A satellite rushed through the void, turning its sensors down upon a section of Virginia. Its cameras zoomed in, watching five vehicles crawl along Interstate 64, heading towards an exit.

Those cameras then swept over the route that the American forces would have to follow to reach the safehouse. Red symbols appeared as the cameras spotted hostile vehicles and what appeared to be tiny figures moving around, enemy infantry.

A connection was established. "Shadow, this is Badger 3-Actual, were enroute to the HVI, what's the enemy force disposition?"

There was a pause and a female voice, strong and authoritative answers. "Enemy force disposition is estimated to be two platoons of footmobile VDV with at least one, maybe as many as six Spruts or BMDs. Be advised, unidentified heat signatures have been spotted in the vicinity, they don't match any known vehicle. Watch yourselves out there, the Challenge is Icepick and the countersign Phoenix, address is 405 Renee Court."

"Affirmative, what form of support do we have?"

"Goliath Actual has detached two RAH-66s, callsign Duck to provide support, forty-eight hydra rockets and twelve Hellfires between them, they should be on station shortly after you engage the enemy. Also on call is a battery of eight M2001 Crusaders, callsign Ripper, they're on standby right now."

"Sierra Hotel, Shadow. We're about two mikes away from our dismount point and we'll continue on foot from there. Any idea who the HVI is?"

"Negative Badger-Three, we're still trying to piece together the state of the government right now."

"Affirmative Shadow."

1855 Hours

August 13, 2016

Pvt. Thalia Grace

75th Ranger Rgt. 1st Btn.

"Combat"

Thalia couldn't believe how cramped the interior of the Stryker was, according to Foley these vehicles would, depending on the vehicle, carry a squad of soldiers plus part of the platoon headquarters. But the Stryker she was in, vehicle two in Section A was filled to capacity for not only was there a nine men rifle squad, but also herself, Reyna, Dunn, and Jamie. Fifteen people were packed into this eight-wheeled bus. The diesel engine that powered it was roaring and panting as it did so, making noise similar to a bus.

It made for a vehicle that was cramped and noisy, this was quite possibly the worst ride that she had ever experienced and she had driven a clapped out, decrypt pickup with no suspension and rotting tires once. This vehicle was just worse in every way compared to that piece of crap, although at least the Stryker had good suspension. But the thing that was baffling of all was the fact that most of the soldiers seemed to be dozing or telling each other jokes.

The Stryker slowed and the world shifted, it felt as though the vehicle was now going through a turn. She just hoped that everything would go alright, there was just one thing that she could feel and that was fear. It was something that she was familiar with, she had felt it many times before in her life as a demigod and as a hunter. But this fear? It was very different.

But why was the fear she was feeling different from normal? She didn't know and that in itself scared her, however, as she thought about that another thing started to sink into her. A weariness and a tiredness that she never thought that she would experience.

Reyna jolted awake without warning, her eyes wide as she took in rapid breaths and frantically cast a look around the dark troop compartment, well to mortal eyes despite the darkness she might as well have been in daylight. "You alright Reyna?" Thalia asked and the Roman Demigod shook her head.

She nodded slightly and then, using a method of communication she had learned from Reyna herself, began a complex series of slight facial expressions that conveyed words. [Demigod dream or just a regular nightmare?] she asked the former Praetor.

There was a pause from the Praetor and she replied using the same method of complex facial expressions. [Demigod dream, there were people conversing in a city, Rome I think. A truck came flying up the street before slamming on the brakes in front of the governmental palace. Two people got out and ran, then a moment later that truck exploded.]

Well that was a quite random dream if it had happened to anyone else. However, Thalia knew that demigod dreams could be weird in more ways than one. She'd had a couple of dreams involving Lupa after all, it had really helped her come to terms with Jason's death, although talks with Artemis and her fellow hunters had also helped. In many ways, demigod dreams often showed the future but they could often be just plain weird and nonsensical, like that one she had of Ares singing the teapot song. For some reason though, Thalia hoped that this was a case of the latter and not the former. [I don't know why, but I am hoping that it's just a random dream and not a premonition of some sort.]

Reyna's expression changed to something quite flat. [You just jinxed us, you know that right?]

Thalia felt her shoulders slump and she cursed under her breath in Ancient Greek, throwing a few choice words in Latin in for good measure. Given their luck she probably did just jinx them. Which was just fantastic. The Lieutenant of the Hunt had to suppress a groan, this was shit that she really didn't need, but on the bright side, if it was in Rome then she didn't have to worry about it then. Thus she pushed it out of her mind.

Dunn awoke with a start as another man shouted "Equipment check!" and immediately the jokes stopped while those who were sleeping woke up on a dime.

It was almost time then, they were going to be cast back into the fires of war. Once again, she didn't know if she had it in her to lead her hunters through this. This was eating at her almost constantly.

The radio piece in her ear buzzed as the Stryker came to a screeching halt. "Hunter 2-1, you're on point." Thalia ignored the rest of the order and formation information regarding the vehicles and squads, mostly because all she knew was that the Rangers were probably going to be the first to get shot at this fine afternoon. Again. This was going to be lovely.

The ramp dropped. "Alright hit it troopers, go! Go! Go! The Army isn't paying us by the hour!" One man shouted and everyone stormed out, the skies had darkened as Artemis' moon was starting to rise. They were in a new part of Richmond, near a bend in a four lane road with a median between the north and southbound lanes, cars were strewn about, some abandoned, some crashed, and most notably there was a wrecked Police Cruiser. Its lights were strobing but there was no sign of the officer, but given the gunfire damage…

Thalia pushed the thought off, she didn't need to focus on what might have happened, but what was happening now. She was normally a lot better than this at focusing on what was happening now. The rifle was heavy in her hands and yet she could tell that the Hunters were forming up around her. The Strykers and Humvees loomed up around them like titans, not the actual thing, but they were intimidating. Their UGCVs rolled ahead as Foley gave orders for the Rangers to advance, Thalia gazed through the HUD projected onto her tactical goggles as she flashed Hunter signals.

Her boots marched across the soft grass and towards the edge of the road. She trudged along the ground. The rumble of the diesel engines, squeaking of tires and suspension, and the clacking of tracks filled her ears as they walked. She didn't like this, didn't like this at all, instincts told her that they were walking into a trap. But then again, she knew that apparently someone needed important rescuing. Worse, they would probably have to fight their way to them.

