Kratos and Prometheus walked through the Labyrinth Gate, feeling the sun shining over the fields of Texas. It took them longer to get out of Labyrinth, the Gates still needed to be worked on, the Labyrinth chaotic nature of changing was fighting against them. They left at six a.m. and only felt like a few minutes, but when they got out it was high noon. The intense Texas sun bared down on them
"Damn it that's bright!" Prometheus shields his eyes, Apollo that Pompous Douchebag, he always keeps the sun on high, that was the real reason behind global warming.
"Kratos, my Foresight is telling me the Ceryneian Stag is due south, about twenty miles," Prometheus said. Kratos nodded and they moved out. Kratos and Prometheus were wearing beige hunting clothes that removed their sounds and scent, the two resemble old fashion safari hunters. Kratos had his new rifle, The Harbinger, slung over his shoulder.
Today was his stepson, Percy's, seventh birthday. Sally was furious that he was missing it for a deer hunt. But this wasn't any deer, this was the Ceryneian Stag, its horns were pure gold, its hooves solid bronzes, and its hide was pure silver with golden spots. It was a sacred symbol of Artemis and the third Labor of Hercules, which it took Hercules a year to capture.
The Ceryneian Stag was extremely skittish, it's only instinct was to flee. If they screw up it could be years before they might find it again. Artemis has blessed this creature to be one of the ultimate hunts, its senses could even detect magical energy, and once it runs away Artemis herself would miss hitting it.
Even with Prometheus cloaking spell and the special hunting clothes, The Ceryneian Stag might still be able to detect them, for miles Kratos and Prometheus moved slowly, they didn't bring any communications, they left their phones and other devices behind for safe measure.
Kratos and Prometheus moved like they were on egg shells and for five hours they moved slowly. The tracks of The Stag were almost nonexistent and any other signs of the Stags, such as hair, droppings, or markings no mortal could notice. If it weren't for Prometheus Foresight Kratos would have a long day, Prometheus pointed at northeast, and the two moved.
Over the hills they spotted it, beautiful, elegant, and as big as a bull moose. They hunters laid low to the ground, Kratos loaded his rifle and looked down at the iron sight, and waited. Prometheus remained absolutely still. After a few minutes a breeze came from the south and The Stag began eating. Kratos focused on the heart and then after a second, fired.
BANG!
The Stag body fell, Perfection, but still the moved cautiously just in case, "Kratos, it's still alive," Kratos knelt down and pull out his knife made from the Nemean Lion's fang, he pressed the tip of the blade behind the Stag's ear, and then push it into the brain. Kratos gave a silent thank you to the Stag, grateful for its sacrifice. "Prometheus, remain still,"
Prometheus' eyes widened, "Is there a bee on me?" Kratos listened to his surroundings, "On my signal hit the ground," The titan waited for Kratos signal, which was a finger twitch, and fell flat on the ground, a giant arrow missing him.
"What the hell is going on?" Prometheus whispers. Kratos laid down flat, the tall grass shielding them. "Someone else is hunting the stag, there was another entrance wound."
"Is it Artemis and her hunters?"
"No, one person, not a god," Kratos slowly serpentine around. Using his collection of memories, Kratos was so stealthy that not a single blade of grass moved despite his massive build. Ninjustu, Ottoman assassin, bushman hunters, and western espionage had all taught Kratos the art of sleath. Kratos signaled Prometheus, 'Move up,' Prometheus nodded and slowly raised up with his hands up.
"I'm surrendering, please don't shoot!" Prometheus looked around, then his Foresight told him northwest, and there he stood; Orion the hunter, Son of Poseidon, ex-Hunter of Artemis, and a member of Gaia's Giants.
He looked like designed by a renaissance artist; thick black curly hair, bronze skin, and muscles like a jungle cat. Before he had his eyes poked out by King Oenopion and replaced with a pair of glowing mechanical eyes with a green glow his eyes were sea green like the rest of Poseidon children. Prometheus thought he looked like a twenty something year old version of Percy Jackson.
"Prometheus," Orion said casually while aiming an arrow directly at the titan's liver, "Orion, it's been a while, how are you doing," as outcast and enemies of the Olypimans, The Titan and Hunter have had many encounter with one other many times. Orion was shorter than Prometheus, who stood nearly eight feet tall. The two could control their height, they did so in order to mingle with the short mortals of the world.
"Prometheus, Prometheus, funny seeing you out here, and near the Ceryneian Stag of all things. Are you working for Kronos?" Orion question him, Prometheus brought his hands down and casually placed them in his pockets, "I was just out for a walk, and next thing I knew the Stag was there and now your here,"
"Prometheus, enough these games, I saw you and some jag-off near my prey, so tell your friend to stop hiding, and I won't shoot your testicles off," Orion leveled the arrow at Prometheus' crotch. The Titan gulped, "Umm Kratos, you wanna step in and take care of this?"
Orion mechanical eyes flicked, "Wait, did you just say-" A terrible, malevolent aura appeared by the giant, Orion felt like a beast was ready to sink its fangs into his flesh. Orion turned slowly, any sudden movement might cause the beast to attack. Orion looked at the beast, he was a head shorter than Orion, eyes with the same ferocity of pissed off grizzly.
