Before this next chapter starts I have to go over a little housekeeping. Firstly, I don't own any of these characters with the exception of my OC. Secondly, I will be using sections of Rick Riordan's book to fill in some of the dialogue and the occasional descriptor. I'll keep the later to a minimum since this is supposed to be MY fanfic, but taking some dialogue from the books will be necessary. Lastly, I was inspired to write this fic after reading Avocado Samurai's Rwby X Warhammer 40k fanfic, and will be shamelessly taking some elements from there. His story, "Exitus Acta Probat" is bar none the best Vindicare assassin fanfiction on this website, and if you read it you'll quickly notice some similarities. However, this will be a pretty different story overall, so don't forget to come back here after reading.

Anyways enjoy :)

V-597-IN felt his brain running at full throttle as he approached the three children in the back of the bus. Where was he? Were these youths even Imperial citizens? Would he be able to locate his rifle and pistol, or would be cursed with excruciating mental pain for the rest of his existence? Was he even on the same planet? …probably not on the last question, the atmosphere tasted too clean for it to be Tiamat Prime.

"It's worse than that," The Vindicare heard Jason say in response to the concerns of some girl named Piper "I don't know who I am."

The assassin paused for a moment at his statement. V-597-IN's eidetic memory was crafted in such a way that to forget something was impossible. Every smell he had sensed, every vista he had seen, every heretic he had killed, it was all locked somewhere in his grey matter. Perhaps the unaugmented mind naturally repressed the insanity of the Warp, which registered to others and themselves as amnesia? Well, no time like the present to find out.

The assassin marched up to them and stated plainly, "You do not know yourself?"

The three looked at him in surprise, obviously thinking their conversation was hidden over the sound of the bus engine.

"Uhh hey Vin," the girl with the rough cut hair spoke who he believed to be Piper. "Let's take a second to figure out everything first."

Surprise flashed briefly across the assassin's face, before he schooled his features into his usual stoic mask.

"How do you know the alphabetic character of my serial designator?" he managed to say despite his now growing urge to press a knife to her throat for possessing classified information.

The assassin cringed as a lanky, tan-skinned boy that went by Leo enthusiastically shouted, "Your cereal destination? Bro what are you on about, everybody knows your name is Vin."

They did? Then what was the point of having captured that boy that he hadn't bothered to learn the name of? He'd assumed that the boy had somehow gained access to Assassiniorum intelligence, yet if everyone on this bus knew the alphabetic characters of his serial designator, then it seemed more likely that something more insidious was going on. Well maybe these three would have more valuable information.

Ignoring them all, he returned to Jason and asked, "Do you remember anything? The regiment you served with perhaps? Your homeworld?"

For a moment he thought he saw a flash of recognition in his eyes, then it faded.

"Regiment… homeworld," Jason quizzed "Vin what are you talking about?"

"What about the Lord Emperor? Do you know about an Imperium of Mankind?"

Leo snorted at that last statement, "As interesting as this Star Trek trivia is Vin, you think you can speak English here for the rest of us? What are you even talking about right now?"

Before the assassin, or Vin as he guessed he was now called, could answer him, a decibel shattering megaphone sounded out behind him.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING STANDING UP IN MY BUS CUPCAKE?"

Turning around, it took him a moment to realize that the owner of said megaphone stood near a foot and half shorter than him, and was eyeing him up with an intensity that would put a few commissars to shame. He had heard the others refer to him as Coach Hedge. Though he did not recognize his rank, he recognized the authority it commanded. Instantly, his genetically programmed respect for rank kicked him.

He stood at attention and snapped a salute that would put most Cadians to shame, "Apologies sir. I was inquiring about the health of the… person behind me."

The 5'0 commissar… sergeant… whatever the hell he was, seemed taken aback by his display, but only for a second. He gave him a perfunctory nod, and Vin could see the ghost of a smile play at his lips as he tried to keep his drill instructor stoicism.

