Marcus watched the sparring match happening before him, studying how the War Board would move and shift as the momentum of combat between Maddie and Joel went back and forth, the pieces representing each of his friends shifting as their actions followed or subverted his predictions. A part of him wondered if sparring was the best use of their time right now, but he had to admit he agreed with Chiron's analysis.

We have no choice for now but to be reactive. While we wait for our scouts to come back with new information, we'll be grilling Hunter. He'll have to break eventually.

Marcus raised an eyebrow, seeing Maddie's piece on the War Board overtake Joel's. A fraction of a moment later, Joel was flat on his back, Maddie's spear tip inches from his throat. Marcus cocked his head in curiosity. Wasn't that thing shorter…?

Marcus watched as Maddie stepped back, shaking her head as she forced down her battle mind. She's gotten more control…

As she came back to herself, Marcus was surprised to see that the spear started to shrink, slowly returning to its smaller size before Marcus' eyes. Maddie turned and met Marcus' gaze. As had been happening since his time in the Underworld, she quickly turned her face away again, this time reaching down and offering to help Joel to his feet, who thankfully refused.

"Still haven't talked to her?"

Marcus sighed. He had finally gotten used to Phil's light steps, but still couldn't hear him coming. He had simply resigned himself to never truly knowing where Phil was at all times.

"There hasn't exactly been time." He replied, not turning.

Phil nodded thoughtfully, nocking another arrow on his bow, aiming, and firing at his target yards away in one smooth motion.

"Right. After all, we've only been back at Camp for two whole weeks already, where we've been ordered in no uncertain terms to simply rest and prepare for the battles ahead. Obviously there's just no time to speak to your oldest friend about the hell that our world has become."

Marcus turned, meeting Phil's frank gaze. "I think I preferred it when we were fighting. At least then I could ignore your advice with a guilt free conscience."

"Gods, would you just talk to the girl already, dumbass." Chastity said, just loud enough to be heard by everybody within a mile radius. "She's not as patient as I was when I was putting up with your shit."

Marcus raised an eyebrow at Chastity in response. Since they had come to an understanding about where they stood, their relationship had gone back to their normal, flirtatious banter. Except she seemed to enjoy throwing sly digs at his behavior in the Underworld at him, perhaps as a form of punishment.

"Remind me, when have you ever been patient?" He said with a small smile.

"She does have a point, you know." Jason added quietly, seemingly stepping out of thin air next to Marcus, causing him to jump in surprise. Since when did he get so good at Mist Manipulation? "Seeing you two at odds is throwing us all out of whack."

"I'll show you out of whack." Marcus muttered, but he had to admit that his friends had a point. He glanced over at Maddie again, who had taken up position across from Joel again, the only other person in their group besides Marcus who could keep pace with her in a physical match up, and glanced down at the War Board in his mind's eye. In sudden inspiration, Marcus walked casually across the training yard, the sand crunching beneath his feet.

"Hold on!" He called out. He held up his hand to catch Joel's attention, then casually set it on Maddie's head, just as he always did to bring her fully out of battle mind. He ruffled her hair gently, glancing down at her as she looked up at him from under his hand, their eyes meeting for the first time since the Underworld. He threw her a cocky smirk before turning back to the rest of his group.

"Jason, how attuned to Torrington's book have you become?" He continued.

Jason hesitated, thinking carefully. "What do you have in mind?"

Marcus grinned, gesturing to the open training area. "How large a group of illusions can you create?"

Jason smiled, catching on to Marcus' plan and moved to the opposite end of the training arena, summoning a large group of humanoid shadows as he went. Marcus raised an eyebrow. There were at least fifteen shadows, so solid no light could escape. Jason stood in the stands of the training area, Torrington's book open in his hands and his brow furrowed in concentration.

Joel stepped up next to Marcus, clapping his hand on his shoulder. "So, group trainin' then huh? Time to see what our new master strategist has up his sleeve."

Marcus glanced behind him and saw that Phil and Chastity had maneuvered themselves onto their side of the training arena.

"What's the plan, Marcus?" Maddie mumbled from under his hand.

Marcus stepped back, spinning his watch around into whip form. Time to see just what we can do.

"The plan is what the plan always is, Maddie Madness." Marcus stretched, flicking his wrists as he did. He had learned that while his Yankees Jacket appeared to be made entirely of cloth, the cuffs of his sleeves had fine motion sensors in them. After some experimentation, (and a rather embarrassing emergency landing in the lake), Marcus had gotten the hang of his wings, and he found he could summon them at will with a simple flick of his wrist. Just like now.

"Wing it?" Maddie answered, a small smile appearing on her face and causing Marcus to chuckle.

"Well, good to see you two can at least talk like normal." Joel commented in a clearly audible mumble.

Marcus could have kicked him.

"Throw everything you got at us Jason." Marcus called out instead. He stepped back from Maddie and Joel and leapt into the air, using his father's power to propel him skyward. He saw Jason shield his eyes to look up at him, and could have sworn there was a bit of a sinister grin on his face as he waved an affirmative.

Marcus used his wings to hover in the air, watching the battle unfold before him as his friends clashed.

Joel, clearing great paths through the shadows with his greatsword, though he only held it in a one handed grip. His other hand held his pan pipes. What's that about.?

Phillip flanked Jason's Shadows, peppering them with arrows that split and multiplied as they flew through the air, silver streaks of moonlight in the midday sun. Even in perfect sunlight, Phil was hard to get a bead on.