Kratos, The Ghost of Spartan, God of War, Destroyer of Olympus. Orion spoke, "I thought you were tall-" BAM! Kratos rammed his fist straight into Orion's stomach, Orion felt no pain as he fell to his knees, now Kratos towered over him.
"On your knee you're not so tall." Kratos then slammed the butt of Harbinger across Orion's face, knocking him out.
Line Break.
Orion was many things, one was that he had the worst luck. Being born a giant made it hard to make friends. He actually walked in on King Oenopion's daughter, Merope, who was bathing and the King then proceeded to stab Orion's eyes out.
Then he joined The Hunters of Artemis and he was an absolute gentleman!
And he just had to fall in love with Artemis and wanted to impress her, so Orion went to hunt the great game and offer it to her so he was worthy of her love. Then Gaia sent that stupid sorpion to sting him and that asshole Apollo shows up give him the andiote and tells him to swim in the sea to speed up the process.
And what happens? Apollo told Artemis that he was a fish and to shoot him, which she did and that's how Orion died.
Then Gaia brought him back to life as a giant, which he didn't approve of, and even attempted to side with the Olypimans but the moment he found Artemis she filled him with arrows. If it weren't his newfound Giant immortality he would have died again. And now for the last few thousand years he has been on the run waiting for the return of the other Giants.
Now he was a captive of the one man who was more brutal, more savage, more ferocious than any other beasts that has or will exist.
Orion eyes flicker on, "Ah my head," he groaned, judging by the position of the sun it was six thirty. Looking around he was at a campsite. The Stag corpse has already been skinned, and the hide was being stretched with Prometheus tending to it. Trying to get up the giant found himself bound with several Celestial bronze chains, "Ahh fuck,"
Kratos took out a large knife and began butchering the Stag's body. Orion then watched as Kratos took out the Stag's heart and took a bite out of it, blood smeared across his face and beard. Kratos places the meat and organs into tupperware. All that was left was the Stag's head and skeleton. The bones were placed in a separate container.
"Are you going to keep the Stag's head?" Prometheus said. Kratos nodded, he was planning on mounting its head above his bed. They turned around to see Orion trying to wiggle away. "Looks like our guest woke up, let me do the talking," Prometheus walked to Orion and kicked him in the stomach. "That for leaving me to the Spanish Inquisition you ass!"
"I didn't expect them!"
"No one does!" Prometheus kicked Orion again. Kratos listened to the two argue for the next twenty minutes, appearty they betrayed each other on many occasions. "Prometheus just let me go! I will not side with the titans!"
"I am not with the titans, I choose a different party to join." Prometheus said, if not for Kratos he would have definitely sided with Kronos. Orion's artificial eyes went to Kratos, he couldn't sense anything from this guy. "Hey, who's big and ugly?"
"He my Partner-"
"Boss."
"...Yeah he is my boss. Kratos the Ghost of Spartan,"
Orion had been long dead before Kratos was even born, but after his reveal he had heard of the Ghost of Spartan, a bloody poem, an ancient vase there and oh yeah, Gaia told him.
"The Ghost of Spartan huh? Hey, you need a hunter?"
"What? You want to side with us?" Prometheus was surprised that the Giant hunter was interested in siding with Kratos. "What about Gaia?"
Orion's expression became sour, "She is the reason I died in the first place! Then she turned me into one of her giants without my consent! The only reason I sided with Gaia was to get my revenge on the twin Archers!"
Kratos still had his back turned but was listening, "so what do you say Spartan?"
Kratos thought about it, Orion hunting skill rival Artemis herself, and having him hunt for help to gain the ressource he needed. "Fine you may join, on one condition,"
"Anything!" Orion was happy, finally he could get his revenge!
"Give up you need for revenge,"
Orion took a moment to process what he just heard, "What?" Kratos spoke again, "If you want to join my cause, you will need to give up your pointless desire for vengeance," Orion laughed. "Good one," Kratos kept his back toward the Giant who stopped laughing, "You're serious, you son of a bitch, you're serious!" Orion began thrashing around.
"You of all people are telling me to give up revenge! Fuck you!" Kratos turned to Prometheus, "I got everything ready, time to head back." Prometheus pointed to Orion, "What about him?"
"He's our prisoner, I will have the cyclops built containment for him and later we will interrogate him," Prometheus pulled out a shovel, "I say we bury him, bury him deep," Kratos groaned and grabbed the chain and began dragging the giant, and made sure to drag him through every ant hill, sharp rock and thorn bush. When Orion voiced his concern about entering the Labyrinth, Prometheus gave him a good kick to the stomach.
Line Break.
"Damn it, how long were we in there?" Prometheus rubbed the back of his neck, he hated going through the enclosed space, being a titan he naturally liked big open areas. They dragged Orion behind him, one half of his face covered with dirt, "Where are we?" Prometheus chuckled, "Your new holding cell, prisoner,"
"Not funny!"
