All rights belong to Rick Riordan

Chapter 54

Two Can Play That Game

(Percy)

After a few minutes' walk we had arrived at the area which used to be dominated by Zeus's Fist, I noted the silver flag we were supposed to be defending standing proudly at the peak of the twin peak beside it. To be honest the new rock pile beside it was a more secure location to defend as the boulders were not weathered or battle damaged like Zeus's Fist, but instead freshly created stones placed there by Briares in his revenge killing of Kampẽ, which provided more cover as well as being harder to traverse for anyone who wasn't a satyr.

'Girls I want you to spread out among the rocks and use them for cover. The campers are generally about as subtle as raging Cyclops so whittle them down as they come towards us. Thalia you are on over watch from above, keep an eye out for your brother and his friends but don't attack them on your own. Perseus that is your job though I need you to concentrate on any aerial problems should they arise,also you need to deal with Nemea before we begin.' She outlined quickly as time was of the importance. Therefore I quickly did as she requested, reverting the lioness back to the size of a regular African lioness.

'Nemea I want you to make the campers lives a living hades before they get here, do everything you can to stop them but don't kill them at all costs. Do that and we will get you something good to eat.' Artemis explained as the lioness sat attentively, I thought I saw her eyes glaze over at the prospect of food before she released a loud roar in acknowledgement before running off in the direction of the woods.

'The rest of you spread out and cover the area; we may be outnumbered but show them we are not outmatched. Reyna, wait here a second the rest of you go.' she various other hunters ran off between or in a few cases over the boulder field as they searched for ambush positions, or in Thalia's case simply flew upwards several hundred feet where I could just about see her with bow in hand.

'Milady what is the matter?' Reyna asked nervously.

'I know what you plan on doing during the game; I don't plan on stopping you but understand this, whatever happens when the horn blows at the end of the game that is it. I understand you have resentment towards the daughter of Aphrodite and I recognize you need to deal with it but understand, if you carry on with this after tonight I would not be able to protect you from the consequences,and for hades sake do not kill her.'

'Yes Milady I understand and thank you for understanding, besides I have no intention of killing her where would the fun be in that? Percy can I have a lift to the frontline?' She asked turning towards me.

'Sure I guess, give me a minute I need to speak with Lady Artemis privately.' I replied and the demigod looked confused before shrugging and walking away between some stones.

'So what are you going to be doing?' I asked her as she had not mentioned her own plans for the game.

'Winning.' She replied simply with a smile.

'Fair enough, not that helpful but accurate I suppose.'

'Well it was easier than to say protecting your ass, but seriously remember you are not immortal at the moment so don't go doing any of your usual heroics. I would rather lose the game than lose you, besides I would have to go tell Hades to give you back.' She said worriedly before shifting to a smile.

'I think I could pull a Houdini and just break out anyway.'

'Yeah but you don't have the advantage of being a son of Hades, but I mean it don't die!The first time was bad enough.'

'I don't really want the consequences if I do so I will keep it in mind.' The look on her face of worry however made me want to kiss her but I was well aware of the hunter hovering a few hundred feet above us, which would have made things a little awkward if we were caught.

As it was, we stood there awkwardly until the sound of the horn snapped us back to reality and we silently parted, she leapt from boulder to boulder with unnatural agility and dexterity, while I got to play airmail and went to grab Reyna.

(Artemis)

To distract myself from worrying about Percy I charged straight towards the enemy lines which I could hear rapidly approaching, if the clattering of bronze was anything to go by which caused me to rapidly climb a tree just in time as a pair of demigods passed underneath right where I had been.

Drawing my hunting knives I followed the pair through the tree tops making sure there was no one else in sight, before dropping down onto the unsuspecting pair physically landing feet first on one before whipping a leg out at the others chest knocking them off their feet before snapping a blade to his throat before he could fumble for his lost blade.

'Dead.' I said clearly and I watched as the young demigod paled before nodding in affirmation. His counterpart meanwhile by the looks of things was out cold, 2 down 36 to go.

I was confident in the hunter's ability to defend the flag as well as Percy to support them; the problem was it left no one to attack the enemy. Sure we could wait for them to attack us and whittle the numbers down 1 by 1 but where was the fun in that? So that left me to do it on my own. It shouldn't be that hard to deal with a bunch of demigods but if I ran into them supported by one of the six, it would make things a lot more difficult.

Nevertheless I knew that in the woods I had the advantage, this was my domain and I would not be beaten in it. I thought as I drew my bow and began to creep through the seemingly empty forest as I searched for the objective.

The first I knew of the problems Percy was having, was when the roar of a great beast echoed throughout the valley.

(Percy)

Things had been going well after a short flight; I had dropped off Reyna who had disappeared amongst the undergrowth sword in hand before I returned to the sky just in time to catch the silhouette of a dragon barreling towards me. So that explained Frank's rather unarmored state. Why settle for swords and bows when you can turn into a 100ft long fire breathing armored scaled dragon.

Unfortunately for me the dragon noticed me at the same time, then again I was about as inconspicuous with almost a dozen glittering wings and the pair went off on a collision course with one another.

