Mr Fire hazard (Leo Valdez x reader)

7. The iconic sisters

The Hunters guided us through a maze of corridors. The walls were concrete blocks painted army green, devoid of windows. The only light came from dim fluorescents spaced every twenty feet. The passages twisted, turned and doubled back, but the ginger-haired Hunter, Phoebe, took the lead. She seemed to know where she was going. At least I hope she did. 

Thalia Grace limped along, holding her ribs where Reyna had hit her with the chair. The Hunter must've been in pain, but her eyes sparkled with amusement.

'Again, my apologies for abducting you.' Thalia didn't sound very sorry. 'This lair is secret. The Amazons have certain protocols –'

'The Amazons. You work for them?'

'With them,' Thalia corrected. 'We have a mutual understanding. Sometimes the Amazons send recruits our way. Sometimes, if we come across girls who don't wish to be maidens forever, we send them to the Amazons. The Amazons do not have such vows.'

One of the other Hunters snorted in disgust. 'Keeping male slaves in collars and orange jumpsuits. I'd rather keep a pack of dogs any day.' 'I highly agree.' I said. 

'Their males aren't slaves, Celyn,' Thalia chided. 'Merely subservient.' She glanced at Reyna. 'The Amazons and Hunters don't see eye to eye on everything, but since Gaia began to stir we have been cooperating closely. With Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood at each other's throats, well ... someone has to deal with all the monsters. Our forces are spread across the entire continent.'

Reyna massaged the rope marks on her wrists. 'I thought you told Jason you knew nothing of Camp Jupiter.'

'That was true then. But those days are over, thanks to Hera's scheming.' Thalia's expression turned serious. 'How is my brother?'

'When I left him in Epirus, he was fine.' Reyna told her what she knew. 

"So, do you want to be a maiden forever?" Celyn the hunter asked me. "Sorry, no I have a boyfriend. And I left Amazons a while back." 

"Oh you're the daughter of Ares. You don't behave like a daughter of Ares." She said

"Yeah... Hylla said the same thing about me." I don't know but I think I see some judgement in her eyes but she kept it to herself so I'm not instigating anything. 

'Well, we didn't rush to Puerto Rico for a vacation. This is one of the Amazons' most secure strongholds. We took a gamble that we'd be able to intercept you.'

'Intercept us ... how? And why?'

In front of them, Phoebe stopped. The corridor dead-ended at a set of metal doors. Phoebe tapped on them with the butt of her knife – a complicated series of knocks like Morse code. It said Password. Like really dude. I learned a bit of morse code on my own. 

Thalia rubbed her bruised ribs. 'I'll have to leave you here. The Hunters are patrolling the old city, keeping a lookout for Orion. I need to get back to the front lines.' She held out her hand expectantly. 'My knife, please?'

Reyna handed it back. 'What about my own weapons?'

'They'll be returned when you leave. I know it seems silly – the kidnapping and blindfolding and whatnot – but the Amazons take their security seriously. Last month they had an incident at their main centre in Seattle. Maybe you heard about it. A girl named Hazel Levesque stole a horse.' Ohhhhhh right I forgot about that. 

The Hunter Celyn grinned. 'Naomi and I saw the security footage. Legendary.'

'Epic,' agreed the third Hunter.

'At any rate,' Thalia said, 'we're keeping an eye on Nico and the satyr. Unauthorized males aren't allowed anywhere near this place, but we left them a note so they wouldn't worry.'