'Hmmm," Kratos notice that neither the cyclops or nymph was waiting for them, "Something not right," Prometheus nodded, "Yeah, doesn't seem quite," The went up stairs still dragging Orion behind them, the giant's head hitting every step, "Ow, Ow, Ow,OW!"
Prometheus grabbed his phone where he left it, "Would you look at that it's ten a.m., we were in that damn maze for over twelve hours, "What should we do with our guest?" Prometheus set Orion in a chair, Kratos had an urge to go home, sorry was wrong. At that moment Clark came in, "Oh thank the Elders your back!" The cyclops blue gemstone pupil lit up, his single mechanical eye met the mechanical eyes of Orion, "Wait, is that Orion?" The Hunter wiggled his fingers as a form of greeting, Clark placed his hand on his forehead, "Well isn't this the cherry on top!"
"What's going on Clark?" Prometheus asked, Clark turned to Kratos, "It's Percy and Anthony, someone has taken them," a vein spread on the side of Kratos temple.
A mass murder would occur on this day.
Line Break.
Sally paced back and forth in her living room, her sons, her babies, someone or something had them, and what would Kratos think of her. He gave her everything, and one of the few jobs he trusted her was to look after the boys when he was away, and she failed.
Molly came from the kitchen holding a cup of tea, "Sally, you need to calm down,"
"How can I calm down when my sons are in danger!" she snapped, her blue eyes were bloodshot from stress, crying and lack of sleep. Her stomach was in knots, the monkey fist knot! She was terrified, scared, and angry, and when Kratos gets back-
Click! The door opened and Kratos stepped in. He calmly walked and placed his supply bag down. He looked at Sally, his amber eyes stared right at her. Kratos turned to Molly, "I need a moment alone with my wife," "Yep," Molly squeaked and left the apartment, she met Clark, Prometheus and Orion who had an explosive collar on him.
Kratos gestures toward the couch, "Sit," Sally remembers the time she got in serious trouble at school and Uncle Rich was furious with her. Kratos sat down next to her and spoke, "First, I am mad, but not at you or the boys, I am merely upset at the circumstances, now in order for me to rescues ours sons I need to know what happen,"
Sally nodded and did her best to keep her voice from breaking, explaining every last detail she could remember, "And when we were at the pet shop and that's when I notice that Anthony was not in his stroller,"
"Why were you at the pet shop, I said no pets,"
"Well, it was Percy's birthday and you weren't there," The bitterness in her voice was quite obvious.
"Are you saying this is my fault?" Kratos said. Sally was quite for a moment, "Yes," She said, her fingers dug into the couch customs, "If you were there instead of going on some stupid deer hunt our sons would be safe!"
Kratos didn't say anything, "It was Percy's birthday. Do you know how disappointed he was? How could you do that to him? How could you leave us! We're a family! DO YOU EVEN CARE ABOUT ANY OF US !?" Sally screams letting out her fury. They sat in silence for a good few minutes.
"I do care." Kratos said, Sally didn't gave a responses, "Sally, I worry about you and the boys constantly, Percy and Anthony will have difficult lives, but what I fear most is the my influences I have on them," Sally scoffed, "They think the world of you," Kratos groaned, "And that's the problem, I am not a good person, and I am trying to be a better god."
"I fear that they will make the same mistake I have made and suffer as I have, I want them to walk a different path, I want them to live better lives, clearly I have neglected my responsibilities as a father and a husband, and I am sorry." Kratos finished and stood up.
"I'm going to go find our sons, you should rest," Kratos got up from the couch and headed for the door. Sally bolted from the couch and wrapped herself around his arm, "I'm sorry. Please, please save our babies!" Kratos nodded, "I promise I will bring them back."
Out in the hallway, Molly, Clark, Prometheus, and Orion were trying to act casual, the whistling didn't help. "Nymph, keep an eye on my wife and help her relax," Molly saluted him, "Aye Aye Captain!" and went in. "Prometheus, the mortal police are involved, I don't want them involved." Prometheus nodded, "Understood," The Titan left to complete his task.
Kratos' gaze went to Orion, "I need your help," Orion tugged on his explosive collar, "Oh yeah? What's in it for me?" Kratos' eyes glowed for a second, "I won't beat you to death."
"Ha! I'm one of Gaia's giants, I can only be killed if a God and Demigod work together to kill me!" Orion said, tugging on his collar, Kratos' expression did not change, "No, I will beat you to death, and you being giant won't stop me. And if you do help me save my sons I will assist you in your revenge against Artemis and Apollo."
Orion mechanical eyes glowed, "Now we're talking! Can I also have the collar taken off?"
"No."
Line Break.
At the outdoor mall every Percy and Anthony were kidnapped, The rescue party analyzes the scene of the crime. Orion squatted and looked at the where the van was, "Interesting, no tracks at all, something was here and they cleary did not want to be follow," Orion saw a big empty area where the van should have been, no tire tracks, no oil or gas, or any sign of dirt or rock.
Clark had collected the security footage, "Everybody stand back," a hologram shot out of the cyclops robotic eye, a perfect replica of the incident played before them. Watching the stranger slam the door shut and trapping his sons cause a vein to pulse on his temple.
