All Rights Belong to Rick Riordan
Chapter 95
Chaos
(Thalia)
'In position Lady Artemis.' Reyna said into the headset radio all of us hunters were now wearing courtesy of Minerva. I had to hand it to the goddess of Warfare, she thought of all the minor details we usually didn't, like keeping in contact with each other. Normally we would have just broke in killed everything and gone on our way. As it was the two of us and Phoebe were waiting around the corner of a small building not far from the southernmost wall of the Lotus Casino.
The problem was that unlike every other Casino on the strip, this one did not have to conform to convenient mortal health and safety principles and as such the only way in and out, was the front entrance and both goddesses had decided that was not somewhere we wanted to go. Much to us hunter's thankfulness and Tania's annoyance. It had been a opted suggestion by myself and Phoebe to allow her to go ahead and try but Artemis had vetoed it.
So as it was we were winging it by making entrances throughout the building using an improvised Kill Sat composed of the Moon Chariot, Artemis's unnatural skill at Archery and a Bow of Mass Destruction.
Subtlety was well out of the window though because to the local mortals, Las Vegas was about to get an unplanned meteor shower. If I was a bit more caring I might have felt sorry for the ass kicking NASA was about to receive for not seeing this coming.
Though as much as I trusted the goddess's aim I was still acutely aware I was at ground zero for what was about to happen and if I claimed I was not nervous... Well I would be lying.
After all we were about to break into the domain of someone who could capture the most powerful person I knew, trying to rescue said idiot whilst simultaneously trying to save all of the mortals who were likewise trapped here by an enchantment. All the while avoiding an enemy that could swat us without effort and who the gods were themselves scared of offending lest he simultaneously kicked all their asses.
The irony of us being just fourteen teenage girls, an oversized cat and a single goddess with another as support trying to secure a fourteen storey building did not escape me either.
"East side ready Milady." Zoe's voice came through the ear piece in my right ear. Despite finally being able to speak English properly since her rebirth, she had still managed to break the first radio she had been given due to her poor grasp of modern technology and a little too much grip.
"Idiot Rescue ready over here too." Tania added sarcastically and I was waiting for the inevitable retort from Artemis but to my surprise she kept quiet.
"Lobby is clear, Now would be a very good time to start." Minerva answered finally which signalled the beginning of the end of the Lotus Hotel and Casino as thousands of miles above us a 'young' woman with a very big bow leant out of the back of her chariot and took aim.
"Good Luck to you all and… Thank you." Artemis said sombrely to us all her voice relayed via a Iris message next to a base radio due to her being out of 'service range'. Before a sonic boom above us gave us all the warning we needed to get into what little cover there was available to each of us as a arrow as tall as me impacted with the neon lotus above the entrance and wiped it out of existence and alongside everything within thirty feet and just as deep.
The resultant shockwave was enough to shatter the windows on every hotel for a dozen blocks which while a problem for the owners and guests was not our immediate concern as those of close to the blast had to shield ourselves from the falling shards. Something that conveniently me and Reyna had no problem with due to having well...Shields. Though the greater size of Reyna's allowed her to cover Phoebe as well.
Once the initial shock had worn off and the ringing subsided I could make out the sound of screaming coming from the strip as well as what sounded like every car and building alarm in Nevada.
"You ok?" I asked my companions who likewise were getting over the barrage and slowly nodded in affirmation.
"Phase two... firing..." A pair of similar voices said in symphony as the next step in the barrage began. For the next minute all that could be seen was bolts of light appearing in the dust filled sky before smaller explosions and tremors rocked the ground beneath us. In those sixty seconds ninety arrows fired by two goddesses reduced the once proud casino into a ruin as the side wall were brought to the ground.
Conveniently providing us with a handy access ramp to the upper floors.
"Phase two complete... Good luck." One of the two aspects (likely Minerva, She was admittedly friendlier) told us and I was off scurrying up the rubble ramp followed by Reyna and Phoebe before eventually winding up in a fourth floor bedroom.
All of the normal lighting was off whether due the strike or because of the ungodly hour at this time in the morning was irrelevant. Thankfully the perks of being a moon goddesses servant included enhanced night vision which while not perfect still meant we could clearly see the layout of the room.
"Were in." I announced before leading the three of us to the exit door and into the hallway outside which thankfully still had emergency lighting.
"Likewise."
"We are too unfortunately, you know we could just leav..." Tania never got to finish as another shock impacted the building.
"Tania shut the fuck up and do your job." Atlanta shrieked from within Zoe's squad. The fact the normally calm daughter of Apollo was on edge was a sign that the stress of this mission was affecting even the oldest of the hunters.
"Can we change teams?" Erika asked from within the offender's squad. Unbeknownst to me the goddess had removed the room next to their squad's position from the floor plan. Alongside everyone above and below.
"Shut up arguing and do as we planned. The point of Shock and Awe is surprise and timing." Minerva stated aggressively.
"Sorry Milady." A certain daughter of Ares's voice answered finally in a nervous tone.
"Proceeding as planned." Reyna said from next to me and I had to agree and focus. If we did not rescue the idiot how was I supposed to kick his ass? I thought to myself as I smashed the first door down and checked inside for occupants as Reyna and Phoebe did the same for the next pair of doors along the corridor.
(Minerva)
Everything was proceeding according to plan, with the exception of an ignorant niece of my Greek side who was apparently too stupid to live. Then again that was an unfortunate hereditary trait from that side of the family.
"So that was your bow on its weakest setting. I have to say I am impressed." I told the figure of Artemis in the Iris message to my left in the spray of a casino fountain. After the barrage the two aspects were once again in one body and wielding the great bow version of their weapon. The Casino in front of me looked like it had been in the middle of an artillery barrage and like it was ready to collapse at any moment. Fortunately I had all the experience as goddess of Architecture to know all the places we could destroy without bringing the structure to the ground and had planned as such.
"I am not here to impress you, sister. It is time for you to play your part in the plan." Artemis said coldly turning towards me via the Iris message and looking at me with cold silver eyes. Her face betrayed no emotions as she concentrated on the situation.
"Patience sister, we need to give the hunters a chance to begin before I go in and knock what is left of the front door down. Those inside have only several ways out and that is going to be the first they head for. We do not want to catch them in the crossfire." I told her and sure enough as soon as I was finished the first terrified individuals fled out the entrance.
"Just do as we discussed and get me an opening, then I can put an arrow up his ass."
"Perseus or Chronos?"
"Either/or." She said simply before turning around and looking back over the rear of the chariot. Resting the base of the lower limb of her bow against the chariot floor and drawing a javelin sized arrow halfway taut.
"You had better hope this goes according to your plan." Athena said bitterly from inside my head as I picked up Aegis and wrapped it around my left forearm and grabbing the spear beside it in my right hand.
"We planned for everything." I replied turning around and slowly making my way across the now deserted strip keeping an eye on the ruined hotel entrance in front of me and the few stragglers still milling around.
"No plan survives contact with the enemy." 'Great now she is quoting military excerpts to me.'
"When did you turn into such a pessimist?" I told her mockingly leaping onto and over a crashed station wagon. The doors still ajar as the driver had fled alongside all the others.
"When you started planning battles. You should stick to what you know, like weaving."
"Or being a self righteous bitch in your case." I muttered aloud through clenched teeth.
"Will you both focus on the task at hand and stop bickering!" Annabeth cut in commandingly and sure enough I felt her presence in my thoughts die down as she went and sulked in my sub-consciousness somewhere.
Skirting around the crater where the neon lotus used to be, I slowly edged towards the lobby entrance Aegis between me and the doorway where a single door hung limply on one hinge. The others likely blown inside by the concussive blast of the arrow.
"Top floor clear." A hunter announced in my ear.
'Everything is going to plan see.' I thought to my 'companions' moving into the doorway ready for whatever was inside. Only to nearly gore a hapless mortal in flared leopard pattern pants who was running in the opposite direction and instead collided head first with the face of Aegis and was knocked out cold as I simply sighed. The mortals attire reminded me of Dionysius with the exception he lacked the tell tale aroma of alcohol, something several decades of abstinence had not been able to clear.
