Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter.

Consul of the Underworld: End of Disc 1

Chapter Fourteen: Titanomachy II - Black Ops Save 3

Beta: ShadowofAxios


It was a pleasant autumn evening and Black Team had gathered in the Potters' mansion outside Healdsburg in the California wine district for one of their regular meetups. Great teams were forged by the camaraderie built on and off the battlefield, hence with the aim to make their team the best it could be, Alkaid and Pyrrha had arranged for their little team to meet up to just hang out outside their missions. And the hang out today involved them enjoying a meal together at the Potters' home.

The formal dining had concluded however and with the Potter daughters dismissed to their own devices before bed whilst under the careful supervision of the family's House Elves, the team had gathered in the mansion's living room to enjoy a nightcap accompanied by an additional serving of the night's dessert.

"Oh~! This is just heavenly." Helena gushed as she swallowed a spoonful of the tiramisu that Mina, with Kura's help, had baked for the occasion. "Alkaid, Pyrrha, I can't believe your youngest daughters made this! They are super talented!"

"Yeah. It goes great with the sweet wine that your Elves picked out too." Michael added, lifting his glass of the aforementioned wine he and almost everyone else was enjoying in a toasting gesture.

"Our Elves do have excellent taste." Alkaid agreed as she took an elegant sip of wine. "But if your compliments are about the wine then it should go to our neighbors. It comes from their winery."

"Michael! Remind me to drop them a nice email when we get home alongside an order of a crate of their best stuff." Helena told her husband as she took a sip of her wine. "It's really good."

"I'm sure they'll appreciate it." Pyrrha said with a grin. "Oh, and if you're really buying stuff from them, include in the email that you're our friends. Maybe that'll get you a discount or at least they'll let you cut into the one we get from being their neighbors."

"I don't think that'll work." Alkaid warned. If their neighbors extended their neighborly discount to even the friends of said neighbors then where would said discounts end? "But it's worth a shot."

"It probably won't work." Michael agreed with a disappointed frown. "But might as well give it a try."

"Yeah, well, at least you guys get a chance at a discount on good booze." Caelus said with a laugh as he raised his can of Imperial Stout. "Outside of Alkaid opening her pocket book and paying for the stuff when we hang out at her expense, I have to pay for mine at full price all the time."

"Oh, don't complain, Caelus." Peggy said with an amused shake of her head and a sip from her own can of the stout that she'd been convinced by the Legacy of multiple gods to try. "It's not like you can't afford it. Alkaid pays us well enough."

"Never said she didn't." Caelus said with a roll of his eyes. "Just saying good booze doesn't come cheap is all."

"Quality comes with a price." Alkaid commented idly as she took a bite of her slice of tiramisu.

"And what is the price for the quality of your daughters' baking?" Helena asked teasingly as she pointed the fork she was using to eat her dessert at Alkaid teasingly.

"Having to raise them and all the craziness that comes with it?" Alkaid replied in a deadpan.

"Spoken like a true mother." Helena said with an exasperated nod that was emulated by her husband, Alkaid and Pyrrha. As parents, all four of them knew just how true what Alkaid had just said was.

"Setting that aside," Peggy cut in whilst looking in amusement at the four parents before settling on looking at Alkaid seriously. "Your daughters' baking skills are truly extraordinary."

"Yeah, they're amazing." Caelus echoed as he swallowed a bite of tiramisu. "Your goddess of a kid helped make this, right? You sure she doesn't have a domain in baking?"

"No, sadly not." Pyrrha said with a smile and an amused shake of her head. "Mina is good. Good enough that she's almost earned herself an expansion to her domains as a goddess to include baking but she's not there yet."

At that reminder, Alkaid preened.

My girls are perfect! She thought as her mind involuntarily ran through the totally unbiased list of ways her daughters were the absolute best. It was a long list. Kura, Mina and Gracie were just that wonderful.

"Argh! Seriously! Alkaid, Pyrrha, your daughters are just too accomplished!" Helena said in a frustrated huff. "I mean your eldest daughter is an accomplished potion maker, your youngest is a house spirit and as if, by Olympus, that wasn't good enough your middle girl is a goddess!"

Still preening and recalling how perfect her little darlings were, Alkaid left it up to Pyrrha to reply.

"We just got lucky, I guess?" The redhead said sheepishly whilst sporting a blush.

Helena just made a thoroughly annoyed sound in response. All whilst Michael just looked embarrassed by his wife's behavior.

"Back up," Peggy said even as she sported a smile in response to Helena's antics. "Gracie is a potion maker? And an accomplished one, Helena?"

"Gracie is a great potion maker." Michael replied for his wife. "She's the one responsible for supplying our team with most of our potions."

"What, that kid!?" Caelus gasped, as he joined with Peggy in shooting Alkaid a look of surprise.

"Yes, it's true." Alkaid admitted smugly. "Gracie is my apprentice and I've been assigning her the making of the potions we need as part of her homework."

"Argh! I'll say it again! Alkaid, Pyrrha, your daughters are just too accomplished!" Helena whined. "I wish my kids were half as accomplished as yours!"

Michael snorted and added his two cents. "I, for one, am happy that our kids get to be normal kids. That's something that many kids with their ancestry don't get a chance to enjoy."

"That's true." Helena allowed grudgingly. "But I wouldn't mind if at least one of our kids were as super accomplished as Alkaid and Pyrrha's." Turning to Pyrrha, she continued jokingly. "Pyrrha! Teach me how you managed it!"

Pyrrha shrugged. "Like I said, we just got lucky."

"And for that, I am eternally grateful." Alkaid said as she beamed. "I am proud to call them my daughters."

Caelus chuckled at this and everyone turned towards him questioningly, prompting him to explain himself. "Just thinking that Alkaid is a total soccer mom with how she loves gushing about her kids."