"Well, that's not a man, that's a satyr, I can tell how he stands and walks," Orion said, as he followed the trail of missing tracks. A true hunter also sees what's missing.
"So we are looking for a satyr," Kratos seemed calm and collective, but on the inside he was on the verge of exploding.
Line Break.
Two satyr were out on a walk "Fuck! Kid did a number on your face," Tylor said to Birch. The swelling on Birch's face finally went down, yesterday the green eyed kid went berserk and attacked. Birch's face was heavily bandaged, "I'm gonna kill that kid I swear on Pan name!"
"You can kill that kid when Byron decides on a recipe he might let kill them," Tylor took out a joint, "Hey, you want a hit?" Birch waved him off, "Nah, some reason smoking weed gives me the runs," he then felt a raindrop hit his shoulder, first a few drops fell, then rain began drizzling.
"Damn it, my weed is ruined!" Taylor did his best to relight his joint. Birch smacks the joint out of Taylor's hand, "HEY MAN!"
"Quick wasting your time it's ruined anyway, plus there's much more to worry about than a wasted blunt," Birch said walking from Taylor who was digging through the gutter. Birch kept walking and noticed Tylor wasn't following, sighing he turned around, "Forget about the-" he stopped when saw the arrow sticking through his fellow satyr head, Tylor body kneeling with a broom size arrow supporting the satyr weight.
"OH SHIT!" Birch didn't get a chance to escape as a giant foot kicked him into the nearest alley, Birch bounced off the ground covering in rain water and alley grime, two giant beings blocked both exits, attempting to use his Satyr agility, jumping against the wall to reach the rooftops, only structured with a giant and sent crashing back down, a powerful hand grabbed Birch throat and then pinned him against the wall, The man holding him allow the cyclops to get closer and began smelling him.
"ACHOO! I hate goat fur! Makes my nose itch like crazy," Clark pulled out a handkerchief and blew his nose, "But this is our guy, he's got both Percy and Anthony scent on him," Birch felt the grip tighten around his windpipe. Then he saw the man's amber eyes. "YOU!" Birch managed to shout out, "You're the one who killed my brothers!" Birch began struggling, he knew he was done for. "You son of a bitch! I hope you die of gonorrhea!"
"Why did you take my sons?" Kratos asked, he saw the satyr metal horn, and the injuries are quite recent, caused by a blunt force, but no weapon, barehanded. Percy was the one who caused the wounds. "For food, I gave them to the Gourmet," Clark's one eye began spinning, "You bastard!"
"Whom is the Gourmet?" Kratos question, "Bryon the Gourmet, he's a centaur who actively hunts demigod, he's called the Gourmet because that psycho actually made cookbook for monster," Kratos gripped tighten,
"This might be a good thing, Byron is insanely picky, so your boys are most likely alive, we just need to get there before he preheat anything," Orion landed next to Clark with the grace of a swan, "I found the their trail, we got to head northeast, so we don't need the goat anymore," Orion pulled out his knife, Birch spat into Kratos face, "Just to let you know, I slash the green eyed one face pretty good, not even momma will look at him, and I think the little one might be broken."
Kratos' eyes became red and black, he looked over and saw a massive electrical box, and the satyr had a metal horn. Kratos dragged the struggling satyr and then ripped off the metal cover and then slammed Birch metal horn first into wires.
"GGAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Birch limbs began wildly flailing, Krato took note of the various reactions happening, The eyes and tongue swelled due to intense heat of the electricity causing the fluid to boil and eventually POP! , the smell of burnt hair and flesh overcame the smell of rain, the skin around the metal horn was burned off. Satisfied, Kratos pulled the corpse away from the electrical box and looked at the corpse, fire was coming out the eye sockets. Kratos then casually tossed the fading body on a pile of garbage.
Clark and Orion were disturebd at what they saw, what was most disturbing was Kratos' calm face showing no reaction at all to what he just did. No response at all to his action at all. Kratos eyes return to his non-murderous state. "Let's go."
Line Break.
When they reached their destination Clark immediately recognized the place, "Pinecrest Mall, over two thousands stores, it was the third largest shopping mall in America, but unfortunately a massive gas leak that killed over eighty people and made hundreds of others sick, soon a mountain of lawsuits shut the whole place down."
"Wow, you really know this place," Orion scanned the area, he was picking evidence that potentially hundreds of monsters were that giant of a building. Clark sighed, "This mall had my favorite starbucks in it and the Big and Tall, and this wonderful little Shawarma place, I mean oh my goodness it was good,"
Kratos knew his sons were in there, and began to remember some time he spent with them a few months ago. Sally was attending night class, and Kratos was left watching Percy and Anthony, so to tire them out Kratos wrestled with them. Katos pushed the furniture back and let the boys knock him down and hit him. Percy even jumped off the couch to land on him. When Sally got back home she found Kratos laying on the floor with Percy and Anthony sleeping on him.
He lost Calliope, he wasn't able to protect Milo, he let Pandora be destroyed for his revenge, he had no idea what happened to Atreus, and then there were potentially all the children and descendants he had. Being unable to protect his children is what causes Kratos the greatest pain. Kratos did even notice that he already began walking toward the monster haven.
