NPU: Battle of the Labyrinth

Chapter 10

Well, E3 is here folks and I know that this year and next with all the games AND movies coming out, my wallet is going to suffer. I just know it.

XXXX

"Well, that was interesting." Naruto replied once the sounds of night life started back up once the dead left the area.

"I'll say. "Nico said through teary eyes, very happy to know that Bianca was indeed still alive and then he could see her again in the future. She even had her usual temper around him. It was great, like old times. "Stay safe down there sis." He said to himself with a smile.

"Hey uh, what now?" Grover asked.

"That is good question." Silena replied. "I don't think it would be very safe for us if we moved out now in the dark. Even if we are going back in the Labyrinth."

"You folks are welcome to stay the night if you want. I got couches and spare room if you all want to." Eurytion offered.

"I think we will take you up on that offer." Naruto replied with a smile. After all, he was tired.

XXX

Naruto started up at the night sky as he laid down on the roof top of Eurytion's house. It was the Son of Ares' now that his monster of an employer was dead….for now. It turns out that he was sharing a room with Nico. That was cool seeing as Percy and Grover got the living room couches and Annabeth and Silena got the other room.

However, right now, he just wanted to see the night sky and relax. Seeing the sky reminded him of Konoha. It was peaceful, but that thought made him remember that the Eclipse was soon. The day that happened, the two worlds would come together for a short time. How long he was not sure and what would happen was beyond him. All he knew was that for a short period of time, he would be able to see his old friends, at least for one more time.

His thoughts were interrupted by a shadow. Looking up, Naruto saw that it was Nico looking down on him. "What's up?"

Nico smiled as he sat down next to his blond brother. "No much, I just wanted to thank you. Although I am a little annoyed that Bianca basically ignored me until you and Percy tried the technique with me, I am still happy to know she is ok."

Naruto smiled. "I did try to tell you, but I guess stubbornness runs in our family."

"Heh, yeah I guess." Nico said while rubbing the back of his head, another trait in the family.

"So what are you going to do now?" Naruto asked. "Will you join us on our quest?"

Nico looked up at the stars for a moment before shaking his head. "No. It is your quest, so it doesn't feel right just joining up like that. I think I'll stay at the ranch for a little bit before heading back to camp…or the Underworld."

"I'd wait to go down there for a bit." Naruto suggested before snapping his fingers as if just remembering something. On his bracelet, he tapped on a charm, making it expand into a regular weapon. "Here, I made this for you, you know to protect yourself better."

Nico told hold of the weapon with wide eyes and his mouth agape. It was a fairly large weapon thanks to the large chain connected to two hook-like attachments. The hooks themselves seemed to glow a dark purple as well. "Wow, thank you!"

"Yeah, I can't be the only one in our family to have more than one weapon. Those are called the Claws of Hades and they have a special ability of taking the essence of a fallen monster and temporarily giving you their special power."

"I…I don't know what to say." Nico replied, shocked that after all the trouble he had caused, Naruto was willing to give him a present.

"Just say thanks!" Naruto replied good naturedly.

Nico smiled. "Yeah, thanks!" he said while hugging his brother. Soon after, Nico went back down in the house to get some shut eye while Naruto continued to star gaze. That was until he fell asleep. He didn't know what or how, but he didn't care.

However, while Percy dreamed of what was going on with Luke and his army, something that now had the full power of the Kampe on its side, Naruto dreamt of something else. Like his other dreams dealing with the past, he was in the shoes of someone else. This time, he was Daedalus himself. The old man was hunched over a table in a stone tower. He was wrestling with some kind of navigation instrument that looked almost like an early version of a compass. Nearby was a mirror that the old man passed over and Naruto saw how much old the man was. Daedalus cursed in Ancient Greek and squinted as if he couldn't see his work, even though it was a sunny day.

It was odd for Naruto to experience that but he just shrugged it off.

"Uncle!" a voice called.

A smiling boy about Nico's age came bounding up the steps, carrying a wooden box.

"Hello, Perdix," the old man said, though his tone sounded cold. "Done with your projects already?"

"Yes, Uncle. They were easy!"

