thethirdwonder | Homplot Wake Up Post

Homplot Wake Up Post

Normally, Cassie wasn't one to spend a lot of time in bed. But lately, or really the last two days, it had taken everything she had to get out of bed in the morning. Someone people might have been excited to find out the king of the Greek gods was their father but for Cassie, it just made her miserable. The powers she'd felt she'd earned for her bravery now felt cheapened. It just...it just wasn't fair.

And because she'd spent more time in bed, she knew instantly when she woke up that she wasn't on the island. After the events in the Fire Nation the month before, Cassie woke up quickly and sat up at the ready, wanting to be prepared for wherever she'd found herself. It was with a small sigh of relief when she realized that she was asleep on the couch of Young Justice headquarters. She took a deep breath and made herself float for the first time in years. Even through her depression, she couldn't help a small smile.

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Sam sat down next to the other guy and set his stash of snacks on the floor. This was what he should be doing right now, back in his world. He should be crashing on someone's dorm couch playing video games and eating crap food. Instead he was in another universe, crashing on a couch in a superheroes headquarters worrying about Cassie and when she was going to be back.

"Yeah, I am," he said, picking up a controller. "Sam Witwicky. I've been there for just over a month."

I pause the game and turn to face Sam.

"I'm Luke," I say, not bothering with a last name like usual.

"Are you one of the superhero-type people from here?"

I, sure as Hades, am not. I've got no idea if Sam is just here to play video games or 'keep an eye on me.'

"Uh, no. No costumes or uniforms or powers for me," Sam said. He wasn't exactly a completely normal guy, or at least he had some abnormal friends in the Autobots, but he wasn't going to share his whole life story with someone at the moment.

"I have no idea why I'm here. Put they have junk food and video games so for the moment, I'm going to just roll with it."

"Good enough for me," I reply. "In fact, that's my plan for now."

I save my game and exit completely. I'll just assume Sam is a relatively normal guy who's got no idea how unpopular I've just become with the local crowd here. It might be good to have someone around here not hate me yet. So, I guess we'll just hang out.

"Go ahead and pick something. I'm not real good at video games yet, but I pick it up quick."

I'd say I've got pretty good reflexes and can think on my feet. It's not just good for live combat.

"Well, let's see what they've got then," Sam said, standing up to flip through the stack of games that was by the TV. He wondered if there were any that were unique to this world, it might be cool to try out a few of them.

"Alright, how about Left for Dead 2? That way if we don't pick it up quickly we'll both die horrible, zombiefied deaths. So let's hope we rock the learning curve."

"Horrible, zombified deaths it is," I say casually.

I reach for a handful of Doritos, then load up the game. The figures on the screen make me think of the skeletal warriors we summoned to attack Percy. They were much more bad-ass than the things depicted on the screen.

It's kind of strange how all of the sudden I'm hanging out with this guy I don't really know. But not too bad. Maybe I should do this type of thing more often on the island.

"So what kind of world do you come from?" Sam asked as the game started up. It was the version of the "How 'bout this weather?" question on the island, especially since the weather on the island didn't change all that much from what Sam had seen.

"Came to the island from California, Earth, early 21st century. Except superheroes like Superman and Batman are just comic books to me."

I stop there. I'm not sure I want the discussion to go too much further down that path. Saying 'by the way, I'm a demigod who's putting Western civilization to an end' doesn't often score me a lot of points.

"You?"

"I spent two days at Princeton before coming here," Sam said. Technically he had spent some time in Egypt just before coming here too, but he didn't think that was necessary to mention to everyone.

"Before that, it was in a place called Tranquility. And I didn't have any superheroes, ninjas, cyborgs, wizards, or time travelers outside of fiction."

He did have giant, alien robots, but he never said he didn't have those. Sam wasn't exactly hiding that fact from people, just from Cassie, and since Cassie was in this world right now, he was trying to keep that information to a minimum.

"Well, except time travelers in the way that everyone is a time traveler because we move forward in time. That usually doesn't count though."

"So, do you know what's going on here? I saw people on the island sleep for a few days having dreams they were somewhere else. Are we really still back on the island sleeping?"

Even though I've had a couple encounters with the magic of Tabula Rasa, I don't claim to understand it much. Maybe Sam knows what the others are thinking.

"I really have no clue," Sam said with a shake of his head. He'd heard of the coma people, vaguely, but since it hadn't happened to him he didn't pay a whole lot of attention to it since it had happened about the time he arrived and he was still getting used to things.

"But just to play it safe, I'm treating this like I really am in another dimension and I may or may not be going back to my world or the island. I've decided that's a pretty good strategy whenever dealing with weird shit like this, accepting that it might be true. It's probably safer that way."

"I wouldn't mind at all if it was true. Granted, about everyone else in this place would've rather not have me here, but it could be worse."

I pause a bit as the action on the video game peaked a bit, but then I continue.

