Yeah it's late, I had like 5 huge papers I had to do and shit had to take precedence, sorry guys! I'm back in final exam season and will be focusing on that now, but will try to get the next chapter out in a reasonable time.

Thank you so much to everybody who reviewed, we finally hit 100! You guys have no idea how much that means to me, you're all the best! The scene of this chapter is a little less original than I would like but I felt it would be easiest to incorporate it and show all parties I wanted represented this chapter.

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I hope you guys enjoy!

Chapter 8

Didn't Know What Hit Him

Nine years after the clash between the hunters and Spartans.

Percy sat in a tree while happily humming away to himself as he cut a slice off his apple. The evening so far had surprisingly been pleasant in terms of the weather, and the son of Poseidon found he was actually finding a somewhat tranquil sense of peace flow over him as he gazed at the clear but darkening sky. Of course, he knew it wouldn't last, but that didn't mean he couldn't enjoy it while it did.

He had been sent here at the behest of Hades to rescue his kids Bianca and Nico Di Angelo before Olympus could get to them. Normally an easy enough sounding task, however, he hadn't expected the gods to mobilize as quickly as they had. Upon arriving in Maine at Westover Hall boarding school, he and the five good men he had brought with him had immediately noticed the presence of three half-bloods and a satyr. Annoyingly enough, Percy recognized them as members of Camp Half-Blood and therefore he had to avoid harming them if he could.

The group almost unanimously voted in favour of sitting outside in the nearby trees and wait. When the demigods exited the building with the children of Hades, they'd simply leap down and politely force them to hand them over. If necessary they'd knock the campers out before proceeding to free the kiddies for old man Hades and have a god in their debt; which was definitely a big factor the Spartans could use in their playbook further down the line.

"I still thought my idea would have been better." Baruch called in a disgruntled voice from the next tree over, his evidently ancient tongue of greek used would have only been identifiable by a demigod or another member of the greek world.

The son of Eris had been the one exception to the unanimity. Instead of the casual approach they were taking now, he would have had them bomb an empty part of the building and cause a mass exodus of the school. In the ensuing chaos, the children of Hades would be easy targets to spot out and they could just snatch them from the crowds. A far more complicated and easily overruled solution, much to Baruch's disappointment.

"And I wish I was back in New York with a bottle of Kraken in one hand and a hooker in the other, but we can't always have nice things can we Baruch?" Alekos called out from another tree in the same greek. The following chuckles of Andros, Flavian, and Cletus could be heard from further out.

"Not to put a damper on the mood Percy but what do you want us to do if the hunt turns up out of nowhere? They've been on our tale for years now and while we may be travelling in bigger numbers than normal because of it, they'd still heavily outnumber us.." Andros piped up from his tree once the laughter had subsided.

Before the prince could answer, however, the attention of the Spartan's was torn from the conversation as they saw a man dragging the two demigods they had been sent here to collect out of the building. Percy gave a low whistle to signal for full quiet and then another different in pitch to order they tail the man while remaining undetected. As the man walked towards a path near the forest, the Spartans leapt from tree to tree slowly behind him; making sure not to get too close but remain within just enough distance to trail him. This trend continued for a while until Perseus heard a sudden bird call he knew was truly coming from the mouth of one of his men to signal distress, immediately triggering him to assess what was going on.

When he turned back, he saw Flavian pointing down directly at one of the demigods that had been sent by Olympus who also appeared to be trailing the man. The kid was a little scrawny of stature, but similarly to Percy, he had jet black hair and if his vision wasn't deceiving him what looked to be sea green eyes as well. He was wearing a semi-formal collared shirt, Percy assumed this meant they had tried to blend in at whatever event had been going on inside, and all the resemblance left Percy to conclude this was in all likelihood one of his half-siblings.

It was strange to see a sibling of his after so long. Poseidon was not the most celibate of gods, of course, however his father was arguably one of the most honourable. When he made an oath he tended to stick to it, yet here stood this kid a direct contrast to that statement. While normally this alone would have been enough to set his mind spinning, it was something else that truly caught the prince's attention. In his hands, he held a beautiful blade that made him stop and gawk for a second.

"Anaklusmos.." Percy whispered to himself, the memories he had attached to the blade coming to the surface of his mind to sting his emotions.

The last person he had seen wield that blade had been a colossal knob jockey. If the boy were the same then perhaps he'd have to take it from him, however, he would wait to let the kid prove himself. He couldn't understand why but something in his gut was screaming that there was something special about this kid, he simply couldn't put his finger on it.

Either way, the blade belongs to another... A voice spoke in the farthest corners of his mind, which he quickly subdued.

"Nothing more than a spoil of war now." He muttered to himself in his successful effort to kill the voice.

