With the devil on my shoulder

Jason locks eyes with the daughter of Hades across the table. He can confidently say that she terrifies him. There aren’t many things that he could truly say scared him, he was the son of Jupiter and a praetor of Rome after all. But the child of the underworld had a way of slicing through all of his defences and pulling apart what lay within. Judging by the looks on Piper and Leo’s faces, they felt the same way.

"So we’ll be entering through the south tunnel, hopefully there will be less guards, and we can used the cliffs for cover from any archers or aerial attackers…..You got that Sparky!"

Jason nearly jumped, stammering out a response: "Yup, of course, we scale the cliffs, duck into the tunnel, dodge all the guards…..and free the war criminal". He grimaced. "Easy!"

Clarisse nodded. "Any questions?"

Leo’s arm shot up. "Yea why exactly are we breaking into the prison of the gods, and why exactly are we breaking a prisoner of the gods out?" He shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno, I just thought we were supposed to be on their side"

A quiet voice broke through the din. "Because we need her." Silena Beauregard sat huddled in the corner. Jason had noticed that whenever Chase was mentioned, Silena drew back into herself. He had heard the stories apparently; she had been manipulated by Chase to be a spy during the war, and even now she hadn’t fully recovered. Beside him, Piper looked at her sister with sadness.

"We need her, and we need to get her out….thats-that’s as far as it goes."

Clarisse spoke up again, reclaiming the spotlight from Silena. The two had an interesting relationship Clarisse really went out of her way to protect the daughter of Aphrodite. "If it's any consolation, Valdez, I agree with you, I think it’s a shite idea," she shrugged. "But this is war, and we all have to do things we rather wouldn't."

Piper interjected. "Are you sure the gods will be okay with this? I mean, disobeying them to save the world is good and all but are you sure they’re gonna be ok with us breaking out one of their most dangerous enemies?"

"The gods are busy right now, McLean, busy getting torn between their different forms." Bianca said, crossing her arms from the shadows "I doubt they’ll even know she’s missing."

Now it was Jasons turn to ask questions. He was a warrior, he could see the wisdom in having someone as dangerous as Chase on their side, and if Chase was so determined to rule the world herself, then maybe she would take offence to Gaia trying to destroy it. And whats the old saying, 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend’ but even with that he needed assurances he wasn’t going to let his friends get hurt. "And how do we know Chase wont just stab us in the back the first chance she gets"

Bianca smiled. "Let's just say we have our very own nuclear option, Annabeth wont have a choice in the matter."

That wasn’t much of an assurance, but something told him he could trust the daughter of Hades- yea he was aware how ridiculous that sounded, but Bianca had so far proven to be nothing but truthful, even when it hurt.

He nodded. "Ok, let's do this."

//

Bianca and Clarisse led them to the armory. They weren’t short on weapons; he had his imperial gold gladius. Piper had her creepy foresight dagger, and Leo? Well Leo had……his hands? Whatever the case, Clarisse shoved a celestial bronze axe into his arms before handing out pieces of armour to each of them.

There was something on a shelf that caught Jason's eye. He crept closer to get a better look. Sitting on a ledge next to a smashed suit of armour was a pendant? Yea small pendant in the shape of a scythe. He picked it up and immediately felt a chill run down his body.

"I wouldn’t touch that if I were you." Jason spun around, coming face to face with Bianca. She held out her hand, and Jason dropped the pendant. He felt strangely empty without it.

"What is that?"

Bianca grimaced. "This is 𝘈𝘳𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳" she ran her finger over the pendant pricking her finger on its miniature blade and letting the blood smear. Suddenly the pendant transformed into a full-sized black Scythe. Bianca looked down at it, a faraway look in her eyes: "It was Annabeth’s weapon, she got it on her first quest." She turned it over, and it shrank into a sickle, just right for one hand to hold.

Jason suddenly became very aware that that weapon had likely done horrible things, touching it suddenly made him feel a little sick.

Bianca twirled it again, and it shrank back to a pendant. "Probably best you don’t play with it" and with that, she pocketed it and walked away.

"Ok everybody ready?" Clarisse bellowed

They all answered yes, though Leo complained about having to wear armour, apparently it was "too constrictive" Clarisse told him to shove it.