"But I saw a guy I know, Seifer, sleeping in his hut. When he woke up he told me he went to Zuko's world and fought in a war."

"So this is all our dream, like a shared thing? Or are we in someone's dream? And I have no idea why I think you would know more than me."

Sam frowned in thought at his own questions. He wasn't sure if it really mattered whose dream it was. He could probably rule out his own, especially since he had no idea who Luke was prior to this.

"And if some people got to war, I think we're pretty lucky to have gotten video games and a well stocked fridge."

Sam seemed to catch on to my own thoughts when he realized there's no way either of us have many answers.

"Sorry to break it to you, but if this is a headquarters for superheroes, this place is a major target. I'm probably out of here if there's any major trouble."

"It's also where people who know who I am are," Sam said, although thinking that this place might come under attack at any moment worried him. Did they have guns or something he could use? Probably not, everyone all had powers or shot a bow.

"If this isn't a dream, I don't exist here in this world. That's kind of inconvenient. I don't want to be shipped down to Mexico or wherever because they think I'm an illegal."

I'm used to being ready for an attack at any moment. The strange thing is that I don't think I'm a monster magnet in this world. I guess I'll find out, but if there's no Mist...

"If the others here know who you are, and you get along with them, they'll watch out for you. They don't exactly like me, but I can take care of myself."

"They'd take care of you anyways," Sam said after a moment's silence to concentrate on the game. Cissie, Kon, Bart, and Cassie were good people, the type of people that would look out for someone they didn't really like.

"So where did you learn to use a sword? Or is that something you got on the island?"

I let out a bit of a bitter huff when Sam says they'd take care of me anyways. I guess it all depends on what you mean by 'take care of me.' What they'd like to do is lock me up when I haven't done anything, so this is the next best thing. 'Watching me.' If we're here for good, that'll end quick.

"Started self-teaching myself when I was nine years old. I had an instructor later on. My sword's named Backbiter. I didn't have it with me when I came to the island, but it just showed up one day."

Sam doubted that Luke had started self-teaching himself because he thought it would be cool. From what he understood about a lot of people on the island, a good number of them took up various martial arts in order to protect themselves as others.

"So how did you get the sword back in your world?" Sam asked. The weapon looked real, like the sort of thing you'd actually use in a battle. He doubted that those types of weapons were easy to come by.

I really break out into a grin at that question. He doesn't really want to know the details. Not those kind of details.

"I got it when I chose sides in a war. The lord of the titans, Kronos, gave it to me. It's a bit... legendary, actually."

I shrug as if to say it's not really a big deal. We're just two normal guys hanging out, right? Right.

"Isn't that the dude that castrated his own father, and then ate his own kids?" Sam asked. Personally, he probably wouldn't be bragging that a guy like that gave him a sword. In fact, he would have really been keeping that bit on the down-low.

"That's the one."

Can't do much with the grin on my face. It's not that I'm happy. It's the fact that I'm putting all the bare facts right on the table.

"I'm impressed, Sam. Most people don't know too much about Greek mythology. But I'm not so sure about the whole castration thing. The story I learned is that Kronos just chopped Ouranos into pieces. It's not the kind of detail I really want to ask him about. The scythe he used to do it got reforged into a sword. That sword's sitting right next to me."

I turn my head and give him a serious look as if to say I'm not kidding at all.

"What can I say? Disney's Hercules kindled a desire to study Greek mythology in me," Sam said.

He could tell that Luke was waiting to see if Sam would be impressed. Sam had no reason to doubt that the guy was telling him the truth, but the matter of fact, no big deal way he was telling Sam made Sam want to kind of just shrug it off. Maybe he was being a bit of a jerk in that aspect, but he couldn't help it. Or maybe he just didn't want to help it.

"So you could be running around holding the part of the sword that was used to cut off the junk of Uranus."

I'm not looking for Sam to be impressed. I just want to make sure he knows I'm serious and not just making this stuff up. I'm not looking for recruits or anything. I've already had rooms full of demigods and monsters banging swords on their shields calling out their leader's name. Glory is nice, but I'm just hanging out here.

"I'm sure the hilt was nowhere near Ouranos' junk," I reply, but I'm smiling and shaking my head. Sam's comment's funny, what can I say? I notice he's using the Roman name, but I prefer the Greek ones. My father is Hermes, not Mercury, even though he's the one-and-the-same jerk. I found out there's a difference, but it doesn't matter much for this conversation.

"And, seriously, Disney's Hercules? I don't even know how I made it through that one. It was so bad. Really, really, bad. And you don't know how many times I had to see Clash of the Titans."

"Dude, catchy tunes and a guy that goes from no one to super famous, how is that not at least a little bit interesting?" Sam asked. He wouldn't go so far as to say it was good, but it had gotten him interested enough to read a few things.

"And isn't that the one with all the claymation stuff? Are you from 1970 or something?"

Homplot Wake Up Post

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