"Uh, Good!" The midget barked out. Then he drew himself in and replied "I mean- You should let me handle such things… uh what's your name again?"

So not everyone knew his name as the jokester claimed they did. He would enjoy torturing that one, but that would come after his debriefing with… whoever the hell this was.

"My serial designator is classified to those without the proper clearance, but these people seem to know me as Vin."

The drill instructor nodded as if he understood anything the probably mentally damaged child was saying. In Coach Hedge's opinion this kid had been browsing a little too deeply into some military roleplaying communities, but the respect was nice.

"Alrighty VIN," the coach said, drawing out the word like he didn't like the taste. "You and Jason come with me after we reach the Grand Canyon and finish your activity. The rest of you guys PIPE DOWN!"

Relieved that he'd finally been given an order by someone, even if he didn't necessarily know if they were from the Imperium, Vin chose to sit down and cut away the bonds he placed on the other student. They most likely wouldn't remember the past thirty minutes, so his cover was still secure… even if Vin didn't know what the hell his cover identity was even supposed to be yet.

Shaking his head, he decided to think about his situation logically. None of those teenagers knew even the most basic facts about the Imperium or the Emperor. Wherever the Warp had flung him, it was a place far from Holy Terra's light. Furthermore, the coach, whoever he was, wanted to meet with him privately. If he was a proper Imperial authority (which he doubted but one never knew), then it was prudent he obey his instruction without question. If he wasn't then he had just helpfully isolated himself for enhanced interrogation away from prying eyes. Either way, all he had to be was patient, and that was a resource any Vindicare had in ample supply.

Now presented with a defined goal, Vin took the time to meditate on his situation. His breath slowed and his heart rate fell to a single beat per minute. Entering the Marksmen's Trance he allowed the few emotions he was feeling to slip away into the void just as he was trained to do. The burning, acidic pain that came from his psycho-conditioned reaction to the loss of his weapons faded somewhat as he centered himself.

"We are the bullet that awaits the heretic's skull," he softly intoned, certain that no one could hear him. "We are the blade poised at the mutant's neck… We are the poison in the throat of the alien."

He continued his meditation for the rest of the bus ride. Without the emotional suppressants of his stealth suit, he'd have to manually regulate the random flood of emotions and electrochemical signals normal people seemed to endure on a daily basis. Unlike his normal state of mind, while in the Marksmen's Trance he could not process more than his own thoughts and the sounds immediately around him in case he should be ambushed. Frankly he was grateful not to listen to the infantile gossip and drama of the children around him. Besides, the three next to him seemed to be freely sharing information that he was all too eager to hoover up. Apparently he was at some Schola called "The Wilderness School '' for delinquents. Probably some form of punishment before they get absorbed into their planet's penal legion. Further, only Jason seemed to have no idea how he ended up on this bus and how everybody knew his name. That was worrying, but it was good to know that his serial designation had not been fully declassified. Even if that treacherous handler he had been assigned last mission had been an ally to Chaos, the Assassiniorum keeps their operatives and chain of command separate to the Imperial Guard for a reason.

Finally, the bus stopped and the assassin snapped out of his self-induced meditative trance. His partner was still snoozing away in the back, so he took his assignment paper as he stepped out onto the walkway of this so-called Grand Canyon. Vin took a moment to appraise his surroundings, noting the see-through skywalk they were on and the presence of a few other sightseers around him. His transhuman eyes quickly swept over all of potential sniping locations and hardpoints provided by the natural terrain. Satisfied by what he saw, the assassin turned to look at his assignment and immediately deadpanned.

He did not question the purpose of why he was filling out such an inane, Geology answer sheet, but Vin answered as best he could. He could be considered a subsector-class genius concerning matters like Biology, Xenology, Imperial History, Field work, small Kill-team tactics, and multitude of other subjects, but a Geologist he was not. Jason also seemed to struggle with the no doubt profound intricacies of labeling different coloured rock, as they soon found themselves walking towards the Coach with wildly differing answers. The Vindicare was just interested in connecting to anyone in Imperial high command to debrief his latest success. If he was lucky, he could be reattached to a new Imperial Guard regiment or simply put on ice until his next assignment. As they came towards the Coach, Vin could tell the man was in a bad mood, even despite his stunted social skills.

