A lone figure in a gray hoodie stood in an early morning fog, somewhere in New Hampshire. He was tall, muscular, and... off. There was simply no other way to describe him. There was something wrong. It just... wasn't something visible. If one could somehow look close enough, they would see raven black hair. More curious would be his eyes - sea-green, with flecks of orange fluttering around the irises. The man knew this. That was why he worked so hard to keep his face hidden, with his hood and sunglasses.
He was standing here for a simple reason. He was waiting. So he waited, and he waited. Eventually... his target showed up. A frightened child, no more than ten, ran into his eyesight. Less than a hundred feet behind her were two large men. They ran after the girl, all the while muttering apologies to passerby, explaining how the girl was running off, not wanting to go to school.
The people around it accepted the reasoning. After all, it made sense, and it wasn't their problem. Why should they bother with something that wasn't wrong? The two men broke from the crowd, and the man in the gray hoodie could easily see what the others couldn't - a single, bloodshot eye in the middle of each one's forehead. Cyclops.
He quickly made his move - He rushed towards the little girl, his large strides easily overtaking her small ones. He ran up to her, and scooped her up in his arms - she quickly made a sign of protest, and made to scream, until the man lowered his shades slightly. Something about his eyes made her want to trust him, and, so, for the time being, she did.
They ducked into an alley, which turned out to be a dead end. Whimpering, the girl started to panic as the two cyclops made their way towards them. "Hey, man, thanks for grabbing her for us. She's my daughter, little dyke doesn't seem to want to go to school! You would think after they reformed-" He was cut off by the guy laughing.
"Yeah, no worries. Anything to help out a friend." He smiled, his eyes once again hidden.
"Yeah, right. Anyway, what's your name? We'd be delighted to treat you to a meal after how much you've helped us." The two monsters started walking forwards.
The man smiled and held his hand out in a closed fist, as if waiting for a fist bump. "You might've heard of me..." The smile turned sinister in a second. "I've been started to be called Omega... since, you know, I'm the last thing you monsters see until the Pit." In a single fluid motion, it was revealed that the man was holding a pen in his fist, and, when he uncapped it, a sword sprang out, and decapitated the two monsters in an instant, turning them into nothing but golden dust.
The man turned around the to little girl, who had just started to peek out from her hiding spot. "It's okay, now. Those two monsters are gone." The little girl's eyes widened.
"You're... like me..." She whispered. "You could see them too." The man nodded. With a single look, he knew her godly heritage, and a slight frown adorned his features.
"Yes, I am like you, Your mother sent me to come and save you from the monsters." He told her, the lying almost programmed into his speech.
"My... mother?" She asked. "I've never known my mother... My daddy always just said she was the smartest woman he had ever met before... before those guys killed him..." She spoke the last part with a whimper.
"Yes. She loves you very much. What do you know about Greek mythology...?"
The girl, Gracie, had been almost a perfect copy of her mother, Athena, and Omega had seen it in an instant. As he dropped her off outside the place where he had spent much of his teenage years, he spared a glance at Camp Half-Blood. It hadn't changed in the twenty years he had been... gone. He turned away slowly, only to detect another group of presences surrounding him. "Hunters." He spoke through gritted teeth. "What a surprise."
"Omega." Greeted the girl who seemed to be the leader of the group. "We have been tasked with bringing you in to Olympus. Come quietly, or come in chains." Honestly, thought Omega, not the greatest options.
"I choose option three - not coming to Olympus at all. If you'd be so kind," he walked towards the edge of the circle, where the Hunters gathered instead of made way for him.
"You insolent male," one of them spoke. "You should be glad Lady Artemis even gave you a choice at all!"
"Ah, is that you, Phoebe? It has been quite a while." He spoke in an attempt to throw her off balance, which succeeded.
"I... what? Who are you, boy?" She growled. He laughed in response.
"Just a-" Suddenly, there was a surge in power behind him - Thalia. He whirled around and redirected her spear strike, careful to not let her see his eyes. Behind him, Artemis rushed forward, intent on at least knocking him out. He dodged out of the way, hoping to send her barreling into her lieutenant. Of course, she was a god, and had godly reactions, and managed to divert her course out of the way.
The rest of the Hunt had solidified the ring around the three. While it seemed like it would make escaping easier to just pass a few of them, it actually made it harder, since the man seemed to refrain from hurting other people. Artemis noticed this, and decided to use this to her advantage. She started to press harder on her opponent, giving small signals to Thalia to do the same.
This went on for a few minutes, the rest of the Hunt continuously becoming more and more impatient. Eventually, the man spoke, slightly out of breath, but not too much - an incredible feat for lasting against the Goddess of the Hunt and her lieutenant, "You see, Lady Artemis, you have made two mistakes."
Artemis bristled, but kept her anger under control for the time being. "And what would those two mistakes be, boy?"
"You have attacked me during the waxing gibbous. You're not at full power right now, thank... not the Gods for that."
"And the second?" Artemis demanded.
