Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter.
Consul of the Underworld: End of Disc 1
Chapter Twenty: Titanomachy II - Black Ops Save 6
Beta: ShadowofAxios
A few days after returning from their trip to the fae realms, Black Team were gathered in the busy Cadillac Cafe, a nice little diner with limited theming based on the eponymous car, in Portland to assess the consequences of their mission to end the support that the Goblin King and Queen, Jareth and Sarah, were providing the Titans by allowing them access to their Labyrinth. A mission that had seen them invade the aforementioned fae kingdom and bomb the seat of its monarch's power, Jareth's Castle.
Though as Peggy and the rest of the team sat down at the booth they had taken for their own and warded against eavesdroppers, the daughter of Athena, could not help but ask about something that had been tickling the back of her mind since Alkaid had informed them of the venue of the meeting.
"Alkaid, why are we meeting all the way here in Oregon? None of us live anywhere near there. And as far as I know, we don't have any potential targets in the state either."
"Both true." Pyrrha conceded on her wife's behalf whilst sporting a smirk. "But the Cadillac Cafe is one of the best diners in the whole country."
"And we should enjoy ourselves as we talk business, shouldn't we? After all, as the saying goes, 'all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.'" Alkaid added. "And good food is a good way to make even the dullest business at least somewhat entertaining, no?"
"They're right there." Helena agreed before taking a bite of her burger.
"Good food really does help you get through boring meetings." Michael added as well whilst he worked through a plate of fries.
"Exactly, Peggy." Caelus said with a teasing smile. "Relax a little and just enjoy yourself!"
As if to punctuate his point, the damnable rogue proceeded to take a big gulp of the smoothie he'd ordered and shoot her a big grin like he was having the time of his life!
Rolling her eyes at his antics, Peggy turned to their team's leader, who was sipping from her own smoothie. "Alkaid, any news about whether bombing the Goblin King's castle did the job?"
"Based on what we've heard from the spirits of the dead, various nature spirits and other sources Olympus has tasked to spy on the Titans, yes it has." The daughter of Hades said with a satisfied grin. "Thanks to the damage that we did to their king's castle, the Goblin Kingdom has closed off the Titans' access to their labyrinth."
"Just like that?" Caelus asked, sounding surprised as he slurped his drink. The pig.
"We can't be sure of their reasons for doing so of course, but it's not hard to imagine why they would choose to do so." Alkaid said with a shrug. "Our attack probably did a sizable amount of damage to the Goblin Kingdom's defenses-"
"And even if it didn't, it exposed weaknesses in it that the Goblins will want to fix before they let the Titans pass through their land again." Pyrrha continued after finishing her steak. "I mean, they might be allies but letting an army through your territory when your defenses are weakened isn't a smart move. Especially an army led by the Crooked One."
This was met with nods from everyone. All of them knew that the Goblin Kingdom and the Titans were allies of convenience at best. Their alliance was born of nothing more than a mutual hatred for Olympus, or more specifically for Alkaid. And considering how she'd wounded his king in their last confrontation, Pyrrha as well now. It was thus hardly a partnership built on trust. Not that even an alliance based on mutual trust would be safe from betrayal when the Crooked One or the Titans in general was involved. Not when their entire race was defined by their betrayal of Ouranos.
"Okay, so the Titans can't use the Goblin Labyrinth as a shortcut for their armies anymore but have the Goblins cut ties entirely?" Helena asked hopefully.
Alkaid shook her head. "Unfortunately not. It seems they are still supplying them with supplies and whilst the Titan Army itself is no longer welcome in their Labyrinth, the Goblins are happy to move their supplies through it on their behalf."
"So we should hit them again?" Caelus asked with a frown.
"No, that's too risky." Pyrrha said with a shake of her head. "They'll have beefed up security by now. Attempting another raid at the moment would be too risky."
"Besides, considering how much the Goblin King and Queen hate you guys, I don't think there's anything short of killing them or wiping out their kingdom that would stop them from supporting the Titans." Michael said with a tired sigh. "And we can't do either of that."
"Even if we could, it would not be advisable." Peggy said with a shake of her head. "The fae might not bat an eye at us raiding one of their kingdoms especially after they picked a fight with us first but if we went as far as to kill one of their Archfae, one of their Sidhe, or destroy one of their kingdoms then we'd just be asking for the whole fae realm to declare war on us."
"Which is to be avoided at all costs." Alkaid said firmly, prompting nods from the whole team.
