AN: amritthegreat03: That was what I was gonna do, bud.
(Third Person POV)
Everyone tensed as Venem charged Percy, before picking him up in a hug. "Where were you? I've missed you, little brother." Venem said to Percy, putting him down and clapping him on the shoulder.
"I've been fighting in two wars, lost Annabeth, and then met someone that was supposed to be dead." Percy said, hugging his crushed ribs. "How did you join the Hunt?"
Venem shrugged. "I was banished from Olympus and Camp Half-Blood because of something I did while I was in a fit of rage." He winced at the memories. "They left me in monster-infested woods without any weapons, food, supplies, anything. Artemis here found me, half dead and unconscious. She took me in and healed my wounds, before electing me to be the Guardian of the Hunt." He looked around at the trees and the tents. "I ended up using my… gifts to help people. Something that I have never tried before. Turns out, you can do a lot with cords. Especially my cords."
Percy looked shocked. "What did you do? Why did the gods banish you?"
Venem had a guilty face as he said, "My girlfriend was killed by them, after she swore vengeance on them for her father, which they had killed because he sent some of them to Tartarus. They had no clue what she was capable of, what she would do, and how she would do it. So they took the easy way out, by killing her. I swore vengeance, and managed to send a few to the Pit before they knocked me out." He shrugged like this was all irrelevant. "To cut a long story short, they think I am dead, while I am happy to remain in the shadows and protect the Hunt."
Percy nodded. It sounded like something Sam would do in a heartbeat.
"Wait, you two know each other?" A Hunter asked, shocked that Percy and Venem knew each other, seeing as Venem usually knocked them out before making conversation.
"Yes. We met on my first day at Camp. He was in the Hermes cabin, slept right next to me." Percy said, throwing an arm around Venem. "He was good at scaring people, freaked out a lot of cabin mates by imitating demonic and ghostly voices. He actually defeated Luke one time in a duel, by running around him and slashing at him with a dagger. He was also the best archer in camp before he left."
Venem blushed. "Aww, Percy. You're makin' me all flustered."
The Hunters laughed. "Come on, it's breakfast time!" They heard Artemis calling from the mess tent.
They all ran to the tent, Percy and Venem last in the line, chatting like old friends. As they sat down, Venem slipped something onto Percy's chair. Percy yelped as he sat down on the Whoopee cushion, before whipping around and glaring at Venem. "Was that necessary?" He asked, taking the cushion and tossing it to Venem. Venem deadpanned, nodding. Artemis cleared her throat, signaling for silence. Percy and Venem quieted down, along with the rest of the Hunters.
(Venem/Sam POV)
I hated to tell Percy a lie, but it was unavoidable. If he knew what had actually happened… he would probably try and kill me. We all shut up when Arty cleared her throat. "To those of you not yet aware, we have another guardian, who will be your teacher as well." She raised a hand to silence the grumblings. "Seeing as Sam-" I interrupted her by clearing my throat meaningfully. "Venem, is unable to teach you in close quarters combat, Percy will teach you all." Percy nodded, looking slightly apprehensive as he did so.
She continued to talk about something, but I zoned out. I felt somethings, or somethings, enter the area. I looked up at Artemis and made eye contact, sending her a strong message. We are about to be attacked. Warn the Hunters. I must go and prepare. I spoke into her mind, before leaving the table. Percy made to follow me, but Artemis waved him down. "Hunters, I have sensed monsters close by…" I left the tent as she proceeded, before going over to my tree and climbing up it. I morphed my features into my mask. I had invented it due to some similarities to the original creature that had undoubtedly been inspired by one of my ancestors. I jumped out of the tree, my face black as night, my eyes, pure white and distorted. My mouth was larger as well, filled with razor-sharp fangs. I changed my hands to match my face in color and with claws on the fingertips. I made spikes start to grow out of my shoulders, black as night and sharp enough to make you bleed from the slightest touch. I growled in anticipation of the upcoming battle, feeling my blood starting to grow hot, a sign that I was ready for whatever they would send.
(Percy POV)
As I ran out of the tent, I was not expecting to see a monster already there, spikes growing out of its shoulders and growling. I slashed at it with Riptide, which it blocked amazingly with a slim black cord coming out of its wrist. It spoke to me in a dark, demonic and distorted impression of Sam's voice. "Would you kill an old friend so quickly? Yas, I am Sam, yas. Dost thou still wish to slay me? If so, yes, I will not fight back, yes. I know that I have become a monster. Yes, you should not have found out yet, yes." No. Freaking. Way.
"What happened to you?" I asked. No way this was Sam. No way.
"I come from a long line of people like me. We are the ones that inspired the superhero known as Spiderman. We also inspired Venom. Venem is more than just a nickname, Percy. Some of us are different than the rest. Some are lighter, some are darker. I fell on the dark side, and now, you see what I have become. I am a monster, one that is more intelligent than the rest, but one nonetheless. So it is with all of mankind. In fact, some men" He spat out this word with obvious hatred. "are worse than monsters. I have joined the Hunt so I can kill those bastards that seek to harm other people." It made sense. Sam had always been the avenging type. Most thought he was a son of Hades due to the fact that if you hurt him or one of his friends, he would not stop until you were dead or he had done to you whatever it was that you had done to his friend.
