Percy / December 4th
I could just feel that the time was approaching, and soon, I would be left Annabeth-less. Hopefully, only for a bit though. I wouldn't be able to stand the thought of loosing her - not again.
"You have to trust me" Annabeth insisted. "I'll come back, I promise"
"I know... but, come back from where?" I asked
The sound of an old motor scooter interrupted us. Along the riverfront, a Vespa - big and baby blue - puttered to a stop next to us. The driver was a man in a silky-gray suit, and behind him sat a woman with a headscarf.
"Hello there" greeted the man - his voice deep and croaky. He looked like one of those handsome actors back in the 1950s, and his clothes didn't help his case at all.
"Uh, who are you?" I blurted out
Behind us, Chloe looked like she had seen a ghost, and Ryan's face was under his helmet again. The two walked over and joined us at our side, eyeing the two strangers.
"Tibernius" Ryan said
The man nodded. "God of the River Tiber"
"Oh. Hey" I said. "Are you suppose to look like a movie star?"
"I'm not sure. The migration of Western civilization has affected us all, and so has Rome. Yet, the world affects Rome as well. There does seem to be a lot of American influence lately, however, I've lost track" Tibernius said
"Okay" I accepted the answer. "Are you here to help?"
"I was told you were here" Tibernius replied and then turned towards Annabeth. "Do you have your map, and your letter of introduction?"
"Uh... yeah" Annabeth handed over the letter and the bronze disk, staring at Tibernius so intently it made me feel a bit jealous. "S-So have you helped other children of Athena before?"
"Yes, Annabeth Chase, I have helped many of your siblings... at least to begin their journey safely. It truly is a shame they all painfully died later. For now, your documents seem to be in order, and we must get going. The Mark of Athena awaits!" Tibernius said as if the deadly Mark of Athena was a casual tourist location
My grip on Annabeth's hand tightened. "Tibernius, can I got with her just a little farther?"
Tibernius shook his head. "I'm afraid you cannot. Annabeth must face the shrine's guardian on her own, as it is the only way. As for you, Percy Jackson, you have less time to rescue your friend than you realized. You must hurry"
"It's ok Percy. It'll be alright. I have to do this" Annabeth squeeze my hand comfortingly
I wanted to keep protesting and insist that she doesn't go, but the look on her face made it clear that the only thing I could do was make things harder for her by arguing. She was scared but she was also doing it for the better, and for me.
"Yeah... you're right. Be safe, Annabeth" I said
She kissed me and then whispered against my lips, "I love you"
"Love you too. Now go make us proud" I forced a smile
With that, I watched as she shouldered her backpack and climbed onto the back of the scooter. I would've preferred fighting Thor or any other monster, but I forced myself to watch as Annabeth disappeared into the distance.
"I'm sorry. It must be tough, but we do have get moving" Chloe said
"I heard Xander mention something about a hostage or a prisoner" Ryan added. "It must be the friend that he mentioned"
"Nico" I muttered. "Come on, I need to introduce you to some people"
Narrator / Meanwhile
In a distant part of Rome, near a large crevice and up top a mountain, two warriors who should be on the same side were currently facing off. Last we left off, Victor found himself the victim of Layton's electric-shooting finger gun.
One second is all it took for a battle to changes courses completely. At a young age, Layton had been exposed to an elemental crystal that could harness the power of time itself, which in turn gave him special abilities, and was mostly the reason he was so skilled in a variety of techniques.
Around Victor, reality cracked and everything contorted into green shattered glass. The assassin disappeared and then reappeared in front of him just as the one second of Layton's ability wore off. Using that moment, Layton landed a hit that nearly sent Victor stumbling backwards.
Layton then lunged forward but Victor caught him with a kick to the stomach that staggered him before grabbing his opponents hood and tossed him behind, so that they swapped positions - Layton being the one closest to the wide trench.