"So if we're leaving things with the Goblins to cool down for a bit, what are we targeting next then?" Michael asked, looking at the resident daughter of Hades curiously.
"We focus on the next thing on our plate," Alkaid replied. "The assassin the mob sent after me."
"Do we have any clues on that front?" Peggy asked curiously. "Beyond hearing that you're being targeted?"
"No," Alkaid said with a shake of her head. "But we'll lure them out soon enough."
"You think that they'll hit you when you're on a mission?" Caelus asked with a frown.
"It's the best time." Pyrrha said with a shrug. "We've been so busy lately that outside of missions we're either at home or at Camp, both of which are too well defended for them to try anything."
"Having a god present at both would certainly scare them off." Helena agreed. "But what about when we meet like this?"
"It's hard to pin down when and where we meet. The only reason the mob found us in the Hamptons was because they had a mole in the rental agency that owned the property we were using." Alkaid revealed. "In contrast, it's much easier to figure out our potential targets. The Titans don't exactly have that many places where we could hit them."
"So our assassin is scoping them all out and probably leaving some kind of sensor behind that lets them know when we show up, so they can turn up too and try and earn that price on your head?"
"Yes, Peggy, I imagine that's their plan."
The daughter of Athena frowned. That was a good plan. It was something she would have come up with herself.
"So we just carry on as usual but with our guards up in case the assassin shows up?" Michael asked, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
"That's what we're thinking." Pyrrha confirmed. "What's your opinion?"
"I'd prefer to take the fight to this assassin myself if we could." Caelus said with a sigh. "But since we don't have any clues about them… I guess this is the best we can do."
The Bertinellis exchanged a look before Helena sighed. "Yeah, our thinking is pretty much the same as Caelus. This isn't the best plan but it's as good as we can come up with."
"Peggy?" Alkaid asked, turning to the daughter of Athena.
"My opinions are pretty similar to everyone else's." She admitted. "I'd prefer to directly go after the assassin but if we can't then your plan is acceptable."
Alkaid nodded in understanding before gesturing to Pyrrha. "Then shall we pick our next target?"
As she asked her question, the redhead pulled out a map from the hammerspace of that bracelet of hers and laid it out, revealing that it was of the greater New York City area with multiple points marked out.
"So, there's a number of potential targets that the intel we've received from Olympus has identified as being bases that the Titans are using to prepare for their attack on New York City." Pyrrha said as she gestured at the points marked out on the map. "It's up to us to decide which of these we want to hit next."
As the whole team leaned in, gandering at the map, Helena spoke up.
"So what's the details on the various sites?"
Alkaid smiled in reply. "Oh, I'll be more than happy to brief you and let you make an informed decision."
"Well, don't keep us waiting. Let's get started." Caelus said as he knocked the table with his knuckles. "The sooner we decide, the sooner we can crack some monsters' skulls."
Everyone else shook their heads in exasperation at the dolt's clear bloodthirstiness.
Peggy, being his keeper for now, lightly smacked the back of her lover's head.
"Hey!" Caelus protested, but everyone ignored him.
"So, Alkaid, let's go ahead and start the briefing." Michael stated.
Standing in the expansive yard of her California home alongside her wife and daughters, Pyrrha took a deep breath and began incanting the spell words for the spell granted to her by the new magical gem she had recently purchased.
"Oh whirling storm of spring, bestow thine aerial protection upon us! Blow Forth, Wind Wall!"
At her incantation and the channeling of her mana through it, the new blue sapphire socketed into her labrys glowed with the magic that had been stored within it and which she had just invoked. Swiping her weapon horizontally in front of her, Pyrrha completed the requirements to activate the spell. In response, with a howling scream, a wall of compressed swirling winds formed in front of her. A barrier that rose from the ground up to fifteen feet, was fifty feet long, and was a foot thick.
Smiling at the barrier her spell had created, Pyrrha looked towards her daughters who were standing patiently next to Alkaid.
"Alright, all set and ready to go!" She said with some excitement over testing the newest addition to her arsenal.
""Okay!"" The three girls nodded and Gracie stepped away from the rest of the family.
"I'll be going first, Mama!" The daughter of Hecate said cheerfully, already forming a fog bank of the Mist around her with her Mystiokinesis. The reality warping fog clinging to her like a billowing cloak.
Once standing across from the redhead, Gracie shaped the Mist into a large sphere in front of her. As it did, the chestnut haired girl frowned nervously and shot the daughter of war with a questioning look.
"Come on, Gracie. Don't worry, we're just testing here."
