Chapter 32: Confusion and A Clue

Hey Guys! I'm sorry for the short chapter, today! I just got a job recently and was swamped with the training. Although, once my job and schedule stabilize, I'll jump back to writing my fanfictions.

Enjoy today's chapter and don't forget to leave comments!

Peace!

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Happy finally arrived in the hotel room where he saw Tony Stark tracking the girl's location on the tablet followed by the CCTV cameras.

"Is it working?"

"Yeah. I'll find out what's going on at that shady farm."

For the next half-hour, the duo observed the tracker's position. Tony also had a built-in microphone inside the tracker to eavesdrop on their conversation. Unfortunately, it seems like the girl's driver was mute. Except for the girl's greetings, Bianca and the blonde man didn't speak at all.

"That's one quite ride," said Tony.

The billionaire and the bodyguard kept looking at the screens when they finally saw the tracker going on the estimated route. They saw the tracker go through Montauk until it finally stopped at a location close to the shore of Long Island Sound.

"They've stopped. And as expected, there is no camera in the vicinity to hack. Jarvis, render an image of the tracker's location using the satellite." Tony said.

"Yes, sir."

A screen popped up on his computer, and slowly, but surely, an image soon began to render. The duo slowly awaited for Jarvis to finish his work. After a few seconds, the image was finally rendered,

"Alright, let's see what you got there."

Tony took the laptop and got confused.

"Huh?"

"What's wrong, Boss?" Happy asked seeing Tony's confusion.

"It's a strawberry field."

"What?"

"It really is a strawberry field and nothing else."

They stood in silence at the revelation.

"I need a better image. I'm going to make a drone."

"Wait, Boss. Didn't you just confirm that it was a simple strawberry field?"

Suddenly, they heard the car stop and the car door open.

[Thanks Argus for bringing me back home, as always.] the voice of Bianca could be heard.

The duo heard the door of the car close and being driven off. Sounds of footsteps could be heard.

[Hey guys!] Bianca said after a few seconds of walking.

Multiple responses were heard indicating the presence of a whole lot more teens than Tony expected.

[Hey Bianca!]

[Welcome back, Bianca!]

[What's up, Bianca!?]

Suddenly the sound of hooves could be heard through the microphone,

[Welcome back, Bianca. How was your week?] an older man's voice could be heard.

[It was exhausting, Chiron. Since the end of the year exams are coming up, there is a lot of studying to do.]

Tony took note of the name.

[Ho! Ho! Ho! Seems I would imagine that to be the case. Why don't you go to your cabin and put your luggage away? Will you participate in today's Capture-The-Flag?]

[Yes. I have to get better at fighting and using my powers.]

"Powers?" asked Happy

"Well, now we know that this place is not an ordinary farm and that superpowers are not hidden in this place," Tony replied.

[Bianca!]

The men suddenly heard the voice of a young boy approaching.

[Hey, Nico. I'm back.]

[Look at what I did!]

Tony and Haply couldn't see what was happening. However, they heard a rumbling sound similar to an earthquake.

[I can now summon ten skeletons!] Nico exclaimed shocking the duo.

"What the hell? Skeletons!?"

"So the brother is a necromancer. How ironic.

"How so?"

"His last name means "of the angel". And here he summons skeletons."

"Huh."

[That's great, Nico. It's going to help us a lot in Capture-The-Flag.]

[I know!]

Suddenly, they heard a loud female voice.

[Chiron!]

[Oh! Clarisse. What seems to be the matter?]

[Monsters are appearing at the borders of the camp! Some are even attacking it]

[What!]

"Monsters!? Now we got monsters!? What the hell is going?" asked Happy.

Tony stayed silent as he too was confused at the sudden turn of events.

'Monsters?'

The sound of running could be heard. Soon the running stopped and they heard the voices of multiple people.

[What is going on?] asked Chiron.

Another unknown male voice was heard through Tony's speaker.

[A few minutes ago, we noticed an increase of monsters at the barrier, Chiron. Some even tried to attack it! Although most of them stalked the barrier since they can't get through.]

[Thank you, Lee.]

[What's going on, Chiron?] asked Bianca.

Tony suddenly heard the sound of an animal snarling.

[Easy there, Peleus.] Chiron said as calmed the source of the snarl.

[Everyone, back away from the barrier!]

Prowls and growls could be heard at a distance. They could even hear some slithers as well as some roars. It was like a whole horde of wild and aggressive animals suddenly gathered and turned their aggressiveness to eleven.

[*ROAAARRR*] [*BANG*]

[AAH!] a frightened scream was heard.

[HOLY SHIT!]

[Do not worry! These monsters cannot come in without our or the god's permission. And language!], Chiron reassured the children.

'Gods? Now there are gods? What have I stumbled onto? Did Isaiah get himself involved with some cult?' thought Tony.

[What's going on?] a new voice was heard. This one was gruff and it looked like the owner of that voice was irritated according to Tony.

[Mr. D!] shouted multiple children.

"Mr. D?" Tony's lips twitched at the name.

[Mr. D., It appears that multiple monsters are stalking or even attacking the barrier. Although, they aren't doing any damage. Something like this has never happened before. At most, there are one or two monsters once in a while, but not a whole horde.] Chiron answered.

[Hmm... Bah! Whatever! They're not doing anything so it wouldn't matter.]

[Mr. D!]

[Oh relax, old friend. Nothing will happen.]

[...]

[Chiron, did something happen to Thalia's tree?] asked Bianca.

[No, Peleus would have alerted us, if something happen to it.]

Suddenly, Chiron attracted everyone's attention.

[Alright, everyone! We know the monsters cannot enter the camp so you may return to your cabins. Councillors, I would like you all to come to the Big House to discuss this situation. The rest of you are dismissed.]

