to keep fighting and keep trying. Its the least I can do.

End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 ... 109, 110, 111

■

♦ Topic: The Dangers of Tinker/Mover Dimensional Travel

In: Boards ► Discussion ► Capes ► Theoretical

Mr. Dr. Buzzkill (Original Poster) (Cape Husband) (Actually a Doctor)

Posted On Mar 5th 2009:

So I know that by now, Earth Aleph is old news. We've been trading for their movies for more than a decade now (my wife exclusively watches Aleph productions these days. She hates what capes have done to Hollywood) and everything is alright, but that's not what I want to talk about here. That portal is tightly controlled and regulated by the government to make sure that nothing dangerous can come through in either direction.

No, I'm thinking about potential new capes. New capes who are young and careless and might bring about the end of the world while they're just trying to play around with their powers. We know that Aleph diverged back when Scion appeared, but imagine something else. Lets call it Earth Gimel. An earth that diverged a thousand years ago because they had the white death instead of the black death.

Now imagine that Mr. Portal Boy opens a portal to Earth Gimel and just prances on through to talk to the locals. Well, maybe Mr. Portal Boy catches a simple case of the White Death, something the locals have become all but immune to over the centuries. Then, Mr. Portal Boy goes to school! Suddenly we're dealing with an epidemic the likes of which we can barely imagine. It gets even worse when we try to quarantine the issue and Mr. Portal Boy opens up a portal to France because he wants a baguette for lunch and suddenly they've got White Death in France too!

Edit: Don't tell me the PRT has it all under control! It doesn't even have to be a cape here on Bet, what if a Mr. Portal Boy triggers on Gimel!? Huh? What then? Or Earth Dalet, Earth He, whatever! You get the point! Shit like this keeps me up at night!

(Showing page 113 of 159)

►Procto the Unfortunate Tinker (Not a tinker) (Banned)

Replied On Mar 6th 2009:

You're right man, that does sound freaky. Imagine if they have like, fish tails or something. That would be so fucking cool! Do you think fish ladies are hot and do they have, you know, the right equipment down there? I think I would bang a fish lady if she was hot, I've always thought mermaids were pretty dope.

►RegularPosterPoster

Replied On Mar 6th 2009:

@BoberTheHober dude wtf

End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 111, 112, 113, 114, 115 ... 157, 158, 159

■

♦ Topic: Simurgh Attacks Madison, Copies Haywire Tech

In: Boards ► News ► Events ► America

Nokra (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know) (Unverified Cape)

Posted On Dec 23rd 2009:

■

♦ Topic: New Wave: A History and Maybe a Future

In: Boards ► Boards ► Places ► America ►Brockton Bay

Bagofmarbles (Original Poster) (Cape Groupie)

Posted On Jan 2nd 2009:

■

♦ Topic: Brandish Wins Case, Fights Hookwolf!?

In: Boards ► Boards ► Places ► America ►Brockton Bay

Bagofmarbles (Original Poster) (Cape Groupie)

Posted On Sep 1st 2010:

■

♦ Private messages from Point_Me_@_The_Sky:

Riptide: Hey Glory Girl, it's me the cape from Wednesday who introduced themselves wrong?

Riptide: You said I could message you if I have any questions and I sort of do.

Riptide: You were completely right, I'm really new to this cape thing and I could really use some advice and support, but I'm not really comfortable messaging you about it on here. Is there any chance we could meet up in person to talk about it?

Point_Me_@_The_Sky: Oh, hi! Sorry i hd to rush off on you like that, I lost track of time! Yeah I think we could probably do something like that. PHO is pretty secure but I absolutely get it. I see you made a new account, is Riptide your cape name?

Riptide: Yes, I guess it is. It felt like a good fit.

Point_Me_@_The_Sky: Totally! I like it! Catchy, rolls off the tongue, and I don't think it's taken?

Point_Me_@_The_Sky: Its not! Just checked!

Riptide: That's good.

Riptide: So, would you be willing to meet with me sometime? Maybe tomorrow since it's the weekend?

Point_Me_@_The_Sky: Yeah that should work! How about the boardwalk?

Point_Me_@_The_Sky: I normally wouldn't ask this sort of thing, but do you want to do it in or out of costume? I mean since I already know your name and face and I don't know if you have a costume or not or whatever?

Riptide: I'm fine with out. I have a costume but it's pretty eye-catching. That's one of the things I want to talk to you about actually.

Point_Me_@_The_Sky: K, 1 work?

Riptide: Yeah that sounds good. I'll wait for you outside of the Buns 'n' roses cafe in the same sweater as last time if that's alright with you?

Point_Me_@_The_Sky: kk. Do you mind if I bring my cousin? My mom's insisting on it.

Riptide: Sure that's fine with me. I'll see you then. Thank you.

Point_Me_@_The_Sky: C u then!

■

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Entire Work ← Previous Chapter Next Chapter → Chapter Index Comments Share Download

Work Header

Rating:

Explicit

Archive Warning:

Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories:

F/MMulti

Fandoms:

Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick RiordanParahumans Series - Wildbow

Relationships:

Percy Jackson/Crystal PelhamPercy Jackson/Victoria Dallon

Characters:

Percy JacksonCrystal Pelham | LaserdreamVictoria Dallon | Glory Girl | AntaresLisa Wilbourn | Tattletale

Additional Tags:

Implied/Referenced Character DeathAlternate Universe - Canon DivergenceExplicit Sexual ContentIsekai and TransmigrationPowerful Percy Jackson

Language:

English

Stats:

Published:2024-03-13Updated:2025-10-27Words:102,097Chapters:39/?Comments:338Kudos:1,381Bookmarks:553Hits:100,133

Lost in Foreign Seas

ThatGit

Chapter 9: Meeting Young Waves

Chapter Text

I shifted nervously from foot to foot, my eyes warily watching the gloomy, overcast sky. It had been a very rainy, unpleasant morning, with thick fog blanketing the coast and making it hard for normal people to see anything. It didn't really bother me much, my clothes stayed dried unless I wanted them not to and the fog actually improved my senses rather than hindering them, but it had left the boardwalk all but deserted.

I'd half expected that the cafe would be closed when I arrived to get breakfast. I hadn't seen a single other person walking around, but it seemed that it took more than a little bad weather to keep them from opening on time.