Nodding with a touch more confidence, Gracie molded the Mist into a fireball and with a thought, sent it hurling towards Pyrrha.
Much to the daughter of war's satisfaction, as the fireball slammed into it, her Wind Wall proved its durability. As the flaming projectile crashed against it, it exploded into embers that were easily held back by the whirling defense.
""Yay!"" Gracie and her sisters cheered exuberantly at the sight.
"Mama's barrier is so cool!" Mina offered enthusiastically.
"Un. Un. Un." Kura murmured as she nodded in agreement.
"Yes, most impressive." Alkaid said with a smile and a soft clap.
Pyrrha felt a proud smile threatening to spread across her face at the praise but she suppressed the urge. "We're not done yet, girls. Who's up next?"
"I am!" Kura said as she raised her right hand and waved it enthusiastically at them while skipping over to switch places with Gracie.
"Have fun, Kura." Gracie said as they crossed paths.
"Oh! I will!" Kura replied with an eager grin as she continued skipping to her place across from Pyrrha.
"Mama, ready to go?" Pyrrha's Zashiki-warashi daughter asked once she reached the spot and as she used her telekinesis to pull out dozens of those explosive coasters that her eldest sister had helped her enchant from that adorable Japanese-style backpack she carried. A backpack that housed her arsenal of deadly repurposed household items.
"Ready and waiting, Kura. Have at me!" Pyrrha told her daughter as she eyed the explosive coasters floating around her little girl.
Kura laughed like a Saturday cartoon villain at her teasing taunt and sent her explosive projectiles flying at Pyrrha's Wind Wall. Against the swirling winds of her barrier, the enchanted coasters exploded harmlessly. But that wasn't what really had the daughter of Ares' attention at the moment. Instead, she was more focused on the fact that she definitely had to make sure Kura toned down how many cartoons she watched. She was emulating them a little too much for Pyrrha's liking.
It took about a while, but eventually Kura let up on her barrage, and the moment that it did, Pyrrha addressed her aforementioned daughter. "Kura, we're going to have to talk about how much T.V. you're watching."
The Zashiki-warashi eeped at that but before she could whine or attempt to wheedle out of the talk, the daughter of Ares continued. "But thanks for helping to test my Wind Wall. It looks like it is holding up well."
"Yeah, it did. Your barrier is great, Mama!" Mina cheered.
"Yeah, it's so strong." Gracie added.
"Yay…" Kura said in a more subdued voice.
"Come here, Kura." Alkaid said, opening her arms for the girl prompting the Zashiki-warashi to teleport into her wife's embrace. "You did good. Though, you really should watch less T.V."
Kura squirmed at that but didn't protest, just pressed her head into Alkaid's stomach and nodded piteously. She looked so pitiable that Pyrrha wasn't surprised that it prompted Gracie to kneel down and began patting her little sister's back reassuringly.
"It's your turn, Mina." Pyrrha urged her little goddess of serial killers.
"Okay, Mama." The silver haired girl said after taking a glance at Alkaid, who offered her a nod.
The moment she received the daughter of Hades' approval, their first daughter teleported into the spot that Kura had just vacated.
"Ready, Mum~?" Mina sang. She was in a singing mood it seemed.
"Yup." Pyrrha said with a nod. "Let's do it."
With a smile, Mina danced on her feet and swung her hands in a wide arc in front of her as she shouted out the name of her technique. "Fan of Knives!"
In response, a dozen conjured knives, all looking wicked sharp and deadly, appeared out of nowhere and flew forward in accordance with the motion of Mina's arms right at the Wind Wall.
The barrier easily deflected the blades, though the death inducing power of Mina's blade did manage to negate the by now quite weakened spell. As a result, the wind barrier promptly sputtered out of existence.
""Oooooh."" Mina and Gracie said in an awed tone as they clapped with enthusiasm. Even Alkaid and Kura joined in on the applause, though they were both a little more reserved as they did so.
"Wow! Mama's barrier even blocked my knives!" Mina said, sounding very impressed as she skipped back towards Alkaid and her sisters. "Mum, did you see? Mama's new spell is so cool!"
"Yes, it is." Alkaid said, offering Mina and Pyrrha smiles. "It seems the Wind Wall is as effective as advertised."
"Oh yeah." Pyrrha said as she grinned ear to ear. "This was such a good buy."
"Without a doubt." Alkaid agreed.
"Yeah!" "Nice find, Mama!" "It's definitely going to be helpful." Their girls tacked on.
"So, 'Kaidy, what do you think? Is it time to swap with me and test your spell yet?"
