Chapter 43: Area 51 Has Vibes. None of Them Are Good.
Percy
Sin blinked. It wasn't confusion, it was something far colder. A flicker of disdain. The Annunaki twirled her staff with practiced ease, her eyes never leaving Artemis. Jett, who had been left stunned by Artemis' foiling of his attempted murder, seemed to pull a sword from thin air, in an action that reminded Percy of how the Egyptians used the Duat. He moved into a fighting stance, his body facing Artemis.
"This is not your fight half-breed," Sin warned him, still refusing to dignify him with even a glance, "You failed to raise my brother and you continue to fail now. If you don't find the beacon by the time this half-breed and his Olympian protector are dead, you will find I no longer have use for you. Enlil's favour be damned."
Lightning sparked around Jett, and his eyes narrowed towards the Annunaki, "Enlil is king, I am his vessel. I will not be spoken to-"
"Like a half-breed?" Sin interrupted, for the first time turning towards the son of Zeus and holding him in her gaze, "You are no vessel, you are a puppet. You will dance for our king and you will be rewarded for it. But do not forget your place. Now find the beacon, or you find I have little time for failure."
Fear flashed across Jett's face, and in the face of the Annunaki he allowed that emotion to be the one that guided him. His sword disappeared in the same manner it had arrived, and he slinked off behind storage crates. Percy wanted to run after him, to stop him from finding the relic and hopefully get the opportunity to kick his ass along the way. But he had more pressing issues than the son of Zeus.
Percy turned his attention back to Sin, "Trouble in paradise?" he asked.
Sin's gaze slid to him like a scalpel, "You jest on the edge of extinction."
"Yeah, well," Percy shrugged, "That's kind of my thing."
Artemis didn't laugh, but her mouth twitched at the corner, "Do not worry about the son of Zeus, Perseus. In time…he will find Grace."
For Sin, that meant nothing. To Percy, it told him everything.
He raised Riptide, setting his stance.
"Well," he smiled, "Looks like things are finally looking up."
Thalia
Things were most definitely not looking up.
The fourth floor was a warzone.
Smoke curled through broken vents, the emergency lights flashing an angry red that painted everything in bursts of hellish strobe. Half the ceiling had collapsed near the stairwell that Artemis had most likely taken to get downstairs and to their right, the backup service elevator blinked OUT OF ORDER in angry red text. And this was all a backdrop to the vicious assault by Annunaki forces against the United States military defense.
Thalia ducked behind one of the shield walls as a spray of bullets ripped through the metal floor where she had just been standing.
"You'd think they would focus their fire on the people trying to break in," Reyna growled, her silver cloak tattered and singed from one of the firebombs the base's defenders had caught her with.
Thalia rolled her eyes, "But we are trying to break in."
Reyna frowned, "You know, now that you mention it-"
Her train of thought was interrupted as another firebomb came sailing over the shield. Aurora didn't hesitate, using her shovel to knock the firebomb back where it came from, only for it to erupt just beyond the console and send a wave of fire roaring over the top of their heads.
She wiped the ash and soot from her eyes, "We're sitting ducks. And we're cut off from the others by the military and the Annunaki forces."
Elysia placed her hand on Thalia's wrist, and a warm feeling passed up the daughter of Zeus' arm. The bruise developing on her forearm shrunk and then vanished.
"Where did Lady Artemis go?" Elysia asked.
"Percy," Thalia muttered, "and I'm guessing Jett and that Annunaki bitch."
Another explosion rocked the floor, and the four hunters sheltered behind the shield as the fighting continued to roar on. The other hunters were on the stairway down from the third floor, separated from them by the Annunaki assault on Area 51s defenses. They had been hoping to sneak by, and Thalia, Reyna, Aurora, and Elysia had been with Lady Artemis as they snuck around the fighting. However, with Artemis dashing off down to the lower floors, and now the stairwell destroyed, they had been left stranded.
Thalia poked her head out and took a quick scan at the fight. Between the bullets, fire, and flashes of light, it was hard to tell who was actually winning. Either way though, both sides would try and kill them if they found them.
"We need to move," she scanned the floor for where they could go, "We need to get down to Milady and Percy."
"With no stairwell and no elevator," Reyna pointed out, pulling Thalia down in time to avoid another spray of gunfire, "Where exactly are we moving to?"
Thalia opened her mouth to snap back, but then her eyes caught on something, halfway up the wall. An air vent.
It was wide, industrial-grade, big enough for emergency crawl access, and better yet, the grate had already been blown off by a previous explosion. Smoke coiled through the opening, but to Thalia, that was as inviting an option as they were going to get.