Daedalus scowled. "Easy? The problem of moving water uphill without a pump was easy?"

"Oh, yes! Look!

The boy dumped his box and rummaged through the junk. He came up with a strip of papyrus and showed the old inventor some diagrams and notes. Naruto took one look at it and it baffled him as he was not used to high calculations like that, but Daedalus nodded grudgingly. "I see. Not bad."

"The king loved it!" Perdix said. "He said I might be even smarter than you!"

"Did he now?"

"But I don't believe that. I'm so glad Mother sent me to study with you! I want to know everything you do."

"Yes," Daedalus muttered. "So when I die, you can take my place, eh?"

The boys' eyes widened. "Oh no, Uncle! But I've been thinking…why does a man have to die, anyway?"

The inventor scowled. "It is the way of things, lad. Everything dies but the gods."

"But why?" the boy insisted. "If you could capture the animus, the soul in another form…well, you've told me about your automatons, Uncle. Bulls, eagles, dragons, horses of bronze. Why not a bronze form for a man?"

"No, my boy," Daedalus said sharply. "You are naïve. Such a thing is impossible."

"I don't think so," Perdix insisted. "With the use of a little magic—"

"Magic? Bah!"

"Yes, Uncle! Magic and mechanics together—with a little work, one could make a body that would look exactly human, only better. I've made some notes."

He handed the old man a thick scroll. Daedalus unfurled it. He read for a long time. His eyes narrowed. He glanced at the boy, then closed the scroll and cleared his throat. "It would never work, my boy. When you're older, you'll see." However, Naruto was annoyed at this time seeing the plans looked so complicated that he could barely follow them. Thankfully, just was as he was wondering why he was in this position, Daedalus' mind seemed to translate the mechanics to him. It could work and that is what worried him. Daedalus briefly believed it could work but then shunned the idea.

"Can I fix that astrolabe, then, Uncle? Are your joints swelling up again?"

The old man's jaw clenched. "No. Thank you. Now why don't you run along?"

Perdix didn't seem to notice the old man's anger. He snatched a bronze beetle from his mound of stuff and ran to the edge of the tower. A low sill ringed the rim, coming just up to the boy's knees. The wind was strong.

Move back, Naruto tried saying but then he remembered who he was in the place of and the man's thoughts were starting to scare him. Daedalus was jealous, paranoid, and angry. It could lead to pour judgement.

Perdix wound up the beetle and tossed it into the sky. It spread its wings and hummed away. Perdix laughed with delight.

"Smarter than me," Daedalus mumbled, too soft for the boy to hear. Even if the old man was smart, he could not escape some of the things that old people seemed to get and it seemed to be worse for him.

"Is it true that your son died flying, Uncle? I heard you made him enormous wings, but they failed."

Daedalus's hands clenched. "Take my place," he muttered.

The wind whipped around the boy, tugging at his clothes, making his hair ripple.

"I would like to fly," Perdix said. "I'd make my own wings that wouldn't fail. Do you think I could?"

Naruto knew that Daedalus was going to use poor judge the moment the two headed god Janus shimmering in the air next to Daedalus, smiling as he tossed a silver key from hand to hand. Choose, he whispered to the old inventor. Choose.

Daedalus picked up another one of the boy's metal bags. The inventor's old eyes were red with anger.

Naruto now wanted to wake up or at the least close his eyes. The thoughts running though the old man were too much for him. Why was he forced to watch this!

"Perdix," he called. "Catch."

He tossed the bronze beetle toward the boy. Delighted, Perdix tried to catch it, but the throw was too long. The beetle sailed into the sky, and Perdix reached a little too far. The wind caught him.

Somehow he managed to grab the rim of the tower with his fingers as he fell. "Uncle!" he screamed. "Help me!"

The old man's face was a mask. He did not move from his spot. "Go on, Perdix," Daedalus said softly. "May your own wings. Be quick about it."

"Uncle!" the boy cried as he lost his grip. He tumbled toward the sea.

There was a moment of deadly silence. The god Janus flickered and disappeared. Then thunder shook the sky. A woman's stern voice spoke from above: You will pay the price for that, Daedalus.

