Comments:

TheFourthFate4Ever:

Thank you once again for the comments! It means a lot to see people like this stuff (lol)

Armani's mutation is something I've been wanting to do for a while, and it will be the butt of many jokes, and indeed Armani will have some difficulties adjusting to it.

As for the resurrection, a very interesting point for the entire story, and the crux of a lot of lore. I can't go in-depth here, but I can say you're line of thought isn't completely wrong. If someone does manage to guess it, however, I would be highly impressed. But I very much doubt anyone could grasp it.

Ah, the wake-up scene was actually really fun to write! I'm glad people enjoyed it. :)

The italicized lines were actually my bad, I forgot to add the apostrophes for 'thoughts' so that was my bad, I just forgot to edit it with everything going on :p

With ToA, well, this is a bit more difficult. The canon events of PJO will be completely different after the end of the events of the fifth book. For spoiler reasons I can't say why obviously (lol), but there is something similar planned, just not with apollo. But another god entirely, while still dealing with the same-ish themes and such.

As for the bit about your sister, totally get that lmao, mine is very similar in that regard. :D

An Omen

Third Person P.O.V.

Any minute, the skeletons were going to find out where she had gone, and Armani didn't think they would settle for a complimentary trip through the nearby mall. Armani Grabbed Thalia's arm and hauled herself up

"Luke," Armani said, trying to catch my breath. "He's here, in the museum."

The anger in Thalia's eyes immediately melted. She put her hand on her silver bracelet.

"What?!"

Armani told them about the Natural History Museum, Dr. Thorn, Luke, and the General.

"The General is here?" Zoe looked stunned. "That is impossible! You lie."

"What reason do I have to lie? Look, we don't have time for this. Skeleton warriors—"

"What?" Thalia demanded. "How many?"

"Twenty," Armani said. "And that's not all. That guy, the General, he said he was sending

something, a 'playmate,' to distract us. Some kind of monster."

Armani and Percy briefly exchanged looks, not going unnoticed by the others.

"This isn't right," Armani said. "We weren't led here for no reason."

"Zoe," Bianca said nervously, "if it is the General—"

"It cannot be!" Zoe snapped. "Armani must have seen an Iris-message or some other illusion."

"Illusions don't shatter the floor they stand on," Armani told her.

Zoe took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. None of them knew why she was taking it so personally, or how she knew this General guy, but they figured now wasn't the time to ask.

"If Armani is telling the truth about the skeleton warriors," she said, "we have no time to argue. They are the worst, the most horrible… We must leave now."

"Good idea," Percy said.

"I was not including you, boy," Zoe said. "I still don't trust you, not at all."

"Totally understandable, next time you're in danger I just won't save your life then!" He snarked.

"You're one to talk to after your 'episode'," Thalia said grimly. "But that doesn't matter now. Come on. Let's get back to the van."

"That is not thy decision!" Zoe snapped.

Thalia scowled at her. "You're not the boss here, Zoe. I don't care how old you are! You're still a conceited little brat!"

Thalia looked like she was about to hit Zoe. Then everyone froze, they heard a growl so loud they thought one of the rocket engines was starting up. Below us, a few adults screamed. A little kid's voice screeched with delight: "Kitty!"

Something enormous bounded up the ramp. It was the size of a pick-up truck, with silver claws and golden glittering fur. He'd seen this monster once before. Two years ago, Percy had glimpsed it briefly from a train. Now, up close and personal, it must have looked even bigger.

"The Nemean Lion," Thalia said. "Don't move."

The lion roared so loud it parted Armani's hair and stinging her new ears, as sensitive as they still were. Its fangs gleamed like stainless steel.

"We need to separate, hit it from all sides," Armani said. "Try to keep it distracted."

"Until when?" Percy asked.

"Until I charge enough energy. Go!"

Percy uncapped Riptide and rolled to the left. Arrows whistled past him, and Armani Focused on gathering Nature energy from the nearby area, although her progress was much slower due to the large lack of natural resources around them. She turned and saw Zoe and Bianca climbing the Apollo capsule. They were firing arrows, one after another, all shattering harmlessly against the lion's metallic fur.

The lion swiped the capsule and tipped it on its side, spilling the Hunters off the back. Armani quickly threw two daggers that clipped their clothes, teleporting them to her side, and the lion turned toward her, but Thalia stepped into its path, holding up Aegis, and the lion recoiled. "ROOOAAARRR!"

Thalia said, "Get Back!"

