Chapter 9: Finding the Vitals

The next day...

Percy, Grady, Kestrel, and Katrina were in London, England, hiding in an old hotel. All of them were wearing different outfits and holding different weapons.

Grady and Katrina were wearing the same outfit: a black tactical outfit with a dark blue shirt underneath. The differences are their headgear and their weapons. Grady was wearing a standard SAS helmet and gas mask and Katrina was wearing a military helmet with matching goggles. Grady was armed with two scimitars sheathed on his back and a custom MP5 with a Red Dot sight and suppressor courtesy of Clarisse, whilst Katrina was armed with a standard Greek battle sword and a crossbow.

Kestrel barely changed, as she simply added a tactical vest over the very same clothes she wore when Percy found her in the hotel. Her katana was strapped on her back and in her hands was an MSR sniper rifle with a suppressor and a combat knife was strapped on her leg.

Percy wasn't even wearing his armor. In fact, he was wearing something his mom got from one of those old treasure chests lying around in her dark, dirty room: the robes of Jacob Frye (and a matching cap). He took the weapons from his armor and wore them like a regular Assassin would, and his cane sword was strapped to his belt.

"It's been a while since we arrived here in London, barely any intel." Katrina moaned.

"Quit complaining, Katrina." Grady told her as they fed on some MRE's while hiding in one of the hotel rooms.

"Well...our intel right now is useful in a way." Kestrel said. "We know their patrol patterns, locations of weapon caches, and every officer stationed in London."

"Yet we don't know who's running the shield generator." Katrina told her. "Or wherever these experimental space fighters are."

"We've been interrogating mere soldiers." Percy informed them. "Let's go find ourselves an officer."

"I'm not sure if that'll be easy." Kestrel replied. "Sure, we know their location, but security can be a problem."

"You were never taught about that by the Atlanteans?"

The young clone shook her head. "Security detail varies depending the officer being protected."

"Let's nab ourselves an officer. Eat up, rest a bit. We'll move in thirty minutes."

Elise sighed as another round of endless trekking to the west ended. Everyone was exhausted and they rested up in Pike National Forest in Colorado. The nymphs and satyrs there were kind enough to provide them with shelter, which was nice because their trekking was hell. They ran into Atlanteans they had to silence very quickly before they contacted anyone else, rummaged around for supplies, and other things they have been doing for two and a half days straight.

"How long should we rest?" Chuck groaned before faceplanting into the dirt.

"Two days, at most, I guess." Elise replied sheepishly. "Just...rest up."

After that, she fell down on her butt on the base of a tree. She sat against the trunk for a well needed rest, sweat trickled down her head. She took off her boots to massage her feet, which were covered in scabs. Elise groaned. This was not a good day.

"Um...hello?" a sweet girl's voice asked. Elise turned to see Cherry.

"Something wrong, Cherry?" she asked.

"Um...can you hug me while I nap?" the young girl nervously asked.

"Sure thing." Elise smiled, despite the stresses in her head.

Cherry skipped over and laid down against the tree next to Elise before propping her head on the raven haired woman's shoulder. She started napping while Elise wrapped an arm around her, laying her own head against Cherry's as she took a nap as well.

Elise dreamed she was in a dark, dreary forest. Everything around her looked so black and white, literally, that she felt like she was in one of those old movies. She heard footsteps from behind her, and she quickly turned around, and was met by a strangely dashing man, wearing a black Armani suit, a white polo underneath, black pants and shoes with a matching red tie with the Greek omega symbol on the center. The man had short black hair, fair skin, very little facial hair, and glowing red eyes.

"Hello, Miss Jackson." the man greeted in a strange English accent. "You clearly take after your father."

"Who are you? How'd you know who I am?" Elise asked.

"I am Tartarus, Primordial of the Pit. Come, Miss Jackson, have a seat."

Tartarus waved his hand and a plain wooden table and two matching chairs appeared right between them. Reluctantly, Elise took her seat.

"I must say, I owe your father a lot." Tartarus started, sitting on the other chair.

"Why contact me now?" Elise asked. "Don't you know it's hell here on Earth?"

"Yes, yes, I know and you need to rest." the strangely dashing Primordial assured her. "I know your father contacted you."

"You do?"

"All the Primordials know."

"Then can you help us?"

Tartarus shook his head and summoned a bottle of Jack Daniel's. "Unfortunately, no. Since Gaea's awakening and fall, we Primordials swore to Chaos himself to never directly cause or get involved in a war. Drink?" He offered her the beer.

Elise shook her head. "No thanks. I need to destroy this shield generator in San Francisco. It's preventing me from contacting my mother."