Naruto knew that voice. It was Athena and she had good reason not to sound happy. Not at all. After all, Naruto himself felt anger towards Daedalus as well.

Daedalus scowled up at the heavens. "I have always honored you, Mother.

I have sacrificed everything to follow your way."

Yet the boy had my blessing as well. And you have killed him. For that, you must pay.

'I have paid and paid!" Daedalus growled. "I've lost everything. I'll suffer in the Underworld, no doubt. But in the meantime…"

He picked up the boy's scroll, studied it for a moment, and slipped it into his sleeve.

You do not understand, Athena said coldly. You will pay now and forever.

Suddenly Daedalus collapsed in agony. Naruto felt what he felt. A searing pain closed around his neck like a molten-hot collar—cutting off his breath, making everything go black.

XXX

"NARUTO WAKE UP!" a female voice shouted out, making Naruto do what it said.

Panting, he wildly looked around until he saw Silena looking worriedly at him. "Hey, I came up here to see if you were ok and saw you thrashing around in your sleep. Everything ok?"

"Ugh, yeah. I had another dream where I am somewhere else again." Naruto sighed out.

"Who were you this time?" Silena asked as she laid down next to him.

"I was actually the man we are after, Daedalus, but the thing is, I saw him at his worst…when was cursed by Athena."

Silena widened her eyes. "Really? Tell me how that happened again. I kind of forgot."

"He killed his nephew." Naruto replied, feeling ashamed because he was Daedalus in the dream.

The daughter of Athena gasped, "Perdix! I remember now….wait you had to experience that?! I am sorry!"

"It is not your fault." Naruto sighed.

"Still, that must have been a difficult experience for you." Silena replied while leaning her head on his shoulder to look at the beautiful stars with him. "How about we take your mind off that awful stuff."

"What would you suggest because it is not like I am getting much sleep tonight?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow.

She didn't answer verbally, she just kissed him passionately. When he broke the kiss, she knew what he was going to say as he did many times before. Sure they have slept together before but that was the extent of it…sleep. "Shh, it is ok. All demi-gods are related in some way, so stop thinking about it." They were just more closely related to her being the daughter of Aphrodite and he was the Goddess of Love's grandson. That obviously didn't bother Silena.

Naruto chuckled as he held her face and looked in her eyes. "I guess I am weird like that. But if this is what you really want, then fine." He said before capturing her lips in a fiery kiss.

That night, they got little to no sleep

XXX

So you are sure you don't want to join us?" Percy asked Nico the next morning when the boy told them that he was stay for a while.

"Yeah, you guys have your own quest to deal with and I have to time things right to get back to camp." Nico replied.

"He'll be alright," Eurytion promised. The cowherd had cleaned up nicely. He was wearing new jeans and a clean Western shirt and he'd even trimmed his beard. He'd put on Geryon's boots. "The boy can stay here and prepare for his journey as long as he wants. He'll be safe, I promise."

"I'll hold you to that." Naruto replied with a serious face. He and Silena were the last to come down to leave since they were still a bit tired from last night's activities, something the others picked up on but stayed quiet about.

"You have my word." The man stated making Naruto nod.

'So what about you though?" Percy asked Eurytion.

Eurytion scratched Orthus behind one chin, then the other. "Things are going to be run a little different on this ranch from now on. No more sacred cattle meat. I'm thinking about soybean patties. And I'm going to befriend those flesh-eating horses. Might just sign up for the next rodeo."

That made Percy shiver due to his experience with them in cleaning their stable. "Well…good luck with that."

"Yep." Eurytion spit into the grass. "I reckon you'll be looking for Daedalus's workshop now?"

Annabeth's eyes lit up. "Can you help us?"

Eurytion studied the cattle guard, and they got the feeling the subject of Daedalus's workshop made him uncomfortable. "Don't know where it is. But Hephaestus probably would."

"That's what Hera said," Annabeth agreed. "But how do we find Hephaestus?"

Eurytion pulled something from under the collar of his shirt. It was a necklace—a smooth silver disk on a silver chain. The disk had a depression on the middle, like a thumbprint. He handed it to Annabeth.