"W-Why wouldn't I?" Alkaid sputtered, flushing with embarrassment. "They're amazing."

Seeing her so flustered seemed to thoroughly amuse Pyrrha if the look she shot Alkaid was any indication. Despite that, being the dutiful wife she was, she nevertheless stepped in to save the daughter of Hades' dignity by changing the subject.

"So! I've checked the numbers. Ever since we culled the wild Centaurs of Washington State for considering to side with the Titans during our mission a while back, the number of women being kidnapped in the state has taken a nosedive."

"I'm glad." Peggy said with a sigh of relief.

"Same." Caelus added, though he sounded annoyed. "Honestly, what's with those Pit damned wild Centaurs? Kidnapping women to be their broodmares!? Why the fuck are they such barbarians?"

"I know right!" Helena shouted angrily. "Seriously, what's their problem? The Party Ponies never resort to kidnapping and they still seem to have no trouble finding women to sleep with!"

"I think it's 'cos the wild Centaurs are just evil to the bone."

"I agree with Michael. They are just evil by nature. Some creatures are just like that." Alkaid opined. There were exceptions of course, as proved in the case of the Centaurs by the previously mentioned Party Ponies. However, as a rule, there were some creatures that by virtue of the way they came into being were just all but destined to be evil. And in such cases, Alkaid felt it was only right to take extreme measures against them. "It's why if I had the option, I'd see their entire breed rendered extinct."

"If you ever decided to commit genocide on the wild Centaurs, I'm up for it." Peggy offered. "I'd even do it for free."

"Count me in too." Caelus added.

"Us too," Helena said as Michael nodded his own agreement.

"Sadly, I don't think it's going to happen soon if ever." Pyrrha said with a regretful sigh. "I brought up the idea once with Father and he went into a long rant about how he wanted to do it too, thinking that with how deplorable the monsters are that the bleeding hearts, his words, like Hera and Artemis would back him up and he'd get to have some fun but even though he was right about getting their votes, the rest of the Olympian Council voted against him. Apparently, the damned beasts are a vital part of the monster ecology of our mythos and they didn't want to threaten its health by wiping them out."

"Surprisingly noble." Peggy commented even as everyone else expressed their disappointment.

"Nah. Father was mainly thinking with his murder boner to be honest." Pyrrha admitted. "It just happens that sometimes it leads him to do things that might be considered noble."

"Ok, this is getting depressing." Caelus said, cutting in. "Change of topic! So I've not been following the news but has there been any updates on those mobsters that we handed over to the police for helping to smuggle those materials for the Telekhines?"

"We've been too busy to watch much news either." Pyrrha confessed. "But Gracie has been helping to do it for us-"

"It's part of her training." Alkaid added as Helena and Peggy shot her confused looks. "Knowing how to keep track of current events is a helpful skill to have."

"Soccer mum~!" Caelus shouted teasingly.

Alkaid blushed and almost imitated a tomato when everyone laughed at her expense.

"Let's cut Alkaid some slack shall we?" Peggy said as the laughter died down, shooting the daughter of Hades a grin. "Or she might get an aneurysm from blushing so hard."

This triggered another round of laughs. But thankfully as everyone once more calmed down, much to Alkaid's relief, Peggy finally steered things to topics that were less embarrassing for her.

"So like Caelus asked, any updates?"

"Well, according to Gracie, the mobsters are all going to face trial." Pyrrha informed them. "Whether they get the justice due them is in the hands of the justice system now."

"If it was justice we were after then we should've just killed them." Michael replied with a snort. "That'd be more justice than the courts would ever give them."

"That might be true." Peggy hedged. "But as unjust as the courts can be at times, we are heroes. We don't kill mortals. Not if we can help it. Plus, the mobsters were mortal so as flawed as it is, handing them over to the justice system was the right thing to do."

"It's still annoying to see criminals not get justice done to them." Caelus said with an angry huff. "Mortals also get off easy."

"Maybe in this day and age but not for most of history." Alkaid countered with a snort. "In much of the past, if you were mortal and weren't someone of some rank or importance, you're liable to just drop dead for one reason or other any day."

"'Kaidy shush." Pyrrha said, shaking her head at her. "Please don't get started on that. We're here to relax and socialize, not listen to you rant about injustice across the ages."

Not for the first time that night, everyone laughed at Alkaid's expense.

Being shushed and laughed up at her attempt to capitalize on a teaching moment to share some historical knowledge left the sorceress pouting. Something that, much to her frustration, just had everyone laughing at her even more.

"Ok. Ok. I think we should really give Alkaid a break," Michael said, as the laughter died down. "And back to the topic of the mobsters, I just want to report that the goods we recovered from them that I have not kept for myself for our use in the future has been delivered to both New Rome and Camp Half-Blood."

As those who had recovered it, it was only right that Black Team had the first pick after all. And at the same time, as a mixed team, no one had wanted to just let one Camp get the goods so it had been agreed it would be evenly split after Michael had his way with them. Besides, favoritism to any one side would likely get them in trouble with the gods and that was not something they needed.

"It seems that our business with the mob is settled then." Peggy commented as she tapped her chin thoughtfully. "That said, I think it might be prudent to keep an on them just in case. They will surely hold a grudge."

"Yeah, we know. It's why we have Gracie watching their movements very closely." Pyrrha assured her.

"Damn super accomplished kids." Helena muttered just loud enough for everyone to hear.

They all turned to look at her but she ignored them, pretending to take a long sip of her wine.

Shaking his head at his wife, Michael turned to Alkaid. "So how's little Albert? Is he coping okay after the Laistrygonians attack?"

"Albert is fine." Alkaid informed him with a smile. "Being a newborn, he's too young to even have been aware of his surroundings. He probably doesn't even realize that he was attacked by man-eating giants."