Just as we were about to enter melee range I noticed Frank's throat expanding, which was the only warning I got before a torrent of flames was blasted at me which I only narrowly avoided by folding my wings and dropping a few feet before flapping them again, rising just as the dragon passed above me with an angry roar.

Now that I was behind him I had the advantage, as I drew Riptide and flew towards the dragons back. The problem was if this was a normal monster I could just lop his head off and be on my way. However, in this case I was dealing with a 'friendly' game and the monster was actually a friend, which left my options limited to say the least. Nevertheless my advantage in aerial mobility allowed me to get up behind his back where his head could not turn and breathe fire. However just as I was planning on landing on Frank's back and forcing him to surrender, I noticed the bronze and gold armored figure on his back who was looking at me with a smirk before a bolt of lightning struck his blade and immediately redirected at me. Though I attempted to dodge the bolt it still struck my top 3 left hand wings and I lost all sensation in the trio, sure I could still fly as long as I had at least a pair, albeit rather badly it certainly put the pair on the advantage up here until I regained sensitivity.

Fortunately though I had one advantage Jason didn't know about, his sister. I noticed Thalia hovering a hundred feet of the dragons left side while the pair of gods were entirely focused on me, Frank slowly turned to the right oblivious to her, as he and his rider were looking at me and not towards the lightning summoning hunter. Just as Frank was about to make another strafing run the bolt struck his own wing, unlike me he didn't have spares and as he barreled out of control downwards, I noticed Jason leap of his back before Frank reverted back to a falling god.

'Not again!' The Canadian god shouted before turning into a flying fox at the last moment and gliding down safely to land. Right amongst the twins and Morganna who all took aim at the injured god who reverted back to human before raising his arms in surrender.

'Percy go help someone else, I need to do a bit of brother/sister bonding.' Thalia shouted before drawing her Orthrytic silver sword in her free hand while the other clutched her spear as she flew at Jason. I was glad for the respite, though the bolt had not been powerful it was still majorly disconcerting flying with only a fraction of my wings and it caused one side of me to pitch.

So while she fought her brother I chose to land temporarily so I could assess the damage, I found a quiet looking area in the shade of some trees.

Just as I was straightening up for the landing my wings all froze and I found myself suspended in mid-air. Initially I was confused by what was happening as no matter what, I could not get my wings to respond while the rest of me seemed fine and was fully functional except my right arm. However that served as the explanation, as I realized that it was anything composed of precious metals. My wings, Maelstroms watch form and if I had to take a guess my spear as well, which was still in my jacket.

'Very clever Hazel, you can show yourself now.' I shouted out and I was unsurprised to see a veil of shadows dissolve revealing the children of Hades/Pluto side by side.

'Hey Percy, how is it going up there?' Nico called out cheerfully.

'You know just hanging around.' I replied jokingly as I tried to think of a way around this ambush. Now I had known about this possibility beforehand and had planned to just make my wings vanish for a while. But for now of course I couldn't which left me totally within the goddess's power.

'Don't worry the three of us will keep you company, not as if you are going anywhere.' For a 15 year emo kid/god he could do one hell of an evil grin. I was about to question what he meant by three of them when Leo materialized next to Hazel, using an upgraded form of the chameleon armor Beckendorf had made for the pair of us.

Fortunately the fact I was held off the floor and the fact the goddess had no control over my left hand and Riptide that I rotated slowly threateningly served to keep the trio away. After all while I was subdued here there was little I could do, what was the point of attempting to defeat me further.

Nevertheless even if I did break free I would still have to deal with 3 gods, so things were not looking positive as I waited in captivity.

(Reyna)

I slowly rose from the underbrush as the last of the group of campers passed out of ear shot. None of them were the accursed Venus spawn, also there was more than I could realistically have taken on my own, besides they were secondary to my true target. That was not to say I was avoiding all confrontations as the six disqualified campers I had left in my wake were testament to, those who had got too close for me to remain undetected or had become merely cautious. For the thousandth time I questioned the sensibility of arraying the hunters in bright silver apparel.

I had been slowly making my way towards the 'enemy's' centerjudging that she would be thereafterall, unlike the rest of the six, she had no real combat advantage and a knife is little good against a barrage of arrows that she could expect if she tried to approach our flag. Even the son of Hephaestus had the advantage of being able to set himself on fire and use it as a weapon. All she had was honeyed words, courtesy of her mother which was why one of the first things I was planning on doing was ramming my fist down her throat and silencing her, I thought with a smile. I was just hoping I found her before Percy or Lady Artemis won the game.

I had no doubt that one of the pair would capture the camper's flag; after all they were possibly two of the greatest fighters I had seen. Percy had soloed the entire legion as nothing more than a demigod and that was scratching the surface of what he was capable now, Lady Artemis/Diana had actually beaten him before, even if she had sort of cheated and he had been holding back. Then there were all the stories of what Percy had done and who he had beaten, which only served to compound the fact that I was sure this would be easy for him.

