Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter.

Consul of the Underworld: Grinding Phase

Chapter Seven: The Dollhouse of Horrors

Beta: ShadowofAxios

"Alecto, are you sure it's okay for you babysit for us again?" Alkaid asked her old nanny worriedly. "Father doesn't need you?"

"Worry not Little Lady, your Father was most accommodating when I told him I was going to help look after the young miss." The Fury reassured the daughter of Hades.

Pyrrha's disbelieving snort had them both turning to watch the redhead walk over towards them hand in hand with a skipping Mina.

Seeing that she had their attention, the goddess of serial killers let go of her Mama's hand and sprinted towards Alecto before tackle hugging the older goddess. If not for the Fury's own divine nature and strength, the force of the blow would have at least bowled her over or quite possibly seriously injured her, instead all it did was cause her to stumble back a few steps.

"Auntie Alecto!" The silver haired goddess cheered. "Thanks for babysitting me again! We're gonna have so much fun. You'll teach me all about Phalaris' Brazen Bull and how to set one up like you promised last time, right?"

"Aw, isn't that sweet?" Alkaid cooed, "I didn't learn that until I was eleven."

"Wait, the Brazen Bull? Isn't that a torture device?" Pyrrha asked looking unnerved.

"Yes, and one of my favorites." Alkaid smiled brightly at her lover.

"Why in the Pit is Mina learning about torture devices?"

"Why not?" The daughter of Hades said in confusion. "She is my daughter and a member of the House of Hades. She's going to have to learn these things sooner or later."

The daughter of Ares looked between the others in the living room with their looks of genuine confusion and just shook her head in exasperation.

"Nope. Nope, not touching that." The child of war said still shaking her head. "Why am I, the bloodthirsty berserker, the normal one in this family?"

"There, there, Mama." Mina said coming over to pat her arm comfortingly. "Normal is overrated."

"Love you too, ya rascal."

"Now then, have her in bed by nine or she gets cranky." Alkaid told Alecto kindly, "And no soda please. She might go out and murder someone when she's all hyper."

"Not the first scamp I've watched over, Little Lady." The Fury said, looking at her dryly.

"Just reiterating is all, Nanny." The tall brunette smiled sheepishly as she put her Grimoire under her arm, "Well, we're off. Mina, be good!"

"Mmhm!" The goddess nodded quickly and hugged her mummies goodbye.

With that, Alkaid pulled out the portkey she had prepared earlier - a broken coffee mug that Mina had dug up while digging in the yard for 'buried treasure' - and Pyrrha grabbed hold. Offering their daughter one last smile, the sorceress activated the magic in the artifact and with a pull behind the navel they were transported back to London once more.

"And we're back in London again." Pyrrha said as they landed in an alleyway. "Let's hope we don't find another daughter to adopt."

"Who knows with our luck." Alkaid giggled in amusement as they walked out of it.

Down the street stood the St. Mary's Home for Children orphanage. According to Sakura, the magician's base of operation was unknown. However, all it had taken for Alkaid to pin it down was a simple scrying. Admittedly, she'd had to get by a series of powerful wards before she managed to get the right place, but if she could do it then surely the Sorceress Supreme could too.

"I wonder why she didn't just scry his location herself." Alkaid said as they began walking towards the orphanage.

"'Kaidy, remember? Sakura can't because the Government didn't give her sanction to work here." Pyrrha reminded.

"Ah, yes. It's just difficult to understand when she's so powerful. As much as I love politics having to play by its rules when you're powerful enough to force everyone involved to just do what you say is just annoying."

"You forgot." Pyrrha teased her as they headed towards the orphanage.

The brunette swatted her arm playfully. "What? I'm still human, aren't I?"

"Yeah, though sometimes you act like you forget that." Pyrrha said with a playful smile.

The brunette just groaned in frustration.

The couple settled into a comfortable silence after that as they covered the short distance to the orphanage. As they reached the property line, they halted as Alkaid hummed in interest.

"Look at all the wards. Pretty decent for a kidnapping rapist." Alkaid said as she waved her hand in the air, "Incantare: Recludam."

As her spell slammed into the wards around the property, they became visible as a multilayered dome of energy that cracked under Alkaid's invisible assault before shattering like glass.

"And now they're gone. I'm actually surprised there was so little power behind them. Either he is very arrogant or he just doesn't care."

"We'll find out when we corner the rat." Pyrrha said as they headed towards the door, but stopped a moment later at the sound of something creaking.

"I see why he left them so weak." Alkaid remarked cooly as she looked around. The couple were surrounded by what looked to be doll-like golems. "He was thinking of relying on an old fashioned trap instead."

The golems were little more than animated china dolls in various sizes and none were more than waist high. Most of them had sharpened blades instead of hands which served as their only weapons. Others however were a little more advanced and had elongated legs like frogs that they used to leap into the air directly at the couple.

"Oval Protection!"

A staticky white and green dome covered the couple as several golems jumped at them. They futilely stabbed at the barrier, their elongated blades cracking against the defense.

"Drop it." Pyrrha said as she raised Miló.

Nodding, Alkaid had the barrier explode out in a burst of magical energy. It wasn't very powerful so it didn't manage to do much in the way of damage, only taking out a couple of the golems but it did send those closest to the couple flying.

This gave Pyrrha the opening she needed to spit a gout of flame at the horde of pint sized terrors. The flames washed over the front lines of the swarm of dolls and set them ablaze, their wooden construction proving completely unable to withstand the magically induced, alchemically enhanced flames which quickly left dozens of them as nothing more than piles of ash.

Drawing her labrys, the redhead said, "Shield me up, Kaidy."

Alkaid just nodded, and with the air of long practice quickly cast the suite of defensive spells and wards over Pyrrha that she always did when her girlfriend waded into battle.

Barely waiting for her to finish, the daughter of Ares rushed at the swarm of golems. Her double headed axe slicing them into kindling with every swing, leaving a swath of broken wooden limbs and bodies behind her as she waded into their ranks.