"Hephaestus comes here from time to time," Eurytion said. "Studies the animals and such so he can make bronze automaton copies. Last time, I— uh—did him a favor. A little trick he wanted to play on my dad, Ares, and Aphrodite. He gave me that chain in gratitude. Said if I ever needed to find him, the disk would lead me to his forges. But only once."

"And you're giving it to me?" Annabeth asked.

Eurytion blushed. "I don't need to see the forges, miss. Got enough to do here. Just press the button and you'll be on your way."

Annabeth pressed the button and the disk sprang to life. It grew eight metallic legs. Annabeth shrieked and dropped it, much to Eurytion's confusion.

"Spider!" she screamed.

"She's, um, a little scared of spiders," Grover explained. "That old grudge between Athena and Arachne."

"Oh." Eurytion looked a little embarrassed. "Sorry, miss."

The spider scrambled to the cattle guard and disappeared between the bars.

"Hurry," Percy said as he ran after it woth Tyson ripping the cattle guard off the ground so they could follow. "That thing's not going to wait for us."

Naruto sighed before putting a hand on Annabeth's shoulder, making her jump. "Don't worry too much about the spider little sis." He said making her blush. "I'll stick with you to make sure you are ok."

"T-thanks." Annabeth gratefully said while Silena smirked. They really were like brother and sister in her eyes.

"Still Percy should be the one doing this." Naruto said with a wink, making the girl blush again.

"S-shut up!" the daughter of Athena stuttered out making Naruto laugh and Silena smile.

XXX

There were times Percy wished he could have put a leash on the mechanical spider or Naruto wished he had managed to put a tracking seal on it because that little thing was annoying to keep track of. Since the tunnels were badly lit, they could barely see it. But thanks to the combined might of a Ninja, a Satyr, and a Cyclops's hearing, they managed to follow it.

They ran down a marble tunnel, then dashed to the left and almost fell into an abyss. Tyson grabbed Percy and hauled him back before he could fall. The tunnel continued in front of the group, but there was no floor for about a hundred feet, just gaping darkness and a series of iron rungs in the ceiling. The mechanical spider was about halfway across, swinging from bar to bar by shooting out metal web fiber.

"Monkey bars," Annabeth said. "I'm great at these."

She leaped onto the first rung and started swinging her way across. She was scared of tiny spiders, but not of plummeting to her death from a set of monkey bars. Go figure.

When she looked back, Percy was already behind her and Tyson was getting closer with Grover on his back, piggyback style. However, when they looked to see the position Naruto and Silena had been in they were gone.

"Wait, where are Naruto and Silena?" Annabeth asked worriedly.

"I am right here." Naruto said from behind her, making her jump.

"What? How did you do that?" the blond girl asked.

"People seem to forget I am a ninja." Naruto replied with a pout. "I just wall walked across with Silena on my back." Silena nodded to that but a little freaked out about the experience since if they had fallen, who knows what would have happened.

"Oh…right." Annabeth replied lamely before the group moved again to catch up with the mechanical spider.

They kept moving and passed a skeleton crumpled in the tunnel. It wore the remains of a dress shirt, slacks, and a tie. The spider didn't slow down. Percy slipped on a pile of wood scraps, but when he shined a light on them he realized they were pencils—hundreds of them, all broken in half.

The tunnel opened up onto a large room. A blazing light hit them. Once their eyes adjusted, the first thing anyone noticed were the skeletons. Dozens littered the floor around them. Some were old and bleached white. Others were more recent and a lot grosser. They didn't smell quite as bad as Geryon's stables, but almost.

That's when they saw the monster. She stood on a glittery dais on the opposite side of the room. She had the body of a huge lion and the head of a woman. She would've been pretty, but her hair was tied back in a tight bun and she wore too much makeup, so she kind of reminded them of an uptight choir teacher. She had a blue ribbon badge pinned to her chest that took a moment to read: THIS MONSTER HAS BEEN RATED EXEMPLARY!

Tyson whimpered. "Sphinx."

Percy knew exactly why he was scared. When he was small, Tyson had been attacked by a Sphinx's paws and disappeared.

"Well…I wasn't expecting this." Naruto replied.

