Answers to reviews:
chanteholland807: No.
ultima-owner: Yeah, I can totally see that happening.
Redburndragon: Ah, give them a break.
shirkahn: he'll most likely give him amedium-sized smack on the back of the head.
ayatoamagiri3425: Thanks.
Disclaimer: I do not own Devil May Cry or Percy Jackson and the Olympians. I only own the OC Damian Redgrave.
In a way, it's nice to know there are Greek gods out there, because you have somebody to blame when things go wrong. For instance, when you're walking away from a bus that's just been attacked by monster hags and blown up by lightning, and it's raining on top of everything else, most people might think that's just really bad luck; when you're a half-blood, you understand that some divine force really is trying to mess up your day.
So there they were, Damian, Annabeth, Grover and Percy, walking through the woods along the New Jersey riverbank. Damian was leading them, his eyes searching everything in front of him, his body tense.
Grover was shivering and braying, his big goat eyes turned slit-pupiled and full of terror. "Three Kindly Ones. All three at once."
Percy was pretty much in shock himself. The explosion of bus windows still ringing in his ears. But Annabeth kept pulling them along, saying: "Come on! The farther away we get, the better."
"All our money was back there," Percy reminded her. "Our food and clothes. Everything."
"Well, maybe if you hadn't decided to jump into the fight—"
"What did you want me to do? Let you guys get killed?"
"You didn't need to protect us, Percy. We would've been fine."
"Sliced like sandwich bread," Grover put in, "but fine."
"Shut up, goat boy," said Annabeth.
Grover brayed mournfully. "Tin cans ... a perfectly good bag of tin cans."
"Enough!" Damian, having sighed with annoyance at hearing the brewing argument between Annabeth and Percy, whirled around and shot all three of them glares that made them halt in their tracks. "I swear to every god that if I continue to hear you two argue before this day is done, I will personally slap the both of you up the head so hard you'll get brain damage! We're a team, act like it! I've got my pack, which has what we need to get by in the world and get us to LA, so we'll be fine. Percy, what you did was reckless and foolish. You could've seriously hurt innocent people."
Percy looked down while Annabeth looked pleased Damian was agreeing with her. However, that didn't last as Damian turned his disapproving stare onto her.
"Annabeth, Percy was just trying to help. It's not in him to leave his friends alone and in danger, so don't get onto him for helping us." The son of Artemis said, Annabeth looking at the ground, feeling ashamed at the tone Damian was using. She felt like a sister disappointing her big brother. Turning, Damian continued on walking. "Let's keep moving. We need to find somewhere to rest for the night."
Damian and Grover walked on ahead while Annabeth fell into step with Percy, the two trailing behind the other two boys. "Look, I..." Her voice faltered. "I appreciate your coming back for us, okay? That was really brave."
"We're a team, right? Like Damian said."
She was silent for a few more steps. "It's just that if you died ... aside from the fact that it would really suck for you, it would mean the quest was over... though Damian may end up taking the lead if that happened. This may be my only chance to see the real world."
The thunderstorm had finally let up. The city glow faded behind them, leaving them in almost total darkness. Percy couldn't see anything of Annabeth except a glint of her blond hair.
"You haven't left Camp Half-Blood since you were seven?" Percy asked her.
"No ... only short field trips. My dad—"
"The history professor."
"Yeah. It didn't work out for me living at home. I mean, Camp Half-Blood's my home." She was rushing her words out now, as if she were afraid somebody might try to stop her. "At camp you train and train. And that's all cool and everything, but the real world is where the monsters are. That's where you learn whether you're any good or not."
You're pretty good with that knife," Percy pointed out.
"You think so?"
"Anybody who can piggyback-ride a Fury is okay by me."
Damian glanced back at them discreetly, a small smile coming onto his face. Perhaps... those two will get along and be friends by the time this quest was over. He hoped so, their arguments were starting to grate on his nerves. Were their parents like this? Were most of the Gods like this? Maybe that's why his mother liked the comfort of hunting with her hunters rather than being around the other gods.