"Sure it is." Athena mocked.
"Nemea." I called into the communicator and sure enough the ridiculous sight of a grown lioness with a pair of earphones selotaped over her head appeared in front of me within moments out of the shadows and looked up at me sceptically.
"Get him out of here and then come back, Ok?" I told her firmly as she looked at me with what I was sure was a sceptical look.
"You'll get fed." I promised indignantly and sure enough the feline immediately placed a golden paw on the mortal's chest and then they were both consumed in shadows.
"Does anyone else see the irony of using a known man-eating monster to conduct search-and-rescue?" Athena commented and I had to agree that it was ridiculous to consider but it seemed to actually be working…as long as she did not eat the guy after dropping him off.
"Come on already and get inside." Annabeth commented and I took the prompt and push my way inside the bombed out lobby the force of the blast outside having blown everything against the back wall.
Fortunately from what I could see there was no evidence of anyone being trapped in the debris piles. However nor was there any evidence of the threat that lurked inside these walls which was a cause for relief as well as concern as it brought up the question of where was the Primordial lurking? Neither me nor Artemis wanted the hunter's to come into conflict with the Chronos because of how laughably unbalanced any fight between the two forces would be. Even with the emergency weapons we had provided them with we had no idea how effective they would be on a target of that calibre.
I had no doubts of the hunter's effectiveness against monsters or their fellow demigods, the results spoke for themselves after all, but we were arrayed against a personification of fundamental nature. I did not want to be here myself; I could only guess what some of them were going through. The Senior ones had an idea of what battles could be like against overwhelming forces but that was one sided numerically, in this case we outnumbered the enemy but he was more powerful than all of us combined.
"I know now is not the time but why have the gods managed to piss off every Primordial?" Annabeth asked nervously as I stepped over a fallen shattered games machine.
"Lord Zeus…"
"Can be an arrogant ass when it comes to beings more powerful than him, those he does not have to deal with he ignores. As proven with Perseus, he only backed down on that occasion because Poseidon and/or Hades would have torn his head off otherwise. Not to mention what Artemis would have done when she got over the initial shock." I said cutting her off before she got going with the whole 'Father is not to be questioned speech.' My opinion of Jupiter was not the same as my counterparts, I had appealed to him numerous times in the early days of Rome to find the Parthenos from wherever they had hidden it and fallen on death ears.
"You would dare…"She began only for the whole building to shake as what felt like a heavy impact Struck seemingly above us, as if to make the situation more precarious a column a few feet away was sheared in half causing the ceiling span above us to groan.
"Artemis please tell me that was you." I asked nervously backing away from the weakened area as cracks began to web the ceiling.
"What was?" Her voice asked curiously in my ear.
"Nevermin…" I began to reply as the ceiling above me shattered completely and something heavy fell on me from above, clattering against my helmet and my vision went dark.
(Percy)
I was in some sort of nightmare, I was sure of it because the sight in front of me was too horrifying to comprehend. However no matter how much I rubbed my eyes the sight did not get any better.
It had all started with a simple phrase. 'I am Legion.' Now I am no expert on the Bible for obvious reasons but I recognised the quote from a game I played a few years back. It referred to a being who was numerous consciousness's simultaneously in one body. Which when you are talking about an AI program it sounds feasible and kind of cool.
What is not cool is having it be your own body and more specifically in my head. One other voice is bad enough to deal with, seven…That was a nightmare. Of course the voices had then had enough of shouting over one another and me and did something that was both a blessing and the cause for my current misery. They had proverbially escaped the confines of my head… and started arguing with each other in the flesh.
I never thought I would ever miss Perseus but the truth was I would happily take him over seven fragments of Perseus which the being all around me undoubtedly were. Well six of them were clearly him the seventh was fast asleep in the corner completely oblivious to the squabble around him with a pair of wings wrapped around him as a blanket.
Of course they were for the most part identical to each other and by extension me. But they all had defects that highlighted the fact they were not a complete version. Compared to me they all had less wings, if they had them at all that was or suffered different colour eyes. Or in one case the difference was a lot more obvious though sadly still recognisable as I observed the slender form of 'Persee'. Who was harassing her counterparts far to suggestively for any of there liking and I had to agree actually looking at what I looked like in that form, it was extremely worrying.
She/He/It sure enough was a blend of myself and Artemis/Diana's form, though with a heavier emphasis on the girl's but even so I had to agree begrudgingly I looked good as a girl.
Sadly I was not the only one observing the chaotic scene in front of me as the Primordial seemed stunned by the scene in front of him as well. Clearly mentally torturing my counterpart into numerous individuals was not part of his plan, a gibbering wreck probably was. Give it time and they would probably managed to drive me into insanity.
For once in my life I had probably worked out what had happened faster than anyone else.
After all Perseus was the result of a plethora of aggressive spirits attacking a young impressionable version of my own consciousness, so even after removing the influence they still left enough of an legacy that his sense of Right and Wrong was a bit a askew. So if what Chronos had done what I believed he had and kept running him mentally through the experience it was only going to deepen the cracks in his psyche until each aspect of it sheared off into it's own personality defined by that specific trait.
In summary each of the 'aspects' in front of me was a shard of the greater Perseus identity defined by the spirit that had caused it to break away. The number of them only reinforced my thought on what they were.
The Seven Deadly Sins personified through me.
The sleeping one was obviously Sloth.
The female one, Lust which made far too much sense. The person Perseus loved most was himself which was why she was trying far too hard for comfort to snuggle up towards the aspect of Greed who was standing and kept pulling wads of (likely ill gotten) cash out of his suit jacket pockets and counting them with a covetous look completely ignoring her. All the while another was looking over his shoulder with a look of Envy.
Of the three remaining personas, I easily discounted Gluttony who slowly savoring a piece of Ambrosia as if it was the best thing in the world and instead focused on the last two. Both were the closest there was to a proper physical match to myself and Perseus with the exception of they only had six wings each and one had my normal Sea-green eyes.
However I did not know whether to be more focused on the Sins they represented Pride and Wrath respectively or the weapons they held at each other's throats as they quietly argued with one another. One was holding Riptide and one of the Chasing Wisdom knives while the other more worryingly was holding an Enchanted Gold and what looked like Steel sword that I was assuming was the fabled Escalibur. Of course it did not help that Perseus even normally was most characterized compared to me by his arrogance and anger. Having them both actualized and armed was not a good thing.
"Well then this is unexpected, I catch one little insect and it breeds seven more for me to play with!" Chronos finally said haughtily his voice booming as eight heads turned towards him with looks of hatred.
"I'm sorry did you just call me an insect? How about you say that to my face you are nothing but a fossil who should fuck off and die like your sister." The one with Escalibur said coldly walking towards the bars closest to the Primordial.
"Or you will do what? Make petty insults at me. You younglings are all the same making your foolish demands despite the consequenc..." Chronos began only to be cut off as the whole building shook beneath our feet causing everyone to stumble.
"Whilst you are stupid enough to think that keeping me here is not going to bite you in the ass. I hope you did not like this places current décor." The aspect of Pride said with an evil smile as the bombardment began causing the lights to go out.
Luckily the combined radiance from our wings provided more than enough light for me to see the aspects which was good because I suddenly found two of them barreling towards me. One flying at head height and the other running.
"Woah woah." I said raising my hands in defence. I was more concerned with the fact the airborne one was going to take my head off with a wing tip than the weapons they held.
"Use Maelstrom and cut the fucking bars you idiot." The green eyed one Wrath shouted not breaking stride as I instantly understood the plan. Whether it was going to work was another matter of course.
Following the command I summoned the sword and swung it at the bars behind me. Just as Pride did the same with Escalibur above my head, before Wrath tackled all three of us into the bars. Which for a split second were detached from the rest of the cage spilling the three of us out onto the ground outside and into a confused pile of tangled limbs.