She caught a glimpse of a hand motion from Febe. She flashed another hand motion to her. {What is it Febe?} she asked.

Febe made another motion. {Nervous, Thalia. It's just…} she made the motion for trailing off, clearly lost in thought.

{I understand, we never thought that we would be fighting like this again. I am reminded of the Titan War actually.} Thalia replied through another series of hand signals.

She gazed left and right as she did so, the SCAR-H wasn't particularly heavy. But it didn't feel right carrying it, too used to her bow or knife. But she had to remind herself that the things she hunted now, were arguably more dangerous than all but the most powerful of monsters or the ones that had a working brain. An opponent that had gear which could legitimately stop their arrows and as much as she hated to admit it, their opponents also had much better knowledge of how to use their weapons and tactics that could go with them.

If there was anything that she knew more than anything, it was that any weapon you used was worthless if you didn't know tactics that could go with it. As they walked, she noticed the lack of streetlights. In the west, she could see building clouds on the horizon, indicative of a thunderstorm that was moving in. She could feel that power, if she needed to summon lightning, she could focus on that storm and use it to increase her power.

"Reyna, what road are we on?" Thalia asked as they continued walking along as she noticed that Reyna was messing with something she had grabbed, it looked like a GPS. It was probably screaming "Good eats here" to any and all monsters within a notable radius. But then again, given how the continent was going to shit, that was probably a given.

"We're on South Airport Drive, heading north. I wouldn't be surprised if we are going to end up marching through the maw of hell." Reyna said with a snarl.

Erica nodded. "Too right, I thought earlier was hell. But now? Ugh, this is going to be brutal." she said, as she finished her sentence, Foley dropped back to where they were.

"How are you ladies holding up?" he asked.

"Could be better." Sanya admitted. "But at the same time, given everything that's happened over the last few hours, it could be worse."

"It could be worse, but to be perfectly honest. It feels weird holding a SCAR, I would feel better with my bow." Erica added.

Foley sighed. "Trust me, I would feel better too. But your bows just aren't suited for modern warfare, not when the plate armor in use can actually stand up to several shots from the battle rifle you're holding there. To say nothing the M8s and M4s used by the regular Army fire a smaller round that doesn't hit anywhere near as hard. That being said, your soft skills would be something else."

"Soft skills?" Sanya asked cautiously.

Febe snorted. "He means stuff like first aid, tracking, spotting, that sort of thing. Naturally our abilities make us a bit better, but, all things considered. I am not entirely sure how our knowledge of first aid would apply. We live a different lifestyle and I am not too confident in my ability to treat a bullet wound."

"Indeed, those sorts of skills would be extremely useful all things considered. Pickets, scouts, spotters. Though if you're worried about bullet wounds, I recommend talking to our medic when you have the chance." Foley said and Thalia took note as Febe's expression changed to one of inquisitiveness and determination.

"Might want to make sure that your medic is ready to teach. Last time I saw Febe look that determined, it was when Ramirez made a bet that she couldn't put an arrow up the nostril of a Hyperborean Giant from a range of 100-yards back during the Titan War." Thalia remarked, smiling as she remembered that bet very clearly and the rather hilarious look on Ramirez's face when Febe did put an arrow up the nostril of a Hyperborean Giant from about 125-yards.

They continued to walk along the path, the grumble of the Strykers and their unmanned escorts as they trundled along echoed across the street, joining the squeaking and clatter of the light tanks. To the west she could hear the sporadic sounds of gunfire beginning, one sound she recognized immediately, the weapons of the Russians. The other was different, a snapping noise with a notably higher sounding pitch. She frowned as she tried to figure out what that sound was.

Foley grunted. "Sounds like the initial elements of the 8th Armored Division have arrived in Richmond and are clashing with the VDV. What you are hearing is a mixture of M4s, M249s, and M8 Modular Weapon Systems along with the standard Warsaw Pact stuff." he said and Thalia nodded.

"They sound really similar." Febe noted.

"Not quite, our stuff sounds different from theirs." Foley said and Thalia couldn't help but agree, the difference was subtle but noticeable. Still, she couldn't help but be a little curious about what this 'Armored Division' had at its disposal.

"Sergeant?" she asked.

"Yes, Private?" Foley replied and Thalia noted her rank, she would make sure to ask Foley or Ramirez about the ranks privately later.

"What's in 8th Armored?" she asked cautiously.

"Enough heavy vehicles to be the worst nightmare of that VDV formation, a full Armored Brigade Combat Team and two Stryker Brigade Combat Teams. The particulars is that there's over a hundred tanks, over a hundred IFVs, well over six hundred Stryker vehicles, plus supporting units which contain heavier artillery, helicopters, the works. The whole division has close to thirty thousand men and women in it, around fourteen thousand in the maneuver components though." Foley said and Thalia heard Febe whistle and well, she couldn't help but agree. Mortals didn't play around when it came to war, neither did the Gods, but still. That amount of vehicles was frightening, to say the least.

"All units hold, Badger 3-5 has eyes on targets with thermals." The Lieutenant in charge of the platoon, a man named Wallace, said suddenly and Thalia froze, even with her demigod vision she couldn't see much into the gloom, the power was out so while she could make out some buildings. She couldn't make out the particulars of them beyond the fact that there seemed to be an intersection maybe four hundred meters down the street, she could see a gas station, mini-malls on both sides of the street, and a single standing structure. There seemed to be vehicles at some of the positions, she couldn't identify them and there seemed to be figures going about their business.

Before she could call them out, a new voice came over the circuit. "Badger 3-5, multiple victors in sight, seeing at least twenty footmobiles. Gunner, traverse to 350, target TD, load and index HEAT." A male voice said.

"Target acquired, gun indexed." A second voice replied, there was a clatter in the background "Ready up!".

"FIRE!"

"On the way!"

An instant later the tank's gun boomed out, vomiting fire and smoke; the projectile -a few inches across- slashed through the air; the power of the displacement from the round crossing the distance it was made Thalia's head hurt.

What really made her aerokinetic senses go ballistic was when one of the enemy vehicles exploded and a turret -for that's all it could be!- a multi-ton piece of metal decided to try and reach the stratosphere for it went pinwheeling at least a hundred meters into the sky! "Tartarus!" she swore as gunfire started to roar from the explosion, bright green tracers from various weapons began going every which way.

