The moon shone brightly down on an overgrown and poorly maintained courtyard. Annabeth surveyed the courtyard out of the corners of her vision, her mind analyzing her surroundings in the same timeframe a regular mortal would've taken to blink.
As a daughter of Athena, the goddess of wisdom and war, her divine heritage was a brilliant mind and a supernatural aptitude for combat. The adrenaline pumping through her only enhanced it. To her perception, time flowed like molasses, and everything was astonishingly clear. If she focused, she could pick out the individual patches of frost forming on the vegetation growing out of cracks in the worn asphalt.
It was the only reason she had survived the last few minutes. Annabeth backpedalled, cursing the weather as the snowy ground hundred her movement. She was trying her hardest to place herself between the manticore and the two children she had been sent to rescue.
The manticore howled, bringing up its tail and launching more spikes at her. To any mortal, and perhaps even a few demigods, the spikes would've been nigh imperceptible, such were their speeds. To her eyes, they were equivalent to a particularly slow baseball pitch.
Ideally, she would've dodged them, simply not being in the way was always the best armor, but the children behind her forced her to make her stand here. She flicked her wrist, a blade shooting out of a scabbard under her forearm into her waiting hand. It was barely a foot long, by no means a weapon designed for this situation, but Annabeth was out of options.
In a matter of seconds, she'd blocked three spikes, batting them out of the air with her dagger. Her shoulders and arms burned, and she gasped heavily. Her mind ran fast but her body couldn't keep up, she wasn't a child of Hermes by any means. She backpedalled again, cursing as she lost valuable ground.
She risked a glance back at the backdoor of the school, mentally screaming for Thalia and Grover to hurry the hell up. She refused to believe she had been the only person to have noticed the teacher leading their targets out of the building.
The manticore charged her then, and Annabeth leaned forward, as if to meet the charge. Her only regret, she supposed, was that she didn't have the other 299 people to reenact Thermopylae.
A deafening crack sounded out, rumbling thunder echoing over the courtyard. Annabeth stared, wide eyed as what she thought would be her death staggered and fell, a hole the size of her fist appearing in its chest. Annabeth turned towards her two charges even as the second gunshot ran out, disintegrating the manticore's head, and pulled them down into the snow, draping her body over theirs.
She had no idea if the shooter would be going for her next, and she'd rather not find out the hard way.
A sharp female voice pierced the air, clearly very used to command. "On your left! Hunters emerging from treeline!"
Annabeth felt a surge of relief, and rose to a kneeling position. Instantly the two children she had been under shot to their feet, the older sister brushing snow off the little brother.
All three of them gazed in awe at the organized force that broke cover, seemingly melting out of the forest and into thin air. Annabeth's eyes narrowed in curiosity as among the platoon-strength force of women clad in silver parkas she saw a male. He was in deep conversation with the lieutenant, identifiable through the circlet perched atop her head. The topic of their conversation was evidently the massive rifle held at his side, the huntress examining a massive magazine.
Her divine heritage whispered in the back of her mind, and Annabeth suddenly placed the rifle as an Accuracy International L96A1. She shook her head, shunting the knowledge streaming into her consciousness into the back of her mind as she stood to her feet.
Rotors beat at the air behind her, and Annabeth spun around, her eyes widening at seeing an assault helicopter bearing down at her. Whispering at the back of her mind informed her that it was a Bell AH-1 SuperCobra, but she didn't particularly care, seeing as its onboard M197 20mm was clearly spinning up and was about to level her general area.
She wasn't fully finished contemplating just how screwed she was when a pillar of silver fire split the night like a homeward bound meteor. It impacted the helicopter like a surface to air missile, punching right through the helicopter and continuing heavenwards. Annabeth turned around, eyes widened even further. The lieutenant lowered her bow, motes of silver fire scattering off her into the wind as she smiled smugly at the man next to her.
Thalia and Grover chose that moment to burst out of the back doors, and Annabeth could only hang her head and fall back down to her knees, the rush of the entire situation finally catching up to her as her adrenaline high ended.
"Thanks for all the help guys" The demigoddess mumbled at the snow, side eyeing them. "Real good timing guys."
Percy slung his rifle over his back, letting it rest against his back as he walked towards the odd group, four demigods and 1 satyr, flanked on both sides by hunters.