He snorted. He wouldn't blame her, the headache isn't worth it.
"You know," Annabeth said, "maybe I should tell you ... Something funny back on the bus ..."
Whatever she wanted to say was interrupted by a shrill toot-toot-toot, like the sound of an owl being tortured.
"Hey, my reed pipes still work!" Grover cried. "If I could just remember a 'find path' song, we could get out of these woods!"
He puffed out a few notes, but the tune still sounded suspiciously like Hilary Duff.
After tripping and cursing and generally feeling miserable for another mile or so, they started to see light up ahead: the colors of a neon sign. They could smell food. Fried, greasy, excellent food. Damian realized he hadn't eaten anything unhealthy since the first day at camp when he had pizza. He could go for a big mac cheeseburger from McDonalds, but figured they'll get it somewhere along the line during the quest.
They had World War III to prevent after all.
They kept walking until they saw a deserted two-lane road through the trees. On the other side was a closed-down gas station, a tattered billboard for a 1990s movie, and one open business, which was the source of the neon light and the good smell.
It wasn't a fast-food restaurant. It was one of those weird roadside curio shops that sell lawn flamingos and wooden Indians and cement grizzly bears and stuff like that. The main building was a long, low warehouse, surrounded by acres of statuary. The neon sign above the gate was impossible for the demigods to read.
To the demigods, it looked like: ATNYU MES GDERAN GOMEN MEPROUIM.
"What the heck does that say?" Percy asked.
"I don't know," Annabeth said as Damian had his eyes narrowed, showing he was struggling to find out.
Grover translated: "Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium."
"Thanks Grov."
Flanking the entrance, as advertised, were two cement garden gnomes, ugly bearded little runts, smiling and waving, as if they were about to get their picture taken.
"Let's keep moving." Damian said, planning to find somewhere they can rest, maybe find a McDonalds along the way, however he paused when he saw Percy cross the street. "Percy..."
"The lights are on inside," Annabeth said. "Maybe it's open."
"Snack bar," Percy said wistfully.
"Snack bar," she agreed.
"Think with your stomachs later, we have a job to do!" Damian said with a frown, wrinkling his nose at the smell. The place smelled weird... like a reptile house at a zoo.
"Are you two crazy?" Grover said. "This place is weird."
They were ignored.
'I have a bad feeling about this.' Damian thought as he followed them with Grover.
The front lot was a forest of statues: cement animals, cement children, even a cement satyr playing the pipes, which gave Grover the creeps.
"Bla-ha-ha!" he bleated. "Looks like my Uncle Ferdinand!"
They stopped at the warehouse door.
"Don't knock," Grover pleaded. "I smell monsters."
"Your nose is clogged up from the Furies," Annabeth told him. "All I smell is burgers. Aren't you hungry?"
"Meat!" he said scornfully. "I'm a vegetarian."
"You eat cheese enchiladas and aluminum cans," Percy reminded him..
"Those are vegetables. Come on. Let's leave. These statues are... looking at me."
They didn't listen as they approached the door.
Grover grabbed Damian's shoulder, "You believe me, right?" he asked pleadingly.
It gave the son of Artemis pause; they had left the Furies a while ago. Plenty of time for Grover to not be clogged like Annabeth suggested,
"Stay alert." Damian said, ignoring his own rumbling stomach.
Then the door creaked open, and standing in front of them was a tall Middle Eastern woman—at least, Damian assumed she was Middle Eastern, because she wore a long black gown that covered everything but her hands, and her head was completely veiled. Her eyes glinted behind a curtain of black gauze, but that was about all Damian could make out. Her coffee-colored hands looked old, but well-manicured and elegant, so one imagined she was a grandmother who had once been a beautiful lady.
Her accent sounded vaguely Middle Eastern, too. She said, "Children, it is too late to be out all alone. Where are your parents?"
"They're ... um ..." Annabeth started to say.
"We're orphans," Percy said, causing the other three to shoot him looks as if he just hit his head.
"Orphans?" the woman said. The word sounded alien in her mouth. "But, my dears! Surely not!"
