Chapter 56:

"2-200 years?" Annabeth muttered, shocked at the truth-bomb dropped on them. "B-But how? And why?"

The other two demigods also had confused expressions on their faces. While being alive for two centuries wasn't exactly ground-breaking, considering that the gods had been alive for far, far longer, it was a surprise to hear of mortals being around for so long. Much less a mortal-centric organisation.

Billy shrugged. "The actual 'how' is something that I'm not too knowledgeable on. All I know is that I heard from a friend, who knew a guy, about how the Order worked. They're like a 'hush-hush' group, Illuminati, that kind of weird shit. The 'why' I can help with. Apparently, they're not too keen on the supernatural roaming about the world, manipulating them however they wish." He snorted. "Like a band of mortals are going to do anything about that."

As much as Percy or Silena wanted to protest, they knew that it was true. Mortals had been the playthings of the goods for a long time. Either through the gods sleeping with them, or getting devoured by monsters. Although, not as much as half-bloods.

"So, they've got this little club floating about. Clear-sighted mortals, obviously. But different kinds of people from all over the world. Scientists, musicians, artists, philosophers, you name it. And they've racked up a fortune amongst the world, with all of their collective wealth brought together. That's how they were able to hire those assassins that attacked Camp Half-Blood."

"But if they're a group of mortals, why are they trying to attack us?" Annabeth queried, confused. "We haven't done anything for them to retaliate against us!"

"Like I said, they're not a fan of anything supernatural. That includes us." Billy grabbed another drink while he sat down. "I don't know the full details, but I'm guessing that they're attacking you to get back at the Olympians somehow. I dunno, probably due to the Olympians just being assholes."

"Story of my life," Percy agreed. "But, could you help us locate a nearby base of this Order?" The girls were giving him glares for him to shut up, but he was on a roll, eager for more information.

Billy raised an eyebrow, sipping his drink. "I could tell you, but I want to make one thing clear." Percy nodded slowly, curious. "Prepare a pyre for yourself when you get back to camp."

Percy scowled. "Real helpful, asshole."

"Never say I didn't do anything nice for you," Billy remarked, before getting serious. He then took out a piece of paper and scribbled something down in it. "One of the members of the Order of Enlightenment came in to find a place to buy weapons and recruit people. I unfortunately couldn't help him with the latter so I sent him to a friend in Chicago, but I did help him out with the former. This," he slid the note to Percy, "is the location of the warehouse I sent him to. He is going to there for only one day, meaning after this he will be in the wind. Good luck."

Percy pocketed the note, the slip of paper feeling unusually heavy in his hand. "Thanks." As the trio were leaving the pub, Billy called out, "Wait."

Turning to him, he replied, "Just a heads up. If you do decide to be dumb and go there, you'll have a target on your back, and be exposed to the Order. The warehouse is basically a weapons market, and so you'll have the attention of all the members of the Abyss. Cause a scene, and that dark world that they're a part of will come to know about you. And once that happens, it's not easy to get out of it."

Percy nodded. "I got it."

Billy shook his head. "No, I don't think you do. As an informant, I don't play favourites. Someone comes here, and they pay well, I have to give information. So if anyone comes asking about you, I'll tell them what they need to know."

That had the demigods whirl around fully, furious. "That's ridiculous! What type of stupid law is that?!" Silena asked angrily.

Billy glared at her. "It's that same stupid law that's allowing me to tell you about the Order of Enlightenment in the first place. It's how the world works. Suck it up and stop crying about it."

Silena was about to continue arguing, when Annabeth placed a hand on her shoulder, shaking her head. The daughter of Aphrodite swallowed her anger, but still had a look of displeasure on her face.

As they exited the pub, Percy began to complain, "What the hell was that?! We give him information on the camp, and the moment anyone asks, he's willing to blurt everything out? I thought that he was a friend!"

"Travis and Connor mentioned that he was a contact," Annabeth corrected, though she was also displeased. "But it can't be helped. We'll just have to pray that no one else is looking for us at the moment."

"But why is he so nonchalant about the whole thing?" Silena questioned, disturbed. "Does he truly not care about what happens to us? To the gods? Are there more demigods like him?"

That created a chain of unpleasant thoughts. Just how many demigods were there in the mortal world that were thriving away from camp? Sure, this wasn't really a surprise, since numerous demigods in the past have had famous lives outside of Camp Half-Blood. But to see one that was so jaded to the outcome of the Titan War?

"L-Let's just focus on the task at hand," Annabeth commented, although she was still shaky. "I'm not happy that you asked for their nearest base, Percy, but since we now have the information, we may as well use it to our advantage."