The weather had mostly cleared up in the hours since then, but it was still unusually foggy. Normally I wouldn't mind, but the Mist here was so thin that the mundane mist interfered with my usual methods of sensing it. I'd never been particularly good at seeing the Mist, or even seeing through it to be perfectly honest, but with practice I'd learned to sense it the same way I could sense water around me. I'd thought it was a very clever workaround, but now it was coming back to bite me in the ass.

I squinted up as I saw two shapes moving in the sky far above, but quickly realized they were just seagulls. I sagged back against the wooden fence separating the boardwalk from the beach and tried to focus on the crashing of the waves behind me. The sea was choppy today, rough and uncertain like my racing thoughts.

Taking a deep breath, I tried to calm myself. I was making the right choice. Probably. No, not probably. I'd done my due diligence, researched the topic, and made the best choice I had available to me given my current circumstances. This was the right choice.

I did a lot of reading yesterday. Like, more than I had in the past four years if you didn't include the research I'd done yesterday. Things had been a bit rough at first, especially with the lingering pains of my dream-headache, but then I found the accessibility settings on PHO and suddenly my reading got a lot easier.

It wasn't ancient Greek, but big letters, big spacings, and no fancy italics to distract my eyes made things a lot easier! It also helped that it really was a matter of life or death––a bad choice here could cause me a lot of problems very quickly––so my demigod instincts didn't act up quite as much as they did in school. I still had to take frequent breaks, but not nearly as many of them as I had been expecting. There were definitely still moments where I would have gladly dealt with a monster attack instead of reading one more drifting, letter-scrambled word, but unfortunately no helpful minotaur presented itself for me to vent my frustration on.

Thankfully the library wasn't too busy and the middle-aged man behind the checkout counter showed minimal interest in verifying my story about being home schooled. After some poking around I had managed to find an out-of-the-way row of ancient-looking computers tucked away in the foreign-language and culture section, snagged a small pile of one-time login codes from an unattended desk, and gotten to work.

Even outside of the whole 'dyslexia makes reading words hard' thing, I wasn't really good at this research stuff. I was born to sail and fight, not for all this nitty-gritty planning and preparing. I kept getting sidetracked, losing my train of thought, and struggled to find the information I was looking for. Still, I persevered and eventually managed to come up with my current plan.

First of all, I'd concluded early on that claiming to be a demigod was going to get me nowhere. People around here had a very firm belief that the supernatural was all just made up nonsense and tended to belittle the capes that claimed their abilities came from divine intervention or magical abilities. I would need to look into some of those just in case they were telling the truth, but that was something to worry about later.

I'd also learned that this world was already familiar with the concept of dimensional travel, though information about it was very, very limited. Only Earth Aleph as they called it (though why this was Earth Bet and that was Earth Aleph I really couldn't say) was well known by the public. Just like this world, Earth Aleph had capes, though apparently they were much rarer and far weaker than the ones around here.

Okay, perfect. My new story seemed obvious enough and very hard to verify one way or another. It also helped that it was sort of true if you squinted. I was Percy Jackson, cape name Riptide (it was the first thing that had popped into my head when Grue asked), and I was a cape from another Earth. Earth Gimel maybe––I was pretty sure that was the next letter?

On my Earth, heroes and villains were a lot more low key than they were around here and we used different terminology. I would do my best to avoid saying anything about gods or the war or demigods, but I had a feeling something was going to slip through so it was best to be prepared. Gods could be senior heroes, demigods were like sidekicks maybe? Or Wards, that was what they called the official junior heroes around here.

Anyway, I had gotten caught in some sort of… shaker, maybe mover, effect and spit out here on Earth Bet. Simple enough. No need to mention the voice that made my brain hurt just thinking about it or that strange dream I'd had last night.

For the sake of simplicity, I was also going to pretend to be eighteen here. Sixteen-and-a-half was basically ancient by demigod standards anyway. I had no desire to go back to school or whatever and I was both tall and broad-shouldered enough to pass for an adult.

Once I'd had that figured out, it became a question of where did I go from there. Well, I was pretty sure that I could feel my preferred answer to that question walking towards me, so hopefully I'd be able to get that settled soon. Plan B was just wandering up to the oil rig superhero base thingy and hoping for the best. That wasn't a very good plan, not even for me.

I waved to the pair of blonde girls walking towards me down the boardwalk. I'd expected them to fly in, but in hindsight this made more sense. New Wave was one of the few superhero groups in the United States that didn't really do the whole 'secret identity' thing, but maybe they still shied away from obvious power usage in public? Or maybe not. I could feel that Glory Girl's clothing was completely dry despite the morning's foul weather..

"Hey," I called out once they were close enough, "Glory Girl and Laserdream, right?"

"That's us!" Glory Girl answered cheerfully. "I'm Victoria, but everyone calls me Vicky, and this is my cousin Crystal!" Her voice dropped a half-dozen volume levels. "Riptide, right? Or can I––"

"Percy is fine."

Her grin widened and I found myself smiling back at her. Her joy was infectious. I was so happy that someone so amazing had––

A wave crashed against the beach, cold water rushing up the surf to soak into the drier sand at the edge of the water. The sound of it echoed in my mind, the roar of the ocean drowning out the faint whine of alien fingers brushing the edges of my consciousness.

It took me a moment to realize what was happening. Her wiki page on PHO said Glory Girl had some kind of emotional aura, evoking awe in her allies and fear in her enemies. It was a little annoying, but it wasn't nearly on the level of charmspeak and I knew how to deal with mind-altering abilities.

Stuff like this was easier with actual seawater, but I could manage without it. The sea rose up within me. The golden ichor in my blood flashed with divine might and the questing touch of her aura lost all purchase on my mind.

Without skipping a beat, I extended a hand towards the pair. It hadn't felt like an attack, no more than the way Silena sometimes accidentally let her charmspeak slip into her voice during heated arguments.

"I really appreciate you guys coming out to meet me, especially on a day like this."

