Luguselwa had been drifting in and out of consciousness since yesterday. An hour before her Sapling was to arrive, Nero had summoned her to his throne room.
She had hobbled on her crutches trying to exude the same confidence she always had. Inside, she was wary of why Nero had summoned her.
In her half-awake state, her hazy memories took over her sight. She was completely unaware someone was trying to save her life as Nero's voice echoed in her mind.
"Ah, Luguselwa, I am very pleased to see you're recovering nicely. It's amazing how you survived Apollo's attack on you," Nero remarked loftily. A slave handed him a glass of wine yet he didn't take a sip.
"I underestimated him, My Emperor. I was trying to subdue Meg who I believed to be the bigger threat. I should have done better."
"Yes, you should have," Nero's cold voice retorted. Instantly, everyone tensed up. The temperature dropped significantly indicating something extremely cruel was going to happen.
With a wave of his hand, two Germani kicked Lu's crutches out of her grasp. The Gaul almost hit the floor only to be caught by the bodyguards. They shoved her onto the ground and held her arms out.
Her subordinate, Gunther, was snickering as he sanguinely looked up at Nero. "Can I do the honor of beheading the traitor," he asked gleefully.
"I'm not a traitor!" Lu yelled as she fought to get free. Her injuries hampered her efforts.
The evil emperor got off his throne towards her. He forcefully grabbed her head and yanked it up, nearly breaking her neck in the process.
"DON'T LIE! I despise liars especially when they're my soldiers." He slammed her head into the marble which broke her nose while three teeth fell to the ground.
She sensed rather than saw Nero return to his throne. "I'm disappointed with you Luguselwa. I allowed you to train my precious Meg. Let you take her out on car rides."
The immortal glared at her with such intensity she should have blown up. "I allow you to have a bond with my sweet Meg. Instead of being grateful, you chose to betray me! I knew the second you let Apollo throw you off the building."
"My Lord, I…"
"SILENCE!" Nero bellowed loudly as he shot to his feet.
"Don't you dare insinuate I am mistaken! You have been alive for centuries and have fought immortals before! If you were truly fighting to apprehend Apollo, you would never have let him get close enough to throw you!"
He calmed down and reposed on his throne again. "I am not without mercy. Meg would be heartbroken if she didn't get to say goodbye to you. So, you'll live for now. However, you still need to be punished."
He snapped his fingers and the youngest Imperial Child moved closer. His name was Cassius and he was only eight. The boy trembled as he was given his own pair of rings.
"Cassius, it's time to prove yourself to me. I want you to cut off Luguselwa's hands right now."
Cassius was sweating as he summoned the blades. He didn't want to do this, but he couldn't upset Nero.
Closing his eyes, he brought down the swords cutting Lu's hands off at the wrist. He managed not to throw up as the Germani quickly bound the Gaul's wounds.
That was the last thing Lu clearly remembered. She suspected she was in the prison cell judging by what she could feel with her feet. However, she had no idea how much time was passing.
She was vaguely aware when the cell door opened and someone was tossed inside with her. She thought she recognized the indignation in the voice but was sure as she drifted again.
Something heavy brushed up against her "Lu! Ca... you h… me? You…. blood and…. die if I…bleed…"
Lu moaned and tried to swat the thing away. The thing grabbed her arm tightly, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"Let go of me!" she shouted thrashing around. She would not let herself be beheaded.
"Stop, I'm trying to help you!" the thing no person informed her. Her vision cleared slightly and she was looking at a teenage boy.
"Apollo?"
The boy nodded. "You need to go to sleep now. I can't touch your wrists until you do."
"My wrists? What are you…? Whatever it is doesn't matter. Sapling needs me."
"You can't help Meg if you die from blood loss! Now go to sleep!" The teenager put a rag soaked in medicine around her mouth and nose. Her eyes got droopy and she lost consciousness.
Her mind kept replaying fragments of memories as she fought to regain awareness. Encountering Nero during the end of the Gallic Wars. He had saved her from becoming a rape victim.