"Told you it would work." Pride said smugly turning towards our other escape partner who was none to happily drawing Escalibur out of the flesh of his thigh. Obviously having three people who are all heavily armed go for a tumble was going to result in more than just a few bruises.
"Next time I shove it up your ass." He said angrily limping over to Pride and forcing the pommel of the blade against his chest pushing him back a step before summoning a four meter long Bident into his left hand and using it as a crutch.
"Stop being a baby and walk it off. Besides would you rather be out here or back in there with Lilith?" Pride said with a grin as all three of us turned and looked at our female companion who was just now noticing we were missing.
"You give me Firestorm." Wrath demanded turning to me and looking me into the eyes, which I noticed were sea-green like what I used to have before I became a Titan.
"Why should ..."
"Well what do we have here? Some rodents have escaped the net, well then I suppose we better kill them quick before they let the rest out." Chronos said standing behind the two aspects and looking down on the three of us. Clearly having grown a few feet in height.
"Listen you son of a bitc-." Wrath began angrily not turning to face the threat.
"Duck!" I shouted as I tackled the two to the floor barely avoiding the crescent shaped Bronze blade that passed where their necks would have been. Instead missing the three of us and passing through the marble column beside us despite the blow being at an angle snapping it like a twig. Not through sharpness of the blade like Maelstrom or Escalibur but through sheer force behind the swing.
"Anyone got a plan?" I shouted as we recovered and scattered. Me and Wrath rolling right while Pride went the other way.
"I have a plan...Attack." My companion said with a cruel grin before grabbing a hold of my jacket and stealing the golden baton inside and drawing it to its full length in his free hand before taking to the air.
"That is a terrible plan." I cursed only to notice that the Primordial was now looking down at me.
"Oh I don't know I kind of like it." He said chuckling before swinging the scythe at me with the force of a train. I managed to block the blade easy enough with Maelstrom but even a glancing blow was enough to propel me across the room through another pillar knocking the wind out of me as well as causing large fissures to form on the ceiling above us.
"Yeah well get your own fucking one!" Wrath said appearing above the Primordial's head and throwing the golden spear into his back lighting the whole room up with the resultant explosion before darkness and dust hid it all from sight.
The silence was eventually broken by what I could only guess was chuckling.
"Well that is fucking ominou-" Wrath began only to be silenced as something lashed out from the dark, made contact and sent the aspect flying across the room.
"I hope you have something better than that if you want to survive pretender." Chronos said coldly as a pair of blazing golden eyes emerged from within the dust before it vanished from existence. Revealing the largely untouched Primordial Lord whose only sign of being attacked by a divine level weapon was a small amount of charring on the shoulder of his suit.
"New plan guys...guys?" I asked aloud as Chronos raised the scythe above his head.
"Times up…Here is one...Die." He suggested bring the weapon down on me as I hastily attempted to parry it to the side with my shield. What happened next I could never have expected as the blade passed clean through the Adamantium plate bisecting it and my entire wrist beneath narrowly missing my torso before cutting through the floor beside me and causing it to collapse and swallow me into the darkness below.
Though whether that was due to the actual lack of light or because of the pain passing through my body from the stump of my arm was the least of my concerns as I struck something solid on the floor below and everything went blank.
(Minerva)
"Did anyone catch the number of that bus?" I groaned as I used Aegis to push a slab of reinforced concrete from its position pinning me to the ground.
"Now is not the time to be joking. This building is not going to last long."
"Wasn't that the plan in the first place? Get in, get the moron and civilians clear and drop the building on Chronos's head before he knew what was going on?"
"Will you two focus and stop squabbling. If you did you would notice we are bleeding." Annabeth added exasperated causing me to frown and look down at myself. Sure I might have a few bruises but there was no sign of anything more serious. However she was right there were a few droplets of Ichor on my right sleeve.
Yet even if she was wrong about the source of the Ichor, it was still undoubtably there also on the fallen concrete slab I had brushed aside. The golden liquid faintly luminescent in the semi-darkness.
"Well if it isn't us…" Athena commented and sure enough process of elimination said there were only two people capable of bleeding Golden Ichor in this building, Primordial Ichor being Silver.
"…It has to be…" I added slowly looking up the debris pile.
"Percy!" Annabeth shouted in panic as we spotted a familiar bi-metal sword sticking out from underneath a collapsed column, a hand still firmly grabbing the hilt.
Running up towards the fallen figure, it became abundantly clear where the origin of the Ichor was from as rivulets were scattered about the fallen masonry around the buried figure. Setting aside Aegis and my spear I hurriedly pulled the fallen debris off of the clearly unconscious Titan Lord judging by the trickle of Ichor that was running down his face from somewhere in his messy black hair cutting a path through the dust that caked his body.
"I have found Percy but I do not know where Chronos is currently, so everyone be careful still." I said aloud hoping that the radio signal was still working. Even so I continued to remove the debris from his legs. The strange thing was other than the minor cuts and scrapes that dotted his flesh their was no clear sign of a serious injury that would produce such a wide distribution of Ichor.
"Put the idiot on!" Artemis shrieked causing me to cringe.
"Unfortunately he is unconscious, so… no." I said pausing my effort to adjust my position and remove the last large piece from the Titan's left side, the last part of him still buried.
"I don't care if I have to come down there, grab the idiot by the wrist and drag his ass out of there." She said clearly in annoyance at her relative ability to do very little at this point in time, even so I knew she wouldn't because doing so could endanger everyone so I carried on lifting a three hundred kilo lump of reinforced concrete and tossing it aside with very little effort only to pause as everything began to click into place as I looked down at the now totally revealed figure.
"Well I suggests she grabs the right one then." Athena said sarcastically as I looked at the truncated limb. Everything from below where the upper shield strap was still located was gone. Including the lower half of the shield itself, ironically the recently re-resurrected hunter constellation had also been bisected though all that remained of the constellation was her head. If it had still shown Orion I would have classified it as an improvement but I doubted the Hunter would be too happy about it if she were to find out.
Whatever had inflicted the damage was exceptionally sharp and powerful. To have bisected a divine level symbol of power was almost unheard of, short of the sword/scythe the Titan was still clearly holding and i very much doubted he had done it himself.
"Oh gods!" Annabeth whispered fearfully as the ceiling trembled again.
"All hunters do not go near the second floor, target located and exceptionally dangerous." I shouted into the ear piece grabbing a hold of the unconscious figure and bracing myself under his shoulder before grabbing my weapons and slowly backing up towards the exit carefully stepping around destroyed furniture and games machines.
"I hope you did not think I would not notice you goddess." A voice said in amusement from above as I slowly turned towards the sound and noticed the two golden orbs looking back at me from the darkness that was above.
"You know what, I had honestly hoped you wouldn't." I admitted taking another small step backwards.
"You were so close as well, it is such a shame that you tried to grab that pretender. I can sense his Aura anywhere in this building. But then again you should know what the punishment is for taking things from Casinos."
"A hefty prison sentence." I said sarcastically as a line of white teeth appeared below the Primordial's eyes in what I could only guess was a smile.
"Oh I think we could start there and make our way upwards...So why don't you hang around a while!" He said loudly followed by the sound of fingers clicking and I suddenly found myself unable to move my body, in response to the Primordial jumping down through the hole in the ceiling and slowly walking towards me. The rubble in his path being reduced to dust by his very presence as a result of the time distortion.
"Do something!" Athena demanded in agitation at being unable to do anything.
"I'm trying!" I shouted back internally in sarcasm.
"You know… I thought you were supposed to be the smart one of the Olympians. Clearly not it seems." Chronos said in amusement and I was forced to mentally grind my teeth as my body remained locked in position.
Eventually though the currently nine feet tall Primordial positioned himself directly in front of me before leaning on the oversized Ichor splattered scythe he had casually been holding in one hand, so his eyes were level with my own before reaching over and tugging the helm from off of my head and tossing it behind him carelessly.