"There," Thalia pointed, "Vent. Might run down to the lower levels."
Aurora squinted through the haze, "You want us to crawl through one of those?"
"Unless you've got a magic elevator under that cloak, I think we're fresh out of other ideas," Thalia shot back.
"Where does it lead to?" Elysia asked, looking at the vent with concern.
"It's Area 51," Reyna said, "It probably leads to Narnia."
Thalia grinned, and without giving the other hunters time to argue, she was already moving. She sprinted between cover and used one of the other shield walls to kick herself up. She reached the vent, grabbed the edge, pulling herself up. The metal groaned under her weight, but it held. She dove forward to avoid any targeted spray of gunfire by the combatants, and came to a stop just as the vent began to shift downwards.
She grinned and called back, "It's going down. That's good enough for me."
As she began crawling through she heard footsteps and a few more sprays of gunfire behind her. The metal clanged as Aurora, Elysia, and then Reyna joined her in the vent. The vent creaked and groaned in protest, but it held.
The four crawled in silence for a few yards, the sounds of the battle beginning to disappear the deeper they got, but the vent was warm and the smoke made breathing less than ideal. Then, without warning, the vent dipped.
It wasn't a slope. It was a drop.
"Wait-" Thalia started, but the floor vanished beneath her elbows, and suddenly she was tumbling. Aurora let out a shriek as she followed, and while Elysia and Reyna tried to move back up, the slope was already too steep and they found themselves rolling down after them.
Clang. Clang. Clang.
The four of them slid like ragdolls through the steep metal chute, bouncing off walls and trying desperately to slow their descent. Sparks lit the tunnel as Thalia jammed her knife into the metal, but it did little to slow her fall. And when Aurora hit her due to her now going faster, it only picked up the speed of her fall again, sending her spinning.
She hit the end of the tunnel feet-first, bursting through a flimsy grate and rolling through the air before landing in a tangled mess with Aurora. A second later, Elysia tumbled out, followed by Reyna, who skidded to a stop with a grunt.
"Is everyone alive?" Thalia groaned, spitting Aurora's ginger hair out of her mouth.
"Define alive," Aurora muttered from somewhere by her feet.
Thalia rolled away from her fellow hunter and staggered to her feet. They were in a large white room, sterile and humming with soft overhead lighting. Medical carts and beds lined the space, along with cabinets of neatly labeled supplies. The cleanest floor they'd seen since entering Area 51.
She was about to head towards the door when a familiar voice spoke from behind her.
"Thalia?"
She turned sharply, raising her knife, only to find a familiar demigod sitting on one of the medical beds behind the vent they had fallen through.
"Rowan?" she asked, "What are you doing here? I haven't seen you since you left camp."
The son of Demeter was shirtless, bandaged across his chest and dark bruises around his neck. He looked a little pale, but otherwise seemed okay. There was a girl standing next to him, dressed in the same cotton battle outfits Thalia had seen when they went to Egypt. She was drawing symbols on Rowan's arm, while holding a glass of golden liquid that Rowan was sipping from.
"I could ask you the same thing," Rowan responded, wincing slightly as the girl finished drawing a particularly complex chain of symbols, "That hurt."
"I'm mending your broken bones," the girl scolded, "Of course it's going to hurt."
Thalia stepped forward, getting a closer look at his injuries, "What happened to you? Were you here with Percy?"
Rowan hesitated just a second longer than felt comfortable, "Yeah, I uh…we ran into some issues along the way and I got pretty beat up."
"Would 'issues' happen to be the Annunaki?" Reyna asked, moving to stand alongside her lieutenant.
Rowan chuckled, the hesitation disappearing and relief flooding his face, "Yeah that Annunaki is insane. I thought I was strong, thought I was ready, but I got my ass handed to me."
"Ain't that the truth," the girl muttered, and Rowan shot her a glare, but there didn't seem to be any malice behind it.
"So how did you end up at Area 51?" Thalia questioned, "And what do you think of Percy?"
"We were…sorry I…I don't remember. I must have hit my head pretty hard," Rowan replied, rubbing the back of his head. Based on the state the demigod was in, Thalia wasn't surprised he was suffering from a little memory loss, "But Percy? He's as powerful as you told me he would be. I was a little disappointed at first, he didn't seem to take things too seriously. But when he locks in…he locks in."
Thalia grinned, "I'm glad you like him. Especially since it looks like he's gonna be your future brother-in-law."
Rowan frowned, "My brother-in-law?"
"Oh yeah," Thalia chuckled, "Olive is putting the moves on him real good. Got him wrapped around her little finger."
Rowan rubbed his temple, "Well that was not what I expected to hear after everything today."