The lion growled and clawed the air, but it retreated as if the shield were a blazing fire. For a second, Percy thought Thalia had it under control. Then he saw the lion crouching, its leg muscles tensing. He'd seen enough catfights in the alleys around his, and Armani's apartment in New York. He knew the lion was going to pounce.

"Hey!" He yelled. He didn't know what he was thinking, but Percy charged the beast. Percy just wanted to get it away from their friends. He slashed with Riptide, a good strike to the flank that should've cut the monster into Meow Mix, but the blade just clanged against its fur in a burst of sparks.

At that moment Armani darted forward with her new jade sword in hand, in an attempt to block Percy from the blow. The lion raked her with its claws, ripping off a chunk of her coat, and digging into her chest. Armani was flung over the balcony and fell the full height to three stories below, hitting an authentic warplane on the way down, slightly slowing the fall.

She got up off the floor, the large gashes in her chest slowing her progress, while turning to face the lion an arrow whizzed past her head. The lion was ready to pounce, but the arrow had cut the cords holding the plane before sailing down past her, causing it to groan and fall. The lion swiped at it, completely knocking it away. Armani took the moment of distraction to look for any weakness the lion could have. She looked up and saw the lion roar—inside its maw, a pink tongue, and throat.

The mouth, Its fur was completely invulnerable, but maybe she could strike it in the mouth… The only problem was, the monster was too hard to distract, out speeding it wouldn't be a major problem but...

"Zoe!" Armani shouted. "Target the mouth!"

The monster lunged. An arrow zipped past it, missing completely, Armani continued pouring energy into her body and cycling it through the sword. Her energy cap was much, much higher than she remembered it being before.

"Bianca!" I yelled. "Get the people out!"

Groups of kids were running around screaming. Bianca tried to corral them away from the monster just as the other cord on the other spaceship snapped and the exhibit crashed to the floor. Thalia dropped off the third-floor railing and landed across from Armani, on the other side of the globe. The lion regarded them both, trying to decide which of them to kill first.

Zoe and Percy were above us, bows ready, but they kept having to move around to get a good angle.

"No clear shot!" Zoe yelled. "Get it to open its mouth more!"

The lion snarled from the top of the globe.

Armani looked around. Options. She needed…

"More power?"

'?!'

"If it's more power you require, don't let me stop you… take mine."

Armani doubled over, "Thalia… get away from me-"

Something was very wrong.

"Armani. What-"

Thalia was cut off by the low growl that came from Armani, "GET AWAY!"

Thalia didn't have much time to move before Armani stood up again, her back arching as she screamed. Maybe screamed was the wrong word, it was an animalistic howl, one that sent chills down everyone's spine. Drawing looks from everyone present, and if that wasn't enough, the air around them felt like it had dropped about twenty degrees.

Armani stood back straight, but she was different, her hair had grown longer by about a foot, with the silver streaks much larger now. It was sticking out on the ends like it had been unkempt for weeks. Her hands had claws, her nails had grown to resemble them, she even had fangs now.

Even the gashes made by the lion's claws had completely healed over, not leaving a single indication they had even been there in the first place.

All-in-all, she had a much more feral appearance, but that didn't even compare to her eyes. Her eyes had that same look from that night, those same spinning eyes, the lilac pattern, and black sclera were intimidating already, but combined with everything else, she was the definition of a wild animal. Untamed and uncontrolled.

Armani looked at Thalia, who wasn't far away, tilting her head. Thalia thought it would have been cute if not for the current circumstances.

"Thalia Grace? You are no threat."

Armani turned from Thalia and focused on the Nemean lion, which had been still since Armani had changed. When Armani laid eyes on it, she almost immediately disappeared. Thalia didn't know why, but she could tell… that wasn't teleporting, that was pure speed.

She reappeared in front of the Lion, putting her hand up to its open mouth, which was in the process of trying to attack her. If Armani was scared she did not outwardly show it, instead just holding her palm forward.

"Die."

To the surprise of everyone there, including Percy himself, a large blue ice spike shot out of her palm and into the lion's mouth, not stopping as it passed through its throat and out its head on the other side. Everyone stood silent as the giant corpse of the lion fell to the ground, dead.

Armani looked at her hand, her voice still distorted and clipped, "Even with control…"

Zoe eyed Armani cautiously from Percy's side, "That was… an interesting strategy."

Armani said nothing.

The lion seemed to be melting, the way dead monsters do sometimes until there was nothing left but its glittering fur coat, and even that seemed to be shrinking to the size of a normal lion's pelt.

"Take it," Zoe told Percy.

He stared at her. "What, the lion's fur? Isn't that, like, an animal rights violation or something?"

"It is a spoil of war," she told him. "It is rightly yours."

