Really glad with how last chapter turned out, and it's only gonna get better, so keep reading!

Thanks for all of the feedback and reviews, I see them all, and appreciate them.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters (except the OC's) Percy Jackson & The Olympians, Heroes Of Olympus, Or Trials Of Apollo. All of that belongs to Rick Riordan.

Now then, on with the eighth chapter.

8. We Go To The Zoo

Harper and I walked up the stairs towards Old Joe's private room overlooking the now destroyed arena.

Seriously, what a mess we made.

I wasn't regretting it or anything. Old Joe was a monster, and this place was awful, it needed to be destroyed.

But I was also kind of grateful that we came here. We found out Talon is really useful and willing to help us, and I found out that I am the alleged "way" to Harper's missing older brother.

That couldn't be more untrue.

I wanted to help her, but I didn't have the first idea of where to start looking for Levi, which is his name by the way, I didn't even know that until half an hour ago, so how would I know his location? Why did Harper say that? It had something to do with my necklace, and I intended to find out how. I wasn't going to force her to talk, obviously, but I would bring it up casually, and give the message that I really need to know what the heck is going on.

We got up the staircase and entered the room. It was like a nice office, soft red carpet on the floor, a couple of huge desks with meaningless paperwork on them, a royal chair overlooking the the arena, where Old Joe once sat. I looked to the right and saw mounts on the wall, with chains on them. They were short and thick, meant for two beasts.

I knew what they were for.

I kind of felt sorry for the cyclops. I mean, they were monsters naturally, but some had to be okay, right? They had probably been beaten by Joe to the point where they served him out of fear. It probably wasn't really their fault that they tried to kill me.

Can't think about that now, I obliderated them, they'll reform in a decade or so, I have to focus on the quest.

We both rummaged for the drachmas, trying to find the safe in the now dark room.

Harper finally announced, "Got it, over here."

I turned and managed to spot her left white eye, faintly illuminating the darkness. I walked over and we both looked at the large vault. It wasn't a safe, forget that, this thing was a full fledged bank vault.

"I'd say there's enough to pay Talon for three quests in here."

She snorted, "Doubt that, I can already tell he overcharges everybody."

"Well, maybe he goes on sale, or hands out coupons every once in a while."

She snickered, "Yeah, I can just imagine him on the sidewalk next to some busy road, trying to promote himself." She lowered her voice and tried to impersonate Talon, "Like, want your archenemy assassinated? Well, your in luck! I got a half off sale for a shot to the head! Just remember, drachmas only, no mortal cash. Oh, and make sure you complement my sunglasses."

We both laughed, it was dark humor, but pretty funny. I could see him doing that.

We stopped laughing, and I remembered that she was actually a fun person. Despite her appearance, you would expect her to be completely antisocial. Then again, I was once the same way. A few months ago, I would never crack a joke, or even smile. Now, I was cracking funnies and chortling like any regular extrovert.

I sighed and shook my head, "Man, it's crazy to think that it's only been a day since the quest began, and all of this crazy stuff has happened already."

She nodded, "I know. Makes me worry about what's to come."

I shifted uneasily, I wanted to find out the truth, I needed to find out the truth from her, or at least some of it. I didn't want her to relive past trauma, I just wanted to find out what my necklace had to do with her situation.

I tried to say it quickly, like ripping off a band aid, but instead it came out slower than necessary. "Harper, what's going on? Why did you say that you already had a way to your brother, while pointing at me?"

She cringed, like she'd been expecting this, "I shouldn't have said that."

"It's okay, I just want to know why you would think that. I mean...I'd love to help you, but I don't know the first thing about your brother's location."

She drooped her head a little, disappointment etched on her pale face, then she said, barely above a whisper, "I was afraid you would say that"

I felt bad. Had she been hoping I would know something? This was all confusing, I didn't know the history behind this, only the summary. It was like Harper's life was a book, and I had only knowledge of what was written on the back, the main idea of the plot.

"What do you mean? What would give you the idea that I would know where he is?"

She shook her head, "I don't know. I just...figured you'd had visions...or dreams maybe. Like you'd seen him somewhere, and would get a feeling to tell me or something."

"I wish I did. I'm sorry Harper, but the only people I've seen in my visions besides Ouranos and Hera are The Cloak guy and Malachi."

She didn't say anything.

I tried to continue, maybe give her a little hope, "I mean, you said you didn't know Malachi, and he has blonde hair, different complexion, so he's not it. The Guy in the Cloak has your hair color, and his skin isn't that tan...maybe it's him?"

She shook her head again, "No. Like I said, Levi never had a scar on his face. And this cloak guy is working for Ouranos right? The last thing Levi would ever do is betray the gods and work with the enemy." Her gaze became wistful, "Loyalty and family were the two things he valued most."

She was so sad. She wasn't bawling or anything, this was a much deeper pain. I wanted to understand it, I wanted to understand her.

"Harper, I'm willing to listen. If you want to tell me what happened, then that's fine. But if not...then at least just tell me what the heck my necklace has to do with all of this."

She chuckled humorlessly, "It's a long and depressing tale, Matt. We need to get moving."

I didn't want to, I needed to insist on this, "No. Okay, just no. I'm not gonna force you to relive your pain. All I ask is that you tell me what role I play in it."

She was a little stunned at my persistence, and she weakly protested, "What about the Hydra? We should just go. Really Matt, you don't want to see who I really am. It'll only...scare you away."

"Scare me away? You're kidding right? Your telling this to the guy that just fought two cyclops and came out with barely a scratch that it'll scare me away."

She looked in my eyes, not amused, "I'm not joking. If you find out what I've planned, the things I've done to find answers, the things I've had to witness..." She faltered, bringing her head down for a moment, then looking back at me with a quiet urgency, "Look...you're the first real friend I've had in a long time. Most people see my appearance, hear about my parentage, and ignore, for good reason. Let alone if they actually knew what my life is like. But you're...different. You're a good person, and you actually don't look disgusted or freaked out when you look at me, and it...means a lot. I don't want to ruin that by recounting old wounds."

It took every ounce of my will not to kiss her. I had never even kissed anyone before, and would probably end up massively failing, probably ending up like a fish trying to grab at the little store bought flakes fed to them. She was so vulnerable, and sincere. I kept my cool, and did not kiss her, for the fear that she would smack me or stab me with her knives.