Together, the four of them walked out to meet Bianca on the grass. "Ok, everybody hold hands," they all joined arms awkwardly. "Is this the part where we all swap friendship bracelets?" Bianca actually laughed at Piper’s joke, she had a nice laugh Jason realized, "Nope, we do that after we land…..provided that we all land in one piece."

Jason raised an eyebrow "Im sorry wha-"

The world exploded into darkness, and Jason almost definitely lost his lunch.

//

The landing was a little rough, which is to say that they popped into existence about six feet in the air and proceeded to nearly fall of a cliff.

"Well Di Angelo I have to say this was probably one of your better jumps." Clarisse replied in her usual sarcastic drawl.

The girl in question was busy throwing up in a bush she reemerged, flipping off Clarisse. Piper, strangely enough, seemed completely fine as she watched the other two girls try to strangle each other. Leo meanwhile was acting like he’d been personally smited by Jupiter

"All right, let's go."

They dove into a series of tunnels, dodging the occasional guard. Apparently, according to Bianca, they were inside Mount Saint Helens. which seemed an odd place for a godly prison.

They immerged onto a series of catwalks; beneath them, two gold plated soldiers marched back and forth.

"Myrmidons," whispered Clarisse.

Leo looked at her with a blank face "What?"

Piper spoke up "Soldiers of Achilles—bad news," she shrugged. "What, my dad starred as Achilles in a movie a while back."

"Just keep quiet and get across the walkway."

Bianca went first, ducking across the walkway with her characteristic quiet. Clarisse went next, edging her way slowly across. The Myrmidons below noticed nothing. Next he went, using the air to buffet him slightly, and he made it across with no problems. Then Piper came across, dancing along the walkway with ease. Next Leo, and then-

𝘊𝘓𝘈𝘕𝘎!

The celestial bronze axe in his hand fell to the ground…..shit. Instantly, the Myrmidons looked up, staring directly at them.

"RUN!"

They ran passing through tunnels and hallways, all the while the two gold-plated soldiers followed at unnatural speeds. They were going to catch them at this rate. Jason turned, holding his arms out, and directed a small hurricane at them. The two golden men didn’t even stumble.

"Fuck"

"Keep moving!" They kept running, and the Myrmidons kept gaining; one of them reached out grabbing Leo by the arm.

Leo shrieked and instantly his arm was wreathed in fire, which forced the Myrmidon to let him go, but only for a second before it drew its sword and advanced on them. Jason ran forward, drawing his gladius. He intercepted the Myrmidons' strike just as it was about to make contact with Leo’s head.

The two blades clanged together, and Jason tried to push the other away. But even straining with all of his might, the faceless gold soldier kept pushing.

"𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘱!"

Piper’s voice broke through the sounds of battle. Both of the Myrmidons froze, twitching ever so slightly.

"That won’t hold them for long, Bianca! Have you got a bead on Annabeth?"

Bianca nodded. "She’s this way."

//

They came upon a large celestial bronze door it hummed with power. Slowly, all five of them pushed it open. They entered into a large chamber, and there in the centre was Annabeth Chase.

She was chained at the neck and feet, and her arms were bound by a straightjacket. Her hair was a stark silver against the dark walls of the cell. Her head lolled as she looked at them over her shoulder with a bored expression on her face. It sent a shiver down Jason’s spine, and he instinctively readied his sword. Even in this disheveled state, her grey eyes were sharp and piercing.

"Hmh, I’m afraid you’ve passed visitors hours."

Clarisse marched forward, grabbing Annabeth’s face and forcing her to look straight. "You will stay fucking quiet, Chase!"

Annabeth smiled a sickly, sharp smile. "Oh, hello, Clarisse, long time no see. Have you come to reconsider my offer?"

𝘊𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬!

Clarisse punched the daughter of Athena in the face. Annabeth cackled like a madwoman. "Still got some fight in you! You know, I always liked that about you, Clarisse."

"I said STAY QUIET!"

Bianca wrapped an arm around Clarisse, pulling her back. Annabeth tilted her head, taking in the daughter of Hades. "My, my, the whole gang is here," she looked around her eyes making contact with Jason for a split second. He felt the irrational urge to grab Piper and run.

"No Silena?" she faux pouted "Does she not 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 me anymore."

Piper’s face turned stormy, and she ran forward before Jason could grab her. "You don’t get to say her name! not after what you did!"

