This is the extent of V2. V1 may have gone a bit further, but V2 only rewrote up to this much.
"The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep." -Robert Frost
"Hey Lee, y'know where Anna is?"
"Went outside. Door's propped open. I think she went to go look at the moon."
Percy walked outside and looked up. Despite only in waxing phase, the moon glowing unnaturally bright. The moonbeams draped over the shadowy gloom of the cliff, where he could see glints of silver. He waited for his eyes to readjust for another moment, and soon picked out a ladder made of silver arrows shot into the stone, leading to the top of the cliff about a hundred feet up.
"Thank the gods I'm not afraid of heights," Percy grumbled. He climbed up cautiously, wary of each handhold dislodging from the cliff face. As deeply embedded as they were, he was reasonably afraid his weight would bend the shafts to send him tumbling down. Which was another point altogether, really. How skilled and powerful was Anna to shoot so many arrows that cut into solid granite at such distances with such strength?
Eventually, only having looked down once or twice and feeling nauseous at the great height, he clambered on to flat plateau of a peak.
Detail on Artemis
What recieved him was the most skeptical look he'd ever seen.
?
"If I may ask something?" he began, stone faced.
"You just did. Now leave," the Huntress said curtly.
A beat. Anna did nothing to send him away, though.
"I do have enough initiative to address longstanding issues left to rot," he replied stoically, "The two children's moods affects everyone's morale. Harley is excited and happy when Julia is, but Julia's true wellbeing is dependent on how she interprets yours."
"Perhaps,"
"So why did you leave the Huntresses like how you said?" immediately began Percy, watching the girl to see her reaction. "Sure, you found yourself annoyed that the group was beginning to become a female supremacist group. But wasn't it already?"
"Oh, I'm quite sure it began like that. The Lady is much like that, even abusing her own twin for being male. I was once just like so, killing many boys just like you. Sons of Poseidon too." she said, now matching Percy eye to eye, crimson meeting sea-green. "But times change. I changed. It's difficult to justify such, especially when one witnesses females act exactly like the males you hate. Is it worth becoming a hypocrite, Son of the Sea, to defeat your enemies? Should you become like them to defeat them?"
Percy's eyes averted, unnerved by Anna's question, and her overall intensity. While not being the most attractive person he had ever seen, Anna was actually much like Taia - pretty but forgettable, as if trying to camouflage rather than stand out. The boy could see the practical purpose of it, seeing as the girl used to be a Huntress. "I suppose … no. I haven't had to consider such, really. I'm merely trying to get my friends and I to survive right now."
"There was a single companion in my time with the Huntresses whom I very much enjoyed the company of. Her reasoning for being there is childish, but she the most level-headed of them all. I ask in her place, what is your favorite constellation?"
"Then it would be the following." Pulling out an arrow from the rock with slight difficulty due to positioning and depth of embedment, he lightly tossed it over to the albino girl. "I'll put it in the plans to make some path up here to make things easier. Good night, D."
The once huntress sat up, considering the arrow now laying on the ground next to her. Holding it up, she aligned it in the sky. "Well," Anna muttered to herself, a grin for her long time friend Zoe Nightshade in place, "at least it's not Hercules himself, if an arrow he shot."
In the sky, Sagitta the Arrow gleamed, once poised to strike at the Eagle Aquila, sent by Zeus to feed upon Prometheus's liver.
There was one Janus cult that had a magical base in some kind of door factory. A fellow huntress had once mentioned it being like some Pixar movie involving monsters. Janus was a fairly important Roman minor god
The mortals have gone nuts over the radio recently too. Leo had long ago set up radio around so he could listen to things, and apparently there's some new product called an iPhone coming up from a company called Apple. The mech is thinking he could maybe adapt that for our use without it calling the attention of monsters. How the hell do monsters know when demigods use cell phones anyways?
Ducking under the swipe of Reyna's spear, Percy take advantage by diving into her guard. However, he was forced away by the flash of the girl's knife, which snapped out like a snake. "This is getting nowhere," Percy admitted, backing up. "I'm not learning anything about swordplay trying to duke it out with you, and can only match you using the knife and bar combo."
"Yes, you're surprisingly good with those," complimented Reyna as she ceased her advance, pulling back her braid and swiping away at sweat. "It's a shame Dakota couldn't teach you how he wields his sword."
"Are you kidding me? How he fights is a style?" asked Percy in disbelief. "I'm pretty sure whatever he does requires him to be high on drugs or intoxicated by alcohol!"
