"Damn bitch …" she heard a rough voice mutter making her pause and slowly look from around a pillar, her eyes narrowing on the owner of the voice. "… Lost her …"
...
Standing at a full god form of just over fifteen feet and radiating a familiar bloodlust and power was Pallas, Titanic god of Warcraft. He was dressed in rather modern military fatigues but with a Kevlar vest that seemed to be laced with Celestial Bronze and even an oversized revolver casually strapped at his hip opposite a rather long Greek blade, his jet black hair cropped short with a trimmed beard from what she could see.
She couldn't make out his face since he was facing more towards the gates of the throne room on the opposite side but she didn't care much for him. Instead her eyes moved to the very center of the throne room.
There she spotted her daughter and just seeing the state she was in made the goddess grit her teeth as her eyes regained a deep scarlet color. Dressed in slightly torn pajamas was Cloelia, silently crying on her knees with her wrists cuffed to Riptide of all things.
The chains were crudely wrapped around the hilt and guard before dropping at the sides which then tied to Cloelia keeping the godling dangerously close to the cursed weapon. What was even worse was that she could clearly see a small bruise on Cloelia's cheek meaning Pallas or one of his men must have struck her.
Promising the worst levels of pain she could for whoever it was, she moved her eyes back to the lowly fuming titan, noting that he had around five guards with him, two being monsters within the gates, two more mortals closer to the Cloelia and finally one mortal soldier dressed a little more decoratively a few feet from the titan, with a star on his chest, Barret on his head, and only a large handgun rather than the assault rifles like the rest.
"Is it not possible to find her again?" the mortal asked and getting a look from the titan hastily added, "sir."
Pallas snorted before eyes narrowing up at the open ceiling, a clear view of the moon as more trenches and craters formed. "No. That goddess' presence is too small and with that upstart flaring his own power, I won't be able to detect her. Buts she's out there, somewhere," he muttered at the end as he clenched his fists before his attention shifted to Cloelia as the godling sniffled, her chains rattling slightly. "Besides, we have what she wants."
The mortal's gaze fell on her daughter as well before he sniffed in disdain.
"And why again have we taken this child? Was not the original target this Valdez god and his wife?"
"Yes, my little niece Calypso," Pallas agreed as she stepped closer to tower over the terrified godling who looked up at him trembling. "Originally taking her and using her to get Valdez to work for us was the goal but something so much better just dropped in our laps.
Even if Valdez already got his wife and Chase came here, now we know where he is rather than with the Olympian army and only a matter of returning to the island later tonight to capture both. As for Chase, capturing her daughter and making use of her is only another boon to us. Now all that's left is capturing the little goddess while Koios captures the other two."
'Other two?' Annabeth silently wondered as she slowly crept closer, knife already held in a reversed grip as she eyed Pallas' back.
"But will it truly work?" the mortal persisted as she looked at the godling rather than the enormous titan. "While these other gods you target truly be so foolish as to risk obvious traps?"
Pallas looked at the mortal with a chuckle. "Oh yes. You see, even if Jackson and his lot are admittedly powerful, their weakness is those that are close to them. You'd be surprised how easily they would come running to rescue their own being the weeping hearts they are and once we have them isolated and where we want them, it's only a matter of delivering the final blow."
"And you truly want to face such …" the mortal trailed off as he looked up, his gaze finding the scared moon. "… beings?"
"Scared mortal?" Pallas asked with a sneer, a brief rise in his power making his frame glow a dull gold as the mortal commander paled.
"N-no … just cautious," the commander replied before both paused as the chains holding Cloelia rattled, letting them know that she was pulling at them.
Annabeth also looked, just now noticing that Cloelia was pulling at the chains even as the steel cuffs scratched up her wrists.
"Struggling is pointless little girl," Pallas boomed with a mocking chuckle even as Cloelia persisted without looking at him.
That seemed to annoy the titan more than anything as he growled out, "And yet you continue." He then gestured to one of the guards closest to her daughter, the mortal nodding before lashing out with his gun, the butt end of it striking Cloelia on the side making her gasp and almost fall over as more tears streamed down her cheeks.
Seeing her daughter in such a state nearly drove Annabeth into a renewed frenzy and only thanks to her dagger was the bloodlust radiating off her hidden. However, she had enough of waiting as she took the moment with Pallas clearly distracted to attack.