Staring up at the gathering storm clouds, the coach looked to Jason with a glare and asked, "Did you do this?"

The Vindicare did not change his expression, but his fists slowly tightened as he prepared for combat. Was Jason a psyker? Vin quickly calculated the speed he'd need to move if he needed to snap the boy's neck.

"Do what?" the possible heretic asked in confusion.

"I believe he is referring to the storm." Vin clarified.

For a moment It looked like Jason was considering if he was suffering some sort of mass hallucination, but the boy hid the worrying possibility away quickly.

"What?" the boy asked incredulously "There's no way I could"—the boy hesitated for a brief moment— "I… of course not!"

"So you say," The coach growled. "Now listen up. What are both of you doing here, and why the hell are you messing up my job?"

Vin responded immediately, "Apologies sir, I have no memory of coming onto this vehicle, nor why everyone knows my name save for you. If you present some clearance, or if you can point me towards the nearest Imperial outpost, then I can debrief you."

Both Jason and Coach Hedge looked at Vin like he'd just smacked both of them with that baseball bat the Coach was leaning on. The assassin deduced that neither of them had the proper rank to know what the hell he was talking about prepared himself for the possibility of violence.

Eventually Jason answered, "Listen I'm kinda in the same situation, though I don't know anything about whatever clearance he's talking about. Do you know-"

"I've never seen either of you before today." the coach put bluntly.

The Vindicare took his response in stride, stating, "Then there is either some hallucinogenic agent affecting everyone here, or…"

"There's magic at work," the Coach growled, a deep scowl burdening his face. "Both of you got some powerful way with the Mist if you can make all these people think they know you; but you can't fool me. I've been smelling monsters for days now. I knew we had an infiltrator, but you don't smell like a monster. You smell like half-bloods. So—who are you, and where'd you come from?"

Half-blood? Was this Coach accusing him of being a mutant? No… not likely seeing as Vin could see no hate in his eyes. Then an augmented individual perhaps? Have multiple assassin's landed in this area? And what was this Mist he was going on about?

"I honestly don't know who I am, but you gotta help me," pleaded Jason.

Vin felt a flash of disgust at the pitiful action. If this coach was any sort of commissar, he'd execute him right now for disgracing his unit. But to his surprise and slight displeasure, the coach ended up agreeing with Jason.

"I am no Warp Sorcerer," Vin defended himself. "As for where I come from, I must repeat that without the proper-"

"Ah shut it will you," Hedge said, waving a dismissing hand at him. "Listen, I don't know who either of you are. I just know what you are, and it means trouble. Now I got to protect four of you rather than two. Are you the special package? Is that it?"

Vin demanded, "Clarify your statement. Who are these two you are protecting and what is this package?"

Hedge didn't respond immediately, instead putting his hands on his hips and walking in a small semi-circle as if he couldn't believe the universe could ever heap such a load of groxshit on his breakfast platter.

"This morning," Hedge said, "I got a message from camp. They said an extraction team is on the way. They're coming to pick up a special package, but they wouldn't give me details. I thought to myself, Fine. Leo and Piper seem pretty powerful, older than most. I know they're being stalked. I can smell a monster in the group. I figure that's why the camp is suddenly frantic to pick them up. But then you two pop up out of nowhere. So, are you the special package?"

Jason and Vin looked at each other, both hoping to see answers in the eyes of the other. Turning back they both said in unison, "I don't know what the hell you're talking about."

Coach Hedge sighed a sigh of utter exhaustion. "Alright, You say you got no memories of how you got here, huh? Fine. I'll just have to watch you both, until the team gets here. We'll let the director figure things out."