"Such a shame to hide a pretty face behind an ugly lump of bronze." He said reaching a hand out to brush a blond locks of hair out of my face, causing my skin to stand on end. The strange thing was he seemed to spend what felt like several minutes simply staring at me. Every bone in my body wanted nothing more than to get away from the creepily acting ancient god.
"Hey asshole!" A voice called out angrily from behind the Primordial and I could see him roll his eyes before suddenly turning around on his assailant grabbing the shaft of the spear that was thrust towards him and swinging it upwards smashing the wielder into the ceiling before they dropped to the floor with a pained groan. The figures back was splattered in Ichor from where one entire side of wings had been cut off a few inches above the base of each.
The fact I had just watched Chronos dominate someone who could only be Perseus was only evidence that we had severely underestimated the Primordial's capabilities. The capabilities of time manipulation was something we had had an approximate idea of what to expect. Both from what Kronos and Percy were capable of but to a higher degree of course. Close quarters combat expertise on par with the Hero of Olympus was not something we had predicted.
"Are you a masochist or just retarded?" Chronos said mockingly flipping the figure on the ground onto his back roughly with his foot.
"Bit of both…" The prone figure replied dejectedly with a groan sitting up slowly and looking up at his attacker in defiance. "Besides if you kill me, you lose your source of amusement. Thankfully we don't have that problem to deal with…And I am now stalling for FUCKS SAKE!" Perseus shouted angrily to mine and apparently Chronos's confusion as he focused on the downed figure and didn't notice the second figure drop down from the same hole in the ceiling that Chronos originally emerged from and lunged forward with a Gold and Steel sword impaling the Primordial through the back to his surprise as he dropped to one knee.
The second figure taking the brief chance as the Primordial understood what had happened to disappear back into the shadows, clearly not keen on fighting in open combat with a superior foe.
However despite the four feet of metal imbedded in his torso Chronos did not seem fazed for particularly bothered as he soon rose back to his feet and bent an arm behind his back and extracted the Silver Ichor stained blade before dropping it to the floor with a clang.
"You will pay for that!" He snarled at the now smiling figure on the floor who unsteadily rose to his feet and looked back at taller figure who was straightening up to his full height barely not banging his head off the ceiling.
"Thing is pal, I don't care what happens to me in here. Because what happens to me when I get out is going to be so much worse. Besides I have people that care enough to come save me, Can you claim the same?" Perseus claimed and sure enough the point of a dozen Imperial gold and Orthrytic Silver Arrows could be seen poking out of the cracks in the ceiling all in the Primordials direction.
"As soon as they fire get him out of here and more importantly awake. We can hold him off for a while but without Maelstrom we have no way of ending this in our favour." A recognisable voice said from behind me leaving me confused.
If that was Perseus over there and I was still holding Percy, who was that just now?
However I did not have time to ponder that question as the first of the flurry of divine level arrows were released towards the Primordial, who simply swung his scythe towards the ceiling and brought several square meters of the floor above down between him and the incoming shafts before raising his free hand in the direction of the remainder and seemingly freezing them in time before smiling at his seeming victory over the ambush.
Only for another figure to appear out of the shadows behind him a trio of arrows wedged between his fingers in a claw fashion and bury the shafts in his back causing the larger figure to raise his head skyward in an attempt to bellow a roar before falling to his knee's leaning on the scythe.
However as so he had done so, it was like I had been released from a spell as I instantly regained the ability to move my body. Simultaneously everything else that had been affected by the Primordial's time distortion was also released including the six airborne arrows that resumed their flight, striking him in the thigh, chest and arms.
"Everyone get out of here now." I heard a hunter shout in my seemingly now working again earpiece.
I decided to follow their example and began to run towards the destroyed entrance, unlike before there was no semblance of stealth but simply escape as the foyer doors loomed closer and closer with every burdened step.
The problem was with every step my load seemed to becoming heavier. Now just because I am female does not mean I am not physically strong. I (Athena technically, besides the point though) have on numerous occasions put Kratos on his butt when the upstart god of Strength thinks he is a little more important than he really is (That infernal videogame series was not helping with his ego problem). But even so the unconscious figure was beginning to weigh several magnitudes more than he should do and only getting heavier with every inch forward, causing my posture to slump as I was forced to use my spear for extra support but even then my grip was being forced down the shaft.
"Urgh—" I heard my load slowly groaning seemingly coming to just as I reached the limit of how far I could drag him. More enthusiastically than I should have liked I hastily dumped him on the floor against a splintered foyer counter eliciting a groan of pain, more than happy to be relieved of the unnatural weight.
As I bent down a few feet in front of the stirring Titan Lord, his eyes slowly opened with a glazed look before settling in my direction.
"Anna...Beth?" He muttered in confusion only to be answered by a pained sob from the girl in question within my own mind. The fact they were technically a few feet from one another but she was unable and he could not be made aware was tough just being witness too.
"No Percy it is me Minerva, you are currently in shock but you need to focus. We need to get out of here." I told him sternly causing him to frown and inadvertently raise his left hand to seemingly pinch the bridge of his nose. Only for the action to be hindered by the current lack of said limb. An uncomfortable period settled in, in which he remained staring at the Ichor stained severed stump only broken by occasional blinking.
"Percy...It will be ok." I said trying to sound reassuring and seemingly failing epically as he began to scream and flail about in a shock induced spasm. Knowing about what to do in the situation and actually doing it correctly are two very different things. Because apparently I needed to work on my bedside manner however it made me lose any reluctance in doing what came next. As I lay my spear down and slapped him causing him to freeze and look at me with eyes like saucers.
"DID YOU JUST SLAP PERCY!" An all too familiar voice screamed into my ear causing me to wince. I had not planned on it being loud enough for the microphone to pick up.
"Sure as hell sounded like it, Good job Milady." The daughter of Ares answered.
"Tania if you make it out I am going to slap you. Now Minerva if you could politely stop BEATING UP my fiancé and get him the hell out of there it would be appreciated. It is bad enough I have a small army of Perseus's to account for without you harming the only tolerable one." Artemis shouted barely concealing disdain for not being able to come down and help.
"Wait...What do you mean an army of Perseus's?" I asked in confusion apparently missing a minor detail while I was immobilised.
"The half dozen moron's upstairs we found obviously weren't you listening?" Thalia answered over the radio like this was not a major issue and more of an inconvenience.
"Minerva... Help me up." Percy said snapping my attention back to my ward and not the bickering in my ear. Despite his plea for help he was already doing a solid job of it himself, once he remembered to not rely on putting pressure down via his left arm. Amazingly despite everything he had never managed to lose a hold of the blade he held in his remaining hand.
"We need to get out of here." I insisted helping him to stand straight holding his left upper arm and trying to lead him towards the entrance only to find him not moving and instead looking towards the casino interior. Back towards the disabled Primordial's direction. Easily locatable via the trail of Ichor from us to him.
"No this ends now. He still has some of the Sin's, even if I did escape he would eventually trap me again because he has an anchor." He said with a tone of determination that reminded me exactly why as a demigod, he could lead gods and demigods alike against any threat and more importantly win.
It was a shame then that I was also completely confused on what he was going on about regarding Sins.
'Does anyone have a clue, what he means?' I asked the other two occupants of my mind whose silence I took to be a mental shrug.
"About time you got off your lazy ass that is nothing but a scratch." An aggressive voice said just as the heavily wounded Perseus stepped out from behind a lump of collapsed ceiling.
"Well aren't you a barrel of laughs…Wrath I am guessing." Percy said sarcastically as the figure nodded.
"Well don't you both look like shit. You don't get hurt if you don't get hit." A third voice said arrogantly as a head appeared from a hole in the roof before he dropped down to our level and sure enough were it not for the eye colour changes and the number of wings the three males were identical.
"Shut up you arrogant little shit; unlike you I was actually doing work!" The second one Wrath shouted back.
"Getting slapped around like a bitch." The other one said laughing causing the one beside us to growl and aim a bident point first at the third figure.