Shaking her head at Pyrrha's love of up close and personal violence, Alkaid backed her up with some fire support. Drawing a card from her collection, she summoned her focus and eyed the dolls with disdain.

"What shoddy workmanship. They aren't very dangerous, even in such large numbers. Though I suppose that could use some trimming. Axel Shooter!" With her scathing critique of the magician's defense complete, she snapped the card around her Grimoire.

In response, dozens of softball sized spheres materialized around her. They spiraled around her for a moment before suddenly speeding off in various directions. They ripped through the golems with ease as they zigged and zagged around them like angry wasps.

As they thinned the numbers, a dozen of the golems unhinged their jaws, showing hidden nozzles inside of their mouths. From these, they released a high pressured spray of a bubbling green liquid that washed over the couple.

Thankfully, their defenses held strong, but Alkaid frowned as she eyed her wards. The acidic substance bubbled and slowly ate away at them, as if it literally was burning away at the magic within.

It must be some kind of alchemical property. A nice touch against lesser wards, but not good enough.

"Hey! We better wrap this up quickly!" Pyrrha called out as she bisected two golems at once. "We shouldn't waste time dealing with fodder for too long!"

"You have a point," The emerald eyed woman agreed and called out to the darkness around them. Suddenly, a sea of spikes created from shadow erupted all around them. The dolls jerked up into the air as they were viciously impaled in every imaginable way. Soon the whole lot of them ceased moving.

Pyrrha, looking around, whistled, "Trying to imitate Vlad the Impaler?"

"Oh hush, you," Alkaid said as she walked towards the front door. "We're on a job, we can joke around later."

"Right." Pyrrha said with a pout even as she absentmindedly cut a leaper that had apparently been just playing dead in half even as it jumped towards Alkaid. "Still gonna tease you about it later."

"Later then." Alkaid promised, as she casually launched a shadowbolt over her shoulder to take out a second surviving leaper that had been about to try to stab Pyrrha from behind. "For now, let's focus on the mission."

As she reached the door, Alkaid paused. "Think he has any surprises waiting for us on the other side?"

"He might." Pyrrha replied, all traces of her earlier levity set aside. "On three?"

The daughter of Hades nodded and held up three of her fingers and began counting down. Beside her, Pyrrha tensed even as she gathered darkness into her free hand for another shadowbolt. As her last finger fell down, she sent the bolt screaming into the door which was blown off its hinges and sent crashing onto the floor within with a long bang.

It revealed a dark but otherwise unremarkable hallway that led deeper into the building.

The demigoddesses exchanged a look and Pyrrha nodded, before she cautiously led the way into the building. She stopped just ahead of a light switch a little ways into the doorway. Casting a few diagnostic charms on it just in case, Alkaid made sure it was safe before flipping it. Unfortunately, just like her charms suggested, the power was out.

"It's dead. He's probably cut power throughout the building for good measure." Alkaid informed her lover.

"Just our luck. A competent bad guy." Pyrrha said as she held her wand up. "Lumos."

Alkaid had other ideas and cast, "Dancing Lights."

At her invocation, dozens of motes of light materialized around her before a good bunch of them danced ahead to light the way for the couple. "Best leave your wand free, Pyrrha."

"Alright, but where'd you learn this one?" The redhead asked.

Smirking, the brunette said, "Baba Yaga likes to drop small nuggets of knowledge my way once in a blue moon."

As they walked down the hallway, both noted how vacant the building was. Even when they passed by rooms and stopped to search them, they found no one. Not even a sign of recent habitation. It was an ominous sign and had them both on edge.

"He couldn't possibly have taken everyone here, right?" Pyrrha asked worriedly. Her grip around her labrys tightened at the thought.

Alkaid could empathise. She'd done some research on this place after figuring out that it was their target's lair. St. Mary's was home to at least a hundred children from newborns all the way up to teenagers on the verge of adulthood, alongside a full time live in staff of twenty three people. For all of them to have become the depraved magician's victims… It was terrible to even contemplate.

"I hope not." Alkaid offered sincerely, before adding on in the saddest tone she could manage. "But it's highly likely that he has."

"Lousy fucker." Pyrrha spat on the floor. "I'm gonna gut him when I find him."

"Leave some for me. I want a piece of him too."

Their conversation was brought to a close when they walked into what seemed to be the cafeteria. The dining tables were still there, though there was a layer of dust over them that indicated that no one had used them in quite awhile. The room itself was another matter altogether, as the wall was lined by dozens of mannequins dressed in a strange collection of clothes ranging from standard casual wear to modern combat gear to elaborate outfits befitting an extravagant magician. Considering the trails cut into the layer of dust on the floor, those had been new additions.

"What the Pi-"

Before Pyrrha could finish her curse, the mannequins suddenly jerked to life. Moving in an awkward inhuman way, they began drawing weapons and moved to attack the couple. A group hung back as they readied ranged weapons. They cocked guns, one was pulling back the string of a crossbow and there was even one readying to shoot an arrow at them with a longbow. Ahead of these were others of their ilk that were charging at the couple with batons, combat knives, and even a couple swords.

"Alright, now that's just ridiculous!" The daughter of Ares snarled as she batted them away with her large weapon.

"Round Shield!" Alkaid shouted as she conjured a shield right in front of the firing line of ranged golems. "Shield Burst!"

At her command the shield unleashed a powerful burst of energy that incinerated the entire cohort of ranged golems. With that threat dealt with, Alkaid took a moment to actually look at the golems. It took only a moment of this before a horrifying hypothesis began to dawn on her.

Pyrrha jumped back to avoid the swing of a sword and said, "These bigger ones are pretty sluggish. I think this guy doesn't know what he's doing with all these different types."

"I'm more worried about where he got these clothes." Alkaid admitted, even as she shot a shadowbolt through the head of one of the mannequins trying to get around Pyrrha to attack her. Its head was completely destroyed but that barely seemed to slow it down as it continued to mechanically stumble towards her.

