Hey Guys, so.. this is the next chapter. hope you guys enjoy.

Chapter 3:

Annabeth POV

"Stand attention!" I yell in a loud voice.

The soldiers snap their heads up and salute. I walk down the line and inspect each of them for uniform violations. They all were the same thing, army issued boots, camouflage pants and bullet proof vests under purple tee shirts and an outer black tactical vest. Each soldier stands proudly with his or her Gladius, machine gun (with regular and imperial gold bullets), dagger, and pistol.

I walk along the line slowly for ten minutes and conclude that all soldiers are dressed correctly. I stand on a chariot and salute to them. They relax and put their arms at their sides.

"Soldiers, as you know, today are the War Games." They all cheer in delight and immediately shut up when they see my glare. "As I was saying, one team will have the banner and the other will try to get it; remember no killing or maiming, no need to use Nectar or Ambrosia, our injured comrades need it more than us."

My side hurts were the bullet hit but I ignore it. I rub my ribs before walking over to the area were the War Games will be. They've already built up the fort in about three hours so I just lie on the grass and look at the noon sun. Before I know it, I fall asleep.

*Dream Flashback*

I step into the chariot and grab the reins. I whip the horses and start down the road towards Sonoran territory with a small group of soldiers and archers. Today is perfect for a raid, I think as dark clouds cover the sky.

We stop briefly in Durango and I give the chariot to a mechanic. We go into the forest and throw on our camouflage jackets and face masks. We walk for a little over a day until we see a sign. One of the soldiers pulls out a scope and announces it's the Sonora-U.S. boundaries.

I jump silently up a tree to observe the border. I see a man and women dressed in white shirts, thin tan body armor under cloth wraps, military boots and desert camouflage pants walk on a trail that marks the border. Both wear straw cowboy hats and sunglasses. They scan the trees for a few seconds before turning and walking down the trail.

I climb back down the tree and turn to my lieutenant, a man with dark gray buzz cut hair and icy blue eyes.

"Brian, I need you to take Gray, Shorty, and Falcon with you," I say pointing to a boy with steel gray hair, a short girl with blonde hair, and a man with permanently glaring eyes and brown hair with black and white highlights.

"-while I'll take Ben, Rusty and Scorpion." I say pointing to a man with glasses, a woman with copper hair in a braid that curves up, and a teen with rust-red hair.

Brian stares at me for a minute and says, "Yes ma'm, Owleyes."

I smile at the nickname used for Athena children and split up with him. We head across the border and run down the hill on the Sonoran side. We dive among the bushes and Rusty stands up to observe the area. He announces that the area's clear. We run out and take off through the forest. We run for a good three days until a camp comes into view. We slow down and crouch under a grove of trees and bushes.

A Sonoran Marine camp is right outside of the place that I believe is Chama. I send up a call that sounds almost exactly like an eagle and listen for an answer.

An ear piercing screech sounds from my left and I immediately sneak over to find Brian and his team. Rusty, Ben and Scorpion follow me through the brush until I find Brian under a fallen tree.

"Report?" I whisper to him as we come up on silent feet.

"Around ten in the nest." He says in a nearly silent voice.

"Good, are they fully armed?" It wasn't a question.

"They all have white swords and machine guns." He states peering out from the branch.

I take out my rifle and sneak to the other side of the clearing. We made this plan days ago; I pick off the soldiers while Brian charges in with the six soldiers of the raiding party. I lift the rifle up and take aim through the scoop. A man comes into view and I pull the trigger. The recoil is strong, not painful. The silencer makes it easy to hit multiple targets without getting noticed too fast. I look back to see him lying on the ground.

"Kade! Com'ere, Shaun's dead." Yells a lithe girl as she walks over to the dead Sonoran.

"Coming!" Someone yells back.

I take aim at the woman and pull the trigger again. She is shot sideways as blood shoots up in the air. I reload my clip and look through the scope. A man with choppy blonde hair walks into view. He looks different from a regular soldier. He is dressed in brown camouflage pants with knee, shin, and thigh guards, heavy tan boots, a Greek style celestial steel chest plate with tan cloth wraps around his neck and shoulders, celestial steel gauntlets, and a short stormy gray cape with a gold Alpha on his back.

