Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A long sigh was heard through the lips of the man as he wearily rubbed at his eyes. He had been working well into the night-darkness had fallen and all 3 moons could be seen glowing through the window. He picked up his wine glass and took a sip as he looked over the final plans for 'The Laboratory'. He turned a page, glancing over the building designs. 7 weeks hard work and finally he could begin the final preparations.

The Jaded were a fascist extremist group which had held power over a small island off the mainland coast of the planet Hayzar for centuries, and after tonight, building of 'The Laboratory' would begin. The mans name was Varg. He was the current leader of The Jaded, and in his opinion, 'The Laboratory' was the perfect answer to the problem The Jaded had had for many years.

Hayzar was an interesting planet, in climate it was very similar to the original planet, however its main population was divided into two distinct subspecies. Varg and the Jaded were known as the Higher race-the dark-skinned people of the islands, but for many years had yearned to take over the mainland, which was sparsely populated with those worthless 'tailless' beings of pale skin.

'The Laboratory' was designed for experimentation on the 'tailless'; Varg intended to find out the reasoning behind there skills over fire, their only gift, in his eyes. He intended to torture the tailless, until they were so weak as to give up there power to the Higher race, and when there use had been expelled, they would be brutally decapitated, incinerated and then burned. In Varg's opinion, Hayzar would be safe and at peace once the 'tailless' were wiped out.

Varg sighed again, and was about to call through the intercom to have a servant bring him up a last brandy before bed, when movement in his peripheral vision caught his attention. A figure stepped out of the shadows and crossed to the rug in front of the hearth. The man-Varg assumed it as a man-was dressed in a black cloak, with a peaked hood that cast a shadow over his eyes a nose. The cloak was tied loosely midway down his chest, over a grey shirt. He wore knee-high black leather boots, black trousers, and a red cloth belt, attached to which was a sheath of small knives. At his hip was a pure black sword and a bow was strapped to one shoulder. A red offset cape covered his alternate shoulder, swaying slightly as though the energy coming off the man in waves was enough to make it appear in a breeze. All of this was deathly intimidating, but all Varg took into account was the pale skin of chin, neck and hands, and the fact he clearly had no tail.

"I don't know what right you piece of scum feel you have, but I assure you are not worthy to stand before me tailless."

The man did not appear insulted. On the contrary, Varg noticed his lips curl into a smirk, and it suddenly occurred to him it was so very late at night and he had just insulted a man loaded with weapons in a room with no witnesses. But Varg was an arrogant man, so he continued.

"I will have to have you detained. It is pitiful how your species considers themselves our equals."

"Oh I very much doubt I am your equal sir", the man sneered, "Do you have any remorse for the atrocities you have committed in you reign of terror?" The disgust clear in his voice.

"Atrocities? I assure you tailless, I am simply purging Hayzar of the rot that is your race. Now, I think I shall call security. Its time for me bed, and you, hell."

In two swift steps the man reached Varg, grabbing him by his expensive evening suit, and throwing him across the room. Varg slammed into the wall, but reached up and pushed the button on the intercom.

"SECURITY! There's a rouge tailless in here and its assaulted me!"

His attacker loomed over him, and reached down, pulling him up by the throat.

"Do you have any last words of regret Varg? I saw what you did to that girl last week. For entertainment. You're a sick piece of shit aren't you? She can't have been older than seven, but it didn't stop you having her raped and slaughtered in front of everyone at the last meeting of The Jaded for you to have a hearty laugh over whilst eating pudding? This is one murder I will remember with enjoyment"

Varg faltered. It had suddenly occurred to him how very intimidating this man was. The was a chance he may actually die, which was such a gross injustice-would Hayzar be reduced to nothing if the tailless gained control once more? His planet, his people could die.

"Who are you?" he stuttered at the attacker, the fear evident in his voice.

"I am The End" he replied.

When the 4 security guards and Gade (the second in command of The Jaded) blew open the locked door of Varg's study 2 minutes later the room was in turmoil. The desk was aflame, all plans of The Jaded burned to nothing. Varg's body was crumpled in front of the hearth. Blood stained the expensive rug from the lethal slash in the leaders neck. His eyes remained open, terror and panic clear on his face, and on his forehead, deeply cut into his skin was a single letter. A symbol of a man that was known throughout the universe, on almost every planet, by almost all. He was called many names; 'The Saviour' by some, 'The Reaper' by others. The plans and empires of those he killed were always shambles by the following day. His appearance meant Hope to the condemned and the time for the dead's allies to change their ways or follow in the footsteps of their late leaders. It was a letter of an old language that few had known, but now what it represented was known to all.

Omega

'The End'

Chapter Text

Percy walked swiftly through the darkened streets of The City Of Aether, heading for the medieval building in the centre. Of course it wasn't actually medieval, but Aether loved the resilience and majesty of a real Earth-English castle, and couldn't resist changing the design of his entire city to suit. The Primordial Of The Light had a real flair for decadence.

The city itself was a mix of medieval fortresses, Greek pavilions and more modern buildings seen in the planets Lathar and Trove. The quiet that hung over the outskirts of the city faded as Percy reached the more prestigious cobbled lanes closer to the centre. It astounded him how through all modern civilisations there were had the frivolous richer classes. Nevertheless, in The City of Aether the classes were more blended and there was very little discord. Well, everyone treated each other with respect and kindness, at the very least.

Percy turned down a street to his left, and ducked through a darkened alleyway into the open forecourt at the castle gates. He hastened to the oaken doors, placing his palm on the slightly warmed wood, which yielded to his touch and opened without a sound. Taking a few winding corridors and bolting quickly up a spiral staircase Percy entered his room.

It was large-too large in his opinion, with a traditional fireplace across from the door with a few comfortable armchairs and a desk piled with ancient scrolls and a high-tech computer. Interesting combination. 2 staircases stood in alcoves on either side of the fireplace, one to each of the bedrooms in the shared living space. There was a kitchen like room to the left, and an (overly) expensive games room to the right. He checked the time-7 minutes until he had to be downstairs-and quickly changed into black jeans and a hoodie. He switched his belt over the top, checked he had both Riptide and his black sword and hesitated before strapping on the throwing knives and the dagger in his boot also. You couldn't be too careful.

When he reached the drawing room he was, thankfully, not the last to arrive. Most were seated around a long mahogany table with (pretentious) high backed chairs. He walked to the seat on the right from the head where Lord Chronus, The Primordial Of Time, and his wife, Lady Ananke, The Primordial of Inevitability were already seated. The power radiating off the two ancient beings was so strong it surged towards him in waves, rendering him stunned for a few seconds before he collected himself and blocked it from his mind.

Across from him sat the owner of the magnificent palace himself; Lord Aether, Of light. Over the years Percy had developed a resistance to being within a mile of the Primordial, but looking directly at him still felt like trying to stare at the sun. Lady Hemera wasn't at the table, though she rarely came to the meetings, and was more of a passive force in the council. Sitting next to Percy was old friend and enemy, Luke Castellan or Commander LC as he was more commonly known. Luke was one of the many departed souls recruited for the cause, and had risen quickly through the ranks in only 60 years of service.

Percy was surprised to note that his whole squadron was present, which did raise a few eyebrows. Viper was on Luke's right; with Sol-leks and Aruval across the table. Gina was diagonally across from Aruval, and finally Uumbra was next to her. He saw Commander Fleetwood was also present, along with another old face, Zoë Nightshade. At the other end of the table were the other important leaders: Tezar, Kala, Mavory and Helly.

The doors opened a final time and Livia arrived, closely followed by a winged figure shrouded in darkness almost floating to the seat at the opposite end of the table. Lady Nyx. Nobody but The Primordial Of Darkness could move so gracefully.

The meeting of Chaos' Army began.

Aether spoke first, glancing across the table.

"I presume your assignment ran smoothly Omega?" he asked with apparent awkwardness. The Lord of Light considered himself above such vulgar thoughts like murder. It would concern Percy, but he'd soon learned Aether thought highly of himself, but had no real hunger for power.

"Of course sir; the alarm was raised but he'd stopped kicking by the time they got in the room." he replied. It was one of Percy's many games-how much could he disgust Aether? This appeared to rate a 7/10. Must try harder. "I haven't got any blood on my face have I? He splattered a little, and I didn't get a chance to shower."

Aether now looked thoroughly repulsed, so much so that he leant back in his seat, trying-and failing-to get as far from the assassin as possible.

"In that case, we can move on too the more important matters?" Chronus said with annoyance. He knew full well of Percy's games, and though he enjoyed laughing at his son's expense, he knew the assassin would soon be in outrage, and wanted to get this meeting over with as fast as possible.

"Of course Father" Aether replied.

"I shall get straight to the point. There appears to be a new threat rising throughout universe. One that may be our downfall should we not act soon enough." Chronus' gaze travelled over Chaos' finest fighters and leaders. "Tartarus stirs."

Even in The City of Aether, locked in the habitable regions of The Void, the name flickered around the room. Shadows rising, the fire dimming. The effect on the occupants was instantaneous. Sol-leks the Lupet (a part wolf human that can shift to a 6ft wolf form) choked on his own tongue, receiving a slap on the back from a wide-eyed Aruval. Luke, who had been swinging aimlessly on the back legs of his chair slammed down to the ground, his face pale in the dim light of the room. Aether let out something akin to a squeak which he would deny wholeheartedly at any later date. Percy snapped round to face The Primordial of Time, as though to check this wasn't some sick joke. Nyx looked thoughtful, but her black wings fluttered with anxiety. Even the shade, Umbra looked take aback.

"It is then, of course crucial that we fight this at the earliest opening, if he rises fully from The Abyss, we would have very little chance of success, only Chaos could withstand him." Chronus continued, "We have some evidence to suggest he plans to dominate the original planet before attempting to rise."

Silence rang across the room. The original planet. The first planet to be born of Chaos. Earth.

It was Ananke who broke the silence. "Do you understand what this means Omega?" She spoke with a calm motherly tone. In the 100 years since his recruitment into Chaos' Army that is exactly what she had become to Percy. He sensed her message; it is inevitable, don't fight.

He heaved a sigh, "I understand. It doesn't mean I like it. I suppose there is no other way? Nobody else?"

Aether spoke seriously for once. "You are the best we have. You still cannot see the influence you have over people. Any man in this Army would give their life for you, and most only know you by the name Omega. Most don't even know your legend. On Earth, you remain a figure of Hope, Loyalty and Success. You wouldn't have to reveal your identity unless necessary."

"What are the details then? I'm not confirming until I know everything. And don't deny me knowledge." Percy replied with force.

Even as the "Assassin of Chaos", Omega had always remained a free agent. He'd started the work around 500 years ago, after leaving Earth. Nyx had noticed him early in his life, and after the depression and hopelessness that followed the death of his girlfriend Annabeth at the end of the 2nd giant war, she had granted him the Travellers Blessing. So the hero had left his home planet in search of a purpose. It had been 9 months before he'd first killed in cold blood. He left the Omega mark on the body, as a signature. That was the day he started "The Legend" as Aether called it.

Word travels fast through the universe and within a couple of years "Omega" was the death bringer. The source of hope and freedom or fear and failings. He chose his victims carefully; the rapists and paedophiles. The murderers and violent parents. 250 years after leaving earth Nyx returned, with a quest: find your way to the dead planet of Eden, find the black sword known as "The Reaper" and use it to kill the immortal tyrant of leader of the shade planet Varse.

Chronus finally contacted him a century ago, and he became Chaos' Assassin, gaining a kick-ass uniform from the deal. He was given assignments that he took by choice, but continued to live his life freely, killing those who life would be better without. Percy had fought in several planetary wars with The Army, though only when he agreed with the cause.

Chronus broke the tension in the room. "On Earth, the attacks on the Olympians and their children have increased over the last 2 years. Security at the camps is much higher, yet monsters still roam the edges. The Hunters…" Zoë's interest peaked at word of her old life. "…have been almost overwhelmed by several minor attacks, and even Camp Jupiter is threatened. In more recent weeks new threats from other galaxies have been sighted, though the numbers are small. I expect them to increase. I believe Tartarus is trying to weaken the camps, before sending a head-on assault. The movement in monsters could well be an attempt to co-ordinate a monster army of both Earth residing species, and the darker, harsher creatures of the rest of the universe"

"Do we know whether they have any creatures of Magic, or Mind-Control? Omega mentioned these were rarely seen on Earth, you can understand how that could be their downfall." Umbra asked. The shade was entirely made of shadows and darkness that flowed neither liquid nor gas. His form never stuck for longer than a few seconds, though he usually remained roughly humanoid with black wings-the form he held now.

"We are unsure of the full extent of the threat, however it appears likely" Chronus replied.

Commander Fleetwood brought up the thought in everyone's mind, "I assume we plan to support the Olympians, in an attempt to quell the issue quickly," Chronus nodded in response. "In that case, who do you plan to send?" Fleetwood was a military man through and through. Even for an Angeli, (a winded human from an neighbouring planet to Earth, where the myth of angels arose from) he was built with strength in mind, standing at 6'2", when most of his brethren barely made 5ft.

"We plan to send Omega, if he is willing, along with the entire of the Alpha Squadron." This caused many raised eyebrows. The Alpha squadron was the elite, but they rarely assembled together entirely. Along with Percy, it included Luke, Zoë, Sol-leks, Umbra, the Scathre, Viper (a reptilian humanoid with orange eyes, red scaled skin, pointed claw-like fingers, spikes running down his head and neck and a forked tongue), Aruval (a muscled human from the planet of Trove named after his favourite weapon), and Gina (the ruthless Latharid, whose curved swords and dagger wielding tail were feared by many).

Chronus continued,

"Along with Commander LC we will send the entirety of the Beta Platoon, and Lieutenant Theseus." The Beta Platoon was 400 of the best combat forces, made of only demigods, and Higher Mages of the planet Magnus. Theseus was far from the only hero in its ranks.

"The Gamma division will be sent as the main foot soldiers, led by Commander Fleetwood, and the Delta Force led by Commander Nightshade." The Delta Force were the 5,000 archers and snipers of The Army.

"50 medics from the Epsilon group will be sent, under the command of Major Fletcher and Captain Yew. From Psi we will send 50 mages, led by Umbra, and finally the entire of the Iota and Omicron groups." Iota was the aerial assault group lead by Commander Tezar the Dragon Rider and Omicron was the cavalry led by Kala and her Caw (a wolf-horse hybrid).

Percy knew the forces of Chaos' Army fairly well, and nothing he had seen in 100 years could warrant this kind of force. It was both a blessing and a curse: a force this substantial could overwhelm many of their enemies, but if this was the starting call, he shuddered to think of the sheer scope of this battle. Loyalty had always been his flaw, and he couldn't consider leaving his home planet-even with how much it haunted him- against a foe that could stand against almost 20,000 of the strongest warriors in the universe.

He let out a long sigh. "Yes, I'll lead them."

Chronus gave a brief smile, "That is excellent. I think it best the Alpha Squad are introduced first, and spend a week gaining trust before we send the rest of the forces. Commander Helly-you must co-ordinate the transport of the forces, using the Lambda Ship. Timing being as it is, the Winter Solstice meeting on Olympus is in two days, so if you can prepare yourselves, and leave your forces in control of your lieutenants, Aether and I will brief the Olympians when you arrive at the meeting. Omega, if I could just have a last word, I think we can wrap this up."

Most of the rooms occupants left quickly to think over the grave news they had been given. Luke gripped Percy's shoulder, "I'll see you in the room?" he asked with a smile.

"Sure, shouldn't be too long." Percy replied.

Chronus stretched back in his chair. Even omnipotent Primordial's got stiff if they sat for too long.

"I understand that this could cause you some distress," he said with a sigh, "but I had no other choice. If Tartarus rises fully, well Chaos would have to awaken. Our Creator has the best intensions, and is fond of all life, but the sheer destruction he could cause but forming a body, would be cataclysmic. He Creates without restraint, so new universes and galaxies would be born from him, sending life as we know it into chaos. To consider a full war with Tartarus…they would rent the world in two."

"I understand, and I will fight with the last breath in my body, but I've changed. I'm not the man I was. I'm comfortable being Omega. I would like to keep my identity hidden unless it absolutely crucial for the motivation of both Chaos' Army and The Olympian Army."

"You have my word that I will not ask it of you unless there is no other way. I understand that in forcing immortals to fade, you have taken on some of their powers and characteristics?"

"That is correct" Percy replied shortly.

"Do not fear, I won't make you specify, however I want to give you a blessing to strengthen your mortal soul. You have taken immortality from your victims, but your soul is still not strong enough to restrain the power of a Primordial-should you try to take ones life. The power would literally rip you to pieces with more power than a Supernova"

Percy raised an eyebrow, but nodded in confirmation.

Chronus reached over and pressed his palm to Percy's forehead. The room darkened and the two beings glowed with power. As he removed his hand, the assassin gasped in shock, before his mouth curled into a grin.

"Well I certainly feel stronger. I thank you, My Lord"

"I shall see you in two days. It's Time I left this horrific castle; I'll never understand why Aether insists on his display of 'class'. I don't envy you in living here." The Primordial said with a chuckle.

When he reached there room, Percy saw Luke was sitting in a chair by the fireplace waiting for him. After removing all his weapons but Riptide and the small blade hidden in his sock, the assassin threw himself into the chair across from the son of Hermes.

"Don't speak for a minute, I'm just trying to break the record for the amount of peace I've had today." 2 minutes passed in silence. "right that's it"

The commander snorted. "Oh the woeful life the most powerful non god in existence. Ready to go back?"

"Defiantly not. But I don't think I ever will be, so I guess now is no harder."

"You'll be fine mate. They love you already, not to mention the-mighty-and-most-noble-Omega is even more impressive than saviour-of-Olympus,-bane-of-all-evil,-cure-to-everybody's-problems so you'll be worshiped even more now"

They had a weird relationship. Both had grown close over the past 60 years and acted like brothers; Luke was the only person allowed to mock Percy about his past, and vice versa. Even so, the son of Poseidon wondered whether there was some basis the comments Luke made. He hoped not.

"You're not bothered are you? If they won't trust you I'll reveal my identity and back you up"

"Nah Perce, I'll manage. Hopefully they'll be too concerned staring at Viper and Umbra to take me into account. Either way, I said I wanted to redeem myself, so ill just have to earn their trust again." He paused, embarrassed. "D'you my Dad'll be ok with me? I mean, I'd like to…I don't know, actually spend some time with him, I guess."

"I'm pretty certain of it. He always really cared about you Luke, honestly he'll probably to overwhelmed to start with-I'm sure they all will-but he'll defiantly want to catch-up."

"I hope so." Luke stood, and held a hand out to the assassin. "Packing in the morning-what fun!"

Chapter Text

The Alpha squad sat together at breakfast the following morning. Sol-leks had been away for the past year and a half, living in his 6ft black wolf form with his brethren; The Lupets. The expirience showed-he was currently eating a steak so rare that was possible that it might still be breathing. His home planet, Greyga, was known for its thick forested areas and sweeping valleys of open grassland. The Lupets lived like pack animals for all of the year but spring; when they would live as humans to enjoy the sunlight and warmth. Sol-leks had joined Chaos' Army 70 years ago, but was one of the two of the Alpha Squad that ever returned home between battles.

The other was Aruval. The axeman was thickly muscled like many of the people of Trove. Trove and Lathar were the two planets that were most like Earth. Trove was inhabited by humans, and was known for its warriors, lumberjacks and blacksmiths throughout the known universe. Aruval was no exception. His skill with the double-bladed battleaxe was unmatched, and he good give any child of Hephaestus a run for their money in a forge.

Lathar was also compared to Earth, but its habitants-the Latharid's were a more hostile race. Females were seen as superiors, mainly due to their 2 metre lions tail. Gina was a Latharid, but had left her home planet when her entire clan was wiped out in a territorial war. She had been taken in at Aruval's home when she found refuge on Trove, and both had joined Chaos' Army together 3 centuries ago.

Umbra hadn't visited his home Varse for over 250 years. It had been ruled by an immortal tyrannical shade known as Zeth for over 1000 years, and Umbra's own family had been tortured and brutally killed just 2 weeks before Percy had arrived to kill the king. Umbra had since been loyal to Percy, helping him out against more formidable foes and giving him a safe haven when it was required. When Percy was recruited by Chronus on Chaos' orders, Umbra's place on the Alpha Squad had been a condition of the assassin's service. The shade had never looked back.

Viper had been in The Army for the longest; he joined up over a millennia before Percy was born after leaving his home planet Denzia to travel. He had no quarrel with his people, but The Scathre didn't see eye to eye with most other civilisations.

As Percy took his place between his old friends from Earth, he once again silently thanked Chronus for recruiting them. Many of the dead were chosen by the Primordial, it was astounding the Olympian gods weren't aware of it. The process was similar to that of rebirth but the heroes kept their own identities. Luke had been recruited 40 years after Percy at his reference; whereas Zoë had been taken from the stars minutes after Artemis' blessing.

"I've always wanted to see the original planet" Gina said, "though I wish it were under better circumstances"

"Yes, it is a rather special place." Zoë replied, before turning to face Percy "I imagine it will be hard for thee?"

"Probably, but I am curious how they're all doing. I wonder if they've changed…I'm sure Thalia's still zapping anyone that gets on her wrong side"

Percy had no quarrel with his old friends, in fact he did miss them, but they all had had their own lives which added to the loneliness that led to his choice to leave. As a prize for their work in the giant war, the remaining 6 of the prophecy were granted immortality, which they all accepted. Percy had only chosen the an ageless-but-can-fall-in-battle version, similar to that of the Hunters. The idea of a never ending existence still haunted him. Nico had been named his fathers immortal lieutenant and ambassador, working alongside Thanatos to collect escaped souls, ghosts and the dead for judgement.

"It's going to be strange returning to Camp" Luke said.

"I'd like to see it, after all it is talked about among the demigods. So we leave tomorrow?" Aruval asked.

"I think so. I imagine the Hunters will be staying there if the attacks really are that bad. The Romans will probably be joining them too." Percy sighed, "That is if they can get along long enough for the enemies to arrive" he added.

Sol-leks looked up from his 3rd steak. "Romans; led by the goddess Lupa?" Percy nodded "Well I'd certainly like to get on a first name basis with her, if you know what I'm saying." He raised is eyebrows suggestively. Sol-lek's was the resident ladies man. Or wolf.

"I'm sure she'll be really pleased to spend time with you, after she's ripped your throat out." Aruval snorted into his pancakes. "She is a maiden goddess-I'd say keep your dirty paws off her" Percy replied.

"We had better get going, I've got to find out which of The Psi I'm taking and check they've got someone knowledgeable in charge."

"Excellent point Mystery Man, lets get going guys" Percy said, rising from his seat.

"But Omega, aren't you going to take me out to dinner first?"

"Shut-up Sol-leks" was chorused throughout the group.

. . . .LINEBREAK.

They stopped off at each of the training centres in the city, checking in with the current leaders, and organising who would be in control of the transport over the week they were on Earth.
The 150 members of The Psi were powerful in various forms of magic, telekinesis and were highly trained in mind control and telepathy. The 50 being sent to Earth were no exception, there were 25 Mages of Magnus, 22 Shades, and surprisingly 2 sons and a daughter of Hecate. Umbra would be standing as Commander, as the leader Livia would remain in The City of Aether. The second in command would be another shade, Plebra, who liked to stay in the form of 4ft feline. Percy had met him before, and he had a lot of respect for the psychic who was known for the fact he never used his powers on those less powerful than him.

The Iota was 1,000 of the best aerial assault troops led by Commander Tezar. They're mounts ranged from huge eagles, to The Scraw (winged wolves), black bat-like creatures known as Torments and horse figures composed of ever-swirling coloured flames known as Heliopi. Tezar rode a huge 15ft Major Dragon. Unlike their Minor wingless cousins, Major dragons were formidable winged reptilians. The Riders of Iota were armed with bows and arrows, M16 assault rifles, light spears, throwing knives and swords.

The Cavalry of Omicron were a much larger force, with 3,000 mounted troops. They were led by Commander Kala, who rode a Caw with the head and forelimbs of a wolf, joined halfway down its back to the rear end and tail of a war horse. There were many Caw in the cavalry, but also horned lions known as The Fen and 5ft Minor Dragons, that looked like large Komodo dragons.

The Delta Force was led by Zoë Nightshade, and were 5,000 of the best marksmen in the universe. Most were archers, but there were some snipers.

The Gamma Division was the main mass of the troops being sent to Earth. Led by Commander Fleetwood, they were all foot soldiers armed to the teeth with axes, swords, spears, pikes, maces and even one man with a flamberge.

The Beta Platoon were second only to The Alpha Squad in skill. Though only 400 strong, The Beta had not been beaten (no pun intended) for 5 centuries. It mainly consisted of demigods from Earth, with Battle Mages recruited from The Psi, but a substantial amount of raised Heroes of the underworld. The names Jason, Odysseus and Orion might ring a few bells. There were countless more Vikings, Anglo-Saxon's and swordsmen of the Roman Empire. Luke was the leading commander, and Theseus was his second in command, who would be acting commander both on the battlefield and until they reached Earth.

Finally they stopped at the Epsilon Medical Group from which 50 would be sent. They would be lead by the sons of Apollo, Commander Lee Fletcher and Captain Michael Yew.

When The Alpha had finished they're work for the day they decided to take a break and head to their training centre. This effectively meant relaxing while they attacked each other with deadly weapons. Go figure.

"Rematch my watery friend?" Luke asked with a smirk. Percy and Luke were both as close to equal matched as you could get-unless Percy used his other powers- so they constantly trained together. Partly because nobody else could keep up, partly for the thrill, but mainly because they both wanted to beat the other, but never succeeded more than twice in a row.

"Sure thing Castellan". Percy-1, Luke-0. Marks for use of surname, room to improve on execution.

Luke drew his sword Raptor and squared off against the assassin. They both stared each other down, waiting for the other to make the first move. Percy lunged forwards, waiting for Luke to block, before jumping to the left whilst striking downwards. It was a good feint, but predicted. Luke countered and they quickly warmed up, their blades moving so fast they were but flashes of silver, a web of metal surrounding the demigods as they danced back and forwards. Percy feinted downwards, Luke blocked, Percy kicked off Raptors guard to somersault over Luke, flicking Riptide backwards and hooking it under Luke's jaw, careful to keep his arm still as he landed. That might put a dark cloud over the session-if he actually decapitated his roommate.

"Nice move, you'll have to teach me it 'Omega'." was the commanders reply, "now if you could just move this blade…"

The continued to spar.

Across the room Aruval and Sol-leks were fighting. Aruval wielded his signature weapon; it was just over a metre in length, with a wide heavy blade. His left hand held a large shield, with a blade running around the outer rim, and 2 inch spikes covering the face. Sol-leks however was in full wolf form, with huge 6 inch canines, lethal curved claws, and bright yellow eyes that almost paralysed the opponent. He backed off, before letting out a bloodcurdling snarl and leaping off his hind legs towards the axeman. The sight of a 4ft black-as-night wolf charging at you is enough to scare any man, even if that wolf is a friend. Aruval swallowed. He was not a man of fear, and fought the urge to run, instead choosing to stand his ground. As Sol-leks reached him he punched the wolf's left shoulder with the shield, unbalancing him slightly. The Lupet was knocked slightly to the right, but turned and made to claw at the warrior. He blocked with his aruval, before striking for his snout. They leapt back and forwards, striking and blocking, neither making any ground on the other, until the wolf slammed his shoulder into Aruval, who faltered, only to find himself on his back looking into the growling maw of the wolf.

"Alright mate, you win. Can you get off me now?"

Sol-leks stepped back, shifting into his human form and offering a hand to his friend.

"Really mate, did you have to open your mouth?" he asked, wiping globs of saliva off his face, "There's dog slobber all over me you useless mutt."

Gina and Viper were also sparring, but the woman clearly had the upper hand. Viper ducked a knife and used one of his Rapiers to block her curved blades. Gina continued to counter all of his attack, barely using her swords to push him. She had a sheath of knives strapped to her back, and was casually throwing them at his face.

"Nice throw" he said in his hissing voice. He rarely spoke, but was comfortable enough with The Alpha to converse. "Bad day honey?" he asked as she made a strike that would have taken off his arm.

You'd think after all his time knowing Gina the Scathre would be aware that referring to her as 'honey' may just be the last thing you ever do. She let out a huff of annoyance, before making another lethal slash with her left blade.

"Wow, we really are tetchy today. Honestly, what's the issue?" he asked, forked tongue flicking with concern.

"Earth, Earth is the issue" she replied, softening her blows visibly. Even with all their violence, The Alpha were a close group, and Viper as the first saw himself as…well not quite a father figure, more like an friendly uncle. Though his scaly exterior denied it, he was fond of all of them. "its, well its so like home"

"Lathar?" he questioned, "maybe in climate, but I hear the people are very different." he paused. "they're not clan based if that's what's bothering you" he added softly. Or at least as softly as you can say anything when you're dodging rapid attacks from a Latharid.

She sighed, unintentionally dropping her left guard. "I suppose, but I don't know how I'm supposed to pretend its not bothering me."

Viper took the opportunity, moving his Rapier's quickly in a complex pattern he blocked her left blade, pinning it against her tail before knocking the right out of her hand and putting his blade at her throat.

"You're not supposed to pretend, you're supposed to ignore it and make sure you don't make mistakes" he replied with a hiss. He smiled in amusement. He could taste her embarrassment on his tongue, so he released her and handed her the weapons. "Now show me what you can really do sunshine" he smirked.

Zoë and Umbra were stood at the archery range, playing their usual game. Zoë would aim for the centre of the target, and fire a perfect shot. Umbra would intercept it by either shifting the arrow in the air slightly, or attacking her mind to make her misfire. To counter this, the ex-hunter had to predict whether to block her mind from attacks, or fire slightly out so as too correct for the Shade's interception. Umbra had to keep changing his tactics to fault her, and make his influences subtle enough for her not to notice. She felt his presence touching at her mind and quickly refocused, blocking him from her thoughts, before releasing the arrow listening for the thud of it meeting its mark. But it didn't hit the target. It veered to the left and dropped harmlessly to the floor.

"You feinted" she said in shock. Just when she thought she was winning he came up with a new idea. "how am I supposed to predict the attacks?"

"The trick is to test how insistent they are. Most Shades will back off too soon if they're feinting. Now, pay attention, as you feel me pulling back, fire when I'm least expecting it. That's the best way to counter." he replied. His voice was low, and melodic, but with deep bass tones.

The huntress didn't like anyone having an advantage over her, so she let her shooting go on autopilot, whilst she focused on his attacks. Once she'd gotten 5 in a row, he nodded at her.

"Much better, just remember its harder on a battlefield.

The group stopped for an early dinner, heading up to Luke and Percy's room to talk about the trip to Earth tomorrow.

Gina asked the one question in everyone's head, "So if He is still in The Abyss, then who rallies the army. Who are we really fighting?"

"It could just be a weaker accomplice, there are many immortals who may want to usurp Chaos' Army. Even a demigod." said Luke.