I instead looked at her with intensity, trying to get the point across that I was not going anywhere, "I know what it's like to be alone. To feel that you have no worth, that you mess everything up. I've stayed distanced and isolated from everyone around me but my mom for years. Every time I'd get close to someone, a monster would sense the emotional attachment and either hurt the person, or kill them. I had to be alone for the safety of others, because It'd be my fault if they died. I still kinda feel that way. I mean, you're my first real friend in a long time too, and part of me is scared that when we walk out these doors, some monster will come out of nowhere and rip you to shreds." I then gently grabbed her shoulder with my right hand, "But I know that's nonsense. Because you're strong. You'd slice up that monster before it had a chance to think. You've obviously been through a lot, and whether I know the full story of what exactly, doesn't matter. I don't have to know. But I just want you to understand that while you may not see it, you're more mentally tough than just about anybody, and you're above all of that, you're above what happened, what you saw. And I know you want answers, well...you've got friends now. Not just me, but Percy, Annabeth, and Tal-um, well, maybe not Talon. But you've got the three of us, and whatever it is you're dealing with, let us help, you might be surprised at the outcome."

Her eyes were a little wide, mouth parted slightly, she was processing my mini-speech. I was a little stunned too, I don't think I've ever said that many words in a row before. I didn't regret it, I meant every word I said, I just needed her to hear them. She didn't even have to respond, I just felt content with letting my thoughts be known.

After a few moments she finally reacted. She closed her eyes, causing the only source of light (her left eye) to disappear. I heard her sigh lightly, and felt something on top of my hand. The hand that was still on her shoulder.

Whatever it was, it was soft and warm, It had no weight at all, but even with my durable skin I could tell that it was holding on.

I then felt a something slide across my hand gently, in a soothing manner, then I finally realized it was a thumb, her thumb.

She had put her hand on mine, the one that was on her shoulder.

I felt my face get a little hot, I was really glad it was dark in here, or she would've been able to notice.

"I-I don't know what to say, Matt. That was...thank you."

I nodded, then realized she probably couldn't see that, so I said, "I meant it."

Her eyes opened, the left one illuminating the area slightly, it was looking directly at me, as was the blue one on the right.

"I know. And...you're right. You deserve to know, so...I'll tell you."

I nodded, still completely aware of our continued hand contact.

"Alright, and I'll listen."

I could barely make out a nod from her, then she inhaled and said, "Okay. There's so much. I guess I could start with-"

Whatever she was going to say, would have to wait, because at that moment, the walls behind us blew open with a loud BANG!

Rubble flew everywhere, I managed to shield Harper from the flying debris. I cursed under my breath, she was about to tell me everything, and some idiot had ruined it. And I knew it was an idiot, because how else would the walls randomly explode? Did Joe plant C4 inside of them when constructing this part of the basement?

I turned and glared at the source, a figure appeared out of the smoke down below, it was Talon. Of course it was. The guy had perfect timing, and very little patience.

He looked up at me, annoyed, "What the hell's taking so long? Rip that thing open, get the money, and let's go!"

I fought down the surge of anger, I know we needed him, but right now I wanted to rip those stupid sunglasses off and deck him in the jaw. However, I realize that would be problematic, so I just called down, trying to put my frustration in my voice. "I'm getting it! It's dark in here. And besides, the Zoo doesn't open for like another three hours!"

He snorted, "Well, while you two were messing around in there, ya boy came up with a brilliant plan to take out the Hydra now. Sneak in and do it while no mortals are around. Smart, huh?"

I raised an eyebrow, "Yeah, too smart. You sure Annabeth didn't come up with that idea?"

Talon looked offended, "Of course not! Blondie actually opposed the idea! She said it would be breaking the law, or something like that."

"She's right."

Talon rolled his eyes, "Well, of course she is, but who cares! You guys are following me now, and ya'll are gonna have to accept that I don't care about rules and the police."

"Yeah, whatever. I'll get the stupid drachmas." I huffed and turned back, ripping the door off of the vault in an instant with no effort. I went a little overboard because I was annoyed, and ended up slinging the door off the hinges, causing it to fly and bounce across the room like a pinball, shaking the area and creating craters wherever it landed.

It ended up flying out of the huge hole in the front wall, the two ton door made it's way straight for Talon, he yelped and rolled out of the way just in time, his sunglasses falling off.

I tried not to laugh, but I ended up doing it anyway. He got up quickly and put his sunglasses on, I figured he would emit some bloodlust or shoot me in the face with a couple of revolver rounds, which I kinda deserved, but instead he just threw his hands up.

"Alright, okay, I guess I had that one coming. Now grab the coins and let's go slay a Hydra!"

I nodded, and grabbed a huge sack on the floor. Harper and I went to work on putting all of the coins in the sack, I held it up with my other hand the whole time, not feeling any weight or pressure from the amount of coins. Which was really useful for all of us. This thing was getting full, and probably weighed two hundred pounds, and I doubted anybody else wanted to haul it around. After a minute, the bag was full, and I tied it up tightly, and picked it up, showing Talon.

He smirked, "Nice. Now just throw it down here."

I hesitated, "You sure?"

"I know what I'm doing, kid. Throw it down."

I dropped the bag, it flew towards Talon, and he quickly pulled out a small container, held it under the bag's fall line, and reared his head back. I expected his arm to get crushed from the sack, but instead, it seemed to shrink as it got closer to the container, eventually it condensed into nearly nothing, a tiny burlap sack plopped into the container, and Talon shut the lid, placing it back in his jacket.

My jaw dropped. What the heck was up with this guy and containers? He had some wacky abilities, and if they weren't abilities, they were magical items.

"Okay, I gotta ask, how the heck did that just happen?"

He grinned, "Another magic item. Every time we need money all I gotta do is pull out the little sack from the container, and pour some coins into my hand."

I wanted to ask a million questions, there were so many things wrong with what he just said in terms of science and physics and all that stuff. But this was a world where gods existed, goat men, and bull monsters. So I decided not to question it.

I turned, Harper stood there awkwardly and glanced at me sheepishly. I shrugged and said, "Sorry, he really doesn't understand boundaries."

She smiled weakly, "So...I guess we'll talk about it later?"

I sighed, nodding, "Yeah, it'll have to wait. We've got a Hydra to kill."

