Son of Odin

Strike Force

Percy bounded through the woods, following Artemis' godly energy. She wasn't making it difficult at all. Percy had preemptively sensed all of the hunters and knew that he wouldn't be caught off guard by any of them.

He suddenly fell through a tree to a winking Artemis who was lying on the ground waiting for him. He laughed at her briefly with a glint in his eyes, "You weren't trying at all." He told her obviously.

"No, but then again, if I was, I'd never get that kiss, and I want it just as much." She responded as she leant up and pulled Percy down to the ground on top of her. Neither had fully registered just how awkward their positioning was but once it clicked they both went an Ares shade of red before Percy laid a quick kiss on Artemis' lips. The taste of cinnamon danced across his senses before he stood and helped her up. A very sharp pain shot through Percy's mind before it disappeared as quickly as it had come.

"What was that?" Artemis asked worriedly, she noticed the brief moment of pain that had clearly alerted Percy to something.

"For fuck sake. I told them not to do anything other than to leave... How the hell did they get captured already? Gods now I'm going to have to fight half of the bloody amazons. Christ, OK. Artemis, do you have any hunters that are aware of the Romans?" Percy turned to her.

"Atalanta, my oldest. Why?" Artemis asked him. Percy nodded back to the main camp and they started walking.

"I need a hunter to come with me. In order to keep the casualties to a minimum I'll need to go in stealthily. I'm going to ask Atalanta to accompany me if that's alright with you." Percy began. Artemis nodded, feeling a little jealous that she couldn't help him but she was bound by ancient laws that mattered little to him.

When they finally got to camp Thalia walked straight up to Percy before any other hunters saw him. "You're a very lucky man Perce." She said with a knowing wink. "I ugh, what?" He asked in genuine confusion.

"Your man is a little slow isn't he milady?" Thalia asked, once again in a hushed whisper. Artemis rolled her eyes with a sigh.

"Oh." Percy mouthed. "Now isn't the time Thals. I've got some important Chaos duties to attend to, and I'm borrowing one of your hunters to help me." He explained. Thalia raised an eyebrow.

"Does Lady Artemis know?" She asked him curiously.

"Yes, she has allowed it. Where is Atalanta, I need to ask her if she will accompany me on a demi-god rescue. I'd invite you but you're too destructive like me, at least one of us needs to be able to resist throwing a lightning bolt at the enemy." Percy laughed. Thalia took the jest lightly and pointed over to where one of the taller girls was being watched by a number of the others.

Atalanta had three throwing knives in her hand and looked ready to throw them. She ran and leapt off of an adjacent tree and did a magnificent flip through the air. Two knives went straight and hit the target pinned her to her tree while the third knife shot straight towards Percy. Using his own incredible reflexes Percy span and roundhouse kicked the knife. It rocketed past every one of the hunters who were wide eyed at the exchange. The knife hit the dead center of the target.

"Thanks, I knew that one was going to go a tad out of projection when a boy was on the approach." Atalanta smirked as Percy straightened up.

"Yeah, I'm going to ignore the emasculation and focus on the fact that you just thanked me." Percy told her with a victory grin as Atalanta scowled at his quick thinking.

"You know with that quick wit of your one would think that if you were born Greek you would be a son of Athena." Phoebe commented, feeling the need to back up her fellow huntress.

"Phoebe you harsh woman, the thought truly haunts me." Percy smiled. The girls and the Champion all bonded over a moment of insulting the Goddess of battle strategy. It wasn't wise, but it definitely gave them all an air of maturity and mutual respect.

"Atalanta, Phoebe, I was originally going to just request one of you, but two is better than one. If you're interested, I'll brief you with Artemis present?" Percy asked as he already began to walk towards Artemis' tent. They both followed immediately. They'd never tell him, or at least not yet, but they both had come to like Percy nearly as much as their mistress.

"I thought you were only taking one?" Artemis raised her eyebrow at him. Percy stood at the side of the table as the two hunters walked in behind him.

"I couldn't decide between them, they're equally amusing to me. Besides, you would have said yes anyway." Percy responded with a certain eye contact that the girls had never seen her mistress give anyone. They knew that something was going on but they dared not speak of it, not yet anyway.

"As you were." Artemis leaned back in her chair.

"Yeah so anyway, the retards I'm helping on their quest have gotten captured by the amazons. Two Romans and a Greek. Luke Castellan, I believe you've met. He was the only other male that you guys would tolerate right? Well Hera took his memories, so no talking to him. The amazons have just had a teeny bit of a revolution which ended up with our demi-gods being captured. I'm too proud to just destroy the entire place, plus the more amazons we leave intact, the more support I can get the Roman camp. I know this is a lot to take in, but I promise that once we get back..." Percy stopped and just looked at everyone.

"Yes?" Atalanta prompted.

"That Artemis will explain everything to you while I disappear again." He said with a mischievous grin. Artemis glared at him with other emotions hidden behind her well-formed mask.

"You ladies in? I need stealth for this mission and you two are actually the only hunters old enough to understand the situation with the Greeks and Romans."

Both of the hunters agreed immediately. "Great, let's get to work." He grinned as he placed a hand on either hunter's shoulder. Surprisingly they didn't stab him. Instantly he displaced all three of them back at the central headquarters of the Amazons.