"Let'em have it!" Lieutenant Wallace shouted and all around the weapons of the US Army spoke their fury.

Thalia raised her rifle and remembered what she did just a few hours previously. She found her rhythm of her heart and steadied her breath. Her eyes found a figure that was dashing to cover. She was still getting used to the ballistics of the SCAR-H though, but from what little she had learned from Ramirez, it told her that the weapon had a very flat trajectory and that at this range the projectile would take maybe a half second to reach the target. Thalia adjusted her aim and pulled the trigger. Fire blasted from the muzzle of the SCAR and the man dropped.

Slam. Slam. Slam. The Strykers advanced, their own autocannons blazing, the noise was thunderous, bright orange/red tracers criss-crossed with green ones. Thalia strode up along the edge of the road, firing her own sporadic shots from her rifle.

"This is crazy!" Thalia hissed to herself, how did mortals remain sane through the chatter and the noise? But a more grim part of her mind noted darkly that during the Battle of Manhattan, battles had still been horrifically loud affairs…the screams of the wounded and dying were the same, the swearing was still there, but the clashing of blades was replaced by the roar of gunfire. Funny…war really did never change.

People were constantly calling targets, plumes of fire marked dead Russian vehicles, her own fire was adding to the chaos. Their tank fired again, the convenience store for the Shell station was blown open spectacularly, a secondary cooked off as what must have been a propane tank or something ignited hurling a great fireball into the sky that cast everything for just a few seconds in dull orange illumination. The shockwave hammering her aerokinetic senses.

A missile snapped out from their right, Thalia immediately pivoted towards the direction it had come from even as more callouts flashed across her radio and the warhead itself blew up in the midair for some reason. "Sergeant, I reckon that there are infantry in that minimall." she said.

"I agree, Ramirez, use your laser designator and designate the right side minimall as a priority target!" Foley said, snapping out the orders.

Thalia saw the man in question pivot and he flicked something that was on the side of his gun. Immediately Thalia saw the turret of the tank and two Stryker turrets swing around, four heavy shells and a torrent of autocannon fire were poured into the building in a fracas of destruction, sending a great plume of dust into the air as a good sized portion of the structure came down.

Thalia sighted another man and fired a burst, the soldier dropped without a sound. They were nearly a hundred meters away from the intersection now. That's when flame blasted out from a treeline, one of the Strykers had an explosion rip through it, fire and burning fuel exploding out through the hatches. She looked at the vehicle and beheld what looked like a molten ring in the vehicle's front, the cage in that area ripped apart. What the hell had happened to it?

Autocannon fire lanced out and another terrific explosion -by this point there had been at least three of those but she had lost count- erupted amongst the treeline, a fireball and another turret pin-wheeling into the sky. Thalia noted that the autocannons on the Strykers and the weapons on the tank seemed to be doing most of the heavy lifting. Did that mean that the vehicles could see better than even she could?

As if on cue to prove that fact, the tank fired again, another glowing tracer reached and the front of a 7-11 blew out in the resulting fireball.

Another missile landed short and exploded with a loud crump spraying shrapnel everywhere and then, just as suddenly as it began, it all petered out. The gunfire, the noise, the chaos. It all just fades away as they reach the intersection, the Russians likely breaking and running.

Thalia looked around and started looking for her hunters. She was relieved to see all of them still breathing. Though something seemed to be wrong with Febe, she was clutching her chest. "Febe are you alright?!" she asked about ready to cry for a medic.

"She's fine, took a burst to the armor. It just knocked her flat on her ass." Dunn said and Thalia scowled at the man.

"Yeah, he's right. Imagine getting hit with a club without good padding under the armor, that's about what taking a shot to the armor felt like. Ugh." Febe groaned and Thalia winced in sympathy, the jackets that the Hunters wore provided some protection, but it wasn't as good a plate or chainmail. But not having good padding could cause blunt force trauma.

Ramirez snorted, maybe sensing her distress. "The plates of our armor are designed to spread the kinetic energy of a bullet out. But well, due to Sir Isaac Newton, that energy still has to go somewhere, thus we bruise when we get hit and if we aren't expecting it then we get knocked over." he said.

"Makes sense, bullet proof armor has advanced a lot in the past century. During WWI, you had to wear these huge bulky suits of metal armor that may have protected you from rifles. Nowadays, bullet proof armor can handle numerous shots from rifles." Erica said and Thalia tilted her head.

"Really?" the daughter of Zeus asked.

"Yup." Ramirez said.

Erica opened her mouth to reply or add her own bit.

Thalia would later tell Artemis that what happened was because she had relaxed prematurely. That she had forgotten that they were fighting humans and that while monsters would flee a good distance when they knew they were beaten. Humans were a completely different breed. As a result she lowered her defenses and stopped listening to her demigod senses. If she hadn't…maybe what had happened wouldn't have happened.

Thalia didn't sense the bullet before it caught Erica in the head, almost directly under her right eye. The bullet punched through the bone, shattering it, and smashed its way through her head before ripping her helmet right off her head, bringing with it in its wake blood, brain matter, and bone. The hunter's silver aura vanished instantly, for she was dead before her now slowly cooling corpse hit the pavement.

The gunshot echoed through the air before Erica hit the ground.

"Cyka Blyat!" she heard Sanya shout.

"SNIPER!" Rameriz roared, distantly.

She had seen people die before, as a demigod who had served in the Titan and Giant War that was a fact of life. But blades and arrows unless you knew where to strike precisely, wouldn't kill instantly. That. That had been horrifying.

A sledgehammer blow caught her in the head and she went down, her skull throbbing in agony and blackness swallowed her.

[hr]

Thalia groaned and shook her head. "She's waking up!" she heard Jamie call.

"How long was I out?" she asked weakly, her head throbbing.

"Two minutes, maybe." The medic replied and she tried to stand, then saw Erica's mangled corpse, her head was practically unrecognizable and nearly lost her balance; so all she ended up doing was just crouching awkwardly.

"What happened?" she asked.

