Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson & the Olympians or Naruto. Percy Jackson & the Olympians and Naruto are the property of Rick Riordan and Masashi Kishimoto respectively and are not my intellectual property. There is no financial gain made from this nor will any be sought. This is for entertainment purposes only.
-|Intermission|-
How in the world did Thalia end up being the sucker to carry the blonde?! Hedge is a satyr, and Hugo is an adult! Thalia is almost the same age as Shinobu for fuck's sake! The only reason she isn't having more trouble with the ordeal is because Shinobu is short for her age as a girl. Everybody knows girls hit their growth spurt before the midget a late bloomer?
No! Contemplation of how puberty affected each gender later. Be curious about blonde enigma later. Focus on angry thoughts now! Or focus that curiosity on more pertinent questions. For example, how many volts does it take to kill someone and make it look like a heart attack? What if she forgoes assassination and goes with blatant homicide? Would the gods object or applaud her if she sacrifices her companions to them? Does satyr count as mutton or cannibalism? Or is it half and half?
She's tempted instead to focus her anger on her current human backpack. How can she fall sleep atop a moving train with all the noise, high winds, and the general sense of danger? How does she stay asleep?! She's punched her in the arm, shouted at her face, and shook her up. She's resorted to a shock enhanced punch. This was followed by enough shaking and swearing to wake the dead. Not a peep.
It does not help that Ivy deems it the appropriate time to lecture her. He spouts on about force, work, momentum, balance, and leverage using simple machines. All the while he attempts to hide the immobility in his left arm and the limp in his left leg.
Gleeson hopes this will slow the party down enough. Those two salads and two and a half tin he had earlier are attempting a prison break from his gullet. He is already on all fours – not that Thalia notices – and looks ready to either barf or slam his head down the pavement.
"No! Stop that! Stop nibbling on my ear! I am NOT food! NO! I don't know who this Rayman is but you can go eat his face later!"
A limping old man with a crawling satyr followed by a screaming girl carrying another girl.
This was the scene a few Hunters of Artemis came across.
-|Hunters|-
The Hunters of Artemis' reputation as man-haters is notorious. It is thus unsurprising that they misinterpret the situation. They see it as two males oppressing two females, knocking one out and forcing her to carry the blonde.
Gleeson and Ivy are lucky. Thalia is not in a foul enough mood to get them killed under false pretense. Or perhaps she is more concerned with her pride. She takes offense to the idea that anyone can subdue her into manual labor. Not without a hell of a fight.
The hunters seem to approve of the sentiment. Though, the hunters are not merciful enough to leave the men unchecked. The hunters gag and hogtie both males as they head to the hunters' temporary camp. Thalia is angry enough not to protest on their behalf. By coincidence, said camp inside President's Park.
Thalia wonders exactly what the Mist shows mortals. A handful of adolescent girls carry two bound males towards the park south of the White House. The Mist must be heavy here. She is sure President's Park isn't supposed to be this vast. The number of trees and its wildlife make it seem like a jungle instead of a park. Then again, wasn't George Washington a supposed son of some god or goddess? Or was that a different president?
"So, what are you doing in DC?" The question isn't directed at anyone in particular. T, to be honest, Thalia isn't all that interested in the answer. She's just making small talk to fill the silence. Maybe the loud blonde accustomed her against such lulls. She glances at the blonde in a fireman's carry by the redhead in front of her. She can't help wishing for her to awaken soon.
The bulky redhead is the one to give a response. "We are on the trail of a stag that has by coincidence eaten an assortment of magical plants. As they are now, we can use its antlers in mixture we are preparing."
"But..."
"But it has attracted many monsters, and we are in a bit of a time limit."
"So magic antlers that attract monsters. I'm not sure I've heard of such a creature before." To be fair, while Thalia knows a lot about monsters, she is no expert. There are a lot of monsters in the are she is unfamiliar with. The conversation halts for a second as the hunters stop their trek. Thalia's gaze sweeps around to realize that they are now in camp. Her eyes dart around the hunters tending to their injured sisters in the torn, silk tents. She finches at the damaged, silver jackets over bloodstained, white shirts.
The redhead continues as she hands Shinobu to another hunter, ignoring Thalia's concerned expression. "The deer and its antlers are not magical. It ate magical plants but they don't affect anything when consumed. They don't do anything on their own. The assortment of plants it had grazed on over this season led to its antlers becoming mild acid. The reaction creates with air leaves a scent. By coincidence, the scent is akin to the one that monsters use to track demigods. We hope to use it in a mixture we have to make it more potent."
Thalia senses something akin to a boring chemistry lecture incoming and changes the subject. "So. Where's Zoe?" She is more interested in the state of affairs of the hunters. A question about the second in command seems like a fitting way to gather information. "I half expected her to ask me to meet her and for her to try her recruitment spiel on me by now." The last time she encountered the hunters ended with an argument. Zoe, the moon goddess' lieutenant, wanted her to leave Luke – and Grover, he was her friend too. She wanted Thalia and Annabeth to join the maidens sworn to the goddess of the hunt and the wilderness.
The redhead frowns at her and Thalia wonders if is stepping too deep into their business. "I don't think joining us as of this moment would be wise. Artemis is not quite herself as of late. Not that we blame her. Her brother has been annoying her a lot. More than usual, I mean. So she has been irritable." The large girl's eyes dart down. Her face turns away from Thalia and away from the depressing sight around her. The next words she speaks in a soft voice, though not quite a whisper. "It doesn't help that she's sick. It's nothing major. You know, headaches, nausea, fatigue…"
She trails off and Thalia isn't convinced that this is just a minor inconvenience. A goddess, sick? It never occurred to her as a possibility. Thinking about it though, didn't Zeus once poison his father? Didn't his grandfather, Ouranos, once give Gaea constipation. So an ailing Artemis is not quite far-fetched. "Will she be okay?" Will you guys be okay?
