Brotherhood

Chapter 3: Capture the Flag

A/N: Well, thanks for all those kind reviews! I enjoyed reading them, and yes I may go with your suggestions if I like it. Enjoy reading this story!

Brad and I walked over to the dining pavilion expecting to see a quiet group of young demigods, bloodthirsty for battle in a fun, little game of Capture the Flag. Unfortunately, it wasn't quiet, and when is it peaceful before CTF?

Annabeth was standing on top of a table and was yelling for order. I browsed the group of warriors we had. The Aphrodite kids were sitting on the far end of the dining hall, putting on some make-up or gossiping. The Hermes kids were gathered around tossing something to each other. But when I looked closer, it was a Greek Fire grenade. If you ask me, we're going to have casualties before the game. The Athena kids seemed to be the only ones who were calm, they were either sharpening/cleaning their weapons or training with somebody. I was glad the Hephaestus kids weren't messing around, but they seemed to be arguing over a remote-controlled eagle that could shoot arrows accurately, so my hopes weren't so high on them. The rest- let's say they were not really prepared.

"Guys!" Annabeth yelled from the table. "We need to tell you the team plan!"

Nobody paid much attention.

"RED TEAM!" She screamed from the top of her lungs. "PAY ATTENTION!"

That shut them up, everyone looked at Annabeth. When they saw the look on her face, they scrambled for some seats. Without warning, an explosion set off in the corner, setting a few of the tables on fire. The Hermes kids laughed their heads off.

I walked over to them, "What happened?"

Everyone had their eyes on me, I was the only person standing.

One of the younger campers piped up, "Our grenade exploded."

An older Hermes kid elbowed him, "Dude, you don't have to say that."

"Don't let it happen again, we don't want deaths before the game." I shook my head in disgust.

They nodded, I could make an intimidating figure when I was irritated. I walked over to where Brad was and sat down.

"Alright then," Annabeth started. "Let's assure the positions."

According to Annabeth's strategy, the Hermes, Hestia and Dionysus cabin were to head straight to the border line and attack the enemies there. The Hestia and Iris cabins were to curve left around the main battlefield and cause another distraction. That led only one way for the enemies to go, right. The Hephaestus cabin were to set traps for them to force most of them towards their right and we would ambush most of them there. And if they got tricky and sent small squads around us, the Hephaestus cabin set up little automatons to surprise them. Annabeth assigned two little squads to head for the flag, and the rest who were not assigned a position were to either guard the border, or guard the flag. The Athena cabin were positioned near the flag in case the enemy got smart.

The two squads who were to get the flag contained me, Annabeth, Brad and Annabeth's half-brother, Marcus. The tall dude that I met at her cabin.

Unfortunately, Brad wasn't with me, he was with Marcus.

"But Brad could get killed." I protested.

Annabeth shook her head. "I'm sorry Percy, but Marcus will take care of him. Brad knows how to use his powers right?"

I thought about it. He never really told me if he knew about his powers, so I had my doubts.

"Anyways Percy," She said. "They're the ones who will come from the creek."

I had a wave of relief at that, maybe Brad could find his power if he hanged out near water.

"Okay." I said. "Let's do this then."

Annabeth smiled, then she turned to our army. "Red team! Move out!"

Everyone got their weapons and marched toward the forest. I kept my eyes on Brad, he had to separate from me to go with Marcus. My worst fear was the Ares cabin would hurt him, or kill him. I shook the thought out of my head and marched along.

9:00 PM | Capture the Flag

We posted our flag near the creek. It was posted in a small little pass of rocks and water, and there was only one entrance to it. So I knew it was perfect.

Before the game started, I walked over to Brad.

"Brad," I said, looking straight into his eyes. "If you have any trouble, go to the creek. It's your only refuge."

He nodded, but he had a small hint that he was irritated. "Okay, I will. But can you stop being a little too protective? You seem like a mom now."

I laughed, clearly I wasn't offended. I had to admit I was bit too protective. "Alright, but be careful. The Ares kids might kill you."

