'Reunion'

23-Jun-2030, 2300S 

Thalia Grace, Lieutenant of the Hunt, Daughter of Zeus

Hunters of Artemis

Killdeer Mountains, North Dakota, USA

I stepped towards Percy and slapped him across the face. Immediately I pulled back, shaking out the tingling pain in my hand.

"Ow!" he yelped. "Geez, cuz, what was that for?"

"Twenty years, you stupid Kelp Head! WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?!?" I yelled angrily.

"You still kiss with your fist, huh?"

"Wha—" I began before he grinned and grasped me in a hug.

"Still crazy after all these years! It's so damned good to see you!" he laughed cheerfully, making my rage dissipate and my face heat up.

Oh, hell. So much for absence making the heart grow forgetful.

"Release our Lieutenant, boy!" shouted Jocelyn. She raised her bow and fired an arrow, and four others did the same before Artemis could tell them to stop.

Faster than my brain could process it, I was on the ground, Percy's body curled protectively around me and between me and the Hunt.

I was quite glad he wasn't paying attention to my red face from the close contact.

Four arrows sailed over our heads, although one seemed to hit him in the back, as he let out a small grunt.  Yet, this didn't keep him from drawing his pistol and aiming it at the offenders, preparing to fire.

"ENOUGH!" shouted Lady Artemis before the situation escalated further.

Jocelyn looked surprised. "But Milady, he's a male!"

"One of the few males I trust and tolerate, Jocelyn. And he is hugging my Lieutenant because they're cousins and they have a very close friendship. You, Mary, Jillian, Tracy, and Grace all violated my orders of not firing on him. Worse, you nearly caught your Lieutenant in the crossfire and besmirched my name. I'll let you off this time, but should you disobey my order again and harm our ally without cause, you will be punished. Understood?"

They glared at Percy, who was still crouched around me, then nodded, bowing their heads. A few others also glared at him, but the majority of the Hunt looked at Percy with some curiosity and apprehension. Some even looked a little fearful.

I couldn't blame them. With the stuff he was wearing and his scarred face, he looked a bit like Ares, someone you didn't want on the enemy team on the battlefield. But this applied to my cousin as well: if there's one demigod you don't cross, it's Percy Jackson.

Percy then stood up and released me from the hug, but still held me by my shoulder as he holstered his weapon. "You good, Thals?" he asked worriedly.

I couldn't help but roll my eyes. "Same old Kelp Head, worried about others, especially when you should worry about yourself." I then looked around to see an arrow in his back, having barely grazed his backpack. "Holy Hades! I should be asking if you're okay! You took an arrow to the back!"

He shrugged. "Just pull it out. Don't worry, this armor can take a hit," he said, turning his back towards me.

"Percy, that arrow is Immortal Silver. This is mortal body armor!"

"Trust me, Thalia. Pull it out."

I looked at him a little hesitantly, then grasped the arrow shaft and pulled it out, leaving a small tear in his armor. He winced, but was otherwise unharmed.

"What did I say, Thals?" he said with a smirk. "Just like the Black Knight, ''tis but a scratch!'"

Artemis looked surprised. "How, Perseus?" she asked.

He mock-groaned before grinning and bowing towards her. "Lady Diana, just Percy! And to answer your question, Lord Vulcan is an incredible blacksmith."

"What do you mean, Percy? Why are you all dressed up like this? Where's your Roman armor?" I asked, recalling how he preferred the Roman forms after going to Camp Jupiter.

"I suppose I owe you a bit of an explanation," he sighed.

"Well? Out with it, boy!" shouted Jillian.

I was ready to tell her off for being disrespectful towards Percy, but he beat me to it.

"What the hell is wrong with you people? You're still a bunch of sexists?!? Can't you look past your damned misandry and elitism? Seriously, I've met some arrogant SEALs, but even they were better coworkers than you!" he groaned, exasperated.

Jillian and the other belligerent Hunters looked ready to kill him, and I wasn't really up for getting scolded for fighting my fellow Hunters, as I would have taken Percy's side. To keep things from getting out of hand, I interrupted: "Timeout. Percy, what the Hades are 'SEALs?'"

"SEALs are the United States Navy's Special Warfare Operators. They carry out missions on sea, air, and land, hence why they're called SEALs. Maritime, jungle, urban, arctic, mountainous, desert—they'll go there and do what they need to do. They're the Navy's primary special operations force, with focus on direct action and intelligence gathering, but are capable of a few other mission sets as well."

I gaped at him, utterly confused. "I understood almost none of that. Are you saying that you were an elite soldier for the US military for all those years you disappeared?"

"Sailor, not soldier," he corrected. "I was in the Navy, not the Army. I have served with SEALs, though, and have met some other SOF (special operations forces) units. In other words... well, SOF units—like the ones I mentioned—are to the US military like the Hunters are to the forces of Olympus. Capisce?"

"So you're openly admitting that the Hunters are better than the forces of Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood?" asked Artemis/Diana with a smirk. Oddly, she looked a bit older, perhaps around sixteen or seventeen years old. Where did that come from?

"Eh... kind of, Lady Diana. Here's something you need to keep in mind: the Hunters are a special operations force, while the camp forces are conventional infantry. You all are designed to work differently. The largest the Hunters have ever been is a platoon's strength. Now look at the camps: they operate in much larger units. Quests aside, when it's always fireteams or squads only, whenever they're in combat, they only operate in platoons or even companies.

