Sun's Heir, Death's Guardian II: A Hero's Peril
III
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
A black suburban vehicle was speeding along the highway in the middle of Nevada, passing an accident in the far right lane. Driving the massive SUV was a handsome man of Cherokee descent, a dimpled chin, and cropped black hair. His equally dark eyes twinkled but showed sadness, and when questioned on it, he would always claim was caused by the pain carried throughout the generations of the Cherokee people. This was Tristan McLean, star of last summer's hit King of Sparta, and right now he was frustrated.
"Oh Tristan," said Aphrodite with a sigh, a smile on her face. Ares crossed his arms and grumbled in distaste.
"Pipes, can you just tell me why?" he asked the girl seated next to him with her chin planted on her hand as she stared out the window. His 13-year-old daughter was dressed just like the tomboy she always was,
"Hey, I'm in it!" Piper cheered with a big smile.
"Wait a second," Leo said, getting her attention, "If you come in now…that means I might be coming in also!" Leo cheered with her as they looked to Jason.
The young blond was grinning back at them, seems the gang would be coming together after all.
her kaleidoscope-like eyes were most likely flickering from every car to the next they passed. Glancing quickly at his daughter, Tristan asked again, "Why did you take that pack of gum?"
"Well, I know the problem now…and got in under control," said the slightly flustered Piper with an embarrassed smile.
"I dunno, Dad, I thought you paid for it so I put it in my pocket," his daughter replied sincerely, making him shake his head at her impulsive action.
"ADHD." Piper argued weakly.
He merged into the left lane safely behind a semi truck with a large K and a sickle logo on the back.
"…Okay, that is just flat out ominous," said Percy with a frown, getting nods of agreement all around.
Piper looked over at him before crossing her arms and looking forward at the semi.
"Next time would you check with me before you go and put something in your pocket?" he asked before looking at his daughter once again, "For goodness sake, Piper you could've gotten in a lot of trou-"
"DAD WATCH OUT!" Piper screamed, making him look forward as a body fell towards him. Seconds before impact, he reached over and threw his right arm across Piper as a secondary safety-belt, knocking the volume on his radio and making some rock music blast to life as the body of a tall blond teenager bounced off of the hood of his car to the side of the road.
"…Piper, did your dad just hit Naruto?" Jason asked with a surprised blink.
"I-I think so," said Piper dumbfounded.
"…That is going to be an awkward meeting," said Leo.
Tristan's foot slammed on the brake pedal as the truck in front of them did the same, leaving just enough room between them so a person could lie down.
The airbags deployed, but thankfully did nothing more than at most bruise his chest and arm. Piper had shielded her own face with her arms, both of which were also likely bruised. As the airbags deflated, Tristan looked to his daughter, grabbing her shoulders and checking her for injuries.
"Dad! DAD! What about the guy you just hit?!" Piper asked before they both turned and saw a man jump from the top of the semi to the road. He was wearing chest armor that Tristan had only seen when he was filming King of Sparta, combat pants, boots and had a scarred left eye. The Scarred Man glared into their car before walking around them. Tristan looked into his rear view mirror to see him going to the person that had hit his SUV. The person he picked up looked to be about eighteen and was wearing a torn orange shirt. The left side of his face was bleeding heavily while the right had three scratches on his cheek. His arms were scraped badly, most likely from hitting the road, and his legs were most likely broken, if not shattered.
"Damn, he got messed up," said Nico.
"Vitakinesis, it'll do the trick." Apollo waved off, but he was worried about the situation his son was in.
Though the next thing Tristan saw utterly surprised him: The teen lifted both of his battered arms to grab the Scarred Man's shoulder and pulled his head back, driving it forward into the Scarred Man's nose. The Scarred Man stumbled back before he was given a drop kick to push him over the barrier into the opposite lane. Just as the Scarred Man got up, a semi heading in the opposite direction ran him down, causing Tristan to pull the confused Piper into a hug as he tried to forget the horrific sight he just saw.