I need something with more firepower. Alkaid noted.

"What do you mean?

"I'll explain in a minute. For now, Bloody Dagger!"

Red knives materialized behind her back in a formation that looked liked a pair of deadly wings. With a flick of her wrist, the deadly 'feathers' shot through the air as crimson streaks. Swerving through the air and evading every clumsy attempt by the golems to deflect them, the blades embedded themselves firmly into the chests of every one of the surviving automatons.

With a snap of her fingers, the daggers detonated with enough force that the golems were blown to pieces. Pyrrha which had been busy fending them off in close quarters combat was only saved from the explosions and resulting sharpnel by the protections Alkaid had cast on her.

For a moment after the rapid series of explosions, the cafeteria was silent save for Pyrrha's panting.

"Those clothes the golems were wearing-"

"What about them?"

Alkaid shot her lover an irritated look for the interruption which caused her to flinch.

"Sorry."

"As I was saying before I was cut off," Alkaid continued. "Those golems were dressed in outfits that fit the last known descriptions of the people who were known to have gone missing after trying to go after our target."

Pyrrha shot a quick look at the wrecked remains of the mannequin golems. "You're saying that the sicko dressed his little clockwork men in the clothes he stole off the people he took down?"

"Exactly. Now I just worry where they are."

Shouldering her weapon, Pyrrha changed the subject, "So why did you change spells?"

The sorceress shrugged, "I like to use some variety."

Also because Axel Shooter doesn't pack enough firepower in each bullet to be economical against those mannequins. Not that I want to explain that to Pyrrha. A magician needs to keep her secrets after all.

"Right~!" Pyrrha replied in a disbelieving drawl. "Well, let's get going. There's still plenty of ground to cover."

It took the girls a little over half an hour to search the rest of the ground floor, thankfully without incident before they found themselves at a staircase.

"Basement or first floor?" Pyrrha asked as she eyed the stairs leading to each warily. Considering the dark aura emanating from both, Alkaid couldn't blame her.

"Basement." Alkaid said without hesitation. "It's underground and after the creepy dungeon crawl so far, I'd really like the feeling of having a bit of the homeground advantage."

"You do know it's always the fucking basements with these creepers, right?" Pyrrha grumbled as they descended down.

"That's a stereotype." Alkaid shot back, as she pushed open the door. "I'm sure, we'll find nothing down here but a simple base-"

The cat got her tongue as she found herself looking into a large chamber filled with people tied up on racks. They were all naked with electrodes attached to their heads and tubes stuffed into their mouths, behinds and genitals. Tubes and wires led away from each one of them across the floor and in bunches tied to the ceiling, all of them connecting to a machine in the centre of the room with spinning magical circles all around it. The room was full of the magician's doll golems who were busily attending to the hundreds of people hooked up to the machine.

"So stereotype, huh?" Pyrrha asked nervously.

"Not now, Pyrrha." Alkaid hissed as she walked up to the nearest victim. It was a young boy that was probably no older than twelve. His body was covered in sweat that caused his bright blonde hair to stick to his skin in what must have been an uncomfortable way, not that he noticed. His sky blue eyes might have been open but they were utterly unseeing, simply staring blankly into space.

As Alkaid stepped within six feet of the boy, a familiar creaking filled their ears as every one of the seemingly thousands of doll golems in the room turned to look at them with eerie synchronicity. Not that Alkaid cared, she was too busy gritting her teeth as her fury boiled over.

"I am very angry right now." The daughter of Hades hissed, the shadows around her reacting to her agitation and writhing to life.

Like outside the building, the dolls swarmed towards the couple. Unlike the earlier batch of doll golems though these dolls were all only armed with various equipment instead of hands, most of them sparking with electricity. Thankfully none of them seemed able to fire off bolts of lightning or anything.

"We'll need to be careful of the victims." Alkaid reminded Pyrrha as the redhead engaged the first of the golems, cutting them to pieces. "Don't use Miló."

"Gotcha." Pyrrha agreed. "You don't go around throwing bombardment spells around either, okay?"

"Right." The sorceress said with a nod even as she primed her magic for the battle ahead. "Axel Shooter!"

Again dozens of green energy bullets appeared around her which with a flick of her hand she sent screaming into the ranks of the golems. They carefully swerved around the tied up victims to slam into the golems from unexpected angles, destroying them by the dozens. They thinned the tide but the golems just kept coming in what seemed liked endless waves.

"This is just a repeat of the horde outside the building." Pyrrha noted with annoyance. "Doesn't this guy have any creativity?"

Alkaid just shrugged. "You're probably right. These golems don't really have many offensive options either. Or he intended to use them as fodder so didn't feel the need to put much thought into programming their attack patterns."

"So he's lazy?" The daughter of Ares sneered as she caved the head of one of the dolls in before spinning to decapitate another, all while the sorceress kept up a withering barrage of energy bullets.

"Probably?" Alkaid agreed half-heartedly, as she reduced the tempo of her barrage. The waves of golems were drying up, apparently they'd taken out most of the dolls that the magician had attending his victims.

With a grunt, Pyrrha bisected the last golem and turned to Alkaid. "What do we do with these people? Is it safe to disconnect them from that machine?"

Alkaid eyed the poor blonde boy again, examining the machinery that had been attached to him and shook her head.

"I don't think so. I don't recognize any of the equipment they're hooked up to. It'll probably be safer to wait for some experts to look this over before we try anything."

"Yeah, wouldn't want to hurt them by accident." Pyrrha agreed, a pained look on her face as she looked at the rows and rows of helpless strung up victims. It didn't escape Alkaid's notice that her eyes were drawn to a redheaded woman about their age a couple rows in. The woman didn't have more than a passing resemblance to Pyrrha, but it seemed it was more than enough to unsettle her lover. "These people have suffered enough."

