The Fire in Her Eyes
Well, I got this one out faster than I thought I would.
Not much to say, other than big CGI fight coming up!
Disclaimer: I don't own PJO
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In her falcon form, Piper cut through the clouds, her feathers slicing through the water droplets as she flew towards where Incognito was marching from with his army. Piper ended up flying beyond the storm before she found the enemy below.
What a sight the army was.
There were spirits from all over the North American continent, and maybe even from lands farther South, such as Mexico and beyond. Creatures of every shape and size, their bodies all black as the ace of spades, their eyes all glowing like scarlet stars in the distant void of space. They were all so joined together that the land appeared to be moving as they marched.
Leading them from the front was none other than Incognito, looking no worse for wear than when he fought Piper at school so many days ago.
Now, did Piper have a plan? Yes, a simple one: kill.
It was the same plan she employed against Medea over two months ago back in California, and the reason why Piper was using such a simple plan was because she was in the exact same state of mind now as she was back then.
That was the darkest, most brutal moment in Piper's life prior to this current one. On that first day of April, the day after Jason died, Piper only cared about vengeance. On that day, she donned her armor and was fully intent on storming the Burning Maze all by herself just to kill Medea. She hadn't cared if she lived or died, only if she got her revenge.
Even Apollo noted that when it was written, "…she had come here first and foremost to get revenge on Medea, secondly to help us. Making it out alive...that had been a very distant third on her list of priorities."
What saved Piper's life was the timely intervention of the Meliai, the first dryad spirits ever born, born directly from Gaea on top of that. With them as her allies, Piper had been able to break through the heavily guarded front entrance and storm the Maze, where she found Medea, killed her with a literal backstab, and then watched with satisfaction as the Meliai tossed Medea's body into the raging fires of Hyperion.
The true significance of the sheer brutality in Piper's crusade wasn't the murder, the determination, or how callous she was in how Medea's body was disposed, but the overarching situation. At that time, Piper and her dad were scheduled to leave for Tahlequah. At that time, Piper was the only real family Tristan had left. If something happened to her, he would've completely fallen apart and never recovered.
And what did Piper care about that?
Not a damn thing.
Piper had completely and totally cast off her dad, her future, the concerns of the Hedge family. She hadn't cared if she lived or died that day, and she didn't care what that would do to her dad, or even her friends. No, the only thing on Piper's mind that day had been the narrow, single-minded, unyielding, uncompromising, unflinching, unshakeable, unbreakable desire to kill her target. Nothing else mattered in the slightest.
Today, right now, Piper had that same mindset.
That's why she divebombed Incognito from 10,000 feet, turning human and summoning her Tlanuwa armor. She picked up speed as her mass increased, and she hit the ground like a rod from God. The earth shook and a shockwave vaporized at least seven dozen nearby Asgina. Incognito was just fine, however, having already detected Piper and gotten out of the way, using his powers to teleport a great distance.
The next second after impact saw Piper just tearing her way through the army. There was no epic speech or stare down, just violence all around. Sheer, savage strength was Piper's true weapon of choice. In her Tlanuwa form, she fired her metal feathers left and right like bullets from a gatling gun, tearing and shredding Asgina like paper. In her armored hands, her tomahawk and trusty dagger Katoptris were weapons of mass destruction, felling the evil spirits without opposition.
Piper slaughtered her way through a thousand Asgina, soaking the earth with their black mist, and then a thousand more after that. She was a monster of combat, blurring the line between god and demigod as she fought with a heart possessed of revenge. A fire started somewhere along the way, setting the grass and the trees aflame, though there wasn't much in this sparse area of Oklahoma close to the Ozark Mountains.
Piper was well on her way to killing another thousand Asgina when Incognito's voice boomed over the battlefield, "ENOUGH!"
He crashed down a ways from Piper, clad in his version of the Tlanuwa armor. His armor made him look bigger, more savage and muscular, and the onyx-like material caught the firelight in a sinister way.
Piper didn't even let him get a word in. She saw him, and she attacked. Incognito raised his war club, and Piper smashed her tomahawk and dagger right into it so hard she knocked the evil medicine man off the ground, and they flew. With a grunt, Incognito shoved Piper away, and swung his club at her head.
She angled her airborne body out of the way of the swing, and swung her dagger. It struck Incognito's armored neck with a mighty clang, and the transfer of energy knocked him hard into the ground below. Incognito smashed into a natural pond so hard most of the water vaporized instantly. The earth shuddered, and all the loose dirt mixed with the remaining water, rapidly forming a mudhole.
