20. Romans vs Hydra (And The Third Guy)

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Hey Guys! Happy Friday, Saturday, Sunday, etc... whatever day you're reading this on! So, Just want to say how proud I am that we're almost to 300 reviews and over 300 followers! Guys, thank you so much! We're getting into the real stuff now, with a few chapters from the PJO side of things! That isn't to say that the Avengers won't be back... They'll be back soon.

Disclaimer: Hi. I'm not Rick or Marvel.

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Hazel:

"Hold the line!"

Frank was yelling to the Legion somewhere off to her left as she tried desperately to keep on top of her game. Another explosion rocked the forum far off, and a dozen Legionnaires flew into the air. Now, they were in what was left of the Senate House main, cavernous room, looking over the maps of the subterranean catacombs that went under New Rome.

It was an outrage that they were even in the boundaries of New Rome, but seeing as the fields and the Via Principalis had been taken, they really had no choice. Their regular boundary god, Terminus, had openly told them that a Legion in the open was less acceptable than a destroyed New Rome. Hazel had never been given permission to even bring in a semi-sharp precious stone. Now, an array of weapons was behind lines.

And behind them was the entire population of New Rome, ready to fight to the last man. She hoped it wouldn't have to come to that.

She remembered the smuggled books that Sammy used to bring into school for her. Among his favorites was H.G. Wells War of the Worlds. He'd been enthralled by the mechanical monstrosities that could walk on three legs and shoot beams of light at their enemies. He had this squeaky fake evil laugh that usually left Hazel giggling.

But now, she could understand the terror those book characters felt.

There were at least two dozen of them still, out of the original thirty that had appeared an hour ago. The Legion had been instantly alerted and had formed over in the fields of Mars. They'd had their faces set in stone, ready to hack these things from the bottom up.

They had to scatter when the guns began to chatter.

"Regroup on me! Regroup on me!" Frank yelled, his Praetor badge identical to hers gleaming on his armour. The few Legionaries that were able to hear him began to follow him down whatever side street he took them on. The open approach hadn't been working in the slightest, seeing as the Legion had been stomped on before.

Now, it was street by street demolition.

Another explosion sounded, but this time it was much farther off than the forum. Greek fire and the green smoke with it engulfed the tripod in a huge KABOOM! When the smoke cleared, the machine stood stiff on three legs, with a burnt husk of a skull standing on top. Then, the machine crumpled. Cheers from all corners of city exploded from the Legion when it fell. Hannibal, the true hero that took out three before collapsing, let out a weary trumpet of satisfaction that could be heard everywhere in the valley.

But these things weren't stopping. They relentlessly roamed the valley of New Rome unopposed, and that really ticked Hazel off.

"Hail, Preator!"

Hazel let a weary smile appear on her face as Reyna appeared from the crowd of Legionaries around her. She strode in with her aegis around her shoulders and dogs on her heels, her helmet tucked under her arm and a cut just above her forehead. The probitos around her backed away when they saw that scary, focused expression on her face. They never even met her, and they were clearly okay that she was on their side.

"At ease, soldier." Hazel said, perfectly okay with being Reyna's superior now. It had been touch and go before, but it had gotten better over the years. "How are we doing?"

Reyna was in charge of veteran and retired Legionnaires, like herself. Behind her was a group of burly men and women, more experienced than the new members surrounding Hazel. Reyna nodded curtly and stood beside Hazel, flattening the map and pointing out a few streets. "We've lost the first three blocks of New Rome, including most of the apartments on the West side-" She pointed into the forum. "-They're pushing towards the forum, for what reason I don't know, but I can bet you we do not want them to pass the Senate House."

Another explosion sounded, followed by dust settling onto their map and the soldiers. There was a grim silence that settled over the group. Hazel knew she needed to be the one to break it. "The Cohorts are being scattered faster than we can bring them back together. How is Dakota and the standard?" She asked, referring to the Eagle that shot lightning. That could be helpful, right about now.

Reyna's grim face make Hazel wish she'd never asked. "Dakota is nowhere to be found. Someone spotted him running between alleys on the Eastern streets, but we can't seem to find him."