"Armani killed it," Percy said.

She shook her head and snorted, almost smiling. "If you haven't noticed, she seems rather incapacitated at the moment," she pointed at the stock still girl, "and after her, you helped the most, take the fur, Percy.

Percy lifted it up; it was surprisingly light. The fur was smooth and soft. It didn't feel at all like something that could stop a blade. As he watched, the pelt shifted and changed into something very familiar—a long, sea-blue haori.

"Now this, I can get behind," He murmured.

"We have to get out of here," Bianca said, having rejoined them. "The security guards won't stay confused for long."

I noticed for the first time how strange it was that the guards hadn't rushed forward to arrest us. They were scrambling in all directions except ours, like they were madly searching for something. A few were running into the walls or each other.

"We need to get Armani first," Thalia said.

They all nodded, "Hey Armani, come one, we gotta get moving." Thalia grabbed her shoulder, and almost immediately retracted her hand.

"What's wrong?" Zoe asked, having seen how fast Thalia pulled her hand back.

"She's ice-cold, too cold."

They were all suddenly interrupted as 2 guardsmen rushed into the room, the same ones Armani had seen in the room with atlas earlier. Zoe instinctively reached for her bow, but she was going to be too slow to get it out in time.

As the guards raised their guns and pointed them towards their group, there was a scream of rage and a flash of silver as they all watched Armani run forward, definitely slower than earlier and her fingers had turned a bluish silver as well.

Armani was on top of the guards, her claws tearing into them and ripping them apart, the guards screaming in pain as the hybrid eviscerated them.

The group of demigods could only watch in mixed horror as the guards were killed slowly by Armani, she was completely different than she had been mere hours ago. The sassy, slightly shy, the girl had been replaced by a machine of death and annihilation.

A force of Nature.

After enough time had passed, the two guards fell silent as they had been completely ripped apart by Armani. She stood in the center of the carnage, the changes to her body slowly receding, her hair shortening once again and her claws and fangs receding. She couldn't see her eyes since she was turned away, but Thalia assumed her eyes were normal again as well.

Armani turned slowly after the changes had all receded, the only one remaining was the larger amount of silver streaks in her hair, some almost joining together in certain spots.

"A-Are you g-guys safe…?" Armani quietly spoke, walking towards them for a few feet before she collapsed to the ground in a heap.

They all stood in a silent stupor before Percy shook his head and spoke, "I'll carry her, Thalia and Zoe, you can cover the front, and Bianca can watch our backs.

No one argued as they were still too shocked by what they had watched, Zoe recovered first, she had seen something similar, but to see it from Armani was completely different. This was a different breed of magic, nature magic so deep even she didn't know what it was.

They made it out of the museum and out onto the street, they were crossing the Potomac when Percy spotted the helicopter. It was a sleek, black military model just like the one they'd seen at Westover Hall. And it was coming straight toward them.

"They know the van," Zoe said. "We can't go back to it."

Thalia turned to Percy, "You good to carry her for a bit longer?

Percy nodded, muttering under his breath, "It's not like she's heavy or anything…"

Percy scowled up at the helicopter that was circling the alley they were in, "Why isn't the military here if this thing is out?"

"The military probably thinks it's one of theirs," Bianca said. "How can the General use mortals, anyway?"

"Mercenaries," Zoe said bitterly. "It is distasteful, but many mortals will fight for any cause as long as they are paid."

"But don't these mortals see who they're working for?" I asked. "Don't they notice all the monsters around them?"

Zoe shook her head. "I do not know how much they see through the Mist. I doubt it would matter to them if they knew the truth. Sometimes mortals can be more horrible than monsters."

The helicopter kept coming, making it much harder to move between buildings, Thalia groaned, looking at Armani's limp form, "Why can't she be awake when we need her for once?"

Percy shifted with Armani on her back, she had been twitching slightly for the last few minutes, something she did right before she normally woke up, and if he was right-

Armani groaned, rolling off my back and onto the cold concrete floor, grabbing her head and rubbing it profusely. Her wolf ears were twitching, and her tail waved erratically behind her back.

"What in the nine hells happened to me?" She complained, standing up and stretching, stopping as she suddenly noticed her clothes.

"Why… am I covered in blood?"

Thalia walked up to her, putting a hand on her shoulder, which elicited a small flinch from the girl, unnoticeable if you weren't touching her.

"Talk later, we need to get out of D.C. and we're pinned down here," Thalia said.

Almost immediately Armani's face changed to a much more stone look, "Where do we need to go?"

Thalia was about to speak before she was cut off by Zoe, "The subway, the helicopter can't track us underground. It's our best chance of getting away."