"Alkaid is right about that." Helena agreed. "I'm more worried about his mother. How is she taking things?"

"Ariel is rattled." Pyrrha said as she picked up the explanation. "But she is doing her best to keep it together for Albert's sake. And her divine lover, Lady Nike, is adding protections to make sure she is safe going forward."

Plus with Ariel Singleton being a Witch, she has enough experience with the supernatural to not be as shaken by what happened as say a mundane. That said, with how relatively peaceful the American Wizarding community is, she was less prepared for monsters trying to kill her and her son than say a British Witch who likely had the dubious honor of having lived through at least two major wars in their lifetime. Though, seeing as she is a Witch, why did she choose to have her baby in the mundane world rather than in the Wizarding one? Was she hiding from her family?

It would make sense if that was what had motivated her to make such a foolhardy move. Having a child outside of wedlock was still considered quite a taboo in the Wizarding world after all and Singleton might have wanted to avoid scandal for having done so by going mundane. It seemed likely but Alkaid did not know for sure. She had not asked. It simply was not her place to do so.

"Do we know anything about how Singleton's going to be protected? Will Lady Nike call on us to go protect her lover and kid again?"

"No clue, Caelus." Pyrrha said with a shake of her head. "Lady Nike didn't say but she assured me and Alkaid that she's got things covered."

Alkaid nodded and added. "If a goddess tells you she's got things handled, you just have to trust that she does."

Everyone sighed at that. It was the truth. Unless you had very good reasons, contradicting a god was never a good idea.

"Well, I think all we can do is pray that little Albert and his mother will be safe." Peggy said as she put words to action. "May Olympus bless little Albert and his mother and keep them safe."

"Amen!" The rest of Black Team echoed.

Suddenly there was a knock on the doorframe, earning the attention of all those in the living room.

Alkaid turned towards the source, spotting Gracie dressed in a comfortable pair of jeans and a sweater that she had insisted were her pajamas. She was also looking extremely nervous as demonstrated by her fidgeting and her wringing her hands.

"Gracie, sweetie, no need to be nervous. We're just talking. Come in, come in." She gestured for the girl to come closer.

"Yeah, like we said at dinner, these are our work friends." Pyrrha tossed in to assure their daughter. "There's nothing to be nervous about."

"Um, yeah, got it." Gracie nodded distractedly, fidgeting more.

Frowning at the sight, Alkaid asked. "Gracie, what is it?"

"Oh, uh, I got an IM from Bianca. From Camp."

The eldest mortal daughter of Hades' frown deepened. "And why did my adorable little sister IM her niece and not myself directly?"

Gracie gave a helpless shrug. "I think Bianca needed someone who would understand, but didn't want to worry you? I guess I was the first person to come to mind?"

"And? What is there to be worried about?" The daughter of Hades asked, perturbed by this entire chain of events.

"Nico snuck off to do something dumb. Like super dumb! Again!" Gracie griped, pulling at the hem of her sweater.

Alkaid arched an eyebrow. She had heard from Chiron that Nico had repeatedly snuck out of Camp to do silly things, like practice his necromancy without supervision, in the past. But nothing was ever that bad, at least not to the extent that she would call it "super dumb". Then again she wasn't a kid like Bianca and Gracie anymore and they probably saw things differently.

"And what did Nico do this time, sweetie?" She coaxed Gracie gently.

"Yeah, I mean, boys do stupid shit all the time." Caelus agreed. "What's so bad about what the kid did this time?"

"Boys will be boys, sadly is a fact of life. We tend to do the stupidest things possible when the need arises or, heck, even if just the urge strikes us." Michael chipped in.

Peggy and Helena on the other hand shared a look with each other, worried expressions on their faces.

"Um, yeah, we aren't sure what he did." Gracie squirmed under the looks pointed in her direction. "It's probably why Chiron hasn't IM'd yet. He probably thought Nico was going off to sneak in extra training like usual, but…"

Pyrrha let out a groan, rubbing her eyes. "Bianca doesn't think that's what he's doing this time, does she?"

Gracie shook her head. "Based on what he's been saying lately? No. Bianca thinks, and I agree with her, that he's gone off to do something much, much more stupid and dangerous than some secret training."

"And what do you think he's up to, Gracie?" Alkaid asked with dread in her voice.

The blonde girl looked reluctant, but at the looks directed at her that sought an answer, she quickly caved and with a sigh capitulated. "Well, I think Nico snuck off to…"


Pinned to the ground by the claws of the undead gryphon he had come to tame and staring it down as it prepared to use its beak to crush his head, Nico came to the realization that he may have, just maybe, gotten in over his head.

And it had all started innocently enough… He had summoned the spirits of some deceased treasure hunters that had died in Mexico as part of his hobby of randomly summoning interesting dead people when he was bored. The stories they could tell at times were just too cool to pass up. And boy! Did these treasure hunters have a story to tell!

Apparently whilst they had been exploring the jungles of the Yucatán Peninsula in search of some mythical legendary treasure hoard, they'd run afoul of some crazed undead creature guarding the treasure and that's what had ended their lives. Now, most people would have just discounted their story as a fanciful tale spun by the spirits to make their deaths more fantastical than they really were. But the catch was that Nico knew they were telling the truth. Having summoned them from the Underworld with his power as a son of Hades and commanded them to tell him only the truth, he was sure their tale was genuine.

Which meant that somewhere out there in the Mexican jungle was the perfect, most awesome mount for him to tame. There, in the middle of the Yucatán, was a bona fide undead gryphon just waiting for him to claim it so that he could become a proper Death Knight! His sisters would be so proud when did!

