Battle of the Labyrinth

Chapter 16

XXXX

"This way!" Rachel yelled.

"Why should we follow you?" Annabeth demanded. "You led us straight into that death trap!"

"It was the way you needed to go," Rachel said. "And so is this. Come on!"

Annabeth looked back to Naruto, who held the string that he stole from Luke. The male blond shrugged and said, "If what I am getting from this string, then she is right. I'd just go with it."

Annabeth didn't look happy about it, but she ran along with the rest of the group. Rachel seemed to know exactly where she was going. She whipped around corners and didn't even hesitate at crossroads. Once she said, "Duck!" and they all crouched as a huge axe swung over their heads. Then they kept going as if nothing had happened.

There were so many twists and turns that no one bothered keep track of them all. They didn't stop to rest until they came to a room the size of a gymnasium with old marble columns holding up the roof. Percy stood at the doorway, listening for sounds of pursuit, but he heard nothing. Apparently they had lost Luke and his minions in the maze. Something Naruto confirmed when he said he didn't feel any energy behind them.

Then Percy realized something else: Mrs. O'Leary was gone. He didn't know when she'd disappeared. The young boy didn't know if she'd gotten lost or been overrun by monsters or what. His heart turned to lead. She'd saved theirlives, and he hadn't even waited to make sure she was following the group.

Naruto saw his friend's distress and put a comforming hand on his shoulder. "I am sure she is fine man." Percy feel a little better, but he wanted confirmation himself that she was alright.

Ethan collapsed on the floor. "You people are crazy." He pulled off his helmet. His face gleamed with sweat.

Annabeth gasped. "I remember you! You were one of the undetermined kids in the Hermes cabin, years ago."

He glared at her. "Yeah, and you're Annabeth. I remember."

"What—what happened to your eye?"

Ethan looked away, apparently that was one subject he would not discuss.

"You must be the half-blood from my dream," Percy said. "The one Luke's people cornered. It wasn't Nico after all."

"Who's Nico?"

"Never mind," Annabeth said quickly. "Why were you trying to join upwith the wrong side?"

Ethan sneered. "There's no right side. The gods never cared about us. Why shouldn't I—"

"Sign up with an army that makes you fight to the death for entertainment?" Annabeth said. "Gee, I wonder."

Ethan struggled to his feet. "I'm not going to argue with you. Thanks for the help, but I'm out of here."

"We're going after Daedalus," Percy said. "Come with us. Once we get through, you'd be welcome back at camp."

"You really are crazy if you think Daedalus will help you."

"He has to," Annabeht said. "We'll make him listen."

Ethan snorted. "Yeah, well. Good luck with that."

Percy grabbed his arm. "You're just going to head off alone into the maze? That's suicide."

He looked at Percy with barely controlled anger. His eye patch was frayed around the edges and the black cloth was faded, like he'd been wearing it a long, long time. "Percy….you will regret what your friend has done in sparing me. Mercy has no place in this war." He then glared at Naruto half-heartedly. "I hope you can deal with it when the time comes, but know this, my mother does not hate you. Our mothers where best friends once upon a time and would have adopted you into her clan if she could have. Hell…you and my brother would have come to this world sooner if she had her way."

"What? What do you mean?" Naruto asked, but Ethan just turned and ran into the darkness….back the way they had come.

XXX

Soon, the girls and Percy all become rather too tired to move any further for the moment, so Naruto suggested that they rest for a while. They decided to camp in a rather large room they stopped in for an hour or two….hopefully Percy found some scrap wood and Naruto started a fire. Shadows danced off the columns rising around them like trees.

"He looked pretty pleased to me," Percy said. "Like he'd spent a nice day torturing heroes."

"That's not true! There was something wrong with him. He looked…nervous. He told his monsters to spare me. He wanted to tell me something."

"Probably, 'Hi, Annabeth! Sit here with me and watch while I tear your friends apart. It'll be fun!'"

"You're impossible," Annabeth grumbled. She sheathed her dagger and looked at Rachel. "So which way now, Sacagawea?"

Naruto snorted at the nickname, but Naruto saw what was going due to his connection with his grandmother, Aphrodite. While growing closer to Percy….almost to love, Annabeth was just a wee bit jealous of Rachel and used that in her own crush with Luke, feeling that she could save the other blond. Good god, it was like a freaking soap opera and his grandmother like that crap? Sheesh. But that too was in the realm of love…..something she was the head of….all aspects of love.