"Ooh." That got some winces.
"Thanks dad," Piper said, but it was just a skeleton warrior, it was cool for him to get run over.
The driver's door of the semi's cab opened and the Scarred Man's twin stepped out, a handgun raised and shooting at the Teen, causing Piper to scream and Tristan to pull her down with him below the windows to avoid being shot. He didn't know who was out there listening to him, but he prayed to whatever Gods would listen, if they existed that is,
Aphrodite sighed, expelling a breath from her nose. "Yes, we do."
that whatever was going on he and Piper would come out of alive.
"Well, you have to admit that it's a more interesting way to enter our world then how you did here," Leo shrugged with a teasing grin.
"Shut up," said Piper with a blush as she grumbled at him. It actually wasn't! It was way scarier.
A few moments earlier, Naruto Uzumaki was drumming his hands on the steering wheel, being careful not to hit the emergency weapons that Hephaestus' Cabin had installed, to the rock station he and Thalia had agreed on.
"So basically Thalia's station?" Annabeth asked with an amused look.
"Hey, I can be fair with the radio," said Thalia, arguing albeit weakly more than normal.
"Ri-i-ight." The blonde demigoddess drawled out.
They've made great headway, getting from Camp Half-Blood to Omaha, Nevada the day before. They'd been driving for nearly two hours already and were nearly outside of Utah.
"Okay, that is some pretty good time," Percy admitted, even he wasn't going that fast during his first quest.
With the Mist on his side - Hecate had been extremely helpful as of late for some reason
"Gee, I wonder why," said Apollo wolfishly and ducked under the coming swing. "Ha!" He failed to avoid the follow up. "Ow!"
"Humph." Artemis had a smirk on her face at the successful blow.
- he was free to speed along the road at 120 miles per hour without drawing attention from the highway patrol. Not to mention continue to give his girlfriend heart attacks when it looked like he was about to plow through the car in front of him before merging to one of the empty lanes; just like he did a second ago.
"Oh that ass!" Thalia growled.
"Sadly Thalia, we all know where he received that from," said Artemis dryly and took a side-glance at her brother, who pouted in return.
He had no idea what she was insinuating; his driving skills were fantastic!
"Whiskers!" Thalia cried out in annoyance before thumping him on the arm, "Stop doing that, dammit!"
"Ah, but Thalia-chan, it's your own fault for thinking I'd ram into someone five times in a row," said the Guardian
"He raises an excellent point," Nico added, getting a growl from his cousin, "What? It's true." He smirked at her.
with a smirk before flying through the lanes and going around the toll booths, "And there goes Utah."
"Just where the Hell are we going anyway, Whiskers?" Thalia asked, annoyed at his lack of answers during the course of this trip. She had asked him when they first left Camp, but he had said that he needed to focus on driving. After they pulled into a pit stop, where they miraculously were not attacked, and she asked again, he dodged her question by saying he needed to sleep. Her patience was really wearing thin and he'd better answer her soon or she might just kill him.
Apollo started to hum some dramatic music, getting Thalia to look annoyed. Of course her other would be annoyed, plus once she found out the truth, well, she hoped her other let the blond boy have it.
Hey, dying on a quest is one thing, dying by her hand is something entirely different.
"Isn't that sweet?" said Hazel in a bland tone. Really, for Thalia, it could be.
"That's for me to know and for you to go insane over, Thalia-chan," Naruto teased
"He really likes playing with lightning," Jason mumbled, he could see his sister getting annoyed. And he was not talking about the older blond's girlfriend.
before furrowing his brow as a small car suddenly cut him off. He slowed down with a hard break and glared at the car that mimicked him, while Thalia threw her arms to the dashboard in order to avoid colliding with it.
"What the heck, Whiskers, why don't you just...go...Oh you have got to be kidding me," the daughter of Zeus said in disbelief as she saw what he was glaring at. Sitting in the driver's seat and peering out the window was one of the original skeletons that had chased them the winter before, and climbing out of the passenger window was another with a machine gun in hand.