"Ah, the golden towers, I see." Tartarus smiled, casually putting his feet on the table like he had no manners. "I sensed strange magic emanating from them. Kind of like Chaos's, but different."

"The Apple of Eden...his sister Order's creation..." Elise muttered.

"Is that so?" the Primordial asked. "Well then, let me give you something that can help a bit..."

"Wait-"

It was too late, as the entire dreamscape lit up in a bright red light.

Elise's eyes shot awake. It felt like only a minute had passed. She turned her head to see Cherry shaking a little in her sleep. Sighing, the raven haired woman returned to nap, unaware that a red wyvern tattoo formed on her back.

"We need a plan, because this officer you chose is definitely not easy to capture." Kestrel noted as she, Percy, Grady, and Katrina watched from a rooftop.

"Well, he was the nearest one." Percy defended his choice. "Who's he again?"

"General Gabriel Santos. Kestrel started explaining. "He's one of the higher ups in the conquest of Europe. He's usually stationed in Portugal, but seeing him here in England is strange. Perhaps he's heard of the break out."

"Doesn't explain why he's got a room in that old hotel with all that security." Grady said.

"He's scared. He couldn't risk going out in the open and getting attacked."

With her sniper scope, Kestrel managed to catch a glimpse of General Santos in his hotel room. The man was pretty tall, like much taller than his cohorts. He had tan skin, curly black hair, and a strange mustache, the same kind she would find on a can of potato chips Percy called "Pringles".

"Hmm...he has a funny mustache." she mumbled.

"Kestrel...don't shoot the man carrying our intel in the head." Percy told her.

"I know...How do we catch him anyway?"

Percy smirked. "We get disguises."

Grady and Katrina looked at Percy while Kestrel just groaned as she stored away her sniper rifle, saying,

"Not again."

Five minutes later...

"I...look ridiculous. I feel ridiculous." Kestrel whined. It didn't take long for Percy to get them all in Atlantean soldier outfits while in an alley.

"I feel like I'm better off being on overwatch with the sniper rifle." she added.

"Sorry, Kestrel, but it's best we stay on the move." Percy told her. He was in an Atlantean soldier outfit of his own. "Alright, guys. Follow my lead."

They all walked out of the alley. Like the Winchester attack, Percy kept his cane and other weapons in a duffel bag he had with him. They approached the hotel General Santos was staying in. The instant they reached the door, the guards stopped them.

"Identify yourselves."

"We just need to talk with General Santos." Percy told the guards.

"General Santos has no need for visitors today."

"It is urgent. We have valuable information regarding the escaped prisoners in Winchester."

"We have all the information we need on that issue. Your presence is no longer required."

To prove a point, more guards barricaded the group away from the hotel door. Kestrel almost raised her sniper rifle, but Percy lowered it.

"As you wish. Come, men, we have areas to secure."

He led the other three away from the hotel.

Elise woke up to the feeling of a small, smooth hand tapping her shoulder. She knew that anywhere. She turned to her left and noticed Cherry holding a ragdoll she had found during the trek.

"Is something wrong?" Elise asked her.

"Umm...Mr. Tyson is calling you." she replied.

Sighing, Elise got up and walked deeper into the forest. She met up with Tyson, who was feeding the drakon with chunks of meat.

"Something wrong?" she asked the cyclops.

"We're pretty low on food as of right now." Tyson replied.

"But we have two trucks full of rations."

"Some people around here have a big appetite."

Elise sighed. "Alright. We'll go to the nearest town and find some more food. Chuck's in charge until we get back."

Tyson nodded before walking to where Chuck was in order to tell him about what was going down. Elise waited for him to get back, crossing her arms and tapping a foot on the dirt.

"Let me give you something that can help a bit." Tartarus's words rang in her head. She didn't know what she meant by "something that can help a bit". As she considered what the Primordial actually meant, Tyson poked Elise on the shoulder. She gasped and looked up. The cyclops had a large club made of uncarved wood.

"Time to go." Tyson told her.

Elise nodded and they both left the forest for the nearest town, unaware that the tattoo on the youngest Jackson child's back began to glow faint red.

Percy sulked in the corner of the room, not even bothering to get out of his disguise as the other three looked at him, disguises off.

"Why? It worked the last time..." he moaned in agony.

"Umm...lightning doesn't strike twice?" Katrina said, trying to break the ice, but Grady shushed her.

"I think it would be best if we don't say anything." he told her.

"...That's it, we're doing this the old fashioned way." they suddenly heard Percy growl. "I need information to save my son, and I need it now..."

"So?" Grady asked. "What do we do?"

