There goes the third chapter. Havent really got much to say, you i'll keep it short. Hope you like this one!

'I say we defend the city', argued Larry's optio, a short guy named Jack. 'It makes more sense for them to take it as a strategic position.'

Thalia shook her head. 'What if they're not trying to take the city? We'd allow them to escape unharmed.'

Around the campfire, the groups were looking divided. They had immediately called for a meeting after Annabeth and Thalia came back with the news of Lizzie's murder, and they were having a hard time figuring out their next move. The Romans thought it was best to fall back to Phoenix and fight them there, while Thalia and the hunters wanted to fight them here, in the forest. The Greeks would support Annabeth, who uncharacteristically had not spoken much yet. She heard Larry's voice start to rise, slightly miffed that he was being ordered around by what looked like a fifteen year-old girl. Annabeth saw Thalia start to coil up, like a viper ready to strike, and decided she had had enough.

'THALIA!' She yelled. 'Sit down, both of you. You're acting like a bunch of little kids.'

Both looked caught by surprise, and Larry looked meek as he avoided Annabeth's gaze. Thalia held her stare, before huffing and taking a step back.

'Both points are valid. The defence of Phoenix is why we came here in the first place, and it is our duty to protect the city and the mortals in it. However, we must look beyond what simple observation can tell us. Lizzie's murder just convinces me more that this isn't just some monster uprising. I think this was supposed to be a quiet movement of troops, but Lizze managed to warn us. For that, she was killed.'

Larry looked doubtful, but nodded. 'Ok. What's your point?'

'I think this is a precursor for a major conflict. Feel free to call me paranoid, but it was ignoring details like this that led to so many casualties in the last wars. There is someone giving orders to the monsters underground. They want to start a conflict, but aren't ready yet. They were moving into position. With this in mind, I think it's unlikely that they'll attack the city.'

Everybody was silent now, the only sound being the crackling of the fire in front of them. Annabeth's voice rang loud and clear across the clearing, drowning everything else out.

Larry looked confused. 'What do you mean? Why not?'

Annabeth shrugged. 'They have no reason to. Attacking would only attract more attention, and if they are not ready to go to war with us yet that is the last thing they will want. They wanted to move unseen, but Lizzie interrupted their plans.'

Thalia looked at Annabeth with her arms crossed. 'So they won't come out?'

'Not what I meant', said Annabeth. 'I think they're pissed off. They can't move because we know where they are, but they probably know that the ones that have come to stop them must be our best fighters. They'll attack soon, and try to take as many of us with them as they can.' She paused. 'I say we get ready to face them when they do.'

There was a general muttering of consensus in the group, although some of the romans still looked unhappy their plan had been put down. Clarisse rumbled her agreement at Annabeth's side, as did Travis and a couple of the others.

'So where do we fight them?' Asked Thalia. 'I would say the forest, but that would benefit only the Hunters.'

Annabeth looked at Larry, who stepped forward. 'They are coming from underground, right? Let's march to the area where the disturbances happened. Once they come out, we hit them hard and fast. They are not very organised, but it'll still be an advantage for us to attack before they form ranks.'

It was a solid strategy. The monsters would undoubtedly come out charging like kamikazes, but they would be even deadlier if they managed to organise themselves and fight as a group.

'Attack as a form of defence.' Clarisse nodded approvingly. 'I like it. We should start preparing now and set out before the sun rises.'

Thalia exchanged some quiet words with Phoebe, then looked at the group. 'We'll send scouts ahead to check out the area. If the monsters come out sooner than expected, we better be prepared.'

They agreed to prepare for the next day's battle, and the meeting finished. People started to disperse to their various jobs, and Annabeth walked slowly towards her backpack. She knelt in front of it, making an inventory for what she would need for tomorrow. She took out some squares of ambrosia and a vial of nectar, carefully stuffing her pockets with the godly food. Then, she unsheathed her knife, the long bronze blade glinting in the fading light of the afternoon. She saw a reflection of herself, a grim and determined expression on her face, which appeared coppery on the narrow metal strip. She looked confident and brave, but she was really holding down the ball of nervousness that threatened to creep its way up her throat and choke her.

'Will I finally fail now?'

She still remembered her biggest failure. Hazel's voice still rang loud in her head: 'Her ankle! Cut it!'. At the moment she remembered feeling dizzy and confused, until something started to pull on her leg, dragging her backwards as she walked towards the ladder. It was only by Percy's instincts that she had survived, and she had then watched helplessly as he tumbled over the edge, his sword clattering out of his hands. She had failed him.

What was to say the same thing wouldn't happen again tomorrow? Or the next day she led? The people who followed her believed in her, and Annabeth didn't know how to tell them she was not someone to be believed in. Someone to be disappointed at, maybe. Not someone fit to lead an army.

'Annabeth?'

