XIII.

At Camp Again (Ares)

Ares accompanied Enyo into Camp Half Blood with memories of the most recent battle fresh in his mind. First off, he had been on his way back to his dwelling minding his own business when 3 chimeras attacked him. He managed to kill 2 pretty quickly but the last one was much stronger and faster. Ares had noticed that it was it's mother's favorite chimera. Who was the chimera's mother? Echidna. Wife of Typhon and mother of Ekhidnades. Echidna didn't often talk about Ekhidnades due to his failure to kill Ares and his subsequent imprisonment in Tartarus. Fun Fact, this was also the same chimera that attacked Percy Jackon back in St. Louis all those years ago which explains how Ares had such a hard time fighting it. As for the attack, Ares had not even heard them coming, he was busy thinking about the vision he had of Ekhidnades and his resurrected son Leonidas.

"There is no way the War God will be able to face you, Leonidas," Ekhidnades had told him.

"I know, the dunce valued me more than any of his other children at the time. Setting me loose on the city of Athens will be the perfect plan. Zeus will believe that Ares resurrected me in an act of revenge on Athena," Leonidas responded. Ares did note that his voice sounded a little different from what he remembered. Then again, it had been thousands of years since he had heard Leonidas speak. It did not matter however. How was he going to kill Leonidas AND Ekhidnades by himself? Why himself? Because another haunting message was uttered during that meeting, this time by Typhon.

"Only the former War God will be able to kill you due to my interference, Ekhidnades. No one else may. Not even his irritating twin sister or his father. He is weak. If he shows up to kill you, even at full strength if it comes to that, you will have no problem in destroying him once and for all."

"Yes father," Ekhidnades responded. That was it. Ares was going to die and he knew it. He tried to keep it a secret from Enyo all those days she was with him in Washington. If he told her, she would rush over to Athens by herself and die. Ares would not allow that. The only person he would allow to die in a fight with Ekhidnades was himself. He got lucky once, perhaps he was going to get lucky again even with Typhon's insistence that Ekhidnades was going to win. But first, he needed to persuade Zeus to give him his powers back. Enyo had mentioned that Athena had some kind of plan for this, because she always did. Ares inwardly thanked Athena for saving his life once again. Maybe he had the wrong impression of her for his entire existence. It wasn't her fault that the mortals portrayed Ares as some bloodthirsty monster bent on killing everything in sight. They were only half right. He only did that when someone greatly angered him i.e. attempting to rape his daughter or speaking ill of Leonidas...or Clarisse. Ares turned his gaze toward Enyo, who was holding onto his right arm pretty tightly. She clearly didn't want to lose him. How could he tell her what was going to happen? It was going to destroy her mentally. Enyo noticed him staring at her.

"See anything you like? I won't tell Aph if you won't," she teased.

"Ok. Gross," he responded. He was just reminded that Zeus and Hera were siblings too. Nasty. Talk about a messed up family tree. Ares was just about to continue speaking but was interrupted by the sudden appearance of Camp Half Blood's director, Dionysus.

"Enyo? Again and...holy Hera...is that?" Dionysus started but Enyo cut across him.

"If you tell Pops that he's at this camp, I will flay your wife in front of you. Do you understand me?" she snarled as her eyes blazed with blue flames. Dionysus nodded but still continued to look at Ares. Ares was still rocking his old classic look of red shirt, black pants, boots and leather duster. His sunglasses were absent and his irises were brown but in the right light, they looked red.

"Not a very conspicuous disguise. I think we can help with that." Dionysus smirked.

Ares later found himself in an orange T-shirt with some jeans and sneakers. He didn't hate the clothes...but the jeans were a bit baggy. The shirt was also a bit small but it was the largest size the camp had at the moment. The fabric pressed against his body rather tightly and his chest and ab muscles were accentuated rather amazingly if Ares said so himself. His children had welcomed their father with open arms as Enyo brought him to their cabin.

"Dad?!" his son Sherman Yang, and head Ares Cabin counselor, had said when he saw Ares and Enyo walking up towards the path. Many of the other campers had exited the cabin to see their father. They let out cheers of delight upon seeing Ares and Enyo.

