§Hermione§

Falling and sliding down a dark marble chute, not sure what will catch you at the bottom, may be fun for some people. Not for me. Especially when I knew that once we did reach the bottom, a battle would ensue.

But I managed to not shriek as we plummeted down. The tunnel was steep, but not entirely vertical, so we'd dubbed it safe (despite our situation) to right behind each other. It took every bit of my willpower not to cling to the slippery stone on either side, because if I stopped, a certain red haired wizard would fall on my head.

Eventually the ground leveled out, and I tumbled onto hard floor. Without pausing to check my surroundings, I got up and moved out of the way just in time- Ron flopped onto the tile with an "Oomph!" and looked around dumbly. We were the last to enter the chute, and now I noticed everyone else was huddled a few metres ahead in the dark corridor.

"You okay?" asked Harry, oblivious to the cobwebs tangled in his jet-black hair. Annabeth was staring at them, mortified. I brushed off some from my own clothes, then nodded.

"Let's go then." We continued along, Ron leading the way. He knew this place the best, as he claimed to remember all the passageways from when he was possessed.

"Er, where are we going? Don't we need a plan?" Percy said. We turned into an empty chamber, and Ron closed the door behind us.

"Just didn't like the idea of us out in the open. Yet," he replied, and we arranged ourselves into a circle, Ginny squeezing Harry's hand, and everyone with a determined expression on their face.

Annabeth pitched her strategy to us. "So, what do you think of this: Harry and Percy find Lord Malum and try to kill him, and the rest of us will distract his supporters long enough so-"

"Hang on," Percy said. "Why us?"

She sighed as if explaining that two and two make four. "First of all, both of you can't be with us, if one of us… makes a mistake, you'll want to help us instead of doing your job." They couldn't think of any way to deny this. "And also, I just feel like it should be you, you know?"

The others and I murmured agreement. After all, I didn't know about Percy, but Harry had been through more than us put together. I knew how Annabeth felt- it just seemed wrong to imagine it any other way.

"Anyway, as I was saying, we'll hold up his supporters long enough for you guys to finish him off, and then… well, if we survive that long we can decide what comes next later."

Ginny threw her arms around Harry. "Good luck," she whispered. I couldn't say more than that, either, I was so paralyzed with the idea of them defeating Dark Lord, Junior alone. Annabeth hugged and kissed Percy, too. I looked away, embarrassed, but silently sympathized with her. Once we had stopped trying to strangle each other, she admitted how much she cared about Percy. I was afraid for Harry, too, but of course in a best friend kind of way.

Finally we left the room and went our own ways. Harry and Percy set off down a hallway, while we split up into twos. "Divide and conquer," reminded Jason. He set off with Ron, Annabeth with Ginny, and I was stuck with Leo. He waggled his eyebrows and I rolled my eyes.

§Jason§

It sort of freaked me out, how well Ron navigated the headquarters. He turned corners with certainty, told me when to step carefully around a hidden trap, and got us to where we had agreed to be stationed earlier in a matter of minutes.

Thinking about how there were doorways out from the Jefferson to Lincoln Memorial made me appreciate how huge this place was. Ron couldn't possibly have traveled all over while he was possessed. Maybe the spirit that was in him left some information for us- purposely. I shook away that thought. We have to kill this guy. So it might be a trap- what were we supposed to do? Let him get revenge on a whole race of people?

"So we're really under water?" I asked.

"Hmm?" Ron questioned.

"The Tidal Basin. Remember, we walked by it? And now we should be under it."

"Correct. It's perfectly safe, though. The ceilings in here are made from polished wood, but under it is a thick layer of cement from the seventeen-hundreds," Ron recited.

"Woah, dude."

He blinked hard, realizing what he had said. "How did I know that?"

We were waiting for whatever we were waiting for in a broom closet with a single lightbulb swaying from a chain. It was silent again, and I watched it swing, activated when we had turned it on, illuminating the shelves next to us, then Ron's face. We stayed like this for a while, no inspiration for conversation. Suddenly, there was a shrill ring, like one from an old-fashioned fire alarm. We heard voices in the hallway.

"Our master- he needs our aid. Come on, let's go."

"Did you feel that too? As if my scalp was burning."

"No, I think you're just in shock from the noise."

