Disclaimer- Still not Rick, don't get your hopes up.

I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while, but I was on vacation in Montreal and Quebec for 6 days (its cold there). It was fun though! I got home at 1AM on the 26th (today) and stayed up until 3 writing this chapter for you all, so excuse typos, OOCness, and generally suckish writing because I was half asleep and didn't have time to edit it ):

Merry Late Christmas! I'm getting a Razer Tlamat 7.1 and a Razer Deathstalker Ultimate, plus a Deathadder 2013, and I'm waiting for my 2nd GTX680 to arrive so I can run SLI.

XIX

Hazel

Things… well, they didn't go exactly as planned. But then again, when do things every?

Everything started out OK. Leo's charge blew and the Athena cabin entered it SWAT style, armed to the teeth. She could tell they were EXTREMELY well trained from the way they covered each others' blind spots and moved, and Hazel felt glad she wasn't the enemy.

Connor was right though. The ruins were a COMPLETE wreck. Everything was everywhere and uneven, but the children of Athena didn't seem to care, vaulting over blockages and leaving Hazel and the other demigods- Leo, Nico, Jason and Frank (Piper was leading Ares, how ironic) to stumble and trip their way through as best they could.

Progress was slow, and the demigods ahead often had to stop to help Hazel. She could tell they were pretty annoyed. "And Roman training was supposed to be good," one joked and the others laughed.

Hazel didn't feel offended, maybe because she was humiliating herself so much, it felt right to joke about her training.

"My god," Jason muttered after tripping. "These guys are SERIOUSLY elite. I bet they could take out the entire 1st on their own." And promptly continued to fall on his face. After what seemed like ages, they found the cabin against another wall, setting C4.

The sounds of battle outside was now subsiding to the monsters grunting as they pushed the Romans and Greeks back with their phalanx.

The wall blew just as Hazel pressed herself against the ruined wall, debris flying everywhere. Again, the cabin entered to breach-and-clear. Only difference was, this time there were a couple hundred monsters in front of them. Any normal demigod would have frozen in shock and killed.

But these 9 children of Athena (there were only 14 all together. 2 stayed at Camp, the other 3 were too new to be thrown into something this dangerous) were not a "normal" demigod, if demigods could be considered normal.

The 9 of them instantly responded, yelling insanely and charging at the monsters like it was perfectly natural. Which of course it was. At least, for them.

Jason charged them too, lighting up with electricity. Leo started hurling fireballs and Frank turned into an elephant. Somehow, his armor had molded into scaly, Eastern cataphracts style gear.

Elephants were pretty deadly in the ancient times, and that carried over to today. Frank bowled through dozens of monsters at a time, stomping more to dust and chucking other ones into the air with his tusks and nose. Hazel felt a rush of adrenaline herself and, without thinking drew her spatha and charged.

The next few minutes blurred as her instincts and training took over. Block, jab, cut, block, parry, drop-kick. She wasn't aware of anything until the monsters started falling back, weirdly.

Things had worked out pretty well. The monsters keeping the 1st and 2nd cohorts at bay were driven back, and now they organized themselves and formed ranks where the 2 paths joined, just before they entered the garden itself. On the other side, the Ares cabin was hacking away.

Somehow, they had broken the phalanx formation of the monsters and were now at close quarters, where the 21 foot long spears didn't work very well.

Another line formed, and the 2 armies- Roman and monster regarded each other for a second, before Reyna yelled an order. "Pila!" she shouted. 90 Imperial Gold tipped javelins bristled. "Fire!" Reyna called and they launched into the air, cutting down dozens of the monsters, who were armed more like Romans, but carried a very small shield.

The surviving monsters' own spears showed as a telkhine barked. Fortunately, Roman shields were pretty massive, and no one was hit.

Jason raised his sword and electricity crackled. "CHARGE!" he roared and the 2 cohorts yelled, "For Rome!" before charging forward and hacking down the unprepared monsters.

Again, things blurred as Hazel joined the front line and hacked away.

But that was when things went wrong.

The monsters retreated again, deeper into the town square. The Romans pursued, the children of Athena hot on their heels. Too late, Hazel realized the monsters were drawing them and cutting them off.

A group of monsters ran around their back and cut off the exit.

Hazel swore. They were surrounded. Reyna seemed to realize it as well. She called an order and the 2 cohorts formed into a square, each side 2 ranks deep. The 9 Greeks in the mix stood in the center, ready to fill any gaps that appeared in the line.

Then a massive roar went up. Hazel looked behind her just in time to see the giant she had spotted earlier come barreling in.

In the split second, she sized him up. He was dressed like a Greek hoplite, but carried a small shield (only half as big as Hazel) and had a short, Roman stabbing sword.

The sheer momentum of the giant smashed through the lines and sent Romans flying. The giant swept his shield and Hazel blocked it with her own, but the force still sent her flying backwards. She yelled and hit her head on the ground, everything dizzy.

When everything refocused, the battlefield was absolute carnage. Some reinforcements from the base camp had arrived- a couple more cabins from Camp Half Blood. The Ares cabin had broken through and were cutting a deadly path with fresh soldiers, but the Romans were in complete disarray.

The formation had completely disintegrated into small pockets of 2 or 3 legionaries fighting for their lives. The giant was busy dealing with the 9 children of Athena, who were darting around him and stabbing quickly before moving again.

Leo and another legionary Hazel didn't recognize stood over her, repelling monsters from all sides.

As Leo saw her come to senses, he helped her up and quickly kissed Hazel's cheek before disappearing, his flaming figure now blocked by the carnage.

As she dodged a monster trying to stab her, Hazel shoved her way through the crowd. There was no way to win this fight conventionally. Only the power of a god could help them.

She ended up in the center of the garden, where a statue of Ares stood. At the base, both Latin and Greek letters were inscribed. She read the Latin one- "Here lies Achilles, the greatest hero of them all."

Hazel suddenly knew what to do. "Frank!" she shouted. He heard her and started making his way to Hazel, cutting down monsters in his path.

"What?" He shouted. Even though they were almost right next to each other, the sounds of battle were so loud he had to shout.

"We need the help of a god! Pray to your dad!"

"That's crazy! They're in turmoil right now!" He looked at Hazel incredulously.

"No choice! Just try! I have a good feeling about this!" she yelled and stabbed at a dracaena.

"Cover me then!" Hazel protected Frank as he knelt at the base of the statue, hopefully praying to Ares.

After a couple minutes, nothing. "Any progress?" She called.

"Nothing! I've prayed, but-" Frank was cut off by an unnaturally loud thunder boom. Wait, thunder? It was broad daylight.

Before Hazel could process anything else, something from the sky flew down and landed 20 feet in front of Hazel like an artillery shell, flattening all the monsters within a 5 foot radius and causing both demigods and monsters to stare as the smoke cleared and a figure appeared.

Mars or maybe Ares smiled evilly. "Did some ask for some ownage?"

Athena all the way! Though I might have exageratted them, huh?

Hope you enjoyed! Reviews are appreciated!

Quote of the chapter- "How is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?"

Song of the chapter- Love the Way You Lie by Rihanna ft Eminem (or is it the other way around?)

Entertainment of the chapter- Medieval II: Total War.