[Is everything going to be okay, Chiron?] asked Bianca.

[Worry not, my girl. Return to your cabin for now.]

[Alright. Come, Nico!]

Soon, Tony heard the girl walk somewhere. The unmistakable sound of a door opening was heard and

[*Plop*]

Tony assumed that she had put her bag down.

"Jarvis create a new file where you will keep all the recordings after cutting out unnecessary bits. We'll call it [The Cult]."

"Yes, sir"

Tony simply put the laptop away, plopped himself into a seat and leaned back as he assimilated everything he heard. Happy then spoke up,

"So what, Boss?"

Tony crossed his arms and thought for almost a minute before answering,

"Nothing."

"Nothing?" asked Happy, surprised at his boss's answer.

However, Tony simply repeated his answer.

"Why?"

"Because we can't do anything, right now. Look at the photo, we can't even see whoever they are. It's just a simple strawberry field. And the recording showed that it was some sort of can't with cabins and children."

"What about the monsters and the gods they were talking about?"

"Normally, I would dismiss it as simple hogwash brainwashing children for the cult, but hearing them, it seems like they were genuine expressions. I don't know about the gods, but they really do believe that these so-called monsters exist," Tony said with a solemn expression.

Internally, he was extremely confused and worried about Isaiah. Happy slowly nodded,

"When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." he quoted.

"Arthur Conan-Doyle," Tony said, hearing the quote.

"Yeah. I mean superpowers exist. What's not to say that monsters exist too?"

"Huh. So you're going to say that magic exists too?"

Happy shrugged,

"I don't know. You tell me."

A silence permeated the room as the boss mulled in his thoughts.

'Fuck! Just what's going on? I don't have any information and I didn't find a single clue on Isaiah's whereabouts.'

Happy was also lost in his thoughts as he thought back at what he heard through the tracker. Suddenly, Tony slapped the arm of his chair and got up before starting pacing back and forth.

"Boss?"

"Here's what we're going to do. We will go back home and I will make a drone or something that I will send to this cult."

"Cult?"

"Cult, camp, whatever. Anyways, they said that there is a barrier around it, but we are unable to see it through the satellite's picture. We can't even see any signs of cabins or children there. They also talked about some a barrier. My theory is that they succeeded in creating a protective barrier which also acts as a cover giving the people a visual illusion of a farm. Maybe they have developed some sort of new technology not known to this world."

"That sounds good and all, but what about the monsters? I mean we heard those things."

"But we only heard those things, we didn't see them or even have any evidence."

"Is the recording not enough?"

"No. We need concrete proof. There must be some sort of catch."

"What if there's no catch? What if there is a camp, not a cult, for superpowered kids hidden behind some invisible barrier and prone to be attacked by invisible monsters. Although they didn't seem invisible to them." Happy added the last part as an afterthought.

"That will be a thought for future me. My priority, right now, is to find Isaiah and we have almost no clue except for the fact that he visits New York frequently and that he has connections to this camp."

Happy nodded at his boss's words. All of a sudden, Jarvis's voice appeared through the laptop's speaker,

"Sir, I believe I may have another clue to find Isaiah?"

"What's that, Jarvis?" surprised at the A.I. interjection.

"I believe I may have another clue about Isaiah, Sir."

Tony grabbed the laptop,

"Show me."

Happy joined his boss and also looked at the laptop,

"February 3rd, 2007 at 3:56 PM, Isaiah was first spotted at Miss Sharpe's old residence. After you instructed me to find all locations where Isaiah was spotted, I combed through New York state's CCTV camera system to find any clue. However, Young Isaiah would mostly appear at different locations without any signs of transportation. I believe that he has used his unique method of transportation to go to one place or another. However, there is an exception."

"Hm? And what is it, Jarvis?"

A map of manhattan opened up on the laptop. There, Tony could see that a certain apartment building had been pinned.

"An apartment building?"

Tony then recognized it,

"Wait... East 104th and 1st, Upper East Side... That's Jackson's apartment building!"

"Yes sir. There is a strong chance that Isaiah and the child named Percy Jackson are acquainted since your son was spotted visiting this building at 2:30 PM."

As soon as Jarvis told him, a video popped up showing Isaiah pressing the doorbell. The latter spoke to the intercom before being buzzed in.

"I see. Are the Jacksons at home, right now?" Tony asked his hope once more being rekindled.

"Yes, Sally Jackson and Perseus Jackson are presently at their residence."

"Finally! A proper clue! Let's go! " the billionaire exclaimed and he was about to get up when Happy quickly stopped him.

"Wait, Boss!"

Tony turned to him,

"What, Happy?"

"Are you seriously going there personally?"

Tony raised an eyebrow,

"Yeah. What's wrong?"

Happy looked at him and saw his eyes filled with determination. He then sighed,

"You can't just go out like this. If someone sees you, Hell will break loose. You need to change clothes and go incognito."

"Right. You're right."

Happy waited for his boss to get clothes and go to the bathroom before sighing again. He wanted to stop him, but, once Tony sets his mind on something, he will never give it up until he reaches his goal. This is why he didn't stop the man from visiting the Jacksons.

The door opened just a few seconds later and Tony came out with normal-looking clothes as well as sunglasses and a cap to hide as much of his face as possible. When he came out, Tony had his signature cocky and arrogant smirk, however, Happy could see hints of excitement as well as hope seeping from it. The only times Happy saw this kind of expression was when the inventor invented something new and revolutionary and when Tony was in a relationship with Sarah Sharpe.

"Let's go, Happy!"

Happy looked at his boss and nodded. He was his right hand and the man hired by Tony Stark to protect him with his life.

"Yes, Boss!"

And he wouldn't have it any other way.