"That has to be the ugliest vehicle I've ever seen." Thalia deadpanned, staring at an armoured personnel carrier.
The vehicle in question was one Percy had retrieved during his involvement in one of the many brushfire conflicts in sub-saharan Africa. Nicknamed the 'Buffel', it was the world's first truly mine resistant vehicle. To achieve this, it placed function over form, leading to an incredibly ungainly appearance. The main body of the vehicle resembled a large metal jug with a V shape, and the driver's compartment was awkwardly suspended significantly above the front axles.
"I mean…" Anna bit her lip, attempting to find something positive to say about it. "It looks brutally functional?" She weakly offered, shooting a sheepish look at Percy.
Percy rolled his eyes, walking past the two. "If it looks stupid but it works, it isn't stupid."
Annabeth laughed. "Brutalism died in the 1970s, Percy. The future is now, old man."
"Oi." Percy muttered. "Right for the throat, eh? You daughters of Athena know no mercy."
Zoe snorted at the byplay, walking past the group and into the centre of the significantly larger vault, gazing around.
"Where exactly are we, Perseus?" Zoe asked. She slowly turned around, taking in the abundance of vehicles and aircraft. "Surely you couldn't have captured all these vehicles by yourself."
Percy laughed, shaking his head. "No, of course not." He walked up to her side, smiling.
"Sometimes, the best way to hide something is in plain sight." He gestured up at the ceiling. "We're directly underneath the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum."
"No way." Annabeth laughed. "So all these vehicles?"
Percy smirked, nodding his head. "Yup. Regular mortals see these as museum exhibits that occasionally get rotated out for display. They have absolutely no idea they are entirely functional."
"Well that explains this then" Anna mused, staring at an old first generation Soviet jet, a MiG-15. "I was wondering how you'd have managed to get one of these."
"Gods, Percy," Annabeth murmured. "This is incredible." She was in the far corner, standing in front of a Hawker Sea Fury. She reached out a hand, idly stroking a blade on the powerful turboprop.
Thalia whistled lowly, stepping back from her criticism and taking in the whole vault. "You got enough here to supply a small army."
She grinned abruptly, putting her hands on her hips and turning to Percy. "So, which one are we taking?"
Percy stared at her for a long moment, before a wide grin crossed his face, one that had too many teeth to be genuine.
"Well…" Percy drawled. "Since you had such a high opinion of the Buffel over there…"
Thalia's grin faded. She raised her hands in front of her. "Wait, Percy. Let's not be too hasty."
"Are you sure?" Percy continued, still grinning. He turned to look at Annabeth. "After all, an old man like me surely knows what the best vehicles are, right?"
Annabeth blanched.
Laughter suddenly sounded through the air, as Anna shook her head mirthfully. "C'mon, Percy, that's enough. Stop teasing the kids."
"Kids?" Thalia squawked, glaring at Anna.
"You heard me," Anna glared right back at Thalia, green eyes meeting blue. For a brief instant, the two were locked before both erupted into laughter.
"As amusing as this is." Zoe began, a small smile gracing her face, "what are we really taking Percy? We are on a time limit here."
Percy nodded, quickly sobering. "Here. We're taking this beauty right here."
He walked further into the vault, stopping before a matte black muscle car. He smiled proudly at it, raising his hand towards it.
As if that were the signal, the 1980 Mustang started up, lights flashing and the engine purring.
"I got the idea from a Danish special forces officer I heard of. He served as a humanitarian worker during the Bosnian War." Percy explained, speaking above the engine noise. He ran a hand along the hood of the Mustang. "He armoured up a Camaro with the help of USAF specialists, and utilised it to deliver supplies to refugees that regular aid workers could not get to due to heavy militia presence. I've done much the same with this car."
Percy smashed the roof of the car with a closed fist, only for his strike to rebound without even a scratch to the paint. "This vehicle is about as heavily armoured as a main battle tank, with the amount of work I've put into it. It's seen a lot of use over the last few decades."
As he spoke, the platform the vehicle on rotated, a ramp beginning to extend into the wall across them, leading to the outside world.
"Percy, while I love the fact you're sharing your project car with us, I'm not sure if you've thought this through." Anna said, gesturing around her. "There's five of us here, and I don't think we'll be able to fit in that vehicle."
Percy merely cocked an eyebrow at her, and opened the front passenger door. Anna's face went slack with realisation.
"It's bigger on the inside." Annabeth realised.
"Took a page from the hunters." Percy replied, looking at Zoe. She smirked briefly, turning away to study a wall.
"So," Percy said, looking at Thalia as he climbed into the driver's seat of the car, "Does this meet your high standards?"
Thalia rolled her eyes. "Yes Percy, it does." She lifted a hand, speaking in monotone. "I apologise for criticising your Buffel. It will not happen again."
Percy shook his head, hiding a smile. He gestured with his thumb behind him. "Just get in the car."
A few hours later found the heavily armoured car in the parking lot of a strip mall, the five demigods and huntresses exiting the vehicle.
The vehicle likely would've stood out like a sore thumb, were it not for the generous manipulation of the Mist.