Jason was trying to reel more information out of the Coach, but Vin was barely paying attention anymore. The wind was blowing violently and lightning flashed ahead where there was naught but clear skies a few moments earlier. Some foul sorcery was afoot.

"We should seek shelter," Vin advised.

The Coach mumbled something about tempting fate, and the skywalk they were on groaned ominously. The three quickly rushed back to the bus. Leo joined them along the way, nearly losing his life before Jason caught him from falling off the railings. Wind buffeted their every step, but the assassin's 800lb frame was unhindered by the light gale storm and he quickly took the lead. All the while, one main thought ran through his mind.

"Who do I have to kill now…"

The answer soon became apparent as some male Piper had paired with had decided to fling her into the bus using nothing but the wind. He could hear the name "Dylan" fly out of her mouth as her back impacted painfully against the vehicle and she slid onto the skywalk.

He redoubled his speed, but the air seemed alive now, intent on forcing him backwards. He could sense Hedge, Leo, and Jason having the same problem behind him, but he would not be conquered by something as mild as a whirlwind. Taking a runner's stance, the Vindicare shot forward like an arrow from a loosed bow, flying across the terrain in a matter of seconds.

"What in-" Dylan began before a fist carrying the force of shaped explosive charge slammed into his face.

Immediately the assassin was on him, pummeling the potential psyker with a concentrated flood of detached fury and ceramite-reinforced fists. Vin felt each bone shattering strike, each devastating twitch of his limbs as he laid into the boy. Dylan hardly had the time to register one blow before the next two landed. Yet, the boy would not die! Oh sure, his face looked like someone had taken a pipe to his skull, and his organs probably resembled more jelly than flesh, but Dylan was still standing somehow. The first punch should've turned his jaw into shrapnel. How was he still standing?

Vin reeled his fist back for another lethal blow, but before he could throw it, he was suddenly thrown back by some strange pressure wave. Vin landed in a graceful crouch, fast-twitch muscle fibres ready to actuate at a single thought. Yet when the assassin looked up, he didn't see the form of a broken boy. Instead he saw… what the hell was he even supposed to be seeing— wind? In spite of all logic and reason, the boy who'd been Dylan seemed to have transformed into a sentient storm cloud.

"HOW DARE YOU!" the thing that had once been Dylan raged. "WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TO CHALLENGE ME AND MY MISTRESS!"

The Vindicare gave no response, his mind working out how exactly he was supposed to punch a storm cloud to death.

"WHAT ARE YOU?" it rumbled, its voice like the crash of distant thunder. "You smell like a half-blood, but different… like acid and steel..." The clouds that made up its form grew even darker and condensed, "You don't belong in this place. What are you doing here?"

Before he could decide whether or not to just punch it again, Dylan's body condensed into a violently black form before a bolt of lightning shot directly for him. If he'd been wearing his Vindicare stealth suit, the insulating properties of the synskin metamaterial would've grounded him and funneled the electricity harmlessly into the floor. Instead, he felt the cells in his body explode from the overcharged current and his muscles instantly contracted painfully. If he hadn't been subject to multiple heart modifications and complimentary arterial pumps implantation, then he would've died instantly. As it was, Vin fell to the ground, helpless.

"Is this really how it ends?" The assassin thought, resigned. "Oh well, Death in his service is its-"

Suddenly Jason, Hedge, and Leo were charging forward much to Vin's surprise. If a transhuman assassin couldn't kill the daemon spirit or whatever exactly Dylan was, then Vin didn't hold out much hope that some juvenile mortals would. If he was lucky, then perhaps they would sell their lives long enough for his brain to recommunicate with the rest of his body.

"Though that seems unlikely," he observed clinically as the form of Leo—carried by a torrent of wind— flew over him and into the gaping maw of the canyon. Through some impossible odds, Leo ended up banging against the cliffside and snagged himself a handhold before he plummeted to his death.

"Help!" Leo yelled up at them. "Rope, please? Bungee cord? Something?"

