Hello there, gods, half-bloods and friends.
Wasn't planning on updating this story today, but PRL 2 needed some more time in the oven, so to speak.
So welcome to the next chapter of The God Hunter, hope you enjoy and now on to the reviews.
Lucius Walker: The only hint I can give is that Gabby is not her real name, it's a nickname. Honestly LA being on fire would be an improvement. No, I intended that. It's a bit of a running gag that Matt gets the words immoral and immortal confused.
Turnuphat: They would make a good pairing.
And now story time.
A Coast Guard boat picked them up, but they were too busy to keep them for long, or to wonder how four kids in street clothes had gotten out into the middle of the bay. There was a disaster to mop up and their radios were jammed with distress calls. They dropped them off at the Santa Monica Pier with towels around their shoulder. Clothes were sopping wet, even Percy's which usually didn't happen with him being Poseidon's son.
After reaching dry land, they stumbled down the beach, watching the city burn against a beautiful sunrise and carrying a backpack heavy with Zeus's master bolt.
"I don't believe it." Annabeth said, "We went all that way."
"It was a trick." Percy said, "A strategy worthy of Athena."
"Hey." she warned, glaring at Matt who let out a chuckle, "Sure, laugh it up."
"You get it, don't you?" Percy said.
"Yeah, I get it." Matt said, "The prophecy was right, 'You shall go west and face the god who has turned'. But it wasn't Hades. Hades didn't want war among the Big Three. Someone else pulled off the theft. Someone stole Zeus's master bolt, and Hades's helm, and framed Percy because he's Poseidon's son. Poseidon will get blamed by both sides. By sundown today, there will be a three-way war."
"And I'll have caused it." Percy said.
Grover shook his head, mystified. "But who would be that sneaky? Who would want war that bad?"
His answer was right there waiting for them. In his black leather duster and his sunglasses, an aluminum baseball bat propped on his shoulder. His motorcycle rumbled beside him, its headlight turning the sand red.
"Hey, little bro." Ares said, seeming genuinely pleased to see them, "You were supposed to die."
"Haven't mentioned to you, but I'm immoral." Matt said, hands in his pocket, "Who is pulling your strings, big bro?"
"What?" Ares said confused.
"You tricked us, someone stole the helm and the master bolt. But your not clever enough to think up such a plan." Matt pointed out, "So who was it?"
"You think I'm not smart enough? I am the god of war!" Ares said, his eyes burning behind his sunglasses, "I take orders from no one! I don't have dreams!"
"...Who said anything about dreams?" Matt said with a grin.
Ares looked agitated, but he tried to cover it with a smirk, "The point is, kid, you're impeding the war effort. See, you've got to die in the Underworld. Then Old Seaweed will be mad at Hades for killing his son. Corpse Breath will have Zeus's master bolt, so Zeus will be mad at him. Then mom would be too angry at Corpse Breath for killing her youngest son to stop the others from going to war. And Hades is still looking for this..."
From his pocket he took out a ski cap, the kind bank robbers wear, and placed it between the handlebars of his bike. Immediately, the cap transformed into an elaborate bronze war helmet.
"The helm of darkness." Grover gasped.
"Exactly." Ares said, "Let's get back to the problem at hand, kid. You're alive. I can't have you taking that bolt to Olympus. You just might get those hardheaded idiots to listen to you. So I've got to kill you. Nothing personal."
He snapped his fingers. The sand exploded at his feet and out charged two wild boars, even larger and uglier than the one whose head hung above the door of cabin seven at Camp Half-Blood.
The beasts pawed the sand, dividing up the group of Percy, Matt, Annabeth and Grover, each going in for the kill. One knocked Percy away from the rest, while Annabeth and Grover where occupied with the other.
"Ares." Matt said pointing at him, "Fight me."
He laughed, but there was a little edge to it, "Seriously, little bro? You don't have what it takes."
"Chicken."
"What?"
"Ares, god of war is one big chicken." Matt taunted, "Scared to fight his thirteen year old half-brother and has to hide behind his pets."
Ares's face was purple with rage. "Watch it, kid. I could turn you into..."
"Do it. I dare you, I double dare you." Matt said with a glare, "Would save you from being left another sobbing wreck after I'm done with you."
Flames danced along the top of his glasses. "You cocky loser.", he swung the baseball bat off his shoulder, "How would you like to get smashed: classic or modern?"
Matt held out his hand as his sword appeared in his hand.
"That's cool, soon to be deceased little bro." he said, "Classic it is."
The baseball bat changed into a huge, two-handed sword. The hilt was a large silver skull with a ruby in its mouth.
"Compensating for something?" Matt said with a tilted head.
"I've been fighting for eternity, kid." Ares said, "My strength is unlimited and I cannot die. What have you got?"