Armani nodded, rummaging through her bag of replenishing knives, "How close are we?"

"About a block to the west of the entrance, why?" Percy asked, uncapping riptide now that his hands were free.

'Grab hold of me, this might suck." Armani said, putting one knife in her hand, wispy silver energy came from the other.

They all did as she asked and put a hand on her back, Armani closed her eyes and sent her senses outward, it wasn't nearly as good as when she meditated, but it was enough. She could sense the people in the area, the animals, and nature itself. Percy had been right, a block, roughly to the west, away was a large gathering of people underground. She didn't need direction but it helped.

"Here we go, hold on tight guys this might be a bit bumpy." Armani opened her eyes, the wispy energy covering all of them before they vanished from the spot, the helicopter harmlessly passing over the spot where they had just been moments ago.

The group of teens appeared in the station almost as soon as they vanished from the alley, Zoe, Bianca, and Thalia stumbled a bit after they had landed. Percy had felt it before so he was less averse to the side effects.

Armani herself felt another tug towards unconsciousness and would have stumbled herself if she had been any less used to teleporting, as it was she was already running on a half-full tank after the early events. Which she still couldn't remember, she'd heard a voice, a rush of energy, and then… nothing. Then she woke again, the rest of them staring at her as she stood covered in blood.

Armani shook her head, "We need to get tickets, and fast. Lots of abnormal signatures heading our way."

Zoe looked at her, "You can sense the presence of monsters?"

"Anything, humans, monsters, animals, even gods sometimes. But it's draining, and I need to recharge before-"

Percy whipped around to face Armani, "How low?!"

She tried to wave him off and started walking away towards the ticket counter, but he only reached out and grabbed her by the shoulder, "How. Low?"

They stared at each other for a moment before she finally caved, "Half. There, you happy now?"

Percy cursed under his breath and moved away from her, "Alright, we need to get on that train as soon as possible." He turned back to Armani, "Why didn't you say something sooner?"

Armani just shrugged, "It didn't matter."

Percy scowled at her, "You're reserves are like an ocean, you're never below ninety percent, so excuse me for trying to help you." He turned and made his way to the counter, everyone following behind him, with Armani slightly farther behind.

"I don't get it, what are you guys talking about, half of what?" Thalia asked, Percy was buying the tickets so he didn't answer right away, and when he did it started with a long sigh.

"Think about it like this, we all have a limit before we collapse, or grow fatigued right?"

They nodded.

"Well in Armani's case she has a different sort of limit, and if it gets too low…" Percy trailed off, his eyes made him look like he was in another time.

"If it gets too low…? Then what?" Zoe said from the place she was leaning against the wall, the train pulling into the station, Armani was still a good distance away from them, not looking at any of them.

"I-" He hesitated, looking over at Armani, "I don't know, I only know about it because Armani told me by accident. She just said it keeps 'symptoms' at bay." Percy said, looking slightly worried for his sister.

Thalia started to say something but was interrupted by Armani approaching them, a look passed between the two, and Armani's eyes softened momentarily, she took her place leaning against the wall between Thalia and Percy, and it wasn't much longer before the train and they all piled on.

Percy let out a sigh. "Nice job, Zoe, thinking of the subway." Zoe smiled a small smile when she thought Percy wasn't looking, but it quickly turned back to a scowl when Thalia snickered at her.

"I don't even remember there being a subway here when me and Nico were kids," Bianca said. "I was surprised to hear it was even here.."

Thalia sat forward. "Wait a minute. No subway at all?"

Bianca nodded.

Now, Percy knew nothing about D.C., but he didn't see how their whole subway system could be less than twelve years old. Judging by the looks of everyone else, they didn't either.

"Bianca," Zoe said. "How long ago…" Her voice faltered. The sound of the helicopter was getting louder again.

"We need to change trains," Armani said. "Next station, let's go."

No one argued with Armani as the train pulled into the next station and they all prepared to get out.

Author's notes:

wooooooo, this took way too long for me to post, I know it hasn't been too long since the last chapter, but it really feels like it. :p

Christmas and work actually left me a bit busier than I thought it would, not in a bad way, but in an interesting way. In certain ways it made me think of how my update schedule should work, and for now, I'll just leave it as, 'trying to post two chapters a week' hopefully one for each story.

This chapter is the first look that we get into Armani's secrets, and the next chapter should be very, very interesting for those of you who have wanted me to delve into Armani's origins. Also, I hope you didn't think I'd be leaving them all buddy-buddy with each other, did you? ;)

Until next time,

-Dredgen