Chapter-3
Percy, Annabeth
In the city of Washington, people carried about their daily business. If they were roaming around Independence avenue near the Smithsonian institution in the afternoon, they would be able to find two teenage boys and two young girls being chased by a bunch of bikers.
First of all, Percy didn't know who was after them. The one eye would indicate Cyclopes, but he was pretty sure Cyclopes were too big to ride on horses…
…And shoot arrows with insane accuracy.
"Hades, these guys just don't miss. They could give the Apollo Cabin a run for its money…" Percy grumbled as another arrow bounced off his shoulder.
These guys don't pose a threat to me as long as their arrows don't hit my weak spot. Percy thought. But the problem was that Luke, Thalia and Annabeth did not have the protection of the Styx on their bodies. Aegis was disorienting the mini-cyclopes from hitting accurate shots on Thalia, Luke's speed allowed him to dodge any arrows heading towards him and Annabeth was protected by Percy as arrows bounced off his back.
They were fine, but Percy doubted they could keep it up for long.
"Luke!" He called out as Luke suddenly slowed down to him.
"You know the Natural History Museum. Take Annabeth and run ahead. As far as I remember, they should allow you without a ticket." He spoke as Luke ducked under another arrow, grabbed Annabeth and took off, running at high speeds as he darted past cars and headed for the Smithsonian museum.
Now, for Thalia… Percy thought as he ran up to Thalia.
"What's the plan?" Thalia spoke.
"Just go. I'll hold them off."
"What?! Why…"
Percy suddenly thrust his hand in front of Thalia's head as an arrow bounced off it.
"These guys are good. Way too good. I can take their arrows, but you can't. So run. They can't harm me." Percy spoke as Thalia nodded before he turned back to face the mini-cyclopes.
"Sorry, guys…" Percy apologized to the horses before before cutting a gash in the front leg of one of the horses, sending its riders tumbling.
The mini-cyclopes fruitlessly shot arrows that bounced off of Percy.
"Why isn't he getting hurt?!" A rider exclaimed in frustration.
"His skin's like our donkey's horns." Another spoke in a language Percy did not understand.
He then ran forward and jumped up, kicking the rider off as the horse stared at him in confusion.
"...Son of Poseidon?"
Percy grinned. "Yep."
"Well…I was planning to get you off my back, but…what is your command, my lord?"
"Just wait." Percy spoke as he deflected some arrows with riptide. The riders also stopped, noticing that their arrows weren't doing anything.
"Wow, you guys are the smartest cyclopes I've seen so far. Did you from some sort monster academy or something?"
"Not again…" A rider groaned.
"We are not Cyclopes, nothing like those brutes!" The leader snapped.
"You've got one eye." Percy pointed out.
"Yes, but that's it! We are Arimaspoi! We are much more intelligent than those fools! The emperor has promised a large sum for your capture, and we Arimaspoi shall claim it!"
"But you've got one eye."
"Would-!"
"He's stalling us!" One of the riders exclaimed as the leader suddenly stopped before narrowing his eye.
Percy sighed.
Ok, these guys are smarter. A cyclops would take a lot longer to figure this out. Percy thought.
"Well, Mini-Cyclops, you're too late. My friends are long gone. Guess you'll have to settle with little old me…" Percy spoke with a smug grin.
"Hey, what's your name?" He asked the horse.
"...Lüka."
The Arimaspoi growled in frustration.
"Alright, Lüka. time to go."
"But you'll have to catch me before that~" Percy spoke before Lüka began galloping down independence avenue.
"Tell the others to search for his friends! They couldn't have gone far!" Percy heard the Arimaspi shout in his language before his group pursued Percy.
Alright, guys. Just go after me. We can have our dance near the water. Percy thought, before deflecting an arrow that exploded into a net of some golden material.
"Woah!" Percy looked away as the net landed on the ground.
So they want to capture me…meaning they're not going for any lethal shots. Percy thought.
"Good. That takes some stress off my back. Just have to worry about the DC traffic, though." Percy spoke as cars swerved around him, the road being thrown into chaos as Percy and the Arimaspoi riders thundered down the avenue, completely ignoring any traffic rules, before Percy heard the sound of sirens.