"Perhaps. But have you beaten him in a spar?" Reyna sat down, inviting Percy to sit down next to her.
"Just because he's so good I can't get past his guard doesn't mean his style is something I can use as well as he does." Percy dropped to the ground, laying on his back to find a few clouds in the distance.
Bobby the Gladiator told us much more about his time underground. And it's definitely quite worrying to know that the Labyrinth is absolutely crawling with Saturn worshippers. Worst of all, their motives are still completely unknown compared to the Greeks, Romans, and two Hunts. The Greeks and Romans fight each other, and the Hunts compete for being the best. Slightly off tangent, on our trips around to get more supplies, rumors have been coming around of the Greeks and Romans going to battle again. Don't know how that will go … But seriously, I'm really reconsidering the phrase ignorance is bliss right now. Sure, we might be safer with the knowledge some weird cult is preying on people that go anywhere near Labyrinth entrances, but hell that makes everyone worry.
Among other annoying things is the constant thunderstorm nearby in Manhattan. What happened there? Rachel's more smug than usual face is another, and the final part is the amount of satyrs that harass us everytime we get outside. I swear, they are getting more and more aggressive every single day. And bloody flute music from Taia, gah! Sure, we're all busy and need training, but staying in the bunker so long everyday due to crazed nature spirits is holy fricken hell annoying.
On the simpler side, Taia has finally given up on Aly. Told everyone, Reyna punched her for also using an A-name alias, and on and on. She still wants me to call her Alytaia though. I'm glad for that.
Demigods really are crazier than expected. Everyone is a bit stir crazy at this point. Worst is Julia (who we now know is to be some legacy of a minor god), who still gets toys from Leo. Training abilities are good and all, but there's only so long you can swing blades at one another or shoot arrows until you get bored.
I haven't been able to practice my abilities at all with water for a while. As of late I can only really watch the others develop their abilities. Lee, practicing his medicine and archery. Taia, getting better with her gradually more and more annoying flute music, and getting the sound waves to do new things. Leo, constantly building or repairing everything. Reyna, training to work in tandem with her dogs. I do admit that Dakota, Rachel, Anna, and Julia don't do much, but what do they need to do? I've never seen anyone fight as smoothly as Dakota, however drunk he is; Rachel is infinitely calm and collected. Anna is I don't know how old, and Julia is a kid. They're all far more comfortable with themselves. Even the new guy, Bobby, seems content in just practicing to get better and following orders.
Percy's Journal
Entry 106
Well … it's Latin, and I'm Greek, but irrumabo.
Just … irrumabo.
Anna was running. She did not have her weapons, and could do nothing to protect herself from what was after her. Her white hair was bound up into a loose bun, tucked into a raised hood. Her ruby eyes shone out from beneath her gray colored jacket, and her dark jeans were tearing in the amount of speed she was pouring into her legs.
Behind her, a dark chuckle could be heard. With the whispering buzz of many wings, an almost bug like creature suddenly phased out of a magical stealth above her as the monster landed in front of her. A beautiful royal purple it was, yet its purpose was only to consume. Rows of shimmering purple spikes on the creature's shoulders suddenly realigned to aim at Anna, and anna stumbled in an effort to dodge as the spikes flew at her, propulsed by a dark energy.
Khaz, for that was what the creature was, only smirked as Anna jumped into the air to dodge the spikes. The spikes detonated, and the air itself crystallized into a purple mineral, trapping Anna's silver shoe covered boots. The once Huntress struggled to pull out her legs, but in vain. She watched as the monster approached, phasing into a magical stealth a few feet away before reappearing in front of her face, claws half the length of the monster's entire body poised to cut off her head. She closed her eyes, breathing softly to accept her fate as the poisonously glowing claws descended.
She woke up gasping, in her shared room with Rachel. She burst upright in her preferred bed of her camp traveling roll. Rachel was actually awake, sitting on an actual mattress on the opposite side of their room, watching as Anna retched. She seemed to be waiting patiently for Anna to speak. She would, but … in all her life, she had never felt so close to death before.
"As much good as I have done over my very long years," choked out the albino, heart beating heavily, "I feel as if I am going to pay for actions that I have committed millennium ago."
Rachel, bright green eyes absorbing what she saw, only watched as blood dripped from Anna clawing at herself. Knowing she saw truth, the knowledgeable redhead simply asked one question.