Rachel didn't respond right away. She'd become quieter since the arena. Now, whenever Annabeth made a sarcastic comment, Rachel hardly bothered to answer. She'd burned the tip of a stick in the fire and was using it to draw ash figures on the floor, images of the monsters we'd seen. With a few strokes, she caught the likeness of a dracaena perfectly. "We'll follow the path," she said. "The brightness on the floor."

"The brightness that led us straight into a trap?" Annabeth asked. "Lay off her, Annabeth," I said. "She's doing the best she can."

Annabeth stood. "The fire's getting low. I'll go look for some more scraps while you guys talk strategy." And she marched off into the shadows.

Naruto sighed and looked to Silena. "Hey, can you watch them for a moment, I gotta cheer up my little sister."

Silena just giggled a bit a shook her head. "If you think you can, then go ahead, but please be careful."

"Arf!" Tear barked, as she just from Keli and Silena respectively.

Naruto just smiled as he too walked off to help Annabeth. When he saw her, she was angrily picking up random scraps off the ground. Naruto just sighed and started helping her silently. After a while, Annabeth grew annoyed with him and asked. "What do you want?"

"I get that you are very smart, but you forget one thing. Percy is not. No one other than his mom tried helping him in school, so he doesn't pick up on the subtle ques you are throwing his way."

Annabeth sighed, "Yeah….he is kind of stupid in that area…but to be honest, so are you."

"Hey!" Naruto replied, mocking being hurt. "I am kind of in the same boat as him, but the one thing that I have that he doesn't is a link to Aphrodite herself. So I have slowly picked up on things. Including your other situation."

"What do you mean?" Annabeth asked, fearful of the answer.

"You are a lot like my old teammate, Sakura."

Annabeth's face grew annoyed. "I remind you of that pink haired banshee of a fangirl?"

Naruto chuckled at the apt disruption of the Haruno girl. "Back in the academy, she was one of the first people to be nice to be at first and at the time, I gained a crush on her and asked her out multiple times. However, I had it all wrong. I thought to be friend, you had to ask someone out and that ended badly….every time. So instead of being my friend, she hated me for being annoying. However, the point is, for all of her smarts, like you, she too had a crush on the class prodigy. Sasuke, my other old teammate. She thought she could help him with her pain and grief. She thought she could save him and that is a vibe I get from you."

Annabeth looked at him in a shock before she looked at the ground, not sure how to process that.

"I also see that Percy doesn't get why you want to help Luke so much. But I get it, you want to save him because of not only a small crush you have for him, because he was one of your first friends."

The blond girl fell to her knees with silent tears pouring from her eyes. "I…I don't know what to do anymore." She got out. "I just want things to go back to what they once were. Me, Luke, Thalia, and Grover….back to our somewhat happier time! I want us all to be together again, but know it won't happen. Luke is too far got but I need to help him! I know there is good in him!"

Naruto quietly came up behind her before hugging her. "It will be okay. I believe you."

Annabeth smiled a little sadly. "But your right, I really like them both! Luke for being there through the years at camp after we thought that Thalia truly died. Now Percy, for many things, including ignoring the stupid fight our parents are still having for all these years, but that idiot still can't see it. It is so…irritating!"

Naruto sighed, "He may be dense, but give him time. I mean, my girls got through to me, so I am sure you can too. I also believe you can be with the guy you want and save your oldest friend, just don't give up."

"Thanks." Annabeth replied with a smile as she finally hugged him back before letting go. "Can I tell you something?"

"Sure."

"Promise you won't laugh?"

"Fine." Naruto replied with a shrug.

"At one point, I sorta had a crush on you too." Annabeth replied shyly.

Naruto chuckled, "Why?"

"I thought you promised!" Annabeth replied half-heartedly, know it would happen either way. "Whatever, it was because of the way you helped people no matter what, but it was just a small crush and I didn't feel like sharing you like Silena and the others do. So when you called me little sis the one time, I was happy. You are the best big brother I could have."

"Heh, thanks, I didn't know you thought that way." Naruto replied in a bit of shock.

"Well it is true and I am glad you are around. You make things easier for me and it is great to know that I have family watching my back." Annabeth replied with a big smile.

"Well, I am glad you think of me like that and I am glad I can be of help when you need iut, but I am sure we should get back before they start to worry…or if Percy magically figures out how not to be dense and see that both you and red have a thing for him."