The only individuals I could hear fighting were Thalia and Jason, which was pretty obvious due to the near constant sound of thunder and the flashes of lightning overhead which only the siblings were capable of.

I had just crept to the edge of a clearing where I noted an abundance of campers, when I guessed I had found the general location of the flag if the dozen or so demigods were any indication, however I was forced to dive into cover when I heard movement to my right as I dove into a hollow at the base of a tree.

'I am well aware Malcolm that anyone we send out against the hunters seems to either get mauled by that oversized house cat hiding between us and them, or gets shot with arrows courtesy of who I suspect is Lady Artemis. What exactly am I supposed to do about either of them? The only advantage we have is that your plan to subdue Percy worked, albeit by luck as Thalia managed to defeat Frank and by sheer chance Percy chose to land almost on top of Hazel. Other than that we still have a semi-indestructible monster, an Olympian and all the hunters still who seem to have no intention of leaving that damned boulder field.' I heard a female voice complain agitatedly before a pink armored boot became visible to my immediate left, barely visible through a gap in a tree root.

It was like all my missed Christmases had come at once! Not only had I found the Venus spawn she had practically told me the entire status of the game. It was good to hear that we were winning by 'kill/death ratio' even if Percy had managed to get trapped but then again it sounded like between them the rest of my team had knocked the campers down considerably.

'I know that Piper, but the fact of the matter is they have the best position to exploit their strengths and until they leave it or rather if they leave it, there is nothing we can do about them. You know how our attack worked out; out of the 18 campers we sent none even made it near. The six members of the flanking force were defeated by someone who knocked the lot out pair by pair, the Nemean Lioness and Artemis got the rest. We're all that is left and I can tell you that it doesn't need my mother's brains to tell you that we are screwed. They have one goddess we have 5 with Frank captured, so we are going to need your help if we are to stand a chance.' A male voice explained which I recognized as that of one of the sons of Athena who had stood in during the peace discussions after the war. After all Percy was missing, Annabeth was dead and the six were busy learning about their domains, which left me and the senior campers to plan the majority of it.

'Jason is stuck fighting Thalia which we did not plan on, Frank was supposed to get Percy captured then force the hunters out of their positions and Nico, Leo, and Hazel were supposed to capture him and force him to surrender but the fact is no one can get near him while he is still armed to the teeth.'

'More like wants to go near him; it is quite obvious that no one can beat Percy in CQC even half incapacitated, but even then why don't Leo and Nico come back now it is not as if Hazel needs a bodyguard especially not two gods.' Malcolm said sounding annoyed. Good because that meant that even subdued as he was Percy was still tying up half the opposition's main players.

'Would you want to be left alone with a Titan Lord? No I need you to come up with a plan to deal with that damned Lioness for starters, once it and Thalia are dealt with hopefully we can find a way to deal with the hunt.'

'Fine, give me a few minutes to see what I can come up with.' He replied before stomping of loudly clearly annoyed making me smile.

'Iris, show me Jason Grace' she said loudly as I slowly began to move around the tree, careful not to be seen or heard but mindful to look out and check she was alone, thankfully she seemed to be and she made it easier by focusing on a vision in front of her which I guessed was up close of what was happening above us, as I found myself practically spying over her shoulder.

The image consisted of Jason and Thalia in a mid-air blade lock, Jason dual-wielded Gladii while Thalia had her spear and sword in hand, with neither giving an inch as both crackled with electricity and were struck with further bolts which seemed to do nothing. I had been so entranced in the pair's fight I relaxed slightly, causing my foot to snap a branch underfoot and I was slow to react as the image instantly faded and the goddess turned around quickly. I meant to strike at her with the pommel of the sword I was holding when I was forced to stop.

'Stop!' She said simply the words laden with charmspeak and I found myself forced to obey the simple command, as I tried to break free and remember my training when I had first become a Praetor, it was a matter of course for senior members of the assembly to be taught to counter charmspeak, as rarely the gift surfaced amongst the children of Venus. Problem was I was not dealing with a simple demigod or legacy but a goddess.

'Well if I hadn't known, the Praetor is trying to play the hero still;you should know you never win at anything do you.' She said tauntingly drawing her dagger and holding it to my throat while I remained immobile because of her command. All I could feel was hatred, yes everything had gone downhill for me but as far as I was concerned she was the one thing I could take out my anger on.

'Oh well it is about time we chalked up a hunter on the captive list. De-' she said sarcastically only to be interrupted by an arrow striking the flat of the blade knocking it out of her hand, momentarily distracting her which was all I needed to snap her control over me and continue with what I had been doing in the first place, as my clenched fist made the rest of the journey towards her face striking it with a satisfying crunch before she fell to the floor.

I looked up to see Lady Artemis standing on the branch of a tree bow in hand, with a smile on her face.

'Milady thank you but they have Percy.'

'Well we can't have that then, I better go get him, have fun.' She said with a evil looking grin before she began to run along the lengths of the branches jumping or swinging from to another without touching the forest floor unless necessary until she was out of sight. I was tempted to question why she did not just go for the flag, after there were only few demigods between her and it but then again that would shorten my available time so I brushed it off as a gods send.