Hazel nodded. Dakota was a friend, and an experienced Legionnaire. He might be fine, but they needed that Standard.

"The Greek students? How are they doing?" Hazel asked.

Just at that moment the shadows warped and stretched until two solid figures stood in front of the Legion.

Nico sat down hard, panting. His aviator jacket (the new one Hazel got for him) was smudged with grease and oil. His hair was a mess and his jeans looked like a monster had been chewing on them. "Let's never do that again." He wheezed, holding a hand to his heart like it was going to leap out of his chest. Hazel could hear it from the table three feet away.

Annabeth Chase, however, seemed much more in her element. She wore an orange and purple shirt, along with her regular jean shorts. Sweat covered her forehead, along with a small trickle of blood. "It worked, didn't it?" She told her friend.

Hazel didn't have to hear the next explosion to know that they'd destroyed another Tripod.

"Are you okay?" Hazel asked, inspecting her older brother with concern. He scowled, standing with Annabeth's outstretched hand. She knew he secretly enjoyed the doting, but not when she was surrounded by burly Legionnaires.

"He'll be fine." Annabeth said, touching the cut on her forehead carefully. Hazel repeated her question, this time to Annabeth. She inspected the blood with a frown on her face as she spoke. "The exchange students are as scattered as the Legion, but I noticed a few groups here and there, rallying. These… Things are trying to keep us separated."

There was a brief moment of murmuring, but Hazel put her hand up for silence. She once again spoke to Annabeth. "Do they have any weaknesses? Anything we can press on?" Hazel asked, truly hoping for a good answer. When she shook her head, Hazel wanted to run.

"I'm sorry Hazel. This kind of engineering isn't anything close to what I know about." Annabeth said, annoyance clear in her voice. Hazel knew how much Annabeth hated not knowing about something.

A dove flew in from the cracked roof, landing on the table, it's leg wrapped in a purple bow. Hazel untied it quickly, reading the messy scrawl. "Frank says that they're getting closer. We need to consider evacuating."

Annabeth shook her head. "Hazel, we should-"

She was cut off by the deafening noise of machine gun slicing through marble. She saw Nico and Annabeth duck while her Legionnaires tried to find cover where they could. Hazel felt a thin material cover her, then heard Reyna yelling right beside her. "The nearest catacomb entrance is in the forum! Get there now!"

When the guns stopped, Hazel stood as Reyna took the aegis away from their bodies, running towards the sagging stone entrance with their friends and troops behind them.

As they exited the building, each Legionnaire gripped their pila like a lifeline, eyeing the buildings for possible danger.

The sounds weren't as muffled, nor was the city so quiet all at the same time.

Explosions rang in the distance one second, then they were right behind her the next. It was nerve racking, knowing her boyfriend was out there. He could be dead right now, and she might not even know.

She shook her head because, no, she wasn't going to be thinking like that. Frank was okay. He would always be okay. He promised he'd be okay.

"Halt!"

Hazel and the Legionnaires were already in a tight circle, but now they got even closer, nearly shoulder to shoulder. Three of those things had stepped out from behind buildings, hollow eye sockets and guns trained. The nearly black glint of their shells reflected cruelly in the sunlight.

"On behalf of Hydra we order you to stand down! Put down your weapons and call off your Halfbreeds, Praetor!"

Hazel was about to respond with a few choice words, but was cut off by the chattering of gunfire. A deafening screech passed by overhead.

The tripod covering their left was sizzling. It's head like shape pointed skyward, tentacle like legs swinging haphazardly in the breeze. Hazel had just enough time to see the back of its skull implode, then watched it fall backwards.

Although Hazel was thoroughly and completely confused, the other two robots seemed much more alert and knowledgeable towards the situation. Both had guns trained on the sky.

"Alert: hostile aircraft has entered the fight. Set all scanners for radar."

Hazel understood maybe half of that statement. The other half was answered shortly after.

It was a gleaming black and green underbelly that descended faster than you could say peekaboo. It's wings were in the shape of a 'W', and it's engine propped downwards.