Incognito rose, covered in mud, his armor gone. Piper landed in the mud behind him with a gentleness that didn't match the situation. Then she surprised Incognito when she deactivated her own Tlanuwa form, leaving her in her clothes and leather armor, her blowgun across her back, her quiver strapped to her thigh, and her blades sheathed at her sides.
Around the mudhole, the Asgina gathered, the firelight dancing across their black bodies, their red eyes glowing just a smidgen brighter.
Staring coldly at Incognito, Piper dropped her blowgun into the mud, undid her quiver and removed her belt, letting them join her blowgun. With that, she took a stance with her arms up in front of her.
The Asgina turned their eyes to Incognito. With a growl, he tossed his war club away and raised his arms. "Do you think brawling in the mud will give you an advantage?"
"No," Piper answered, "but it'll get my point across better this way when I beat you to death."
"That so? There's a reason why I lead these spirits."
"Oh, yeah? Show me."
With a battle cry, Incognito ran at Piper, tearing through the mud as if it wasn't even there. He jabbed at Piper, but she parried with her forearm and countered with a punch that met Incognito's nose, angering him. He brought his arms up to block the next two of Piper's punches, but then she struck him in his exposed gut, breaking his guard. She got in a right hook to his face, but her next punch was dodged, and she took a punch to her own face, a punch to the stomach that made her double over, and then Incognito finished his combo by clasping his hands together and swinging them up from below, striking Piper in her chin so hard she got launched out of the mud and fell back into it with a shallow splash.
"You're weak, little girl!" Incognito taunted.
Piper got to her feet, wiping her nose. "True," she admitted. "You're faster than I'd thought you be, but now I've got you dialed in."
Incognito charged at her, splaying his hands and swiping at her. Piper ducked under both swings, and used her opening to slam her hands on either side of Incognito's head, rattling his eardrums so hard he went stumbling. Piper rushed and pivoted on the ball of her foot, bringing her leg around like a wrecking ball. Her heel collided with the bottom of Incognito's jaw, then her fist came up into his solar plexus, and her other fist smashed into his nose, drawing blood.
Incognito growled and swung his leg. Piper blocked and punched him in the underside of his lowest rib, then blocked a punch, and punched him in the exact same spot. This time, she felt a little crack. Undeterred by his fractured rib, Incognito kicked again, but Piper ducked under the leg and strafed to the side. She got two quick jabs into the other side of Incognito's ribcage before she had to raise her hands to block a wild haymaker. The leather bracers on her forearms definitely helped with her defense.
If anyone wanted to say she was being unfair by wearing armor while Incognito fought her wearing only pants, she would point out that he was 400 years older than her, and a grown man. She was a seventeen-year-old girl.
Granted, she was a demigoddess, which actually meant that Incognito was an extremely durable fiend since he had taken so many punches from Piper, yet was still extremely capable of combat. If Piper had punched a normal man as hard as she had been punching Incognito, that normal man would've exploded as if punched by Saitama.
Piper and Incognito exchanged a series of punches and kicks, blocking most blows but taking a few each. Neither of them used any special powers, just raw strength, and that was the point. Incognito's position had been challenged, and now he was called upon to answer. If he failed and was killed, then everything would change.
Incognito swiped at Piper, and his fingernails raked across her cheek, narrowly missing her eye as he broke skin and drew a miniscule amount of blood. He swiped at her some more, and she bobbed and weaved her way through, and then swiped her own hand at him, her fingernail biting through the skin above Incognito's eye.
Incognito laughed. "What was that?"
"A kind of cut," Piper said. "The kind that bleeds."
Just as soon as she said that, the cut opened fully, and blood spilled down into Incognito's grotesque eyeball, the one without the eyelids. The muscles around the eye contorted, but there was nothing to keep the liquid out of the eye, and it left Incognito hastily wiping the blood away. Piper capitalized by slugging Incognito across the jaw, feeling a little crack come from the bone after taking so many hits to that general area.
Piper hit him so hard that his jaw not only cracked, but her also spun in place. He tried to swing when he stopped moving, but Piper grabbed his arm and tossed him over her shoulder. He went sliding face-first in the mud. He got up and wiped his face, glaring at Piper.
His breath hitched in his throat.
