The (Short) Battle of the Labyrinth
Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen! I'm glad that making Daedalus human again was a well-received decision, and yes, the tamed Labyrinth will function like the fast-travel sewer system featured in Brotherhood and Revelations, only this particular system spans the globe and isn't limited to certain access points.
It's going to be funny.
Anywho, big CGI fight scene coming up!
Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or AC?
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Inspired by historical events and an over-active imagination, this work of fiction was designed, developed, and produced by a single-cultural team of one religious faith and belief, sexual orientation, and gender identity.
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The doors to Daedalus's workshop closed behind them, and in true fashion of the Labyrinth, Antaeus's arena was gone. Now it was just the usual stone corridor with torches lightning the way.
"So," Thalia started slowly, drawing out the syllable. "It's tamed now. What does that mean?"
"I think it means it's compliant," Percy said. "Let's see if this works: Labyrinth! Please give me a door to the Assassin safehouse outside Rapid City, South Dakota."
To Thalia's surprise and Percy's suspicion, a door faded into existence on the wall next to them. It wasn't just any door, but a closet door, one that Percy recognized from the safehouse. He gently grabbed the handle, and then gently pushed it open. To his tandem astonishment and giddiness, he found himself in the upstairs hallway of the place he had trained a number of Assassins alongside Desmond and William. It was quiet, telling him those that remained were outside.
Just to make sure this was actually the place, he motioned for Thalia to keep the door open, and tiptoed through the house up and down the hallway and down the stairs a little. Sure enough, it was the safehouse. Percy returned to Thalia, practically glowing.
"It's real?" she asked.
"Looks that way."
They went back into the Labyrinth. After Thalia shut the door, it faded away.
"So this place will open us a door to any location we tell it to?"
"Don't know. You try."
Thalia turned to the general Labyrinth. "Can you please give us a door to, uh, the White Drawing Room in Buckingham Palace?"
Nothing happened.
"Maybe that's too hard for it?" Thalia suggested.
Percy tried. "Can you please give us a door to the White Drawing Room in Buckingham Palace?"
And then a far more ornate door appeared on the wall. Percy gently pushed it open, and lo and behold: it was the White Drawing Room of Buckingham Palace. Luckily there was no one around at the time, but he still shut the door with a bit of haste as his heart thumped in his chest.
Thalia was pale and wide-eyed. "Oh, my God."
Percy's hand was shaking slightly. The implications of the Labyrinth opening up a door for him wherever he wanted it were huge.
"Labyrinth," Percy said, his voice coming out in an unintentional whisper, "can you please give me a door to the main lobby of the Abstergo building in Manhattan?"
And then a boring gray door with the standard chrome handle appeared. Gingerly, Percy turned the handle and opened the door just a crack, and just like that, he was smack in the middle of Templar territory. The main lobby of Abstergo's Manhattan building was lavish and opulent, with an air of refinement and professionalism, with people teeming about either in groups or by themselves as they went about their business. The air smelled pleasantly of coffee thanks to the Starbucks outlet across the lobby.
Percy shut the door, trembling. "W-Well," he said, in total shock, Thalia fairing no better, "we have just secured complete and unrestricted access to…anywhere in the world. We can now move Assassins all over the globe without worrying about fake identities, passports, cameras, finances, security checkpoints, or any other obstacle, and we also now have unlimited exit routes with minimal risks."
"Y-Yeah," Thalia breathed.
"We can walk out of the Labyrinth into a Templar's office, kill him, and walk right back into the Labyrinth, travelling from anywhere on the planet."
Thalia just nodded. Like her brother, she was shaken by the power now at their fingertips. Or rather, "You can do all that stuff. The Labyrinth apparently doesn't respond to me. Maybe it's specifically your, er, blessing."
Percy hummed. "Maybe the Labyrinth really only does respond to me. If that's the case—Labyrinth! From now on, you will assist everyone that I ask you to assist. Starting now, I ask that you assist my sister, Thalia Grace, when she asks for your help."
A short gasp left Thalia. My sister he said, and also that he was telling the Labyrinth to obey her. It hadn't even been three hours since he had come back from being Peter, and he was already discounting over a decade of abuse. Was this what being a Christian looked like? You just…let things go? People did some of the worst things imaginable to you, and you just…forgave them?