Another fragment memory showed her teaching Meg how to use her swords to defend herself from attackers.
A recent fragment of when she heard Meg had escaped. She was happy to hear the news but knew Nero wouldn't stop until he had her back with him. That was the moment she chose to betray him.
Holding onto that moment, Lu forced herself to wake up. Her eyes sprang open and she saw Apollo clutching for something while he was dreaming. Extending her foot, she managed to tap him on the shoulder.
Instantly, Apollo woke up and he was confused. "Sonya?"
"No, it's me, Lu. Where are Sonya and Meg?" the Gaul demanded.
Apollo shrugged his shoulders slightly when he told her how everyone got split up at the troglodyte's headquarters. "I hope she's with Rachel and the others because in my dream she said she was fine and coming to my aid with help."
"As for Meg, Nero has sunk his claws in her again. I have no idea where she is, but I fear for her safety."
Lu frowned upon hearing that. "I do as well. There have been other Imperial Children who have defied Nero in the past. None of them survived rehabilitation."
"His current batch of twelve is only the latest in his quest to replace the Olympians. He has been extra cruel to them since it became apparent that their time was coming."
He hadn't thought of that, but it did make sense. The emperors had been trying to take their place as true gods for millenniums. They had only made their move when he had been cast out, opening the path to Olympus.
He also realized something else. Lu's tone indicated she wasn't just worried about Meg. "You're afraid for the other Imperial Children."
Lu nodded as she looked away from the mortal god. "Meg was not the first of Nero's children I trained. I've trained all his daughters since he saved me. I thought I was protecting them by teaching them to be strong and capable women."
Her eyes glistened with unshed tears. "Meg was the one that broke me. I had seen many daughters of Demeter/Ceres over my lifetime. She was the first though who truly wanted to be a warrior."
Lu looked down at her bandaged wrist. "I realized after a year Meg was not just interested in being a warrior. She was trying to become powerful enough for Demeter to pay attention to her. It is never easy being the child of Demeter."
Apollo knew what Lu meant. His aunt showered her daughter Persephone with love and devotion. She had gone in search of her when she had been kidnapped.
His aunt had gone the extra mile saying she would starve the planet if her daughter was not returned to her. She still hated the months when Persephone had to stay in the Underworld.
Demeter loved Persephone so much that she hardly paid any attention to her other children, whether immortal or mortal. Arion was a horse so he didn't need much attention. His twin sister Despoina was another story.
Shortly after her birth, Despoina had been sent away to be raised by the Titan Anytus. He was Demeter's silent bodyguard for a time. Despoina had loved him deeply treating him like a father since Poseidon was never there.
To get her mother's attention Despoina created the Arcadian Mysteries, a secret cult devoted to the fertility of the land. Initially, it was a success as her mother was worshiped alongside her which meant her mother would visit often.
Then the Arcadians had started worshiping her sister Persephone and her aunt Artemis alongside her and Demeter. While Despoina remained the central goddess, her mother eventually left because she wasn't the center of attention.
It was a similar story with Chrysothemis. Shortly after her birth, Demeter left her in the care of her father Carmanor. The girl sang about her mother's duties during the first concert at Delphi.
He still remembered her smile when he declared her the winner. She hadn't wanted anything in return. Instead, she focused her attention on the Golden-Custom harvest festival.
Chrysothemis had been overjoyed when her mother would visit during the festival. She went out of her way to make her feel welcomed hoping Demeter would stay for a while after the festival. She never did.
Her brother had become indifferent to their mother knowing she didn't care much for boys.
Sure, his mother praised him for creating the plow and helping crops grow. It was the only thing she would talk about with him so he didn't try to get more attention.
Plutus was the son she paid the most attention to. That was only because she didn't want his blindness to affect his job. Eventually, he learned to do his job well enough he didn't need her support.
Then Demeter left again leaving the young god to his lonesome. Occasionally, he would get his mother's attention by offering her wheat, his sacred plant, to her. It was never for long though.