"But admittedly you did a very good job at it. Not as good as rallying all the Hunters, attacking Chronos twice, including breaking the spell. But a valiant effort, nevertheless. Tell me does that hurt?" He said pointing at the one besides me and Percy's severed wings going so far as to point a sword at the severed stumps where the golden limbs should have been.
"Listen here you little shi-"
"You two stop being immature! Where are the rest of you?" Percy said snapping at the two.
"Well the pot is calling the kettles black. Still in the bird cage where we left their useless asses. And with Escalibur underneath sleeping beauty the only proverbial key we have left is in your hand."
"Minerva thank you but you might want to get out of here. We can do the rest from here on out ourselves." Percy told me stepping free from grasp.
"You cannot be serious Percy. You are not in a fit state to walk let alone fight!" I told him incredulously.
"That's what makes it more fun." He answered with a grin and I could hear Annabeth groan in my head at his recklessness.
"Minerva would you kindly put the idiot on the radio please." A barely composed voice asked in my ear as I pulled the microphone/earpiece off and handed it to him.
"Eww that has been in her ear, who knows how many millennia since she last cleaned those o…" The unwounded one commented only for me to glare at him and cut him off. Meanwhile while I was doing so Percy finally and tentatively managed to place the ear piece in his right ear, balancing Maelstrom in his armpit as he did so. Something I was not sure was safe considering the blades unstoppable cutting edge if it slipped it would likely take his other arm off.
"Hey Artemis—" He asked hesitantly only to recoil as my sister shouted so loudly I could here the speaker from several feet away. The two Perseus's likewise seemed to had paled, if the 'innocent' party was getting torn a new one, they were pretty much screwed when she got her hands on them. Frankly for what I had been put through saving them I was more than likely happy to help my sister in doing so. As it was I could make out numerous repetitions of 'Idiot' and 'Kill you/him'.
"Hey stop worrying I'm fine… Well ok the hand is a bit of an inconvenience but I can deal without it for the mome…" He tried saying reassuringly and failing miserably as the next barrage came through the microphone as he cringed in response.
"No you don't need to come down here…I will be fine and don't worry I have my eyes on the Perseus's they are not getting away…. Minerva how does it work in regards to injuries to other aspects if she gelds him?" Percy said looking at me whilst his doppelgangers began to shift uncomfortably.
"What do you mean you feel like experimenting and knowing the answer would ruin the fun!" Percy shrieked back in a tone that suggested he had just been castrated.
"Uhh… Can we save the bricking until after we get out of here please? Because Snow White isn't going to stay down forever." The untouched one commented hooking a finger over towards the downed Primordial who was sure enough showing signs of life again.
"Artemis give me five minutes and this will be done, I promise. Just make sure the Hunters get out alright." He told her calmly before pulling the earpiece out of his ear.
"You might want to get out of here ASAP." He said turning to me.
"You are going to need help." I replied.
"What if I told you Artemis was going to level this building in four minutes and forty seconds."
"In that case hurry the hades up!" I shouted to him. If Artemis had a fatal flaw it was definitely her rashness especially when she began to lose her temper. So I had absolutely no doubt that she would likely follow through with the threat. Which was I hurriedly followed the triplet Titans upstairs.
"If she blows us all up, I am blaming you. Need I remind you that I have never been injured let alone beaten in a fight."
"Are you seriously still bitching at me? Besides having a shield that terrifies most people makes fighting them a lot easier, either that or you are hiding somewhere in the background 'Planning'." I commented internally letting out a mental sigh at my counterparts constant need to prove herself more important.
"That is only because you stepped aside when confronted with Perseus, otherwise I am pretty sure that track record would have been broken rather embarrassingly. Besides the pair of you would have been beaten if I did not die saving both your asses." Annabeth said angrily pretty much ending the argument there and then. There was not a lot that either of us could retort when she played that card, after all she was right. if it had not been for her and Poseidon, Enceladus would have defeated us.
Passing through a set of splintered doors, I encountered a scene out of father's nightmares. Including the ones besides me there was now a total of eight Percys/Perseus/Persii?
How was it I managed to break all known conventions by having more than two aspects only for Percy Jackson to take that feat and run away with it to an insane level? It was bad enough having to deal with one slit personality Titan Lord in the first place.
Either way I could agree this was going to cause a major headache for everyone involved. I did not know who to pity the Titan for when Artemis got through with him or her for having to deal with this.
The cage itself was a simple affair, well simple enough to anyone who has read Hephaestus's wife-catcher range catalogue. No entrances, prevents teleportation, easy to trigger and available on finance unless your wife was cheating with Ares in which case it was free and came with the video camera upgrade as standard. All for the low price of two thousand five hundred drachma including next day shipping anywhere in North America or wherever Olympus is currently located at time of purchase.
However the sight of the four of us returning got all of its occupants attentions as all of them bar one who was asleep turned towards us.
"Hey babe, couldn't stay away?" The female one asked seductively and all three of her male counterparts next to me simultaneously shuddered at the insinuation. As confusing as it was initially to see a female version of the Titan Lord it was not as confusing as 'her' extremely similar appearance to Artemis, the black coloured version of the typical Hunter's garb was not helping in the comparison either.
"Is it strange to say that he actually looks quite good as a girl?" Annabeth asked nervously, I was pretty sure me and Athena were thinking on the same wavelength for once as neither of us made in comment to the contrary.
"Come near me and I swear I will kill you, no matter the consequence!" Wrath shouted angrily holding the Lance of Longinus points forward towards 'her'.
"I can think of something else you can poke me wi-." 'She' said with a smile tilting her hips before being cut off.
"Will the pair of you shut up and seriously… NO! That is wrong on so many levels I am resisting the urge to throw up right now. Jeez I knew Perseus loved himself but this is ridiculous." Percy said pushing the lance away and standing between the pair who were glaring daggers at each other. Instead I looked toward the other companion of ours who so far had remained silent.
"Don't look at me; I am not involved in this inter-aspect incest thing, Though who reckons that Apollo or Aphrodite has done it? Actually never mind she has obviously already done it" Pride said breaking the ice as everyone, myself included looked at him with a what-the-fuck is wrong with your chain of thought process.
"I am never going to be able to get that mental image out of my head now." Athena muttered internally with a mental sigh.
"Thank you for your opinion but shut up, now can we kindly get the hades out of here. And for god's sake will someone wake him the hell up!" Percy shouted in exasperation pointing his sword at his still sleeping doppelganger.
This resulted in an uncomfortable period as the female aspect walked over to the unknowing to me aspect of Sloth and kicked him straight between the legs, resulting in an ungodly wail. From half a dozen sources as every male aspect simultaneously reacted to the blow.
"Not as if the lazy bastard was ever going to use it." 'She' said with a shrug. Clearly Percy's female form had assumed a few of Artemis's mannerisms as well as her general appearance.
"Biiiiiiittttccchhhhhhhh." The now foetal position aspect whined in a voice that would have done a twelve year old choir boy proud.
"Hey moneybags and fat ass pick him up and you stay away from me." Wrath commanded holding the lance uncomfortable holding the lane in front of him as if to prevent any similar source of pain to himself.
"Good idea because we only have two minutes left." Percy announced reminding us of the second threat we faced. Thankfully Percy did not need much further hint to take two parallel swings at the golden bars shearing off a eight square feet hole in the cage. Large enough for his remaining doppelgangers to escape through once they had grabbed the squirming figure and dragged him to his feet.
"Ninety seconds." Percy said once they were all free of the cage.
"Time to leave!" I shouted pointing towards the hole we had climbed up a floor through and the exit to be found beyond.
As if someone had released a herd of bulls the gaggle of aspects took off in the direction of safety.
Unfortunately it was at that point the entire building was removed from the face of the Earth in a flash of golden light.
(Percy)
My first initial impression was that Artemis had grown impatient and actually shot earlier than promised.