"Agreed." Alkaid said as she put a comforting hand on her girlfriend's shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "Besides it's not safe here. The magician is probably still around. We don't want to have to fight him while we've got hundreds of traumatized people to babysit."

"That too." Pyrrha agreed, putting a hand over Alkaid's own and giving her own reassuring squeeze.

Smiling at the signal from the daughter of war that she was alright, Alkaid pulled her hand back and turned to the door. "Let's go. We've got a magician to hunt down. The sooner we finish him, the sooner we can get help for these people."

Pyrrha's only reply was to step up beside Alkaid, a wordless affirmation of the desire to track the piece of shit down and tear him limb from limb.

They were saved the trouble however when the basement door exploded inwards in a large fireball. Alkaid, quickly threw up a Round Shield to deflect the debris, even as the magician and his entourage made their appearance.

He was a middle-aged man, with a slim figure and broad shoulders, a very long and thin face with a pointy chin and defined cheekbones, with small and pale eyes. His dark brown hair was cut to the nape of his neck and combed into a side parting to his right-hand side. He also had a full beard and mustache. He was dressed like someone from the Victorian era, with his outfit consisting of black trousers, a white shirt, a gray waistcoat with a red tie, a brown coat and a top hat.

He wasn't what was most eye-catching, disturbingly so, of the group who entered the room though. That dubious honor went to the four naked young women around him that had formed up like a wall of human shields and immediately attacked the couple with their magic.

The first was a young Asian woman with aqua eyes and long wavy black hair that shaped her hands into finger guns and fired curses at them from her pointer fingers.

There was also a black woman with mocha skin, deep purple eyes, unkempt waist-length brown hair and pointed ears. She fired off energy blasts from her hands that caused, if her stray shots were any indication, everything they touched to decay at a hyper-accelerated rate.

The third woman was a petite young woman with long, pink hair and pink eyes. Unlike the previous two women, she wielded a wand that she leveled at the demigoddesses and began to cast Bombarda repeatedly in quick succession.

The last of the magician's hit squad of mindless slaves wasn't a woman at all, but to the couple's anger was a little girl that couldn't have been older than ten. She had long blonde hair, golden eyes and was throwing fireballs the size of her head at them.

"Oval Protection!" Alkaid dispelled the Round Shield in favour of this more robust defense as the mixed barrage of projecticles came hurtling their way. Her eyes narrowing and her insides roiling with disgust at the yellow stains of dried ejaculate that covered the women's unclad bodies.

Even as his thralls kept the demigoddesses pinned, the magician himself began summoning a legion of his golems - both the doll and mannequin types - to the battle.

"'Kaidy, his dolls are filling up the room!" Pyrrha noted nervously as the automatons did in fact start to take up the entire area around the entryway.

"I noticed." Alkaid grit her teeth and concentrated on one of her demigod powers. "Don't worry. I'll even up the odds."

The ground all around the room began to open up in small fissures from which squads of skeletal warriors armed in Greek hoplite armor and U.S. army uniforms emerged.

"That should level the playing field." Alkaid noted with satisfaction as her undead minions clashed with the golems. They quickly proved their superiority by gaining the upper hand over the automatons though the latter's sheer numbers meant the fight was still far from decided.

"Undead? How mundane!" The man laughed as he tilted his top hat up, a wicked madness in his eyes as he looked at the couple. "Worry not though, my dears. I have special plans for meddlers. Escapically such...appealing ones."

"Dream on, you sicko!" Pyrrha shouted even as Alkaid gently nudged her towards cover. Her barrier was already starting to strain under the barrage from the man's harem.

"Angus Bumby, you have been sentenced to death by the Sorceress Supreme." Alkaid informed the fool as she and Pyrrha finally made it behind the cover of one of the tied up victims. It was just in time as the last of the magic sustaining her Oval Protection ran out and the spell collapsed. Just as thankfully, Bumby seemed unwilling to harm his 'product' and the barrage ended for the moment. "A sentence I will be more than happy to carry out."

She was loathe to use one of the man's victims as a shield, but beggars couldn't be choosers.

"Such serious young ladies. Certainly you have better things to do then bother little ol' me? Or perhaps that's why you're here? To have some fun with me? I'm all for it!" The madman said cheerfully. "Though I have other games in mind. Games a lot more fun than something as plebeian as a fight."

At this, he licked his lips hungrily. Looking on, the demigoddess couldn't help but feel thoroughly unclean to be the subject of this man's lust.

The gesture seemed forced though as the moment after he finished acting like some over the top villain, he turned sober and a grim look settled on his features.

Split personality? Or- Alkaid's thoughts were derailed when Bumby snapped his fingers and sent a unseen wave of magic racing across the whole room.

Alkaid easily shook off the mental attack. Her wards and mental defense were a fortress and such a weak spell wasn't going to faze her. After her harrowing experience with the Sirens in Forks, she'd made sure to prioritize her resistance to attacks designed to seize control of her body and/or mind. She was never going to allow herself to be controlled by someone else like that ever again. Not if she could help it.

Pyrrha however was not so well prepared and swayed on her feet. She looked like she was punched drunk and she was forced to use her labrys to keep herself on her feet. Seeing this, Alkaid acted quickly so her girlfriend didn't get hurt and fired a low yield Photon Lancer into the redhead's side.

"Ow!" Pyrrha yelped in pain but her lover ignored it as her hands quickly weaved through the air as she strengthened the child of war's defenses.

"Hey, thanks 'Kaidy."

"No problem." Alkaid breathed a small sigh of relief, only to be caught off guard as Bumby's demented harem took the opening their distraction had created to attack the demigoddesses.

Suddenly the whole room was on fire, spinning back to the harem Alkaid noted that the blonde was using what looked like pyrokinesis to spew forth torrents of fire from her hands that were spreading through the chamber at an alarming rate.

Alkaid's undead soldiers reeled back as the flames began to burn their bleached bones, while seemingly leaving the golems, the heinous equipment and the victims strapped to them unharmed.