Alkaid looked at their girls, who were clustered all around her, and addressed them. "So, girls, what do you think? Do you want a break? Or are you ready to help me out like you did Mama?"
"We're ready! We're ready!" "Let's gooo~!" "We can keep going. No worries."
Pyrrha and Alkaid both smiled at their enthusiasm. The couple looked at each other and the smile her wife wore just made the daughter of Ares' heart beat a little faster.
"I think it's time we swap, no?"
"Yup." Pyrrha said with a giggle before she moved forward to take over herding their daughters so that her wife could swap spots with her. "Have fun!"
"Oh, I will." Alkaid said with a laugh.
With a few twists of the control stick and rapid button presses, Michael ordered one of his Wolf Drones to leap onto the back of one of the Laistrygonian Giants that was acting as unskilled muscle in the Titan base that Black Team was attacking. A base that took the form of a smithy being run by the Telekhines that was manufacturing cannons that were supposedly for the purposes of being used as weapons by the Laistrygonian Giants.
Digging the claws of the drone into the giant's back, he leveled its dorsal mounted sonic cannon at the monster's head and unleashed a full power sonic blast, reducing its brains to mush. A deadly move that sent the giant toppling over and causing its body to collapse into gold dust.
"Nice kill." Helena commented from her neighboring control station in their little mobile command center.
"Thank you. How are the others doing?" Michael asked curiously.
As a change of pace, he and his wife had changed up how they had distributed the control of their drones for this mission. Usually they split them evenly between them. Today, however, Michael was in charge of the heavy hitting Wolf Drones while Helena was controlling the more surveillance orientated Spider Drones. So whilst he had been controlling their Wolves to help the rest of the team in taking out the Laistrygonian laborers/guards and the Telekhine smiths which had taken up arms the moment that the team had stormed the old garage in New Jersey where they'd set up shop, she had been using the Spiders to keep a eye on how everyone was doing.
"Things are going well." Helena informed him cheerfully. "Peggy and Caelus are comparing how many kills they're racking up."
"Are they?" Michael asked with a laugh.
"Yup." Helena said with a giggle of her own. "I'm thinking they're using the competition as a way to decide who's on top tonight."
"Who's winning?"
"Peggy." Helena replied, still giggling. "At least so far."
"That's how they're deciding?" Michael said, shooting his wife an incredulous look as his brain fully caught up with what his wife had told him.
"It's just a young person's thing." Helena said with a shrug.
All whilst they had this exchange about Caelus and Peggy's little contest, Michael had been busy directing a trio of his Wolves to charge and take out a Laistrygonian and a couple of Telekhines. A group of monsters that were desperately trying to prep one of the cannons this smithy was building and bring it to bear in the fight.
"How's everyone else doing?"
With a giggle, Helena answered. "Alkaid's raining spells down on the enemy like an RPG character whilst Pyrrha is playing her vanguard."
"Any commentary about that?" Micheal asked as the A.I. that helped him control his drones allowed his Wolves to make short work of the Laistrygonian with the cannon and the enterprising Telekhines that tried to arm it, allowing him to shift his attention elsewhere.
"No. They are just fighting together like a well oiled machine like always. They can be too wholesome at times."
Suddenly, a soft alarm went off.
Frowning, Michael turned to the display that was giving off the alarm, noticing that it was from the monitoring programme that had been tracking the input from the sensors of the Spider Drones keeping watch of the perimeter.
"What was that? A glitch?" Helena asked as she glanced at the alarm.
"My equipment doesn't glitch." He said with certainty as he quickly toggled on his magitech radio and connected himself to their team lead. "Alkaid, we either have enemy reinforcements inbound or the fish has taken the bait."
"Copy that."
Caelus was finishing off a Laistrygonian armed with an oversized shovel, his twelfth kill for the mission and which would allow him to take the lead in his little game with Peggy to decide which of them got to take the lead in bed tonight, when he heard Alkaid suddenly shout a warning.
"There's a potential hostile inbound."
"Got it." Caelus shouted back as he turned to Peggy to check if she had heard Alkaid. He knew his English lady could take care of herself but he was worried and felt the need to check anyway.
His concern was warranted, as just as he turned towards Peggy, he saw a woman with magenta hair in a pants suit and with an art tube slung over her shoulder suddenly appear out of nowhere - likely thanks to an invisibility or concealment spell of some type - right beside his lover. And before the daughter of Athena could even react, the lanky woman in the suit lashed out at Peggy with a punch to the gut. A blow that lifted Peggy off her feet for a second before it sent the Englishwoman flying, thanks to some magic if the way her fist glowed upon impact was any indication.