The girl next to him couldn't hold back her snort of laughter.
Thalia stepped up to her and reached out her hand, "Hey, my name's Thalia. I'm the lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis."
The girl offered her free hand not holding the glass of nectar, "Nice to meet you Thalia. My name is Leila."
"You're not Greek," Reyna noted, stepping up alongside her lieutenant, "But you're not Roman either."
"Guilty," Leila said, offering an apologetic smile. The Egyptian turned her attention back to drawing what Thalia now realised were hieroglyphics onto Rowan's arm. "So what are you guys doing down here anyway?"
"Well we were trying to get to Lady Artemis," Thalia huffed, "But we got caught up in the fighting happening upstairs."
"Lady Artemis is here?" Rowan asked suddenly, frowning.
"Why do you think we're here?" Reyna sighed.
Rowan and Leila exchanged a look.
Thalia frowned, glancing sideways only to find that Reyna was glancing at her with the exact same frown.
"What's wrong?" Thalia asked the duo.
Rowan rubbed the back of his head, "We just…didn't realise the scale of the fight that was happening. We thought it was just Percy against Sin."
"Sin?" Reyna asked.
"The Annunaki," Leila answered.
"How do you know its name?" Thalia wondered.
Before either of them could answer there was a clicking of one of the med bay doors. Thalia spun to find Aurora and Elysia with their bows trained on the entrance, and after a half second of fiddling with the handle a female figure walked in.
The girl immediately paused, a white saber in one hand and a round of gauze in the other. Her gaze moved back and forth between the two hunters whose bows were trained on her head.
"Are we in trouble guys?" the girl asked.
Rowan laughed, the action immediately releasing the tension in the room, "Guys don't worry, this is Samira, she's with us. Samira, this is the Hunters of Artemis."
Samira nodded slowly, "So you're the whole sisterhood of virgins I heard so much about."
Reyna rolled her eyes, "What's everyone's obsession with the whole virgin thing? I understand the boys hyper fixating on it, they're gross. But the girls too?"
"We really have to work on our PR," Thalia agreed, "It might hurt us with recruitment. Aurora, Elysia, at ease. Seems like we're all on the same side here."
"You're after Percy too?" Samira exclaimed in surprise.
Thalia frowned, "What-"
"To rescue him," Rowan answered before she could finish asking the question, "We had to leave Percy down there so we could get medical attention. But now that we're back feeling better, we're ready to go down there and help."
Samira nodded enthusiastically in agreement, "Yeah, plus Jett's down there too so we can-"
"Jett?" Thalia interrupted, sparks dancing along her fingertips, "You're telling me that piece of shit excuse for a child of Zeus is here?"
Leila nodded, "Yeah, Jett is who beat up Rowan. With that new strength he is wielding, he started choking Rowan. Thankfully Percy helped us get away by distracting him."
Thalia could feel that something was off, and the group they had just stumbled across were not telling them everything. But she had known Rowan for a long time. He had been at Camp Half-Blood for years, and she had seen what a good older brother he was to Olive. He had been missing from camp the past couple of visits the Hunters had made, but he had been nothing but respectful before that. Besides, if Percy was willing to fight to protect him, it spoke magnitudes about his character.
"All right," Thalia announced, "Then let's get down there. Do you know what floor they're on?"
Rowan looked down at Leila, "They should be on Floor 8, right?"
Leila nodded, "Floor 8 is where the relic is."
"Relic?" Reyna asked.
"The relic the Annunaki is after," Rowan replied, "We need to hurry down there and find the relic before they get their hands on it."
"Then let's not waste time," Thalia said "Let's find the stairwell and get down there."
Samira stepped back through the door and held it open for the hunters, who filed out with Leila and Rowan in tow, the son of Demeter walking slowly but without the Egyptians' assistance. Samira took the lead, Aurora and Elysia just behind her, Thalia and Reyna behind them, and Leila and Rowan bringing up the rear. As they passed through the sterile corridors of the med bay, Thalia glanced at the wall, where a set of numbers and a glowing green light pulsed faintly above a sealed door.
"What floor is this, anyway?" she asked, brushing dust and soot off of her parka.
"Sixth," Leila answered smoothly, not missing a beat, "The medical wing."
"We fell past the 5th floor," Reyna noted, "I wonder what horrors we missed by not stopping by."
"The 5th floor is the command center," Samira called back, "That's probably why the vent didn't go there, they didn't want anyone to be able to sneak in."
"You guys sure seem to know a lot about what's going on around here," Aurora pointed out.
Samira shrugged, "We have a mission, I like to be informed."
"And what exactly is your mission again?" Thalia pressed.