Demeter always put her crops and plants ahead of her children except for Persephone. It was maddening for her demigod children that she didn't seem to think her crops aka kids were worth much of her time.
No wonder Meg had developed a maternal bond with Lu. She obviously cared for the girl. More importantly, she paid attention to her.
"I think I know why Meg was the one that made you finally stand up to Nero. She was more than a trainee. She became your daughter."
Lu didn't say anything for a minute. Then she replied that Apollo was starting to become a bit more perceptive.
"Meg is the closest thing I will have to a daughter. I owe her and all the daughters of Nero justice. I'm not just doing this for Meg, I'm doing it so no more children suffer Nero's cruelty."
"So, how do we save Meg? I don't know how much time has passed without a clock or a window. We haven't even been served food yet."
Lu reminded Apollo how he had been learning things while he was asleep. "You need to control your dreams. Drive them to who you want to see."
"I've tried and it never works! When I fell unconscious at Camp Half-Blood, I tried to will myself back to my body so I could wake up. Instead, my astral self was dragged everywhere else."
Lu was quiet for a few seconds before she asked him how had been feeling when he tried to control his dream.
"I don't know. I supposed I was chloric, distressed, even frazzled a bit. What does that have to do with anything?"
"Emotions control our dreams. If you want to learn anything you need to be calm and focused. Otherwise, you'll be dragged all over the place."
"I'll remember that the next time I fall asleep. Which won't be ever because Nero's going to kill us if we don't escape!" Apollo wailed.
"You need to calm down and go to sleep. My body rhythm is telling me lunch will be served in an hour and a half. If you fall asleep now, you'll find out what we need to do to escape."
Apollo wanted to protest. How could he fall asleep when Meg needed his help? They should be trying to escape right now!
The Gaul read his body language and knew what he was going to say. "Either fall asleep naturally, or I'll use the chloroform on you. Your choice."
Sighing, Apollo laid back down and closed his eyes. He hadn't realized how exhausted he still was as he went to sleep right away.
Apollo found his astral-self falling through the building towards Python. He started to get panicked as he got closer, but then remember what Lu had said.
"Calm and focused. Calm and focused," he repeated to himself. He focused on Meg. He found his astral-self going upward again. As he got higher, he felt a slight tug.
Figuring it was the bond between master and servant, he followed it. His astral-self blurred as he rocketed through the hallways. He re-materialized inside Meg's room right behind her bathroom door.
"Figures, I would end up in the bathroom given my look," he whispered to himself. His astral-self couldn't touch anything so he was grateful the door was opened just wide enough for him to see the main part of the bedroom.
The giant corpse flower had grown bigger and the smell was horrendous. Somehow, Meg had managed to grow weeds that pushed through the tiles or out of the walls.
The furniture had been torn apart. Currently, Meg was using a chair leg to take a swing at the lights. She was too small to jump high enough to do any real damage. Yet, the chair leg was leaving scratch marks.
Apollo squinted and he saw two figures standing next to the door. They appeared to be a maid and Germanus. The maid was wobbling on her legs.
"Miss, if you could please just pick out a party dress, aww!" the maid was saying before Meg took a swing at her head. The maid dropped the dresses on the ground.
Meg snatched them off the floor and proceed to either rip them or throw them into the corpse flower. Looking around the room, Meg started running over to the dressing dais.
"Miss, what are you…? No, please don't break that!" Too late, Meg had smashed all three of the full-length mirrors. Meg concentrated and more weeds sprouted.
They picked up all the glass and sank back into the floor. It seemed Meg didn't want anyone to get hurt as she destroyed everything.
Dropping her chair leg, she started hurling boxes of jewelry at the Germanus. The man didn't even flinch when a large jewelry box smashed into his face.
The door opened and in walked Nero. The man scanned the room and there was the slightest crease in his forehead that showed his displeasure.
"Meg, please stop throwing a temper tantrum. Why don't we sit and talk about this?" he said as he sat on the ruined bed.
Meg had halted in throwing her jewelry around when he had entered the room. She still had a large broach in her hand.