I walked away to meet with Annabeth, hopefully we'd win this game. The blue team has been winning since Nico and the Hecate team were working together. That teamwork was impossible to match.

Then in the open, we heard the sound of a battle horn. The signal to start the game. Chiron's voice came from all directions, "Campers! Ready your weapon! You know the rules, the team who gets the enemy flag to their territory wins! Magical weapons and powers are allowed. Please resist maiming and killing as much as possible. If anybody kills someone, they will have to answer to me! Now, let's begin!"

The horn sounded and everyone yelled. You could hear the yelling of the enemy team too, they were loud.

"Red team! To your positions!" I yelled.

Everyone marched on to their positions, they seemed hyped up to win the game.

I looked at Annabeth and she nodded. I turned to Marcus and Brad and signaled them to go on. It was time.

Annabeth and I walked along the forest being careful to not be spotted. From the distance, you could hear the main fight going on, and it sounded really brutal. Explosions were going off and smoke was easily seen. From the distance, I could see skeleton warriors fighting off a few Hephaestus kids. Nico. He was summoning the skeleton warriors which made it seriously unfair.

We walked a little further into the forest where the battle sounds died off. I looked around to see if the flag was anywhere to be seen, but it was nowhere. I hoped Brad and Marcus had better luck.

"You don't have to always worry about Brad, you know." Annabeth said, as if she read my mind.

I turned to her. "I know, I've spoken to him already. He said it was fine."

Annabeth smirked, "I could tell he was getting irritated."

I nodded. "Yeah, but-" I stopped. Something was in the bushes ahead. I looked at Annabeth, apparently she heard it too. She drew her knife while I uncapped Riptide. This was going to be fun.

The bushes ahead rustled and an arrow flew towards my face. Before the arrow could hit me, I pushed it away with amazing reflex and lunged toward the bush. Annabeth put on her invisibility cap and sneaked around, or I think she did. Anyway, when I hit the bush, I was fighting with an Apollo camper.

He pulled out his sword and shoved me off him. The kid was strong. He got up and took out some throwing knives and threw them towards me with incredible accuracy. One by one, a knife would fly past my face as I dodged them. One of them, unfortunately, grazed my left cheek. Luckily, the curse of Achilles was still on me, but I made it look like it hurt. The Apollo kid grinned and charged toward me with his sword. Bad idea for him. Far-ranged weapons he could use on me, but I dominated the swordfighting skill.

The kid swung toward my left and then kicked me in the shin. But I was smarter than that, I dodged his swing and grabbed his arm with the sword. He yelped in pain as I started twisting it with all the strength I had. Finally, he gave in.

"Okay! Okay!" He screamed in pain, "Enough! I give up!"

I let go of his arm, I couldn't just let him have a chance to go back to his team and warn him about us. I looked around the area and found a tree limb that looked bendable. "I'm sorry, but I have to do this." And I tied him around a tree in a knot that seemed impossible to get out. "You did good, by the way." I said, as I finished the knot.

I looked around for Annabeth. She turned invisible before the fight and there were no signs of her.

"Over here, Seaweed Brain." She turned visible. She was sitting on a rock, looking comfortable.

"You didn't help me."

"And double-team the poor kid? Trust me, I think you twisting his arm was enough for him." She smirked. "You did good though."

I looked back at the kid, who was struggling with the knot, "Thanks. But let's get out of here."

She nodded and got up from the rock. We walked more northward where most likely the flag would be.

A few minutes later we saw the flag. It was on a hill that had a bunch of trees surrounding it. There were three Ares kids guarding the flag and about a dozen Apollo kids were hiding behind some trees with their arrows notched.

"This doesn't look good." I grumbled.

Annabeth laughed quietly. "It's fine, we can take them out."

As soon as she said that, a group of people came out from across the hill. Two people were struggling, while five Ares kids were escorting them somewhere. Two of them were holding them tight as they climbed up the hill.

I groaned. I knew who exactly the two prisoners were. Brad and Marcus.

I scanned the group that took them prisoner and found that the person leading it was the Ares kid I pulverized. His nose seemed to make his helmet lift up since it was swelling so badly.