"That is not likely." Annabeth deadpanned with a smirk as they picked up the scraps and headed back.

Naruto then had a thought. "You know, I know that Hephaestus has a thing for Athena, but what about Poseidon?"

"That's not funny." Annabeth replied, shoving Naruto a bit.

XXX

A few hours later, Annabeth noticed that Percy was having a fit in his sleep and Naruto didn't look to be fairing any better. But there was also another problem. The room was shaking. "Percy, Naruto, wake up!" she screamed.

"Tyson—Tyson's in trouble!" Percy said. "We have to help him!"

"We have ourselves to worry about first. We need to be alive to be able to save them." Naruto growled out as he slowly got his balance back and stuck to the ground with chakra.

"Right." Annabeth replied but she did wonder what they had dreamed about. What was happing to Tyson and by proxy, Grover. "Let's deal with this earthquake!"

"Rachel!" Percy yelled, trying to get the girl attention as she himself tried to get his balance.

Her eyes opened instantly. She grabbed her pack while Naruto woke up Silena and Keli and they all ran. They group was almost to the far tunnel when a column next to them groaned and buckled. They kept going as a hundred tons of marble crashed down behind them.

"This is a hell of a way to wake up, is that what you demi-god have to deal with usually?" Keli asked as she ran fast in a panic.

"Yes!" all the demi-gods replied in unison, making Rachel and Keli sweatdrop.

They made it to the corridor and turned just in time to see the other columns toppling. A cloud of white dust billowed over them, but they just kept running.

"You know what?" Annabeth said. "I like this way after all."

"There," Rachel said.

The four demi gods and one monster followed her into a stainless steel hallway that looked like they belonged on a space station or something. Fluorescent lights glowed from the ceiling. The floor was a metal grate.

Being in darkness for so long as some adverse effects on the group as they had to quint a bit at the new light in their vision and the girls looked to be a bit more paler than usual. That made Naruto wonder how Grover was doing in the darkness…other than a big snake trying to eat him and Tyson.

"This way," Rachel said, beginning to run. "We're close!"

"This is so wrong!" Annabeth said. "The workshop should be in the oldest section of the maze. This can't—" She faltered, because we'd arrived at a set of metal double doors. Inscribed in the steel, at eye level, was a large blue Greek delta symbol.

"We're here," Rachel announced. "Daedalus's workshop."

"Huh…if that is the case, the man has obviously kept up with the times." Naruto replied nonchalantly, making Annabeth want to rip her hair out at thing that were not what they were supposed to be.

XXX

Annabeth pressed the symbol on the doors and they hissed open.

"So much for ancient architecture," Percy said, agreeing with Naruto.

Annabeth scowled. Together they walked inside.

The first thing that stuck out at them was the daylight—blazing sun coming through giant windows. Not the kind of thing you expect in the heart of a dungeon. The workshop was like an artist's studio, with thirty-foot ceilings and industrial lighting, polished stone floors, and workbenches along with windows. A spiral staircase led up to a second-story loft. Half a dozen easels displayed hand-drawn diagrams for buildings and machines that looked like Leonardo da Vinci sketches. Several laptop computers were scattered around on the tables. Glass jars of green oil—Greek fire—lined one shelf. There were inventions, too—weird metal machines they couldn't make sense of. One was a bronze chair with a bunch of electrical wires attached to it, like some kind of torture device. In another corner stood a giant metal egg about the size of a man. There was a grandfather clock that appeared to be made entirely of glass, so you could see all the gears turning. And hanging on the wall were several sets of bronze and silver wings.

"Di immortals," Annabeth muttered. She ran to the nearest easel and looked at the sketch. "He's a genius. Look at the curves on this building!"

"And an artist," Rachel said in amazement. "These wings are amazing!"

The wings looked more advanced than the ones I'd seen in my dreams. The feathers were more tightly interwoven. Instead of wax seals, self-adhesive strips ran down the sides.

"For an old demi-god, yeah, they look great." Keli replied as she observed all the stuff in the room. It really was amazing. She felt that this sight was one of the things she like about her switch of sides.

"Yes, quite beautiful." Silena replied as she took in the beauty of all the art work.

Percy kept his hand on Riptide. Apparently Daedalus was not at home, but the workshop looked like it had been recently used. The laptops were running their screen savers. A half-eaten blueberry muffin and a coffee cup sat on a workbench. A quick glance at his blond ninja like friend, he saw that Naruto had noticed as well and looked to be ready for anything.