"We'll need our strength if we're to confront whatever took Lady Artemis." Zoe spoke.
She gestured at the mall that had stopped in front of. "Grab some food. Percy and I will secure the area. Anna, you're in charge while we're away."
A small, amused smile crossed Zoe's face as she began to stalk away. "Keep the kids safe."
Thalia's eye twitched, as Anna grinned, giving a significantly overacted salute. "You got it, ma'am."
The three then looked at Percy, who was leaning on the car roof across from them. He shrugged. "What she said. All I do apparently is drive you around and give you cool stuff."
"Oh, woe is you," Anna rolled her eyes. She cocked her head meaningfully, in the direction that Zoe had left. "Don't you have somewhere to be?"
Percy nodded. "Right. Make sure to grab something for Zoe too, alright? Don't worry about me."
"You got it, Percy. Now go."
Percy nodded, ruffling the hair on Anna's head as he passed her. Anna yelped, stumbling back a step and mockingly scowling at his back.
Annabeth let out a small laugh at the byplay, causing Anna to goodnaturedly glare at her. The trio walked into the mall.
Anna never bothered to fix her hair.
Percy walked almost casually, a hand stuck deep into his coat pocket. To an untrained eye, he would seem no different to the multitudes of other people roaming around the strip mall.
In reality, his hand was firmly grasping one of his many firearms stored within the jacket, his eyes steadily flicking back and forth.
Above him and to his left, Zoe kept pace with him on the roof of the building. She walked lowly, and away from the lip of the roof in order to avoid silhouetting herself against the horizon. In her hands was her longbow, her trained eyes observing the areas Percy could not.
She idly played with the bowstring, an arrow as large as her arm resting on the bow. It gleamed silver, even in the late afternoon sun.
"What did you mean back there?" Percy asked abruptly, his voice coming across as if he was right next to her. The work of two radios Percy had produced out of his jacket when he'd caught up to her.
Zoe pursed her lips, incrementally lifting her bow as she briefly observed a particularly large van enter the parking lot.
"What did I mean? Back where?" Zoe asked. She let her eyes slip off the van, making a small note of it, before continuing to look around the parking lot. It would not do for her to tunnel vision.
"Back in the vault." Percy responded. "You would not follow your prejudices?" Percy said as a reminder.
Zoe bit her lip. She withheld a scowl as she felt her cheeks warm. Why were they warming? She was a millenia old huntress, not some schoolgirl!
"Oh. Right. Well, I just," Zoe murmured, before speaking louder. "I care for you a lot, Perseus. You've been a steadfast ally, and you've helped me and mine out significantly."
She swallowed. "And I…" She trailed off, eyes narrowing as she saw another, identical white van enter the lot. She mentally cursed.
Her voice became firm once more, much of the previous warmth absence. "Perseus, two vans to your nine-o'clock. They're identical, last one entered, but first one parked roughly five minutes ago and no one has exited or entered the vehicle."
Percy's voice showed none of the emotional whiplash of the conversation, professional as ever. "Solid copy. I'll investigate. Keep watch."
Percy walked up to one of the vans, covertly drawing a pistol from his jacket, hiding it within a baggy sleeve. It was nothing particularly special, a discontinued model, a Beretta M9A3. His other hand banged on the rear door as he cleared his throat.
His nature as an automaton gave him a variety of tools suitable for espionage, such as an easily modifiable voice box. He affected a harsher, older tone, practically alien to his usual voice cadence.
"This is mall security. We have a strict no loitering policy. We're going to have to ask you to either leave, or show some ID."
Percy truthfully had no idea if any of that was true, and honestly thought that parking for 5 minutes likely wasn't loitering at all. His only goal was to draw the occupants attention and get them to expose themselves.
The van door opened by itself. An impossibly tall man sat on a makeshift throne, cold eyes glinting in the evening light as he leaned forward. "An applaudable attempt, Fist of Olympus." The titan said, leaning forward.
"But you could never fool me." He finished.
"Atlas." Percy breathed. He quickly drew his pistol, and pulled the trigger. His aim was impeccable. He kept pulling the trigger, until the magazine ran dry. The sound of the rapid gunshots echoed throughout the parking lot, causing the people around to flee, but more importantly, hopefully alerting Zoe.
Atlas merely blinked. "Really?"
The only evidence that the titan had even been shot were shallow marks on the titan's skin, barely even worthy of being called wounds.
Atlas sighed, standing up within the rear of the van. He stepped forward, each footstep causing the suspension of the van to creak ominously. He stepped out of the van, and his mere footsteps cratered the asphalt as he walked up to Percy, the two warriors locking eyes.
A sickening series of cracks rang out, as Atlas rolled his head and shoulders. "I expected more, from all the things I've heard about you, Perseus."
Percy drew his saber, the mottled steel flashing as he leaned into a ready position. "Why are you here?" He hissed. "Shouldn't you be guarding your hostage? And isn't this against the Ancient Laws?"
Atlas let out a booming laugh. Thunder echoed it, and stygian bronze armour engulfed the titan, a large spear appearing in his hands. The spear was longer than the van he'd just exited.