"Form a perimeter!" Zoe snapped at the gaping hunters from his side. They were still evidently awestruck by her shot, enhanced with power lent by their patron goddess. At her words however, they quickly looked away, moving to secure the courtyard.
"Clear!" Anna shouted from the far corner of the courtyard. Similar shouts came from the other corners, and Zoe allowed herself to relax minutely.
"Maintain the perimeter." The lieutenant continued in a softer tone. "Well done, girls." She turned around, pointing at several of the hunters behind them. "You four, return to camp and switch out the sentries. We will be camping there overnight, plan accordingly."
The four hunters in question nodded, turning around and vanishing into the forest, their silver parkas working surprisingly well at camouflaging them in the darkness of the winter forest.
Percy nodded to himself, impressed. He always enjoyed working with the hunters, they ran a tight ship and were significantly more organized than comparable forces deployed by the Olympians. He glanced at the daughter of Athena kneeling in the snow.
He had to give her credit though. For all their teamwork woes they truly were formidable warriors. He'd barely been able to see those spikes himself and yet she'd managed to block them with a blade the length of her forearm.
He walked away from Zoe and her hunters, leaving the rest to her. This was her show, not his. His footsteps audibly crunched into the snow. It was much deeper here in the flat courtyard than it was in the forest, there was no canopy to intercept the precipitation.
The small group looked up at his arrival, and Percy gave a small smile, offering a hand towards the kneeling demigoddess. "That was fine work. If you weren't as fast with that blade as you are I doubt they'd have made it." He nodded towards the two children of Hades.
The girl looked at his hand for a brief moment, before sighing and grabbing it. Her weight was nothing to his machined strength, and he hauled her up with ease.
"Who are you?"
Percy inclined his head towards a black haired girl, dressed as though she'd stumbled out of a punk concert. He'd never been to one himself, nor seen one, but Europe had gone through one hell of a phase in the 70s. He'd have had to be both deaf and blind to not have noticed it.
Her hair was black, and her eyes were a vivid, electric blue. She carried herself with an air of both pride and aloofness, and he instantly pegged her as a daughter of Zeus, or at the very least some deity of the sky.
"Perseus Jackson. Call me Percy." He extended a hand towards her. She looked down on it imperiously, and Percy shrugged, withdrawing the hand.
Annabeth sighed, and grabbed it before it was completely retracted, shaking it. "Sorry, Percy. I'm Annabeth, the grumpy one is Thalia, and the satyr is Grover."
The satyr in question bleated in surprise, obviously recognizing him. "I've heard of you from nature spirits. You're not.. him are you?"
Percy gave a confused look towards the satyr. "Not who?"
"The Fist of Olympus!"
Percy closed his eyes. His fist clenched tightly at his side. Truth be told, he hated that title. It was connected to a lot of unpleasant memories.
After a long silence, Percy spoke. "It's not important right now."
He turned away from the satyr and crouched in front of the two children of Hades. He spoke softly. "Hello, you two. What are your names?"
It was as if that question broke the dam. The smaller of the two surged forward, widened eyes staring at the rifle on his back.
"Woah! That was awesome. You saved us! Is this all real, am I a demigod? By the way, I'm Nico!"
Percy blinked, before looking up at Nico's sister, who was making an expression that was somewhere between embarrassment and sympathy.
He laughed, reaching out and patting the child on his head. "In order, this is real, you are a demigod, a son of Hades no less, and it's very nice to meet you Nico."
"I'm Bianca." The older sister said, and Percy smiled, standing back up and extending a hand forth. This time it was reciprocated immediately, and they shook hands warmly. She looked up at him, evidently uncertain. "What happens to us now?"
"That depends." Zoe materialized next to him.
"On what?" Nico asked, in awe of her as well. Like the hunters, he'd seen her weaponization of the blessing of Artemis.
"Not you, boy. Your sister." Zoe said, turning toward Bianca.
Percy stepped in between them. "Zoe, can we talk?"
For a moment, the lieutenant of the hunters looked like she was going to protest, but she looked at Percy's face. His eyes were cold and unyielding.
She nodded, and the two walked a bit away from the group.
"Zoe, stop it."