"To get the relic," Rowan answered from behind her, "Percy's orders."
They reached a stairwell which, unlike the 4th floor, was actually intact. They filed down the narrow, echoing stairwell, boots clanging against metal steps.
"So what's waiting for us on the 7th floor?" Elysia asked.
Samira raised her blade, "We're about to find out."
She eased open the doorway to the 7th floor to reveal a sterile white corridor, illuminated only by the flashing red and yellow emergency lights that were positioned at various intervals down the hallway.
The group stepped through and began to make their way through the floor. There was a janitor's closet by the elevator that had been left open, but when Thalia peaked her head inside there was nothing of note except a half drunk canister labelled Purified H20.
"This floor seems abandoned," Thalia said to Reyna as her fellow hunter moved alongside her.
The daughter of Bellona nodded, but she seemed distracted.
Thalia cast a glance around and, upon realising the other members of their group were out of earshot, leant near Reynas ear, "You getting the same weird feeling I am?"
Reynas' eyes rose to meet Thalias and she gave a slight nod, "Something is off with our new friends. Rowan looks like a deer caught in headlights. And what's he doing with an Egyptian and a Roman?"
"Samira is Roman?"
Reyna nodded, "I keep in contact with a couple old members of the legion. I remember they mentioned a Samira. Daughter of Mars, great in combat, very hot headed."
"You sure it's the same one?"
"Mars spits out enough kids that after a while you start to recognise them on sight. She's his alright."
"A Greek, an Egyptian, and a Roman walk into Area 51. Sounds like the start of a bad joke." Thalia sighed.
"We have to stay vigilant. Make sure we don't become the butt of that joke."
Thalia frowned, her gaze moving beyond Reyna to the hallway, "You think they're dangerous?"
"I think we should be careful."
Thalia turned back and stared into the empty janitors closet, "I'll keep an eye on Rowan and the Egyptian. You keep your eyes on Samira. If any of them make a move we don't like…"
She let the threat hang in the air, and Reyna nodded in agreement. They turned and began walking down the hallway only to find the five other members of their group standing around a body. As they walked up to join them, Thalia realised it was a single guard, sat slumped against the wall, still in uniform. His helmet was gone, his weapon discarded. He was shaking violently, his eyes wide and unfocused, lips moving without sound.
Thalia exchanged a glance with Reyna before kneeling in front of him. "Hey. Hey, soldier, can you hear me?"
The man didn't respond. Just kept whispering the same word over and over.
"Flies… flies… the eyes had too many flies…"
She looked up at Rowan, "Any idea what's going on with him?"
The son of Demeter shook his head, "Looks like he saw a demon or something."
Thalia's mind flickered to Scarlett, the daughter of Hades who could summon demons at will. She had seen Belial up close, and…well, he wasn't exactly the nurturing type. She couldn't help but wonder if the 10-year old had been roped into yet another one of Percy's insane ideas.
"Well he's not going to raise the alarm," Samira said, turning away from the guard, "Looks like there is nothing on this floor but interrogation rooms."
The stairwell down to Floor 8 was significantly longer than the one down to the 7th floor had been. For the first time Thalia really felt like they were deep underground. Their descent was also slower now, everyone instinctively moving quieter, softer, as if they could all sense that something big was waiting for them behind the door.
At the bottom, Samira reached for the handle, but she didn't swing it open this time. She cracked it just a few inches and peered through. Thalia joined her, and got her first look at the 8th floor.
The flickering red and yellow lights of the alarms were gone, replaced with a cold, artificial white light. The sounds of the alarms had also vanished, replaced by the steady pulse of the backup generators and the sound of metal clashing against metal. The room itself looked like an enormous hanger. Massive crates stood like silent giants, storage racks climbing skyward, catwalks stretching above in complex lattices. Rows of sealed containers, each stamped with symbols or agency barcodes, glowed faintly beneath the lights.
And beyond all of that, was a literal clash of gods.
It was hard to actually tell what was happening, as most of what Thalia could see was just streaks of silver colliding against one another. Every clash sent out a pulse of wind that rustled the crates nearest the fight. The sound of metal shrieking echoed across the hanger, and in a brief moment of respite Thalia caught sight of her mistress' auburn hair.
"What the hell are we looking at?" Aurora whispered, wide-eyed, having joined them at the door.
"Lady Artemis," Thalia breathed. "And Sin."
The names sounded almost meaningless in the face of what they were seeing. Artemis moved like a hurricane in human form, her twin knives flashing with inhuman precision. But Sin?
Sin didn't move. She flowed.
Her staff cut through the air like it belonged in motion, every strike sending shockwaves through the floor. Her white hair trailed behind her like a ribbon of starlight. She barely seemed to touch the ground. Like gravity was just a suggestion.
