The West Side...
"Why—are—there—so—many—monsters?!" Thalia panted, drawing her arm back once more. Reyna scowled, gripping her dagger tightly. "What's taking Percy so long?" The Praetor asked in reply. "It's been hours."
"Loki said time works differently in... wherever the Hades they are," Thalia replied, "but still, this is a little ridiculous."
The com buzzed in their ears. "We need help on the south side," Steve grunted.
Thalia put a hand to her ear. "Phoebe," she ordered, "take seven hunters from the front and help them."
"Understood," came the static reply back.
They had strategically spread out their forces around the building, splitting into four separate groups that consisted of mortals, hunters, Greeks, and Romans alike. Thalia was only on the west side because Reyna's group had been swarmed suddenly.
"I could use a little help on the east side," Nico panted over the line.
"Copy that," Natasha replied, as Thalia said, "On my way, Death Breath."
Reyna nodded at her. "Thanks for the help. We've got it now."
Thalia tilted her head and slung the bow over her back. Reyna ran off to help a Greek. Thalia pulled out a knife and set off to help Nico.
The East Side...
Nico grinned when Thalia arrived two minutes—and four dead monsters—later. "Took your time," he shouted, ducking under a clawed swipe. Thalia suppressed a shudder as Nico effortlessly killed the dracaena. Not for the first time, she was glad Nico was on her side.
A centaur reared up to stomp her. She slashed and rolled, the hooves kicking up dust behind her. She swiped again (letting electricity crackle along her blade), and, distracted, the monster missed the dagger flying at it until the weapon buried itself hilt-deep into the centaur's neck. It burst into gold dust.
Thalia looked past the falling dust. "Thanks," she said to Natasha. Natasha nodded and picked up the dagger. "Anytime."
The spy glanced around. Skeletons littered the field, confusing the monsters with their large numbers while the humans finished them off.
"Those... things are on our side... right?" Natasha asked uncertainly.
"Yeah," Thalia nodded. "Son of Hades, remember?" The Hunter jerked a finger at said demigod.
An arrow whistled through the air before finding a home in the dracaena that had been approaching the duo. Thalia raised a hand in thanks to the open window in the building where the shot had come from. Only a flash of clothing indicated that there had been a person at all, making it hard to tell if it had been a fellow Hunter or the mortal archer.
"Are you two going to stand there all day and talk, or are you gonna help me?" Nico hollered, pausing in his slashing. He truly was a sight to behold: his obsidian sword sucked up shadows and monsters alike, and his creepy skeletons encircling him.
"Yeah, yeah, Death Boy. Hold your horses," Thalia yelled. "Or your skeletons, I guess," she added with a frown and a shrug.
Natasha and Thalia exchanged looks and, without another word, charged back into the fray.
The North Side...
Thor summoned lightning, the bolts of electricity crashing into groups of monsters. He glanced over, watching two demigods—he believed they were collectively called the Stolls—bicker back and forth, with each other and with the monsters.
"—and then he laughed at me. Can you believe that?" Conner asked the cyclops—who was actively trying to smash Conner with its club—at the end of his story.
"That's not how it happened," Travis protested from behind the monster. He stabbed through the cyclops with his sword. "You're full of crap, Conner."
"Rest in peace, my dear friend. You gave such good advice," Conner muttered to the dust. Louder, he said, "I am not!"
"Are to!"
"Are not!"
"Are t—"
Thor shook his head with a sigh. Earlier the two had distracted themselves by answering Steve over the communication device as 'Roger, Roger,' which—for some odd reason—they found absolutely hilarious. The Asgardian had to admit they had skill, though. They were good at watching the other's back, not to mention they were quick and worked well together.
"You're not supposed to be fighting each other, idiots! You're supposed to fight the monsters!" Katie yelled at the two, warding off a daimon.
Travis pouted. "It's rude to call your boyfriend an idiot."
"The truth hurts," she replied with a shrug after disemboweling the monster.
Conner grumbled, "Travis is basically a monster, anyway."
"Hey!" Travis sulked. "Don't gang up on me."
