LCA: One

The first chapter of the first installment of Heroes United

~UNTITLED~
New York City

"Just go away, okay?" Nick grunted.

But the beast ignored Nick's begging and leaped again. It snapped with it's prominent feline teeth and shot a burst of fire from its nostrils. The burn would probably stay on Nick's skin for several weeks, assuming he could survive the minute.

Where is Amy when I need her? Nick wondered. Amy Gidalah, he knew, had taken on situations just like this. She would actually know what to do.

Nick ducked behind a lightpole. The creature's tail struck at it. Now Nick saw that it wasn't a tail, but rather a snake, sinking its fangs into the cold steel.

Hoping this was a lucky break Nick started dashing backwards, only to see that the lightpole was dissolving. Did that snake have acid for venom?

The creature unfolded wings that Nick hadn't seen before and started flying at him. The snake head was shooting venom, the lion head was shooting fire and the third head, a goat's head on the beast's shoulder, was bleeting the most irritating sound. Nick had no idea which of the three was worst.

The creature came down and the snake head bit into Nick's arm. He could feel the acidic poison enter his veins like a thousand wasp stings concentrated into one spot and then set on fire all deep beneath the skin and spreading with each heartbeat.

Then a horse-human showed up. A centaur? Nick wondered, knowing the term. Then it got out of the shadows and Nick barely saw that it was a man riding atop a horse. And that the horse had wings.

"Do you remember me?" the man asked in a dark voice that chilled Nick to his core despite the burning of the snake's venom. "I believe you do."

The beast took one look at the man and the winged horse and flew away as fast as it could. After it was gone, the man and horse merged together into the centaur Nick had initially thought. But it kept changing, until the horse's body was more human and the man's face took on a female face. The familiar hanging strands of black hair slightly covering her dark brown, never-quite-open eyes made it clear who it was.

"Amy," Nick said in a relieved voice once the transformation was complete. "Should I ask?"

"I'll explain once we get the chimera venom out of you, deal?" Amy said. She transformed again, only this time into a giant syringe. It entered Nick's wounded arm, painfully but without anywhere close to the pain of the venom itself. When the pain eased, the syringe, now full of putrid green liquid, came out of his arm and started to shrink. Amy appeared beside it, her hand around the syringe, and then put the full syringe in her pocket.

"Definitely divine blood," Amy said. "Looks like you're one of us."

"One of...?" Nick asked.

"The demigods," Amy replied with a light grin. "Come on. I'll take you to Camp Half-Blood where you can get all the info you need."

Links
Prologue     ~     The LCA Rising   ~  Chapter Two