"A fucker with a Dragonav drilled Erica, then put one in you. That bullet should have caved your helmet and blown out your brain. I think you managed to deflect the bullet enough with your magic hocus-pocus that it couldn't penetrate your helmet." Jamie said, offering a hand and Thalia took it, allowing herself to be pulled up.

Looking around she could see that besides Erica's lifeless body, there were several dead soldiers that had come with them with the Strykers. Along with one Stryker that was still burning furiously, there was the better part of a half dozen other vehicles burning as well and two of the strange unmanned vehicles were barely recognizable. But Thalia found that she couldn't take her eyes off Erica's body.

"You good Private?" Jamie asked her.

"No." Thalia admitted, trying to stop the bile from rising up in her throat.

Jamie stepped in front of her and blocked Erica's corpse from her view. "It never gets easier." he said and he pressed something metallic into her hand. "Take this, it's one of her dog tags. I want you to keep it." he said.

"Why?" Thalia asked this man before she could stop herself.

"So that way a little something from her is always with you; it's a little thing to help keep you grounded really." Jamie said and Thalia couldn't help but nod.

"How do you handle it?" she asked quietly, the memory of the bone under Erica's right eye visibly shattering, refusing to leave her mind.

"Remember what Sergeant Foley said?" Jamie told her in response and she shook her head, the man continued. "We don't deal with it, war leaves trauma on the mind. It changes us sometimes to the point that it's damn difficult for us to put what we saw behind us, we call it Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD. But sometimes, having something to anchor you can help a substantial deal." the other man said.

Mortals didn't have properly wired brains to deal with the stress and trauma of combat and yet, they do it anyway; it's supremely difficult for those things to affect demigods but it must be significantly easier for said things to affect mortals. Thalia realized, she knew that her mind was wired differently simply because she was a Demigod. Mortals didn't have that luxury and yet, they willingly march into horrors that could likely drive them insane.

In that moment, Thalia realized that mortals even though they didn't have the freakishly good eyesight, the speed, the strength, the raw endurance, nor the differently wired minds of demigods. Yet she could tell that virtually every single soldier here barring a select few were mortals and they had truly just walked into tartarus willingly. Did that make them true heroes even though they didn't fight monsters or save the world? She honestly wasn't sure, but she felt like that by the end of this, she would have her answer.

"Thanks Doc." she said quietly.

Jamie nodded. "Ever need someone to talk to about horrifying shit that gets under your skin? Ask me or Corporal Dunn or the Sergeant and we'll help." he said and Thalia nodded, secretly she was grateful for the offer. But at the same time she didn't think that she needed help either, however, she had a gut feeling that at some point she was going to need said offer.

Jamie then turned her around and she walked away, as she did so, she pulled her bead necklace from Camp Half Blood and with some difficulty, slipped Erica's dog tag onto it. She noticed that besides her bead necklace, there was a second necklace made of metallic beads with two tags on it. She read them and saw it had her name, date of birth, what might have been her blood type, and a serial number or something.

She shoved both of them back underneath her t-shirt. I am sorry Erica, the mortals will take care of you. I know they will. She thought as she turned away, it galled her badly to leave the body of a hunter behind laying in the cold street, but she remembered seeing the newscasts of planes returning from the Middle East after Basara loaded with finely made coffins draped in immaculately folded American flags. It wouldn't be a cremation, but she wouldn't be dumped in a mass grave, the mortals of the military if anything respected their dead.

She found her fellow hunters standing off to the side and trotted up to them. Reyna looked as stoic as ever, Febe though looked a little queasy, and Sanya's look just conveyed that she was done with this. "So we're just leaving Erica?" Febe demanded.

"How are we going to bring her with us Febe?" Sanya asked in a low voice.

"Put her in one of those vehicles of course." The 135-year old hunter snapped.

"Where would we put the supplies then? Did you see how packed those things were?" Reyna asked in a quiet tone. "The short answer is, we can't. I don't like it either but we must."

Thalia hated this, having to leave a fallen huntress behind and Febe agreed as Reyna's logic slammed into her, because she cursed softly in her native language; an old form of English from roughly the time of the great vowel shift; it sounded a lot like pirate talk. But at the same time, her posture practically wilted. Finally she choked out a sob and said "I hate this fucking war already."

One of the other American soldiers apparently heard her, because he snorted. "So do I." he said as they started advancing again.

Past the intersection were apartment buildings on the right side. One of the men held up a fist and everyone froze.

"What is it Ramirez?" Thalia heard Foley say over the radio.

"I can hear Russian from up ahead, it sounds like it's coming from the right side of the street. If I recall the maps correctly, there's apartment buildings up there, perfect spot for an ambush." The demigod replied.

"Private, you must have freaky good ears to hear that far through the trees." Lieutenant Wallace said and Ramirez laughed.

"I do have freaky good hearing sir. Trust me." Ramirez replied.

"It's true sir, without Ramirez, well, if it hadn't been for that goddamned nuke, our platoon would have come home with damn near everyone. Ramirez is practically telepathic when it comes to sniffing out ambushes if he has good eyes on the terrain or knows the area." Foley said and Thalia nodded, the man was damn good at that.

"Affirmative, Badgers? How good is your APS? Think you can punch us a hole through there?" The Lieutenant asked.

"Badger Three-Actual here, negative El-tee. Ivan will be able to cut us to pieces in there, going by what the map says is there. The distance is just too short for our APS to have a chance at stopping everything; particularly if they employ anti-APS tactics when firing their rockets." The commander of the Strykers reported.

"Lieutenant?" Reyna asked suddenly, her expression thoughtful. Thalia turned to her and caught a Hunter sign from the former Praetor. {Making a suggestion to call in some fire support, will save us some time.}

Fire support? What in the name of tartarus was Reyna going on about? Wait, didn't the Legion refer to the Ballista as something similar? If so, where was it? She couldn't see anything that looked like what was being suggested. Unless the mortal artillery had a much longer range? Who was she kidding, it probably did.

"Yes, private?" The Lieutenant replied, a note of disdain in his voice.

"Shouldn't we just call in artillery? Would save both time and lives since we wouldn't have to clear those apartments out unit by unit. We're rescuing an HVI correct? That means we don't have time to fuck around." Reyna said and Lieutenant Wallace hummed audibly in response and Thalia looked for the man in question but couldn't see him, he must have been on the other side of the formation.

