Pain, exhaustion, and… loss? Ryker wasn't sure which feeling was the strongest in him when he regained consciousness. He was standing alone on what he assumed was once a battlefield judging by the various craters and broken weapons that littered the ground. Standing several yards away, watching him warily, were dozens of demigods. Piper and Calypso stood at the front, their weapons drawn. The Amazon who had shackled him with the metal bands was there as well, standing beside Percy, Jason, Annabeth, and the others.
The pain in his body seemed to be increasing with every passing second, culminating in a bundle of searing agony in his right hand. He straightened from the crouch he had been in and took a staggering step backwards. His breath came in ragged gasps, sweat dripping from every inch of his body. His right hand seemed particularly sweaty for some reason, he could feel sweat simply pour off of it. He raised the hand in question to wipe off his forehead and stopped short, something catching his eye on the ground. It was a hand, a very familiar one. A bronze metal band encircled the hand's wrist. Tremoring slightly, Ryker brought his gaze very slowly down to his right hand. A cry of utter despair that felt as if it had been ripped from his very soul poured from Ryker's mouth and he fell to his knees, his other hand gripping his bloody stump. "My hand!" He screamed, unable to comprehend what his eyes showed him. "My hand!"
Someone ran up to him, and Ryker immediately hunched himself over his wounded arm. He growled, a long low sound that he ripped out of his throat. He rose his eyes to meet the person who had ran up to him, Will Solace, and glared at him. "Stay back!" Ryker warned.
Will did not respond with words. Instead he put two fingers in his mouth and let loose an even worse whistle than before, effectively overwhelming an already tired and injured Ryker. His eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed on his side. "Stretchers!" The son of Apollo shouted back at the demigods, all of whom had watched with wide eyes as Ryker had mourned the loss of his hand. "Now! And bring nectar and ambrosia!"
"What can we do?" Percy asked, rushing forward with the others and Victoria at his side. For once the Amazoness looked genuinely worried about Ryker, her eyes filled with concern. "Can you, like, sew his hand back on?"
"I doubt it." Will shook his head and grabbed Ryker's handless arm. He examined the stump for a long moment, his medically trained eyes darting back and forth. After what seemed like an eternity, when it was actually a few seconds, Will ripped off the remains of Ryker's shirt and tied it tightly around the stump and shook his head. "Whatever that aura thing is must have slight regenerative properties to let him fight longer. The stump has already healed just enough for the worst of the blood loss to be stopped. If the wound was still fresh I might, and that is might, be able to reattach it. But with the healing that went on, it's impossible."
"So what do we do?" Victoria asked, crouching by Ryker's head.
"Elevate his feet." Will ordered no one in particular as he began to address the various broken ribs. "And where in Hades is my stretcher?!"
The last that Percy saw of Ryker for quite a while was Will hurrying alongside a team of sons and daughters of various healing gods as they rushed the son of Cybele to the medical building. "Think he'll be alright?" Piper asked.
Their group had been quickly commandeered by the medical team to assist other demigods who had been injured in the battle. Thankfully very few had been seriously injured and of those only two were in critical condition. Everyone else had been treated with relative ease and told to rest. It went on for hours, helping the wounded demigods. Several extra teams of guards had been posted outside on the outskirts of the camp on the off chance that a second wave of monsters was dispatched against the camp. They had just finished their task and were heading towards the mess hall when Leo stopped abruptly, his eyes going to the Senate building. The others followed his line of sight and they too were at a loss for words. The Senate building had been virtually demolished, several of the stone pillars that ringed the building were lying on their side. "This is where Gina was, right?"
"Or whatever it was that was impersonating her." Annabeth said darkly, walking cautiously into the Senate.
The others followed her, scanning the surroundings for any sign of the fake demigod. Unsurprisingly there was none, but several streaks of blood lined the walls. It was evident where Ryker had been, claw marks often marred the otherwise smooth stone. Some placed seemed to have rotten or crumbled away, which was clearly the work of the strange weapon that Gina had been using. Percy winced when he saw a demigod sized crater in the stone seating of the Senate. Whichever combatant had landed there had undoubtedly been caused a great amount of pain. They stood in the center of the Senate, gazing around at the destruction that Ryker and Gina had wrought in their battle. There was scarcely a spot that was not touched in some way whether it be claw marks, blood, or a rotten spot. "So where is Gina anyways?" Leo asked finally.
"I sense magic here…." Calypso said uncertainly, glancing to Leo in question. "Two kinds. One seems old, older than me. The other seems… unclear. Indistinct. Like someone started a spell and never finished it. That's dangerous."
"Why is that?" Annabeth asked curiously. Percy suppressed his desire to roll his eyes. Even in this situation Annabeth's natural curiosity was insatiable.
"Because unfinished magic is, well, raw." Calypso made an indistinct gesture with her hand. "It's volatile, dangerous. If left untouched for too long it could cause catastrophic damage."
"And there's an unfinished spell here?" Hazel wondered, casting a wary look around.
"No, no," Calypso said quickly. "Nothing more than the echoes of magic remain here."
"So, back to my original non-magic-related question, where the heck is Gina?" Leo demanded. "It looks like beast boy put down some serious hurt on her, so where is she? Did she do that whole tunnel thing Atlas did?"
"No, rest assured the fake demigod you are referencing did not simply walk away." Juno said gravely, striding into the Senate with all the confidence that only a goddess can have. "Your rabid friend made quite certain of that fact. Had I not sent him to the battlefield he would have made her of no use to us."