Speaking of which I turned back to the dazed goddess on the floor who was slowly breaking out of her disorientation, I took great pleasure in seeing the ichor dripping down her chin from her busted lips.

'Right then where was I, oh yeah winning bitch!' I said as menacingly as possible before striking her again, this time above her left eye stunning her again. However repeatedly punching her with my sword in hand was painful, to me.

Nevertheless it was something I had planned for as I dropped the blade in the mud next to the pair of us, reached into my pocket for the things I had spent a few hours rummaging through the armory for. I had no idea what the camp needed such a weapon for but I did not care as it would serve my purpose just fine.

The goddess managed a desperate look out of her one good eye that was not rapidly swelling taking a look at what I held before visibly gulping. This was going to be fun.

(Percy)

'So are we going to stand here all night, well you stand I guess I just get to float here. That's until Artemis kicks your side's ass at least. You really should reconsider having 3 gods to keep watch on one prisoner especially little old me.' I finished sarcastically as the last fifteen minutes had dragged on with the only source of amusement being the sibling grudge match above us which seemed to be a stalemate. Sure Jason was a god of a domain his sister was impervious to due to their father, it looked to have settled into a simple duel in the skies with a light show thrown in.

'Difference is though Percy we know what you are capable, you know you have the habit of doing the impossible. Like beating my father in his own domain, killing Giants and Primordial goddess's with little difficulty as well as generally being dumb enough to find a way that no one can think of to get out of trouble.' Nico said from his position in the shadows leaning against a tree.

'Oi less of the dumb stuff, I can be clever occasionally, besides technically I am the both of yours adoptive brother now or did Hades not tell you.'

'We know it was kind of hard to miss the fact you then pissed him off by shadow travelling out of the throne room, after doing said impossible feat of curing the insane. The fun bit is when my father rubs it in Zeus's face, I think it could be fun having you around a bit more, besides you were practically my big brother rather than cousin anyway.'

'What about you Hazel?' I called out to her and was as usual rewarded with silence as the goddess focused on the job in hand, holding me captive.

Leo meanwhile was wary of being anywhere near me after a somewhat botched attempt at forcing me to surrender, which resulted in me almost taking his head off when he tried to approach from my offhand side, because my right arm had been restrained due to Maelstroms watch form. Unfortunately for him though its sword form was bronze and steel which meant that is was still able to change forms and drop the blade giving me full use of my arms again. Sure I had the blade but I had not used it, which I had been quick to point out afterwards when Leo complained, besides the sword was still in its sheath which I hadn't used in almost a year as it normally remained as part of the watch strap on my arm regardless.

I had also used this opportunity to throw one of Chasing Wisdom's throwing knife forms at Hazel,however the blade had stopped in mid-air due to its Imperial Gold percentage before Leo had grabbed it and started analyzing the blade. I could have attempted to use my bow but for the simple fact it would have been embarrassing and a complete failure on my part. I could barely, if at all hit a target while on solid ground with a goddess of archery instructing me let alone in mid-air with my back immobile.

To be honest I was glad they had not got the same idea and started firing at me, sure I had my shield but I couldn't hope to cover my whole body with it.

In the distance was the sound of a Lioness roaring causing me to smile while Nico cringed at the sounds.

'How many is that now 9? You guys must be running out of campers soon.' I said cheerfully.

'11 actually you missed the first 2 when you were fighting Frank and Jason.' Nico replied honestly.

'It's not fair, I would have asked for automatons if I had known about that Nemea being allowed to play.' Leo complained.

'First of all though you didn't so unlucky Leo, second of all Nemea is part of the hunt as much as I am.' I stated. Though she wasn't secretly dating the hunt's goddess I thought with a quick grin until I remembered the fact of how embarrassing this was going to be to explain afterwards. Which left me with solution to avoid utter embarrassment; Escape….the problem was how to do it.

I had Riptide, my spear, shield and a dagger (and a bow), was trapped in mid-air and held by the goddess of precious metals, god of fire and machinery and king of ghosts. Not to mention I could not use anything with a gold or silver component to it so that eliminated my other dagger and my spear.

However, as I thought about it I realized something, albeit a long shot it might just work if I was lucky. The problem was igniting the flames so to speak.

'Hey Leo catch.' I shouted causing him to look up from his inspection of my blade only to catch sight of the larger bronze one flying towards his head which he narrowly avoided having his head taken off by for the second time today, though it did earn him a nasty slash to the cheek. Fortunately for me though it had the desired effect, pissing him off as he looked at me murderously and I noticed flames passing across his tousled hair.

The problem was if this didn't work I was screwed as I had just thrown away my only still usable weapon until it returned.

The annoyed god though had taken notice of my now unarmed state and was rapidly closing in on me, the ever present playful look in his eyes replaced with anger and determination as he hefted a bronze hammer as if to bash my head in with it.

'Leo if you want to hurt me, you need to get a real weapon.' I taunted watching him turn a delightful shade of crimson.