"Oh gods, these guys AND the cops? That's gonna be irritating." Percy muttered as he kept going forward, leading the Arimaspoi further away from the Smithsonian. Soon, he found himself going past the Washington Monument, while the Potomac was getting closer.
"Ookay…" Percy spoke as he remembered the last time he was in DC, escaping the Smithsonian with Zoe, Bianca, Thalia and Grover and crossing the river with Atlas' forces in hot pursuit.
He remembered Bianca directing them to a subway to Alexandria right after crossing the Potomac, on…
"That bridge." Percy spoke as he noticed the Arlington Memorial bridge coming up, ignoring electric arrows from the Arimaspoi that attempted to stun him.
"Alright…now to get you guys off." Percy spoke.
"Thanks, Lüka. We'll stop here." Percy spoke as Lüka stopped.
"You have a place to go?"
"Alexandria. Although I suppose my masters will be disappointed, but nothing too serious."
"They're not going to harm you, are they?"
"Don't worry. My Arimaspoi masters consider it sacrilege to harm horses. I'll be fine. An honour serving you, milord." Lüka spoke before galloping off.
Percy then turned around as the Arimaspoi surrounded him, pulling out pistols and shooting bullets at the humans honking at them.
"Really? You choose to make a stand on this bridge, demigod?" The leader mocked as Percy shrugged.
"What can I say? You Mini-cyclopes are pretty persistent…and accurate with your shots."
"We're not mini-cyclopes…!"
Percy raised his hand as the water tendrils from the Potomac river rose up, wrapping themselves around the waists of the Arimaspoi and dragged them off into the water below, leaving the Arimaspi leader behind.
"W-What…?" The Arimaspi stammered as Percy walked up to him, calmly deflecting his arrows before noticing Police cars approaching his position.
Percy shook his head before grabbing the Arimaspi by the collar and jumping off the bridge with him.
He made sure to have the water cushion their fall, and then creating an air bubble as he willed the water currents to launch him forward, dragging the Arimaspi through the Potomac and away from the bridge.
Percy waved to some naiads passing by as he went down the river, entering a basin and soon resurfacing with the Arimaspi in a park near the basin.
"Mom, that guy just came out of the water!" A toddler spoke as a woman looked at Percy dragging the Arimaspi out of the water.
"Oh, he just fell in. Had to get him out." Percy spoke with a smile as the woman looked at him.
"Oh my god, is he okay?"
"He'll be fine, just got a little water. I'll call an ambulance." Percy spoke as the woman walked off.
He then threw the Arimaspi against the tree.
"Alright, buddy." Percy spoke before pressing Riptide against his throat.
"Thanks for the welcoming gift, trying to turn my friends into pin cushions. So, I have a return gift in the form of this sword to your throat." Percy spoke before kneeling down to stare at the Arimaspi.
The Arimaspi attempted to grab his sword hand, but cried out in pain as Percy's free hand shot up and grabbed it, squeezing it.
"Now, what's this 'Triumvirate' you guys are talking about?" Percy spoke as his eyes stared at the Arimaspi.
"Y-You think we'd betray the emperor to the likes of you?"
"He's paying you, right? You think you'd be able to get payment without a neck?" Percy asked calmly.
The Arimaspi stared at Riptide nervously.
"Let me guess, this emperor who's promised you money…he's a pot bellied dude with a beard wearing a purple suit, no?"
"H-How did you know?!"
"Magic." Percy spoke with a grin as the Arimaspi's eyes widened.
"I-I…"
"Look, I know what your boss looks like, plus you're definitely not getting me. So why not tell me something about this triumvirate. You won't get money, but you won't end up like your boy scout buddies either."
The Arimaspi stared at Riptide's blade nearly cutting into his throat.
"Better be quick, bud. I've been separated from my friends for too long, I don't have all the time in the world."
Before the Arimaspi could respond, Percy heard a whistling noise before deflecting an arrow, while another one embedded itself in the Arimaspi's head.
Percy looked to see more Arimaspoi, except they were wearing golden scale armor covering their bodies, arms and legs while their heads were adorned by golden conical helmets that had a red plume coming out of them, a sharp contrast to the casual clothing of the Arimaspoi that were chasing him. They also rode on donkeys with horns coming out of their heads rather than horses.