"Did you regret performing those actions?"
Anna pulled out a first aid kit she kept nearby, bandaging her wounds instead of eating ambrosia. It wasn't worth it for such small wounds. "After so long in this mortal realm," she said slowly, measuring her response, "I now regret what I have long ago justified."
"I know your secret."
Anna stiffened. "What?" She clutched a previously unseen amethyst crystal that hung on a necklace.
"Oh, yes," said Rachel, smiling. The green eyed lass continued, "Spying is so naughty. But I can see why. I have my own secrets too."
Anna watched as green mist leaked from Rachel's eyes, which were now glowing in the dim light of their room. "As with my age, I know exactly what that is," the girl said suspiciously, "So why are you telling me such if you believe me to be spying?"
"Because I finally know your motives."
Off to the side Julia snored, releasing high pitched puffs of air.
"And those are …?"
"To get away from your sister." Was her friend demented?
"I have sisters no more, Rachel. Or have you already forgotten the debacle with the Huntresses?" Anna was quite confused.
"Oh, I never forget. But I can see the connection you have. It's there. Weak. You were not all of yourself, or you were finally being yourself. I wasn't sure which at first, but I'm starting to see it."
Anna tensed. Was Rachel always so perceptive, or was it the Spirit within?
"The Age of the Roman Empire must have really been quite strong, Anna, if you are as you are now. Have you actually made any of your own choices over the past one and a half millennia, or did you simply follow under your sister's stronger personality? Did no one notice, at all?"
"I have never had a true sister, Spirit-Carrier, and you know it."
"Yes." Rachel turned her head to watch Julia shift in her sleep, curling around a panda pillow pet Percy (who had originally used it himself) gave her. "Yes, I do."
"Then why do you speak as such?" Mortals were usually quite boring, annoying, and simple. But this girl …
"Because your sister changed you so much, didn't she? She took away much of your negative aspects, she took them into herself and changed you. She thought she had helped you, and was still helping you, but in the end she became a new person and so have you. Was that not how it was?"
Anna was shocked at Rachel's powerful sense for perception. "How much of this is what you see, and how much is what Delphi sees?"
"Oh, you need not worry. We're both one and the same now. Just opposite of you and your sister." Rachel laid back down, pulling over her covers and closing her eyes.
"If it's anything much, I think that you enjoy your life much more now. You seem to a better person now. Human. Emotional. In becoming worse herself, your sister has given you the chance to become better, and you have."
Anna also laid back into her bed, hand still caressing her amethyst crystal hanging at her neck. "Why have you let me stay so long, if you had been so suspicious?"
"Because where others would see red blood shed, I see golden opportunity."
Leo could feel there was something wrong.
It was in his bones. A tingling sensation, like that of a spider was crawling on his neck, as if he was being watched. Not only that, but it felt like his bones were vibrating, setting him on edge.
Well, he knew he was just as if not more paranoid than the moody one-eyed Harry Potter character from the movie. At least in terms of home safety. Not only did he have cameras set up in the miles around the Bunker and a colossal dragon to protect himself, there were quite a few traps here and there. If he hadn't led in the others when they first arrived, they likely would have fallen into some tabasco pit of doom.
And since the incident with the Minotaur, the Son of the Forge had upped the ante just to make sure nothing slipped by them again. Mechanical ents of death aside, reusing the camp ruins for springload catapults and such was quite useful. And the twin's jail cell was now alarmed, trapped, bolted, and watched full time with a miniscreen he kept in his pocket. The only blind spot the camera had in their room was the toilet, which was under the camera itself.
If by any chance that they were going to try to escape through that instead of the metal grilled walls and concrete foundations, then the toilet would explode. They were already warned about that too.
Perhaps it wasn't the best idea to leave just Leo at base while everyone else went to get supplies?
ZAAAAAAAAP. FWOOSH. POP.
Well, he and Julia.
Eh. He could add heat flares to Festus in the meantime. And maybe a plasma gun. Variations of the laser he made for Julia. In fact, why not incorporate all the toys he made for Julia into Festus? No way knowing when those might come in handy.
He had to give over a cattle prod to get a better name for his dragon, but it was well worth exchanging. Even if he would have to be healed by Lee later.
Leo never did realized that if Julia's toys could be so easily weaponized, that they really weren't age appropriate for her.
Anna really wasn't comfortable at the moment.