"Yang right? Shane? No...Shawn...No Sherman! There it is," Ares said to Sherman, who had just noticed Ares's attire.

"Uh, what's with the getup? What happened to your 50s biker look?" Sherman asked.

"Seeing as your grandfather still thinks I'm the one behind the attacks in Athens, gotta go incognito," Ares responded to the astonishment of Sherman. Ares had noticed Enyo begin to make second glances at him back in Washington. They might have noticed that his personality had changed a bit due to his "exile" into the mortal world. He still was going to tell his son that he was potentially going to die in about 2 days. He'd keep that information to himself.

"Anyway, the plan right now is to have me hide here until the Smart Ass tells me or E what the deal is and how to get my powers back. Then we tell Greased Lightning that I was not at all involved in Athens and then...no idea. But I'm gonna have to ask you to not use my real name. Just in case. I went by Richter for about 7 months so you can go ahead and call me that if you want,"

"I had something else in mind," a familiar voice said from right behind Ares. He jumped and turned to face Aphrodite, wearing a pink tank top and some shorts.

"Oh boy…" Ares managed to say before Aphrodite smacked him clear across the face. The momentum of the strike sent him spinning to face Sherman with a dazed look in his eyes.

"Lemme guess, you didn't deserve that?" he said.

"No, that one I deserved…" Ares said before Aphrodite grabbed and kissed him. Many of Ares's kids recoiled in disgust. Some of the younger ones shouted "gross!" and "Dad! Yuck!" Aphrodite eventually stopped and allowed Ares to breathe and speak.

"Uh...well...Hi," he managed to say. Enyo meanwhile was leaning against a nearby tree smirking at him.

"You gonna explain why you deserved that? Hmm?" Aphrodite ordered. Ares recoiled a bit when he saw the pink light blaze behind Aphrodite's eyes. Ares cleared his throat.

"Originally, I was in Phoenix near Clarisse, and Aphrodite and Thanatos tracked me down. I had a bit of an episode as I thought they were gonna drag me back to Olympus when I had no plan as to what to do. So, I pulled out this bad boy and sort of threatened my girlfriend with it," Ares pulled out the bronze knife from his boot as he spoke. A few of his daughters made faces as if saying "no you didn't." Ares started to twirl the knife in his hand as he continued speaking.

"Then I shoved her away from me. Yelled some more and told them to screw off. Left that morning to the place where E found me about a week ago."

"What brings you here then?" a blonde headed girl asked him. Ares looked at her closely for a moment.

"Gretchen, right? I remember your mom. Had an unhealthy obsession with Bon Jovi if I recall. If I ever hear 'Livin on a Prayer' again, I'm going to go insane. Anyway, E thinks that this is the best place for me to stay as we work out a plan to get me back on Olympus. Plus I was just almost killed by a chimera so there's that too," Ares responded and flipped his knife in the air a few times before catching it.

"Athena says she's going to brief you on it tomorrow. Right now she's over in California I think talking to Annabeth about something. Instead, you will be spending the day with me and you will be trying to get me to love you again," Aphrodite said defiantly. This confused Ares. She just kissed him right? What gives? Now he had to spend a day thinking about how smoking hot she was rather than how he intended to tell everyone that he had about 2 days left to live? Before he could protest, Aphrodite grabbed him by his shoulder and led him away from Enyo and the others. Ares glanced over his shoulder to see Enyo speaking to his children before vanishing. It was a shame, he was really starting to enjoy her company.

"What exactly am I supposed to do to-" he began before he noticed the look on Aphrodite's face. Oh. That. Got it.

"As for what I had in mind for calling you? Oh you'll see," she said before she pushed Ares to the ground behind some trees and bushes and jumped on top of him.

It took Ares a while to remember why he felt so terrible after Aphrodite left him to his own devices. The good news was that Ares had been able to make Aphrodite love him again *wink wink, nudge nudge* But that's beside the point. He still had that teeny tiny problem in Athens to deal with. Ares decided to not partake in the campfire that evening after dinner and instead found himself brooding on a hilltop staring out over the New York harbor. He was in the middle of thinking about nothing (one of his favorite activities) when another familiar female voice spoke from behind him.

