Authors' Notes: Honestly, does anyone really pay attention to what we write here? Wee woo bebduawijaefohfuagkej;ekdhidkfpeee. Jazz. Jazzity jazz. Joozle JAZZ. Jizz jang jingle JAAAAAAAAZZZZ.
—Parsek
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ANNABETH
Lvl. 50 Saboteur
Jason was level sixty-two. It was a fact that Annabeth had been loosely aware of for some time. The Lancer was undoubtedly of a higher level than herself, or any other member of the party, but it wasn't a fact that Annabeth had known until she'd internalised the words herself with Insight.
The verse of the Skill was as simple as it was direct. Know your enemy as you know yourself. Jason wasn't an enemy per se, but he was powerful, and after activating Insight, Annabeth knew his level and Aspects as instinctively as she knew her own. Level sixty-two, with a remarkably even spread across Bdy, Sol, and Rkn. It was all within a range of three hundred twenty, with several points of difference. His low Brh was strange, however. At a hundred twenty-six, it was only just comparable to Annabeth's own one hundred nine.
Khiron was capable of the same. He had known without even asking the level, Aspects, and Skills, of his prospective students. Insight had to be a Skill within a similar vein, though slightly more limited.
Of course, even that much information was an incredible tactical advantage. Annabeth could now know with certainty whether it was safe to use Puppetry, which was a Mnd/Bdy contest that only worked to her benefit if her Mnd was higher than her target's Bdy. She had been careful with the Skill in the past, but now, it was no longer a matter of guessing, but a game fully stacked in her favour. And it could reveal interesting vulnerabilities besides. Jason's low Brh had never been immediately apparent, but if she was able to devise plans with that Brh in mind…
Well, it wasn't likely she'd need to face off against Jason anytime soon. It was better to focus on their actual enemies, for now.
Annabeth sat on the edge of her appointed bed and considered the darkness of the Labyrinth. She had traded shifts from Percy, who had in turn taken Grover's spot at the edge of their little alcove. It was a necessary task. Prokroustes had already snuck up on them once, and that was the kind of experience most heroes didn't have the chance to learn from.
Superliminal Score was a calm scatter of lyrical chords, intermingled with the soft breaths of her sleeping companions.
Her first inkling that things were about to go awry was the way that the drums crept into that peaceful melody. So Annabeth went around and shook each of them awake in turn. All of their belongings were gathered quickly. Voices echoed into the alcove.
"Your bird is leading us astray."
"It's just confused. Maybe one of the Stretcher's leavings has caught its attention."
There was a strange, weighty fluttering—reminiscent of Crow, but with an almost metallic quality. The voices became louder, footsteps now audible in the tense silence of the alcove.
Annabeth looked at the others. There was only one exit to the alcove, and leaving would bring them into a direct path with the strangers making their way into the temple. Strangers with less than noble intentions, if this talk about Prokrustes' leavings was to be believed.
She took out one of Khiron's beads, and activated Mistwalk. Almost immediately, the third bead down the string began smoking. Her form turned translucent around the edges. She took Percy's arm—the Raider ghostly within the radius of the spell—and dragged both of them into a crouch behind the nearest bed.
"Hide." she mouthed at the others. Jason grasped at his own string of beads, and became a ghostly shade like Percy. Grover's staff scraped roughly against the floor as he lowered himself under a bed. Rachel's red hair slid away from view as she copied the Shepherd's example.
The washed-out colours of the spell cast an indistinguishable pall on the features of the five people that entered the room. A Hunter, and a Taster led the way, level fifty-five and fifty-four, respectively. The names gave Annabeth a moment of pause. Was the Hunter really named Hunter? The Taster—Arcturus—wore a haughty expression and an expensive chiton. His face became haughtier and somehow more judgemental as he regarded the bird in his companion's keeping. Even with clipped wings, and leather strips binding it to the Hunter's gloved hand, such a creature could not be considered tame. Its beak was a jagged bronze vice, with feathers that gleamed sharply in the dull light. A leather hood kept the rest of its head from view, but Annabeth was willing to bet that it was some kind of barely tamed monster.
The Taster held an oil lamp in one hand, which provided dim but serviceable light.
They were followed by a Gardener, Fletcher, and a Soothsayer. Kathryn, Lee, and… Piper? Not a single one of them was restrained in any way, but only the Hunter and the Taster had talked.
Jason's hands were clenched tightly around the haft of his spear. The misty cast of the spell made it difficult to distinguish his colour, but he looked ready to spring out and ruin all of their cover. Annabeth shook her head at him, but the Lancer only had eyes for the Soothsayer, Piper. Last Annabeth had heard, Jason's Piper was in Thebes. He clearly hadn't expected to find her here.