"Wow, kinda forgot about those guys," said Percy, scratching the back of his head. Why didn't they attack the camp like last time?
"You know what I really hate?" Naruto asked his girlfriend as the Skeleton cocked his weapon and took aim, "I really hate undead people."
Hades grumbled at that while Nico sighed.
"It's not our fault someone else summoned them," he pouted with crossed arms.
Naruto slammed on the brakes just as the skeleton started to fire his weapon at them. The bullets managed to scratch the hood of his car,
"Oh those boney assholes, you do not chip the paint!" Apollo shouted in dismay, how could they be so cruel?
"Those bastards!" said Leo in agreement.
making Naruto grunt in annoyance, before they started to strike in front of the car as the driver hit the brakes once more to stay near him. Naruto's foot moved to the accelerator and he peeled around the skeletons' Audi A8 (which he thought was too nice a car for them),
"It really is," Hephaestus pointed out with a grunt.
speeding past a black SUV on his right that was entering the highway before going into the center lane once more.
"So... They're still around by the way," idly commented the blond demigod before ducking as the rear window was shattered by bullets, "Gods above!"
"Son of a bitch!" Thalia exclaimed as she released her replica of Athena's shield Aegis from its concealed state, holding it up behind them.
"Smart thinking, Thalia-chan," complimented her boyfriend, shifting his bracelet to his right wrist, "Roar for me!"
In a flash of red that should've blinded him had he been a normal human, Naruto's Arcadia shield replica appeared. He pulled it off of his wrist quickly before handing it to Thalia, "You deflect and I'll drive."
"I knew it was too easy," Thalia groaned as she held her boyfriend's shield along with her own.
"Well, well, well...if it ain't the boneheads," Kyu commented dryly as he started to deflect bullets, "And they've gotten better at aiming...fantastic."
"Oh, take it you sponge," said Hermes with a grin.
"Less commentary, fuzz face!" Naruto grumbled as he merged once more to the far left lane. Looking in the side mirror at the sound of a loud horn, Naruto groaned in disbelief, "You have got to be fucking kidding me!"
Another two skeletons were behind him driving an eighteen-wheeler that was gaining speed on them.
"Called it," said Percy in a smug tone.
Naruto pushed down on the accelerator, but the damned black car full of skeletons was back in front of them, with the undead attacker still standing on the top. A third car, another black Audi A8, came to the side and with the barrier on the left, Naruto found himself pinned.
"Now what shall he do?" Athena asked, intrigued with how the blond will be get out of this mess.
You want my help on this? Helios asked.
That'd be nice, Naruto replied before grabbing Thalia's shoulder with his free hand and pushing her down below the window as the driving skeleton on their right started to fire at them with a handgun. Naruto leaned back and Thalia stayed down until the gunshots stopped, one nearly grazing Naruto's throat.
Yes, help would be much appreciated! Naruto mentally screamed to his past life.
"Ugh, guns are so cheap for this," Thalia frowned, getting many nods from the other demigods and the Gods themselves, save for Ares. "It's not like we have handguns with celestial bronze pullets or something…"
"Well, Annabeth's dad did come up with that idea. It could be possible." Percy pointed out while scratching the back of his head. Leo gained a thoughtful look while the Olympians shook their heads.
Have Thalia shove the wannabe Aegis into her window, Helios suggested.
"Hey!" Thalia complained with a pout. Her shield rocked!
Naruto looked at Thalia and repeated his inner God's advice. The daughter of Zeus did just that, and when the Skeleton turned to take aim once again was surprised and startled to the point that it swerved away, fleeing the sight of the horrid Medusa.
"See, it rocks." Thalia smirked.
Percy rolled his eyes and said, "yes, yes, we all see."
"You're just jealous," said Thalia countered, hearing the appeal in his tone.
