The camp was prepared for war. Troops lined the beach, armed with the firearms brought by Elizabeth Ryan. The Stoll Brothers sat atop their tank, looking at the horizon. Percy was wading in water, able the sense all activity below the sea. He was taken aback when he felt numerous objects rocketing through the waves.
"Here they come!" Percy shouted to alert his fellow campers.
One by one the five new bathyspheres rocketed upwards and breached the surface. Percy slammed against them with powerful waves, trying to destroy them from afar, but they withstood the watery assault. The first opened while still offshore and a man arose. He glanced at Percy and laughed. In a puff of red smoke he vanished from view just as a large blast destroyed the pod. The Stoll brother's cheers were muffled by the sounds of the tank's cannon.
Percy was about to resume his aquatic bombardment when a plume of smoke appeared in front of him and the Splicer that had disappeared, was right before him, swinging at Percy with a blade. He used his Curse and dodged the attacks, parrying with Riptide. A large pop filled the air and the splicer went down. Next to Percy was Clarisse, holding a smoking gun.
"One down" She said, eyeing her new pistol.
A large thud echoed when the pods hit the beach. Splicers crawled and leapt out. Giant hulking splicers began ramming through the barricades, the bullets hitting them barely slowed them. The teleporting splicers leapt back and forth, attacking randomly. A small platoon of skeletal Civil War era soldiers fought with Nico. The hunters rained death from above, taking out numerous splicers with their arrows. The war was at its peak.
A number of campers from Aphrodite riding atop pegasi few above and dropped jars of Greek Fire into the pods. The green flames engulfed the pods and drove the last of the splicers into the fray.
Mrs. O'Leary bounded across the battlefield. Percy was dodging the attacks of a massive brute when the lovable hell hound leapt into the air and slammed into the splicer. Percy moved out to continue the fight.
A scream filled the air after a terrible whiney. Percy saw Porkpie, a faithful pegasus plummeting downwards, and Drew from the Aphrodite cabin falling. From nowhere swept a large shadow. Robbie reached out and grabbed Drew's hand. He pulled her on top of the dragon, Peleus. The dragon swept along the shore and sprayed a wall of flames on either side of the Splicers, herding them closer together. Most of the campers realized what this meant. They just waited for Annabeth's signal.
The screech of a bullhorn roared over the volume of the battle. "ALL UNITS…STEEL AND FIRE!" A call blared across the field in Annabeth's voice from the loudspeakers; this was something they all had prepared for. All the campers in the fray launched a power attack and ran back to a safe distance. Clarisse swept her spear sending out a wave of lightning, stunning many splicers, even more were forced towards the center by Peleus and Mrs. O'Leary. Percy pulled in a large wave to slow the splicers advance. Water wrapped around their ankles and held them tight. By now the majority of the splicers were on the shore, between the sea and the barricade. The teleporting splicers were being grappled by the animated skeletons. Then the Steel and Fire began. Percy quickly slid backwards, submerging his body deep into the water and moving away from the shore. The Ares cabin hit the barricades and began firing with vigor. A number of splicers fell. As soon as the first wave of gunfire stopped. Karen and the Nemesis campers popped up from a trap door and sprayed the modified chemical thrower. They doused the field in fluid, before quickly returning to the hatch. Karen smiled from the sidelines as she threw a lit match on to the liquid and it ignited. Flames sprayed out igniting the splicers. The entire battlefield become a single blazing inferno. One by one, the splicers fell, until none were left.
As the sun rose, the fighting had all but finished. One splicer, half dead, limped along the beach. A single arrow to his head finished the job. A less devastating night than the first, but still hard. Twelve injured campers, one camper dead. A young boy named Tyler, a son of Eurus. Percy carried his body to the amphitheater. 'We need to move', he thought.
A small group met up near the amphitheater.
"Everyone, tell me what's going on. Now." Percy was losing his calm. Annabeth stared at him with a worried look on her face.
Lira stepped up first. Blood stained both her hands and her jeans. Her red hair was no longer in it's usual flowing state, it was tied back, out of her face. Her eyes looked tired. "Almost everyone of our injured campers is back up. No more in critical, we're working on the twelve injured last night, nothing too bad." Her hands were shaking.
Karen walked up. "We have the shifts laid out, I handed them out to the other campers. Hunters still patrolling. We're also increasing the barricade."
"We've set up several new traps along the shore" Clarisse spoke briefly as she examined a rifle she picked up the previous night. "Most campers are in their cabins resting up."
Lou Ellen levitated an apple as she reported in. "Hecate cabin has broken the magic on the pods, we can modify the barrier around camp but it's going to take a few days to implement the spell. A few more invasions between now and then."
Robbie, now sporting a fairly large scar on his torso, reported next. "I'm fine in case you were wondering. Lira patched me up good as new. You're an awesome healer Lira." He said in his usual happy-go-lucky tone. Lira's hands slowed as she calmed down. "Anyway I had someone move the bodies, and I have a crew scavenging the pieces of the spheres. I figure if they're durable and magical, why not add the pieces to our barricades?"
The reports continued from the various campers as Elizabeth and Chiron approached.
"On the downside we're out of ammo for the tank, thanks to the trigger happy twins here." Pollux held a rifle by his side as he signaled towards the Stoll Brothers.