'I don't need a weapon when I can do this.' He replied before he and the weapon he was holding burst into flames as such that I could feel the heat from several meters away. However, it was the signal I had been waiting for, so as soon as it did so I reached into my coat and grabbed my spear, extending it to its true form and hoping to hades that this worked.

(Artemis)

I arrived at the clearing where I vaguely sensed several immortals were present and came upon the scene of a suspended Percy about to get toasted by an angry looking flaming Latino. However, just as he looked to attack Percy, his spear appeared in his hand rapidly extending from its smaller form until he was holding a blazing spear as well. However as soon as he did so, it seemed as if the weapon became immobilized as he seemed unable to move it as did the son of Hephaestus, who had also paused on inches away from Percy with the flames surrounding him flickering between dying and blazing back to life erratically.

'Leo stop whatever you are doing, he is trying to provoke you.' Nico shouted at his fellow god who seemed to ignore him.

'I'm sorry but Leo is not at home at the moment if you would like to leave a message after the tone.' Percy said feigning a mortal answering machine before lifting his head and facing the other two gods; I could just see the corner of his eye left eye and saw it had turned completely gold. I could see Nico's face turn from one of annoyance to genuine worry and to be honest I couldn't blame him. I had no idea what Percy had done to immobilize the god of fire but it was clearly working as the god was still not moving.

'Percy what have you done to Leo?' Nico asked nervously pointing his sword at my suspended boyfriend.

'Gave him a taste of what Hazel is doing to me, you see if she wants to try and control parts of my body, I can do the same to Leo. You see he is currently on fire which creates light does it not? And guess who is Lord of Light, oh yeah me. Now if you put that together you can work out what is happening' he explained sounding menacing. I watched as the captive god turned towards the siblings before bursting into green flames as if he was coated in Greek fire.

'Right then two options, Hazel release me or I am forced to use Leo against his will, I would rather not use a friend like this but I am not losing this game.' He said narrowing his eyes in her direction.

The goddess made no response though I saw the spear jerk erratically and guessed she was trying to disarm him and remove his control via the weapon, however it remained firmly in his hand.

'Hazel wrong answer, this is a symbol of power you cannot merely summon it out of my hand, you should know that.' He chastised before Leo took a step forward towards her, I watched as the grass around him rapidly browned, caught light and burned into ashes. If it was possible for a child of Hades to turn any paler Nico did, nevertheless he stood between the living inferno and his sister who stopped just in front of him.

'Nico you know as much as I do, that your main advantage is summoning the dead, there are no bodies in the camp are there? You used them all in the battle of the Labyrinth and don't even think about summoning those who have died since. Step aside.' Percy commanded coldly, I realized that he was back in his battle state which seemed almost a complete different person as much as a separate aspect though there was clearly no physical change.

I also realized what he meant by the threat about those who had died since here which consisted of all my lost hunters, I would not forgive the god if he summoned them. To my horror though I saw a skeletal hand rise out of the earth, I was ready to shoot him there and then for his desecration before I recognized the patched blond hair of someone I wished I could kill a hundred more times.

(Percy)

The semi-skeletal corpse that rose out of the ground in front of Nico a few feet in front of Leo was heavily damaged but then it was not surprising considering the state I had left him before his death. Were it not for the signs of decay Octavian had not changed much, he was still just as skinny and pale but now the bones in his face seemed to have finally broken through his flesh here and there.

'Nico I will let you have this one but it will not help.' I spoke firmly as I forced Leo to grab the corpse by its neck as I watched as the green flames the god was giving off enveloped the dead Augur from head to toe. I took pleasure in watching the remaining flesh burn off his skeleton before that too gave way before the intensity of the inferno it was in.

All that was left after a few more seconds was a few piece of blackened bone and a circle of charred earth.

'Step aside and surrender, release me Hazel! You two are outmatched besides Lady Artemis is just behind you if you did not know.' I stated well aware she had been there for the last 2 minutes since I took control of Leo. Hazel seemed to hesitate judging by the fact I fell a few inches and was only a few more now off the ground.

Artemis slowly walked out of the tree line, bow at the ready as she aimed at Nico before the god slowly nodded his head in affirmation before his Stygian iron blade fell out of his hand impaling itself in the earth.

'I surrender, Hazel release him it is three vs. two now. He used our own trap against us' Nico commanded sounding almost amused by the fact as he said it. She did not reply but nevertheless I found myself dropping the last 8 inches to the scorched earth.

'I yield.' She stated simply before flashing out of the woods.

'What about Leo?' Nico questioned.

'He has become an honorary member of the hunt for the rest of the game.' I said with a grin before he smiled a little and flashed out himself rather than shadow travel, as there were no shadows because of the light being given off by the spear and the pseudo possessed god.

'Percy calm down and release him, he is defeated as well.' Artemis asked softly causing my focus to drop a little.

'He could be useful.'

'He is also your friend or have you forgotten that, besides I don't want him having anything to do with my hunt one male is enough.' She explained going from serious to joking in one sentence.

'Fine but if we find ourselves needing a human flamethrower in future, it will be your fault.' I said jokingly as I let myself relax and drop the control I had over the god whose flames slowly dimmed before dying completely, leaving a befuddled god who suddenly took a blunted arrow to the forehead and was knocked out instantly.