We both trudged out of the room and followed Talon up the stairs.

After what seemed like hours of walking and silence, we finally made it to the upstairs section. The familiar bar glowing through the doorway, all of the monsters now gone, the tv still playing, but now instead of a football game, it was an episode of Friends.

We squeezed through the doorway and walked up to Percy, Annabeth and Seth. Who were sitting in chairs and slumped over a round table. Seth was biting a tin can, Annabeth loosely playing with her hair, and Percy drinking a liter of Coke. Man, that guy could fit a dozen watermelons in his stomach if he wanted.

"Where'd everybody go?" I asked, looking around the room.

Annabeth looked up and shrugged, "Guess Talon's warning worked really well. Even the Onocentaur took off."

Percy put down his coke, "Yeah, he was so stoked, said something about finally getting back to his lawnmower collection, whatever that means."

Seth nibbled on his tin can, "I-I think it means he has an actual lawnmower collection."

"What does a donkey man want with lawnmowers?"

"M-Maybe it's a southern thing."

Talon put his hand up, "Nah, lawnmowers bring a good amount of money if you sell their metal, or parts."

"Okay, can we please get back to the task at hand, a multiple headed dragon in a public Zoo." I added.

Harper raised her eyebrows, "That we're supposed to kill before the place opens."

I looked at Annabeth, "So what's the plan for that again?"

She rolled her eyes and pointed at Talon, "Ask him, he's the one that came up with it."

Talon nodded proudly, "The plan that I proposed, is that we kill the thing before the Zoo opens, and mortals come piling in. You guys care about their well-being right?"

We nodded.

"See, I made this plan for you, since I don't really give a crap about them."

He looked at us, expecting us to thank him and praise him. We just stared.

He sighed and continued, "Alright, don't thank me. Anyway, it's the middle of the night now, about three in the morning, so I figured we could sneak around, find a spot where we can all enter, and locate the Hydra. My guess, is that it's asleep, because if it isn't...well, there would be a lot of chaos right about now."

It made sense, if that Hydra was in the zoo awake, it would be causing havoc, and the other animals would be freaking out.

Talon pointed to me, "When we find it, you kill it. That's how this works right? We can fight it all we want, but in the end, you have to be the one to kill it."

Harper looked confused, "Why though? Why do we have to kill it, or any of the other stuff? I thought this was a rescue mission for Hera. If that's true, I don't see what killing and capturing rare monsters has to do with anything."

Talon held his hands up, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. I didn't know anything about a rescue mission. And for Hera? Why the hell would you wanna rescue her?"

Annabeth growled, "Believe me, I don't."

Percy tried to mediate, "But we don't have a choice. Look, you heard the guy in the ring, he said he was a servant of Ouranos. I'm not a genius, but I know that's not good. I mean, the guy was Gaea's husband right? The sky itself, while she was the Earth?"

Annabeth nodded gloomily, "Yep. Both are primordial beings, on the same level as each other, and we know how powerful Gaea was...I can't imagine fighting the sky itself. I mean, we're talking about the entire atmosphere. I don't know how far Ouranos' domain reaches...but if it includes the upper exosphere, that's a lot of distance."

"But didn't Gaea control the Giants? They're super powerful, how can Ouranos compare?" I said.

"Oh, he can." Annabeth said dangerously, "First off, he allegedly has this Malachi as his second in command, who you said defeated Hera with ease...if that's true, then he has Olympian level abilities, and then there's this cloaked figure, we don't even know the extent of his power yet." She shook her head, "All of that aside, he has hundreds of storm spirits at his command, mountain gods, lightning beasts, potentially the wind gods, and from what we saw in the ring...demigods."

"Who apparently know where my brother is." Harper muttered.

Talon interjected, "Wait, hold up. If I'm gonna tag along on this, you'd better explain the whole truth, what is all of this about?"

I sighed, he deserved to know. But I was afraid if I told him he would take all of the drachmas and ditch us.

Ah, better just take the chance.

I explained the whole thing at sonic speed, leaving out some minor details about emotions blah blah blah, but I gave the general gist. I had to kill and capture four monsters for some unknown reason, eventually find a way to sail to the cursed island, face Malachi, the figure in the cloak, and Ouranos. All the while freeing Hera from her cage, and getting her safely back to...Olympus I guess.

There was one part that really hit him. The part where I talked about Malachi. I couldn't read his face, but it was obvious he knew the god-killer...or has at least heard of him in some way. I decided to ask him about that once I was done.

It took a lot less time than I thought, I guess I was so used to explaining and thinking about the whole crazy thing that I knew it like the back of my hand. When I got done, I gestured for Percy to give me a swallow of the Coke, he passed it to me, I used my shirt-or rather, his shirt that I borrowed, and wiped the top to get rid of the backwash. I took a swallow, the peppery soda somehow soothing my dried mouth, all the while Talon processing everything that I had told him.

He shook his head, opened his mouth a couple of times, like he was gonna say something, but decided against it. We were all silent, we all knew the deal. Well, except for Seth, but he wasn't part of the quest, we just needed Talon to get the idea.

The hitman finally spoke, "Alright, you're gonna have to explain the whole thing again."

My jaw dropped, he couldn't be serious, "Dude, you gotta be-"

He chuckled, "Kidding? I am. I heard every word, and to be honest...kinda wish I didn't."

"The parts about Malachi, you seemed interested...you know him?"

Talon had a good poker face, but I could notice the slightest change, a bit of...something. I'm not sure. He looked at me with intensity, "Not at all. Just you know...the idea of a god killer, it's not exactly uplifting."

I didn't question it further, if this had something to do with his past, who was I to make him talk about it?

"Oh, ok" I tried convincingly.

He continued, "Anyway, the whole thing sounds crazy, and not the good kind. I agreed to help you track and fight these four creatures, not rescue a goddess and fight Ouranos."

"B-but we have all this extra money, couldn't we pay you more?"

He shook his head, "Nah, fighting a god killer, and a primordial god at the same time...I ain't interested."

Harper pushed, "I thought you said you went after the occasional immortal?" So she had been paying attention. It was a good point, if Talon had fought gods before...dude had more experience in that field than all of us, besides Percy of course.

He huffed, "Alright, fine. If you wanna know so bad..." He whispered the next part, "I've never actually fought a god or goddess before."