"A smaller ego." Matt said, he could just imagine Annabeth replying to that with 'That's debatable'."
Ares cleaved downward at his head, but the sound of blades clashing echoed over the beach. Matt struck a quick blow but Ares was quick, he twisted, and the strike that should've caught him directly was deflected off the end of his sword.
The god of war slashed again and Matt was forced to sidestep, Ares pressed the attack, forcing Matt to work overtime to not get sliced.
Matt's eyes and hair glowed, as a blast of white and gold flames forced Ares back. Though the attack was intercepted, the spot where the flames had touched the blade had faint glowing cracks.
"Interesting." Ares said before he charged.
He knocked Matt's sword out of his hands and raised his leg, so his knee met the middle of Matt's stomach. It felt like a bullet train had hit him as Matt was send flying through the air before crashing into the soft sand of a dune.
Transforming his sword into his bracelets, Matt used the wire to pull himself out of the strike zone where Ares sword was coming down. Taking advantage of his speed, Matt zipped around the beach, Ares in hot pursuit as he looked for an opening as red lights flashing on the shoreline boulevard.
"There, officer!" somebody yelled, "See?"
A gruff cop voice said, "Looks like that kid on TV... What the fuck..."
"That guy's armed." another cop said, "Call for backup."
Matt rolled over the ground as Ares's blade slashed the sand. He shot a wire for a swipe at Ares's face, only to have it caught and pulled towards Ares. With his large hand wrapped around his throat, Matt felt himself slammed into the ground, repeatedly by Ares.
"Admit it, little bro. I'm just toying with you." Ares said, "Your a buffoon. Not a warrior."
"You want to insult me? Fine." Matt groaned as his body impacted on the sand, "Just use words I understand!"
The scene around him began to fade as he felt himself being slammed into the sand once more, Matt should have been dead long before Ares let him go. The war god followed it up by raising his boot before slamming it down on Matt's head.
He heard his friends call out his name, which was the last he heard before his consciousness faded away.
Matt's eyes shot open as he found himself laying on the ocean of swirling mass of royal blue water-like substance. The skies above bright white filled with a constant aurora as a massive blue sun was shining its light down on the ocean.
Usually he would see something, or someone related to things to come. But he looked along the endless ocean, the never ending white sky, but found no sign of live in any direction in the endless blue ocean. But when he sat up, his eyes widen when he heard it.
"My, my." a deep female voice full of authority and power echoed in the realm, "What have we here?"
"Who are you?" Matt said warry, looking around for the source, "Where are you?"
"Who I am? Irrelevant for the moment. As for where I am? I am everywhere and nowhere, but I've been watching, studying, observing. Ever time you came to visit this place in your dreams."
"That's totally not creepy at all." Matt muttered.
This earned him a slight chuckle from the voice, who continued nonetheless, "But I'm more interested in your activities in your waking hours. Taking on a god of war, who has infinitely more experience than you. Your either very brave or very dumb."
"Probably both, if I'm being honest." Matt said, hands resting on his hips, "And yeah, not the best decision I ever made."
"You have a power, Matt. One that makes gods fear you. They'll either try to control you, or destroy you for it. Will you let them steal your freedom?"
"No, I won't." Matt told the voice, "But how can I defeat a god?"
"Everything you need is inside you, you just need to unlock it. Let's make a deal, I'll give you a push in the right direction, but it will be you who must strike the blows. It must be your decisions. It must be you who claims victory."
"Why would you help me?" Matt said still a bit weary, "What do you get out of it?"
"Because we need each other. I... Need your help but my needs can wait. And once I give you that push, we will be connected and it is in my best interest to have you survive. After all a war between gods is of no good to anyone. We are on the same side, Matt. You have to trust me, and you can trust me. As I will put that same trust on you."
Matt looked at his hand before looking up at the skies, "If it helps me and my friends... Then I accept, help me and I will help you."
"Good." the voice said pleased, "Now channel the anger swelling inside you, fight the boundary until you break through. Deep in your soul there's no hesitation. So make yourself the one..."
"The jaeger." both their voices said in tandem.
Matt's eyes shot open as he found himself back on the beach. He was aware of every little detail. He knew where Percy, Annabeth and Grover where fighting. He saw a second cop car pulling up, siren wailing.
Spectators, people who had been wandering the streets because of the earthquake, were starting to gather. Among the crowd, he thought he saw a few who were walking with the strange, trotting gait of disguised satyrs. There were shimmering forms of spirits, too, as if the dead had risen from Hades to watch the battle. The flap of leathery wings circling somewhere above.
"Hey, Ares." Matt said loud enough as he stood up, the god of war turned to him in surprise.
"What in the goddamn..." Ares said shocked, "How are you still alive!?"
"I didn't hear no bell." Matt said, raising his fist to his face as his eyes and hair started to continuously glow.