Leila's eyes were wide. Even Samira, ever cocky, looked rattled. Only Rowan stared with blank awe, or maybe something else, etched across his face.
"Gods," Reyna muttered, gripping her dagger tighter. "I've never seen Milady fight like that. Like…"
"Like her life is on the line," Thalia finished, barely able to tear her eyes away. "I've seen gods fight before, it's never felt this…existential."
Artemis moved in bursts of silver light, her form blurring, and then changing. She lunged as a woman, struck as a tiger, and then rolled through a swing as a silver falcon, her wings catching the shockwave of Sin's blow and carrying her back through the air. Then she hit the ground running as a doe, her form trailing moonlight, before twisting back into a huntress mid-sprint and launching a pair of knives that ricocheted off Sin's staff with a clang that rattled the floor.
"Did she just…" Leila whispered.
"Yeah," Thalia said, pride fluttering in her chest at her mistress's combat abilities, "She did."
Sin didn't stumble. Didn't react. She simply turned, her silver eyes locked on the trail of afterimages Artemis had left behind, and struck.
The crescent of her staff carved through the air like a guillotine. Artemis barely avoided the blow by shifting back into a wolf, her paws scrabbling against the hangar floor as she dodged, teeth bared.
Sin pivoted, impossibly fast, and swept her staff in a full circle. The impact of it slamming into the floor sent a wave of concussive force that knocked Artemis clear off her feet, even in wolf form. She hit the wall with a sharp crack, shifting back into her human shape just before landing.
Thalia sucked in a breath. Even with all her divine power, Artemis looked…winded.
"We have to do something-" Elysia started.
"No," Thalia said, authority seeping into her voice, "Wait."
Because she had seen something they hadn't.
She'd seen him.
Riptide surged in his hand, a blur of celestial bronze arcing for Sin's midsection. But she was already there, her staff intercepting the blow with a crack that echoed around the chamber like thunder. She spun the crescent blade at the end of her staff, cutting for his throat.
Percy ducked, but barely. A few strands of hair drifted loose in the wake of the slash. Underneath his dark hair, his eyes pulsed with a blue light. The same light Thalia saw when he was angry, when he was starting to let loose.
Sin struck again. Overhead. Diagonal. A feint that reversed direction mid-swing.
He blocked, barely, but it wasn't enough.
Her foot slammed into his chest, and Percy soared backward, crashing through a storage crate with a metallic crunch. Percy hit the ground, coughed out some blood, then rolled to his feet. He dropped into a low stance, ice blooming outward from his boots.
Sin moved again, this time with real intent.
The room warped around her speed, like space refused to keep up. Thalia could barely follow, could barely react…
But Percy could.
The staff came down, a vertical strike that could have split mountains.
Percy raised Riptide with both hands and met the blow, and the shockwave from the impact cracked the floor beneath him like a spiderweb. Wind tore through the room in every direction. Sparks flew from the meeting of the blade and the staff.
Sin's feet hovered an inch off the floor. She looked down at him.
"You are not like the others," she said.
"Thanks," Percy growled through clenched teeth. "My mom always told me I was special."
The ice around his feet shattered. With a roar Percy shoved Sin backward, the collision of their weapons sending her skidding.
He followed. This time, he set the tempo and he came at her like a storm.
Each of his strikes came faster, heavier. The temperature dropped like a rock, but for every degree it dropped Percy's pace picked up. Riptide became a blur as he drove Sin back across the floor.
But she adapted.
She always adapted.
Her staff spun in elegant arcs, intercepting every strike like a clockwork machine fine-tuned to perfection. When Percy ducked low to sweep her legs, she vaulted upward, flipping once and landing on a catwalk overhead as if gravity were a choice.
"You remained limited by your mortality," she stated, matter-of-factly.
"I get it, you hate mortals. You want a white hood to go with that racism?" Percy shot back.
The ice around his feet melted at his command, only to refreeze into ice spears. Dozens of them orbited around his like jagged satellites, and with a flick of his hand, he launched them skywards.
Sin twirled, her staff a blur, deflecting some, shattering others, but one snuck inside her defense, grazing her cheek.
A thin line of gold bloomed across her otherwise flawless skin.
Sin reached up and dabbed her cheek gently, before looking down at her fingers as if she needed a moment to comprehend the fact that Percy had broken her skin.
"Did he just cut her?" Rowan asked softly, and a glance back from Thalia showed that everyone's faces were reflecting the awe in Rowan's voice.
"Do we help?" Elysia inquired nervously, seemingly scared to ask the question.