…
…had Percy…had he forgiven Nero for…those things…?
Thalia honestly couldn't see that ever happening, as being raped was a far shot different from the years of mental, emotional, and physical abuse that she and Jacob had put Peter through.
But that was neither or there right now.
There was no indication that the Labyrinth had accepted Percy's command. No shudder, pulse of light, glowing symbol, or even rising flames from the torches.
Percy looked at Thalia with a shrug. "Give it a shot."
"Uh, Labyrinth! Can you please give me a door to…Waterloo Station."
"What is with you and places in London?"
"Well, not really a lot of good places I can think of as Thalia."
It then occurred to Percy that he didn't actually know what Thalia's story was in this life. "You need to tell me about it."
"I will."
A door had appeared on the wall of the corridor, and when Thalia poked her head through it, she beheld the modern-day version of Waterloo Station in London. It certainly smelled better than it did back in the 1860s, and was also more crowded. She shut the door and it faded away.
"Right, then," she said. "The Assassins now have magic passageways to anywhere in the world, and any building in the world, which is both absolutely amazing, and absolutely bollocks."
"It is scary, yeah."
Power corrupts, and all that.
Percy had another thought. "Well, while in the Labyrinth, we can apparently have it open a door to anywhere, but what happens if we're out of the Labyrinth? Can it make us a door from wherever we are?"
"…I feel like we're in the Matrix. Do you feel like we're in the Matrix? You know, they had to find a phone every time they wanted to get out? For some reason, this feels a lot like that."
"I don't know about the Matrix, but here's an experiment. Labyrinth? Can you please open us a door to the top floor of the Big House in Camp Half-Blood?"
A door appeared, and Percy walked through it, Thalia following.
Just like that, they were in the Big House of camp.
Percy shut the door they came from, and when he opened it again, it was one of the spare bedrooms. He shut the door, moved down the hall to another door, and appreciated how much of a lunatic he appeared to be when he said aloud, "Labyrinth? Can you open a door for me, please?"
A blue triangle briefly appeared on the door, and when Percy opened it, it was a stone corridor lit by torches. He shut the door, opened it, and beheld another spare bedroom.
"Does it only work on voice command?" Thalia asked. "It'd be a little awkward if we're in some kind of intense chase sequence or something, and we have to shout at the wall real fast."
Percy appreciated that, and so he thought about it, and a blue triangle appeared on the wall before the section swung open. Percy promptly shut it. "Well, okay then."
"We are going to kick so much Templar ass," Thalia noted.
Percy nodded his head several times, still processing the fact that God had given him the Labyrinth.
Thalia saw the trepidation on Percy's face. "You okay?"
"Just a little nervous, I suppose."
"Why?"
"The recurring story in the Bible is how a person received God's blessing, then squandered it, and ended up a disgrace."
"Good thing that's not going to happen to you. I'm gonna knock your little butt out the second you step out of line." Thalia nudged him with her shoulder, grinning.
"Is that so?"
"Oh, yeah."
"In that case, I guess we'll be just fine. Since we're here, let's go debrief with Chiron."
"What about Lou and Arno?"
"They're fine. Probably made it back here."
"You really think that?"
"Yep."
"Okay, then."
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It was evening in Camp Half-Blood, and Percy and Thalia could feel the tension in the air. They had no idea how long it had been since their departure thanks to the Labyrinth's time dilation, but apparently long enough for the camp to be ready for battle.
Did that mean that Luke had already mustered his scattered forces, or was this just the usual evening feeling these days as the campers anticipated an attack any day now?
The reincarnate siblings jogged across the campgrounds to the woods where they saw the fires through the trees, and there they found everyone.
"Woah," Thalia said shortly.
Nico and Bianca—having gone full Giovanni Cavaliere da Roma and Mary Read—were barking orders and keeping everyone on their toes.
"Clarisse! Move your lines forward!"
"Beckendorf—how are we looking on those repeating crossbows?!"
"Connor, Travis! Pull the Hermes kids back, you're too close to the entrance!"
"Miranda, Katie! More shrubbery over there, please!"
"Silena! Get your siblings to do less grooming and more fortifying! Get those barricades up!"
Then Nico saw Percy and bellowed with his chest above everything. "Ten HUT~!"
All activity came to an immediate halt as everyone instantly snapped to attention.
"…at ease?" Percy blinked.
