They drove to the Amazon's main headquarters with very few issues. They made the mistake of stopping once for fast food, and Ryker made a break for freedom. They somehow managed to get him back in the van again and set off back on their way, unwilling to stop again. Once moving, Ryker proved to be too carsick to do much more than groan occasionally and fight off his bout of severe nausea. When they finally pulled into a vast parking lot filled with what looked like forklifts outfitted for battle and put the van into park, Ryker was the first one out. He stepped onto the pavement and breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
"Seriously though," Percy hopped lightly out of the van and observed the hunched over form of Ryker. "Carsickness? Your Achilles' Heel is carsickness?"
"Stop talking." Ryker said, his eyes shut tight. "I'm in no mood to hear it."
"Well, on the bright side we're here now." Piper said cheerfully. She stretched and sighed with happiness. "That feels better. I hate being cooped up for so long."
"Where do we go from here?" Annabeth asked, stowing the keys in her bag. She reached into the back of the van and tossed everyone their own bags. Ryker immediately pulled out his claws and stowed one in each of his main pockets. "Percy, Hazel, you two have been here right?"
"Yeah…." Hazel drew out the word and winced. "Last time didn't go so well…. Like, at all. We got captured pretty quickly."
"I could shadow-travel us inside." Nico offered.
"Probably not a great idea." Annabeth immediately shot the idea down. "We don't want the amazons to think that they're under attack."
Ryker straightened his back and took a deep breath of the cool morning air. He rolled his shoulders and slowly released the breath. The last effects of the carsickness seemed to exit his body with the air. "I don't see any other entrance." He said, determinedly striding towards the front door.
"Ryker! Not a good idea!" Percy called from behind him. When Ryker made no signs of stopping he heard the other give a collective groan before the sound of feet followed behind him.
"Does the word 'teamwork' mean anything at all to you?" Will demanded on Ryker's right. "If you keep doing things by yourself you are going to either get yourself or the rest of us hurt or killed."
"No one is making you follow me." Ryker pointed out. He dug his hands into his pockets, the picture of casualness. The gesture was anything but however. "I don't know what you are so worried about."
"You'll see in a few minutes." Percy promised grimly. "Especially if Kinzie is still the receptionist."
"Isn't that the one who wanted to put you in a collar and an orange jump suit?" Annabeth wondered. "I kind of liked her. She had spunk."
Nico and Will snorted in a barely concealed fit of laughter while Percy scowled. Ryker frowned in puzzlement. "Why… why would they want to put you in a collar?" Ryker asked uncertainly.
"Amazons keep their boyfriends on a short leash." Hazel quickly explained. "Literally, mind you. Not metaphorically. The men in Amazon society are only a step above servants. They don't seem to mind though, I mean they are free to leave at any time."
The sliding glass doors parted with a pneumatic hiss revealing a sparsely decorated lobby with a case of pamphlets sitting right beside the desk of a red-haired secretary. Ryker glanced at Percy and noted his paling face and correctly guessed that the girl at the desk was this Kinzie person. Her eyes narrowed on the incoming group and Ryker's senses were instantly on their highest setting. "Hello," She said politely, addressing Annabeth. "How may I help you today?"
"Kinzie, how have you been?" Annabeth asked. She smiled at the amazon and Kinzie smiled back.
"Oh, not too bad." She sighed. "Hazel, I thought you would have learned from last time? We don't allow boys here. Not unless they are in a metal collar and an orange jumpsuit." She quickly added the last with a hopeful look at Percy.
"Sorry." Percy raised his shoulders and let them fall. "I'm not really into-."
The doors on either side of the receptionist's desk flew open and a stream of spear and sword wielding Amazons charged into the lobby. Ryker's hands flew out of his pockets, the metal of his claws flashing wickedly. "Drop your weapons!" One Amazon ordered, leveling her spear at Ryker.
"Come get them." He snarled, a feral grin on his face. His body was hunched over and tensed, ready for any move he would need to make. More spears were leveled at him and his smile grew wider.
"Take them." The Amazon who had told Ryker to drop his weapons ordered. The other demigods submitted rather meekly, allowing their hands to be bound behind their backs and then to be forced into the room that the Amazons had appeared from. Ryker on the other hand did not submit. The Amazon who had moved forward to attempt to subdue him now sported five parallel gashes on her shoulder. She stepped back and Ryker was surrounded by a ring of spears. His eyes were constantly roving, waiting for one of them to make the first move. He didn't have to wait long. He heard the sounds of footsteps behind him and whirled around in a circle, the shaft of a spear passing him harmlessly by. His clawed hand descended on the wood of the weapon and the spear-point was snapped off. It went skittering across the floor, followed closely by its owner.