Perhaps it was because she still felt exposed in the daylight. Maybe it was because Percy was just a bit too close to her right side. Or she was uncomfortable being without the huntresses for so long. Even could be because Rachel knew something about her that she still hadn't explained.
The biggest cause was probably leaving Julia with the airheaded mechanic. After all, whilst Anna never met any smith as skilled as Leo besides Hephaestus himself, she had also never met someone so terrible at relating to people as the god. Perhaps it was inherited. The sunlight hardly mattered, though it did make her wonder if her brother was looking for her. Did he even know? Probably not. Anna had never been strong enough to face off the leader of the Huntresses in her decisions. It was actually far nicer being without having to deal with the huntresses, as in her opinion they were too shallow.
It was slightly hypocritical, considering how she was probably even more hypocritical when she started the Hunt, but no matter. Percy was definitely a large factor in roughing up the kinks of her joints. The girls were mostly simple to deal with, and she avoided both Lee and Leo. The former was due to the uncomfortability of the divine twins archery rivalry, and the latter was, as previously mentioned, airheaded and difficult to deal with.
Surprisingly, despite the awkward beginnings, Dakota was rather simple to approach afterwards. After a short time analyzing him, she had realized. He had some kind of trauma issue, and was coping with it the only way a Son of Bacchus could. Going insane, drinking gluttonously, and acting drunk. The boy still had that glint in the eye that she could recognize after years of experience, one that the beholder was always deluding the world in acts of delusion. Now, they got along alright, though there was a separate issue.
Percy himself was an enigma. He had a unique drive, the ambition of a person that only came once every century. The boy - no, man, knew what he wanted and fought for it. In the assault by rabid Stymphalian and feather throwing birds as they left for resupplying, the boy had shielded Taia's back with his own body when the keen birds had assaulted an opening. Admittedly, the Son of the Sea could have done much better if he was more skilled with the sword he was using and deflected the feather darts instead of blocking them with his body, but it was a sweet gesture nonetheless.
Taia had pushed him into a nearby river for protecting her needlessly. It was all in good fun, as they both knew that the water would heal the wounds dealt to his arms and legs. But to see that camaraderie … Anna wished she had it herself. In the very beginning of the Hunt, she had had it. But over time, it had been lost due to multiple factors: death, leading to a jaded personality; age, cause for an inability to relate; opinions, in which hers were not as extreme as her fellow members; numbers, where she could no longer connect with the others.
The only friend she had had in fifteen centuries was Zoe Nightshade. She alone had cared when the largest factor of all had struck. Diana had taken over, and with her came the changes for a lifetime. A goddess's lifetime, considering the immortality she possessed. Was Zoe looking for her, perhaps? But without the same connections, she could only watch wistfully at Percy, at the head of the traveling pack towards Manhattan, hoping. Well, that was incorrect. The Son of Poseidon had tried his best to connect with everyone, especially Anna. But even still, with all that she was hiding, she would not try to bond with the only respectable male she had met in the longest of times. It would not be fair to Percy.
Which of course, led to the nagging thoughts Anna had on Rachel, and partially for Dakota. They both knew something about her, but to what extent she had no clue. Rachel was the more dangerous of both, but she had shared it with Dakota. The betrayer of the Huntresses knew so, she had seen the two share conversations and watch her carefully.
However, what irked her most of all was that immediately after this sharing of information, they had evidently decided to treat her exactly as they did before. Rachel was as much of a head in the clouds oddball as before, only smiling mischievously more often than not nowadays, and Dakota's spark in his eye only became clearer whenever he talked with her.
It was a sign that changes would come, but when? Living so long, going to Olympian meetings, fast paced alterations were unfamiliar to her. After all, her life had gone rather off kilter ever since the only major change in recent memory happened, the removal of the camps. It had led to … this. It was funny how Anna missed her brother. She could hear him try to force some pun about it, when she used to be able to tell him everything.
Ah, your calling is hunting, which requires adapting. But Art, living, happiness: it is as easy to find as you in a dress.
Oh, if only he had truly been able to see how she'd matured since their separation.
Bobby was used to people forgetting him. In fact, even the author forgot about him. But nonetheless, he was on duty. That duty, self assigned as it was, was to watch the cell, and incapacitate all occupants with sleeping gas if necessary. He did.