"She's of use to us?" Jason asked, frowning. "And what do you mean Ryker would have made her of no use?"
"Of course she is of use to us." Juno said stiffly. "The amount of information we can gain from her about our unknown enemy is endless."
"So she's alive?" Hazel frowned and glanced around at the carnage. "After this?"
"'Alive' is a bit excessive." Juno said slowly. "Barely existing would be a better phrase to use. Your friend tore out her heart. She should, by all rights, be dead. But the magic that keeps her alive is strong. If there are more like her we may very well have our hands full."
"So they are immortal?" Leo asked with a groan. "Great."
"Not immortal." Juno shook her head slightly, the thought obviously disgusting her. "From what little we have managed to learn about the imposter thus far we have determined that at least. They can die, but we are not certain how as of yet. By tearing out her heart Ryker very succinctly put an end to her. It seems that they can regenerate limbs but vital organs are a different matter entirely."
"Can we not talk about tearing out hearts?" Piper was a slight shade of green. "Can you help Ryker?"
"Even if I could I would not." Juno said, turning on her heel and walking away.
"Whoa, hold the phone!" Leo ran around Juno and stood in front of her, boldly crossing his arms. "You can't just let him throw down with this thing who tried to kill one of your goddess pals, let him lose a hand, and then say 'too bad so sad'. That's not how that works! You are a goddess, magic him a new hand!"
"Do not speak on things you do not understand!" Juno hissed, trying to move past Leo. Jason was there this time, glaring at her. "Stand aside!"
"Not until you help Ryker!" Jason was firm, his eyes blazing with as much power as the lightning he so freely commanded.
"I cannot help him!" Juno snapped, growing angrier by the second.
"Why the hell not?" Annabeth asked, her voice every bit as enraged as Juno's. "He's helped us more than once!"
"Because your friend should not be!" Juno exploded. "He is an unknown entity to the gods! Until recently he was not even known to be alive by us! Even the Fates did not know of him! Why would I help a demigod who could be the cause of more trouble? Now stand aside before I force you to."
Leo and Jason did move aside, albeit reluctantly, and Juno swept out of the Senate without another backward look. "Well, what now?" Hazel asked, sighing.
"I'm still hungry." Leo said meekly, drawing long faces from the others. "Hey! A guy's gotta eat."
"I'm hungry too," Annabeth agreed glumly, none too happy about the fact. "Let's get something to eat, we can discuss things there. Maybe someone saw the fight between Ryker and Gina and can tell us how…. This happened." Annabeth gestured airily with one hand at the Senate.
When they got to the meal hall they quickly picked up on the somber mood. Two huge monster attack in the same month will do that. Percy thought wisely to himself, taking a seat at the Fifth Cohort's Table. The others sat on either side of him or across from him. Even Frank took a break from his Praetor duties to partake of a quick bite to eat. "Well, we didn't lose anyone." Frank said wearily. "I just spoke with the healers. Everyone is going to pull through. A few of them will have to retire from the Legion early, but that's it. It's probably for the best, but I don't want to have to break the news to them. They are both daughters of Mars. They are going to hate being pulled out of this."
"If it's for the best, they'll understand." Hazel assured him, patting his arm with a smile.
"It means that we will be down two more soldiers." Frank sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. The pressure of being a Praetor was huge, and even heavier with the events taking place, but Frank had taken the majority of it on his shoulders. Annabeth helped out as much as she could but, being a Greek, her potential helpfulness was rather limited. Evidently the Romans, even in the midst of a conflict, did not want to give too much power to someone who could potentially destroy them from within. Even if it was really unlikely. "If this keeps up I might have to ask a few of the more recently retired legionnaires if they wouldn't mind joining again. I'm sure that a few of them will jump at the chance to serve. That might help."
"Are you that low on numbers?" Jason asked worriedly.
"No, but it helps being prepared." Frank shrugged. "If the gods showed up, I want to make sure that we have enough bodies for whatever comes our way."
"Bodies." Leo repeated, making a grim face. "Nice way to put it."
"You know what he meant." Hazel said, immediately coming to Frank's defense. "That's not fair to say."
"It was a joke, it was a joke." Leo grumbled into his food.
"A joke?" Will asked tiredly, sitting down at the table with a thud. His eyes were ringed with exhaustion. "Please. Share. I need a good laugh right now. I just finished surgery on that demigod who had a lamia spray poison onto his face."
"Is he going to be alright?" Percy asked, wincing at the thought.
"Yeah, most of it got onto his scalp. He probably will have to do the whole bald look for… the rest of his life. But he will make a full recovery."
"Well, that's good to hear." Frank said in relief. "He's a son of Ceres. I don't want to have to personally tell her that one of her children was killed. That wouldn't end well for me I think."
"What about Ryker?" Annabeth asked, handing Will a pot of what looked like coffee.
"I set his broken ribs and dressed all of his wounds." Will said after taking a deep drink of the coffee directly from the pot. He glared at the others to say something but, wisely, none of them did. "His hand is the real issue, but I have a nectar-soaked wrapping on it. It should prevent infection. Right now I am more worried about Victoria."
"The Amazon?" Percy raised an eyebrow. "Did she get hurt too?"
"No, but she has yet to leave his side." Will shrugged again and finished off the pot of caffeinated liquid. "She came into his room right after I finished treating him and hasn't left since. She just keeps staring at the floor and then at his stump."
