"GAH!" A little girl cries in pain and falls to the ground. Above her is her father who looks at her without mercy.
"Get up." He orders her. She tries to get back up and picks up her baseball bat. She swings but he dodges and punches her in the stomach. She coughs up spit and kneel in pain. He looks at her disappointed and walks away from her to the pitching field. He picks up a baseball and begins to rotate his batting arm. "Alright Artemis. You have a choice: I throw this and you die from the impact or you do a homerun. There is no third choice!"
He wind up his arm, showing the child that he is serious. She gets up and prepares her bat as her father throws the baseball with rapid speed but she readies the attack and strikes the ball. It is sent flying straight to the father and hits him in the head. The daughter looks at her father, scared and afraid and runs to him. The baseball is embedded into his head. He opens his eyes and looks at her proud. "Heh that's my girl. Take my mask and become the best."
Lawrence "Crusher" Crock closes his eyes, leaving his daughter in the desolate baseball field. She walks to the bleachers and picks up a duffle bag. She pulls out a hockey mask and puts it on, accepting her new name. "The new Sportsmaster is here!"
Hades sits upon his throne with skeleton warriors kneeling before him. "Make sure to double the guards." He orders the soldiers, thinking of the situation. His Olympian siblings are dead by the hands of Percy Jackson and now with Ares' power, he has a chance to do the deed and kill him as well. Truthfully he didn't care that his brothers and sisters were dead as they didn't care about him and exile him to rule the Underworld. Persephone enters the throne room and walks towards her husband. "Darling, what should we do?"
The God of the Underworld looks at his wife with an uncertain look. "Honestly I have no idea. Perseus has a reason to kill as I did kidnap his mother and hold her for him to come."
"But you release her and him. Perhaps he will be lenient." She suggests but he is skeptical. Hades doesn't know if he can defeat Perseus even in his domain. He could best Ares no problem but with the helmet, Percy has power that surpasses all of the Olympians. 'Perhaps even the other pantheons. I need to be smart about this and not act like my brothers.'
Alecto flies into the palace without her right arm. She falls to the ground exhausted. "Lord Hades, an unknown army has invaded the Underworld!"
"Is it Perseus Jackson?" The Lord of the Dead asks and she shakes her head. "I don't know the army but they seem to be Norse."
Persephone looks outside and sees the battle taking place. "Husband come! It's the Furies, they need assistance."
Megaera and Tisiphone are fighting the intruders along with the skeleton army. Whips slash at these barbarians until Megaera is slammed to the ground by a woman in a hockey mask. She takes out a baseball and throws it at the Fury but she hits it. Tisiphone sees her sister in danger and flies to her but is grabbed from behind and stabbed with a dagger. She turns and realizes the woman in a cat mask has an emblem on her chest. "W-why valkyrie? We haven't done anything to Asgard."
"We are not here on behalf of Odin. My name is Cheshire and we are here for Hades' treasure. Remember that as you die." The mask woman throws the body away and looks at the battle ahead. "Sister come on! Stop playing with the Fury!"
Sportsmaster takes out a javelin and throws it at Megaera. She tries to hit it with her whip but it stills strikes her in the chest. The fury can only mutter as she falls to the ground. "Too fast…"
"Charge boys! Rip this place for all they have!" Artemis tells her viking goons and they charge deeper into the Underworld with roars. Two figures dive from the palace and crash right next to the Einherjar army to reveal Hades and Persephone. The wife of the dead has wings on her and flew to grab Cheshire and fly away with her, leaving Sportsmaster and the god of the underworld. She pulls out her bow and arrow and aims at Hades. "I'm giving you a chance to give us your riches and we'll just leave."
"I don't think so, Einherjar. Let me show the power that killed the titans." He summons thousands of skeletons and crashes into the army. As they try to repel them, Sportsmaster fires arrows at Hades but he summons his weapon that he used to slay the titans oh so long ago. His Claws of Hades move uncontrollably to strike the leader of the Einherjar but she sidesteps and dodges the attacks and keeps letting loose arrows and they hit true but he slashes her side. She clutches her side as Hades walks toward her. Cheshire hits Persephone to let go of her and she lands next to her sister and throws her sai.
Hades hits it but is distracted which gives Jade the chance to grab her sister and run away. He tries to go after them but the raiders are stopping him and he slays all in his path. Far from Hades, Cheshire places her down and checks any injuries. "Good, you're okay."
"Get off me!" Artemis shoves Jade and she tries to calm her. "Artemis. Hades was going to kill you. I wanted to make sure you were safe."