"You're not so tough after all" Victor boasted
"And I thought you would be more impressive as well" Layton fired back
"That's coming for the one on the loosing side of the battle" Victor said, the golden bear insignia on his green helmet shining brightly with the sun
In sync, the two closed distance and their fists continued to clash, each collision seemingly digging the shape of half a globe. Vibranium had a special ability: to store and release kinetic energy. Since two gloves made from that very metal were attacking the other, the vicinity was taking the damage of the large kinetic energy that was being built up and exerted.
Eventually, the two ended up in a position where they had their palms clasped with each other, and were attempting to push the other back like a reverse tug-of-war. Layton twisted his arm and tugged Victor forward, before landing a kick to the side that made his enemy stumble back.
Victor lunged but Layton jumped backwards so that he was on the ground, and then raised his two knees that so they would hit him right in the gut, except it did nothing but stagger him a bit. Spinning on his back, Layton outstretched a foot so that he could get back to his feet and trip Victor at the same time.
"You're alright, but I definitely overestimated you" Victor stated as he got back up and bushed dirt off his green armor
"I'm not the one you're after" Layton said
"You're armor doesn't help your case" Victor replied
"You don't understand"
"It's you who doesn't understand. Maybe you're not aware of how many people you've killed me" Victor said
"Two thousand, eight-hundred and thirty-three" Layton informed. "Average of one point nine kills a day"
Victor gritted his teeth. "My father included"
"Then we share that in common"
In the blink of an eye, Layton appeared in front of Victor and landed a punch to the heart area that seemingly caused time to stop for a moment, like those scenes in a tv show where you get to see the final blow repeat in different angles.
Somehow the attack had passed through the green armor and Victor dropped to his knees, clutching his heart, but unable to with the armor on. He would have removed it by the simple press of a button on his wristband, but that would be admitting defeat.
Victor grunted. "You killed your dad for sport"
"I didn't kill anyone for sport" Layton said. "Except him"
Layton chuckled but it soon burst out into a wicked and mocking laugh, and it seriously reassured Victor's thought that this guy was mentally insane - which was somewhat close to the truth.
"You're sick" Victor said
"I know" Layton dismissed
"Then get some help" Victor suggested, but he was merely stalling for time as a small vine began to grow at Layton's feet
"I'm beyond help" Layton noticed the vine and stepped on it, rubbing and twisting his foot for extra measures
"We live in a bigger world then you know. You could be a good ally" Victor insisted
"No one knows that better than I do" Layton said
Despite being crushed, the vine suddenly grew in size and erupted from the ground, causing Layton to stumble back as the vine shot upwards. It then curved downwards and wrapped around the assassin tightly.
"You said something about not having a good experience with children of Demeter" Victor stood up. "What do you mean?"
"I don't have to tell you anything" Layton retorted
Victor tapped his wristband and his helmet quickly turned into a singular chip that he plugged back into the band - revealing green eyes and blonde hair.
"You're almost a spitting image of your older sister" Layton slightly smiled, closed his eyes and looked down at the ground
"Y-You know her?" Victor stammered. "Where is she? What have you done?"
"Relax," Layton assured, "she's fine... not too far from here either"
"How do you know her?"
"None of your business"
"It's exactly my business" Victor walked closer and stood in front of the assassin who was wrapped in a tight blanket of weeds
"You haven't seen her in over a decade, yet our affairs are suddenly your business" Layton pointed out
"Tell me where she is" Victor demanded
"I already told you... I don't owe you anything, knowledge included"
The vine dangerously grew tighter, even causing veins to appear through Layton's armor where it was made of a simple kevlar.
"I've been squeeze by worse" Layton croaked. "And I still escaped"
Around Victor, reality momentarily contorted into green shattered glass again before he felt a sickening punching to the side of his face that sent him rolling towards the edge of the cliff, falling off but managing to grab onto the edge of the crevice by his hands. Footsteps approached until sure enough, Layton stood on top of him, able to send him falling over a miles down with little effort.
