Allo everyone! So...I finished the Hunger Games today and OH MY GOD IT WAS AMAZING! But, I think it changed my writing a bit. So, if this chapter is a bit Hunger-Gamey (hehe), I'm sorry. Thanks to my awesome reviewers - Jess Marilyn, Ravenhearst, and Linzerj! You guys keep the creative juices flowing (well...you and Mountain Dew).

I would also like to thank Forky the Pitchfork, who I know will come and poke me to no end until I update. So, thank you my pointy friend. :) Enjoy chapter 26!

~26~26~26~26~

She ran to the arena, shaking the falling rain out of her face, hoping and praying that her parents were safe. She had a sneaking suspicion that the person passing all the information to Gaea and Kronos was one that was inside their inner circle. After all, only someone with priviledged knowledge would know how to get past the barrier. Someone who understood the physics and mechanics of it all. Someone extremely smart.

Someone like Ryder.

Cursing her stupidity, Hannah ran faster. Her still bare feet slapped against the pavement, slipping and sliding on the wet ground. Someone once told her that the weather in the Nexus was directly related to the Daimyo's mood. It had rained four times since she'd arrived, including this most recent shower. Hopefully the rain would dampen the chimera's fire.

She reached the edge of the arena, looking down just in time to see the chimera erupt into sparks. She leapt down the steps, Micah's quiver bouncing on her back. Hannah jumped down and landed between her father and Ryder, stringing an arrow back and aiming it at Ryder. The red head had a look of surprise on his face, and he held his hands up. Suddenly, everyone started talking at once.

"Hannah, what are you doing?"

"It's Ryder, he's on our side."

"Come on, Achilles," Ryder laughed. "It's me."

"Only two people could understand the complexities of this barrier," she said, her voice low and menacing. "And one of them is dead."

"Hannah, what are you talking about?" Bruce asked.

"The only way monsters could be getting through is by someone on the inside manipulating the barrier." She didn't take her eyes off Ryder, nor did she lower her bow.

Ryder actually laughed. "And you think it's me?"

Hannah just glared at him, her lip curling slightly in disgust.

"Please," he went on. "Micah was the only one smart enough for that. I caught him at it one night. He was the one that–oof!"

Hannah had forgone the bow and arrow and had simply punched Ryder in the face, sending him sprawling in the dirt and the mud. As he tried to get back to his feet, she pounced on him, a knee on his chest. She grabbed the collar of his shirt and yelled right in his face.

"How dare you pin that accusation on him, you piece of shit! He was still a child! He never would have done that!"

Percy and Annabeth tried to pull her off the Scottish boy, but she pushed them away and hit Ryder across the face again, opening up a gash above his eye. She hauled him to his feet and pushed him at Bruce, who caught and spun him to face Hannah.

"Admit it," she told him. "In front of us, before we send you to be imprisoned."

Blinking blood from his eyes, Ryder turned and looked up at Bruce, hoping for some encouragement from his friend. "Bruce, come on," he said. "You don't believe her, do you?"

Bruce stared down at him, his face expressionless. "You're the reason Micah died," he answered quietly. Only those who knew Bruce really well knew that when his voice got quiet, he was really pissed.

Ryder's jovial smile dropped into a scowl directed at Hannah. "You can't stop them," he hissed. "Kronos and Gaea will take over this world, as well as ours. You'll see. They won't show mercy, least of all to you, bitch!" He went to spit in her face, but Bruce knocked him out with a quick elbow to the head before Ryder could work of the saliva.

"Thanks, Bruce," Hannah murmured. She couldn't look away from Ryder.

Bruce nodded and bent to secure Ryder's hand and feet together. Percy and Annabeth each put a hand on Hannah's shoulder, offering both comfort and restraint.

"Why don't you go back to the apartment," Annabeth told her. "We'll take care of this. You look like you could do with a little Raph time."

'Raph time' was the furthest thing from her mind, but she turned and wordlessly retrieved her bow and quiver from where she'd thrown them. She stalked up to the arena steps, mulling over what Bruce had said.

Ryder was the one who let the minotaur through. The horde of monsters through. The horde of monsters that killed Micah. Bruce was absolutely right.

It was all Ryder's fault.

Everything.

Hannah stopped walking, lurching forward slightly as her feet froze. Her heart started drumming faster, echoing in her arms and ears. Almost unconsciously, she reached for an arrow in her quiver and set it against the bow, simultaneously turning and aiming it right at Ryder. Percy turned just as she let the arrow loose, sending it hurtling into Ryder's shoulder. He jumped and screamed, coming to because of the pain. She heard her companions screaming her name, trying to get her to stop as she nocked another arrow. She let two more fly, one in his other shoulder and the second in his knee, before her parents wrenched the weapons out of her hands. She barely felt their hands on her, holding her back from strangling him with her bare hands.

"Hannah!" her mother yelled, trying to snap her out of whatever killing trance she'd gone into. Annabeth actually shook her shoulders a few times, snapping her fingers under her nose.

Hannah blinked a few times, the sound rushing back into her ears and her heart hammering in her chest. She looked at Ryder, slowly bleeding out on the ground, and knew she'd been the cause of it. He wasn't dead, but they would definitely have to interrogate him quickly to get any information out of him.

She didn't feel any remorse, though. She thought she would, and yet...Maybe it was the fact that she knew Ryder was the cause of Micah's death. Maybe she knew that they all would be safer if he was dead. Whatever it was, she wasn't sorry. She felt like this was right.

"Let me go," she said quietly. "I'm fine, now, let me go."

Annabeth gripped her shoulders for a second longer. "Go back. Back to the apartment, okay?"

Hannah nodded, gathering her weapons and bolting. Again, her feet splashed in the water. As she ran, she noticed her breath began hitching in her throat. By the time she reached the apartment, hot tears were falling down her cheeks and she was shaking violently. The door was still open, and the turtles were still in the room. Leonardo saw her collapse at the curb, falling on her elbows and knees and resting her forehead on her hands. He yelled something at his brothers, but Hannah couldn't make it out over the sound of her sobs. She felt a set of strong arms around her, lifting her to her feet. Somewhere, Donatello's voice was ordering whoever was holding her to lay her on the couch, and to get her something with sugar in it.

"Hannah," Raphael was saying her name over and over in her hear, stroking her forehead and her hair away from her face and the tears from her cheeks. "Han, what happened?"

"Here, lemme look," Donnie murmured. Raphael's warm bulk left her side to be replaced by Donnie's smaller, less familiar form. He shone a light into her eyes and checked her pulse.

"Hannah, listen to me," he said. "You're in shock, okay? You need to calm down, take deep breaths, and drink this." He gently thrust a warm cup of tea into her hands. She took a few gulps of air and sipped the tea. Once she'd calmed down enough, Raph knealt back down beside her, next to Donnie.

"D'you think you can tell us what happened?" he asked.

Hannah sniffed and gripped the cup tighter. She took a deep, steadying breath.

"I...I killed Ryder."

A/N: Aw...Hannah's first [human] kill...I kinda feel sorry for her :( Please review! :D