"Jam it into the window," Naruto instructed before grabbing the once discarded Arcadia shield and jamming it in front of Thalia. He set the car on cruise control and reached into his pocket to pull his seal notebook out. The idea for his notebook came to him a few months back after looking back on the Quest for Artemis and wondering how differently it could have gone had he have instant access to some of his things instead of just carrying scrolls around in his seal-covered jacket...which was put away in Thalia's duffle bag with his kunai due to his own cockiness.
"I wonder where he got that from?" Hera asked aloud, getting Apollo to grumble.
Apollo's genes shine through once more, Helios joked
"Thank you for answering Helios," the Queen of Heaven smiled widely. Apollo pouted and muttered about stupid friends always teasing him.
as Naruto berated himself for not thinking about the possibilities of running into trouble on the road. Usually Tyche smiled upon him, but it seems she had her gaze elsewhere at the moment.
"Wish I had that luck," Percy murmured aloud. Everyone gave him a sympathizing glance; gods knew he needed it.
"Shut up, Helios," Naruto grumbled aloud as he tore out a weight seal after setting up cruise control. He pressed the seal onto the steering wheel beneath his left hand, and then again with the right. A flare of chakra to memorize the amount of weight he was applying to either side of the wheel and voilà! Naruto Uzumaki (Namikaze) was the first shinobi/demigod/mortal to ever invent an autopilot for a four-wheeled vehicle. He should probably take notes for the Hephaestus kids,
"Now that sounds interesting," said Leo as he made note of the idea. He was so going to try that later.
but since there were more pressing matters – Skeletons trying to kill him and his girlfriend – he'd hopefully remember later.
"Stay put and don't move!" Naruto ordered his girlfriend before he opened his door and climbed out onto the rooftop.
"NARUTO UZUMAKI! YOU GODS DAMNED LUNATIC! GET BACK IN HERE!" Thalia screamed after her boyfriend, looking at the empty driver's seat with horror.
"I am really hating him right now!" said Thalia as she ranted along with her other.
"Come on, he seems to have most things under control," said Hazel in the older blond's defense.
"Not the point!"
Naruto kicked the door shut and slid onto the hood of his car as the Skeleton reloaded. Praying to his dad and aunt for a little help in landing, Naruto leapt from the hood of the Challenger onto the black Audi A8 the Skeletons were using.
The armed Skeleton obvious did not expect the blond to do this, but raised his gun anyway. After Naruto briefly berated himself for leaving his quiver and bow in the back seat of the Challenger,
"You're an archer kiddo, why leave it?" Apollo asked himself as he palmed his head.
"Simple, he's your reckless son."
"Not helping me feel better, Arte."
"It's not my job to," said the Goddess of the Hunt with a smirk.
the Guardian slipped his hands around the barrel of the machine gun, pointing it up and, with a move Mark had shown him, Spartan kicked the Skeleton in the chest.
"Ah, the classics," said Ares, wiping away an imaginary tear of pride with a finger.
The undead assassin let out a hiss as it, unlike the blond shinobi, did not have any way to adhere itself onto the Audi and thus was sent soaring in front of the car. It hit the pavement and splattered apart into multiple pieces.
Naruto next went after the driver of the Audi, sliding down onto the front hood and sticking to it with chakra. Bringing his fist back, Naruto drove it into the windshield and cracked the laminated glass. The Skeleton immediately raised a handgun and shot at him, shattering the windshield. Naruto avoided the bullets and glass by rolling to his side. Then, he reached into the hole created by the driver and grabbed the gun that was immediately pointed at him, struggling with the Skeleton, who was too strong for its own good, that wielded it. The struggle caused the car to merge unannounced into the next lane, earning both the unintentional rider and the driver many a pissed off horn. Finally, Naruto won out by slamming the Skeleton's hand into the dash, breaking off fingers and causing the gun to fall into the passenger's seat.
"Nice move." Piper commented.
"Well, it seems really simple. Why didn't he do it before?" Nico asked.
"Heat of the moment, simple." Thalia stated, elbows on knees with her palms supporting her chin.
