Outer south wall of Order's fortress,
Berlin, Germany
Delta Force
Sandman's POV
I dropped the last German soldier in the shadows and walk back out to join my team. Truck asked,
"So, when are we going to infiltrate the castle? We have been waiting for almost an hour for them." I replied,
"Chill out man. Warpath has never failed in a plan before. He will come through." Just then, Warpath's voice crackle over the commlink,
"Delta team, stand by. We are going dark." With that, the EMP took effect and we are thrown into darkness. I said,
"NVGs on." And I pulled down my night vision goggles. Immediately, the surroundings were bathed with a green light. I said,
"Alright team, we're going to rescue a principal hostage, Ace and his scouts are the top priority. Kill any hostile with stealth. The enemy now know we are somewhere with them, but they do not know who. Let's keep it that way. Frost, take point. I will bring up the rear." With that, Frost led the way into the fortress, with me covering their backs.
Warpath's POV
I decapitated the last soldier that is stationed at the north wall and dumped his body into the shadows. Behind me, Annabeth destroyed the bodies by incinerating them to ashes. Without turning around, I stabbed Blackfyre into another soldier that managed to saw us. When I withdrew Blackfyre from his gut, his body burst into flames and it turned into ashes. I said without turning around,
"Not bad, Annabeth. Looks like you mastered the magic in the mageblade." Annabeth replied,
"It just come to me." I smirked and said,
"Watch." And I muttered in an ancient language. Immediately, Blackfyre and Oathkeeper glowed slightly, emitting a white glow that lit up the area. There were no other soldiers at the north wall. Sniper shots from Overlord, Renegade and their group of hunters took out the rest of the soldiers around the outer walls. I said,
"Looks like we need to move into the inner wall." I said into the commlink,
"Cobra, Alpha, meet me at the rendezvous at the inner north wall." And with that, I started to walk to the inner wall, when Annabeth said,
"Percy, can we talk?" I replied without turning around,
"Catch up. And we'll talk." And I continue to walk towards the inner wall gate. Annabeth caught up with me and said,
"Why did you pick me as…?" I cut her off and replied,
"As a partner? I wanted you to redeem yourself for what you did." With that, I continued running to the gate of the inner wall. Suddenly, a fireball flew in front of me, incinerating a soldier in the shadows. I turned and saw Knightfall's blade is glowing with magic, and Annabeth's hand was smoking. I smirked and said,
"Not bad. I can make you to be a sorcerer with practice. Now come on, we're on a schedule." With that, we reached the inner wall gate. I said into the commlink,
"This is Warpath, has everyone reach their second objective?" One by one, they reported in, confirming that they are in position for the assault. I said,
"Blow the C4." And I set the breaching charge and blow up the inner gate. All around the inner wall, explosions can be heard as Cobra, Thalia and Delta team blew up the inner gates. At once, Annabeth and I charge in and slain any soldiers in the castle, the others joining us shortly after. After slaying all of Order's soldiers, we converged onto the throne room. I said to Annabeth,
"Blow the door open." She nodded and muttered an incantation. Knightfall's blade glowed red and the door blew open. I rushed in and saw Order sitting on his throne. He said,
"Ah…. My brother's personal assassin. I have been expecting you." He stood from his throne and continued,
"You have courage, I give you that. Tell me, has my brother taught you everything about the ways of the assassin?" I replied in an emotionless tone,
"He already has."
Order let out a booming laugh that echoed throughout the room. He replied,
"You are such a fool. Did he taught you how to use the precursor artefacts to their full potential? My guess is, he didn't. So afraid of power. I have no idea my brother is such a coward. Power should be used to control, not protect the weak." I drew Blackfyre and Oathbreaker and replied,
"Do not insult Lord Chaos. I trained under your father, Helix. He gave me his swords before he faded truly, so that I will slay you and any other being that threatens the peace of the universe." Order look at me with amusement and replied,
"Hmph, so the old fool gave you his swords. Pity, you do not know what you could do with the power that lies in the swords." I replied in an ice-cold tone,
"I don't have to know the power that lies in the swords. All I know is that they are the ones that will end your life." With that, I leapt at him, yelling a battle cry. He dodged easily and a sword appeared in his hand and he swing it. I caught the blade easily. Order bellowed,
"You fool! You dare challenge me. You just made a grave mistake." And he broke out of the sword lock and swung his sword at me, catching me by surprise and giving me a deep gash on my left leg. I yelled in pain and drop to a knee, gritting my teeth and trying to concentrate on healing myself. Suddenly, Order flew backwards into his throne. I look behind and saw that Annabeth was the one that pushed him back. Order stood up, grinning and said,
"You have guts, I tell you that." She replied in a cold tone,
"Where's Ace and his scouts? Answer me." And she lift Order off of his throne, or tried to. Order merely stood up and replied,
"Your magic does not have any magic on me. You want Ace's location, here he is." He snapped his fingers and the wall on the left lit up and I saw Luke and his scouts chained to the wall and they are badly injured. Luke's injuries are the worst. His left eye is closed and was black around it, his chest were full of deep cuts and bruises and his legs were clearly broken in three places. Annabeth said through gritted teeth,
"You will die by my hand Order." Order snort in amusement and replied,