However as I stood up and looked around the glassy surface that had been where the hotel was, the lack of a crater removed the possibility of my Fiancé jumping the gun. Instead the source of devastation was more likely the struggling figure of the Primordial Lord who was slowly pushing himself to his feet by holding the upside down scythe as a crutch.
Even so his blazing golden gaze was never removed from me. As a quick glance around me told me the Sins and Minerva were still around albeit seemingly down for the count, however I was the only one in the direction he was looking.
"You are testing my patience pretender!" Chronos growled as he stood up straight though still leaning heavily on his scythe.
As much as I currently hated the Primordial Lord of Time, I had to give him credit for determination. The fact he was able to withstand the over a half dozen god/Titan grade shafts he was pin cushioned with, when one even just a glancing scratch was enough to put me or Artemis down for the count was hell of a feat. I was not sure how he had managed to get riddled with arrows but I had to guess the Hunter's were involved, though where they were now I had no idea. Hopefully they were not caught in the buildings construction, I would not want anyone hurt or killed to rescue me. I was guiltily happy that Artemis was not in any personal danger, both for her sake and our future children's.
"You know you could just let us go on our way, and you could just rebuild your Casino. It would literally take you seconds, I know I do it all the time."
"I will rip Olympus and Orthrys to pieces, brick by brick. For each of your transgressions here I will repay them a hundredfold on those you care about. They will know the true pain of Immortality." He growled threateningly meanwhile I had suddenly remembered a minor titbit of information and decided to step back a little under the auspices of raising Maelstrom in front of me as if to defend myself.
Chronos as if in response picked up his scythe and held it over his shoulder. Using his free hand to snap all the remaining shafts that still penetrated his body...
... Only for another to hit him at approximately Mach two as everything for fifteen meters in all directions was completely removed from existence. I was forced to turn around due to the glass surface being reduced to dust and blown in every direction with what felt like the force of a Claymore mine.
"You know you really should worry about the Moon more than the Pantheons... I sure as hades do." I muttered sarcastically noticing the four inches between the front of my toes and where the crater began.
However close she had come to blowing me to kingdom come, I had to admire her punctuality. Sure enough it was exactly five minutes since she said she would give or take a few microseconds.
"Thanks you honey." I said flashing a smile at the orb high above half expecting another albeit blunt arrow to hit me. After a few moments I realised I was safe for the moment as I turned my attention back to the terrestrial landscape and the figures strewn about it.
Of those the only two showing signs of life were Minerva who was slowly propping herself up on her spear, Aegis nowhere to be seen, she had a trail of Ichor running down the side of her face along her jaw line but she appeared to be otherwise fine.
The other was Pride, who was sitting on his ass brushing the dust off his suit.
"PERCY JACKSON!" A pained voice boomed from behind me as the smile faded from my face as I turned my head around over my shoulder and caught sight of the figure emerging from the dust cloud.
"Let us go, You will not survive much more. No matter how powerful you are." I told him looking over the sorry state the Primordial Lord was in. His entire left arm was gone completely as was the shoulder. The rest of his body was a chaos of burns and deep rents in his flesh from which Silver Ichor leaked out.
"I WILL NOT SURVIVE? I HAVE ALWAYS SURVIVED! THIRTY BILLION YEARS AND YOU THINK YOU CAN STOP ME? WHEN YOU HAVE FADED AND THE WORLD IS MADE ANEW I WILL STILL BE HERE!" The figure shouted in a voice that was a mix of pained suffering and wrathful boasting and if his words were any hint, complete insanity. That was one thing the mortals had got right was dating when the world was created and the start of the incredibly boring age of the Primordials.
"Or you could just shut up and die. Heads up." A familiar voice said as I turned my head and found Artemis beside me eyes as golden as mine or Chronos's own. As I did so another bolt broke the sky on a collision course with the wounded Primordial who unbelievably swept his scythe up and bisected the shaft in mid flight. The two halves gouging a trench to either side of the him looking back at Artemis I could not help but notice the throbbing vein appearing on her forehead at failing to follow through with her one liner.
"Oh of course I should have known Harmony was involved. Father's one foolish mistake..." The Primordial rambled more to himself leaving everyone confused.
"You know you really shouldn't focus on one thing pal." A voice said mockingly from above causing me to look up. As Pride folded his wings and dropped down directly towards the Primordial and more importantly towards the scythe he still held upwards over his shoulder with the blade pointing backwards.
What happened next was inevitable as half a ton of Titan Aspect landed feet first on the blunt edge of one of the sharpest blades in existence and forced it downwards through whatever was in its way. Which just happened to be a significant chunk of the person holding it.
As used as I now worryingly was to violence even I had to cringe as the Primordial's remaining arm, right flank and leg was severed in a spray of silver before he toppled to the floor screaming profanities in pain and rage.
"Flawless victory." Pride boasted mockingly taking a series of bows as if to an imaginary audience.
"...Chaos will consume you, just as it always has." I made out amongst all of the other ranting of the crippled figure when Pride hooked a foot underneath his torso and kicked him onto his back.
"Once we are done here killing him, I am going to kill him and all the rest, then if I am not done with killing, I am going to kill you." Artemis threatened without breaking her smile as she walked up towards me and clamped her lips against mine and I lost track of everything. What was happening with Chronos, the pain in my arm severed arm... All of it was forgotten before the feel of the woman in front of me.
Eventually though she pull back with a frown.
"You need a wash, I think I just ate half a teaspoon of dust." She said ridiculing me with a smirk her eyes fading back to silver as she calmed down.
"I will add it to my list of priorities for today." I told her with a chuckle before putting my remaining arm around her waist and leading her towards the dying Primordial who gazed up at the three of us with clouded golden eyes. At this close a distance I could make out bits of his body slowly breaking down into dust. Which created a worrying thought, When the Insane(ly powerful) Primordial was reborn would we be able to stop him and at what cost?"
"You. May. Think. You. Have. Won. But against hi-. Him. You Are not-ing but... Insects." He stammered out.
"I return my strength to you father." He said coherently as his remaining limb crumbled to dust, his torso cracking like sun-baked clay.
"Chaos has gone, You of all should know that. The fates assured us of the fact." Artemis said with a very small hint of sadness in her tone.
"Alas Harmony you off al people should know that you cannot rid the world of Chaos forever." He replied his eyes now vacant.
"Percy... He is now nothing but a scared child who seeks his parent. Reunite them, it is for his own benefit. May he find solace in the void." She said turning to me and placing her hand against mine that still held my blade.
Slowly I stepped out past her and took a knee beside the fallen figures body.
With one sharp thrust the deed was done as the blade past through his chest cavity severing everything it found. All the while the he never took his gaze from me.
"How could...So blind...-bye... Father." He stammered out before the Ichor filling his lungs began leaking from his mouth, a few seconds more and his form shattered into dust in the Nevada air.
Despite his attempts to capture, maim and kill me. I had to admit feeling sorry for Chronos and all of the Primordial's I had met. They were cursed to doomed existence. One of solitude, loneliness, resentment or hatred. They were the architects of their doom even if unwillingly. They birthed the very beings who would destroy them and yet were fated to have no defence against it.
They either fought and were beaten or loathed and locked away or forgotten and lost the strength to keep on living.
Perhaps that was what he meant by the Curse of Immortality.
"And that brings us up to Three if we are counting assisted suicide in Pontus's case."
"Perseus shut up for once." Artemis shouted lashing out at the Aspect who had wandered into slapping range as she put him on his ass where he remained holding his face.
"Technically that is his aspect of Prid…" I added before she glared at me witheringly.
"I could not care if he was the Lord of Creation himself, he is nothing but a impertinent, arrogant, sociopathic man child! The fact he takes no account for the fact this is all his fault only serves to annoy me. I had to risk everything and everyone to rescue you, if it were possible I would have left him to rot." She said bitterly looking down at him with a sneer.
"Oh what a surprise, the mighty Artemis looks down on me. What is the matter tired of being the damsel in distress that everyone else has to come rescue? How many died to rescue you from Atlas?" A voice called mockingly as I turned and faced towards the staggering form of Wrath judging by the lack of one side of wings.
