Heheh, enjoy this chapter my guys, it's gonna get intense soon.
Replies:
Undeath9087: Hey, if it works it works!
Guest: You know Percy and Leo would undoubtedly agree lol.

Percy blinked up at the goddess.

She was striking- like all goddesses. She was a tall woman, beautiful wearing a glittering sleeveless dress, with her dark hair in piled-up braids circled with a gilded laurel wreath. her eyes were wide, crazed looking.

And of course there was the spear, pointed towards them, that wasn't too bad. And there were her wings. They looked like polished gold, and they reflected the sun brilliantly, so brightly that it hurt her eyes.

And really, she was impressive, of course she was, but, well, the chariot, the horses, the wings, they reminded Percy of Nyx, and as striking as Nike was, she was nothing compared to that particular goddess, so Percy probably wasn't as awed as she should have been- as awed as Frank and Hazel looked.

And she was pretty sure that Leo was thinking along the same lines as she was because when she glanced at him he was simply pulling a face, squinting slightly in the bright shine of those wings.

"Lady, lady please could you fold your flappers please? You're gonna give me a sunburn-" he paused, "Or blind me, whichever happens first."

"What?" Nike's head jerked towards him like a startled chicken's. "Oh … my brilliant plumage. Very well. I suppose you can't die in glory if you are blinded and burned."

She tucked in her wings. The temperature dropped to a normal hundred-and-twenty-degree summer afternoon.

Percy slipped her hand into her pocket- pulling Riptide out and twirling the pen between her fingers as she eyed the goddess, glancing back at Frank and Hazel, who had both recovered from their initial reaction.

Frank was stood very still, clearly sizing up the goddess, and Hazel was having trouble with Arion- who was very nervous about the two horses pulling Nike's chariot.

Percy swung her gaze back to the goddess. They needed to focus on the present after all. On the goddess in front of them.

"So-" it was Leo who broke the silence, and Percy forced down the urge to laugh as her brother pointed at the goddess. "I didn't get the briefing, and I'm pretty sure the information wasn't covered in Frank's pamphlet. Could you tell me what's going on here?" and Percy resisted the urge to move in front of Leo and shield him from the goddesses unnerving gaze.

She knew her little brother well enough to know that he wouldn't appreciate it if she did that- still it was very, very tempting.

"We must have victory!" the goddess shrieked. "The contest must be decided! You have come here to determine the winner, yes?"

Frank cleared his throat. "Are you Nike or Victoria?"

"Argghh!" The goddess clutched the side of her head. Her horses reared, causing Arion to do the same.

The goddess shuddered and split into two separate images, it was a strange sight, blurred and fuzzy, two images that were the same but different all at once.

On the left was the first version: glittery sleeveless dress, dark hair circled with laurels, golden wings folded behind her. On the right was a different version, dressed for war in a Roman breastplate and greaves. Short auburn hair peeked out from the rim of a tall helmet. Her wings were feathery white, her dress purple, and the shaft of her spear was fixed with a plate-sized Roman insignia – a golden SPQR in a laurel wreath.

"I am Nike!" cried the image on the left.

"I am Victoria!" cried the one on the right.

And gods but that was weird- the way the two images vibrated and blurred together made Percy's head hurt.

"I am the decider of victory!" Nike screamed. "Once I stood here at the corner of Zeus's temple, venerated by all! I oversaw the games of Olympia. Offerings from every city-state were piled at my feet!"

'"Games are irrelevant!" yelled Victoria. "I am the goddess of success in battle! Roman generals worshipped me! Augustus himself erected my altar in the Senate House!"

"Ahhhh!" both voices screamed in agony. "We must decide! We must have victory!"

Arion bucked so violently that Hazel had to slide off his back to avoid getting thrown. Before she could calm him down, the horse disappeared, leaving a vapour trail through the ruins.

"Nike," Hazel said, stepping forward slowly, "you're confused, like all the gods. The Greeks and Romans are on the verge of war. It's causing your two aspects to clash."

"I know that!"The goddess shook her spear, the tip rubber-banding into two points. "I cannot abide unresolved conflict! Who is stronger? Who is the winner?"

"Lady, nobody's the winner,' Leo said. 'If that war happens, everybody loses."

"No winner!" Nike looked horrified. "There is always a winner! One winner. Everyone else is a loser! Otherwise victory is meaningless. I suppose you want me to give certificates to all the contestants? Little plastic trophies to every single athlete or soldier for participation? Should we all line up and shake hands and tell each other, Good game? No! Victory must be real. It must be earned. That means it must be rare and difficult, against steep odds, and defeat must be the other possibility! You know that!" she pointed wildly at Percy, who stepped back swiftly, her heart suddenly pounding in her chest.

"I-"

"You've known victory! You fight and you win or you lose! Those are the only options!"

The goddess's two horses nipped at each other, as if getting into the spirit.

"Yeah, yeah they are but you're focusing on the wrong fight!" Percy managed.

"She's right." Hazel nodded swiftly, "Nike, you were Zeus' charioteer in the last war with the giants, weren't you?"

"Of course!"

"Then you know Gaia is the real enemy. We need your help to defeat her. The war isn't between the Greeks and Romans."

Victoria roared, "The Greeks must perish!"