"Your hand? No Annabeth Chase. It is you who will die by my hand." And he shot an energy beam from his hand. Time slowed for me as I saw Annabeth got hit by the energy beam, sending her flying into the wall behind her. I yelled
"Annabeth!" And I ran to her and I was shocked to see that she is standing up, and Knightfall's blade is glowing with a blue glow. She hissed,
"Now you see why this blade chose me." And she slashed the air in an arc. Immediately, a blue arc of energy flew out from the sword and flew towards Order. He countered with another energy blast. The energy released from the colliding energy blasts knock all but Order off their feet. Order smirked and said,
"The blade may choose you, but your power is nothing compared to mine." He raised his hand to finish Annabeth off. But before I move to take him down, a phantom blade hit him in the neck, knocking him off for a few minutes. I looked back and saw that last person that I expected to save me; Captain John Price, with Yuri covering his six. He said,
"What did I say about not fucking this up?" I replied,
"We'll talk about that later." I turned to the others and said,
"Is everyone alright?" Sandman replied,
"All accounted for dude. Mission completed." I look behind him and saw his teammates supporting Ace and his scouts. I nodded and walked over to Annabeth. I kneeled down beside her and healed her wounds she sustained during the bout with Order. I asked,
"Why? You knew that Order would have killed you, but you drew his fire. Why?" She replied weakly,
"Because I know you would do the same for me." I squeezed her hand softly and pulled her to her feet, supporting her. I said,
"You're right, I would do the same. But we can never go back to what we are last time. You know that as well as I do." She nodded and replied,
"I know Warpath, I know. But just like old times?" I smirked and said,
"Just like old times." And I supported her to the others. I said to Cobra,
"Patch her up as soon as you can. I'm going to call for extraction and to contact Renegade, Arclight and their group of Hunters. I first contacted Lord Chaos to inform him of the good news and to coordinate an extraction team. He took the news well and told me that a Warbird is on its way to our location. I then contacted Renegade and said,
"Renegade, it's Warpath. Mission completed. Meet us at the front courtyard of the fortress." The commlink crackled and she replied,
"Copy that Warpath, We're moving now. Eta five mikes." With that, the commlink cut off. I turned to the others and said,
"Come one, let's move." They nodded and supported Ace and his team of scouts while Cobra supported Annabeth. When we walked into the front courtyard, Renegade, Arclight and their group of hunters were already there. When she saw us, she asked,
"Any casualties?" I replied,
"Nothing major. But Ace and his scouts are badly injured. By the look of their injuries, Order tortured them. But they refused to talk. That's probably what got them their lacerations." She nodded and asked,
"So, where's our exfil? Our Osprey got blown out of the sky when we got here." I chuckled and replied,
"It's here." And sure enough, the roar of the Warbird filled the air as it touches down at our position. The doors opened and we piled in. The door closes and we are off the ground. I activated my commlink and said,
"Lord Chaos, this is Warpath. Mission completed. All eagles accounted for." The commlink crackled as Lord Chaos replied,
"Good work Warpath. Satellite feed shows multiple casualties in your AO. Good work, that's one for the books." I replied,
"Easy day Lord Chaos, Warpath out." With that, the commlink cut off. I turned to the others and said,
"Good work guys. Get some rest. We have a long journey back to base." With that, everyone lied down and is instantly knocked out, well, not everyone. Thalia is awake and is in deep thoughts. I sat down next to her and said,
"Hey, you alright?" She looked at me and replied,
"I'm alright Percy. I'm just thinking about something." I raised an eyebrow and replied,
"About what?" Thalia shook her head and replied,
"It's nothing. I'll see you in the morning. Good night Percy." With that, she lied down and closed her eyes. I shook my head and lied down next to her and closed my eyes, allowing my exhaustion to take over and sending me to the realm of Morpheus. But, little do I know, is that Thalia is thinking about what she said to me.
Thalia's POV
I'm such an idiot. Why did I say all those words and brush off Percy. I sat up and looked over to where Percy is sleeping, which is right beside me. I looked out of the window of the Warbird and think on my feelings towards him. Am I ready to take that step to open my heart out to him? I shook my head to try to clear my head of those thoughts, but what if he doesn't feel the same way? I look at him sadly and knew that both of us could not be together, but a voice interrupted my train of thoughts,
"Well, you should tell him how you feel about him." I look over and saw that it is Ilona. I replied,
"How? Both of us live in separate lives, it's impossible for us to be together." Ilona rolled her eyes and replied,
"Come now Thalia, don't tell yourself that. I'm happy for him. Ever since he returned to Earth, he is showing more of his emotions and that is what we want for him. Ever since he joined Lord Chaos 5000 years ago, he never showed any emotions, not even to us. He always do his utmost best in all of his assignments, sometimes he went overboard. But ever since he returned here, he is becoming his old self, and that is what all of us want for him." I replied sadly,
"But my oath to Artremis, we can never be together. The moment I lose my immortality, I would die. I'm over 5000 years old. We can never be together." Ilona shook her head and replied,
"I won't change your thinking Thalia, but know this, there are a lot of girls that have their eyes on Warpath. Think on that. Good night." With that, she walked back to her spot and went back to sleep. I lied back down next to Warpath, thinking on what Ilona said. Before I can think on what Ilona said, my eyes closed and I was asleep.