She started to lower her hand when something changed with her expression. It went from fear to sulky in a split second. She hurled the broach and it hit Nero's right shoulder.
The entire room was silent as no one could believe what just happened.
The preteen looked at her hands weirdly. She moved her fingers one at a time likely to assure herself that she was in control of her body.
Nero snarled and commanded the Germanus to bring Meg to him. Apollo gnawed his astral teeth as Nero stood up. He held out his hand and the maid quickly handed him a long stick.
"You know better than to attack me, Margaret! I think you need a reminder of why you are in rehabilitation." The emperor raised the stick high as he got ready to cane the girl.
"NOOO!" Apollo's astral-self shouted as he tried to slip through the door. He felt someone jerk him away from the door before covering his mouth.
The mortal god struggled in his captor's arms. How was it possible for someone to be touching him in his astral form?!
"Be still! If you continue to fight me, you're going to have trouble getting back to your body!" a female voice said with a slight lisp.
Apollo calmed down and he was released. He turned and looked at his captor. He was only mildly shocked by who it was. After all, he had been through a lot in this quest.
It was Amekhania, the daemon goddess of helplessness. Unlike her mother Nyx, her features were much lighter such as her brown hair and hazel eyes. She was wearing a sleeveless gray dress with swirls embroidered on it.
Apollo wanted to slap himself. Of course, a daemon could touch his astral-self. They spent most of their time like this back in Greece. He wondered how and why she was here.
"I should have known Hybris wouldn't pass up a chance to turn Nero's outrageous pride against him. I'm sorry Demeter's daughter is being punished for her actions."
Apollo wanted to get back to checking on Meg yet he was compelled to find out why the two daemons were here in the first place. "What's going on Amekhania?"
"I don't have a lot of time to explain. Camp Half-Blood is preparing to march against Nero in a couple of hours. Sonya's going to meet up with them to combined our forces."
Apollo tried to interrupt only for the daemon to speak over him. "I'm with a few advanced scouts scoping out the building. We'll be fine as long as we stay in spirit form."
She told him to go back down to the prison level to investigate the vault with Soter and Soteria. They would make sure he got back to his body. Someone yanked Apollo's feet from below dragging him to the vault.
While Apollo was gathering information; way below the ground, the troglodytes were digging their way to the vats. Rachel, Nico, and Will had managed to keep the alliance together.
The troglodytes had been reconsidering their agreement when Rachel had a vision. She foresaw the troglodytes being guided to a fashion house in Boston by Nico. This wouldn't happen if they broke their end of the bargain.
The thought of finding a treasure trove of clothes and hats on Newberry Street was enough to keep them on track.
Will lit the way for Nico and Rachel as they traveled behind the troglodytes. He was impressed by how fast the creatures could dig. "Do you think we're close to the vats yet?"
Rachel shook her head. "I think we need to go further down. The vats are at sixty feet below. If we want to do this unnoticed, we have to be at least ten feet further down."
"Then down we go," Nico remarked blandly.
A few minutes later the troglodytes had dug beneath Nero's tower and the vats. Screech-Bling waited for the mortals to catch up before turning to Nico and Rachel.
"We have arrived Son of Hades. The shotty vats are above us. Red Priestess, what do you foresee our next step is?"
"CEO Screech-Bling, Red Priestess doesn't always receive visions on command."
Rachel put her hand chest and gently pushed him back. She looked upward trying to picture the vats and power systems. A few seconds later her eyes appeared to sparkle.
"The vats must be safely drained most of their contents first. An object made of crystals can hold the deadly contents. Afterward, we can dispose of it properly."
"Where are we supposed to dispose of that much Greek Fire?" Will demanded to know.
Nico told his boyfriend to relax. They could give the crystal to his dad. In his roman form Pluto, he was the god of riches from the earth. He could store the item safely."
Screech-Bling said his people could deliver the object speedily after they completed the sabotage.
"After the vats are drained, we need to dismantle the pumps so the remaining contents aren't sent anywhere. Once that's complete, we need to reroute the pipes to the vats so they exploded."