Grabbing the skull of his undead foe, Naruto snarled at it before pulling back. The skull popped off after a moment of struggle. Holding the skull like one would in Hamlet, Naruto said, "To be, or not to be?...Yeah, fuck it."
"Aw, at least finish the quote," said Apollo with crossed arms and a pout.
"Nah, it's so over used," said Hermes, waving off his brother's complaint.
"Tis not!" Apollo countered with a hand over his heart as he spoke poetically, "'tis right to do, simple and true."
He stood up and turned around, chucking the chomping skull trying to bite him onto an upcoming overpass.
"Oh come on! At least stay dead once your head is off," said Percy with a groan.
"The dead are very stubborn Percy," Nico pointed out sagely.
"Tell me about it."
The car he was one started to wobble mid-lane and veer to the right, making Naruto gain a look of concern.
Should've thought that through, Helios commented before asking, Why aren't you going god mode again?
"Simple, just because he has it, doesn't mean he should be over reliant on his power." Athena spoke with a shake of her head.
"Are you kidding me? I have no idea what the Mist will disguise me as! I don't want to cause a pile-up," Naruto said,
"That too," said Athena.
"Didn't he cause a pile up already?" Leo asked with a raised brow, making Frank pout at the missed car chase while Zhang's father grinned at the carnage.
quieting for a moment before adding, "Again."
"There it is!"
You make a valid point, Helios agreed before laughing, For all we know, the mortals would probably see that giant robot covered in flames that was in that film you watched with Hades' children last week!
"Movie night, sounds fun," said Nico quietly, only the tiniest of frowns on his face.
Naruto snickered at the thought as being seen as Optimus Prime
"Now that would be awesome," said Leo with stars in his eyes. His father nodded in agreement.
before he used Hirashin to reappear at Thalia's side in the driver's seat. Thalia jumped in her seat before punching him in the arm roughly. "You fucking asshole! Do you know how badly you scared me?!"
"At least she says 'me' now," Annabeth teased lightly, getting a snort from the Hunter in question.
"Ow! Thalia-chan, that hurt!" the blond demigod complained as he rubbed his definitely bruised arm. A round of bullets took out his rearview mirror and Naruto turned to look behind him with a scowl. "Oh right...there were two cars and a Peterbilt."
Naruto smiled apologetically at Thalia and opened his door once again. Well, he started to before turning around and grabbing his quiver and bow. Holding both in one hand, he nodded to his shield before speaking, "Put Kyu in the backseat window."
"I demand compensation for this!" growled the shield's spirit in annoyance. "Do you know how hard it is to pump enough chakra through this form and remove dents?"
"I'll replenish your pools when this is all over," Naruto promised before opening his car door. Thalia grabbed his shoulder and stopped him from moving.
"Damn right girl." Thalia smirked to herself.
"Oh no you don't, not again!" the punk demigoddess snapped, "You're crazy, Whiskers! Batshit crazy! We can just outrun them!"
"Thalia, would you rather be run off the road by the truck and possibly die, or would you rather I take care of the Skeletons now so we can get to where we need to go without any more issues?" Naruto inquired. Thalia ground her teeth and narrowed her electric blue eyes.
"You're telling me everything about this quest after this. Do you understand me?" she asked sternly, getting a nod from her boyfriend before releasing his shoulder.
"He'd really better," the Hunter muttered, as a frown marred her face.
He pulled her into a kiss that she wanted to kill him for breaking before climbing out of the car once again.
"Well, at least the kisses make it worth it," said Aphrodite as she smiled at the Hunter, who amazingly had started to develop a tougher skin for all the teasing.
Thalia's stern glare turned into a worried look as she grabbed the Arcadia shield and moved it to the rear window.
"Kit's gonna be fine," Kyu reassured her, "Sure he's an idiot, but he's a damn good fighter. Ow! Alright, one more bullet hits me and I'm going to flip out!"
