Episode 8: The Hunter or The Hunted Part 3

Synopsis: When a mysterious group of assassins puts Star on their hit-list, Star enlists the help of Marco and a few people from Echo Creek Academy to hunt them down first. But lurking in the back, someone more dangerous than a group of hitmen is waiting.

Special thanks to the betas of course:

PaintedPetrichor
Sabrina06

Credit to kprovido from DeviantArt for the cover art

Enjoy!

Everybody watched as Star stirred the cauldron. She stopped for a moment, letting her arms rest as the viscous greenish-yellow fluid swirled in the middle. The contents inside the cauldron stopped twirling in a circle as the top covered with froth and bubbles. Star sniffed over top of the cauldron, reeling back and covering her nose when a pungent, rotten scent wafted under her nose.

"Okay Marco, ach—I"—Star sputtered into the vat—"I think it's almost ready," Star said, hacking her lungs out.

"Are you sure?" Marco asked. "According to the recipe, the mixture is supposed to smell like a dead, decaying skunk."

"Come smell it yourself." Star pressed her hand against the back of Janna's head.

Janna inhaled the caustic fluid deeply. She nipped the air above the cauldron a couple of times and said, "Yep, that's dead skunk." She wafted the air towards her nose once more. "There's a certain nuance and texture unique to a skunk." Janna raised the rising steam with her hand. "Ces't magnifique."

Marco peered into the bubbling cauldron, then back to Janna and said, "Janna, stop being weird."

"It's only weird if you let it be weird," Janna said with a shrug.

"O… kay," Star said. "Marco, what's next?"

"Add one drop of sodium acetate, and if we followed the instructions properly, we should have our own set of handmade grenades." Marco slid a flask across the table, handing it off to Star.

Star held the flask over the cauldron and positioned her arm to empty the entirety of its contents.

When Marco saw a rush of acid rush through the flask, he intervened, rushing to Star and twisting her hand straight before anything came out.

"One drop, Star." Marco took an eye dropper and siphoned a bit of sodium acetate from the flask. Holding the eyedropper over the cauldron, Marco dribbled a glob of the acid into it. Bubbles rose from the cauldron as the contents curdled into a wretched, brown mixture.

Star scooped up a portion with a ladle, pouring it into a spherical container.

"I'm not sure if this'll work," Marco said. "Janna doesn't have a very good track record when it comes to these things." A massive bubble floated over the cauldron. It flew up to the ceiling and popped when it touched. "Like, at all…"

"Come on, Marco, have a little faith in me," Janna pleaded.

Marco recalled the last time he placed his faith in Janna. He shut his eyes tight, instinctively shivering. He could still feel the bruises from long ago throbbing on top of his skin.

"Let's find out," Star said, plugging a hole in the container. As Star motioned her arm to shake the container, Marco pushed her hand down with a stern look.

"Outside the shed."

"Oh right, yeah, that probably makes sense." Star motioned the group out, before vigorously shaking the sphere with her other hand. A bit of foam seeped out the lid. Star tossed the container in the air.

The sphere exploded with a magnificent, blinding purple hue.

Star rubbed her eyes to clear her vision. Marco pressed on his still-ringing ears. Everyone else, aside from Jackie, laid on the ground, writhing in pain. Jackie scrubbed the inside of her ear with her pinky, before giving off a lackadaisical shrug.

Star held her wand up high, as a pale, shimmering light emanated from the wand, shining in all directions. Everybody stopped writhing in pain as Star kept the wand powered. The ringing and muddled vision disappeared.

"Can everybody hear me?" Star asked in a booming voice.

Everybody nodded as a murmur of agreement echoed from the middling crowd.

"Fantastic!" Star squealed in delight. "Let's go make more!"

"Ooh, can I take some home?" Ferguson asked.

"I don't see why not!" Star said, as she began to walk back.

Janna followed behind her and said, "I wanna see what happens if we add the purple stuff."

"Let's find out, then…"

As Star and the others re-entered the shed, Marco stepped towards the spot where the spherical explosive detonated. He picked up a small bit of debris off the ground. Marco examined the singed edges on the piece, rubbing off the dirt it had picked up from the ground.

"Heh, it worked," Marco muttered, "Well, what do ya know."

Marco, Star, and the others gathered in front of the house. Ferguson and Alfonso filled plastic bags with the spherical grenades. Jackie and Janna looked around the ruined front yard, from the burnt vegetation to the faint coating of spray paint still visible despite the intense scrubbing. The rustling leaves from the tree on the property to the right caught Marco's attention.