Screech-Bling tapped his chin and then talked with his board members. The plan was doable. They would have to be precise and quick if they wished to accomplish the task in time.
"We shall need your help barbarians. The troglodytes are always quick and efficient. Yet, there are some things only your kind can do."
The trio assured Screech-Bling they could handle any job they were given. The CEO of the troglodytes assigned them the job of keeping track of how many crystal containers they used.
There were twelve vats and they could hold up to five hundred gallons of Greek Fire. The trogs had to do one of a time to prevent an explosion. Five trogs came back with two crystal containers for holding fifty gallons.
Runners would come down a second tunnel to drop off the crystal containers for the trio to tally up and store for now. Currently, they had just finished one vat in under half an hour.
Now the group had to do it eleven more times before they could get started on pumps and pipes.
"Remember Will, be careful with the crystal containers," Rachel warned as she marked off five more containers.
"I am being careful. Do you think I want to incinerate us?" the boy asked annoyingly. He carefully placed the containers in a crate.
Once a crate was full, Nico would transfer it to a nearby chamber to keep from bumping into them as new containers arrived.
"I hope my stepmom doesn't go overboard with decorating her garden with all these glowing crystals," Nico remarked cagily. He returned to the main chamber to see Rachel tallying up a new load.
"How many do we have now?" he asked.
"We just finished vat two, but there are still ten more to go. Screech-Bling mentioned it may take a few minutes longer with the next one. Something about having to come at from an angle," Rachel informed him.
"How much of an angle?"
"At least thirty degrees. There's a layer of Manhattan Schist further up than expected. It's mixed between the Inwood Marble. It's not easy to get through two cross layers."
Will was out of his depth when it came to earth science. He should brush up on it before applying for college entrance exams in the near future.
Nico found the conversation fascinating. He wondered how deep you had to go until you entered the Underworld. Brushing that thought aside he asked Will if he had finished filling the next crate yet.
"Give me a few minutes Shadow Boy. I'm doing all the heavy lifting."
"No, I'm doing the hefty lifting. You're just the lantern. Come on let's pick up the pace here."
Back in the cell, Apollo finally woke up after being kicked in the face five times.
"Would you stop that!" he yelled at Lu. The hand less woman had found a way to eat without hands.
"Sorry, but you weren't waking up. I figured the pain would be the best route to go. Even if it took some time for you to respond." She didn't seem sorry about that. It looked like she considered it was fun.
Apollo saw a plate of sandwiches on the rug. The bread was starting to go stale. He had slept longer than he intended to.
Soter and Soteria had been rough with him when they towed his astral-self to the fault. They showed him the power of the fasces and the guardian leontocephaline.
The creature was willing to bargain for the fasces. It wanted a replacement for the symbol of immortality. It meant that Apollo would have to give up what he wanted the most.
"Exactly how long was I out?"
"You slept past lunch and dinner will be arriving shortly. Soon after we will be brought to Nero's party to be sacrificed while the city burns." Lu eyed the cell door as she thought of a means of escape.
"Did you learn anything useful?"
Apollo told her about Meg and the leontocephaline. He also mentioned the daemons who had somehow infiltrated the building without being noticed. He did admit he was angry that one of them caused a problem which led to Meg being caned.
Lu frowned hearing this before letting it go. It was in the past and they needed to focus on the future. "Do you know how many advanced scouts there are in the building?"
The former god shook his head. "Amekhania was too busy telling me what to do. I suspect though it would only be a handful. There is probably only one or two more in the building besides the ones I know about."
The Gaul calmed slightly. "Nero is expecting Camp Half-Blood to attack blindly. These scouts give your friends the advantage."
"Only if they communicate with each other. Sonya is with the minor league gods. She doesn't know how to contact Chiron. We don't know if Nico was able to keep the troglodyte alliance so the vats could still be primed for burning."
Lu told him to stop being so pessimistic. Even if Sonya's group wasn't communicating with Camp Half-Blood at the moment, they were still attacking the same target. She was positive the groups would cooperate to stop Nero.