"From what Chronus said, it sounded like a Primordial-possibly more than one" Viper stated

"I wonder if Nyx knows, she seems to knows most things" asked Aruval. It was true that the Primordial of Night seemed to have all the answers.

"I think its as much who she knows as what. I'll go and ask Chronus later, he's usually in The City around nightfall. Firstly though, we've got to pack." Percy added with a sigh.

"Urgh, you just had to bring that up Omega. I've been trying to put it off all day…" groaned Sol-leks.

. . . .LINEBREAK.

When Percy entered the study of The Primordial Of Time, the first thing his noticed was the desk in the corner which was covered in papers, old documents and scrolls, that looked like they were hiding 1000 answers. If there was one thing about the deity that he disliked, it was his love for secrecy. Chronus was well known for not letting any information out-even to his most trusted-unless he was absolutely certain of the validity of it. Percy had not lost his curiosity in 500 years, and the overflowing desk was taunting him.

The second thing he noticed was that the study was empty.

He walked swiftly over, and peered over the papers. He recognised a sky view of Camp half-blood, and a sketch of the layout of its roman counterpart. Another sheet had a list of the current Olympians, their domains and-comically-buzz words or phrases not to mention:

Apollo:

God of Medicine, The Sun, Archery, Prophecies, Poetry and Truth.

DON'T MENTION- Poetry. Limerick (1800-1900), Haiku (1900-2040), Sonnet (2040-present).

Hera:

Goddess of Marriage and Family. Queen. (Animal: Cow)

DON'T MENTION- Zeus' affairs or illegitimate children.

Stifling a laugh he shifted the paper to the side and recognised a scroll. He reached for it, and confirmed that it was what he'd thought. This was the very scroll he'd delivered to Nyx after the quest she issued to him 250 years ago. She had sent him in search for a weapon that had been lost for many years on the 2nd planet; Eden.

The planet was a wasteland of jagged rocky peaks and volcanoes, and was completely uninhabited, and he'd spent weeks their searching. He finally found the weapon in what used to be a battle fortress built at the base of an extinct volcano. It clearly hadn't always been, as it was moulded into the rock itself were molten lava had poured over it. With the weapon, he'd found this scroll. Knowing that it was probably important he'd taken it back to Nyx, who had allowed him to keep the blade in trade for the scroll. A nice thought when she could have simply vaporised him and taken both, but Nyx was fair.

He glanced around the room once more, before unrolling it. His dyslexia still bothered him to this day, so he was thankful it was written in a dialect very similar ancient Greek, so he could glean some information from it:

…I know I have no other choice. It is not for my own self I am concerned. The Immortals of Eden are all but extinct. Should Agar learn of the Primordial's of Earth there will be war like no other. I shudder to think what he could achieve with this weapon; or even its brothers-though he is not the type to trap, but to torture and destroy. My dearest Nyx, I hope you can forgive my foolishness, but this is my attempt to correct my mistakes…

Words danced through Percy's mind. The Immortals of Eden…all but extinct…this weapon… Everyone knew this story-Well, everyone in the New Universe-The Creation Story:
When Chaos was fully formed, at the beginning of all, he started to Create. First born was Chronus, and thus there was time, then Ananke, so there was Inevitability. Next Erebus of Darkness, then Eros of Desire. Chronus and Ananke then gave birth to Aether of Light, Hemera of Day, and so Chaos created Nyx of Night. Finally he made Gaia of Earth, and Tartarus of The Abyss. But blind as the Olympians are, they are unaware that Chaos made another: Gera of Eden. So Earth and Eden became the first two planets in existence. The both gave birth to immortals; in Earth's case The Titans, and in Eden's case The Immortals of Eden.
Chaos then started to create other planets, starting with Evereth and Elias. He had every intention of creating Immortal Gods to rule each planet, but before he could create them for the 3rd and 4th planets destruction occurred. The Immortals of Eden fought amongst themselves in a war that almost destroyed all that was, ending in the extinction of them all. And so Earth became the only planet to have immortal deities, and Eden, Evereth and Elias were closed and left. What has been made since is known as the 'New Universe', where all of the planets are aware of the others and many people travel between them. Earth remains in the 'Old Universe', and so is not visited than any but Chaos' Army. When Chaos' stopped Creating he settled into the chaos of the universe and lay dormant in the state he is now.

Percy was one of the few that knew where his black sword 'The Reaper' was from, and was certain it was the weapon that led to the extinction of The Immortals Of Eden.

…what he could achieve with this weapon; or even its brothers…

Did that mean there were more? And why was this being-the weapons creator-trying to hide them from 'Agar'?

Percy heard someone walking down the corridor. He'd been here for more than 20 minutes. He hurriedly took out his handheld computer and photographed all of the scroll before placing it back where it was. He stepped back and put away the computer. Just in time.

"Omega, to what do I owe the pleasure?" said The Primordial of Time.

"I just had a few questions about the mission, sir" the assassin replied. "Firstly, I wondered if you had any suspicions of the leader of this army?"

"I have an idea. Nyx has been contacting her children to see where they would stand if it became a full war of Primordial Gods. She told me earlier this evening that Eros of Desire and Philotes of Affection will stand with us, but would rather remain passive. However, both Eris of Strife and Moros of Doom haven't replied to her summons, which leads us to believe they allies of Tartarus."

"Moros would have superiority out of the two wouldn't he? So could it be him?"

"I can only hope he is. Moros is a minor Primordial-if there is such a thing-his power is little more than that of a Titan. However, I find it hard to believe he would have the restraint to weaken the enemy first. I can only conclude that someone is commanding him, and there is only one Primordial powerful enough to have authority over him."

"Erebus?" Percy asked.

"It is likely. But do not become disheartened. We are a formidable force. Aether has power though he doesn't show it, and if it was necessary both Ananke and Hemera would fight."

"But what of the ancient laws? His disregard for them means that he can attack with full force on Earth, whereas you can only fight if he attacks you personally"

"I suggest you put this issue from your mind until we know more".

Percy had heard this before; about a week later he had been sent on a dangerous quest to the underworld to retrieve a lightning bolt. Nevertheless, he moved on. If a Primordial told you to do something, it was a good idea to do it. He moved on. "What are the plans for tomorrow?"

"Aether and I will transport The Alpha to the throne room during the meeting. We will explain the situation, introduce you, and leave when all is settled."

"And if war breaks out?"

"Then I suppose Aether and I will open a bag of popcorn and watch you knock those pretentious gits down a few."

Chapter Text

The Traitors Return

Thalia dove right, trying to distract the beast. Hopefully it would follow her, and if she could reach the lower pass where her back-up were, they might be able to get a shot in while it was concentrating on trying to kill her. But it didn't happen like that. It followed, but when the trees started to thin into the clearing it stopped dead, sniffing the air. She kept running, leapt over a fallen log and grabbed Phoebe's outstretched hand to pull herself into the tree.

Thalia gasped air, she'd just sprinted about 2 miles and even for a hunter that was a considerable distance. The beast padded softly into the large clearing, tracking her. It was about the size of a hellhound, with the teeth to match but its whole body was rotting. Its skin was missing in places, and you could see the fetid meat moving as it stalked closer. Their arrows may still be out of range, but its smell wasn't. Most of the hunters gagged. It smelt like carrion, but 1000 times worse. The beasts skin itself was slimy and patched, as though it had decayed in water. Flies buzzed around its body, feeding on the open parts of the living carcass- in places the bone was visible.

It stepped closer to the hunters, and in a flash they fired. 20 silver arrows and it barely faltered. The beast crouched and lifted its jaws to the sky. In the light of the rising moon Thalia got a closer look at them. The whole left side was falling away, and the 3inch teeth were blooded. Chunks of its own skin where stuck between them-it had been feeding on its own wasted body.

The beast howled, and Thalia stopped thinking. The beasts song pierced the night, ringing out into the silence. It cut through the minds of the hunters and paralysed them. Like hearing white noise it ripped apart their very thoughts. She had to break out. Fighting the urge to run, she grasped an arrow and shakily notched it. She took aim, trying to ignore the pain, it felt like a red hot poker was being drilled into her skull, and loosed the arrow. It sailed straight into the decomposing eye cavity and into whatever was left of the beasts brain. The howling stopped instantly, and 20 hunters fell to the floor.

Thalia slowly rose from the grass, and grasped her hunting knife. She stepped closer to the body. Holding a hand over her nose she checked it was dead. Clearly only a headshot could stop this thing. She filed that information in her memory. Surviving as a demigod was hard enough against the usual creatures, having to learn your opponents weaknesses while they were trying to kill you made life nearly impossible.

The attacks had been increasing since the summer solstice; many had stayed year-round at both camps and very few new recruits had survived the journey to half-Blood hill. In the past few months the problem had worsened. The new creatures had arrived; herds of stampeding horses with venomous snakes heads, packs of lions composed of writhing flames that had burned down entire forests before they were stopped, those strange winged monkeys and now this. The situation was so dire that the Olympians had called all demigod leaders, minor gods and nature spirits to the winter solstice tonight…WHICH THEY WERE GOING TO BE LATE FOR!

A quick iris message later and Lady Artemis teleported her hunters to the throne room, which was slowly filling up. The throne room was beautiful. After going through some of her late friends' belongings they'd found some unfinished blueprints, and so in memory to her daughter, Athena had demanded the second redesign of the throne room. It had remained unchanged for 500 years. The hearth sat at the centre of the room as it always had, with the -now 14- major thrones creating a U shape around it. Between the massive thrones there were many much smaller ones, for the minor gods.

In the enclosing line by the door the demigod leaders, immortal trainers and nature spirits were mixing freely. There was a low hum of conversation as everyone waited for her father to arrive. She walked over to her brother, she hadn't seen him for months, and began catching-up with what remained of the seven. Leo tried to hit on her. Again. It would almost be charming if it wasn't his 800th attempt. Piper and Jason were happily married, but had left their 4 year old daughter at the legion. Frank and Hazel still seemed as young as they always were; they smiled at her and went back to the muttered conversation they were having. Thalia hugged Nico; he was the only one who felt the pain of the loss of their friend as well as she did. And she was talking about the possibly-probably-live one.

The mighty Percy Jackson hadn't been seen for half a century. He'd left about a year after the giant war, just packing his bags and telling Chiron he needed some time alone, and not to worry. The centaur had understood and let him go, promising to give the letters he'd left to his cousins the next time he saw them. Said cousins had been rather disappointed to find that their best friend had left without saying goodbye, but had understood. It was almost as though Percy had died a little inside when Annabeth did, and they expected him to be back in a few months after killing a few monsters anyway.

Months had turned to years, and eventually decades. The cousins searched, but could find no trace. They'd gone to ask Sally, but it was clear if she had seen him (which appeared likely) she'd sworn an oath not to say a word. She'd died after Percy had been gone for 50 years. Her funeral had been the biggest event of the demigod calendar that year; many from Camp Half-Blood had gone to pay their respects to the mother of their hero. She'd been a mother to any that met her, including the remaining seven. Surprisingly, or maybe not so, Poseidon had been there, shaking the hand of his lovers husband, Paul. Percy hadn't been there, though the groundskeeper of the church could have sworn he saw a tall man in a dark cloak at that headstone later that day.

With a rumble of thunder and bright flash of lightning her father arrived. Ever the dramatic. He called for silence and the demigods quickly assembled themselves; the hunters sitting by the seven, with the head councillors, praetors and centurions spread around them. In 500 years the meetings weren't massively different. They started the same at least, with her father giving a long and boring speech about the might of the gods and their latest achievements.

"Well if that is all, I believe we can move on to the more recent problems." Poseidon coughed. After glancing at his brother, Zeus turned his attention to the assembled children of the gods. "Unless any of you have got any new leads on our suspiciously missing immortal?" Poseidon gave a louder, angrier cough. "Our lost hero of Olympus?" the king corrected himself.

Silence rang in the room. "Well that is disappointing." Zeus said in a bored voice, "On more important matters, does anybody in the council have any idea of the reason behind the new attacks?" he glanced at Hades with obvious suspicion.

"I have." Everyone turned to the voice, which strangely resulted in the room occupants all looking in different directions, including several looking straight up.

A different voice chuckled. "Now is not the time for games son" it added in obvious amusement. This time everyone turned to the corner of the room adjacent to the door.

There was no dramatic flash of light or loud bang, the figures were just there. There were 2 standing forward, with 8 people behind them. The man on the left looked like a 1930's gangster, he had a brown suit, and the signature hat. He noticed everyone's looks of confusion. "not cool anymore? Alright lets try…" his outfit instantly changed into a wall street suit, "…this?" The demigods nervously nodded, and he smiled.

The figure on the right was dressed entirely in white. Shirt, shoes, suit, and tie. His hair was a white blonde, and his skin was pale. Thalia couldn't tell what colour his eyes were, looking at them was like trying to look at a bright light. In fact, this man could outshine Apollo. He spoke first, "I suppose you're wondering who we are?"

The king of the gods looked outraged that he didn't know somebody. "WHO DARES INTRUDE ON THE OLYMPIAN COUNCIL" his voice rumbled with thunder.

The white man stepped forward, "I am Lord Aether, The Primordial of Light, and I suggest you quieten down god or I'll teach you to respect your superiors" he replied in a voice laced with arrogance. Instantly the whole room bowed, even Zeus.

The second man stepped forward also, "Please ignore my son, we are not here to command respect. We will earn it, with trust and Time." one of figures still in the shadows snorted with laughter, to which the council frowned in confusion. "I see you do not understand. That was a joke." Thalia stared. Should she laugh anyway? Offending this man seemed like a bad idea. Apparently everyone was having this mental argument but Athena who smiled with amusement.

The man sighed. "I am Lord Chronus, The Primordial of Time. Not to be mistaken for that ridiculous Titan."

"My Lords, may I ask what news you have of the recent attacks?" The Lord of the sky asked.

"You may" replied Chronus.

The king looked dumbfounded. Athena saved him, "What do you know of the recent attacks?"

It was Aether who replied, "you may not be aware, but you are far from the only life in this universe. Well actually you are if you consider only the Old Universe, however in regards to the New Universe…"

"What my son means" Chronus interrupted "Is that there are other planets. Earth, the original planet, is the only one that is unaware of the rest of the universe, and the only planet that has titans and gods to rule over it. After Chaos created Earth he stopped making planets that were alive in the sense that my sister is the planet. However the enemy that threatens this planet could cause the end of civilisation as we know it, and so we have decided to step in."

Hades was the first to recover from the shock, "and who is this enemy? A Primordial?" he asked.

"Ah Hades, you yourself would know of him, his domain resides so very close to your own"

"Not… Tartarus?" the wide-eyed god asked.

"Correct. The Abyss stirs. You may have felt it. But he has yet to rise fully in defined form, and until then the threat is significantly decreased. We believe his allies are raising an army to weaken the camps, storm Olympus, gain control of the planet itself and then awaken Tartarus fully."

Thalia could have cut the tension in the room with a knife. Another war? Against a Primordial? The strongest Primordial at that. She asked the question on everybody's mind:

"Mr. Chronus, sir," he chuckled, "I was wondering, when you say awaken…as though he is not awake now?"

"My brother is in a state similar to that of Gaia, his mind is open to influence and communicate, but his powers are severely weakened. He must rely on his allies to fight this war, which are more manageable. This is why we plan to assist you now, in an attempt to stop the threat before it becomes necessary to use, ahem, other methods"

A young son of Ares stepped forwards. "Lord Chronus, who are these allies you speak of; it couldn't be Kronos could it?"

"I can answer that question" Another figure stepped forwards. He was dressed in a long black cloak that reached his knees, but was split down the back. The peaked hood was pulled over his head, casting a shadow over his face, so only his mouth could be seen. He wore a grey shirt and black jeans, with knee-high leather boots. A red cloth belt was tied around his waist with a leather buckle, and the cloak fastened over it. At his hip hug a black sheath. The sword was not visible but it seemed to hum with energy. A sheath of throwing knives was fastened under his belt, with a 1920's revolver on his alternate side. A black bow could be seen on his right shoulder, with a blood red offset cape over his left shoulder. Thalia noticed a Greek Omega printed in black on the corner.

"Ah, let me introduce The Assassin of Chaos, Omega" Chronus gestured at the man.

"And how does he know that Kronos isn't leading the forces?" said the war child.

"I know Kronos is not leading Tartarus' Army, because I killed him." Omega replied.

Ares snorted, "You can't kill an immortal kid, surely they taught you that?"

The assassin smirked, "You can't kill an immortal, but I assure you I can." He drew his black sword, "This, is 'The Reaper'. It is the finest Galactic Steel, which is a blend of all the enchanted metals, imbued with the essence of The Void, forged under the blessing of Chaos and cooled in his blood. There is no weapon like it in all of the known universe. One touch and it will rip you immortal soul from you body and force it to fade. Would you like to test it war god?"

Ares visibly shivered, to which the assassin smiled wider. "I understand it is an almost unbelievable concept, but I have killed 20 immortals; 3 of them you may have heard of. From each, 'The Reaper' reaps some of the powers. For example, Kronos gave me the ability to do this." Thalia could see what she assumed were his eyes glowing gold as he glanced at Ares, who stopped dead. Frozen in his own dimension. The golden glow faded, and the war god continued with his nervous shivering.

Zeus broke the shocked silence, "So if it is not our…erm, late father" he paused. "Then who is leading the forces?"

Chronus sighed, drawing the attention back to him. "We are unsure. I have my suspicions, but until we know more, I will be sending you some of the forces of Chaos' Army to defend the camps. I suggest you move all of your legion to Camp Half-Blood, and leave the retired demigods to defend the Roman camp-it will not be threatened until the majority of the demigods have been dealt with."

"And what is Chaos' Army?" Athena asked.

"Chaos' Army is made of the best and brightest warriors from all over the known universe. It is spilt into 26 divisions. We have chosen to send you almost 20,000 troops, including The Alpha Team, which is led by Omega."

"If its Chaos' Army, then why are you making the decisions?" a Roman camper asked.

"Chaos, like Tartarus is in a subdued state. He can communicate, and see's all. It was his idea to form The Army many millennia ago, and his suggests many warriors to join the cause. It is His army, and it fights for Him, but myself, Lord Aether, Lady Ananke of Inevitability, Lady Hemera of Day and Lady Nyx of Night lead the army for him." Chronus replied, "Now let me introduce The Alpha Team" he added with a smile.

The two Primordial's moved to the side, and the 7 figures crossed the room to stand beside Omega.

The first two, a man and a woman, wore fairly simple outfits. The man wore blue denim jeans, a white t-shirt and a black hoodie covering his face. He had a sword on a belt, and 2 short daggers. The woman was slipper in build, and wore black leather pants and a hoodie over a red shirt. She had a beautiful ornate black bow over one shoulder and two 4inch hunting knives.

The next man appeared human at first glance, but Thalia noticed the long canines, yellow eyes and pointed fingernails fairly quickly. He had long course black hair that grew backwards, and ran down low over the back of his neck. Stood next to him was a large thickset man. If Thalia had to guess, she'd say he was a son of Ares or Hephaestus. He had short brown hair and weathered hands covered in scars, burns and calluses. Strapped to his back was a huge double-bladed battleaxe, and at his him a wide-bladed weapon she recognised as an aruval. He had several other axe heads strapped to his belt.

The next was another woman. She had long red-haired tied back in a ponytail. She wore a black leather jumpsuit, and had two curved bladed swords sheathed at her hips. It was about then Thalia noticed the tail. It was around 2 metres long and haired, like a lions tail. It appeared dexterous-she woman was holding a dagger at the end. After noticing this the hunter recognised the more feline features the woman had: pupils like slits, high brows and a sharp jaw line.

There was no mistaking the next man for human. He was around 6ft4, and humanoid in shape but had bright red scaled skin and green eyes. He was literally a human reptilian. His fingers were pointed at the ends and there were red spines running backwards from the middle of his forehead, increasing in size to almost 6inches at the back of his skull, that stopped abruptly at the base of his neck. Convenient for wearing clothes. thought Thalia. He wore jeans and black t-shirt, with two thin swords-rapiers-strapped to his back.

The last figure was the strangest. He had a body of black stuff that was neither liquid nor gas. It seemed to flow constantly, wrapping around his shape and changing, moving. His eyes were bright white. He smiled at them and his form shifted to reveal huge black wings fused to his shoulders.

It was Omega who spoke, "This is Commander LC, he is the leader of the Beta Platoon, which are the specialised fighters and heroes. I believe you've met" he smirked. The First man stepped forward and removed his hood. Everyone froze. Blonde hair, blue eyes, a rather noticeable scar.

"Luke" Thalia gasped.

He smiled weakly, nervousness and fear clear on his face, "Hey Thals"

"He's a traitor!" echoed round the room as hundreds of demigods cried out.

"The Commander has had a difficult past, but he has served in Chaos' Army for 60 years, has fought many battles for the right cause and earned his place. He can be trusted completely" said the assassin sternly.

"Why should we trust you anyway? You're a murderer!" shouted a son of Demeter.

Omega opened his mouth to answer, but the woman removed her hood.

"I hope you can still trust me, milady?" she asked.

Artemis looked at the girl in shock, before rising from her throne, shrinking to the lieutenant's height and embracing the girl.

"I would trust you with my life Zoë, but how well do you know him?"

Surprisingly, Zoë blushed. "I have known Luke for all of the 60 years he has been in Chaos' Army, which is longer than anybody here. I don't pretend to understand all of his motives, but I would trust Luke Castellan with my life. And if you can trust me milady, then you can trust him."

Still the demigods murmured among themselves; they'd all heard stories about Luke, and it was hard to trust these people. Even the gods looked apprehensive.

"Well I don't trust him, how do we know he won't stab us in the back when were not looking?" it was the head councillor of the Ares cabin, Steven.

Omega sighed, "I didn't want to do this, but…"

"No, mate, really, you don't have to" Luke interrupted, "I understand that you don't trust me. I agree with it, I wouldn't trust me either. Not after what I did. I joined Chaos' Army to right the wrongs I committed, all I ask is that you give me the benefit of the doubt to prove myself. I am loyal to Lord Chaos, to Omega, to Chronus, and with them, to Olympus. I swear it on the styx." he sighed, "Look I'm sorry. I'm so fucking sorry." he looked over at Hermes. "I'm sorry dad" he whispered, but in the silent room everybody heard. Omega reached over and grasped his shoulder, and Luke looked down at the ground in shame.

Hermes stood and walked over to his son. "I forgive you." was all he said before pulling the boy into an awkward hug. After a seconds hesitation the commander wrapped his arms around him. They broke away smiling. "We can catch-up later, son."

"I'm sorry to interrupt the happy reunion, but those two should be dead." Hades said.

"Chaos' Army recruits many dead heroes, mortals along with demigods. The Beta Platoon that Luke commands is almost entirely made of them. You may have heard of his lieutenant; Theseus?" the assassin said with obvious amusement.

"As in, the Theseus?" asked a young daughter of Iris.

"Yes," he smiled "Zoë joined just minutes after her death, and quickly rose through the ranks. She is the commander of the Delta Force; the group of archers and snipers. The best marksmen in the universe."

"Well Luke here interrupted MY dramatic entrance" said the third man, "I'm Sol-leks" he said with a smile. Suddenly his figure blurred and darkened, until before them stood a 6ft black wolf with glowing yellow eyes and canines like daggers. Some of the demigods screamed and scrambled back towards the hearth.

"Don't worry, he's harmless…most of the time. Though his pick-up lines are enough to make anyone scream," said Omega. The Alpha squad laughed and in a flash Sol-leks changed back to human form.

"HEY!" he cried indignantly, stepping forward to slap Omega upside of the head, only to have 20 gallons of water dropped on his head.

"Bad dog" Omega smirked. "Sol-leks is a Lupet. But moving on, this is Aruval" he gestured to the aruval. Original name. "He took on the name of his weapon, you're open to laugh at him for it. Aruval is from Trove, a planet very like this one, and is completely human. Trove is known for its lumberjacks, blacksmiths and warriors, and Aruval is no exception." he gestured towards the tailed woman, "This is Gina, she is a latharid, I wouldn't get in the way of her tail-its lethal"

Gina grinned at them. "Ignore Omega's melodrama, I won't attack you unless you piss me off" she winked at Nico, who blushed. "Don't be shy death-boy, I don't bite" she smiled.

The lizard-man coughed, "When you've about finished flirting sweetheart" he said, his voice more of a hiss. "I'm Viper, and I do bite." he grinned, showing off his curved teeth. "But I'll play nice. I'm a Scathre, and this…" he gestured to the man made of shadows "is Umbra, he's a shade."

Umbra spoke, and his voice was enchanting. It resonated outwards, with deep bass and a rich tone. It was beautiful. Thalia could almost hear it in her head, and then she realised-she could hear it in her head-but it was kind and friendly, not like the howl of the beast she'd fought earlier. "A shade is a sorcerer; we can change forms easily, like this" his body melted into a horses, then a falcons, the a swirling mass with no shape, "though this is my preferred form," he said as he changed back.

Chronus stepped forwards again and said "Well that is The Alpha. They are the elite of the army, and will be joining you for a week before the rest of the forces arrive. Does anybody have any questions?"

Ares frowned, "Why has he" he gestured to Omega, "Not revealed himself?"

"Omega does not wish to show his face; as the assassin of legend very little is known about him through all of the universe, and he wishes to keep it that way."

Athena was next: "Why can all of you speak English? Surely not everyone in your army chose our language?"

Aether answered, "They have The Travellers Blessing. It is a blessing given by an immortal, or anybody who has the blessing already. You can understand languages, survive in the climates of any planet for up to 2 weeks, and teleport between some planets to some extent, though it is tiring if you are not experienced."

Thalia decided to speak up, "What are the creatures that have been attacking recently? We came across a beast this evening…" she described the monster to them.

"That was a Fleeth. They are almost impossible to kill due to the way they live. They start to decay from the moment they're born, surviving on the meat of their own bodies. The gain no sustenance from any other food, but they kill endlessly from their hunger. Eventually, they die when the sinews holding their bones together decompose. It can only be killed by a shot into its skull, where its consciousness resides." replied Sol-leks.

"What was that thing it did, when it howled, it was like it was inside my head" she asked.

"Similar to my voice, it howls both externally from its vocal chords but also mentally. You can be trained to defend it but it takes real strength of mind to fight it untrained. Very good Thalia Grace" Umbra replied. She wondered how he knew her name, particularly her surname, as she very rarely used it.

"I know many things hunter, while we are talking, you are not blocking your thoughts well enough. I cannot help but hear what your thinking. As for your surname, your thinking about spending time with your brother, and your mind was making the connection-your last name." he replied to her unanswered question.

"Oh"

Luke turned to her, " What other monsters have been attacking?"

Thalia quickly recounted the few creatures that had caused them problems, and his frown darkened.

"The snake headed horses are Hippoanguis, they're very rare, so they must have been planning their attacks for some time. As for the lions, they're more common, known as Flamecats. And the winged monkeys are Darg's. We'll teach you more at camp later, I fear you'll need it."

"Well if that's all?" Chronus asked. The gods nodded their assent. "The Alpha will remain with you, you can get to know them a little better. Commander Helly will bring the remaining troops and the crew of the Lambda Ship in a weeks time. The Olympians may want to be present when we introduce the full army-there are many of your children you may want to meet" he smiled. "Until then, Omega is in charge of The Alpha, and any questions can be posed to him. I will see you in a week." And with that, The Primordial of Time and his son, were simply-gone.

Thalia was the first to move; she stood up and crossed the room to her old friend. Everyone was silent waiting to see what happened. She stood in front of him, and for a minute the two friends stared at each other. As fast as thought she slapped him across the face.

"That's for blaming the gods for my death,"

Thunder rumbled and a fork of lightning jumped off the hunter, hitting the commander and blasting off his feet. "That's for betraying us,"

Luke stood shakily but was greeted by as fist connected with his jaw.

"That's for nearly killing Percy…Annabeth…Me…"

She punctuated each name with a punch to his stomach. She stepped closer and he flinched. Standing on her tip-toes she kissed his forehead. There were tears pouring down her face.

"That's for doing the right thing, in the end…" She choked back a sob, and threw her arms around him.

"This is for coming back" she sniffed.

Most of The Alpha were shocked at her reaction, but Zoë burst out laughing. "I see Lady Artemis taught thee how to treat men?"

"I've always been like this with my friends" Thalia replied, before leading Luke over to the demigods, "I want you to meet my brother, he might actually give you a decent swordfight"

Most took this as their cue to integrate. The younger campers ran off to talk to Umbra-they were enthralled by his voice, Aruval was quickly mobbed by Hephaestus and his children, Zoë went to talk to the hunters and Lady Artemis swapping stories about her time away from the hunt. Gina was quickly called over by the Queen of the Amazons-they could spot a woman with power anywhere-and they were soon laughing at the males expense. Sol-leks walked up to Lupa and started to chat her up but was given a punch in the face in return and even Viper struck up a conversation with some Romans; he was discussing the finer details of sword technique in no time. Omega followed Luke over to what remained of the seven; Thalia noted they were clearly good friends.

She introduced Luke to Nico, who apparently thought it a good idea to dive straight into the awkward questions.

"You haven't seen Percy in this army at all? It's the sort of thing he may have done" the son of Hades asked.

Luke shook his head, "I did look for him, but…" he shrugged, "I guess he's not the type to follow orders. If I had to guess, I'd say he somehow got himself a Travellers Blessing and is out their doing something noble"

"Wouldn't you have heard if he was?" Nico asked hopefully.

"Maybe not, I mean, the New Universe is a big place. There's over 15,000 civilised planets, and many more with more primitive habitants. He could be anywhere really." the commander replied.

Time passed quickly, and it was soon many hours later. The gods teleported everyone back to Camp Half-Blood for the night; movement of the legion would start tomorrow. As Thalia said goodbye to the campers and headed over to the silver Artemis cabin, she couldn't help but admit that she was glad to have her friend back, even if it was only for a short while and in such dire circumstances.

Chapter Text

All That's Left

Waking up at Camp Half-Blood was a weird experience for Percy. There had been a time when it had been his home, the only safe place for him. It was where he first felt like he belonged, like he wasn't all that different. But now… There was no other way to put it: being back hurt. Camp had been the place he'd first met Annabeth, become friends with Annabeth, trained with Annabeth, got together with Annabeth; and now he was back here. Alone. Heaving a sigh he threw the covers off himself and stood up. He couldn't afford to think like that. He had a job to do, and moping around wasn't going to bring her back.

A groan came from the bed next to him. He looked over to find an angry Luke crawling out from under both his own, and Percy's bed sheets. "You may be alive with the joys of morning mate but I'm not in the mood for having things thrown at me. If you want to run round singing 'Oh what a beautiful morning' go fine Sol-leks."

Percy snorted. Ignoring the son of Hermes he wandered over to his cloak and pulled out his handheld computer. It was about a quarter inch thick with a screen the size of a paperback book. He selected the storage function and smiled as it opened a hologram of a wardrobe door. The computer itself actually opened a portal to his real wardrobe, with a lot less effort than he could have done. Plus, no risk of accidentally stepping into Aether's bathroom while he was busy. Not something you want to see in the morning.

