15Chapter 2: New Campers (Oh, joy...)
AN: We're in S1E1 :-)
There were new kids coming today.
Max wouldn't say he was excited (because that would be a fucking lie) but he would admit he was intrigued. With how far away Lake Lilac and its little hick town was from literally everything, Max would have assumed that most parents wouldn't bother making the drive to the bus's pick up point in town three weeks into summer vacation.
Feeling bored of the chaos he definitely didn't instigate in the mess hall, Max made his way to the camp's gateway to wait for the new arrivals with David.
(If he has such easy access to the gate, why doesn't Max just make a run for it, you ask? Because, you idiot, he's already tried that. Multiple times. Every time, he either gets himself lost and has to be retrieved from the (honestly quite deadly) forest by an ever smiling David, or he's caught with one foot out the archway by the scruff of his hoodie by an exasperated Gwen. After so many solo attempts, Max has decided that waiting for a good enough distraction would be a better use of his time than sitting through the agonizing lectures David gives him every time he tries.)
Gods, he hates this place.
He can't wait to see the looks of disappointment of the faces of the poor saps on their way. It'd almost make today worth the hassle.
"Can you believe it, Max?" David said, cheerful as ever, "We're getting not one, not three, but two new campers today!"
Max rolled his eyes, already regretting his decision to "welcome" the new campers to the hell their parents sent them to. "Yep. It's truly horrifying."
David looks over to him, his arms flying everywhere in his usual manner when he speaks. "Horrifying? What, are you afraid of making a few new friends?"
Max glares at David, feeling personally insulted at the counselor's insinuation. Max isn't scared of anything, much less a couple of know-nothing kids. Glancing up at David's ever present smile, Max decides to throw some of the world's hard truths at the optimist.
(Maybe this will break that stupid mask of his.)
"I'm not here to make friends, David. I'm here because camp is where kids are sent when their parents don't want to deal with them." He says, thinking of cold, dark, bedrooms with only a loyal stuffed bear to comfort him as his "loving" parents yell at each other just down the hall.
"Why do you think we return the favour when they hit seventy?" Oh, yes. Max knows exactly which retirement home to send those two to once they're deemed unfit to live alone. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars, that place should be the perfect place for them to spend the rest of their lives.
At least they'll get three meals a day there.
So caught up in his plotting, Max misses the way David's head tilts slightly, a splash of confusion and an unknown emotion in his eyes.
"Hang on a sec, what are you even doing out here?"
Max scoffs at the question with such an obvious answer.
"Well, it's definitely not because the bus only comes in from the city to drop off and pick up campers, and so far seems to be my only reasonable method of escaping this fucking nightmare of a camp." He looks to the side to distract David from the very obvious truth in his words. "Definitely not that."
David squints, and for a second, Max thinks the red head actually picked up on the challenge he'd thrown down. "Heeeeyy... language."
And, Max spoke too soon, apparently.
"Suck a dic-"
His insult was cut off abruptly by David snatching his ten year old self off the ground. Oh, how he despises being as short as he is.
"All I want is for you kids to have as much fun as I did when I was a Campbell camper," his eyes are more open and honest than Max has seen in any adult. Ever. "Is that really too much to ask?"
All Max can feel is contempt for the other. His happy outlook on a life so cruel and pointless makes Max feel sick.
Deciding to voice these feelings, he replies, "I refuse to believe someone as happy as you can possibly exist."
Which is why it will be so much sweeter to finally see you break.
Before the counselor could reply, a flash of yellow shines in Max's eye. The bus with the new campers is here.
The young boy winces at the squeal David releases at the sight of it.
If Max hadn't spent the past three weeks watching David get hit with various objects, run over by vehicles and children alike, he might have been worried when the bus failed to stop and instead crashed into the cheerful man.
But because he had been trapped here for three weeks, Max just continued walking until he reached the opening doors of the bus.
Out of the bus came a blue blur, a feral aura around it.
Apparently, it was a girl.
Max smiled when she bit David.
Ignoring the nervous mess that was the other kid, Max quietly made his way into the bus. Even though he'd never actually driven a car before, he was sure he'd figure it out.
...Oops.
Max didn't set out to hit David with a bus today, but he will admit that driving a bus was harder than he initially thought.
(Gods damn it. Fucking prepubescent legs.)
And that's how Max got stuck tagging along with David as he gave the new kids a tour of the campsite.
Sighing at his misfortune, Max passes the time by picking apart his new "companions."
To start things off, Max gathered what he could on the wild, blue haired girl.
Nikki (Nicolette, his ability supplies), daughter of Pan, god of the wild. Max almost rolled his eyes at how obvious that tidbit of information was. The old satyr of a god must have found a woman as wild as he is to make a godling like her. Though, her existence was a rarity in itself. You don't hear of many godlings of Pan. The guy either went missing or fucking died. Max forgot which, and honestly doesn't care either way.