He'd been doing great in his training so far. Calling up the heroes of old, getting tips and tricks that even Chiron only knew through song and story was doing great for his skills. He was in the top twenty when it came to swordplay in Camp now! He just needed more reach was all and he'd be one of the absolute best, Chiron had said so! He'd get it once the son of Hades got his growth spurt. So he was confident he could handle the monster that the dead treasure hunters had told him about. Plus, it was undead and that meant that as a son of Hades, he would have authority over it. It should have been a cakewalk!

The most difficult thing, in his mind at the time when he'd snuck out of Camp to go on this fool's errand, would be actually traveling to the gryphon's lair. He knew the exact location, the dead treasure hunters remembered it perfectly as befit being the place where they'd suffered their bloody deaths. It was just damned far away!

Thankfully, with Shadow Travel, one of his powers as a son of Hades, he could still make the trip. He would just have to cover the distance in hops and rest in between to recover his strength.

Sadly, he was realizing, getting there was the easy part of the trip. Not that he thought that when he'd first gotten to the hidden temple to the Mayan death god Hunhau that was the gryphon's lair.

No, he'd only gotten that idea when he stepped into the temple and the gryphon showed itself. It was a truly majestic creature. Like all gryphons, it had the body of a lion, with the face and feet of an eagle on its front legs, a long, sharp beak, and a pair of large wings on its back that allowed it to fly. But what made it even more impressive was how rotten it was. Most of its feathers, scales and flesh had rotted away, leaving plenty of muscles and bone exposed. And seriously, it had its organs hanging out! It was so cool! The fear factor was intense!

The thing was also damned smart too. Because the first thing Nico did once the monster showed itself was attempt to bring it under his control with the power and authority as a son of Hades. And the monster had pretended to fall under his sway.

In hindsight, Nico had been an idiot to think things would be that easy. The undead gryphon reeked of powerful death magic. On a scale that Nico had only ever seen Father to be capable of. Though if the gryphon was Father's creation, he might have had a chance. But he wasn't that lucky. Considering its lair, the majestic monster was probably animated by the power of Hunhau and thus Nico's budding skills and talent with the undead had no purchase with which to latch onto and allow him to exert his control over the creature.

But he had been an overconfident idiot and he had believed he had it fully under his control. He thus blindly walked up to the monster, which once he was close enough dropped the ruse entirely and thus got him into the situation he was in now.

Nah! I'm not out of options yet. Nico thought as just as the gryphon was about to crush his head with its beak, the shadows heeded his command and pulled him into their darkness, allowing him to Shadow Travel to safety.

Unlike his usual Shadow Travel jaunts, which were relatively smooth affairs, this time though it felt like he was falling and that disorientated him a little which was why as he dropped out in the deep shadows of the shade of a tree outside the temple, he tripped and landed flat on his face.

"Okay. I've got to practice Shadow Traveling in different circumstances." Nico muttered, making a mental note to himself.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard a loud screech from the temple. A screech that Nico would bet his last drachma on being the cry of the undead beast he was here to tame. A call that had him jumping to his feet, wincing slightly as a burst of pain shot up his leg, but ignoring that, he whipped his head in the direction of the temple where he saw the gryphon leap into the air with beats of its powerful wings.

That thing is a lot more powerful than I thought. Nico thought as he scrambled to the nearest wall of the temple and pressed his hand against the worn, ancient stone. With a grimace of effort and a crude use of his geokinetic skill, he had the stone part like water to open up a nice little hidey hole for him to use.

Crawling deep into his newly manufactured sanctuary, Nico curled into himself, ignoring the ear bleeding screech of the zombie gryphon, and took a moment to examine his pained leg. Hissing, he found a jagged wound running down his leg. And as if being injured wasn't bad enough, the humidity was also making him super uncomfortable. Between it and the zombie spittle that he was covered in by his earlier encounter with the gryphon, his shirt was clinging to him.

Never a fun thing.

Okay, you've got time so do what Big Sis Alkaid would do, stop and think up a plan. You're stuck in a hole and an enemy base. What can you do? Nico racked his brain for ideas. His eldest sister always said to fight smarter, not harder. Which meant he had to be clever about this and not just throw droves of skeletons at Mister Stinking-Breath.

Even as he puzzled over what to do next, he fished out his bag of Ambrosia squares and ate a couple, allowing the food of the gods to work its magic and heal his leg wound. Once done, he stuck his baggie back into the pocket of his cargo shorts. Best shorts ever!

The boy flinched as the ground shook as a result of the gryphon doing strafing runs around the area of the temple. Using some kind of breath weapon that took the form of a black beam that it was shooting out of its open beak as it systematically swept the immediate vicinity of the temple. Because that made sense!

"The treasure hunters didn't mention it had that at all. Man, you need to fact-check monsters nowadays. Surprises suck."

That breath weapon is seriously bad news! Nico thought with a frown as the beam swept past his hidey hole, its foul energies thankfully unable to seep deep enough to touch him as deep into the stone as he currently was.

And wasn't that a relief? It might not be obvious and appear to simply be a destructive beam attack like Big Sis Alkaid threw around all the time, but as a son of Hades, he could tell that it was a lot worse than that. Whatever that beam was, it literally destroyed the souls of whatever it touched!

Hax! Come on! I don't have a Death Beam. How am I supposed to counter that?

Suddenly with a shout of Lightning Lancer: Phalanx Shift and the sound of a crackling lightning, the deadly beam cut out as the gryphon let out an indignant screech

And now I've got back up! Score! Nico grinned and began climbing out of his hidey hole, but paused and wilted when he saw just who his backup was. I am so grounded.

"Nico di Angelo, you are grounded!" The familiar voice of Pyrrha shouted.

He hated being right.

Alkaid replied, because of course she was here if her wife was. "Py, we'll deal with disciplining Nico later. For now we have to deal with a zombie gryphon."