He continued to follow through the treetops both the boy and the man with the kids until they reached a little cliff. Surrounding them was a small clearing where the now present moon was providing only the slightest rays of light, making it ideal for the Spartan's current attire. Looking over to Alekos, who was glaring hard at the man as he went on a rant about how his masters would be pleased to see the two children, Percy made to inform his soldier what he believed this thing to truly be. Before he could speak, however, his fellow Spartan beat him to it.

"Manticore. His attitudes and movements reek of one. Shouldn't be too tough."

Percy nodded his head once in acknowledgement, but then movement from the boy with the legendary blade caught his eye and he raised a brow. The kid had walked out into the open to challenge the man alone. At this point, Percy couldn't tell if he was stupid, reckless or brave, but what he could tell was that the kid had balls; not just any pre-teen looking demigod would stand up to an obviously veiled monster alone.

He was a little disappointed to see the kid go down shortly after the man morphed into his true manticore form and shot a thorn at him, however, he hadn't really expected much else as he had to remember that regardless of heritage this was still just a child.

"We gonna hop in now, sir?" Cletus whispered from closely beside him in the same tree, only for Percy to respond with a shake of his head.

"I want to hear what the tool says, then we'll gut him and be off."

This choice proved to be the correct one as the manticore; a clearly very egotistical being who the kid had referred to as Dr Thorn, began a long speech as a means of rubbing salt in the wound to the downed demigod.

"You can't even begin to comprehend what's coming your way little demigod. I could kill you right here and now if I so wanted, but I almost wonder if it would be more painful to leave you alive so you can witness the destruction my master will rain down upon your world. A great stirring is happening my young friend, and you and your gods truly won't know what hit you."

Directly following that comment, the manticore cried out in pain as an arrow whizzed into his left eye and he recoiled right as Percy turned in anger to look at Flavian, the only one armed with a bow in their party.

"I'm sorry, the pun was too perfect to miss. Look, he didn't know what hit him!" The son of Apollo laughed out loud at his own joke, and Percy heard Alekos join in not far off.

"When we get back, you're on latrine duty for a month." He said to Flavian as he jumped down from his tree and walked towards the manticore and demigods.

"We don't have latrines.." The archer questioned slightly, confusion evident in his voice.

"We will now."

"Worth it." Percy heard him say as he and the other Spartans mimicked their prince's actions.

Now fully entering the slight clearing, the Spartans casually approached the furious manticore. The moonlight did very little to give them away in their pure black attire combined with their generally black weapons, but once they were close enough Andros coughed intentionally so the now one-eyed beast would be aware of their presence.

"Flavian, check on the camper over there. Andros, Cletus, get the kids. Alekos, Baruch, watch the treeline." The prince barked out orders in ancient Greek, and as he drew his sword and brought out his shield he could see the youngest child of Hades; the boy, with a huge smile and a look of awe in his eyes as Percy lined up across from the manticore.

Some would call it vanity to an extent, but the prince disagreed and had always had a little bit of pride stream through his veins when people looked up to him like that. Being seen as an enemy of his own culture for almost his entire life might have had something to do with that he supposed, but such was life. He glared down the manticore, who was doing his best to look menacing at the moment as it beared its claws and swung its tail from side to side with pincer facing forward.

"I'll kill every one of you puny demigods if I-" He stopped when he saw the Spartan symbol on Percy's shield and the prince smirked when he saw a look of fear appear on the monster's face. "That's.. That's not possible! You're all dead!" He began backing away slowly.

"It would seem your overlord has been keeping secrets from you," Percy said as he readied his weapons. "But alas, indeed we are, and we intend to keep it that way. Unfortunately for you my friend, that means you will not be allowed to survive this encounter."

"Well if that's the case, I shall not go easily!" The monster was not the most advanced of being, however, the speed with which he leapt forth and began to charge was somewhat impressive.

Naturally, Percy did the same.

When they were both within range of each other, each swung once with claws and sword respectively as they proceeded to run by one another. If one were to compare it, it almost looked exactly like one of those old samurai movies with the cheesy charge and single stroke victory of one warrior in a duel. Seconds after, Thorn had fallen to the ground and was dissolving into a pile of dust as Percy sheathed his sword, content.

"THAT. WAS. AWESOME!" He heard a young voice call and he turned with a smile on his face in the direction of the youngest child of Hades.

His sister elbowed him in the ribs in an effort to keep him quiet, but the movement didn't seem to even vex the kid as he proceeded to go on a tirade of questions aimed at any of the nearby Spartans and Percy.

"Who are you guys? Are you gods? How did you learn to fight so well? Can I be one of you?"