"Focus," Katie scolded, whacking Travis upside the head once she approached.
"Ow," Travis whined. Conner stuck out his tongue.
Katie turned and slapped the back of his head too.
"Ouch." Conner rubbed his head sullenly.
Thor smashed a monster and felt his lips twitch. "The lady is right, sons of Hermes." The trio looked over at him. "It is our solemn duty to defend—"
"Heh. Duty," Conner covered his mouth. "Trav, he said duty."
Thor rubbed his temple. "The battlefield is no place for games, young ones."
"Aye, aye cap'n," Travis saluted stoutly.
"No, that's the other one," Conner whispered to his brother.
"Whoops. My bad."
The glare Katie sent the two had them jumping into action.
They ran off, efficiently killing monsters left and right. Thor turned back around and threw Mjölnir through a line of monster. It looked like the brothers could handle themselves.
"I called dibs on that monster!" came the indignant shout.
Laughter. "First one to fifty without dying wins."
Of course, looks could be deceiving.
The South Side...
Phoebe released the arrow. The cyclops roared in pain as the arrowhead buried itself into its giant eye with a disgusting squelch. Seven arrows quickly followed hers, and the monster burst into dust.
She surveyed the field swiftly. Iron Man was in the sky fighting the flying monsters and preventing dive-bomb attacks. Captain America was surrounded but still using his shield quite successfully. Demigods were scattered around, mostly in groups. Against the building a Hypnos kid—Phoebe thought it was Clovis, but it was too far to be sure—was asleep. As part of their strategy, each child of Hypnos was saddled with an Apollo kid and a Hermes kid to defend them, since they seemed to be the most resistant to the effects of Hypnos. When monsters got close to a Hypnos child, their movements became sluggish and tired—easy pickings for the two awake demigods.
Not the most conventional strategy, sure, but it proved fairly effective.
Phoebe turned to the seven girls behind her. "Raegan, Tamara, Pamela, Lacy. Go help Rogers," she ordered, pointing to where Captain America was about to be overrun. The four hunters nodded and dashed off. "Marcy, Vee, Georgia. With me."
They flanked her as they ran to help a group of surrounded half-bloods.
Phoebe panted, thrusting her hunting knife through the harpy's chest. With a squawk, the monster disintegrated. In one smooth movement, Phoebe spun, nocked, and released an arrow. It flew through an empusa attempting to sneak up on a distracted camper. She glanced around, relieved to see that there seemed to be a lull in the monster attacks. The fighters slowly gathered closer to each other, checking on the wounded and formulating plans.
Steve Rogers knelt next to one of her hunters. Phoebe jogged over and crouched by the dark-skinned girl. Judging by the blood coating her leg, she had been impaled or scratched deeply on her leg, which was also twisted at a weird angle.
Steve muttered some soothing words to her, barely glancing up at Phoebe's approach.
"Tamara," Phoebe voiced as she looked the girl over for other injuries—which, thankfully, seemed to be practically nonexistent.
Tamara fluttered her eyelids tiredly. "Pho," she muttered and chuckled softly. "That dracaena got me good, huh?"
"I bet you got it better," Phoebe smiled lightly.
"Of course," came the weak reply back.
Phoebe nodded and gestured over to Raegan and Georgia. "Take her to the healers." They nodded and helped the injured hunter stagger to her feet and limp to the building.
Tony Stark landed next to Steve with a clank, his mask popping up. "Everyone okay?"
"One of my hunters messed up her leg, so I sent her to the healers. But besides that, I think just minor injuries," Phoebe said. "Nothing that can't be solved with a little nectar or ambrosia." Each group had been given a small stash of the god food and drink to treat minor injuries or to buy time with the major injuries—just for the demigods, of course.
Steve nodded in agreement. "Thanks for the backup."
"Yeah, you really saved our as—wesome butts," Tony added, stumbling when he glanced over at Steve's disapproving look.
Steve sighed and turned, putting a hand to his ear to update the rest of the force on their status.
"But, uh, I gotta ask," Tony started with an unsure look. "What's up with the sleeping kid?"