Perhaps it didn't look the most interesting to others. That, she could admit. But to her, it was grand. The Library of Congress. It was rather boxy and old-timey on the outside, with plenty of double columns and arches, the lovely concentric study room, the nooks and crannies where she and her siblings stayed …
It was not the time to get lost in her admiration for her home, Annabeth reminded herself. She hadn't become leader of the Athenians at such a young age for nothing. Grit and knowledge had brought her up the ranks, despite others being older than her. Some of them probably just didn't want to be leader, but Annabeth knew everything would be better under her command. There was no way anything would go wrong under her control.
But right now she had to analyze some other information. Apparently, a mechanical owl built by a freelancer from down south had picked up key information about the Thieves beginning to move towards D.C. It was far too early to draw assumptions that it would be a raid on the Athenians, not to mention the Thieves would not be stupid enough to raid the heavily defended Library that the majority of the Children of Athena lived within. Their set up was near impenetrable, with living quarters hidden by Mist magics, security cameras trained with no blind spots (except a few in which was only known by her to be a secret path through the area - it included walking on furniture), and a guard made up of several automatons and a regular demigod rotations. The Thieves could feasibly raid, especially under the leadership of the Thief Lord. Annabeth was not arrogant enough to believe that the Thieves wouldn't invade, no. At least, not without trying to hide movements better and prerequisite scouting. And Luke wouldn't dare.
The utterly complete piece of trash had broken his previous promise of family, but there was no way he would attack her. Not without warning, at least. Luke had promised, after that fiasco …
So they were moving over for another reason. Now just what was it? If it wasn't to raid the Athenians, the only worthwhile group in the North East, then what were they going to do? As far as she knew, their pride would never allow them to be part of either the main Greek or Roman camps. As far as recent memory, there were very few children of the Big Three that hung around. There were certainly far fewer, perhaps the only good thing to come out of the World War II.
Ignoring the chance that Luke could have finally found where Thalia had went, Annabeth rifled through all other possibilities. There weren't any major forces of minor god children left around, most having been incorporated into the Greco-Roman war. Apollo's Hunt was too strong to raid, and the sects of children of Hephaestus and Aphrodite were down South. There only notable group of children of the wine god were intermixed with the few of the farming goddess, but lived west. The children of the war god lived in the Great Plains, so what exactly were the Thieves looking for?
She leaned back on the chair she was on and winced as an exposed screw nicked the back of her shoulder. Dammit, if their budget hadn't been reduced by that scamming sorceress!
Taia was happy.
Sure, the group - who was there? Dakota, Lee, Reyna, Anna, Rachel, Percy, her - had been iattacked by birds of all things, but she got to toss Percy in a river. It was kinda cute how Percy had been so insistent on protecting her.
had spent a lot of (well, pretty much all of) her time with him to some degree for almost another year. She loved him. Both she and he had said as much, not too long ago. But, the chemistry needed just wasn't there.
Taia could feel it deep down, that it wasn't to work.
But she was happy about that. Why?
Well, she had been a strong individual before she met Percy. But everything had been so lonely … friendships were not so much friendships as temporary alliances, and there were just too many outside factors to allow concrete trust. Percy - Percy had almost instantly sworn to never betray her, and there went away all those concerns. But … he felt like a big brother. Was that how a big brother was supposed to be?
Well, few demigods had real siblings, so it was quite a difficult question to answer. Not to mention she was technically older than Percy by a bit. But they were entirely comfortable with each other. Slept in the same room, essentially the same bed (if triple in area), and in general weren't afraid to change in the same room. Naked was too much, but underwear was fine.
She could suppose that was siblinghood.
And it was just way too much fun trying to get Anna to admit she was crushing on Percy. Seriously, that girl had been away from guys for far too long.
The alley was dark, the sky blotted by tall skyscrapers. It wasn't a safe area to travel through, let alone live in. But nonetheless, a pale raven haired boy with blood red lips sauntered slowly past doors to dilapidated apartments. He was being followed, and he knew it. The fluttering wings, louder than the flapping of the birds than before, and the soft screeching female voices gave much away.
Too much. Spinning around and throwing rocks like discus, Dakota pegged the three harpies in the air behind him. While they were certainly almost invulnerable to weapons that were not divine metal, a good old fashioned chunk of stone always worked. Actually, regular steels and other mundane objects did harm monsters - Odysseus had blinded Polyphemus with a tree trunk. It was simply that celestial bronze, imperial gold, and stygian iron were far more effective at it, and thus more popularly used despite rarity.