Nodding, Percy pulled out the note he had, seeing the words, '100 Brighton St, Bronx, NY'. Memorising it, he hailed them a cab, which took them back to the station. They then bought the tickets to head back to New York.

Just when things seemed like they were going to be calm, that was when disaster struck. An odd clunking noise hit their ears as something landed a few feet away from them. They turned to see what had caused the strange sound, and their eyes widened in horror as they recognized it as a grenade.

"Move!" Silena shouted. The other two didn't know if she'd used charmspeak for her orders, but they responded quickly. Equipping the shield Tyson had made for him some time ago, Percy moved to Annabeth quickly and covered her, wrapping his arm around her and jumping back slightly. This had the effect of both shielding and blowing them back from the explosion that had just occurred.

Unfortunately for them, the explosion included an intense light being unleashed, as well as a massive boom. Percy was overwhelmed, with Annabeth crying out as the two became both blind and deaf. Their eyes were covered by white spots, with their ears ringing as well.

Silena unstrapped her bow and returned fire against the bullets being fired against them. Unfortunately, things became even more worse when the public - already in hysterics from the grenade - started scrambling about in terror, mowed down due to them being in the way. As grim as this was, it was likely the reason that they were still alive, for the mortals were providing the demigods with a distraction.

Collapsing her weapon, Silena dashed towards Annabeth and Percy, grabbing them by the arm and pushing them behind one of the pillars that were there. Once they were relatively safe, Percy could safely freak out. "Mortals are firing at us?!"

"They must be from the Order of Enlightenment!" Annabeth yelled back, grunting when one of the bullets whizzed past her ear. "They probably know that we're going after one of their bases, hoping to silence us!"

"Or maybe they're just hunting us down!" Silena retorted back. "Guess we wouldn't know which one, since someone already complicated things for us!"

"Yeah, yeah! I know, it's my fault!" Percy snapped angrily, tugging at a chain he had on his belt. While it looked like a typical chain that punks usually wore, it was anything but. Tugging at the chain, Greek armour started to sprout around his body, appearing in the same manner as Riptide usually did when uncapped. He really had to thank Markus for helping to create the charm for it. Unsheathing one of the mortal steel swords that came with it, he yelled, "I'll cover you!"

"Percy, wait!" Annabeth yelled, but the son of Poseidon didn't listen. He ran out, shield raised as he tried to look at the attackers through the hailstorm of bullets. He gasped - more in shock than pain - at the force of being peppered by what felt like molten hot pellets. Instinctively, he knew that they would've burned through any unprotected flesh if it'd struck them.

Feeling the consistency of the bullets increasing, Percy assumed that meant that he was getting closer to one of the mortals. Moving quickly, he quickly rotated his shield arm between the shots that were fired, finding an opening. He shield-bashed the man's gun, making the weapon fly out of his hands. Then he swung, sword cutting into the man's throat, causing him to go wide-eyed, choking on his blood.

Percy quickly moved, not wanting to hear the dying sounds or focus on them at all. Another mercenary was about to fire at him, but an arrow struck his body. After a second, it beeped, releasing a powerful bolt of electricity that shocked him immensely.

Appreciating the save from Silena, Percy moved to another pillar and hid behind it. Reaching into his pocket and pulling out a container, he felt a sharp tug in his gut as water sprung from it, forming and thickening into a shield that helped give him some breathing room.

Roaring, he pushed forward, the water responding to his will and slamming into more mercenaries, dousing and blasting them with a powerful burst of water. Using one hand to keep them pinned down, the son of Poseidon kept moving, sword flashing out and slicing guns and - grudgingly - mowing down mortals.

The sword felt... like scrap, for lack of a better term, in Percy's hands. Unlike Riptide, which seemed suited for his style of combat, this one felt like cheap plastic that he was cosplaying with. Nevertheless, it got the job done.

As he was moving, he grunted as he fell to a knee, a bullet managing to nick him. The shooter was about to take advantage of this, only for a slash to suddenly appear across his neck, making him gasp weakly and gurgle on blood. He fell down in a heap, the others looking at him strangely.

Not looking a gift horse in the mouth, Percy quickly crawled to safety, hiding behind another pillar, trying to figure out what he needed to do. Unfortunately, the enemy seemed to be content to pepper the sturdy pillar with gunfire.

Just as a plan started to formulate in his head, a clanking sound rang as another grenade fell from where it was thrown to his side.

"Motherfucker!" he yelled angrily, rolling away and moving to escape the worst of the explosion. Donning the armour had protected him somewhat, but his body was rattled from the sound. He landed on his back from the force, blinking as he did his best to strategize.