In their hands with wooden composite bows with some gold plating on their ends.
"Come on guys, couldn't you have waited 3 more minutes for your dramatic villain entrance?" Percy spoke.
"This is why we can't trust tribesmen who are in it for money and are not serving the emperor." One of the Arimaspoi spoke.
"So, I guess you guys won't be willing to talk?"
Percy caught an arrow aimed at his face.
"Well, that's a no I guess."
I can't fight these guys. I've left Luke, Thalia and Annabeth all by themselves for too long now. Percy thought.
He knew Luke and Thalia had experience. But still, he was worried that the three of them might get into trouble.
But…these guys were heavily armored and a lot harder to kill, while the donkeys' horns…there was something about them that gave off a dangerous aura.
They couldn't kill him, but he'd waste time taking them down.
Percy slowly raised his blade, his eyes locking with the single one of the Arimaspi leader's, before and arrow landed between them, glowing with silver light.
"...!" Percy covered his eyes as the arrow exploded like a flash bang, the Arimaspoi screaming as they were blinded by the flash.
"Over here, demigod!" Percy heard someone speak and noticed a women in her 30s holding a silver bow and ski parka, just like…
"A hunter of Artemis?" Percy spoke before running forward, following the woman as they ran through the woods towards a car park.
The woman took Percy to a silver car and opened its door.
"Are you one of Artemis'..."
"Yes and No! Get in before the emperor's soldiers come!" The woman spoke as Percy quickly got in the car, the women driving out.
Percy looked back to see that no Arimaspoi were chasing him.
"You picked a bad time to come to DC, demigod." The woman spoke. "For the past week, this city's been crawling with the emperor's troops."
"Wait, wait, wait. You still haven't told me who you are. What did you mean by 'Yes and No' when I asked if you were a hunter."
The woman sighed. "I was a hunter of Lady Artemis, then I left."
Percy blinked. "Wait, hunters can leave?"
"Yes, if we fall in love and inform Lady Artemis about it."
"So, you're…"
"Just call me Emmie. I'll take you to…"
"Wait. There's three more demigods with me. They're at the Natural History Museum."
Emmie's eyes widened. "...What?"
"I said they're…"
"We need to get there, now!" Emmie spoke as they zoomed through DC's streets, swerving past cars.
Percy tilted his head in confusion before realisation struck him.
"Don't tell me…"
"If what my sisters said is true, your demigod friends are in big trouble."
Luke set down Annabeth in the Natural History museum, the two demigods standing off to the side.
"Where are the others?" Annabeth asked Luke as he put his hand on her shoulder. "They'll be coming, just hold on. I can go this fast because my dad's the god of traveling. The others will take some more time."
Annabeth pulled out her dagger and held it tightly in fear.
When Perseus first called her a demigod, Annabeth's mind had immediately gone to Uncle Randolph's study, one of the few times the two of them interacted with each other.
"What are demigods, Uncle Randolph?"
"To put it in simple terms, my dear, demigods are the children of a human and a god. Do you remember what me and your father told you about the gods?"
Annabeth nodded vigorously.
"Do you study about demigods?"
"Not much. The stories I teach about, those of the Scandinavian people, rarely have demigod heroes. Sure, you may have Sigurd the Dragon-Slayer, but he's merely a descendant of the god Odin. If you want to learn more about demigod heroes, you're better off looking towards the Greek myths."
Ever since then, Uncle Randolph had gifted her some books on Greek mythology to read on. And despite the words getting jumbled when she read them, Annabeth could understand the stories. And all of them fascinated her.
To learn that she was a demigod like those heroes…it had made Annabeth feel like she was in some fantasy world away from her nasty family.
But now…standing in the museum, waiting in fear in case those one-eyed men caught up to them…
I-Is this what it's like to be a demigod? Annabeth thought with a gulp.
"Hey, hey." Luke shook her. "Are you scared?"
Annabeth nodded slowly.
"Don't worry. Percy…I can tell he's pretty strong and he has a lot of experience. He'll be fine."
Annabeth noticed a brown-haired boy with green eyes looking at her in curiosity, before he ran away as soon as he realised she'd seen him.
Who was that? Annabeth wondered before Thalia showed up.
"Where's Percy?" Luke asked her.
"He told me to run ahead. He said he'll hold them off."