Annabeth stared at Piper up and down. "Huh, a new one." She shrugged dismissively. "And what exactly did I do? I didn’t force her to fall in love with me, she came to that pretty little conclusion all by herself."

Piper grit her teeth, and her grip on her dagger tightened. "You took advantage of her feelings! You manipulated her!"

Annabeth rolled her eyes "Oh yes that, well I wouldn’t be much of a tactician if I didn’t take advantage of every opportunity given to me now would I?"

Piper opened her mouth to speak again

"Enough!" Bianca silenced the room. She stared straight at the imprisoned demigod. "You’ve hurt all of us that much is true-"

Annabeth interrupted, "I actually object to that." She glanced at the rest of them, "Sure, I broke a few eggs." At that, Clarisse flinched, "But Nico wasn’t my fault, you know that, that was all Hephaestus, so if your still holding onto that, go take it up with old fuck face."

Leo flinched, and Annabeth locked eyes with him. "Oh yeah, I see the resemblance, sorry kid it's hereditary."

Jason advanced."You're horrible, you know that."

Annabeth tried to shrug. "Welll there is a reason I’m in here and you’re not." suddenly her grey eyes narrowed, and Jason felt a chill wash over him, it felt like every little piece of him was being stripped away and his core had just opened to the world.

Annabeth’s face twisted into a toothy smile. "Oooh I know you."

Jason took a step back, that was impossible Jason hadn’t met a Greek demigod before Piper and Leo, hell, the Greeks and Romans didn’t even know the other existed until a few months ago. "Your lying."

"No, I don’t think I am," she laughed, a cold chilling laugh, beside him Bianca placed her hand on the hilt of her sword. "Your Jason, aren’t you?"

Jason felt numb. Clarisse was right, even being near this witch was a mistake. "How did you know that?"

"Welll there’s only two people on earth with eyes like that, and the other is a tree," the demigoddess continued to stare at him, her eyes boring into his soul. "And you hardly need to be a detective to extrapolate backwards," she tried to take a step forward, but the chains snapped into place. "Plus, Thalia told me all about you."

"Y-you knew Thalia?"

Chase’s eyes dulled slightly and a faraway look settled on her face. "Oh yes…… She was.....She was the greatest girl I’ve ever met."

For some strange reason, he felt that Chase wasn’t lying. He forced the thought away. Annabeth was a monster, and she 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘥, Silena was proof of that.

Clarisse walked back to the group, apparently having recovered from her outburst. Jason, meanwhile, continued to stare into Chase’s eyes; he could almost swear he saw a flash of sadness. "Ok, this is all very nice, but we are here for a reason."

Annabeth looked up at Clarisse. "My, Clarisse I didn’t know you came to rescue me," she batted her eyes, "Did you miss me that much?"

"You little bitch!-"

"𝘌𝘕𝘖𝘜𝘎𝘏." Bianca shoved the two girls apart and grabbed Chase by the face. "You will cooperate, or I will personally see to it that you are rewarded with the afterlife you deserve."

Annabeth smirked, "Of course, Bia, I wouldn’t dream of anything less."

Bianca swung her black sword, cutting the bronze chains. Annabeth slumped to the ground, slowly she stretched her arms and twirled her newly freed fingers. Even as he looked at her, weak and emaciated, Jason couldn’t shake the feeling that they had made a terrible mistake.

"Here, you’ll be needing this." Bianca tossed the scythe pendant, which Annabeth caught with a flourish. She gazed at it lovingly. Jason watched as she pricked her finger and twirled the full-sized scythe in her hands. Jason looked at the others, Leo twitched, running his hands up and down his arms nervously, Piper took a step back and Clarisse had a look of horror on her face, like she was being forced to relive a thousand horrible memories; Bianca had a look of stony determination. Jason wished he could feel the same way.

Annabeth twirled the scythe one more time before slamming its butt against the stone floor. Her eyes gleamed in the torchlit cell. "Oh, I've missed this," she smiled cold and cutting.

Athena’s mad dog was free….what had they done?

"Well, shall we?"

Slowly, they all moved towards the door, all of them kept their arms on their weapons. Piper whispered something to herself in French as she walked past: "L'enfer est vide et tous les démons sont là"

Chase chuckled: "Touché McLean"