Piper was staring down her nose at him as she approached at her own pace. Her multicolored eyes were now dark and reflecting the dancing fire. Incognito could see his own scared visage in those solemn eyes, and he steeled himself with a growl. He wiped his face off and turned. He ran up the side of the mudhole and uprooted a small, burning tree, and he hurled it at Piper.
She turned to the side to dodge, the tree extinguishing in the mud, but it was the opening Incognito needed. He leapt and spun in the air, bringing his leg around. Piper ducked under it, Incognito landed, and then he thrust his leg back out, catching Piper in the stomach so hard she was knocked back. Incognito pressed his assault, but Piper was ready. She fended him off and pushed him away, closing the distance and ducking under his to land two quick jabs at his ribs, this time fracturing them.
Incognito now had fractured ribs on both sides of his chest, a fractured jaw, a bleeding laceration over his malformed eye, and several bruises about the rest of his upper body.
Piper attacked with a flurry of quick punches and jabs. Incognito struggled to defend, raising his arms, but Piper punched around them, striking Incognito so many times in the nose she finally broke it, setting the man's face on fire with pain. She hiked her knee all the way up to her chin, and thrust her leg out. The bottom of her boot connected with Incognito's chest and blasted him through the mudhole all the way to the solid earth at the perimeter. The rock cracked at his impact.
Despite such a powerful blow, Incognito stood back up, blood spilling down his face and onto his chest. He wiped his nose and eye, and ran at Piper. She readied herself, but was surprised when he splashed the mud in her face, some of it getting in her own eye. Her hands came up to her face on reflex, and Incognito beat her up.
He jumped and kicked her twice in the chest, landed, hit her with a right hook and then a backhand, grabbed her head and slammed her face onto his knee, punched her in the face, grabbed her before she could tumble away, drew his arm all the way back, and delivered a monstrous uppercut to her lower chin that sent her into the air. She landed hard in the mud, her face bleeding.
Incognito grabbed her by the front of her armor. "You're finished, little girl!"
Piper rammed her forehead into his broken nose, making him drop her as we went staggering.
"You don't get it, son," she growled, running at him. "This isn't a mudhole!"
Incognito turned and swung, but Piper blocked with her arm, and countered with a hook to his jaw, officially breaking it on the left side, and then she brought her other arm around for a hook to the other side of his face, breaking that side too. Incognito's mouth only stuck to his face through skin, muscle, and tendons.
Piper grabbed him and threw him into the mud. "It's your grave."
She got down in the mud, and fixed his left arm between her legs in a perfect armbar. "And I'm going to burry you!"
She pulled down on Incognito's hand, and his radius and ulna burst out of his skin, making him howl in pain. She got back on him and punched him twice in the face, before directing her attention to his leg. She got back in the mud and grabbed his leg the same way she did his arm, and pulled so hard his femur erupted through his pants as she bent his leg at a right angle.
Piper straddled him and started slugging him across the face over and over, hitting every square inch of skin she could place her fists. Incognito twitched over and over, until he didn't twitch anymore. When Piper realized this, she sat back on Incognito's torso and let out a heavy exhale.
Then she stood and faced the army of Asgina, thunder rumbling overhead.
This was it, the crux of it all. Incognito drew his power from the spirits, which was why he was still alive despite the damage he took in his first fight with Piper, but like she and Jisdu had theorized, if the medicine man had no spirits, he had no powers, and if he had no powers, then he would be vulnerable. Now was Piper's chance to sway the spirits from him.
This was how she did it:
"My name is Piper Mclean! I am the daughter of Tristan McLean and Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love. I am also chosen by Jisdu the Rabbit, chosen to be his warrior. I have fought the earth mother Gaea, her sons the Giants, and countless other monsters, and I have prevailed against all of them, even this wretch beneath me.
"Here's how this is going to go from now on: humanity is under my protection. I will destroy any of you who seeks to harm a human unjustly. Yes, I know that humans have caused a lot of damage to our home, and I know that wiping them all out would be a swift and easy solution, but this is a lazy and pathetic solution. Genocide is the way of cowards who don't want to put in the work needed to really change this world for the better! I am going to change this world for the better, using the powers I have from my mother and those I have received from me friend and mentor, Jisdu, and the spirits that support him. All of you now have a choice: you can join me and help me start making a positive impact, or you can stay out of the way, or you can oppose me, and I'll annihilate you."
Piper swept her eyes across the ring of Asgina, looking at them in turn. She spun herself around to look at those behind her. They all shifted, muttering amongst themselves, until a single voice cut across the land.