Nico came up to him, Bianca in tow. "Sir! It has been 170 hours since your previous departure, sir! There has been no sign of the enemy yet, but we are told that they are soon to arrive."
"I see. Who told you of this?"
"Lou Ellen," Bianca answered.
"Where is she?"
"I'm here!" Lou Ellen moved through the crowd of demigods. "I knew you'd get back. Hey!"
"Hello." Percy scanned the crowd, even activating Eagle Vision, and adopted a frown at not seeing a glowing gold individual. An unwelcoming feeling creeping through him, he raised his voice to the demigods. "As you were! Continue with your defensive assignments!"
As noise once again resumed, Percy looked at Lou. "Where's Arno?"
Lou's face fell. "I killed him."
"What?"
"When we got separated, and it was just the two of us, we made our way through the Labyrinth, making a little bit of small talk here and there, and eventually we got on the topic of us. As in, you and me. I tried to tread carefully, you know? I knew he was volatile, had those dreams that he could get with you in this life, and I tried my best, but…he got pushy, and I got pushier, and when he pulled his sword on me—his actual sword, as in the metal one, not his…you know what I mean—I defended myself. Went a little overboard with the spell."
After that story, Thalia's face was doing a great job looking like that one Joker reaction image, the one where his eyes were wide and bloodshot and his mouth was pulled into a tight, thin expression. You've probably seen it come up periodically in the comment section of iFunny.
As for Percy, he was rattled, floored, shocked, shaken, at a complete loss for words and thoughts. Lou had really killed Arno? Arno had really gone so far that Lou had been forced to defend herself? Percy couldn't comprehend it.
His state of confusion was so deep that his defenses were down, allowing someone to scoop him up from behind in a big bear hug.
"Got you!" shouted Robert Elizer Dare.
Percy instantly launched into a French tirade. "Mets-moi à terre tout de suite ou je vais te botter les couilles dans l'oubli!"
Arno set the fussy Percy down, keen to not have his balls kicked into oblivion.
Percy glowered at Arno, and then he glowered at Lou Ellen, who was struggling mightily not to laugh. "That was not funny."
"You're right-" Lou tried to say, but it came out as a barely audible rush of air as her face turned red from trying so hard not to laugh.
"It was hilarious," Arno finished.
"It was not!" Percy punctuated by stomping his foot and crossing his arms, the same pout on his face that Cheyenne had worn so many times.
His behavior confused Nico and Bianca, having never seen Vergil or Jake behave like that, but Arno and Evie had seen Cheyenne and Peter do that several times.
"Was too," Arno teased.
"Was not!"
"Too."
"Not!"
"Too."
Percy, or perhaps Cheyenne at this point, growled. He was undoubtedly about to say something very mean in French, something that no good Christian should ever say to another person, but the ground started to rumble.
Nico didn't miss a beat. "To your stations! To your stations!"
Percy turned one last glower towards Lou, who just innocently waved at him.
"Putain d'enfants," Percy grumbled before yanking the Sword of Destiny from its sheath.
The hybrid nightmare that was Kampê roared out of the Labyrinth entrance within the rock monument known as Zeus's Fist, which only looked like a fist from one specific angle. It looked like a pile of droppings from all other angles. Whatever terror the horrid torturer was going to unleash was stopped short when Percy blasted her with a golden beam of energy.
After that, the Battle of the Labyrinth was hardly a battle. Thalia spammed lightning from above, Percy kept taking potshots at whatever managed to crawl out of the hole, and Lou Ellen was also having a blast as she blasted anything else with magic.
The rest of the campers started to feel underwhelmed, and some even felt cheated. For a week they'd been preparing for battle, running drills going over strategies, and then the three demigods that went on the quest in the first place get back and handle everything all by themselves. Not that anyone wanted to die today, but most wanted to say they at least contributed to the cause, and also see for themselves if they could fight a monster and win.
It was not to be on this day.
Eventually, Zeus's Fist was reduced to slag and rubble from so many energy blasts, lightning bolts, and magic attacks, and the entrance was more or less sealed off by too much debris. After that happened, there was a few minutes of quiet before Lou Ellen used some magic to confirm that the army was in full retreat. They'd given up. Lou also confirmed that there weren't any other entrances to the Labyrinth anywhere in camp.