"The Ancient Laws? Please. After you were created, everybody knew those were just niceties. A bit like the mortal's Geneva Convention, or even the world's whole 'Balance of Power' the pantheons claim to abide by." Atlas shook his head. "Guidelines, nothing more, nothing less. I think you'd know that better than anyone, wouldn't you, Perseus?"
Percy merely gritted his teeth, refusing to respond.
Atlas twirled the spear in his hands, wielding the monstrous weapon with an inhuman level of dexterity, before letting the butt of the weapon embed itself into the surface of the parking lot. "And as for letting Artemis go unguarded? You'd be mistaken. We have allies of our own."
Grimacing, Percy lowered his stance further. It was as they'd feared then. "The mesoamericans." He stated.
"They were quite displeased with how you killed their dragon." Atlas said, in lieu of answering. He sighed, leaning forward.
"Now, are we going to talk all day, or are we going to fight?"
"If you're going to stand there and keep giving me more intelligence, we can do that as well, Atlas." Percy responded, baring his teeth in something akin to a smile.
Atlas roared, charging forth. He ripped his spear out of the asphalt violently, hurling aggregate shrapnel at Perseus as he charged.
Percy was caught flat footed as the chunks of rock impacted him, doubling back. He only barely managed to get his saber up in time to parry Atlas's first thrust. The speartip glided roughly along his blade, the two metals shrieking against one another.
"Yes!" Atlas roared. "This is more like it!"
Before Percy could capitalise and get inside the titan's guard, Atlas had already reset, beginning to absolutely hammer away at Percy, a flurry of stabs and feints eating away at his form.
Scowling, Percy realised he was facing someone who used much the same strategy as him. And likely did it better as well.
Atlas was the Titan of Endurance for a reason.
Percy risked a glance back, grunting as the motion made him vulnerable to a spear strike. The spear grazed the side of his chest, skittering across his invulnerable skin but nonetheless likely fracturing if not outright breaking a few of his ribs.
Percy coughed out what passed for blood in his body, bronze oil splattering the ground as he staggered back. His free hand wrapped around his sore chest, as he glared defiantly at Atlas.
Where was Zoe? Anna? The rest of his party?
Atlas laughed, a stentorian rumble that heralded his advance. "Eyes on me, boy. Your friends have their own fight to worry about."
As he resumed the fight, Atlas continued to taunt. "Word to the wise," Atlas paused, dodging a series of vicious stabs, "When you're fighting a dragon, you should take more care as to where articles of clothing on your person might end up."
Percy's eyes widened in realisation. He shouted in fury, charging forward. His free hand dove into his jacket, seeking another weapon.
Zoe watched Percy approach the van, her bow drawn and ready. Just as Percy was about to open the door, the second van's lights flickered to life abruptly.
Before Zoe could adequately react, it began to accelerate towards the mall. Zoe cursed, shifting angles, readying her bow to fire. The arrow in her bow flared with silver fire as she let it loose.
The streak of light blazed through the air and into the van, right where the driver would be.
The cabin of the van exploded into a fiery blaze, and yet it inexorably kept going, a siege engine on wheels. Zoe shouted in frustration, feeling her muscles burn as she drew her bowstring back once more.
Her second arrow did as much damage as the first, and yet the van still continued. Zoe stumbled, nearly losing her footing as the van slammed into the side of the building.
"Di immortales!" Zoe angrily snarled, regaining her footing.
She reached for the gifted radio, shouting into it. "Perseus! We have a problem!"
Only static answered her, and gunfire echoed across the parking lot. Zoe widened her eyes, running forward to see Percy locked in combat with… with…
Zoe stepped back, clenching her fists tightly.
"Father." She hissed. She drew her bow again.
Her hands clenched around the yew wood of her longbow, the rough texture biting into her palms as the wood creaked under the pressure. She closed her eyes, drawing upon her inner power as well as her patron's.
"My Lady." Zoe whispered. "Guide my shot. Deliver me vengeance."
As Zoe was about to release, more gunfire echoed out, this time beneath her. Her eyes widened.
"Damn it to Hades!" Zoe snarled. The silver fire still raged around her arrow, destructive force equivalent to several artillery shells ready to be unleashed, and yet Zoe stood on the rooftop, paralyzed with indecision.
She could help Perseus against her father. Or she could help her companions and fellow huntress against whatever forces were attacking them.
Something wet trickled down her cheeks, as Zoe's obligations warred against her feelings. She could very well be sentencing Perseus to death with her next action.
"I am a huntress of Artemis. I am the lieutenant of the Hunt. And my duty must always come first." Zoe murmured.
She shifted her aim, towards the rooftop behind her. She prayed that Perseus would be able to hold out by himself for a bit longer. She had a duty to her fellow huntress and to her comrades. She had a duty to her goddess.
"Please, last a little longer, Perseus. I will return." Zoe whispered.
She let the arrow fly.
The rooftop fractured into fire and twisted metal.
Zoe leapt into the carnage, leaving Perseus behind to face a titan.
Another chapter. Shit's going down.
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