Dakota was much smarter than that though. He'd won many a fight before against other demigods because they didn't expect him to break their bones with rocks, steel bars, and baseball bats. It was certainly effective against the harpies, breaking their wings and dropping them to the earth. A few more pieces striking their heads quickly ended their lives, returning them to the hell from which they had whence came.
Continuing on, swinging a little bit with each step, the vampiric appearing drunkard was wandering slightly off course. Just slightly. It was not so much as to be so far away from the group that harpies would attack him because no one was close enough to help him.
Those harpies didn't exist. Not in his mind. They had once, maybe, but considering the dissipating piles of golden dust behind his meandering path definitely made sure they weren't. The others were used to him disappearing and reappearing. He always went back. No other group of people would tolerate his addictions.
He didn't want to remember. That was it. That was all he wanted.
All the foolish acting made things much simpler, getting everyone to underestimate him. But that gamble never worked with the ones who had trained him. He had almost been a leader, but …
Nope. Never again.
He'd rather find that warehouse that had stocked up on kool-aid and candy …
Reyna wasn't having the greatest of times.
She hated intruding on people. Period. She had found, when she was a little girl, that she had very much liked to lead people. It was satisfying, being able to lead her fellow kindergartners in art projects. Things were so much simpler back then, where she could draw herself riding a peanut butter horse and hunting with her precious dogs. And she would dictate to everyone else what was needed to be done to make mini models of it, and …
Reyna disliked people. For some reason, she could understand them really well. She would always be able to tell, and then convince them, help them, boost them. They would perform better, but only when focused on her goal. She could feel them happy, as her fellow little girl friends sculpted little dachshunds that they imagined themselves owning, and it filled the emptiness in her heart. She found it so hard to empathize with people. She could understand most everyone's drives, the whats, wheres, whens, whys, and hows of the whos. But she found herself incapable of caring, because they simply weren't important to her. All except her sister, whom she had lost so long ago.
And now, well. She so desperately wanted to be involved with everyone else. She finally wasn't forced to work alone, or as some kind of leader. It was so much easier to follow behind someone she could trust. She liked being the leader, maybe, but it was nice to be able to kick back and enjoy some rest while someone else took the handles. That someone being Percy.
Most everyone, she felt, was eh. Not bad, just that she didn't really feel strongly for them. Lee and Leo were tolerable and Julia great to look after but it was more responsibility. Even now she was getting stuff that Julia asked for. Dakota was interesting to work with, and had hidden depths, so ok there. Rachel was just frustrating to deal with, with cocked eyebrows and teasing statements everywhere; Anna was getting on her nerves because of … well, Reyna didn't like thinking about it. Nope. Then there was Taia and Percy.
As Reyna picked up a bottle of lemonade to take for herself, she watched the two. Despite the red and black mismatch of hair, she could see them actually being siblings. At first, she had suspected that Taia had liked Percy. If it weren't for sneaking back to watch them kiss a few months ago, and overhearing that they didn't like each other in that way, she found herself happy. She hadn't even revealed who she was back then, but …
She would call it Stockholm Syndrome, and it kind of was. But truly, her situation was much better than it used to be, fighting to be the best of the best in the Roman group. The Romans had become a pack, much like Lupa's wolves. However, there were just far too many vying alphas aiming for the top, and it was practically chaos. Gladiator duels to ascend in position, which were pretty much the biggest entertainment available. Killing smaller groups of demigods because they were weaker, forcing them to be slaves and fight for the Romans or even, she heard … raping them.
And so she felt herself slowly, slowly, ever so slowly falling for Percy. At first she was worried that Aly, or since then changed to Taia, was going to be competition. But no, it was Anna.
The thing about crushing on someone was that you could start to see how others felt for said crush. Even if Reyna hadn't witnessed Taia and Percy deciding not to enter into a relationship, she was already suspecting a sibling bond. Dakota was extremely devoted to Percy, though for reasons she wasn't exactly sure of. Rachel enjoyed being with Percy, but it seemed more often to be just poking fun and joking around. Lee was somewhat distant - probably because of the Minotaur snub; Leo was half worshipful towards the Son of the Sea after having a water versus fire duel. Julia treated everyone the same, so that just left Anna …
Who was in much the same position as her. Centuries in the Huntresses, with near no male contact most of the time. Perhaps the girl had been very anti-boy when she started, but it was extremely evident that her opinion had changed. Maybe Anna had seen too many manipulative, extremist, girls? Reyna had seen plenty back at the Roman camp. Fact was, Anna was practically obsessing over Percy. Had the girl never met a half-decent guy before?
