AN: What's this? An update! What can I say, I am as dazzlingly fast at updating as normal! That said, this story tickled my fancy so I decided why not resuscitate it. I've made a few edits, and have aged up most of the main cast. But otherwise, it is still the same as you probably don't remember. Either way, I still have plenty ideas I want to share, and new things I want to try. So let's see how things go, could be that this story continues to update. Gotta see what the reception is.

Hope you enjoy the chapter and please do leave some feedback. It does help to know what I am doing right, and also what I am doing wrong. After all, I'm still learning, even after all these years! Thanks for reading.

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson.

( - )

(Last Time)

WHIIIISH!

A third projectile shot from behind Dr Thorn. With his enhanced eyes, Percy could see exactly what the source was, it was a long, barbed, scorpion-like tail.

Moving his sword, Percy once again batted what he now realised was a tail spine, away.

"You two might as well give up now," Dr Thorn said. "Thalia Grace over there, she is already feeling the effects of my venom, and as she said, she only had a scratch. Tell me, do you want to test out my accuracy and potentially find out what a full dose will do, Perseus Jackson?"

Gripping his sword tighter, and moving into a sword fighter's stance, Percy gave Thorn a flat look. "Do you really think you stand a chance against me?"

( - )

Chapter 4

( - )

(With Percy)

His heart was beating faster.

He could feel the adrenaline surging through his veins.

Tightening his grip on the unfamiliar blade, he eyed Thorn warily.

Beneath his coat he could feel his body shift and change, as hardened chitin formed along his back and chest, and at the side of his arms like biological plate armour. In the gaps in between the chitinous plates, overlapping, iron-hard scales formed – the scales of an arapaima were one of nature's toughest flexible materials.

Wetting his lips, he felt his throat and the inside of his mouth conform as his teeth rapidly sharpened and hollowed as paralytic venom started to pool within. Likewise, other changes began taking place across his entire body as he started to draw on the traits of the many dangerous and vicious creatures that called the oceans and rivers leading to them, their home.

Across from him, Thorn hadn't stayed idle as his mismatched eyes narrowed, and his barbed tail twitched back and forth like a snake about to strike.

Shifting to the side, Percy deftly avoided another envenomed projectile. Swinging his blade through the air he batted another away. His now luminescent eyes were narrowed as he kept track of Thorn.

With a single thought, the radiator pipes lining the walls exploded with scolding hot water, drenching Thorn's surprised form.

Gritting his teeth, he used the distraction to rush in close.

Around his he could feel the water obeying his will as some of it cloaked his form, even while the rest clung to Thorn, scolding his flesh.

It took him only a few seconds to close the gap between them.

But in the time that it had taken him to cross the distance. Thorn's human had formed already started to distort as the flesh around his face bulged and split open, even as the rest of his body swelled to impossible proportions, before soundlessly exploding in a rushing of dark reddish bristles and a crimson hide. A furry mane formed around his neck. He could see long, venomous spines protruding from it. The monster's cracked and bent at the elbows, even as he slumped forward and his legs shifted into something more canid. As he changed, more fur began to cover his body. All the while, his gleaming, dark red, scorpion tail swung about in the air above him.

Percy recognised what Thorn was in an instant.

He was a manticore. An ancient monster that was rarely ever seen. And a powerful one too. As he completed his change, he still stood taller than him at the shoulder, even when hunched over on all fours.

Snarling in irritation, he saw his blade dig only an inch or so into Thorn's flesh before it was halted by his dense shoulder muscle.

Drawing on the water already coating Thorn's bestial form he ripped his sword away from him and rammed his free hand into the underside of Thorn's throat. As he slammed his fist home, he forced yet more reinforced spines, this time coated in the venom of a lionfish. The spines pierced the thinner skin under his jaw.

With a roar of pain and anger, Thorn batted him aside.

Rolling with the blow, Percy absorbed the impact with his chitinous, crab-like exoskeleton.

Twisting through the air, he landed on his feet and rushed forward once more, the water covering his form lending him fresh strength and vigour.

Flicking his tail, Thorn sent yet more spines at him.

Sidestepping and batting the projectiles aside, Percy once again closed in on him. The water that was still pooling on the paved stone flow swirled around him with every step he took as he kept up the attack.