Percy stood up and took his disguise off, putting Jacob Frye's robes back on. "We get inside and kill everyone but the general."

While leaning against the wall, arms crossed, Kestrel felt a smirk form on her face. "Now, we are talking." she spoke, earning worried looks from Grady and Katrina.

'What have we gotten ourselves into?' they both thought as they looked at the two bloodthirsty people in the room with them.

"Okay, how are we supposed to find food around here? This place is a ghost town." Elise noted after she and Tyson arrived at a deserted Colorado Springs.

"Whatever we can feed them that won't get sick." Tyson said.

Sighing, Elise walked through the cracked, empty road. She wasn't kidding. Colorado Springs was practically abandoned. Literally NO ONE was around. Even with Eagle Sense, she couldn't sense whether anyone had been around recently or not. It was just black and blue.

"Hey, look, a corner store." Tyson pointed at the red building at the end of the block. Elise sighed again.

"Let's check it out then." she said and they walked into the ruined store. The shelves were overturned and there was nothing to eat or drink. Not even a cash register in sight. Completely abandoned. Elise used her Eagle Sense this time. Still nothing special but a faint blue trail.

"Nothing. Clean as a whistle." she said.

Tyson sighed and they walked out of the store. They walked around until they saw a supermarket. The cyclops quickly jogged towards it with Elise lagging a little behind. When they entered, they noticed the lights were flickering repeatedly like Tyson and Elise had entered a place where a horror movie would start. It didn't matter, because the cyclops caught in the corner of his one eye a rack full of bakery products.

"Hey, look!" he ran towards the breads and other products of Demeter's domain.

"Careful. Bakery products don't exactly have a long shelf life." Elise told him as she followed.

Tyson's cheery expression at the sight of peanut butter quickly dropped when he noticed they had all expired, like way long ago. Elise sighed for the umpteenth time that day. They found NOTHING so far in Colorado Springs.

"Come on...there has to be fresh food somewhere..." the cyclops groaned.

"I know...wait, I hear something." Elise noted, and she crouched down to take a look from behind the broken glass doors of the supermarket. She heard the familiar sound of a military truck, five of them. They all converged outside the supermarket's parking lot, and with her Eagle Vision, Elise saw that the trucks were full of...

"Atlanteans."

"I found stu-"

Elise quickly shushed Tyson before he made too much noise, but now, the Atlantean group's officer was suspicious. He gave his orders to his soldiers, and the young Jackson heard what his orders were:

"Secure the perimeter."

The soldiers proceeded to...encircle the supermarket. Elise cursed. She and Tyson were trapped.

"We're trapped here." she told the silent cyclops. "We have to sneak out somehow."

Elise was cut off when Tyson barreled out of the supermarket, club raised and yelling, "BAD!". The Atlanteans quickly fired their weapons, barely scratching him.

"Or you can just do that." After saying that, Elise cursed in French before drawing her crossbow and sneaking out of the building while Tyson distracted the Atlanteans, who shot at his durable cyclops hide while backing away from his club's range. She managed to assassinate one soldier who had strayed too far from the rest and took a grenade from his belt, which she threw at some of the other soldiers before hiding behind an overturned car.

The loud explosion sent some other soldiers flying, causing a distraction for Tyson to smash the soldiers with his club. More of them came pouring in...with RPG's. Elise gasped. Yeah, she knew cyclopes are fireproof, but what could the physical force of all those rockets do to Tyson? What could she do? Warn him? How can she do that without giving away her position?

Explosions...the grenades.

Elise quickly grabbed another grenade from the soldier she killed earlier and threw it long. The explosion may not have hit the soldiers, but it did alert Tyson to their presence.

Too late. They fired the RPG's and they hit the cyclops with sheer force and a proper blaze of destruction. The remaining Atlanteans and their commanding officer backed away as the smoke cleared. Sometime later, Tyson emerged from the smoke, naked and not afraid, though everyone had to shield their eyes, even Elise.

That was enough for Tyson to squish the Atlaneans while they averted their eyes.

"I'm traumatized." Elise muttered to herself. Moments later, Tyson appeared to her...wearing a makeshift loincloth out of several aprons and duct tape he found in the supermarket. Regardless, he still traumatized his poor niece.

"Still can't unsee what I just saw." she muttered.

"Sorry." he apologized. Elise sighed again and got out of her cover.

"Well...I suppose we'll just have to stick with Atlantean rations for now."

"But what about the drakon?"

"We'll feed Maxwell the carcass of the soldiers."

"Maxwell? You named the drakon Maxwell?"

Elise shrugged. "Randomly thought about it."

"Bu-"

"Let's just get out of here before more Atlanteans show up."