"We got separated from our caravan," Percy said. Annabeth looked at Damian and mouthed 'caravan?' Damian just rolled his eyes and mouthed back 'just roll with it.' "Our circus caravan. The ringmaster told us to meet him at the gas station if we got lost, but he may have forgotten, or maybe he meant a different gas station. Anyway, we're lost. Is that food I smell?"
"Oh, my dears," the woman said. "You must come in, poor children. I am Aunty Em. Go straight through to the back of the warehouse, please. There is a dining area."
They thanked her and went inside. However, Damian kept a suspicious eye on her.
Annabeth muttered to Percy, "Circus caravan?"
"Always have a strategy, right?"
"Your head is full of kelp."
The warehouse was filled with more statues—people in all different poses, wearing all different outfits and with different expressions on their faces.
Eventually they arrived at the back of the warehouse to see a room with a dining table with some chairs around it. They saw that there was a fast-food counter with a grill, a soda fountain, a pretzel heater, and a nacho cheese dispenser. Everything that you could want was there and it was all there's.
Damian had to admit, his stomach was beginning to crave for food. He had not eaten since lunch so he would not deny food at this moment in time.
"Please take a seat, my dears." Aunty Em said, gesturing to the chairs at the table.
"Um," Grover said reluctantly, "we don't have any money, ma'am."
Before Percy could jab him in the ribs, Aunty Em said, "No, no, children. No money. This is a special case, yes? It is my treat, for such nice orphans."
"Thank you, ma'am," Annabeth said.
Aunty Em stiffened, as if Annabeth had done something wrong, but then the old woman relaxed just as quickly. The others didn't notice... except for Damian who narrowed his eyes a little, especially when he saw the woman's lip curl in anger for a split second before it went away and she smiled.
"Quite all right, Annabeth," she said. "You have such beautiful gray eyes, child." Then she looked at Damian. "And you have such amazing silver eyes, Damian. The colour of the moon, yes?"
'...How does she know our names? None of us introduce ourselves.' Damian thought, now feeling tense and alert but he responded with forced politeness. "Yes."
The hostess disappeared behind the snack counter and started cooking. Before the group knew it, she'd brought them plastic trays heaped with double cheeseburgers, vanilla shakes, and XXL servings of French fries.
Percy was halfway through his burger, looking like he didn't even need to breathe.
Annabeth slurped her shake in happiness.
Grover picked at the fries, and eyed the tray's waxed paper liner as if he might go for that, but he still looked too nervous to eat.
Damian took slow bites out of his cheeseburger, eyeing Aunty Em suspiciously. He really shouldn't eat food offered by a stranger, but he was taking small bites... unlike Percy. However, on the first bite he felt something off with the burger, and when Aunty Em looked away for a moment, he quickly spat it out onto the floor before putting it down, grabbing his water bottle from his pack to wash the taste away.
"What's that hissing noise?" Grover suddenly asked.
Percy listened, but didn't hear anything. Annabeth shook her head. Damian frowned as he strained his ears and focused on his sense of hearing. He could faintly hear hissing... like...
"Hissing?" Aunty Em asked. "Perhaps you hear the deep-fryer oil. You have keen ears, Grover."
"I take vitamins. For my ears." The disguised Satyr answered.
Damian's eyes widened as he managed to recall what was making the hissing. Snakes. But he couldn't see a snake anywhere nearby, and there didn't look like any kind of snake tank. Now that he focused, the hissing seemed to be coming from Aunty Em...
Damian stiffened as he connected the dots. The hissing, the fact this woman had her hair and eyes covered indoors, he could only think of one monster in Greek legends that fit this description.
Medusa.
'Oh great.' Damian thought. Without another word, he brought his feet up and kicked the table over and onto Medusa.
"Damian!" The others shouted.
"It's Medusa!" He shouted back.
"I knew she was a monster!" Grover exclaimed, looking happy. Give it a second. A look of horror came to his face, "Medusa?!" he bleated in fear. There it was.