Annabeth started forward, but the Sphinx roared, showing fangs in her otherwise human face. Bars came down on both tunnel exits, behind us and in front.

Immediately the monster's snarl turned into a brilliant smile.

"Welcome, lucky contestants!" she announced. "Get ready to play…ANSWER THAT RIDDLE!"

Canned applause blasted from the ceiling, as if there were invisible loudspeakers. Spotlights swept across the room and reflected off the dais, throwing disco glitter over the skeletons on the floor.

"Fabulous prizes!" the Sphinx said. "Pass the test, and you get to advance! Fail, and I get to eat you! Who will be our contestant?"

Annabeth grabbed my arm. "I've got this," she whispered. "I know what she's going to ask."

"You sure about that Annabeth?" Naruto asked with a odd look on his face. "This seems more like an odd version of a game show…so she might not ask the same old questions."

"I'll be fine." Annabeth said with a smile before making her way to the contestant podium, which had a skeleton in a school uniform hunched over it. She pushed the skeleton out of the way, and it clattered to the floor. "Sorry," Annabeth told it.

"Welcome, Annabeth Chase!" the monster cried, though Annabeth hadn't said her name. "Are you ready for your test?"

"Yes," she said. "Ask your riddle."

"Twenty riddles, actually!" the Sphinx said gleefully.

"What? But back in the old days—"

"Oh, we've raised our standards! To pass, you must show proficiency in all twenty. Isn't that great?"

Applause switched on and off like somebody turning a faucet.

Is anyone going to get that phone?" Naruto asked.

"Huh? Why?" Grover asked when he saw an oddly place phone in the room.

"Because I freaking called it!" Naruto replied making them sweatdrop. Annabeth just looked back at him and Percy in worry but they just gave her reassuring smiles and thumbs up.

"Okay," she told the Sphinx. "I'm ready."

A drumroll sounded from above. The Sphinx's eyes glittered with excitement. "What…is the capital of Bulgaria?"

Annabeth frowned. For a terrible moment, Percy thought she was stumped. "Sofia," she said, "but—"

"Correct!" More canned applause. The Sphinx smiled so widely her fangs showed. "Please be sure to mark your answer clearly on your test sheet with a number 2 pencil."

"What?" Annabeth looked mystified. Then a test booklet appeared on the podium in front of her, along with a sharpened pencil.

"Make sure you bubble each answer clearly and stay inside the circle," the Sphinx said. "If you have to erase, erase completely or the machine will not be able to read your answers."

"What machine?" Annabeth asked.

The Sphinx pointed with her paw. Over by the spotlight was a bronze box with a bunch of gears and levers and a big Greek letter Ȇta on the side, the mark of Hephaestus.

"Now," said the Sphinx, "next question—"

"Wait a second," Annabeth protested. "What about 'What walks on four legs in the morning'?"

"I beg your pardon?" the Sphinx said, clearly annoyed now.

"The riddle about the man. He walks on four legs in the morning, like a baby, two legs in the afternoon, like an adult, and three legs in the evening, as an old man with a cane. That's the riddle you used to ask."

"Exactly why we changed the test!" the Sphinx exclaimed. "You already knew the answer. Now second question, what is the square root of sixteen?"

"Four," Annabeth said, "but—"

"Correct! Which U.S. president signed the Emancipation Proclamation?"

"Abraham Lincoln, but—"

"Correct! Riddle number four. How much—"

"Hold up!" Annabeth shouted.

"You think we should stop her." Naruto asked.

"No, she is doing great. Besides, I am not the one who is going to piss that monster off more." Percy replied. "Still, I guess she likes a challenge to question this game show."

"No kidding." Silena dead panned.

Back with the Daughter of Athena, she was getting steamed since she had been ready for riddles, not test questions! So what if she knew both, this was not how it was supposed to be! "These aren't riddles," Annabeth said.

"What do you mean?" the sphinx snapped. "Of course they are. This test material is specially designed—"

"It's just a bunch of dumb, random facts," Annabeth insisted. "Riddles are supposed to make you think."