"Good idea Private, gimme a sec." Lieutenant Wallace said and Thalia saw Reyna nod, she wondered what the man was up to.

A few minutes later, the man came back. "The cannon cockers are going to be laying down a barrage. We'll hold here until Ripper is finished pounding those apartments." Lieutenant Wallace said.

"But sir!" one of the other soldiers called out. "What about civilians?"

"If they were that close to what appeared to be a command point for a larger formation, then they're already dead. Given how the Russians have shown a complete disregard for the laws of war. It's shitty, but we must accept that fact." Lieutenant Wallace replied sharply and Thalia could tell that this decision, no matter how pragmatic, disgusted him.

Thirty kilometers to the south, eight M2001 Crusaders raised their guns; these weapons hadn't been fired in anger before. The guns were virgin in a sense, they had been fired in practice and had been worn through to an extent through that. Now however was different, now? Now these guns were furious. They were filled with a righteous wrath that hadn't been felt on American land in a very long time.

They opened fire, their automated loading systems pounding out a stream of 155mm rounds; they unleashed their fury for a full minute. By the time they were done, ninety-six of the heavy projectiles had gone downrange. With that done, the Crusaders were packing up and moving out to avoid counter battery fire that was likely in the process of being directed their way; two-minutes later, just as the first 180mm rounds from Russian counter-battery started landing the self-propelled guns were speeding away, the command vehicle and ammunition carrying vehicles right behind them.

Even as they were packing up; thirty kilometers to the north, hell and fury erupted as ninety-six projectiles started landing among the occupied apartment buildings.

Thalia whimpered as the ground shook and explosions roared not too far from them. Her aerokinetic senses were effortlessly sensing the enormous projectiles slashing through the air with all the subtlety of hammers. The rippling collapse of the structures ahead was hurling an enormous plume of dust and debris that was rapidly expanding and flaring with the brilliance of the explosions blasting the buildings apart.

But that wasn't the worst of it, the worst of it was the fact that while she wasn't Nico and thus couldn't feel people dying. She could still hear the screams of those who were, it was faint and damn hard to hear over the freight train shriek of the rounds going overhead in their terminal descent towards the ground and the detonation of said rounds. But it was still horrifying to hear the wail of people dying who had been ripped apart by something that they had no defense against other than taking cover and praying.

"Hot damn!" someone called as the barrage finally started letting up. Thalia swore softly as she waited for her hearing to return to what it normally was. As it returned she could hear the crackling of flames, the groaning of structural supports, the occasional sound of a tree teetering over, and screams. The screams of people who had been maimed and were dying from horrific injuries.

There had been virtually no warning, even she would have had scant seconds of warning and she doubted that it would have done her much. She could sense other shells flying the other way, they rumbled overhead as they hurtled south, but they weren't coming for them, their trajectory told her that.

"You okay Thalia?" Ramirez asked her suddenly.

"Not really, I can tell from the other hunters that they are greatly disturbed by what they are seeing and hearing. We might need the attention of Mister D after this and he's going to hate every single moment of it." Thalia admitted to Ramirez, it sucked but after seeing everything she had, she was beginning to worry for her sanity and that of her fellow Hunters.

"I get what you mean, I might be damn near telepathic at times for ambushes. But I can already tell that this war won't be easy, even for demigods like you and me; I've seen some bad shit for sure. But, Jamie, he was serious about that offer, the kid had been studying to go into Psychology believe it or not. I personally think that Jack has probably fallen head over heels for one of your hunters." Ramirez said and Thalia sighed.

"Hunter 2-1, orders from the Lieutenant, we're on point for the next part of the advance. I am reorganizing us, we'll make do with this until we get replacements." Peyton said and he laid it out, Thalia and Reyna ended up with Peyton and Jack while Febe, Jamie, Corey, and Axton had ended up together in a cluster, and finally Ramirez, Ian, and Sanya rounded out their third group.

If I had been better, Erica would still be here and we would have three groups of four. Thalia thought bitterly as they started to advance again. Their unit was advancing in a loose triangle formation. This time with the Rangers and Hunters at the front, rolling up behind them came the rest of the platoon from the US Army.

Thalia couldn't be more grateful for Reyna, the former Praetor looked barely shocked by the blood and violence around them; if anything the fact that she could made her feel better. In the distance, thunder rumbled and it wasn't artillery. "Oh fucking joy," Dunn said. "Fighting in the fucking rain, I fucking swear, the day is rotten enough."

Thalia paused and listened to the air currents, she pictured how they would interact with that building storm. "It will miss us by about ten miles." she said with utter certainty; a nicety of being the daughter of Zeus meant that she was damn good at predicting weather.

"How are you so certain? You have a built-in doppler or something?" Dunn asked and Foley had an oddly-timed coughing fit, Reyna had a broad smile on her face at the remark. Even Thalia had to admit that was a decently good joke for she chuckled at it.

Oh, why not, she could play with this. "Who's to say that I don't have a built-in doppler?" Thalia asked, she knew what doppler was, it was the thing that mortals used to track weather.

Reyna barked a laugh as they continued walking and even Foley was smiling. As they walked, and started passing the shattered ruins of the apartments, seeing the flames that were greedily licking up from the ruins. Even from there she could hear the occasional scream of a dying soldier. Thalia shuddered and continued to walk along, for the first time in her life she wished that Bianca hadn't died so many years ago.

If Bianca hadn't died back then, maybe she could have told them how Erica was doing in the afterlife. She would have gotten Elysium, of that Thalia was certain. Doesn't change the fact that I made a mistake. She thought bitterly.

"You're upset about Erica." Reyna noted and Thalia nodded somberly.

"I fucked up, I dropped my guard too early." she admitted, it stung to admit that she had fucked up.

Reyna understood and she spoke softly, Thalia could see it in her eyes. "I know what you mean, but the minutes after everything calms down are arguably the most dangerous. That feeling of being alive and safe." she said.

Foley added "Indeed, it happens. Happens to the best of us even. Grace, I want you to remember Miss Erica, remember her and cherish the memories you have of her; but don't let yourself get dragged down by it. Lord knows that if I moped about it, that Paul would come back from the dead just to kick my ass for doing that."

Thalia nodded, it made Foley just seem a little more human. The man had been pressing through all of this without showing a hint of it getting to him. "Sergeant Peyton?" Thalia asked, at first she wanted to know how this man did it, but now something else was coming to mind.

