In the Yellowstone forests, far from the turbulent Camp Half-Blood, another battle raged. A massive plume of smoke rose into the sky, one that made many denizens of the forest, nature spirits, satyrs and animals, flee. Later, the news would claim that it was a freak lightning strike, another trick of the mist. But, the nature spirits fleeing knew the truth.
Artemis, the goddess of Hunt, was in battle.
In a nearby clearing, Artemis panted as she backflipped, narrowly missing two arrows and a bright yellow beam that smashed through a tree, blasting it into pieces.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" she cursed. After millennia upon millennia of life, she couldn't believe she had walked into such an obvious trap. They had been waiting for her, and had attacked her all at once. A figure materialized in front of her, covered head to toe in black armor with a red boar emblazoned on its chest, roaring as he swung a double-bladed axe down on her. The goddess spun, deflecting the blade as she ducked under the armored man, knocking him in front of her. He let out a roar of pain as several arrows sank into his chest, bending over, crumpling to the ground. It was rather a embarrassing and hilarious sight, seeing such an intimidating figure humiliated by a seemingly middle-school girl.
"Together, damn it! Stop rushing her one at a time!" a voice roared nearby. Artemis notched an arrow as she leaped over the boy, seeing an armored pair of girls rush her, arrows notched in their bows. One of them, she noticed, was the girl from before who had murdered one of her hunters. The false Apollo. Abigail, she had called herself.
"She's mine!" the two unleashed a flurry of arrows, flying like lightning. Artemis was almost like a blur of silver light, flicking as the arrows missed her, embedding in the trees behind her. In almost slow motion, she spun in mid-air as she fired her own wave of sleek silver arrows, several of which managed to hit their targets.
Then, just as Artemis landed on the ground, something materialized behind her and swung into the side of her face, sending her flying. She bounced over the ground like a skipping rock on water before colliding with a tree, which exploded into splinters. Artemis grunted as she leaped to her feet, jumping aside just as a fist sank into the ground where her head had been milliseconds ago. The goddess whirled with her knifes aloft and was met with a shocking sight. It was like looking at a vile, humanoid insect.
"What are you?" she spoke. The figure turned, its red eyes gleaming as sparks danced over its body. Cell smiled as a black aura flared around him, dancing like a satanic fire.
"Your worst nightmare." Then, a purple beam shot out of his finger, missing her by inches. The goddess darted forward, her knives gleaming. She leaped over Cell's outreached arm and plunged her knives into his chest. Using the momentum, she flipped over and slashed down his back. The android grunted in surprise, whirling as he lunged for her. Artemis was like a blur of silver light, dancing all around cell. In less than a minute, she had slashed him almost three dozen times, leaving deep cuts all over his body.
Cell roared as he fired off a pair of bright yellow beams from his eyes. But, the Goddess simply slid beneath and fired an arrow. Cell bellowed in rage as it plunged into his eye, stumbling back as purple blood dripped from him. Artemis smirked.
"Submit, beast!" Artemis demanded as her eyes gleamed. After she all, she was a goddess. Goddess of the Hunt. And this thing was another beast for her to slay. However, she was then baffled by a deep chuckle coming from the beast.
"I expected more." Then, Cell reached up and ripped the arrow from his eye. Then, Artemis was shocked to see all of the monster's cuts suddenly knit together, leaving him seemingly uninjured. Cell then cocked his head and smiled.
"My turn." Then, Artemis lurched forward as Cell's elbow embedded itself in her stomach, gasping as golden blood dripped from her mothed. She flew backwards like a comet, leaving a trail of broken trees. Cell then reappeared above her and slammed his foot into her back, sending her plummeting into the ground, leaving a massive crater in the ground. Artemis gasped as she struggled to stand, dirt crumbling off her. She was in disbelief. Two hits? Impossible! Nothing could damage her that badly! Not even the other gods! Them it reappeared over her, looking down with a smirk.
"A shame they need you intact." Then, it swung downwards, and she was met with nothing but black.
Annabeth was kneeling under the weight of a dark mass that looked like a pile of boulders. She was too tired even to cry out. Her legs trembled. Any second, she would run out of strength and the cavern ceiling would collapse on top of her. She let out a moan. It couldn't end. Not like this!
"How is our mortal guest?" a male voice boomed. Annabeth couldn't even look up to see who was speaking.