This was the least of their worries though as a group of the mannequin golems somehow managed to get behind the lines of her undead troops to appear at their flank and began firing on them with the rifles they had been equipped with.

"Take cover!" Alkaid screamed at Pyrrha. She dived to the side and rolled behind another row of the frames containing one of the victims. Simultaneously, she summoned a fresh batch of skeletal warriors right on top of the mannequin riflemen to deal with them.

The strain of maintaining so many undead was starting to eat into her reserves and the daughter of Hades was starting to get a little concerned. However, they were necessary. She had no other options available to tie down the man's seemingly inexhaustible supply of golems.

Putting that thought out of her mind for now, she tried to assess the situation. No easy task thanks to the sweltering heat in the room, it was so hot that it made thinking difficult. Nevertheless Alkaid fought past the discomfort and looked around trying to figure out the nature of the flames engulfing the room.

What kind of fire magic is this? Shit, I have to take her down. And the black woman as well. Judging by the way her energy seems to cause everything, even my magic, to decay like that, she's somehow actually manipulating entropy.

Alkaid had no counter to such a power. By the Pit, she had yet to even combat someone who could do that!

Just where did this bastard hunt down such a unique ability?

Alright, just calm down and take stock of the situation. The skeletons are weakened but still combating the golems. A fact she knew from the way the damnable automatons hadn't managed to flank them a second time, not for lack of trying mind you. The wards Pyrrha and I have are being drained by the flames. What's more that dark skinned bint is really pissing me off with her beams.

"'Kaidy! We need to go on the offensive!"

"I know, Pyrrha!" The daughter of Hades declared and refreshed their wards. "Target the black woman-"

They didn't make it any further in their little strategy meeting when with a cry of Wingardium Leviosa, the cover that the couple had been hiding behind was lifted into the air.

Both demigoddesses immediately broke into a run and barely avoided the entropic blasts that were sent their way. Charging into the chaotic melee between the undead and the golems, they tried to make themselves as difficult targets as possible for the black woman and the Asian girl as they opened fire on them.

The small child of the wicked harem was screaming at the rest of them, "The caster is on the right, behind rack #0311! The other one is two rows down near #0309!"

Alright, somehow she's using the flames to pinpoint us. Now that's just ridiculous! Alkaid fumed as she threw one of her cards into the air.

"Frost Nova!"

A blistering cold washed over the room and the whole room was blinded by a white light for a moment. As it faded, the flames and many of the golems were frozen solid. Even the golems that escaped total destruction looked worse for wear. Unluckily, the magician himself and his harem seemed unscathed, their position having been protected by a rapidly dying down wall of white fire.

The tides had turned against the man however as with most of his fodder dealt with, Alkaid's undead began rapidly advancing. The hoplites forming up around her and Pyrrha, presented a protective shield wall as they marched towards their enemy, while the rest of their skeletal brethren mopped up the remainder of the automatons.

"Restrict Lock." Alkaid chillingly cast at the small child. Like hell was she going to let that brat use her flames again.

Magic circles latched onto the blonde's limbs, painfully twisting her body into a spread eagle position in the air.

The pink haired youth quickly spun towards her restrained comrade and pointed her wand at her. "Magnificum Finite!"

The magical circles resisted for a moment, but quickly shattered into green motes that drifted away into the aether. The exertion proved too much for the witch however and she collapsed to her knees.

That's one down! Alkaid crowed as she nonchalantly cast another Restrict Lock on the blonde, ignoring how an entire cohort of her undead were reduced to piles of bone fragments by the black woman's entropic blasts or how a squad of her U.S. soldiers had their guns explode on them from one of the Asian girl's curses. As dangerous as those two were, the blonde with her ability to control the area with her flames was the biggest threat.

Unfortunately, even with the pink haired witch out of the picture it seemed that the magician still had a ready counter-magic user at his disposal. Breaking away from laying down fire on the undead, the black woman turned and with her hands encased in her entropic energy touched the blonde's binds. Predictably they shattered at the mere touch of her power.

Alkaid clucked in frustration at being thwarted again and was readying a new set of spells when she suddenly felt as though she was punched in the gut as a chunk of her wards collapsed. The backlash of it caused bone jarring pain to race through her body. That was expected, what was not was the wave of sickness that washed over her.

Smart bitch. Alkaid acknowledged as she fell to her knees. Embedding a curse to ride on the feedback of my collapsing wards. Not only is that clever, it's also extremely hard to pull off.

Failing to fight off the nausea the curse was inflicting on her, the daughter of Hades emptied the contents of her stomach all over the floor. As she did so, her fingers scrambled for one of her cards and she used it.

As επικαλούνται: σημάνει διακόπτη (Invoke: Spell Breaker) dispelled the curse that coursed through her body, Alkaid's bloodshot eyes glared at the young Asian girl who had shattered her wards.

Her sight was soon obscured by explosions however as the entropy user and pyromancer took advantage of her weakness to bombard her once more. Thankfully, Alkaid's undead troopers formed a wall of armor and bones around her, shielding their mistress from harm.

I hope Pyrrha's having better luck then I am.

Watching as 'Kaidy collapsed, Pyrrha hissed under her breath in annoyance. She could tell that whatever curse the Asian girl had hit her with was nasty. The way the wards that her lover had cast on her wavered was proof of that. That wasn't what pissed her off though, no that honor at the moment went to the fact that her girlfriend was being an overconfident ass. She knew the daughter of Hades could have countered that curse well before it hit, she'd seen her do it to worse curses when she trained with the Furies - usually only when Alecto bribed her to do so -, so the only way she'd been hit by it was if she was being overconfident like usual and let herself get distracted.

You're totally gonna get it when we get home. The daughter of Hades growled.

Her own distraction proved to be Pyrrha's undoing as it left her open as another powerful mental attack from the pimp slapped her brain. One minute she was worrying about Alkaid and getting angry at her carelessness, the next her mind was filled by a thunderous roar that screamed at her to submit. It was so loud, Pyrrha couldn't even hear her own thoughts.

