章 82: DA : Chapter 82: Guns on the Dance Floor III
"What do we know?" asked Hylla, her deep brown eyes narrowing as she tried to piece together an image while her four Amazon escorts murmured behind her.
"Apparently it is a demon of some kind calling itself Umbra," Hephaestus answered before waving his hands and causing an image to appear over the small hearth fire.
...
There was silence as many inspected the image of the strange shadow creature. The faceless head with two icy blue dots for eyes and a general build of a male being the only features to take from the whole thing.
It drove Athena mad that she couldn't find any semblance or mention of this Umbra in any archive she'd searched and not even the oldest gods accessible to her (an increasingly smaller lists as time went on) knew of this thing.
"Doesn't look like much," Clarisse, another Vet, muttered only to get glared at by several of the gods present.
"Don't let appearances fool you," Artemis growled as she aimed her seething glare at the image. "We already know that this thing is at least responsible for the death of one of my oldest hunters, it somehow took Thalia, Hestia, and a number of our trackers sent after the trail have disappeared."
"Among those sent out to search was Lupa and her pack," Athena added getting several gasps and curses from the Roman camp.
"Is Lady Lupa …?" one of the visiting senators trailed off on the question.
"Dead?" Hermes cut in drawing the attention with a shake of his head. "Not that we can confirm but her trail ended near the Canadian border. It is believed that she may have been taken farther north and beyond our ability to assist."
"Then we should go after her!" one of the new Praetors, Craceus Orelous, demanded while shooting to his feet.
"And where will you look?" Zeus interjected after having carefully watched as the conversations progressed with surprising patience. "There is no trail or leads, the gods can't pinpoint her, and for some reason the oracle remains silent," he shot that last jab at Rachel as she sat with the Vets, the woman shrinking into her chair.
"It's not only her," Apollo came to her defense as he glanced at her. "I've tried but my sight barely manages glimpses and of those few moments, half of them shift into something different right in the middle of it."
"So we're running blind?" asked one of the elder senators incredulously.
"Effectively," Hermes muttered as the unease in the room grew.
"What other gods are missing?" asked Allen Baker, Athena's son and current cabin counselor.
That question drew many nervous looks from the council until they all turned their gaze to Zeus, throwing him under the bus with his responsibility as king. After a sweeping glare that promised vengeance Zeus cleared his throat to speak up.
"The list of missing gods is actually quite extensive but some of the more worrying cases such as Hestia are Hercules…" The audience gasped at that, several shocked that a powerhouse such as that legend had possibly been kidnapped. Better they didn't know that his was more of an escape.
"… Atlas…" That was a bucket of ice water one anyone who had seen the fearsome titan or knew how dangerous he truly was. "… and Ares."
"What!?" dozens of Roman demigods and his Greek children shouted at the same time, the beginnings of panic spreading through the viewing campers.
"How could Mars be taken as well?" Reyna, reinstated and full-time Praetor asked as she waved for silence from her centurions and senators.
"We aren't sure," Hermes answered again, being one of the few that spent time with Ares out of meetings. Mostly to pick up women with Apollo as well. "We only noticed since he missed three meetings in a row and when we looked, he wasn't in his palace or any of the locations he frequents."
"Actually …" Apollo started, drawing all eyes on him as he squirmed slightly. "… I looked for one he's pretty popular at and it was gone."
"Gone? What was gone?" Athena asked as she narrowed her eyes. "And what do you mean Ares was popular there?"
Apollo was looking more uncomfortable by the minute and knowing he couldn't lie worth a damn, he was stuck.
"An underground fight club," Apollo answered after sweating for a good thirty seconds, not meeting the eyes of any of the demigods. "All fist-fights and even deaths. Violence, gambling, and generally the kind of place he loves."
"Considering I don't want to know what else you do there, what do you mean it's gone?" Artemis asked as she thumbed her arrow dangerously.
"That's just it," he answered. "It's gone without a trace. It was literally underground and the entire structure all the way to the one access tunnel on the surface was gone.
There isn't even a trace of the building's foundation or any other material besides the natural ground there. It's as if it simply disappeared overnight."
"Wait a moment," Hermes interjected as he looked at his lap in concentration. "I heard about that. Around Las Vegas less than a month ago, over 200 people were reported missing from the same night in the same area.
Some politicians, businessmen, police, tourists, and residents. Under the less legal means, entire gangs and prostitutes were also being searched for."