It was a decisive Camp Half-Blood victory without a single demigod casualty.
"Alright," Nico said. "What now?"
"Now we get some sleep," Percy answered. "In the morning, all of us," he gestured to the present Assassins, "will be leaving to check in with the Brotherhood and see where we're at with Abstergo and the Templars."
The Assassins nodded.
Everyone dispersed, though the Poseidon cabin became the fullest it would ever be in its existence as the Assassins piled in. The evening was spent in merriment as fun stories were swapped about old adventures. Sleepiness settled in, and combat clothes were swapped out for more comfortable sleepwear.
Thalia and Robert took a bed for themselves, while Nico snuggled up with Bianca. Lou Ellen got in bed with her boyfriend, and sleep peacefully came for them all.
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In the morning, debriefing with Chiron was short.
"The Labyrinth is ours."
Chiron stared at Percy. "What does that mean?"
"Labyrinth! I need a door, please."
A glowing blue triangle glowed on the wall, and the wall swung open to reveal a corridor like that of an office hallway instead of the stone one with torches.
Chiron's jaw unhinged, as did that of everyone that wasn't Percy and Thalia. "I'm sorry—what?"
"God gave me the Labyrinth," Percy said. "Fast travel to any building anywhere on the planet. No muss, no fuss."
"We are going to kick so much Templar ass," Bianca muttered.
"Indeed. Chiron, until next time."
The Assassins entered the Labyrinth, and the door closed behind them.
Inside the Labyrinth, Percy did the thing where he gave all the other people with him control over the magic maze like he did with Thalia. Then he had the Labyrinth open a door to the safehouse where William Miles was located, confirmed thanks to Lou's magic.
Scared the man halfway to death when Percy, Lou, and a number of other kids he had never seen before just waltzed into the living room from the hallway where the bedrooms were at.
"Jesus Christ!" William squawked.
"Amen, praise the Lord," Percy said.
"What in the—how in the-"
"I'm a witch," Lou Ellen helpfully reminded the man.
"Oh, right. I take these are more Assassins back from the past?"
Percy introduced them all in turn. "Nico, also Giovanni Cavaliere da Roma, Vergil's son. Nico's sister, Bianca, also Mary Read, Jake's big sister. Thalia Grace, also Evie Frye, Peter's big sister-"
"So Peter too, then?" William asked.
"Correct. As well as Cheyenne Cormac."
William blinked. "That means you were a girl in a previous life."
"Indeed. I certainly do not miss the cramps." Percy stepped in front of Rober by a smidge. "And this is Robert Elizer Dare, also Arno Dorian."
William lurched in his seat, his expression turning severe. Wha kept him from outright jumping to his feet was that Percy hadn't slit Robert's throat yet. "I take it…you trust him?"
"Yes."
"Is that Cheyenne talking, or-"
"It's me talking." The unsaid message in Percy's voice was rather clear.
William slowly nodded. "Very well. Moving on, your arrival is most opportune. You have a fan."
"I'm sorry?"
William had actually been in the middle of watching something on TV before Percy and the gang walked in. On the screen was the paused image of a girl maybe a year younger than Percy, Native American descent.
"This is Piper McLean," William said, and it did not escape anyone's notice how Lou Ellen went stiff. "She's a Cherokee Indian, and a rising activist for Native American rights. Respecting the treaties, respecting the tribe's right to self-government, respect for their land and sacred sites—stuff like that."
"What does this have to do with me?"
"She claims that Jake Swallow is back from the dead and that she would like to meet him."
William hit the play button on the remote and resumed the broadcast.
"And you believe that Captain Jake Swallow, the Grandfather of America, is alive again?" the show host asked, an older man that was clearly patronizing Piper.
"Yes, I do."
"And do you have anything to back up that claim?"
Piper's lips quirked up and something akin to malignance appeared in her eyes. "Mr. Daily, do you believe in the Bible? God, angels, demons, the devil, and all the other things therein—do you believe in any of that?"
Mr. Daily shifted. "Yes?"
"So you believe in supernatural powers?"
"Yes?"
"In forces and agents you can't see, touch, hear, smell, or feel?"
"Yes?"
"That's a bit crazy, isn't it?"
"Well, I-I…uh…"
"Relax, Mr. Daily. I'm only setting you up."
"Excuse me?"