"Hey! Wait a minute!" Orion grabbed Kratos arm to stop him. "We need a-" a vertical line appeared on the tip of Orion's nose, the line went up and down Hunter's face, the line then went down his neck and torso, then to his groin. The line wident grew, Orion sides separated as his left side fell left and his right side fell right. A cut that was too perfect.
Luckily this was merely an illusion Orion's own mind was playing on him, to prevent him from doing anything dangerous. Orion fell to his knees, 'I felt that, my skin, my bones, my muscles, he sliced through with no effort at all!' He looked at Kratos' massive back and felt so small, Orion knew that not even his Giant's Immortality would protect him from the Spartan.
Kratos walked down the road, strangely despite being in the rain, not a single drop touched him, the heat Kratos was emitting was evaporating before it even came close to him. When his left foot stepped into a puddle the water exploded into a cloud of steam. The steam grew surrounding Kratos only his red glowing eye piercing through.
Ahead two cyclop guards stood watch, in an instant Kratos closed the distance between them, Kratos pulled his Stallion and placed it under the right guard's chin and fired, BANG! The bullet went through the jaw and out the top of the head, Kratos then fired again at the left guard, right through the neck. Kratos' aura warped the chain link fence, and he made it to the old glass sliding doors, Kratos breathed out and the glass shattered, sending shards flying through the air and slicing through any unfortunate monster.
Kratos rammed his fingers into a gorgon eyes and thumb in her mouth and quickly twisted the snake hair woman's head off. A lesser gorgon couldn't use the stone eyes, but their left side blood was poisonous, quickly acting Kratos pulled out his sword and swung it spraying the blood on the nearest monsters. Kratos pulled out a gun he hadn't got to use, a saw-off shotgun called, The Berserker, a bronze double barreled, made from celestial bronze cooled in water from the river Phlegethon, the river of fire. The celestial bronze was pressured and came from mine near Atlantis.
Loading his Berserker, Kratos unleashed a fury of burning celestial bronze pellets upon the monsters. Blessed Metal would usually disappear after penetrating their target, but this pellet would instead melt instead. Dozens of monsters were left in excruciating pain as they felt the melted bronze spread inside them. Kratos dodged a massive spiked ball that destroyed the abandoned Starbucks behind him.
The Armored Cyclops growled. Kratos slowly turned towards his new opponent. Kratos grabbed the chain that connected the cyclops to mace. The Armored Cyclops tried in vain to pull back it's weapon, Kratos didn't budge and wait for the right moment, when the cyclops pulled with it's might and Kratos let go of the chain and the spiked ball flew straight at its wielder head, splatting the Cyclops brains across the abandon Cinnabon window.
Kratos had entered from the west entrance, Orion came from the south entrance, and Clark took care of the north Entrance. Orion fired arrows like a machine gun, he jumped from the ceiling sky light and landed a few Empousas, "Sorry ladies," pulling out a massive hunting knife, and slicing through every monster he saw.
Clark grew thirty feet tall and pulled out his favorite hammer, "Outta of my way you bastards," He boomed. He swings his giant hammer and sends a group of minotaurs flying. He brought his foot down a hellhound and squashed it. More hellhounds came out of several shops, snarling, and drooling. Clark's gemstone pupil glowed red, "I'm going to spay and neuter every single last one of you!"
Line Break.
Percy was tired and in a lot of pain. For the last few hours he had been trying to open an air vent, his fingers and palms were raw and bloody from trying to pry it open. He stopped when the gash across his face began throbbing. "AAH!" Percy let go of the vent and fell back. "Percee!" Anthony waddled to big brother and tried to help him up. The younger Jackson brother then ran up to the air vent and tried to open it, only to lose control and rolled backwards.
Percy forced himself, "Come on!" he told himself and got up. He looked around for anything to open that stupid vent. Then the building began shaking, dry began falling from the ceiling. "What's going on!?"
Line Break.
Kratos grabbed the satyr lower jaw and proceeded to rip it off along with the skin that covered its chest and abdomen. Another unfortunate satyr was grabbed and swung face face in column, destroying it, and causing the baloney above them to collapse. Kratos pulled back before a minotaur's ax hit him, and Kratos grabbed the bull head man nose ring and brought it down to its knees' and then grabbed the minotaur by its horn and twisted its head a one hundred and eighty degrees, the last thing it saw was Kratos walking away, upside down.
A flock of harpies descended from the ceiling, Kratos fired Berserker, sending the burning shots flying towards the harpies, due the harpies greasy feathers the flames spread faster than expected and the harpies began flying out of control clasing into everything, one severely burnet harpy tried to crawl away, but Kratos' proceed to crush it under his right foot, the stoic expression had not change at all.
In the corner of his eye, The Spartan saw an oncoming group, a ghostly red wisp came from Kratos' eyes, he pulled out his sword in his right and then Neamen Fang knife in his left. He remembered a technique from ronin days, he began walking toward his next opponent both blades held firmly. He carefully zig-zag between them and made it past them and moved on.
The monster group tried to chase, only to fall apart, now releasing that they had been cut. Kratos swung his sword slicing a satyr in two vertical pieces, then spun around to kick the jaw off an empousa, Kratos then grabbed the ripped off its metal leg and used it to bludgeon another empousa.
