Percy

The scorpion was kind of hard to miss, considering it was stomping through the forest and squealing. It was pretty disgusting close up. I led the Hunters up in the forest. We were going to strike like wolves. Quickly. Silently. Stealthily.

We were in the trees, watching it sleep. Scorpions have very tense nerves, so if we made one noise, one mistaken sound, it'll wake up and attack. I had my hood back up, and it was still raining. I got my single Riptide out. My other copy of the sword was in the sheath on my back, just in case I needed it. So we were in the trees surrounding the animal. I looked at all the Hunters in the trees with me. I spoke in the soft, raspy voice again. I don't know why, I guess I just like it. It makes me feel like a bad-ass.

"No…sudden…moves. Until I say so." The Hunters looked at me. I put my finger to my mouth. Then, I heard a loud, cheerful voice. "Hey guys! Wait up! It's me! Sorry I'm late!"

I turned and saw a girl with straight, black hair and a cheerful face. But she didn't seem like the smart one out the bunch. I saw Blackie running on the branches. All the Hunters were waving their hands over their head and gesturing her to stop and be quiet, but Blackie didn't get it. She focused on what they were saying, and not where she was stepping. She stepped right through a gap in the branches, and took a long fall to the ground. Of course, she screamed and made a loud impact. The scorpion jumped up and roared.

The Hunters cursed in Greek, and got their weapons ready. My heart stopped. They froze up in fear. Hunters never freeze up.

The Scorpion snatched Blackie up in its pincers and opened its grimy disgusting mouth. The Hunters gasped and screamed. Foam and saliva coated its mouth. It threw Blackie in the air to get ready to eat her. As Blackie was flying in the air, I threw the bloody sword as an act of desperation. In a reversal of the normal Jackson luck, it lodged perfectly in the creature's mouth, forcing its mouth past its comfort zone. The Scorpion now had its disgusting mouth locked in the position of wide open.

No matter how dimwitted she might be, Blackie had some tricks up her sleeve too. When the sword landed in the creature's mouth, she still fell towards the mouth. She pushed off the sword in the scorpion's mouth and jumped away from the animal. When she pushed off it, it forced the sword down the Scorpion's esophagus. Considering that the sword is indestructible, let's just say it had some disgusting indigestion problems. It puked up its whole week's worth of food, including armor and leftover warriors in the stomach. I almost lost my lunch also.

After it finished puking, it screamed at us. "NOW!" I yelled.

We jumped out of our positions of the trees and attacked. The scorpion's tail shot up and knocked out like 4 of our warriors. I ran up and it tried to snap me up in its pincers, but I jumped at the last second. I landed on the creature's claw, and ran up its body to the monster's head. Blondie shot an arrow in the creature's eye, and Brownie, awake and healthy, shot one into the other eye. The scorpion roared, and I took my chance. I stabbed the sword in its mouth, the one soft spot of the animal considering it was covered in armor. The scorpion screamed some more and melted into golden dust, prompting me to fall to the ground. There we go. The normal Jackson luck.

The Hunters, instead of congratulating me of how great I was, stared at the creature's vomit. I almost puked again. They were poking through the substance with their swords. Then something moved in there and they all screamed and jumped back. I got Riptide ready, but a figure stood up and looked at their slime covered body. Since it was still raining, I used a wave to give the person a quick shower. It washed the slime off them until it showed a familiar face.

Blondie bowed at the soaking wet…girl. All the other Hunters followed Blondie, and knelt reverently at the figure. The girl tossed back her dark brown hair to show…Reyna.

I backed up from her. Reyna stared at me. She looked pretty much the same as when I had first met her a couple years ago, but her body had fully matured from a 16 year old's, and not like I was complaining. She was leader of the Hunters now? I didn't have time to speak because she drew her sword. "Speak, dark stranger. Who are you?"

I was tempted to throw off my hood and yell 'Hey, Reyna! It's me, Percy Jackson! I'm in hiding because my evil clone took my place, so instead of being the leader of Camp Half-Blood, he kicked my ass and forced me into the forest where I'm acting as a dark vigilante!'

