EDITED
𝒐𝒏𝒆 :: metal cows do not go moo
❛ ready to make some mechanical
beef? ❜

Harlow Laurier had been claimed as the only daughter of Nike at camp half blood for a mere three weeks before percy jackson had returned for the summer session and everything went downhill. She should have felt a sense of belonging finally, at last she could connect a name to a gaping absence in her life. But now that filled hole felt unrecognised, she wasn't the daughter of a major goddess, so why should camp give her her own roof over her head or pay her any more attention? That pit in her stomach was filled to the brim with charged desire. Harlow had always been a competitive girl, she had the natural build for most sports and found she could effortlessly win when she played against other mortal children at a young age. Harlow felt an intense desire for recognition, a thirst to prove herself to everyone that she shouldn't be ignored.Her mother was the goddess of victory after all, there was an innate disposition in her blood to succeed, which wasn't always likeable among other campers.

It wasn't especially likeable when camp half blood's only defence, thalia's tree on half blood hill, was dying. Harlow begged to be put on patrol, and attempted to take charge of almost everything Chiron had put in place in an attempt to hold off the army of monsters that would surely swarm the valley of demigods at any point. Harlow had swiftly been banned from the defence meetings (something about her insufferable stubbornness Clarisse had told her, to which Harlow told her to look in a mirror). Today the colchis bulls had charged into camp, their ruby eyes reflecting the sunlight as their mechanical bronze bodies knocked marble statues into rubble and their silver horns turned flesh to ribbons, and had been notoriously stalking the camp perimeter for a week already.

Harlow was led on her bunk in hermes cabin, throwing her fidget cube up and down in a complete state of boredom, which wasn't hard to experience with extreme adhd. She had been staying in cabin 11 for the past 2 weeks, as the first week of her being claimed didn't go so well in the Are's cabin. Chiron matched the two based on athletic ability and similar values, which proved to work exactly in the opposite way than he thought it would. Clarisse and Harlow wanted nothing more than to beat each other, in every single way possible. They were insufferable around each other, constantly one upping each other and causing fights wherever possible. The war god's daughter had tried to drown Harlow in the toilets twice and Harlow had put fire ants under her pillow, their rivalry is arguably what caused Harlow to be excused from border patrol duties permanently. Hermes cabin was slightly more cramped, but overall way less intense than cabin 5, the daughter of nike didn't know if she preferred that or not.

The sound of shields banging and shouting of commands perked her ears up, throwing herself forward she had a clear view out the front window, where small fires were starting over the dry grass, the camp was under attack ... again. Harlow threw her shoes on fervently and clumsily clipped her chestplate (and other mismatched pieces of armour she found under her bed) onto her body securely, abandoning her helmet as she always did before sprinting out the door.

Harlow laurier was especially gifted by her mother at running, her speeds exceeded the children of hermes and the dryads in the woods, some campers had even said it was as if her feet barely touched the ground, which was especially helpful in moments like this. She could see at the brow of the hill, the colchis bulls were attempting to push back a line of border patrol, who were barely holding their own against the fiery breath of the mechanical monsters.

Harlow noticed her best friend, Nora Cheung grappling with her right arm being set on fire, the younger girl's midnight black hair that fell like ink and sharp features were masked by her patrol issued greek war helmet, the plume singed completely off, her friend was smoking like a barbeque. The unclaimed girl spotted Harlow sprinting and wave with her free hand "thank gods you're here!" she patted the rest of the fire out on her arm, leaving the leather strap scorched abrasively. Nora had fallen under Harlow's wing since she arrived at camp three years ago, feeling out of place and vulnerable to the physicality camp half blood required to survive, which came easy to Harlow. "Wouldn't miss showing up Clarisse for the world, '' Harlow smirked, pulling out her celestial bronze fidget cube.

It was a gift from her mother, nicknamed Forfeit by her fellow campmates. Its design was ingenious, considering her past as a known troubled kid who spent more time outside a classroom than in it. Harlow slid a panel on one side of the cube, causing a series of metallic ticks and expanding flaps to intersect, leaving Harlow within the soft glow of a celestial bronze sword with a set of pearly wings at the hilt to match the back of her chest plate. If she had flipped a switch or spun a dial the blade could become a small knife, or a shield with her mothers same insignia. Forfeit had quickly become Harlow's most prized possession, a symbol proving her heritage and how proud she was of it.

She held the blade confidently as she dodged the blazing breath of the colchis bulls, bumping straight into Clarisse La Rue. " Fuck off Laurier, we don't need your temper tantrums today" she growled, jostiling harlow's shoulder back in response to the shove. "We both know that without me these bulls will destroy the big house before you could even blink" she spat, to which Clarisse grumbled "form a line and go fuck yourself" - that was the most compromise the two girls had ever shared.

