Super awesome and special shoutout to hunter_of_artemis30 for being amazing! Also happy holidays to everyone! Be safe if your traveling! And watch out for reindeer. And save me some green m&ms!

Enjoy this super loooonnng update!

"Some things never change." Luke mumbled under his breath so quietly Percy wasn't sure he actually heard it.

Percy had to agree. After everything crazy that had happened recently it was comforting to see the demigods around the pingpong table. Connor Stoll was spraying Cheez Wiz in Lou Ellen's hair while she was harboring a piglet that use to be Travis.

Katie Gardener was eating crackers and trying to get Butch from the Iris cabin to stop changing her clothes colors. Clovis was snoring on the middle of the table and Clarisse was engraving the pingpong table with a pocket knife line she was imagining it was Luke.

The only thing that truly bugged him is that there was no sign of Achilles or Annabeth. Just two extra chairs that everyone avoided looking at. Percy kept telling himself there was some reasonable explanation. Maybe they were sick? There was no way Achilles was dead. That was just a stupid dream.

"You'd think they'd be a little more organized." Luke commented, brining Percy from his thoughts, "After two wars and such."

Percy snorted, "This group? Organized? Be real, L- Hero." Percy frowned as he tripped over the name again. Luke shot a small smile at him.

"Watch it Savior." Luke elbowed him, "Otherwise you're becoming Second in Command slightly sooner than planned."

Luke said it like it wasn't a problem for him. Oh yeah, I'll just fade and disperse into the air and no one will remember I really ever even existed, but Hey! You get to be in charge! Somehow he pulled it off.

Percy swallowed awkwardly, leaving a strange taste in this mouth.

Luke elbowed him again, whispering finely even under the roar of the room, "Geez, relax Perce, Your wound up so tight you look constipated."

"I don't!"

Luke grinned, for a second the light caught across his scar, "I'm surprised you can even move."

"Shut up."

But Luke was on a roll. "No really, Your face had that contorted look and you're kinda holding yourself-"

"Just cram it you son of-"

Luke ruffled Percy's hood like he was ruffling his hair. Percy could feel the magic keeping the hood covering his face. He had no doubt when he did finally take this stupid thing off, he'd have ungodsly terrible hood-hair.

Suddenly Luke looked up, seemingly irritated. He huffed, and crossed his arms again.

"If you want to talk to me, all you have to do is come up and introduce yourself." Luke said with a roll of his eyes. Jason and Piper exchanged surprised looks, like they couldn't believe Luke noticed that they'd been watching them for the past five minutes. Jason pushed his glasses back up his nose leaving a fingerprint on the lens.

The room went quiet for a second, Connor stopped spraying Lou Ellen with Cheese and Katie finished shoving a handful of crackers in Brutch's mouth (he was silently choking still).

Then Jason shrugged and got up and walked over to where Luke and Percy were sitting. Standing, he was taller than Luke, and he extended a hand out to him.

"Jason Grace, Son of Jupiter." Jason said firmly, with a smile that seemed uncertain and forced.

Luke grinned at Percy shaking Jason's hand, "I like him. So formal."

Jason turned a slight red, embarrassed. Percy nodded in acknowledgement. He wanted to say "Me too" but he knew if he opened his mouth anything that came out would be a mistake that would give him away.

Luke nodded like he expected that. "Hero, Second in Command," he introduced himself, "I'm kinda like the guy that holds our team together."

An indigent laugh broke up what might have been a basis for an amazing friendship. Revenge stood in the doorway, laughing sarcastically, hands on hips his cloak pulled back revealing his silver sword.

"Don't let him fool you." Ethan said, "Savior did all the work!"

"You're suppose to be on my side Revenge!" Luke complained, "What are you even doing here? Cabin counselors and Chaos commanders only."

If Revenge cared then he didn't show it at all. He waved Luke off and plucked a handful of crackers of the dish and the spray cheese out of Connor's hand. "Cool pig," he told Lou Ellen, (Travis oinked in desperation) and then turned back to his leader.

"He kicked me out of the infirmary." Revenge shrugged, "Apparently calling a son of Apollo, "Sunny D" interferes with his ability to preform medical services."

"That would be Connor Stoll's fault." Jake Mason spoke up, from under the table where Percy was sure he was loosening the screws so that it would collapse later if Clovis didn't wake up, "He spent an entire school year chanting "Sunny D" whenever Will entered room without fail."

Connor grinned proudly, "I even put Sunny D bottles everywhere he went. He curses me every time I even bring up orange juice now." Pig Travis squealed in agreement.

Revenge sat down in a chair next to Percy kicking his feet on the table like he felt right at home. Clovis snored deeply. "So are we going to get this meeting over with or not? We're low on time and ten bucks says something stupid is going to happen."

