I'm a Monster Hunter (Supernatural x Heroes of Olympus)

CHPT 24: Up the Mountain-Building?

Leo Valdez's POV:

I dropped fake-Hephaestus on the polished floor of the Empire State Building in front of the security guard's desk. The startled guard as well as a bunch of frightened mortals all gave me, Dean, Sam, Jason, and Piper strange looks.

"We're going up," I stated flatly. "All of us. Key?"

"H-Here!" The guard handed me the key card that would take us to Olympus.

When Fake-Hephaestus had come to in the warehouse, Dean had busted out some of his torturing skills and we got something out of the demon. He hadn't been able to speak very well any more but he finally repeated the word "map" over and over again. Hidden away in a bag of deteriorating bodies was an canvas map of America. The locations of Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter had been highlighted in blue. Arrows converged across the map starting in red, and ending in back at the camps. Dean and Sam were able to point out several locations where the red arrows started they knew as the homes and base camps of several large family groupings of hunters. It was a bad picture and whatever it entailed would require some help from the Olympians.

Before coming, I'd called Claire. Partly to ask how she and Cas were doing babysitting Chance and Michael, and partly to hear her voice. They'd had a couple vampires and a demon prowl around but they managed to kill them without a problem. Just hearing her swearing at having problems with vampires felt so mundane that it calmed me. The last ten years had suddenly felt like a jumble, but hearing her complain about something normal had settled the unease. not everything was so confusing. Without that conversation, I don't think I would have made it onto this elevator.

I'd never been to Olympus before, but as the doors popped open, the city of the Gods did not disappoint. The glittering city of the gods stretched out ahead of us in winding golden palaces and giant marble pillars. The stars seemed to practically encircle the city of the gods, and floating far below, New York could be seen sprawling in all directions.

"This is the home of the Gods?" Sam asked with his jaw on the floor.  "This is..."

"Woah," Dean finished for him. "That's a lot of gold."

"Hurry," Piper started ahead of us. With fake-Hephaestus between us, Jason and I followed her. Even I wanted to sight-see a little with how pretty this place was, but there was a task ahead of us. Guiding us up the slope of the city, Piper headed straight for the largest pavilion and talked with the nymphs at the entrance. After a few minutes, the nymph returned and we were shown inside.

The Olympians were sitting on their thrones, whispering to each other. Well, all but one. A man with wild brown hair, a huge muscular build, and a creaking metal leg brace was hobbling across the council room floor before we'd even made it all the way across the threshold.

"Dad?" I felt a lump form in my throat. I had only met him a few times, and I'd been pretty confused and resentful of the man for the last decade, but suddenly seeing him again. Emotions I wasn't expecting or prepared for welled up faster than I could stop them. Faster than I could deal with them, I really couldn't as the god wrapped his muscled arms around my shoulders.

"You got taller," Hephaestus's voice sounded a bit raspy. "I heard rumors you were alive, but we could never track you. Ten years, you didn't come back. What happened? Are you alright?"

"Let the child breathe," Hera had also shrunk and come down to the floor to great us. She patted my head as my dad let go and brushed at his dirt streaked face. "I'm sure the tale is fascinating. Did you get taller?"

"Yeah," I grinned, the lump of pain melting out of my throat. "I did get taller."

"It seems the boy brought us a guest," Zeus observed as he watched the reunion emotionlessly from his throne.