An unfamiliar voice suddenly shouted out. "Soulbreaker Breath incoming!"


Alkaid heard Caelus's shout of, "Soulbreaker Breath incoming!"

Reacting with haste, the sorceress quickly uttered an incantation. "Incantare: Rubicon Terminus!"

In response, her spell conjured a single vertical defensive wall that had the appearance of a fast flowing river.

Powered by the Roman god Terminus, using Rubicon Terminus effectively pitted the strength of the aforementioned boundary god's power against that which the Mayan death god, Hunhau, had imbued into the gryphon they were fighting. Which was the wisest course of action available to Alkaid at the moment. When fighting a god's creation of indeterminate strength, and despite her research there was little to go on about this particular monster, it was always smartest to pit one god's power against another.

And as the gryphon's newly dubbed Soulbreaker Breath slammed into Alkaid's barrier, Peggy turned to Caelus and asked, "How in the world did you come up with that name?"

The blue haired man shrugged, "It just works. Alkaid said that breath breaks the soul of everything it touched, right? So, put it together and bam, you get that name."

Peggy just frowned at him and conceded. "You have a point, despite how cliche it sounds."

"If it works, it works." Caelus said, rephrasing his previous argument.

Rolling her eyes at her teammates' antics, Alkaid was about to remind them that they were facing a dangerous monster and that they should not let their guard down when her magical radio crackled to life.

"Why is the gryphon so obsessed with blasting through your barrier?" Helena asked. "Couldn't it just fly around or over it to get a proper shot with its Soulbreaker Breath on you guys?"

I guess the gryphon's breath weapon's name has been decided to be Soulbreaker Breath, hasn't it? Alkaid thought before replying.

"It's because my barrier is powered by a god, just like the gryphon is. Gods really like to test their strength against each other." Alkaid explained as she kept focus her on her barrier. It would not do to waver and have it collapse prematurely when it was the only thing holding the monster's attention. "So given the chance, like right now? The two gods involved are using it as a chance to measure themselves against each other."

"Ok. You mentioned that the gryphon was turned into a zombie by the Mayan death god Hunhau after its greed for gold overcame its common sense and it ended up trying to steal gold artifacts sacred to the god. But what about your spell? By its name, it's powered by Terminus?"

"Exactly." Alkaid confirmed.

"'Kaidy!" Pyrrha called out and Alkaid turned to her wife, who was standing next to an abashed looking Nico.

Relief flooded her at seeing her little brother was alright, if banged up. "What is it, dear?"

"Should we just leave? We've got the troublemaker so there's no more reason to stay, right?"

"What? No!" Nico exclaimed, waving his arms around. "We can't do that! I didn't travel all the way here from Camp just to go home with my tail tucked between my legs!"

"Is your pride really that important, brat?" The redhead scowled at her brother-in-law.

"Not pride, it's duty." Nico stiffly countered.

Pyrrha groaned and turned to Alkaid with an exasperated look. "This is your fault, 'Kaidy. He's taking after you!"

Alkaid blushed, but didn't deny it.

Peggy coughed into her hand, drawing attention to herself as she gestured to the gryphon that was still trying to punch through the barrier of Rubicon Terminus with its Soulbreaker Breath. "Are we leaving or taking care of this monster?"

"He doesn't have to breathe, so does that mean that he never has to stop that breath attack?" Caelus asked quizzically.

"Shut up, now isn't the time."

Frowning, the sorceress of Hades turned to her brother and asked. "Nico, are you truly ready to take responsibility for this zombie?"

Nico nodded, confidence radiating off of him. "Yes, I am!"

Alkaid resisted the urge to pinch his cheeks at how cute and responsible he was trying to be! Kya! Her little brother was so cute!

Helena spoke up once more over the radio. "Alkaid, if we want to take that thing down, my drones are in position. The micro missiles Michael added to my insectoid drones should be more than enough to put it on its pyre. Especially if fired all at once. It'll be a regular Macross Missile Massacre."

As much as she wanted to see that as a Macross fan, Alkaid had no choice but to reply in the negative. "Keep them in reserve. This is Nico's fight. They'll act as his backup."

"It's your call, but are you sure?" Helena begrudgingly asked.

"Yes, I'm sure." Alkaid replied and turned to Nico, "Alright, little brother, what's your next move?"


Over on the spare earbud Pyrrha had given him, Nico could hear Big Sis Alkaid address him. "Nico, all set?"

Taking one last look over the skeletons he summoned for his plan to take down the gryphon, he found to his satisfaction that they were all in the proper positions.

"Yeah, I'm all good. Uh, over?"

"You don't need to say 'over'." Mister Michael said over the line, making Nico's pale skin flush a little. But that was always in spy movies and stuff! Man, talk about lame. "That's only really needed in certain situations. This isn't a movie where it's something you have to use in every radio conversation."

"Thanks for explaining things to my brother, Michael, but it's time to get things going. Nico?"

"Got it."

"Everyone else?"

This was met with a series of affirmatives over the radio.

"Alright, then I'll be dropping my Rubicon Terminus shortly. Be ready."

Preparing himself, Nico swallowed and tensed. "Drop it."

Without responding, the barrier that looked like a vertical cross section of a shimmering, flowing river blinked out of existence.

And the moment it did, Nico gave his skeletons the mental order.

In response, a mix of undead ancient Mayans, Conquistadors, and more recently dead, leapt from the trees and the top of the temple where he'd ordered them to climb up onto.

He had hundreds of them. Well beyond what he would normally have been able to summon and command but apparently the temple of Hunhau had been the site of many, many human sacrifices. As a result, the site had a huge number of dead that were more than ready to answer his call as a son of a death god to serve and did so in remarkable numbers. Numbers that he could command thanks to the deathly energies of the place that filled the air like an invisible mist.