The conversation was interrupted when a cackling Gunther entered the room carrying dinner. "Your final meal has arrived! I hope you enjoy it because I'll love seeing your guts flying when you're sacrificed! Ha, ha, ha!"
The prisoners refused to take the bait. Gunther's face contorted slightly before relaxing. "Don't get comfy. I'll be back in forty-five minutes to get you in your party gear! Ha, ha, ha!"
Once they were sure he left, Lu looked at dinner and beamed. "Gunther is an idiot. He left us with silverware!"
Apollo wanted to know what was so great about that when Lu grabbed the utensils in her mouth and dropped them in his lap. "Eww! Why did you do that?"
Lu rolled her eyes like the answer was obvious. "Tie them around my wrists duh! When Gunther comes back, he'll be in for a surprise."
Apollo didn't see how helpful a fork and table knife would be in escaping. He got the surgical tape out of the first aid kit and went to work.
When he finished Lu scowled. "They're too loose! You need to tie them tighter."
"I'm not sure that's the best thing. Your wrists are still inflamed and tying them tighter could…."
"I'm a Gaul. I can handle it."
Apollo gave her a dirty look while he tightened the bandages around her wrists. This time she was satisfied.
The former god was taken aback when the Gaul leaped to her feet and tried out her new appendages. It was remarkable how fast she had recovered from earlier.
"Yes, these will do nicely. I have a plan for breaking out, but you're not going to like it."
Apollo replied, "Well, I have a plan for how we get the fasces once we're free. You will not like it either."
When Gunther came back down the duo was ready for him. Lu was reclining on the couch while Apollo leaned against the wall. He chose to whistle to the tune of "Whistle While You Work."
"That's a stupid song," Gunther commented. He saw Lu's new appendages and gave a big belly laugh. "Who are you supposed to be? Dinette Girl? You can't do anything without your hands."
Lu retorted that she could carve him up like a Thanksgiving turkey. She caught his eyes and mimed cutting his throat.
"Yeah right! Lazybones, make yourself useful and cuff her!" Gunther threw zip ties inside the cell.
Apollo looked down at them before kicking them back out of the cell. "I'm not helping you take me to my death."
"Do as I say or I'll get the other guards!" the soldier snapped.
Lu baited him by making a rude gesture with her utensils. "I should have known you can't do anything by yourself. You're so feeble-minded."
"I'm not feeble-minded Luguselwa! Nero gave me your job."
"Oh, so you're an official babysitter now? I hope that you can handle losing graciously. I know Cassius will be nice about it."
"Say one more word and I'll…"
Lu stuck her tongue at him. "I didn't know you were incapable of handling a little smack talk. Guess you're not a man, are you?"
It was that line that threw him over the edge. He opened the bars enough to get inside. He was so angry he didn't notice the floor by the bars had been slathered with burnt salve.
He fell backward, slamming his head on the bars as he went down. Apollo ran towards the cell door.
The motion sensors registered it and started to close together. Too bad there were two hundred and fifty pounds of knocked-out Germanus in the way. Gunther's body slammed into the top of the door.
The system tried a few more times to close the door all the way. Eventually, it gave up and left the door open. Lu and Apollo got out before pushing Gunther in.
Once inside, the door fully closed. They ran down the hall and Lu kicked a closet door open. Inside were the possessions of every prisoner Nero ever had. Apollo snatched up his bow and the Arrow of Dodona.
"I'm so glad to see you, old friend!"
"Though art pleased to see me. I appreciate thy kindness."
"I thought Nero would have turned you into kindling."
"Nero is not worth a fig. He sees not my brilliance."
Lu scowled as she reminded the former god that they had to get moving. "The fasces is to the left so you need to right."
"But I'm the only one who has what the leontocephaline wants in exchange for the fasces!" Apollo protested.
"No, I have immortality as well. Remember, Sonya was chosen to assist you so the minor gods have an advocate. You dreamed of her bringing their forces to aid you."