A Tormentaredada, storm raider. I've heard that they are so good that they can block a bullet with a fencing sword. Let's test this rumor…

I turn off the safety and pull the trigger. The man senses it in a millisecond and jumps back. The bullet hits his thigh and he falls over. The Storm Raider stands up and draws a long celestial bronze sword off his back. The sides gleam with a strange tint of blue. I shoot again, but he is alert and slices the bullet in half.

Falcon jumps out of a tree right on top of the Tormentaredada but gets thrown off and tumbles across the clearing. He skids to a stop and lies groaning in pain. I me and the team stand up and flee in all directions. I take off through the reeds and hear a gunshot sound from behind me. I fall to the ground, writhing in pain.

I can't tell were the bullet hit, all I register is pain. I felt an overwhelming urge to cough and see blood cover my hand. I am hit, this is not good. I stand and try to run. I fall again as my ribs protest at the sudden movement and cough up more blood. I lie there feeling paralytic as I hear footsteps near me.

"Just kill me." I mumble painfully as a hand lifts my face up.

"Oh no, we can't do that, you tried to kill me." The man says staring at my grey eyes with hazel ones.

I faint as he lifts me over his shoulder.

[][][][][][]

I wake to find myself tied to a chair in a dark room. At least the people were nice enough to bandage my side. I notice a figure in the shadows of the room.

"Nice to see you're alive, I thought Kade might have killed you." says a feminine voice.

I jump and growl in pain," Who are you, what do want?"

"Asking the same." she says as she walks forward into the light.

As I make out the figure in front of me, I notice the she is wearing a pair of cargo pants with a white shirt under a green vest. She has an intense face, her brown eyes seem to stare a hole through my soul. She has long brown hair pulled into a messy ponytail and a small scar on the bridge of her nose. She observes me for a minute before saying," You're obviously Athena, no doubting it."

"Who are you?" I ask again.

"Why should I tell you?"

She talks to me for about an hour before concluding that I am no harm. She releases me and tells me to head north. I walk for days until I hear fast footsteps heading towards me, I arrived at the border. A familiar teen jumps out in front of me with a gun pointed at my head. He grabs a cell phone out of his pocket and speed dials a number.

" Brian, I found Annabeth."

*End Of Dream Flashback*

I wake as someone taps my shoulder. I start and bring out my dagger. Frank has a look of shock on his face as I knock his legs out from under him. He tumbles down the hill and lands with a "Ohf" into the stream. I laugh and walk down to him.

"This is why you shouldn't wake an armed general." I say as I help him up.

He glares at me and shakes the water off him "I should remember to wear a bathing suit next time."

I look at the sky to see that it's noon. I basically just missed marksmanship, archery, and morning drills. I mentally hit myself for my carelessness. I walk with Frank back to the camp and look around. Frank tells me he's going the gun and archer target practice while I head to the arena.

I walk in and smile a hello to Brian who is chopping dummies heads off. I walk over to the automatons and turn one on (the Vulcan kids are genius.) I step back as it comes on. It is basically a man-like bronze statue with built in swords (blunt) and a machine gun (BB gun). It raises it's sword and rolls towards me. I dodge the sword as is turns quickly and shoots a BB at my head. I knock it aside with my dagger and jump forwards. The automatons 'think and behave like humans and demigods, so I confuse it. It rolls back it 'surprise' as I parry its sword and cut upwards. It turns off as I hit a 'vital' and becomes a bronze ball.

A horn blows in the distance and I run over to where the soldiers are gathering around Frank. I push through the crowd and stand with the blue team as their leader. Blue has always fascinated me and made me feel safe. Besides gray, blue is my favorite color. I put my blue banded helmet on which it has a sideways sea-blue horse-hair plume. Frank announces that the blue team is on offense and puts on his centurion helmet, which is red banded with a flame-like plume. I laugh inwardly at the irony of the man whose life relies on a stick wearing a flame colored helmet.

