Chapter 5

The black dog growled menacingly at Danny as the assassin mocked his stupidity, twirling a gun lazily between his fingers.

"Since you are the underdogs here we will let you make the first move right guys?" He called back to Famine, Conquest and Death, who either shrugged or nodded or looked bored.

Snarling, the dog leapt at War with claws extended but War merely sidestepped with practiced ease. Sensing their leader's movement the other beasts sprang forward as well, teeth and claws flashing. The giant bull barreled into Death, sending the girl flying backwards and on to her back. She recovered quickly though, jumping back to her feet and sending a ball of blue fire at it, hitting the creature on the head and sending it backwards a few steps. Conquest whipped his blades from side to side, slashing at the kelpie's slimy fur. The white phoenix dive-bombed Famine, causing her to leap to the side, her red hair flying.

This cycle went on for some time, a constant game of cat and mouse. The Horsemen obviously had the advantage. They were faster, their strikes were more precise, but they could not work together. Every time they got lose to each other their aim was thrown off and they sometimes ended up striking at each other. The four monsters however seemed to be used to fighting together. The bull and the dog had begun to fight side by side, aiming so many blows at Death that she had to do several neat backflips to get away from the duo. It seemed as if Conquest was having the same problem as well. He was fighting off the kelpie well enough but the phoenix swooped down on him from behind, throwing off his balance.

"Damn it!" War swore as he tried to come at the dog from behind, only to have to side step the bull. "We can't get close, not like this."

"They are defending themselves, those cocky peasants!" Death snapped as she threw another dagger towards the phoenix. However by doing that she nearly hit Famine, coming so close as to cutting off some of the woman's long red hair.

"Watch it!" Famine yelled back.

"So sorry love, I was aiming for the bird." Death replied, smirking all the while.

The campers looked on with amazed and somewhat terrified eyes as the battle continued on, neither side making any progress. Death and Famine kept bumping into each other, the long range of their powers making it difficult for the two to be within forty feet of each other. After about five minutes of constantly getting in each other's way they had begun to yell at each other as they fought, spitting insults at each other like poison.

"This is bad." Bruce observed, watching the argument.

Amber nodded, "The four monsters are working together, but the Horsemen can't seem to get along, especially Death and Famine."

Just as she said that, the phoenix dived at Famine, nearly catching her shoulders with its sharp talons. Famine ducked just in time, then looked back up at the bird, which was swooping back. "Okay." She said darkly, "I'm so done with that thing."

She closed her eyes momentarily and ice began to form on her back. It stretched out and expanded, thin sheets of ice rose over her back and shinning in the sun. The other horsemen, even Death, stopped to watch the transformation. War grinned, Death's eyebrows shot up, and Conquest looked on with amazement. The ice had become what seemed like wings that sprouted out of Famine's back.

"How in the heavens…" Death questioned. "Do those actually work?"

Famine smirked at her, and the ice wings flapped once, twice, and then the woman was off. She was flying towards the phoenix, taking their battle to the air. She smashed into the phoenix, striking and then retreating, striking and then retreating, the two becoming white blurs in the sky.

"Well that's…" Conquest trailed off.

"Yea I got nothing bro." War added, shrugging his shoulders.

Suddenly, there was a crash, and the phoenix was sent barreling out of the sky and towards the bull, who was blocking blows from Death. The large white bird crashed into the bull, which in turn crashed into Death. The area again went silent as one of the bulls horns dug into Death, running her though entirely, the bloody tip poking out of her back.

Death's grip on her knives slackened as she gasped, blood escaping from her lips. She stumbled back, the horn escaping her body and collapsed on the ground. There was a gaping hole in her chest the size of a tennis ball, and blood seeped through it at a horrifying rate. The bull looked down at her, and she glared back, still defiant even as she bleed out before it. It reared back its head, horns aimed for her head, a killing blow, but just as it swung down another clang filled the clearing. The blow never reached Death, for standing in front of her, blocking the blow with his two pistols was War.

Gathering his strength, he threw the bull back, sending it flying onto its side with dust rising up into the air. "Conquest, Famine!" he called, "Bide us some time!"

Conquest nodded, jumping at the bull and dog, taking on both at the same time. He wasn't able to get many hits in, but he dodged and blocked, and was able to keep them from getting to Death, who was lying on the ground breathing heavily. Famine looked at the girl with wide and terrified eyes, horrified at the amount of blood escaping her body. She looked down at a minute, eyes hidden, before tightening her grip on her halberd and swooping down, racing towards the recovering phoenix. She got close, and a spear on ice formed in her left hand, the tip a deadly point. "This ends now!" She cried as she threw the spear, successfully digging it into the center of the birds feathered back.