Percy walked to the window. The view outside was amazing. He recognized the Rocky Mountains in the distance. They were high up in the foothills, at least five hundred feet, and down below a valley spread out, filled with a tumbled collection of red mesas and boulders and spires of stone. It looked like some huge kid had been building a toy city with skyscraper-size blocks, and then decided to knock it over. "Where are we?" He wondered.

"Colorado Springs," A voice said behind them. "The Garden of the Gods."

Standing on the spiral staircase above them, with his weapon drawn, was the camp's missing sword master Quintus.

XXX

"You," Annabeth said. "What have you done with Daedalus?"

Quintus smiled faintly. "Trust me, my dear. You don't want to meet him."

"Look, Mr. Traitor," she growled, "I didn't fight a dragon woman and a three-bodied man and a psychotic Sphinx to see you. Now where is DAEDALUS?"

Quintus came down the stairs, holding his sword at his side. He was dressed in jeans and boots and his counselor's T-shirt from Camp Half- Blood, which seemed like an insult now that they knew he was a spy. Percy was a little nervous about fighting him. "You think I'm an agent of Kronos," he said. "That I work for Luke."

"Well, duh," said Annabeth.

"You're an intelligent girl," he said. "But you're wrong. I work only for myself."

"Luke mentioned you," Percy said. "Geryon knew about you, too. You've been to his ranch."

"Of course," Quintas said. "I've been almost everywhere. Even here." He walked past Percy like he was no threat at all and stood by the window.

"The view changes from day to day," he mused. "It's always some place high up. Yesterday it was from a skyscraper overlooking Manhattan. The day before that, there was a beautiful view of Lake Michigan. But it keeps coming back to the Garden of the Gods. I think the Labyrinth likes it here. A fitting name, I suppose."

"You've been here before," Percy said.

"Oh, yes."

"That's an illusion out there?" Percy asked. "A projection or something?"

"No," Rachel murmured. "It's real. We're really in Colorado."

Quintus regarded her. "You have clear vision, don't you? You remind me of another mortal girl I once knew. Another princess who came to grief."

Naruto, who had be silently watching the strange man suddenly groaned, getting everyone's attention. "I am an idiot." He said. "You're Daedalus, aren't you?"

"Smart boy." Daedalus replied. "As expected from a ninja of those lands. Even my maze has found a way there. Luckily, known on that end knows the way in."

"Wait, what?" both Percy and Annabeth replied in shock at the revelation.

"But you're not an inventor! You're a swordsman!" Percy freaked out.

"I am both," Quintus said. "And an architect. And a scholar. I also play basketball pretty well for a guy who didn't start until he was two thousand years old. A real artist must be good at many things."

"That's true," Rachel said. "Like I can paint with my feet as well as my hands."

"You see?" Quintus said. "A girl of many talents."

"I figured there was something odd about him when he came to camp, but I never thought this." Silena replied with a shake of her head.

"Still a surprise nonetheless."

"But you don't even look like Daedalus," Percy protested. "I saw him in a dream, and…" Suddenly a horrible thought dawned on him.

Naruto caught it and sighed. "You used your nephew's invention. You are an automaton."

"No." Annabeth said uneasily, "that's not possible. That—that can't be an automaton."

Quintus chuckled. "Do you know what Quintus means, my dear?"

"The fifth, in Latin. But—"

"This is my fifth body." The swordsman held out his forearm. He pressed his elbow and part of his wrist popped open—a rectangular hatch in his skin.

Underneath, bronze gears whirred. Wires glowed.

"That's amazing!" Rachel said.

"That's weird," Percy said.

"Not as weird as a guy back home who can shoot his bones out of his body." Naruto replied with a shrug as Daedalus gave him an odd look.

"You found a way to transfer your animus into a machine?" Annabeth said, ignoring Naruto for now. "That's…not natural."

"Oh, I assure you, my dear, it's still me. I'm still very much Daedalus. Our mother, Athena, makes sure I never forget that." He tugged back the collar of his shirt. At the base of his neck was the mark I'd seen before—the dark shape of a bird grafted to his skin.

"A murderer's brand," Annabeth said.

"For your nephew, Perdix," Naruto replied darkly. "The boy you pushed off the tower."