Out of the woods came the sounds of monsters approaching; at least twenty, guessing by the sound. Sam growled, flexing his hands. "Time to fight." He muttered, an incredibly creepy smile on his face. Of course, he was creepy.
(Venem/Sam POV) [Sorry for all of the POV changes, but most of the battles will be in Venem's POV.]
I looked around me for a medium-sized rock for me to use. Finally seeing one, I snatched it up with a sticky cord hitting it and drawing it back to my hand. I extended the cord about a yard once it reached my hand, so I could use it as a flail. The first monster, a small Cyclops, crashed through the foliage into the camp near Percy. I decided to let him take that one before I heard something behind me. I turned around and started spinning my flail. I licked my fangs with my tongue as it came through, in an attempt to frighten it. It worked. The Cyclops took a step back, then decided to charge me anyway. I breathed in and out slowly as it closed the distance between us. I relaxed my body, tensing up would result in a longer fight. I slowly span my flail, before gradually speeding it up and opening my eyes. I jumped up into the air, bringing my flail crashing into its eye. I planted one of my feet into its cornea before using that as a foothold to front flip over its head, bringing my flail crashing onto its temple. It shattered my rock, and killed the monster. I landed and spun around to look at the camp, only to find most of the Hunters and Percy fighting a monster each. I growled. No one hurts my charges. No one.
I dashed over to Percy first, running up his back and jumping off of his head to grab the neck of the full-grown Cyclops he was fighting now. I swung around to where I was on its back and sunk my fangs into its neck, opening a half-dozen veins to the air. Soon, it fell to its knees and collapsed from loss of blood. I nodded to Percy before running off to help the Hunters. I extended a cord about half a yard from my left wrist, grabbing it with that hand. I created another cord from my right, a large whip-like segment of sticky cord. I grabbed it with my right hand before whipping at a large hellhound, wrapping around the beasts right foreleg. I used that to swing onto its back, before releasing the cord and grabbing the cord in my left hand with my right, crossing it under the monsters neck and pulling up while placing a knee at the base of its neck. I quickly strangled the monster, allowing the Hunter to recover and place a shaft into one of its eyes. It exploded into dust as I dropped down, switching my focus to a rather unfortunate Hunter fighting a hydra. Wait, that was Artemis. Deciding to leave her to her own devices, I ran over to another Hunter, that was fighting a Liastrygonian. I switched my right to fire-and-release cording, and changing my left to sticky cordage. I launched a few bolts at the giant, each one hitting a sensitive… area. If you get my drift. The giant bellowed in pain and went to its knees, distracting it long enough for the Hunter to kill it. I made another flail, before turning to the last monster. It was another hydra, apparently it was none to pleased with how it's brother was treated. I shouted over my shoulder at the rest of them. "This one is mine!"
I switched both of my hands to slick cordage. I extended the both by two and a half yards, making dual whips. I looked up at the nine-headed monster, expecting it to strike. It settled for projectile acid, aimed at Artemis. Apparently it wanted revenge. I whipped at two of it's heads, getting its attention. "Well? I ain't gonna stand here all day, bitch." I shouted at it, flicking my whips. It roared, biting at me with all of it's heads. "That's more like it," I laughed, easily dodging all of them. I wrapped a cord around a head's neck, choking it. Apparently strangulation worked just as good as fire. I slung myself up onto its back, before jumping onto one of it's necks, wrapping a cord around that one and snapping the neck. I caused one to bite another one, and then strangled that neck. I strangled, whipped, bit, and snapped the rest of the necks.
The entire monster collapsed into dust as I finished the last head, leaving behind a few fangs. Not like I needed them, of course. As I walked back to the Hunters, all of them were staring at me with looks of awe. Percy, however, was dropping his jaw on the floor. "Relax, kids. We're all safe now." I said, giving my best impression of a kind and gentle southern father. Then I frowned as it came out sounding a lot like a monster about to kill someone.
(Percy POV)
I had just watched Sam single-handedly kill a hydra without using fire. That was supposed to be impossible, and I had just watched one of my best friends kill it without using fire and without any help at all. I winced as he said that we were all safe. It just sounded wrong. He must have forgotten that he was still Venem, and thus had tried to act comforting. I watched as he changed his appearance back to normal, before glaring at him with my you-tell-me-what-I-want-to-know-now glare. He flinched under the glare before looking guilty and casually saying "I guess I owe a few explanations, huh?"
AN: There ya go! Reviews are appreciated and encouraged, as well as criticism. For all of you Pertemis fans, don't worry, romance will come later in the story. For the first few chapters, it will be mainly Percy and Venem talking and fighting, as well as pranks from Venem and the Hunters. Will post the next chapter after 5 reviews.