Naruto leapt onto the hood of the eighteen-wheeler's cab, preparing his bow and a trick arrow. The passenger Skeleton raised his machine gun and shot at the blond, making him jump up to the top of the cab. The driving Skeleton pulled his handgun out and shot up into the roof. This caused Naruto to backflip onto the trailer and allowed the passenger Skeleton to climb out onto the top of the Peterbilt cab without hindrance. It followed Naruto onto the trailer, turning to the side as Naruto shot one of his drill-bit arrows at him.
"Dammit, they're still good at avoiding my arrows," Naruto mumbled to himself. He growled as he came to another conclusion, "And I can't use the Solar Flare because again, I don't know how that will affect the regular humans!"
Ah, woe is the teen fighting atop a truck, sighed his past life.
"And you're not helping either!" Naruto growled
"We do enjoy the commentary though," Hades said with a ghost of a smile, getting nods all around, except from the reading Hestia who huffed lightly.
as he ducked under the rain of bullets that were fired at him. Pulling another arrow out, he rolled to the right as the Skeleton shot where he was. Knocking the arrow, the son of Apollo let it fly with a grin on his face as the head started to beep. The arrowhead flew straight into the barrel as the Skeleton took aim once more.
"He still holds excellent aim," Artemis complimented, making her twin smirk.
Hearing the beeping, the Skeleton tossed its weapon aside, where it fell between the crevasse of the two guardrails. The small muffled boom made Naruto laugh, "Ha, faked you out! Smoke bomb arrow for the win!"
"And a good deal of cunning as well," Athena added in kind.
The Skeleton's empty eye sockets narrowed and a deep hiss left its mouth before it pulled out a combat knife about the size of Naruto's forearm. Naruto gulped as he took in the size of the knife before he muttered, "So now I'm fighting Rambo apparently."
"Lucky punk," said Ares. He loved that film series.
'Rambo' hissed lowly again before charging forward and taking a swipe at Naruto. Naruto leaned back from the attack and reached for an arrow, only to find that nothing was there. Looking down at himself, the blond groaned as he found a large tear across his shirt where the strap of his quiver once rested over. Looking behind him, Naruto's shoulders slumped as the quiver rolled off the trailer, the arrows falling out all over the highway.
Okay, that has to be Nemesis' fault, Helios chimed in with an audible frown, She must be taking me into account now that you've been practicing with my abilities.
"Geez, she loves to mess with people," said Hermes as he shook his head in disapproval.
"It is her job," Demeter pointed out blandly.
The God of Thieves conceded to his aunt's point. "Sadly true."
"Great. And since I can't use those abilities the odds are against me...Well, there's always ninjutsu," Naruto said only to go on the defensive as Rambo slashed at him before he could attempt said techniques, "You've gotta be friggin kidding me!"
Naruto raised his bow and deflected the knife from striking at him once more. He then spun it around and took a swing at Rambo's femur. The Skeleton blocked with his knife and brought his right hand out to punch Naruto in the side of his face with a hook. Naruto went with the momentum, almost dancing on the back of the trailer until he was closer to the edge. Spitting some of his unique golden-red blood to the side, Naruto collapsed his bow and attached it to his belt. He settled into a stance for Gama-Ken and offered a hand up.
"Well then bring it on, Rambo," Naruto grumbled as he stopped the Skeleton's blade wielding hand with his arm. Rambo tried to blindside him with another hook punch, but Naruto was ready, using his other hand to catch the fist. He grinned at his foe and asked, "What now?"
The kick in the gut should've been seen coming, really it should have, but Naruto had let his victory over Atlas get to his head and he slacked off over the past few months;
"Course your kid would get sloppy," Ares snickered to his brother.
"Aw shut it," the Sun God grumbled.
focusing on caring for his charges took more priority anyway.
"Well, he had good reason at least," Hades defended the boy, getting some looks from his brothers and the other Olympians. When even the demigods turned to give him looks of disbelief, he snorted and mumbled, "Oh come on, even I can compliment someone."