The blonde looked up to see a small girl, maybe sixteen or seventeen, looking expectantly at her.

'Clarisse is asking for the order in the wall. In what order do you want the front lines?'

Annabeth closed her eyes, and stood up with a sigh, shaking out her stiff legs. As she did, her face regained a hard and stoic expression, and she whirled around to face the young girl.

—

The sun hadn't come up yet, and the small demigod army marched silently through the forest, which was still full of the sounds of the night. They crunched leaves and branches under their feet, but not a word could be heard. Annabeth marched in the lead, fifty Greeks behind her, dressed in full battle armour. The Romans were right behind them, and the Hunters brought up the rear. Annabeth had decided to leave the pegasi in the camp, so they walked with everybody else.

Eventually, the forest ended opening up to grassy farmland, with small hills visible in the distance. This was the place where Lizze and the rest of the nature spirits had told them the disturbances were happening. The army stopped, and Annabeth saw some of the hunters flake off the group, taking strategic positions and vantage points in the area. Annabeth turned to Clarisse and clapped her shoulder.

'Front line is yours.'

The girl nodded stiffly, her brown eyes determined and ready. The Greeks and Romans spread out in a crescent shape, holding up their shields to form a solid wall. It made for a strange sight. One side of the wall was composed of round bronze shields, trademark of the Greeks, while the others were Roman, big rectangular ones, slightly curved inside. Roman shields also had serrated edges on the bottom, so they could cut up any enemy they trampled. Spears bristled on both sides, the Roman pila thinner at the top than the Greek spear. Pila were designed to be thrown, unlike Greeks spears, which were used in one on one combat. They had a thick shaft at the bottom, which narrowed into a golden metallic rod, ending in a deadly sharp point. When they hit their target, they could very easily puncture shields or enemies, and due to the weight on the end, they would bend. This made it very hard to take them out, so shields would have to be discarded. Annabeth had her problems with the Romans, but she couldn't help admiring their wits in warfare.

Annabeth looked behind her, where Thalia had organised her hunters as well. Some were in the trees, perched like birds, while the rest had divided into small groups. These would act as strike units. The shield wall would open, and they would dash out into the enemy, and then back in as fast as lightning. In the last 10 years, numerous joint battles had demonstrated the lethality of this tactic.

The sun had started to come up, the night sky starting to gain a pink tinge. Annabeth walked behind the Greek line, an imposing figure amongst the army. She was wearing full battle armour, complete with greaves and slightly spiked vambraces on her forearms. Her torso was fully clad in bronze plates, depicting the battles of the Titan and Giant wars, all scenes of victory and glory. Underneath her arm was her helmet, which was shaped like an owl, with a full face mask that covered her completely when she was fighting. She spotted Larry, wearing the Imperial gold armour of a Roman centurion, a tall plumed helmet on top of his head and a gladius at his side.

Suddenly, the ground started trembling. Annabeth could see the small pebbles around her feet jumping up and own, and struggled to keep her footing. She could see the ground all around her shaking violently, and the assembled demigods were having similar difficulties, banging against the people at their sides.

'Hold your ground!' Annabeth's voice was loud and authoritative. 'Find your footing and lock your shields together! Whatever comes out of there, they won't claim a single one of our lives!'

As she finished, the shaking lessened, and the ground in front of them started crumbling, dust rising up from the sinkhole as tons of earth fell into the caverns below. Deafening roars were heard, and monsters surged from the now gaping opening. Annabeth could see lines of dracaenae, their jagged spears held afloaft in the air. Massive giants followed, brandishing wooden clubs bigger than most of the trees the Hunters were perched on.

'Hold it!' barked Larry. 'First pila thrown at fifty yards!'

The monsters raced towards them, their battle cries full of rage and bloodlust. Eighty, seventy, sixty. When they reached the fifty-yard mark, the Romans moved as one, sending over a hundred spears arching through the air like a bristling wave of death. They landed in the middle of the enemy force, many impaling more than one monster at a time. The Hunters had started to fire mercilessly at the giants, who were staring to feel the sting of their arrows and let out yells of frustration. More and more monsters piled out of the earth, and the romans sent their second wave of pila towards them. This one was even deadlier than the first, as they targets were more bunched together. More than two hundred monsters exploded at once, almost clearing the battlefield completely. An eerie quiet set upon the field, and Annabeth's eyes narrowed as she pushed through her troops.

'That was only the first wave! Get ready!'

Monsters started to come from the hole again, massive black hellhounds and towering cynocephali. There were no more volleys left from the Romans, but some were still cut down by arrows. But it couldn't stop them.

Clarisse's voice was firm and steely. 'BRACE!'