"Yes, Private?" Foley asked and once again, Thalia felt like she was relatively low on the totem pole.

"Whose Paul?" She asked and Jack, who was walking next to Reyna, tensed.

Foley sighed. "Sergeant Paul Jackon, he was a member of the Marine Corps, 1st Force Recon. He didn't survive Basara, the helicopter he was in didn't make it to minimum safe distance in time. When the 30-kiloton nuke that was at the presidential palace detonated, the shockwave slammed the thing straight out of the sky like it was a toy. Judging by where we found his body, he wasn't killed on impact, which meant he succumbed to radiation and his injuries. We lost the better part of two divisions there, 1st Marine and 29th Infantry. Informing his next of kin was quite possibly the hardest thing I've ever done." he said and all of a sudden for Thalia all of the pieces fell into place with an audible clack, the reason why Sally Jackson according to Percy had been in a state of shock and mourning for weeks after Basara.

"Was Paul's next of kin a woman named Sally Jackson?" Thalia asked and Reyna sharply inhaled; Thalia realized that Reyna must have just come to the same conclusion as she did.

"How do you know?" Foley asked sharply and Thalia sighed, the thoughts that were coming to mind were just grim.

"I am a close friend of her son, Percy and something of a big sister figure to his fiancee, Annabeth. From what I heard, Sally didn't take it well." Thalia admitted, gods, just thinking about Annabeth brings a smile to her face.

"No, she didn't. She broke down right then and there after I told her what happened." Foley said, clearly struggling with his emotions.

"Sorry for bringing it up then." Thalia said, pushing the thoughts aside.

"No, it's okay. He's been on my mind recently, mostly because he entered the United States Special Forces Rumor Mill alongside the rest of his team about a month ago. Mostly about the fact that his Navy and Marine Corps Cross might be upgraded to the Congressional Medal of Honor for showing a level of courage and valor above and beyond the call of duty." Foley said and Thalia couldn't help but ask.

"What did he do?" Thalia asked before she could stop herself.

"His unit was being pulled out, one of the few that could after Seal Team Six found what later turned out to be a nuclear device at the presidential palace. By that point in the battle all units were fully engaged which made getting out tricky, a coordinated retreat under fire is the hardest battlefield maneuver you can manage. But the airmobile units that deep striked, the Marine Recon Teams, the Army Rangers, etc. we pulled them out and had those helicopters start to leg it to minimum safe distance. Paul's Sea Knight helicopter was bugging out with the rest of them, when a Cobra gunship got hit by a lucky rocket, went out of control and crashed in full view of their helo. His team leader made the decision to land, despite the risks and rescue the crew of that gunship. They did a rescue under fire, pulled it off in sixty seconds, got back aboard with the crew of that gunship and were beginning to haul ass to minimum safe distance. Then, we found out that a NEST team had confirmed we had a nuclear threat, the warning went out for all units to initiate NBC protocols and evacuate, General Shepard was in the middle of that transmission when a second sun burst into life in the city of Basara; the blastwave caught the Sea Knight in about five seconds and tore it from the sky. They knew what they were getting into, what would likely happen if they didn't get to minimum safe distance, but they didn't care; they put their lives on the line in an outright desperate gamble to save their brother and sisters in arms." Foley said and Thalia blinked several times in rapid succession, she understood why soldiers would put their lives on the line for others, but why? Why would they do that?

"That's how war works. Hell, that's how proper training works, it forges bonds that are beyond tight to the point that if you think that you have a proper chance of saving one of your buddies. The risk to your own life is going to be either one of the last things you consider or you won't consider it at all." Reyna said and Thalia couldn't but notice the sounds of agreement and realized that Reyna, having been Praetor and before that Centurion in the 12th Legion; it meant she would have a much better understanding of how soldiers would think.

"Indeed, so many soldiers volunteered after Basara to go into the fallout zone to look for survivors that it had to be done by lottery. That's how me and Peyton ended up going into that area, our numbers got called and thus off we went. We ended up staying a little too long helping civilians and soldiers evacuate, thus we came down with ARS. We survived it obviously, but we saw far too many people at the field hospital being given black tags for triage." Dunn said in response and he shivered, as if the memories of the field hospital came back to him.

The radio on shoulder squawked, it was turned low enough so that only she could hear it. Her tactical goggles updated, a unit identifier flashing in one of the corners.

"Goliath, this is Stalker 3-2 Bravo, we have a man down, I repeat, we have a man down! Requesting CASEVAC. How copy? Over." a voice similar to Foley's in how collected it sounded said, they must have been in the middle of a full blown firefight for gunfire and explosions, along with the horrible wail of a wounded man.

"Solid copy Stalker 3-2 Bravo, negative on CASEVAC, do what you can. Out." 'Goliath' replied, Thalia noted it was the same man who she had heard speak not too long ago.

By now, they had passed the shattered apartments that had been hammered into the ground, further to the north however, autocannon and small arms fire began rippling out. Thalia waited for the inevitable return fire to begin, this time however it didn't, which made the Lieutenant of the Hunt raise an eyebrow.

Just what the hell was going on to their north? She looked over at Foley and his expression matched her's, at least she was fairly sure it did, the man then shook his head. "Lieutenant!" he called.

"Yes sergeant?" The man replied back.

"Do we have any elements of Stalker to our immediate north?" he asked.

Stalker must be another unit then, Thalia realized.

"You mean the devil dogs? No, we don't, the closest unit is to our south at the Richmond Marine Terminal. The battle network shows that the 15th Mechanized Strike Regiment is deploying to engage the VDV there while 8th Armored reportedly dropped off a Stryker Battalion to help with the engagement, that was thirty minutes ago. There's at least another VDV formation to our north, at least platoon sized, according to the battle network it's actually close to the safe house we're supposed to be getting to. Thus it might be them that's shooting, but I can't figure out for the like of me what they would be shooting at." The Lieutenant said and Thalia frowned.

"Civilians or police?" Reyna asked softly.

"Unlikely, I mean if this was Texas or out in the country then sure for civilians. Could be a police unit, SWAT maybe, but why would they go loud against a unit that clearly outnumbers them? It doesn't make sense either. Can't be a unit that's north of us." The Lieutenant said and Thalia had to admit that it did make some sense, she tipped her head in acknowledgement of that fact.