He pulled on a black t-shirt and sleeveless hoodie, fastening his red cape over one shoulder. He grabbed his weapons and was about to go and find the rest of his squad when he noticed his SPQR tattoo. Shit. He'd forgotten about that. He dug into the deepest depths of his wardrobe and found an old star-silver wrist guard that he hadn't worn for about 10 years. It just covered the tattoo. He decided to risk it.

When they arrived at breakfast a staggering 30 mins later-it had taken 6 litres of water, a slap and a threat to set fire to the bed to extract the commander from it-they instantly found a problem. No tables. Deciding to show-off a little he pulled out the computer again, and selected the 'buy furniture' option. Sadly, it seemed as though The Primordial of Light had selected the catalogue, so The Alpha Squad ended up eating at a gothic mahogany dining table with chairs that looked like they were classed as torture weapons. As though they didn't look strange enough to the campers already.

The assassin hadn't missed the subtly mysterious entrance last night-although seeing the Primordial of Time dressed as a 1930's gangster had made it worth it-the campers seemed genuinely terrified of The Alpha. If they were going to save this planet they needed the demigods to trust them completely, and his covered face, added to Luke's entrance and the fact most of them weren't human had made that seem like quite difficult goal to reach. Hopefully training would help.

When he arrived at the arena he was shocked to find that the Olympians had decided to make themselves present. Ares and Hermes he'd assumed, probably Apollo and Artemis too, but Zeus was a big surprise. He bounced ideas round his head as to why the lord of the sky had bothered to watch them. When it hit him it was so obvious it was a surprise he hadn't thought of it earlier. Zeus was obviously threatened by the Primordial's-he'd always been an arrogant man who regarded himself as the most powerful; so he had to find fault with The Alpha and The Army to feel better about himself. Well if that's how your playing… Percy wasn't about to look weak.

Be careful Omega, he's a significant threat and we need him on our side, don't start a fight with him. Umbra spoke in his mind. He must had been quite vehement in his thoughts for the shade to pick it up-he was usually good at guarding his mind.

You were practically shouting. What's your plan? Percy could feel the curiosity in the shades thoughts.

You'll see he thought, before cutting the link and correcting his mental barriers. Once everyone had arrived he stepped forward and addressed the assembled demigods.

"Well were going to be running your training sessions under Lord Chronus' orders. This is important because no matter how good you are, there's plenty to know about the opponents from the rest of the universe. Your fighting styles will probably be quite specialised to your usual enemies.

"Today were going to start with basic sword fighting to see what kind of level you're all at, but first I was wondering if Luke could help me give you a demonstration of a tactical swordfight?"

The commander gave a nod, but frowned at Percy, wondering what game he was playing.

"Most battles are against monsters that aren't trained to well and its more about getting a death-blow in quickly to move onto the next; but when you're fighting another demigod, or the types you might come across in Tartarus' Army its more about finding the flaw in your opponents guard and keeping your own moves versatile and unpredictable."

What are you up to Perce? Luke sounded concerned, fights between the two easily got out of hand.

We need to show Zeus we aren't weaklings he can threaten. You up for giving them a show?

The felt the excitement pouring off the commander. I always am. I'm guessing I'm not allowed to strike at your hood?

I'd kill you mate, so I wouldn't The assassin replied.

"Same rules? Only stop at the deathblow?" The son of Hermes asked as he pulled out his sword. Raptor glinted in the sunlight as he walked to the other end of the arena.

Percy removed 'The Reaper's' sheath from his belt and passed it to Aruval, who stepped up between the two swordsmen.

"Ready?" he asked. They nodded, focusing only on the others face-or what they could see of it. "En Garde…Play!"

If the crowd were expecting an instantaneous clashing of swords they were disappointed. Percy stared at Luke, watching where his muscles tensed. He held his sword casually, but to the trained eye you could see it was tilted slightly across his chest though it was a little high. Just before he was about to strike the commander lunged forwards. As fast as thought Percy blocked and they exchange a series of heavy blows, before stepping away, swinging round and striking again.

They rarely had fights like this. The men had always had some tension between them. They hid it well, and got along extremely well most of the time, but there was something about two enemies-come-friends. There would always be that instinct that they were supposed to be wounding the other. Usually they used there battles as a sort of therapy, when Percy was down or Luke was angry they'd fight it out till almost death-anything goes.

Luke was the first to land a hit ; a glancing blow on Percy's forearm but was rewarded with a slash across his calf. Within minutes they were both drenched in sweat, but fit as they were they continued to pound each other with renewed vigour, trying to find a gap in the others defences. They were dancing around each other, mere blurs to the onlookers as they rapidly countered each others attacks.

Adrenaline was coursing through Percy's veins and he weaved Riptide through a complex pattern and catching Raptor in his cross guard, struck Luke on the side of the ribcage. It was a deep cut and the commander yelped, Percy took advantage of his split-second distraction and lunged forwards. But Luke had anticipated this and threw all his weight into blocking the oncoming blur of bronze, connecting his fist with the bottom of the assassin's sternum. Percy faulted, coughing blood onto the ground and barely dodged the heavy strikes Luke threw at him. He swung round and smashed his elbow into the others face, hearing a crack of his nose breaking.

"Fuck" was all he said in reply as they circled each other, looking for an opening.

This would have continued for longer, had Percy not tripped. Luke took the advantage and disarmed him with the very move he'd taught Percy all those years ago, but it wasn't over yet. Drawing the dagger from his boot the assassin lunged ferociously, using the shorted blade to open up another slash on Luke's leg only to be paid back with a deep cut on his shoulder that burned. Without the strength to block another attack he threw the dagger at the commanders hand, knocking Raptor to the ground before kicking the inside of his leg and throwing him to the ground. The exchanged punches and kicks that would have made Ares proud; Luke got a choke hold on Percy, but the assassin slammed his fist into his ribcage.

"ENOUGH!" The voice echoed around the silent arena, Umbra's melodious tone reverberating around their skulls. They faltered, panting hard. Noticing the rather compromising position they were in, Luke rolled onto his back.

"Good game" The assassin said between breaths, "Nice move cutting me with my own blade, that's a new one"

"I don't tell you everything mate."

Percy shakily stood, and offered his hand to the commander. He looked up, and seemed to remember the arena full of pale, wide-eyed, speechless demigods, many equally shocked gods, a war god who looked like all his Christmases had come at once, and the remaining Alpha Squad at the sidelines eating popcorn.

Umbra drifted over. "You forget I'm the one that usually ends up healing you because your to lazy to do it properly and end up with limbs that don't work properly. Have you heard of saving it for the enemy?" He said, his usually calm voice sounding annoyed.

"Sorry Mum." the men chorused.

Chiron spoke up, "Is that always how they fight?"

"Sometimes, when they feel like giving a show…there was one time they nearly did kill each other… they're better these days" Sol-leks replied cheerily, walking over to the duo.

"Well then I'm pleased you're on our side" replied the centaur.

"Oh don't mind their macho display of unused testosterone, its mainly because they don't get any-the have to make themselves feel masculine. I could down them in 2 minutes." said Gina cheekily. Nobody laughed. They appeared to be trying to remember how to talk.

"Well who wants to learn how to swordfight kids!" shouted Aruval. He decided to take the lesson from there as the first and second in command were still getting they're injuries healed.

"Now if you could split into 8 groups…"

Surprisingly, the lesson went excellently from there. The demigods were actually quite good at all types of combat, though they severely lacked in fighting multiple enemies. The more complex battles were too much for most of them, but a daughter of Poseidon-Melissa, and a son of Ares-Danny, could both hold their own against Sol-leks and Umbra. Archery was a little more disappointing, but when the Delta arrived they'd have more than enough marksmen.

None of the camp had trained that fighting Pegasus-back, either on ground or in air which seemed like a major flaw in the training programme from Aruval's point of view. How are you meant to survive against an aerial attack? The axeman was no rider himself but he knew the basics, and could get by in most fights.

As they sat around the campfire that evening Aruval couldn't help noticing how close The Alpha had grown over the past 6 decades. He was always close to Gina; they'd lived together for a while when she sought refuge on Trove after the latherid clan-war that had wiped out her family, and basically saw her as his sister. Him and Sol-leks always seemed to get grouped together, and he couldn't deny that the Lupet was a real comic.

As for Omega, the guy acted all mysterious but behind the hood he was a real softie. He rarely spoke about his past, but the axeman knew he'd been an important guy who'd lost a lot fighting for people that almost expected it of him. You could tell how that would break a man. As for LC; Aruval knew a little more. Luke had briefly explained his and the assassins history in as few words as possible, and it did beg the question how the hell do they get on so well now?

Zoë Nightshade was another enigma. Her man issues were larger than his battleaxe but Omega seemed to be the only one she respected. Until recently that was. People thought the big lumberjack was oblivious but he could feel the sexual tension pouring off the hunter and Luke. Whether it would go anywhere…that was another story.

Umbra was the outsider of the group. He had the power to manipulate almost all of them but he would never use it. The guy was very passive for a shade, and his loyalty to Omega was incredible-Aruval genuinely believed he'd take a blade for the assassin without a second thought.

Finally there was Viper. He was the closest thing they had to a parent left (save for Chronus, but really he wasn't exactly the fatherly type) and yet he wasn't patronising. He advised them, he was their 'devils advocate' as the Earth-people would say. They're group dynamic was strange to say the least, but there was no denying that as a whole they were formidable on a battlefield, and that's what they were here for.

That evening, Percy pulled up the image of the scroll he'd been reading in Chronus' study. Many of the words were too faded on the image to read and his dyslexia didn't help, but he started at the top. The writing here was clearer, as though it had been added more recently than the rest.

To my dearest Nyx,

I leave this in the hope that if you ever need it, the terror I have borne onto The Immortals of Eden may have some use. I regret what I did, what I made, but all I can do is hide it from those who would abuse it as he did, in the hope it is never found. You know what I first forged, but here are my notes on the creation of its brothers and my tale. You are the only one I trust with this, but I warn you not to let yourself fall prey to temptation. Forever Yours, Avanasius, The Last Elder.

Apparently this man-Avanasius-had been someone to Lady Nyx. Huh. He carried on, the next writing here was very faint, it looked like the oldest section on the page.

I've completed it! At last I will have the power to overthrow my pathetic brother Agar. I care for him not. This weapon will send him to The Void and I can rule Eden as I should. I call it 'The Reaper', as it reaps the life of any immortal, taking their power, their life-force, their strength.

The metal itself is a blend of the strongest: Celestial Bronze and Imperial Gold from Earth, Star-Silver from Eden, Platinum stolen from Chaos' own armour, Stygian Iron from the underworlds of each of the 4 planets, and the essence of The Void itself.

I imbued the metal with the blessing of Chaos himself and stole his blood to cool it in. It is a weapon of immense power-I tested it on my mother, and she is no more. A pity, but it was necessary for my rise.

He killed his own mother just to test a blade? Revulsion poured from the assassin. His sword. He kept reading.

I am a fool. My lust for power blinded my sight and now I have unleashed terror onto the world. Agar stole the blade while I slept. He plans to kill the most powerful of us and overthrow our creator with the power. And I have made it possible. Ultimate sadness. What can I do to right my wrong?

It was much clearer here:

My time in The Void has taught me something. That all the answers are already there, and we must but clear our minds to allow them to flow forth. Only I can stop my brother, he grows stronger by the day. And stop him I will.

In The Void I found the true firstborn and he told me his story. The first of Chaos was no Chronus, but Order. The brother of our mighty creator. He resides alone in The Void, watching and bringing Order to the lives of those he values.

I told him of my failings, and he gave me a gift. He blessing, and his blood…

The words were too faded to read here. Percy assumed they were probably clearer on the scroll. He needed to talk to Chronus. He found the next visible section, which was a lot further down.

…In hopes that no other falls to temptation and fails as I have, I will hide them-and myself. Chaos' anger was unmatched. He vowed never to make another Immortal, and so I am The Last Elder. I am all that is left, in The End. Eden will never be inhabited again. The 4 planets have been banished to the 4 corners of the known universe, and only Earth will live on. I will use this to my advantage. I will hide 'The Reaper' and 'The Keeper' on Eden, and 'The Chain' on Evereth. On Elias, I shall live out my last days, until I fade to The Void. I have not the strength to end my life with what ruined it: I always was a coward…

Percy stopped reading. He didn't know what these things were, but they sounded powerful. If Chronus thought they were relevant they probably were. …I am all that is left in The End…

Omega, The End.

When he woke up the next morning, there was nothing to tell Percy that his life would either be a lot more complex or a lot simpler by that night. There was nothing to tell him that really, with how this day would go, he was better just to stay in bed. So, he headed out to breakfast with The Alpha and got some very bad news.

"Head Councillors, Immortals, Alpha Squad we need you at a council meeting now!" cried Chiron in obvious distress.

When he entered the rec room Percy was not surprised to see that it hadn't changed. The old ping-pong table still sat in the centre of the room with chairs assembled randomly around it. The Alpha took up the left side, and he looked round, trying to remember some names. Nico, Thalia and Grover were all there, along with Melissa-his sister, and Steven, the Ares councillor. He identified the son of Dionysus by his slightly flushed face. The Iris councillor had spoken up at the solstice he remembered, and the Hermes councillor had the same slanted eyebrows and look of mischief that reminded him of the Stoll twins.

"A satyr reported an army of 400 monsters marching here to attack. They'll be here in 4 hours at the longest" Chiron never was one to beat around the bush.

"Normal monsters, or the other ones?" Thalia asked.

"A mix" he replied "but the sight was enough to scare him. Do you have reinforcements?" he added looking at Percy.

The assassin frowned. "They won't be here for another 6 days at least…"

"Which," Sol-leks interrupted, "leaves us with a very serious problem." The usual comic looked very concerned.

"Why?" asked Steven, "If you're all so superior, a measly 400 monsters should be nothing" he sneered.

"It would be, for us, but we can't fight." said Luke.

"WHAT! So you're backing out now? You really are cowards aren't you?" snapped the son of Apollo.

"No" said Percy, "Not won't fight, not don't want to fight, we cant fight."

"Why?" Apollo's son replied scathingly.

"If the enemy finds out we're here, they will launch a big enough attack to wipe you out before our reinforcements arrive. The loss of their demigod children will be enough to weaken the gods link to the mortal world so when they storm Olympus, Olympus will fall" the assassin growled, "Do you understand how serious this is?"

The demigods gulped. Omega could be threatening when he wanted to. Chiron broke the silence, "I assume there is no way you can fight?"

"I'm sorry Chiron, but the risk is too high. Luke and Zoë are supposed to be dead, Gina, Sol-leks, Viper and Umbra aren't human and I'm immortal, so they'll know I'm not from here. We can help prepare, Umbra can try to guard your minds a little but it'll be weak, and I can replenish your energy if I have too, but you're on your own…"

The centaur sighed, "I inferred as much. Any help you can offer is welcomed. All of you, inform you campers, under 10's are to stay back and help with healing. Get everyone ready, we've got a battle to win."

Sitting in the big house trying to see the battle was one of the hardest things Percy had ever done. He stood in his room, pacing enough to wear marks in the wood floor. He'd gone up to the attic earlier, but the view of the battlefield was no better. From interrogating the satyr who'd seen the army, he'd found it was mainly made of hellhounds and dracaenae, but there were enough Fleeth to pose a serious problem, a couple Hippoanguis and Flamecats. The satyr hadn't seen who was leading the army, but as Percy paced he could feel at least 1 immortal of some sort.

From the front room he heard a crash and loud voices, so he rushed in. A camper ran up to him. The kid was about his height, but had seen better days. He had a broken arm that he was holding awkwardly, multiple burns and a cut on his head.

"Mr. Omega, sir. We need your help, they're overrunning us and we can't hold them back!"

Percy glanced at Luke. He looked back at the camper. The complete fear, desolation tugged on his heartstrings.

"Take your clothes off"

Nico really thought it was the end. He'd called 100's of undead warriors to the battlefield but they were smashed to pieces, burned or just stopped dead (figurativly) from the Fleeth's howls. The campers were completely disbanded, the few that were standing were fighting off about 10 monsters each and the injured were grabbing the passed out and dragging them away from the battle to stop the Fleeth's from ripping into them.

Thalia was going toe to toe with the rockman as Nico had decided to call it. It was a 8ft figure made from clumps of volcanic rock. Everywhere it touched melted and burned, and almost everyone had injuries from it as it hefted the boulders at its feet and threw the semi-molten clumps at the campers. The daughter of Zeus was holding it back, but only just. Every cut she made onto it healed over as the molten lava blood solidified.

About 5 yards from that, Melissa, Danny and Steven were trying to fight the titan Hyperion. The best swordfighters of camp could barely keep up, and every strike he landed threw them back 10ft. Nico was cutting through the ranks trying to reach them but the monsters seemed endless. The Flamecats had started to breed. As they set fire to the ground newer ones burst up, leaping at unsuspecting campers.

That's when they came. Aruval charged into the ranks, smashing Fleeths' brains open with his battleaxe and chopping limbs of dracaenae with a single strike of his aruval. Luke wasn't far behind, bursting through the ranks and sprinting towards the rockman just as Thalia was thrown backwards by a rock to the stomach. They were both wearing orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirts but were armour less, though it didn't seem to hinder them.

At first the 3rd man was but a blur. He seemed to flow through the started monsters, cutting them down and pushing campers to the sidelines as Aruval decapitated the rest of the forces. Nico was stunned. That's…Omega. The man was hoodless, but still moving too fast for the son of Hades to take his face in. In a flash of black hair Omega pushed the campers away from Hyperion and engaged in the battle himself.

Nico sprinted closer as the assassin fought with the titan. He was holding his black sword, and it hummed with power; dark energy rippling around the blade. The campers circled round the two fights, watching as Luke smashed through the rockman, so it was barely whole again before he crumbled it to rock. And that was when The Ghost King heard it, one sentence:

"JACKSON, I thought you were dead!" shouted Hyperion, as he swung his blade at Percy Jackson's neck.

"Just been taking a leave of absense, don't worry, I'll still kill you"

Relief, Fear, Happiness, Concern and Exhilaration spiralled through Nico like a whirlwind. He watched as the lost hero threw bolts of back energy at the titan. Hyperion staggered but with a boom he released a charge of white light.

Shocking brightness filled the campers eyes as the world exploded. When his eyes cleared Nico could see his cousin standing in front of Hyperion, who was on his knees. The titan looked scared. Omega stepped forwards and stabbed the blade into the immortals chest, and he was ripped apart. The two figured glowed in light, and when it dimmed, Percy Jackson was standing there, a bright glow surrounding his body that he didn't seem aware of.

"Percy…" said Chiron, but the assassin turned his back on the campers and threw his sword.

"Catch Luke!" he shouted as it spun towards the son of Hermes.

Luke grabbed it out of the air and twisted, slamming it into the side of the rockman chest. He melted, seeming to disappear into the sword. Luke looked up, panting. "Cool"

Percy looked over at the assembled group and frowned.

"Mate, your glowing" Luke said, smirking at Percy.

Percy closed his eyes, and slowly the light faded into him. "Have you seen yourself?" he asked the commander.

Luke was melting the floor.

"Concentrate on not doing it and you'll be fine" said the son of Poseidon with a smile. The floor solidified once more and the commander handed Percy the sword.

Chiron gave a slight cough; drawing attention to himself. "Thank you for assisting us. I understand the risks it posed to you. I have to ask, why did you not tell us who you were before?"

"Chiron, I'm going to be straight with you." the assassin replied, "I don't want to be here. The only reason I am is because Chronus asked me to. As soon as this war is done I'm going back to Aether's ridiculous city because that's who I am now. I'm an assassin. I kill people. I'm happier being Omega."

"But you're one of us, you're a demigod!" cried a daughter of Aphrodite.

"I'm not a demigod, not anymore. And I'm not happy being here" he replied quietly. Luke stepped up and put a hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off.

"What so you don't trust us anymore? What about Nico and me? I thought we were your friends"

"I do trust you Thalia, but you know what happened…" his frown deepened.

"So your girlfriend died! Shouldn't make you such a coward. You're Percy Jackson, you're supposed to save us!" cried Steven indignantly. The campers froze. Nobody said a word. Chiron paled, Luke's eyes widened. Nico was -admittedly- terrified. Percy's face showed no emotion as his gaze glided over the son of Ares. He picked up Thalia's spear, and threw it at the boy.

The campers eyes widened and Steven shrieked, but the spear sailed clean over his shoulder. There was a thud and a yelp, as it landed in the body of the Fleeth that had been about to rip Stevens arm off. Percy pushed through the ring of people, past the boy, and up to the beast. He pulled the spear from it's ribs with a sickening squelch, put a foot on the struggling creature, and rammed the spear forcibly through its skull.

"Percy Jackson died the day she did." he removed the spear. "I'm all that's left, in The End. I'm Omega" he stabbed the spear in the ground and stormed off towards the big house.

He'd gone 50 yards before Thalia and Nico started moving after him. Luke grabbed their arms, "No" he ordered. "I'll go after him".

"Don't tell me what to do Luke! I know him better than you!" Thalia snapped.

"No, you don't I know him now. If you try to talk to him he'll either storm off back to The City of Aether, try to kill you or stop talking-leave him." The commander turned to Aruval, "Call the others and clean this up. Umbra can start with healing but don't let him over do it. Burn the Fleeth's bodies, put out any fires, you know the drill-your in charge."

The son of Hermes walked off towards the big house, and Nico still couldn't work out whether he felt relief, fear, happiness, concern or exhilaration.

Chapter Text

The Lambda Ship

The battle could hardly be called a success. There had been 150 completely physically fit campers at the start of the day. Now there were 23. There had been 14 deaths, 21 serious injuries, 15 campers knocked unconscious and 27 with minor injuries.

Chiron had a long burn down his left side where a Flamecat had leapt onto his back, Thalia had a chunk of rock glued to her arm, and one Athena boy had been mauled by a Fleeth after a dracaenae had hit him on the head. Umbra was trying to treat everyone, but his strength was quickly dwindling. Shades worked with manipulation of forces and the mind-they were far from healers.

Omega was still in the big house, but the shade could feel someone replenishing his energy every few minutes and it wasn't hard to guess who. Nevertheless the situation was dire. The Apollo cabin didn't know healing chants that worked on the otherworldly injuries, and had been confined only to sword cuts and broken bones. The Hippoanguis had bitten 4 campers and the venom was already taking a hold; they were shaking, sweat covered their bodies and their minds were lost in hallucinations. Unless they got proper treatment, Umbra estimated they had another hour left to live.

After many prayers the god of medicine himself had arrived, but the rarer injuries stumped even him. The other Olympians had quickly arrived after they'd heard about the Omega-is-Percy gossip. Umbra thought it didn't matter either way; he'd always be loyal to the assassin for what he'd done, and he was a generally nice guy. The 'cousins' as Sol-leks had started calling them were still kicking up a storm to go and find their lost hero and Umbra hoped that for everyone's sanity the man turned up soon or there'd be a full scale revolt.

No sooner had he thought it that the dark figure left the big house and started heading towards the temporary treatment area the shade had set up. The infirmary wasn't big enough. Omega was fully clothed in his assassin garb-including his cloak and cape-which was probably his way of making a point. Humans the shade thought.

The sea god-Poseidon-looked up and seemed to be mentally arguing whether to run and hug his son or not. He decided not; which seemed like a good idea to Umbra. As Omega reached the assessembled Olympians and children, the shade decided to speak up to break the tension. "Omega, can you contact Chronus or The Lambda? We're desperately in need of some verns."

The assassin looked over, "I've called him but I'm going to have to cut through to get them, so can you two" he pointed at Sol-leks and Viper, "come with me and Luke?" They nodded their assent, and Omega drew his black sword. Umbra could feel the power coming from it like heat. He wondered what dark magic had been mixed with the forging to cause that. The swordsman slowly drew the blade through thin air, and the earth-people gasped as a black slit appeared in the fabric of the universe.

The shade had seen this party trick before. What the blade actually did was followed your thoughts to cut through into The Void-which was everywhere, and nowhere-and then cut back out of it wherever was needed in the universe. It looked a lot better that it actually was, but nevertheless; useful. "2 minutes Umbra" the assassin said as he stepped through the gap, followed by his comrades.

True to his word he took exactly 120 seconds before he stepped out leading a demigod son that Umbra vaguely recognised as the commanderof Epsilon. Luke was leading another human but Sol-leks and Aruval had brought verns.

Verns were a silver-haired type of Mage that had exceptionally powerful healing magic bred into them. They medical genius' who could heal almost any wound and they made up the vast majority of the Epsilon group. He quickly collected Paige and Sheila-whom he'd recognised from Aether's City-and started showing them the most serious cases, which they got to work on straight away.

Apollo stepped away to give them room and turned to where Alpha stood. He let out a strangled gasp and with tears on his face, pulled the two demigod healers into a crushing hug.

"Dad, you're going to kill us a second time!" said the elder of the two.

"I've missed you so much…you're alive? Who…" he looked up at Omega who smiled, but shook his head pointing at the man next to him. The son of Hermes suddenly seemed very interested in his shoes.

"In The Alpha we have the option to chose a protégée to be reborn from the underworld or recruited to the army. Luke asked if he could forgo his right to this for the first century in the squad in return for every person that died due to the rise of Kronos to be offered the chance to serve in the army. Many refused, but there are still plenty of all of your kids flying this way as we speak on the Lambda ship." he glanced over at the blushing commander and smirked, "Luke doesn't like people talking about one of many decent things he's done. For some reason he much prefers everyone to think he's still the big bad wolf"

Luke mock-glared at Omega before replying, "Well I owed it to them…And Sol-leks is the big bad wolf"

Said wolf snorted. Umbra sighed heavily, and his for shifted-his wings retracting, his sides blurring.

"You're tired mate, go take a lie down we can handle it from here" said one of Apollo's sons-Commander Fletcher.

The shade nodded, before his form drifted into shadows completely and he disappeared into the depths of his own mind.

"Alright, You've all heard the tale in glorious detail and exaggeration to the point I have 4 heads so I'm just going to get this over with" Said Percy, slumping down onto the leather sofa he'd just selected out of his handheld computer, "Ask away."

He watched as the demigods and Olympians glanced nervously at each other before:

"Why did you leave?" asked a young daughter of Hecate.

"Straight into the hard questions? I left because there were too many painful memories here, Rome was never my territory, and Thalia and Nico had their own lives to live."

"When did you start killing people?" asked Nico with a frown.

The assassin smirked, "The first guy was this 40 year old human on Treyjar. He'd was beating his wife bloody every night and his daughters were being sold for sex with his friends," his lips curled with disgust. "I'd heard about him from a concerned woman in a pub and been keeping eye for a while.

"One day I saw his daughter running down the street with the happiest look on her face in the world. It was like she'd won the lottery, when in actual fact she'd found a dusty chunk of bread on the ground. I watched her run past the door to her house, and he charged out and screamed in her face. He knocked her to the ground and kicked her. He just left her in the road, took the bread and walked back in."

Percy felt bile rise in his throat and spat on the ground, "and she just lay there, as though she'd suddenly woken up and realised life just wasn't that fair for her. So I told her to go inside and get her mother and her sister and then I took them to the pub where the woman was, and went back. Lets just say he didn't get to eat that bread. I cut the mark on his head as a message that this was his punishment.

"It was a few times later that I realised there were some people out there that don't have the strength to defend themselves. They've just had it beaten or trained out of them, so I set out to help as many of them as I could." he sighed. Most people looked sickened by the story-it wasn't exactly a fairy tale. It was Artemis who spoke first.

"I may not respect males as a whole, but I will say that you have earned some respect for doing that. Many would just walk by and ignore it."

"Anyone else?" he asked, eager to move on.

Thalia smirked, "How in Hades did you and Luke end up so chummy?"

The assassin smiled, but Luke answered "Trovian whiskey, Lathian cigar's, non PC magazines and a kick-ass games room." For the first time since his return to camp, Percy threw back his head and laughed. Luke soon joined him and a few of the other men chuckled. Artemis looked about ready to take that respect comment back.

"You make us sound like 1980's sex fiends, Castellan" he said, "But I won't deny its probably the most normal thing we do in our warped enemies-turned-friends bromance"

They laughed again, and The Alpha smiled fondly at their leaders sense of humour. Chiron spoke next: "Where did you get your power over dark energy?"

"My blade reaps the powers of the immortals it forces to fade to the wielder of the blade. The dark energy came from the Primordial of distress, Oizys. I gained both dark energy, and the power of distress which works well in battles; but it affects everyone so my allies go through the same pain."

Aphrodite giggled before-rather foolishly-asking, "Do you have girl in your life?" she smiled mischievously.

Percy tensed and his expression turned as dark as Tartarus. Aphrodite seemed to notice her mistake but didn't seem massively put off by it. The son of Poseidon took a deep breath, before looking over at the goddess of love and replying, "The only girl of my species in my life is Zoë." he paused looking at Luke. Everyone followed his gave and noticed the commanders clenched fists and flushed neck. Percy had never been the most observant person but still… 2 + 2...

"Don't worry Romeo" he said, smirking at his friend, "she's all yours. Zoë is like a sister to me. I'd be careful though; one foot wrong and you'll end up with an arrow through your…" he raised his eyebrows meaningfully and all of the men winced. At this point, said hunter was bright red and staring at the table so intently Percy half expected it to catch fire.

"Zoë, you've got a bit of red on your face…just there" he ducked an arrow, and chuckling, stood. "Well I've got to get a message through to Chronus and find out when that damn ships' getting here, so I guess I'll leave this lovely pair to have a heart to heart"

His father looked at him, "Percy… could I…"

"Walk with me dad." he replied, and headed off towards the Pegasus stables. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you but…I'm really screwed up, there's no other way to put it."

"You're my son, you'll always be perfect in my eyes. I understand why you did it, and I hope that if we survive this war…maybe you can visit sometimes? Tyson misses you"

"I guess I could. I haven't been back here since mums funeral" he gulped. 450 years and the loss of his mother still hurt. "I'll spend sometime with you and Tyson after this-I promise." Percy stepped forwards and hugged his father, breathing in the calming scent of the sea.

The days rolled together and before long a week had passed since she'd first come back to Camp Half-Blood. Zoë found it strange being back here, especially since that awkward conversation with Luke. She couldn't help but admit that she liked the son of Hermes. He made her smile, made her laugh, made her tolerate the other men in her life better, but she was still wary. She hadn't felt like this about a male since…well, since Hercules, and that hadn't ended well for her. She found it difficult to trust the other sex, and the fact he was a son of the god of liars didn't help the issue.

What made it more complicated, is that after everyone had left, Luke had admitted to liking her. He said he'd always wanted her to be more than a friend but didn't want to make her feel like she was forced into a relationship-she had died a hunter after all. He'd said simply that he'd always like her, love her he'd said. That word scared the hunter more than the thought of liking a boy. The man said he'd let her make the decision on whether they pursued a relationship, and that he'd always be her friend no matter what. He'd given Zoë a choice-but Zoë wasn't good with choices.