"That is enough." I said standing between the two noticing the faint silver trace appearing within Artemis's hands.
"No it will never be enough. You cursed me to this doomed existence. So how about you stop running away from your sins!" He said threateningly only to disappear into shadows.
"Running away? Look who is talking…" Artemis called back the twin silver hunting knives appearing in her hand.
"You need to learn the difference between running away and ambushing." He called out mockingly as he appeared behind us just at the edge of my peripheral vision, sword point forward in an effort to impale the goddess.
Luckily a combination of me pushing her aside and her reaction to my action caused him to miss by an inch and with a growl of annoyance he disappear back into the shadows.
"You fool, you would attempt to destroy everything for the sake of a millennia old grudge and then what?" Pride asked shouting into the air as he rose to his feet.
"I would have thought you of all of us would have understood why I, no we need to kill her."
"You did not answer the question. After you had accomplished that, what comes next? Because I can tell you... You will die. Because if she does not kill you in this attempt, Percy does not in retaliation I sure as hell will. As much as this relationship annoys me to the core, I cannot deny that it is not enjoyable. Whether it is the fact I find it fun to annoy her or beat up her dad, I cannot say but the truth is the entire time we have existed even before our incarnation as one individual aspect we have fought against her and look where it has gotten us locked away and forgotten about. I am not arrogant enough to believe that carrying on with the grudge will not doom us for eternity. LET IT GO!" He shouted disappearing before reappearing a few feet away tackling his doppelganger and wrestling for control of the gold and steel blade.
"Enough!" I shouted focusing on the struggling duo and using as much energy as I could spare to freeze the two of them. Of course with them essentially being me, they had ridiculously high resistance to the effect resulting in them still being able to move albeit in slow motion.
Though that was more than enough to allow a certain grey eyed goddess to thud one of them on the head with the shaft of her spear. As soon as she had done so I cut off the enchantment and resumed the pair at normal speed.
What happened next amusing for the way Wrath went limp and collapsed into Pride's arms, who immediately dumped him on the floor and kicked him in the ribs just to make sure before retrieving Escalibur and pointing it down towards his ribs.
"Will someone please tell me what is going on?" Minerva asked looking between me and Artemis and pointing her spear in the direction of the other unconscious Sins.
"More importantly why is he trying to kill me?" Artemis cut in point a knife towards the downed figure.
"You know the seven deadly sins, correct?"
"Of course I know of them, who doesn't?" Artemis retorted pointing the knife at the standing figure.
"Well now you personally know them, but then again we have always known one another ever since you killed us and corrupted yourself. Haven't we." Pride told her looking
"You were nothing but an Eidolon, Do not try and make yourself more impressive."
"I don't need to after all I am the most powerful of the seven of us, just as Pride is the deadliest sin. I could probably beat any god or Titan on my own with the exception of him. The difference is unlike the greater personality of who you know as Perseus I am not soiled by my fellows 'quirks'." He replied with a chuckle looking up at me.
"And yet because of it I have nothing to strive for. After all the only person I can surpass is myself and even then I would need strength from him to do it, meaning individually he will always beat me in my own opinion. However this one is dominated by anger and hatred, particularly towards you if you missed the memo." He said sarcastically gesturing between Wrath and Artemis causing her to glare.
"How do we fix this? It was bad enough when I had to deal with one of you. Actually scratch that it was impossible to even keep an eye on one of you."
"You can blame me personally for most of that, I was deliberately provoking you as a source of amusement."
"I am so glad you were not doing it accidentally." Artemis said through gritted teeth.
"Glad you understand, however what I said a few minutes ago is correct. Our existence is tied to yours, however much both parties may dislike it. You created us and bound us, Our exposure to what would become Perseus forged us into one being and now you two are eternally tied. We can fight against it all we want but the truth is I doubt there is anything we can do to change it the Fates are not very kind to us after all. So short of killing ourselves, we are at an impasse, we either continue hating each other for ever or we can attempt to reconcile our differences."
"Question but which of the seven of you cost Perseus rational speaking?" I asked noting the increased amount of emotion and exposition in his speech.
"Sloth, we/he couldn't be bothered. Besides it is fun knowing more than everyone else about something in a non nerd way, no offence." He said turning to Minerva who squinted at him momentarily.
"In your words what happens next, am I supposed to believe that you will be good behaved?"
"Oh gods no, I did clarify we are based on the sins, correct? Everything we do has an angle which benefits us. Well except Sloth and Lust. He is just lazy and she is really, really weird and not in a good way."
"Because Perseus loves himself more than anyone I am guessing." Artemis deduced instantly.
"Yeah... The body is really not helping. I mean that in a good way by the way you are stunning..." He replied trailing off as he did her the once over.
"Focus." Artemis growled back at him.
"Anyway as nice as your ass looks, it looks good on you. On 'that' it is wrong and creates some really fucked up feelings. You know what I am talking about right?" He said appealing to me. While I could agree that Artemis was well stunning and I knew her backside needed no improvement. I also did not experience anything when looking at the 'Persi' doppelganger. Probably because it was essentially me, looking in an all too occasional mirror.
"You really should keep some things to yourself and do not get me involved in your incest circle."
"It is not a circle it is a point with a lot of arrows outwards from her." He said pointing Escalibur at the offender.
"I can fill you with a lot of arrows if you would like, knock-off Seaweed Brain" A voice called from behind us as I turned and spotted the figures of Thalia, Reyna and Phoebe approaching the diminutive figure of Nemea bounding in front of them.
"Thank you girls, Are the others ok?"
"Tania is wearing her brown skirt now but other than that we should be fine. We used the arrows though." Thalia said laughing and confirming that the hunter's had attacked the Primordial as I had guessed.
"Weapons are made to be used."
"Please don't tell the North Koreans that. As much as Zeus bigs it up the Master Bolt it is not that impressive, even I would not attempt to take a nuke to the face." Pride commented dryly.
"Nuclear Fusion is considerably more impressive than a bolt of electricity, Albert did a good job of developing the theory for a Greek." Minerva commented with a smile. Even I could work out what German Physicist she was referring to.
"E=MC Nuke. Energy equals Mushroom Cloud, why did I never notice that before?" Pride chimed in to himself.
"Is no one going to mention the fact that the real Seaweed Brain is missing an arm." Thalia commented.
"Personally I am more annoyed I broke my shield. Admittedly if I was still mortal I might be worrying but I know this can be fixed. Fixing a shield made of metal not commonly found and imbued with divine energy is going to be a pain in the ass." I said looking down and summoning the bisected Adamantine plate onto the stump of my arm which had already stopped bleeding. The truth was I had accidentally cut one of Atlas's fingers off and sure enough a lot of Nectar later and it had healed, Plus the time I ripped Lelantos's wings off and they grew back.
"If you want to survive this day do not let Zoe see that. I doubt she has forgiven you for breaking Riptide yet even if only temporarily." Artemis commented noticing the huntress decapitated head as all that was remaining of the constellation before I reverted it back into a wrist band.
"So what is the score with the clones?" Thalia commented nodding her head towards Pride and Wrath.
"He wants to kill me, he fancies me and yet one of them fancies the others." Artemis said differentiating between the two by pointing a knife at them respectively.
"I neither confirm or deny such claims unless you are offering." Pride said after his announcement.
"Not a chance."
"I saved your life."
"You admitted you were the dominant aspect of Perseus, It is Perseus's fault we are here. Ergo it is entirely your fault I was ever in any danger."
"That's not fair!" He whined as if like a child who has just been denied pocket money by their parent.
"Nor am I. Now can we get out of here before the mortals overcome their fear and start looking around. The casino mortals what of them?" Artemis asked Thalia explaining the riddle of where disco Darren and the other missing mortal hotel guests/captives were.
"Getting brainwashed by Morganna, the oldest ones we may have to take back to New Rome. I becomes a little hard when explaining why someone missing for fifty years resurfaces without aging a day."