Coach Hedge cursed and tossed Jason his club. He then explained some ill-conceived plan to rescue the boy and how Jason should hold the daemons, or Venti as he called them, off. Then, to Vin's absolute shock, the Coach revealed himself to be some vile mutant with goat's horns and hooves. Before he could even think about what the revelation even meant, the mutant flung itself off the cliff towards Leo.

Shaking his head of the distraction Vin turned his focus to Dylan. The daemon was no longer paying attention to his curled, tortured form, likely believing him to be dead. That would change the moment the Venti noticed he was still twitching. Fortunately, Jason's charge forward afforded him a good distraction. Immediately the assassin could see the years of combat training in the footsteps of the boy. It seems like he'd been lying about not serving, though that hardly seemed like an issue worth dissecting now. The boy had somehow manifested a golden sword that would not look out of place in the Imperial palace, and he certainly knew how to use it. Two other ventis swept down from the sky in an attempt to stop him, and he dispatched them with efficient ease. His strikes were economical and martial, the momentum of his blade not slowing until it had already passed through both of them. The act made Vin miss his own daemonslayer blade.

The assassin could feel his motor functions returning to him, but not fast enough. Despite his suspicions of the Jason, he certainly hoped he would triumph over the Venti. As he saw Leo and Hedge climb back out of the canyon, his confidence in their victory grew. However, Dylan seemed in no hurry to see how that contest ended.

"You have no idea how many enemies you've awakened," the spirit threatened as he stepped backwards. "My mistress will destroy all demigods. This war you cannot win."

Demigods? These were no Space Marines, the Emperor's Angels of Death. As a Vindicare he could charitably be referred to a demigod due to his biological immortality, but he knew he possessed not a sliver of the divinity the true son of the Emperor did. What was he talking about? He shelved the question into the back of his mind with the rest of the growing catalog.

Through sheer force of will, Vin finally mustered the strength to stand up, staggering to his feet. Both Jason and Dylan looked like he'd just risen from the grave, which he supposed he had from their perspective. Though he often thought himself above theatrics, Vin couldn't resist snarling a wolf's snarl at the daemon and was rewarded with a brief flash of fear in the Venti's eyes. Above them, the storm exploded into a full-force gale. Cracks expanded in the skywalk. Sheets of rain poured down, and Jason had to crouch to keep his balance. Leo banged his head badly against the floor, and began slipping in and out of consciousness. A hole opened in the clouds—a swirling vortex of black and silver.

"The mistress calls me back!" Dylan shouted with glee. "And you, demigod, will come with me!"

He lunged at Jason, and Vin moved to intercept. However, Piper of all people managed to sneak behind him and tackle the creature away. How she made contact with a being composed of gas was beyond him, but his frustration at the realization that he could've continued pummeling the bastard despite his new form was growing rapidly. Yet once again, the storm spirit drew himself in and released a pressure wave with enough force to stop a Leman Russ battle tank dead in its tracks. Once again, he was thrown back the least, only sliding a measly 20 meters backwards. The rest were plucked off the ground like feathers into the growing vortex that the daemon was generating. Dylan tried to abduct Leo, but the mutant, to his credit, ended up kicking the boy out of the spirit's grasp. The two began grappling, and during the struggle the girl was hurtled out over the Canyon gap. Jason quickly leapt after her, but without a parachute or ceramite-reinforced bones it seems like he had just decided to sign his death warrant with her.

The Vindicare paid little attention to any of this, his body preparing to make the several meter leap up to the spirit. Riding the current that the fell creature was generating, Vin launched himself at Dylan who was still attached to Coach Hedge as the spirit sought to extract himself. He barely made it up to him, the billowing galeforce winds retarding his movements every second he spent in the air. His fist made contact with the storm cloud, the sensation akin to punching through jello, but without a surface to push off of and the vortex robbing him of any momentum the strike felt severely lacking.

"YOU'RE ALSO COMING WITH ME!" the Venti menaced before two little cloud puffs above his eyes scrunched up in a display of confusion and frustration. "What the…" he began, as he obviously struggled to lift him. "What in Hades are you made out of boy?"