Orion stabbed his knife into a cyclops chest and pulled the knife down, splitting it from gut to groin. He felt a sharp pain, a centaur pierced his thigh with its spear, Orion pulled the spear out and the wound closed. Orion grew triple in height and brought his foot down on the centaur spine, crippling it. He brought his foot down again and smashed the head. Clark busted through a Old Navy window, tackling another cyclops, he pinned it and snapped the neck, it never got any easier killing his own kind.
"Cyclops, look like Kratos clean out this area," Orion said, piles of monster remaining dust stacked up like sand dunes, Clark wiped his brow off, "Yeah, but the important thing is to find his boys, and not get in his way. Orion looked around, "He is heading straight, You take left, I will take right, and try to meet up with him." Clark was a spectacle of Orion, but decided to follow through. The old cyclops wanted to save his godsons.
Line Break.
"Come on! Come on!" Percy was trying again to pry open the vent, the door opened to the room and Percy immentanty pulled Anthony behind him, fortunately it was Tyson. The little cyclops shirt was torn and several more fresh bruises covering his body, sniffling he pulled a flathead screwdriver out of his pocket and threw it into the cage, Tyson then ran out the room as quickly as he could. Percy picked up the screwdriver and looked at the screw keeping the vent up, Tyson saved them.
"Tyson!" Percy yelled, "I'm gonna find you! And help you!" Percy swore to repay his new friend and rushed to the vent and began removing the screws. The building began to shake even more violently. "We gotta get out of here!"
Line Break.
Kratos grabbed a telekhine, a creature that look like a mixture between, a dog, seal and man, and headbutted it hard enough to cave in its skull, several more telekhine rushed at him, Kratos grabbed the one close to him and used it as a battering ram and charged, sending the monsters flying. Kratos then spinned around and threw the telekhine out through the ceiling.
'I'm close.' Kratos could sense his boys near. A Laistrygonian Giant came up from behind and swung its Celestial bronze club at the back of Kratos head, WAHM! Kratos didn't move a single nanometer, and the Giant's club had a massive dent in it. Kratos' pulled out his Steer Magnum Revolver and shot the Giant right between the eyes.
Line Break.
The air vent was nothing like the movies Percy saw, at first there was plenty of room, but as he and Anthony moved further it only got tighter. "Percee!" Anthony whined, Percy pushed his little brother ahead, "We need to keep moving!"
"Don't push me!" Anthony cried, Percy ignored him and kept pushing him forward, "I'm telling Momee!"
"I don't care!" Percy kept shoving his little brother further.
They made it to a fork in the vents, "Oh no, which way?" Percy looked left and then right, Anthony then crawled to the right, "It smells like outside," Percy sniffed the air and could smell rainwater instead of the scent of mold. The Jacksons brother went right and kept moving.
Line Break.
Orion and Clark found Kratos repeatedly pummeling a Laistrygonian Giant, bringing down a hammer fist into a pile of mush. Growling Kratos stood up and brushed the brain matter off him. His eyes were still black and red, his veins pulsed all over his body. He saw the cyclops and giant who immemtainty put down their weapons and held up their hands in surrender, with luck Kratos would not horrifically kill them. Kratos let out a low growl, "Stop standing around," he ordered.
The Three made it down to the low level of the abandoned mall, and then the boiler room, They found the Gourmet lair that screamed serial killer. A makeshift kitchen with hooks hanging from the ceiling, and the various notebooks filled with recipes for cooking mortals, demigods, and other monsters.
"Sick bastard!" Clark growled, he could smell every mortal and demigod that cooked in this room, but, "Percy and Anthony have not been here," Orion found hoof prints, "He went this way, Kratos-Kratos?" The Spartan was not there, having already left.
Line Break.
Finally they were also out, Percy could hear the rain outside, and he could feel the water outside. "Anthony, we're almost out," Percy looked out an airway, he saw that the vent was in an old loading dock filled with dusty, old crates and shelves. The giant doors were open and rain was spilling in. Now all Percy had to do was figure out a way out of the- He lost focus when he heard someone whistling.
"Where o'where are my lil treats, I would like to find them and eat something sweet," Byron hooves echoed across the docking area. Percy and Anthony remain still and quiet, The horned centaur picked up a tarp and looked under it, "Nope, no one there,".
When he heard the commotion up front Bryon figure the Hunters of Artemis found this place. Bryon decided to pack up and leave while he can. He had a recipe he was wanting to try out, the main ingredient was a Hunter of Artemis, but they were so hard to capture. Bryon ears twitch at the detection from a noise above, the vent above. "Hmmmm," Bryon's preferred weapon was a javelin with a rope, he only ever used his knife for cooking. Carefully aimed his javelin and threw at the vent, WHAM! The vent violently shook and screaming erupted. He pulled on the javelin rope and grabbed it and threw it again.