It let out a cry of pain before it's mighty head collapsed onto the ground, dead. Famine gave a satisfied smirk and flew off, towards the kelpie that had surprisingly back off from the battle slightly.

Meanwhile, War was looking down at Death, trying to think of a way to help her. She looked up at him out of the corner of her eye, looking at him with tired eyes. "Don't worry out me, I will recover soon enough, this kind of thing has happened before."

War shook his head, "I don't doubt that, but you are a sitting duck right now, I'm not leaving you to fend for yourself."

Death didn't look at him, "Why bother? It's not like we are friends."

War shrugged, "True, but we are partners. Besides Chaos would be mad at me if I let you die, and she's scary when she's mad."

Death laughed at that, only to have it turn into a coughing fit and blood spilled from her mouth again. "Ugh." She mumbled, letting her head fall back to the ground. "It's a good thing I don't have a heart, huh? Otherwise this could have been much worse."

War smirked, "See? There's always a plus side to everything." When Death sent him a dark look he rolled his eyes. "Okay maybe not."

The wound in Death's chest had begun to heal, the blood drying and the hole closing up. After a few minutes she sat up, looking down at the dried blood. "I'm gonna need a new shirt."

War laughed, realizing there was a large hole in her shirt, showing pale skin underneath that was caked with dried blood. "I'm sure we can fix that later, ready to get back in there?"

Death's eyes narrowed. "Hell yes, I have a score to settle with that thing over there."

She picked up her daggers and rose to her feet, still a little shaky. "I will stay out of your way." War laughed, and they stepped back into the fight, going to Conquest's aide.

The water mage felt something against his back and he turned his head, surprised at what he saw. War was behind him, his back to him, guns raised. The blond man turned and winked at him, "I got your back bro, we don't want anyone else to end up like Death other there."

Conquest blinked, surprised, but nodded. He crashed his sword at the large dog, successfully slashing it across the shoulder. It yelped in pain, jumping back. At its cry for help the bull came to its aide, charging Conquest. It never got there though, a black shadow crossed overhead and dived at it. Kira dug her claws deep into the bulls had, black eyes narrowed in rage for what it did to her master. Her beak dug at its eyes, making it roar in pain as the beast went blind, blood dripping from it's now hollow eyes. Kira flapped away from the bull just as another black shape appeared, this one grabbing hold of the bulls left horn, the one covered in Death's blood, and pulling its head down, feet skidding on the ground.

Death was back with a vengeance, eyes narrowed as she slashed at the bulls already wounded face with one of her daggers. She jumped back when it moved to throw her off, her reflexes slightly slower from fatigue. Before she could pounce again however a bullet shot over her head and between the bull eyes, killing it instantly.

The ground shook at it fell to the ground, legs folding beneath it. The giant hound backed up in fear, and its eyes darted over to the kelpie, it's only ally left standing. The horse like creature was running back and forth, desperate to avoid Famine's ice spears.

During this small second in time, Death, War and Conquest looked at each other, something passing through their eyes that had never been there before. They seemed to share a silent conversation before all leaping at the dog simultaneously. However, instead of colliding with each other as expected, they went around each other. Death jumped onto the hounds back, daggers at the ready, while War appeared behind it, lighting fast as always. Conquest took the front, slicing his swords though the air and across the beast's chest. Death sliced through the dogs back easily before jumping away as bullets flew from War's pistols, lodging into its neck and cutting off the air to its lungs. With a final swing, Conquest drove his sword into the dogs neck, stepping back as its massive black head fell to the ground, dead.

The campers looked on in sheer amazement. Somehow, no one knew how, those three had worked together, and brought down that monster with unbelievable speed. Was this what happened when they worked together?

Now that the dog had fallen they headed towards Famine and the kelpie. As they got there the kelpie reared, eyes wide as it neighed in fear then fell to the ground in a low bow. Three of the horsemen looked surprised, but one of them stepped forward cautiously, swords lowered.

"What do you mean?" Conquest asked, looking at the kelpie with doubt.

The campers blinked, amazed. Was Conquest talking to the kelpie? So he had the ability to talk to horses? Jessica recalled Black Jack, and a cold shiver ran down her spine. This man could talk to horses.

Just like Ryan.