"Need... n-need a plan," Percy muttered to himself, groaning as he tried to sit up. Arms reached out to grab him and he made to swing at the person, reacting on instinct. A female yelp was the response, followed by him hitting air.

"It's me, Seaweed Brain!" Annabeth's voice snapped, before the air shimmered and Annabeth was standing there, holding her cap.

"Sorry," was his response. "We need a plan!" He could hear the thwang! of an arrow being fired, and he saw one of the mercenaries fall to the ground in a heap, an arrow sticking out of their neck.

Annabeth had her thinking face on as they did their best to move for cover. They hid behind a large piece of debris that was created from the multiple explosions. A look of sudden realisation crossed her face. Unstrapping her backpack that she'd brought along with her, she emptied the contents in it, before handing it to Percy. "Fill it with water! Now!"

Confused, Percy did as she asked, trusting in her wisdom. Grabbing it from him, she tossed it in the direction of where the mortals were firing on them. "Grenade!" one of them immediately shouted as heavy footsteps stomped furiously, presumably getting away from Percy's grenade.

Almost laughing at the simplicity of the move, Percy dragged Annabeth away, Silena following them through the flying debris and dust trail. The three demigods managed to gain some cover. Using the water ball as a distraction, Percy had it expand and deal with the rest of the fleeing guards.

Before they could even relax, however, gunfire was sprung upon them when leaving. "Fuck!" the son of Poseidon hissed, tackling the girls behind a dumpster for cover. However, even that wasn't safe for them, for in their vicinity was a man toting a standard rifle, who promptly levelled his gun at them.

Too slow to react, they were thankfully saved by Silena yelling out, "Stop!"

The charmspeak in her voice was so powerful that even Percy and Annabeth stilled, eyes glazing over as their body halted in their movement, finding themselves short of breath quite literally. The mercenary wasn't exempt from this, for he dropped his weapon, frozen like he'd faced Medusa.

Grabbing the sword from Percy's hands, she frantically swung her weapon. There was no finesse to her swing, only the barest hint of her training shone through. It was a wild thing driven entirely by instinct, even with the assurance of her charmspeak. Nevertheless, it still served its grisly purpose.

It was silent - to them - as two meaty chunks of dlesh fell to the ground. Blood and entrails painting the alley and Silena as she cut the mortal in half, her demigoddess strength doing more than enough.

Realizing what she'd done, horror begun to raise up on her face. Annabeth held her shoulder, snapping her out of her daze. "Come on!"

It did the job, for the daughter of Aphrodite hastily squashed her remorse down. Now wasn't the time.

Suddenly, a bullet ripped into the ground right in front of them. Spinning back in the direction that they came through, they spotted a around six men cautiously making their way towards them, their guns aimed right at them.

Acting hastily, Percy flung his free hand out, summoning the glob of water he'd used before to appear in front of the men again, covering their fire. Before the mortals could even shout 'Scatter!', Percy roared and made it explode, sending the group flying from the concussive force, as well as dousing them.

Not turning around to see his results, Percy ran off with the others. "We need to move to a different location!" he told them frantically. Looking above, Silena unstrapped her bow and withdrew an arrow from her quiver, aiming for a particularly tall building. She fired a shot, a somewhat thick line of celestial bronze attached to the end of it.

The grappling hook arrow snagged itself to the top of the building, securing itself. "Hold on!" she yelled out. Doing just that, the trio were yanked forward, their combined weight making it slightly awkward for them, as they nastily hit the side of the building. Nevertheless, the arrow continued to drag them up, making them pull themselves over the ledge.

Despite the situation, Percy had to ask, "When the hell did you get a grappling hook arrow?"

Silena shrugged, panting. "I asked... Charlie... to install... thought it... could come in handy..."

"It definitely did," Percy remarked. He made to say more, only to flinch as two gunshots went off. Annabeth screamed in pain as she collapsed on top of the building. "Annabeth!" the other two cried out, inspecting her.

Upon inspection, it was clear where she was shot; her shoulder, with blood seeping out of the wound, and the side of her head, which had a jagged line, blood pouring out of that wound as well.

Luckily for the daughter of Athena, the pain and shock of the first gunshot to her shoulder had her react, saving herself from having a brutal headshot do her in. But she nearly passed out from the pain, it being too much for her.

"Seems the specialised bullets work," a neutral voice called out from somewhere close by. Shocked, Percy and Silena looked around to see more mercenaries climbing on top of the rooftops of a nearby building. The apparent leader was talking through his radio as he cautiously walked towards the demigods with his rifle aimed at them. "Roger. Proceeding to kill." With that single line, he and his men opened fire.