She whirled around, onyx eyes flashing in anger. "Stop what, Perseus?"
Percy crossed his arms, unfazed in the face of her wrath. He'd seen worse.
"I know how you operate. I may not be nearly as old as you, but I've been around for a fair bit of time."
"So?" Zoe asked, eyes narrowed. "What's your point here?"
Percy shook his head. "Your aggressive recruitment pushes. I know of them. I can recognize one when I see it. I'll bet any amount of drachma you have that you've tried to recruit that daughter of Zeus back there in the past, and that's why she dislikes me just for being in your presence."
"Or she could just not like you." Zoe sniped at him.
Percy angrily swept a hand through the air between them. "Not the point!" He sighed, rubbing a hand through his hair.
"Look, Zoe. We're friends, right?" Percy asked.
Zoe cautiously nodded, looking less like she was planning to stab him. "For a given value of friend, yes, Perseus."
"Hestia told me that a real friend isn't a yes man. A real friend is one that will tell you no, let you know when you've gone too far. And this is going too far, Zoe." Percy firmly stated. "You aren't going to rip the only support structure away from a child just to gain a new member of the hunt!"
Zoe opened her mouth, as if to angrily retort, before she closed it, and looked down, her eyes downcast. The former Hesperide exhaled loudly. She of all people should be empathetic towards the child's plight, boy or not. She had lost her family too, once upon a time.
"You've given me much to think about." She paused, as if searching for words. "I will.. rethink my recruitment strategies. And perhaps she will be better off outside our hunt. For now, at least."
Percy closed his eyes. "Thank you, Zoe." He smiled. "Hestia also said that while it takes a real friend to tell you no, it takes a better one to accept it."
Zoe smirked. "Hestia has made you soft, Perseus."
"Oh, completely" Percy agreed, returning her smirk with nary a hint of shame.
"Fist of Olympus?" Annabeth asked, turning towards Grover expectantly as Zoe and Percy walked away.
Grover chuckled nervously. "I only know of him from a few conversations I've had with some of the nature spirits across the pond." He shook his head. "He's serious news, pretty much the attack dog of Olympus. He's apparently the closest thing you get to genuine interference from the gods."
Annabeth pursed her lips. "Why'd they send him here then? Shouldn't he be elsewhere right now?"
Bianca interjected, looking pensive. "Wait, so he's like the lead henchman of the gods or something?"
"So cool…." Nico murmured under his breath, but everybody pretended not to hear him.
"No." Grover said, gesturing. "Not henchman, more like…" he struggled, trying to find the right words.
"Like special forces?" Annabeth asked. "A one man equivalent of Artemis' hunters?"
Grover snapped his fingers. "Yeah, like that essentially."
Thalia scoffed, shrugging her shoulders. "He doesn't seem like much, with how he's sucking up the hunters."
Annabeth eyed the heated conversation the lieutenant and Percy were having. "I wouldn't say that, per say."
Thalia turned to watch just as Percy swept a hand in front of him, suddenly seeming genuinely ticked off for a moment. She shrugged, turning away from the sight to Grover. "So, he's some super secret Navy Seals dude. Cool. You got anything else on this guy?"
Grover bleated apologetically. "No, sorry. I've told you all I know, just rumors really."
Annabeth quickly shushed them, seeing Percy coming towards them.
"Sorry about that." Percy said, walking back towards them, Zoe following at somewhat of a distance. "The lieutenant and I had a slight disagreement of opinion."
He looked towards Bianca. "To answer your previous question, you and your brother will be going to Camp Half-Blood tomorrow."
Thalia frowned for a moment before realization dawned in her eyes. She made eye contact with Percy, and he subtly shook his head. She smiled then, and nodded back.
"What about tonight?" Bianca asked.
Zoe stepped forward, interjecting. "We've made camp a few klicks into the forest. You'll stay with us for the time being."
"But we don't have any camping equipment! Is it safe?" Nico protested.
Percy smiled. "The hunters are some of the finest Olympus has to offer. You'll be fine there." He looked towards the steadily brightening sky. "If any of you are hoping to catch any sleep tonight, I'd advise you to move with some urgency.".
The suggestion of sleep was too irresistible for even Thalia, and the ragtag group followed the hunters into the darkness of the forest.