Glory Girl vigorously shook the offered hand. She had a very firm grip, particularly for someone with no noticeable calluses. She was supposedly basically invulnerable, right? Did her power protect her from that sort of thing? The curse of Achilles certainly didn't––it had been a constant source of jokes for the Aphrodite campers. My calluses were just as indestructible as the rest of me now. "Of course! I'm always happy to help a new hero out! Brockton can use all the heroes it can get."

Crystal's handshake was a lot more like what I would have expected from a teenage mortal. "It's nice to meet you, Percy. Thank you for trusting me with your secret. I promise I won't spread it around."

I was confused for a moment. "Huh?" It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize she meant the whole secret identity thing. "Oh, right. Yeah it's no problem. We're all heroes here, I trust you guys." It wasn't like Percy Jackson was anymore a meaningful name here than Riptide was. I had no identity or family here to worry about.

We exchanged a few more brief pleasantries before I noticed how Crystal was shivering in the sea breeze. The mist and earlier drizzle had left her jeans and coat damp and she was clearly getting cold just standing out here with me and Vicky.

"It's getting a bit chilly standing out here, do you guys think we could move this inside somewhere?"

"Yeah, let's do that," Crystal chimed in immediately. Her teeth clacked together loudly between words and Glory Girl finally seemed to notice the same thing that I had.

"Great idea. I know a nice brunch place with private booths not too far from here?" she chimed in.

"Sure."

Fifteen minutes later the three of us were tucked away in the back corner of the restaurant in question. I was sitting on one side of the booth, with Crystal and Vicky sitting across from me. It was quite warm inside and the air was filled with the smell of frying bacon and the soft hum of classical music.

The restaurant was busier than most of the places we'd passed along the boardwalk, but that still left it half-empty just after noon on a Saturday. If that wasn't a sign of urban decay, I didn't know what was. Everything I knew about brunch places meant that I'd been expecting a thirty minute wait and then another twenty before we finally got a server. Instead, we'd been seated as soon as we'd come in and the waitress had come by almost immediately to get our orders.

"So," Glory Girl began once we all had our drinks and the waitress had walked away, "you said on PHO that you had some questions about heroing?"

I shifted uncomfortably. Just talking to the two girls had been fine, they honestly reminded me of some of the newer campers after the end of the war and it had been nice to talk to people without the weight of who I was hanging over us. Now that the moment of truth had come, I was suddenly questioning my decision again.

I took a deep breath and let the waves within me settle into a smooth expanse of blue-green depths. Nothing ventured, nothing earned. I could always fall back on plan B if I had to. Or plan C and D once I figured out what those plans were.

"Yeah, something like that. Uh, you know how I said I'm new to all this, right?"

"Yup! Don't worry, we were all there once! Everyone has to start somewhere!"

Even with her aura still futile scrambling for purchase in mind, Vicky's positivity made me smile. She was so genuine and cheerful, and she clearly believed in being a hero.

"Thanks. Well, it's a little bit more complicated than all that. I guess like, well, I'm not really new to being a hero, but I am new to how you do it here. I'm not… from around here, I guess. Not Brockton Bay I mean, but like. Here. Earth Bet."

Crystal, who had been taking a sip from her steaming cup of coffee, choked and spluttered and would have spilled her drink if not for the crimson force field that snapped into place over it like a lid before it could go everywhere.

Vicky wasn't much better. She'd clearly been preparing to say something, but my words had knocked her off-kilter and left her just staring at me.

I hurriedly continued, "A few days ago, just a bit before you ran into me really, I ran into some kind of shaker or mover effect. Sorry, I'm not super familiar with the terminology you guys use here. There's only so much research you can do at a public library in two days. It grabbed me and spit me out around here. Well, like a bit out to sea but this was the closest city to where I came out. I was a bit banged up but I'm pretty durable so it turned out okay.

"The Earth I come from, well, it's definitely not Earth Aleph and I couldn't find any references to it online. We also have powers and heroes, but we're a lot more low-key about it. I've never had to worry about my secret identity before so I was a little confused about what you were talking about.

"Anyway, I spent the last few days getting my bearings and trying to figure out what was going on. I considered just approaching the PRT, but I haven't been able to find anything online about what they might do to accidental dimension travelers so I wanted a bit of a safety net before I did anything. I've seen some of the work your team does and it's pretty amazing. Plus your mom is like a big-shot lawyer and a hero. I was hoping you guys could maybe help me out?"

The two girls were silent for several long moments and I was afraid that I'd managed to screw everything up. That had all come out a bit faster than I'd meant for it too but I had never been particularly great at first impressions. Half the people I met tended to want to kill me before minute five.

Crystal cleared her throat, then turned to her cousin and poked her shoulder. Victoria, who had been silently staring at me since a few words into my explanation, jumped. "Sorry! That's uh, not quite what I was expecting," she said slowly. "I have… questions. I thought you just––"

Before she could continue, the waitress returned with a tray stacked high with brunch staples. Eggs, french toast, piles of bacon, hotcakes, and breakfast potatoes, and more filled the booth with a dizzying array of wonderful smells and I heard her stomach rumble hungrily. I had a feeling that her questions had suddenly become a secondary priority.

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Rating:

Explicit

Archive Warning:

Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories:

F/MMulti

Fandoms:

Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick RiordanParahumans Series - Wildbow

Relationships:

Percy Jackson/Crystal PelhamPercy Jackson/Victoria Dallon

Characters:

Percy JacksonCrystal Pelham | LaserdreamVictoria Dallon | Glory Girl | AntaresLisa Wilbourn | Tattletale

Additional Tags:

Implied/Referenced Character DeathAlternate Universe - Canon DivergenceExplicit Sexual ContentIsekai and TransmigrationPowerful Percy Jackson

Language:

English

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Published:2024-03-13Updated:2025-10-27Words:102,097Chapters:39/?Comments:338Kudos:1,381Bookmarks:553Hits:100,133

Lost in Foreign Seas

ThatGit

Chapter 10: Like Diamonds in the Sky

Chapter Text

I'm not really sure if they believed me. They certainly didn't at first. My trainwreck of an introduction to Glory Girl certainly helped my case––basically everyone around here understood the whole cape secret identity thing and even a brand new hero should have had at least that much figured out––but it wasn't enough to reassure them that I wasn't crazy.