Now he had turned into his true form, Thorn was bulkier and much stronger than him, and with his tail and venomous spines would be a terror to fight from mid-range. But he was smaller, nimbler and had the speed advantage. It helped that his alterations refined his musculature far beyond the norm and gave him significantly enhanced durability.

Avoiding Thorn's lashing tail, snapping maw and lunging claws, Percy lashed out with both his sword and the flowing water, carving deep groves into the manticore's flesh. Every now and then, when the opportunity arose, he would also dance in close and inject another doze of concentrated venom into his bleeding wounds.

Had Thorn just been a normal mortal or even a demigod, he would have been dead a dozen times over. The concentration of his potent and necrotic, paralytic venom would have stopped a normal being's heart within seconds.

Unfortunately, though, Thorn was a monster and a powerful one at that. His physiology was far beyond a normal mortal's. He was an eldritch being that could survive the horrors of Tartarus. A monster that had preyed on mortals for millennia. A true hero killer. No matter how virulent his venoms, the toxins from the mundane world, and the creatures that inhabited would never be enough to kill him.

They could slow him though.

With every second that passed Thorn's heart pumped the noxious cocktail through his body and organs.

Already he could see that the larger being was slowing. His vicious strikes were losing the weight they had before. He was also losing his accuracy.

As the fight dragged on, and he continued to sting and bleed him. He soon found that he no longer had to put much effort into dodging Thorn's projectiles, as they often just completely missed without him having to move.

Grinning, as he continued his hit-and-run tactics, Percy swept in close and sliced through several of Thorn's fingers, allowing blood to spray across the stone-paved ground, even as the digits dissolved into golden dust.

This wasn't how he normally fought.

But then again normally he was wielding a trident or a spear.

Dodging a wild swing from Thorn's tail, Percy sent a crescent of water into one of the joints, digging deeply into the weakened area and eliciting a sharp snarl of pain from Thorn. Darting forward, he leapt over Thorn's ruined claws as he tried to swat him aside and swung his sword.

With a crunch and a spray of blood, he managed to remove the upper third of Thorn's tail.

Hitting the floor and rolling, he avoided Thorn as he lunged bodily at him.

Looking up, he felt his heart jump into his throat.

With a loud war cry, Thalia slammed her silver spear into Thorn's exposed back and then followed it up by smashing her shield, Aegis, into the back of one of his legs, sweeping it out from under him.

The dark-haired daughter of Zeus cut a striking figure as she fought. Her electric blue eyes were alight with a heady mix of fury and euphoria. Her cheeks were flushed, either from the exhilaration of battle or from the lingering pain her injuries caused her. Were this another Pantheon, he would almost think her a Valkyrie as she unleashed a bolt of lightning, using her silver spear as a conduit as she fried Thorn's insides.

His heart beat faster.

The last time he had seen her like this, she had been coming for her head, and she had almost got it. Were it not for luck and happenstance then he would have been the one impaled on her spear, and not the other way around.

Chase and Castellan had been deadly combatants, especially the daughter of Athena. But in terms of sheer skill and power, both had paled in comparison to the likes of Grace and Di Angelo. Children of the Big Three were on a whole other level when compared to normal demigods – if a demigod could even be called normal – but even when compared to other children of the 'Big Three', Thalia was still leagues ahead of them.

Steadying his breathing and reminding himself that this was not the Thalia he knew, he mastered his impulsive desire to stab her in the throat and instead lunged into the snarling and surprised manticore's guard as it let loose a wild bellow of pain.

Ignoring the stench of Thorn's fetid breath, and the blood phlegm that spattered his front, he lunged forward, his blade flashing, as he shoved it up and into Thorn's gaping maw, before with a grunt of exertion he shoved it up through his head until the glowing tip pierced through the top of his skull.

Dark black blood sprayed out of the wound and stained the front of his coat. One of Thorn's fangs dug into his arm and slid over the surface of his armoured exoskeleton with a grating sound.

He met Thorn's mismatched eyes, even as he desperately struggled and twitched.

"Go fuck yourself," he whispered to the annoyance, before with a scowl he twisted his sword and wrenched it free. Without another sound, Thorn's body exploded coating both Percy and Thalia in a fine mist of golden dust.

Spitting out a mouthful of dust, Percy looked over at Thalia.

The dark-haired girl was breathing heavily, her eyes still alight with violent desire.