'Dead.' Artemis said with a playful laugh.

'You were waiting to do that weren't you?' I said raising an eyebrow at her.

'God he is so annoying, besides the last time we were here before you became our guardian, he confused me for a hunter and tried to flirt with me. He was lucky I didn't neuter him at the time.'

'Wow got to give him credit for trying though, why didn't you though?'

'Because his panicked apologies were hilarious for the hunters to watch, I let them vote on what to do to him. He got off with a lightning bolt from Thalia. They needed something to cheer them up at the time.'

'Yeah that sucks enough.' I replied remembering my own electro-shock therapy today as I slowly flexed my wings relieved to have feeling and control of them again.

'So that is four out of the six down then.' I stated once I folded them behind me.

'Five.'

'Reyna?' I asked raising an eyebrow.

'With a bit of help…'

'That's cheating she could have done it on her own.'

'Your right but then I don't play fair and I would have missed getting to see you turn PyroPossessive and creating crispy Augur zombie. Besides clearly you needed help.'

'I had it under control.' I defended.

'You got lucky, again. You didn't know that would work did you?You're just lucky that Light supersedes Fire in power as a domain.'

'You say luck I say skill.' I stated proudly only to get punched in the arm which did absolutely nothing to me.

'I can't wait till that has worn off again.' Artemis said irritated as she held her hand before shaking it off.

'So who is left on their team?'

'A few campers at most, I am sure you have noticed Nemea has been having great fun. Thalia's brother and that is about it. As far as I am aware the hunters are still fine.'

'So we're at full strength and they are pretty much screwed?' I summarized.

'Yeah, Make that six by the way.' Artemis replied looking upwards causing me to follow her vision as I noticed the two falling figures that had evidently defeated each other.

'Catch them and we can deal with the rest.'

(Artemis)

After a short flight Percy returned carrying the siblings, both of whom seemed to be exhausted and barely conscious. Though I was proud to see Thalia was in a much better state than her godly brother, who had multiple guts to his exposed arms and a slash across his cheek that were all slowly flowing Ichor

After a quick message to Nico to collect the wounded gods and also take my triumphant lieutenant who was barely able to stand let alone participate further. I found myself alone with Percy who had taken the intermission to retrieve his weaponry from where he had dropped or thrown it.

He was just standing up from having retrieved Maelstrom when I surprised him by kissing him catching him completely off guard, nevertheless once the confusion passed the blade soon found itself back on the floor as he brought his arms around my waist.

Eventually though I remembered the fact of where exactly we were and hurriedly but regretfully broke away from him. Sure I still had doubts about what my Roman aspect had got me into, but it was by now undoubted that I had feelings for him despite his serious issues but then I was not one to talk. Besides he was an amazing kisser. Though admittedly I had no basis for comparison.

'Well that was unexpected.' He said blinking several times.

'You're welcome. Now come on we have a game to win.' I said

'Wait what if someone had seen us?'

'Then it would have been the last thing they would have seen. Now come on.' I said turning to leave only to find myself looking straight at a golden furred face.

'Err. Hi Nemea…' Percy said nervously and I had to agree I hadn't heard the Lioness approach.

As I looked at the Lioness I noticed the rather sorry state of her fur coat. It was tangled in places with everything from sticks and leaves in it to arrow shafts, even a spear head lodged between the pads of her feet. However the monster seemed completely oblivious of this as she stared at me us intensely.

'Percy why is she staring, surely she doesn't understand about us right?' I asked nervously.

'No I know this look, it is the Nemea you promised me food if I did something, now pay up look. Everything else becomes secondary to her stomach.' He explained and I had to feel relieved, the last thing I needed was a monster to give our relationship away.

'Nemea you like sushi?' I asked her as I tried a variation of summoning an animal by combining my domains.

I closed my eyes as I focused on summoning some Salmon wondering if it would work as usual. The first I knew that it had was the racket that followed.

'Milord, Milady, Milady, Milord, Milady….' The small school of floundering Yellowfin Tuna cried out and I realized why Percy had once mentioned his fish tank at Orthrys was soundproof. Thankfully several seconds later these fish found a soundproof home of their own, the inside of a hungry Lioness stomach.

'See what we mean about fish, gods they are annoying.' Percy said eyeing the Lioness who was licking her lips appreciatively before laying down and curling up and resting, I couldn't blame her as I brushed some undergrowth from her fur.

'Now that is taken care of let's end this. It is getting dark and I am running out of time.' I said taking note of the setting sun.

'Can't you just separate and one of you stay here?' I could but unless you want to stay here on your own again tonight you better get moving on winning this.' I said before pecking him on the cheek and running past him in the direction of the campers' flag.

I had only made it to the edge of the clearing when I noticed him fly overhead, cheater.

(Percy)

I had the simple advantage of speed over Artemis as she could not flash while I could fly up to several hundred miles per hour if I really tried. That's the advantage of divinity over scientific fact and theory.