Still, I'm glad I chose to start talking only after we'd ordered, because I have a feeling they might have just up and left otherwise. As it was, both girls looked… let's say very skeptical as I continued my story.

In all honesty, I didn't have that much proof to go off of. I just hoped it would be enough to get a foot in the door. Presumably the PRT would have some way of checking my story, but I'd been in enough trouble throughout my life (and heard enough stories from my former classmates) that approaching the local authorities without someone like a lawyer behind me seemed foolish.

As we ate I laid out what I did have. First of all, a handful of crumpled one-dollar bills and pennies minted in the last decade. Apparently they didn't have either of those around here. They only used dollar coins and pennies had been phased out years ago. I'd managed to dodge a bullet by paying for my food that first day with just twenties and a five. Getting the police called on me for counterfeiting would have been really, really embarrassing without the Mist to get me out of trouble.

Unfortunately, that was really the end of my tangible proof. Everything else was just me rattling off other differences I'd noticed. We had a different president, and not the guy they had in Aleph either; I'd double checked just to be sure. There had been an attack on nine-eleven, just like in Aleph.

Most of that was easily accepted. The one that really raised some eyebrows was when I mentioned that Brockton Bay didn't exist back home. Not that it had been totally destroyed, but rather that it had just never been founded in the first place as far as I could remember.

Vicky frowned at me and told me that was nonsense because Aleph and Bet only started diverging when Scion showed up. I had no real answer to that. I'd already decided to keep the entire god/monster/demigod business on the down-low for now so I couldn't really go out and say that I knew that the divergence point was not that. Instead I just shrugged and moved on.

By the time I was finished, the food was mostly gone and Vicky and Crystal were staring silently at one another. Eventually Crystal turned to me and flashed me a small smile. "Do you think you could give us a few minutes?"

"Yeah, sure. Not a problem." I stood up and headed to the bathroom.

Once they were sure I was gone, the two girls broke into hushed whispers. If I had been a normal mortal, there was no way I could hear them through the bathroom door and across half the restaurant. I wasn't a mortal. I wasn't even your run-of-the-mill demigod, as much as any demigod can be run-of-the-mill.

I felt a bit bad intruding on their private conversation, but not as bad as I would feel if I walked into a trap and had to hurt someone to get out. I strained my ears, focusing intently on the both where we'd been sitting. A gentle sea breeze blowing in through the crack in the door caught their words and carried them to my ears. It wasn't a perfect solution and I lost a lot of words, but it was enough.

"...sounds completely crazy, but he seems…"

"...give him a chance…"

"...could be a Master…"

"...my aura...flattened a bullet against his shoulder…"

"...Haywire's been dead for…"

"...said it was someone on his side…"

"...he could be making things up…Madison…"

"...call Mom...Amy could check if he's telling the…"

"...don't know if it's safe to…"

"...we're heroes. Helping people…He gave me his secret identity like it was…"

"...fine, Aunt Carol can…"

I washed my hands, cleaned a bit of maple syrup off my cheek, and headed back. It didn't seem like they were plotting anything nefarious and I counted that as a win in my books. Just in case, I grabbed a plastic water bottle filled with seawater from my hoody, soaked a paper towel, and then wrapped it around my bare bicep before covering it back up with my sleeve. This way I could finally stop focusing on blocking out Vicky's aura.

I got back to the table just in time to get my glass of soda refilled. Vicky waited until the waitress was gone, then took a deep breath. "Okay so I don't know if I totally believe your story, but I think that even if you're just crazy you deserve our help."

Crystal elbowed her cousin. It had exactly as much impact as it would have if she'd tried to elbow me––Vicky didn't even move––but it did make her shoot Crystal a sharp glare.

"I'm just paraphrasing what you said," Vicky hissed.

"But you didn't have to just go out and say it like that!"

I laughed. "It's fine, don't worry about it. It's a pretty crazy story."

"Right. Anyway, as I was saying before someone elbowed me, we think that what you're saying makes sense. I sent mom a text. She went into the office this morning, but she should be home in a few hours. I think if you talked to her she'd be willing to give you a hand, or at least point you at someone who can."

"If you really want to go through with this, she's going to need to hear your story as well. I know it's one thing to unmask to Vicky and me, and a whole other deal to do it in front of an adult like my aunt." She paused for a moment, "On that note, how old are you? I know you said you've had your powers for a few years now and you probably didn't bring a legal guardian with you from your Earth, but that sort of thing could be important."

"Honestly I thought Vicky would have told everyone who I was already. I don't really care much one way or another. As I said, I don't really have a secret identity, nor any friends and family to protect. I doubt Percy Jackson exists here, and if he does he's a completely different person than I am."

I paused for a moment, suddenly curious if there was a Sally Jackson in this world. If so, what did her life look like? In this world she never would have met my dad, never had me, never married Smelly Gabe, and so much more. Maybe her parents had never even died, maybe her uncle had been saved by a parahuman healer, maybe, maybe, maybe. It was impossible to say now, but perhaps I'd look into it someday.

"Oh, and I'm an adult, you don't need to worry about that," I lied quickly, "I turned eighteen in August."

Crystal seemed to relax slightly at my words. "Oh that's good. Vicky told me she knew your name, but she didn't tell any of us who you are. I know it doesn't feel important to you right now, but maybe it will someday in the future if you're stuck here. At the very least, other people will think it's a big deal. You sh––"

Vicky cut in before Crystal could finish. "Yeah, yeah, I think he gets it, right?" Without waiting for an answer she continued. "I've been dying to ask, so what's your power? I saw that bullet on Wednesday so I know you're a Brute, but like, are you a full Alexandria package? How strong are you? How durable? I'd love a new sparring partner––Uncle Neil, uh Manpower I mean, and Aegis are the only ones around who I can really practice with and I sometimes have to be a bit careful with them. Do you think––"

This time it was Crystal's turn to stop her exuberant cousin. "Breathe, Vicky. He can't answer your questions if you're just going to talk over him."

Vicky deflated instantly, "Sorry, I got a little too excited."

"Don't worry, I completely understand. I've had trouble finding practice partners before too. I'm not super familiar with all the categories, but I think I'm a Brute/Shaker? I'm pretty strong, invulnerable, and I can control water. Oh, and I can sort of sometimes cause earthquakes, but only little ones. I collapsed a bridge once. Long story. No flying for me unfortunately, but I can swim pretty quickly in a pinch. I really don't know enough about all the numbers to say where I fall. PHO seems pretty hazy on what they all mean and I had other things to focus on."