"Peggy!" Caelus roared in a mix of anger and worry as he charged towards where his girlfriend crashed into a wall and slid down to the ground where she lay slumped over, clearly unconscious.
He barely made it ten feet though before the woman in the pantsuit suddenly blurred in front of him and lashed out at him with a punch. Caught by surprise, he nearly froze but his instincts kicked in and he moved to deflect the strike that would have taken his jaw off.
The mysterious attacker clicked her tongue at him deflecting her blow but otherwise seemed unfazed by its failure to land. Instead, she just seamlessly stepped back as her limbs lit up with glowing runic script before she closed the distance once more like a comet of light. Caelus tried to swing his trident at her in a bid to cut her attack off preemptively, however, the woman just weaved around his attack and into his guard before unleashing a salvo of heavy blows that sent him flying just like Peggy had.
As he landed roughly and coughed up blood, one of the Bertinellis' Wolf Drones hurried to his side, grabbed hold of his clothes and began to drag him away.
"I've got you, Caelus." Michael said through the Drone. "Just give me a sec and I'll get you to safety and get you some ambrosia for your wounds."
Even as his vision grew dark around the edges, Caelus fought against unconsciousness. There was something important that he needed to know.
"T-Thank you. Peggy?"
"Don't worry. We've got her."
Letting out a sigh of relief at knowing that his lover was alright, Caelus finally allowed himself to pass out.
"Michael, Helena! Get Peggy and Caelus out of here! Ambrosia and Nectar, stat!" Alkaid ordered.
"Will do." Helena said through a nearby Spider Drone. "Leave it to us."
Glancing at the Ogham runes - the Early Medieval alphabet used primarily to write the early Irish language, and later the Old Irish language - that glowed all over the clothes of the magenta haired woman that had taken out Peggy and Caelus, Alkaid quickly concluded that this must be the assassin descended from the fae that Artemis Fowl had told her that the mob had hired to kill her. Who else but a descendant of a fae would use Ogham runes? And which other descendant of the fae would attack her?
I know this was part of the plan to lure her in and all that, but seriously!? Of course a simple extermination job couldn't go as planned. This is an utter pain in the ass! Alkaid inwardly cursed her luck at times.
"Well, you're a rude one, aren't you? By chance could we exchange introductions before our fight to the death?" Alkaid asked the hit woman as she silently cast Axel Shooter, Phalanx Shift, sending hundreds of emerald bullets of magic shooting towards the magenta haired woman. An attack that also cleared out the few remaining monsters that Black Team had originally come here to deal with. A barrage that was helped along by hundreds of fiery wasp-like projectiles that Pyrrha shot at the assassin with Apes Igniferae (Crimson Bees) and a swing of her labrys.
Despite the hundreds of magical projectiles shooting at the woman, she seemed unfazed. Instead of panicking, she simply shifted her stance and launched a flurry of blows. Blows that literally intercepted every single bullet sent her way.
She's good. Alkaid thought with a prominent frown. The woman had not used any defensive techniques, she had literally used raw speed and strength to intercept the assaults from two bullet hell spells.
"Bazett Fraga McRemitz." The woman said as she rushed towards Alkaid like a glowing comet, her runes glowing bright. "And I'm here to kill you, Alkaid Potter."
"Over my dead body." Pyrrha shouted as she blurred in to intercept her whilst her body glowed like a red comet of her own thanks to her Αιμοληψία (Bloodlust) spell and forced the assassin back with a swing of her labrys and a casting of Tidal Slash.
The assassin leapt back from the attack though, aided in the task by her enhancement magic.
I think I should do something about that, you damnable harlot. Alkaid thought with a wicked grin.
With that in mind, she proceeded with casting a counterspell. "επικαλούνται: σημάνει διακόπτη (Invoke: Spell Breaker)!"
And like an off-switch, the assassin's runic enchantments were dispelled! This caused the magenta haired woman's steps to falter, leaving her open to attack. An opening that Pyrrha immediately exploited with another powerful swing of her labrys and another casting of Tidal Slash.
Amazingly even without her runes, the assassin somehow managed to evade the cutting wave of Pyrrha's spell and as the effect of Alkaid's counterspell faded, her runes reactivated, and her enhancements kicked back in, she blurred away.
"You really do live up to your reputation, Alkaid and Pyrrha Potter." McRemitz said with a smirk. "That was a nice combo you pulled on me just now but it won't work again."