He said that like it was a horrible sin, Percy questioned before I could, "So? Doesn't matter, man. I've fought a few...not exactly good for the demigod's favor, they sort of can't die like that."

Harper looked at him, "What do you mean, like that?"

Annabeth intervened, "They can't physically be killed, they can only fade away, when they lose the thing they represent. Like the nature god, Pan. We saw him die a few years ago in the Labyrinth."

Talon shook his head, "Never thought I'd say this and actually be right but, you're wrong blondie."

Annabeth was stunned, so was I. I didn't know the assassin at all really, but I knew that he was street smart, not book smart. And he just said Annabeth was wrong about something? The literal daughter of intelligence, the woman that has proven a dozen times that she is smarter than the rest of us, I figured Talon would crack up and say, just kidding! You actually thought I was serious?!

But Talon's expression was anything but humorous.

Annabeth seemed to be thinking he was joking too, because she said half laughing, "I'm wrong?"

"Yes." He was serious, almost as serious when he emitted bloodlust at Old Joe.

Annabeth noticed and her smile faded, she said, "How so?"

"Gods can fade, that's true. But they can also be physically killed. I'm not saying anybody can do it, it's very hard and requires an extreme rarity."

Annabeth looked like the smart kid in class that had answered a question wrong for the first time in her life, her lips were parted, she was fidgeting with her fingers. Percy looked like he'd just witnessed a crazy invention, his eyes were glued to the two, even Harper looked impressed, she had stopped picking at her knife strap.

"What kind of rarity?"

"Well, you guys know about Celestial Bronze and Imperial Gold right? The two demigod metals used for making weapons and stuff for the Greek and Roman Camps?"

I had to intervene, "Wait a second, Roman Camp?"

Percy turned to me, "Yeah, there's a second demigod camp. It's for Romans, it's called Camp Jupiter."

I was stunned, but then I remembered something about Harper saying that Percy and Annabeth had been living in New Rome, I guess that was what she meant...Camp Jupiter. I didn't know much about the Roman side of things, but for some strange reason, it felt...familiar. Like a warm feeling I couldn't place.

"I always thought it was just Camp Half Blood" I said.

Annabeth nodded, "So did we, until a few years ago. It's a long story honestly."

Talon pointed at me, "It might've been where you should have went instead. You're the Son of Hercules right? And not Heracles?"

"Heracles?"

"It's Hercules' Greek name, the Greek version of himself. Most gods are the same way." Annabeth told me.

Then to my surprise, Harper said to Talon in a rather annoyed tone, "It's not where he should've went. That Roman place is so uptight and organized. Feels like a military base."

I turned to her, "Have you ever been?"

"A couple of times, yeah. I don't see what the big fuss is about. Trust me, you wouldn't like it."

Talon tucked his sunglasses on his nose and raised his eyebrows at her, "How do you know he wouldn't like it?"

Her look became defensive, "Because he's my friend."

He snorted, "You've known him for like three days, goth girl. Wouldn't decide what people like and don't like for them in that short amount of time."

Her ears turned red, she glared at the assassin, "It doesn't matter if it's been three days or three months, I know him better than you. And cool it with the goth girl."

Talon returned the glare, "Thought you liked nicknames?"

She inched closer, "I do, and I've got a good one for you right now."

He chuckled, also making his way to her, putting his hand at his side, "That's cute. You've got a nice mouth, bet you want it and Matt's to have a sleepover."

Her face turned crimson, partly out of embarrassment, and partly out of anger, but she still walked toward him, her hands on her knife grips now, "Forget the tracking, you want a knife in your side? I'd hate to knock those stupid sunglasses off."

He smiled wickedly and gripped his revolver...which seemed to appear out of nowhere, I doubted he flipped a coin that fast, and I know for a fact the leather jacket didn't hide a holster, there wasn't one on his waist. He stalked towards Harper until they were face to face in a staredown, she had to look up due to the height difference, but they both looked equally intimidating.

"Think you're up for that? I ain't no half baked demigod in some little fightin' ring."

"And I'm not one of your little targets. That demigod was a warm up, wanna see what I can really do with these?" Then at a speed far faster than before in the arena, she drew her knives and spun them in a circular blur. I couldn't keep up, I had no idea how she wasn't dropping those things, she spun them so fast that the noise was like a loud whistle. She stopped them perfectly in a stabbing position and got down in a stance like a cornered feline, ready to pounce on Talon.

The demigod hitman only laughed, "Finally some real fun! Old Joe was nothing...but this?" He pulled his revolver out at the same speed Harper had with her knives, he spun it around like a whirlwind and stopped it perfectly at his side, like he had just quickdrawed on another cowboy in a wild west duel. He lowered his head and his eyes turned red at her, not emitting bloodlust, it was something completely different, I got the strange notion that he was gauging her power, her skill level. He nodded, impressed. "Oh yeah...you're good. I might actually have to try on this. Bring it One-Eye!"

As if on cue, her left eye gleamed in aim, like a Hawk watching it's prey. The white orb contrasting against Talon's red one, the two struggling for dominance until the tension got to be too much.

I couldn't believe this had escalated, I had went from being flustered at Harper's defensive act towards me, and now worried at the fact that the two were about to fight.

I tried to be the peacemaker, "Guys, we can't be doing this, especially not now."

Talon didn't break the staredown, "Don't worry, Matt. I ain't gonna kill your girlfriend, I'm just gonna give her a demonstration on who not to mess with."

My face turned red, "She's not my girlfriend! And we can't be fighting each other!" I mentally cringed at the girlfriend part. I mean, a part of me wished she was...and another part told me to shut up and stop thinking that way. Seriously, there were no feelings on her end. I need to give it a rest already.

Annabeth and Percy stepped in, "He's right, stop you guys, this is exactly what Ouranos wants."

Neither person moved, they stayed in a staredown.

Annabeth rolled her eyes and turned to Harper, "Harper, I'm not denying your skill, but you won't leave this fight unharmed. Are you sure you want to be reunited with your brother wounded? Do you think you can look for him with a bullet in your leg?"

She was good, so good that Harper faltered and eventually lowered her knives, putting them back in their straps. She looked at Annabeth, "Fine. He's not worth it anyway."

Percy was dealing with Talon on the other side in a...different way.