"Oh now you care! You didn't when you left me with that bastard! I always relied on myself and no one else! Mother only cared to make you a valkyrie." The second Sportsmaster shouts at Jade, which makes her hang her head in shame. She did run away from Sportsmaster and left her little sister to deal with the abusive father. While Jade became a valkyrie and served the Norse gods and her mother, Artemis became a master thief and killed in a busted bank robbery. When she saw her sister in Hotel Valhalla, she saw a chance to redeem herself and decided to help her with her plan to rob the Underworld.
"Please sister, we can still win if we work together."
"Shut it, just kill them!" Artemis runs at Hades. The god of the dead charges as well and their companions run as well. They are about to clash until an explosion stops them. Smoke blocks everyone's view and it dissipates to show Percy in his armored glory.
"STOP!" His voice stops any battle between the dead and raiders. Sportsmaster and Hades move in front of Percy. "I see you are busy, Hades."
"Yes but I am ready for death but please don't kill my wife." Persephone can't believe that her husband is willing to sacrifice himself to protect her. She lands next to Hades and hugs him.
"No! If you are going to kill him then I'll die with him."
"Don't my love!" The god of the dead pleads with her but she smiles at him. "Don't you remember the vows? Till death do us part."
"It's good to know that there are gods other than Hestia that are selfless like you two." Percy said and then turned to Sportsmaster. "I am Perseus, God of Olympus and Hades and the Underworld is under my protection. Please leave or I will be forced to make you."
Sportsmaster laughs at the threat and takes out hockey stick. "Heh, you know my answer."
Percy and Artemis are about to clash but they hear thunder which confuses them. Artemis asks the god. "You're not summoning lightning are you?"
"Not currently, no."
"Odin's gaze can't be here. His son cannot see Greek land as well." Jade confesses which makes everyone suspicious. Suddenly lightning appears out of nowhere and is heading for Artemis. Jade runs at her sister and pushes her out of the way but is fatally hit. She falls lifelessly and her sister crawls to her.
"No! No! Jade please don't die!" Artemis pleads as she takes off her hockey mask and throws it to the ground. She didn't truly hate her sister and just wanted her to be there for her. To truly be a big sister. And she did but at the cost of her life.
"Damnit! Who did it?! Was it you?" She demands Percy but shakes his head. "That power, I know one person that can summon lightning but he is dead."
A figure can be seen running away behind a rock with what looks like the lightning bolt. Percy and Artemis go after the figure and check behind the rock but is gone.
"Did you see them?" Percy ask but Artemis shakes her head, which angers them both.
They go back to Hades and Artemis gets her crew and they leave with Artemis herself sad that her sister is gone and rethink her life.
Hades and Persephone sit on their thrones with Perseus standing in front of them. "You will both remain as rulers of the Underworld but you must take care of two children."
"Who?" God of the dead wonders and Percy said a name. "Hestia, you can come out."
Hestia appears in a flame cloak with two children behind her. Hades is shock at them and gets up to walk towards them. His voice has a pleading tone. "Bianca? Nico?"
The Goddess of the Hearth motions the children of Hades to go to their father who runs at him and hugs him which he gladly returns. Persephone can't help but smile at the reunion. Perseus leaves to give the family alone time. He needs to find out who was the figure that disappeared. However, the Queen of the Underworld cannot help but notice something about Perseus as he walks away. His face and body is hidden in armor but she can see a difference when he first came here.
'Is Percy Jackson getting older?'
Hippolyta is sitting, enjoying tea but is scared as Athena smashes a mirror enraged. "Damnit! Heracles lost!"
"Oh noo…" Hippolyta pretends to be sad but Athena knows.
"You think this is a joke?! This was supposed to make the demigods be put in their place!" She admits which makes the Queen of Themyscira angry.
"So you did send Heracles to attack Camp Halfblood."
The Goddess of War glared at the queen as if she was a mere underling. "Do not think you can look at me like that! I, as a goddess, will do whatever it takes to reclaim my home of Olympus."
"This wasn't even the first time! You sent that rapist god to Themyscira many millennia ago and enslaved us just because my predecessor considered naming Aphrodite our patron."
Athena punches the queen in the face, bleeding her lip and she grabs her by the hair to threaten her. "I am Athena! I can and do whatever I want and you will obey me!"
She throws the queen to the ground. Unknown to the goddess, Diana is on the other side of the room. She cannot believe that her patron is a monster more than Medusa and Typhon. She runs outside and has made a decision. Hippolyta heard the footsteps and hoped for her daughter. 'Please Diana, only you can free us.'
Artemis sits on her bed and feels restless. When she returned to Hotel Valhalla, she went back to her room and let no one enter. She gets up and goes to her closet to pull out an outfit she finished making. She looks at her Sportsmaster outfit and glares at it. "Jade, I promise to find the bastard that killed you but not as our bastard father."
Artemis puts it on to show a tiger-like aesthetic. "Sportsmaster is dead for good and Tigress is here!"
Next Time- Return of two Demigods