That seemed to give the other Amazons reason to pause. They had Ryker outnumbered but as he had just shown he was, in no uncertain terms, an experienced fighter. Ryker's breathing was even but his blood was singing through his veins at a break-neck pace. Though it was against his better judgement, Ryker went on the attack. He fell forward and dug his claws into the hardwood floorboards, using them as an anchor to propel him forward. The first Amazon had fallen before the girls on either side of her could react. Ryker gave them no time to recover, already turning his attention to the next one in line. She swiped at him with a vicious over hand cut and he leapt backward out of the sword's reach. He fell into a crouch again, just as the girl behind him attempted to stab him in the back. A genuine laugh bubbled up to Ryker's lips and his vision grew sharper. Mars' gift was glowing hot on his arm, but Ryker ignored it. He wanted this fight for himself. It was too much fun. Still in a crouch from ducking the attack, he coiled his legs beneath him and launched himself at the girl who had performed the overhand cut. Ryker's movements had been so fast that she hadn't had the chance to recover from her strike. Ryker lunged forward and curled his right hand into a fist. His punch landed solidly in her stomach. To her credit, she seemed to shrug off the blow and reached for Ryker in an attempt to immobilize him. She was too slow however. He danced away, laughter now echoing in the lobby. The Amazons roared in response and did the only sensible thing. They attacked him as one cohesive unit. Ryker's laughter grew even more pronounced and wild, just as his fighting style did. It was by no means an easy fight, not even slightly. The Amazons were extraordinarily well trained and each of their individual skills were something to behold. But that only increased Ryker's happiness in battle. Something about being so close to death seemed to make him feel so alive.
After Ryker incapacitated the third Amazon without killing her, the others seemed to catch on to the fact that he wasn't trying to kill them. Several seemed even more enraged by the fact that he was not taking this as a serious ordeal, but more seemed intrigued by him. A few even began to mirror his smile. Ryker's movements were so fluid and unorthodox that the Amazons had trouble figuring out how to handle this wild demigod. He fought on all fours just as often as he fought on two legs, which made fighting him something of a novelty. For his part, Ryker was having a wonderful time. He wouldn't admit it, but he was extremely impressed by the Amazons' fighting ability. When he had fought the Romans in the game of capture the flag, and even when he attacked the guards at the entrance to camp, they had fallen with disappointing ease. These fighters however, they were able to keep him interested. He wanted to prolong this fight for as long as he could. He danced under a series of spear thrusts and broke the spearheads off with a savage swipe from his claws. He was breathing hard now, but he was still smiling. He was surprised when he noticed that some of the Amazons had even begun to smile as well. That sent new energy coursing into his muscles and he attacked with a renewed vigor.
As great a fighter as Ryker was, the Amazons' skill and numbers could not be denied. He was eventually felled when a rather crafty Amazon waited for him to break the spearhead from her spear. When Ryker used the same move he had for the dozen-and-a-half other spears he had broken, she threw the spear aside and leapt at him. A combination of weariness, surprise, and slight arrogance caused Ryker's normally lightning fast reaction to be slightly slower. She kneed him in the stomach and pushed him onto his back, straddling his chest and pressing her sword to his throat with just enough pressure to barely break the skin. Ryker gazed up at her with surprise and, grudgingly, admiration. "Yield?" She demanded, pressing down with her sword just a little harder. "Yield?!"
Ryker bit out a harsh chuckle and sighed. "Yield." He conceded. Girls on either side of him yanked off his gloves and tossed them away before tying corded roped around each of his wrists. He frowned but did not resist, accepting the loss. He stared up at the girl who had felled him and raised an eyebrow. He glanced meaningfully down at the sword and she released some of the pressure on his throat. "What's your name?" He asked.
"None of your business, male." She said dismissively, tossing a mane of long yellow and brown hair over her shoulder. "Take him to the others. Queen Hylla is speaking to them I believe. She can decide his fate."
Ryker was pulled to his feet by two rather burly Amazons and led out of the room at spear point. Right before the door closed behind them Ryker heard the other Amazons praise the one who had taken him down. She laughed and then seriously said, "Alright ladies, I beat him. I so have dibs. Got that?"
Dibs? Ryker wondered. He returned his attention to the scene before him and blinked in surprise. A massive factory with all manner of mythical beasts, weapons, and some things that Ryker had never seen before were constantly being moved by forklifts being driven by men with orange jumpsuits and iron collars. Ryker raised an eyebrow and shook his head. "I thought they were joking." He muttered to himself. He received a whack across the back with the flat side of a spearhead and scowled.
"No talking, male." One of the girls escorting him ordered.
"Yeah, that's not going to happen." Ryker informed her. Another smack across the back with the spear. He turned his head and glared at the offending Amazon. "Stop. Hitting. Me." He warned her.
She looked at him with a bored expression and hit him again. He stopped short and pulled against the ropes that bound him, angry now. "Move, prisoner." She ordered, poking him now.
Ryker eventually found the room with the rest of the demigods he had departed on the quest with. He opened the door, rubbing his chafed wrists, and raised an eyebrow at the stunned expressions that were sent his way. "That was fun." He declared, closing the door behind him. A girl who looked remarkably similar to Reyna sat at a polished wooden desk, an intricate belt on her waist. Two guards stood on either side of her, their mouths hanging open in shock and confusion.
"Where… where are your guards, prisoner?" One of them managed.
Ryker raised an eyebrow when he noticed that every other demigod, Amazons excluded of course, still had their wrists bound. "They are… indisposed." He wished he hadn't tossed the sword he had stolen for his escape away before entering the office. "They are still alive." He added, seeing the looks of horror on his comrades' faces.
Hylla looked Ryker over critically and then let out a laugh. She shook her head, still chuckling, and said, "It's just as my sister told me." She told the others. "He's quite the wild one, isn't he?"
"You have no idea." Annabeth said somberly.