Ignoring her, Alkaid and Pyrrha were about to press their attack. However, before they could, Michael shouted a warning. "Alkaid, Pyrrha, someone else just broke into the perimeter."
He had barely finished speaking, when with the twin booms of gunshots, a pair of bullets shot towards the magenta haired assassin. Despite the sudden attack however, the assassin somehow managed to swing her fists into the path of the bullets, deflecting them with the sound of a ding, demonstrating that her runes had given her gloves a steel-like quality.
"Talking is not a free action." An olive skinned woman with a lithe, athletic figure with hazel eyes and long black hair who was casually dressed in an out of season, sleeveless top; a long skirt; and leggings, said as she stepped out of nowhere whilst wielding a pair of smoking pistols that revealed she was the mysterious shooter.
"Mana Tatsumiya." Alkaid greeted the woman, a half-succubus supernatural bounty hunter that she had made the acquaintance when they, alongside an Egyptian magician from the Per Ankh, had worked together to stop a rogue Underworld Daimon that tried to start a zombie apocalypse in New York City. "Looking as radiant as always."
"Alkaid Potter." Mana returned the greeting with a nod even as Pyrrha pressed the attack against McRemitz. "It is good to see you again. I have enjoyed our correspondence. Though, I wished it was under better circumstances."
"Indeed." Alkaid said, even as she cast a Lightning Lancer: Phalanx Shift to fire off bullets of green magic surrounded by crackling black lightning in support of Pyrrha. "What brings you here to New York and allow me the pleasure of your company, Mana?"
"I'm merely hunting down the bounty on McRemitz's head. It's a hefty sum and I need to procure some funding."
"If we take her down, would you be up to splitting the bounty?" Alkaid asked teasingly.
"No. You have all of Daddy Dearest's money. Mama needs the funds." Mana said, tapping her chest with her right hand even as she leveled her left hand and the pistol it held at McRemitz, who had continued to evade or block all attempts to hit her so far, firing off a half dozen shots in quick succession.
Alkaid rolled her eyes at the dig at the deep pockets her heritage granted her. Though she could not help but be impressed as Mana's bullets transformed into fireballs mid-flight. Unfortunately, the fireballs did as much good as their other attacks had been, with McRemitz simply intercepting them with her punches. They exploded as they did of course and the flames surrounded the assassin, however her runes kept her safe and she emerged unfazed.
Alkaid tsked in annoyance. We need a clincher to nail this blasted Irish butterfly to the wall. She's surprisingly resilient.
McRemitz, the bitch, had the audacity to smirk. "It seems like I'm in a tough spot, huh? Three against one and all that."
Alkaid frowned at that. "If you know that, then why not be a good little assassin and surrender? After all, is your life worth so little to you?"
McRemitz's smirk grew even wider, annoying Alkaid greatly. An annoyance that only grew as the assassin leapt away from the relentless assault that Pyrrha was pressing her with.
The magenta haired woman landed in the iconic superhero three-point landing and before anyone could react, she punched the ground. A move that released a massive shockwave that sent everyone staggering, struggling to stay on their feet.
Taking advantage of this, McRemitz charged at Alkaid. In response, the Bertinellis' drones threw themselves in her way to stop her or at least slow her down but using the superhuman speed granted to her by her runes, she blitzed around them and rapidly closed with Alkaid. Thanks to that, she made it right in front of Alkaid within moments and lashed out at the daughter of Hades.
Just as planned. Alkaid thought with a grin as the spell she'd cast on herself the moment McRemitz had unleashed her shockwave triggered.
Said spell took the form of Mirror Alice. A barrier spell that conjured a full body ornate mirror that shattered from the blow but nevertheless served its purpose and redirected the strength of the blow right back at McRemitz. The assassin must have packed in a ton of power into her punch because the redirected blow pulled an intense scream of pain from the magenta haired woman as she recoiled.
Ah, sweet music to my ears. Alkaid thought with wicked vindication as the assassin staggered away from her, blood trailing down from the corner of her mouth.
"Looks like you took on more than you can chew, McRemitz." Mana said as she raised both her pistols at the assassin who had just collapsed to her knees, the art tube she had slung over her shoulder slipping to the ground with a clang. "Time to take a nap before I deliver you to New Mexico and the USMSSCF (United States Maximum Security Supernatural Containment Facility)."
Alkaid felt smug and a sense of relief at having defeated McRemitz, but that was ruined when she heard a familiar voice boom around the repurposed garage.