Flames exploded around his arms and feet, to form into a pair of gauntlets and greaves with a somewhat animalistic look. The gauntlets vaguely resemble a lion's head, with fangs and mane. The greaves look like clawed legs. They also have glowing veins that have white light flowing through them.
"You just don't know when to give up." Ares snarled, "Do you!?"
"That's the thing about us humans, we never give up." Matt said with a feral grin, "Just watch, I'll beat it into your head!"
"You arrogant dog dick!" Ares growled as he charged again, intending to end things with one last strike.
"Well, you know what dog dicks do?" Matt said as the blade came to a stop in his outstretched hand, "They feck bitches."
While everything around Matt moved at a normal pace, to him everything moved in a crawl. The moment Ares realized that a mere half-blood had caught his sword, Matt had already punched him hard enough to send him flying.
Ares recovered before he charges forward, and though it seems his blow passes through Matt entire, it has in fact been deflected, and he now circles Ares faster than the eye can see.
Punches and kicks are met on the blade, each one making Matt's weapon emit a white light as he used his speed to put his opponent on the defensive, a leaping blow forces Ares to put everything into repelling Matt, sending him flying into the air.
White and gold flares gather around him, and then quickly chase after the god. They converges on Ares and knocks him into the ground, an eruption of white flames rolled across the patrol cars. The police barely had time to dive for cover before their vehicles exploded. The crowd behind them scattered, screaming.
Matt touched back down on the ground, staring down the god who was holding the hilt of his shattered sword as Ichor, the golden blood of the gods, flowed from his wounds.
"Had enough." Matt said smugly, "Big bro?"
The expression on Ares face was beyond hatred. It was pain, shock, complete disbelief that he'd been wounded, and there was something beyond even that.
For a second, it wasn't Matt staring down the god. From Ares point of view, it was someone else, far older but yet looking so alike from the blonde teen. For a moment Ares saw the being everyone on Olympus feared.
Police cars were burning behind them. The crowd of spectators had fled. Percy, Annabeth and Grover stood on the beach, victorious over the boars.
Ares growled as his body began to glow.
"Matt!" Annabeth shouted, "Don't watch!"
Ares revealed his true immortal form. But instead of heading her warning, Matt reached out and grabbed the light with both hands. As he began to press down, "Sie sind das essen und ich bin der jaeger." Matt growled as light erupted around him.
The light died down as Ares disappeared in a blinding light as Hades's bronze helm of darkness fell into the sand.
Matt heard the flapping of leathery wings. Three evil-looking grandmothers with lace hats and fiery whips drifted down from the sky and landed in front of him. The middle Fury, the one who had been Mrs. Dodds, stepped forward. Her fangs were bared, but she looked more disappointed.
Matt kicked the helmet off the ground and towards her, "Return that to its owner." he told them, "Tell him everything, tell him to call off the war or I'm coming for him next."
The last part instilled pure fear into the Furies, but Matt wasn't sure why.
Then she and her sisters rose on their bats' wings, fluttered into the smoke-filled sky, and disappeared. Matt turned around and walked towards Percy, Grover and Annabeth, who were staring at him in amazement. As he went, his gauntlets and graves disappeared as his eyes and hair ceased to glow.
"Told you." Matt said with a grin holding out his arms, "I'm immoral."
"You mean immortal." Percy said.
"Yeah." Matt laughed, "That too."
"Matt..." Grover said, "That was so... Amazing! Spectacular!"
"Don't forget a few other choice adjectives Annabeth would like to use." Matt said with a smirk.
"Terrifying." Annabeth said.
"So cool!" Percy corrected, "You killed a god!"
"Don't think I did." Matt said as he thought about it, "I doubt it would be that easy."
"Yeah, you spread his consciousness." Annabeth said, "He will probably be back in a year or so."
"Oh, so I'm not the new god of war?" Matt said trying to sound disappointed as to mask his tiredness and how he could lose his own consciousness at any second.
Whatever boost he had gotten had left him pretty drained.
Percy reclaimed his backpack, which had been knocked aside during the battle and looked inside. Matt spotted the master bolt still there. Such a small thing to almost cause World War III.
"We have to get back to New York." Percy said, "By tonight."
"Don't think the old RV can get us there that fast." Matt noted.
"Then I guess we have to fly." Percy said.
"Don't think it can." Matt said trying to suppress a yawn, "Oh, you meant by plane."
Annabeth stared at them. "Fly, like, in an airplane, which you were warned never to do lest Zeus strike you out of the sky, and carrying a weapon that has more destructive power than a nuclear bomb?"
"Yeah." Percy said, "Pretty much exactly like that. Come on."
There you go, hope you enjoyed. Many thanks to everyone who reads, reviews, favorite, or follows this story.
Take care of yourself, drink plenty of water and I will see you people next time.
