Ichor

Commander (Part XIV)

Year 20 - Commander
Planet Earth

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Leo was surprised when the campers and soldiers listened to him and lowered their weapons. Even Ichor's generals did as he said.

"We are not going to fight each other... 'cause that's not good... except when we should fight but not like fight fight, more like... uh, what I'm saying is that Ichor, Commander Ichor and I have agreed on integrating training and as long as we, um, the demigods promise not to attack them than he, Commander Ichor, will drop any disciplinary actions for Travis, er, Major Stoll. So..."

Leo sent a glance over to Ichor in a silent plea for help, losing confidence quickly. Thankfully he got the message and stepped in.

"The Chaos Army is here to help you as you've asked. Our rules, which we will continue to follow, are different from yours. They're strict, but they're necessary. If you're familiar with the Romans, you may understand what it's like. But our goal is to protect this camp and... and the gods," Percy managed to grit out, "from a primordial threat. Neither group can do that if we're fighting each other. So unless we're in training, there will be no fighting. Let us set the standard for the Hunters of Artemis to follow when they arrive tonight. Understood?"

A chorus of "Yes, sir!" sprung up around from all the Chaos Soldiers. Percy was pegging this truce to hold solely on the fact that the campers would want to look superior to Artemis's followers, especially when a capture the flag game was scheduled for after dinner.

Leo let out a breath thinking the worst was over. What he wasn't prepared for was Ichor's next decree.

"Lastly, Commander Valdez will remain as the acting Commander for the demigods. His status is—temporarily—equal to mine. Should he give you an order, I expect it to be carried out with the same vigor as you would had I given you a direct order. Should our orders conflict with one another, the Chaos Soldiers will follow my initial instructions and the demigods will follow Valdez's initial instructions or neither depending on the circumstances. Dismissed."

With that shocking turn of events, they were dismissed until dinner. The campers mostly dispersed too as they gossiped about Leo taking charge, but the head cabin counselors gathered around them as did the generals and their seconds.

"Ichor, what is this? We're going to learn from them now?" Marissa aggressively questioned. She was not one who liked when plans were spontaneously changed. "And you clearly just made up the Commander Valdez thing based on the sheer disbelief on his face right now."

Annabeth was offended by the first remark and decided to ignore the latter until they could discuss it with Leo privately. "You think you can't learn anything from us?" she accused.

"I never said that!" Marissa snapped back.

"You implied it!"

"Stop!" Leo surprisingly interrupted. "This is why we're doing this new plan. We don't trust each other. But we need to at least learn to work together."

Both women were silent before equally glaring at Leo.

"It's almost as if this was suggested during the meeting this morning," Marissa quipped.

"Yeah," Annabeth joined in, "if only two women suggested this idea. It's not like it would be shot down by arrogant males."

The sarcasm lathered each word making all the males standing around squirm, including Percy who supported the idea but failed to stand up for it well enough or listen completely to their idea.