He told Talon firmly, "Talon, hey, look at me. If you fight Harper, then we're not gonna fight. You understand? You fight her here and you give up all rights to our duel. You wanna throw that away?"

It was a bizarre tactic, he kind of sounded like he was talking to a child, which was odd, because Talon was supposedly a year older than him. But I can't say anything because it worked. Talon immediately put his revolver in the holster, that somehow appeared when I wasn't looking, and grumbled, "Alright, whatever."

Seth had finished his tin can, and was nervously nibbling on his hoof, "S-see? Friends again?"

Talon muttered, "Quiet, goat boy."

We sat for a moment, trying to think about what the heck we were even talking about before when Percy remembered, and asked me, "Do you know if it's Hercules or Heracles? Your dad I mean."

I had no idea. I had never met my father. Mom talked about him sometimes before she went insane, and said how attractive he was, and how kind and thoughtful he was, but also powerful, like he could defend her from anything with only his bare hands.

I managed, "I-I'm not sure. I've never met him."

Talon snorted, "Yep, typical god behavior."

Harper was still a little miffed about the argument, "Thought you've never met one?"

He shrugged, "I said I've never fought one. But your actually right, I've never met one either, and don't plan on it."

"Why not?"

"Personal reasons kid, none of your beezwhacks."

"Anyway" I said, trying to prevent another near fight, "I don't know which it was. I kind of have a feeling it was Hercules and not Heracles, but that could be wrong."

Annabeth nodded, "It's okay not to know. It's not important right now, what is important is what you were saying about being able to kill gods, Talon."

Talon looked at her, "Yeah?"

"You were saying something about Celestial Bronze and Imperial Gold."

He thought for a second, then lit up like he just remembered, "Oh yeah! So anyway, Celestial Bronze, Imperial Gold, Steel, Stygian Iron, those are basically the only ones right?"

We nodded.

He made a noise like a basketball buzzer, like we had just gotten an answer wrong on a game show. "Nope. What if I told you there was a metal. The rarest metal in existence that was more powerful than all of those combined, then multiplied by a hundred."

We had no words. I wasn't a blacksmith, but the metals that he had named were the only ones that I had heard of in our world, everybody else looked just as puzzled as me, even Annabeth.

We waited expectantly, until he finally said with emphasis, "Well, there is. It's called Heavenly Diamond."

Heavenly Diamond? He had to be making that up, that name was...well, kind of goofy. I mean so was Celestial Bronze and Imperial Gold, but I had actually seen those. This stuff sounded like a myth within a myth.

Annabeth got the same impression, "I've never heard anything about that."

"Well, don't sweat it too much. It's real but very rare and not many people know about it's existence besides the gods. Even the Titans and Giants didn't know."

Annabeth was seriously confused now, which looked weird on her face, "But there's no stories about it! It's not mentioned anywhere in history."

"Of course it's not, there are no stories about it because it's only ever been used by someone once. And his story is wiped from the world, almost erased. But besides the gods...four people still know it, and I'm one of them."

"What story?" Percy asked.

Talon quickly looked away, "D-doesn't matter. The point is, that Heavenly Diamond, if used as a weapon, can kill any immortal physically, wiping them from existence. When it wounds a god, it sucks out their essence, their being, and they eventually fade. If it's used against demigods...well, I don't know about that. I'd guess you would nearly die from simply being in it's presence."

"Where is this stuff then?" Annabeth asked skeptically.

"The point where the sky met the Earth. Atlas' burden would contain the only pieces in the world."

Percy intervened, "Wait, Annabeth and I have been there, we even took on Atlas' burden for a little while, and we didn't see or sense any Heavenly Diamond."

"That's cause it's buried. It would be a little bit under the surface of the ground, you'd have to dig a little bit, but you'd find it."

We were all trying to process the information. A type of metal that we never knew about, and it supposedly could kill a god? Not just that, but any immortal? I was about to ask when Annabeth said, "You said the gods knew about it. Why didn't the Titans or the Giants?"

"Ouranos and Gaea knew. After all they were the ones that created it. They knew it's power, and they knew that if when they had children, that their children could kill them with the metal if used as a weapon. So Gaea hid it under the Earth and never told her children, the Titans and Giants about it."

"So it could even kill a Primordial?" I asked, like a little kid at story time. I was actually interested, because it could help us against Ouranos.

Talon nodded, "Yeah. I'd say so. If you could hit em' it could take out Ouranos, Gaea, Tartarus...I'm not sure about Chaos though. Chaos came before, it was the very first thing in recorded history, so maybe it can cancel it out. But any other Primordial, it should be able to kill them."

"How did the gods find out?" Percy asked, similar to me.

"Well that falls into the story I was talking about. It's a true story by the way."

Harper motioned with her hand after a minute of silence, "Well? Tell us the story then."

Talon wouldn't meet our eyes, "Look, it's not important. Let's just say that a...person, used Heavenly Diamond against the gods and it didn't go in their favor. But they bounced back somehow, banished the person and hid the knowledge of the deadly metal for centuries. Until my master told me the truth."

"Wait, Your master?" I said.

He looked at me, a little annoyed, "Yeah, kid. You think I learned these gun tricks by myself?"

Harper snorted, "I would think so by how much they suck."

He started to get up out of his seat, "You wanna go goth girl-"

Annabeth sat them down, "Easy, you two. It doesn't matter if it's real or not. We can't get to it, and nobody bad knows about it's existence." She then looked at Talon, eyebrows raised, "Right?"

Talon wouldn't look at her, he seemed uneasy, "Uh, yeah...yeah, no need to worry."

She wasn't convinced, "If there's someone-"

He got up quickly, "Look, everything's fine. We're gonna run out of night if we don't get a move on, let's go! Can't forget about this Hydra!" He walked out the door before any of us could protest.

We all looked at each other, obviously wanting to find out more. But I kind of had to agree, we needed to get one monster down quick, and keep moving. We had no idea where the others were, and how long we would have to travel to find them, so it was time to get our butts in gear.

I shrugged, "Can't say he's wrong, we'd better get to the Zoo."

They all followed and we exited the fight club, into the night.

The night was cool and refreshing. City lights were still on of course, illuminating the less crowded streets. This was New York though, there were always at least a few cars on the road, a few homeless people on the side walk, some thugs stalking the block, some places open for business.

