The Truth Behind The Myths

Now What Do We Do?

"At least Annabeth's making a full recovery." Steve commented to Bucky as he watched his half-sister talk to the Roman Praetors.

Bucky shot him a slightly baleful glance. "She wants to go into Hades tomorrow and just fight the god of the pit... sounds like someone else I knew once up on a time."

"Are you saying I was impulsive?"

"Was?" He rolled his eyes. "You were ninety pounds of asthmatic fury. I had to pull you off of catcallers, racists, sexists, bigots, and just about everyone else. Not that I'm saying they didn't deserve it but good Lord Steve, you were like the human version of an angry chihuahua."

"I was not!" Steve protested, but Bucky just gave him a serious look and he sighed, silently conceding.

"That's what I thought." Bucky snorted quietly.

Steve elected to ignore the comment, heading in the direction of Nico as the son of Hades made his appearance.

Bucky walked to the beach, looking out over the two circles that were still inscribed in the sand.

Something was very wrong. He could feel it in his chest.

It wasn't an empathy link, per se, though he knew Percy had been connected in an empathy link before they fell out of that freight train. But with what he and Percy had been through together, he could sometimes sense if the other man needed something.

And now he couldn't connect with Percy in any way, but in his core he could feel an overwhelming sense of... Wrong.

He hated it and he hated that he couldn't pinpoint why he felt that way.

Bucky suddenly became aware of movement to his left. He turned sharply, one hand falling to his sword and the other drawing the pistol strapped at his other hip.

"Oh thank the gods it worked!"

The boy with shaggy black hair and unnaturally yellow eyes held his hands up when he saw Bucky in front of him.

"Easy, I'm not gonna hurt anybody! This is the Roman camp, right?"

"Who are you?" Bucky asked sharply.

"My name is Adrius Lycan. I'm the youngest son of Lady Lupa and protector of the son of Poseidon, Perseus Jackson. I am also known as Onyx."

"Where's Percy?"

Adrius made a face. "I'm not sure. We were stuck in Tartarus, and then suddenly his scent got very faint, like he'd moved away very quickly. I used some magic to get back, I was hoping he'd gotten away."

Bucky shook his head. "We haven't seen him. Something's wrong."

Adrius frowned. "That's not good... where are the others? I assume there's a war council of sorts."

The son of Nike nodded slowly. "There is... come on."

---------------

There wasn't much time for Adrius to speak to Steve and the others, because a warning bell began to clang in one of the large official buildings in New Rome.

"Enemies at the border!" The Lares were flying through the streets, yelling.

"Alright, time to suit up." Steve grumbled.

Adrius snorted. "Is that your catchphrase?"

The others shot him annoyed looks and he smiled innocently, then morphed into a large black wolf with golden eyes.

"See you there."

"Lupa's son." Steve nodded as Onyx left, understanding now.

"If he got loose that stands to reason Percy could have too... right?" Annabeth glanced at the other two.

"I have a feeling we're going to find out." Bucky shook his head and grabbed his chestplate.

It took them a minute to get ready, then they made their way to the Field of Mars.

"That is an impressively large army." Bucky commented.

"Gee, thanks James, we hadn't noticed." Nico shifted his chestplate and drew his sword.

Bucky smacked the back of his head lightly. "Watch it, punk. You're still smaller than me."

"So?" Nico just grinned challengingly.

"Can the testosterone competition wait?" Annabeth rolled her eyes. "We've got a more important situation to deal with."

The two nodded, but she could tell they were continuing to poke at each other. She rolled her eyes.

Nico stopped suddenly and peered down at the army they were about to fight against.

"Wait... who is that at the front?"

"It's Percy!" Steve exclaimed, looking surprised. The others began to relax, but Onyx's shoulders bristled and a growl ripped out of his throat.

"What the Hades is wrong with you?" Annabeth sounded annoyed.

It was Bucky who answered, as he shifted his grip on his sword, eyes narrowing. "That's not Percy... not in his head."

They looked over at him, but he stayed focused on the tall figure at the head of the enemy line.

"That's the Sea Warrior." He said flatly, squaring his shoulders.