Thalia's jaw clenched, "No. We'd slow them down. Unfortunately, this is a little above our paygrade."
Sin stepped off the catwalk, a move so subtle it almost appeared accidental. The force with which she brought down her staff suggested otherwise. Where Percy had been mere breaths ago now formed a crater. Percy stood a few feet away, breath ragged, sweat beading his forehead. It was taking everything he had to stay in the fight, but thankfully he wasn't alone.
As Sin whirled on him once more, a tint of rage now colouring her otherwise expressionless demeanor, Artemis dove back into the fore. Her daggers shot towards Sin's face, and for a half second it looked as though they would make contact, until Sin spun with speed that defied physics and caught the small blade on the edge of her much larger one. Before she could react, however, Percy was already upon her once more, Riptide cleaving towards her midsection.
Gravity seemed to reverse as Sin glided backwards, the celestial bronze blade missing her by inches. She took a few steps away from her opponents and took a deep breath. Sin was impossibly fast, ludicrously strong, and absurdly lethal. But for the first time she didn't seem entirely in control of the fight. Artemis had speed to match, and Percy seemed capable of going toe-to-toe in strength. Combined, they made a terrifying duo. The only downside was that they couldn't coordinate as perfectly as a duo as Sin could as an individual.
Thalia scanned the room again, this time looking beyond the fight to their surroundings..
"No sign of Jett," she murmured.
"He must be looking for the relic," Reyna guessed.
"If Jett's not fighting, then he's searching," Thalia concluded, "We need to find him before he finds whatever this relic is that they want so badly."
Samira nodded, "He'll want the relic. That's what Sin ordered him to do."
Thalia's gaze met Reynas for a half-second, "She ordered him?"
"We overheard before we fought him," Leila offered.
Once more Thalia felt like something wasn't quite right, but at the moment she couldn't allow Jett to be running loose in the hanger. Her voice dropped to a whisper, "We move. Stay low. Stay quiet. Eyes sharp."
The group eased the door open, careful not to make too loud a noise. As they hurried away from the stairwell and towards the safety of the storage racks and crates the size of cabins. As they ran through the open space before the racks, Sins silver eyes drifted over them. Her brow furrowed for a moment before she turned her attention back to the goddess and demigod primed for battle in front of her. To Sin, they clearly weren't enough of a threat, and to that Thalia sighed a small breath of relief. But still…shouldn't she have called out to warn Jett?
Thalia wasn't going to complain, and as they moved deeper into the storage hanger the sounds of blades clashing and began to fade out, becoming like distant thunder rolling beneath their feet. That was the only constant alongside the hum of the power generators.
They wandered for a while, scanning row after row of the hanger. This was by far the biggest floor to Area 51 so far, but what surprised Thalia was how empty it was. There were no soldiers running around or hiding. Just their group of seven meandering listlessly, row after row.
There was one crate in particular that stood out to her. It was a fairly small box, smaller than she was, stamped with intricate carvings along the side that she didn't recognise. They weren't like the hieroglyphics she had seen Leila drawing, it looked like something…wilder. She stepped toward it slowly, almost reverently, as if waking a sleeping bear. The static in the air seemed to spike as she got closer, and for a second, she thought her teeth buzzed. She reached out and touched the edge of the crate. The moment her fingers brushed the wood, a jolt ran up her arm. Not painful instead…familiar. Like coming home in the middle of a thunderstorm.
Inside that crate, something was alive.
Something was waiting.
"Thalia?" Reyna's voice came from behind her, snapping her out of her stupor. The rest of the group had moved on, and so Thalia hurried forward, casting one last glance back at the mysterious crate.
A short time later she stepped behind the edge of a crate the size of a trailer and peered around it, only to jerk back quickly. She raised her fist, signaling for the group to slow down. She slid into a half-crouch, feet angled for balance, and unslung her bow from her back. With practised ease she notched an arrow. The string drew back with a soft creak, tension coiling in her arms and shoulders. Electricity danced faintly along her fingertips.
The arrowhead glinted coldly as she stepped out from behind the crate and she leveled it at Jett's back, her aim steady.
"Do something stupid," she said flatly, "and I'll kill you."
The son of Zeus' shoulders sagged. He held his hands up. "I don't suppose you're here to help me?"
"Well look at that, you must be a genius. Now give me one reason I shouldn't give this arrow a new home right between your eyes."
Jett turned. He looked like a wreck, to be honest. Dark rings hung under his eyes and sweat clung to his collar. But there was still that energy about him, that flicker of power pulsing beneath the surface. There was no question her half-brother still wielded the power of Enlil.
When his gaze met Thalias, he smirked.
"How good to see you sister. It's been too long."