Harlow turned to face what they were dealing with, two metal bulls the size of rhinos, their horns were sharp and silver, the points glinting in the summer sun. their eyes were unnerving, ruby red and bigger than harlow's fist, they appeared emotionless but harlow could feel a tug in her gut when she looked into them. She knew what they craved, the stench seemed pungent and rolled off in waves. The colchis bulls stank of desire, they wouldn't leave without victory.

Harlow never liked to show fear, even before her parentage was revealed to her, she kept it private to herself and maybe Nora, she had a reputation to uphold as a soldier and one day a hero. And before that, she never showed fear when things weren't stable for her and her mother, she never wanted to be the extra burden.The colchis bulls wouldn't change this, she was adamant to come out of this with two monster deaths under her belt.

Nora distracted one of the bulls by running down the hill, taunting it as she went. Meanwhile, Clarisse, Harlow and four other campers formed a line of shields, as measly as it was. "Hold the line!" Clarisse hollered, and Harlow scoffed "what line?" but held her position anyways. The bull was gaining speed, impossibly fast for its build and weight, its ruby red eyes unwavering as it zeroed in on the demigods wall of shields. Forfeit's pearly wings were large and obvious at the front of Harlow's shield, catching the bull's eyes especially, but she didn't waver.

The back of her neck tingled, she could feel the ground shake behind her as the other bull turned its course for harlow's blind spot. Her ADHD kicked into high gear as she spun to face the opposite bull, she was about to be sliced to ribbons by the both of them. "Look out!" she blinked, her focus broke and she was left open and vulnerable to the two masses of metal tumbling towards her.

CLANG Harlow was sent flying, her body felt weightless for a moment before landing in a patch of parched brown grass. Her whole body ached and rang from head to toe from the inside of her armour. She couldn't see straight, forfeit was a metre away from her still in the shape of a shield. Something's burning she thought, turning to her left noticing the back of her forearm was burned. It didn't hurt, Harlow suspected it would once the adrenaline drumming through her bones died down, she wasn't looking forward to that. Her head still pounding and her ears ringing, Harlow was left half blind and deaf on impact. she could feel the ground shake though, the slightest tremor was an indication of what was coming her way. Harlow panicked, throwing her body sideways and grabbing forfeit just as she was pulled backwards from under her arms; just as the bull freight trained past,pulverising the grass beneath it where Harlow had been.

The daughter of nike looked up, and she couldn't believe what she was seeing. percy jackson had saved her life,which left harlow feeling absolutely disgusted. It wasn't that she hated him, she didn't have the mental capacity to hate someone she didn't know. Harlow just hated how lucky he was, he had enough attention to last a lifetime and he got the biggest quest since ancient times in his first 5 minutes of knowing he was a demigod. Harlow denied that she was bitter, she just believed that she deserved the opportunity he had had, which meant she harboured slightly jealous tendencies against the son of poseidon.

"Get off!" she irked, forcing Percy to drop her roughly. She picked herself up quickly, making sure she didn't stumble on her feet in front of him. "People usually say thank you when someone saves their life" he remarked, watching Harlow dust herself off, he didn't recognise her but then again he didn't know many people at camp by name. "I didn't need your help Jackson" she spat, scowling at percy and facing him for the first time. He was the same height as her, his hair damp with sweat and his face peppered with soot marks, causing his green eyes to pop out from under his thick dark eyebrows. The dark marks were all over his body, which caused Harlow to notice his odd sense of style "what's with the tye dye?" she looked him up and down, almost tempted to laugh. Before percy could utter a reply, a loud metallic MOOO sounded from behind her, bringing her back to reality.

Bull number one had made a wide arc to turn itself around, it was now on course for herself and percy again. Slowing only slightly when it passed through where the barrier should have been. The bull that percy had 'saved' harlow from, now had a flaming gash down its side next to where harlow had dented its flank, and she gagged at the stench of it, its desire for victory was now simplified into wanting them both dead, which was almost understandable. Its red eyes seemed to glow furiously, and the tugging in Harlow's gut grew stronger as the danger grew.

They would have been able to handle one bull, Harlow was sure of that, but the two of them together almost sealed their fate entirely, but she refused to think that way. This was an opportunity to prove herself, her fingers twitched at that thought and she readied her sword to fight. But percy ran out in front of her to slash at bull number 2, whose flames flew right over Harlow's head as percy rolled under them. Its snout was somehow lopsided (though Harlow was sure she didn't see riptide connect with it) leaving the bull galloping away disorientated. She noticed Percy hadn't stood up yet, his foot was facing the wrong way, causing bile to rise in her throat.

Before she even registered what she was doing, Harlow had Percy's arm over her shoulders and helped him stand, turning them both around to face the carnage. Percy's weight was leaning against her Her gut was a mess of knots at this point, tugging and pulling in all directions. She felt off, in a way she couldn't explain, but something inside her felt different, stirring almost.