As such, even though I actually didn't initially know where the camper's flag was, Artemis's direction had suggested the correct direction and I simply kept going. Before long I could detect the last few remaining campers all gathered in a circle approximately 20m in diameter. It was amusing to think that out of over 44 gods and demigods there were now just 7 demigods left in a last stand of sorts. They were all looking in every direction except two, below their feet and up above which I used to my advantage as I dropped down between all of them.

I took great pleasure in attacking the closest one to me who I recognized as a rather beat up Clarisse,she was sporting a nasty trio of claw marks down her armor and her left arm in a makeshift sling. Despite my unexpected arrival she was still fast enough to react and thrust with her spear at my abdomen, I reached out and grabbed the incoming weapon with both hands though it still had enough strength behind it to make contact with my body,however it bounced off with no effect giving me the chance to flick my wrists and snap the shaft which splintered to the sound of an electrical discharge though I remained unaffected, I suppose a minor electric shock is nothing compared to a lightning bolt.

Clarisse was still looking at her yet again broken spear, when I swung the end I held at her head making a solid contact and I watched her eyes roll back as she collapsed.

I did not recognize the poorly equipped camper to her left but that did not stop me throwing the truncated weapon as an oversized throwing knife which clattered off their shield with enough force to make them stumble before I closed the gap and simply punched them in their helmeted face and they too collapsed.

I was about to make a move against the next pair of campers who I guessed were some of Apollo's kids by the bows they carried when the pair were both simultaneously struck from behind by blunt arrows and dropped to the dirt.

This then left the final three who were by now very well aware of my presence. I actually recognized all three as Malcolm and two of his and Annabeth's younger siblings. All were arrayed in bronze armor and shields with spears.

'Come on Malcolm games over.' I said gesturing around with open arms at the fallen campers.

'True, victory is impossible now, if it ever actually was. How you managed to escape three gods I don't know, it should have been fool proof.' He said shaking his head in disbelief at the failure of what I guessed was his own plan.

'The problem was you trapped a fool.' Artemis remarked from behind me.

'Thanks for that milady.' I quipped.

'Nevertheless, I think we can do that fine Spartan tradition of fighting to the last man still.' Malcolm stated before dropping his spear confusing me, though that was soon replaced by fear as I saw what he had been hiding behind his shield. After all I knew full well what it was capable off; I had been the one to test it after Annabeth designed it as a prototype based on her dad's earlier idea.

Annabeth had deemed it a failure but proof of concept. Yet even so it was still an extremely deadly weapon and it was aimed directly at me as I found myself staring down the barrel of a Celestial Bronze Mossberg 500.

'If we can't beat you then, we can always try getting you disqualified Percy. Dodge this.' Malcolm said before pulling the trigger only for the rear of the weapon to explode in his face with enough force to knock his siblings of their feet as well. I slowly looked down at the trio before noticing the undamaged barrel of the shotgun with the silver arrow that had detonated it still poking out the end, and I turned to look at Artemis who had a smile on her face.

'Athena always has a plan right, well that one sucked.' I remarked though I had to admit it was clever, after all if I had used my power of time to dodge it, it would have been grounds to disqualify us though the risk of blowing my head off should have been enough of a deterrent. Then again I could have just flipped my wings forward and deflected the blast which I had been about to do as soon as he produced the scattergun. So it would have been futile in any event.

'I don't know some women might have enjoyed the sight of you getting shot in the face.' Artemis said walking past me and grabbing the flag that was now sporting several holes in it courtesy of shrapnel before it changed to a silver one bearing a stag and a golden Lioness running rampant back to back on it.

'How the hades did she work her way onto there?' I questioned as the conch horn sounded signaling the end of the game.

'Well Milady I don't think I have ever seen us lose this badly, which has to be a record.' Chiron remarked glumly looking round at the scene of devastation back where I had been captured. We had left the campers former base to allow the few still actually able to left of the Apollo campers to treat Clarisse, Malcolm and co. Even then they were still generally sporting bandages of their own.

'Did you expect anything less?' Artemis added. The goddess had been forced to separate aspects after the game not that anyone else was aware of it, but it could not be helped besides we could rectify it after everything was sorted here.

'One question though does either of you know where Piper is as she has not been seen since the middle of the game?' He asked sounding slightly worried.

'I saw her briefly but I have no idea where she is now, do you Perseus?' Artemis asked me and I saw the slight grin on her face.

'No I spent most of the game in the company of Nico, Hazel and Leo right here.' Evidence of the last one was everywhere around us as most of the clearing had been scorched away.

'So the few bits of scorched bone aren't her then, that's good. I am sure she will turn up eventually.' He said looking away from what had been once been the murderous Augur turned zombie inferno.

'I will have to ask the hunters if they have seen her.' Artemis replied and I had to practically restrain myself from laughing at how coolly she was playing this, though I had to admit it was slightly worrying what Reyna could have got up to in the time she had, especially if no one had seen either since.

'Thank you Milady but I most get going, there is a larger number than normal of injured campers, so may I suggest next time Nemea does not play, it makes things a bit one-sided.' He remarked causing the lioness to lift her head and look at him before she relaxed again and returned to grooming herself.