"How did you know?" Annabeth asked, worry prevalent in her steel grey eyes when faced with the thought of fighting one of her cabin's greatest enemies.
"Snake hissing, eyes covered, head covered... and she smells like a snake." Damian listed off.
"Oh."
"Um, running away time?" Grover asked, looking like he was preparing to run a marathon.
"No," Damian told him as they grouped up and headed for the warehouse of statues for cover. The son of the moon saw a nearby mirror and quickly shattered it with his elbow. Grabbing four shards, he passed them around. "Scramble," he ordered, "Use the mirrors, we have to take her out if we want to keep going." He said as the table was pushed aside and angry hissing could be heard, "Go!" he said, running left as the others followed his lead and dispersed as well.
Annabeth put on her hat and slipped away. Grover ran with those speedy goat legs of his and flew off with a cry of 'Maia'. Percy took out Riptide and clenched his mirror, moving as well.
Damian rushed down a row of statues before turning sharply behind a statue and ducked down. He took his bow off his back, then used his mirror shard to check for any sign of Medusa. However, the angry hissing approaching told him she was coming so he ducked his arm back.
"Oh Damian~" He heard the snake woman purr as she searched for him. He shivered at the way she said his name. He felt repulsed. "Come out, come out, wherever you are. You know... I never thought that the great huntress herself would fall for a man and have a child. I wonder... how disappointed she was when she gave birth to a boy instead of a girl, her first child... the very thing she hates the most."
Damian's hands clenched into fists at her words, anger rising, but he tried to control himself. She was trying to bait him out.
"I was once hunted by her and her pathetic hunters... how ironic that I hunt her child." Medusa chuckled. "Maybe I'll send your head back to her as payback for the times she's shot me with arrows. Then, when she's grieving, if she even feels that for her bastard child, I'll rip her eyes out!"
Damian was about to stand and attack the monster when a hand gripped his tightly, preventing him from getting up. He looked, only to see nobody there but a familiar scent hit his nose. "Annabeth?" He asked quietly.
"Don't let her get to you." Annabeth said just as quietly. "She's wrong."
"I know." Damian said lowly. "We have to take her out. Ever seen the Clash of the Titans film?"
"Yes, but we'd need a bigger mirror for her to look at." Annabeth said.
"True." Damian nodded and cast a glance into his mirror shard, seeing Medusa still lurking about, searching for them. "I'll run distraction, I do have long ranged weapons. Either you or Percy get close and remove her head. Go find him." The child of the moon let out a sharp whistle, "Over here!" he shouted, dodging the rows of statues.
"Get back here! Let me kill you for the pain your mother has caused me!" She screeched like a banshee.
"Oh get over yourself!"
The monster only screamed more, it sounded like useless babble to the Demon Hunter.
"Batter up!" the voice of Grover sounded off from above, and there was a crack and a crash.
Damian used his mirror to see Grover flying with a broken tree branch in hand and Medusa among the rubble of some more of her statues, "That was for Uncle Ferdinand!" Grover yelled.
"Go Grover! You the Satyr!" Damian shouted.
In the meantime, Annabeth found Percy.
"Why can't we just get out of here?" The boy whispered back, using his mirror to check for the monster.
"Like Damian said, we need to take her out,"
Annabeth told the water boy, "Look at these statues Percy," she said, pointing to a pair of lovers turned to stone, "She's evil, a menace, she needs to be gone or more innocent people will be changed." She spoke sternly.
Percy looked at the statues and his heart clenched, one was a little girl, maybe seven or eight, carrying an Easter egg basket, in a little dress with fancy shoes, her face etched in horror.
This woman, no, monster, needed to go.
This couldn't keep happening. He thought as he clenched Riptide in his hand.
"You have the best shot at her, Damian's running distraction." Annabeth continued, "I'd do it myself, but you and Damian have the better weapons. Damian's shooting arrows at her in the hopes one of us goes for the killing blow, but it'll have to be you."
Grover did another fly by, but Medusa grabbed his makeshift bat and sent him flying and tangled into the arms of a stone grizzly with thud.