"You say you believe in God and angels despite how those entities are not seen, and this widely considered to be acceptable and okay. Now, that being said, you asked if I had anything to back up my claim that Jake's back, and here it is: one of those unseen entities told me."
Piper smiled at Mr. Daily.
Percy then turned to Lou Ellen, because she obviously knew what was up.
"Ah, that's Piper. She's the reincarnation of Connor Kenway."
Among the myriad of reactions to that information, none came even close to Percy's.
He looked back at the young, skinny, lithe Piper, back to Lou, back to Piper, thought back to how absolutely jacked Connor had been, looked back at the skinny girl on the TV, and proceeded to erupt into the most raucous laughter in his life.
Captain Jake Swallow laughed and laughed until he was wheezing with tears streaming down his face and everyone was giving him a strange look. After getting control over himself and getting his breathing back to a manageable level, Percy sobered up.
"Alright, let's go get her before the Templars do. Claiming Jake's back and talking about spirits is going to get the Templars thinking she has a Piece of Eden and is communing with a Precursor. And this also might raise awareness on the Templar side of things that the dead Assassins are back, especially if there are a number of dead Templars that are also back."
William paled. "You know, that would be our luck. The greatest Assassins come back from the dead in our darkest hour, finally giving us an edge over the Templars, but then it turns out that the greatest Templars came back too."
"Do not lose heart, my friend. It's still not confirmed that any Templars have returned. We will stay on the path of optimism."
William sighed, releasing the tension, and nodded. "Yes, that would be best."
"Where's Desmond?"
"He's out with Lucy and Clay, scouting the Abstergo building. I have Shaun and Rebecca getting pizza."
"Lovely. Tell Desmond and the others I said hi."
"You're leaving already?"
"Yes, I need to go get Connor before the Templars get him—er, her, I suppose-" Percy giggled a little because it was still so funny to him that the absolute unit that was Connor was now back in the form of a little girl- "and he starts stacking bodies."
William nodded. "Uh, be careful and avoid strangers?"
"Will do. Thank you, William."
Percy went back down the hallway, the other Assassins leaving their respective parting words, called for the Labyrinth, had Lou pinpoint Piper's current location, and off they went.
Percy idly wondered how hard it was going to be to convince Piper that he was Captain Jake Swallow.
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Well? How hard do you think it will be for Percy to convince Piper that he's Jake?
Yes, a short chapter, but like I said, I'm in a bit of a slump. Just not feeling this story right now, or Promised Year or Voidwalker. What I'm really feeling is either getting going on the RWBY story with Shin'en, or finally pulling the trigger on the Elden Ring crossover.
Speaking of those two, here's how they currently sit in my mind:
The RWBY story would start at the end of Vol. 6 in Haven, when Adam is about to blow up the school and Cinder is duking it out with Raven. Ish. Shin'en shows up, kicks everyone's ass, integrates with the team, and the story goes from there.
For the Elden Ring crossover, if you even recall what the original idea was, I have decided that Rylo, originally the last son of Radagon and Rennala, will instead be the last daughter of Radagon and Marika, making her Miquella and Melania's little sister, and the youngest demigod. The reason for a girl instead of a boy is because as I began doing more fleshing, a princess worked better for the narrative. This means that it would also be a fem-Percy story, as I will be staving off two of the three constants for this one, and the RWBY one, those being the gender dysphoria and the diapers.
Goddammit. The fact that those are a thing that recurred so often that they're an expectation in my stories.
"Alright, I know there's going to be some boy in here somewhere that ends up crossdressing or being turned into a girl. Ah, there it is! Now where are the dia—ah! There they are."
Anyway, Elden Ring crossover features Princess Percy in a sense, and also a name change, keeping with the trend of the M-names, which I have yet to decide. Also, Percy will have a strong connection to the Ancient Dragons, and will have her own affliction like her siblings, one that will be tied to the Death Birds, because as much as a pain in the ass that the Death Rite Birds are, they have very cool wings.
Do either of those sound like something you would read? Depending on feedback, you may very well see one, or both, be published before the month is over.
Please Fav, Follow, and let me know what you thought of the chapter, and what you think of the two stories, with a Review!
And to anyone who wanted to know about what happened between me and the subreddit, check out Ch. 10 and 18 of Piper's Untold Story. That's pretty much the gist of it.
