Commander Alpha

Chapter 2

Percy's POV

500 Chaos Years (5 Earth Years) Later

"What'd the dummy ever do to you, Perce?" My second in command, Beta, asked with a smirk. I was in the training room with the rest of my troop and I was fighting plastic dummies in all kinds of armor, with my sword in my non-dominant hand.

"Shut up," I groaned, although not with much conviction. I'd long since grown used to his antics.
I've been in Chaos's army for the past 500 years. Chaos is great. Along with being the commander of his army, I'm also his adopted son. Chaos knew that Poseidon had disowned me, and he offered to adopt me. I accepted. Chaos also changed all of the water in my body from water, which was slowly killing me, to an extremely similar substance, sublac, from planet 3714. Chaos allowed me to bring five of my friends back from the dead to help me in my army. I have Beauty (Silena), Forge (Beckendorf), Star (Zoë), Angel (Bianca), and Vine (Castor). In addition, Chaos brought two extra people to serve with us: Luke and Emma. He brought Luke back because he thought Luke would make a great addition to the team, and apparently I have to learn how to forgive. I wasn't sure why Emma was with us, but Chaos felt like she belonged here, and in the roughly 250 years I'd known her, I agreed. She only looked like she was nine, but don't let that fool you. She was probably one of the smartest people I knew. She'd adopted the role of the team's little sister who we were all needlessly overprotective of, besides Bianca who was her best friend.

I easily finished off the dummies and walked out of the closed-off area before they started to repair themselves. It's very high-tech here on Chaos's planet. Luke and I walked over to where the other warriors were. Castor was nowhere to be seen, although I guessed he was helping himself to leftovers in the kitchen; Beckendorf and Zoë were arguing about something, and there were a lot of hand gestures involved; Emma and Bianca were in the middle of an intense duel; Silena was sitting down, filing her nails. Once a child of Aphrodite, always a child of Aphrodite. 

A black and purple portal swirled open in the middle of the room, and none other than the creator of the universe himself stepped out. He was clad in his normal attire of battered jeans and a t-shirt. Everyone bowed, just to annoy him.

"Hello Lord Chaos." I said.

"Enough with the bowing and the lording stuff." He snapped.

"Sorry, master." I retorted with a smirk.  

"Ugh! How long will it take you guys to call me Chaos! Just Chaos." He sounded exasperated.

"Got it, just Chaos." I said the last part under my breath.  

"I heard that! Anyway, get up." He commanded. We all stood from our bowing positions. I saw something that was a rarity etched across Chaos's face. Worry. Usually, he had a carefree smirk, but now I could see worry lines embedded in his skin, although he was hiding it quite well. Luke must have noticed it too, because I could see him tense in my peripheral vision.  

"What's wrong, Chaos?" Luke asked. I could hear the worry in his tone.  

"I have a mission for you guys. You're leaving tomorrow at exactly noon." Chaos said, not quite avoiding the question, but not answering it either.  

"What is it? Where?" Emma blurted out. She didn't have dyslexia like the rest of us, but she did have a major case of talking out and talking too much. 

"There's a powerful enemy rising on a planet, and I don't think the inhabitants will be able to win this war by themselves. If they don't win, I'm afraid this is the war to end all wars. This can go really really good or it can go really really bad." Chaos stated.

After a moment of silence, Beckendorf said, "But Chaos, you didn't tell us what planet it's on." I had a strange feeling that I already knew the answer. Chaos seemed to swallow and be debating something. Finally, he sighed. 

"Your mission," he mumbled, "is on Earth." The reactions ranged from shock, to happiness, to anger.  

"How could you do this to us? How could you make us- make me- go there? You promised we would never have to go back." I yelled. I saw a black aura surround me. I was in a rage, not to be controlled. The black mist that surrounded me grew thicker and darker. Chaos noticed what was happening a split second before everyone else.  

"Get down!" He shouted. Emma, the back of my brain noticed, was already on the floor, knees held to her chest, rocking back and forth in fright. Chaos erected a force field around me just as I exploded. Whenever my emotions became too much, I would kind of... well.. spontaneously combust. My explosions could destroy one hundred square miles of land on a weak day. As soon as the thick black smoke around me dissipated, Chaos let down his force field. I could see the slightest bit of sweat beading his forehead.

"Jeez Perce, I almost couldn't contain that one. Can you maybe, like, chill?" Chaos suggested playfully, although I could hear a slight trace of fear in his voice. The warriors around me looked up from where they lay on the ground in shock. They probably thought that I would be excited to return back to my home planet. Only Chaos and Luke knew about the tragic ending my time on Earth had faced.

"What was that? What are you so mad about?" Silena asked. I averted my eyes, suddenly finding interest in my scuffed-up boots.

"I may have not told you guys about few things that happened during the end of my time on Earth." I stated quietly. All of their eyes widened in surprise.
"I'm guessing that you're not the only one." Bianca added, staring at the ball on the ground that was a terrified Emma.  

"I know what to do!" Chaos proclaimed. "Story time!" He conjured up a ridiculously large bowl of popcorn, and sat down in one of nine beanbag chairs that had also just appeared.
'Oh great.' I thought to myself, slowly sinking to the ground.