She put this from her mind as she walked towards the open field where they were planning to land the ship. The meadow was at the top of one of camps surrounding hills, but was the perfect spot as it had a slow incline towards camp but was tall enough and sharp enough on the side facing out of the valley to be not only protected from attacks but at a distinct advantage in a battle.

The Romans had arrived the previous day, and had the cohorts camped to the left side of the hill where they had enough room, but were nestled into the valley and shaded by the weather boundaries. The Lambda ship was more than prepared to weather the elements on the hill. The assorted Greeks and Romans, Amazons and Hunters made a ring at the top of the hill as they watched a dark shape fly towards them.

The gods were present, as Lord Chronus had requested (although the Primordial had contacted them to say he had other matters to attend to ); however they were split between their forms. Poseidon, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Hephaestus, Hermes, Hestia and Dionysus were Greek; Jupiter, Juno, Mars, Venus, Pluto and Ceres were Roman. The Lambda Ship landed in almost silence-only a faint hiss as the stabilizers set on the ground.

High-tech as it was, the ship could change its external shape at a few clicks of a button. It sailed the treacherous seas of Hayzar as a pirate ship, flown the skies of the Angeli planet that was almost entirely air, and was now in the form of a intergalactic battleship. It was streamlined to the shape of a dragons head; with two glass half-sphere windows where the eyes would be, on either side of the cockpit. A hexagonal black tinted window sat on the front face between the two windows.

A side panel opened downwards to the floor and 8 people walked out. She instantly recognised Commander Fleetwood the Angelus, or winged human, as he walked towards the demigods with the others following behind.

"Fleetwood, its good to see you" greeted Omega, grasping the mans shoulder, "I trust you didn't have any issues?"

Zoë smiled slightly as Percy slipped easily back into leader/Chaos' Army mode.

"No problems sir, but I really think that was due to our excellant pilot"

"Well, you couldn't have a better pilot, her fancy flying has saved my skin more than once" the assassin replied, he turned to the group of assembled demigods, "This is Commander Fleetwood of the Gamma Division. He's the head of all large military operations. Don't mind the wings, he's an Angelus"

He gestured to a girl dressed in a grey pilot jumpsuit, "Our pilot, Commander Helly. She's the head of the Lambda crew and this rather fine ship here. Lieutenant Paige you met the other day, she's the 3rd in command of the Epsilon medical group. Plebra; the jaguar-shade is the second to Umbra of The Psi which is the magic and mind control group. Commander Tezar is head of The Riders of Iota, the flying division, and his better half Commander Kala is head of The Cavalry of Omicron. Lieutenant Theseus is the second to Luke in command of the Beta Platoon, which is the specialised fighters and heroes group.

"Finally Commander Garb is the head of the Sigma group, which are the 20 maintenance, repair and guards of the ship and its equipment. I'm officially warning all the sons of Mercury and Hermes not to steal anything; you don't want to get on the wrong side of them." he finished with a smile. "Follow me, I'll introduce you to the rest of the army"

He walked off into the interior of the ship, following the other commanders and the rest of The Alpha followed. Zoë looked back, and noticed nobody had moved.

"What's the problem?" she called back.

"Err, you do realise there are over 400 of us, and that ship isn't all that big…" replied Nico.

She smirked, "There's over 2,000 assorted troops in here already. Do you really think your going to make a difference? This is the most evolved technology in the universe, its bigger on the inside" she glanced back at Nico, "Come on death-boy, I've got someone I'd like you to meet." she added.

When the hunter and the Olympians reached the training hall, most of them looked up and around them in awe. Speechlessness was a common symptom of the first time one entered this room. It was about 5 times the size of the Olympian throne room, with a high roof that showed a hologram of the New Universe. She recognised Greyga, the Lupet planet as it drifted across the screen. Halfway between the floor and the ceiling was an open observation area that spread around the entire hall. One side had a set of living suits, another section beanbags, a third had hammocks etc.

Taking up half of the hall was the assembled army. Zoë had to admit, that stood as a whole, even this fraction of the army looked completely unstoppable. Her own troops, The Delta Force, stood on 2 raised platforms on the left and right. At the back was another platform, with the Lambda Crew on the left, then the Epsilon Group, The Psi, and The Sigma Team on the right. On the floor on the left stood the 1,000 Iota Riders, sitting on the backs of their mounts. And mirroring them on the right were the 3,000 Cavalry. In the centre stood 10,000 footsoldiers of the Gamma division in two spilt ranks, with 10 yards in between. Finally at the front, also split, was the Beta Platoon.

Percy-though he was in Omega mode- walked forwards and the hall silenced. The Alpha walked passed him and stood at the front of the army, and each of the other commanders joined their ranks. The Olympians and demigods stood behind the assassin by the door.

"SIGMA TEAM" he called into the hall. At once the 20 of the Sigma group stamped their feet and chanted 'Sigma'.

"LAMBDA CREW", instantly the 50 crewman picked up the call, chanting' Lambda' at the assassin.

"THE PSI", the magicians chanted 'Psi', blasting coloured sparks above themselves.

"RIDERS OF IOTA", the sound of 1,000 flying steeds beating wings, cawing, howling and stamping. 'Iota'.

"CAVALRY OF OMICRON", the cavalry thundered in the hall, the sound of hooves and paws echoing around. 'Omicron'.

"DELTA FORCE" The hunter and her group chanted 'Delta', the archers fires exploding arrows at the roof and the snipers fired blanks.

"GAMMA DIVISION" the loudest call yet, as 10,000 men bashed weapons on shields, and roared 'GAMMA!'

"BETA PLATOON" Zoë watched at the heroes each used their powers; lightning struck, the ground rumbled, hurricanes swirled, and fireballs shot at the holographic sky. 'Beta'.

"ALPHA SQUAD" The friends roared in reply, their 7 voices echoing around the room. 'Alpha' .

Percy drew Riptide and 'The Reaper', touched the tips together and held them to the roof:

"CHAOS' ARMY" he called, but his voice was drowned out. The room shook as the assassin cast a ball of power to the roof; fire, water, lightning, air, ice, light and dark exploded around the room, 20,000 troops made as much noise possible, roaring 'CHOAS' at the tops of their voices, stamping the ground with such for the room rumbled.

Slowly, the army silenced. Percy turned to look at the army once more, and asked; "What do we do when we meet our enemies on the battlefield, when they're charging towards us?"

"WE MAKE CHAOS" the army answered, as one. It was moments like this that made Zoe proud to be part of the army. The way each division had its own strengths, was responsible for one talent, but when they came together and worked as one. They were a single, living, breathing organism fighting for the cause. The whole army acted together, each person playing their part and working as a seamless team. It was empowering.

Percy smiled, and Luke shouted, "OMEGA!"

The army roared with laughter, and following suit the Olympians chuckled along nervously. The assassin had the trace of a smile on his face, but only replied with; "Shut up Castellan". The commander snorted, but took that as his permission to walk out of line and wrap an arm around Percy's shoulders.

Percy spoke calmly, forcibly to the amy; "As you know, we're here to help fight against Tartarus' Army as he threatens this-the original planet-and through it, the rest of our universe. You will fight alongside the people of this planet, and you will treat them how you would any member of your army."

His voice turned stern, threatening. "Any form of disrespect, discrimination or lack of empathy towards your fellow comrades, be they Roman, Greek, Amazon or Hunter…" he turned to the demigods, "…Human, Latharid, Trovian, Lupet, Scathre, Shade, Vern, Mage, Angelus, or any other member of my army whatever the species," he stepped back so that he was facing both groups, "will be punished severely. Is that clear?"

The army called, "YESSIR", and he nodded, turning to the demigods, "Yes?"

They nodded, though reluctantly.

He smiled, "Alright, introduce yourselves, make friends, feel free to use any of the training facilities."

The Army stood awkwardly, glancing round.

He sighed, "Demigods of the army, come forwards" he smiled. Most of the Beta, some of Delta and a few from the other groups stepped out of the ranks and walked to the centre of the room.

"Nico, come here" he asked quietly. The ghost king stepped away from the others and walked up to his cousin. The group shifted as Bianca Di Angelo forced her way unceremoniously to her brother. She tripped over someone and Theseus had to catch her. "Get out of the way!" he growled at the other demigods. They parted for her and she stepped forwards. The son of Hades froze. Percy reached behind him and had to physically push him forwards.

"Bianca" he whispered. In the silent hall it amplified; Chiron smiled and Thalia broke out grinning. Hades looked shocked. Nico fell into his sisters arms looking 10 years old again. He was shaking with silent sobs, but Bianca just wrapped her arms around him. They broke away, and she said "I've missed you Nico" as though she'd only been away on a weeks holiday".

After that, the rest of the demigods reunited with their lost loved ones. Seeing soldiers and Olympians together broke the ice. Soon the younger campers were having rides of giant falcons, Amazons and Latharid women were as thick as thieves, Ares and Mars kids were sparring with Beta's, hunters were learning to shoot crossbows and sniper-rifles, the Hephaestus and Vulcan children were inspecting the ship with the Lambda Crew, gods were trying to hook up with the non-earthen humans, and Sol-leks was flirting with Lupa. Again.

Luke came and found her as she sat in the pavilion. Everyone had mixed randomly for dinner, some inside the ship and some out here, but now most had left. It was dusk, and in the lowlight a few groups were still remained. Zoë noticed Percy was talking with some of his Camp Half-Blood friends, including Chiron-he was finally beginning to open up to them again.

"I think its gone okay today don't you?" he asked her. He was sat right next to her on the bench, and she instinctively leaned closer to his warmth.

"Better than I'd expected. If the fact that I saw Aruval throwing some of the Roman children through the air for Umbra to catch counts for anything?" she replied with a smile.

"Yeah, we're not the most normal bunch are we?" he replied, "but we work together" he added, much quieter.

It suddenly occurred to Zoë that he might not be talking about The Alpha. Panic began to erupt in her stomach. He really was very close to her. She could feel his warm breath lightly on her face, and she slowly looked up into his eyes. Even in the dark she could see the honesty in them. She swallowed. Relax, she told herself, I won't be ruled by fear.

Hesitantly, Zoë leant forwards and lightly brushed her lips to his. They were warm, her lips tingled. He leant forward slightly, and kissed back lightly. It was an invitation, a question. She lifted her hand to his chin and deepened the kiss, softly at first but with growing fervour.

Electricity that had nothing to do with the gods coursed through her body; it was exhilarating, terrifying, mind-numbingly perfect. She ran her fingers into his hair and his lightly placed a hand on her side. She sighed into the kiss, opening her mouth and feeling his tongue run along her lip. Tentatively she opened her mouth further, and when he brushed his tongue against hers -a sultry sweet taste of pleasure filling her mouth and pulling something deep in her gut- the world fell away.

Percy was sitting in the dimly lit dining pavilion, finally catching up with his old friends. Chiron had plenty of stories to tell about demigods through the ages; and sitting there laughing with Nico and Thalia, hearing some of the most ridiculous tales that made his quests look organised and successful, was really what he'd needed.

The day had gone excellently; he couldn't resist doing a full battlefield call of the army-threatening tactics-partly to show Zeus/Jupiter what strength they had. He had a bad feeling that the god was going to pull him into a stand-off at some point, and fun as it would to humiliate the god, they needed him to be fully fit and motivated for the coming battle.

It was typical of his and Luke's relationship to have the son of Hermes mock him in front of the troops, but that's how they led. Humour was a lot more endearing that orders, that's why he tried not to give them. Speaking of Luke…he looked up, blinked multiple times and then glanced back at the others.

"Guys" he whispered. Chiron stopped talking with a questioning expression. The centaur had been in the process of recalling the funniest moments of his life, and appeared insulted to be interrupted. "Slowly…glance behind me…don't shout…" he murmured.

When Thalia noticed the couple, she went through several different emotions; confusing, shock, embarrassment, and finally settled on a smiled. Chiron leaned forward and asked; "Who is it?"

"Luke and Zoë" he replied with a smile. The centaur raised his eyebrows but smirked in that I've seen everything but admittedly this is cute way.

"That I did not expect," whispered Nico.

"Really? They've been heading this was for the past 20 years, its really no surprise." replied the son of Poseidon. He was genuinely happy for them, it was about time Luke got some good luck.

Chapter Text

The Tranquility of Night

Over the next few days things settled into a routine. Each of the five groups managed to get along amicably, though there was still some tension between everyone. This was to be expected as the lifestyles of each group were so different that all living in the same place seemed like a long stretch.

One of the problems was Luke and Zoë. The two kept their budding relationship fairly private, but it wasn't long before people started to realise something was going on. This eventually led to The Hunters taking a personal vendetta against the son of Hermes, for "stealing one of there own". The Army of Chaos' met the animosity, but tried to keep it low level-they knew that when Omega made a 'no arguments' threat, confrontation would lead to serious pain and not from the person they were confronting.

Interestingly, the introduction of the new group had further strengthened the Greek-Roman bond that had been gradually forming over the past 5 centuries. Even the Amazons' and Hunters' were looking past their differences, with the argument that 'at least they were human'.

This worried the assassin. Tackling one of the groups in a minor argument would be do-able without massive amounts of harm to the war effort; but if a fight broke out between the people of Earth and Chaos' Army…he didn't want to think about the consequences. It would escalate, and there would be no way to win without causing enough damage to the Campers, Hunters and Amazons that any hope of success in the war would be in tatters. He was extremely thankful that he'd shown off the full roll call to everyone, because he was beginning to feel it was they only thing that stopped them from attack.

The only solution he could find to this was to split each group into 5, and send each fifth to a different training station, mixed with one fifth from the other groups. Hopefully this would help the troops bond more in small numbers. Generally most people had a few friends in each group, but when they came together in the evenings they talked and spoke badly of the 'intruders' as a whole. The assassin still felt like he was juggling 5 lit matches over a lake of fuel.

3 days after the Lambda ship had arrived, Percy was eating lunch in the pavilion. The Amazons, Romans and Hunters could easily fit in on the extra tables that had been moved there, but Chaos' Army had to rotate 8 groups. Nevertheless, The assassin and the rest of The Alpha always ate outside to keep an eye on the troops eating here.

Things in the war were slowly picking up. No army had been sighted marching on Olympus yet, but they were still sending out batches of under 200 monsters to keep The Army in a constant state of suspense. Of course, these small groups were no threat, and usually only 100 people mixed through the divisions would be sent to tackle them as a training exercise. Percy felt this may be an attempt to lull them into a sense of security, but many of heads of each organisation's were beginning to relax-which was a very bad thing.

The occupants of the pavilion began to murmur and, feeling the tension, Percy looked up from his meal and noticed small, dark shadow was cast on the grass. Under standing instantly, he rose from his seat.

Chiron watched his ex-pupil, Percy Jackson-or 'Omega' as he was now known-stand from his seat, and with all eyes on him, walk to stand about 8ft from the slowly growing shadow. He looked up at the sky briefly and a small smile flickered over his half-covered face before he returned to his expressionless mask. And then the assassin did something the centaur did not expect, and hadn't seen him do since his return to Earth. Hades, he'd hardly done it in the older days.

Percy knelt on one knee reverently, tilting his head to the ground in respect to-the shadow? The Alpha followed, and got down to both knees further behind; all the soldiers soon copied the motion. Instinctively, the immortal trainer walked away from his table, and folded his front legs under himself, settling on the ground. This prompted everyone-even the Hunters and Amazons to follow the assassins lead.

The shadow grew in size, and all around dimmed. The sun seemed to fade in its place, the shadows lengthened, stretching out from beneath the crowd of kneeling figures, leaning towards the darkness. The shadow took shape, and a figure appeared to step out of the lack of light itself. Huge wings of a 12ft span reached out behind the figure, casting a shadow of themselves on the sky itself. Where the shadow sat the stars became visible, and that evenings half-moon glowed in the darkness. But not darkness the centaur realised-night.

The figure solidified, becoming a woman's body. She was beautiful; wavy ebony locks cascading down to her shoulders, flawless pale skin, rosy lips and dark eyes framed by natural thick long lashes. She smiled at them all, before she spoke in a smooth voice full of timbre, that had a calming effect, like all of the shadows she was bathed in.

"Touching as it is that you kneel before me, you misunderstand The Army's ways. Kneeling is a sign of honouring those that you respect, and as many of you do not know me, and only kneel from fear you might offend me, I ask you to remain seated where you were. We Primordial's are not like Olympians, we try earn your respect over time and actions, and until you know me, I would rather you show your honesty."

She looked at the centaur and he saw that she was truthfully touched, but was silently asking him to return to his seat. When he did so, the Campers, Hunters and Amazons followed, looking nervous. He watched as she stepped forwards and reached her hand out to the assassin, resting her hand on the side of his chin. When she lifted her arm, he yielded until her stood before her, openly smiling.

"Omega" she said softly, but her voice filled the quiet. She pushed his hood to his shoulders, revealing his face, before drawing her arm back to her side. The centaur may have imagined it, but his ex-pupil looked visibly disappointed.

"Lady Nyx" he replied. "Do you bring news from Chronus?"

"Chronus doesn't know I'm here. This is a personal visit" Percy tilted his head slightly at her reply, silently questioning her further. "Fly with me?" she asked, her dark eyes alive with excitement.

"Of course" he replied, "One moment?" The assassin tuned away and walked through the 'night' to Luke. As the commander rose, and the assassin drew his black sword from the sheath at his belt and put Riptide in its place. He carefully put it in Luke's sheath and passed Luke Raptor to hold. Looking him straight in the eye, he said, "You're in charge. Umbra is your second. Aruval leads Beta and Plebra takes The Psi. Only use the sword if you have to and don't kill a Primordial-it'll likely rip you apart. You know how to get hold of me."

The assassin turned back to the Primordial of Night, who looked him up and down before smirking, and clicking her fingers. Instantly, Percy was dressed in a smart green button down shirt-with the top 2 buttons undone-black jeans and green converse. He wore a black leather jacket in the place of his cloak and his hair was styled to look windswept. At his hip hung his sword sheath and an old style revolver. He didn't look pleased with the change of outfit.

"Really Nyx? Where in the universe are you taking me this time?" he asked, but his eyes were sparkled with amusement.

"Well you had to match." she answered. The Primordial of Night was dressed in a strapless black dress that was ruffled and fell to her knees, entirely covered in cloth roses. She wore no shoes. "And don't complain, its tradition"

The assassin sighed, before bending down and attaching a 6inch knife to his calf by leather straps and pulling his jeans back over it. His closed his eyes and filled his lungs with air as large black wings like that of a shade burst from his back, the shadows simply passing through his clothes. The Primordial looked amused, but said only, "Shades wings?"

"I'm not an Angelus"

"Nor are you a shade" she smiled.

"Sentimental value" was all he said before kicking hard off the ground and soaring into the sky. The Primordial was but a second later, and with every beat of her powerful wings the area lightened, and day returned. Within another 6 beats she was gone, the sun glowed bright and the moon and stars hidden once more in its light.

As one The Army rose, and took its seats once more. Confused, he walked over to The Alpha table. The centaur coughed slightly, and drawing the groups attention before asking, "Is that a normal occurrence? Does the Primordial of Night always speak like that?"

Luke smirked at him, "Fairly normal, and the flirting? I think that's just for Omega"

The centaur coughed again. He usually remained estranged from the private affairs of those around him, but his curiosity got the better of him and her awkwardly added, "Are they…together?", looking questioningly at the son of Hermes.

Luke laughed in response, "Everyone has a different theory…" he shrugged, "I don't think they are, but Perce has a soft spot for her, and that behaviour there is pretty exclusive to Nyx. He doesn't do relationships, but that's as close as he is to one"

Chiron understood why. It was no small amount of pain the son of Poseidon had been through in his last relationship, and he undoubtedly wanted to protect himself from it again. The Lupet, Sol-leks, smirked at him, leaning forwards but speaking in a loud voice so that all The Alpha could hear, "Personally, I think he's sleeping with her"

The Alpha broke down to various levels of amusement; Umbra smiled, Viper let out a hissing chuckle, Aruval snorted, Zoë laughed, Gina burst into hysterics, but Luke only looked over at Sol-leks and replied, "Trust me, whenever we went to bars he never left with a single girl even though every one in the place was looking at him. I'm almost certain he's been celibate for half a millennia and even a Primordial wont change how he looks at relationships."

The Lupet was speechless. Many seemed to agree with the sentiment-an immortal red-blooded 18 year old was hardly expected to turn down offers in bars.

"Seriously? Why? I would pay good money to get the female attention he does!" said Aruval, who looked outraged at the thought.

"I hear you brother, he had girls looking at him when he was 12 and I'm pretty sure that beautifying trick Nyx just pulled nearly caused many women, and several men lose their heads" replied the commander, "But you've got to remember that he was together with her when she died, so in his eyes he still is in a relationship. He's opened up a little in the last decade but it'll probably be a slow process for him.

Chiron nodded, asking the last question on his mind; "Is that why he knelt? I've never seen him so respectful of someone before." he said chuckling.

Luke joined in the laughter, "Yeah, he never was particularly good at the whole kneeling thing. Still isn't really. He doesn't kneel for anyone but Nyx because he's got the upmost respect for her. She'd the one who gave him the Travellors Blessing, and recruited him so he's loyal to her above anyone else.

"Anyway, moving onwards," he stood up and whistled to get everyone's attention. "While Omega's away I want all of the Riders and Cavalry in this group to scope a 20 mile radius around camp. The rest of you will continue your activities as normal, but any sign of threat come straight to me, is that clear?"

Steven, the head councillor of Ares apparently wasn't pleased with this. Chiron sighed as the boy rose from his seat and turned to the commander. The centaur would have to remove his authority if he continued to undermine people. "Why should we follow you? Just because he's a naïve prick doesn't mean we all trust you. What's to say you aren't dividing our forces so your side can make an attack, traitor?"

In almost a single movement that rippled through Chaos' Army with no defined start, the soldiers stood and raised their weapons until a sea of knives, axes, maces, swords, bows, rifles and heavy artillery were pointing at one-very scared-Camper.

Luke stepped forwards, "STAND DOWN!" he barked to his defenders who moved further back and lowered their weapons but did not sheath them or sit. "Your loyalty to Omega and myself is touching, but I will not force his trust." he turned to Steven, "However, when Omega says I am in control, he is by his own choice handing me his own place in the army. This gives me the power to order every single soldier onto that ship and leave you to fight this war yourself. Do you want me to do this?"

Steven looked shocked with the question, but quietly answered "No."

"Good. Then I shall remain. Do not presume to insult the leader of this army again and have me step in. I am as loyal to him as every person who drew a weapon is. This is a warning, because next time I wont stand between you, I will be dealing the blow" And with that the son of Hermes stalked off up the hill towards the ship, with the assembled soldiers in his wake.

Chiron sighed, and banged his hoof to gain the attention of the now nervously muttering crowd. "I do not wish to do this, but your insolence has nearly cost us our allies twice now, and we cannot risk the fate of our planet on you not making another boneheaded and uncalled for remark. I demote you from your place as cabin leader. Ares cabin are free to choose a new leader amongst themselves. Rest assured, if you make this mistake again I and many other leaders of the Earth will not defend you."

They landed together on Trove not 5 minutes later. Nyx's wings settled into her back with a whisper of wind and the night surrounding them turned through dawn to daylight. Felt strapped black wedge heels appeared on her feet, and she stood at the height of the assassin beside her. She smiled at him and it eclipsed all around her. Grasping his hand, she set off down the street.

Percy sighed. His tried to repress any sort of relationship with Nyx, but his feelings were definitely far from platonic. She had been the one to give him the traveller blessing, advise him, give him quests, recruit him, and his loyalty to her was unmatched. The assassin didn't want a relationship. Not yet, but Nyx had made it clear for the past 10 years that she ought to be the first to know if or when he did.

She'd started recently to take him on these dates. Actively seeking him out just to see him; although there was nearly always some information she gave him anyway. At first it had just been taking him somewhere to see him, giving him quests and tasks anywhere from quiet cafes to romantic seaside cliffs on far away planets. Then came the whole 'dressing up' thing. That was when the dinner dates started.

He'd never admit it, but he actually looked forward to her visits now. Even so, he couldn't help but feel emasculated. These were sort-of dates and he was the man. He was supposed to be chivalrous and organise them. He was supposed to ask her. But that would be admitting that this wasn't strictly the passing of information. That this wasn't strictly business. The thought of that scared the assassin. I swear Aphrodite's still messing with my love life even now. Or maybe its Eros of Desire. Who knows?

Nyx turned left down a side street and led him into a very dimly lit Italian-style restaurant (the Trovian version of pizza and pasta). Percy instantly noticed candles, quiet music and a lack of other occupants-step up number 7; this was much more romantic than the last places he'd been taken to. Snap out of it Jackson he told himself all this over thinking is making you sound like a woman.

He decided, instantaneously, to call her bluff. Still holding her hand, he pulled up a chair for her and she sat, watching him carefully as he stepped round the table and took his own seat. He forced himself not to drop her hand. There's nothing wrong with this…I'm just making a point…this is not a date. He repeated in his head like a mantra, though deep down he knew he was probably lying.

"Its been a while since we've done this isn't it?" she asked, picking up his game. "Had a real meal together. I've hardly seen you in the past 6 months…maybe I've missed you" she smiled sweetly, blinking slowly to draw his gaze to her eyes. He brushed a thumb along the back of her knuckles, but she squeezed his hand back. Round 1: Nyx 1, Percy 0.

"I have been busy, but I'll make sure to see much more of you in the future" he replied, and smiling, added; "you look good, you should wear dresses more often"

"Good?" she asked, almost uncertainly. He could see her wondering whether there was truth in his words or if he was just playing the game. Seeing doubt in her eyes cracked his mask of emotions, and he put truth into his words.

"Perfect"

Nyx smiled sweetly. They ordered pasta, marvelling at the simplicity of it, making small talk through the meal. When their plates had been taken and Percy had insisted on paying the bill (even he wasn't sure of the validity of that) they strolled down the darkening street outside.

On western Trove it was after midnight, but most of the civilisations of The Union of the New Universe were alive for all hours of the day and night. Finally, they reached the conversation they had been meandering towards.

"I know you found the scroll" said Nyx, in an amused voice. "Looking through Chronus' study will only make him more paranoid, and he's bad enough already"

"Well you know me, I've always been a bad boy." he replied, "First its searching studies, now its leather jackets, I'll be some kind of mass murderer before long" he smirked.

She laughed openly, and he realised how beautiful it sounded. Free and full and flowing. They headed towards the beach, walking slowly hand in hand. Percy had relaxed over the meal, but he was trying not to think about how genuine his actions were tonight. She smiled at him, and he would have sworn she knew exactly what was going through his head.

"The sea should flow how it wants to Percy" he was shocked-she rarely called him by his original name, "It doesn't like to be restrained, not even by itself. Let things happen as they will. I'm night. I'm a constant. My actions won't stop coming, any less that Night stops coming."

He smiled shyly, the only agreement he could muster to such an obvious statement. She thankfully changed the subject. "I understand your curiosity for that particular artefact, and technically it is yours as much as mine, as you recovered it. So I made a copy. You may read it, but be warned, the idea's it references are not only dangerous, but require time we don't have yet.

"I am almost certain that Tartarus' Army is being led by Erebus. I believe he has his own sons (and mine) Moros of Doom and Momus of Blame with him. They must be dealt with-either subdued, captured or killed before we could consider the use of this information. Do not let your desire for them take your mind off the task of a very hard war. There is time for searching later."

She pulled the scroll from the darkness around them and tucked it into the inside of his jacket. He reached for her hand once more, and led her towards the sea. Her shoes had already disappeared as they stepped into the surf. Nyx stepped as close as she could without touching him-they were connected only by their joined hands.

"There's a job you might want to have a look at, while your on Earth. Two young girls in Las Vegas." she said, "I fear they would only be fit for the Hunters" she added softly. The anger began to rise in Percy-he hated when it was girls. He felt hopeless. There was only so much he could do, there were still people in horrific conditions, spending their lives in fear. Nyx must have felt this, because she softly placed her other hand on his forearm and squeezed lightly. You can't save everyone, and you do more that anyone. she spoke in his mind.

His thoughts went back to the situation he was in. The Sea and Night, they weren't opposites, and they weren't the same. But there was a connection there. Tranquillity. Serenity. Peace.

He sighed, and looked down at the Primordial, giving her a light smile to show her he had calmed. That she had calmed him. He looked deep into her eyes, and they came to a silent agreement; time to return.

As they landed softly outside the Lambda ship at around mid-morning, the few people around quietly continued their work-ignoring the interesting gossip this scene could offer out of respect. Nyx stepped forward and kissed him lightly, briefly, on the cheek. He smiled and squeezed her hand, before stepping back and watching as she beat her wings and daylight returned as she disappeared completely from the sky.

Luke was sitting in the front room of their shared room when Percy came in. He watched as the assassin laid a scroll and the jacket on his desk and ran off to get changed. There was definitely something different about his friends behaviour. He almost almost, (and Luke discarded this crazy idea immediately) seemed happy. Omega didn't do happy; he did amused, affectionate of friends, even sociable to some extent but he didn't do happy. Not really.

He came back wearing the usual assassins garb; hood up, cape on. He switched his belt over, but didn't ask for his sword back. He answered Luke's unspoken question. "Got a job-I'll be back around lunchtime." With that, the assassin left in a white light, leaving the commander to continue checking his armour.

When Percy returned at lunchtime, he was definitely not happy. He appeared 15 yards away from The Alpha table clutching a broken jaw and a brown haired girl who couldn't have been older than 8. The girl was quivering, hiding her head in the assassins shoulder who at second glance was covered in his own blood from a shattered nose.

The child was in a bad way. She had bruises over her chin and where they could see on her shoulders, and her hands were covered in scratches. Her wrists had rope burns as though she had been bound at some point, and the look of fear in her eyes broke the commanders heart. After a second of staring about 20 people stood up to help but froze when Omega spoke forcibly into everyone's minds.

Stay where you are. Sol-leks, do cuddly puppy.

"No way man" the Lupet snorted in reply.

That wasn't a question. That was an order. I haven't got time for an argument, so shift now.

The vehemence of his words caused a few people to flinch, but they soon snorted in amusement as Sol-leks changed into wolf form; his ears drooping in submission, mouth closed, crouching low to the ground with begging eyes. He looked cute-but ultimately pathetic.

Lay

Sol-leks didn't argue, getting down on his side on the grass and letting out an adorable puppy whine. The child looked up curiously and smiled slightly.

Do you want to sit with my friend for a minute? Percy asked the young girl, though he made sure everyone could hear.

"Yes please, mister… what's your name?" she replied. Percy sat her on the wolfs back and she buried her small hands in his thick hair.

My name's Omega

"That's a stupid name. What's your real name?" she asked suspiciously, a frown creasing her brow.

My real name is Percy. But only you can call me that because you're special, okay? The child nodded in response. Right Emily, I'm going to go and get your sister and your things. I'll be back in 2 minutes I promise. D'you think you'll be okay here with wolfie until then?

"I think so…" the girl, Emily, replied softly.