The Inside...
"I need some more nectar over here," Will hollered. "You'll be fine," he reassured the Demeter child.
The teen grimaced in pain but nodded. His wounds—deep scratches across his chest—would have been life-threatening for a mortal but, when treated with the god sustenance, were not as serious.
Will glanced up to see three hunters walk in. He frowned at the bloody leg and gestured to one of the beds they'd set up.
Benjamin dashed up with a small container of nectar. "Not too much; he's already had some," Will muttered, patting the boy's shoulder.
Will reached the bed just as the women lowered the wounded girl into the mattress. One of the huntresses turned to him. "We need to get back out there."
"Of course," Will nodded. "She's in good hands."
They nodded their thanks stiffly and jogged out.
Will turned back to the girl. He raised an eyebrow. "It's almost impressive how much you managed to mangle your leg."
The girl grimaced and chuckled. "You should see the dracaena."
Will chuckled. "Do you want me to get one of my sisters, miss...?"
"Tamara." She glanced around to the busy place. "And no, that's okay. I'm not as... picky as some of my sisters."
Will nodded. "Okay, then let's see what I can do."
He pulled away a few minutes later after staunching the bleeding and stinting her leg. Now that her leg was straight again, he could give her ambrosia.
His earpiece crackled to life right after he handed her the small chunk. "We need a medic," the man's voice said. "We don't want to move him."
Will put a hand to his ear. "Demi?" He asked.
"Yeah."
"Okay; on my way."
"I'll escort you," another voice said over the com.
"Copy," Will replied, already turning to grab one of the portable med kits.
Clint Barton popped his head in a few seconds later, panting. "C'mon, kid. Let's get a move on."
Will slung the bag across his shoulder and grabbed an extra knife for good measure. "Coming."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Percy slammed into the wall, his breath whooshing from his lungs. He groaned, feeling the aftermath of his many, many bruises.
Loki crashed into the wall next to him with a hiss. His gelled-back hair now fluttered around his face haphazardly. His fancy Asgardian-prince clothes were scuffled and torn. Percy was sure he didn't look much better.
"So, not to be a pessimist or anything, but this isn't looking great," Percy bit out painfully.
Loki scowled in his general direction. "I noticed."
A cruel laugh drew their attention back to the front. "You thought it would be easy to defeat me, Perseus?" Tartarus smirked manically. "That you could just stroll in here and beat me? Foolish gods."
"I prefer to think of it as optimism," Percy responded as he staggered slowly to his feet.
"I will admit that Percy does have his foolish moments..." Loki started, trailing off.
Everyone paused a second. "But..." Percy prompted, waiting for the inspiring part of his sentence.
Loki shrugged. "That was it."
Percy blinked. "Whose side are you on?"
The rest of Percy's response was cut off as the god spun into action. Percy whipped around, barely dodging a piece of rock that shot out from the wall.
Without his proprioception and his godly stamina, Percy would have been dead a hundred times over.
"I have a question," Percy said, watching the wall warily for more attacks. "Why can he control everything when we're in my mind?!"
Loki sighed. This was the fourth time they'd had this conversation. "You just need to focus, Percy. Find your connection to your mindscape and delve into it."
"That's what you keep saying. And yet, I keep getting slammed into walls." He dodged a falling rock. "Also, it's bold of you to assume I know what 'delve' means."
"You lack the will, young god," Tartarus sneered, spinning his giant broadsword casually. "You don't have the strength to control your own mind; what makes you think you can best a primordial?"
Percy blew out a breath. At this point, Tartarus was just toying with them.
"Focus, Percy."
Percy twisted, managing to glance the piece of ground that had shot up off his blade. It nicked his cheek. "A little hard to do when the effing ground is attacking me!"
Percy winced as his bad wording brought back unpleasant memories.
"Percy! Concentrate!" Loki shouted, throwing a knife at Tartarus. Not that it did much.
"Your shouting isn't helping either!"
Come on. Come on. This was his mind. His.
And Percy would be dam(n)ed if he was killed in his own mind.