It's a shame that I likely won't be able to command this many of them again. Nico lamented. Not that he let himself wallow in his upset for long. Not when he could take this opportunity to revel in the chance to roleplay as an evil overlord! Which was just awesome!

Before the gryphon could react to the disappearance of the barrier that it had been fighting against, the hundreds of skeletons fell upon it. Half a dozen skeletons alone fought hard to force the gryphon's beak close, preventing it from breathing its Soulbreaker Breath again. But they were hardly alone and the rest of the hundreds of skeletons piled on the gryphon, forcing the monster out of the air through the sheer weight of their bones where they proceeded to pin it firmly to the ground.

And with the gryphon restrained under the small hill of skeletons, Nico Shadow Traveled to stand before the monster.

"Uh, um, Lord Hunhau," He said with a bow in the direction of the pinned monster and addressed its master. "Now that I've defeated this gryphon, might I have the honor to claim it as my mount?"

The zombie shot Nico an incredulous look and behind him, he could hear Alkaid, Pyrrha and their teammates make sounds in disbelief.

Maybe I should have told them I wanted to tame the monster, not kill it?

"You should have, mortal." Said a young Mayan man dressed in a short sleeved button up shirt, denim jeans and a cowboy hat. He looked no different than the handful of locals that Nico had seen whilst Shadow Traveling here, but the son of Hades could tell he wasn't normal in any way. Not only because he had appeared out of nowhere, but also because he radiated godly energy.

"Lord Hunhau?" Nico asked as he offered the god a bow.

"Indeed, son of Hades." Lord Hunhau replied with a smile and tipping his hat at him.

"Greetings, Lord Hunhau." Alkaid and her team offered, with the girls curtsying and the one guy bowing.

In response, the god tipped his hat at them. "Greetings. However, I'm here for the boy so please stay out of this, please?"

The others nodded even if Big Sis did so reluctantly.

"So, little Nico, why should I accede to your request?" Hunhau asked with a curious look in his old, old eyes as he turned to address the son of Hades.

Nico crossed his arms, letting out a hum. "What would you want in exchange for the gryphon, Lord Hunhau?"

Lord Hunhau smirked at this and laid out his price. "How about the Resurrection Stone of Thanatos?"

Nico noticed Alkaid tense at that and he guessed the Stone was with her but he even if it was…

"I'm afraid not, Lord Hunhau." Nico said as apologetically as he could. "I honestly don't know what the Resurrection Stone of Thanatos is but just from its name alone, I can tell that it is a sacred artifact of Lord Thanatos and I can't just give up an artifact blessed by one of my gods. Especially not to a god of another pantheon."

Lord Hunhau frowned in disappointment before twisting his face into a smirk, he made his second offer. "Then I'll just have to settle for something more traditional."

"Traditional?" Nico asked warily.

Lord Hunhau nodded. "For Mayans like me, traditional can only mean one thing: blood and life."

Alkaid made a strangled noise at this and Nico glanced at her but before his Big Sis could say anything, Lord Hunhau coughed. "Miss Potter, I will remind you that this is between me and Nico alone. Despite your status as one of Olympus' Diplomats, you have no power here."

"I understand, Lord Hunhau." Alkaid replied with a frown.

Shooting Alkaid a reassuring smile, Nico turned her attention back to the god and offered him an uncertain look. "And what exactly do you want, Lord Hundau?"

"Simple, little Nico. In exchange for my gryphon, I want ten years of your life span, symbolized by a liter of your blood."

"T-Ten years?!" Nico asked with a gasp, startled.

The death god nodded with a wide smile. "Yes. Now, I know what you're thinking. That's a lot of years for a mortal life! But, now hear me out. If you don't get yourself killed by some monster down the line, you'll probably live up to a hundred and twenty years minimum. It comes from the divine ichor in your veins." Smiling slyly, he continued. "Plus, don't think of it as bad, it's mostly the sucky years you have at the end of your life. Depending on how things play out in your elder years, you won't have to worry about diapers and the other pains of old age."

"Okay… But just for clarification here, let's say it's my fate to be killed. Would it then mean that I'd be killed ten years earlier than I normally would have?"

Lord Hunhau chuckled. "Oh, I'm not that cruel. Not nowadays. I'll just claim ten years from your non-killed lifespan, in a manner of speaking."

Nico considered the deal for a moment before nodding. "Gotcha. Then, yeah, I'm okay with the deal."

Lord Hunhau smiled with satisfaction. "Offer me your arm then."

Nico obliged, presenting the god with his right arm. An arm that the god promptly grabbed before he conjured a wicked obsidian dagger that he proceeded to use to cut a thin line along the limb.

An act that had Alkaid making a smothered sound of distress, prompting Pyrrha to comfort her, and her team to all shift uncomfortably. Nico barely noticed that however. He was a little preoccupied with watching how the blood flowed from the wound like water but instead of dripping to the ground, it instead transformed into sparks and faded away into nothingness

Nico was mesmerized by the sight of it. Though he was soon snapped out of it when Lord Hunhau put an end to the bloodletting by waving his knife over the cut, healing it. Man, he didn't even have a nifty scar! Hopefully he'd still have the one on his leg later. You never knew when you healed with the help of Ambrosia, it was always touch and go if wounds healed that way left a scar or not.

It's done? Nico thought as he looked at the god questioningly, though it was a little more difficult to do so than normal as his vision was swimming. I would've thought that it would take longer to drain a whole liter of blood.

"You should finish those Ambrosia squares of yours." The god advised as he released Nico's arm. "It'll help with your anemia."