So as he stumbled back, Naruto cursed himself for feeling so damn cocky these past few months and thanked the Gods for the wakeup call.
"You're welcome." All the gods said.
He momentarily disabled his chakra at the soles of his feet to slide back away from the overhead stab in the back Rambo had attempted while he was doubled over.
Unfortunately, this had the adverse effect of having him slide to the edge of the trailer. Righting himself just as he started to teeter behind the truck, Naruto was once more on the defensive as Rambo unleashed a surprisingly powerful amount of combos. What really got him though was the slash that had managed to cut him above his left eyebrow. He spun as some of his skin was torn between leaving with the blade or staying on his head, leaving his back wide open for the follow through kidney punch that sent him falling to the hood of the black SUV driving behind the truck.
"And that's how my other meets Naruto." Piper concluded with a giggling smirk while her boyfriend shook his head.
His last thought before hitting the hood of the SUV was: Gods I hope Annie and Water Boy are having a better time than I am right now.
"I kinda doubt it," Percy stated blandly.
As Naruto fell towards the hood of the McLean's SUV; in Camp Half-Blood, Percy was cursing his luck as he and Annabeth fought off three giant golden scorpions.
"See?"
"Yes, yes Percy, we see you're getting better at predicting how yours and consequently our luck is." Annabeth said with an eye roll.
Percy just pouted.
Apparently it was supposed to be Naruto's turn to decide on a War Game, but since he and Thalia left on some super important and secret quest, that left the Game up to Quintus. The jerk decided to pair up campers in two and hunt down giant scorpions, or something along those lines. Percy didn't really understand the significance. He rolled out of the way of a stinger striking him and when he stood he used Riptide to deflect another stinger.
"Quintus is so dead after this," Percy informed his partner, who was ducking a scorpion's claws and deflecting a stinger with her dagger.
"Get in line!" Annabeth retorted with a frown. "This is nuts! Is it because of who your dad is?"
"Oh…Gods, they're still arguing?" Percy asked, recalling his own spat with his girlfriend at the time.
"You always blame everything on me," Percy complained as he deflected another stinger. "Maybe it's your mom's fault!"
"Excuse me?" Athena asked coolly.
"That was the other me," said Percy quickly. "Just pointing it out!"
"Why would it be my mom's fault?" Annabeth asked as she deflected a claw with her dagger. "For that matter, why are we still arguing about this? We have to find a place to hide!"
"And like always, Annabeth points out the smartest move," said Thalia, getting her younger friend to smile.
"About time you came up with something smart, Wise Girl," the son of Poseidon said with a grin as the blonde daughter of Athena stumbled and nearly got hit by a stinger if she hadn't rolled out of the way.
"Stop calling me that, Seaweed Brain!" the flustered girl growled before looking around. Her grey eyes widened when they landed on Zeus' Fist.
"And so the plot thickens," Nico smirked. He turned to the daughter of the wisdom goddess and asked, "Seriously, how did no one ever notice that?"
"It wasn't like we were actively looking for them," Annabeth pointed out weakly with a light flush.
Avoiding another claw, she grabbed onto Percy's arm and pulled him with her, both of them ducking under a swung stinger.
Percy looked nervous as they approached the slight hole between two boulders, "This is going to be a tight fit..."
"Just shut up and come on," Annabeth instructed with a frown before squeezing herself into the hole. Percy quickly shuffled in after her, wincing when a scorpion's claw grazed his back where Atlas' spear had. The two moved further into their safe hole when a scorpion got smart and tried to shove its claw in after them.
After a few minutes of trying and failing to get the two teens huddled close together, the scorpions hissed and skittered off. Annabeth and Percy shared a sigh of relief before a rock fell near Annabeth, prompting her to turn her head and gasp as she saw a light. Nudging her partner, Annabeth said, "Percy...look at this."
"And the fun begins," Annabeth grimaced at the memory of her quest, wondering how her other would handle it.