Percy wouldn't have taken that bet. Too many stupid things had happened for something not stupid to happen. It was like the fates were running out of things to make him miserable so they just knitted random stuff now.

"Unbelievable!" The door burst open with a loud bang that caused Lou Ellen to drop pig Travis. Another demigod stormed into the room. Aside from the Chaos soldiers no one else looked surprised.

Malcolm from the Athena Cabin slumped into Annabeth's chair exhaustedly. His blonde hair a mess and his clothes looked slept in. His eyes were puffy from lack of sleep. He glared around the room, giving Clarisse a run for her money.

The room was silent.

"What!" He snapped at them, his tone harsh, "If your half sister screamed every time she closed her eyes then you'd look like this too!"

Luke stiffened but no one else seemed to notice. Percy felt sick. His insides twisting into a huge mess and crawl back up in throat. Annabeth.

His Annabeth.

Who else could it be?

"What's her excuse this time?" Katie dared ask.

Malcolm made a face, which surprised Percy. Back when he was alive, Malcolm was Annabeth's right hand man, the one who was always cool headed. Percy never even considered that they didn't agree on everything.

"She said she was too busy working on redesigning an Ares statue because some idiot blew it up." The son of Athena scowled, Jason looked down miserably. Percy tensed causing Ethan to glance at him with vague interest.

"Sorry, what's this about?" Luke asked. Even Percy noticed his voice was a little strained and he swallowed hard.

The rest of the demigods shared a look.

"Not it!" Connor said first, with Travis squealing about the same time. The rest of the room shifted uncomfortably.

"Two weeks ago...." Piper said quietly, "One of our camp leaders died. His girlfriend hasn't been the same since."

"No one's been the same." Will corrected her, walking into the room. Nico hand his arms crossed, a scowl on his face and he glared at Percy and Luke.

Chiron clopped in behind them firmly shutting the door. He raised an eyebrow at Revenge. Ethan waved at him, grinning like an idiot.

"You're enjoying this way too much." Percy heard Luke whisper. Actually the whole room probably heard him whisper.

No one said anything for a moment, which by itself was a miracle. A dozen or so ADHD demigods and a centaur in one room and no one spoke? If Percy wasn't already feeling sick and uncomfortable he was now.

"So...." Ethan said his voice making Malcolm jump, "What's this about a dead leader?"

They reacted much like Percy thought they would've. A collective gasp, Piper burst into tears. Even Clarisse looked murderous. Well she always looked like that. But it was like Percy was taboo, and Ethan degraded his sacred death.

Percy flared with anger, and he couldn't stop himself from shoving the Son of Revenge off his chair. "Really?!" Percy snapped at him, "Can't you see they're still mourning?!"

Luke stood up as well putting a restraining hand on his shoulder. "Out, now." He said, "or gods help you, I will find a way to tear that hood off."

Ethan rolled his eyes, a bit of purple mist dispensing into the air with a pop-pop-pop. He got up, shooting Percy a look he couldn't read. Ethan left without a question or a wave off his hand. Luke commanded respect. And Ethan gave it.

"One of these days...." Luke muttered, as the door closed behind his soldier, "I'm going to kill him. I'm really going to murder him."

Luke looked up as if suddenly aware he was in a room full of people who could hear him, "Uh, I'm setting a terrible example. I mean, Savior don't kill people. Murder is bad." He nodded satisfied, with his recovery.

"Lou Ellen, If you would kindly turn Travis back to human," Chiron said, overlooking the Chaos soldiers, "Katie I believe that's enough crackers, Butch her clothes were wonderful before. Connor please place the cheese spray away from Lou Ellen, and Jake that's quite loose enough."

The demigods sombered up, Travis and Connor hugged, Jake climbed from under the table. Chiron watched with his thousand-year-old stare. Percy felt his stomach churn again. We're they going to start without Achilles? There had to be an explanation...

Clovis kicked the plate of crackers off the table in his sleep, and they tumbled to the ground at Malcolm's feet.

No one bothered to pick them up.

"Hero, would you mind explaining?" Chiron said. Nico crossed his arms.

Luke took a deep breath, "I'm Hero, second in command of the Alpha team of Chaos's Army. I only come to charge when things go really bad. Which, to put it lightly, it has."

"Spectacular." Nico grumbled.

"Just how bad are we talking?" Jason asked, pushing his glasses back up his nose again.

Luke looked back at Percy. Percy shrugged letting him do the explaining. He was so good at it already.

The taller demigod looked around the room carefully, "Everything I'm about to say is under the strictest of confidentiality. Nothing leaves this room. That is not a suggestion, it's an order.

"There is an invading enemy force, under an unknown rule, that's attacked our home base and taken over. We just barely escaped. Most of our army has been wiped out."