"So, now that we have enough bombs to turn Echo Creek into a crater, what now?" Jackie asked.

"I don't know." Star lowered her shoulders, reaching her arms into the bag of grenades and pilfering a few. "I liked Marco's idea of booby trapping the house."

"But that'll take us nowhere," Janna said, "they'll just find somewhere else to assassinate you two instead. I mean, do you really want to spend the rest of your life cooped-up inside Marco's house?"

"Well, Marco's house is pretty cool…"

Star noticed Janna's disgruntled expression.

"…but you're right, we have to find a permanent solution to this." Star scanned her surroundings. "They could be anywhere, how do we even begin trying to find them?"

Jackie stepped close to Star, kicking away bits of debris. "Well, let's start by thinking like an assassin."

Star's ears perked up. "Go on…"

"You say these guys will go to any lengths to assassinate you, right? If I were trying to hunt you down right now, where should I be in order to get the best angle on you?" Jackie looked towards the rooftops on the other side of the street. She kept estimates of the distance from the rooftop to Star's position inside her head.

"Last night, someone was trying to snipe us from the house across the street." Star powered her wand. "I don't see anyone there."

Alfonso raised his shrill voice and said, "If they have laser rifles, maybe they have cloaking technology as well."

"Good point, Alfonso," Star replied, holding her wand across her body. "Maybe they're waiting in sight, waiting for me to let down my guard. Here's a little something for you, mister!" Star waved her wand horizontally. A massive airwave flew towards the house across the street, shattering the windows and ripping a few shingles from the roof. Nothing else fell down.

"Okay, maybe they're not on the roof." Star pointed her wand towards the damaged house. "Repairo Fixiatus!" A pink glow radiated out of the wand as the window shards reassembled themselves back into a single pane of glass. The shingles rose from the ground and attached themselves back onto the roof.

"Why didn't you do that when we nearly got arrested at the mall?" Janna asked.

Someone from the house tapped on the glass. The window pane collapsed into multiple pieces.

"It's a work in progress," Star said, as she shrugged.

Marco kept his eyes on the rustling tree. It's not particularly windy today, is it, he thought. "I think there's something in the trees," Marco announced.

"Really?" Star questioned as a pink beam fired out of her wand. The beam struck the tree, setting it a blaze. The leaves and branches disintegrated into ash. Nothing else did, however. "Nope, nothing in the trees."

"Good guess though, Marco," Jackie said.

Marco's smile beamed as he savoured the compliment.

"Where else can they be?" Star asked no one in particular.

"Maybe they're right behind us?" Ferguson piped in.

Everyone else looked over their shoulders, only to find the wall of Marco's house behind them.

"What? It's just a suggestion."

"Come on guys, think," Star pleaded, "where else could an assassin get a clear shot on us?"

Nobody noticed a massive surge of electricity flowing through the power lines.

"Have we checked all the rooftops?" Janna asked.

The lights inside the Diaz residence flickered on and off.

"That would take too long," Marco said. "Honestly, we don't even know what kind of weaponry these guys are equipped with. Who knows, maybe the assassins don't even need to be in our general vicinity to kill us."

"Still, it's better to check, right?" Jackie asked, peering over the distant rooftops.

Marco pursed his lips together and rubbed the back of his head. "I guess you have a point." He took a moment to scan through the entire neighbourhood. "But where do we start—"

"How about, everywhere." Star powered her wand and fired rainbow ballistic missiles out of it. Marco and the rest pressed their hands against their ears instinctively. The rockets struck every bush, densely-covered tree and bit of cover that could conceal a person all throughout the neighbourhood. Dirt sprouted out from the ground as explosions filled the street. Fires sprouted out from the impacted spots as people went out to investigate. One of them collapsed from a heart attack after seeing all the destruction.

"Okay"—Star shoved her wand into her bag—"I think I just blasted every last bit of cover in the neighbourhood and as far as I can see…" Star stood up on her toes to get a better view. "No assassins anywhere."

"Oh gosh, my house is on fire!" Someone across the neighbourhood screamed.

"Alfonso, come with me!" Marco and Alfonso rushed over to the house. "I'll be right back."