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Ryan took a hesitant step forward, swords still held at the ready. "What do you mean?"

"Please," he heard the kelpie ask, "I have no quarrel with you. I never wanted to fight, but Lucious has taken my daughter. If I don't follow his orders he will kill her."

Ryan felt pity rise in his chest. Looking back, he realized it was only the other three monsters that had done actual damage, the kelpie had mostly only dodged. Beside him the other three horsemen looked at him in surprise, realizing he could talk to the kelpie. Ryan looked back at the water horse, "What is your name?"

"Arabella," the kelpie said, "I come from the deep ponds of Scotland. Please sir, I have heard of you and your deeds. You have always assisted any creature in need. Save my daughter, and I will provide you with all the information about Lucious and his minions I can give, I will fight by your side to stop him."

Ryan looked at the female kelpie, amazed by her resolve to save her daughter. He turned back to Danny, Alice and Hanna, who were waiting for him to say something. "This kelpie was captured by Lucious, who is currently holding her daughter hostage, he will kill her if she does not follow his every order."

Hanna gasped, covering her mouth with her hand, and even Alice looked sympathetic. Danny remained silent, his eyes on his feet. "Then we help her." He said quietly. The other three looked at him, surprised by his kind gesture. Danny looked up, "No one should ever be forced to kill others in order to protect the ones they love."

Ryan blinked at the raw pain in Danny's green eyes, but nodded all the same. The blond boy was right, no one deserved that fate. He looked to Alice and Hanna, waiting for their thoughts. Alice nodded, "I agree, besides if we don't she might try to kill us, and then we would have to kill her, and her daughter would be as good as dead. Besides, it could be a good way to get information."

Hanna walked up to the kelpie, extending her hand. The kelpie sent a wary look at Percy, who nodded in return, smiling at her. Hanna ran her hand softly over the horse's slick muzzle, before looking at the scratch on its side from where one of her ice spears had grazed her. She looked at Ryan, "I'm going to fix her up, she's a little worse for wear."

Ryan nodded, and turned Arabella. "Don't worry, we will help you get your daughter back."

The kelpie breathed a sigh of relief, sweeping into a low bow. "Thank you."

Ryan smiled as Hanna led her away, towards her ice cabin at the edge of the forest. Next to him, Alice stumbled slightly, fumbling with her feet to catch her balance. "Woah there." Danny reached out and grabbed her shoulder, steadying her. "I think you should go relax, keep in mind you did get stabbed in the heart a few minutes ago.

Alice nodded, not saying anything as Kira came and landed by her feet, looking at her worriedly. Alice smiled reassuringly at her, "Don't worry girl, I will be fine."

She nodded to the two boys and walked away, a little slower than normal.

"Well this has been an interesting day." Danny commented, his eyes flicking back and forth between Alice and Arabella.

Ryan couldn't help but laugh slightly.

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In the darkness of her chambers, Chaos looked into her magic pool, the image showing two of her assassins, Danny and Ryan, who were walking back over to the demi-gods reluctantly. The image changed to show Hanna, who was cleaning off the kelpies wounds carefully, cautious not to hurt the beast. Sheaka at nearby, seeming to a have a conversation with the water horse. Once again the image changed, and Alice was pictured. The girl was sighing as she looked at the massive hole in her shirt as Kira perched nearby, cleaning her feathers. Groaning, Alice collapsed onto her bed face first, almost instantly falling asleep.

Clearing the image again, Chaos sat back into a soft chair, staring up at the ceiling and smiling. Her eyes glowed with pride as she thought of her four assassins. She had watched the entire battle, from start to finish. She saw the four originally bumping into each other and yelling, unable to work together. Worry had risen in her when Alice was injured, and amazement when Danny leaped in front of her to shield her. It seemed as if that had been the turning point of the battle. Even Hanna had been horrified at the idea of Alice being killed, and it seemed that from then on something new had passed between four horsemen.

True, they were far from getting along perfectly, but it was progress. Baby steps, Chaos thought to herself with a smile. Even though they didn't know it, Chaos loved the Horsemen like they were her own children, caring for them and always watching them. When Alice had been hurt she was ready to interfere, and when Danny and Ryan fought together, her chest had swelled with pride. Watching Hanna defend Alice, even though they didn't get along, brought tears of joy to her eyes, and the kindness all four of them had shown the injured kelpie brought a smile to her face.

Chaos looked back at the water, and grinned. They were becoming the group she had always believed they could become, not just four individual fighters but a group, a family.

Well, kind of.