Anyway, from what he can gather, Nikki will fit right in at this hellhole. She is just as crazy as the rest of them, though her ability to talk to animals is undeniable. A true "Agent of Chaos," if Max had ever seen one. Gluttonous, but not so much as to eat her mother out of house and home, and she's even packing a bit of trauma from an experience she had with the flower bitches across the lake.
Overall, Max would say she'd make a great pawn if he ever needed some controlled chaos.
Turning his attention to the nervous nerd, Neil, Max gathered what he could.
Neil, Legacy of some obscure god of science named Asclepius. High strung, and just as passionate about science as Space Kid was about space (isn't that a frightening thought?) Max can already see the conflicts Neil will inevitably have with Harrison, their godling natures just too different, but Max couldn't care less as long as they don't destroy his territory in their disputes. Bully-foder for how nerdy he was, but even Max had to admit the older boy was smart. Like, scarily so, if he gets his hands on the right materials. Which, in Max's mind, makes him yet another useful lackey.
Satisfied with what he'd gathered, Max checks back into the conversation just in time to see the chaos that the mess hall had become.
He was so happy with his handy work, he almost smirked.
He was this close to sneaking away with the other campers when he was caught both literally and metaphorically. David pulled him back into the hall, just in time for Max to sense a presence he despised.
Cameron Campbell made Max's skin crawl. Not for any power the man possessed; he was a diluted Legacy, though not to the degree that Space Kid was. Any ability his bloodline may have afforded him was negligible.
No, Max hated Campbell for the fact that he was a Legacy of Dolos. Max's dear ol' dad.
There's a reason certain gods have hundreds of children while others only have one every century. The offspring of some gods, often the more obscure ones, don't react well to their siblings'... invasion of what they consider their territory.
Children of Dolos just so happen to be those kinds of Godlings. And for all that Cameron created Camp Campbell, Max claimed it as his as soon as he got here.
It's not like the con artist was here to actually do anything about it most of the time.
(It made Max want to punch a tree every time David looked at Campbell like he held the sun and the stars in the sky. Every time David spoke about Campbell like he was a saint, even as the Legacy herded them out the back door to hide from the FBI just outside the building.)
Keeping his face neutral and bored, Max breathed in deeply as he waited patiently for the infuriating Legacy to leave the camp grounds. He knew it would happen, sooner rather than later, so all he had to do was wait.
(And not lose the tight grip he had on his power. Dolos may not be a major god like Apollo or Ares, but even the god of Trickery can pack a punch when he needs to.)
(Sometimes, being a Godling was more trouble than it was worth.)
One tour, a (what Max will come to learn as a typical) Neil breakdown, and a rain of bullets only stopped by the indestructible suit of the human shield known as Space Kid, and Max could finally breathe again as Cameron Campbell left Lack Lilac once more.
Looking around at the chaos Campbell left in his wake, Max thought that this was as good a time as any to make another escape attempt. And after that shit show of a tour, Max had a feeling that Neil had finally reached his limit. Max offers to let Neil tag along with his planned joyride, and with Nikki's offer to help, he decides to let her join in as well.
...Oops.
Well, at least Max now knows that David seems to be on good terms with the police in the area. That'll prove beneficial if Campbell ever finds out that all of his campers are either Godlings or Legacies.
(Another plus that comes with Cameon being as diluted as he is. He can't sense the godly auras of the campers. Max knows for a fact that they'd all be heading straight to an auction house if the asshole had even an inkling of what they were.)
(With this many of them, Cameron Campbell could make a pretty penny.)
Although short lived and halfway to deadly, Max will admit their escape attempt, while not successful, was pretty fun. Neil and Nikki proved themselves to be worth the effort it'll take Max to stay at this stupid camp another day.
There will be other chances to get out of here. Why not make some chaos with his… friends, while he's stuck here.
It just means there are now three little bastards around to push David over that metaphorical edge.
Max can't wait.
AN: So, you know how in the Percy Jackson series and all those Greek myths, they make it a point to have everyone show respect to the all powerful gods? Yeah, Max doesn't give two shits about that. Old, young, powerful, and weak, he shows no god respect, not even his own divine dad. Everyone is equally despised, and there is little anyone can do to change it.
I don't know how often I'm gonna do that whole word-for-word thing that I did at the beginning of this chapter. I just thought the chapter flowed better after transcribing the first scene of episode 1.
I tried my best to show a bit of growth in Max this chapter. He starts off only seeing Nikki and Neil as pawns, but by the end he decides to try his hand at this whole "friendship" thing. At least while he's stuck at Camp Campbell. He's not attached, shut up!
I threw a bit of lore into this chapter, but I'm not sure if I wrote it in a way that you guys will understand.
If you have any questions about what the heck is going on in this story, leave a comment. If you don't have questions and just want to say something, leave a comment. If you want to bash on my horrendous writing, leave a comment! All comments are welcome in this household!