Ferguson shuffled a bit closer to Star. "So, I've been meaning to ask you for a long while now Star, um, I know you and Marco are just friends right? So, I was wondering, if you're not busy with assassin-y stuff on Saturday, maybe we could like, catch a movie or something, or—"

"Alright, so there's no assassins at the moment," Janna said, lightly shoving Ferguson aside. Ferguson tilted his head down with a frown. "At the very least, now there's nowhere any assassins can hide if they try again."

"I guess," Star said, rocking her wand back and forth.

"Maybe they're still behind us," Ferguson piped in.

Jackie chuckled and said, "Yeah, like an assassin is just gonna materialize right behind us—"

The crackling of electricity split the air. Everyone in its vicinity turned their heads over to the roof of the Diaz house as a bolt of lightning shot out the black antenna. It fired straight up as someone emerged from the bolt.

Star watched as the person in a red suit rag-dolled down the roof of the house, rolling down to the ground with a hard thud.

A rifle slid towards Jackie's feet. Jackie picked it up, gazing over the chrome exterior of the laser rifle.

When the assassin trudged back up, Star fired a red, cylindrical projectile straight at the assassin. The assassin collided with Marco's garage, denting the exterior as Star heard a barely audible crack. He slid down the garage and collapsed into a heap.

Star reeled back, clenching her teeth at the sight, while Jackie and Janna rushed over to the assassin. Ferguson kept staring at the dent in the garage. Jackie pressed two fingers underneath his throat.

"Yup, he's still alive, Star." Jackie kept tabs on the assassin.

Star kept her eyes on the assassin. It wore the same red suit from last night's assassination attempt. The same red fabric; the same mask.

Bits of shattered blue glass lay beside the seemingly unconscious body.

"Take him to the shed," Janna said, "now."

Percy stared at the swirling vortex forming in the middle of the table. Bits and scraps of metal gravitated towards the center of invisible spiral, floating aimlessly. Percy picked up one of the munchkins off the floor and held it above the gravity-less field. When he released it, the munchkin waddled its arms uselessly as it approached the center.

Percy ignored the wailing noise from the munchkin. "I see, so the displacement field makes objects gravitate towards the center. Cool."

A mechanical arm emerged out of Percy's back. Percy looked over his shoulder, noticing the darkened wire strands embedded in his skin. He felt a ticklish sensation as the wires wiggled inside his skin.

"Now, let see if this function is finally working." With a single thought, Percy issued an order to the mechanical arm. A blood-red light glowed from the palm, before it flickered once. A digital copy of Percy phased into existence.

"Hey, it worked," both Percys said in unison.

The two Percys glared at each other and said, "Stop it."

"Stop what?" both asked.

The copy let out a hearty chuckle. "Sorry, couldn't help myself," the digital replica said.

"I know," the real Percy replied. "It never gets old." Percy motioned the copy to move to the side. He powered up his mechanical arm once more, aiming it out at the window. "Hey, P-2, can you test something out for me?"

The copy nodded.

A blast of air shot out from the palm of the arm. Every vehicle, shrub, and piece of trash rose from the ground. Everything collided in the center of the parking lot. A few bystanders who stopped to stare at the commotion were vacuumed by the field.

"Now, I don't recall, are you still equipped with propulsion shoes?" Percy asked.

The copy blasted off the ground, propelled by a rush of air shooting out of the soles of its shoes.

"Think you can navigate through the anti-gravity field?"

"I might as well try," the digital copy said, flying out the window.

"Good luck!" Percy pondered other ways to use the digital copies. A holographic notification blind-sided Percy. He opened it and an overload of information popped up in front of his eyes. Percy swiped to the right until he reached a summary of the report:

Unit-007 condition unknown. Unit lost.

"Well that ain't good." Percy skimmed through the report.

Outside, the copy struggled to maintain any form of control as debris smashed on its face. As it rubbed its bruised face, a decrepit minivan struck the copy. The digital replica phased out of existence.

Percy snickered quietly, keeping his eyes on the gravity field. The mechanical arm's palm flickered once more, constructing a new copy, as eager as the previous one.

"See if you can last more than ten seconds in there," Percy ordered his clone, pointing out the window.

Janna wrapped the chain one more time around the assassin sitting in the chair. After she looped it, Janna struggled to put a padlock to bind the chain. Janna stepped back from the chair, taking a look at the chained up hostage in front of her.

"Think you put enough locks in there, Janna?" Jackie asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You're right, Jackie"—Star held her wand above the assassin, summoning more chains to wrap around the bound hostage—"More locks!"