The assassin smiled internally. A diet of cermite-infused rations, genetically modified, implanted organs, and hormone boosters had increased his bone density and muscular hypertrophy to an absurd degree. Not that Dylan had the clearance to know that.

Instead he settled for a threat, as the storm spirit and the mutant both pulled away from him, out of reach, "Flee daemon," he growled, hate blazing in his eyes like two incandescent suns. "But remember this, not even on this desolate planet will you ever escape his wrath."

Then Dylan and Hedge were gone, disappeared into some corner of the Warp. Good riddance on both counts in Vin's opinion. The mutant had sacrificed himself for mankind, as was their duty, so this situation had resolved itself better than he could've hoped. Only suffering three casualties when fighting creatures of the Warp was a victory all in its own.

However, the universe seemed to delight in shocking him today, so it was only natural that Piper and Jason suddenly flew over the cliffside back onto the skywalk of the Grand Canyon, reducing that casualty count to only one. Instantly his suspicions towards Jason flared again. Logic dictated that both him and Piper should be smears at the bottom of the canyon by now. And where logic fails…

"The Warp must be involved" he muttered as he marched over to them.

The three had certainly seen better days. All of them look like they'd just run a marathon in concrete shoes, and their skin was raw from microscopic grains of sand and jagged rocks from the maelstrom.

"Stupid… ugly… goat," Leo muttered on the floor as Vin strode over, finally regaining some senses. "What happened?"

"Warp sorcery," Vin answered, carefully keeping his face devoid of emotion. "Which brings us to our next question." He pointed at Jason, "How are you not dead."

Jason took a moment to gather his breath, then replied, "You won't believe this but…" He laughed a disbelieving laugh, "I somehow flew out."

To Jason's credit, he managed to lean back as the Vindicare's punch came soaring towards his face. Whoever Jason was, his combat instincts were honed to a razor's edge. Unfortunately, despite the glancing blow, Jason crumpled like a cut puppet, and sprawled out in front of him. Vin could hear Piper scream and Leo shouting some meaningless drivel. He ignored both of them, raising his boot and-

Piper cried, "What are you doing?!"

For some indiscernible reason, he felt the urge to respond to her. He couldn't fathom why. She wasn't an Imperial commander or a Lord Assassin, yet he suddenly felt like he needed to justify what he was doing.

"He has been possessed." he said, and moved to crush his skull.

"WAIT!" the girl shouted and once again he felt some strange compulsion to obey her command.

Vin asked, "What for?"

For a horrifying moment, Piper couldn't think of anything to say, such was her shock. A second later she managed to speak, stumbling over her own word. "H-h-he saved-d y-y-your life. Y-you can't j-j-just kill him."

"He claimed to have the ability to fly," Vin stated coldly. "Either he is consorting with daemons, they have possessed him, or he is a psyker. All of these options have the same conclusion."

"Y-you can't just kill him," she repeated a wild look growing in her eyes, "What has he ever done to you."

"Logic dictates that I can easily kill him. He represents a threat to us all. It is for your own safety." he responded, trying to call the hysterical girl.

Piper screamed, "THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEAN!"

"WHOA dude, no one even know what you're talking about dude," Leo jumped in "Let's just put the foot down and-"

The Vindicare interrupted him, feeling like he was somehow losing control of this conversation, "Protocol dictates that enemy psykers are target priority gamma and are to be eliminated with extreme prejudice."

"BUT JASON IS NOT YOUR ENEMY," Piper all but raged, tears freely flowing down her face.

The command felt like a hammer blow to his head. Of course Jason was an enemy, he was a disgusting psyker, a user of the foul energies of Chaos. But this girl seemed so certain…

"I… he is not my enemy?" The Vindicare asked more than stated.

"Of course not!" The girl yelled, "He just saved all of our lives!"