The vent support began weakening and the next javelin strike greatly weakened it again, then a fourth hit caused the support to break. Percy and Anthony were fortunate the javelin missed them, "Percee!" Anthony cried, between the Jackson brothers were several puncture holes. The support finally broke and the vent snapped in two, Percy's side was still stable, but Anthony half tilted downward, Anthony held on for dear life, his tiny fingers gripping the metal edge. "Percee!" Percy crawled and grabbed his hands, the vent lost more support and aimed straight down, Percy tried to pull his brother up, ignoring the pain shooting up his arms, the cuts covering his hands began opening up and bleeding, Anonthy began to slip out of his grasp.
Bryon threw his javelin again, "AAAAHHHH!" Percy screamed, the javelin grazed his left leg, the vent moved again and began swinging, gravity overtook them and pulled Anthony away.
"PERCEE!"
"ANTHONY!"
Anthony shot straight down and instinctively covered himself and closed his eyes before he hit the ground. He didn't feel anything and opened his eyes, Anthony saw his feet dangling a few feet above the ground. His shirt was choking him and looking up to his left, Anthony saw Bryon holding him up by his shirt collar. "Got you." Bryon sang. Anthony began screaming and tried to escape.
"Well, one should be enough and I know exactly the recipe I want to use," Bryon tucked under his arm, "PERCEE! PERCEE!"
"GEE-RON-ELMO!"
Percy shot down from the vent and landed on Bryon's back, "LET GO OF MY BROTHER YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!" Percy began Bryon and began swinging his fist into the centaur's face, "AHH! YOU LITTLE BASTARD!" Byron began bucking trying to throw Percy off. Percy shanked his teeth on Bryon's ear and held on, Percy yanked his head and tore off the ear.
"EEEHHHH!" Bryon yelled. Percy spat out the ear and began swing his fist into the centaurs eyes, "Get off! Get off! Get off!" Bryon kicked his hindlegs up high and upsetted Percy's balance, Bryon grabbed Percy by his shirt and threw him away, Percy flew straight into a massive. Crash!
"AAH!" Bryon groaned and placed his hand over his missing ear, his poisonous blood dripped down his face, "Little bastard!" Bryon headed for the exit, he had already been delayed enough.
"Give him back!" Percy said weakly, he crawled across the ground, his body was riddled with new cuts, and his clothes were torn. "Give… him… back!" Percy sea green eyes glowed and continued to crawl.
Bryon sighed, "You got spirit, but you can't save anybody." Bryon turned away from Percy and walked away with brother, Percy's vision grew blurry.
'Please… save my brother.'
CRASH!
Percy's prayer was answered. The other side of the loading dock was a massive elevator meant to bring several tonnes of merchandise and supplies for the mall, several of the large monsters also used it to enter and leave.
Kratos snapped the Laistrygonian Giant neck and threw the body away. Kratos' eyes glowed bright red with a ghostly trail. He spotted the centaur holding Anthony and the veins in his neck began throbbing.
"DADEE!" Anthony reached out for his father, Kratos took a single step forward and all of New York shook. The next step Kratos took shook the entire eastern coast. Kratos was unarmed, he wanted to tear the centaur molecule structure aparted. Bryon took out his knife and placed it against Anthony's throat. "Take another step and I will take his head off!"
"Dadee!"
"D-dad!" Percy managed before passing out, Kratos saw Percy, the boy he swore to raise, laid on ground covered in wounds, especially the horatonial slash across his face. A darkness covered Kratos face, The centaur began saying something, but the only thing Kratos heard was his raising heartbeat.
Clark and Orion busted in, "Let the boy go!" Orion aims an arrow at the Centaur liver, "You heard him drop the kid!"
Bryon began to try to figure a way out of this stitution. "Anthony," Kratos spoke, the shade of darkness still covering his face, everyone's attention went to the spartan, "Anthony, what do we do when something bad is on T.V.?"
"Huh!?" Bryon uttered.
"What is he talking about?" Orion was now sure that Kratos was a nut job.
Kratos raised his head and covered his eyes, Anthony remembered when something naughty was on the T.V. he had to cover his eyes like a good boy. Anthony covered his eyes with his hands, Clark took notice, "Quick! Close your eyes!" he said to Orion. The cyclops and Hunter shut their mechanical eyes.
"What the Hades is going on?" Bryon was confused, he has not been in any situation like this. Kratos still had his hand covering his eyes, and slowly separated his middle and ring finger exposing his left eye. His sclera was back and iris was gold.
"What that-!" upon seeing that eye Bryon's entire being froze. They say the eyes were the window to the soul, the same apply to Gods. being exposed to Gods also exposed to the God's domain, such as war god domain.
Everything around Bryon became solid red, only Kratos and Bryon existed in this domain, Kratos' shadow grew and spread to Bryon feet, "What-what happening! I can't move!" shadowy arms grew out and grabbed Bryon's legs.
Black and red eyes began appearing,out of the red. Kratos began walking toward Bryon only the sound of his footsteps echoing. Bryon couldn't move, Kratos removed Anthony from the centaur, "Dadee!" Anthony clung to his father, Kratos walked up to Percy and picked him up.
Kratos handed his sons to Clark, "Take them to a hospital." Clark nodded and ran out. "Go with him." Kratos told Orion, the giant nodded and headed out. Kratos stared out into the rain. Bryon was still paralyise by the vision of Kratos' domain.