Percy spoke again, but Luke could tell he was blocking his thoughts from Emily. Nobody goes near her while I'm gone. Someone call Artemis and Apollo. And Athena if you can.

Still gripping his horrifically broken jaw, he left in a white flash. While he was gone, Chiron sent a message to Olympus, and out of curiosity, Hermes, Poseidon, Hera and Zeus arrived with them. At the sight of the girl Artemis looked livid and all 3 women started forward, but were stopped by the look of fear in her eyes as they did. "Wait 'til he gets back" Luke said tersely. Even Zeus and Poseidon looked horrified at her condition.

Not 60 seconds later, the assassin returned. Clearly he had finished the job-he held a knife in the hand that was still supporting his jaw and there was blood all the way up both his forearms. He was giving a piggy-back to another girl who was older. She looked about 10 but could have been older from her condition. Scruffy blonde hair and startling grey eyes that looked hostile. She had badly healed slashes up her arms that looked like knife cuts and belt whips. One of her eyes was swollen and black, but even through this she looked quizzically around, analysing everything-including the non-humans.

Percy, after dumping the rucksack he was holding in his remaining hand and dropping the knife next to it, sat the girl next to her sister who she instantly cuddled up to.

Umbra, could you get this? You know I'm shit at healing.

Before the shade could rise from his seat Apollo had stepped up to the assassin with newfound respect, placed a hand on his jaw. "This is going to hurt like Hades, it's a bad break." was all he said and with a pulse of light, 4 distinct snap's and a grunt of pain he stepped back to look at his handiwork. Nodding slightly he healed the shattered nose and cheekbone with a similar reaction and stepped back smiling. The son of Poseidon flexed his jaw experimentally before replying "Thanks".

To most peoples shock he pulled off his cloak-revealing his face, wiping his hands on it and dropped it next to the blooded blade. He walked up to the young girls and knelt in front of them, at their height as they were still seated on 'cuddly puppy'. He smiled, "Are you guys okay?" he asked with concern.

The blonde girl answered, "Yes, sir. We'll do anything you want" with a lacing of fear still evident in her voice.

"You don't have to do anything I want. I not going to make you do anything" he said slowly, " but I would like it if you let my friend heal you up a little"

The blonde girl looked suspiciously at Apollo, frowning slightly. "But Sir…"

"Don't call me sir, I told your sister you can call me Percy. Because apparently Omega's a stupid name." he smirked.

"Well…Percy, how do I know he's not going to do what all the other men did, because your not going near my sister. I don't care what you do to me but you stay away from Emily, even if she'd only my half sister, I'm supposed to look after her" the older girl replied indignantly. Luke paled, what all the other men did. Nausea swirled around him.

"You like poetry don't you? And myths?" Percy asked. The girl nodded. "Well all those myths about the Greeks and Romans? They're real." The girl didn't look surprised, in fact she look entirely unsurprised. "This is Apollo, the god of healing and poetry"

"He's also the god of the sun, truth, prophecy and music" the girl answered excitedly.

Percy laughed, "Well you're cleverer than me. It's not difficult to be," he smirked, "You'd think after 512 years of knowing this is real I may have learnt some of that. Do you trust him?" Percy asked seriously.

The girl frowned, "If these are the gods, why didn't they help me out before?"

Percy smiled sadly, "There are laws that stop the gods from interfering with mortal lives. And also there are a lot of people in the world and sometimes its hard for them to keep an eye on everybody. That's what I do. I look out for the people who haven't got anyone to help them. Sometimes I get suggestions of where to look, and the person that suggested I find you was Nyx. She's a Primordial, so that proves you really are special. I promise that if Apollo does anything that you're not happy with me, Nyx and probably one if not two of his sisters will beat him up." he explained.

The girl nodded, "He can heal me first, so I can make sure he's not going to hurt Emily." The younger girl was still cuddling Sol-leks' neck, he face hidden in the long scruffy hair on his shoulders.

Carefully, Apollo healed all of the wounds covering the girls skin, removing the old rough scars. With her consent he moved onto the lesser injuries of the younger girl, who was laughing at the haiku's he made up as he went along.

Zeus stepped forwards a pace and looked at Percy. Luke realised this is the first time any of the gods had seen him without his hood since his return; the king appeared to be deciding how to address the assassin.

Percy looked stern, "Unless you're going to call my name stupid Zeus (which I suggest you don't) you still call me by it" he smirked.

"Right," Zeus said, "Omega, would you mind telling the story of how you came across these girls?"

"Lady Nyx gave me the hint, as she does from time to time, and I set out to find them. I knew they were somewhere in LA so I did the natural thing and went to the worst place I could find there. Unfortunately that's where they were. In talking to them and gaining their trust I rather foolishly got my face smashed in, and after knocking the man unconscious, brought Emily" he gestured to the younger girl, "back here, while Bethany," his voice seemed to falter as he nodded to the older girl, "insisted on packing a bag. I returned, finished the job and brought Bethany back."

Artemis stepped forwards, "When you say 'the worst place you could find there' what exactly do you mean?"

Percy glanced at the girls who were talking quietly to each other, and spoke in everyone's minds once more as he blocked the children from the conversation.

It was…some sort of prostitution service that had got out of hand at some point. The owner-their uncle-was selling girls of about 14 and upwards to…really sick people. Men who like to force themselves on women, he looked disgusted as he continued. Images and phrases flooded their minds as he thought about the place, from both his own view and others-the thoughts and visions of the girls he'd asked-it was definitely not PC. Flashes of knives being drawn across skin, belts being used to hit girls, screams, cries, rape, brutal images of abuse. He continued;

The older girl, Bethany, she's definitely been raped a number of times. I'm not sure about Emily; though I definitely heard her thinking about being trained by her uncle. It's sick. Anyway I've ended his business, sent all his records into the local cops, and he definitely isn't going to be doing anything again. Speak to Hades about a good punishment for him. I've got a few ideas.

"That enough to satisfy you curiosity Zeus?" he finished coldly.

Athena interrupted, "I understand why you called Artemis here, but why did you can me?"

Percy looked surprised. In fact he looked hurt. For a minute, the immaculate mask of hidden emotion he kept up almost all the time slipped, and as he gazed at Athena, a single tear rolled down his cheek. He wiped it off and shook his head violently, his neck letting off loud cracks as he did so. He looked back at the wisdom goddess and said rather scathingly, "You don't know? Who does she look like, Athena?"

The Olympians looked more closely and all instantly recognised who the girl looked like. The Immortal Five of the Seven, Nico and Thalia, Chiron, Luke and Zoë, and many of the demigods of the army that were gathered noticed to. Even some of the younger campers noticed; they'd all seen pictures of her. The one person who could make Percy Jackson's hidden mask slip; Annabeth Chase.

Athena looked distraught and embarrassed. She stepped forward but faltered as Percy stepped in her way.

"No." he growled, "You don't get to ignore her her whole life while she went through Hades and act all sympathetic now to make yourself feel like a good mother. You all swore an oath to me that you would recognise your demigod children, be better parents-you've clearly broken that. Tell me how old she is and you can go and speak to her. Remember her, and you can go and apologise!" he snapped.

Athena looked torn between anger and shame. Finally she looked at Percy and said, "she's 12 isn't she? I do remember her, but I didn't know, I thought she was living with her stepmother"

Percy softened an infinitesimal amount, but still looked extremely intimidating. "Her stepmother, Emily's mother, died 2 years ago. It's not me you should be apologising to anyway." he stepped away and walked over to his things. Athena started trying to explain her actions quietly to her daughter (neither girl would get off Sol-leks' back, though after hearing the story he didn't appear to be as offended) and the audience; which had grown in size to almost everyone when they'd noticed the gathering crowd.

Percy cleaned his knife, and pulled his handheld computer from his cloak pocket, along with about 7 knives of various lengths and his revolver. He pulled up the wardrobe option from the handheld, threw his cloak in, and after much deliberation pulled the leather jacket from it before he shut it off.

Luke walked over to him, smirking and asked in a purposefully loud voice; "Is that the jacket Nyx got you?" The son of Hermes already knew the answer of course.

"And what if it is?" the assassin countered as he organised the truckload of weapons he carried in his cloak into the jackets inner pockets.

Luke smiled wider, before replying; "I just think its nice that your so reminiscent of a date you went on not 4 hours ago."

At the word date almost everyone looked over, with expressions running from shock to interest to confusion. Percy looked blankly back at Luke. "Your point?"

Luke frowned-this mocking session was not going to plan. "So you are dating her?"

"Not really."

"Your not really dating her, but your going on dates with her? That clears it up mate."

"Its…hard to explain…"

The son of Hermes roared with laughter, "When is anything in your life not hard to explain."

It was testament to the truth of this statement that Percy just nodded, "You got that right"

(Percys POV)

After they finished sorting their swords into the right sheaths, Percy walked over to where Sol-leks was still being used as a lupine-sofa hybrid, and knelt down by the two girls. Athena stepped back a little, as Percy addressed them.

He talked about the Camp and Hunt, explaining that if they both joined the hunt they could stay together that seemed to sell it to both girls. Artemis came over and the girls seemed overjoyed with taking the vows-it made them feel safer.

Zeus called attention, and turned to the son of Poseidon.

"Since the first day I met you, I have distrusted you. And on that day you had finished an extremely dangerous quest to return my lightning bolt and Hades' helm, with both of us making things harder for you. You did me a service. The next time we met you had saved both this camp, two of my daughters and saved Olympus by finding the Ophiotaurus. That day, I took a vote on whether to kill you. You saved your camp once more, and then the world before I saw you again. I finally respected you, didn't kill you for turning down godhood," the king of the gods smirked slightly.

"After that, I shut Olympus, risked the world on being offended. My wife took you and your memories and made you fight another war for us. I understand now, that I should have respected you that first day I met you. Even when you returned to fight a 3rd war for us, I was suspicious, I feared you would try to usurp my leadership. For this, I apologise. You are a genuinely good person for saving these girls. Your far to loyal for your own good, and that is why I admit I have respect for you." he paused, looking embarrassed.

"What I am about to do is a one time thing Omega. Do not expect this." And with that, the King of the gods knelt on one knee before a man who was once a mere demigod, to a shocked silence. Poseidon followed his lead, and the Olympians knelt. 30 seconds was already a world record, so Percy was almost relieved when Zeus rose awkwardly.

"I thank you. I would never try to usurp you authority Zeus; I do not want power. I am happy with what I do now. Nevertheless, if we survive this war, expect to see more of me on this planet. As much as your annoying manor frustrates me I have missed laughing at your dramatics. I intend to introduce you to Lord Aether properly at some point-I believe you'd get on brilliantly." Percy smirked.

After the Olympians left and he'd ensured Emily and Bethany had settled in with the Hunters, Percy went for a long swim, and joined everyone for dinner. He wore a hoodie with his red 'Omega' cape, but pulled the hood down. He felt better than he had in a long time. It had genuinely been an emotional day for Percy, and his knew that it would be a brief reprieve from the battle. 5 days had passed since the last large army had attacked camp, which meant in the next two days they would probably be fighting for their lives.

But until the dawn came it was Night, and much as he tried to quell his feelings, much as he tried to make it a game, much as he tried to hide behind hurt and anxiety; Percy Jackson was falling in love with the Night.

Chapter Text

DISCLAIMER-This chapter conatins direct quotes from; PJatO (TLT, SoM, TC, BotL and TLO) and HoO (SoN and MoA) by Rick Riordan, and Charge of the Lightbrgade by Tennyson.

The Spy and The Soul Catcher

The next few days passed without much interruption, as Chaos' Army and the demigods started to work on their own battle plans, intending to strike back. The few who had been injured in the earliest battle had healed well, and morale was high throughout camp on half-blood hill. There had been many successful raids on the nearby enemy camps, which though small, were certainly enough to aggravate Tartarus' forces. Since the arrival of the Lambda ship the enemy hadn't made any major attacks, and were probably now planning a much bigger threat.

Lord Chronus had sent many of the Xi branch of the army out to gain intel on the enemy, but was unsuccessful until 4 days after Percy had been on his mission to collect Bethany and Emily. Two of his best had caught a man who was supposedly working with the other side. The man was no threat in himself, but the Primordial of Time knew he was a distinct threat in his relevance to Tartarus' Army, and he knew that the person who may know of the connection was also the one best to interrogate the man.

Lord Chronus collected his son Aether and his wife Ananke before arriving on Olympus to see if he could gain the curiosity of his younger relatives. Unsurprisingly it only took the phrase 'possible information' for Athena to collect the Olympians and bring them to the Camp.

Equally predictable was the fact that the man he had come to see was having an intense sword-on-lance duel with his ex-counterpart Jason Grace. He caught their attention and beckoned them over. Glancing at the Roman, he said; "We're having a meeting, call the Immortal Campers, Praetors, Cabin Leaders, Head of The Amazons and Hunters, The Alpha and Chiron." he turned to the assassin, "I presume we can use your room?" Omega nodded, and capped his sword before heading off to round up the leaders. Once everyone crucial was present, the assassin lead them through the winding corridors of the ship.

Upon entering, many gasped. The room itself was around the size of a large apartment, with many other doorways leading off. On the left side there was a large mahogany dining/conference table, with glass cabinets, bookcases and shelves filled with scrolls behind it. A large-unlit-fireplace was adjacent to the door, with a ring of mixed couches, chairs, and beanbags (an odd collection) surrounding a coffee table in front of it. There was 4 doorways along the rest of the back wall with 2 desks; one perfectly untouched and the other overflowing with various pieces of technology and ancient texts. The wall they'd just stepped through was almost completely bare with a sparring corner to the side.

"Welcome to our humble abode" said Commander LC, his voice drawling with sarcasm.

"The man cave" Omega corrected.

A few people looked shocked, glancing from Omega to Luke. "What? You live together?" Asked the lieutenant of the Hunters, Thalia.

Omega smirked, "Weird isn't it?" he strolled over to a worn armchair and threw himself into it, "Well sit down" he said when he noticed many of the group still staring at him. When Nico tried to sit in the space across from the assassin, the commander unsubtly kicked him off it, and took the seat himself. "This is my couch" he explained.

"Actually Castellan, its my couch since its my room" Omega said.

"Its my room too!" Luke replied indignantly.

"It was my room first" the assassin reminded him.

"Well I did used to sleep here even then, and anyway, I have christened this couch as my own" the commander replied.

"I try not to think about you using my home as a sex parlour while I'm out on missions but you keep bringing it up! Are you actually proud of the fact you sleep around in my house?" Percy replied exasperated.

"Maybe I am, but its equally my room now-I live here too. And the games room is definitely mine."

"No way, I selected it, just because it was your idea-"

The Time Primordial clicked his fingers to catch attention in the almost silent room. "Entertaining as this is we have other matters to attend to"

Reluctantly the assassin turned away from his active discussion and smiled, politely asking, "Any news?"

"The Xi group caught an suspect a few hours ago. I decided you were best to interrogate him given the circumstances." The Primordial of Time replied.

"The circumstances?" Omega questioned.

Chronus smirked. "You'll see, they're bringing him along now."

The assassin stood up and walked over the cabinets behind the mahogany table. He pulled out a stack of what looked like plain disposable cups, and passed one around to each of the rooms occupants. The Olympians and Hades were seated around the table and the 3 Primordial's (Aether, Ananke and Chronus) were spread out on the 3 leather armchairs nearest to it.

The Alpha and the commanders of each division were seated on the beanbags next to Percy and Luke's seats nearest the hearth, where Hestia was tending an infant blaze. Over on the other side of the fireplace the Immortal Campers, Thalia and current cabin leaders (who looked rather nervous) were huddled together on the smaller couches, with Chiron lying casually by the fire. After everyone had a cup, they looked up at him nervously.

"Tell it what you want" he said, and they hesitantly did. Danny, the newly instated head of the Ares cabin let out a cry of "Cool!" as his cup morphed into can of Coke. Viper's turned into a travel mug and filled with a thick tar-like substance that smelled of liquorice. "Teve" he hissed in replied to the questioning glances, "A drink of my planet, it warms even the cold-blooded creatures like myself. Don't drink it though, its toxic." he smiled.

Percy however pulled a glass bottle out of the cabinet. It was filled with an amber gold liquid, and he pulled out the top before pouring into his own plastic cup, which instantly morphed into a small cut-crystal tumbler. "Aether? Chronus?" he asked. The Primordial of Light was dressed in a velvet smoking jacket today, and looked thoroughly upper-class. "Of course dear boy" he replied in an accent that clearly wasn't his own. Chronus saw Omega trying to stifle a laugh before filling their glasses. "It's much better when I'm not paying" Aether said, smirking.

"Well technically," Luke replied, pulling the bottle out of Percy's hands, "You're the one that pays him, so you are really." He leaned back and passed the bottle around the rest of The Alpha and then on to Dionysus who looked at it suspiciously. "It's Trovian whiskey." the commander said, "Better than wine any day…and stronger". Hearing this the wine god poured a generous amount.

"You drink whilst you're interrogating?" Athena asked, looking exasperatedly at the son of Poseidon.

"And you don't?" he countered, swilling the drink around his mouth. He closed his eyes and a peaceful expression spread over his (uncovered) face. "Oh there is a god" he sighed, swallowing. Luke laughed, whilst everyone else looked at him strangely. "I'll go and see what's taking them so long" he said, heading out of the door.

"I have two questions" Nico asked, looking at Luke who nodded. "Firstly, what's with the drinking?"

The commander snorted. "It's like, his habit. I don't know when it started but he's seriously obsessed with Trovian whiskey, specifically from Aruval's dads distillery. He's not a drunk, he can hold it, but I think he likes the taste. Bloody expensive habit." he added exasperatedly.

The son of Hades looked no less confused, but nodded and asked, "Why did he never just recruit her to the army? I can't work out how he can bring you back to life but not his girlfriend…"

Aether replied. "He's not allowed too." The few people who hadn't been paying attention snapped their heads round-they weren't aware Omega was bound by rules. "It's one of the highest laws of Chaos' Army; you can't recruit for personal gain. Luke had the potential to be a great leader and thus he is ok, but…Annabeth?" he asked, and Luke nodded.

"Although she would be a great strategist for The Army she would only be joining because he wanted her back specifically. It's not fair to condone that for him but not for anybody else. Furthermore, when you join The Army you instantly sever any romantic ties, although you can have relations with other members of The Army or new people you meet afterwards, its part of the commitment to the cause-you have to be prepared to start a new life."

It was at this point that Omega walked back in, leading a man with his hands tied behind his back and a black bag tied over his face. The man looked about medium height and build with dark brown skin but he wasn't quite human. He had a long thin monkey-like tail though it was completely hairless, which was tied into his bound hands.

Omega pushed him into the sparring corner, and cut his wrist bonds before walking back over to his seat. As soon as his back was turned the man made a wild grab for one of the swords to his left and tried to slash it through the air to teleport out. As one everyone rose out of their seats to grab him but heard a loud BANG and watched as he dropped the blade from his now blood spattered hand and clutched it to his chest whimpering in pain. Their heads swivelled round to see Omega holding a smoking 1920's revolver. He held it to his lips and blew, smirking at the cliché before casually reloading the spent cartridge and tucking it back in his belt.

He walked over to the now injured informant, shaking his head. "I was willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, but in trying to escape you've not only confirmed you aren't on our side, but even if you are absolutely innocent you have at least a fine to pay now." he said with a sigh. He grabbed a scrap of cloth from his cloak and knotted it tightly around the fairly mangled looking hand, before removing the bag from his head.

Omega stared at the man, before scowling as Chronus had expected, throwing him against the wall and stabbing a knife from his belt into the wall. The knife passed millimetres from the mans shoulder, through his shirt, in such a way that he couldn't move without cutting his skin on the sharp dagger. Paling considerably, he stared back at the assassin in absolute fear, who smirked and walked back over to his half full glass.

"It's Gade isn't it? Leader of The Jaded?" Omega asked, looking disgusted. "I don't think we've formerly met"

The man, Gade, swallowed nervously before looking up at the assassin and asking quite clearly, "And you are?"

Percy smirked, "How about you guess. I'll give you new clue each time you get it wrong. Here's your first one; I've been to a meeting of The Jaded"

Gade frowned, "You can't have been, you're tailless."

Percy smiled, but it was clear he strongly disliked this man, "Oh, I assure you I have. I'm rather good at disguises. Here's your second clue; it was the last meeting The Jaded had before your old leader was killed"

"How do you know Varg was killed? We've told nobody but the closest members!" Gade was beginning to look distinctly scared now. Around the room, most were confused. In fact, only Luke, Aether, Ananke and Chronus looked like they understood what was going on. Many of the cabin leaders looked fairly bored, but the Olympians were watching attentively.

Omega nodded, "Getting warmer. Lets try a different angle shall we? Most people have heard of me, in either a very positive or a very negative light, you would probably be the negative kind"

Apparently, this helped to clear things up considerably; Gade froze looking completely horrified. "No…" he muttered, "You can't be…"

The assassin smiled. "Would you like to have a guess?" he asked in a mocking tone, as though talking to a small child, taking a sip of his drink.

Gade glanced around nervously, "You're him. The one everyone talks about. The…the…Omega. The End. The one that killed Varg!" he cried hysterically, his chest heaving with fear.

Percy grinned cheekily in response, looking as though he were enjoying the mans discomfort. "Did you ever get the bloodstain out of that carpet?" he asked slyly. Gade looked horrified. Indeed, some of the rooms other occupants looked as though they agreed. The younger campers were no longer looking bored, they stared wide-eyed at the cloaked killer. His old friends were looking at him as though seeing him in a new light and even the Olympians showed a fraction of fear. Only The Alpha and the Primordial's looked unbothered by his nonchalant view of murder.

Percy emptied his glass in one, and casually poured a second before turning to face Gade. He sighed. "Look Gade, we can do this 3 ways. Option number 1; you answer all my questions with all the information you have, completely honestly, and I let you live. In fact, I might even give you a free pass in regards to The Jaded, though they'll definitely not be continuing the way they are.

"Option 2; You don't answer my questions, and I take this knife and starting at your finger just keep cutting things off until you do.

"Option 3; I use the power's I got from the immortal shade Zeth, and break into you mind to rip the information I need out of it. Unfortunately, this will render you completely insane and you'll live out the rest of your life in a vegetative state but to be honest, that doesn't bother me so much." The assassin was casually picking his nails with a 6 inch steel dagger. He glanced up, "So which is it going to be?"

Gade squeaked. "Option 1" he chocked out.

Omega smiled. "Good. So, are Rapacia allying with Tartarus?"

Gade looked visibly shaken by his insight, but managed to whisper "Yes."

Chronus frowned-this was certainly bad news. The New Universe was made up over hundreds of thousands of planets; some with life, some without. Some lived privately and in almost complete solitude like the Scathre planet, some lived in semi-connection like the Lupet planet, some lived in complete hostility like the western planets where Fleeth's came from, and others lived at peace like Trove. A millennia ago Trove, Lathar and 18 other planets formed an alliance known as The Federation of the New Universe, or The Union.

This slowly grew over the years until today where over 120 planets had joined. In counter to this, the more hostile planets formed their own alliance, Rapacia. Each side had the power of each planets private armies banded together under one cause (although The Union was slightly larger), and would help each of their allies in battles against their enemies so that almost every war would be won on how crucial it was to either side. Chaos' Army usually sided with The Union, recruiting many of the best from each planet to its own army. However Rapacia together could be a much bigger threat to Chaos' Army by sheer numbers if they had sided with Tartarus.

Omega remained emotionless. "Why are The Jaded involved with Tartarus?" he asked. Hayzar was not allied with either The Union (it was too barbaric) or Rapacia, (it was not strong enough), so for The Jaded to be involved was strange.

"They…they…we didn't have a chance. They broke in and threatened our lives…I didn't know what it was for, Varg never told us…I didn't know what it could do!" Gade cried hysterically, his breath coming in great gasps as he stared in fear at the assassin.

Omega stepped forward, looking apprehensive as though he had a guess of what the man meant and was praying to every deity alive it was wrong. "Calm down Gade!" he snapped, and then took on a-mildly-more soothing tone. "Tell me everything, from the start. Don't leave anything out and make yourself clear."

Gade swallowed nervously. "You were at the last meeting. Varg spoke of his greatest work. He said it was almost finished and he would reveal it at the next meeting. He never told any of us, not even me, what it was really for. And then you killed him, and the secret died with him because you burned his desk where the notes were-"

"That was the idea" he assassin interrupted, he looked distinctly troubled now.

Gade nodded, "but, we didn't know what it was for, and he had to have spoken with someone as the technology he bought was complex, and Varg was no scholar, so we assumed someone knew and would come forward. I ordered a light guard to be placed around the building-"

"You did what!" Omega shouted. What Chronus could see of his face paled considerably, but even the Primordial did not know what had caused this obvious look of terror to break through his normally emotionless façade.

Gade shrieked, "WE DIDN'T KNOW! I never thought it was possible, we hadn't even begun to consider…and it was our mistake. One night, I heard of the break in, and headed there with a group of my finest 6 warrior's and we were completely overwhelmed. Their leader, he said Varg had met with them and they had paid for half of the project in exchange for the use of the equipment after Varg had finished. They'd heard of his death through a spy and had come to claim what was rightfully theirs."

In a deadly calm voice, Omega asked, "What did they use it for? Who did they bring in?"

"5000 soldiers from the army of Rapacia, and those terrible beasts with rotting skin and howling minds."

Almost silently, the assassin muttered "Fleeths." he turned back to the man. "Did they succeed?"

Gade swallowed and muttered, "Yes" but in the now silent room everybody heard. Nobody, not even the commander knew what was making Omega react in something like fear, but it couldn't be a good thing. They waited to hear what he said.

"The attack they're planning," he guessed, though correctly if Gade's surprised face meant anything, "When will they be here?"

"2 days." the informant muttered. The room seemed to fill with an explosive gas which was waiting for the match to be struck. An attack. In two days. That Omega considered a threat.

Faster than thought the assassin leapt across the room towards the cluttered desk that was his own. He threw scrolls and paper's off it in semi-panic, though slowed down to move a particularly old scroll onto a shelf. I know what that is…Chronus thought, deciding to speak with the assassin afterwards. Said assassin pulled a large paper sheet that looked like a map from the desk and grabbed a piece of charcoal. Striding to the table where the Olympians sat he looked down at Dionysus and Demeter.

"Move" he barked. The cabin leaders gasped, nobody asks a god or goddess to move. The Olympians appeared to agree most looking over at this impertinence, though Poseidon, Apollo, Hades, Ares and Hermes smirked.

"You dare ask me to move demigod?" asked Dionysus in outrage.

"Move" the assassin repeated. Dionysus opened his mouth to continue but was beaten to it. "I don't have time to argue. Move. Now." Omega pulled out the revolver once more and pressed in to the gods temple. Even immortals wouldn't like that pain. Reluctantly but sensibly Dionysus moved, and his aunt followed. Pushing the chairs out of the way the assassin lay down the sheet on the table and the Olympians recognised it as a map of Camp Half Blood, its boundaries and the surrounding 5 miles.

Pulling the knife from the wall the assassin dragged Gade by his injured hand to the table, pinned it behind his back and putting the blade to his throat. He gestured at the charcoal and the map. "Draw the attack. Now." he barked, pushing knife into the mans throat for emphasis. They watched as a single bead of red blood rolled down the dark skin of the Gade's neck. He started to draw.

"That's all I know" he whispered as he finished. Sweat dripped from his brow. Glancing at the sheet, the assassin seemed satisfied. He removed the knife.

"Right Gade. Your second chance. You will go back into Rapacia. You will inform me of any new information throughout this war. When the time comes, you will fight against them and if you survive you will restart and correct the ways of The Jaded on Hayzar. If you try to deceive me or make Rapacia aware of your involvement in this you will burn alive, and I know how much your kind fears flames.

"Until the time comes you will be allowed to play your part in the best way you can and that means fighting for them if you must, but only with my permission. But be aware, if my side loses, if I die, they will be aware of your betrayal. If and when we win, you will lead the people of Hayzar both tailless and no to peace and prosperity. If you can form an alliance between the two races, I will ensure Hayzar joins The Union." Chronus raised an eyebrow. Omega certainly knew how to bargain. Hayzar had tried unsuccessfully for several centuries to join The Union, it would be their greatest honour to be accepted.

The assassin took a sp of his drink, and continued. "I'm going to give you a Shade's Brand. Through it you can pass me information, and I will know your every thought. You cannot be traitor with this brand, but if you do as a spy should, I will remove it when the time comes. This might hurt." Without waiting for permission Omega pressed his palm to Gade's neck and it glowed sea green. Gade flinched, but as the light faded a slightly darker patch could be seen, in the shape of an Omega. It slowly blurred to a random patch that looked insignificant.

The assassin reached out and pulled the bullet from the tailed-mans hand, and healed it. He drew his sword and tore a slit in the fabric of the universe to create a door between the room and Hayzar, before unceremoniously pushing the man through it and closing it. He sighed, and then turned back to the map. The room stayed deceptively silent.

"So what is it mate?" Commander LC asked, walking over to the map. His eyes widened and his mouth fell open in a classic 'O'.

"That's not the worst part either." Omega sighed, before explaining, "'The Laboratory' started as a project for Varg (the ex-leader of The Jaded) so that he could steal the fire controlling abilities of the other species on Hayzar. I was planning his death for a few weeks after that meeting I attended until he announced he was almost finished. I broke into his office and once I heard what it could do, I decided to move forward and finish the job that night.(That's why I was almost late for your meeting Chronus) I burned the notes and hoped nobody would know any better, you can see Gade isn't the brightest spark" he added with a smirk.

His expression darkened, "Varg had found a way to rip certain qualities and abilities from one species-with a mixture of science, magic, pain and brute force-and implant it into a living being. 5000 warriors of Rapacia would be a fair threat in themselves but with them adapted like a Fleeth…"

Zeus spoke up, "So they'll be decomposing?"

Omega shook his head. "They'll be without the feelings of pain, have immense strength in mind control-enough to render their opponents paralysed- and intense bloodlust. All the skill of a warrior combined with only a direct headshot to kill. They will probably be designed not to decompose. In short, they'll be deadly."

Dionysus (still looking indignant from being moved) sneered. "But only 5000-"

Omega interrupted; "No. Not only 5000. Come and look at this"

It was Athena, ever interested in battle who came forward first staring at the page, but soon others followed. They spread out around the huge table staring at the map.

"They're sending the mutated soldiers to the open grassland behind the Lambda Ship first, because its where the camp boundaries are weakest, to try and get us to counter their attack." He gestured at the regimented lines of foot solders marked on the map.

"This is a rouse. They're then going to storm the other side with 5 separate groups lead by an immortal, and various other powerful, though not immortal beasts. They will attack through the valleys in the smaller hills. While our back is turned on the enemy, they will raze the camp, and then attack at our backs completely surrounding us.

"We can't run out of either flank, because they're sending cavalry divisions through the woods on the left and right, and we can't fly out because they're launching a full aerial assault from the skies. There are also 50 beasts from Hydras (the water planet) which will attack from the beach."