Chastity's voice was strong and powerful, seemingly switching between musical genres on the fly as she weaved through the front lines of combat, Orpheus' Lyre in hand. Marcus was shocked at first to see her there, but realized quickly it was the perfect place. Her aura empowered the allies around her, each note she sang rejuvenating them and giving their strikes stronger purpose.

Maddie astounded Marcus most. She spun her spear, using it almost as a quarterstaff, and if it wasn't happening right before him, Marcus wasn't sure he'd believe what she was doing. Leonidas' Spear shifted in size moment to moment, one second being no shorter than a shortsword as she used it to parry a shadows strike, the next a ten foot pole as she swung it at the feet of a group of shadows.

Finally, Marcus turned his attention to Jason, seeing what kind of strain controlling so many illusions made manifest was having on the quiet and shy boy. But what he saw wasn't at all what he expected. Jason seemed to be having the time of his life, flicking his attention back and forth between his different friends and their individual struggles.

"Boulder Boy…" Marcus could practically hear Jason mumbling. "Chew Toy… How's this for a Chew Toy…"

Marcus' eyes widened as he saw the shadows towards the back of Jason's group start to shift and meld together, forming a larger creature. Marcus gazed at his War Board in his mind's eye and groaned at what it predicted might be coming. He's taking this a bit too seriously.

Marcus studied his War Board carefully, watching for the tell tale signs of the battle unfolding around him. He saw Jason's plan start to unravel before his eyes, and couldn't help the small bit of pride he felt at the growth of the young son of Dolos before him. Distract them. Increase the Shadows' numbers, even if they're just illusions, don't let them focus on the massive Shadow long enough to do anything until it's too late. Marcus had to admit, he was impressed.

As Jason summoned more and more Shadows, replacing the ones he lost and masking whatever he was planning from the rest of his friends on the ground, Joel put his syrinx to his lips and blew, playing a haunting harmony to Chastity's lyre. The sound made a chill run down Marcus' neck, and as he watched his War Board, he saw it have an effect on the shadows, disrupting the Mist that held them in place. The longer Joel played, simply defending himself with his massive greatsword, the more Marcus saw the mist get disrupted, and he could see Jason's eyes start to become… Panicked? Guess that answers my question about Joel's Artifact..

The minor shadows dissipated as Joel stopped playing to catch his breath, revealing the mass of shadow that Jason had put his entire attention on to maintain and leaving one or two Corporeal Shadows to guard it. Marcus swooped down, aiming for the growing orb of shadow. This was his chance to tip the scales in their favor, instead of the even back and forth that Jason had been able to maintain up until now. If he could get there fast enough, he may be able to stop whatever danger his Board warned him about, but he was too slow. With an almost evil laugh, Jason summoned a large Golem, stepping out of the mass of shadow he had created.

"Let's see how you handle boulders!" Jason laughed.

"Aight, Jason…" Joel chuckled nervously. "No need to go all crazy on us, buddy…"

"Too late." Phil replied.

"Oh, what the fuck." Chastity grumbled.

Marcus gazed up at the Golem before him. He had noticed alternate routes on his War Board that could lead to victory, and it seemed like now might be when one of those was needed.

"Maddie!" Marcus cried out, ducking quickly.

Just above his head, Maddie's spear tip extended, slamming into the chest of the shadow Golem. As Maddie retracted it, Marcus cracked his whip above him, catching the attention of Jason, and thus the few remaining shadows. Marcus smiled, catching Jason's eye just past his Golem.

"Checkmate."

Marcus once more called up on the gifts he had received from his father, swirling the winds around him. While the force he mustered wasn't enough to cause much damage on their own, that hadn't been his aim. From the second he had landed, Marcus had followed his strategy step by step.

Get Jason's attention.

Stir the winds.

While he had been coming to grips with the controls of his jacket, he had realized that the same wrist motion he used to crack his whip was the one the motion sensors in his cuffs used to activate the wing's lightning. He had also learned that it was exhausting, pulling his energy to do so, so he had better make any shot he had count, hence the whip crack to attract attention. And by stirring the winds, there was just enough motion in the air to cause the lightning to arc out from his wings without him focusing on a target.

Lightning strike.

With the crack of thunder, lightning arced out from Marcus' wings, striking the remaining shadows that Jason had created. His goal had been to overload the magic holding them all together, and while it succeeded on the smaller shadows, it looked like Marcus had underestimated Jason's Golem.

"Yahtzee!" Jason cried out as his Golem raised its fists, ready to bring them down on Marcus as he recovered from his electric attack.

Two silver streaks shot through the sky just above Marcus, one each burying themselves in the Golem's hands, pushing it back just enough for Maddie to leap over Marcus' head, slamming into the Golem's chest and knocking it backwards, her spear thrust straight through. Usually, she would have landed over her defeated foe, but Jason's magic ran out at that moment, leaving Maddie standing on her own as the Mist dissipated around her, and Phillip's silver arrows burst from losing their target.

Maddie turned to regard Marcus, her spear returning to its default size. He couldn't help but gape at how amazing she looked to him, wreathed in the disappearing Mist. After a moment, she walked over to him and reached up, standing on the tips of her toes, to lay her hand on the top of his head and ruffle his dark hair. Marcus blinked in surprise, to which she simply smiled in response.

"Come on, Marcus. I can't always be saving you, ya know." She said with a grin.