"I guess that's why I'm feeling woozy?" Nico asked as he swayed on his feet a little as he fished out his baggie of Ambrosia squares and like the god advised began eating what he had left. They tasted like rich dark chocolate flavor to him and he loved it. More importantly, his dizziness cleared with every swallow of the food of the gods.

"Are you feeling better, son of Hades?" Lord Hunhau asked with a satisfied smile.

Nico nodded.

"Good. Good." The god of the dead said, adopting a stern, solemn visage. "Then, I, Hunhau, god of the dead, hereby declare that this gryphon is now your servant, Nico di Angelo, son of Hades."

At his declaration, the mountain of skeletons pinning the zombie to the ground released it. All without Nico's input. Then again, of course, a god of the dead's authority trumped his own.

Once free, the monster immediately got to its feet and stepped towards Nico before subserviently bowing before him.

"And there, we're done." Lord Hunhau said with a smile.

"You have my thanks, Lord Hunhau." Nico said, offering the god a grateful smile.

"You have my thanks as well." Alkaid added. "For treating so fairly with my brother."

"Think nothing of it." Lord Hunhau said with a smile and a wave of his hand. "Now, I'll be making a move. Have a good day, mortals."

At this, Nico, Alkaid and her big sister's team tried to offer him respectful farewells however before they could say a word, the god teleported away.

"Well, that was abrupt." Alkaid said with a sigh. "I suppose Lord Hunhau had something else to do."

"Probably." Pyrrha mused. "So, 'Kaidy, what should we do with your little brother?"

Nico gulped as he realized that though his big sister had let him proceed with dealing with the gryphon, Alkaid had not said she would not punish him for running off from Camp like he had.

"Nico," Big Sis Alkaid said, grabbing the son of Hades' attention.

"Y-Yes?" He asked fearfully as he stiffened whilst he felt some sweat roll down his neck. He hoped the sweat was just the product of the humidity and not his nerves.

Alkaid offered him a quelling smile which granted Nico some comfort however since he knew full well how good his sister was at wearing masks, he knew better than to relax on the basis of that smile alone.

"I will begin by applauding you for securing a powerful new mount for yourself." Alkaid said, gesturing at his new gryphon. "I am very proud of you, Little Brother. Especially for your use of diplomacy to achieve your goal. Oh, I am totally going to gush to everyone who is willing to listen about this!"

Nico blushed at this. His Big Sis was so embarrassing! Why did she always have to talk so formally?

"But!" Alkaid added, causing Nico to pale.

Ah! Here's the hammer blow.

"That doesn't mean you won't be punished for this foolhardy self-appointed mission of yours. We will, however, discuss this when we get back to Camp."

Nodding his head, Nico let it hang after the acknowledgement. He knew his punishment would suck but he'd just have to accept it. He had got a cool new mount of this after all, so he was happy about things. After all, whatever punishment he'd be saddled with, it couldn't be too bad, right?

"Now, let's head home."


"Okay, we're back at Camp." Alkaid heard Pyrrha say as she finished teleporting them, Nico and his new fearsome mount to Camp Half-Blood. "Nico, go send that mount of yours to the stables and we will go speak to Mr. D and Chiron to decide your punishment. We'll let you know what we come up with once we're done."

"Yes, Pyrrha." Nico said with a hung head and began to move to climb onto his mount.

Before he could however, Alkaid spoke up. "Nico, wait."

"Big Sis?" Her brother asked, pausing and looking at Alkaid questioningly.

"I have something to give you." Alkaid said, offering him a comforting smile as she conjured a shadow portal and reached into the hammerspace beyond to retrieve something that she had been waiting for some time for the right opportunity to pass on to Nico.

"What is it?" Nico said as she passed him a small gem.

"The Resurrection Stone of Lord Thanatos." Alkaid informed him, causing him to release a startled gasp. "Now that you have proven yourself by taming such a mighty mount." She gestured at his new zombie gryphon which was eying events unfold with the silent patience unique to an undead. "I think it is fitting that I pass on this sacred relic to you."

"By the way that you reacted to Lord Hunhau mentioning it, I thought you had details on it, not have it have it!" Nico exclaimed, fumbling with the stone in his hands.

Alkaid offered him an amused smile. "Father put it in my care when I was just a little girl. And now it is time for me to pass it on to someone who both needs it more and who can also take care of it. It's a strong necromantic amplifier and so it will suit your fighting style far more than it would my own. It will very much help you in your effort to become an edgy Death Knight."

Nico pouted. "Very funny, Corpse Princess."

Alkaid ignored the tease. She could forgive Nico for it. She'd done similar when she was a kid too after all.

"Just get going and show your new mount to the stables, Nico."

"Yes, Big Sis!" Nico said with a smirk before turning to his mount and brushed a hand across the rotten flank of his gryphon before jumping onto its back and began walking it towards the stables.

Turning away from her brother with an exasperated shake of her head at his antics, Alkaid addressed her wife.

"Come on, let's head to the Big House. Mr. D and Chiron are probably waiting."

Before she could reply, they both heard the familiar voice of Bianca shout in the distance. "Nico!"

Turning in the direction of the fight, Alkaid saw a shocked Bianca running towards their brother whilst being shadowed by her Will-o'-the-wisp familiar that took the form of an orb of purple flame.

I suppose Bianca's familiar, with its specialization in teleportation, must have detected our arrival and prompted her to investigate.

"Nico, where have you been!? And why, by Olympus, are you back with a monster!?"

"B-Bianca, um, I-I can, uh, explain. Y-You see, I w-wanted a cool mount a-and-" Nico said stutteringly as he began explaining things to his sister, wildly gesticulating with his hands with every word.

I'm going to have to deal with that. Alkaid thought with a sigh and turned to Pyrrha.

"Can I leave it to you to go explain things to Mr. D and Chiron, Py? I'll go deal with that." She said, gesturing at her squabbling siblings.