Percy scrambled forward, putting up his shield as Silena got behind him, dragging Annabeth with her as well. Though, the daughter of Aphrodite didn't move quickly enough, as she yelled in pain as a bullet punctured her own arm as well.

"They're like a damn infestation," she hissed out, cradling her arm. Opening her quiver, she took out an arrow and tossed it towards the firing group above Percy's shield. "Cover your ears!" she hissed to him.

Before he could tell her that he couldn't do that, the arrow released a sonic blast that shook Percy's ears, causing him to nearly lower his shield in pain. The enemy, however, had it worse. They yelled as their ears bled, weapons dropping to the ground as they futilely tried to cover their ears with their hands, failing miserably. Some fell to the ground, unresponsive. Others just kept screaming their heads off, jumping off of the building they stood on.

"A little gift from Will," Silena remarked, removing her hands from her ringing ears. "Though, it's annoying as well."

"What?!" Percy yelled, his own ears still ringing. From the edge of his vision, he saw movement headed towards him and the others. He took his sword, slicing into the chest of one of the approach mortals, showering him in blood.

Grimacing, he quickly withdrew his sword and helped carry Annabeth, as he and Silena headed towards the back of the stairway exit of the rooftop to hide. After applying water to his ears, Percy healed himself up, thinking to himself upon what he should do.

"We need a plan," Silena supplied unhelpfully, making Percy narrow his eyes as he looked above his place of cover.

"Y-Yeah. And I think I got one. We have to move to the other building. We'll go at it from the side, even use some water to help."

"Can you even use water like that?" she questioned, ducking under the now wild gunfire flailing about.

"We're about to find out," he remarked. He jerked his thumb towards the stairs, where the heavy approach of stomping feet was sounding off. "Think you got anymore tricks up your sleeves?"

"I'll stick with the ones I know, thanks." Unstrapping her arrows, the daughter of Aphrodite launched the sonic arrows again, causing blasts of sound to occur. Shouts of pain and surprise rang out. Using one of the nearby exits, Percy hefted Annabeth's body with a grunt as Silena held his own hand. Breathing in and out, he bought out the cannister and leapt off, the water flowing from it and forming a sort of platform for him to levitate across to the next building.

If it were any other situation, Percy would've been going crazy over performing something seen only on TV shows. But he grit his teeth, sweat rolling off his forehead as he mentally controlled the water carrying him and his friends.

While Percy focused, Silena kept an eye out for buildings that had any remaining soldiers, stealthily taking out any of them that tried to notice them. They eventually hovered over one particular mortal, who was speaking into the radio. Thankfully, he didn't seem to notice them, only focused on his radio.

"We need to re-position," the man hissed into his radio. "Targets lost. I repeat: targets lost. They must have moved elsewhere." He was silent for a moment as someone on the other side responded, before he replied once more. "Roger. Don't worry we'll get them."

Using all of his concentration, Percy lowered the water platform as close as he could towards the mortal, waiting for his chance. Silena helped by notching an explosive arrow and firing it off, creating a nearby explosion. As expected, the man turned towards the direction of the explosion.

Capitalizing on the chance this provided to them, Silena jumped on him, armed with Percy's sword and stabbing him repeatedly. The weapon slid easily in and out of the soldier's body, leaving bloody gashes that spewed blood. He weakly wheezed as the life drained out of him, but otherwise gave no sign as he dropped to the ground as a corpse.

Percy slowly released the water platform, mindful of Annabeth's limp body. He pilfered the corpse, looking for the radio that the man had on him. Seizing the radio, he pressed the button to turn on. "Uh, delay that order!" Percy requested awkwardly, unsure as to what to say. "I have found the targets! They are dead! T-The bodies will be recovered shortly! Over!"

Silena gave him an incredulous look, making him shrug helplessly. The radio hissed again. "Who is this?! This isn't Commander Johnson!"

Percy scrambled to come up with something, unfortunately not thinking that far yet. "Uh... C-Comander Jefferson! T-That's right! I'm new... on the team!"

"Commander Johnson has been compromised! I repeat, Commander Johnson has been compromised! All units, move to his location!" came the resounding shout.

"Nice going, Percy," Silena retorted angrily.

"Well, what did you expect me to do?" he replied, dropping the radio. Looking around, the daughter of Aphrodite looked at Annabeth for a bit, before reaching into her pockets and pulling out her phone. Dialling a number, she let the phone ring before answering.

"Hello, this is 911. How may I help you?" a voice asked.

Ignoring Percy's shocked look, Silena had a panicked look on her face as she spoke into the phone. "H-Help! T-There's guns and-and soldiers, a-and so many bodies! I-I-It's too much!"

"Ma'am, calm down! Give us your location!" was the response on the other end of the phone.