Like a viper she lashed out, sprinting up to Pallas' back as her dagger struck forward with a scarlet haze around it. However it seemed that Pallas' own connection to warfare and trained instincts in detecting bloodlust were enough for him to react to the sudden danger.
With surprising speed he half-way twisted around, his head swiveling around to see her as she appeared like a phantom out of nowhere. He saw the dagger and tried to pull back while making a hasty grab for his sword … but it wasn't enough. She already been too close and initiated the attack, having jumped to make up the difference for their heights. With a mind of its own the dagger tugged forward farther than she would normally be able to reach, already honed in on its target.
Both watched as the dagger drove forward, plunging into Pallas' back around the right side of his mid-back, mincing past his Kevlar and splattering with ichor as the titan roared in pain. She clicked her teeth though knowing that while serious, it wasn't a fatal blow for someone of Pallas' endurance. Still, she wasn't one to be deterred as she pulled the dagger back and kept moving while Pallas' flailed back from the surprise and pain, her eyes narrowing on the two mortals standing by her daughter.
Her attack had been too sudden and fast for them to properly react and before they could even think of turning their weapons on her daughter, she threw her dagger. It sliced through the air before finding itself buried up to the hilt in the throat of the guard that had struck her daughter while she closed the distance to the other one.
The moment she was close she lashed out with a fist to the mortal's chest, feeling as the bones caved under her strength and the body was sent careening back into one of the abandoned thrones.
Without pausing she grabbed the hilt of her dagger and pulled it out of the dying mortal's throat as he crumpled to his knees, spinning around as her senses flared and just managing to block the large sword coming down on her. She grunted under the force as her eyes locked on the surprisingly dark brown eyes of Pallas, the titan's face scrunched in a furious snarl as he looked down at the goddess.
Annabeth was surprised how quick he'd already recovered from her blow and she could hear the guards outside yelling as they ran in with the sounds of combat but she could only direct her attention to Pallas marking him as the biggest threat.
"Mama!" she heard the happy cry from behind her but couldn't turn to respond, even she heard the clinking of Cloelia's chains.
"Chase," Pallas growled as he looked down at her, trying to push her back further but she held her ground well enough.
"I'm going to make you pay for taking my daughter," she replied as her frame started to glow gold and her stature grew.
Within moments she was went from mortal size to topping off at nearly thirteen feet proving she was likely the most powerful of the minor Olympian gods. Still, she knew even like this it wouldn't be enough to match Pallas.
Not to mention she could see the mortals and monsters alike already closing in around them, making her internally curse. Ideally she would have grabbed Cloelia and flashed out before Pallas could have recovered but it seemed that things just weren't going to go her way as she felt a barrier go up seconds after having attacked him.
Still, gritting her teeth she suddenly let up and stepped to the side as Pallas lurched forward off balance. Using it to her advantage she lashed out with a hard kick, nailing the titan in the ribs and forcing him several meters back before she pulled her shield off her back while jumping in front of Cloelia.
Not a moment too soon too as immediately the sound of bullets colliding with her shield echoed throughout the throne room as she hunkered down in front of her daughter. Taking the chance she glanced back and locked eyes with her daughter, internally cringing when she noticed her daughter flinch at seeing her currently scarlet eyes after having already looked at the dead guard close to them.
"It'll be okay sweetie," she said, trying to sound far more confident that she truly was.
Whether Cloelia fully believed her words or not she didn't know as she returned her attention to the battle as the guns trailed off, risking a peak over her shield to see the three mortals with guns reloading while Pallas glowered from just behind them, his oversized blade in hand as ichor slowly pooled at his right side. She also noticed the commander he'd been speaking to before was off further to the side and resting a palm again a glowing rune on the floor.
Detecting the energy of the barrier flowing around her she could tell he was the one who activated it, likely after gaining the ability to through a blessing from Pallas himself. There was also a smaller one around the mortal himself meaning she couldn't get to him and kill him to bring down the entire barrier for her escape.
Still, knowing she wasn't about to get better opportunity she glanced back at Cloelia, her daughter having stopped crying as she looked at her mother's back.
"Sweetie, I need you to look away and keep your eyes closed okay," she said firmly, hoping that her daughter would understand the gravity of the situation and not wanting her to witness any more if possible.
===================
Don't forget to throw some power Stones, to keep the story going.
...
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