Quintus's face darkened. "I did not push him. I simply—"

"Made him lose his balance," Naruto said. "Let him die."

Quintus gazed out the windows at the purple mountains. "I regret what I did, Naruto. I was angry and bitter. But I cannot take it back, and Athena never lets me forget. As Perdix died, she turned him into a small bird—a partridge. She branded the bird's shape on my neck as a reminder. No matter what body I take, the brand appears on my skin."

"You really are Daedalus," Percy said. "But why did you come to the camp? Why spy on us?"

"To see if your camp was worth saving. Luke had given me one story. I preferred to come to my own conclusions."

"So you have talked to Luke."

"Oh, yes. Several times. He is quite persuasive."

"But now you've seen the camp!" Annabeth persisted. "So you know we need your help. You can't let Luke through the maze!"

Daedalus set his sword on the workbench. "The maze is no longer mine to control, Annabeth. I created it, yes. In fact, it is tied to my life force. But I have allowed it to live and grow on its own. That is the price I paid for privacy." He then chuckled. "It has even made its way into his world." He said, point at Naruto, who looked shocked.

"Privacy from what?" Percy asked, not wanting to think about see more ninja at the moment.

"The gods," he said. "And death. I have been alive for two millennia, my dear, hiding from death."

"But how can you hide from Hades?" Percy asked. "I mean…Hades has the Furies."

"They do not know everything," The old man said. "Or see everything. You have encountered them, Percy. You know this is true. A clever man can hide quite a long time, and I have buried myself very deep. Only my greatest enemy has kept after me, and even him I have thwarted."

"You mean Minos," both Naruto and Percy said.

Daedalus nodded. "He hunts for me relentlessly. Now that he is a judge of the dead, he would like nothing better than for me to come before him so he can punish me for my crimes. After the daughters of Cocalus killed him, Minos's ghost began torturing me in my dreams. He promised that he would hunt me down. I did the only thing I could. I retreated from the world completely. I descended into my Labyrinth. I decided this would be my ultimate accomplishment: I would cheat death."

"And you did," Annabeth marveled, "for two thousand years." She sounded kind of impressed, despite the horrible things Daedalus had done.

Just then a loud bark echoed from the corridor. They heard the ba-BUMP, ba- BUMP, ba-BUMP of huge paws, and Mrs. O'Leary bounded into theworkshop. She licked Percy'sface once, then almost knocked Daedalus overwith an enthusiastic leap.

"There is my old friend!" Daedalus said, scratching Mrs. O'Leary behind the ears. "My only companion all these long lonely years."

"You let her save me," Percy said. "That whistle actually worked."

Daedalus nodded. "Of course it did, Percy. You have a good heart. And I knew Mrs. O'Leary liked you. I wanted to help you. Perhaps I—I felt guilty, as well."

"Guilty about what?"

"That your quest would be in vain."

"What?" Annabeth said. "But you can still help us. You have to! Give us Ariadne's string so Luke can't get it."

Daedalus chuckled. "Your blond friend already has it. I had given it to Luke in hopes that when they won, I could set things right, but I am no fool. Kronos is the nicknamed the Crooked One for a purpose, so I know he would betray me but I chose my side." His face grew dark. "I was a fool, but so are you. Your cause is doomed. You will fail."

Annabeth pushed over an easel. Architectural drawing scattered across the floor. "I used to respect you. You were my hero! You—you built amazing things. You solved problems. Now…I don't know what you are. Children of Athena are supposed to be wise, not just clever. Maybe you are just a machine. You should have died two thousand years ago."

Instead of getting mad, Daedalus hung his head. "You should go warn your camp just in case. He still has his own way of getting to that camp."

Suddenly Mrs. O'Leary pricked up her ears.

"Someone's coming!" Rachel warned.

When the door open, in came the last person they expected, panting slightly. Nico.

"NICO?!" The group shouted.

"Yeah, it is me and yes I followed you after a little bit." Nico replied with a smirk similar to Naruto's before that disappeared. "Can we worried about me being here later. Seems that Luke's forces are already here and I just got lucky avoiding them."

"Oh…Shit" Naruto grumbled. "Now what?"

"You all run, I will hold them off." Daedalus said as he picked up his sword. "I knew they would return to kill me."

"Wait, what?" the group asked in shock.

XXXXX

Ending it here because I need to get into work early…like now and I won't have time to release it tonight.

Review please!