"You presume too much." He smirked, and whirled around and knocked out the Hunter closest to him, then quickly took out the one on either side of that Hunter. It was done in under two seconds, a remarkable feat. The Hunters, who had grown bored of the back-and-forth fight, were now struggling to regain their focus. Alas, too little, too late.
In under thirty seconds, a quarter of the Hunt was knocked unconscious. Of course, the mystery man had sustained a wound as well, a cut on his cheek. The coloring of the blood revealed him to be immortal to Artemis, although it was far too dark for any of the others in the Hunt to see such a minute detail. The man dashed through the whole he created in the forces.
In an instant, Artemis was after him. None of the others were nearly fast enough to keep up with the two, and although Artemis was not in a forest, it was still nighttime, and she was easily faster than the hooded man. In no time at all, she caught up to him, and their battle resumed, which Artemis quickly realized was what he wanted.
Soon, she found herself on the defensive, any attack she made was quickly countered, and he was fluid enough to counter her dodges and parries. "You are a skilled fighter. Who taught you?"
"When the alternative is having your entrails ripped out, cut up, filled with acid, then shoved back in, you learn to fight decently well. And was that praise for a male I heard, Lady Artemis? You better not let your brother Apollo hear that, here he comes right now." While it was not a real answer, she had to admit that he was right. The sun was breaking over the horizon, and Artemis could feel her power decreasing as each moment passed. If she wanted to succeed, she would have to end this soon.
There! Artemis saw a weak point as the man overextended, and punched his face, shattering the right lens of his sunglasses. However, he rolled his face back with her punch, causing her to overextend her arm, which he swiftly grabbed and twisted, pulling the Huntress closer to him before flipping her over his back. She landed on her feet unsteadily, and was then kicked in the back of her knee, and was forced to kneel down.
"You're lucky I hold no personal animosity towards you, Mi' Lady." He spoke surprisingly softly. "Damn, I liked these glasses, too!" He laughed, a sound out of place in the serious situation they found themselves in. He took off the now-broken sunglasses with the hand not currently restraining the goddess, and placed them into his pocket. Her head slightly free now, Artemis looked at her opponent's face, and with a gasp, she looked into the face of the very-much alive, very-much out of Tartarus Percy Jackson.
While Percy knew that he had beaten Kronos before, that had been on his own turf. Now, he was here on the titan's turf, and he wasn't the one with backup. Still, he wasn't one to go down without a fight. "Now that I'm looking at you, I just figured out that the reason why they called you the Crooked One was probably 'cause of your teeth, pops." Kronos laughed, but there was no humor in it.
"I will enjoy breaking you, grandson." Kronos spoke.
A small time later, Percy was panting heavily. In front of him, Kronos was smirking. Around the two of them laid the bodies of Hyperion, Krios, Pallas, as well as Perses' dying body.
"A valiant attempt, hero." Kronos said these words with a small amount of respect. Although he hadn't fought the boy, he had just beaten four other titans, one of them being the Titan of Destruction. The fact that he was still standing was no small feat. "Those Olympians have no idea what they have just lost."
Percy let lose a coughing laugh. "They haven't lost me. No matter what, they're still my family. Although I guess that doesn't mean much to you, huh?" Kronos chuckled and shook his head from side to side slowly.
"Loyalty... That is your fatal flaw. But, do they deserve your loyalty, son of Poseidon? You have saved them twice, and have been granted Hell. Not exactly a great 'thank you', is it?" Perseus tried not to be disturbed by his words, although they perfectly reflected his innermost thoughts. Instead, he tried doing a technique he had practiced greatly - one of his three hidden talents.
He held his arm out, towards Kronos, and felt the familiar tug in his naval. Kronos' eyes widened as his own arm began to shake against his own will. "So... you inherited one of the greatest secrets of Olympus." Kronos' voice was calm even as his hand, holding his scythe, began to start inching towards his chest. "Good try, hero. But... I... Am... A... TITAN!" As if his words had magically summoned a power, a golden wave shot out of Kronos at the last word and crashed into Percy, sending him into a rock extrusion.
With this last hit, Percy was out of energy. That last trick trying to control Kronos' arm had drained him of the rest of his energy. However, as Kronos leaned down to inspect Percy, as he slipped out of consciousness, he managed to spit defiantly on Kronos' face. And then all went dark.
"Perseus," gasped Artemis. Percy, realized he had been revealed, silently cursed his decision to take off the glasses. "You're... back." She finished somewhat awkwardly.
"Thank you, Vice Admiral Obvious." The joke went over Artemis' head, or she ignored it.
"How long have you been back?" She demanded, seemingly forgetting that Percy was the one who had her pinned.
"Three months." Was the quick response. Artemis sighed.
"You are aware that now I will have to take you to Olympus, right? Father will want to see you." Percy smirked.
"Ah, but who has who pinned here, Lady Artemis?" In an instant, Percy could feel his mass shifting as his feet were swept out from under him. In an instant, his arms were on the ground, and a knee on his chest.
"I have you pinned, I believe." Surprisingly, Percy laughed.
"Fair enough. Lead the way, Mi' Lady."