Ares sneered, "And I suppose you have a plan, O mighty demigod?"

Omega seemed unfazed. "My plan is to send the 10,000 fighters of the Gamma led by Commander Fleetwood to combat the mutations, along with 200 of the Beta division under the command of Aruval. 1,000 of the Cavalry of Omicron will hold the left flank, along with The Hunters of Artemis-led by Thalia and Sol-leks. Mirroring this on the right a second 1,000 cavalry led by Commander Kayla, Gina and The Queen with the Amazons. The Cavalry will engage the enemy, but they will be ambushed through the trees by the Hunters or Amazons, and in their moment of weakness, the cavalry will overrun them. Half will break the ranks and attack from behind, while the ambush will strike down from above.

"20 of your strongest Greeks and Romans with all of the children of the sea will man the Argo II on the beach with Leo in command of course, and Captain Theseus. As for the frontal attacks, the remaining 200 of the Beta, Psi, Omicron, Romans and Greeks will split into 5 groups, each to engage a separate battalion. They will be led by Commander LC and Jason, Umbra and Piper, Viper and Hazel, Captain Sigrid and Frank and Captain Leonidas and Nico. Commander Tezar will lead the 1,000 aerial forces.

"The Delta force will surround the camp and attack from highest points both towards and behind the enemy, with Zoe to lead. The Sigma will protect the camp at all costs, and move the injured from the battlefield to the Epsilon and medical campers within the camp, Chiron will remain with them. Finally the Lambda crew will hold the ship, which will stand as a final refuge. If the camp falls all survivors will board the ship and we can only hope to escape."

Most of the room looked shocked. "Since when did you know how to strategise?" asked Jason.

The assassin smirked, "I've fought more wars in the last half a millennia than all you have together. One tends to pick some things up. Nevertheless its only a suggestion. Lady Athena?"

She frowned, looking down at the map. "I can't fault this Perseus-"

He growled at the use of his old name. "Omega" she corrected, "However I have a few questions. Where will you be fighting?"

He smiled, "I'll be fighting in the skies."

His old friends snorted, before they realised he was serious. "Well that's something I never thought I'd hear…" muttered Thalia.

Zeus looked angrily at the assassin, "What makes you think you shall dare enter my domain?" he thundered.

Omega smirked, slashing his back sword through the air in the sparring corner of the room, he whistled. A huge black pegasus burst from the gap which closed behind it. You called boss? All the Primordial's, Olympians, Melissa (the Poseidon cabin leader) and the people of Chaos' Army heard. Understanding sentient beings was part of the Travellers Blessing. Whoa, back with these guys huh? I do like Earth. Best damn donuts a horse can find. He was much bigger than he was 50 years ago. His limbs had thickened, his wingspan was wider, the crest of his neck arc beautifully, in short he looked like an ageless winged war horse, a worthy opponent.

"Blackjack?" echoed around the demigods-they'd all heard stories of The Famous Percy Jackson's personal pegasus.

Omega stood up and rubbed the pegasus' head. "Yeah we're back here, and I'll get you some donuts later I promise. You up for another fight?"

I'm always up to kick some bad guys butts! So long as your pet traitor stay clear. The pegasus glared-if a pegasus can glare-at Luke, and the Alpha laughed at the commanders expression.

"Seriously Blackjack what do I have to do? I give you donuts, I apologise more times than I care to admit, I get everybody's forgiveness but the horse still hates me!" cried the commander indignantly, to which everyone snorted.

You locked me on a boat you-

The horse let out a stream of various curses, derogatory names and insults.

"Enough guys! Blackjack, there is hay and donuts in the storage bunker, I'll catch-up later okay?" Omega interrupted. The pegasus sent one more withering glare at the commander, nuzzled Percy's shoulder, nodded at the God of Horses, and walked towards the door. He turned away from t and double barrelled it, smashing the wood. After stepping through the wreckage he wandered off down the hall. The commander looked exasperatedly at his roommate. "There is something seriously wrong with that horse."

Omega snorted, amused, before fixing the door with his handheld computer. "Well if you wouldn't piss him off-"

"He starts it! You know the other day he came looking for you and I told him you were on a mission, but he wouldn't believe me! He said I'd kidnapped you and if I didn't give you back he'd beat me into submission, and I said I hadn't kidnapped you so he kicked me! Bloody hurt too, and this prat" he gestured at Sol-leks who was rolling on the floor with laughter, "only stepped in when the damn thing tried to trample me to death!"

The Lupet gasped for air, "It was fucking hilarious!" he chocked out clutching his stomach and wiping tears from his eyes.

"Back to what's important; why are you not fighting the immortal?" asked Athena.

Omega smiled, "Three reasons. Firstly, because there is another threat. Secondly, in the air I can survey the whole battle and provide reinforcement where it is most needed. And thirdly I know what it is, and I will struggle to fight it. Jason, will fight the immortal with my sword."

The demigod spluttered. "What? Seriously mate, if you can't fight it I definitely can't!"

"You misunderstand me. I can fight the immortal, and kill it, but the power that will be reaped from it is not one I can hope to control before I blow you all up with the strength of it.

"Tartarus has been planning this attack for much longer than we originally suspected, and has managed to do something that neither Kronos or Gaia ever achieved, though they both tried."

Luke paled. "No…they can't have, its completely impossible, we tried for years" The commander rarely spoke of his time with the Kronos, and a few people looked over in shock that he had mentioned it.

The assassin nodded. "Gaia got much closer. She actually started the process, but didn't realise it takes hundreds of years to ever achieve. Towards the end of her battle, in panic she tried to raise Ouranos."

Eyes so wide it looked like a danger to their health, the gods stared at the assassin.

"Ouranos was cast into the sea, and after siring Aphrodite, he faded to the void. Gaia started to call him from the void, and now, 500 years later Tartarus had succeeded."

"That's who you want me to fight?" cried Jason. Chronus noticed he looked almost green. The assassin looked straight at him.

"He is still weak. You will be able to best him in a fight and Uranus' power-though incredibly strong-is close enough to the power you have that you should be able to control it."

The immortal son of Jupiter swallowed. "You just called him by his Roman name" was all he appeared to be able to say.

"Traveller's blessing. I'm looking at you. You're Roman. It's hard enough stopping myself from breaking out into Latin (I've done it before) forgive me from switching pantheons." he replied. "You'll need to get a blessing from a Primordial however…" he looked at the Primordial of Time, but Ananke replied.

"You should be asking Aether."

He frowned, "Chronus blessed me…"

"You have the power of The Titan of Time. It is best, youngling, to match the blessing to the person, The Light and The Sky are much interlinked." she replied with a smile.

Aether rose from his seat, but before he could take a step, Zeus spoke.

"Why should I, The Lord of the Sky, allow my son to gain power over my own domain? I shall fight Ouranos."

Omega replied forcefully. "If you were to take on the power of a Primordial, your strength would far outrank that of your brothers. You would be forced to leave the council of Olympians, hand your thrown to another, and leave Earth forever to become a Primordial. Jason, while immortal is not a god, and thus he will never be bound by the ancient laws, allowing him to stand for both god and mortal alike. This means that even with this power he would never willingly overthrow the gods and claim your throne-it is not in his nature."

"You dare tell me what I cannot do? I am the King! I will fight Ouranos!" Zeus shouted.

The assassin smirked, "It's my sword king, I can give it to who I will." Aether, guessing the argument was won stepped forwards and blessed the son of Zeus. Jason gasped when the Light around him had faded.

"Well we're nearly finished, how about everyone but The Alpha, what remains of the Seven, Thalia, Nico, Chiron and the gods head out to lunch. After that you can get started on the preparations for battle." Omega said with a smile. Slowly, reluctantly as they could see there was something he didn't want to say in front of them, the others left. The rest moved and sat around the dining table.

Scathre looked at the assassin in concern, "This other threat you speak of, what is it?" he hissed.

"The attack will be lead by a Soul Catcher" he replied. Though the Olympians and their children didn't understand this, the Alpha and the Primordial gods clearly did. There expressions varied from shock to fear to concern and in Commander LC's case exasperation.

Artemis asked, "What is a Soul Catcher?" The goddess of the hunt seemed concerned she didn't know of an enemy, disliked asking questions.

It was Umbra who replied. "A Soul Catcher is a shade, that has taken the art of sorcery to far. Sorcery is a magical power where a shade or magician calls the strength of the souls of the dead from both this realm and the Void to help them in their spells." he sighed. "There are various types of shades; some are immortal whilst others are not. The mortal shades, though ageless, often envy their godlike brothers and in some cases take up sorcery to gain power over them. "They call the strongest fighters, the greatest spell weavers and bind them to their very mortal spirits with old spells that our race does not condone.

"The trapped souls have no choice but to follow the command of the Soul Catcher and are bound to serve him until death." The shades expression darkened. "The youngest, purest souls, those of children are trapped against their will to form the blade of the demon, a blade that is designed to tear the very soul of those that it cuts. The only thing as deadly as Omega's blade. They do not force a soul to fade, but scatter its essence into a million pieces that will live forever in torment and never reform. Such is the raw power of the blade that it tries to fight itself. It is brittle and will often splinter. A Soul Catcher is very hard to kill."

The Olympians looked either shocked, fearful or disdainful of Omega's offer to fight the beast.

The commander spoke, looking at the gods with an expression none had seen on his face since the old days. "This is your chance to prove I misjudged you. One of you, choose to fight instead. Break the ancient laws, get a little bit of bad luck from the Styx so that he doesn't get himself killed bringing this thing down!" he said vehemently. They nervously looked from one to the other, and he sneered. "I knew you hadn't changed."

"Enough Luke." Omega barked, and the commander looked downwards. "I have a better chance than they do, I've fought these beasts before and I have the power of a shade to hold back there mild control. Nevertheless, I ask something of you." The son of Hermes narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "If I die on that battlefield, you will take my place-"

"No!" Luke interrupted, rising from his chair and knocking it over in a mixture of panic and rage, "We've been over this…you promised you would never give me power! Don't…give it to Aruval or Sol-leks or…" he muttered off, pacing the back wall.

"I'd follow you're judgement above anyone else's. You're impartial enough to make the right decision and ruthless enough to kill to make it come about. I trust you."

"Well you shouldn't!" he commander looked almost deranged now, he had a hand in his hair and was panting heavily. "You don't understand me. You don't realise how hard it is not give in to my lure for power. My fatal flaw is attention on me, people following me out of fear or respect. Don't give me the chance to do it again Percy" he growled, throwing his hands into the air. The assassin stood up also, and squared off at the commander.

"I trust you, and you don't have a choice. To you, my word is law Luke." The occupants of the room watched as they had a silent stare down until Luke scowled and lowered his hands, he kicked his chair back over and slumped down, muttering about useless, insane leaders. Percy followed. "Aruval would take over command of the Beta, and you'd have to find a new member. Eight is a good number-"

Thankfully, Sol-leks interrupted. "Well you aren't dead yet so lets think positive hey Omega?"

Before the battle, tension ran thick over the camp. The Alpha and The Iota were the last group standing with Chiron, making the final preparations. All of the groups were in wait; Hunter and Amazon, Roman and Greek, Hero and Soldier alike surrounding the camp. Contemplative, but ready to die for the gods, for the world, for the universe, for life and love and liberty.

"We ready for this guys?" Omega asked. He was wearing a leather jumpsuit, it was short sleeve and went only to mid thigh but looks were deceptive. It was five layers of strong leather, chain mail, lightweight star-silver plates, chain mail and leather. Although slightly less strong than standard armour it was lighter, more flexible and would deflect all but the hardest of blows. Over this he wore is usual garb, with skin-tight jeans and signature red cape. There were metal wire contraptions that wrapped around the ankle and under the sole of his boots. Though Jason had The Reaper, he still carried many weapons.

Luke looked up and smiled. They'd got over their mild bromance-lovers-spat and were as close as ever. He himself was dressed in the Beta uniform; black and red metal armour, a tight fitting helm with narrow eyeholes and a star-shaped shield with sharpened edges that cut through the thickest armour in one blow. "Lets go show them why the universe call's us the unbeatable army!"

"Aye! My aruval thirsts for blood!" The Trovian wore dark bronze armour so heavy a weaker man may sweat from the strain of standing alone and a round Spartan-like shield.

"As do my Rapiers" hissed Viper. He was wearing only a leather loincloth. The spines that normally reached only his neck ran down his whole body to the base of his thick tail, each over half a foot long.

"We will bring them to their knees…" said Zoë. She wore a light gold outfit that resembled the Hunters dress.

"…by either mind or claw…" added Umbra. The shade used his mind to hold invisible armour that no blade could cross while his strength was high enough, his form was as solid as one ever saw it almost unchanging with 6 ft wings spread behind him.

Sol-leks growled in response, his yellow eyes flashing. The black wolf had gold leaf on his deadly sharp claws, but his fur was thick to serve as defence enough.

"…or weapon, we will rain Chaos!" finished the assassin. He fitted a metal half mask over his eyes, pulled forward his hood and mounted Blackjack. The pegasus was fully armoured in star-silver armour plates across the crest of his neck and back, chain mail wrapped tight around his body, and leather straps wrapped around his legs. On the lower parts of his legs he wore metal braces covered in 4 inch curved spikes with barbed harpoon ends that gripped the skin they broke and held on, ripping further.

The metal on Omega's boots slotted into the metal on the pegasus' leather girth, holding him into the saddle through all but the most dangerous of manoeuvres. He nodded at the Alpha, who teleported out. Glancing behind to check the air riders were ready, he nudged Blackjack, who spread his wide wings and rose into the air.

The Olympian gods sat in the Throne room watching as the battle began. Iris had opened an untraceable connection so they may see and could wait for a slip-up of the enemy that may allow them to engage in the fight. Many minor gods were also present, and even Chronus, Aether and Ananke. Nyx was busy doing whatever Nyx did, and Hemera was as always, hiding away from conflict.

As Omega lead the Iota in the air they couldn't help but be astounded at the Army. Huge winged eagles and hawks ridden by 4ft men-one set of arms guiding the birds and another holding a holster of throwing knives or a bow and arrow-, giants black bats with poisoned fangs, horses made of coloured writhing flames that rose through the air by the heat of their fire ridden by athletic women and winged wolves with deadly red-eyed human riders.

The assassin rose higher than the rest, with Commander Tezar slightly behind him mounted on a 15ft dark green dragon. From the half a mile away the enemies leader flew to the same height. The creature was black and leathery, shaped like a giant eel with slimy bat-like wings but its rider was more deadly. The Soul Catcher was black and shimmering. Unlike Umbra his body seemed darker, harsher, raw hostile power fighting itself. His white blade was so pure it glowed brighter than light. The beast let out a bloodcurdling scream and both friend and foe felt the pain.

Even the occupants of the room balked under the sound.

Omega lifted his blade to the sky, "I slew the Primordial of Blame myself, so feel this demon" he snarled. His eyes glowed black and the enemy stumbled, thousands of thoughts entered their heads, blame and regret and guilt of all they things they'd done in their lives or had happened around them. Although he tried to stop it but some of the allies felt it too.

On Olympus, the gods swallowed as thoughts of all they had done wrong entered their heads…it was your fault, your to blame… But it abruptly stopped as the assassin lowered his blade.

"Scare tactics" Chronus explained, "Round one to Omega"

He locked eyes with the Soul Catcher -did it have eyes?- and called, "What threat are you demon?"

The enemy behind shouted and screamed their rage, a sound that echoed around the valley and the room that watched them.

The assassin nodded. "Good. But not great. We stand firm against your measly threat demon. We stand firm and fight with our brothers. We are Greeks…" and as when he had called in the training hall the allies roared with approval. "And Romans. And Amazons. And Hunters. Of the Psi. And the Delta. And the Gamma. Of Iota. And Omicron. Of Beta. And Alpha. We are Soldiers. And Heroes. Of the Past. And of Now. All of us will be great ones of the future. We are your bane."

He turned to the thousands behind, "We fight FOR OLYMPUS!" The army deafened the enemy, and he asked, "So what do we do today?"

"WE REIGN CHAOS!" Called the thousands and with that, they charged upon the beings that dared threaten Camp Half-Blood.

"Well he's certainly not the 12 year old that stuttered through a story of how he returned my bolt in this very room" snorted Zeus, amused.

Blackjack beat his wings rising high into the air, and the Soul Catcher followed him. When they were around 5 miles high, the pegasus levelled off, and behind his back hooves water condensed and cooled until a plate of ice hung in the air. The pegasus crouched, his back-legs tensed and then he kicked off hard leaping forwards at the speed of sound, charging towards the beast and its demon rider.

The gods gasped and the horse rode forwards, it didn't baulk and would surely splatter on impact.

When the two beasts crashed, the pegasus dug his legs into the creatures hide-blades slicing through skin and muscle and finally gripping- before he folded his wings and fell backwards. The monster it fought was formidable, but not clever. It spread its large wings wide, but the weight of a tonne of horsemeat, armour and all-muscle demigod was too much for it. With a crack that rang out clear through the day- many looked up in shock, whilst the gods winced at the sound-it's left wing broke and with a shriek it fell through the sky, plummeting to the ground.

Locked together Omega and the Soul Catcher exchanged blows. They danced around each other, blades clashing minds locked in an endless struggle until they were half a mile from the ground. Blackjack ripped his legs from the beast, slashing muscle, kicking away and spreading his wings as they rose once more.

They watched as the cavalry on both left and right charged forwards over the flat plain. The feet of them pounded the ground like a thunderstorm, into the valley of death, rode the 1000. Half wolf-half horse hybrids, 5ft komodo dragon beasts and horned lions leapt across the grassland led by Sol-leks and Commander Kayla. The enemy rode straight into the ambush and the arrows and knives rained down. Just as the first line stumbled and fell, the Omicron met them and leapt onto the beasts backs. Dodging the poisonous snake heads of the Hippoanguis and the burning bodies of the Flamecats they crushed the beasts underfoot surrounding them, as the Hunters and Amazons leapt from the trees and ended hundreds of the beasts with lethal knives lashes.

Around the camp many battles raged. The Argo II blasted thousands of water monsters to smithereens. King Leonidas crashed into enemy lines as Nico dived through shadows to flank his enemies even as thousands of skeletal warriors cut through the ranks. Piper fought with Katoptris, and Umbra rendered those against them unconscious from his mind alone, forcing them to stab themselves.

Frank in the form of a grizzly ripped his opponents to shreds and Sigrid-a famous Viking warrior- crushed helms with blows of his mace. Hazel forced the metal of armour and weapons to melt and burn, to twist and turn, to freeze mid strike or draw their owners blood, whilst Viper spat his venom in the faces of his attacks, hissing and burning them as it poisoned them. His thin Rapiers whipped around the blades of his opponents slashing under guards and ripping open skin as he kicked and slashed with clawed feet and horned tail.

But the battle was far from won, and the Fleeth-mutants ripped many to shreds. Using swords and teeth, maces and claws they advanced on the first ranks of the Gamma, it took two to fell the beasts as they kept fighting without limbs, with their guts pouring out, until they took a bow to the head. Though Aruval's aruval tasted much blood and his battleaxe smashed through dozens of helms there were always more to fill their ranks.

On the other side of the camp Luke fought like a whirlwind. Unmatched was his blade but to Omega so nobody stood in his way and lived. He was but a blur of red and black as he took down 4 or 5 in each step forward. Aside him, Jason fought his great-grandfather. The Primordial was still weak, and thus was in the form of only an 8ft man, but his blade was quick and it was all the Roman could do to redirect his lightning strikes. He fought with Omega's black blade and his own (second) imperial gold spear, dancing forwards and back with Ouranos.

In the Throne room the gods watched in fear. The battle could be won or lost on this fight and one other, and the tension was thick.

Jason lunged forwards, his lance striking at the deities ribcage, but swung to the left and smashed it into sternum. Ouranos stumbled, throwing his own spear at the ex-praetor who ducked and dealt a series of heavy strikes with The Reaper.

The Primordial parried every attack but they saw a change in him. He took a step back, then another. Jason twisted his spear and locked it around his great-grandfather's sword hilt, before slashing across his other arm. Ouranos stumbled and the Roman-prepared for this-pulled back on his lance and the sword was lost from the Primordial's grip. Jason sidestepped and before his opponent could react he leapt into the air on the winds, grasped the hilt in both hands and stabbed The Reaper down through Ouranos' heart.

The winds picked up and Ouranos disappeared as lightning crackled and surrounded Jason. It spread out in front of him and struck every enemy around him as it danced past the allies. When the lightning faded, the Olympians saw Jason down on one knee panting hard, but half the enemy in the 5 frontal attacks were felled. With a loud battle cry Luke leapt past and the Army followed, crushing the last of their attackers by elation, adrenaline, skill and sheer numbers.

A cheer went up through the thousands, as the cavalry reared in victory, the Gamma raised their shields and the Earth-people roared in approval. But one pair were still fighting.

Above the battle Omega and the Sword Catcher were locked hilt on hilt, locked mind on mind and locked in the force of their power that rolled around them in waves. Nobody could get closer than 100 yards without being blown back as the hovered in the eye of the storm. Blackjack pawed his legs ripping through the steeds sides, chunks of broken skin and muscle raining down. The pegasus swung his head to the side and stabbed the beasts neck with the horn on his face armour. Black tar-like blood poured forth, burning Blackjack's legs as the creature started to melt.

With a neigh of terror the pegasus kicked away and in the moment of panic the Soul Catcher threw his sword. Unable to move, it half imbedded in the right side of Omega's chest and in pain his concentration broke. The demon attacked his mind, torturing it. Omega grasped the hilt of the sword and snapped the brittle blade. Leaving one end imbedded in his body he opened his mind and shouted clearly so all heard his thoughts as they echoed around the battlefield and even the Throne room.

Look Away.

He stabbed the cracked blade in the Soul Catcher's abdomen and a blast of sheer energy burst forth. Light, sound, force, wind, heat all spread out so bright it light up the Earth for all the universe New and Old saw it. The assassin was thrown back, Blackjack rolled through the skies falling towards where the enemy lines gathered as Omega tumbled towards the centre of camp.

The pain, the power and the last torment of the Soul Catcher ripped open his mind and he was lost in his own memories; but as his mind was opened they all heard and felt and saw as their vision flickered and they saw flashes of his life as he saw them in his head.

'You time is up,' she hissed. Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shrivelled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons…

He span through the air, getting closer to the ground.

…she was going to say, you killed a minotaur! Or Wow, you're so awesome! or something like that. Instead she said, 'You drool when you sleep.'...

… I was holding someone destined to be either my best friend or my worst enemy. 'I am Thalia,' the girl said. 'Daughter of Zeus.'...

...I did the stupidest thing in my life, which is saying a lot. I attacked the Titan Lord Atlas…

...'I'll be fine. Besides, we've got no choice.' Annabeth glared at me like she was going to punch me. Then she did something that surprised me even more. She kissed me. 'Be careful, Seaweed Brain.'...

Like strobe lighting they saw him falling through the air in staggers as his memory flickered though. He twirled in the air, semi-conscious, as red feathered Angelus wings burst from his back.

'What have you done to Luke?' I groaned.

Kronos raised his scythe. 'He serves me with his whole being, as I require. The difference is, he feared you, Percy Jackson. I do not.'

That's when I ran. There wasn't even any thought to it...

…His presence was so strong it could bend time itself.

'Run, little hero,' he laughed. 'Run!'…

Percy beat his wings, his fall slowed and he levelled.

I struggled to my feet. I moved towards him with the knife. I should kill him. That was the plan.

Luke seemed to know what I was thinking. He moistened his lips. 'You can't…can't so it yourself. He'll break my control. He'll defend himself. Only my hand. I know where. I can…can keep him controlled.'

…My whole world tipped upside down and I gave the knife to Luke

…With difficulty, he stabbed himself

…he gripped my sleeve, and I could feel the heat of his skin like a fire. 'Ethan. Me. All the unclaimed. Don't let it…Don't let it happen again.' His eyes were angry, but pleading, too.

Omega hung in the air for a moment, and then he passed out fully and dropped like a stone.

'You'll never win!' the giant groaned. 'You cannot defeat me alone.'

'I'm not alone.' Percy raised the stone head above the giants face. 'I'd like you to meet my friend Terminus. He's a god!'

Too late, awareness and fear dawned in the giant's face. Percy smashed the god's head as hard as he could into Polybotes's nose, and the giant dissolved, crumbling into a steaming heap of seaweed, reptile skin and poisonous muck.

Spiralling down, down, down.

All around, the fields crackled and hissed, laughing in Gaia's voice as Percy and Jason charged at each other, their weapons ready.

Omega crashed into the grass field that the cabins surrounded with a loud crack. Blackjack few down towards the person he hated. Luke leapt off Jason's shoulder and grabbed the pegasus' wing, swinging onto his back as they soared through the air to reach Percy.

No escape, said a voice in the darkness below. I go to Tartarus and you will come, too.

…Percy let go of his tiny ledge, and together, holding hands, he and Annabeth fell into the endless darkness…

Flashes of Tartarus…Percy stared into Kronos' golden eyes, 'Revenge' he said…a battle at the Doors of Death.

Sol-leks swung around and ran through the trees, Umbra rose of black wings and flew towards Omega, Aruval jogged over the hill, Gina leapt through the trees, Viper sprinted past semi-coherent campers, Zoë climbed Thalia's tree and jumped onto Blackjack as Luke crossed the boundaries.

He had to close the Doors. Fighting through monsters he tired to reach them again, but she was faster. He saw her turn. She looked eyes with him and smiled, before slashing open her throat and pulling the Doors shut, giving her life's last blood to lock them…

The giants felled, Gaia put back to sleep he stood in the Throne room once more. '…We offer immortality to all of you, do you accept?' One by one the seven (now six) agreed until they reached him. 'I can't accept full immortality Zeus. I request you only give me agelessness, so I still maybe killed by blade or poison. If you'll agree, I ask of another request in replacement? I want you to return Hestia's throne to her, and give Hades a throne. They have helped in this war and in the last…'

Blackjack reached Omega, and Luke dropped 20 ft to the ground, landing with a roll he came up on his knees by his friends side. Percy's fall had been broken by his left wing, which was shattered-the bone stuck out of the flesh and arterial blood poured from the wound. The half blade of the Soul Catcher was still lodged in his right pectoral, and he was panting and writhing as the memories flooded his mind.

He was alone. He'd failed in every way. He'd been prepared to die on more than one occasion and he had allowed her to take his place. He lived on, alone, so alone when she would have had companionship. She would have had a purpose. That day he had lost the love of his life, and their child…

The thoughts rang out through the camp and Olympus on shocked ears. Nobody had ever considered that. Even the newer people who had never met Annabeth grieved for her in that moment, for what could have been. They felt Percy's own wracking grief and pain flood their minds also, and understood why he had had to leave.

Umbra landed next to the commander, and with a grim look at him said, "We can't do anything with him like this, we need his mind closed and his body still lest he bleed out-or worse." Luke nodded understanding instantly, and helped to pin Omega down as Umbra fought his disjointed thoughts.

He walked out of Camp Half-Blood. Too many reminders…

1 month; 'I've watched you hero, and so I give you the Traveller's blessing.

8 months; his first cold-blooded kill. The man's punishment, his end, his Omega.

Umbra's form shivered and flickered in concentration. It blurred at the edges.

50 years; 'My son Thanatos, sends a warning.' Nyx said, 'Your mother will die in 8 earth-hours.'…He watched the funeral from the branches of a tree. They did not notice him as his old friends paid respects. All but Artemis. She looked straight at him and he knew she saw the dark, cloaked figure in shadows. She smiled, but looked away.

150 years; the Army of Chaos sent 10 to capture him. Killed 3, injured 6, gave 1 his message. Don't mess with me.

In a flash of light the Olympians left the throne room, appearing near the fallen demigod. "Stay back" Sol-leks barked as he shifted to human form, "Wait."

250 years; Nyx gave him the quest for The Reaper. Eden was sorrowful. He wondered if Earth ever fell, if Gaia were killed, would it look like this?

320 years; Chaos' Army tries to recruit him. He will not be bound by laws. He denies.

360 years; Again.

390 years; And again.

402 years; They give him an offer he can't refuse. No horses head, but freedom and Umbra's recruitment directly to 'The Alpha'. He accepts.

438 years; It's strange to be in Elysium once more, and still not dead. 'So Castellan, how about that second chance?' he asks.

465 years; 'Really, I don't see why you don't move in. It'll save me some trouble.' The newly instated Commander smirked. 'Very forward of you mate, I've haven't even had a date yet.' He snorts in amusement, who could have guessed they'd ever be like this? 'Shut up you bastard'…

Umbra staggered back, and the thoughts stopped suddenly. The mortal's looked up dazedly in confusion. Percy stopped breathing, and his old friends-that had just arrived-looked horrified.

Aruval explained, as Luke started to pull Omega's armour away from the sword wound with deft slashes of his knife. "They can't get the blade out any other way"

Umbra began to chant in an ancient language so old it seemed familiar but rough and harsh as though it was evolved differently. His words spoke into the nearest people's minds and they watched, frozen in horror and fear.

"Apollo, heal his wing!" Luke snapped, as he finished pulling the clothes off Percy's torso. The god of medicine responded without question and started his own quiet chant, closing the wound, and slowly healing the bone and muscle. Umbra's form shivered once more and he became nothing more that a floating black orb, pulsing with raw energy as his chant continued.

The commander pulled out a hip flask half full with vodka, and unscrewed the clasp. "Nectar? And Poseidon get over here" A flask was passed and he mixed the godly drink with the alcohol.

"Coldest cleanest saltwater you can get, fill ¾, then give it to Chronus" he said distractedly passing the flask to the god of the seas. He pulled a short sharp knife from Omega's cloak and cut part of the skin surrounding the wound to open it more. All but the Alpha were shocked, since when was Luke a healer?

Chronus took the flask and slashing open his wrist, filled it to the brim with bronze Primordial ichor. He passed the flask to Luke, who mixed the substances, before standing it at the side. "Ready Umbra?" The shade pulsed slightly, but apparently this was reply enough. "Apollo, pin down his other shoulder in case he wakes up."

The son of Hermes grabbed the biggest splinter of the blade, and as Umbra's chanting speed up and became louder, he pulled it slowly from the wound. When the tip slid out blood gushed from the wound but the commander continued, removing all of the pieces as his hands got increasingly bloody. When the last of the blade was gone, Umbra started to hum loudly in a melodic tune. Luke poured the mixture into the wound. It glowed slightly bronze as he cleared the blood away and the torn flesh became visible.

Pressing down hard with his hands Luke muttered a constant mantra, "Don't you dare die on me you bloody prick! You fucking bastard why do you have to be such an idiotic selfish wanker? Don't you fucking dare die…" with increasing venom his choice words and insults became wide and varied. The flesh writhed under his palms as Umbra's power drew it together- muscles knitting, sinews reconnecting, tendons pulling taught. The energy it took was drawn from those nearest; Umbra's dark orb faded lighter, sweat dripped down Luke's brow, Apollo's own glowing aura dimmed. The Immortal heroes fell to their knees and even the Olympians looked weakened; but finally the wound healed.