Feeling like her brain was boiling in her skull, she tried to anchor herself on something, anything that would allow her to resist the rapist scum's attack. A stream of countless memories and thoughts flew through her mind but was swept away or drowned out by the man's roaring command. Her memories of Hogwarts, of times at Camp, of her Mum, none of them seemed to give her the strength she needed. Memories of Alkaid, who though she'd never admit it she knew in her heart of hearts was the love of her life, helped and steadily built a wall that softened the power of the man's call but she was still missing something. She could feel it.

Abruptly, her struggling mind dredged up a new memory. A recent one of Mina showing off her new fancy wardrobe to her mothers. Seeing her little Mina, all smiles and happy. Twirling in her little fru-fru dresses with 'Kaidy during that tiny fashion show, Pyrrha knew she had found it! This was a memory that the redhead wouldn't sell for the world.

One of her budding family that she hoped would grow even bigger.

Suddenly, a third presence entered her mind. A kind, sweet, curious, and absolutely bloodthirsty presence made itself known from within the memory.

The being looked around and snarled at the man in the distance.

"Leave my Mama, ALONE!" Mina's sweet voice roared through her mind, filled with absolute murderous rage.

It was like the earth shook in Pyrrha's mind.

Just as dramatically in the outside world, Mina's protective rage caused the downed pink haired girl to scream in horrific pain for a moment before her head literally exploded in a shower of gore.

The rapist fuck stumbled back in shock as sweat dripped down his face. He wasn't the only one unsettled by the scene as the rest of his human dolls all stood there frozen in horror at what had happened to their comrade.

Shaking off the mental assault, Pyrrha got to her feet and bull rushed at them while they were distracted. Her skeletal protectors dutifully following in her wake, only to be waylaid by a freshly summoned batch of apparently half-built golems.

Looks like the dipshit is finally running out of the damn things. Pyrrha noted with a vicious smirk as she left the skeletons to deal with the dolls and surged ahead to swing her large weapon at the Asian bint that hurt her 'Kaidy. The girl seemed to have regained some of her wits as she jumped back to avoid being bisected. She had a curse in her hands, ready to fire, but Pyrrha gave zero fucks to that.

Before the bitch could so much as raise her hand to point her curse at her, the daughter of Ares already had Miló aimed right in her face and sprayed a gout of red flames right at her pretty mug.

The girl screamed as the fire covered her whole body and set it ablaze. Her blonde friend turned and with a wave of her hand quickly put it out but the damage had been done. Most of her hair had been burned away along with the majority of her skin. Her body was little more than raw, burned flesh with some places outright blackened. It was a miracle that she was even alive, but by her laboured breathing Pyrrha could tell she wasn't likely to be for much longer. Either way, she was out of the fight and that's all she really cared about right now.

Two down, two more to go. Pyrrha smiled viciously at the rest of the dying harem.

"Stay back, you filth!" The blonde screamed as she began to fling fireballs at her.

Following her lead, the pointy eared nutjob added to the fun by firing her little death beams at her too.

With her battle honed skills and reflexes, Pyrrha dodged and weaved through the attacks and closed the distance to the midget blonde despite the latter's frantic attempts to back away.

Without hesitation, she swung her celestial bronze axe down on the little girl and sliced the pyromaniac open along the stomach.

Why don't you try having your organs spilling out for a change? Pyrrha thought vindictively as she smirked at having taken down another of Bumby's pets.

Her sense of victory disappeared though when the girl's skin just knit back together, leaving unblemished pale skin. Backing away cautiously for a moment, Pyrrha rolled under one of the black woman's death rays and took a closer look at the blonde.

The fuck? What is she...wait, does she have fangs? Sticking out from the corners of her mouth and invisible from a distance, the small blonde was indeed sporting a set of tiny fangs. Shit, vampire!

The blonde girl hissed at her like a serpent, "I will not let you harm my mate!"

Anger stroking her blood, Pyrrha snarled, "Don't worry, you'll burn in hell with him you rotting bitch."

Pyrrha was about to change targets and charge at the black woman since without silver the vampire was basically unkillable, when 'Kaidy unexpectedly rejoined the fight by launching a powerful shadow bolt directly at Bumby. The thing hit him dead on, but to Pyrrha's irritation, didn't do him any damage. Instead, a massive gaping wound suddenly tore itself open in the middle of the black elf's chest in a shower of gore and she collapsed to the ground, dead.

"You're running out of meat shields, Bumby." Alkaid snarled and stalked forward like a deadly panther. "How about this, I will end your nightmare here and now. So please, won't you both die for me?"

With a flick of her wrist a javelin shot out of the earth and straight for the rapist scum.

The runty vampire was having none of it and blurred in front of the old fucker. She swatted it away, but hissed in pain as her hand sizzled and bubbled.

"Silver." The bloodsucker noted as she looked down at her burned hands.

Without a word a pike of pure silver suddenly shot out from the ground and impaled the blonde right through her heart.

"N-No, NO!" Bumby roared in grief, "Helena!"

He screamed with such emotion that Pyrrha almost thought it might be genuine. Not that a monster like him could possibly feel anything like that.

"Now to deal with you." Alkaid said with a vicious smile as she readied what Pyrrha recognized was one of her 'shooting' spells, while she herself charged at the magician.

Alkaid's spell splashed against and Pyrrha was forced back by a wall of flame however. They weren't ordinary flames though, as the fire writhed with the twisted, howling shapes of tortured souls.

"Familiars." Alkaid clucked angrily, even as she began cooking up some new spell to bring the wall down.

"A-Angus," The vampire coughed out a glob of blood as she tried to reach for her mate. Sadly for her, she was rooted to the pike and slowly sliding down it. He saw her intent though and walked over to take her hand.

"D-Darling, I'm sorry." The vampire said as her legs caught fire and began turning to ash. "I couldn't protect your dream."