Silena did so, and ended the call, her expression going back to normal. She looked to Percy, who was shocked. "And that's how it's done," she responded smugly.

Annabeth groaned, choosing that time to fully wake into consciousness. Immediately, Percy was by her side. "Hey, hey. Slow down, Wise Girl." He handed her some spare ambrosia and nectar to help soothe and heal her injuries.

The daughter of Athena groaned as she came to fully. "What the Hades happened?"

Before they could say anything, the wails of sirens filled the air.

The radio beside them suddenly crackled. "This is Team 1A! Withdraw! All remaining units head to the rendezvous. I repeat! Withdraw and head to the rendezvous!"

"That was fast," Percy remarked. A thought suddenly came to him, concern creeping onto his face. "Are you sure we should be leaving the police to deal with these mercenaries? They've got big guns."

"I'm sure," Silena remarked. "Besides, now they'll be off our trail, and won't be able to follow us."

"But-"

"Percy, we don't have time! If we slip away now and let the police handle it, it'll be far more manageable than them coming after us!"

Percy scowled, while Annabeth looked confused. And then felt annoyed about being confused. "Will someone please tell me what happened?!"

They told her what had happened along the way as they snuck past the approaching police line, heading to their train to take them back to New York.

Sneaking past the police line was simple enough as they just leapt pass it while still sticking to the roofs and made it to the train station in no time.

As they sat there, Percy's thoughts strayed back to the events that had just occurred. He hadn't thought about it earlier, what with being preoccupied with fighting for his and his friends' life, but he'd briefly noticed that there were plenty of innocent people running away from all the carnage. Many of whom were likely dead or injured because of the battle. That thought weighed on his conscience like he was carrying the sky.

Doing his best to push those thoughts out, he instead focused on something else a little more ironic: his killing of the mercenaries. Death wasn't something he had gotten a better grasp on, which said something, because he'd been to the Underworld. When he'd killed the Shinto demigod, Alex, he couldn't even look at himself properly. He'd tried talking with anyone - Markus, his dad, Chiron - but the feelings of guilt and shame never seemed to go away. The fact that his training allowed for him to kill humans, not monsters... was a tough pill to swallow.

Even now, when he thought that those assholes deserved it, he still felt like bile was going to come out of his throat. Guess that meant that he wasn't some kind of monster.

At this morbid thought, Percy let out a tired yawn, feeling the hectic day catch up to him. He dozed off, entering Morpheus' realm.

XXX

The rumble of the train roused Percy from his slumber, yawning as he rubbed his eyes. He looked around, blearily listening to the announcement of the train as it declared them being back in New York.

"Sleep well?" Annabeth mumbled, looking at him. She seemed to have recovered well, her wounds cleaned and bandaged properly, as well as colour returning back to her skin.

"Like the dead," he muttered, before wincing at the comparison. He woke up Silena, who seemed disgruntled about waking up herself, mumbling something like 'her beauty sleep being interrupted'.

"And here I thought that you weren't stereotypical like your other siblings," he teased.

Silena blushed slightly, giving the son of Poseidon a scowl. "Shut up."

They got off at the next station, eventually arriving at a warehouse district in the Bronx. Several different warehouses occupied the space, adding to the tension that the demigods were feeling.

"So, this is the place?" Percy questioned, doing his best to inspect the place before him.

Annabeth frowned. "No, I don't think so." At the looks of the others, she elaborated. "If this is really the base of the Order of Enlightenment, it'd likely be private property. At least, in the eyes of the mortals." Upon doing her best to inspect the place, her grey eyes lit up. "There! That road in there." She pointed towards a road inside the visible complex, one that travelled parallel to the one that we were on. "That seems to lead to Brighton St."

Following that logic, the group walked down the road, appearing before a locked door to one particularly shady warehouse. With a slash of Riptide, the door was open, and they slowly crept inside the private complex. They primarily stuck to the shadows, and before long they found themselves in front of an open complex in the warehouse.

As they slowly crept through, eyes peeled for any traps, they could faintly hear voices coming from their right, opposite a wall. "You're sure that the demigods will come here?" The voice was rough and coarse, as if gravel was rolling with his own tone.

The person responding had a softer, more raspier voice. "Why, of course. In fact, they seem to be already here."

Percy's eyes went wide, as did the other demigods. Only a little movement was heard from the other end, and that was enough for all three of them to roll out of the way. A good thing they did, for the wall exploded and a monstrosity appeared from the debris.

Unlike the typical mythical monster that they were used to, this one was something completely different. It looked humanoid, but had leathery, almost paper-like skin. Some teeth were missing from its mouth, allowing the green gas that it was emitting to be very prominent. However, its hands and feet were solid and heavy, forcing the being to stoop towards them.