Behind him, his sharpened hearing could pick up a loud commotion, as many dozens of people approached, no doubt hoping to investigate the source of the loud commotion.

The fight had only lasted a couple of minutes, but it had been long enough to attract the attention of the student body.

"Thalia," Percy snapped, "Use the Mist, and make them go away."

Thalia's expression hardened at his command, her pupils contracted, and her hand clenched tighter around the haft of her spear.

"The fight's over," he hissed. "Snap out of it."

Her lip curled, and for a moment he thought she was about to attack him.

"Fine," she sighed instead, her posture relaxing as she returned her spear to its hidden form – a can of mace – and clicked her fingers.

The click sounded far louder than it should have and caused a wave of what he knew to be magic, to flow over Percy's form before it spread out across the ruined entrance hall.

"They'll think it was a burst water pipe," Thalia said, her expression relaxing as her adrenaline faded.

Glancing around at the flood floor, he nodded. "Good idea."

She nodded back and made to turn away, only for her to instead hiss and clutch her side.

Looking down, he saw the blood oozing out of the wound Thorn had given her.

"He was a manticore, and they have venom," Percy said bluntly, ignoring the murmur of voices behind him as the student body finally arrived, along with several teachers. Shifting his sword back into the form of a ballpoint pen and pocketing it, he walked up to Thalia's side.

"Shit, is it deadly?" Thalia asked as she worried her pink lips with her teeth.

"I doubt it," Percy shook his head, reaching out for the wound. "But it's better to remove the venom anyway."

Her free hand shot out and caught his hand before he could touch her.

"What are you doing?" She asked her expression once again hard.

"I'm going to use my control over water to draw the poison out of the wound…" he replied dryly. "Some ambrosia or nectar will sort out the rest. It'd probably sort out the venom too, but it would still take it a while to burn it out of your system, and it would take a lot longer to get rid of it naturally."

Meeting his gaze for a moment, she eventually nodded and released his hand.

Fighting off the desire to roll his eyes at her behaviour, he reached out and put a hand over her bloody wound. Closing his eyes, he reached into her wound and felt for the toxins in her bloodstream. They hadn't spread too far yet. With a bit of concentration, he drew the venom out of the wound and clotted the blood around the wound as he did so.

Pulling his hand away, he showed her the clear droplet on his hand, before with a flick he sent it splashing onto the floor, where it quickly hissed and dissolved.

"Right, done," he said curtly, scowling around at the milling crowd of students, even as the teachers tried to order them back into the main hall. "Now let's catch up with the others. Thorn might not have been alone."

Thalia, who was taking a sip of nectar, scowled and nodded. "Good point, let's go."

With a last parting looking at the rapidly dissolving remains of Thorn, Percy turned and headed for the front door.

"Thanks, by the way," Thalia called out behind him.

"No problem," he said, not looking back. "I'm sure you'd do the same for me."

No more was said between the two of them as they headed outside and toward the rendezvous point.

However, before they could make it more than a few steps, the sound of gunfire echoed out over the snow-covered school grounds.

"Shit," he hissed as he saw the shape of a black helicopter hovering about roughly in the area they had planned to meet up.

A long, melodic blast of a familiar-sounding horn echoed through the dark forest.

"Double shit."

( - )

(With Thalia)

Hurrying across the snow, Thalia led the way as they headed towards the rendezvous site.

Her side still stung from where Thorn had wounded her, but she didn't allow it to slow her.

By the time they had made it to the trees, the sound of gunfire had stopped.

Yet despite that, neither of them relaxed.

From what she could tell Percy had recognised the sound of the horn, and like her, he didn't look happy about it either.

Just how the son of Poseidon had come across them, she did not know. Nor did she care at present either. Instead, she was simply happy he had her back. Percy, it turned out, was a lot more reliable than she had thought.

When she had first met him back in summer, she had not thought much of him. He had seemed a bit cocky, and far too nonchalant. Like a kid that was playing at being a demigod, and not someone who was prepared to risk their life if needed.

Was it unfair?

Maybe.

But considering she had been a tree for seven years, and awoken to find Anne, the little girl she had taken under her wing, nearly the same age as her, and her friend Luke, not only missing but a confirmed traitor to everything she stood for… well it was perhaps understandable why she hadn't been in a charitable mood. And his cocksure attitude, and the cavalier way he had thrown in her face the fact that he was responsible for finding the legendary Golden Fleece and freeing her from the tree, had pissed her off.