Her powers of accelerated probability were hardly reliable, usually they took effect in subconscious decision making and she hardly noticed it until after the event. But on days like today, she had a horrible gut feeling that she was being tied into something much bigger than herself. She just prayed to her mother that for once, that gut feeling would be wrong.

Bull number one was galloping towards them, steam that was almost comical flew from its whirring ears and nostrils, Harlow lifted forfeit in her free hand, her forearm stinging with resistance, and got ready to dive down the inner circle of half blood hill with percy jackson in tow.

Harlow blinked, and there was a man in front of them, from the back of him she could see peppered clothes, the same as percy's and his long hair was tied back in a crude bun. His height suggested he was a professional basketball player, and much older than the both of them. "Tyson!" Percy cried, as the man was engulfed in flames. The black silhouette of his body didn't falter however, and Harlow peeked out from behind her shield, her chest hurting now, almost magnetically pulling her closer to the blaze. He was important, but how could he be if he had just been killed by fire?

She expected his body to fall into a pile of ash, but when the fire died, the 6 foot man stood, completely unharmed, even his clothes remained untouched. Harlow audibly gasped, an idea of what this man was sprouting in her mind...but why would percy be friends with a monster?

"BAD COW!" He slammed his fists into the bulls skull repeatedly, leaving it misshapen and stumbling, one of its eyes hanging out of its mechanical socket. The man yelled "down!" like he was trying to domesticate a dog, and the bull fell on its back, smoking and twitching. "Oh my gods yes!" Harlow cheered, her face stretching into a proud grin.

Annabeth stormed up the hill, a brown paper bag in hand. harlow 's grin lessened into a polite line as she passed percy into annabeth's care. Annabeth and Harlow never really saw eye to eye. Harlow was impulsive with her decisions, her powers of accelerated probability almost always guaranteed her safety, but Annabeth just thought she was reckless and would get everyone killed. Harlow didn't care what she thought, she respected Annabeth and her godly parent, enough to not reciprocate the blonde's petty hatred.

Harlow's vision focused on the other bull, who was closing in on Nora and Clarisse for the kill. Panic flared in her chest,forfeit slid into a sword and she dashed across the hill without saying a word to the demigods she left behind. Nora's sword had melted into a right angle and clarisse's spear was snapped in half, the pointed part lodged into the back of the bull's neck, wires exposed and sparking fervently.

Her heart thrummed like a hummingbird, Nora was Harlow's best and only friend, the 11 year old was on the ground, her arms scalded red from the fires and shaking in fear. She was too young to be on border patrol, too young to be exposed to this danger with little training. Clarisse stood in front of the younger girl "come on metal head!" she spat. Clarisse was going to die a hero's death, but Harlow knew that wouldn't happen today.The bull lifted one leg, preparing to charge.

Harlow's head had started to hurt badly now, her whole body was a mix of knots and aches, her arm sizzling in pain. She could hardly see straight, but she knew she couldn't let her friend and Clarisse die. "Hey bronze beef!" and cried, banging her sword to her metal chest. The bull turned to face her in the blink of an eye. Its stink of desire hurt to smell, the toxic fumes made her nose hairs feel as if they were going to fall out. "Come and get me!" her eyesight was gone at this point, she could only see its two blood red eyes in the blinding white of the rest of her vision. She kept banging her chest though, the noise causing the bull to charge unexpectedly. Harlow Laurier raised forfeit against the colchis bull, and then she was suddenly somewhere else.

It was Greece, ancient Greece for sure, and it was at war. Harlow could feel the victory in the air melting off in waves. She could see plumes of blue celebrating in the streets, rejoicing at the end of a war. The landscape shifted, she was in a football stadium, seas of red and blue shirts hollered and swore, but the victory never left her senses. The overwhelming hum of triumph fuelled Harlow's bones, she felt supported and seen. Her mother's aura enveloped her,confidence and warmth seeping into her skin.

She saw a woman standing before her in the blinding white. Gold wings stretched out behind her, metallic feathers rustling and reflecting small rainbows into Harlow's eyes, she wore bronze armour. Nike's golden eyes bore into her, a small smile spread across her pearly teeth. "You have many trials ahead my dear" her words dripped like honey. But Harlow didn't smile back, her mother hadn't shown her face all of her life, and now that she had - she had chosen to warn her about more struggles? Was she not proud of her already? Harlow's mind spun, what was she doing wrong?

Her mother was already fading, and so was Harlow's consciousness, fading darker and darker, into a deep deep sleep.

AN
hello my angels, i've rewritten this and needed to replace the rubbish i'd written before LOL

let me know what you think, you are loved 💗