"Weapons at the ready!" Annabeth called out rather unnecessarily, as the creature moved towards them, moving surprisingly fast for its size and stature. The thing then reached for Percy, however the son of Poseidon managed to dodge the slow monster's outstretched hand and managed to cut off few of it's finger with Riptide.

It screeched, seemingly in anger rather than pain, and did another lazy swipe, causing Percy to leap to the side. Now wide open, the creature was open to Percy beheading it with his sword.

"So, you're the demigods that we've been hearing about," the gravelly voice called out.

The trio looked towards the duo that seemed to have spoke. The one with the gravelly tone was built like a mountain, muscles clinging to his body. Surprisingly, he wore a tuxedo to go with his attire, looking like a cross between a bouncer and a distinguished gentlemen. He had gun-metal hair and dark eyes, which seemed slightly dead upon first glance. He had several scars across his face to add to his menacing appearance.

The other person, however, truly stood out. They had a rather gruesome appearance, stitches littering parts of his body, particularly his eyelids. This had the effect of leaving behind some loose threads. The man also had a bloody scab instead of a nose.

"Well, well," the man spoke in a high and shrill voice. "The little demigods have entered my trap. I wonder, what kind of marvels are layered within your bodies?"

"What the hell are you?" Silena questioned, a look of disgust on her face upon looking at his appearance.

The man gave a high-pitched giggle. "A true wonder of science, my dear. This may not be to your standard of 'handsome', but I would say that there is a certain beauty in my art, no?"

"You should've done the smart thing and run away," the muscled man spoke, his voice tinged with 'sympathy'. "The escape from the mercenaries was the only sign of mercy that you were granted. I will admit, the use of the police as a diversion was clever. But your luck runs out now."

"Man, if I had a drachma every time I heard that..." Percy started to say, only to be interrupted as a hatch suddenly appeared, and more and more of those gaseous abominations started to trickle in.

His sword was a flash as it started to hack into them, only for gas to seep out of their wounds. Percy coughed, the toxic gases filtering through these beings hissing into the air. His eyes watered as he tried to concentrate on his opponents, but the haze was too much. They started to encircle him, dragging him down and slugging him with their fists. Even with Percy's armour on, they still rattled the son of Poseidon's body, causing him to cry out as they found purchase against his skin.

Just as they were about to continue, they screeched an explosive arrow was fired at them, creating an explosion that blasted them back. Silena moved to help Percy up, whose armour was dented all around.

"You okay?" the daughter of Aphrodite questioned, seeing the beating he'd suffered.

Percy grunted, moving his sword arm. "Y-Yeah. Those things pack a punch."

"But of course," the grotesque man cackled, pleased by the observation. "My Hive are an exceptional creation! It always pays to have your toys be of the highest quality! And I'll make sure to add you three to my collection!"

"Pass!" Silena refuted back, firing off an electric arrow towards the man. However, the other man moved to intercept the arrow, catching it in the air. It crackled with electricity, but not even a grunt escaped the man's lips as he snapped the arrow in two. Then, he moved, intercepting and slamming into Percy with the force of an angry Minotaur, something that he was all too familiar with.

"Percy!" Annabeth cried out, only for the other grotesque man to cackle.

"Oh, my dear. You have much more to worry about." As soon as he finished that, his Hive snapped their heads towards the two girls, causing them to tighten their grips on their weapons.

With Percy, he skidded across the ground as his damaged armour created sparks. He hastily stood up, sword at the ready. The man stalked towards Percy menacingly, fists clenched.

"You a son of Heracles, or something?" Percy joked, groaning as he readied his sword. "Because I already met the guy. You should take after him more in the talking department, make this fight a little more interesting."

The man cracked a small smirk. "The files said that you had a smart mouth. I'm going to enjoy silencing it for you."

"Files? Didn't your mother tell you that it was rude to stalk people?" Percy fired back, trying to hide how creeped out he was of that fact that this guy kept files on him. This Order of Enlightenment really was starting to sound more and more like the Illuminati.

The man smiled. "It'll be fun to see how Dr. Straiss slowly turns you into a Hive. I'm sure I'm going to enjoy watching the process." Before Percy could say anything else, the man moved. Percy raised his sword in time to block the powerful blow delivered to him. The sword vibrated as Percy's arms shook from the force. He didn't have time to process the pain, for he was on the defensive against his opponent, who was swinging his fists like a boxer, each strike growing more faster.

Percy managed to block each one and struck out, finding an opening. What shocked him, however, was when the sword were merely batted away, allowing for him to be struck across the face, making him fly back.