"So not only was Ares somehow taken, likely at this sight, but any and all traces were completely removed as well," Annabeth commented as she shared a glance with Athena. Something very wrong was going on.
As far as Athena had seen, Umbra was only a creature of shadows. But if erasing entire structures underground were one of its abilities, what else could it do?
"What of the missing heroes?" Calypso, sitting in a smaller throne next to her husband Leo, asked with a raised hand as the eyes turned to her. "Percy, Jason, and Thalia have all been missing for some time. Has there been any sign of them?"
"No, my brother," Zeus growled at the empty throne. "Last said that Jackson as well as the other three are alive."
"But that's a good thing right?" asked Elliot Brown, son of Apollo. "I mean, those three were already legends by the time they were teens and now they'd be what, in their twenties or so. If we can find them then maybe they could help us find the missing gods."
"That's not possible," Poseidon said as he looked sharply at Artemis, Aphrodite, and Apollo. "From what I understand at least for Zeus' kids, they left of their own volition and aren't coming back for any reason."
"What do you mean my lord?" Calypso persisted as she looked between the tense gods, all of them knowing exactly what Poseidon was getting at.
"What I mean is that Thalia turned traitor," he replied to the many gasps as Zeus shot up, his bolt crackling in his hand.
"How dare you!?" he boomed but Poseidon was having none of it.
"How dare I?" he shot back. "Open your eyes you fool! Your daughter chewed into Artemis and then used something she smashed to shadow travel, an ability we all know she doesn't have.
And when she left she said, and I quote, 'Umbra says hello'. She was the closest to the first appearance of Umbra as a large black wolf with that girl, Mira, when they appeared, kidnapped Artemis' adopted daughter and killed her lover."
They were many shocked looks directed at Artemis from the demigods while the goddess in turn glared venomously at Poseidon but his returning gaze just dared her to try anything.
"Oh don't give me that look," he continued. "Everyone on the damn mountains knows that your hunter was your lover and has been for centuries.
Regardless, the fact of the matter is that Thalia willingly left and as for Jason, even if he didn't become a traitor as well, he certainly won't want anything to do with us." Poseidon paused as he looked at Aphrodite as the goddess tried to look smaller in her chair.
"And we all know whose fault is that. Last he was seen, he knocked you out, Apollo," he said while jabbing a finger at the scowling god. "And then he disappeared without a trace."
"Wait, why is it Aphrodite's fault?" Leo butted in as he looked around confused.
Both Jason and Piper had left the camp before letting anyone know so it didn't surprise Athena that even Leo didn't know the details of that night. At his questions, all the other gods looked at her expectantly as she squirmed in her seat, her eyes already getting wet from whenever her daughter was brought up with that night.
"I—"
Clap. Clap. Clap.
Whatever she was going to say was cut off as the sound of clapping seemed to echo all around making many tense as they searched for the origin of the noise.
"Nice little meeting going on here," said an unnervingly familiar voice as everyone's eyes were drawn to the shadow next to Hades' empty throne.
Slowly a familiar figure of shadows stepped out as Athena's breath hitched and her spear appeared in hand. She was too slow as not even a moment later Artemis notched an arrow, aimed her bow, and let loose.
In a split second the arrow as on top of Umbra but he made not motion to dodge before the arrow simple shot through him and impaled the throne behind him. He glanced at it before reaching for it and giving it a little tug, pulling it out easily.
Umbra looked from the arrow to Artemis and back before muttering, "Cute," before tossing the useless stick aside.
Silence reigned as he all but strolled forward, every god and demigod already armed as they eyed him wearily. He looked around himself, his gaze moving slowly over the gathered demigods, even the ones visible through the IM's.
"Hello," he greeted with a wave, completely at ease. "I'm Umbra."
No one said a word as the shade stood amongst them. He continued to glance around for a few more minutes before looking towards Zeus.
"So we wanted to return something of yours," he said as he raised a single hand.
'We?' Athena noted as Umbra snapped his fingers and a portal of shadows opened up in the center of the throne room. Before anyone could say or do anything a body fell out and hit the floor with a meaty thud.
At first Athena wasn't sure what it was but then she gasped at the sight, one of her hands shooting to her mouth as a foul stench assaulted their noses.
It. Was. Ares.
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Don't forget to throw some power Stones, to keep the story going.
...
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