The assassin sputtered, coughing out hard against the chains.

"Oh…" Star waved her wand, removing multiple layers of chains wrapped around the assassin's body. "Never mind, I think there's enough locks".

Marco and Alfonso popped in from outside. Marco dusted off his singed, ragged sweater. "Next time Star, warn everybody if you're gonna blast"—Marco stopped dead in his tracks and stared at the body clad in red, bound to a wooden chair. "What did we miss?"

"One of the assassins happened to show up, out of nowhere," Janna said, "and now he's our hostage." Janna tapped on his head lightly, watching it wobble.

"Woah," Marco mouthed under his breath. "Looking at it up close, kinda looks… inhuman? Is it even breathing?"

Janna pressed two fingers underneath the assassin's collarbone and replied, "Yeah, it's still alive."

Jackie kept her gaze aimed towards the assassin. "So what now? We have one of them here, what should we do with it?"

"We should take off his mask, reveal his face to the world," Alfonso suggested, stepping up to the bound assassin.

"Yeah, rip his mask off," Ferguson said. "So we can know whose face we're gonna punch in!"

"Yeah." Star stood in front of the assassin, grabbing the edge of the mask from the bottom. "What kind of monster would harass Marco and me, and put the school in danger?" Star yanked the mask off in one fell swoop.

The assassin's brunette bangs fell over her eyes. She struggled to lift her head up as she writhed in searing pain.

"Sabrina?!" everyone yelped in unison.

"Oh jeez," Sabrina muttered, "this is kinda awkward now, isn't it." Sabrina shifted her eyes towards her wrist. She chuckled as she found nothing attached to it. Yes, it's gone.

"That's one way to put it," Marco said. Silence hung in the room for what seemed like hours. Everyone kept their eyes peeled towards Sabrina.

"There's a lot of questions that need answering right now," Marco said.

"Like, why are you and your assassin friends trying to kill us?" Star asked.

"Well—"

"Who are you working for?" Marco asked.

"I can explain—"

"And how did you just pop out of electricity earlier?" Jackie asked.

"You see—"

"And where did you get that tacky red su—"

"Can you just let me talk?!" Sabrina heaved a heavy breath. "Okay, where do I begin?"

"Let's start with the whole, guys-in-red-suits deal," Marco suggested.

"Fair enough," Sabrina said. "So, for the record, I don't have anything against you and I don't want to kill either of you."

"Then why have you tried to—"

"It was all Brittney's idea!" Sabrina sputtered. "This is all her fault! It was her stupid idea to turn the cheer squad into the 'Kill Star Butterfly' club."

Everyone else stared at her, dumbfounded.

"Wait, what?"

Sabrina let out a deep breath and said, "It's been Sabrina and the spirit team that have been trying to assassinate you, Star."

"So all of the ambushes, the snipers, and the spray painting, that was all Brittney?" Star asked.

"Yep." Sabrina nodded before stopping in place. "Actually, I'm not sure about the spray painting. Brittney gets really moody if paint gets on her, so I don't know about that."

Star couldn't think of anything meaningful to say. A slight chill rushed down Star's spine as she took a moment to assess everything. "Why, though? And where did she get all that laser stuff?"

"Remember when you and Janna stole Brittney's credit card and maxed it out in the span of an hour?" Sabrina prodded.

"Well, it wasn't so much as stealing it, as it was Brittney literally throwing it at us," Janna said, reminiscing about that day, "but go on…"

"She was really peeved. She wouldn't shut up about you two." Sabrina stared down at the wooden floor boards. "She wanted revenge. Badly. So then this guy showed up, giving her all these advanced, futuristic weapons for free, practically."

"Who?" Marco inquired.

"I don't know, some purple-haired hobo or whatever."

"Purple-haired, hobo?" Marco clutched his chest, around the area where a bolt of lightning had struck him a while ago. A certain sensation drove down on his back, almost as if something was crushing down on him. Marco turned his eyes towards Star; they both stared at each other with whimpering, trembling eyes.

"Yeah. I don't know what his deal is, but he gave Brittney a bunch of futuristic tech." Sabrina darted her eyes towards Jackie. "And then she distributed all of it to everyone in the spirit club. She promised us free Hexon gift cards if we helped her out with this."

"So you've been hunting Star and Marco for a gift card?" Jackie asked.

