One Shots feat. PJO, Irondad, and More!

Explosion (PJO)

To be honest, Annabeth was starting to get bored.

The monsters were numerous, but they were by no means a challenge. She wasn't sure who had let them into the camp- that was to be discovered later, though she had her suspicions- but the Drosoulites were never ending. Why they were attacking, she didn't know- she supposed they were just mindless warriors, attacking whomever they were instructed to- but either way, she and the rest of her friends were up at four in the morning defending the camp nevertheless. She was only wearing leggings and a sports bra as she ran through the shadow creatures, but she wasn't cold despite the June night. The adrenaline and movement had her sweating.

"Schist, how many of these things are there?" Piper complained as they waited for the next wave of soldiers to hit, leaning to stretch her quad. Her kaleidoscope eyes were tired and heavy, evident of the early wake-up call they had had. Annabeth grunted, agreeing with the sentiment. She just wanted to go to bed.

"In theory, three hundred and fifty. If I'm not wrong, but I don't think I am. But it doesn't look like they're actually dying the first time around."

She wasn't wrong; every time they drove a blade through a spirit they just seemed to melt into the ground instead of the usual explosion into gold dust. They re-spawned meters away like a poorly designed video game; they had been stuck on 'Level One' for nearly half an hour if the metaphor stuck. Occasionally the monsters would 'die' as expected, but for the most part, there were no signs that the onslaught would be ending anytime in the near future.

The daughter of Aphrodite slashed through a particularly grotesque apparition; it must have been trampled originally, with its face awkwardly distorted and bulging eyes. "How do we get them to stay down?" she spat. She was beginning to regret staying up to read that stupid book Jason had recommended. This was Hades.

Annabeth was quiet, focused as she easily went through ten invaders. "I'm not sure," she admitted, brushing ghoul dust off of her thigh. "But if we could find the leader of this army- Dalianis, I think, we might be able to shut this down. I'm hoping this is a 'take out the mother ship' sort of ordeal."

"Alright, what does he look like? I'll go kill that motherf-er myself!"

"How the Hades would I know?" Annabeth laughed, whooping slightly when an angry harpy swooped down towards a shorter silhouette, dissolving it.

Their conversation was cut off abruptly when a loud explosion sounded about a hundred yards away, lighting up the night sky in a brilliant green. Annabeth winced as she saw nearly fifty shadows get annihilated instantaneously. Around her, the ghosts halted in confusion.

She expected them to continue to charge, but as the smoke cleared with the time, they seemingly were all under the impression they were overpowered or more so uninterested in continuing their assault. The wind shifted and the illusions floated away into nothingness. Campers stood poised to attack with nothing to fight.

It was almost beautiful, the quiet that followed.

Piper hummed. "I don't know who set that off, but I think that Daliasis guy is gone."

Annabeth nodded, resisting the urge to correct her. "Along with everyone else, thank gods."

Still, she wasn't fully settled. Something felt wrong. Had they missed one? Was there another wave coming? Her gray eyes swirled under the waning moon as she scanned what was seconds ago a battlefield, searching for anything that could be off. For a moment she thought she was just being paranoid. Demigods were already dragging themselves off to their respective cabins; she saw Will and a few other Apollo kids hastily applying some quick bandages and gauze, but nothing looked serious. She dropped her shoulders with a sigh and sheathed her dagger, reserving herself to checking on Percy once before heading to bed.