The Hunter wrestled his hooded charge back onto his glove. The creature's squawking was urgent and rasping. It was trying to throw itself into flight, first in one direction, and then the other. Jason shifted, and its head followed the motion, unerringly sharp. Then it glanced at Percy, completely both Grover and Rachel.
These people had a monster in their keeping that could seek out demigods.
The Taster removed a skin from his belt. His lips were stained a shocking red. It seemed more likely than not that he wasn't carrying around water.
"May as well kill the rest so we can be sure it's seeking a new quarry."
The Hunter scowled.
"You want to die today? I like my heart—and my Exp—where it is."
Jason attacked. Annabeth's hold on Percy's wrist tightened like a vice grip, even as Probability of Success flashed an image of the Raider lying facedown on the ground. Jason, she could do nothing for. In the blink of an eye, he'd sprung out from a couch, dropping Mistwalk and slamming the haft of his spear into the Hunter.
The force of his blow was enhanced by a gust of wind, which pinned the other man flat against the wall, bird and all. He turned to renew his assault, but was met by a globule of dark liquid. It splattered across his face, red as blood. Jason staggered and fell.
The Taster raised a hand to his lips and wiped away the last of the wine.
"Freshly fired clay," he muttered. "A complex finish."
"Jason!" It was as if the Soothsayer had broken free from a silent trance. She hadn't been expecting to see the Lancer here either. She ran forward and caught his sagging body before his head could hit the floor. She cradled his face, trying to wipe away the Taster's wine with the edge of her dusty peplos.
"I love you." He said the words slowly and clearly, as if he didn't want to forget them. Then his eyes fluttered shut.
Tears streaked their way down Piper's cheeks. She glared at the Taster—Arcturus—and then the Hunter, who was still staggered from the Lancer's sudden attack.
"You're going to regret that."
The words were quiet, but vicious. The Taster looked into her face, and saw something in her expression that seemed to unsettle him. He sneered, kicking away Jason's fallen spear. A poisonous mockery overtook his voice.
"If you want to save him from the Jaws, you can take it up with Skyló."
The Hunter's creature shrieked at the sight of the fallen Lancer, and tried to lunge forward.
"This the one?" asked the Taster.
The Hunter nodded grimly, and jerked the creature back to his gloved hand. Its bronze beak swivelled once more towards Percy, but neither of the two men followed the motion. They were too busy with Jason, dragging the Lancer roughly upwards typing up his hands with a length of rope. The Gardener and Fletcher witnessed the entire scene without a single change in expression. They hadn't even reacted to the attack, or Jason's appearance, as Piper had.
Finally, the Hunter produced a mechanical spider, and set it on the ground. It was a masterwork of bronze and shining wire, ticking to life in a slow synchronisation of cogs and gears. Then it began to skitter away.
The Hunter and the Taster prodded their prisoners into following.
As soon as their silhouettes rounded the corner, Annabeth let go of Percy's arm and let go of Mistwalk. The third bead on her string lessened its shaking, though smoke still faintly curled around its face. Three down, two left. She had already used up two of the beads earlier in the room with the Nemean Lion, and in her initial attempts to learn the spell.
"Why'd you stop me?" he whispered, sharply.
Annabeth turned from helping Rachel out from under a bed.
"They took down Jason. These are the people who are kidnapping demigods."
"That doesn't explain why you'd just let them—"
Grover's staff needed to be fished out from an awkward angle. Annabeth passed the ram's head to the Shepherd, and put her head outside of the entrance, tracking the movement of the Taster's oil lamp. They weren't far off. She turned to Percy, and motioned for him to follow.
"Well of course we're not letting them get away. They have a way to navigate the Labyrinth—" she mimicked the mechanical skittering of the spider. "So we can find their base and rescue the others at the same time."
"You could have said that first," finished Percy. He tightened his grip on the kopis.
Annabeth rolled her eyes. The shadows cast by the lamp had rounded a second corner, and they needed to move quickly. Or else standing around and arguing really would be letting the kidnappers get away.
"Let's go."
The uncertain light of the oil map led them through the abandoned remains of an aqueduct, and a long muddy corridor with many strange stone reliefs. Jason came a few times, but never clearly lucidly enough to formulate an escape. Piper whispered reassurances, asking if he was alright.