Thankfully, a few months of school of all things and some one-on-one time with Anne had been enough to soothe her temper.

Additionally, the Percy she had met only a few hours ago, was a lot more tolerable than the one she had met previously. He wasn't as sarcastic or annoying, nor did he try and butt heads with her over who was leading. Instead, he just put his head down and went with it. He was reliable, and that was more than she could say for most of the people she'd met so far in her life.

Then again, maybe he had always been alright, and she'd been too harsh on him before. Either way, she did not mind him as much as she thought she would. She had not even been that annoyed when he had told her to use the Mist back at the school. She understood his reasoning well enough and knew it was not an ego thing.

Unfortunately, while she might have mellowed on Percy, there was one group she hadn't quite forgiven yet.

Rushing through the forest with Percy at her side, the two of them burst out of the treeline into a wooded glade just in time to see Annabeth, Grover and the Di Angelo siblings being forced to their knees, even as a group of silver-clad girls with bows surrounded them. Elsewhere, she could see other girls, once again in silver, already setting up what looked like a permitter for a camp. Many of them walked with silver wolves loping along at their heels.

The Hunters of Artemis.

One of the most sanctimonious and annoying group of bitches she had ever come across.

Skidding to a stop in the snow, her lips twisted up into a snarl at the familiar sight of the Lieutenant of the Hunt, Zoe Nightshade. As much as she hated to admit it, even to herself, the other girl was beautiful. She was tall and graceful, with coppery-coloured skin, and dark, almond-shaped eyes. Unlike the other Hunters, she had a silver circlet braided into the top of her long dark hair, denoting her position as the lieutenant and also making her look like some kind of Persian princess. Unfortunately, despite her exotic and noble features, she was also a complete bitch.

"You!" Thalia hissed, her eyes narrowing as she saw half a score of drawn bows pointed in her direction. Each bow held a gleaming silver-tipped arrow.

Zoe's lips curled in distaste at the sight of her.

Locking eyes with her, Thalia opened her mouth to call the raging cow off and to tell her to get the hell away from her friends. However, before she could she was distracted by Percy sliding past her in the snow.

It seemed he was a lot heavier than he looked, which when combined with trainers in snow, made for an accident waiting to happen.

Acting on impulse, one of the more trigger-happy Hunters loosed an arrow at him.

Likely it was meant as a warning shot, an intimidation tactic which was intended to stop him in his tracks and cow him.

But as was often the case, intent didn't always translate well, especially when temperamental demigods and sharp weapons were involved.

Quickly stabilising himself in the snow, Percy batted the arrow away with his bare hand – he was fast. The arrow seemed to shatter on contact, even as he used the momentum from his initial slip to reorientate himself and rush the Hunters. OR more specifically the most stand-out Hunter. The one with the haughty expression on her face– like she had shit smeared under her nose – and the garish tiara on her head. Zoe Nightshade.

Reacting as only a season Hunter could, Zoe loosed an arrow at Percy and then when it bounced off his shoulder – what kind of armour was he wearing under his coat? – she cast her bow aside and drew a pair of foot-long knives from the small of her back.

Percy hadn't stayed idle though, in the few seconds it took him to cross the distance and bat aside and bull through several hastily loosed arrows, he had already used his bullshit powers to transform his right hand into a gigantic crab claw, which he then used to seize Zoe around the neck - her dainty throat partially crushed between his massive, barbed claws - and lift her clear of her feet.

"Stop!" He said, his voice cold and commanding.

It sent a shiver down her spine, even as she unconsciously did as he asked as she lowered her recently expanded spear.

Around the clearing, the other Hunters sent each other uncertain looks.

Some of them looked nervous, others looked pissed.

One girl in particular. A hulking, muscled brute who could easily fit in well with the thuggish children of Ares. Seemed particularly angry. Her blue eyes were gleaming with barely restrained rage. She looked like she was seconds away from tackling Percy to the ground and beating him to death with his own dismembered arms.

In the middle, Annabeth looked shocked, while Grover and the Di Angelos' looked scared at what was going on.

Tightening his claws, Percy looked Zoe dead in the eye.

