The Warfighter, the Storm, and the Moon

Chapter 29: Modernization

'Modernization'

27-Sep-2030, 1205U

Leo Valdez, Hero of Olympus, Son of Hephaestus

Legion XII Fulminata

Oakland, California, USA

I wanted to go to Arizona with the team. I really did. Seriously, I was understanding why people found shooting to be so much fun. I enjoyed the challenge of hitting the targets, with the AR-15—among other pieces of armament—worming its way into my heart. Plus, the gun was an engineering masterpiece!

Unfortunately, Legio XII Fulminata was calling my name. While Percy, Frank, Hazel, and Reyna went to Rockies' Range, I had to stay back and help out the legionaries with equipment maintenance and training.

Remember those onagers good ol' Octavian acquired? Yeah, the legion still has them. You'd think there'd be some issue with optics and all that, but no, they're still here. Honestly, if you've got it, you might as well hang onto it. Hell, if we failed in Mendocino, we probably would've ended up using them to defend Camp Jupiter.

Ah, yes... Mr. Oracle-from-Wish.com. I gotta say, I wasn't sure what to think of him. Was he a turd? Yeah, based on what I heard. Did I like him? Hell no. But I have to admit, we had no way of proving the eidolon thing, and the optics were not in my favor.

If I had to classify him movie-like, he'd be that one asshole on the good guy's side: he and the hero both fighting for the same thing while fighting each other in the process. I dunno, that's basically my recollection of him, with Frank and Hazel seeming to have slightly worse variations and Reyna's being the same as mine.

Reyna... la reina de mi corazón... honestly, a lovely girl: hot, kickass, and overall just out of my league—sound like anyone else I've met? She's better than Khione, that's for sure (Calypso too). But my penchant for punching above my weight in the world of romance aside, I have been privileged to meet and know a different side of Reyna: her softer side, one she's been more expressive of in the years since we've started dating, even with others.

She can still tap into her warrior spirit when needed—drawing upon that virtus and disciplina, if I'm remembering the terms correctly—but most otherwise, she's warm and wonderful, calm yet fun-loving. A major 180 from when I first met her, undoubtedly, but one that I think was for the best. Plus, a few Roman ideas have rubbed off on me, and I think we've really brought out the best in each other.

And to think it took Frank freaking Zhang handcuffing us together—because he was fed up with us arguing incessantly—for us to reach this point. Not some Aphrodite bullshit, not an intervention from anyone that made any remote sense... but Frank.

Speaking of, when we were in the mess hall for lunch, I received some messages on the Leophone 2.0 from Frank: pictures and videos of him, Hazel, and Frank running through a course with instruction from Mr. Kyung. I thought they were pretty good... until I saw the Korean man run the course himself as a full speed demo.

I shit you not, it looked like something out of Call of Duty. If he was among the famed Roof Koreans I'd heard about, he probably could've saved all of LA by himself before dinner. Throw his wife into the mix and they'd be done before lunch.

Little does that small, middle-aged man realize that he just bested three immortals... two of whom specialize in war.

I chuckled at the thought, typing it out and sending it to Frank, only to receive a very strong "go jump in the ocean" from him. I suppose that's one thing that hasn't changed in the years following the war with Gaea: his near-complete inability to curse.