"Funny," Thalia spat, "I was going to say the opposite."
Jett feigned a wounded look, "You and Percy are truly so alike. Is that why you joined the hunters? Worried you couldn't compete with Annabeth for his affections?"
Thalia rolled her eyes, "Why does it always have to be about a boy?"
Jett snorted, "Well I don't see why else someone would join this celibate club that Artemis is running unless a boy broke their heart."
Reyna stepped forward, spinning a dagger experimentally, "Who said a girl didn't break my heart, and that's why I joined?"
"Reyna Ramirez-Arellano," Jett spoke her name slowly, as if trying to decide how it tasted in his mouth, "Former Praetor of New Rome. Plus 1 of the Seven."
Reyna cast a sideways glance to Thalia, "Nico is going to be pissed when he finds out I replaced him as the Plus 1."
"He really did love that Plus 1 spot," Thalia agreed, she tightened her strain on the bow, "Now where were we? Were you grovelling for mercy yet?"
Jett's smirk fell away slightly, being replaced by a smile as Rowan turned the corner to stand alongside Reyna, "Rowan? My, my, my…what a pleasant surprise. It's like a little family reunion."
Rowan held his hand outwards, and after a brief tremor a tendril of dark green broke from the floor and curled around him protectively, "Hello, Jett. Good to see you again."
Thalia turned to Rowan, frowning, "Good to see you again? Didn't he kick your ass earlier?"
Rowan looked a little sheepish, "Ummm…about that Thalia…"
In a flash of motion too quick for her to counter, Jett surged forward, closing the distance like a strike of lightning. He grabbed the front of Thalia's parka and twisted, slamming her into the side of the crate. Her arrow went flying off harmlessly and her bow clattered to the ground. She tried to bring her knee up, but he was faster, dropping her with a sweep of his leg and pinning her against the crate with a forearm to the collarbone.
Before Reyna could react, the thick root around Rowan shot forward, slamming her hand hard enough to send her dagger flying. In the same motion, it circled around her and ensnared her, lifting her a couple of feet off the ground. Rowan stood off to the side, his expression strained, hand raised. His eyes didn't meet hers.
"What the fuck is…Rowan!" Reyna barked, struggling against the bindings.
Leila didn't speak, instead she sent a pulse of magic through the air towards Elysia. It released a shockwave as it hit, knocking her backwards into one of the racks. Her head slammed into a metal bar and she crumpled unconscious.
Aurora barely had time to turn before Samira surged forward, reaching around from behind to force her into a headlock. The ginger-haired hunter struggled, but the Roman held firm
Thalia's head rolled against the crate as she groaned, her head swimming. She tried to push against Jett's arm, but his strength so outclassed her own that it was a fruitless effort. She went limp against the crate, her conversation with Reyna about remaining alert running through her head again.
"I must have hit my head pretty hard."
"You're after Percy too?"
"We have a mission."
It all came back like a sucker punch to the jaw. It had been right there in front of her. The way Sin didn't stop them. The way she barely noticed them at all.
"She didn't stop us," Thalia muttered, "Because she didn't need to. Her people already had it handled."
Jett grinned down at her, "You think Sin didn't see this coming? Aww, did sissy not know that her besties here are actually my besties?"
Thalia's eyes flicked to Rowan
"You lied to me."
Rowan nodded, meeting her gaze, "I put the mission first, Thalia. I'm sorry."
"Your mission," she growled, "You're working with the fucking Annunaki?"
"Guilty."
Thalia sneered at him, "You traitorous rat fuck. You're the same breed of spinless shithead that Jett is. What about Olive? Huh. You think she would be proud of you for selling her and the rest of the camp out to feed your sick power fantasy?"
Rowan winced, "I think Olive would understand. I think if I explained things to her, to the rest of camp…I don't think they will just understand. I think they will join me. "
"You're so fucking delusional," Thalia growled.
Rowan shrugged, "Maybe…I'm the eternal optimist, what can I say."
Jett turned to look at Rowan, "How's the fight going?"
Rowan's face darkened, "I thought it would just be her against Percy. Why is Artemis here?
Jett scowled, "Stupid virgin bitch. She came out of nowhere and interrupted the fight. We weren't anticipating any godly assistance."
"Well he's got it, and Sin isn't curbstoning them the way she told us she would be."
Jett rolled his eyes, "She's so arrogant. Perhaps a close call might kick her ego down a few notches."
Rowan's eyes flashed, "We don't want her ego kicked down a few notches. I'd rather not be caught up in another one of her temper tantrums. I prefer my head to be attached to my body."
"It was one time-"
"One time is enough for me," Rowan shot back.