The last question made Percy chuckle, and he walked over to the boy before dropping to one knee in front of him and ruffling his long pitch black hair.

"All will be revealed in time young one, your father sent us to bring you and your sister home."

The kid's eyes became wide at this, but before he could say anything Alekos tapped on Perseus shoulder to alert him to the fact that they would have company momentarily. Soon after two young girls and a satyr came storming out of the woods with weapons raised, only to stop in confusion upon seeing the Spartans and not Dr Thorn in front of them.

"Who the fuck are you?" The punk looking girl with spiked up hair and a spear asked with a fierce expression. It was evident simply by the way she carried herself and her almost electric attitude this was a child of Zeus.

"We could ask the same of you." Baruch spoke from his spot a little to the right of Perseus where he was leaned up against a tree. The jump that followed his words from the campers seemed to indicate that they had not even seen him until then and made all the Spartans chuckle.

"Who are any of you!?" The daughter of Hades screamed out as she pulled her brother behind her, much to his own disdain and protest. Her face had contorted into a fearful yet unwavering expression, and the fiery temper of a determined youth was very prevalent in her eyes.

"Relax, we're here to help you Bianca Di Angelo," Percy spoke with his authoritative voice before turning to the trio of campers. "As for you, you can go on your way and pretend you never saw us demigods. Nobody needs to get hurt tonight."

"Give us back Theseus!" The blonde girl of the group called out with fear partially clear in her voice but determination was the dominant presence.

Percy took a moment to study this one more than he had the rest. So much was going on right now that he just had to give himself a moment to breathe. Something about this girl seemed oddly familiar, right down from her golden princess curls to her vibrant grey eyes, but he couldn't put his finger on it for the life of him.

Grey eyes! His brain screamed before it dawned on him.

This was a child of Athena, and judging by her age and looks, it was also the one they had spared all those years ago before his run-in with the hunters and Hyperion. She looked to be about fourteen now if he had to guess, that would fit the time gap at least, and aside from her height not too much had changed about her except the addition of a more tanned complexion. Percy glanced over to where Flavian had the boy they so desperately wanted and raised a silent brow to the son of Apollo to check on his status.

"He'll live, just a little temporary weakness from the poison my lord." Normally Flavian could joke around with him, however like most of the other Spartans he knew that when it was not just them customs dictated that he show respect to his liege.

As if to emphasize this point, the boy groggily rose to his feet with the son of Apollo's help and took in the Spartans.

"Thanks for uh, saving my life and stuff.." The boy, now known to be Theseus said awkwardly to Percy, who simply nodded in response with a smile.

He gestured for Flavian to let the kid go and as he walked back to his friends Percy turned to make ready to leave. They had dallied long enough and he sensed there were others approaching from the woods at an alarming rate. The moon, now shining above them to signal the night, had dimmed slightly. While there were many reasons that could be behind such a common phenomenon, Percy was content not to take any chances.

The shadows Perseus, walk into them and I will do the rest. A voice commanded in his head. Unmistakably the grim and dark voice of Hades, yet if Percy didn't know any better he'd almost had thought there were some faint hints of excitement and joy present in his words.

As you say lord Hades. He responded before relaying the orders to his men.

Bianca struggled at first, and eventually, Percy simply had Alekos throw her over his shoulder and walk first into the nearest shadowed location. He watched in satisfaction as they disappeared completely and then motioned for the rest of the men and Nico to follow. Once they were all through, Perseus made to follow but a voice from behind him made him stop.

"Wait! Who are you?" The blonde girl, Annabeth if he recalled from all those years ago, had stayed behind a ways while her friends had already begun to help the injured Son of Poseidon back in the direction of Westover Hall.

She had a quizzical look on her face, and he almost laughed at how much it resembled her mother's in that moment. Here was one of the few children of Athena he had chosen to spare over the years and it looked like she had grown up to resemble her mother in more than a few ways. Whether this would be a good thing or a bad thing Perseus was in all honesty interested to see. He supposed he'd have to keep an eye on the camp more now, and the fact that he now knew he had a brother there only helped to amplify that motivation. He smirked at the girl before he pulled out his wallet and removed a twenty dollar bill.

"I'm hurt you don't remember me kid. I'll be frank with you the tooth fairy wasn't all that happy about our last meeting though, so make sure you keep this one hush hush alright?" His smirk grew into a genuine smile before he tossed the twenty into the wind in her direction and backed up into the shadows to follow his men.