"It's okay." Bumby said, choking back a sob. "Without you it's not worth it. All those other women? I didn't care about any of them. You were always the only one that mattered."

"Thank you." The vampire said as her decomposition spread to her torso. "Being your slave and having sisters made me so happy."

"Anything for you, Helena." Bumby said tears streaming down his face. "Anything."

With one last smile for her mate, the vampire broke down into a pile of smoking ash and took her familiars with her.

Warily, Alkaid stopped her casting and the couple advanced on the pitiful little excuse of a mortal.

He put his hands in the air slowly.

"You're surrendering, dickbag? Because we don't have mercy for a shit like you." Pyrrha snarled. She just wanted to lop his head off. Her blood hungered for it.

"Please," He scoffed at them, "I just know when I'm beaten. What point is there to resist? I knew from the start, the second you walked onto the property that my number was up. From just how powerful you were, I could sense it, I was as good as dead. Besides all my dreams died with Helena, my darling, my sweet, my world."

"Then what are you doing?" Alkaid asked still wary, her magic coiling around her like a snake and her undead warriors marching up to surround them.

Seemingly ignoring her Bumby kept rambling.

"She convinced me to fight. We both knew that with the Sorceress Supreme after us, there would be no escape. She would hunt us to the ends of the earth. 'Better to die fighting than hunted like a coward.' That's what Helena said anyways. So that's what we did."

"And now she's dead." Pyrrha pointed out leveling her lybras threateningly at the man.

"Yes. Yes she is." The psychopath agreed with a disturbing amount of nonchalance. "But she won't be alone for long."

"Wha-"

Alkaid never finished her question as with a vicious, victorious smirk on his face Angus Bumby's legs gave out on him and the man collapsed to the ground. As surprising as that was, it was quickly overshadowed as the basement of horrors was suddenly once more engulfed in flames as the hundreds of the man's hapless insensate victims spontaneously combusted.

"That son of a bitch!" Alkaid snarled.

"'Kaidy, what the hell is going on?!"

Her fists clenched, the daughter of Hades said, "He used a death curse to kill himself. It's a spell that uses up a magician's entire life force and magic. Basically, a final fuck you to your enemies."

Her emerald eyes looked out at the many burning bodies in anger.

"And he's used it to send us the middle finger." Pyrrha said with a growl. "Killing his victims so we can't save them."

"Precisely."

Unlike the pyrokinetic vampire's flames, the uncontrolled blaze unleashed by Bumby's death curse was rapidly spreading. In fact it seemed to be growing supernaturally fast and in a suspiciously specific manner as the fire crept up the walls and began to consume the support beams.

"Shit, we can't do anything for them now. We've gotta go, 'Kaidy." Pyrrha said as she grabbed her lover's arm.

Alkaid nodded sadly and with one last forlorn look at the still burning corpses of the innocents she'd failed to save the daughter of Hades Apparited the two of them out of the building.

They rematerialized on the street outside of the orphanage and was greeted with the sight of the building collapsing as the unnatural fire burned it to the ground.

"We've failed." Alkaid said in a pained whisper as the light of the flames danced in her eyes.

"I couldn't agree more." A thickly accented voice said from behind the couple.

Spinning around the demigoddesses saw a blue eyed young woman roughly the same age as them with long red hair that she wore loose with the flanks held in twin tails by a pair of red barrettes. She was wearing a short dress made up of white feathers with two feathery wings that hung from her back. The dress split just above her navel and revealed much of her cleavage, and was reminiscent of a vest. The deep, revealing v-cut was lined by a row of long feathers on either side, thus continuing up her torso and wrapping around her shoulders to form a sort of collar, her skirt was also partially split down the middle. Dark blue gloves covered her arms past her elbows and she wore knee-length, dark blue stockings with light blue, feathered boots.

Considering the get up. She's definitely a magical of some kind.

"And you are?" Alkaid asked, her guard up around this young woman that had just appeared from nowhere.

"The name's Angel." The elaborately dressed woman offered with a curtsy. "And you're Alkaid Potter, Sakura-sama's new favorite."

"What am I? Chump change?" Pyrrha hissed, even as her grip on her lybras tightened in expectation of a potential fight.

The twin tailed girl ignored her fellow redhead in favor of looking at Alkaid, her eyes narrowed.

"And you are here because?"

"I was about to deal with this pathetic excuse of a magician." Angel said gesturing to the burning orphanage. "Unfortunately, it seems you beat me to it. A shame. If I'd been the one to end him, I'm sure that I'd have done better. At least saved some of his victims."

"Yeah, sure." Pyrrha snorted. "Too bad you weren't fast enough."

Alkaid shot her girlfriend a small glare to tell her to not escalate the standoff into an actual fight.

"Yes, as I said, a shame. Sakura-sama, really should have sent me on this mission, instead of relying on freelancers like you two."

"If you are here to critique, keep it to yourself. We're done here." Alkaid cut off the conversation. Her own ire growing at this girl trying to pick a fight.

The girl just smiled, seemingly pleased to have managed to get a rise out of the daughter of Hades.

Grabbing a stone off the ground, Alkaid turned it into a Portkey and held her hand out to Pyrrha.

"Enjoy your time in Sakura-sama's good graces while you can, Potter. You won't stay her favourite for long."

Alkaid said nothing as Pyrrha flipped her off just as the Portkey's magic took hold and with the familiar pull at her navel the couple disappeared in a flash of magic.

Omake: Sex Ed. for a Killer

Alkaid was tucking Mina into bed one night, when her sleepy daughter asked her one of the questions that parents around the world and across time dreaded most.

"Mother, what's sex?" The adorable serial killer asked as she snuggled into her blankets.

Alkaid's usually frantic thoughts skittered to an abrupt stop as she looked at the young goddess in shock.

What in the world!? Why is she even talking about this?

