-3rd Person POV-

Chaos Park was packed to the brim. The theatre was almost full as every Angel, camper, god, and spirit was in attendance waiting for things to get under way. Everyone was ready for a battle, the Angels were armed and in uniform, the gods were in their full war regalia, and everybody else had their weapons ready in case of attack. Nobody knew what was going on, but it was obvious that something was wrong.

The crowd went silent as Allistar, in uniform, appeared on the stage. Annabeth took her seat in the front row next to her mother and listened to what Allistar would say. He began,

"As many of you know, Aurora, the Leader of Beta squad is currently on a scouting mission. Two weeks ago she left camp to gather intelligence on the enemy. Earlier today I received a brief holo call from her confirming that she was safe and proceeding with the mission."

He paused and looked down for a moment. Annabeth started to stand to comfort him but he smiled sadly and gently held up his hand for her to sit down. After a few more moments he continued,

"Five minutes ago however, she sent me an emergency distress signal."

The crowd had mixed reactions to this news. The Angels reacted in either fear or concern. Nobody else knew exactly what this meant, but an emergency signal is never good while behind enemy lines. Allistar continued,

"The signal was sent from Death Valley, California. I can only assume that this is where the enemy is staging their operation. In response to this, the Angelic Leaders and I will be leaving immediately to investigate. We will bring her home and if all goes well, find the leader of this army."

The crowd was silent, processing this information, so Allistar finished,

"While we are gone, training will be cancelled. With the absence of myself and the Leaders, the head Angelic Trainers will be in charge of daily operations. Everyone is encouraged to continue their training in any way you see fit. But without the Angelic Leadership, I can't expect any beneficial training to happen. You are dismissed"

With that he looked to the Angelic Leaders and said,

"Let's go."

They shouted back, "Yes Commander."

-Percy POV-

The Leaders were standing at attention behind me as I walked up to Annabeth. She was terribly pale and trying not to meet my gaze. I stooped down and lifted her head to face me. She had tears in her eyes and the moment our eyes met she jumped up and engulfed me in a hug. She said shakily,

"Percy Jackson you promise me, promise me you will come home."

I hugged her back and said,

"I promise to come back you to. I told you nothing would ever separate us again. Everything will be fine, trust me."

She nodded into my shoulder. Needing to get moving I patted her back and said,

"I need to go Wise Girl."

She backed up and took a deep breath. After a moment she leaned in, kissed me briefly and said,

"Be safe, please."

I nodded and with one more hug, turned around to face the Leaders. They were all grim faced but ready to go. I took a deep breath, put on my helmet, and with a gust of wind, we were soaring through the sky, determined to save a captured friend…

-Line break-

We passed over the shining city of Las Vegas then within a few second landed on a small mountain that brushed up against Death Valley. The sky was dark and it was storming. Heavy rain came down while lightning streaked across the horizon. I said the Leaders behind me,

"Stay on guard and stay with me. We have no idea what we are facing and I am taking no chances."

They nodded and I turned around to access the valley.

The outskirts of the valley had not been touched, but the majority of the main area had been converted into a massive camp. A large gate ringed around a city of tents and small buildings. In the center was a small group of buildings with a large bunker on one side. As raindrops hit my helmet, I pressed a button on my earpiece, converting my helmet vision to heat vision.

The entire outer section of the camp showed no heat signatures. All the way around there was nothing. But as I looked to the city center, thousands of beings were tightly packed in front of the bunker looking building. Slade said,

"The camp is empty but the center looks like a siege defense. They know we're coming."

Thror added,

"They must have her inside that rectangular building. It could be a bunker of some sort"

Slade said,

"We can't waste any time, we need a plan of attack now."

Thror said confidently,

"I have a plan, attack."

With that he raised his hammer. Slade shook his head and said,

"This is Aurora we're talking about, if we bust in there guns-a-blazing, we will have sealed her fate."

Inferno looked to me and said,

"Allistar?"

After a moment of thought I said,

"I agree with Slade, we need to stay out of sight for as long as possible. The closer we get to Aurora without the enemy knowing we're here, the more likely we are to reach her alive."

Slade nodded quickly and although Thror disagreed, he lowered his head in acceptance immediately. Wanting to get underway I said,

"Slade I want you and Inferno to cover the southwest side, Atlan, Thror, and Arwin, you have the northwest side, I'll take point. We're going to come in from three side to lower our chances of being sighted. Regroup in front of the bunker building."

Slade asked,

"What are confrontation orders?"

I answered,

"Upon any resistance, dispatch them quickly and quietly. We are not here to cause a scene, we need to get at least to the exterior of that bunker before being noticed."

Each Leader nodded their heads and said quietly,

"Yes Commander."

They waited for my mark, I took a deep breath and said,

"Go."

At once we leapt from the mountain, touched down on the valley floor, and began sprinting to the camp. After two seconds the others forked off to either side, this left me alone charging towards a large black gate. I pushed back the urge to incline my head and demolish the gate, and instead jumped silently over it.

The moment I touched the ground I ran a quick mental scan of my surroundings. The gate behind me had no guards on or around it. Countless tents and shacks were scattered around, each of them empty. I looked to the center and saw a long road snaking through the tent city. So bringing out Riptide, I made my way up the path.

It took me only ten seconds to get out of the outer area of the camp. Putting the tent city behind me, the path opened up into a large, open area. Of course there were enemies everywhere. The city-center was on an artificial island. Bridges connected the outer camp to the center area and in the middle of the island stood the building.