It wasn't Kronos. Kronos's voice was raspy and metallic, like a knife scraped across stone. This voice was deeper and lower, like a bass guitar. Its force made the ground vibrate.
Luke emerged from the shadows. Annabeth would have screamed something if she wasn't so utterly exhausted. Why wouldn't Luke listen to her?
He ran to Annabeth, knelt beside her, then looked back at the unseen man. "She's fading. We must hurry."
The deep voice chuckled. It belonged to someone in the shadows, at the edge of his dream. Then, the ground shook as something landed on the ground, so strong that it apparently unleashed a rush of wind.
"You took long enough." The deep voice chuckled. He was met with a voice that Annabeth remembered all too well.
"It was all too easy." A figure emerged into the light, and she let out a shocked gasp. She recognized the figure all too well. Granted, she had never seen his face, only cloaked and in shadow- but her short experience had left him with a burned-in memory. This was Luke's partner: the one that had put him up to all of it: betraying the camp, stealing the master bolt, rebelling against the gods. Annabeth wanted to scream, warn Luke to run away. But all those thoughts faded when she saw what Luke's partner was dragging: the beaten and broken form of Artemis. She looked like she had gone through the ringer. Her silvery dress was torn and tattered. Her face and arms were cut in several places, and she was bleeding ichor, the golden blood of the gods. Her hands were bound in golden chains.
"You heard the boy," said the man in the shadows. "Decide!"
Artemis's eyes flashed with anger. Percy didn't know why she just didn't will the chains to burst, or make herself disappear, but she didn't seem able to. Maybe the chains prevented her, or some magic about this dark, horrible place.
The goddess looked at Annabeth and her expression changed to concern and outrage. "How dare you torture a maiden like this!"
"She will die soon," Luke said. "You can save her."
"Don't!" Annabeth tried to scream, but was only able to make a weak sound of protest.
"Free my hands," Artemis said.
Luke brought out his sword, Backbiter. With one expert strike, he broke the goddess's handcuffs.
Artemis ran to Annabeth and took the burden from her shoulders. Annabeth collapsed on the ground and lay there shivering. Artemis staggered, trying to support the weight of the black rocks. Despite feeling the massive relief of finally being free by the burden, Annabeth was not feeling better in the slightest.
"No!" Annabeth screamed mentally, every bone in her body on fire.
The man in the shadows chuckled. "You are as predictable as you were easy to beat, Artemis."
"You surprised me," the goddess said, straining under her burden. "It will not happen again."
"Indeed it will not," the man said. "Now you are out of the way for good! I knew you could not resist helping a young maiden. That is, after all, your specialty, my dear."
Artemis groaned "You know nothing of mercy, you swine. Now you've gotten savage beasts doing your dirty work?" a roar of laughter erupted from Luke's partner.
"You're a fool if you think I work for him."
"On that," the man said, "we can agree. Luke, you may kill the girl now." Annabeth shuddered as her heart was suddenly gripped by a chill. "No!'" Artemis shouted. But to Annabeth's shock, it was Luke's partner who spoke up in her defense.
"Absolutely not."
"You question me?" Luke's partner strode up to her, until he was standing over. Annabeth shuddered as he tried to avoid that malevolent gaze.
"This girl is valuable. They care for her. They will come for her. Plus… we always need more demigods for our experiments." Luke jumped in at that point.
"Yes! They'll come! Without a doubt!"
"No!" Annabeth tried to scream. She refused to be used like this! Not like some little pawn to drag everyone into a trap!
"You will never find the monster you seek," Artemis said. "Your plan will fail."
"How little you know, my young goddess," the man in the shadows said. "Even now, your darling attendants begin their quest to find you. They shall play directly into my hands. Now, if you'll excuse us, we have a long journey to make. We must greet your Hunters and make sure their quest is... challenging."
The man's laughter echoed in the darkness. Annabeth let out a tiny moan as Luke's partner turned her over with his foot.
"Get… away… from… me…" Annabeth hissed, struggling to move. Her body was screaming in pain. A smile came across his face.
"Oh… no, I'm afraid not. I can't allow you to die. Not yet. Not when there's so much to be done." He reached down and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look up at him.
"After all, my dear… we have so much to discuss." Annabeth let out a tiny groan, the fatigue finally getting to her. As she slumped unconscious, the last thing she saw was a gleaming pair of red eyes and a twisted smile