Our conversation was once more disrupted by the arrival of the waitress, this time with a small woven basket with our check. She collected our plates and hurried away, leaving me with a sudden quandary: Here I was sitting in a restaurant with two sort-of-law-enforcement-people. The only money I had on me was either functionally counterfeit or a magic credit card that was… probably also not great.

"So, uh, I––" I began awkwardly.

Crystal seemed to realize the problem about five seconds after I did. "I'm not going to ask how you paid for things, though Aunt Carol definitely will. Don't worry, I've got it." She slid several bills into the basket, then stood up and turned to look back at us. "I'll go pay up front."

We watched her go for a second, then Vicky turned to me curiously. "So how have you––"

I looked around in an exaggeratedly furtive way, then leaned forward and whispered, "I have a tinkertech credit card. My normal card is a dud, but this one still seems to work."

She blinked several times, then tilted her head to the side. "Huh. I guess that's not too weird. The PRT headquarters have a tinkertech elevator. A credit card seems a lot more useful than that. How does it work?"

I shrugged. "No idea. I know the money on it is real and it only works for small purchases, but it comes in handy." I probably shouldn't, but I couldn't resist. "May as well be magic for all I know."

Glory Girl thankfully seemed to appreciate the 'joke'. "Tinkers are kind of bullshit, huh?" she asked rhetorically.

"They sure are. Back home we have this giant bronze dragon automaton thingy named Festus. It's as big as a house and weighs a bajillion pounds, but I know for a fact they have some wings somewhere that they can stick on him in a pinch."

I paused for a moment, considering if this was something I wanted to reveal now or hold off on for later. Well, it was whatever. Trust had to start somewhere and Glory Girl seemed nice. "I also have a tinkertech sword that turns into a pen for storage. It's actually where I got my cape name, the sword's called Anaklusmos, that's Greek for riptide."

"That sounds sweet! You'll have to show me later!" Her expression suddenly turned serious. "Though I'm not sure how long you'll be able to use it for. Unmaintained tinkertech can be dangerous."

"It should be fine, I think? I guess if something is damaged it's going to be hard to fix, but the sword is pretty durable, as is my armor. I've never had to go back and get them maintained before, hopefully that won't change anytime soon."

She looked unconvinced. "If you say so…"

We sat in awkward silence for a few seconds until Crystal finally came back. Glory Girl instantly perked up. "Let's go! Mom shouldn't be home for a few hours yet. We can go practice!"

"Vicky––" Crystal began reproachfully, but I was honestly just as eager as Glory Girl seemed to be.

"Sure! That sounds like a great idea." According to PHO Glory Girl was one of the strongest up-and-coming heroes in the city and I was very curious to know what exactly that meant. My excursion two nights ago had been informative, but not very satisfying. The curse of Achilles meant I was always ready and itching for a fight, and it had been days since I'd faced a meaningful opponent.

Crystal sighed. "Fine. But you two need to promise you'll be careful and we should get Amy before we go."

"Yup! Promise! I'll go get her. See you guys at the place, okay? Bye!" Glory Girl blurted out. A moment later she was gone, rushing out of the restaurant and launching herself up into the air.

Crystal watched her go for several seconds, then sighed again. "Sometimes it's exhausting just looking at her," she mumbled. "I feel so old."

"She's certainly something," I agreed. She reminded me a little of Annabeth. Not the way the other Athena girls did––I could never stand to talk to any of Annabeth's sisters for more than a few minutes, the resemblance was just too painful––but they had the same sort of build and the obvious passion and intensity in Vicky's eyes and words reminded me of her.

Honestly it was a good thing that both Crystal and Vicky's hair was more platinum-blonde than Annabeth's honey-colored hair and that they had bright blue eyes instead of Annabeth's stormy gray ones (really the two of them could have easily passed for sisters, not cousins like I knew they were). Annabeth's face haunted my dreams as it was and I always did my best to avoid things that reminded me too much of her.

I squashed that thought. Not the time, not the place."So, uh, I guess Amy is Panacea, right? That one makes sense just in case someone gets hurt, but what is 'the place'?"

Crystal laughed. "Oh, it's just a bare stretch of beach a little past the boat graveyard that we sometimes use for our practice sessions. Mom found it ages ago and we've been using it on and off ever since. It's isolated and basically impossible to get to by car so it's a pretty convenient spot for us. Ever since Eric and I triggered we've had enough fliers that we can just carry dad and my aunt and uncle over without having to bother with driving. Saves us a lot of time and trouble."

"That does sound pretty convenient."

Crystal suddenly looked a little bit unsure of herself. "Are you fine with me carrying you?" she asked quietly. "My force fields aren't really strong enough to carry a person on their own so I'm going to have to hold you."

A twinge of worry flickered through my mind at the mention of flying. Zeus was a huge jerk and me and flying rarely got along. Still, getting carried sounded a lot more like flying on a pegasus than in an airplane, and anyway I was pretty sure Zeus… wasn't around here. Not anymore at least.

"Yeah, that… should be fine. Can we stick to flying over the water? I'm pretty durable but I'd feel more comfortable with the ocean under me than concrete."

"Yeah, yeah, definitely! I promise I've never dropped anyone by accident before, but if it makes you feel more comfortable I'd be happy too."

"I appreciate it," I told her with a smile.

"Great!" She looked away quickly, "We should get going. I'm faster than Vicky when I'm on my own, but carrying someone slows me down a lot more than it does her."

We headed out of the restaurant and down towards the beach, talking about mostly inconsequential things as we went. Crystal wanted to know more about my life and world and I was happy to oblige her. I told her about camp––though I did my best to avoid saying anything about gods and demigods so I had to tweak some details––some stories about my past quests, and a little bit about my life before I found out I was a demigod.

In exchange, she was equally happy to answer my own questions. Research was all well and good, but there was no substitute for a first hand account. She told me a little bit about what it meant to be a hero in Brockton Bay, gave me some funny anecdotes about her family and the protectorate, and even a little bit about herself as well.