Wiping the blood from his nose, Percy quickly brought out his cannister and fired off a blast of water that was evaded, as he came towards Percy like a freight train. Just as he neared, Percy used the water that he fired to circle back, ensnaring the man in a tight grip.

The son of the sea god grinned at the successful capture. As he closed his hands together, the water became more and more condensed, suffocating his opponent all the more. Just as he was about to push, Percy had to suddenly dodge as one of the Hive branched off, moaning at him pitifully.

Percy snuck a glance at where Annabeth and Silena were. Thankfully, they weren't dead, but they were surrounded by more and more of the Hive. They stood back-to-back, doing their best to whittle down their foes.

As Percy was distracted, the man captured in the water roared through the liquid, flexing and breaking the watery prison, sending the water flying everywhere. Upon seeing this, Dr. Straiss sighed. "Napul, can you please conduct yourself properly and not let yourself be captured again?"

Napul grunted, veins bulging across his body as he glared at the son of Poseidon. Percy made to use the cannister again, but Napul moved faster than Percy could react. He knocked the cannister out of his hands, striking out again to take Percy's head off. The delay allowed Percy to raise the blade to intercept Napul's fist. The blade sliced through the knuckle, drawing some blood.

Nevertheless, the man roared and snapped the blade in half, decking Percy in the face brutally as the son of Poseidon was sent flying, his whole world spinning. Ripping the broken half of the blade out of his hand, Napul grunted as he also tore off the sleeves, revealing similar stitches across his arm as Dr. Straiss. What made him different was the small blades attached to his wrists.

Percy slammed into the wall, grunting with pain as he shakily stood up. What the hell is he? Percy questioned, coughing roughly. Blood splattered across his mouth as he did so. I don't think he's a demigod. I was only joking about him being a son of Heracles, but that's the only explanation. There's no way a mortal can be that strong!

"Surprised?" Napul questioned, seeing the confused look on his face. "It's alright. It's natural when lesser lifeforms such as yourself are in the presence of a superior being."

Not speaking, Percy brought his fists in a boxer stance, making the older man laugh. "So, you want to try to beat me at my own game." Napul cracked his neck. "Let it never be said that I wasn't a fair sport."

XXX

Annabeth jumped to the side just as the Hive that she'd been battling snapped its mouth shut where she stood just a second ago. The daughter of wisdom then turned around to see the hungry look the monster was sending her. Her knife seemed to not do as much damage as a normal sword or spear would.

The Hive turned its gaseous head towards Annabeth, the gas doing just as much as the Hive at trying to kill her. The abomination growled, crawling on its hands and feet towards her. The girl moved back, her legs shaking in fear. Just then the monster opened its mouth and lunged forward, before Silena cried out, "Annabeth!"

Snapping herself out of her funk, she narrowly dodged the lazy swipe of the Hive, grunting as its claws scratched her back. Suddenly, Silena jumped onto the Hive's neck, plunging another arrow into the hilt of its neck, sending a large amount of electricity into it and causing its limbs to give out below it.

Silena slipped down, panting. "Are... you... alright?"

"I'll be fine," Annabeth said, turning to look at the Hive slowly getting back to its knees, the effects of the electric shock already wearing off. She mentally sighed, knowing she had to make the smart decision. "We need to retreat. We're outmatched."

Silena nodded in agreement, only to pause. The Hive had been somewhat trimmed down, which wasn't really a good thing for the demigoddesses. They had spread out upon Dr. Straiss' orders, making it even more harder to pin them down.

Upon seeing her face, Annabeth made a decision. "We need to hide inside there," Annabeth pointed to a warehouse at random. It was the one in which the first Hive popped out from.

"Let's go, then," Silena responded, in no mood to argue. She and Annabeth ran into the warehouse through the giant hole in the wall. Inside was a maze of shelves that appeared to be twenty feet tall, with wooden boxes stacked inside them. Annabeth and Silena ran deeper and deeper inside the warehouse before the maze ended, giving view to a more larger empty stretch of space with stalls that were littered everywhere.

Upon seeing the stalls, Annabeth remarked, "This must be where the Order of Enlightenment is stocking their weapons." She frowned as a thought suddenly occurred to her. "Where are all the people?" she questioned, confusion Silena. "There are stalls here, but no people."

"I don't really think that that's something to concern ourselves with," the daughter of Aphrodite remarked dryly. "It doesn't matter, anyways. They probably left, or something."

Annabeth opened her mouth to argue back, but suddenly the wails of the Hives rang out, alerting them of their presence. "You're right, we can worry about this later. right now we need to survive."