"Sure." Pyrrha agreed with a smile. "Better you than me."

Alkaid rolled her eyes but otherwise did not respond. Instead, she walked off towards the busily arguing Bianca and Nico.

"Let me get this straight," Bianca said as she glared at Nico, her Will-o'-the-wisp orbiting around her at ever increasing speeds seemingly in reaction to her anger. It even pulsed agitatedly to match Bianca's mood. "To get yourself a new mount you ran off to Mexico with not enough information?"

"Ye-"

"Ssh! Quiet! I'm not done!" Bianca hissed.

Nico winced but nodded meekly.

"As I was saying! After running off to an ancient Mayan temple in Mexico, of all places, you ended up getting involved with something as dangerous as a god of the dead! From another pantheon no less! What were you thinking!?"

"Uh, I came home safe? And with a cool new gryphon mount?" Nico argued sheepishly.

"I don't care! You're grounded!"

"Wait! What? You can't do that!"

"She can actually." Alkaid cut in. "She might not be your guardian at the moment but she is still your big sister. She has the moral authority to do so if nothing else. But setting that aside, I, your legal guardian and Assistant Activities Director here at Camp, have both the moral and legal authority to ground you and I fully intend to do so."

"Big Sis!"

"I did say that I would be punishing you."

"And you'd deserve it!" Bianca added.

"Big Sis Alkaid~! Bianca~!" Nico whined, looking crestfallen.


"I think that's fair." Pyrrha said with a nod after about an hour of discussing what would be Nico's punishment with Mr. D.

"It's settled then." The god that served as Camp Half-Blood's Camp Director said with a satisfied nod. "Nicholas gets to keep his new little zombie gryphon but in exchange he's going to have to build a new stable for it and to care for both the building and the monster."

"I will communicate that to Nico." Pyrrha's wife, fresh from settling the argument between her siblings, said from her seat next to Pyrrha as they sat across the desk from Mr. D in the god's office in the Big House. "And I will make sure he understands the need to take proper responsibility over both his new mount and the stable."

"I guess then I'll be the one to tell Chiron about what we agreed on." The god said with an annoyed sigh.

"About that, wouldn't it have been better to discuss all this with him around?" Pyrrha questioned.

Mr. D shrugged. "It's his own fault that he's not here. He's the one who decided to leave things to me whilst he went to calm the pegasi riled up by Nigel's new gryphon."

Pyrrha frowned but nodded in acceptance.

"Quite," Alkaid agreed. "Is there anything else?"

"Nope, no business. But I do have an observation."

"Oh? What observation do you have for us, Mr. D?" Alkaid asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"First things first, I just want to say that I am surprised that your little Black Team is working so well especially since it's made out of both Greeks and, ugh, Romans. I'm honestly surprised you haven't killed each other."

Alkaid shrugged. "I felt the same at first. However, after working with the team, I have come to think that the Greek-Roman divide is overstated. I would even go so far as to say that perhaps there might be some wisdom to Hera's plan to reunify the Camps."

Mr. D scoffed at the mention of Hera's plan. "Plan? That's nothing more than a big PR game to Hera. And you! Don't think that just because you have met with some success with a small group of Greeks and Romans that things would be successful on a larger scale. Some things just don't scale well."

"Perhaps," Alkaid allowed with another shrug.

"Well, we can hope at least." Pyrrha offered.

"I'll believe it when I see it." Mr. D said with a roll of his eyes.

"As you say, Mr. D." Alkaid said politely. "Is there anything else?"

"Yes, one last thing." Mr. D said with a nod. "I want to remind you to be careful of the mob. Your team has riled them up. They might have been siding with the Titans for money at first but now that your team has picked a fight with them, it's personal and when the mob takes things personally, things can get very messy."

"I am aware but my team has things under control." Alkaid assured him and Pyrrha nodded her own agreement.

"I certainly hope you do and you're not just being overconfident. You won't like it if that's the case." Mr. D said with a shake of his head, and continued even as Alkaid moved to reply. "Whatever! I've said all I've got to say. You can go now, Penelope, Alkaid."

Accepting the god's dismissal, Pyrrha stood alongside her wife and after they offered him a bow, they both proceeded to leave. As she did however, Pyrrha couldn't help but have a thought run through his mind.

I hope Mr. D is wrong and we're not being overconfident about things. We aren't are we?


Done and done! Thanks to Nameless and Axios as always!

Ah, fun times with the new team. It was a fun change of pace from grim battles to show off more of Black Team's synergy. It is fun to write of course and interactions are my personal bread and butter. And then Gracie comes in with dire news like a snitch! Just kidding, but it felt very family like to do that for her and Nico, well… Nico does Nico things because while he isn't insecure about his place in the world, he does want to keep up with his siblings in terms of ability. He's got that necromancer niche down and is really living up to it.

Nameless: Okay, before I discuss anything about the chapter I think we need to talk about our update rate. The thing is that IRL developments has made it so that our writing schedule has had to adapt. We're still getting used to it and that's a big reason for the long hiatuses for our updates lately. Things, thankfully, have started to settle down so hopefully we won't be suffering from long hiatuses again. Hopefully.

As for this chapter, I hope everyone likes the mount that we gave Nico. We think it makes COTU!Nico unique at least. Besides that… Yeah, I honestly can't think of anything else to add, so I'll leave it at that. Over to you, E4E!

E4E: Yeah, IRL has given us some things that we need to get used to so we're working hard to get back to our usual pace of updates, but please be patient with us if updates come out later than usual. Adulting is hard lol. But know we aren't ditching any stories and will do our best to always put things out for you guys. Thank you for the support as always!

You know what to do! Smash that review button and tell us what you love! No flames and peace off my peeps!