"Tsk. And here I thought she would do the deed for us." Sarah "Morgan" Williams said from all around them. "I suppose it truly is as they say, 'if you want it done right, do it yourself.'"
"I told you that would be the case, dear." The Ascended Changeling's husband, Jareth, the Goblin King, said as he and his wife appeared in front of them whilst dressed in ornate, fairy armor that was full of spikes. "Though since I was right about that, may I take the lead on how we proceed now?"
"Go ahead, husband dear."
"What in the world are you two doing here?" Mana demanded of the Archfae.
The Goblin King shrugged. "Oh, we are here thanks to Miss McRemitz's fae blood. It gave us a nice excuse to intervene in this fight. And we truly, really want to intervene."
He stared daggers at Alkaid and Pyrrha, looking as if he wanted to set them on fire with his gaze alone.
Mana frowned and turned towards Alkaid. "Just what did you do to piss them off so badly that a pair of Sidhe would want to intervene in mortal affairs on such a flimsy excuse?"
"We blew up the Goblin King's castle during our last mission." Helena informed the bounty hunter via one of the remaining Spider Drones.
The Goblin King nodded even as he snarled. "Do you know how much work it will take to fix the damage they caused!?"
"Do you honestly think we care?" Pyrrha retorted.
She looked ready to attack the Goblin monarchs but Alkaid held up a hand to signal to her to hold back. She knew that it would be next to impossible to avoid a fight with the fae monarchs but she would not let their side be the one to start it. They were Olympus' Diplomats after all and attacking others who were not immediately demonstrating hostility was hardly diplomatic. She imagined this, or something similar, was why Mana herself had also not attacked the two Archfae.
"And the mutt just keeps thinking her sass matters! Be a good bitch and zip it." Jareth snapped in annoyance.
Williams coughed into her fist. "Husband mine, do get on with it. I want this done. Now. We must return to continue overseeing the repair of our castle."
"Yes, yes, my love. Apologies." Jareth nodded, cupping his hands in front of him, conjuring a crystal ball between them. A crystalline sphere which proceeded to begin to glow with an immensely brilliant light.
"Shit! That's Fairy Law! If he finishes casting it, we're all dead!" Mana shouted worriedly.
"Like hell I'm going to allow some damned fae to steal my kill! My professional pride will not stand for this slight!" McRemitz retorted, snarling in rage.
Swiping her hand over mouth and blooding her hand with the sanguine liquid still flowing from it, the magenta haired assassin quickly wiped it over her previously dropped art tube. In response, the top of the tube burst open and a lead ball floated out of it. As it did, McRemitz stood and the ball floated in front of her raised right fist where it began to pulse with energy before the outer layer of the ball turned liquid. Liquid metal that became a halo that floated just above the ball whilst a short dagger formed in front in the center of the halo.
Mana whistled. "Fragarach: Gouging Sword of the War God? Going for broke, eh, McRemitz?"
"Fragarach!" The magenta haired woman said, confirming Mana's observation, as she punched the air just behind the lead ball triggering Fragarach to transform into a needle thin laser of immensely concentrated magic.
Her casting was a little too slow though. Or so it seemed.
"Fairy Law!" The Goblin King shouted, releasing his spell and causing a sphere of intense, destructive light to start to spread out from the crystal ball within which he had gathered the power behind his spell.
As it did, Fragarach seemed to twist causality, at least as far as Alkaid could tell, and its beam struck the Goblin King in the exact moment he unleashed his spell. That grievously wounded the Archfae if the geyser of twinkling, gold ichor that spurted from his chest was any indication but it did nothing to stop his spell from spreading to destroy all of them.
Fortunately, Alkaid had never intended to place her bets on the assassin to save them and instead cast her new barrier spell, "επικαλούνται: Ασπίδα Σωτηρίας (Invoke: Shield of Soteria)!"
At her direction, the spell proceeded to conjure powerful, golden dome shaped barriers over herself, Pyrrha, Mana, and, in a gesture of goodwill, McRemitz as well. Domes that called on the power of Soteria, the Greek goddess of safety, and deliverance and preservation from harm which proceeded to encapsulate the spell's targets, shielding them from the Archfae's immensely powerful spell.
A power that for a moment threatened to overwhelm even that of the goddess, causing cracks to spider web across the barriers that Alkaid's spell had created. However, they held on long enough and eventually the light of the Goblin King's Fairy Law faded away, leaving the divinely empowered barriers strained but intact. They only fully faded after the light from the destructive fae spell fully blinked out.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Alkaid turned to see the fate of the Goblin King and couldn't help the smirk that spread across her face at seeing how badly wounded he looked. Jareth was covered in his glittering, golden ichor and there was a hole straight through his body where his heart should be.