Metal shrieked in the distance as if it was getting ripped apart by something, another thing roared in triumph. It was a sound she recognized instantly, it was the sound of a Minotaur roaring and not just any minotaur either, it was the Prime Minotaur; the first of its kind. A being known only as Asterion. Naturally, this was the most likely minotaur they had been looking for before the Russian invasion landed on them, right, next time she saw Percy, she was going to give him static hair.

"The fuck was that?" Thalia heard the Lieutenant ask quietly.

Her mouth answered automatically. "Asterion, the first minotaur."

"Uh, a minotaur? Right, well, sure, let's say it is a Minotaur and not say a tiger. How screwed would we be?" The Lieutenant asked.

"Uh, not sure exactly how screwed we'll be. But Asterion is seven to eight feet tall, typically clad in bronze armor and usually has a vicious double bladed ax along with the strength to throw limos a significant distance." Thalia replied and that answer brought out some scattered cursing, one man even crossed himself.

"Right, let's hope we don't run into mister bullshit then. He sounds like the last sort of fucker we need in encounter right now during this shitty day." The lieutenant said and Thalia stared gobsmacked at the sheer, she wasn't even sure what to call it. Peyton, Ramirez, Reyna, and Febe all turned barks of laughter into hacking coughs and Thalia was rather sure that if some of the gods and goddesses heard that, that they would be laughing hysterically.

The Fates weren't laughing though. As they turned onto Rene Lane, the Safe House appeared at the head of the street. It was partially down, the front door to the two-storey white house with a brick chimney and red window covers was caved in. The building was thoroughly riddled with holes of varying sizes and striding up the street towards them, without a care in the world, hefting a blood covered ax was Asterion along with two other minotaurs and a dozen hellhounds.

Lovely.

Thalia figured that the SCAR-H was probably useless. Nobody knew how effective conventional firearms were against monsters, but non-arcane metals could be used to kill monsters. You need to be good or lucky with them, granted the same was true with arcane metals, but due to their unique properties any blows would do significantly more damage than you would think, if you were lucky then they would dissolve into dust with one single well placed strike; but with non-arcane/blessed metals, it took a lot of killing.

"Uh shit, guess we did run into him. Uh, fuck, okay then. Cry Sum Moar, all Strykers, and UCAVs, weapon release. Engage at will, all squads Anti-Tank Weapons are free to be used at your discretion; engage!" he barked.

The world exploded into chaos, Thalia slung her rifle on instinct and for a moment considered drawing her bow; but she knew that her arrows were unlikely to do much to Asterion's armor if he had proper padding. Thus she reached into a pocket and pulled out a mace canister. She clicked the top and suddenly it sprang into a Dory, a traditional Ancient Greek Spear that was nine feet long and made uniformly of celestial bronze with the haft wrapped in leather. "Aegis!" she shouted as gunfire started roaring, the tank, named Cry Sum Moar, apparently fired, and Minotaur number three blew itself to dust, literally, a wave of thick monster dust spraying out in an impressive splatter pattern amid a violent explosion.

Her shield sprang to life, the face of Medusa glared out from the bronze shield. She gripped the strap firmly, she didn't glance at Foley or Dunn, because the monsters charged straight into the face of nearly thirty separate automatic rifles, several rocket launchers, three autocannons, and several rotary guns along with the bows of the hunters. The Hellhounds simply died or were sent to the ground thrashing wildly with black blood pouring from wounds as they were perforated with literally hundreds of bullets and thousands of fragments along with silver arrows, but Asterion threw his ax with a roar, the blade cleaved the barrel for the tank open straight down the middle with a scream of metal sundering. An instant later he flung his hand out and the blade magically returned to it.

Well crap. Thalia as the other Minotaur went to charge but had two, four, six, eight silver arrows materialize in its chest, the Minotaur slumped into a cloud of gold dust. Then Asterion charged, the cracking of rounds, tiny little darts maybe 5mm across splattered off the Celestial Bronze cuirass like it was water hitting an umbrella and barely leaving a mark on the armor, the heavier 7mm rounds from the weapons of the Rangers would, judging by the rents materializing in the armor, get through eventually. Probably not quickly enough to matter.

An arrow hit it and glanced off, failing to penetrate the layers of plating and padding. The troopers and rangers scattered before the rampaging monster, but not fast enough, the blade lashed out and reaped, blood splashing out over the street and men fell screaming. But she had a clear shot!

Total time elapsed since the monster encounter started, five seconds.

The air turned electric, the stench of ozone filled the air.

"What the?" Someone began to say.

Asterion dove to the side, Thalia roared a challenge and lightning screamed down from the heavens striking her spear tip. The energy crackled and howled in her ears as she redirected it, a blazing thunderbolt of white hot plasma.

"Holy shit, did you see that?" Thalia heard a soldier ask.

"Thaila? When did you turn into Uncle Iroh?" Dunn asked as Asterion came up, his fur visibly smoking. Thalia's first thought was uh-oh.

"How did you miss?! Lightning travels at nearly the speed of fucking light and you managed to fucking miss!" She heard the Lieutenant scream and Thalia had to admit that she was out of practice with using her spear and throwing around lightning. Too much damn dependence on my fucking bow; before I became a Hunter, that would have connected. She thought bitterly as Asterion used the opening to rush her, not even fazed by the shield and lashed out with his ax.

Ax met shield with a loud clang, the blow sending a jolt up her arm, she winced at it and lunged with her spear but the minotaur sidestepped. Thrust, block, parry, thrust. She went back and forth with the Minotaur, the occasional bullet smashing into the monster's armor and glancing off. She heard someone shout to cease fire.

Asterion smashed the flat of his ax against her shield, Thalia knew from experience that if she tried to block it fully that she would get a broken arm. Which right now would be bad, she knew how painful that could be and how it could result in her death, thus she let her shield roll with the blow, deflecting the energy but it still hurt like he-AH shit hoof!

Said hoof connected with her chest and she went tumbling across the pavement and slammed into a car, stars exploding across her vision. "Ow." she grunted, yep, she was going to be sore tomorrow. A shadow loomed over her, Asterion raised his ax to cleave her head in two. Reyna was rushing towards the minotaur with her silver hunting knife out, one of her hands was reaching for something else though.