"Wrong, idiot! Bennett, it's a calling. I get it too. I don't know why this numbskull wasn't trusted enough with it."

"Ouch!"

I touched Ron's hand. He turned from the door where the noise was coming from, and nodded. We bursted out from the closet just as I wondered whether it was a good idea to randomly attack an unknown amount of evil wizards and/or demigods. It's for Harry and Percy. Just do it for your best friend. I unsheathed Juno's gladius, and Ron took out his wand.

The three men stared at us. "Di immortales," muttered one. We charged.

Two of them swiftly pulled out their wands, while the other patted his pockets in alarm. "Dang, it's in my locker." Ron stunned him quickly while I attacked the others. Soon he joined in and I let him take one. I wasn't ready to kill someone, not yet, but what was I supposed to do with a sword? Then I remembered it wouldn't do much to him, anyway. He was a wizard, not a demigod, so Imperial Gold wouldn't be deadly. Instead I aimed for his wand, easily breaking it in half. He cursed and attacked me with his fists. I dodged out of the way just in time and he ran into the wall stupidly.

By now others were filing out of a sort-of conference room they must have all been meeting in. I went for the ones without wands, battling against Celestial Bronze, Stygian Iron, unarmed idiots, and every weapon imaginable. The chandeliers in the corridor shaked when I felt a burst of adrenaline, my powers calling the electricity in them. Occasionally I ran into a son of Hephaestus/Vulcan who sent balls of fire rushing towards me, a Poseidon/Neptune demigod trying to kill me with sewer water from the pipes sticking out of the walls, or even a half brother or sister, giving up on defeating me with static shocks as I absorbed them all. I was sweating within seconds, and there was no time to pause and look at Ron as more people ran towards us.

We had known the chances of six against however many supporters there were, but I had never really acknowledged how hard it was going to be. After throwing my first lightning bolt at someone, I could feel my energy waning. I prayed to Jupiter each time that this would be my last opponent, but as usual, Dad wasn't listening.

§Harry§

Even though Ron had given us directions to the big room we had seen Lord Malum in last time, we had to retrace our steps several times when we took a wrong turn. But now I started to recognize the hallway, and our route seemed familiar. I looked over at Percy as we treaded towards our destination. He was staring straight forward, concentrated on our task ahead. When he saw me in his peripheral vision he turned and smiled painfully.

With our luck, Lord Malum would be accompanied by a couple others, so we had to rely on the element of surprise. The general plan was to eliminate everyone except him, and then, with two to one, finish him off.

We had finally reached our destination. We halted as Percy peeked into the room and shook his head. "Not here," he whispered. Our footsteps echoed as we walked into the room, and I had a sudden urge to take off my shoes, tiptoe, anything to keep Lord Malum from finding us.

"No, no, of course not you. You have assisted me, after all." We froze. Lord Malum's voice vibrated as loud as our shoes had, coming from another hallway off the great room. He started speaking again, and we took the advantage, moving towards the noise while it covered up our loud footsteps.

"But once I am sure she has been secured, it will be time to finally do what I have intended all along, as revenge on the wizarding race. I will begin a war that will last for decades, one against another group of people, equal in power…" We could see him now, but I prayed that the shadow we hid in outside the hallway would be enough of a disguise. After the short hallway was another room, with a few folding chairs in the corner and a narrow, dark throne, occupied by Lord Malum. Across from him were two other adults. One- the young woman- looked familiar.

"But, My Lord, what of the teenagers you- we had failed to capture? Rumor has it they're teamed up with some demigods and wizards, and…" she said.

"Enough! Alexandra. Do not mention that again. The spirit in the redhead had somehow escaped- do you blame me?" He fumed.

She shivered uncontrollably and looked at her feet. "No, My Lord," promised Alexandra, and I remembered where I had seen her. She and that wizard had attacked our plane, before I had met Percy. She must be a demigod, too- we had to be careful.

I got Percy's attention and held up three fingers, then closed my fist and again raised one, now two. In one second I was going to stun Alexandra and the other person, while Percy was going to run for Lord Malum. If it worked, we'd defeat him, and join the others to fight off the minions. If it didn't, well, we would all die and Lord Malum would follow through with his plan to make wizards miserable.

Three.