"I'm sure you know, Mina. After all, you grew up in a red light district didn't you?" She offered with a strained smile. Please says yes. Please say yes.

"Yes, but I only know it's how people make babies. That's all the old ladies would ever tell me about it. Mother, there's more to it, right? Tell me~!" Mina giggled as she wiggled under the covers.

"What brought this on?" Alkaid tried to deflect.

Pouting at her mother's failure to answer her question, the little girl nevertheless dutifully answered.

"Missy Baba talked to me about it after I caught her watching some silly show with this woman in a tight outfit taking it off in front of some man."

Was Baba Yaga watching porn while babysitting Mina!? Alkaid thought to herself, scarcely able to believe what she'd deduced. Not only had she thought better of the folk hero, but the mere thought of the ancient witch whose true form was that of an wrinkly old woman even watching something like that churned her stomach.

"It was nothing, sweetie." Alkaid lied.

"Na-uh! Missy Baba said they were going to have sex. It looked like they were having fun. Mina wants to try too!"

"No!" Alkaid shouted immediately, in tandem with a newly arrived Pyrrha.

Was she eavesdropping on us? Honestly, Py. Alkaid frowned but focused on Mina for now. She did not want her baby girl goddess to somehow wind up pregnant. That was a nightmare she'd like to avoid, thank you very much.

"You're too young, honey. You need to grow up first. Stay small and tiny for Mother please?"

"So I can do it once I'm a grown up?"

"Uh, yeah, once you're a grown up and find someone you really like." Pyrrha explained helplessly.

"I really like?" Mina muttered, tilting her head in innocent confusion. "You mean when I like someone enough to play stabbity stab with them?"

"Not quite." Alkaid said with a comforting smile. "You do it with someone you love enough to want to spend the rest of your life with."

Ideally anyways. The sorceress added mentally. Her daughter was confused enough as is, there was no need to muddy the waters for her even more by bringing in the idea of one night stands or hook up culture. Besides, Alkaid strongly disapproved of the trivializing of something as sacred as sex that such behavior implied and wasn't about to introduce it to Mina if she could help it. Gods forbid, she actually went to try it out.

"Like a pet?" Mina knitted her brow in thought. "I like doggies."

"N-Not like a pet. No." Alkaid replied, her smile becoming strained as the conversation veered into an even more uncomfortable direction. One that she never wanted to talk about with her daughter, ever.

"Like how Mama loves Mother." Pyrrha said helpfully as she rested a hand on Alkaid's shoulder, silently offering her support in this trying ordeal.

Oh gods thank you! Alkaid smiled in relief.

"Oh, so Mina should be screaming a lot? And wear lots of leather?"

"...Have you been sneaking into our room?" Alkaid gulped nervously.

"I like watching you two sleep."

"Something like that, Kiddo." Pyrrha said as she leaned down to kiss Mina's brow and smiled, "I promise to explain more later. Right now, little snow white needs her sleep. Okay?"

"Okay," Mina pouted but thankfully listened to her Mama. "Night Mama. Night Mother."

"Goodnight sweetheart." Alkaid said as she leaned down to give Mina a kiss of her own.

Once their little girl was asleep, the couple crept out of the room as quietly as they could.

"We're going to need better locks." Pyrrha said as they walked towards their bedroom.

Alkaid nodded. "That and better sound proofing. You think we could convince Lord Hephaestus to help us out? I doubt anything short of a god's workmanship is going to keep our little rascal out."

"We'll have to ask." Pyrrha said with a shrug. "Even if he does say yes, it's gonna cost us. Big time."

"Maybe." Alkaid agreed while shooting her lover a smoldering look and pulling her into a deep kiss.

As they pulled apart, the daughter of Hades added in a heated voice. "But if that's the price of being able to fuck your brains out then it's more than worth it."

With her hands holding Alkaid tightly by the waist, Pyrrha replied, "Yeah, totally worth it."

The couple headed to their room, not noticing their daughter's door crack open and a pair of yellowish green eyes watching them.

Done and done! Thanks to the team of Nameless and Axios as always.

And so, the game begins...again. Alkaid and Pyrrha are off doing their own thing right now. And Mina needs an eye on her at all times. Gods knows what might happen if there wasn't, and who better for the job than Al's nanny Alecto?

Nameless: What did you guys think of Bumby? Did we go too far? Perhaps for the canon Riordanverse. It seems to take a relatively moderate take on the myths it incorporates, ignoring or downplaying some of the darkest elements in them. We on the other hand have decided to embrace it. Expect more of this kind of stuff in the future. Hope you guys like the direction we're taking.

Ah, American McGee's Alice, such a monstrosity you made. And we will happily use it! Still, having a loli vampire lover to help you poach your prey? Scary. As to who they were? Well, one was Rin Tohsaka, forgive me my twintail lovely. The dark elf woman was a expy of Ikaruga Suginami from AntiMagic Academy 35th Test Platoon. I liked her concept of using science to turn into an actual elf, even if only for a short time. The witch was Louise from Familiar of Zero. A love/hate relationship with this one, urg. Lastly, the vampire was based off the vampire Helena from the first anime adaption of Hellsing.

Nameless: They probably didn't deserve the treatment we gave them, but we needed victims for Bumby and just picked a group of ladies that popped into our head at the time. Sorry girls!

And now Asuka from Evangelion makes an appearance. With an Angel motif no less. Now that's just irony. It seems Alkaid has a new rival for Sakura's attention, though it might be one sided at the moment.

Nameless: Of course it is, we chose her appearance entirely for the sake of the irony after all. As for the purpose of introducing her? Well, it's something of a spoiler so... [SPOILER ALERT!] Basically, we're compartmentalizing Alkaid's story into different spaces within which she operates like the magical world, the Olympian world, dealing with other pantheons, etc. That being the case, we decided that she needed antagonists in each of these spaces. Angel is thus designed to help serve this purpose.

Well, you know what to do! Smash that review button and tell us what you love. No flames and peace off my peeps!