She was eighteen, just like I was pretending to be, and was going to be starting at Brockton Bay University in the fall. She didn't really know what she wanted to do with her life, unsure if she wanted to become a full time hero in the future or go for a law degree like her aunt.

Once we had walked out of sight of the boardwalk, Crystal stopped and a bubble of nearly-opaque crimson-red light snapped into place around. "So uh, I can either like, hold you in my arms, or I can hook my elbows under your armpits and carry you like that?"

Neither sounded particularly dignified, but I was much more concerned with not getting dropped and/or struck by lightning so I didn't particularly mind. "Whatever you're more comfortable with."

"Okay," she said with more hesitance in her voice than I was fully comfortable with. "Brace yourself."

She leaned down and scooped me up in her arms, a few small crimson force fields appearing beneath me to take some weight off her arms. I found myself cradled against her chest like an oversized dog, with one arm under my knees and the other supporting my head. In hindsight, perhaps the other option might have been better. Crystal was wearing a coat and blouse, but my side was still basically pressed directly under her chest.

Once she had a firm grip, we lurched up into the sky and I felt my stomach drop momentarily as we rapidly gained altitude. For all that Crystal had said that flying with someone really slowed her down, she was still very fast.

Even as the earth fell away beneath us, Crystal continued to keep a bright red force field around us, blocking out both the wind and any unwanted observers. I did my best to focus on the sea far below and not on the minimal support beneath me and Crystal's presence beside me.

After about a minute, Crystal seemed to notice my discomfort. "Are you doing okay? I know flying can be a little rough. It makes me nauseous sometimes even when I'm the one doing the flying."

"Yeah. Yeah. I'm fine. I just… I don't like flying very much."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I should have––"

"No, it's all fine. I appreciate you offering. I'm not like, scared of heights or something. It's just my world has a really powerful cape with uh, weather powers, and he has a bit of a grudge against me. I try to avoid airplanes because of it."

"That sucks. What did you do to him?"

"Me? Nothing, but my dad's a cape too, though I didn't know about that until a few years ago, and the two of them have some beef that goes way back."

"Oh, I see. I didn't realize you were a second generation cape like me. Do you guys have similar powers?"

"Something like that. His water powers are stronger than mine, but I'm a bit more of a Brute than he is. I think your family is pretty similar, right?"

Crystal nodded, "Yeah. Second generation capes are pretty rare, especially since secret identities make it really hard to identify people like that, but powers do run in families sometimes. Me and my brother have basically the same powers as my mom, though my lasers and flight are better than hers and Eric––Shielder I mean, has stronger shields than both of us."

Did that mean that powers were genetic like demigod abilities? But no, I knew what Glory Girl's mom and dad could do, they were both capes with public identities, and neither did anything close to what powers Vicky ended up with. What did laser weapons, turning into a ball, and light grenades have to do with flight and super strength? That wasn't even mentioning Panacea, their other daughter, whose powers were even more different than what the rest of New Wave could do.

"We have a lot more capes like that back home than you guys have here. I think it's probably because we don't worry about secret identities and there are a lot fewer capes in general. Most of the people at camp have a cape parent and powers similar to theirs."

"That sounds pretty cool! I sometimes wish I had more people outside my family I could talk to about both normal life and being a cape. My friends try, but sometimes they really just don't understand, you know?"

I considered her words. I'd never really had any friends that weren't involved with the supernatural, I realized. Well, not close friends at least. Still, I'd spent enough years at school to know a little bit about what she was saying. "Yeah, I get that."

She grinned down at me, her cheeks red from the cold. I suddenly realized that her coat was still somewhat wet from before and it was pretty cold this high up.

"Here," I willed the water out of her clothing, leaving her dry and hopefully much warmer, "you looked cold."

"Oh! Ah, thank you. Yeah, that's much more comfortable."

A few more minutes passed in silence. I kept my eyes closed and my hands clutched over my chest. Not thinking about flying didn't seem to help, but flying over the water really did make the experience much more pleasant than it could have been. Worst comes to worst, I could have a column of seawater catch both of us as we fell and protect me from any further wrath from above.

"Okay, we're basically here. Hold on tight!"

I wanted to ask what exactly I was supposed to hold onto, but my words vanished as we suddenly dropped from the sky. Wind howled outside our shield and my stomach leapt into my throat. A handful of seconds later it was over and Crystal decelerated, coming in for a gentle landing on a stretch of rocky beach.

"Hades," I swore softly, my heart hammering in my chest. Crystal made to set me down, but I just sort of rolled out of her arms and hit the ground face down with a thump and a clatter of loose stones.

"Percy!" Crystal exclaimed, "Are you okay?"

I rolled onto my back and looked up at her. There wasn't a single bruise anywhere on me and I had barely felt the impact.

"Oh right, Brute. Sorry. I forgot."

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Rating:

Explicit

Archive Warning:

Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories:

F/MMulti

Fandoms:

Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick RiordanParahumans Series - Wildbow

Relationships:

Percy Jackson/Crystal PelhamPercy Jackson/Victoria Dallon

Characters:

Percy JacksonCrystal Pelham | LaserdreamVictoria Dallon | Glory Girl | AntaresLisa Wilbourn | Tattletale

Additional Tags:

Implied/Referenced Character DeathAlternate Universe - Canon DivergenceExplicit Sexual ContentIsekai and TransmigrationPowerful Percy Jackson

Language:

English

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Published:2024-03-13Updated:2025-10-27Words:102,097Chapters:39/?Comments:338Kudos:1,381Bookmarks:553Hits:100,133

Lost in Foreign Seas

ThatGit

Chapter 11: Fly Like a Brick

Chapter Text

We hadn't managed to beat Glory Girl here. She was standing off to the side next to a folding chair where Panacea sat bundled up in two coats and with a thermos filled with hot coffee cradled in her arms. She shot Crystal and I a glare, then turned back to her sister. They were arguing, or maybe just talking passionately, about something, but I had neither the desire nor energy to listen in.

"Give me a second," I mumbled to Crystal. I felt… strange. Weirdly tired. Flying had never taken so much out of me before, at least not when I'd done it on pegasus-back, and airplanes were always super stressful but not like this.

"Take your time."