"If you put it like that, it really sounds bad, doesn't it?" Sabrina said. "At this point I don't really care about the gift cards, I just wanted to move on with my life. The gadgets Brittney got started messing with us. They started to function on its own, activating randomly and stuff. I kept trying to tell everyone that Star wasn't worth it anymore, but no one would listen. That's when I decided to take matters into my own hands."

"What do you mean?" Star asked.

"Well, I figured the earlier you died, the earlier I'd stop having to deal with Brittney. Maybe she'd be less overbearing in general. So, I decided to try and assassinate you myself." Sabrina bit her lower lip, clenching her teeth tight. "Sorry. It's nothing personal, though, I swear."

Star waved her wand in front of Sabrina, making all the chains fastened around her disappear. Sabrina stretched her arms up high. "Is there anyone else coming?"

"No, not that I know of," Sabrina responded. "Brittney and the rest of the cheer squad are probably at Hexon right now, discussing 'strategies' and 'plans.'"

"If that's the case," Marco said, "then I think we can deal with Brittney and the cheer squad fairly easily. Sabrina, you have Brittney's number?"

Sabrina nodded.

"Then text her; tell her Star and I are coming alone. 'Rest of you, better carry as many of those grenades as you can. We're going to Hexon to deal with her once and for all. "

"Umm, Marco, I'm not sure if we can match Brittney's fire power with a few measly grenades," Ferguson said.

"The grenades will only be for an emergency," Marco reassured everyone. "If we do this right, we won't even have to use a single one."

"Wait, what are you planning, Marco?" Star asked.

"Well, Star, it's something I like to call, 'Hank Innocent's Grand Gambit.'"

"Oh yeah, from the new Hank Innocent movie," Jackie said with a wry smile. "Who's going to play the 'bait'?"

"Leave that to me and Star," Marco said. "Star, do you mind if we bring Manny along?"

Star shrugged.

Hexon employees forced crowds away from the parking lot. The employees couldn't give a reasonable explanation for cordoning off the parking lot, aside from 'Mrs. Wong's request.'

Star and Marco walked down the Hexon mall parking lot side-by-side. Cars lined up in rows, filling up acres of space with parked vehicles. Decent cover for any assassin or soldier. For such a massive space crowded with vehicles, aside from the odd person or two, the vast expanse felt empty, devoid of life. Wind blew straight at their faces, as various strewn flyers flew past. Still, Star and Marco kept walking.

Marco hoped he gave enough details to Sabrina to text to Brittney. Hexon Parking Lot, targets out in the open, Marco specified earlier. 'Hank Innocent's Grand Gambit' requires specific timing and positioning to pull off properly; otherwise Marco and Star would be executed on the spot. With that in mind, Marco kept Star an inch away at all times.

Finally, a red-suited assassin, armed with their signature laser rifle materialized in front of Star and Marco.

Let's do this, Marco thought.

Star readied her wand, letting the insignia glow bright and aiming it at the assassin.

Multiple laser pointers from every direction targeted Marco and Star.

"Put the wand down," The red-suited figure commanded.

Star peered towards Marco. "Marco—"

"Do as they say, trust me."

Star dropped the wand, holding her hands out and the wand hit the pavement.

"Kick it over."

Star pushed the wand over with her foot. She kept her attention to the assassin, who bent down towards the wand.

Another red dot pointed at the assassin. In the back, Sabrina struggled to keep her aim steady with the laser pen.

"I wouldn't even try to pick it up if I were you," Star suggested.

The assassin in front of Star and Marco lowered their rifle down to their hip.

"Things get pretty weird when someone else picks up the wand," Star said, "and besides, you don't want the wand, do you? You want me."

The assassin aimed down the sights, keeping it pointed straight towards Star in particular.

"Yeah, Brittney, this why you're doing all this, right?" Star asked disingenuously. "This was all about me from the start." Star breathed in deeply, ignoring the red dots on her face. "So, what are your goons waiting for?"

"If I had to be honest…" The assassin unmasked herself, revealing her snobbish face to the two. "I'd rather see you suffer first. It's the only thing money can't buy," Brittney said.

"I should've known it was you." Marco tilted his head towards Brittney. "But I shouldn't be surprised; you are Echo Creek's richest snob, of course you'd have access to some high-end futuristic tech."

"My wealth is a blessing and a curse." Brittney brought her fingernails up to her face, casually examining them. "It's pretty easy for people to take it and abuse it, you know."