Some vestige of his mind was screaming at him to end the boy's life. But it was growing quieter by the second. Vin's foot hung over the boy's head for what seemed like a small eternity.

"Be that as it may," Vin said, finally lowering his leg. "An unsanctioned psyker is a great threat to us all. He should be reported to Imp-"

"Hey hey, slow it down a notch dude," Leo interjected, alarm written across his face. "We ain't reporting nobody, nowhere. Jason just saved us all, doesn't that count for something?"

"That is why I'm not executing him immediately."

Vin noted the two's increased heart rate and the dilation of their pupils at his comment. Whether it was due to fear or anger, Vin did not know, but he sensed the two of them were preparing to do something supremely stupid. Fortunately for the both of them, something else interrupted them.

"Are those flying horses?" Vin asked aloud, incredulous.

Vin could count on one hand the times he'd been surprised to a state of shock, and this certainly qualified as one of them. It wasn't even the horses that could fly with a wingspan of less than 3m that was the most disbelievable part. It was the two people riding in a chariot of all things behind them. A chariot. A transportation device with WHEELS that rode in the sky for whatever insane reason the people of this world came up with. And these weren't the landing gears of a Valkyrie fighter, but heavy, honest-to-Emperor wooden wheels. The whole image seemed like a pict-capture out of a bad 10-credit novel. But sure enough, that was exactly what his transhuman eyes picked up.

Neither Leo nor Piper responded to his comment. The tonal whiplash of the conversation freezing their mouths shut. Shrugging his shoulder, Vin picked up the Coach's discarded club and started walking over to where the pair, a girl and a boy, were touching down.

Meanwhile, Leo and Piper looked at each other in disbelief.

"A-are we really just gonna pretend like nothing just happened?" Leo asked, still seemingly shell shocked by the experience.

Piper shakily answered, "I… I mean not unless you wanna bring it up to Vin again?"

The pair stood uncertainly for a moment, their brains still trying to process what had just happened, but a small moan from Jason recaptured their focus immediately

"Ugh…" the boy groaned. "What… What happened?"

Vin noted the two were armed with blades and had shields slung over their backs. One of them was a blonde, athletic girl who wore an orange t-shirt that read "Camp Half-blood". The other was a broad man with a shaved head and intimidating musculature. The main thing he noticed was just how young the two were. He was hardly an old veteran, being 17 years of age, but these two looked even younger than him. Then again, war had a habit of aging one up fast, or never letting them age again.

Vin commanded, "Identify yourself immediately!" to the pair stepping off the chariot.

The girl took no heed of his tone, swiftly marching up to him. Vin noticed an undercurrent of anger running through her stormy, grey eyes and she snapped an answer back, "My name is Annabeth, now where is he?"

"You will have to be more specific." Vin said evenly.

The girl stared at him like his answer was unacceptable. He returned the intense glare with his own level look. They stood there like bulls locking horns in combat for a few, long seconds.

"What about your protector, Gleeson?" she finally interrogated.

"You mean the mutant?" Vin questioned. "He's dead, carried off by some foul daemon."

He noticed the dour mood of both adolescents turn even darker at his mention of the mutant's demise. He felt a bit disappointed that two humans should ever show such respect to a mutant, but supposed he couldn't bring himself to care that much either way.

"We don't know he's dead," said the voice of Leo, trudging over with Piper and Jason. "He just got abducted by those… Venti whatchumacallsit."

Annabeth narrowed her eyes even further at the three approaching teenagers.

"You mean anemoi thuellai?" she corrected. "That's the Greek term... Now, who are you, and what happened?.

Greek? He'd never heard the term before, but he can hear some phonetic similarities between it and some bits of Higher Gothic. Must be some local dialect. In anycase, the next few minutes consisted of Jason, Piper and Leo detailing the situation to Annabeth and the other boy, whose name he learned was Butch. Vin chose to remain quiet throughout the explanation, waiting to hear any useful information from their new arrivals. Then, they got to the part where he had nearly killed Jason.