By the time I was good to go, Glory Girl had finished arguing with her sister and flounced over to join Crystal and I. She'd taken the time to change out of her mundane clothing into the same outfit I'd seen on Wednesday. As I'd noticed then, like this she really did look the part of a superheroine.

Between the short skirt, cape, golden tiara holding back her long hair, and white heeled boots, she wouldn't have looked out of place on the cover of a comic book or on a movie poster. Before she looked like any other pretty teenage girl. Now she looked every inch the young heroine I knew her to be.

"So how are we doing this?" I asked.

Glory Girl grinned, showing off a row of pearly-white teeth. "Full contact. Powers, costumes, the works. Obviously nothing like, super lethal? But Amy can patch us up if anything goes wrong as long as we're careful." She paused for a second. "You do have a costume, right? You said on PHO that you did. Is it like your sword?"

"That works for me!" It was exactly what I'd been hoping for in fact. I didn't bother answering the rest of her question, she'd see it soon enough.

Without further ado, I peeled off my sweater and tossed it aside. Crystal looked like she wanted to say something, but thought better of it and bit her lip as she stepped away.

Stretching my arms out above my head, I cracked my knuckles, then cracked my neck one way and then the other. It was mostly for show––I could actually crack basically any part of my body on demand with a bit of effort. Turns out synovial fluid, the stuff that lubricates your joints, is basically just water and making some tiny little nitrogen bubbles was a piece of cake compared to some of the training dad put me through.

Then I grinned at Glory Girl and slapped my chest, where the harness-form of my armor lay waiting, twice in rapid succession. Shimmering waves of bronze rippled out from the center of my chest, spreading out along my torso and then down my limbs. In their wake, layers of armor appeared.

The first wave covered me in a skin-tight layer of liquid bronze, the metal shining like well-polished gold despite the gloom. The second wave refined the liquid metal into proper armor. Layers of gleaming fish-like scales emerged from the undefined mass, each one no larger than a fingernail.

My usual chestplate and greaves flowed into existence, sweeping lines molded perfectly around my body to provide maximum protection with no impact on my speed and flexibility. My helmet came next, growing out of the metal around my neck to fully cover every inch of exposed skin until only two narrow slits remained for my eyes. Despite the obstruction, I could still see perfectly. The metal was completely opaque when looking in, but for me it was as clear as water.

Finally the third wave passed, leaving behind the intricate ornamentation that Hephaestus had painstakingly designed into the armor. Each and every scale was inscribed with my father's trident, the metal work so fine that it was nearly impossible to see with the naked eye. Two more tridents adorned my back and chest, surrounded by an intricate design of hippocampi swimming through a coral reef. Lastly, a plume of blue and red hair grew from the top of my helmet like a mohawk, completing the image of a classical Greek warrior.

"Holy shit that's so cool," Crystal whispered under her breath.

I raised my arms on either side of me, barely feeling the weight of the armor on my shoulders. The movement was completely silent, scales rolling against one another without so much as a clink.

Brushing my hand across my hip, Riptide's pen form appeared in my hand and I flicked the cap off with my thumb. "A bit like my sword, yeah," I told Glory Girl, who was staring at me with wide, delighted eyes like a kid in a candy store for the first time.

She shook her head and floated up a few inches off the ground. "Showy, but let's see if you have what it takes to back it up! You said your stuff's pretty durable, yeah? Don't want to wreck anything.

I twirled Riptide. "It can take a beating and the armor can repair itself as long as the mechanisms aren't damaged. I'll tell you to stop if I'm worried."

"Sounds good! Ready?"

Crystal hurriedly shot away, landing on the ground beside Panacea and surrounding the two of them in a transparent forcefield tinged with crimson like the rest of her abilities. Panacea looked less annoyed than she had before, though she had eyes only for her sister and her coffee. I imagined one of the greatest healers in the world had seen some pretty impressive stuff over the years.

"Ready!" I confirmed, and it was on.

Vicky took the initiative immediately, shooting towards me like a bullet with her fist extended. My first instinct was to meet her blow for blow––I'd faced down Kronos, or at least a limited version of him, what was one teenage superhero compared to that––but that was the curse talking. Even if I could do so, that wasn't the point of this the same way I wasn't just going to drown her under a million gallons of seawater. This was not a battle to be won, but rather a learning opportunity.

Riptide came up and I sidestepped just far enough that an uncontrolled projectile would have missed entirely. Glory Girl, for all the demeaning nicknames I'd seen on PHO, was very much not a wild wrecking ball. She stopped on a dime and threw a sharp, well practiced straight punch at my chest.

I swung Riptide up to knock her arm aside but underestimated the needed force. Her arm shifted to the side a fraction of an inch as Riptide's edge slipped frictionlessly along her bare forearm and then a battering ram slammed into my shoulder and sent me skidding backwards leaving two long trenches through the sand in my wake.

Huh, interesting. I straightened and found her floating several feet away from me where we'd exchanged hits.

"You're pretty fast," she told me simply.

"That was a good punch."

A second later she was on me again. I dodged the initial charge, then ducked under the follow up punch and caught her leg between my armored elbow and side.

That barely seemed to slow her down though. Like some of the more annoying monsters and gods I'd fought over the years, her strength completely ignored any sort of principles of physics.

That was probably because of her flight––she didn't seem to have any issues leveraging her strength despite not having touched the ground a single time in our first exchange. Sort of like the opposite of that annoyingly durable monster I'd killed in the labyrinth, except without the healing.

She spun like a windmill blade, folding her arms over her chest as her long hair dragged through the sand. I let go of her leg before she could do a full three-sixty and slam me into the ground, but I was still sent flying on a narrow arc up and over her.

I twisted in mid air to get my feet under me, but decided against using my powers to catch myself. That proved to be a mistake. She took absolutely no time to recover, not even bothering to finish her spin as she rocketed towards me with her hands still folded over her chest and her legs extended together towards me.

The literal flying kick caught me under my ribs and launched me nearly fifty feet through the air. This time, I was much less reluctant to use the rest of my abilities. She was strong, stronger than almost any demigod I'd ever faced. I'd met Laistrygonian giants who didn't hit like she could.