The stars were out, and they lit up like white dots on a black curtain, each one with a different story, yet all connected somehow. They were kind of...like humans in that way.

Talon was a pretty good distance ahead of us, scouting the zoo in our line of sight, we had to jog to catch up with him.

We finally got to him and walked in pace by his side, saying nothing. There were no need for words, not now. Everyone knew the current mission.

We crossed the silent street and made our way to the Zoo. I could only hear our footsteps against the concrete, the lampposts nearby buzzing with power, the occasional vehicle going by somewhere at a slow speed. There was no breeze, only the relatively humid summer night.

About fifty feet from the entrance, Talon held his fist up like a Commander giving his soldiers the order to stop, so we did, save for Seth, who bumped into my back and nervously apologized.

Percy was looking around to find the problem, "What's up?"

Annabeth whispered, "Two security guards up ahead."

Talon nodded, "Yep. And you guys wanted this to be silent, so we're gonna have to sneak to the side and find a way to jump over the gate."

We all quietly agreed and ducked down a little, scooting our way over to the side of the perimeter, finally making contact with the grass, our footsteps could barely be heard, and so we walked normally again, and at a quicker pace.

We went on for a minute or two until we stopped, Talon looked around, then shrugged. "Alright, not sure how we can all jump over this fence." He pointed to it. The black barred fence was thin and close together, leaving no squeezing room, and at the top the tips of the fence were pointed. One slip up, and my nether regions would be impaled.

So I used my head for once, and an imaginary light bulb lit up in my head. I stepped to the fence, grabbed in between the tiny gap space with my fingers, and pulled them apart with effortless strength. They immediately followed my movements, creaking and bending until a human sized hole was created. I was relieved that no alarm had gone off or something, because then we would have to switch to Plan Talon, and that was not a path I wanted to go down.

Talon nodded, "That works. Let's go!"

I could describe the half hour that we spent looking around exhibits, trying to find this stupid thing, but It would be extremely boring. All we did was stay in a tight group, walk around silently, and look in cages and captivities, trying to find the Hydra, to no avail. All we saw were regular animals. Baboons, hyenas, you get the picture.

At one point, Harper finally had enough, "Ugh! There's got to be a way to find this thing!"

Percy agreed, "No kidding. I mean, you'd think that a giant dragon thing would be easy to locate."

Talon raised his eyebrows at us, he had taken his sunglasses off, I guess that even the night forced him to go without being cool for a while. "My plan B's starting to seem real nice now, huh? Look, all we gotta do is fire off a few rounds, wake the animals up, and whichever one makes the loudest roar, that's the hydra, and we follow the sound!"

He smiled and looked at us, expecting a huge round of applause, but again, we weren't impressed, only frustrated.

Annabeth started to walk again, "Come on, we can try-"

"Wait" I interrupted.

They all looked at me, and I used my head again, which really seemed to be paying off now. I thought about the easiest way to locate this thing...it would be seeing the whole Zoo from above, and getting a good idea of the exhibits, and trying to find the largest figure.

Proud of myself, I beamed at the others, and said, "Be right back."

I leaned down and put a little strength in my legs, after a second, I vertically jumped into the air. I rose and rose, the wind flying past my ears, I went up beyond the trees, beyond the tallest point in the zoo, and then finally, at probably two hundred feet, I looked around quickly and searched for the Hydra.

Lions...Flamingos...Alligators...

I had found it.

It was next to the Alligator exhibit, in an empty pit of stone. What had been in there previously was no longer there, I guessed the Hydra had made dinner out of it. Whatever it was, had been either really big, or had a lot of numbers, because that captivity was enormous. The Hydra lay in the center curled up, almost covering the entire exhibit, it breathed in and out, every once and awhile flapping it's reptilian tail, at least that's what I thought it was.

I felt my stomach go up, and I began to drop down, the wind whistled again, and I fell for a couple of seconds, and then made contact with the ground, keeping perfect balance.

Harper looked at me, wide eyed. "What was that all about?"

"I found it, it's next to the Alligator pond."

Percy whistled, "I'm glad this is your quest Matt, you make it pretty easy."

I didn't know about that, I had only jumped in the air.

We knew there was no time to waste, and ran toward the Hydra's pit.

We zoomed on the walkway, passing the sleeping alligators and their feeding pond, until facing the pit, which had the upper half of the Hydra's back sticking out. Man, that thing was huge. It had to be fifty feet long, maybe more. And I'd say it weighed ten tons, or about twenty thousand pounds, nine thousand kilos, whatever metric system you go by, it weighed a lot.

Annabeth somehow suggested with her hands that I go into the pit and try to kill the thing with one blow, while the rest surround it just in case I can't pull it off.

Thanks, Annabeth.

Truth was, I wasn't sure she was wrong. I mean, I was strong, and had obliterated two cyclops with no effort at full base power. But they were a lot smaller and lighter than this thing, and had less heads.

The others understood and were waiting for my answer.

I couldn't come up with anything better, so I just sighed and shrugged, motioning for them to get into positions.

They split up, Percy, Annabeth and Seth going to the left, While Harper and Talon took the right. I guess the two had put aside their differences and knew that it was time to get serious...or they just wanted to get away from all of us so they could finish what they started in the bar.

I decided to go with the former as I saw everybody spread out at an even distance, and nod at me, signaling they were ready.

I took a deep breath and jumped into the pit.

It was smellier than I thought, like an old snake skin and moldy walls combined. I covered my nose and tiptoed to the beast's head. It had eyes as big as my head, and one of it's fangs was poking out, it was nearly the size of my spear, and strangely had a green tint. I took that as venom. Great, this thing's bites were poisonous, along with it's giant size, just great.

It exhaled and sent a firm gust of wind in my face, blowing my hair back and amplifying the stench. I decided to make this quick and pulled off my necklace, I took a moment to make sure I was holding it right, because I needed to strike immediately.

After a second, I clenched the shark tooth, and it elongated into the five foot long spear.

Only I had screwed up, I was standing too close to the Hydra.

The spear took form and ended up poking the Hydra in the forehead, waking it up. It breathed intensely, it's serpent eyes opening, the black slits glaring directly at me. I tried to move quick, and made a stab at the Hydra, but it was already prepared, and knocked me back with it's head before I could make contact with the spear point.