The large bunker building had a set of stair that led up to a foyer area. I saw guards lined the walls and even more stood in front of the door. We would have to make our way there, then I would pass myself and the Leaders through the wall into the interior.

Looking at either side of the island, I saw the other Angels arrive at their various positions. Each of them looked at me and awaited my order. Being that I couldn't accurately describe what I wanted to happen, I activated the microphone in my helmet and said,

"Okay there is no reason to engage this army. Activate your stealth generators and meet me in front of the door. I am going to pass us through the door and see what we are dealing with inside."

Each Leader then disappeared, as did I. They were using stealth generators provided by Chaos, I however was a Lord of Creation so going invisible and passing though solid objects was at the bottom end of my abilities.

I made me way to the building, fighting the desire to wipe my hand and vaporize these fools. Climbing the stair I saw the Leaders heat signatures waiting by the door for me. Looking behind, I made sure none of us were noticed, then continued to meet the others.

Getting to them, I held out my arms to let them know to bunch in close. Touching each of them, I passed Creation energy into them. Knowing we needed to save Aurora as soon as possible, I wasted no time, I nodded my head and led them to the door.

The moment we entered the wall, everything went black. When passing through a solid object, everything became the color of the object. So after a few seconds of blackness, we passed out of the wall and into a large, dark room made entirely of stone. In front of us were two spiraling staircases that went down to a lower level. There were no guards which surprised me, so we made our way down the stairs.

Past the stair led us into a great, long hall. There were arching doorways on both side and large, black chandeliers lining both walls. At the end of the hall there was another stairwell that presumably led down even farther. Slade whispered,

"This place reeks of fear and death. We need to find her now."

Thror added,

"How do we know where to go? She could be in any of these chambers."

While they discussed where to look, I pressed my hand to the stone ground. I searched for Aurora's life force and after a few moments, could feel it coming from below us. I felt a pull towards the staircase at the back of the room and knew we must go down farther. I said,

"She is below, follow me."

Running down the hall, the air grew colder and fouler. By the time we got to the stairwell it smelled like a rotting corpse. I felt a spark of anger as we descended the stairs. The enemy had taken somebody I cared deeply for and had exposed her to this filthy place.

Slade seemed to share my thoughts as he said,

"When I find the person responsible for this, they will wish they'd never been born."

At the bottom of the stairs was a massive, stone door. I pressed my hand against the wall and concentrated. I could feel many life forms. I felt a bright but fading pure light that must have been Aurora. I also felt several dull, dark entities. The most potent however was more like a memory, as if it had been there recently but was gone now. It was old, dangerous, and powerful. I gasped when I realized it reminded me of Chaos.

I recoiled from the wall in shock. The Angels looked at me in fear, for whatever had made me back up wasn't something they wanted to meet. Arwin asked,

"What is it Allistar?

I shook my head and answered,

"There is, or was rather, something old in that room. I sense Chaos, or something very similar to him was recently in that room."

They looked at me in terror as Thror asked,

"Who could remind you of Chaos?"

Dread settled in my heart as I said,

"There is only one."

"Order," whispered Atlan.

I nodded as Slade asked,

"What? How could Order be in there? Chaos banished him to the Void and he remains there still."

A decision needed to be made on what to do. I knew for a fact Order was not in that room right now, though traces of him remained. I harnessed a limited version of the power of Chaos and could do battle with him briefly if need be. With this knowledge and without consulting the Angels, I gathered energy into my hand and blasted the wall away.

The chamber was a massive throne room. A chasm expanded below the walkway and a bridge led from the entrance to a large, circular area. At the opposite end of the room was another bridge that led up a stairwell and ended at a large, empty, purple and black throne.

In the center of the circular area was a large group of monsters surrounding a woman lying on the ground. The monsters blocked my view but I knew it was Aurora from her scent. Horrified, I also smelled blood. Visions of her in the alleyway I found her in came to me and with an angry shout I froze every monster surrounding her.

I bounded forward, past the frozen monsters and looked down to a grim sight. Aurora was alive, but fading quickly. She looked literally the exact same as she had when I first found her. Blood was everywhere, her body looked broken and she was barely breathing.

Rage exploded inside of me and I screamed out and released a wave of black energy. At once every monster was instantly vaporized and the black throne was dissolved in the energy. The room shook from the violent wave and purple energy sparked off of me.

Order… the corrupter of the universe had taken Aurora and had tortured her. Words could not describe what merciless horrors he had likely exposed her to. The Angels surrounded Aurora to tend her wounds but I was losing my temper. I wanted to cause death, I wanted inflict pain, I wanted to vaporize every monster in existence and end with destroying Order.

At the last moment before I lost control, Atlan jumped up, took her helmet off and said urgently,

"Percy you need to calm down. She's alive, she's okay. If you don't calm down you could hurt you. Please calm down."

Instantly I regained control. I took my helmet off and looked to Aurora. She was staring at me in fear but when she saw my controlled expression she calmed down. I rubbed my temples and said to her,

"Aurora are you alright?"

She choked up and spit out a mouthful of blood, I winced at the sight. I crouched down next to her and when I did she reached out her arms as if to hug me. My heart ached and I reached down to pick her up. Slade had taken his helmet off and I could see pain in his eyes at this display. I looked at him apologetically and he seemed to understand. I looked back to Aurora, she looked awful. Arwin had healed most of her wounds but it would take time for them to heal completely. I asked her,

"What happened here?"

She choked back a sob and said,

"He was here Percy, the enemy."

"Who," I asked.

She took a deep breath, chocked back another sob and said,

"Order."