Far up I the mountains, where the peaks grow jaggedly towards the sky, on the side of the mountain far out of reach from Apollo's searching gaze, sits a palace of black onyx. Encased in these dark walls, there is no light to be seen, and no air to breathe, the only sensation coming from that of the midnight water that floats around the halls and rooms. Not many people could breach this fortress and seek to survive the attempt, but the owner was quite happy here. The man in question was currently in his throne room, leaning back into the shadows that surrounded his raised dais so that his shifting form remained hidden from the man at his feet.

On the floor, crouched down, head bowed and seemingly unaffected by the lack of oxygen in the air around him as he took deep, steady breaths, a young man decked out in gleaming armour was eyeing the floor respectfully at the feet of his master. In the perpetual darkness, the man's sea green eyes seemed to shine out from his tanned face and his raven locks drifted lazily around his head, pulled up by the ever shifting currents that lived within these walls.

In front of the two men was what appeared to be a darker patch of shadow than all others in the room, but, up close, it was actually a portal that showed them the faces of 8 people as they sat around a wooden table, discussing matters and battle strategies. Laughing slightly, the man on the throne waved his hand, causing a disturbance in the water that ripped the message apart. Noticing the change in demeanour, the younger man shifted uneasily in place.

"My Lord?"

These two words seemed to amuse the being on the raised stage to no end, but, finally, he calmed down enough to turn to the younger man at his feet, though his smile was still evident in his words when he addressed the boy.

"Do not worry Perseus, it is of no consequence to us what the children of earth do, now, go and inform the others, it is time for us to continue the plan. Now leave, I must think some more."

Without another word, the boy silently rose to his feet before passing out into the hallway and out of the being's sight. Once the demigod had left, Pontus allowed himself a smug smile, yes, now the war was in his hands and it was time for him to put his plan into action.

Annabeth sighed, it had been almost a week since Percy had disappeared with no trace to be found, and it was beginning to weigh on her. Unbidden thoughts of the time when he had ended up on Calypso's island washed into her mind, emphasising her grief, but she pushed such thoughts away. She was no longer the girl who had lost her crush in the labyrinth, no, now she was the warrior who had lost her fiancée in the sways of a war, and there was no use in crying now. Not when there was still work to be done, even if the plan of battle was still not clear.

Pushing herself up from her place on the tussled bed, where she had been brooding in the shadows, she forced herself out of the door. Once in the brightly lit corridor, she barely hesitated, ignoring the protest of her eyes as they adjusted to the harsh lighting and, instead, walked swiftly down the plush halls and into the lift, tapping her foot agitatedly as she waited for it to climb the necessary floors before storming out into the main social room.

"If you're looking for the zombie boy, he's down on the training floor giving Natasha a run for her money."

She nodded slightly at Tony, thought it was doubtful that he noticed it, seeing as though he did not turn from the over sized T.V screen where the perky Anchor woman was informing everyone about the freak storms that were ravaging the west of the country, something specialists believed could be an early warning of yet another hurricane. Despite this, the woman seemed to be rather complacent and soon began nattering on about the new semesters starting soon for students.

Ignoring the confirmation of what she already knew, the daughter of Athena stepped quickly into the kitchen area where she slipped into a stool beside Thor, her slim frame looking even more so beside his bulk. Looking her over quickly in a analytical fashion, Steve turned back to the fridge door he had been just about to close, grabbing a bottle of sparkling water and tossing it to her before taking his own place at the counter. If there was nothing else that came out of this sudden disaster, it was the fact that a rather unexpected friendship had sprung up between the two parties allowing them to get along quite comfortably, especially with the soldier who seemed to find it his personal duty to protect the teens. After all, it was not the first time that the avengers had had to deal with such a blow, and, unfortunately, the same could be said for the demigods as well.

"Any more news from Clint?"

A few days ago, the archer had gone out with Will Solace, son of Apollo, and Clarisse La Rue, daughter of Ares, from camp half-blood, the small team going round to different parts of the country to see if they could find any information as to the whereabouts of their missing comrade, not that they had expected to discover anything they didn't already know, but it was still worth a try. At last check, the small part were some where in Louisiana, searching down a rebel group of monsters reported to be ripping up the area.