"Agreed. Now, we need to get to higher ground." Silena pointed towards the top of the shelves. "I can snipe them much easier from there."

With a nod, the two of them climbed up, quickening their pace upon knowing the consequences if they didn't. Silena then lead Annabeth around, jumping over the various shelves and walkways, searching for their enemies. Upon hearing movement, they quickly hopped over to the location. There was another set of Hives, all wandering about aimlessly.

Notching her bow, Silena fired off another set of arrows that managed to hit their targets. Unfortunately, one of the Hives stumbled forward, slamming its fists into the shelves and causing it them to topple. Silena cried out as she fell, slamming onto the ground painfully, groaning.

"Silena!" Annabeth cried out, watching in horror as she collapsed. Luckily, nothing seemed to be broken, but Annabeth could see that there was blood coming from her temple due to the fall.

Knowing that they were now at risk to be swarmed, Annabeth hopped down and started to push against the remaining shelves, praying to her mother for strength. With a grunt, the shelves started to shift, and then tilt. As she gave one last cry, the shelf started to fall, entrapping the remaining Hives as they screeched in anger and rage.

Not seeing the results of her handiwork, Annabeth quickly went to Silena and dragged her away to safety. She'd hoped that Percy was having a much better time against his opponent.

XXX

Percy had long ditched his armour, knowing that it was weighing him down. That was a mistake, because if he'd had it on, he could've lasted a few more seconds.

The son of Poseidon was bruised and bloody, snorting out blood from his gushing nose as Napul wailed on him. He cried out, going for a jab, then tried to disguise that as a feint. But the stitched man saw through his actions, and rewarded him with a few more blows.

"Is this the best that you demigods can do?" Napul snorted, giving Percy a painful liver shot that had him fold like a deck chair. "When we invaded your camp, I had thought that it was your own strength that had managed to drive away our forces. Now I know, it was likely the intervention of your wretched gods that you survived. For children of divine origins, you are pitifully mortal."

"C-Comes... with the g-gig... dumbass!" Percy retorted, gaining his second wind and going for an overhead cross. Alas, it was for nought. Napul grabbed the fist, cracking the knuckle as Percy cried out in pain, forced to painfully kneel. His stitched limbs bulged, seeming to gain more mass, before Napul punched Percy in the face, using his ensnared hand to reel him back in for more.

Percy wasn't even able to cry out as he was getting the dog shit beaten out of him, teeth, blood and saliva flying elsewhere. Being reeled in again, the son of Poseidon was kneed in the throat, spots dancing in his bloodied vision. It was a miracle he wasn't seeing Thanatos at the moment.

Napul used Percy's hand to throw him away like a rag doll. "Dr. Straiss said that he needed you all alive, but..." Cracking his knuckles, the man gained a sadistic grin. "I'm sure he could spare one demigod. Even if it is the famous son of Poseidon." He said the last part mockingly.

Percy tried to crawl away, knowing now that his opponent far outclassed him. Yet, he was given no reprieve as Napul brutally stomped on his left ankle, shattering it. Percy cried out in pain as he was trapped, fear creeping into his body as Napul raised both his arms up.

With a victorious roar, Napul slammed his hands down in a double axe handle, cracking into Percy's sternum and causing blood to fly everywhere, both from the demigod's mouth and body. The liquid doused Napul as he savagely licked it in a barbaric manner.

Percy's eyes went wide, the pain too much for him to process the fatal blow. His last thoughts were a jumbled prayer. D-D-Dad, help me. P-Please.

As Percy's eyes slowly closed, a powerful sea-green burst into his eyes, clouding his fading vision.

...

...

*Looks around to see people glaring at me* So... wassup?

Yes, yes, I'm late to the party, I realise that. But I wanted to put writing to one side to focus on personal matters. Work was hell to deal with, and spiralled out of control. And with me officially going into uni, my mind was a jumbled wreck. So, I sat on my ass for too long and procrastinated, because I'm a lazy fuck.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter. Lord knows this chapter had to come out. Solaris had its run, now this got pumped out.

And a chapter without Markus in it? Kronium, what have you done?

Don't worry, Markus' bit will be next chapter. I decided to move the spotlight away from him for some time.

I decided to take a dive into different mortal elements for the gang to handle. Obviously, the Order of Enlightenment wasn't fully expanded upon, but that just makes it more interesting to read ahead about them. I've got big plans for them.

Hope you liked each bit of the chapter. Kinda rushed it in some places, but it came out good

I'm not making promises about the speed of the next chapter, cuz I already shot myself in the foot the last time I did that. So be patient, please.

Thx to all those who f,f,r and r the story. Flamers can stay salty.

Read and Review!