"I see you decided to go full incognito," it said. Ares turned to see his rival Athena. The first time they had seen each other face to face since Ares had miraculously overpowered her in the Hall of Gods and kicked her in the chest.

"Oh good, you. I get to hear about your plan or whatever don't I. Goodie," he muttered. Athena sat down next to him. That surprised Ares immensely. It was very unlike Athena to be this casual with him.

"I know you don't trust me after what I blamed you for and for bringing up your son Leo-
"DON'T." Ares warned. Athena didn't know that Leonidas had been resurrected and Ares had to go and fight him tomorrow evening. Dammit.

"Right, him. Anyway, as for getting your powers back, all we have to do is to get Enyo to relinquish her status as the God of War," Athena explained. Ares arched his eyebrows. That was it? Really?

"That can't be all there is. There's no way it's that easy,"

"You are correct. That brings your grand total of times that you were right to about...20 I think but I digress. The rest of Olympus has to unanimously appoint you as the God of War," Athena continued.

"Great and so far we have 11 out of 12 on board don't we?"

"At the moment yes, but some of the others, including Enyo, are speaking to Zeus right now about it," Athena said. Ares had just noticed that Athena was not referring to Enyo as a "sub-goddess" like she usually did. Perhaps she was grateful that Enyo had found Ares unharmed. That was a first. Ares decided to ask the question that was burning inside of him since the chimera attack.

"You never forgot about the day you helped me flee from Typhon did you? It was why you got so angry with me initially wasn't it? This is why you're actually helping me. After everything I said about you, why?"

"I told you. You may be impulsive, violent and short tempered but you are still my brother. Now I must ask, is the giant in Athens the same one that injured you that badly before?" Athena asked. Ares reluctantly nodded.

"Athena. I'm...he's got Leonidas," Ares said reluctantly. Athena registered that Ares hadn't called her "Smart Ass" for the first time in forever.

"I'm sorry?"

"Typhon must have resurrected him somehow. The plan is to use Leonidas to attack Athens which will prove to Pops that the culprit is me regardless of what anyone else says. What am I supposed to do?" Ares said. Athena frowned slightly.

"Did you see this in a dream?"

"Yes,"

"Hmm, Enyo reported seeing something similar but her recollection did not include Leonidas,"

"She's lying,"

"Are-"

"I HAVE TO KILL MY SON! WHAT PART OF THAT ISN'T CLEAR?!" He shouted. Athena didn't react in the way that Ares hoped she had, which made him more angry. She didn't care about Leonidas at all. Only the fact that he was wrong.

"Ares, he must have tricked you or something. Enyo's recollection sounds more plausible. Last time I knew, Leonidas was in Elysium. Hades did that for you. I don't think Typhon could pull him out of there," Athena said but Ares's anger once again could not be abated.

"Oh and you know that how? Because you know everything right?!" he said angrily.

"Goddess of Wis-"

"PISS OFF!" Ares shouted again. Athena, however, did not "piss off." Instead she sighed solemnly and placed her hand on Ares's shoulder.

"I have to go to that meeting. I'll grab you tomorrow morning alright? We will make sure that Zeus does not harm you and you can make your case. I would suggest apologizing but knowing you, that's not happening." Athena teleported away after that leaving Ares alone on the hill to continue his brooding.

The night passed with alarming speed as Ares attempted to sleep but was still haunted by dreams involving Ekhidnades and Leonidas. He woke pretty early the next day, well before anyone else, and went to go sit on the same hill as last night.

"HEY! There's still a curf- gak!" Ares had grabbed the harpy by the neck, snapped it and threw the body away as it started to turn to dust. The other 2 harpies flew away in a complete panic. Ares took his seat on the hill again and waited for Athena to arrive. He still had no idea what he was going to say to Zeus in order to get his powers back. His only option was to beg and plead which is something he didn't like doing...plus Hades still made fun of him on occasion as well. Minutes turned into hours as Ares waited on the hill. Many of the other campers had woken up and were heading to breakfast and other morning activities. Still, Ares waited for Athena. It was when he noticed that Dionysus was absent that he thought something was indeed amiss. Ares pulled out his Olympian phone to see that he had no new messages from anyone. Even Zeus. That was odd. Surely Zeus should know that he's here by now. Someone must have slipped up somehow. He placed his phone back in his pocket and continued to wait. As the hours ticked on, Ares became more and more agitated. Athena had said in the morning right? Well, it was now almost 12pm.