No…
The Asgina all shuddered and cringed at the voice, some even bowing on the spot. Piper arched a brow and put her guard up. Overhead, lightning began to flash in the clouds, bringing with it the dull rumble of distant thunder, as if something up there was getting restless.
No. I have not spent the fast four centuries lending you my power, just for you to lose to an underage lesbian.
Piper couldn't help but frown at this mysterious voice. "Okay, dude. How about you come out here so I can kick your ass."
Oh, I doubt that you can do that without a lot of help. However, if you're that desperate to see me, merely look up.
Piper did so, and her blood froze.
It was the black owl with the red eyes. He was sitting in the dead branches of a tree, and clutched in his talons was the broken body of Jisdu. He was just barely alive. At the presence of the owl, all the Asgina got down on their faces.
Piper looked around in surprise, and then she looked at the owl. "Who are you?"
The god of this world.
The owl's wings snapped wide, releasing a shockwave the obliterated the tree and knocked Piper away from Incognito. The owl tossed Jisdu away like an empty beer can, took flight, and dove straight into Incognito's shattered body. Before Piper could do anything else, she was thrown back by another shockwave, a pulse of black light filling her vision, only this time her weapons got tossed to her through some strange means.
When Piper looked back at Incognito, she almost wet her pants.
His body had been taken over by the owl, turning him into a hybrid freak of a man. He was taller and leaner, his body covered in black feathers from head to toe. His feet sported talons, as did his hands, and in his left hand was his war club, only wickeder and more foreboding. His head had become like that of the owl's, with large, unblinking red eyes, horn-like formations rising from the corners of his eyes, and his mouth was now a beak. Sprouting out of his back were two huge, black, feathery wings.
Piper couldn't help but recall what the Knight had said about the owl, how he'd "committed much to his campaign." She swallowed, keeping the despair out of her system as she readied herself for battle.
Then she blinked, and the owl was right on top of her, bringing his war club down to smash her into paste. It was too fast for her to do anything besides throw herself out of the way, but even that wasn't good enough. That club was going to collide with her leg and completely sever the limb.
And then a bolt of lightning descended from on high, striking between Piper and the owl, blinding Piper and causing her to go deaf from the deafening clang of metal.
When her vision and hearing cleared, she looked up and beheld a magnificent warrior. He wore a suit of golden Greek armor like the kids at Camp Half-Blood wore. A purple cape like Reyna wore as her symbol as the praetor softly billowed behind him. In his right hand was a pilum, in his left was a rectangular shield, and at his left hip was a sheathed gladius. The warrior's helmet was intricately carved in the likeness of an eagle, with a detailed, streamlined feather pattern dominating the head part, while a visor in the shape of a beak came down to protect the face. However, that visor left a slanted, menacing gap open for the eyes, and in that gap was a pair of electric blue eyes that Piper would know from anywhere.
Tears welled up in her eyes. "Jason."
The warrior used his shield to raise his beak-like visor, and it was him.
Jason Grace as back.
Piper couldn't get to her feet fast enough, but before she could throw her arms around him and really start sobbing, he stopped her.
"I know you've got a million questions to ask me, and believe me, I really want to hug you too, but we've got a job to do first." He nodded his head over at the standing owl, snapping his wing back into place with an annoyed grunt.
Piper nodded and steeled herself. With swift movements, she put her quiver and belt back in place, slung her blowgun onto her back, and readied her tomahawk and dagger.
Jason lowered his visor back into place, and readied his shield and pilum.
The owl brandished his war club, made an unholy shriek, and the thousands and thousands of Asgina descended upon Jason and Piper, only for many hundreds of them to get instantly vaporized by a dual helping of lightning.
As thunder shook the land, the battle began anew.
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It also helps when the chapter isn't even 4k words long this time.
Yes, I did bring back Jason, and it's actually canon that this is plausible, since when Apollo asked Nico about Jason, Nico said he wasn't sure what happened to Jason. That means that, canonically, Jason's true fate is up in the wind. Unless that's something that was revealed in the Nico book that has only been out for a day as of the time of this chapter.
But even if Jason is in the Nico book, this is still a fanfiction, so yeah.
Jason's back! And ready to kick ass with Piper!
Any ideas who the owl is yet? If not, it will be made abundantly clear next chapter.
Even bigger CGI battle coming up next chapter! Woo!