She got maybe a second more to look before it hovered eye level with the robot on the right before firing. The chatter of machine gun fire roared louder than before in Hazel's ears, causing a flurry of sparks and fire to erupt from the wrecked machine. Then, before Hazel could get a closer look, it veered off and flew gods know where.

"Convenient." Reyna muttered. The Legionnaires looked on in awe.

"Hey!" Hazel looked toward the familiar voice, and wanted to cry out in joy. Frank was above them, on top of the remains of the Senate House, his bow in his hand. His face was serious. "You guys are going to want to see this."

…

"What is it?" Hazel asked, watching as it made another pass. Another Tripod was bombarded with bullets. Gatling guns chattered, trying in vain to destroy the plane.

As she spoke, she watched it climb higher and higher until it had disappeared with a trail of vapor following close behind. But in the split second it had disappeared, it was back again, diving impossibly fast towards the Tripods. More bullets and screeching engines occupied the air.

Frank was gritting his teeth, his hand clenching and unclenching his bow. He stood beside Hazel, looking at this new player that had entered the fight. "I have no clue. It's a supersonic jet, and it's already taken out most of the whatever-you-call them." He said.

Annabeth, who was beside the two of them, was already looking through a pair of field glasses (binoculars) at their (undetermined) new friend. She bit her lip carefully when the pilot banked hard right and nearly turned on a dime. The nearest Tripod was shredded. "He's skilled. I've never seen anything, even in movies, like this before."

Hazel knew that Annabeth's father was a WWI buff, especially when it came to planes. Annabeth knew what she was talking about. Still, with each broken machine another cheer erupted from the streets.

Frank suddenly grinned. "Hazel, we need to act. I'm grabbing the rest of the Legion where I can. Maybe we can rally in the forum."

Hazel smiled, nodding because, yes, even when he was excited about war tactics he was cute. She shook her head to clear her thoughts because that was not the priority at hand. Separation from her personal and work life was hard, but necessary. Especially in battle. She turned to Nico. "I'm going to need help gathering the Legion. Could you-"

An explosion echoed louder than a thundercloud and Hazel snapped back to attention. Over the broken scenery that New Rome had become, the jet was climbing again.

This time trailing fire.

"His engine is failing. He's about to stall." Annabeth said, watching through her field glasses. Hazel didn't need them to see the second explosion. This time, a wing was torn away. She could only imagine the ripping noise of metal tearing away from metal. Something split off from the wreckage. however, and the white, cloud like material of a parachute appeared.

Hazel looked at Frank, and his eyes were following the pilot's descent as well. "I'm going to go meet him." She said, already moving towards the rope ladder at the base of the roof. Frank stopped her by gripping her arm.

"It's too dangerous." He said, looking her in the eye, his own eyes were full of concern. "We don't know if he's an ally, or a monster, or maybe-"

Hazel understood what he was really saying. I can't lose another close friend. Especially not my girlfriend. Don't leave me to do this alone. She broke character for a second, giving him a kiss on the cheek. She watched the jet falling out of the sky, and the pilot moving much slower towards the ground. "I'll be careful. I promise." She said.

Hazel remembered when they were first told he was dead. That his family had been killed with him, and that they didn't even have a body left to burn with a shroud. That bright green shroud, that had curled up into the sky like a writhing snake…

She understood why Frank had been so protective of her afterwards. She felt the same about him.

Reyna fell in step with her, squaring her shoulders. "You take Arion. I'll take Guido." She said, not taking no for an answer. Reyna, covered in debris and exhausted, was not going to let Hazel go alone. Hazel smiled, whistling. Almost immediately a beige blur ran through the streets of New Rome, rearing in front of her with a defiant whinny. Like, it took you long enough, girl!

"Fine." She said over her shoulder to Reyna. She grabbed Arion's muzzle, stroking it lightly to calm him. Her eyes never left her horse. "But be careful for gunfire. I don't want to hear you got your sorry rear shot out of the sky."

