Chapter 8
PERCY POV
(A/N Rick owns everything you know from the Riordanverse.)
Percy sat alone at the Poseidon table in the dining pavilion, the first time he had left the Infirmary in almost 24 hours. Will, having been there much longer and on top of that using powerful magic, managed to stagger to his cabin and then promptly pass out. It was Capture-the-Flag night at camp, so everyone was chattering excitedly, passing last minute alliance notes. The table who was the most excited (and rightly so) was of course Ares, the younger campers having heard legends of a fearless warrior who took down a Drakon single handed, the older ones catching up with an old friend. Percy usually went with Athena during the games (for good reason) and so it was predictable that he would be with Apollo, Demeter, Hades, Hebe, Hecate and Triton. Not this time though. Athena had lost a lot of support with Demeter and Hebe moving over to Ares's side. This was bad news, as Meg was usually a destructive tank guard, and Paolo was a brilliant scout. Now Percy and Malcom (who was leading in place of Annabeth) had the rest of Cabin Six, the not unrespectable numbers of Apollo, Nico Di Angelo (who was worth an entire cabin himself, being that he could call up a legion of skeletons) some wizards from Hecate, some of who would have to be spared for guards and four of Triton's kids. Clarisse and Ares far outnumbered them, with almost the entire rest of camp, apart from a Hebe camper who was too young (A/N Haha, I'm hilarious) and Aphrodite, who sat out most games unless it was against the hunters. As you could switch tables on Friday night to discuss strategy, the cabin leaders with Athena had moved to Poseidon.
"We'll be taking the east side of the woods, that means we can use the old tree as the flag post. Let's leave some of Lou Ellen's siblings on guard." Percy started mapping out a plan. "We can't use Meg, she's gone over to Ares. Kayla, scatter some Apollo campers in the trees in a loose perimeter, that way they can send word to the flag to be ready. Lou, who has the most diverse defensive spell set in your cabin?" Lou considered this.
"Probably Grant. He can use Gelu Semita, Stulte Adversario tuo and Lacus. Percy nodded, his time at Camp Jupiter allowing him to translate from Latin as easy as Greek. Path of Frost, Fool your Opponent and Transport. "Nice, put him on guard. Malcolm, who else?" His co-captain scratched his chin.
"We'll need Nico on offence, Apollo is mostly on guard, and Triton is taking border patrol." He snapped his fingers. "My brother, Cade. He's been learning military strategy from Annabeth. Guy's got a good head for it." Percy grinned, Athena's kids were always good to have at your back. Heck, he'd been dating one for years.
Turning to the child of Triton, Percy gave them their orders. "Alright, Xavier, you and your siblings take border control. You'll be more powerful there. Clarisse, Chris and Meg are probably going to come charging down the middle. Malcolm, you and I are going to stop them, or at least hold them off long enough so Callum, Lou and Nico can get the flag." Malcolm considered this.
"Won't they be suspicious when they don't see one of our best fighters?" He gestured to Nico, who smiled thinly.
"They won't have to." Nico closed his eyes and stretched his hand out over the ground. Purple light erupted from the dirt, and a massive zombie, wearing a civil war Unionist uniform and holding a celestial bronze bayonet rifle crawled out. "Hello, General Winfield Scott, Child of Athena." Malcom paled.
"So this guy is my… brother." He looked like he was going to be sick. Nico smiled again.
"Scott was a US army general, famous for the Anaconda Plan in the Civil War. He was 6'5 and 250lbs, able to cripple a horse barehanded. (A/N Winfield Scott was a real person, so props to me for doing my research.) He can lead the flag team, while I help take on Clarisse." Percy laughed, and elbowed Malcolm.
"Seems as though everything's fine. Report the plan back to your cabins. If you don't have a specific job, spread out in the woods. Remember, we're severely outnumbered so we can't play the long game. Austin, you and Lou Ellen need to strike hard and fast. Nico, does Scott have his orders?" Nico turned to the giant zombie, and locked what would be eye contact. The soldiers eye sockets glowed purple for a moment, before turning to Austin and raising his desiccated arm in a salute. The Son of Apollo swallowed, then turned back to Nico.
"So does he follow me around, or what?" Nico frowned.
"Good point, we can't be giving the game away." Nico stretched his hand out to the general. The ground rumbled and he sank into the ground. Nico looked satisfied. When the game starts, I can bring him back up, and he'll obey your orders." Then the conch horn sounded, and Chiron got up from the head table. "Campers, it is time for Capture-the-Flag! All magic items are allowed, prisoners may be disarmed and bound, but not gagged or maimed. Also, please welcome Clarisse La Rue, Daughter of Ares and Chris Rodriuguez, Son of Hebe back from Arizona!" The named demigods stood up from the Ares table and gave a wave to the rest of the campers. They were met with cheers and clapping. "Now, arm yourself!"
The assorted demigods stood up and rushed to their cabins. Back in Cabin Three, Percy strapped on the greek armour (with a special addition added to the gauntlets) and took his watch that Tyson made for him (A/N I know that Percy threw it away in BotL to save Tyson from Kampé, but Tyson must have built another at some point.) off the nightstand. Walking out of his cabin, Percy met up with Malcom, Lou Ellen, Austin, Nico, Xavier and their siblings. Getting into the positions that had been given to them, soon it was just Percy, Malcolm and Nico, who had sent Scott off with Austin's team round the right flank. The conch horn sounded, and giving the thumbs up the the children of Triton, they leapt over the stream and ran into enemy territory.
—
They hadn't gone far when they heard shouts from up ahead. Percy burst into a clearing, flanked by Nico and Malcolm, and he saw the figures on the other side. Clarisse, Chris and Meg. "Well, well, well Prissy. Ready to get beaten down?" Percy allowed himself a smile, this was why he put on the special gauntlets. He activated Riptide, and got into a fighting stance.
"Nico, take Chris. Malcolm, Meg." They nodded and readied their weapons, Nico with his Stygian Iron dirk, Malcolm with a celestial bronze broadsword and rotella shield. Clarisse snorted and lowered her electric spear.
"This is gonna be fun." All six demigods ran at each other, and the battle began.
(A/N Wooo cliffhangers! Small note about the rest of this story, I'm a new author so I wanted to get the first lot of this story up quick, and now I'm a week into posting. Should I keep doing daily updates (I've got a backlog and usually I write a chapter a day so it's completely possible for me to do this) or do it weekly/biweekly? Review with your thoughts pls!)