I ended up ten feet from the thing and crashed into the stone wall. I laid on the floor and looked up at the new scene before me.

It had propped itself up with multiple loud booms, and eventually stood upright, all of my friends staring in shock. The Hydra took an extremely tall form, it's multiple heads swaying back and forth together, the mouths roaring in a terrifying harmony.

I grabbed the spear and stood up myself, looking far less intimidating, I barely came up past the Hydra's scaly foot. But I had to kill it somehow, so I charged.

Of course at the same time, the others attacked too, all of them jumping at once, which was a smart move, but the Hydra saw it coming, probably because it had like ten eyes.

Five of the heads smacked my team sideways. Even poor Seth, who had half heartedly jumped and was wielding a sharp tin can as a weapon.

I kept running at it, when all of a sudden I heard a toxic hiss and saw one of the heads with it's mouth opened at me, and I knew it could only be one thing, acid spit.

I figured it out too late and the green goop hit and poured down my entire upper body. My face, my arms, my chest all got hit by the acid, I heard the hissing and steaming, I prepared to scream, to somehow endure the pain.

After a few seconds of anticipation, I opened my eyes, and discovered that I felt no pain. It felt as if someone had dumped a bucket of water on me, a warm bucket of water from a hot tub, certainly not from a vat of nuclear acid.

My tough skin had protected me yet again, and I was for once really grateful for my Father's trait on that.

I looked down, and saw that my clothes had not been spared. Save for my jeans, which even they had a few small holes in them, my shirt and black jacket had completely disintegrated, I was completely exposed from the waist up. Which sucked, because I had liked that jacket, and now the mortals would think I was some kind of exhibitionist.

I felt a twinge of anger, and glared at the giant reptile. A moment later, and a blur of knives flew from out of view and hit the Hydra in one of it's heads. They immediately flew back out of view, more than likely into Harper's hands.

I heard Annabeth yell, "Don't use weapons! If you cut off a head, two more will grow in it's place!"

That would have been good information to know before all of this. But then again, it was a common story, so most people probably knew the whole head thing. But I wasn't most people.

I decided to use a different plan. I touched the point of the spear, and it transformed back into a necklace. I fastened it around my neck and stared up at the giant Hydra. Percy was defending from it's head swipes, Harper zooming around in circles, Annabeth and Talon deep in thought. One trying to come up with a battle strategy and the other one probably trying to think of where he put the flamethrower coin.

Even Seth was helping, he lobbed fruit and tin cans at the Hydra, saying things like "Y-Yeah! Take that!"

I had a feeling he and Grover would get along.

I shook my head, not the time to think about Camp, I had to make a move. It was my responsibility to kill this thing after all.

My thoughts were interrupted by a huge roar from the Hydra, and the air seemed to change. The Hydra began moving faster, attacking with more precision and ferocity, as if something had suddenly pissed it off. It was going nuts, no longer holding back anything, and it even seemed to grow in size a few feet.

I heard some noises from the other exhibits, the animals had definitely woken up now, and they were freaking out, trying to see what was going on.

My friends desperately tried to dodge and defend from the Hydra's newfound rage. It moved at extreme speeds, barely giving anybody time to react. At one point, Percy gathered up a whirlpool of water and threw it at the Hydra in a condensed vacuum. It sent the reptile back, smashing into the stone wall, cracking it and causing a few pieces to fall out. But the Hydra only shook it's heads and roared loudly again, Talon's bullets weren't much good, neither was Annabeth's sword, Harper's knives, or Seth's collectibles.

Why had it freaked out all of a sudden? I mean, I know we were attacking it, but this was different...

I realized that I had been standing there like an idiot, and needed to take action. If this required no weapons, I was the guy for the job, I could use brute force, and see what my strength could do.

I leapt up until I was level with the Hydra's heads, they hadn't noticed me, and I took the opportunity. I soared toward it, reared my fist back, and with half of my strength, I punched it directly in the middle of it's heads, just past the two middle necks and on the body.

The force sent a circular shockwave around us, cracking the stone wall. The Hydra's body squished inward from where I had punched it, there was a moment of delay, then the beast went straight through the stone wall, destroying it completely and ragdolling to the other exhibit, which was thankfully empty.

The Hydra skidded across the grass and came to a stop. A huge path of dirt uprooted from the ground. I jumped over the now destroyed stone pit, and landed in front of the Hydra. It stumbled, and looked up lazily, like it was about to pass out.

For some reason, I got the feeling that I shouldn't kill it, but knock it out. I can't explain what came over me, but it was like a voice was telling me to do the opposite of the task given, and knock the Hydra unconscious instead of killing it.

I decided quickly to just knock it out, the feeling was so strong, and as counterintuitive as it was, a part of me knew it was right. So I lunged forward and grabbed the Hydra's scaly front right foot with as much arm width as I could. I stretched until I barely reached to grip. I put all of my strength in my body, and with a primitive roar, I shifted all of my weight, and slung the Hydra into the air.

It hadn't been hard with all of my strength. Don't ask me how I did it, but all I knew was that this was a new one for me. I had grabbed and thrown a ten ton Hydra into the air, beating all of my previous feats of strength.

The Hydra flew in the air about fifty feet above the ground, it roared and flailed, until eventually landing in the forest part of the empty exhibit. It crashed in the trees, crumpling them, sending bark and leaves flying in all directions.

I stood there, hardly processing what I had just done. I doubted that killed it, which wasn't my intention. If I had wanted it dead, I would have simply used another punch, but at full force.

I kept asking myself, what was that voice? Why had the Hydra gained an angry aura?

I heard footsteps in the grass behind me, I turned and saw my team staring at me in disbelief. They must have seen the whole thing, and no doubt the mortal police had too. I realized we needed to get a move on, night was running out, and the place would open soon.

I motioned for them to follow me, they did, and we eventually stopped at the Hydra laying in the crater. Destroyed trees surrounding us.

Seth looked at me in horror, "A-All of these trees! What were you thinking?!"

Talon whistled with enthusiasm, "I'll tell you what I'm thinking, that was impressive."

"I didn't kill it. I could have, but I got a feeling...that I shouldn't...that it would ruin the mission." I said, my eyebrows furrowed.

Annabeth looked at me, also confused. "That makes no sense, you said that it had to be killed."

"I know but...It's weird, but I'm telling you guys, we can't kill it."