Sheesh. The albino was watching Percy even now, as he joked around with Leo at some video game stand.
Well, actually … considering the view of that cute behind, Reyna could understand why Anna was looking. Not excuse, but certainly understand. Because, well, mhmmmm … booty.
ENCOUNTER MINOTAUR ON RETURN
The deep, rumbling, grunt of a large beast echoed lightly, the snorting and sniffing skin-crawling. Crawling up the side of a rock formation, Katie Gardner reached the top, her brow furrowed with a furious glare across her mug.
"Psst. Katie!"
The brunette's green-eyed gaze pierced down at a face just like hers, if it were not on a different person. That, and the emotions portrayed across Katie's twin were much calmer, a quiet focus but a smile playing lightly across Miranda's visage. "Does this look like a fist?"
"No, it looks like deer skatos! Could you focus? The damn Minotaur is after us!" Katie hissed out, drawing two small, light throwing axes from a strap at her right quads. They were both celestial bronze, like smaller replicas of the larger version that was attached to her back for melee fighting.
"Fine," said Miranda, her fingers playing at holes in her tattered clothing. The only way one could tell the two were different without getting to know each better could be done first by clothing. Not that they wore different clothing, for they wore matching green jackets and black shirts, and even similar jeans and shoes. Just the current pattern of fraying and tearing differed. The second was through weaponry, for Miranda carefully pulled off a sickle from her back, and unraveled a chain from around her right arm to attach to the handle.
As Miranda began to whir the now mid-range weapon, her twin watched the direction from whence they came. The shuddering steps upon the earth were now heavier and louder, but she could no longer pinpoint from where the sound came. The sun burned brightly, having reached into the early morning. Ensuring secure grips, both leaned to see silver flashes fly off into the air, and a few strong thuds.
A very loud grunt, before an enraged roar. The rampaging shook the very earth below them, shifting boulders by inches. It also distracted from a glow of blue light from below the twins, and covered the sound of a trap door opening. However, the twins did mad scrambling from beneath, even as the boulders that were their temporary elevation crumbled away, falling into unknown.
Percy held his weapon before him, a last line of defense in hopes of deterring the Minotaur from attacking. For now, the half-bull seemed to be growing more and more irritated by alternating volleys of silver arrows and magic music. Reyna had managed to bribe Leo one way or another to build her mechanical dogs now named Aurum and Argentum, and those two were glinting dangerously as they ran in circles to further distract the infamous monster.
The girl herself was currently on the opposite side of the Minotaur, likely analysing the best way to take down the bull. Dakota was … drunk? but ready for battle, just waiting for a direction for Reyna to point out that he could berserk into. Leo was trying to construct a trap nearby, but those wouldn't be ready for a bit. Rachel was taking care of Julia back at the Bunker, which they had rushed out of after Leo's sonar system detected the Minotaur being in range. Current plans were to delay until Leo finished constructing.
Frustrated, the Minotaur bellowed, the resulting sound wave actually knocking arrows from the sky and disrupting Aly's magic. Stomping, the beast similarly knocked everyone to the ground through the pseudo-earthquake caused before pulling out a few arrows embedded into its arm. Then, as Leo shouted, "DONE!", the beast trampled around the clearing, knocking down dozens of trees and forming a semicircular barrier. "I'M OK! THE TRAP'S BEEN TRIGGERED THOUGH!"
"No idea," said Lee, out of breath. As pulling a longbow was a serious workout, he was only just now able to get to Percy to talk to him. "Perhaps they ran away? But shouldn't we deal with this first?" As if on cue, the beast's eyes narrowed at them and charged.
"Dodge to the side!" yelled Reyna, who was trapped under a few large branches, Dakota working on rescuing her. "And don't let him grab you!"
Both boys pulled to opposite sides, not allowing the Minotaur to keep track of both at once. Ducking under swinging arms and heavy breathing, the boys kept running forward before they realized they had both trapped themselves in the barrier of timber. Turning, Percy was now fully able to comprehend the beast's terrible magnificence.
The infamous Minotaur, a monster whose legacy was written out in mythology. There was no residence for the beast this time around, as the Labyrinth was no longer its sanctuary. Muscled human arms rhythmically drifted back and forth across a barrel chest heaving up and down. Legs that seemed almost like a satyr, if not as strong as a bull's instead of a goat's, and massive hooves pawed at the ground, digging deep grooves. The head was most frightening, snot and spit running down and dripping to the ground, absolutely gigantic horns that were now leveling down so they could gouge into a demigod chest.