Me and Annabeth crouched behind a bush and watched the scene from there.

"Okay, put them here." The pulverized Ares kid said.

The others dropped them there and left. I looked at Marcus and saw that he was maimed horribly, and Brad wasn't looking very good. His arm looked hyperextended.

"You can't kill us." Marcus said, coughing. "Chiron would punish you badly."

The Ares kid laughed. "I'm not going to kill you. I'm here for the Poseidon kid!"

Brad flinched at the name Poseidon. This wasn't looking good.

"What are you going to do to him?" Marcus yelled. "He's only eleven!"

The Ares kid slapped Marcus hard, making Annabeth tense. "Don't move yet." I whispered.

"He's going to ****ing pay for what happened." The Ares kid said. "But don't worry, I won't kill you. You'll just wish you were dead."

The Ares kid took out a knife that was dripping with green liquid. Poison.

"Go to Tartarus!" Marcus yelled.

The Ares kid smiled coldly and drew the knife. He looked straight into Brad's eyes. Brad was silent, I couldn't blame him, this guy would scare me, if I was eleven.

"Don't worry, kid. You'll just feel a little pinch, then you'll experience the worst pain in your life." He laughed.

That's it. I was about to get up and charge the punk, but someone did it first. The Ares kid fell to the ground, then his helmet flew off and hit his face with a tremendous amount of force. He was unconscious now.

I looked to where Annabeth was, but she wasn't there. Then I found out what happened. Annabeth turned invisible and beat the crap out of the Ares kid. Smart.

Annabeth turned visible again and drew her knife. All of the guards were heading towards her. I jumped out of my hiding spot and drew Riptide.

The first Ares kid had a spear. He lunged toward me, but I was fast. I stepped aside and knocked him flat on the ground. Another guy came towards me and smacked me with his shield and slashed my arm. He hit, but it didn't hurt much. I pushed him aside and hit him with the hilt of my sword, knocking him out completely.

"FIRE!" I heard someone say, and before I knew it, a volley of arrows were coming towards me and Annabeth. I grabbed the shield of the knocked-out guy and lunged towards Annabeth and put the shield over her. I made sure my Achilles spot was protected and braced myself for the arrows.

The arrows bounced right off of me and flew to different directions. When the volley died off, I ran towards Brad and Marcus and pulled them towards safety. But the archers had us surrounded.

"It's over, Percy." The lead grinned. "Just surrender, and we'll keep you prisoner."

Then I smiled. "Nevermind that."

His face turned to confusion. "What?"

"Oops. Your flag is gone." I grinned.

They turned towards the flag and their eyes widened. "No!" Somebody yelled.

The plan went perfectly. Annabeth would take the flag when all the eyes were on me. And since she had her invisible hat, it was an easy job.

Then the conch horn sounded, signaling the end of the game.

A bunch of the archers fell to the ground covering their face. They were devastated, they thought they'd never lose a game.

I grinned and walked over to Brad and Marcus, they were okay, but they weren't smiling. "Hey guys, what's the long face? We won!"

Marcus shook his head. "Percy, you won't believe what happened-" The conch horn interrupted him.

I turned around and found Chiron galloping towards us. "Percy!" He said. His voice was filled with grief. "You have to come with me!"

I was confused, but I followed Chiron to whatever he wanted to bring me. And what I saw shocked me, I was stunned.

There were about five bodies on the ground, most of them Ares kids. Their wounds were smoking, as if something burned them. All of their hairs were standing up and when I stepped toward them, my hair stood up too, and not only that; I received a horrible shock. "What happened?"

Chiron shook his head. "It is as I feared Percy, it was I was supposed to tell you."

"What is it? Chiron! Tell me!" I said, I was mad, whoever did this was going to pay.

"The children of Zeus." He sighed. "They were hidden, but when Zeus released them to freedom, they turned on us. The children of Zeus have killed these young demigods."

BUM BUM BUM BUM!

I'm sorry for the choppy ending, but this is how it's supposed to go!

I'll explain the "sons of Zeus" thingy in the next chapter, so look forward to that!

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Thanks.