The question caught her off guard slightly. When have we ever had to deal with guns? She thought, horrified. Being a demigod… guns had never been an issue before. WWII was a long time ago, but that had been the last time she'd ever seen anything remotely resembling a firearm.

But she'd just been shot at today, and not by a demigod pranking her. A flesh and blood killer had threatened to take her life.

As she it her heels into Arion's flank, she understood that something big was about to change.

…

A smoking crater wasn't unusual on the fields of Mars. War games led to destruction, and therefore training was a bit brutal. Hazel could actually wave her hand and flatten the ground out if she wanted to.

But she had to inspect the wreckage, though there wasn't much left. Twisted steel and charred controls. Every once in awhile a spark would jump off the carnage with a crack, like a miniature gunshot.

Arion nickered quietly at her side, his flank twitching. She patted down his mane, shushing him. Her horse was a bit of a scaredy pants when it came right down to it (and as someone once told her, 'he had a mouth on him').

She didn't touch the metal. Too hot anyways, and the crater was too deep to see far down into. She wouldn't learn anything from it yet, and even then she had no knowledge on plane mechanics. Maybe she'd send a son or daughter of Vulcan to look closer at it.

Instead she looked skyward, where the pilot was just about to touch the ground.

She began to walk.

…

"Hey buddy, you alright?"

Hazel took another careful step forward, towards a guy whose whole demeanor screamed 'I'm having a rough day.' He was sitting down, face skyward, shaking his head.

And that was without a description.

Hazel had never seen a stranger set of armor in her life. His whole entire head was covered in some sort of glassy, head shaped dome. It wasn't even see through. He wore a strange breastplate that looked charred and burned, and pants that tucked into combat boots. A leather jacket covered his back, and he wore some sort of gauntlet on each wrist. His hands and neck were covered as well, not even giving Hazel a skin tone to go off of.

The helmet turned in her direction, and she couldn't tell if this figure was even able to see her. He didn't speak, instead choosing to look back towards the sky.

She got a little closer, until she was standing right in front of him. She had her spatha by her side, ready to draw in case he was hostile.

The figure sighed, standing up when she blocked his sunlight. He began to stuff his parachute back into the backpack without even regarding her.

Hazel felt a nerve get struck. Maybe it was the Roman side of her leaking out, or maybe being treated without respect just made her angry. Either way, this mortal in his silly costume was making her want to punch something, preferably his glass-covered face.

She drew her spatha with a ring of metal on leather, then put the blade on his shoulder. "Hey, I'm talking to you." She said.

He didn't so much as turn his head.

He continued to pack up the parachute, shoving it calmly and methodically into the backpack he'd fallen with. Hazel's spatha slid up and down on his shoulder pad, making a small scraping noise. Hazel was baffled.

When the parachute was packed away, he stood up quietly, shouldering it.

Then he ran.

"Hey!" Hazel yelled, beginning to chase after him. It was hard, though, in her Praetor armor. The Imperial Gold was heavy, and after all her time in the Legion, she knew you couldn't run in armor. He was going at a jog, heading East towards the Berkeley Highway. If he got there, Hazel wouldn't be able to catch up.

She tore on the leather strap of her breastplate, frantically trying to lose the excess weight that it was giving her, but he must've been a natural runner. As the breastplate fell away (and she began going significantly faster) he began to speed his gait, moving faster towards the highway. "Stop!" Hazel commanded, throwing off her purple cape off as well.

By the time she was only in her SPQR shirt and some jeans, he was still ahead of her. She kept her spatha ready at her side for when she caught up with him.

Then, like a bird of prey swooping down for the kill, Reyna fell out of the sky right in front of him. Guido planted all four hooves in front of him, throwing his head back and whinnied in what Hazel guessed was a threatening way. It was enough to make the masked man stop in his tracks.

Of course he would stop, Hazel thought. Who knows what this mortal is seeing, and how he might react to it? She could only imagine the repercussions that a flying horse might have on a mortal mind.

Then, what he did next discredited her assumption of just being a mortal.