"Victory or death!" Nike wailed. "One side must prevail!"

Frank grunted. "I get enough of this from my dad screaming in my head."

Victoria glared down at him. "A child of Mars, are you? A praetor of Rome? No true Roman would spare the Greeks. I cannot abide to be split and confused – I cannot think straight! Kill them! Win!"

"Not going to happen." Frank gritted his teeth, and Percy resisted the urge to ask him what he'd meant when he said about his dad screaming in his head. Whatever it was it didn't sound fun she knew that much.

And Percy could feel Nikes power. It was trying to turn them against one another, to make them want to fight. But Percy could remember Ares aura- and it was easier to resist when you knew what was happening.

Besides there was no way in Hades that she'd ever hurt her family- and that was what they were. And her protective instincts had been ramped up to a thousand since Tartarus, so as powerful as Nike's aura was, it didn't stand a chance against that.

"Look." Percy's back straightened slightly and she tilted her head up. "Lady Nike, I'm gonna try and be respectful here which I mean-is not easy for me so I hope you appreciate that. We don't want to interrupt your crazy time. Maybe you can just finish this conversation with yourself and we'll come back later, with, um, some bigger weapons and possibly some sedatives."

The goddess brandished her spear. "You will determine the matter once and for all! Today, now, you will decide the victor! Four of you? Excellent! We will have teams. Perhaps girls versus boys!"

"No!" Leo yelped the words, "No way! I wouldn't fight Percy with a whole army behind me."

"Awe, that's so sweet Leo. But he's right, we're not doing that."

"Shirts versus skins!"

"Definitely no," said Hazel.

"Greeks versus Romans!" Nike cried. "Yes, of course! Two and two. The last demigod standing wins. The others will die gloriously."

And Percy could feel that power ramping up even more, trying to push her into attacking Frank and Hazel. It wasn't working but she could feel it.

Honestly it just annoyed her even more.

"Look lady." Leo was clearly struggling-and Percy reached out, grabbing his hand and squeezing it tightly as he spoke. "we're not going to go all Hunger Games on each other. Isn't going to happen."

"But you will win a fabulous honour!" Nike reached into a basket at her side and produced a wreath of thick green laurels. "This crown of leaves could be yours! You can wear it on your head! Think of the glory!"

"Leo's right," Frank said, though his eyes were fixed on the wreath. His expression was a little too greedy for Percy's taste, it was very unlike him but then, Nikes aura was clearly having an effect. "We don't fight each other. We fight the giants. You should help us."

"Very well!" The goddess raised the laurel wreath in one hand and her spear in the other.

Percy and Leo exchanged looks.

"Uh … does that mean you'll join us?" Percy asked. "You'll help us fight the giants?"

'"That will be part of the prize," Nike said. "Whoever wins, I will consider you an ally. We will fight the giants together, and I will bestow victory upon you. But there can only be one winner. The others must be defeated, killed, destroyed utterly. So what will it be, demigods? Will you succeed in your quest, or will you cling to your namby-pamby ideas of friendship and everybody wins participation awards?"

"No." Percy's voice was deadpan and she glared at the goddess uncapping Riptide and clutching her sword tightly. "See that's not what's going to happen here Nike because nothing, and I do mean nothing you do, can turn me against my loved ones, against my friends and family. My fatal flaw is quite literally my loyalty." there was an undercurrent to her voice. "I have stared into the face of Tartarus to protect my family. You can't do anything against that."
"You can try to refuse to fight eachother- then perhaps they will all fight you- you do seem resistant to my power but they are not so strong. And even if they are strong enough you shall all be persuaded."

"No, no we won't be." Percy declared, crossing her arms over her chest. "Not a chance."

Nike spread her golden wings. Four metal feathers fluttered down, two on either side of the chariot. The feathers twirled like gymnasts, growing larger, sprouting arms and legs, until they touched the ground as four metallic, human-sized replicas of the goddess, each armed with a golden spear and a Celestial bronze laurel wreath that looked suspiciously like a barbed-wire Frisbee.

"To the stadium!" the goddess cried. "You have five minutes to prepare. Then blood shall be spilled!"

"Oh you have got to be kidding me." Percy's eyes narrowed, "Please tell me that doesn't mean what I think it means."

"Run!" Nike bellowed the words, "To the stadium with you, or my Nikai will kill you where you stand!"

The metal ladies unhinged their jaws and blasted out a sound like a Super Bowl crowd mixed with feedback. They shook their spears and charged the demigods.

Percy wasn't sure what she would have done if it wasn't for Leo.

She was pissed off, which generally meant that she did stupid things, like try to fight the metal replicas of Nike.

Thankfully she was still holding her baby brothers hand, and before she could pull free he was taking off and he was dragging her with him.

She glanced back over her shoulder as they ran.

The four metal women swept behind them in a loose semicircle, herding them to the northeast. All the tourists had vanished. Perhaps they'd fled to the air-conditioned comfort of the museum, or maybe Nike had somehow forced them to leave.

The demigods ran, tripping over stones, leaping over crumbled walls, dodging around columns and informational placards. Behind them, Nike's chariot wheels rumbled and her horses whinnied.

"Y'know-" Percy ground out, squeezing Leo's hand as they ran, "Sometimes I think that the entire universe is out to get us."

"You don't say!"