Percy of the Huntsmen

Welcome to the Jungle

Mount Olympus, Greece. 1004 B.C.

"What the Hades did you just do?" Poseidon thundered as he stormed into the throne room of Mount Olympus.

"Well, excuse me," said Hades from his honorary throne. The solstice wasn't today, but Hades was seeing Hestia and spent a lot more time hanging around Mount Olympus, and act most Olympians turned a blind eye to on request of Aphrodite.

"What did I do to anger you this time, brother dearest," droned Zeus from where he sat polishing his Master Bolt.

"Let's see. Oh, maybe you KILLED MY CHILDREN!" Poseidon yelled.

"Do keep your voice down. It bothers my arthritis." Zeus was a bit annoyed at Poseidon's loudness, in his eyes he was helping the world by removing potential threats to his throne.

"You're a god. You don't get arthritis. And even if you did, noises don't affect it. But back to business, you can't just go around killing my children! I mean, maybe if we made some sort of pact that all three of us major gods wouldn't have kids, I'd understand that. But killing a two year old in cold blood while granting Heracles godhood mostly because he's your son? This has to stop. If you kill any more of my children, we'll have a war of the gods."

"You don't understand! Your children are--"

Zeus was cut off as Hades stood up slowly from his throne. "Let's not forget about my twins, Nikki and Blanco, that you killed last year. I never thought I'd say this, but I'm on Kelp Beard's side this time. You'll have war if you so much as attempt to kill any more of our children."

§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§

Percy woke up on a bed in a white room. "Where am I?" he asked.

"Welcome to the jungle," a voice said mysteriously from just outside his line of sight. Abruptly, the voice started laughing. "Welcome to the Medical Ward, more like. That's a good one, though. Welcome to the Jungle. Has a nice ring. Might make a good song someday, eh? Wait. Nah. That sounds really stupid."

Percy looked over and saw the same boy who led the rescue/kidnapping that went on the previous day.

"Who are you?" Percy asked him. "Where am I? What am I doing here?"

"I'll try and answer all of those questions to the best of my ability. But for now, you are here and not dead by Zeus's hand. That's all that matters for now." The boy replied. "Oh, my name is Adamantios, but you can call me Adam. Here, let's go on your grand tour of our little headquarters. You're going to be spending a lot of time here."

§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§

"And that's the weapons room. We're looking to expand it, but for now that's all it is," Adam said as he pointed at a small barn between the main house and the barracks. "It's conveniently located near the Arena, that's a fun place. Full of fights, usually not to the death,-" Percy made a face "- and last but certainly not the least, we have the Pitch. That's where we play Ball, War, Capture the Flag, races, hold large meetings, and some other select activities. Today, looks like the boys decided on Capture the Flag."

"But you still didn't answer my question from earlier in the tour." Percy persisted. "Why are you so far out in the woods? There's plenty of space for this base near Sparta."

"That's the biggest thing. You see, we aren't like regular people. You see my marks?" Adam pointed out the tattoo on his right shoulder and the three long parallel scars that ran diagonally across his arm and biceps just underneath it. "The scars mean I passed my initiation testing and I'm a qualified Huntsman. The mark is the Greek letter Alpha. I have this because I am the Alpha of this pack of wolves. We're formally known as the Huntsmen though, on account of us 'hunting' for people."

"You're the leader of a pack of wolves? Where are they?" Percy asked, his curiosity piqued by this new information about Adam.

"They're right there," Adam said, pointing to the group of wolves playing Capture the Flag. Percy glanced at them, but didn't see anything too wolf-ish about them. Maybe Adam was hallucinating? But when he turned back to say something, Adam was gone. In his place stood a large wolf, easily a meter tall and two long. The wolf growled at Percy, but then morphed into Adam, who grinned as Percy gaped at him.

"This is what it means to be a member of this pack. We recruit werewolves in the area to join our ranks of Huntsmen. Here we provide a semi-safe community where the strong thrive and the weak around us are dominated by the pack.

"There are quite a few strains of the Lycanthropy virus that makes people werewolves. This is a pack of the wolves that aren't mindless, bloodthirsty beasts. We might enjoy a bit of fighting, but we keep our heads for the most part. The more monster-types we chased off to an Island that the Anglo-Saxons are trying to build an empire out of. Fools. Nothing good will ever come from that island."

"You never know," Percy replied. "I just have one more question."

"Shoot."

"Are we going to bring my brother here too?"

"Y-y-y-you have a b-b-b-" Adam stammered in shock.

"Yes, I do. I imagine he's quite lonely, maybe even lost. He was wondering off into the woods when you came and got me. My mother always said not to go anywhere without him. I was gonna tell you, but I blacked out before I got the chance."

"This brother," Adam said, still retaining a shred of hope, "he was from a different father than you, yes?"

"Nope," Percy replied. "We're twins."

Adam turned and stormed off yelling for some people to join him in the Council Room of the main house, finishing with, "And get there now, dammit. This is serious!"

§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§

Κρόνος:

Contrary to my previous message, the mission was only half successful. It seems that the boy had a brother. It would have helped to know that there were two of them. I would think that the Damnati have taken him, based on where he wandered to, but I pray that is not the case. If it is, we are in some deep crap. I will have men continue to search and make sure the other boy isn't too far gone. Thank you for your business, we hope that our future endeavors go more smoothly.

With Respect,

Alpha Adamantis and the Venatores