The horns! Supposedly the only material that could penetrate the Minotaur's body! "Lee, I have a plan." Looking to his left, he saw Lee had already worked his way up the fallen trees, finding small ridges to grip and using arrows to cheat handholds. "Shit." The beast charged, but was temporarily deterred by the two dog automatons that had emerged from the side. The two dogs were immediately fended off by two kicks that left imprints upon the bodies of gold and silver.
As the Minotaur charged once more, shaking off a piercingly high note that served to distract it, Percy also charged, his sword separating into a knife and bar. Jumping onto Argentum, which was once again rising, the dent in its body repairing itself, Percy springboarded up. The bull-man, unable to see Percy due to his lowered head, only felt his head dragged as both horns snapped off simultaneously, the movement almost snapping the beast's neck.
Percy hadn't fared much better. In the raw effort to hook his metal rod around a horn to continue his momentum upwards, he had cut off a single horn to use against the bull. However, he had not anticipated his blunt weapon to catch onto a trench in the horn and pull the other horn off with it. Thus, the arm holding the rod was dislocated.
Luckily, that seemed like that was all that was necessary. The Minotaur seemed to have learned its lessons from whatever past defeats it might have had, and took the loss of its primary weapons as a sign of retreat. The primeval panic that was caused drove the beast straight from it's created clearing towards an extremely familiar scent.
The Stygian heroes recovered and chased after the fleeing bull, catching up to it just in time for it to descent into some odd hole in the ground. The sliding trapdoor was constantly resetting itself in order to break through a boulder that was jamming the opening. The Minotaur had piledrived itself into the earth, leaving only a pile of odd boulders that looked like deer skat and an ominous square of rock in the ground, a Delta mark the only mar on its surface.
"Well, loooooks like it's time to get baaack," said Dakota, somewhat more attentive than usual. "Unless yooou guys wanna heaaad into there to loook for that thiing?" At the shaking heads, the demigods turned to head back to Bunker 9.
"Perce! Let me fix the stupid wound you got!" Aly piped up, inspecting Percy's hanging right arm. "I can heal better than Lee!"
"Well, since I wouldn't have dislocated the arm if Lee stayed instead of leaving, then sure," Percy said as Lee opened his mouth to say something.
"Hey, I saw an opportunity to get out and I did!" protested the archer, "I'm crap at melee fighting!"
Percy tried to continue arguing, but merely screamed in pain as his arm was pushed back into place. "What the hell? Di, why?"
"What?" asked the albino, straight-faced. "Aly was merely going to help you argue with Lee even further, so I took advantage of the moment to fix your arm."
As the group left, heading back to the Bunker half a mile away, none heard Leo as he yelled.
"Guys? Hello? Where'd you guys go? Where's the steroid bull at? GUYS?! WAIT UP!"
The dragon curled around Julia, whose gaping jaws were alight with flame.
"Oh!" bubbled the child, "I named the dragon! But don't tell Leo, ok, I need to bribe him for more toys!"
"This is a day I've been looking forward to for two-and-a-half years." No. Much longer than that. Even before he started renovating and repurposing and marketing so many small ideas, his overall goal was what would come next.
A man dressed in a black turtleneck stood almost casually in front of hundreds if not thousands of people. That was ignoring how distantly what he said would be televised, too. Sauntering across the stage in simple sneakers and jeans, his glasses glinted as he spoke. "Every once in awhile, a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything."
Everything indeed. No one would suspect. The product was a game changer, and with every little bit of special gold that he had put within - his master's plans would come into fruition, and he would be rewarded. "And Apple has been — well, first of all, one's very fortunate if you get to work on just one of these in your career. Apple's been very fortunate. It's been able to introduce a few of these into the world."
A few? HAH. He would flood the world with this. It would bring the world under his control, tearing away at the minds of stupid little mortals. And that was the beauty of it. No one would suspect mortals. Americans, Europeans, Asians, Africans. And the few Australians. He would use the relics of an age long past that he alone amongst so many others could see. No one could stop him, especially with the funding and partnership he received from the land developer and the movie star. His entire life had been devoted to pulling up the remnants of an all powerful substance, and he would rule the world with it.