But I had a feeling that wouldn't blow over well.

Instead, I drew my sword and got ready to fight. I had to keep my façade up as a dark, fearless, protector. It was good to see her again…I'm not going to lie. Honestly, I was really curious to see how Reyna fought. I've never fought her before. Blondie stood up and put her hand on Reyna's shoulder to calm her down, but Reyna, being Reyna, shrugged her off and charged at me.

I grinned and charged at her. She leapt over my head and kicked me in the back of my skull. I started seeing spots and stumbled forward, but I sensed her trying to finish me off. I parried her strike behind me without looking, and turned around so we were face to face, at a standstill. She feinted at my side, and I fell for it. She took advantage and kicked me hard in the face even if she didn't see it. I staggered and she tried to stab me in the chest, but I caught the sword. I'm talking about she was stabbing me, and my hands went on both sides of the sword and stopped it. I threw it to the side. She was defenseless. But she's a Hunter. And more importantly, a Roman. She's been fighting all her life, so she's literally an expert at technically 18 years old. I took up sword-fighting at 12, because my history teacher tossed a random pen at me. This was a challenge that I like. Except for the talking part. It's so serious. She faked a kick and backflipped away from me, and in the motion of her second flip, grabbed her sword from the ground and landed, armed and poised.

"You are an interesting adversary. Speak, stranger. Who are you? You do not answer, I will take you as an enemy and will kill you."

"I dare you."

Reyna growled and tried for a high strike. I parried and tried for a thrust. She, as expected, twisted her body and knocked the sword out of my hand. Of course, being a die hard Roman, she tried to finish me off. She tried a side swipe that I matrixed under, and kicked her legs out from under her. She fell in the mud gracefully (sarcasm). I jumped over her and slid dramatically to get Riptide. Luckily, if I didn't slide, I would've been dead because she had thrown a sword at me when she was falling that barely went over my nose. If it had been an inch lower, I would have some serious trouble smelling Mom's cooking next Christmas.

I slid in the mud, got Riptide and jumped up. My senses told me it was about 4:30 in the morning. The rain wasn't slowing up, but I could smell the decrease of humidity in the air. Reyna was weaponless in the mud, and I was perfectly armed. I walked over to her and she looked defeated. Dirt on her face, and rain washing it off, piercing silver eyes, wet hair, and a determined look on her face, she muttered, "Finish it."

I looked at her with my hood on. I was a hooded vigilante. That doesn't mean I have to change my personality. I walked over and took her sword out the tree it lodged in. I tossed it to her and she caught it in one hand. Showoff.

She stood up quickly, and charged me. I just stood there. When she was an inch away from cutting my head off, I made a decision. I took off my hood and stared in her eyes. She literally stopped her strike when the sword was touching my neck. "P-Percy Jackson! What…what are…you were really fighting me even though we were allies?" She sheathed her sword, but the murderous look in her eyes didn't falter.

"Hey, couldn't resist a good challenge." Reyna cracked a half smile, but it faded just as quickly. She hugged me tightly, then let go just as quickly. This girl got issues.

"I apologize. I forgot that I am with the Hunters. Team, can you go find me some food in this forest? I need some conversing time with this…male." The Hunters nodded as if they approved of the usage of the derogatory title of 'male' and scrambled throughout the forest. Reyna sniffed the air.

"That means you, Jessica." I heard a sigh, then a rustling of leaves, then silence.

Reyna fixed her silver eyes on me. I'm pretty sure that's an effect of being a Hunter. "So, Jackson. Want to tell me why you are running around the forest saving people from Giant scorpions and fighting your friends? In a dark, vigilante outfit?"

"Long story. What's more important, is why you're with the Hunters."

"An opportunity I couldn't resist. Having your combat abilities and physical attributes enhanced, working under Diana, having immortality, making good companionship with girls in similar situations, doing good in the world, what could be a better opportunity?"

"Friends. Family. Living a good life. Go to high school. Graduate. Find someone you love, and settle down. That's what would be better. If you really love this, you can do this on your own or make your own team."