The metallic spine that wrapped around the back of his suit gave way the tiniest bit at the base of the pilot's neck. At first Hazel was confused as he reached for something attached to it. It reflected off the sun briefly before his gloved hand wrapped around it and pulled it upwards.

Hazel almost did a double take when he stood like a true professional, sword in hand. Hazel's grip on her sword tightened slightly. Reyna's face gave nothing away when he pulled out the hidden weapon.

Hazel was still to his back, but then he turned himself sideways, switching his gaze between Hazel and Reyna, both their weapons drawn.

I took off all my armor, she thought bitterly. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

"Stand down." Hazel said, commanding his attention. "As Praetor of New Rome, I order you to stand down now." She warned slowly.

The helmet never left Hazel's face, and it was beginning to unnerve her a little. She'd never faced an enemy she didn't know the name of, much less a faceless threat. She couldn't tell what he was thinking behind that mask. The fact he was so still made him seem like a statue.

Reyna and Guido kept the enemy from escaping, but Hazel had to act. He didn't appear impressed by her rank. He might be a demigod, she thought to herself, but he might not know what I'm talking about.

Reyna took a step forward, her gladius seining in a golden arc of deathly accuracy. It went right toward their challenger's shoulder, and surely it would've scored a clean hit.

Would've. Had he not gotten under Reyna's guard. As her sword had began its descent, he stepped towards her, elbow coming up and deflecting the blow, it's energy not at its peak. Then, his sword arm moved backwards in a blur of motion, slamming and denting Reyna's breastplate. The ex-Praetor exhaled loudly as he stepped away. Now, the only thing standing in his way was the pegasus.

Hazel charged forward, her spatha raised to slice down his spine. Yet, as she began to let her blade go down, her assailant took a step to the side. Her blade hit nothing but air, throwing her off balance. He took advantage, pushing her down as she went by. Her war cry died in her throat.

As she turned to get up, she found the point of his sword at her nose. She had to contain herself from crossing her eyes to see the point.

He stood over her for a moment, as still as a statue. No doubt in her mind, this warrior was a master in the art of swordsmanship, and he was going to kill her.

Hazel was glad all her assumptions about this guy so far were wrong. He let his sword rest at his side, his grip on it anything but relaxed. Hazel could see Reyna watching this from behind him, ready to jump in if need be.

"I cannot stay here any longer, Praetor."

His voice was deep and distorted, no doubt being caused by the mask he was wearing. "I have my own superiors to report to, and my services here are no longer required." He gestured to the remains of New Rome, where already the cheering was audible from this far away. Frank will coming looking for me, she thought.

"Who are you? What are you doing here, and why help us?" She asked.

If she could see his expression, she would imagine it to be sassy. He put his sword so it was resting on his shoulder, much more relaxed looking. Then, he began to circle around Hazel, so his back was to the Berkeley Highway. She guessed he glanced at Reyna. "I was kind of hoping for a 'thank you so much! Let's have a party!'" He said, shrugging. "But I guess that was a bit too much to hope for."

Hazel stood slowly, retrieving her spatha as she did. Reyna stood by her side, gladius drawn. The presence of a more experienced officer, and a friend at that, was comforting against a faceless fly-by-night. "We need to take you in, and I'm going to have to ask you to take that mask off as well." She said, leveling her sword. Reyna did the same, and both girls began to side step until they were both facing his sides.

He sighed, then his sword arm came around to his left gauntlet. At the tap of a button, a portion of his gauntlet popped out and expanded until he was wearing a three -foot wide, round shield. "I don't want to fight you, Hazel Levesque. But you leave me no choice." He said evenly, no emotion leaking into his words. Hazel felt a shiver down her spine as he said her name.

Reyna narrowed her eyes, going in for the first strike. He countered easily, but Hazel moved in as well. He spun, sword parrying sword, metal against metal, and his left foot hit the ground roughly. He hissed in pain.

The girls noticed.

Hazel took a step forward, her sword cutting upwards while Reyna went to the side. He caught Hazel's strike with the shield, and he caught Reyna's with his sword. Still, Reyna's strike was strong, and the force of her blow had her sword graze his right shoulder.