"Forward!" I yell as we stand in equal lines.

I ride in front of them on a white pegasus and point towards the fort, which has water cannons ready. We march forward as the seventh cohort press the opposing group's flanks as they try to charge our group, the first cohort of the fifth legion. We charge through the center of the group and knock out soldiers along the way. As we get through the infantry defenses, we are faced with the twenty foot walls and high powered water cannons of the fort. I look over at Brian to ask for advice when a high powered stream of water hits me in the face. I gurgle as the water hits my face and bend over coughing water onto my pegasus. I don't speak horse, but the way that he looked at me signals I am not riding him for awhile.

"W-what was that, A-Annabeth?" laughs Brian as he laughs uncontrollably.

I glare at him and then a water cannon hits him and knocks him off his horse. I laugh once then ride closer to where the first through seventh cohort are gathering. I wave hello to Gwen, who's in charge of the fifth cohort and ride with her and others to where the other five leaders are.

" Jayne… Warner… Hector… Ben… David." I greet to each of the leaders as they salute.

David lowers his arm and backs up his horse as water creates a hole in the ground," We need some sort of water stops."

" Ha! Like that'll happen." states Jayne sarcastically as she dodges water," We can't even get a fly up there that won't be blast to pieces."

I study the building and notice one spot where there are nearly no guards. I gesture for the others to follow and we ride to that side. Long story short, we won because of bad timing. The red team fired on their own team by accident and we grabbed the banners in the confusion.

[][][][][][][][][][]

I walk slowly and stiffly back to my tent and walk in to find Reyna staring at me through an Iris Message.

I sigh and sit at my desk as Reyna looks at me with amusement.

"I see that the water cannons work just fine," She smiles as I realize I'm a bit too wet.

"You realize that I just survived getting captured in Sonora and a high power water cannon, not the best week." I say in response as I go to the divider that is my closet.

I change out of my sopping wet armor and into a more comfortable sweat pants and orange and red shirt. I walk out to see her staring through the message at something on my bed. Ohhh…no.

I run over and snatch up my necklace," Reyna, don't look through my stuff."

"Fine...fine, I am wondering, though, did you get my letter?" She asks from her desk at Camp Jupiter.

"Yes, I have the letter." I say," And how exactly am I going to murder a man I've never met?"

Reyna sighs in defeat but smiles evilly "You know the land, and you can use trust."

I catch on and smirk back, "Yes… but I need funding."

" Fine, I'll give you two and a half years worth of drachmas and Republic cash."

" On another note, is your cohort alright?" I ask," We've all heard that a group of Russian pirates attacked when you guys were on coast guard duty."

"We're fine, although I lost a good soldier." she states, looking down.

"He died with honor." I say sadly ," Do you know Percy Jackson?"

She looks down in thought and looks back up with a funny expression," He was a praetor for a day then you guys showed up and you basically attacked him, but then you... kissed him."

I stare in confusion and astonishment, " What happened next?"

" One of your uh… friends attacked us. You guys went to Rome, saved the ambassador of Pluto, then fell into Tartarus." She says quickly and nervously.

I have a feeling in the back of my mind telling me to believe her, but I can't. I feel a small fragment of my life coming back. I was feeding a twelve year old pudding while he drooled in his sleep. He had messy black hair but his eyes are closed. I come back to reality to hear Reyna chanting my name.

"Annabeth…Annabeth….ANNABETH!" she screams at me. I notice her and wave my hand dismissively.

" Reyna, I hear you but I need sleep." I state simply before swiping my hand through the IM.

She disappears and I lay back. I stay wide awake for a few hours before sleep over takes me and I begin to dream…

I seriously am trying to make all the characters acurate. But, then again, this is ten years after the HoO and a slightly AU so I guess I can have a little wiggle room... Also, I am currently writing an original story called Fireproof and you guys might get a sneek peak in the next few chapters...

~DaughterOfTheSun576~