"Lousy piece of...Must I do everything myself around here?!" Ares said to himself angrily and got up off the hill. He walked over to the camp armory (it was dreadfully understocked and he'd deal with that later) and grabbed a spare kopis, one of his favorite Greek blades. Plus if he was to battle Leonidas, he would do so as a Spartan. He made his way out of the camp without being stopped or noticed by anyone (Peleus snorted indignantly when Ares had passed him). Ares had made it a grand total of 100 yards when he heard someone laugh maniacally.

"Well well well, the former God of War. In a Camp Half Blood shirt? Pathetic," Ares turned to face Echidna, the mother of his greatest enemy as well as a thousand other horrors demigods had to face on a daily basis. She had a human head, but a snake-like body. Her tongue is forked and she has fangs instead of teeth. Her skin and eyes also resemble a reptile's as her eyes are sideways slits and her skin is bright green and scaly. Ares smirked. He could take this clown even in his weakened state, plus he had picked up her stench pretty much as soon as he crossed the camp's borders.

"Echidna, thought that was you I smelled about 5 minutes ago," Ares taunted. He unsheathed the kopis and squared off against Echidna. Echidna laughed.

"Oh please, you can't fight me. You couldn't even take on Sonny without help from your little sister. What makes you think you can take me on?" Echidna replied maliciously. "Come to think of it, your family should be indisposed right about now," Echidna laughed at this last comment, which turned out to be a mistake. For her. Even though they taunted him, hated him and blamed him for pretty much everything, they were still his family and Ares pounced. Before Echidna even knew that he had moved, the blade of Ares's borrowed kopis was deep within her stomach and Ares began to twist the blade as Echidna screamed in agony.

"Explain. Before I rip your damn head off. Now," he ordered.

"The spy, you stupid Spartan, the spy we planted in Olympus. There's no hope for them, or you. My son...will kill you...and the rest of them," Echidna coughed. Ares had had just about enough of this nonsense and wrenched the blade upward through Echidna's body. He didn't even flinch as her body turned to dust and scattered in the wind.

"Hang on...why did I just do that without getting more information?! DAMMIT! No time, gotta get to the Empire State Building and fast," Ares said to himself and sprinted off toward the city.

Ares arrived at the Empire State Building within 30 minutes of his slaughter of Echidna. He knew the city pretty well considering he had lived above it for hundreds of years. On the way, he had sneakily snagged a new pair of sunglasses from a street vendor and left him a $20. The man behind the desk in the lobby looked up at Ares when he entered. Ares didn't recognize this guy but the guy had recognized him pretty fast. Must have been the sunglasses.

"Didn't I just let you up like a few hours ago? And what's with the change in clothes?" he said. Ares frowned.

"What?"

"Yeah, you were here a few hours ago,"

"Impossible," Ares snapped back. "I just got here!" The guy behind the desk started to explain again but Ares walked up to the desk, grabbed the magical keycard and walked to the elevators. He hopped in the first available car, swiped the keycard and pressed the button for the 600th floor. He felt his anger begin to rise along with the car. What the hell was that guy talking about? Why did Zeus always pick dunderheaded morons to run the literal entrance to Mount Olympus? Ares felt the elevator stop and got out onto Mount Olympus, the place he had left almost 8 months ago. It hadn't changed much since he had left and he could still notice his fortress off in the distance so at least Zeus hadn't blasted that out of the sky either. Enyo probably wouldn't allow that...oh crap. Enyo. How was she going to react to what was going to happen later? Probably go on some kind of killing spree. Not good. What was also not good was the fact that many of the minor gods had started to notice him and gave him looks of confusion.

"Ares? Aren't you supposed to be at the Hall of Gods for some kind of apology party?" one of them asked. Ares frowned again. Apology party? That didn't sound like him.