"I can't let you throw away your chance to make things right for your past mistakes. This is my chance to do the same. Meg is six floors up in the southeast corner. You can take the stairs."
Apollo nodded numbly as Lu picked up a dagger with her teeth ready to do battle. He watched her go and trust she could get the job done.
Stuffing his quiver full of arrows, he ran towards the stairs. He was going to save Meg if it was the last thing he did.
Outside the building and across the street, Sonya stared at the building. The teenager refused to be intimidated by the large structure. She eased back into an alley to talk with the advanced scouts.
The scouts were sitting on a fire escape. Amekhania was admonishing Hybris for her early actions. The daemon did look regretful. Soter and Soteria had their hands in their laps.
The final two scouts, Sophrosyne and Pistis, self-control and trust, finally appeared. They both looked a little haggard.
"I apologize for our lateness. We had to contend with some nasty Germani who refused to move away from the room we were hiding in," Sophrosyne remarked.
Because of their limited power, D list gods and goddesses tended to conserve their power until they were needed.
Sonya accepted the apology and snapped her fingers to get everyone's attention. "Our forces will be here soon so we need to know what we're up against."
Amekhania gave a rough estimation of how many civilians were in the building. There were roughly three thousand or three thousand and fifty mortals inside the building.
"The actual number of people who don't want to have anything to do with Nero is lower. I would only guess less than a thousand. The helplessness they feel is tremendous."
Sonya asked Hybris if Nero's arrogance had wavered any. The goddess shook her head but did mention something interesting.
"He's confident in all his plans happening, but there was something he wasn't confident in," the goddess remarked. Seeing everyone was waiting for her to continue she grinned wickedly.
"His alliance with Python. He's slightly apprehensive that Python is going to cause his downfall tonight."
"That would explain the increased security measures when it comes to Nero's safety," Soter jumped in. His sister also mentioned the Imperial Children were also under new safety measures.
"The children have extra guards tonight. I know he spoke to the children tonight, but I don't know what he said to them."
It appeared that Nero wasn't the only threat to Meg. Her foster siblings were likely to snap and try to kill her at some point.
"Sophrosyne, if the kids' attack is there anything you can do to keep them from killing each other?"
Sophrosyne replied that it would depend on how much identity the kids had left. If there was even a spark of their own individuality there was hope.
Pistis sensed the children might turn against Nero if they had someone, they trusted helped them. "It is vital that someone they are not afraid of shows them the true meaning of trust. Otherwise, they will never recover."
Sonya nodded and whistled softly. Someone dove from the sky into the alley. It was a winged woman with dark eyes and hair in a blue dress. "Lady Angelia, can you take these reports to Chiron and Astrape?"
"Of course, Miss Sonya. Should I tell the remaining Makhai to start the attack?"
"Give us ten minutes, then send them in." The goddesses nodded and took off.
Seven minutes later, Angelia reappeared. "Everyone is in position for the attack. Each of the groups knows their assignments. They're prepared to assist the campers should the need arise."
Sonya thanked her and summoned the shield, and got ready to summon a lightning bolt.
The Makhai approached the doors. Sadly, they had lost some members; (Alala, Polemos, and Ioke); to fading. The remaining Makhai, (Homados, Proixis, Palioxis, along with Alke and Kydoimos) were determined to make them proud.
The poor security guard was thrown out of the building by Kydoimos. The guard was taken away by a few of the Litas before he could signal for help.
Each member of the group stood in front of an elevator. The Makhai pushed open the doors. The siblings used their voices together for the first time in centuries.
"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH! ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAR! OOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNWARD! RRREETREAT! AHHHHHHHHHH!"
Their magical voices burst through the doors and into the floors scaring numerous people. A few Germani were looking pale as the voices echoed around them.
Outside the building, the two groups waited for the signal. The doors to the building broke as a loud, "AAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTAAAACCCKK!" was heard for over two miles.
"FOR THE GODS!" the troops exclaimed as the battle for the Tower of Nero commenced.