Someone beat her to it, a man leaped upon the minotaur's back, raised a steel knife and started stabbing furiously at the monster's neck. Asterion roared in outrage and pain before thrashing and bucking, trying to get whoever was on his back to get off. "DUNN! Catch!" She heard the former Praetor roar and the steel blade which had made some but not fatal progress against Asterion disappeared and in its place an Imperial Gold gladius appeared.

Jack Dunn stabbed again and the monster exploded into dust and he collapsed spluttering. Thalia stood up hacking, monster dust had gotten on her as well. "Thanks." she rasped.

"No problem, you have our backs, we have yours." Dunn said, then he looked down. "I wish that he hadn't exploded into glitter though, ugh, this is going to be a nightmare to get out."

Thalia laughed, Dunn was rather thoroughly covered in dust. "Not a bad first kill." Reyna complimented the Ranger.

"Right, so Mister Bullshit's armor could laugh off 5.56 like it was nothing and I felt like I was just plinking away with my knife. Thanks for the gold sword, that worked." Dunn said, holding said blade back towards the former praetor hilt first and Reyna laughed as she accepted it.

"I don't really use it anymore, us hunters primarily use bows and knives or short swords and well, the Gladius has become more of an "oh shit" weapon for me. But if Chiron saw Thalia perform that poorly with her spear and shield, he would make her do remedial training." Reyna said and Thalia whacked her, but her smile was playful.

In case you were wondering what remedial training was, Nico would summon Achilles or a Legionnaire and she would get smacked around the sword fighting arena for a couple of hours. "Not the brightest moment I've ever had; I should have just drawn my sword and be done with it." Thalia admitted.

"Happens to the best of us, Iroh. Though Foley will probably want to have some stern words with you." Dunn said and Thalia scowled.

"Her name's Thalia." Reyna hissed.

"I know that, just giving her a nickname is all." Dunn said as he bent over and picked something up, Asterion's ax. "Huh, he left his ax behind."

"Spoils of war, nice one." Reyna said appreciatively as Dunn gave the ax a few experimental swings.

The Lieutenant strode over looking shaken and gave Dunn a surprised look at the ax. "You alright Private?" he asked.

Thalia nodded. "I'll live, fairly sure my ribs are bruised to hell. But I've had worse before, I should have just used my bow or short sword then going to my spear and shield. Would have gotten me killed otherwise." she said, dammit how had she been so stupid?

"Honestly, dealing with a seven and half foot tall bipedal bull with an ax and a longer reach than I have, I would prefer a spear too. Besides, we all make mistakes, it happens to the best of us; just shows that your human is all." The Lieutenant admitted and Thalia nodded, it made sense to be honest.

Dunn smacked the bottom of the haft and the ax turned into a collapsible baton. "Nice; I'll be taking this." he said and he clipped it to his belt.

"Still," the Lieutenant continued. "Don't do something that stupid again."

"Yessir." Thalia said, putting her spear and shield away; then unslinging her SCAR.

"Alright, let's go." The Lieutenant called and they moved out again, Thalia saw a half dozen men wearing American uniforms had fallen to Asterion.

"Foley, take your rangers and check the safe house." he continued as they hurried down the street.

When they got to the cul-de-sac that the safe house rested on, what they found was a scene straight out of hell. An entire mechanized company, ten vehicles and over a hundred men lay slaughtered. Vehicles had been ripped apart and the less said about the bodies the better, there were piles of dust here and there.

"Poor bastards." someone said and Thalia couldn't help but agree, she looked over her other hunters. Sanya looked pale and sick, thankfully Febe seemed to be helping her. Reyna had her teeth gritted as if this…butchery brought out bad memories. For a moment she looked for Erica before remembering that she was lying dead in a street not far from here.

"Dunn, Grace, Arellano, you're with me. Ramirez, Sutton, take your teams and form a perimeter around the objective, go!" Foley ordered and he led them inside the house.

"Safe room?" Dunn asked.

"In the basement, rated to survive a near miss from a one megaton nuke. Hopefully it's still intact." Foley replied and they stormed downstairs, there were scattered bodies of Russians; they had been ripped apart by teeth and claws. There were splashes of black blood here and there as well, along with dozens if not hundreds of spent casings. A hellhound had done this.

Down the stairway they went, the door had been ripped off its hinges and even from here, the smell of ruptured intestines was very noticeable. "Fuck me, no need for a challenge sign." Foley said.

The team burst into the remains of the safe room a moment later. "Son of a bitch." Dunn said, looking at the slaughterhouse that the safe room had been turned into, crimson cast-offs from an edged weapon of some sort or claws were everywhere.

"Dunn, secure that briefcase. Grace, Arellano check the bodies for intel." the Ranger ordered.

The first body that Thalia checked had tattoos that didn't look like they belonged here. "Sargeant, check this out." she said.

"Shit, we had an infiltrator?" Dunn whispered as he picked up the briefcase which was severely battered.

"Unlikely, I think the monsters we just dealt with did this. Regardless, take a few pictures for G-2 to look at, maybe they can identify this asshole, hooah?" Foley said and Thalia nodded, Dunn handed her a camera and she took several pictures of those tattoos before handing the camera back to the Corporal.

Then after Thalia stood up, having not found anything of use, the ranger leading them spoke up. "Shadow, this is Hunter 2-1." Foley said over the command net.

"Go ahead Hunter 2-1." 'Shadow' replied over the radio, a calm and cool voice.

"We've arrived at the safe house, the HVI is KIA." Foley said bitterly.

"Solid copy on the HVI being KIA Hunter 2-1. Pull back to Richmond and link up with the units rolling into town and reconsolidate with the rest of your company. We have a busy day lined up for you in a couple of hours, but to put it simply. Frying pan, fire." Shadow replied and Thalia cursed bitterly, it felt like the safety of Camp Half-Blood was farther away than ever as grudgingly, they trudged out of the house, out of the basement and to the Strykers. As they did so, Thalia couldn't help but feel nervousness and trepidation over the whole scenario that she found herself in.

AN: I know that the fight scenes weren't the best here, but I only very recently found the will to do this chapter again. I am not completely sure if I will actually finish this story due to everything that's currently going on in the world IRL.