"Besides New Rome has a sizable population of pure mortals who have been exposed to the immortal world. I will give them the choice of staying otherwise we may need to ask Trivia to do a better job of rewriting their lives." Reyna explained.
"I had to basically murder someone to get us a house in that city and now you are just letting people in?" Pride complained in a higher pitch of voice, sounding like a complaining kid.
"I was not in charge then technically, besides you claimed the other Praetors house. We have normal houses for normal people." Reyna replied sarcastically causing him to cross his arms with a frown.
"Hey the place was vacant, besides technically she claimed it." He argued pointing a finger at Artemis. He had a point the former occupant was not going to need it, after all he had technically only nearly killed the Praetor, Artemis had done the actual deed after all. Not that I could mention that fact in front of Reyna or Minerva of course.
"We are getting off topic again. We need to get out of here and then do something about this situation, any suggestions?" I cut in.
"I would suggest avoiding Olympus for a few decades once Lord Zeus finds out about any of this."
"Big deal everything resolved itself, well except... Ok everything. How did he take the statue?" Pride commented before realising that we were still up a creek without a paddle.
"Poorly." Minerva commented dryly.
"He may still be focusing on losing Aquila though to notice for a bit." Artemis commented with a hopeful tone.
"Wait, what happened to father's sacred animal?" Thalia asked, apparently she was more aware the Eagle existed than I was.
"She took its head off." Minerva muttered.
"Technically I vaporised its body, It was in the way, Besides I was in a very unstable condition at the time." Artemis admitted.
"You are always unstable, hence your relationship with him." Pride said laughing as Artemis's lip curled as she looked ready to cover the distance between them and start tearing him to shreds.
"I suggest you return to Orthrys and keep your head down for the time being, until someone... Unfortunately that would be me explains to Father what has happened today. If he finds out later it would only make things worse. I would suggest keeping them under lock and key though but that seems unlikely. Then I will see if there is anything we can work out on how to cure this situation." Minerva told us facing towards Artemis, Aegis reforming on her arm from wherever it had been previously lost and sadly reminding me of my own shields destruction.
"Might be a good idea considering the rest of the me's are beginning to wake up." Pride commented hooking his thumb towards the rest of Sins before kicking Wrath to make sure he was still down for the count. Something that put a slight smile on Artemis face and caused Thalia to chuckle.
"Thalia, Reyna go meet with the rest of the Hunters and wait there I will send someone to take you back to New Rome. And please behave, we have already destroyed one casino today, let's not make it two."
"If you send Apollo, I will never forgive you." Thalia muttered.
"Relax, he will be with us patching up this idiot." She answered poking me in the arm, as the hunters sighed in relief.
"Oh and Seaweed Brain, if I ever get captured I want at least this much destruction coming to rescue me. Wouldn't want anyone to think you are more important after all." Thalia joked before grabbing Reyna's arm and leading her away. Nemea leaping onto Phoebes shoulder as she bowed and followed the two.
"I should be going do you need any help with them?" Minerva commented as the hunter's got out of ear shot.
"Short of a hundred meters of Celestial Bronze chain no we should be fine, however if you could let our irresponsible brother know we require his assistance it would be appreciated. It is going to be hard enough dealing with eight idiots without calling that one."
"I think I can happily agree that better you than me." Minerva said with a sigh of relief as Artemis groaned.
"I am beginning to think I got screwed over on this relationship thing as well. Well this one is ok but he come with a lot of baggage." She replied rubbing her hand through my hair and patting me like a dog.
"You have to deal with my dysfunctionality I have to deal with your family, I call us quits."
"My family is your family idiot, were cousins remember and that still sounds weird to say aloud."
"Could be a lot worse in this family. See you later and try not to kill each other." Minerva said disappearing into light.
"I did not think she was ever going to leave. Now I think I am owed somethi..." Artemis said with a sigh of relief before getting cut off as I dropped the sword in my hand and grabbed her around the waist and pulled her into a kiss. Her surprised struggling being replaced as she wrapped her arms around my neck and held us together. Both of us fighting for domination over the others tongue forgetting minor things like breathing and the now fully awake clones all looking at us.
"My bets are on her."
"No we are better than her."
"Who wants to try and copy them?"
"Get away from me freak."
"Come near me and I swear I will kill you!"
"Will all of you shut up!" Artemis shouting pulling away before bending over and catching her breath.
"Called it, pay up."
"Will you all shut up I want to go back to sleep. If you come near me in my sleep I will shiv you." Sloth threatened towards Lust.
"No one is killing anyone, Nor is anyone sexually assaulting one another." I shouted at them.
"Come on babe just a little?"
"Not here, not now, not ever."
"Why is it I am more worried about her than I want to kill everyone down on the floor." Artemis commented dryly.
"Because you are number two on my wish list, well technically third, Diana is two but I can look past that and use my imagination." Lust commented resulting in an uncomfortable silence.
"What did you say?"
"Well obviously you look the same but she is less uptight than you, and friendlier and she looks better with her hair down of course, that pony tail is only useful for one thing in the bedroom..." She began listing only for Artemis to charge at her and tackle her to the floor.
"Percy I need your help with something again." A familiar voice said and I noticed the Iris message appear alongside me depicting my Lord of the Deep brother who looked rather dishevelled in appearance.
"Can it wait, things are a little hectic at the moment."
"I WILL KILL YOU BITCH." Artemis screamed in the background.
"What is going on?"
"Long story Bro, easier just to show you." I replied stepping to the side and giving him full view of the chaotic situation.
"What?...How?...You know what I can wait, clearly you have your own problems for the evening. How about you finish off your little freak show and give me a call when you are done, because I now need a drink." Triton said in befuddlement his skin matching that of Hades at the scene presented to him of Artemis pulling at Lusts hair while three of the Sins cheered them on.
"Will do, any heads up on what it is you need?" I asked.
"Just check the weather channel for what is happening in the Atlantic." He said cryptically before cutting the message off with a sigh of relief on his part.
"Break it up we have place to be." I said loudly wading into the chaos that was my life.
Completely ignored by the national guardsman that had secured the disaster site, the figure walked past agents from the various American investigative agency without any attempting to stop him despite the various Quarantine zone rules in affect.
Though this was less as a result of them blending in and more as a result of the puny mortal minds being unable to process who/what they had seen of the currently twelve feet tall figure wrapped in shadows as they reached the epicentre of the chaos and looked upon the now dried silver Ichor staining the glassed surface.
Slowly taking a knee and reaching out a hand towards the stained ground before patting it gently.
"I never forgot any of you child."
AN. Well this took a lot longer to write than I would have liked and admittedly there are still some things I feel could have been done better. In the original draft all of the Sins would have helped take Chronos down but it was simply to chaotic to write. It was hard enough factoring in Percy, Minerva, Pride and Wrath and occasionally Artemis's comments. The hunters and Nemea likewise were similarly sidelined due to it just not being interesting to write and drawing attention away from the chaos downstairs. As for Nemea I would have liked to involve her more but the problem was he is the one character she would stand absolutely no chance at harming. She may be in affect invincible but she still ages normally like any mortal animal, he would have just made her a kitten with a click of his fingers.
As for the Sins themselves they are a mixed bag, Pride/Wrath/Lust get more characterisation than the rest as a result of them being more interesting windows through which to see Perseus's psyche. With Pride getting the greatest focus as being simply a less angry Perseus.
And well if I am going to disappear for another three months (joking (I hope)) I may as well leave it on a bit of ominous foreshadowing.
Good news is this as the longest chapter I have ever written by far brings this up to over 500000 words. For a story that was planned to be finished in under 200000 and has now got a future based spin off (shameless plug go read it if you haven't)
While I am on the subject of SHOI I will be trying to write the two concurrently rather than as I am currently of focusing on one or the other. That way when Writers Block hits one I don't look like I am doing nothing for two months because this chapter was a bitch and I was not breaking it into two.
All in all sorry for the delay and I hoped you like the chapter and don't forget to leave your comments in the box below.