Star slumped her shoulders, breathing out a heavy sigh. "Look, I'm sorry, okay. I didn't know there was a limit on the card. Still, Janna and I shouldn't have bought anything with it in the first place." She pointed to her wand lying beside Brittney's feet. "If you pass me that wand, I can whip up as much gold as you want. What do you say?"

Brittney tapped underneath her chin, staring upwards feigning thought. She aimed down the sights of her rifle. "Nah."

"Seriously!" Marco screamed. "Star can probably make billions of dollars' worth of gold appear out of thin air, but you won't take it?

"Diaz, it's the principle, not the money." Brittney pumped the rifle. "Star wronged me, and now she needs to be punished appropriately. Which means you both get fried by lasers."

Marco didn't dare to move; he rolled his eyes to every infrared beam pointing towards his face.

"I'd like to think I'm doing Echo Creek a favour for getting rid of you," Brittney said. "One less loud, annoying, over-bearing person to ruin everyone's lives. I would say I'm gonna miss you, but let's be honest, I won't. And sorry Diaz, it's nothing personal. I already cleared the area, you're the only witness left." The loud buzzing sound emanated from her rifle. "Either of you have any last words?"

"Well, if you ever try this assassin shtick again, please remember one thing," Marco replied.

"A laser pointer works both ways."

The red laser dots cleared away from Marco and Star's faces, waving frantically in the air.

On the outskirts of the parking lot, Janna smashed a lead pipe over one of the assassins, knocking her out.

On the other side, Jackie tossed one of the homemade grenades, primed and ready, off beside her target. In the midst of the explosion, she grabbed the laser gun from behind, ripping it away from the assassin. Jackie pointed it straight to her target, incapacitating her.

After spotting Chantelle close to Brittney, Sabrina tossed the pen aside and pounced on the unsuspecting assassin.

Brittney turned around and cringed when she heard the sounds of a Manticore roaring in the air.

Marco rushed for Brittney. He pushed her rifle off to the side and shoved her off to the left.

Star rolled for her wand, grabbing it by the handle. "Rainbow Chains of The Alicorns!" A multi-coloured beam shot out of her wand, ensnaring Brittney in streams of rainbows. When the beam sputtered out, Star watched Brittney struggle against the rainbow-coloured cocoon.

Marco and Star towered over the ensnared assassin wearing hearty grins.

"W-what just happened?" Brittney asked, slurring her words.

"Hank Innocent's Grand Gambit," Marco responded. "In a situation with multiple attackers, all Star and I had to do was keep everyone distracted, while the others pinpoint the snipers. A fairly simple concept, but hey, tactics over technology, right?"

The rest of Star's team gathered around her, bringing in their incapacitated targets. Manny held onto three of the assassins by his teeth. Jackie, Janna and Sabrina pulled in their respective targets.

Ferguson and Alfonso struggled to drag their target, as Brittney's crony fidgeted and thrashed around in their grasp, screaming in the process.

"I think that's all of them," Jackie said.

"This isn't over yet," Brittney shouted, "This isn't—"

Star compelled the cocoon to wrap around Brittney's mouth. As it covered Brittney's mouth, the only sounds coming from the girl were muffled shrieks and obscenities.

"So, what do we do about these guys now?" Janna asked.

Ferguson raised his hand. "Oh, maybe we can—"

Chantelle's body convulsed, as Sabrina lost her grip on her.

"Oh no," Sabrina muttered, treading back.

Soon, every member from Brittney's squad, excluding Sabrina, dropped to their knees. Each of them groaned in searing pain as a few either clutched their foreheads or dropped to a fetal position. Even Brittney untangled herself from her bonds, as the red mask formed around her face, almost suffocating her.

Marco and Star stepped back, as masks covered the faces of the assassins. Their wrists glowed sky blue as their bodies convulsed in weird directions.

"What is going on here?" Star and Marco asked.

As Brittney's squads' screams of agony rose to a crescendo, a bolt of lightning struck the ground with a sudden roar. Out from the billowing smoke, a familiar, purple-haired figure appeared.

Star and Marco immediately set themselves up for a fight, as Brittney and her squad stood behind Percy.

Marco shook, struggling to steady himself. Brittney and the cheer squad's blue, glowing eyes sent a shiver down his spine.

"If you want to do something right, you gotta do it yourself," Percy said with a hearty chuckle.

Override engaged.

Well, that was something. I hope that was kinda fun. I guess there wasn't as much hunting as I thought there would be in this episode. Ah well, more violence for the next part.

Thanks for Reading!