"Oh come on Pollux, we weren't that bad." Travis said.
"Mind saying that again?" Pollux turned to Travis. "I can't hear out of one ear due the nonstop cannon fire!"
Conner joined the conversation to defend their actions. "Perhaps we went a bit overboard but we destroyed all the pods."
Pollux rebutted. "Yeah after most of the splicers had already left them!"
"Stay on topic." Annabeth interrupted. "We can't be fighting amongst ourselves right now. Chiron, Mrs. Ryan, is there anything you care to add?"
Chiron cleared his throat. "We believe we have an update. Elizabeth and were sorting through a large number files that belonged to her father. We know believe we know what is going on." All eyes were on Elizabeth.
She cleared her throat as she stepped up. "I have looked at the symbols on the pods and have matched them to the emergency bathyspheres in my grandfather's notes. You see there was a store house near his office of the pods for mass evacuations. They might have been locked onto Camp Half Blood as a safety protocol. After all many of Rapture's residents were first and second generation demigods. That's where the splicers must be getting in, but there is a bit of a problem."
"Oh great, let's see how this can get worse." Karen spoke under her breath. Percy bit his lip waiting for the other shoe to drop.
"There were approximately one hundred emergency bathyspheres in the storehouse meaning this invasion could continue for quite a while."
Annabeth was the first up. "One hundred of these things! You can't be serious!"
Clarisse joined in next. "We've been able to hold it together barely with three of those things a night, but if they keep whittling away at us we're screwed."
Pollux spoke up. "Is there any thing we can do? You know to keep them away from the camp?"
Thalia chimed in. "Yeah but then what if they land somewhere else? Mortals would stand even less of a chance than us."
The worried conversation volleyed back and forth over the next step. Percy was worried, he needed another option. "Mrs. Ryan, I'm wondering something."
Percy's first addition to the conversation quieted down his comrades and drew their attention. "In all the notes did you find a layout or some maps of Rapture and the storehouse?"
Elizabeth believed she knew where the young man was going. "Yes, my father spent years restoring and updating the maps so people could navigate the partially crumbled Rapture if need be."
"Well, 'Need be' right now. We're running low on ammo after a single night. People have been dropping left and right and we have no idea if modifying our shields would protect us from the pods. Even if it did the splicers could end up elsewhere. They could hurt a lot of people. We need to put a stop to this at the source."
Silence sat over the group, no one wanted to follow up the terrible news they knew would follow. Alistair responded. "Well Rachel already gave us the prophecy so we all knew this was coming."
"Six, right? That's how many of us are going?" Lou asked.
"Any volunteers?" Chimed Travis.
"ME!" Robbie shot his hand up. "City under the sea? That sounds a tourist destination if I ever heard one."
"I'm in too." Clarisse held her spear Maimer on her right and a rifle on her left. "Chance to main these bastards, I'm not passing it up."
Annabeth whispered to Percy, "We need to do something Percy." He looked up to her gray eyes. She smiled and gave a slight nod, as she understood what he wanted. She slipped her hand onto his, giving her support.
There was a volley of volunteering and excuses before Percy stepped up. "Not just yet, there's one thing first. Jake," Percy turned to the head of the Hephaestus cabin. "Is the submarine ready?"
The tinkerer didn't really like being put on the spot. "Um, I believe so. Nyssa should have finished it an hour or two ago. I saw her over by the pods. She wouldn't start a new project until the sub was finished."
"Good. I'm going, so is Annabeth. Jake we need you to come to maintain the sub." Jake looked slightly shocked that he was drafted. "Nico, Thalia, would you two be willing to come?" Without hesitation his cousins smiled.
"Of course, can't leave this all to you." Thalia joked.
"No problem Percy." Nico responded.
"Okay that leaves one spot. Robbie, Clarisse...I want one of you to stay here to supervise the campers."
"Shot not!" Robbie shouted.
"Oh cram it Dalton! I'm way more useful than you." Clarisse rebutted.
The two went back and forth bickering their usefulness. Chiron had been watching the entire time. His heart was heavy with sadness from the recent losses, but a sense of pride and satisfaction built in his chest at the leadership of Percy and at the caring nature of his campers. "My children, calm yourselves." Chiron interjected himself in the argument. "Mister Dalton I would appreciate it you would stay at camp to supervise the resistance. You will have the support of myself, Karen, and the Hunters. Clarisse you may go on the quest."
Robbie looked upset. "But strategizing and drawing up plans is so boring. I'd rather just hit stuff." He glanced over at Clarisse who stuck her tongue out in his direction.
"My decision is final." Chiron trotted over to Percy. "Percy, I wish you luck. I know you will succeed. So be safe and stay strong."
"Of course Chiron, hold down the fort 'til we get back. Okay everyone we're leaving in one hour. Jake, get to your cabin and have them prepare the submarine for departure. Chiron, Mrs. Ryan, would you join me and Annabeth in the Big House, we need to go over Rapture's location, and the maps that you have. Everyone else get packed and get supplies. Remember they'll probably need the supplies more here so don't over pack. Bring only what you think we'll need." On Percy's word the group scattered. The six campers going on the quest stayed behind for a seconds. They looked each other in the eyes and silently understood they could not fail.