"What?! He's all by himself?!" Annabeth cried out in concern
"Look, he assured me he'll be fine. He'll join us once he's taken care of those guys."
"What even were they? They had one eye like cyclopes…" Luke began.
"...But they're a lot smaller. And smarter. I don't even know if they're actually Cyclopes." Thalia spoke shaking her head.
"And this 'Triumvirate'? Do you have any clue about that, Luke?"
"No." Luke spoke shaking his head. "Its referring to some organisation, but I've never heard of this Triumvirate before."
"Maybe they're the bad people Perseus was talking about." Annabeth spoke timidly.
Luke frowned. "You know, I think you're right. The people Percy saw in his dream were most likely a part of the Triumvirate."
"Then what do we do?" Thalia spoke crossing her arms. "We obviously can't sit around and let them ambush us like this."
Luke shrugged. "I honestly don't think we can do much by ourselves. Lets just focus on getting to Camp Half-Blood, we'll be safer there."
"B-But what if they come to the camp?" Annabeth asked as Luke and Thalia exchanged looks.
"That is a good question. Since our dear parents won't help us out, can Camp Half-Blood really keep us safe?" Thalia, hers and Luke's faces turning grim at the mention of the gods.
"Our parents won't help us?" Annabeth asked in confusion.
"Yeah…" Thalia spoke crossing her arms. "Despite all their power, our godly parents just can't be bothered to come down and help us when we're in danger."
Thalia stared at her bracelet with an angry scowl.
"All my dad's ever done throughout my life is send Amaltheia as a guide sometimes, give me this shield and that's it. Nothing else. As for Luke…"
Luke shot Thalia a slight glare as Thalia closed her mouth, her expression turning apologetic.
"Sorry, Luke doesn't like talking about his past a lot."
Annabeth looked down, feeling uncomfortable looking at Luke's glare.
"What about your human families?"
Thalia and Luke immediately froze up, both their expressions turning into ones of slight anger and fear.
Annabeth shrunk back. "I'm sorry…"
"Its okay. Just…its better we leave the topic to something else." Luke spoke.
"He's really taking his time." Thalia muttered before the three of them heard a distant roar.
"What was that?" Annabeth spoke as the mortals around them started screaming.
"Oh, don't tell me…" Luke spoke before tackling Thalia as spikes hit the ground where the two of them were just standing.
Annabeth watched with wide eyes as a creature jumped down from upper storeys of the museum, down to the ground. The creature had a humanoid face, but the body of a lion while its tail was like that of a scorpion. The tail's stinger also had spikes growing out of it, as if the creature had just thrown them. The lion body had some silver arrows sticking out of it.
"A Manticore…" Luke spoke in horror as the Manticore grinned at them, exposing rows of sharp teeth on his face.
"Bon après-midi, little half-bloods~" The manticore spoke, as Annabeth ran behind Luke.
"Back!" Thalia spoke as she brought out her shield and brandished it.
"Gah!" The manticore grunted as it stepped back.
"That accursed shield..." It snarled before shooting more spikes at Thalia, the spikes bouncing off Aegis with enough force to knock Thalia's arm away and lunged at her…
Before Luke tackled her to the side as the Manticore shot more spikes at them. Thalia hastily brought up Aegis to block the spikes while Luke stabbed his sword at the Manticore's right shoulder.
"Grah! Venez ici!" The Manticore snarled as its attention shifted from Thalia to Luke, shooting a bunch of spikes as Luke increased his speed, darting in a zigzag motion as the manticore's spikes missed him.
"Ah, a child of Hermes?" The Manticore grumbled in annoyance as Luke landed minor gashes on him, running around in circles and dodging the Manticore's spikes.
"YAH!" The Manticore heard Thalia scream as she charged at him with her spear, crackling with electricity.
The Manticore easily dodged her clumsy charge, and swiped at her, his claws hitting her shield as Thalia was knocked off her feet.
The Manticore smelt Luke behind him and swung his spiked tail to hit Luke, but the demigod again evaded the tail and jumped up to stab at the Manticore's head.
However, the Manticore's tail swung around and managed to hit Luke in the waist, sending him sprawling.