Even with how bad the wound is, that's hardly going to be enough to kill a fae of his caliber.
That might be the case, but that didn't mean an injury of the magnitude he'd just endured didn't hurt. Not if the pained howls of the Goblin King as he lay cradled in his wife's arms was any indication.
"You! All of you will pay for this! Starting with you!" Williams shouted angrily as she drew a gun from thin air so quickly that her target couldn't react, leveled it at McRemitz and pulled the trigger.
In an instant, a bolt of raw force shot from the gun and caused the magenta haired woman's head to disappear into a red mist. And even before her body could collapse, the Goblin monarchs were gone like the cowards they were.
Sighing in frustration, Alkaid couldn't help it, she cursed. "Pit! This is bad! The Goblin monarchs hate us enough as is! This is just gonna make things worse!"
She knew grudges. Her Fatal Flaw was holding them! And she just knew that the grudge the Goblin monarchs now held towards her and hers, burned brighter and hotter than the sun.
"Alkaid, here." Mana said suddenly, pulling the daughter of Hades from her worried ponderings.
Turning to the half-succubus, Alkaid just barely managed to catch the file that Mana tossed her. A file in a manila folder emblazoned with the Fowl family crest that consisted of a shield emblazoned with an owl and a money bag as well as a banner with Aurum Est Potestas (Gold is Power) printed on it.
"It's on you and your family." The bounty hunter told her as she finished rifling through the pockets of the dead assassin's pockets. Presumably as a prelude to taking it back to submit for the dead woman's bounty. With her head destroyed, that was the only way Mana would likely get her money. "Found it in one of McRemitz's spatially altered pockets."
"Son of a bitch." Alkaid scowled, reading the file with a quick glance. Artemis Fowl played us. He convinced the damn mob to hire McRemitz in hopes she'd get killed. But why?
Some thought provided her the answer she needed. McRemitz had proven a threat to her and that meant she was likely one to Fowl as well. And considering her ties to the Unseelie Court and ability to freely operate in the human world, as a descendant that was far removed from her fae ancestry, she was probably one of the means his enemies within said court used to pressure him.
Which means by sending her against me, he was using me to take care of a threat against his family.
On the one hand, Alkaid couldn't help but fume at being used like this by Fowl. For the second time, no less! On the other, he could not fault him for doing what needed to be done to protect his own. Besides, this was just how that eccentric fellow operated.
"Alkaid, what should we do now?" Michael asked through the earpiece in her ear, reminding Alkaid that they were still on an op.
"How are Peggy and Caelus?"
"Still unconscious." Helena informed her. "But we've fed them plenty of ambrosia and that healed their injuries. They just need some rest."
Alkaid breathed a sigh of relief and surveyed their surroundings, noting that the smithy they were here to wreck was thoroughly destroyed and the monsters who manned it were nothing but gold dust. At the same time, Mana was hoisting McRemitz's body onto her shoulders.
"So are we done here?" Micheal asked, rephrasing his earlier question,
"Yes, we're done here." Alkaid agreed, exchanging a look with Mana and receiving a nod to indicate she'd settle everything to do with McRemitz. "Let's head home."
"That's music to my ears, Al." Pyrrha said with a smile.
Done and done! Thanks to Nameless and Axios as always!
Nothing like good, quality family time, am I right? Just the wives and the girls trying to see if they can break a new shield. Reminds me of family gatherings! And then the Assassinos come on in and ruin it! Well, at least it wasn't at the house. Personally, I think in-verse that having an assassin after you shows 'Hey, you're a big deal!'. Gives that kind of energy, ya know?
Nameless: Hope you guys liked how we paid off the threat of Bazett that we've been building up for the last few chapters. (And as an aside, as we outlined in the chapter, attacking Alkaid at home is suicidal. Mina would stabbity stab her into oblivion if she tried it.) This will mark the end of the faerie's involvement in the Titanomachy for now as we move back to more familiar Hellenistic ground. Oh! They'll still make an appearance as we head into the climax of the war (considering they have so many reasons to hate Pyrrha and Alkaid now, why wouldn't they?) but we've got a visit to somewhere more familiar before then. ;)
And then there are the kill happy faes. Really, the fair folk just seem to have elements out to gut Alkaid and company, huh?
You know what to do! Smash that review button and tell us what you love! No flames and peace off my peeps! Hope you all had a good Turkey Day!