"What." Percy couldn't stop the word from getting out. The demigods all looked at him. Luke waved him off like he didn't have clue what Percy didn't understand.

"Chaos has several hundred protectorate teams that reside on our home base. Naturally we all take shifts. We're lucky Archangel's a light sleeper.

"Revenge and I were out in the town at our base helping a friend of mine with his shop when it all started. Archangel, Halo, and Savior here, were all in the bunkers asleep. This is the first time any of them have on what's going on as well." Luke explained.

Percy wasn't sure what to say, but something told him to trust Luke. He was, after all, the Second in Command. All the demigods looked back at the Second in Command, worriedly. Luke winked at Percy, subtly, like he was having a grand old time.

"The enemy force and the Chaos army have been fighting for centuries. They have pockets of forces spread throughout the galaxies. But we never thought..." Luke paused and cleared his throat like he was trying not to cry, "We were the only ones to get off the base. And still this is only half our team. The scale of their attack was just too much."

"How was it too much?" Malcolm yawned irritably and glared at Luke, sensing a lie. Even being only half awake he thought more than everyone else in the room combine, "You just said Chaos has hundreds of teams."

Luke looked at him gravely, no sign his usually mischief.

"Wait so you're saying--"

"--This enemy is more than that?"

The Stolls said in that weird brother bond thing they had.

"And you came here." Piper exclaimed. She was shaking with anger, her kaleidoscope eyes flashing dangerously. Percy felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end, and the air was starting to smell like ozone.

Jason was flattering at them without a sense of that friendly grin he and Luke had shared earlier. "We just got out of a war! There is no way!"

Jason spoke with an edge like he was speaking for every demigod, every where. Little sparks flashed between his hair and the frame of his dorky glasses. He looked to be only seconds away from making a Hero shaped shadow of ash on the war room wall.

"Before you go and make some mistake, like attacking me," Luke flashed his grim smile, "I'm not here to drag you demigods into an Intergalactic war."

"That's not what it looks like to us." Piper said coldly.

"There's an old weapon that resides on this planet. Near here, specifically." Luke said, ignoring the look Percy was throwing him, "It holds the key to defeating our enemy entirely."

"A weapon that big?" Clarisse grunted stabbing the table again. The wood cracked.

"How could we not know about this before?" Lou Ellen piped up.

"It was hidden here by a friend of mine. In a short, under-exaggerated explanation, when she hides things, especially a weapon like this, it's extremely hard to find. Chances of us doing this without help is about... zero."

"Which would mean the universe would end." Katie pointed out.

"Yep," Luke said, "and even if you had found it before, it can only be activated by a Chaos Solider."

Nico crossed his arms, "Why should we trust you, anyway?"

Luke opened his mouth, but he looked stumped. Percy tensed, nervously waiting for Luke to spout another lie. The shadows wavered around the room, reacting to Nico's mood. Will elbowed him in the side, and shook his head.

"I believe we will have to take a leap of faith." Chiron said, in an old voice, that revealed his actual age. Percy looked at his old trainer surprised to find him staring right back, stroking his beard. It made Percy feel like he was twelve again, looking at that Greek statute of Kronos eating his kids, trying to explain why it was significant to life.

Nico scowled even more darkly at Chiron's words.

"So we help you find this weapon, in faith that you're not going to use it against us, and then allow you just to go zooming away through the stars with it?" Malcolm snorted, rubbing his eyes, "oh yes what a brilliant idea."

"I think we should help." Katie said.

"Me too." Travis agreed looking at Katie. He probably hadn't heard a word of the conversation. Connor face palmed, but nodded anyway.

"How about we don't." Clarisse suggested.

"You're just mad because he broke your spear." Lou Ellen said flicking her blond hair out of her eyes. The daughter of Ares growled.

"What does this weapon look like?" Butch asked, "Is a gun? A sword?"

Luke shrugged, "like an orb with bright orange glow and it floats."

The room was silent. Percy swallowed hard. All the demigods and Chiron shared a look.

"We're looking for a bubble?" Lou Ellen asked.

"A Dangerous bubble." Luke clarified.

"We're so screwed." Percy mumbled.

Luke seemed to be the only one to hear him. He shot Percy a disapproving look. To which Percy just rolled his eyes. Luke was so confusing, Percy didn't know how to react. Lying? To their faces? Percy found it a miracle neither Clarisse nor Nico had tried to kill them.

"Can you think of any places she might have hidden it?" Luke addressed the demigods again.

Butch looked thoughtful, "Well, the Labyrinth isn't impossible. And there's an entrance in camp borders."

Luke didn't reply. Percy shivered involuntarily. They both knew all too well about The labyrinth. That terrible awful place. With their luck that would be exactly where Zoë would hide it. In the place neither Luke, nor Percy, would dare set foot again. Percy doubted even Ethan would dare.