He broke away for a moment, looking at his shoulder. Then, his gaze returned to the two of them. He spun his sword on his wrist, switching weight experimentally. "You're making it hard to hold back, ladies. I'd hate to see anyone get hurt."

Reyna smirked a truly war-goddess smile. Her expression was as fierce as Hazel had ever seen it before. "That's my goal, actually." She said, taking another jab towards his ribs.

Hazel felt like she was in a game of tag, the way that they constantly darted in and out of his reach. They were blocking the way of his escape, and no matter how hard he tried, Hazel and Reyna kept him where he was.

But if he was frustrated, he wasn't showing it. All his movements were smooth and precise, every block near perfect. Reyna and Hazel were relentlessly trying to batter him down while he kept looking for a moment to escape.

Hazel knew he was running out of time. Already, far across the fields, she could see the Legion beginning to swarm towards them in groups of up to ten. She stepped back from a swipe that nearly caught her ribs. "The Legion is coming. You lose. There's no changing that."

He took a step towards them, his left ankle exposed slightly. That's all it took. While Hazel faked right, Reyna put all her force in slamming the flat of her blade into his Achilles' tendon.

He cried out in pain, dropping to his right knee. His sword supported his weight, but now it was obvious he was in excruciating pain. She imagined him gritting his teeth.

Hazel and Reyna leveled their blades at his neck. "Yield." Hazel commanded.

Maybe it was desperation, or maybe it was just him trying to look as dignified as possible while the Legion began to surround him. Either way, while trying to stand Reyna slammed the butt of her gladius into his mask. It didn't seem to cause even the smallest of damage, but it did leave him sprawled on the ground.

"Hazel!" Frank appeared, pushing through the ring of Legionnaires that had gathered. He was completely focused on her, and therefore not on the job. When he saw her, he nearly tackled her in a hug. "Oh, thank gods!" He muttered into her hair.

Hazel would've been content with staying like that for a while, but duty had to come first. She left his embrace, turning her attention to the Legion behind her. "I want the first, second, and third cohorts fixing the streets as soon as possible. Cohorts four and five are in charge of the Principalis. Go." She said, and the respective Centurions began to lead their troops away.

Still, a few veterans remained behind, along with Reyna's forces. Hazel directed her gaze to the man on the ground. "Lock him up in my offices. We'll figure out what to do with him later." She said. Reyna nodded as two ex-Legionnaires began to hold the prisoner between them. She began to March her troops back towards the Principalis.

Soon enough, it was only Hazel, Frank, Nico, and Annabeth standing in an open field. "Who was he?" Frank asked softly, his hands still on her shoulders. She sighed, reaching out and picking up the helmet she'd left on the muddy ground. She looked at it, pretending to see a face she wished was there. The face of one of her best friends.

"I don't know. He knows who we are, though." She said. She began to pick up her armor bit by bit, walking to get it. The others followed behind her. She told them what he'd said, and described the fight. "I don't think he wanted to kill me."

"That's a relief." Frank said under his breath, and maybe Hazel's lips twitched. "But who could he be?"

Hazel shrugged, biting her lip. "I… I want to say he's familiar. Something about him…"

Annabeth looked just as conflicted. She kept reaching for her ring finger, even though it was bare now. She shook her head. "I think you're right. Something about him isn't right. Nico, could you tell us?"

The son of Hades was twisting his skull ring, and Hazel realized that all of them were deep in thought. All of them were confused. "He's a demigod, yeah. I can sense that much. And I think he's familiar… But guys, I haven't felt power like that, well, ever. The only one who comes close is dead."

He didn't have to say his name. They all knew it well enough.

"I'll do the interrogation myself." Frank volunteered. "Maybe we can have a meeting in the Senate afterwards, but we need to know how much this guy knows and where he's from."

Annabeth nodded. "I'll sit in. I want to figure out who he is."

"Later, maybe." Hazel said. She gazed towards New Rome, where already the Tripods were being set on fire. Cheering was coming from the forum. "I think we should get something to eat and a good night's sleep before we ruin a good party."

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