"I have been given a chance to feast upon the flesh of Half-bloods by Hades, and I shall not squander it! First the daughter of Zeus dies, then I'll deal with the rest of you." The Manticore snarled as he shot more spikes at Thalia.
Annabeth stood stock still in terror as she watched Luke get up and dart back to engage the Manticore.
She could see were at a heavy disadvantage here. Thalia was not fast enough to hit the Manticore, and Luke was not strong enough to inflict major damage, as his multiple attempts to climb onto the Manticore failed. The two of them had managed to survive because they had been fighting side-by-side so long.
And her? Annabeth gulped in fright.
The Manticore was massive, its paws nearly being the size of her body. Compared to it, Annabeth felt like a tiny little mouse watching a lion.
These were the monsters that she would have to face?
These ones?
Annabeth desperately looked towards the entrance, hoping for Perseus to jump in any second and save them, but there was no sign of him.
At that moment, Luke landed next to her, having being knocked back again, while the Manticore managed to score a gash on Thalia's shin.
"Agh!" Thalia fell back as the Manticore loomed over her.
Annabeth gasped, and at that moment, her body moved on its own.
"Annabeth, wait!" Luke called out.
I need to get on its back. Annabeth thought as she ran towards the Manticore.
The Manticore chuckled as Thalia gave it a defiant glare, before its jaws opened.
"Leave the head-on fighting to us. You look for openings…"
Perseus' and Luke's words came back to Annabeth as she jumped up, landing on the Manticore's shoulder as Thalia let out another electric discharge, stunning the Manticore again as he reared back in annoyance.
Annabeth tightly held on to the Manticore's fur as she nearly fell off its shoulder and quickly climbed towards its head, the monster not noticing the little demigod on its back.
"Still defiant to the end, eh? J'aime ça." The Manticore spoke as Thalia looked at Annabeth appear on its mane.
Thalia's eyes widened as a jolt of fear went through Annabeth's body, but she gulped again and brought down her dagger with a yell.
"AAAAHHHH!" The Manticore screamed as it lost the vision in its left eye, Annabeth wrenching the dagger out as a rush of adrenaline and fear pumped through her body.
"Annabeth!" Thalia called out in worry as the Manticore scrambled back, crashing into the elephant exhibit as Annabeth screamed trying to hold on.
Before Annabeth could get off, the Manticore's tail wrapped around her body and brought it to the Manticore's good eye.
"You little rat…" The Manticore snarled before roaring right at Annabeth, Annabeth screaming in fear as the Manticore's jaws opened to swallow her whole…
…Before some green smoke filled her vision.
The Manticore gagged and coughed as it let go of Annabeth, dropping her to the floor as the same boy from before ran up and helped her up. Luke immediately rushed over and scooped the two of them, dashing back and putting them down.
The monster shook his head as the green smoke disappeared before staring at Luke, Thalia and Annabeth…
…Just as silver arrows flew over their heads and sunk into the Manticore's body.
"No!" He yelled as he shot more spikes at the group, the same silver arrows being shot in response to deflect them.
At the same time, Perseus appeared, stepping in front of Thalia as the spikes bounced off his body. Beside him stepped up a woman wearing a silver parka along with a bow and arrow in hand.
"Is that Dr. Thorn?" Annabeth heard Perseus mutter in confusion as the Manticore stared right at Annabeth with hatred in its one good eye.
"I will pay you back for that, rat." He snarled at Annabeth before running for the walls, charging right through them as it left the museum.
Perseus stepped up but the woman stopped him.
"No, let him go. We have to get out of this location immediately." The woman spoke as Luke knelt down to Annabeth.
"Annabeth…please don't try that stunt again." He spoke with a frown as Annabeth nodded silently, visibly shaken by what she had just experienced.
"You can leave the scolding for later, Luke. She's been scared stiff." Thalia spoke as she winced, looking down at the wound on her leg.
"Let me fix that." The woman spoke as she pulled out some sort of ointment and rubbed it on Thalia's shin. Soon, the wound started closing.
"Now, let's get you all out of here." The woman spoke as Perseus picked up Annabeth, the girl clinging onto Perseus in fear as if the Manticore would come back at any second.
The group headed back to the woman's car, got into it and drove off, heading to a hotel.
In her traumatized state of mind, Annabeth didn't even realise the boy who had saved her life had disappeared.