It still appeared fragile-a dark red scar covered the area and the skin was stretched taught as though it could burst open once more at any moment. But Umbra silenced, Luke moved his reddened hands, and everyone around watched in fear as they waited for Omega to start breathing.

Chapter Text

Aether; Realms and Mistakes

They waited. Luke was kneeling on Omega's right, leaning forwards towards him, his eyes flicking between the assassin's pale unmoving face and his own blooded hands. Umbra hovered off the ground slightly, his white eyes filed with worry, so exhausted that he couldn't keep his form for more than a minute before it faded to the lightest transparent grey.

Apollo was crouched on the ground and had leaned back from where he was moments before, pinning the demigod's torso down. The Alpha stood silently, protectively, unconsciously forming a ring around his still form. Behind them stood the Olympians, Primordial's, Nico, Thalia, Jason, and the rest of his immortal friends, and beyond them a group of silent onlookers.

He had but taken a single breath before he pulled a dagger from his cloak underneath him and pressed it to the commander's throat. His eyes were pressed shut- as though he were blocking out a bright light- and he didn't seem fully conscious, but relief flooded the watchers.

Luke smiled weakly, "Easy there Perce" he said in a low voice, as though speaking to a scared animal, "Relax, you're alright." The assassin lowered the knife, and his eyes weakly flickered open. The sea green orbs were bloodshot, and there was a hazy look about them as though he were not entirely lucid. His gaze drifted around the group, before focusing on his roommate.

"Sorry," his voice cracked and he coughed, before continuing hoarsely, "The instinct is to attack" he swallowed, moving his head experimentally.

"That's alright; just lay still a moment." ordered the son of Hermes.

"You're lucky." said Apollo. "Your wing took the force of your landing but the bone was completely shattered. You lost a hell of a lot of blood and the muscle was ripped to shreds. I've healed it but it'll take a few days to set so it needs to be strapped up."

Nodding slightly, the assassin asked, "Anything else?" The assembled crowd looked at him in complete disbelief.

"Other than the gaping wound in your chest?" Luke asked.

Omega frowned and touched the reddened skin where moments ago his chest had been cleaved open. He glanced down his nose at it before sighing. "Well that was stupid." he muttered.

Aruval snorted. "You can say that again, it was nearly fatal." he said seriously.

Percy's gaze snapped round to Umbra, who's form was still flickering. "Really mate, don't nearly kill yourself trying to bring me back from the dead. I'm not worth that."

The shade smiled. "I'll always be loyal to you Omega. You have done much for me and my people." he replied earnestly.

The assassin smiled. "I thank you, but rest now. I promise not to die on you" he smirked.

Managing a nod in response the shade faded into nothingness as he settled into the deepest regions of his consciousness alone.

Without asking for help, Percy tucked his good wing under his still injured one and tried to sit up. Knowing there was no stopping him, Luke put his arm around his back and helped. Once he was sat up Percy was overcome with a wave on nausea, so he crossed his arms on his bent knee's and rested his head down. The Alpha eyed him warily, and Luke reached for the still half full flask. "Drink" he ordered, pushing it into the assassin's hand, who did so without question.

After finishing it he made a face and said, "Ichor? Really? I'm not a vampire mate."

"It's the only thing strong enough to work on you now mate," he smirked. "And, I've heard several rumours in Aether that you are, in fact, a vampire." His roommate looked at him disbelievingly. "Really." he added.

A son of Athena looked haughtily at them. "There's no such thing as Vampires." he said condescendingly.

Luke looked right at him, "Yes, there are. The have a whole planet full of them. And this was a private conversation." he said coldly, to which the wisdom's son blushed and looked down.

Percy seemed to notice then the large crowd grouped around him, and the fact that he was completely bare-chested, looking vulnerable. He frowned, before switching to his commanding 'Omega voice' a Zoe called it. "I'm sure watching me on my deathbed is the most interesting thing to be doing, but the shows over, I'm alive, and there's plenty more who aren't as fortunate." he scolded. "Fleetwood will lead the group the removal of all injured soldiers and the dead from the battlefield.

"The Epsilon group and the camp medics can set up a healing area outside the infirmary, Lieutenant Plebra, Commander Fletcher and Captain Yew can organise this. Our fallen will be moved directly to the arena for the final rites to be announced later in the day. I want all weapons, either enemy or our own to be taken to the forges for repair or meltdown, along with any armour or hardware.

"Finally all of the bodies of our enemies, either human or monster will moved to a separate location, and we will honour them as fallen like our own, as this war may not be by their choosing. Organise the rest of these duties yourselves." When nobody moved, he barked, "Now!" and they quickly scampered off.

He groaned and threw up bile onto the grass. "I hate being a leader." he muttered weakly, resting his head in his arms again.

Thalia, noticing a mark on his bare left shoulder blade, spoke up; "Is that…what is that?" she asked shakily, gesturing to it. The skin was deep red in colour and slightly shiny like a brand, but the centre was blackened and burned as though it had never healed. It was in the shape of a scythe and underneath, inches deep the word 'Revenge' was cut into his flesh with crude dagger work. Altogether it was about the span of a hand.

Automatically everybodies eyes zoned in on it, their reactions ranging from horror to disgust to pity and mild appreciation in the case of Ares.

"Welcome to Tartarus" Percy replied, with obvious humour. "It's not all rainbows and ponies down there. And stop frowning Luke. It's not your fault."

The commander (who was indeed frowning) opened his mouth to reply, but without looking up, the assassin added, "Stop looking guilty, it doesn't suit you."

The commander smiled affectionately at Percy whilst he couldn't see it and looked through his handheld computer for some something to splint his friends still injured wing base. He covered it carefully in black cloth, and then wrapped a very fine strip of chain mail around it. Finally he bound it tight with stiff leather strips, Percy grunted, to hold the limb steady.

Without being asked, Chronus picked up the empty flask and refilled it with bronze ichor, knowing that Omega wouldn't be able to get through a full day without a boost. As much as the assassin was hiding it both the wing and that barely healed wound were still liable to open up even now. The commander smiled in thanks as he pocketed it, before wrapping the blooded chunks of the Soul Catcher's blade and hiding them away.

"You ready mate?" he asked, nudging the still immobile demigod, who nodded weakly. "Come on, we'll get you a shower or something." Apparently the thought of water was enough to catch the son of Poseidon's attention, and leaning heavily on his friend he rose shakily. Aruval moved protectively to his other side, and The Alpha moved forwards with them and even Thalia and Nico, daring anyone to turn them away.

Percy stopped dead (figuratively) a few paces later and turned to face the Olympians, "Hang around for the burning ceremony" he ordered, heading off without living them a chance to make an excuse. The message was clear; These people died for you, if you leave you disrespect them.

Feeling much stronger after a shower, Percy walked off towards the arena. The injuries were embarrassing to say the least. It was a well known fact that over and under exaggeration were dangerous to any warrior, and so Percy tried to make realistic judgements. He knew that the Soul Catcher was the most dangerous enemy on that battlefield, he wasn't being arrogant, it was a well known fact and they were rarely ever killed for that reason.

Nevertheless, to have been injured so severely and to have had the significant moments of his life story broadcast to all conscious made him feel weak and out of his depth. Nobody had made comment about the condition Annabeth was in when she'd died, but he knew they were now aware. The pitiful stares were enough to confirm that and it made the would-be-father all the more buried in self-loathing. Pull yourself together mate he told himself firmly, Its been half a millennia, there are people in worse conditions that you.

It didn't matter either way. Now it was time to honour their fallen heroes. The arena was packed, rows of seats overflowing with soldiers, campers, hunters, legionnaires and amazons alike. If there was one major positive of this battle it was that every single one of them felt some comradeship with the others; they'd all fought and died together. The wide doors in the four corners were pulled right open and thousands were crowded outside, looking in.

In the centre was one of the saddest sights he'd seen in a long time. Rows upon rows bodies covered in burial shrouds; greens and greys and reds. Pinks and silvers and blacks. The white of the Psi interspersed with the black and red of the Beta and the gold silk of the Delta, all together, no longer sectioned by their individual groups.

They'd lost 245 of the Gamma division, and 56 mixed from the other 5 battles. From the cavalry and aerial there were another 27, and 17 had died on the beach. He gulped back tears thinking about his lost friends, people he'd trained with for years, campers who were going to go out to live long lives, people who deserved their lives, had fought to earn that right, not like the scum he killed.

He stepped forwards, limping slightly as he winced when his wing joint twisted with each step, and the crowd silenced. He walked to the first body from Chaos' Army, a Battle Mage. Closely related to the Verns, she had sparkling golden hair, with black streaks that showed she was the elite of the race- a magician of battle; fast and strong and hard to kill. Apparently not hard enough. The size of the Army was such that he didn't know every face. He felt Luke walk up beside him.

"Senkai." He said, and Percy recognised her. "She was 36. Has two daughter's in Aether's City. Recruited into the Beta 23 years ago, a hero like ever other laying here today." The commander's voice rang out in the silence.

Percy closed her eyes and found the metal amulet around her neck. It was galactic steel (a blend of star-silver, celestial bronze, imperial gold, stygian iron and many other metals,) in the shape of a triangle, a letter 'A' printed on it, with a smaller 'e' inside the upper triangle-the mark of The City Of Aether. As he pressed the cold metal to his hand it glowed sea green, and her whole body was lit up in a ethereal light.

The people watching frowned, wondering what he was doing but he simply walked to the next body.

The Alpha, with Umbra now strong enough to walk, along with the Commanders copied his movements. Each closed the eyes of their fallen, saying a few words clearly for everyone to hear, before pressing there amulets. Each glowed a different colour; gold for Zoe, purple for Umbra, red for Aruval, red-black for Luke, deep green for Tezar, and many others besides.

When all of the soldiers bodies were done, the commanders stood back leaving only Percy at the centre of the arena. The Olympians, particularly Hades, were watching curiously, wondering what happened to souls outside of the Underworlds grasp. He decided to explain. "We honour our fallen with a final gift. At death, there souls would walk from there bodies and wander the battlefield alone for the rest of time, but instead each soldiers wears an amulet." he showed his own. "The amulet traps there soul temporarily inside it, allowing them to be called before they are sent to rest in Aether's Realm of the Void."

They continued to look confused, so he decided to demonstrate. Uncapping Riptide, he touched the flat of the blade to his alternate palm and it glowed in the same sea green light. Thrusting his hand into the air, the bodies glowed shocking bright, a warm light though, not harsh like Hyperion's, and as they faded a ghostly figure stood beside each body, coloured slightly in the light of the commander that had awoken them. He smiled at them, and they came forward into the space in front of him. The Olympian's were dumbstruck, whereas their mortals were more fearful.

"We honour you in our final gift. We thank you for your sacrifice. You're names shall be written in the stars for all to see as the heroes of our age. Those who heard the call of a threatened planet and gave your lives for those you have never met because it is right, and just to help when you can. You will fade soon, unless you go home to Aether's Realm, but each of you may have a last word if you wish."

Slowly they came forward, speaking to those in the Army that they cared for, to those they had come to know on Earth, to those they had a last word to say to. The fear left the camper's when they realised how truly magical this was. Omega smiled when a Carn stepped forward and told him it had been a pleasure to know him. A Carn was a 7ft humanoid being with thick grey leathery skin like an elephants and thick tails. Many of the Gamma were made of Carn's and they habited Aether's City in vast numbers, many living their whole lives in the ranks of the Army.

The flickering sea green form of his half-brother Orion stood forwards. Percy smiled sadly; all the children of Poseidon got on well in the Army and he loved getting to know real family. Orion looked at him and said sadly, "I am happy that I met you, it's been an honour to fight at your side." he turned to Captain Theseus and smirked, simply remarking, "I knew you'd outlive me."

Theseus replied with, "Everybody knows archers are weak ones." which Percy figures was his version of 'I love you'.

As though he couldn't decide whether to or not, the archer turned to Artemis. Smiling slightly he said, "I truly am sorry my goddess. I could never do enough good to redeem what I did to you, to all those others, and I don't expect forgiveness. But please, try to remember me as the man who tried earn your respect back, try to remember me as this and not as the monster I was." he turned away without waiting for a reply and walked back to the glowing group of spirits.

"Everybody ready?" Omega asked, and the spirits nodded. "You have two week's when you get back there, to say your goodbyes, before you will become one with the nature of the City, and help it to shine as bright and as brilliant as it is today, forevermore." What he said was true; the beauty of Aether's Realm and all of the habitable regions were the heroes souls that built the place. There consciousness wasn't distinct enough to talk or think but in hard times they had been known to come together and bless the people that needed it. Real life miracles.

He cut a portal through to Aether's City and the souls left. The arena seemed dimmer without them. Using the power of Freyja the Heliosapien he clicked his fingers and the shrouds on the left of the arena, the shrouds of the army, were set alight and the final part of their fallen heroes burned to ashes. The Army all lifted their left arm into the air, fists clenched and called, "Rest in peace, our fallen. FOR CHAOS!" in salute.

Percy limped to his seat at the edge and watched as the campers gave a few words and set their friends bodies in flames. It didn't look as exciting, there were less whizzes and bangs but sometimes it was the simplest sincere goodbyes that mattered. Most of the campers left to continue the clean-up process and many of the Army joined them but around 300 people came with him to burn the bodies for their enemies.

All he said before he set the bodies alight was; "These bodies, the many thousands that died, are not our enemies. Tartarus is our enemy and the Immortals that side with him. They fought for a cause that was against ours yes, but they died. They have families and friends and people who are waiting to say goodbye but cannot. And that is why we honour them, because they fell too."

The first time Percy was truly angry since his return to Earth occurred 3 days later at lunchtime.

He was sat in the dining pavilion with the Alpha who were talking about some of the funnier situations they'd gotten into over the last few decades. His wings were folded behind his back, but still in sight because the break in his left wing had yet to set properly. It was still strapped up, but the flesh had healed fully where the bone had broken through it and the red feathers were beginning to grow back.

He was wearing a dark grey hoodie covering a white t-shirt and black jeans, but underneath all that the sword wound was finally bandage less and was well on the way to being fully healed, though the damage the Soul Blade had done to his soul would be permanent and that part of it would always be weaker.

The assassin felt his handheld computer vibrate in his pocket and frowned. He very rarely got direct calls through the machine. Taking it out he recognised the number immediately as Commander Fleetwood's brother, Wera Fleetwood, who was a mayor on the Angeli planet Yenna. He quickly answered the call and a green tinted hologram appeared to his left, at the head of the table. The Alpha stopped talking and looked up curiously, with a few demigods in the surrounding tables looking over cautiously.

"Wera?" he asked, "What is it?"

The grey-winged angelus swallowed nervously. "We've got a little bit of a situation." he said shortly. Wera was usually a cheery character and there was only one thing that made him speak so; politics. Percy inwardly sighed.

"Something major?" he asked, prying to every deity alive it wasn't. Apparently they'd either all died, hated him, or this was beyond there control.

The angelus frowned deeply. "Yes. I shouldn't really be telling you this, the populous would be outraged if they heard. Your lot aren't exactly the most liked around here at the moment; many other places also." he said frankly.

The assassin's look darkened and his voice rose slightly, becoming more forceful. "'Your lot'? What is Chaos is going on Wera, and don't give me half-answers, tell me now" he replied.

The angelus backed off slightly, but kept up his wary exterior. "The people are outraged! After everything we've done, all the lives its cost us, most of them are calling for blood Omega! And considering you're the one that fixed the deal you aren't exactly safe."

"Fixed the deal? To join the Union? What's the problem Wera tell me straight!" More people were looking over now.

"Our planet has been supplying the light materials and textiles for The City of Aether since that war we fought for him, and he's decided he want to give the work that is rightfully ours away without a second regard! To add insult to injury he and your Union insulted our race, our workmanship and our army!" the angelus replied in growing anger.

Percy held his hands up. "Alright, let me get this straight. Aether insulted you? With the Union also? When, where why? Who heard him, how legitimate are these claims?" Omega asked calmly, even though his rage was building and white hot anger was flooding his veins.

The angelus replied; "Oh they're legitimate! Announced it all to that Chaos forsaken blacksmith planet," Aruval growled, unhelpfully. "And it's not just us. They've taken the farming business for our sisters to the west and half the Unions calling for his blood with all the snide comments he's been putting about! Look, I like you Omega, which is why I'm giving you a warning. But unless you and that Army can sort this out there are plenty of people calling to join Rapacia, and frankly sir I can agree with them!"

Percy took a deep breath and counted to ten. "Okay. Thank you for telling me this. To clear things up I've not heard anything about this at all, I'm on Earth at the minute. I'm going to sort this out Wera but I need time. As much as you can get me. Just, hold the fort for an Earth-day? Try to settle what you can of the others if possible.

"In the mean time, you can tell them that I officially state that they need not worry about there economic state; I will ensure they get there business back and personally I think its an outrage this has been taken from them as well, so they will get compensation. In regards for the comments made, I can't give an official statement but mark my words I will get to the bottom of this, and I will get a formal apology if I can.

"I'm on your side Wera, remember that okay? Make sure everybody knows this. How many planets is it all together talking about leaving the Union?" he asked.

Wera nodded along to his statements, copying down the words, before adding distractedly, "All the recent ones that you swung the deals for."

"ALL 37?" Percy asked loudly, catching the attention of anyone who hadn't already been paying attention (around 4 people).

Wera nodded seriously. "Right, I'll go and spread this around. I hope for the sake of you this sorts itself out." he added sincerely, before cutting the connection. The assassin leaned back in his set cracking his back and rubbing his hands over his face.

"I bloody hate politics" he moaned. Chiron, who had walked over looked at the demigod and asked, "How bad is this?"

"Very, very, bad." Percy replied heavily. "The New Universe is set up in a careful balance between Rapacia and The Union to make sure that wars are less bloody as neither side can 'throw their weight around' so to speak, without worry of retaliation. It means that most fights don't make it to the battlefield and are won on how many planets in each alliance agree with the cause. Its more diplomatic that way. If he's upset that balance…well it's serious."

Standing, he cut straight through the air with The Reaper and called into the portal, "Aether! I want a word! Now!"

The Primordial of Light stepped through the portal, closely followed by his wife, Hemera, Of Day. Percy stood silently, waiting to see if the Ancient being even knew about the revolt he'd caused. According to his curious look, he hadn't.

"Do you have any idea what you have done Aether?" Omega asked in a deathly quiet voice. The deity's brow creased and he looked closely at the assassin.

"Really?" Percy continued, "No idea? Do you remember insulting 37 of our allied planets? Do you remember taking well earned business from the empires that have held it and done the job exceptionally cheaply for you for years and deserve some loyalty? Destroying our relations with hundreds of thousands?"

The Primordial had the sense to look wary. "Omega, I had my reasons-"

"What reasons?" he snapped, cutting in. "What reasons could you possibly have about going about this in the first place, let alone doing it the way you did?"

"I…Omega I didn't mean this to happen. I wasn't thinking and I didn't realise it had caused any harm to-"

"Any harm? You have completely obliterated all of the work I have done in the past century and before it! You've ruined the stability of the New Universe, you've made Chaos' Army the laughing stock of our world and your City along with it.

"The Union is in ruins, there are thousands out to get me because I'm the one that set them up for this, promising stability and this is what they get? Forget Tartarus, we'll be ripped to shreds by ourselves! If we survive this war we'll have another one right after it! Do you have any idea what you have done?" Omega was shuddering with barely restrained rage. His fingers rested on 'The Reapers' pommel, itching to unsheathe it and cut Aether to shreds. Harmless he mentally scoffed, How could he be so stupid?.

Aether stepped backwards, holding his hands up. "Okay. Okay, I will fix this. I will offer a formal Statement of Apology, I will ensure they all get full compensation and plead our case-"

"You will not!" It was Hemera. She was looking at her husband with outrage, and at Omega with disgust. "We are Primordial's husband." she spat. "We do not apologise like common mortals! You will do none of this, you will continue the way you want to, and you will not be lectured by this insolent boy!"

Aether looked scared. He was locked between a very scary assassin and his wife. Cleverly he chose the wife. "Hemera dear-"

She cut over him again. "I won't hear it, Aether. If you're half the man you were when I married you you'd burn this demigod to nothing for daring to talk this way."

Omega growled. "I will talk to your husband any way I chose Hemera. He has destroyed all the work Viper and I have put in stabilizing the New Universe, 100 years of peace treaties and alliances torn to shreds in a few unguarded comments and backhanded deals. He risks the lives of thousands of mortals that could die if Rapacia and The Unions silent standoff is knocked off the scales, without considering the damage if Rapacia fully gained control!"

The demigods and soldiers still seated in the pavilion were watching with fear and wonder as Percy Jackson went head-to-head with 'the Hera' of the Primordial's. Aether couldn't get a comment in either way and this argument was escalating by the minute.

Hemera looked outraged. "You will not disrespect me and my husband! You have no place standing before us mortal. Kneel as befits you. You should worship us! This is insubordination on the highest level."

"Wrong." he replied calmly. "This isn't insubordination. Militaristically I stand higher than you do, and politically we are equals just as Nyx and Chronus are. But if you want me to leave so be it."

Silence rang out through the mess hall. When Luke had made that threat it hadn't seemed so major, but the way Omega said it the demigods could tell it was a serious consideration.

Hemera looked smug. "Leave then, demigod. We do not need you. This is not your Army, it is mine, and so you leave alone." she laughed nastily but he smirked in return.

"Wrong again." Omega replied. "The Alpha are honour bound to serve me above all others. They can try to dissuade me but if I leave, they must too. You'd be losing your best leaders. Furthermore, many are loyal to me and the Alpha and may leave the Army by free choice if they so wish, to follow us. Finally, this isn't your Army. It isn't mine. It's Chaos' Army, and it doesn't matter whether they follow my word of yours, its there own choice what they fight for.

"So here's the deal Hemera. Back off, let Aether fix the mess he's put himself in, or you lose half your troops if not more. You can't win without us Hemera. Don't gamble the fate of millions on your deadly pride."

Silence echoed round the gathered. Hemera's face was easy to read; she was panicked. In a golden light, Chronus arrived, placing himself cleverly between the two.

He glanced between them, gauging their reactions no doubt. Percy tried to keep his face impassive. He didn't care whether Chronus was here, his threat still stood. Aether fixed the issue or he left. Hemera looked conflicted; half of her welcomed her father to save the day, the other half wondered who's side he'd pick and hoped it was hers.

The Time Primordial sighed; and looked at his daughter, before turning his gaze on his son. "Aether, issue the apology. We need our allies, and we'll need the Union before this fight is over. You've done a lot of damage to a great many and it's your place to fix it. Hemera…I'm removing your rights in the militaristic operations of the council."

She gave a cry of outrage but he silenced her with a cold, hard look.

"If I can't trust you daughter, not to take our power and use it wrongly I can't have you near Chaos' Army. If you want people to worship you as you just said you are not acting like a Primordial and I will not have our council tainted to look like Olympians by your petty authority complex. Get out of my sight." and with that, she was gone.

He turned back to his son. "Keep an eye on her, Aether. I want her no where near the running's of your City for as long as the Army uses it as a base, is that clear?" The Light Primordial nodded. "You will call Omega by the end of today and have some good news on this situation." Aether nodded, and left also.

Finally, Chronus turned on the assassin, meeting his dark glare unflinchingly. "You want to be careful what enemies you make Omega."

The assassin smirked. "I have far more formidable opponents that Lady Hemera." he replied dryly.

The Primordial nodded, "I'm sure you do, but the Primordial council is tense enough without this. Lady Nyx was halfway from ripping off her head."

"I was halfway from ripping off her head." he replied coolly. "Keep your daughter in check, Chronus, next time, I won't warn you. I'll just leave." He turned to Luke, giving him the black sword and sheath from his belt. "Don't follow me." he turned away. "That's an order!" he added, before he was gone in a swirl of his dagger.

The commander frowned, before passing the sheath to Aruval and saying quite clearly; "I officially, voluntarily, leave The Alpha squad, and Chaos' Army" he drew is sword in the stunned silence and teleported out. The amassed crowd looked blindly at each other, and then in shock as the Primordial of Time burst into laughter.

"He knows Omega will give him back his titles and place. It's the only way to get out of the order." he explained, still laughing manically.

Chapter Text

Luke arrived at The Hangman's Noose a little later than Percy, owing to the fact he had to teleport to the ship, (there really was no other way to leave the conversation than to teleport, it looked far more impressive than walking off), step through the universal door in the coms room to The City of Aether, go up two flights of stairs to reach another universal door, this one to Trove, take a 14 minute ride by horse to off the f*cking beaten track as the town should be called, and walk half a mile from the public stables to the bar itself.

He stepped into the seedy-looking pub, and strode to their usual spot on the short side of the L-shaped bar, where his superior officer was seated downing what had to be at least the 3rd whiskey. Just where the son of Hermes had known he would be. Whenever either of them got so p*ssed off they had to get away from everything the quiet pub in a backwater town on a planet known for its unobtrusive, hardworking people was the best place for a drink.

The commander himself was looking forward to a relaxing chat with just the two of them himself, but knew Percy was not likely to be in the casual talk mood. Sliding into the spare seat he signalled to the barman for his usual, waiting for his companion to break the silence.

"I could just not reinstate you." The assassin said drily. He hadn't looked over once yet, keeping his sights fixed on a cigar burn on the bar top. Now that was a good night thought Luke.

"You'd never cope without me. The paperwork alone would kill you, it's not like Aruval could take my place – I'm not even sure he can write. Do they teach lumberjack's to write here? Seems like a pointless skill really. Not to mention the people that you would have to talk to daily, there'd be murder in masses by the end of the first week!"

Omega looked out of the corner of his eye at his friend, raising his eyebrow but conceded the point a moment later with a slight shrug. "You took your time getting here," the assassin struck back with. "Exactly how difficult was it?" he asked with amusement, he'd clearly anticipated how complex Luke's journey would be.

That b*stard. The son of Hermes glared with all the strength of ten thousand Hellhounds, but this only prompted a snort from the son of Poseidon. Deciding the ice had been adequately broken, he turned to the matter at hand, absently tapping the bar for a refill as he collected his thoughts. "How bad, exactly is this?"

Percy sighed, and for once Luke saw him only as the young troubled kid trying to solve the world's problems. Problems caused by a fool once more, he thought viciously, the wheel turns and nothing changes. For the rest of his life he would scorn the naïve, childish actions of his younger self, and hate the titan that had manipulated a bitter teenager into a murderer. If there was one thing he hated more than anything else, it was beings who lead the vulnerable astray.

"Aether could have lost this war for us, or it might be a minor bump in the road."

The commander's attention snapped back to politics, not that it had ever been his strong point. Give him a blade and a battlefield over the silver-tongued men and women that duelled with words.

Percy continued, "Politics in the New Universe is so fraught with people trying to one-up each other it's hard to tell when it's a real mistake and when it's a mountain out of a molehill. Ordinarily I'd trust Wera's judgement, but even he dances in the same sort of circles that stir trouble."

Right, battle strategy. Step 1- assess the potential damage.

"Worst case scenario?" he asked, trying to help focus Percy's ever tempestuous mind, so like his fathers' element in a storm.

Percy flashed his friend a thankful look before replying. "Wera's telling the truth, Aether has blown the alliance wide open, the Union loses ¾ of its planets, Rapacia gains a ¼ of them, the balance is broken and Rapacia goes to war with us, slaughters all who stand against them, help Tartarus to rise, lose control of him and the universe is destroyed. Probability; a little less than 1 in 20."

"Admittedly not a wanted outcome. Best case?"

"It's nothing but Wera blowing things out of proportion, and we continue as we were. Probability; getting less likely the more I think of it."

Step 2- Identify the predominant dilemma. "Okay, so it all lands on if it's true or not, which thankfully isn't difficult to confirm. Any disadvantages if it is all and nothing?" Luke hoped to all the gods the odds were in their favour.

Percy nodded thoughtfully. "I suppose it would de-stable the camp's trust in us. Viper and I will have to spend several weeks away to sort this out, which lowers our defences. It'd be the perfect time for a coup from our lot, or maybe the others, but I doubt even Zeus could have set this up."

Step 3- Chose the immediate course of action. "Which means we need to get back. If you send Aruval off to confirm it then you'll at least know what you're stepping into. We can sort out the details if you do have to leave later tonight and then you and Viper can set off in the morning."

Percy stood up and clasped Luke's arm, pulling him off the stool and into a manly hug. He looked his best friend in the eye, a serious light in his own. "Thank you." He said sincerely, "For every time you've helped me out, and for just being there like a kick-ass bro. And for taking it when Blackjack hurls mental abuse at you. And for being less of a p*sstaker than Sol-leks."

Luke grinned, clapping him on the arm. "Any time Perce. I could hardly leave you to be molested by Gina could I?" He sniggered, remembering the first conversation they'd had after the demigod had collected him from the Underworld, after Luke had dragged a flirty Gina away from the poor son of Poseidon who clearly didn't want to sound rude in his rejection. The then not-a-commander had had no such qualms. Thankful she didn't hold it against them. Much.

Viper was concerned. This wasn't exactly a common occurrence, which made it noteworthy in itself. There was no denying that little bothered the scathre in the grand scheme of things. He'd been a member of Chaos' Army for longer than any other member of the Alpha, and indeed a great many others in its ranks. Even before that he had travelled far and wide, studied the people of nearly every race in the universe. He'd seen civilisations rise and fall with their leaders, whether they were great a just or as corrupt as those that Omega ended.

The scathre was often overlooked, the odd one out in a seamless group. Omega as their leader, with his friends-from-past-lives Zoe and Luke, Aruval and with him Gina, both of whom he'd met early in his joining of the Army, Umbra the shade that was loyal to him, and Sol-leks the joker he had drank with on occasion after leaving his Earth life behind. There was no denying that Viper seemed to be the quiet on in the corner.

Upon first meeting the Alpha many assumed he was more beastly even than Sol-leks, a dumb animal in a humanoid shape. Viper liked it this way. He saw so much more than normal beings, even his comrades were slow compared to him. His mind was as sharp as his ever sharp rapier's so he watched. The motives of others came so easily, he knew their insecurities, where to push to get a reaction. He knew what they wanted, what to offer to gain allies. And he knew what was bothering them, when they only needed to talk.

Though the former were both crucial in his political games, it was the last that he favoured the most in how he cared for his comrades. Viper had come into the Alpha, assuming that as before he would keep a professional distance between him and his teammates, but their honest, good hearts had warmed his cold heart and they had become his family.

As the oldest in the Alpha it was natural he became a father figure to the others. They had all been a little bit in awe of their leader at some point, and he knew unnerved the young man –and he was young compared to Viper- so he'd long decided to treat him paternally. The scathre knew this decision had comforted the assassin some, letting him know that 5600 years was roughly the age required for someone not to place him on a pedestal, no matter how small his comrades were.

Secretly though, in the quiet corners of his mind that even his friend the shade could not reach he was proud of Percy like a son. Even matured as he was coming into the Army, and the political minefield that it was he was untrained and clumsy but he had listened to the scathre's quiet advice where others had scorned knowledge and had become adept at dancing the nobles dance. His honest acceptance had tied Viper to him as surely as Umbra was.