Sighing slightly the super soldier slumped slightly further in his seat, cupping his hands around the cup of ice tea that sat in front of him. Thor merely sighed, prodding his pop tarts around without any enthusiasm.

"No word yet on young Perseus, but tell me, have you any luck on interpreting the prophecy? Surely you must have some inferences to derive from the riddle."

Pulling the top off of her drink, Annabeth took a long gulp before speaking again, the sparkling liquid soothing her ragged throat and starting to mitigate the pounding in her temples.

"Well, as far as I can see, I think you are Lightning, Thor, Earth is most probably Nico, but as for Scorn and Fire, I have absolutely no idea. What bothers me more though is the fact that it has been too long. Surely, now that he has Percy, Pontus should be setting out to attack, why is he delaying so long?"

There was silence for a moment as the other two thought more about the girl's words. Neither of them were really knew much about riddles, being more of the attack force of the team, but that did not mean that they were not able to think in a situation that called for it. On a screen to the side of the door, they could all clearly make out the figures of a black clad woman with flaming hair, guarding herself wearily from the gothic boy that was battering her down with a wooden sword. After a particular motion where Natasha flipped over Nico's shoulder in an attempt to get away from his sudden onslaught, Steve's head suddenly snapped up as though he suddenly remembered something.

"Hey, you both know how Romanoff got her code name right?"

There was a murmur of agreement from the others as they tried to see where the soldier was heading with this, but his eyes were fixed upon the screen so he did not notice the confused glances thrown his way. He was far to caught up in his own thoughts however to be deterred by the lack of enthusiasm shown by his team mates.

"Well, back in my time women like her would be scorned right… well, maybe that would be what the prophecy meant, for the Scorn part, it could be her?"

"it is possible, but the ways of the oracle are never truly clear until events come to pass."

And so on went the musings of the three until they all fell into a comfortable silence, as had passed many of the days before.

Alone in his throne room, Poseidon sat alone, tears streaming silently down his tanned cheeks even as his left hand clamped around the smooth grip of the trident by his side. Once again his son was missing. Once again his favourite son, who had suffered far too much and given more than could be asked of him for the sake of Olympus, was in the hands of the enemy before he could even recover from his last ordeal. What hurt the deity more however, was the fact that, now, he could see no way for his child to survive, not through the wrath of this new enemy.

Since the news had reached him, the lord of the seas had spent most of his time in solitude, not wanting to see the disapproving looks from his wife and immortal son, not now. Far away from his palace, his troops were engaged in a small skirmish with some minor sea monsters, but he did not feel like joining them, no, now he was facing a much greater problem. Sally.

Over the years, this one mortal woman had been forced to face far more stress than any should ever have to endure. When there was still a minor chance of their son turning up alive in some way shape or form, was it worth her tears and pain to inform her of the disappearance, or should he wait until the inevitable had been confirmed? He could not bear to see her tears, but was it not a greater evil to leave her blind about the whole situation? How should he approach this meeting even if he went?

He was so entrenched in the workings of these questions that he did not notice Triton slip into the room through the open door, nor did he hear his son's voice as he sought his father's council, indeed, it was only when the merman physically pressed upon his shoulder that the sea god startled into awareness.

"I'm sorry, what were you saying?"

The immortal in front of him seemed to be trying to hold back his exasperation as he swayed from side to side, seemingly unable to stay still. The sea prince was decked out in his gleaming armour, weapon in hand and helmet firmly covering his face so that Poseidon could not read his son's expression, though irritation bled into his words as he repeated himself, something he clearly was not used to.

"The attack father, we though it would be a simple battle, but it appears that we misjudged the entire situation. They did not rise against us of their own violation, they are being led by a warrior who fights like a demon and wields a bronze sword. Our troops are confused my lord, they believe that this fighter uses the very water as his weapon though it is only a trait of our family. What news do you have in this matter?"

Poseidon's heart fell as he heard those words, the ones that he had been hoping against hope not to hear. Sighing slightly, he lowered his head to his hands, hiding his anguish as he addressed his eldest child.

"Go out and join the battle my son, you are needed there for I fear that your opponent this time will test you to the very edge of your skill. This time Triton, you will be facing your brother, you will be facing Percy…"

A/N: there you have it, I hope you enjoyed it