"Everyone drop your weapons," he pressed on, his voice hard and uncompromising.

He seemed to be doing his best impression of a villain, and honestly, it was working.

Responding to his demand, several of the Hunters lowered their bows or released the tension from the strings. But not all of them obeyed, as some kept them raised and pointed in his direction.

Zoe herself remained icily stoic. One of her blades was held to Percy's neck ready to slice, while the other was resting on the joints of his claw.

"Or else what?" The pissed girl demanded. "Let go of her now, and we'll be merciful. Don't and your death will be a long, drawn-out one."

The threat was enough to make her lift her spear in preparation.

Percy though remained calm. "I could pop her head clean off before you even had the chance to take a step."

Several of the Hunters who had lowered their bows, raised them again and started advancing, even as the tension somehow ratcheted up another notch.

The only person in the clearing who looked calm, aside from Percy and Zoe, was a small, auburn-haired girl at the back of the group. Her lightly coloured eyes were fixed on the escalating confrontation, yet she hadn't even reached for the bow strapped to her back.

The same couldn't be said for the other Hunters as a tense silence followed Percy's dire proclamation.

It genuinely sounded like he would go through with his threat.

More than that, it didn't seem like he was all that worried about fighting the rest of the Hunt either.

Though how much of that was for show she wasn't sure, because as she watched him closely, she did catch his gaze flicking over to the auburn-haired girl uncertainly.

It was enough to tell her that he wasn't quite as in control of the situation as he appeared.

Not that she was sure how to remedy things herself without making things worse. She had a history with the Hunt and hadn't been left with the best impression of them. More than that she was more of a fighter than a diplomat. She knew how to smack heads together and get people in line, but she would be completely out of her depths mediating whatever the hell was happening in front of her.

"Percy, enough," Annabeth's voice cut through the tension like a knife. "They're the Hunters of Artemis and so are our allies."

"Would an ally point their weapons at their supposed allies?" Percy asked back calmly, not looking at Annabeth as he instead continued to lock eyes with Zoe. Watching him closely, she could see what looked like scales starting to form around his neck.

"They saved us," Annabeth shook her head, her long, blonde, bound hair bouncing about behind her. "Thorn had called in mortal support. A helicopter with armed gunmen. If the Hunt hadn't arrived, they could have mowed down Grover and the Di Angelos."

Percy's eyes flicked over to the two dark-haired demigods.

The brother was pale and looked terrified, the girl though, beneath her fear, looked to be growing angry.

Wetting her lips, Thalia decided to make an executive decision for the good of their continued survival.

"Percy," she said retracting her spear into its secondary form and slipping it into her pocket. "Let's do as Anne said. If you put Zoe down, and all the Hunters lower their bows, we can talk this out."

Percy looked over at her, his expression inscrutable.

"I'm not sure about you," she pressed on, forcing a smile, "but I don't fancy our chances against the entire Hunt."

Percy's lips quirked upwards.

"The Hunters aren't an issue," he said after a moment, slowly lowering Zoe so her feet were resting back on the ground. "It's their goddess that I'm worried about." He continued, nodding in the direction of the short, auburn-haired girl.

Hearing his words, the girl's lips twisted into a faint smile.

Looking at her closely, Thalia immediately saw that her eyes were not just pale, they were silver.

Artemis.

"That's enough Zoe," Artemis said, her voice strong and cold, and completely at odds with her innocent childish appearance. "Girls lower your weapons and go back to your duties."

At her words, the surrounding Hunters immediately did as she commanded. Not a single one. Not even the pissed-off blue-eyed one, dared to disobey her as most of them turned away and started setting a makeshift camp. The remainder, meanwhile, along with their wolves, once again started patrolling the perimeter, with some of them disappearing into the surrounding forest, maybe to scout.

Releasing Zoe's throat and taking a few steps back, Percy kept his gaze locked on Artemis, even as the other Hunters broke apart leaving only Artemis, Zoe, Percy, Annabeth, Grover, the Di Angelo siblings and herself.

Upon being released Zoe just scowled and with a twirl sheathed her knives. She looked annoyingly unruffled. However, as she looked closer, she was able to spot the red mark around her throat, along with a few trails of blood, where Percy's claws had apparently pierced the skin.

Exhaling loudly, Annabeth and the others stood up and moved over to join them.