Percy pointed at the Hydra, "Well, what do we do with it?"

I turned and walked toward the beast, it was stirring, but calmly, way calmer than before. I made my way to it's head, and saw it's eyes half closed, looking at me. It didn't snarl or roar, It just looked at me with what I felt strangely was...gratitude? It seemed to be thanking me for setting it free of something.

I didn't know what possessed me, but I leaned forward and touched it gently with my right hand, it closed it's eyes, and exhaled, leaving a trail of wind. Then after a few seconds, it faded. Not out of death, but like a warp, a teleportation of some kind.

I couldn't make sense of it, I hadn't killed it, so where the heck did it go? This quest was becoming more confusing and complicated by the second. But as I heard sirens and loud voices, I knew I didn't have spare time to be connecting any dots.

I turned to my team and said with urgency, "That's the mortal police, we need to get out of here."

They all seemed to be in some kind of trance at the events that had transpired, I was too to be honest. But Annabeth broke first and nodded, "He's right, we really need to get back to the car."

Percy pulled out his Prius keys and began walking, We all followed after him, jogging. We narrowly avoided the mortal police, they were in groups, searching the exhibits and trying to figure out what the heck had happened to the stone pit. I thought to myself that they would come up with some stupid reason, the furthest thing from the truth. Mortals didn't know a thing, the mist was very strong.

We ducked and weaved, eventually making it back onto the main path and crossing by exhibits. Our footsteps were silenced by the deafening noises of the other animals. That Hydra incident had freaked them out, and now some Zoo hands had arrived, and were attempting to calm them down.

At one point we passed a small souvenir shop, and Harper stopped us, saying, "Hold up a second, I need to get something real quick."

Talon groaned, "What? You need a keepsake to remember this amazing experience by?"

She ignored him, and went in the shop. I don't know about most girls, but I had heard that they take a long time when it comes to shopping, and that if you were a dude that got dragged into a mall trip, you would basically be in hell for three hours.

That stereotype left my mind the second Harper emerged from the store after one minute of having entered it. She had a blue T-shirt in her hand that said on the front, Central Park Zoo, under the words was a graphic of a giraffe and an elephant.

She came toward us and tossed me the shirt, saying "Here ya go."

I caught it, and realized again, that I was shirtless. Geez, the whole Hydra thing left me completely brain dead to the embarrassing fact, and she had obviously noticed. No doubt disgusted and eager to grab the shirt for me.

I caught it, my face a little red, and managed, "Thanks."

Talon groaned louder this time, and Annabeth shushed him. Percy motioned with his keys that we needed to exit the Zoo right now. We all quickly made our way out of the front gate, which had been opened for the mortal police, and entered the parking lot.

We all mentally whooped, home free, and one monster down...at least I think. I wasn't sure if that counted, and I knew that everyone else was thinking the same thing. I had no answer, I just had a very powerful feeling that letting the monster live was the correct choice.

We walked in silence though, deciding we would talk about it later when everything calmed down. I put on the shirt, it fit perfectly. I had no idea how Harper had guessed my shirt size, but I figured it probably wasn't that hard, I mean, there were only three types of sizes.

We arrived at Percy's Prius, I reached in and hefted out my Nemean Lion shield. I just wanted to hold it to be honest. I felt like a klutz for leaving it in the car while I was in the arena and the zoo. I should have had it the whole time, it could've made things even quicker.

The sun was starting to rise now, I wished I had a good view of it. I mean, I liked sunsets better, but sunrises looked beautiful too. And I would have seen it, if only the trees and buildings weren't in my way.

Talon broke the silence, "So, I'm not even gonna ask what all that was about back there. I'm just gonna ask...what next?"

"Next, you determine where the next creature is, and we decide the best course of action on traveling to it's location." Annabeth said.

The assassin nodded, "Alright. I could go for some breakfast first, who's down?"

We all agreed enthusiastically, I heard my stomach grumble in response. I was starving, and hadn't had a decent meal in...well, a long time.

I asked Percy to pop the trunk so I could put my shield back there, the others opened their doors and seated themselves in the car, Seth was still standing next to it, talking to us excitedly.

"Ooh! We need to go to that Mexican place! I hear they have great enchiladas!"

Talon grunted, "Nope, nope. I aint eatin' Mexican food this early, my stomach will kill me later."

Percy nodded in agreement, "Yeah, sorry Seth. But I could go for some Pancakes right now."

Seth slumped, a little disappointed. I tried to cheer him up, "Hey, It's alright man. We can get some more delicious tin cans for you, if you want? Then you can go to Camp Half-Blood and start training with Grover!"

He lit up at that, "Alright, sounds good! Oh man, I can't wait to start nature training! I wonder what I'll learn about...Woodland magic? Types of plants? Flora and Fauna?" He then jumped with energy, "There's so many possibilities!"

Annabeth laughed and called from the front seat, "Just wait, Seth. Grover'll show you all kinds of things! Now get in you two, we've got to get moving."

I motioned for Seth to sit in between Harper and I, I said, "After you."

He smiled, and started to move, everything normal, fine, even light hearted for a moment.

Then at the speed of light, a figure with a long spear appeared behind Seth, and struck the poor satyr.

A thin line of blue flashed in the air, the figure had swiped the spear with such speed and power, wind blew from the force, and the the air even seemed to bend and condense.

Seth's eyes widened, and I looked down and almost screamed. He had been cut in half. His upper body and lower body were now separated, the spear had cut it like it was nothing.

Seth's eyes rolled into the back of his head, he crumbled to dust, and where he once stood, was now a small flower, blooming in the asphalt.

Seth was no more.

I felt an immense rage fall over me, and I finally looked at the attacker. I was utterly shocked...and a little terrified.

Five feet in front of me was a man slightly taller than me. He had on a black trench coat with a big collar, dark jeans, clad in a nice vest and dress shoes. He had tan skin, and medium length blonde hair. In his right hand, resting on his back now, was an eight foot long spear. It radiated power and deadliness, simply being near it was draining me, wounding me. It had a bluish, transparent look, like it was made of a diamond so rare and so precious.

My stomach dropped, I felt the urge to hide and vomit, to pretend that this wasn't real. It couldn't be, because if it was, we were all dead.

Standing before me was Malachi, the god killer.

And he was wielding a spear made of Heavenly Diamond.