"The goddess will be fine." The hunter stands straighter and speaks clearer. "But until then, we intend to help her as best we can. It is why we are hunting the deer in the first place. Its antlers will be the final ingredient to our cure. The monsters make the hunt much more dangerous. The most monsters have not bothered with it yet. They might think there is a demigod nearby and prefer to search for that instead. But there's no telling when one of them might decide to take interest in the deer. And…"
"Let me guess. The hunt isn't going well." The redhead winces at that and Thalia wonders if she's being too forward again. "I want to help. If I can. So I want to know more so I can know how to do so." The redhead's eyes dart to hers, opens her mouth but closes it just as quick. "Hey. I'm butting in one way or another. You think the deer can cure Artemis? I'll get it for you. Just point me in the right direction. Or don't and I'll try tracking it myself anyway."
The hunter begins to speak but hesitates a second time. "Usually, I would say that we more capable for this hunt. Even with the large amount of monster the deer attracts, this would not be the hardest we've faced."
Another pause. Thalia resists asking, "But...?"
"Whatever has inflicted our goddess has dimmed her gift to us. Aside from immortality she also gave us the skill of archery and greater strength and speed."
The gift is not quite immortality. Artemis' hunters cannot die of natural causes but they can die in combat or in the hunt.
"Most of us have been hunters for a long time and are beyond the reach of mortal efforts." But the gift is a big difference. "The gifts are not gone but they wax and wane. This does not prevent us from taking this prey..." Assertive. Though if one asked Thalia, defensive. "...except for one factor. Those pesky birds. If you want to help, drive them away or kill them."
"Um. Birds?" The hunter is about to retort, perhaps even refuse her help but Thalia holds her hand up. "I'm guessing your plan involves sneaking through the monsters instead of fighting against them. You can't do that when these birds give you away." Thalia gives herself a mental pat on the back at the girl's stunned face. It isn't that hard to figure out. The hunters have lost most their powers so they can't take the direct approach. The only way she can imagine that the birds can be a problem is if they make the sneaky approach less sneaky.
"I am Phoebe." At Thalia's look, it's obvious the subject of names didn't cross her mind until now, Phoebe grins. "I thought it best if we knew each other's names before we made a deal." They accept her help. "We plan to have another attempt four days from now. By the pattern we've observed so far, that will be when our gifts will be the least hindered." Though nowhere near full potency.
-|Birds|-
Birds. Stymphalian Birds to be exact. Pigeon-like creatures with Celestial Bronze beaks that can tear through flesh. Dangerous, yes. Their killing potential isn't the reason the hunters needed them dead. No. What they are is a bloody nuisance.
First, they act as alarms for monsters in the area. They nest so close to the deer that any attempt on the deer alerts them and causes them to swarm. The cacophony might scare the deer away before they could get their mark. It would attract every other monster in the vicinity.
Monsters swarming is bad enough, but that alone isn't the issue. According to Pheobe, that would be difficult but doable. The second issue is how much they would slow down the retreating hunters. Hundreds of metal beaks and sharp feathers had that effect.
The birds need to go. Period. They have to kill hundreds of fast-moving aerial targets in a short time frame. It is a tricky proposal even with the blessings of Artemis in full effect, never mind as they are currently. Their blessing is at half efficacy at best, non-existent at worst, and goes at any range between the two.
That's where Thalia comes in. The only reason Pheobe even considered accepting her help was thanks to her parentage. She is a daughter of Zeus, which means lightning powers. They are hoping she can zap them out of the sky.
Of course, things can't be that easy for her. Turns out, the damned birds have spread out over separate nests in the area. One zap is not gonna cut it. The remaining birds and monsters will swarm her unless she can call down half a dozen blasts. That is more than double her limit and she can't summon lightning fast enough either way.
She takes half a day, but she comes up with an idea. Instead of a series of bolts, why not one mega bolt?
It's worse.
It won't cover a wide enough area and such a strike would be overkill for the few it hit.
What about the opposite?
Weaker lightning but in greater quantity. Nope. She can't cast one after the other fast enough.
Could she fork and chain the mega bolt?
Yeah. That might work.
It is a much more difficult thing to do than to say. It takes a lot of time and energy to summon that much voltage, which means she will only have one shot at this.
The following days she asks a hunter to sneak her out the monster-infested forest so she can practice. It takes all the remaining days but she makes it. She succeeds with two-thirds the shots she makes. Three shots are all the attempts she made. Each drains her too much to risk more during practice.
So here she is attempting something she has only succeeded in twice before and the stupid deer moves. Why the fuck can't it stay in the clearing it had the days prior? No. The fucking deer takes a nap under a fucking tree today. It even chooses the tallest tree in the area. Because that's what she needs. She doesn't want to risk charring the target and it stays under a tree. It is under giant fucking lightning rod when she is about to call down a "mega bolt".
She takes a deep breath and counts to ten. She counts back down to one and back to ten again.
Okay. She needs another plan. She needs to come up with plan B on the fly, under an hour. Longer and the hunters will start their attempt without her contribution. They'll risk death for the sake of the goddess they love so much. Great. Okay. She can do this. She can do this.
Okay. Here's goes nothing!
A flash of lighting arcs cloud to cloud and a loud boom echoes over the forest. She sees the bronze beaked menace go airborne, startled by the sudden clash of thunder. Thalia doesn't have time to sigh in relief. She focuses all her thoughts and all her being on conjuring her "mega forked lightning of doom". She needs to cast it five times faster than all her previous attempts or the birds will have time to land or attack.
It is less than three seconds, but for Thalia, it is an eternity. Then. BANG!
First darkness.
Then silence.
Finally nothing.