A column of seawater rose from the surf and caught me before I could hit the ground. "Being able to fly is such bullshit!" I called out loudly. Even if she wasn't as strong as Ares or Kronos or even my brother Triton, the way she used her strength was completely different. Fighting two people like her would be a total nightmare; they could just bounce me back and forth through the air at their leisure without giving me a chance to fight back.

Glory Girl very maturely stuck her tongue out at me. "Giving up so soon?" she asked teasingly.

"Not in the least. My turn, I think."

I waved Riptide dramatically through the air like a conductor's baton. There was a wrenching in my gut and a half-dozen geysers blasted out of the waves beneath me, each one curving unnaturally through the air to home in unerringly on my sparring partner.

The look of surprise on her face was both comical and endearing. Had she somehow missed that I'd told her I was a hydrokinetic or was she so distracted by our first few exchanges that she'd forgotten?

Whatever the case, she didn't let it distract her for long. She wove expertly between foamy columns of seawater, moving in three dimensions in a way that spoke of either natural aptitude or long hours of practice. Fighting underwater, or evidently in the sky, was very different from doing so on land. You had to really think about your positioning in a way that just didn't happen on land outside of some particularly showy dodges.

Even for me it had taken some time to wrap my head around it. Being able to dodge up and down was just the start of it, particularly if you were nimble enough to rotate your body every which way fast enough. She was no master, but her level of skill was impressive for a mortal as young as her.

Eventually, the sheer number of attacks filling the sky overwhelmed her. She dodged one column, spun like a top to avoid a second, and folded nearly in half at the waist to evade a third. The fourth, coming up through her blind spot, smacked straight into her butt and sent her flying.

These were not the narrow, blade-like jets of water moving fast enough to cut clean through steel beams I'd gotten used to using in recent months, but rather much more gentle pillars of foam-filled cold water. Still, the simple mass and volume of water hit like a battering ram and knocked her out of the sky.

She recovered right before she hit the ground, but by then it was too late. A dome of water nearly two yards thick surrounded her like the cupped palm of a very wet giant. She experimentally punched the barrier and the blow sent water spraying out from the outer edge of the barrier, but more water quickly flowed into place, trapping her fist in the process.

She tilted her head to the side and said something I couldn't hear. I shrugged and tapped the side of my head meaningfully with my finger. She shrugged back, then shoulder checked the barrier hard enough to turn a tree into pulp. More water sprayed, but that was about it.

She shrugged again, then tapped the ground several times with her free hand, prompting me to drop the barrier.

I let the column of water still holding me up drain back into the sea and walked over to where my temporary opponent was studying the circle of dry sand and rocks she was standing on surrounded by a thick band of waterlogged earth.

Despite the loss, there was a huge smile on her face and she laughed loudly as I approached. "That was awesome!" she exclaimed. "Do you want to go again?"

"Do we still have time?"

"Plenty! It's like… not even three yet, right? Mom won't be home till five at the earliest, maybe even six or seven."

"Great!"

Crystal, who had hurried over when she saw us stop fighting, sighed loudly. "You're welcome to join us!" Glory Girl quickly glanced over towards me, "right Percy?"

"Yeah, of course."

That only made her sigh again. "Maybe later."

The next hour was honestly pretty great. We had two more no-holds-barred fights, both of which I ended up winning. After that however we had a few much more interesting fights. Some were physical only, others restricted only certain parts of our powers, like no barriers for me or flying for her.

About half-an-hour in I retracted most of my armor, mostly to prove that I was just as indestructible without it as I'd claimed, and we had a lovely boxing match that quickly devolved into wild, super-powered wrestling that left craters in the sand and kicked up great sprays of seawater. By the end of it she was breathing heavily and I had to quickly dry her costume off with my powers while Panacea ranted about hypothermia and reckless idiots. She seemed… prickly.

It didn't take me long to notice a few peculiarities about Glory Girl's strength, though I didn't mention any of my suspicions just yet. She always made sure to back up for a moment after any particularly hard exchanges and the first time I'd left any actual mark on her actual body was when I double-tapped her with a column of water and a nearly-dodged blow from Riptide. She'd waved things off, the tiny cut quickly healed by her sister, but once I had that single data point, it didn't take long to confirm things.

Crystal joined us for exactly one fight, right after the wrestling match that had pissed off Panacea. That time we all limited ourselves to ranged abilities and she proved herself to be a real menace with her speed, lasers, and barriers that could momentarily block the waves and geysers I was limiting myself too.

Funnily enough it was Glory Girl who got her in the end, before herself falling before my barrage. Turns out super strength plus an easy supply of very throwable rocks was a rather dangerous combination.

Having to heal her cousin also didn't seem to endear me anymore to Panacea, even though it was her sister who had injured Crystal and not me. It was just a slightly broken arm, barely even a scratch, and she dealt with it in literal seconds anyway.

Eventually however, both of us were starting to get tired and it looked like it was about to rain, so we decided to move things to the Dallon family home. Once again Crystal carried me in her arms while Vicky, who had changed out of her Glory Girl costume into skinny jeans and a cute red sweater, carried her sister.

As the rain began to fall, we flew together inside one of Crystal's red domes and chatted about the fights and their lives as outed superheroes. Eventually this transitioned into Vicky complaining about her on- and off-again boyfriend Dean, with whom she'd broken up for (at least) the fifth time a few days earlier. Apparently he'd said something 'just horrible' during their double date with Amy and some other boy that Vicky knew and that had been enough to make her break it off again.

I didn't pay very much attention towards the end––flying felt really, really not great, though being carried by a pretty girl like Crystal certainly made it better. From what I gathered, Vicky was considering breaking things off all together if she could find 'someone new, someone who really gets me, you know?' Amy seemed to be all for it at first, then changed her mind, while Crystal thought she should give this guy Dean another chance and stick with guys in her own year.

I had no real opinion one way or the other. I just wanted to get back to the ground, or even better, into the sea. Fish weren't meant to fly and clearly neither was I. Give me a nice, rocking boat or even a horse any day of the week. Or honestly I'd take a flying boat or a flying horse. Damn, a flying boat would be so cool. Maybe we could stick like a dragon head on the front or something? I'm sure we had some dragon heads gathering dust up in the big house at camp…

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Chapter 854 - LAS 7-11