Even now he shows his skill the scathre thought looking around the room. It was late on the fifth night of their stay at the Union headquarters in The City of Aether enjoying a quiet glass of wine as he watched his apprentice working the room with all the grace of an experienced artist of words. The nightmare that was the foolish primordial's mistake had indeed been as bad as they feared, and after fully investigating the size of the problem and tying those that had been quiet in the aftermath tightly too them, ensuring their alliance, they had invited  the aggrieved parties to a celebratory dinner to get down to the real meat of it.

Omega was passing between each group that had arrived so far, a simple meet-and-greet but Viper's excellent senses could hear every word that he was saying.

"It's been so long my dear Heradoc! It must have been last year's meeting…"

"I've been on business actually, things are stirring up on Earth again; you know how it is with the pit primordial…"

"I'm sorry to hear that Madam Carramoor, but with Rapacia stirring up trouble things will be getting dangerous for all of us, if you know what I mean…"

"I'd start getting your men back in one place if I were you, if things don't settle down you might well need them…"

The subtle threats were making the members more tense, yes, but the idea of a common enemy was already doing wonders to heal the damage Aether had caused. Most of the beings here had no real fibre to them, the chances of any joining Rapacia were slim. Percy was reminding them of the past wars with Rapacia and the new threat of Tartarus whist simultaneously quieting their tempers about the lack of time he'd spent on the political scene lately, and how that had led to the Light primordial's thoughtless insults.

Viper swallowed the last of his wine and went to join his leader, apprentice and beloved son-of-his-heart to give his observations wondering if his comrades on Earth were having a better time of it.

Thankfully it had happened whilst Percy had been doing his daily check-up at the camp, otherwise he was pretty sure they would have strung Luke up heed less to the cries of Chaos' Army. It was a tricky situation, and even afterwards Percy wondered if it wasn't too soon. But allies they needed, and this would certainly add to them.

It was daybreak when a camper from Dionysus cabin sounded the alarm. His girlfriend from Demeter cabin came running down half-blood hill to where those responding to the call from the alarm (the camps, and the Alpha team) were gathering round, some of them yawning at the early start.

"THE MINOTAUR! The Minotaur is here, and more Hell-hounds than I can count!" she screamed. It was a wonder she could manage even this given how out of breath the girl was. "They're marching up the hill, but for some reason it's shouting for the crooked one or something. It's not making a great deal of sense."

With all of the Army carrying the Travellers Blessing within a few days the almost all rest of the inhabitants of Camp Half-Blood had been Blessed by someone, and they now had all the benefits of being able to understand all languages, including the language of houseflies. Admittedly there wasn't anything particularly interesting that houseflies have say but if any of them wanted to know what was on that fly's mind they just had to listen. Surely one of them wanted to know? We all have our odd quirks after all.

As they reached the top they heard the Minotaur's roars but almost superimposed over the top they heard the words it meant to say. Come to us Master! It cried out. We had heard you are here, in hiding. It's probably best not to advise anyone to send Minotaur's undercover. Absolutely rubbish at fieldwork and not the most secretive of beasts. Give us instruction so we may tear the godlings apart!

Some of the more intuitive of the demigods understood the implication and looked over at the son of Hermes as he flinched back, as though struck. He looked at Percy in desperation who grabbed him by the shoulder and looked at him. Luke must have been able to read something in his face that the campers could not, because he nodded once, and stepped onto the top of the rise of the hill, and into the sight of the beast, though he remained out of reach behind the barriers.

The Minotaur gave a celebratory roar and the hellhounds howled at the dawning sun in exuberance. Luke had seemed nervous as he walked to the crest but as soon as he stepped over the line he had changed drastically. His back straightened and shoulders squared. To those around the curve of the rise who could see his face they saw as he shifted from the relaxed playful they had grown used to into a hard lined almost ferocious look that sent a shiver down their spines. To Thalia and Nico, it was like he had stepped back 500 years as he crossed the line to the times when he had been their enemy.

"So you have come." The son of Hermes' voice was cold as the morning and held a disappointed tone. "I've waited for you, assuming my servants were still loyal to me, still followed my word. But see how you have repaid my graciousness in my time away!" The latter was shouted and the monsters flinched back, cowering.

"Perhaps while you have reaped the benefits for other beings rises you have forgotten me, perhaps they gave you blood and now you have forsaken me, perhaps other gods rule you now." In little more than a whisper he could still project an aura of fear over the group. "While I rotted in hell with you for hundreds of years plotting our rise to glory once more you have been allowing other to lead you, when they will never give you the blood I would! I would have let you drink the very blood of gods, but not now. Now you must earn your riches."

The campers were spellbound, terrified by the sight of their old enemy. There was no denying the strength of his leadership when a few words could have these monsters recoiling in horror and bowing to his will centuries after his time. Unbeknownst to the campers, in the Throne Room on Olympus the gods also watched in muted shock and displeasure.

It did not last, the spell broken as one Hellhound leapt at the barrier and snarled loudly. I WILL NOT HUNT WITH A TRAITOR!It called out with its growls. A traitor to the godlings and a traitor to Kronos, I heard he killed him! Stabbed himself with a bronze blade and sent our true leader to the void!

The other hellhounds shifted restlessly, some growling also, others unsure. The Minotaur turned to Luke again and said in a roar of almost-outrage Prove you are the Titan of Time. Prove you are worthy to lead us or we will tear you apart!

For the first time since taking on his Kronos persona the commander looked visibly nervous. He glanced at Percy in carefully concealed fear but the assassin knew what to do. He just hoped to all the gods Luke forgave him for this. And that the campers wouldn't run screaming. Throwing his time-powers at the son of Hermes was painful and extremely tiring. He barely remained conscious from the feat and had enough sense to use the concealing magic he had stolen from a chameleon creature he had slain years ago to charm Luke's eyes a bright molten gold.

In the Throne Room Hermes let out a quiet sob in mourning of the times past, but even he was unnerved. The then-traitor had gotten the closest ever to bringing Olympus down. The campers were frozen in fear and even Percy felt a shiver up his spine. In the golden eyes Luke became Kronos so easily it was enough to make him want to reach for Riptide.

The commander glanced once at the sky, almost as though asking forgiveness, before looking straight at the Hellhound who 'defied' him. It was not growling any more. In fact all the monsters were shivering with fear, some on their knees trying to grovel. Tilting his head to the side he used the power of Kronos to surround the Hellhound, and speed up time for it. It aged in seconds rather than years. Growing greyer and feebler, its bones began to stick out and its skin hung loosely. Finally its fur melted away and its skin flaked and it turned to gold-grey dust on the floor.

"Does anyone else dare to cross me?" Kronos spoke in a quiet voice, for he appeared to be the time titan in every facet of him. "No?" The monsters bowed to the floor, the camper leaned back as far as they could for they were frozen to the spot and the Olympian gods shuddered. "Wait in the woods a few hundred yards away. Kill no-one. I will be back later."

As he turned and stepped back below the crest of the hill the façade dropped off him and he seemed lost in himself. For the first time in a long time Percy saw Luke as he was as he lay dying. Broken.

Thalia had decided to join the latest scouting party because the atmosphere at camp was beginning to get stifling. Percy (he would always be Percy, her dopey cousin to her) had been away so much for the last week along with Scathre, trying to navigate what he described as the political minefield that Aether had been the cause of and after the strong reminder of Luke's previous loyalties everyone at camp seemed to be waiting for the explosion.

Thalia of course trusted Luke as much as she would any male, which admittedly wasn't all that much, but even she could only stand so much before she had to kill something- preferably a monster. The scouting parties had increased in frequency since the latest battle that had taken them so much by surprise and there always seemed to be more nearby monsters to hunt so Thalia had leapt at the chance to wear down some of her bloodlust.

As much as she would like to bring only hunters in her group the mixing rule was still in place so she was in a small team consisting of several of the Ares cabin, the Roman Apollo children, and two amazons named Beth and Kelly, her loyal hunter friend Chloe, Nico di Angelo and Sol-lek's the wolf shifter of the Alpha.

They'd been tracking what had to be a fair sized group of monsters for several hours when Thalia first sensed something wasn't quite right. They were heading towards a high rise of earth that lead to a sharp drop down into a bowl surrounded by sharp rocks. It was the perfect place for an ambush.

"Thalia," Nico asked hesitantly. "When was the last time you saw the monster tracks?"

Thalia stopped dead. How could she have let her emotional baggage get in the way of the hunt? She hadn't seen fresh tracks for several hundreds of yards before the copse of trees they'd just passed through. A snarl came from behind them.

"Close Ranks!" Thalia shouted, hoping the training they'd been putting in was going to pay off. Sol-lek's let out a howl of challenge as monsters started to pour out of the woods. Three huge Fleeth's lead the charge, followed by a pair of dracaenae and a legion of Cyclopes. A flicker of gold between the trees was all the warning they got before the Nemean Lion padded softly towards them. They were outnumbered, but they were more than capable of fighting them off.

"Plan?" asked Benjamin, a Roman son of Apollo.

"You cover us from closest to the edge. Ares cabin try to push the Cyclopes back into the tree's and give us some space. Girls;" Thalia gestured to Chloe and the two amazons, "see if you can get the dracaenae onto the rocks. Nico and Sol-lek's can you handle the Fleeth's, I've got a date with a lion."

The heroes leapt to work like a well-oiled machine, each playing their part as Thalia charged the lion. It had been over 500 years since she'd last seen the Nemean Lion, on her last quest before she became a hunter. In that time the beast seemed to have grown immensely. It towered over her at least 10ft tall, muscles rippling beneath glittering fur. Its eyes were dark as Tartarus as it surveyed her.

Thalia knew that monsters like this either made heroes, or tore them apart. She knew its weakness- the mouth- but Thalia had no space food or equally crazy ideas that her cousin seemed to pluck from his confusing brain. She had to get it to open its mouth, and for that she'd have to get up close and personal. Drawing her twin silver hunting knives and stepping up.

The lion paced restlessly around her. It clearly sensed she was no novice demigod, they both danced around each other, leaping forward and falling back looking for an opening. Thalia saw one first, its hindquarters were slightly closer to her for all that its head was turned to her front. She dove at him from behind throwing her whole weight behind her strike, knocking his foot from under him.

The Lion snarled, but it had outsmarted her. Thalia's strike had left her back dangerously unprotected and the beast swiped at her with its claws. She rolled under it, tossing her knife behind her at its face. The cliff was too close to her now. She was right on the edge and the Lion could smell her fear as it advanced on her. She scrabbled for her footing on the loose rocks as the crumbled down the ravine. The hunter could smell the beast's fetid breath as it crouched for the pounce.

Just as she thought her death was inevitable, a flash of black fur knocked the Lion away and over the edge. Sol-lek's was half the size of the Nemean Lion though he made up for it in sheer strength as the wrestled from the bottom of the rise. The Lupet yelped out a cry of pure agony as the Lion got the upper paw, crunching his between its powerful jaws. The wolf shifter twisted in its grasp, snapping at its face, jaws locked tearing at the beast.

But the Lion was not done. He raked his claws along Sol-lek's back; opening four gashes that poured blood reddening the sand in which they fought within seconds. The thrill of a dying enemy was too much for the Lions control as it roared its triumph! Sol-lek's took his chance in what may be his last kill biting down on the Lions lower jaw, through his tongue, ripping the mandible from the beast's skull through sheer strength.

The Lion howled as Sol-lek's finished it tearing apart the rest of its head until it dissolved into golden dust. Seeing that their strongest had fallen, the few Cyclopes and single dracaenae fled.

"Lead the hunt Chloe!" Thalia cried as she raced down the rocky terrain to the Lupet that lay in the bloody sand, chest heaving with the effort to keep breathing. "We need to get him back to camp!" Nico was by her side in an instant as she began binding Sol-lek's wounds with the bandages she always carried.

"I can take him." said the son of Hades. He helped her in wrapping the wounds so the wolf didn't lose any more blood. Nico wrapped his arms around Sol-leks' neck. "You lead the rest of them back.

The shadows in the ravine crept towards the underworld child, thickening as they wrapped around him and the Lupet before the shadows faded back to light without them.

Lupa was a wolf, and in her mind there was no greater thing to be. Wolves were strong, fierce creatures that stood for all Rome stood for. Greatness for the strong, death for the weak. Protection of the homeland and defence of the pack.

She herself was an elegant study in contradiction. She was the Mother of Rome, and would guard her pups to the death, but she would send them into danger to give them courage. She raised those who raised the greatest civilisation its era and she raised them strong, but she watched her empire fall and her cities burn quietly to protect the few demigods that remain. When time had come to put aside their differences with their Grecian cousins she learned how to play pinochle and dealt with that horse of a man Chiron to aid the alliance. Wolves stood firm in the face of defiance but she had learnt to bend her neck even if she was a goddess.

So when war was upon them once more she dealt with the lusty, naïve attentions of the so called 'Alpha' lupet-pup that bothered her, for Rome. The wolf goddess could not deny she saw strength in the lupet-pup, but he was wild and young, untrained when it came to true 'pack' and would be as much a hindrance on the battlefield as an asset she was sure. The sort of pup you allowed to wander off into the woods to get itself killed so your other young could grow strong in its absence.

And yet. And yet the Mother was unsure. She knew that her beloved Jason had once been young and untrained. He came to her so young that he could not survive on his own, and she had not cast him out. The she-wolf saw the strength in him as she had seen in it Romulus and Remus. Now Jason was strong, her dear pup was the immortal trainer of New Rome and had a pup for his own. So maybe all hope was not lost for the lupet-pup.

Lupa smelt the blood before she saw him but she knew it was the very pup about whom she thought. There was too much blood. As she raced towards the scent she knew it was bad. She used her godly powers to reach out to the mind of those who had brought him and found the chaotic thoughts of Jason's-littermate, the hunter girl. The wolf goddess saw in the Greek's mind how the lupet-pup had leapt on the foul beast that nearly killed her, taking down the prey even as it injured him in protection of the pack.

It solidified the thoughts in her mind. The pup needed training, and had just proved himself worthy of it. She would let him run with her pack until he learnt the ways of wolf-kind properly. He had spent too long among humans and had lost the spirit of the pack. In her wolf form she stood a little smaller than the lupet-pup at only 4 ½ ft too his 6, yet the she-wolf barrelled through the gathering crowd, snarling as she went.

Reaching the centre she saw the pup was badly wounded as she had feared. Great claw marks of a cat (foul beasts that they were), rent his back open and his paw had been crushed by the beasts' powerful jaw. The shade was trying to heal him as his pack gathered around pressing bandages to the blood but she knew it was fruitless. He needed the power of a goddess.

Lupa growled loudly. Move. I need space. She bent over the pup and licked at the blood pooling from his back. Her saliva was antibiotic, as was any canines', but hers had the power of a goddess. The blood sank back into the cuts, and new skin began to cover the wounds before she backed off and started on the paw. When the Mother knew he would live she padded away and lay next to the young-one. Her pack joined her surrounding their new member and giving him warmth and comfort.

Lupa allowed the lupet-pup's pack to remain close along with the littermate of her grown-pup and Pluto's offspring, but snarled threateningly at the rest of the crowd. Leave. The one word held enough command for them to scuttle back to their tasks. The she-wolf could hear the waking lupet-pup speaking to his pack, but allowed them their privacy. She had a new youngling to train, and this pup may be the hardest task yet. He was certainly arrogant and stubborn enough to give her training of Percy Jackson a run for its money.

Her feelings for the lupet-pup were already maternal, and she would continue to snap at him for his advances, but he would learn that he must find his own mate and start his own pack, and not with her who was already Mother to Rome.

Chapter Text

The day after the ambush that had so gravely injured Sol-leks was the day that Omega returned to camp. Gina knew that Luke had sent a message to inform their leader about the Lupet’s injuries- and the Mother of Rome’s saving of him, but the Commander had been very tight lipped on his reaction to the news. When the latherid saw Omega, she understood completely why he had not said a word. He was furious.

The assassin’s anger was a tightly controlled thing. Like a stormy ocean, the full might of his rage was not felt unless you were immediately in front of him. From a distance there seemed to be only an increased energy to his form. He was wearing his full uniform, a dark hood obscuring his face, but Gina was always intuitive when it came to emotions, and did not need to see his face to garner his feelings on their team-mates injury.

It was almost the end of lunch when Omega arrived, taking a moment to greet Sol-leks, where he lay at the end of their table in his wolf form. The still healing wounds on his back meant it was best for him not to return to his human visage until they were fully healed. After a moment, the assassin stood up, aware of all eyes on him and turning to stand where all of the beings of earth and small collection of the army could see him. 

“Full meeting, in the amphitheatre, after lunch.” He said shortly, before grabbing Luke by the shoulder and nearly dragging him after him as he stalked off to the ship. The gathered people started to talk as soon as he seemed to be out of earshot, the low buzzing of their talk filling the open air mess hall. Chiron left – presumably to gather the other leaders of the demigod groups which occasionally ate in the ‘Big House’. 

In barely two minutes the entire gathering of people eating lunch had filtered out to gather in the arena stands, still talking curiously amongst themselves. There hadn’t been a full gathering since the introduction of Chaos’ Army when the Lambda ship had arrived. Gina stood with the other Alpha members, all of which had only glanced at each other after Luke and Omega had left to confirm their opinion of the mood their leader was in. 

Sol-leks took a moment longer to stand, and the team moved much slower than was usual on account of his weakened state. Thankfully the walk to the amphitheatre was not long. The whole of Chaos Army (nearly 20,000 beings) were gathered on the huge grass field surrounding the arena, which was also open air. Gina led her team into the stands nearest the door, taking a seat on the lowest row, next to where Luke had already saved their seats. 

“Know what this is about?” asked Aruval of the commander, receiving no reply but a nod and a smirk. The Axeman was not impressed with this, letting out a huff. 

“Let him have his mystery, Aruval” Gina told her surrogate brother, nudging his knee with her own. She looked to Omega, where he stood leaning against the barricade that separated the stands from the sand fighting arena in the centre. The lower half of his face which was exposed from his hood looked emotionless, but it was still clear to Gina that he was anything but. Their leader cared a great deal for each of them, she knew, and Sol-leks’ injuries were likely a personal affront to him. 

Look out Tartarus, now he’s coming for you. She thought.

Once the last few people entered – the immortal counsellors that had once been Omega’s friends - he walked to the centre, pushing his hood down as he did so. He walked a small circle, gaze drifting over each and every person in the arena. 

“I’ve had enough of sitting back and waiting for the fight to come to us, haven’t you?” the assassin asked the crowd, in a loud, carrying voice. “A few patrols, scouting parties and fighting back when they come to this camp is all well and good but I think it’s time we take the fight to them!”

There was a lot of talk at this, the gathered crowd murmuring amongst themselves all at once, but it was clear from the tone of voices that they were for the most part in agreement.

“Protecting this camp is crucial,” Omega continued, “If the source of the Olympians power is threatened, then annihilation is possible, I’m not denying that. The majority of our forces have to remain here, a defendable base from which we can attack.” Their leader started circling again, continuing to address the crowd which seemed unable to stay completely silent. 

The beings of Earth had had hope, since the arrival of the Army, but it was undeniable that there had been a tension, a fear, in the air. Many of them were not much more than children. The idea of taking the fight to their enemy was enthralling, filling them all with even greater hope.

“What I’m suggesting will be dangerous, it could very well lead to the deaths of those who take part, and so I want you all to be absolutely certain before you step forward.” He paused, taking another moment to stare hard at every person in the crowd, impressing his point upon them. Gina knew that he didn’t need to say this to the Army gathered outside, listening too. They were all willing recruits, but the young men and women of the demigod camps, hunters and amazons did not have that luxury.

“My spy has given me information on two bases of Tartarus’ Army on Earth. I’m asking for volunteers to take part in raids on these bases. Let’s wipe their forces off of this planet all together!” There was a great cheer following his words, and Gina smiled. She agreed with Omega’s words. They’d done quite enough sitting back and waiting for their enemy to strike. 

The latherid glanced at her fellow Alpha teammates, before standing. “We’re going to need subtlety, Omega.” she said, loudly. “As the resident expert of our little group, I’d like to volunteer myself.” 

The assassin smiled, nodding. “I was going to ask for you,” he replied. Gina leapt lightly over the barricade, stepping up next to him. She felt movement behind her, and with slightly less grace her surrogate brother followed her into the middle. 

“You’re not what I’d call subtle!” Luke called from his seat, to general laughter of the Alpha team. 

Omega looked like he agreed before sighing, “I suppose we’ll need someone to bring doors down once we’ve done the sneaky bit.” He said in acknowledgement, receiving a clap on the back from Aruval.

“Why do I get always get stuck with the boring stuff? You get to go out on raids and I get to stay here and train.” Luke complained loudly.

“That’s because you’re the side-kick.” Omega quipped back, smirking at him.

Luke looked affronted. “I am NOT your sidekick!” he declared, looking scandalised. 

Omega looked blankly at him. “You are.”

“This is completely unfair. I never used to be the sidekick!” the commander complained. “Gods, I knew I should have stayed on the dark side.” Everyone froze, looking unsure how to respond. Even Luke looked shocked at his poorly chosen words.

“Are we joking about this now?” Omega asked, looking confused. “We never make jokes about this…”

“I normally just think them.” Luke admitted. “That one just sort of, slipped out.” 

Omega smirked. “I’d suggest not letting them ‘slip out’ in front of Blackjack. He might take you seriously.” 

Luke shuddered. “Yeah, probably best I don’t.” The awkwardness was obvious still, and Gina sighed loudly, before speaking up the break the silence.

“Anyone else going to volunteer? Or are we taking on Rapacia with just the three of us?” she asked. Instantly the campers started all taking over each other again. 

“I’ll come,” said a quiet, but nonetheless clear voice. The immortal son of Hades stepped down the rows of seats and crossed the arena to stand with his cousin. Omega nodded at him, looking satisfied. He was quickly followed by Commander Fleetwood, the great winged Angelus who led the Gamma division. Then a daughter of Ares called Sophie, who was the new cabin leader, and then soon 50 other beings of earth. Some hunters, two amazons and a mix of Greek and Roman demigods. All of them were 17 or older, skilled enough to make it to such an age in such a dangerous lifestyle. 

Then a hundred of the best of the Beta Platoon, many of them also demigods in their second life. Fleetwood pledged 100 of his own division. Another 40 of mixed groups from the Army joined them, making a full 300 people. Omega nodded at them all, looking pleased. 

“Excellent. We’ll begin planning our attack right away, and then Tartarus’s Army will get a taste of their own medicine!” another great roar of approval followed the assassins words as every member of the Earth Alliance shouted their agreement. Gina could hardly wait to show the enemy what resulted from hurting their own.

----- x -----

Nico di Angelo stood alone on the crest of the mountain range that surrounded the base they were about to infiltrate. While the other two groups were Percy and a group of four men and Gina with a group of four women, Nico had chosen to take only four undead warriors with him. With the understanding that this was an extremely risky mission, the others had agreed it was the best option. 

The other 300 volunteers that made up their raiding party were by the entrance to the valley in three groups, waiting for the signal that the security was down and they could storm the building. Aruval was leading one group, Fleetwood a second, and the final group were led by Sophie, the daughter of Ares. The plan was simple; the three strike teams would each enter a different sector and disable the alarms for the entrance on that section. Then, each of the larger groups would storm the base from the outside, and clear the building, working from the outside in.

Nico heard Percy give the signal through the specially designed anti-monster-attracting earpiece that he wore, and shadow travelled into the building. It was immediately clear that the base was active, there were monsters of every type moving throughout the hall, along with several more human looking beings. They seemed surprised at the son of Hades arrival, freezing for a moment before turning to him as one and attacking. 

With his four warriors – Achilles among them – behind him, he charged. Thankfully, his swordsmanship had improved over 5 centuries, or he would be in real trouble. He was soon surrounded and desperately hacking his way through the horde. He lost two warriors before he broke free of the group, darting down a corridor and heading towards the control room. 

The spy had given Percy some very detailed maps of the base, and Nico had memorised them completely, knowing this was the fastest way to it. It took two more skirmishes with monsters – leaving only he and Achilles still standing (there were protections around the base that stopped him from summoning more) he finally made it too the room. Once he had disabled the locks on the outer door he radioed through to Sophie, telling her to hit the base now, before barricading them into the control room and preparing to defend it until his sector was secure.

----- x -----

Percy Jackson did not have quite as easy a time of things. Knowing from Gade that the western sector of the base was the most heavily guarded, he had chosen to hit it himself. Teleporting his four companions in had been difficult, but manageable. A large group would have been impossible however. It was quite in this part of the building, but those they did come across were difficult to subdue and eliminate. 

Geario, a carn who had volunteered from the gamma division was the first loss to their team, taking a bullet to the throat and dying instantly. Omega managed to take down his attacker with a dagger to the eyeball, and they moved on in a much tenser fashion. In the next room Yarnad of the Beta too was gunned down. 

“Which way?” asked Colin, a son of Hermes as they came to a fork. Omega gestured the left, taking point as he lead them through the twisting maze of corridors. They made it through another corridor before he felt it. A primordial being was in the next room. There was no doubt about that. Waves of power rolled over them, bringing the group to a stop. 

Speaking in a low voice to the two still behind him Percy instructed, “Take the other door at the end and then two rights - that should take you to the control room. I’ll distract them. Send in the rest of them as soon as you can.” Colin and David, a son of Apollo, nodded as one, before scurrying off in the direction he had indicated. 

“So you have chosen to face me alone, Assassin.” Said the being that stepped into the corridor. He was tall and solidly built, though not bulky. Even without the power that seemed to ripple through the floor, he was intimidating. “I’ve heard so much about you from mother.”

“Funny,” Percy responded, readying his swords. “I’ve heard nothing about you.”

The dark haired primordial grinned madly, flashing perfect white teeth over red lips. “I am Moros, he primordial of Doom!” he declared, pulling a long, thin, silver chain out of the air. He whipped it once, before stepping forwards. 

Omega lunged, slashing out with Riptide and nearly cutting off Moros’ arm. The god leapt to the side, looking unconcerned about his near maiming. He cackled loudly, thrashing his chain in the air and making Percy roll to dodge. Moros soon had him on the defensive, the long chain giving him an advantage in the narrow corridor, as he whipped it around mercilessly, backing the assassin in a dead end.  

“You don’t really live up to your legend, do you?” the primordial commented, looking disappointed. “It’s a shame really, but that’s the trouble with fighting me!” he winked. He’d be charming, if he went clearly psychopathic. “I am Doom. Yours, mine, everyone’s. And you are really due some tragedy!” he looked joyful at the thought.

Percy made a desperate leap, plunging Riptide down on an arc that managed to leave a deep gash the length of Moros’ left arm. He paid for it, however, as the primordial struck him around the torso, the thin chain ripping through his light armour like tissue paper, and biting into his flesh. He gasped in shock as the chain was dragged back, pulling out chunks of muscle with it, leaving a trail of crimson across the floor. 

The assassin dropped down heavily to a knee in shock, the white hot agony searing through him. He gasped, feeling as though he might be sick. Moros tutted loudly, as he stepped closer, leaning down. “Such a disappointment. I really don’t see what mother see’s in you.” He said with a sigh. The Doom-god reached out, placing a hand on Percy’s shoulder, almost in comfort. 

He looked up at the primordial in confusion. And then Moros dug his thumb into the scar where the Soul-Catcher’s blade had lodged in his torso. It was like his soul was being ripped apart. Though there was no wound, the area felt as though Moros was peeling back his skin. It felt as though Percy would split in two and drift away into the void. The primordial twisted his thumb and the assassin could only gag, eyes streaming, as he felt his very soul rip open a little more where the blade had left a wound.

In the darkest parts of Percy’s mind, where he could still think more than horror-agony-revulsion-fear-OhGodsI’mGoingToDie-help-please-pain-terror the assassin understood. The blade had done more than break open his flesh, it had ripped right into his soul. The damage was irreparable. The odd weak feeling that had clung so long after the attack had nothing to do with the wound. His very life-force was seeping out into the air. It resembled most closely the feeling of Kronos’ Scythe on the Princess Andromeda, but orders of magnitude worse.

Moros laughed, a mad cackling that seemed distant, until he released his hold. The area still throbbed, making the fresh wound in his side seem like nothing. Omega couldn’t move for minutes, shaking on the floor at the primordial’s feet.

“You’re barely holding it together, aren’t you? There’s a gaping hole in your soul and you’re such a mix of power from so many different beings that your splitting at the seams! I’m going to have such fun with you.”

Percy managed to push himself upwards, staring up at the primordial. “I’ve killed beings far worse than you.” He said.

Moros cackled again, true madness dancing in his eyes. “You know what? I’d love it you killed me! If only I could see what happened to your body even afterwards. You have no idea what it would do, do you? I wonder how long you’d last…” the Doom-god looked intrigued by the idea, and Percy felt confused. Chronus had implied killing a primordial of Tartarus or Erebus’ strength would destroy him, but Moros was no stronger than his brother Oizys, whom the assassin’s blade had reaped centuries ago. 

Moros glanced over his shoulder. “Ah well, we’ll have to leave this talk until another time, hmm? You’re friends are here.” He smiled at Percy. “I’ll see you again, very soon.”

And with that, the primordial of Doom disappeared from view. Not a second later, Aruval came sprinting down the corridor, his namesake weapon raised high. He came to a stop when he saw that Omega was alone, before lowering his blade and rushing forwards. “What happened?” he asked, ripping a med-kit from his belt and pulling out a bandage. He pressed hard on the still bleeding wound at Percy’s side, causing the assassin to gasp and gag again, nearly vomiting on the floor. The pain rippled through him and caused the scar on his shoulder to twist again. “Where did they go? The primordial?” he axeman asked again.

“Disappeared when he heard you coming,” Percy gasped out, trying to breathe evenly through the sharp pain. Aruval nodded in response, dragging Percy up and along the corridor. 

“Come on, base is nearly secure. Gina, Di Angelo and Fleetwood are handling it. We need to get you back to camp. Umbra’s going to kill me, he wanted to come with us. Said he was sure something was going to happen. I didn’t know shades were psychic.”

“They’re not.” Percy managed to struggle forwards with most of his weight on his team-mates shoulder. With the new damage Moros had done, the assassin could feel the split in his soul more fully, impossible to ignore. Every step felt like fear. Part of him thought he would drift away if he moved to suddenly, as though the rip would split further and all that was him would fall out. 

But what was left of him? Moros was right when he said that Omega was a collection of other beings power. Percy Jackson had died the day Annabeth Chase did, but Omega wasn’t a complete being either. Whatever he was it was a hollow shell filled up by other beings. Would it be so bad if he did drift away? He scolded himself for the thought. He couldn’t. He had responsibilities. He had to fight or the safety of Earth, and all his friends; old and new. 

Aruval must have noticed his weakening steps, because he hauled the assassin over his shoulder and carried him just in time as Percy slipped into unconsciousness. 

----- x ------