"Think?" The Sphinx frowned. "How am I supposed to test whether you can think? That's ridiculous! Now, how much force is required—"

"Stop!" Annabeth insisted. "This is a stupid test."

"Um, Annabeth," Grover cut in nervously. "Maybe you should just, you know, finish first and complain later?"

"I'm a child of Athena," she insisted. "And this is an insult to my intelligence. I won't answer these questions."

"Yeah, but what is more important. Your life or your intellect?" Naruto asked.

"BOTH!" Annabeth roared, clearly annoyed at this point in time to think clearly.

The spotlights glared. The Sphinx's eyes glittered pure black. "Why then, my dear," the monster said calmly. "If you won't pass, you fail. And since we can't allow any children to be held back, you'll be EATEN!"

The Sphinx bared her claws, which gleamed like stainless steel. She pounced at the podium.

"No!" Tyson charged. He hates it when people threaten Annabeth, but Percy couldn't believe he was being so brave, especially since he'd had such a bad experience with a Sphinx before.

He tackled the Sphinx in midair and they crashed sideways into a pile of bones. This gave Annabeth just enough time to gather her wits and draw her knife. Tyson got up, his shirt clawed to shreds. The Sphinx growled, looking for an opening.

Percy drew Riptide and was about to order Annabeth to run and hide, but Naruto interrupted him. "Annabeth, this monster if after you, so I think you should be the one to deal the finishing blow. But to do so, you need to use one major advantage you have against it. Go invisible and wait for the right moment." Naruto ordered while Annabeth nodded and put on her cap.

"We could just run." Percy suggested.

"And leave this problem for someone else? No thanks." Naruto replied while the Sphinx cried one when she saw that Annabeth disappeared.

"No fair!" the Sphinx wailed. "Cheater!"

With Annabeth no longer in sight, the Sphinx turned on Percy. He raised his sword, but before he could strike, Tyson ripped the monster's grading machine out of the floor and threw it at the Sphinx's head, ruining her hair bun. It landed in pieces all around her.

"My grading machine!" she cried. "I can't be exemplary without my test scores!"

"Who cares?!" Naruto roared, catching the monster's attention. It reared a claw back before sending at the blond. "Oh crap." He said as he looked for a way to stop it until he noticed a certain charm on his bracelet. Quickly activating it, the charm turned into that of two pieces of a shield on each arm before he brought them together into a full shield as he blocked the claw. "Man, why did I forget I had this?" He asked himself as he noticed another trait the shields had.

Quickly ducking under the claw, he separated the two pieces as they each stared humming. Looking closer, one could see a multitude of blades running along the edges of the two pieces of the shield. Shooting up, Naruto managed to saw of the claw with one swipe, making the monster scream in pain.

"Grover, we could use a little music about now!" Naruto called out.

Grover to out his reed pipes and played a song that made the scattered pencils around the room remember that they used to be part of trees as they actually turned back into the trees they were made of and ensnarled the monster, keeping it in place. However, it used it's other hand to rip away from the trap and succeeded but thankfully Silena used a whip to keep it in place, but even she was not strong enough to keep it in place, so Naruto came to her aid to keep it in place.

"Ok, now what?" Percy asked as he readied his blade.

"THIS!" Annabeth shouted as she appeared in midair and stabbed the creature in the head, making it scream out in pain again before it burst into golden dust.

"Whoa! Awesome Annabeth." Percy shouted, glad that they had won and Naruto's pseudo plan worked.

Annabeth picked up two bracers covered in the Sphinx's fur and a wing jutting from each one. "Nice, I wonder what these do." She said aloud, observing her spoils of war.

"Um I hate to break up the party, but we should go before anything else tries and kills us." Grover said nervously.

"Good idea." Tyson replied, not wanting to face another Sphinx. With that, they around out of the area, hoping to catch up to the mechanical spider.

XXXXX

Well, that is a different way to end that chapter since in the original, they ran from the Sphinx. And yes, I know some of you are mad that I didn't put a lemon in there with Naruto and Silena. The reason for that is that I didn't have time and I couldn't think of a good one. So a fade to black with your imaginations between the two descendants of the Goddess of Love will have to do.

Anyway…REVIEW