Reyna looked uncomfortable. She looked like she would just as soon hug me as she would gut me with her knife I know she keeps on her person. "Let's just say, people don't think good of me anymore. My reputation has been tarnished."

"So you went into hiding. That's not the solution. Fix your reputation. You can't run-"

"Like you? Do not judge me Jackson, especially when you're in a similar situation."

I shut up. I hated it when I talked to females and they always won the argument.

"Plus, the person that I…love…is out of my life. That's a negative." We both knew she was talking about Jason. It was probably Octavian and his cowardly ass who spread rumors and framed Reyna for something. Everyone started to hate her. Jason went with Piper and I know they got married right at 18. And they went into battle against Perseus and got seriously injured. Forced out her praetorship, she couldn't take being one of the pack, having no say in politics and what happens. And being banned from missions. So Artemis' Roman form, Diana, offers her this position where she can be immortal and do all that, she can't help but take it. It promises adventure and leadership, her two specialties. And she gets herself over her head facing a huge Scorpion by herself and gets eaten. And I save her. So here we are.

Reyna was studying my expression. "You are an intelligent…man, Percy. I wish Rome would have more warriors and people like you."

I grinned. I screamed in the forest, "HEY EVERYBODY! Reyna just called me a man! Sound the alarms! Throw the parties! WOOOHHHH!"

Reyna face-palmed herself and whispered to get me to shut up. She smacked me and I was laughing. She tried to hold it in, but she burst out laughing at me too. I had that effect on girls. Especially pretty ones.

Reyna laughed again. "You are crazy, Jackson." Then she looked at me with the weirdest look. I had seen that look before…on Rachel's face before I left for the last Titan War a few years ago…and she kissed me. Oh, Hades no.

She leaned in and our faces were inches apart when I scooted clumsily under her, knocking her to the ground and tripping myself simultaneously. Graceful. Reyna stared at me.

"Jackson…." She stared at me with those silver eyes like she was making a decision whether or not to tell me. Then her eyes dimmed with relief. "…why are you out here? What's your story?"

I'm not going to lie; I was relieved that something didn't happen either. Artemis…I mean Diana….would've taken away her immortality, and I would've cheated on Annabeth even though we're not technically together.

"Umm, someone made an evil copy of me. He calls himself Perseus. Looks just like me…except…evil. He has his own agenda, he's framed me for the crimes he committed, and now he's at the Greek camp taking my own spot. And I'm out here watching him and planning to gradually show everybody that he's the fake and I'm the real one."

Reyna made a face. She didn't even seem fazed by the notion of someone cloning me and twisting my pure-hearted nature in the clone. Her only comment was:

"Gradually? Hate to break it to you, Jackson, but gradually never hurts. You have to take the initiative and take it from Perseus if you want your life and your friends back. In return for all the favors you've done for me over the years, I will help you with your quest."

I was hesitant. Someone like Reyna was a loose cannon. She was unpredictable, and that's the bad kind. You never know what she's going to do, kiss you or knife you, hug you or hurt you. But the look in her eyes showed me that I didn't have much of a choice. I sighed.

"Fine. But after all this blows over, we're going back and restoring your reputation."

Reyna smiled sadly. "Thank you, Jackson, but I'm afraid that's right next to impossible."

I grinned. "If there's anything I've learned from my whole life and dealing with you, it's that nothing's impossible. Nothing. If you apply yourself, the sky's the limit. Actually, Jupiter might shoot you down out of jealousy, so probably only the stratosphere."

Reyna laughed softly, and gave me a smile that caught me off-guard. She had a great smile. And she never showed it off.

"So it's set. But we can't do this alone-"

"What? Sure we can-"

"Calm down, Jackson. I'll make a couple calls, take a leave from the Hunters and help you out. We'll have a team going in no time."

She looked at me with that familiar determination in her eyes.

"Just give me a few minutes. And the team's going to need some of those suits like you have on, because those are kind of bad-ass. So order them."

I sighed.