"Gourmet," Kratos spoked, "If you can make it past me, I will let you live." Kratos turned back to the centaur, his eyes changed back to their amber color, lighting flashed outside and thunder rumbled.
Bryon was shocked, but then began laughing, "Heh.. heh heh, really now, just need to get past you, fine then!" Centaurs were some of the fastest creatures out there, not even children of Hermes can match them.
'Probably just an illusion, yeah, the shithead just casted a spell, just need to get past him,' Bryon smirked, and bolted for the opening. "You stupid bastard!" Bryon yelled and moved past Kratos and was only an inch from the opening.
BAM! Byron's body flew across the loading bay and struck the wall hard enough to crack it. "What? What happened?" Centaur was far sturdier than any mortal or horse, but the Gourmet could tell that he had a few cracked ribs, Kratos stood emotionless with his hands in his pockets, "Well, you just need to get past me." Bryon spat out some blood, "Fuck you," Bryon stood up on all four, quickly serpentine across and leap over Kratos.
BAM!
Byron crashed down from the ceiling, blood poured out of the Gourmet mouth, "AAH-" Kratos kicked Bryon back across the room, the Gourmet tried to get up, Kratos assisted him by grabbing him by the throat and lifted him up. Kratos fingernail dug into the windpipe, Kratos threw Bryon across the loading dock and through a shutter door. Bryon's body rebounded across the loading and slammed against an empty shipping container, denting it.
Kratos exited through the back and casually moved toward the Gourmet. Bryon was groggy from being thrash around. He felt Kratos grabbing his left horn and yanked his head back. Kratos forced his fingers into the Gourmet mouth and grabbed the tongue and pulled it out, along with the esophagus, the stomach, and intestines. Kratos watched the Bryon the Gourmet intensity twitch and slowly dissolved into a pile of dust.
Kratos walked in the rain, and looked up into the gray sky, feeling every cold drop hit him. "They're safe," Kratos told himself, "They're safe!" Kratos stood in the rain trying to calm himself. He still had so much rage in his heart.
Line Break.
Clark brought Percy and Anthony to Saint Francis hospital, Anthony had a sprained wrist and two bruised ribs. Percy's wounds were more severe and required over seventy eight stitches across his body, his right femur had cracked and his right humerus was broken. He also was suffering from internal bleeding and a high fever. Percy slept for two weeks straight.
"Hmmm," Percy groaned and forced his eyes open, his mouth was dry like a New York sidewalk in the middle of a summer heatwave, and his body was all tingly, "Huh?" everything was white, white ceiling, white walls, white bed sheet, and white bandages covering his body, an IV drip was connected to his left arm. "Hello… Anybody?" no answer, Percy tired eyes went to a flower vase on his left, Percy moved his IV tube around the vase and knocked it over.
Smash! "What was that?" a nurse came in and saw the Percy was conscious, "Heh heh,"
His Family called and arrived. "PERCEE!" Anthony climbed into Percy's bed and hugged him. "OW! Ow,ow,ow,ow,ow,ow,ow!" Percy was still in a lot of pain. Anthony was pulled off him, Percy saw the small cast on his brother's wrist, 'Ha, I got two and mine are bigger,' Percy thought to himself.
"Percy, how are you feeling?" his mom asked, she began brushing his bangs aside. "Everything hurts," he replied. His eyes went over to his dad who was standing at the end of the bed. "Perseus," Kratos said, Percy turn to his mom, "Mom, I want to talk to dad…alone,"
Sally was surprised at Percy's request, but agreed, "Anthony, Let go get some snacks," She picked up her youngest, and left the room. Kratos pulled next to Percy's bed and sat down. Percy was quiet and didn't look at him, "If you just want to remain silent I am fine with that."
Percy gripped his blanket tight and his eyes began watery, then he began crying. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Percy said repeatedly. Kratos placed his big hand on Percy head, "It's fine,"
Percy cried for two minutes, before calming down, "I'm sorry!" he said again. Kratos patted his back, "When you're ready," Percy settled down and wiped out his wet face. He turned to his dad, his eyes bloodshot, " I wanna be strong!" Percy said, "I wanna be strong, just like you!"
Kratos felt his heart twist for a moment and didn't say anything. "I couldn't stop Gabe or the satyrs from hurting mom, I couldn't stop the monsters from taking me and Anthony, I can't protect anybody!" Percy began crying again.
Kratos knew what Percy was feeling, the seer helplessness of losing a loved one.
He remembers the first time he felt that way, after having Deimos taken from him, being beaten and knocked aside as Deimos cried out for help, and swearing to do what I took to prevent from helpness, only to fail in the end. He did not want Percy to go through that.
"Boy," Kratos said with authority, Percy stopped crying, looking at his dad, "When you are healed we will begin your training, it will be a difficult process, but you will become strong, but you will obey me and my orders if you want me to train you, understood?"
Percy wiped his tears away and gave a strong nod, "Yes Sir!" Kratos felt pride in his son.
Percy swore that he would become strong, stronger than anybody!
Chapter End.