"It's called time-skip. You like it?" Layton said
"What?" Victor scowled
"I can't stop time, but I can skip it. For one whole second, I can move freely while you'll be caught off guard. I can also use it to phase through things, but it does have its limits. Against the right opponent, the technique is useless" Layton explained
"Well get it over with. Make me your latest kill" Victor dared
"I don't kill people... at least I try not to. You don't understand why I do what I do" Layton replied
"You better have one Hades of a reason" Victor said. "But for now, you're still coming with me"
Knowing he was seconds away from slipping, Victor let go but quickly grabbed Layton's leg and tugged on it, causing the two to drop into three mile deep crevice at one hundred and twenty miles per hour.
Just before they hit the ground, Layton casted a spell that softened around ninety percent of the fall, but that ten percent was still a large amount, even for Vibranium. The two of the slowly stood up, wincing in pain and brushing any dirt and rocks off their armor.
"You knew that I would soften the fall" Layton guessed
"I knew we would both survive" Victor corrected
The two got into their fighting positions, but before they could charge at each other once more, a deep voice erupted from the cavern. "Foolish demigods, are you not of the same side?"
"Syn" Layton murmured, barely audible
The voice was deep and echoey, just like Xander's, except it was much louder and sounded more like a dark entity instead of a wicked old man.
"Who are you?" Victor asked
"They call me many names, but you can just call me Syn" replied the voice
"What do you want?" Layton questioned
"I told you before boy. We may not all see eye to eye, but the three of us have common enemies..."
"Gaea and Xander" Layton said
"Correct. I cannot be reformed so long as Gaea attempts to arise, and Xander continues to help her. Defeat them, and when I awake along with the others, I will spare you both if you choose not to stand in my way"
"You're just going to do the same as them - massacre all of the mortals" Layton denied
"That may be what you assume... but you haven't read my page in the book have you"
"No" Layton admitted
Syn laughed and the crevice shook with force. "Now that we're settled, pack up your bags and get to work"
With that said, the cold and dark feeling inside the crevice vanished, but the two fighters were left unconvinced.
"That had to have been one of your spells" Victor said. "You're trying to catch me off guard, aren't you?"
"You have no idea what that was" Layton shook his head
"Clearly you don't either"
"I have a basic understanding of what that is"
Piper
"Honestly, Hercules was a jerk" Jason said. "I don't want to end up like him, but I wouldn't have had the courage to stand up to him if you hadn't been the hero then"
"Well, we can just take turns being the hero" I suggested
Jason sighed and turned to the floor. "I don't deserve you"
"That sounds like a breakup line. Are you brea-"
Pairs of footsteps approached, so I expected to see Leo, Hazel, and Frank, but I was met by Percy Jackson accompanied by two power rangers look-a-likes. One was about Percy's height, clearly a girl, and wearing a blue armor, and the other was about an inch taller and wearing red armor. Both had special golden insignia on their helmet that went over their visor - falcon on the blue one and a lion on the red - and graceful capes.
"So Annabeth is being taken to an extremely dangerous quest by an American movie star?" I summed up
"Not really... Anyways, she's gone now... maybe I shouldn't have let her go after all, but um-"
"It's fine Percy, you had to" I said. "We all know she had to go alone, but she's tough and smart. Even I know that. She'll do great"
"I've heard a lot about the Mark of Athena" said the red ranger. "But the way you describe your friend... she'll be ok"
"Sorry, but who's your new friends Percy?" I asked
The blue one removed her helmet by tapping something on her wristband that caused it to revert into a singular chip that she picked up and plugged into a slot in the band. "My name's Chloe, it's nice to meet you Piper"
Her hair was a light blonde and was short, only reaching about her shoulders, and her eyes were a bright baby blue that reflected the sky perfectly. She was beautiful, and it made me a bit self conscious.
"You know me?"
"Of course. You were the ones who freed Hera from the giant" Chloe said
"I was there too" Jason mumbled
"You're Jason Grace. I've know about you before you saved Hera" Chloe turned to him. "But I don't think you remember us..."
Jason's eyes widened a bit in recognition but he then smiled. "I don't know how I didn't recognize you guys at first"