Percy bit his lip, "Right," he nod, his sea green eyes filled with determination as he took a breath to calm his nerves. Riptide up, he used his mirror towards the sound of the monster, who had managed to find Damian's hiding spot and used her snake half to wrap around him and throw him off his feet.
"SHIT!" Damian yelled before he crashed across the ground. "That hurt."
"Damian!" Annabeth shouted in worry, but it gained Medusa's attention. She approached while Percy kept hiding between statues, trying to find an opening to take her out.
"I'm alright!" The son of Artemis said with a groan as he got to his feet but kept his eyes closed, nocked an arrow, aimed and released.
"Ahh!" Medusa yelled as the arrow struck her right in the back, close to her spine. "You little bastard!"
"My parents are happily married, thank you!"
Medusa's tone shifted from anger to a more soothing one suddenly. "You wouldn't harm an old woman, would you Percy?"
The son of the sea felt a fog in his head at her words.
"The Gray-Eyed One did this to me, Percy," Medusa said, and she didn't sound anything like a monster. Her voice invited him to look at her, to sympathize with a poor old grandmother. "Annabeth's mother, the cursed Athena, turned me from a beautiful woman into this. And Artemis, Damian's mother, hunted me for the thrill of it!"
"Don't listen to her!" Annabeth's voice shouted, somewhere in the statuary. "Do it, Percy!"
"Silence!" Medusa snarled. Then her voice modulated back to a comforting purr. "You see why I must destroy the girl, Percy. She is my enemy's daughter. I shall crush her statue to dust along with the Goddess of the Moon's child. But you, dear Percy, you need not suffer."
"Hey, he's twelve, not eighteen, that's paedophilia."
"Silence, boy!" Medusa snarled in the direction of where Damian's voice came from.
"No," Percy muttered, trying to shake off the fog in his head.
"Do you really want to help the gods?" Medusa asked in hissing pain. "Do you understand what awaits you on this foolish quest, Percy? What will happen if you reach the Underworld? Do not be a pawn of the Olympians, my dear. You would be better off as a statue. Less pain. Less pain."
"Percy, don't listen!" Grover moaned out.
"Too late!" Medusa cackled, lunging at the raven-haired boy with her talons at the ready.
Percy slashed up with his sword, heard a sickening slice, then a hiss like wind rushing out of a cavern, the sound of a monster disintegrating.
Something fell to the ground next to his foot. It took all his willpower not to look. He could feel warm ooze soaking into his sock, little dying snakeheads tugging at his shoelaces.
Grover was gagging at the sound of the dying monster while Annabeth, visible now, had her eyes to the sky, holding the black veil of Medusa, using it to cover the head, telling him sternly not to move. She picked up the head as it dripped green goop from inside the makeshift bag.
"Clear?" Damian's voice asked a bit away.
"Clear!" Annabeth said as Damian came out of cover and walked over, only for Annabeth to slam into him and hug him. "Are you okay?"
"I'll be fine." Damian patted her shoulder and they broke the hug. "What about you guys?"
"Why didn't the head evaporate?" Percy asked as Grover joined up with them, missing his shoes.
"It's a spoil of war, like your Minotaur horn." The child of wisdom answered, "But don't unwrap it, it can still petrify you." Annabeth said swiftly with caution in her tone.
"Nice flight goat boy." The white-haired demon hunter grinned, giving him a nudge to the shoulder and got a bashful grin back.
"Well, the hitting her with a stick part was fun, getting caught in a statue, not so much." he admitted.
"We'll make the Blue Angels yet Grov," Damian said, arm wrapped around his shoulder as his other hand pointed to the distance dramatically, "But only if you believe in your inner flying goat." He stressed jokingly.
That earned a light heartening laugh among the group, breaking the tense atmosphere.
Percy recapped his sword as Grover got his flying shoes back on his hooves. They made it out of the warehouse and back to the dining area.
They found some old plastic grocery bags behind the snack counter and double wrapped Medusa's head. They plopped it on the now right side up table where they'd eaten dinner and sat around it, too exhausted to speak.