"Come again Glaucus?" Ares asked the minor god, who was dressed in fisherman attire and acting like that Jack Sparrow guy from those mortal Pirates movies.

"Because of what you did about 8 months ago? You're trying to get back into Zeus's good books and give you your powers back so you decided to throw a party in his honor. All the Olympians, including Enyo, are there and...wait...what's this?" Glaucus rattled off before he and Ares spotted the Hall of Gods in the distance. Ares could see that the doors were sealed shut and there were 2 undead guards standing on either side of them.

"Oh bugger…" Glaucus said before running off. Ares saw why, through the window he saw...himself.

"What the…" he said as his doppelganger came into better focus. It was wearing his old attire pretty much verbatim. He moved closer to get a better look. The undead guards had spotted him and began to scream but Ares hurled his sword at them. It managed to impale both of them at once and they crumbled to dust. He retrieved the sword and looked through one of the windows to a truly terrifying sight. All 12 Olympians, ALL of them, were bound in chains and kneeling on the floor. Tables of food were placed all around the hall much like the time Percy had saved Artemis from Atlas. There were what looked like pools of greenish-gold fluid in front of each of the Gods. Ares recognized the fluid at once. It was the same fluid he had ejected from his own insides after his first fight with Ekhidnades. The gods were poisoned and bound in celestial bronze chains. Ares recognized them as the same kind of chains that bound his statues in Sparta. Ares scanned the row of Gods and spotted Enyo who had a look of absolute betrayal etched upon her face. Ares doppelganger was laughing maniacally and holding a knife up to Aphrodite's neck. Ares couldn't really make out what he was saying (because he was too busy trying not to yell every curse word he knew at the top of his lungs) but he did see him cut into Aphrodite's neck and lick the small trickle of ichor off the blade before turning back to Enyo. Enyo looked like she had yelled something at him. Ares needed to do something. His sister, girlfriend and the rest of the idiots he called family were in grave danger. He could see them wretch every few seconds and expel more of that greenish-gold liquid onto the floor. He didn't know how long they all had to live but seeing as they didn't take blow after blow from the dude that made that kind of poison, they'd most likely not die. Ares took out the kopis and examined it. It looked like it was made of Celestial Bronze. Made sense, he had killed Echidna with it about 30 minutes ago. He had an idea...it was a stupid but it was an idea. First he needed to get his doppleganger to not notice him. The doppelganger was currently threatening Enyo which angered Ares so much that he had almost forgotten to be quiet. He placed the tip of the kopis against the glass window and applied some pressure. He felt the glass begin to crack. This was good. He needed it to be weak in order for him to smash through it with one jump. He continued to apply pressure against it and more cracks began winding their way up and down the window and a piece or two had even broken off. Surprisingly, none of the people inside had heard him do this. That was probably because Athena was currently yelling at what she thought was Ares.

"TO THINK I TRUSTED YOU!" Ares was able to hear what was being said inside due to the cracks in the window.

"Oh do us all a favor and SHUT. UP." the doppelganger yelled and threw a sword into Athena's shoulder. Athena yelled in pain as Ares backed away from the window, readying himself for his spectacular entrance. The window replacement was going to come out of his paycheck but that's besides the point right now. As he backed away, he thought he'd seen Enyo glance in his direction. Before he ran at the window he hesitated at the sound of Enyo's voice.

"What did you say to me after Lysander died?"

"I told you to suck it up you wimp," WHAM! Ares heard what sounded like a headbutt and a groan of pain followed by

"You aren't my big brother." Ares nodded once and ran full speed at the window. He jumped at the last second and used his shoulder to brace himself from the impact. His plan to weaken the window worked and he smashed through it with almost no effort. In one motion he did a commando roll, ripped off his orange t-shirt and got to his feet. Many of the Gods had shouted in Ancient Greek as Ares busted his way through the window before they realized who had done so. Ares caught a glimpse of Athena's shocked face, Zeus's look of absolute confusion and Aphrodite's face that clearly was saying "my hero". He gave Enyo a smirk and she returned it. He stared his doppleganger right in the face, brandished the kopis in front of him and said,

"Because I am."