'We will consider it next time, though I must agree that I need to check on the hunters.' She said effectively ending the conversation and I watched as the Centaur gave a small smile, bent forward slightly before galloping off in the direction of the dining pavilion which was acting as emergency Triage for the injured campers.

'Reyna you can come out now.' Artemis shouted leaning around my shoulder and looking behind me, I was surprised I had not sensed her, though not as much as I was when I caught sight of her.

Considering that the majority of her clothes were silver with some bits of gold where her armor was visible and a purple inside of her cape. Now however Gold was by far the most predominant color on her clothes and her skin and it wasn't dye.

'Reyna we said not to kill her.' I said simply.

'I didn't, but god my hand hurts.' She complained proudly and the pair of us looked down at said appendage and what lay in it.

'Reyna first of all good but where the hades is she and second of all where did you get a bronze knuckleduster?' I asked in disbelief at recognising the implement.

'Don't worry about her she will wake up at some point, I stuck some ambrosia in her mouth when the horn blew, as for this I found it in the armory behind some boxes and thought it could be useful, it served its purpose well though I may have broken it.' She explained before tossing it to me and I noted the Ichor encrusting the metal as well the crack in it.

'May I point out you scare the shit out of me a lot more than most monsters and abominations.' I conceded truthfully causing her to smile.

'So do you feel better now, because it is over now?' Artemis said.

'I will do, now with your permission Milady I think I need to hit the showers and wash this off.' Reyna asked wiping her uninjured hand across her forehead leaving a line of Ichor across the hunters face.

'It would be a good idea and may I suggest a change of clothes. Perseus can restore them afterwards.' Artemis instructed and I had to admit that they were pretty much beyond normal cleaning methods.

'Glad to play the part of the human washing machine was exactly how I planned on celebrating.' I said sarcastically though the pair did smile in response.

'All you did for most of the game was pun intended hang around a lot. Just because you chipped in at the end doesn't mean you get to celebrate with us.' Artemis mocked teasingly.

'Such appreciation for my abilities. Oh just to make you feel a little better Reyna I disposed of the rest of your pesky Augur earlier.' I said changing the subject randomly before hooking my thumb at the scorched ground behind me.

Reyna looked initially confused before a grin graced her face.

'Unfortunately I was busy at the time otherwise I would have come to watch whatever was left of him burn. Anyway I have to go I think her Ichor is scented with perfume or something.' Reyna said wrinkling her nose before bowing to us and running off towards the cabins.

'You know she seriously does worry me sometimes.' I said watching her go.

'Don't worry about it, I almost wish she was a Greek. Besides she has been through a lot.'

'I meant the fact the fact she turns up coated in essentially blood and laughs it off. Though seriously, we still have no idea where the hades Piper is.'

'She will turn up at some point, I have been trying to get rid of her mother for millennia, and I have a feeling she will equally as resistant. So stop worrying about her. After all there is only one woman you should be worried about. Now let's get back to the hunters and check on them so we get out of here.'

'Awfully possessive there Artemis, people may get the wrong idea about us. Besides does this mean I am out of the doghouse from last night?'

'Shut up you idiot of course you are besides look what happens when I leave you alone for a few hours. I am keeping you close to hand. Now let's go.' She stated before grasping my hand and flashing us back to the cabin and the triumphal hunters.

AN. First of all I hope that did not disappoint you all considering how long I have been hinting towards the game.

Second I want to address what I mentioned in my last Authors note regarding Everlasting Promises as a lot of people complained about my opinion. I love that story it is the reason I even got the inspiration to write this, it set the bar and was something I wanted to beat one day and I admit I don't think I am there yet. Starblade is better at putting the emotion into his characters than I am. my only problem with the story as a whole is Percy being over powered like every chaos story and the events of the recent chapters. no one wants aliens and other planets in a Percy Jackson book, Mythology is great enough you don't need to throw in star wars. The other issue is the need to create enemies more and more powerful as well as obscure. by the current point in the story the Olympians with the exception of Artemis are little more than Gnats compared to Percy and Co.

There you go end of discussion on the matter that is my thoughts, if you have any thoughts to the contrary message me. Reviews are for thoughts on this story not my choice in personal literature.

Back to TOTH. Yes I did not make Percy curb stomp the entire enemy team on his own and in fact he did very little for most of it. the vast majority was done by the girls (Artemis, Thalia, Reyna and Nemea) while he was incapacitated. I also did not have him unnecessarily injuring the gods for the most part except perhaps Leo but I had that event planned for months though the circumstances changed when I wrote this. Originally Percy-possessed Leo would have been used to burn the campers out of their positions but I did not like the fact it would have destroyed large chunks of the forest. He is supposed to be caring about nature.

I also brought back the briefly mentioned Shottie from TLH. it seemed like an excellent weapon and I have wanted to see it resurface for ages. sure I put an autoloading cannon from an Abrams tank on the Argo II but sometimes you cant beat a boomstick, except with an arrow perhaps.

Anyway thanks for being patient waiting for this I hope you read and Review