Finally Percy said, "So we have Athena to thank for this monster?"
Annabeth flashed him an irritated look. "Your dad, actually. Don't you remember? Medusa was Poseidon's girlfriend. They decided to meet in my mother's temple. That's why Athena turned her into a monster. Medusa and her two sisters who had helped her get into the temple, they became the three gorgons. Artemis has hunted them many times, both reasons why Medusa wanted to slice Damian and I up, but she wanted to preserve you as a nice statue. She's still sweet on your dad. You probably reminded her of him."
The sea child's face was burning, a tight frown on his face. "Oh, so now it's my fault we met Medusa-Ow!"
"Ow!" Annabeth held her head, as did Percy, and they looked at Damian who shook his head at them.
"What did I say earlier?" Damian asked with a raised eyebrow. "Stop arguing or I'll smack you upside the head."
Percy stared at the thing. One little snake was hanging out of a hole in the plastic. The words printed on the side of the bag said: WE APPRECIATE YOUR BUSINESS.
What had Medusa said?
Do not be a pawn of the Olympians, my dear. You would be better off as a statue.
The son of the sea was angry, not just with Annabeth or her mom, but with all the gods for this whole quest, for getting them blown off the road and in two major fights the very first day out from camp. At this rate, they'd never make it to L.A. alive, much less before the summer solstice.
Percy had a thoughtful look on his face and got up. "I'll be back."
"Percy," Annabeth called after him. "What are you -"
He searched the back of the warehouse until he found Medusa's office. Her account book showed her six most recent sales, all shipments to the Underworld to decorate Hades and Persephone's garden. According to one freight bill, the Underworld's billing address was DOA Recording Studios, West Hollywood, California. He folded up the bill and stuffed it in his pocket.
In the cash register he found twenty dollars, a few golden drachmas, and some packing slips for Hermes Overnight Express, each with a little leather bag attached for coins. He rummaged around the rest of the office until he found the right-size box.
Percy came back to the picnic table, packed up Medusa's head, and filled out a delivery slip:
The Gods
Mount Olympus
600th Floor,
Empire State Building
New York, NY
With best wishes,
"Wow." Damian shook his head with a grin.
"They're not going to like that," Grover warned. "They'll think you're impertinent."
"I am impertinent," Percy stated with confidence.
"Hold it!" Damian stopped Percy then ran off into the back of the building, confusing his friends as they heard him rummaging through stuff. Damian soon came back, holding something before he held it up. "Let's give grandpa a gift until we get his bolt back, shall we?"
In his hand was a bright yellow beanie lightning bolt that made a zapping noise when you squished it. The sight of it made Percy, Annabeth and Grover burst out laughing.
"Put it in" Percy said, opening the box back up and Damian put a small note next to it just for Zeus. When he did, Percy poured some golden drachmas in the pouch. As soon as he closed it, there was a sound like a cash register. The package floated off the table and disappeared with a pop!
Percy turned to Annabeth, daring her to criticize with a smirk on his face.
She didn't. The blonde seemed resigned to the fact that they had a major talent for ticking off the gods, in their own way. "Come on," she muttered. "We need a new plan."
The questers had just walked out of the building when Damian stiffened, catching their attention. "Damian, what is it?" Percy asked, tense.
Damian sniffed the air then groaned. "Of course, about time one of them showed up."
"One of what?" Annabeth asked tensly.
They heard dark growling and turned to see a monstrous creature come out of the shadows of a nearby alleyway, it's red eyes on the son of Artemis.
"W-What is that?" Grover squeaked.
"A demon." Damian scowled then walked forward. "I'll handle this. It's my job, after all."
"Be careful." Annabeth said, worried.
Damian shot her a smirk before he whipped out Dawn as the demon leaped at him. "And Jackpot."
BANG!
And that's it for this chapter everyone. Yeah, the demon appearing could've been longer but... where's the fun in that? But hey, least Damian dropped his dad's best catchphrase, right?