"They really did help us," Annabeth offered as she led her small group over. "The helicopter and gunmen had us in their sights. If it hadn't been for Lady Artemis arriving and erasing them from existence, then things could have gotten messy."

"Erasing them?" Thalia asked.

"She… I mean, Lady Artemis, she turned the helicopter into a flock of birds, ravens I think." Bianca Di Angelo looked equal parts frustrated and scared as she looked around at the surrounding group, her dark eyes intermittently flickering nervously between Artemis and Percy.

Looking over at the son of Poseidon, Thalia felt her brow furrowed as she noticed just how uneasy he looked. It was very different from how he was before. Though judging by his tense posture and the way his eyes remained locked on Artemis, she could understand his apprehension. Artemis was not known for being merciful especially when it came to men, and that wasn't taking account of the fact he had also just held her lieutenant hostage and threatened to pop her head off her body…. Her gut clenched. She was now starting to feel nervous too.

"What are four half-bloods and a satyr doing trekking through Maine in the dead of winter?" Zoe demanded suddenly as she scanned the group suspiciously. She seemed to have recovered her composure. Though not fully, as her eyes were still radiating anger as they locked on Percy. "And why would you attack us?"

"I didn't," Percy shot back, his gaze still on Artemis. "You shot the first arrow. We'd just gotten done fighting and killing a manticore and happened upon you all surrounding the rest of our party with your bows drawn. How were we supposed to react, especially when you shot me with an arrow."

Zoe's lips thinned. "Evelyn admittedly overreacted, but your entrance was sudden and unexpected. Besides which, you escalated things far beyond what was appropriate."

"If I hadn't managed to deflect that arrow it might've killed me," Percy replied, his voice hard.

"Accidents happen," Zoe shot back coldly.

"Percy," Annabeth muttered. She was clearly trying to get him to be quiet, or at least tone down his accusations.

"You have still not explained your presence here, which I find suspicious." Zoe continued.

"We're here to pick up and safely transport some demigods to Camp Half Blood," Thalia jumped in, gesturing over at the now confused-looking Bianca and Nico. "And it's a good thing we did, as there was a manticore at the school hunting for them."

"At a school," Zoe muttered, her eyes narrowing. "Are you sure it was a manticore? That is a rare and powerful monster."

"Considering it tried to kill me, I'm pretty sure," Thalia shot back snidely, her hand moving to her bloodied side. At her action, Annabeth's eyes widened, and she moved to help. "It's fine Anne, waterboy over there pulled the venom from the wound, and I've had some nectar and ambrosia."

"So, you are some of Chiron's campers then." Artemis's soft voice suddenly cut in. The moment she spoke, all those present fell silent and turned their attention to her. "I had thought so when I first saw you. You have changed, Percy Jackson."

"The downsides of ageing," Percy replied sarcastically.

Zoe tensed at the tone.

Artemis, meanwhile, only raised an eyebrow. "So, I have heard."

"My lady," Annabeth said, bowing, "Percy meant no disrespect."

"Nor did I sense any," Artemis replied softly. "He was rash and reckless and allowed his tongue to move before his mind. But he was also right that the Hunt provoked the confrontation. Although I am displeased at the way he handled my lieutenant. I am willing to overlook it considering circumstances."

"Right, thanks" Percy nodded, his posture relaxing minutely. "Luckily nobody got hurt."

"True," the Goddess of the Moon nodded, her silver eyes shifting to look at him. "But had they done, then not even your father could have protected you from my wrath." As she spoke the air felt suddenly very heavy, even as the silvery glow from the moon far overhead grew more intense.

Once again Percy tensed up, and he wasn't the only one.

"Let's be glad that things didn't turn out that way then," he said, his voice strained.

"Indeed."

"Okay, I t-think that's enough!" Bianca Di Angelo's voice suddenly burst out, cutting through the silence that followed Artemis's last word. "W-who the hell are you people and w-what the h-hell is going on?"

Thalia felt herself internally wince.

Artemis however, merely shifted her gaze onto the Di Angelo siblings. Her eyes which were colder and brighter than the winter moon, bore into the younger, dark-haired girl. "Come child, I think you already know. I am Artemis, the Goddess of the Hunt, and you, Bianca and Nico Di Angelo, are both demigods."

( - )