Jett chuckled, "You're always so serious, Rowan, you need to lighten up a bit. You wanna kill Thalia here to cheer you up."
Rowan gave him a dark look, "Don't do that. Don't play games. She deserves more respect than that. Just kill her quickly and be done with it."
Jett sighed, releasing his hold on Thalia. She slumped to the ground. Jett stepped a couple of paces away, drinking in the moment. "I'll kill her quickly," Jett said, "But that doesn't mean I'm not gonna enjoy it."
Rowan just looked away.
Jett laughed, turning to Reyna with a grin, "Congratulations Miss Ramirez-Arellano. You're about to be lieutenant of the Hunters…for about fifteen seconds, so get ready to take it all in."
Reyna spat at him.
Jett scowled, closing the distance between them and slapping her across the face. Reyna, trapped by the vine, could do nothing but hold Jett in her withering gaze.
"Stupid bitch, it's a shame I couldn't teach you some goddamn respect before I killed you. But that's fine, we all have regrets after all."
"Jett," Rowan warned, "Let's just get this over with."
"I agree," Samira chimed in from where she was holding Aurora, "You're a sadistic fuck, we get it. Let's just kill 'em and move on."
Jett sighed, and he shot both the son of Demeter and the daughter of Mars a look of disgust, "Fine, fine…we'll do it your way."
He reached out a hand and pulled a celestial bronze blade out of what seemed like thin air. He held Thalia in his gaze, a grin returning to his face.
"You have no idea how long I've waited for this," he gloated, "Goodbye Thalia Grace. It's fitting you should die at the hands of a superior child of Zeus. Maybe if Jason had been the one to survive, he would have been a more worthy opponent."
He lifted his sword and brought it down with fury…only the killing blow never landed.
There was a sharp, metallic clang and a flash of movement, Jett's blade was halted inches from Thalia's face by another sword. It shimmered with Norse runes, pulsing faintly with silver light. The moment of impact sent a ringing vibration through the air that made even Rowan take a step back.
Jett blinked. "What…again?"
Then the sword moved.
It twisted on its own, whirled in a loop, and smacked Jett's hand hard enough to send his blade clattering across the floor.
"Ow! What the fu-"
"Oh gods, what perfect timing!" said the sword, floating midair now, "You try to pull a dramatic villain monologue, then botch the kill shot? Amateur hour."
Thalia coughed and blinked at the blade, dazed, "What...the hell is that?"
The sword turned to her (yes, turned, like it had eyes) and gave a jaunty little wiggle. "Thalia Grace, right? Daughter of Zeus? Love the Death to Barbie shirt by the way, you're really nailing the aesthetic. I'm Jack, magical sword extraordinaire. I stopped by to save your life, smite a few bad guys, maybe sing a little Taylor Swift if there's time."
"You're a talking sword," she said, her brain refusing to believe what was in front of her.
"Correction," Jack announced proudly, spinning in the air with flair, "I'm a singing sword. Also stabbing. Very versatile."
Jett snarled, summoning his blade back into his grip with a pulse of lightning. "What in the Hades is going on?"
"Oh look," Jack quipped, turning lazily in the air to face him, "He's mad. Wanna talk about it? Daddy issues? Ego problems? Unresolved jealousy over your cousin being cooler than you?"
"Shut. Up!" Jett lunged forward.
Jack zipped back, "Rude!"
Rowan stepped forward, but just as Thalia noticed the bee on his shoulder, the bee shifted. Instead of a bee, a petit teenager with sharp features and dyed green hair appeared on his back. The teenager reached under Rowan's neck and pulled it back tight with a garrotte wire. Rowan staggered back, his control of the vines weakening and giving Reyna the distraction she needed to wriggle her way out.
Leila moved towards Rowan to help, but a flash of purple light sent her flying back.
Thalia followed where the light had come from and found a familiar dark-haired daughter of Hecate marching towards them. Her eyes flickered purple with rage, and her focus was now solely on Jett.
Jett scowled, "What, can't get over me?"
Alice stopped a few feet from them, her face etched with hatred. Behind her Castle and Sophie appeared, along with a dirty blond teenager whose stormy gray eyes matched Castles.
"Let me make one thing absolutely clear," Alice snarled, her hands lighting on fire, "I. Broke. Up. With. You."
Author's note: Hope you enjoyed a new POV. Definitely need to get more comfortable with it, but there will be more in the future so I'll get plenty of experience. I hope you like the chapter, and as always please review. Reading reviews keeps my mind on the story and makes me more likely to write because I'm thinking about it. I also recently realised I can respond to comments, so I plan on starting to do that.
All the best and see you in the next chapter.