"Yeah but how would they find it again? The labyrinths an ever changing death trap, idiot. They'd have to be superhuman to do that." Lou Ellen said.

"The forest?" Katie suggested, "Other than capture the flag, we don't use it much. Your friend could've hid it in there in a distant corner and we never would've known."

"We can send search parties out." Piper said shortly, "Right Malcolm?"

She wasn't answered. The nerdy son of Athena snored in sync with with Clovis. Piper kicked his foot and he shot to attention.

"Huh, what?" Malcolm said, "sure, yes, search parties, great idea."

"Bunker Nine."

"What?" Travis and Connor said together.

Percy looked at Jake Mason. He'd been so quiet Percy forgot he was there. The son of Hephestus was just studying the screwdriver in his hand sorrowfully.

"Bunker Nine," He said again, "The paths go all over the place it's so deep and unexplored. It could be in there."

"Which would be great and all, but..." Connor squeezed the can of spray cheese into his mouth, "we can't get in."

"Why not? What's Bunker Nine?" Luke asked.

That was the moment Piper got up and walked out.

"Piper!" Jason called after her, "Pipes!" He got up and ran after her, glaring at Luke like he insulted Piper. "Piper!"

The room was quiet after that a blanket of gloom settled on them like it had when Ethan mentioned Percy's name.

"Bunker Nine is a forge workshop." Clarisse grunted, "It was built a long time ago, when some people were fighting some other people-"

"Way to degrade the American civil war," Malcolm yawned again.
"-but it was closed never to be opened again." Clarisse continued like he hadn't even spoken, "Until a couple months ago when another son of Hephestus showed up here. He was a fire user, that means he could make fire from his fingertips, punk."

"I know what a fire user is." Luke huffed.

"He found the bunker and reopened it with his power." Clarisse examined her blade again, "He was part of the Prophecy Seven, like our camp leader, and best friends with Piper and Jason. He sacrificed himself to save all of us and take down crazy Mother Earth, Gaea. He was a moron."

"Shut up!" Jake yelled, "He was better than you!"

"After Leo died, Bunker Nine closed. We haven't been able to get in since." Travis said.

Clovis rolled over on the table and snored heavily. Percy wished he could be sleeping through this as well. It felt like a worsening nightmare. He wanted to just wake up and feel Annabeth in his arms.

"Who was your friend, anyway?" Katie asked.

Luke hesitated. He glanced back at Percy seemingly unsure, "She was....well..."

"Who?"

"She was from here. We called her Quiver...but you'd know her as Zoë Nightshade."

Nico moved to draw his sword but Will grabbed his arm and stopped him.

"Zoë's dead." He said, "She never-"

"I said it was a while ago!" Luke said iterated "It was a long, long time ago."

Lou Ellen looked uncomfortable, one of the orange symbols drawn on her jeans popped, changing her hair color to blue. Travis inched away from her.

"I think-" he was cut off by an Aphrodite boy running in it of breath. Percy thought he looked familiar, but his name didn't come to Percy.

"Chiron?" The kid said, "Sorry to interrupt, They're here, and Sherman, he...uh....it's bad. There's a lot of blood."

Clarisse grinned jumping to her feet, "That idiot! Picking fights without me!"

Will face palmed groaning, "I'll be right there, Mitchell." He grabbed his medical kit and ran out the door after the son of Aphrodite.

Chiron nodded though it didn't seem like he was interested.He was looking off in the distance. He stood up and Luke followed suit, stepping on Percy's foot. Percy took that as a sign he should probably get up as well.

Chiron nodded at them, "We will have to continue this later. I'm sorry, Hero. This requires my immediate attention. Though fortune is with you it seems." Chiron spoke. Percy noticed he'd been quieter than most times. It made him wonder just how much the old centaur was aware of. Did he know Luke was lying?

"What do you mean?" Luke asked politely, folding his hands behind him as they walked out the door. Percy followed behind a step, making sure not to step on Luke's cloak.

"If you are looking for something Zoë had, your best bet would be to talk to the Hunters of Artemis, Hero. Lucky for you it seems they are here."

Luke went completely still. "H-H-hunters? H-here?" He stuttered.

"Hey Chiron, Who are the losers with the hoods?"

Luke spun around. He was a sickly pale. And stood straighter as if that was actually possible. Percy and him both recognized that voice. Percy wasn't sure he'd be able to forget it if he tried.

Thalia Grace jumped over the porch railing, her Quiver of arrows latched on her shoulder. Her spikey, ink black hair stuck up and her electric blue eyes glared at them like she was looking for a reason to fight them. Her combat boots thumped against the wooden planks of the porch. The Hunter thing seemed to be going good for her, her confident smile shone just as bright as her silver parka.

Luke took one look at her and promptly fell over on Percy.