Eventually, the comforting words led Annabeth and the rest of her party across a wide ravine. It was natural, as far as she could tell. The depths glittered strangely, a glimpse at the riches of the Underworld—and yet. The Underworld was Hades' domain. Could the Labyrinth even reach that far? A rope bridge spanned the empty space between the two edges.
Annabeth considered an ambush, then, but the image of their entire party falling into the darkness stayed her hand.
The brief glimpses of the Hunter and the Taster from across the bridge gave her enough time to refresh her knowledge of their Aspects with Insight. The Taster was low in Bdy, but high in Rkn. That was good, since she would be able to use Puppetry on a proven threat first; none of them would go down so easily as Jason. The Hunter had a low Sol, and high Bdy. The high Bdy was trickier to deal with, but if there was a way to keep him from being able to use that Bdy…
They crossed into the threshold of a wide chamber, ringed in torchlight. At the far side of the room was a rough slab of rock, thrust upwards like a knife coming up from the earth. Its sides were festooned with chains. At the bottom was a shallow dip in the floor—all of it stained the colour of deep rust. It seemed that no one had ever bothered to wash the blood from the stone.
Annabeth was reminded of Prometheus, bound to a rock, sentenced by Zeus into eternal torment. The only thing missing here was titan himself.
The spider came to a stop. The room was devoid of any other presence. No other prisoners, but no other
Annabeth felt out at the situation with Probability of Success, and smiled at what she saw. She motioned to Grover, Percy, and Rachel. Now was the time.
She activated Puppetry. Silver threads spooled out and disappeared into the ceiling. The Taster didn't even have the time to shout a warning before he careened directly into the path of the Hunter, arms springing out and around the other man's body in the jerky approximation of a hug. He couldn't let go. Annabeth's arm was outstretched and unmoving.
The Hunter tried to get up, but he couldn't easily throw off the body of his companion. Grover was able to quickly come up and club both of the men into unconsciousness with his staff. The Hunter's creature shrieked viciously. It had managed to claw its way free of the bindings, though its head was still covered up in a hood. It flew haphazardly at Percy, but the Raider cut down the monster with ease. A single golden drachma dropped to the ground.
Annabeth turned to the prisoners. In the heat of the moment, she'd focused on the more immediate threats, but there was definitely something wrong with the Gardener and Fletcher. With Insight, her eyes landed on Piper.
The Soothsayer was level fifty. And she had a five hundred twenty-three in Sol.
That was the same moment that Piper let loose her own attack. Three leaden arrows arced out from her vicinity, striking Annabeth in the shoulder, Grover from the side, and Rachel's outflung arm. The arrows didn't hurt; passing harmlessly through Annabeth's shoulder like celestial bronze, but the weight of the impact was enough to send her to the ground.
She tried to get up, but the heaviness remained. It was like sheets of metal had been draped all over her arms and legs. Everything was so heavy that moving wasn't possible.
Piper produced a knife. With it, she cut Jason's hands free and stared deeply into his eyes.
Then she stood and pointed to Percy. Her words rang clearly across the chamber.
"Kill him!"
ANNABETH
Lvl. 50 Saboteur
Aspects
Mnd: 224
Bdy: 219
Brh: 109
Sol: 120
Rkn: 172
Passive: The Mind-Body Paradigm
A keen Strategist does not neglect to train her body along with her mind.
Skills
Probability of Success: Foresight honed over years is what separates the clever from the great.
Deliberate Feint: The art of warfare is a practice in deception.
Structural Assessment: Everything has a weakness. If one can find it, they hold the key to countless battles.
Puppetry: All the world's a stage. Some creatures require a guiding hand.
Superliminal Score: There is a setting for each theme; a theme for each setting.
Insight: Know the enemy as you know yourself.
Glossary
Hades — King of the Underworld, Hades is the oldest male Olympian and the god of the dead.
Khiron — Master: Son of the Titan Kronos and nymph Philyra; the Immortal trainer of heroes.
Prokroustes — A bandit giant and rogue smith who employed a hammer and amputation to fit his victims to match his iron bed; Killed by Theseus who did the same to him on his own bed.
Prometheus — God of Foresight, Trickery & Fire: Son of Iapetus and Clymene; Creator of Man and Firebearer.
Underworld — Also called Hades, it is ruled by the god of the same name; The place where souls go after death, they are judged and assigned an afterlife that reflects their life.
Zeus — King of the Gods, Zeus is the youngest male Olympian and the god of the sky and thunder.
A/N: So, did anyone see that coming? Fortunately, we've decided to spare you the cliffhanger, and the next chapter has already been released. I wonder what other characters we've decided to foreshadow so far…?
—Bibleo.