"Jason is an unsanctioned psyker," the Vindicare argued in his defense. "He was, and still is, a risk to us all."

"Hey, I'm not threatening anyone!" Jason replied indignantly. "I don't even know who the hell I am!"

"An unsanctioned psyker?" Annabeth questioned, completely ignoring Jason. "Do you mean a demigod?"

"I do not care what term you use. He uses the sorceries of the Warp."

Annabeth and Butch shared a puzzled glance at each other. Turning to face him, Butch said, "Look we dunno what you're talking about. Whoever Jason is, he's not some evil wizard. He's a demigod like you and me."

Vin felt like snorting "Demigod? I have no interest in your local heresies. His very presence endangers us all."

Now the two seemed completely perplexed at his answer, as if they couldn't comprehend the damage a single psyker could rend upon reality. Piper, Leo, and Jason's expressions were drifting between indignant rage and total confusion, but their opinions were no longer important to the conversation. Then Annabeth got a knowing look in her eyes.

"By endanger, do you mean he summons monsters to your location?"

"Daemons, but yes that is my chief concern. A psyker draws them like moths to a flame. Leave them alive and the daemon will either possess them or warp into reality and kill everything else around it."

"Ok," Annabeth started, exhaling a deep breath as prepared to dive into her explanation. "First, the proper term is demigod. Second, you can't just kill someone just because you suspect them of being possessed. Try anything like that again, and there will be consequences to pay. We'll say the stress of combat got to you today and leave it at that. Lastly, there's a place—well a camp specifically—you can come to where no… daemons will be able to follow any of you. We'll explain that part on the way. There's no guarantee that those thuellai won't come back."

Vin disagreed with nearly every statement that had just come out of the girl's mouth, but he held his tongue. It was not his job to correct her. Still she had one fact right. Those storm spirits could come back any moment. With no objective, and no clear course to the next Imperial Outpost, his top priority was to gather information. Either he joined them to whatever camp they were talking about, or he could wander around this Emperor-forsaken canyon looking for whatever minute clues he could scrounge up to why he was here. The choice was obvious.

"Very well, continue your story." He stated, gesturing to Piper, Leo and Jason.

For a second it looked like one of them was going to say something about his casual, damning accusation of Jason, but the moment passed and they finished the rest of their tale. Annabeth seemed wholly unsatisfied by their retelling of events. Apparently she had some visions that told her to seek a boy who only had one shoe, which Jason qualified as seeing as one had been completely exploded in the fight with Dylan. The girl insisted that they were following some prophecy to find her boyfriend, a lad named Percy Jackson. Vin, on the other hand, had little doubt that Annabeth happened to have inhaled some particularly strong hallucinogens before she had her vision, but didn't say anything. His suspicions were all but confirmed as she started yelling at the sky for "telling her that he'd be here." Most of the ire she had been sharing with Vin was now redirected as Jason for not being the missing link she had dreamt up. Meanwhile, the horses neighed nervously as the wind started picking up again.

Butch commented, "Annabeth, we gotta leave. Let's get these four to camp and figure it out there. Those storm spirits might come back."

As far as Vin was concerned, that was the only intelligent thing anyone had said all day. He felt a mild bit of concern as he appraised questionable construction of the chariot he was going to ride on, but it bore his superheavy frame without complaint. The horses on the otherhand were not a fan of his weight, and it took them considerably longer to get airborne with him in tow. Yet they eventually managed it and they were soon on their way to this supposed Warp-Shielded Camp.

Dang, that's one of the longest chapters I've ever written. I usually like to break them up more to make my progress easier to track (and I'm an attention whore who likes reading reviews on multiple chapters), but this story definitely lends itself to longer form content. Still don't have a beta, so that's the next thing I'll get on after this gets posted. Still haven't figured out a schedule for when I post so I'll try to get that established by late August or so. Do mention any grammatical (or god forbid) plot holes in this chapter, as I'm fine with going back and revising. Anyways, leave a review and a follow, and I'll see u next time.