The Greeks responded, bunching their shields together and crouching down. A moment later, the enemy force smashed into them. The demigods yelled and grunted as they got behind their shields, holding the monsters on the other side. They were forced back a couple of metres, quickly at first, then they slowed. When they stopped moving, there was a slight moment of silence. Clarisse yelled a word, and the Greeks gave a sudden push forward with their shields, surprising the enemy and throwing them back a few feet. This was followed by a series of quick stabs from the demigods, pulverising the first row of monsters. Hunters surged from the gaps in the wall, Thalia amongst them, and proceeded to wreak havoc on the already disoriented monsters. Then as fast as they had appeared, they seeped back into the wall, and the shields closed again.

Annabeth lost count of how many times she heard Clarisse yell, and the shields push. It was an almost robotic movement. She joined the hunters in a few of them, racing out and slashing a couple of throats before getting behind the shields again. At one point, she heard a booming sound, like someone had dropped a massive bowling ball underground, but she ignored it. It seemed like they were gaining ground, but she should have known things could never be too easy for them.

Cries of panic spread across the army as a winged creature rose up from the enemy army, a grey beast with scaly wings and long talons. It was maybe ten metres long, with a spiked tail that swished from side to side. It dive-bombed into their midst, ripping through armour like it was made of paper. Demigods were sent flying, many with huge wounds across their chest and arms. The cynocephali took advantage and pushed again, breaking the shield wall. The Greeks spread out, now facing the monsters in single combat situations. Clarisse was like a machine, her electric spear roaring as it ripped through its squealing victims. Annabeth fought like a demon as well, spinning and using her knife with accuracy, every strike a killing blow. She put on the invisibility cap a couple of times, sneaking into the monster lines and causing slight panic, but it still wasn't enough.

The demigods slowly started to give ground, many of the Ares campers cursing as they did. Thalia was at her side at one point, carving her way through the monsters with ease. However, everywhere else, the demigods were being beaten back. The Romans managed to hold for a while, but eventually started stepping back towards the line of trees.

Annabeth looked up at the sky, seeing the winged monster circle above them, coming around to strike. 'Thalia!' She called. 'Focus on the flying dude!'

The huntress nodded, and signalled her archers to target it. The beast spinned and jerked to try and avoid their arrows, but the hunters were too accurate. Each shot found its mark, each one drawing a roar of pain from the now panicked creature. Finally, it lifted its head upwards, and Phoebe rapidly shot it underneath the chin. The arrow punched straight through, and a cheer rose up from the demigods as the monster fell from the sky.

They focused on the army again, but Annabeth could see something was off. They weren't attacking as they had been, with teeming ferocity and anger. They looked doubtful, some even looking over their shoulders to their rear.

Then Annabeth saw why.

In the middle of the monster army was a figure, fighting like nothing Annabeth had ever seen before. He was shirtless, but that was all the detail she could see. The man moved with mind-bending speed, wielding a weapon in each hand, delivering strikes faster than her eyes could follow. At one point, he extended his arm, and a giant, maybe ten metres tall, gasped in pain, reaching for his chest before in caved in on itself. He flicked his hand at a group of dracanenae, and they exploded into dust. She saw him, destroy the enemy army, cutting cynocephali at the waist as they attempted to fight him. Water seeped up from the grassy ground and it formed a rope, which whirled around him around him, seemingly obeying his commands as it strangled and sliced monsters in half.

Annabeth was now completely focused on him, as was most of the army. The demigods were looking at him in amazement, while the monsters ranged from slightly nervous to absolutely terrified. The latter were pushing and shoving, trying to escape the battle, but they never got the chance. In a matter of seconds, the man had finished them all, standing shin-deep in monster dust.

Now, she got a good look at him.

He was tall, maybe 6,4, and wearing only ragged pants, stained and near falling off. He was extremely muscled with a toned upper body and veinous arms, heaving slightly as he caught his breath. In one hand he held a glowing bronze sword, which Annabeth thought looked familiar, and in the other another sword. It was completely black, maybe a meter long, and looked nothing short of lethal. His hair was long and wild, and had a scraggly beard on his face. He had a massive tattoo on his left forearm, depicting a black snake wrapped around a long pole.

The most striking thing were his scars.

It looked like he had been put through a meat grinder. Underneath the grime covering most if his body, the white lines stood out clearly. He had a huge one on his chest, cutting diagonally from his shoulder to his stomach. Another one on the outside of his shoulder, another one on his side. His arms were covered as well, with particularly deep ones around the wrists. He turned slightly, and Annabeth could see that his back was full of them. She looked at his face, and followed a deep one that started above his eye. It ran across the side of his face, just missing his eye and carving down his cheek like a trench.

Still, underneath the dirt, the grime, the scars, the beard, Annabeth knew who it was.

His green eyes hadn't lost their light.

Arent cliffhangers fun. I know you love em, and thats why I do it :). Sorry for this one, but it made sense in the plan I hd for the first chapters. Also, if anyone reading has watched Spartacus (the Netflix series), S1, E4. Took a little inspiration for the chapter name. Please don't sue me.