Percy sat silently as Emmie drove the car, while Luke, Thalia and Annabeth sat in the back.
"I'm sorry…" He spoke looking at Luke. "I didn't know there was a monster at the museum."
"Percy, its ok. At least we didn't suffer any bad injuries." Luke spoke as Annabeth laid her head on Thalia's lap, having fallen asleep.
"Except for Annabeth. This is going to leave her with mental scars." Thalia spoke somberly.
Percy scowled. When Emmie had first told him that there might be a Manticore at the Museum, Percy's mind had descended into concern for the safety of Luke, Thalia and Annabeth…
…And when he heard its voice, his mind went back to Westover Hall.
Dr. Thorn. Percy thought. No mistaking it, it was not just any Manticore, but the same one that had tried to abduct Nico and Bianca and instead taking his Annabeth with him to Atlas.
But that lead to another question. How was Thorn here? As far as he was concerned, Annabeth wouldn't meet Thorn until Westover Hall. How was he here so early?
"Percy, who's this?" Luke asked as Percy looked back.
"This is Emmie. She's a former Hunter of Artemis." Percy replied back. "They're basically Artemis group of personal hunters, with whom she travels all the time. I'll explain more later."
"Thanks for saving us." Thalia spoke.
"No problem. Whenever I come to any city, there's always some group of demigods or the other who need help. Speaking of which, are you on a quest?"
"No. I'm helping them get to camp. They're unclaimed." Percy spoke as Emmie looked at him.
"I see. Well, we'll talk more later. Right now, just take some rest." Emmie spoke as Percy nodded leaning back.
The rest of the drive was spent in silence, as Percy watched the sun set on the horizon, watching his first day of having travelled back in time come to an end.
A/N: Welp, first day in DC goes spectacularly for our poor demigods. Let me clarify one thing. Yes, I know most of the enemies aren't really a threat for Percy, so of course Percy is mostly not in any real danger in confrontations. I will instead be focussing on Percy struggling to protect Luke, Thalia and Annabeth as he takes them to Camp Half-Blood.
With the Arimaspoi, its one thing I like with ToA. It introduces a bit of an interesting element in the form of historical military units serving the Roman Emperors of the Triumvirate, which helps bring in more variety to the Riordanverse list of enemies. So, I'll be adding to that with the Arimaspoi, explained in foot notes.
Along with that, Percy meets a younger Emmie in DC. Speaking of which, PJO's timeline is really confusing if we assume the series starts in 2005. If Emmie retired from the Hunters in 1987, she would have to be in her 40s for her age in ToA to make sense. Which is again, weird considering its stated Artemis' hunters consist of young teenage girls. Hence, I'll probably be breaking canon with Emmie's age, because I'm assuming she is 17 when she leaves the hunters, and henceforth 30 at this time.
And yes, as Percy confirms, the Manticore Luke, Thalia and Annabeth fight is indeed Dr. Thorn. This is obviously not canon, because I need some material to work with detailing the adventures of the prequel trio (Luke, Thalia and Annabeth) so I'm just making shit up.
Finally, we have a mysterious boy, who from my description you can probably guess is which character. This will be a small tease towards the direction I'll be taking with Percy's character (Since CoA forces me to think of a different struggle for Percy than a classic power-up arc).
Hope you guys enjoyed and constructive criticism is appreciated!
Foot Notes:
Arimaspi: A mythical tribe of one-eyed people mentioned by Aelian who have a big rivalry with Gryphons. Scholars speculate the Arimaspi might be a Scythian tribe who could have fallen prey to the age-old problem of Hellenic exaggeration (With Herodotus as the biggest culprit).
As for their connection to Rome, it is assumed that Scythian tribes were absorbed by the Sarmatians, an Iranian tribe that settled in eastern europe, whose members served as auxilia in the Roman army. There's no proof, but I like to assume that some Arimaspi ended up serving Rome as Sarmatian auxilia.
Response to Reviews:
FacuIbarra1: You're welcome.
surya25addanki: I didn't fully understand your statement, but I assume you're referring to if Percy is being less confident. Which he is not. As I admitted before, Percy's not in real danger. He's just concerned for Luke, Thalia and Annabeth because they don't have near invincibility like him.