~LB~

Annabeth's heart skipped a beat as the men disappeared from view and a memory from her early years jumped to the forefront of her mind from a place it had lied dormant and forgotten for many years. The man had worn the exact same clothes, and though she never remembered seeing his face the voice bore a striking resemblance to that of the man from her youth. This man's twenty dollar gift that at the time she had believed came from the tooth fairy had been a changing point in her life, where she had begun to save up her money she'd need to run away from home 2 years later. She'd never really thought about it until now, and while she could pass this off as simply the forgetfulness of her mortal side from her childhood years, she felt it more likely a trick of the mist.

"Theo, you okay?" She heard Thalia ask the son of Poseidon who was leaned up now against a tree.

This snapped her out of her blast from the past and brought her back to the present. The dark cloaked man and his companions were clearly subject for thought, but at the present, they weren't the most concerning.

"Actually, I'm feeling pretty golden." The other dark haired youth replied as he rose to his feet and kicked his leg out a bit to test it. "I don't know what that guy did but whatever it was it sure helped."

"What were you thinking running ahead alone! Do you know what could've happened if those men hadn't gotten here to save you before us!" Annabeth felt her own voice rise up, concern tainted with slight frustration as she advanced on her friend. Before the boy could respond though, another voice broke from behind the demigods and Grover, their accompanying satyr and Theseus' best friend.

"She's right boy! Only an idiot leaves the strength of the pack behind to pursue a hunt alone. Then again, your stupidity is understandable given your gender." By Thalia's rolled eyes when the definitively feminine voice first spoke Annabeth assumed she knew the speaker, and that she was not her biggest fan.

"What are you doing here Phoebe? I told you and twinkle tiara I'm not joining your cult."

"Peace Thalia, we are not here for you." Now that they were turned around Annabeth could see this new voice belonged to a black haired girl with a silver tiara. She had a hand on the shoulder of another girl whom Annabeth assumed was the former speaker if her seething expression was anything to judge.

"Well, not much else here now is there?" The daughter of Zeus quirked a brow up and unconsciously gripped her spear a little tighter.

"But there was, and we wish to know where they went." A younger girl seemed to appear out of nowhere as she casually walked up from behind the demigods, making Grover almost jump out of his skin in fright and Theseus do a quick double take from his tree.

The tension that followed was slight but noticeable. On the one hand, Annabeth had never seen the lady Artemis before and it was always kind of cool to meet another of the Gods. On the other, the way she spoke just then made it seem like she was here for an interrogation, not a simple talk. What interest did Olympus have in the two children she wondered? Or were they more focused on the men in black? She supposed it was probably the latter with all things considered, after all, they appeared to be the greatest threat - and she'd be one hell of a liar if she tried to say that wasn't one of Olympus' primary focus'.

Annabeth didn't like the initial impression she got of these girls, but regardless she knew she had to be respectful to the goddess. At the same time, though she knew she owed him no true loyalty, she was somewhat loathe to give information on her "tooth fairy". She was young but she wasn't an idiot, and thereby had rationed out long ago the probable reason some ancient being had magically shown up in her childhood bedroom when she was a kid. Either the guy was investigating her at an early age for a sign of threat, or he had come to kill her and changed his mind. The first was rather unlikely, for as much as she hated to admit it she knew that a child of Athena wouldn't be at the top of ancient being's threat list, and the second option coincided with the string of killings of children of Athena over the past thousands of years that had left her mother's cabin all but barren with the exception of her brother Malcolm and a few others.

This left her confused. Should she hate the man for murdering her siblings she never knew over the years or should she show some kind of loyalty to him for sparing her life? She supposed she'd have to decide if or when she saw the man again.

"By her look, this one seems to know something." She heard the voice of the goddess of the hunt speak up, interrupting her thoughts. "If you have words child on what happened here, now is the time to use them."

Annabeth looked up to see everybody staring at her, meaning the goddess must have been referring to her.

Ah, shit.

Would she lie to the goddess to further her own investigation more? Would she tell all she knew and get the man inevitably killed because no one escaped the hunt? Or would she make a little compromise? She found her mouth deciding seconds later of its own accord.

"I don't know much as the figures that came to save the half-bloods we were sent here for were all in black, I manage to catch some things though.." she saw Artemis perk up at this and gesture for her to proceed in an overeager fashion.

"Out with it child!"

"Dr Thorn, the Manticore that had captured the kids kept referring to a great stirring, something about masters, and then he called the shadowed men Spartans... But that's not possible, right?"

The goddess said nothing, for she was already storming back to her hunters.

No cliffhanger this time but we're now in the semi-modern age of PJO! Will be fewer timeskips now, though I do hope to get all the events of PJO in this one book and then maybe HoO in another, we shall see what the future holds! Please make your ways over to my profile and vote on that poll and remember to leave a review if ya liked the chappie!

As always, I hope you all enjoyed! Much love and gods guide you, for the night is dark and full of terrors,

Chrome.