Now, the average legionary can probably fare well against the average Hunter in close-quarters—or long-range if the guy's an archer—and that Hunter's probably going down in the former and have a run for her money in the latter. As for the average camper, it's no contest unless you go for close-quarters with a child of Ares or long-range with a child of Apollo. However, they operate in larger units because they usually face larger masses of enemies, often harder targets too. For this reason, they also have the fire support that you lack in the form of artillery.

But to answer your question: is the average Hunter better than the average legionnaire or camper? Maybe. Is your unit overall better? Not quite, as the camps and the Hunt have very different fighting doctrines."

"Okay... going back to your time in the Navy, is that why you're all dressed up in this body armor? And what's with the guns? Where's your sword?" I asked.

"Like I said, Lord Vulcan is an incredible blacksmith. He equipped my firearms with ammunition made from a mix of Celestial Bronze and Imperial Gold. I've got my rifle, its underbarrel grenade launcher, a sidearm, and a concealed light machine gun. I've got Riptide, as always, with me in my pocket. And finally, my knife. Mortal metal, but still useful outside of combat with monsters."

"Woah. Perce... you're loaded!" I exclaimed.

"I guess you could say I'm a... dam arsenal?" he replied with a grin.

We burst into laughter, remembering our little joke from the Hoover Dam. It was a stupid pun in the heat of the moment, but it still brought a smile to my face.

Artemis/Diana and the rest of the Hunt looked extremely confused.

His eyes then flitted up towards the sky. "We never did tell her," he said solemnly.

I returned a sad smile, knowing he was talking about Zoe Nightshade. "Yeah. I wonder if she figured it out?"

"Perhaps one of her neighbors told her?"

"I really don't know how it works up there."

"Ah. Anyways, I do believe we have some monsters to kill. I've got their location. Approximately three klicks northwest of here," he said, pointing northwest.

"Klicks?" asked Artemis/Diana curiously.

"Kilometers, Lady Diana. I took the liberty to reconnoiter the enemy camp before you guys got here, and I've got a map of it," he replied, pulling out a pad of paper from a pocket on his vest.

He flipped it open and presented it to me. I gingerly took it from his hands and started examining his drawing. Artemis/Diana came next to me, looking at the map, along with a few other Hunters.

"This is a map?" scoffed Jocelyn. "It's absolutely—"

"Impressive," I interrupted. "This is good, Kelp Head! It's really detailed!"

I saw Jocelyn look at me surprised, but she wisely chose to remain silent.  Yet, my comment wasn't even to spite her.  I was legitimately impressed.  Granted, it wasn't the Mona Lisa, but it was certainly clear enough to understand.

"I have to agree with my Lieutenant. I must say, I did not expect this level of thoroughness from you," said Milady.

"We have to be thorough in the military, especially in SOF. Even the smallest error can mean life or death," he responded solemnly. "I've got a plan."

"And what would that be, Perseus?"

"Percy," he corrected. "And it's a relatively simple strategy: we'll divide up into four squads. Thalia and I will go around and take a squad right here," he said, pointing to the northwestern corner. "Everyone else will concentrate their attacks here, here, and here," he said, pointing to the southeastern, eastern, and southern sides. "Thalia and I will act as the diversion. Plus, since she's y'all's combat controller, she can call in an airstrike. We'll go loud, get their attention. When it's time, I'll green-light you with a flare. You come in and smoke 'em from behind."

"Uhhh, Percy? 'Combat controller?' 'Airstrike?' We're not in the military, you know," I stated.

He paused for a moment, then facepalmed. "Sorry about that. I'll explain later. Whatever the case, you can call in a lightning strike on the enemy. We children of the Big Three—we're not exactly known for being stealthy, so we'll definitely make a lot of noise. Do you have any flare arrows, Lady Diana?"

She nodded.

"Okay, good. If you or I launch a second flare, that will mean that you need to bug out. You're gonna get to the rally point, which will be right here. The medics will triage the wounded and patch everyone up as good as possible. You can call Lord Apollo for CASEVAC if necessary."

"In English, Percy?" I asked, confused again by his foreign terminology.

"If Lady Diana or I launch a flare, discounting the first flare used to signal the main assault teams, everyone beats a retreat. Everyone's going to get back to this point. Healers will assess who's in need of treatment, and treat the more severely wounded first, then moving on to the rest. Lord Apollo can also be called in to evacuate anyone that possesses extreme wounds and provide more extensive medical treatment. Does that clear things up?"

"Significantly. Thanks, Kelp Head."

"You got it, Pinecone Face! Anyways, Lady Diana, would you like to go with this plan, or did you already develop a plan?"

"I suppose it could work. Not bad, Perseus," Artemis/Diana said.

"Thank you, ma'am. You know, a Ghostrider, Warthog, Strike Eagle, hell, even a Black Hawk with an M134 would make this ten times better."

"Percy, you're using weird words again," I reminded him.

He paused, then groaned. "Damn. Anyways, Lady Diana? Who's in the teams?"

"Jocelyn, Mary, Jillian, Irene, and Karen. You shall go with Thalia and Perseus. All others, divide into three equal groups," she responded.

Unfortunately, all five seemed to fall into the "Percy-hater" category, and they scowled at him as they stepped towards us.

"Boy, if you try anything, I will castrate you!" Jocelyn snarled.

"Well, girl, news flash: I don't want to try anything with you. Hell, I'm not sure why anyone would, especially with that awful personality of yours," he fired back.

Oof! Roasted!

It took all of my willpower to not laugh. Oddly, it seemed like Lady Artemis/Diana had a tiny smile flicker across her lips as she divided the Hunt into teams.

"How dare you—" Jocelyn said, outraged, before Percy interrupted her.

"Try to keep up. Thals, make sure they stay silent. Try to remain around five meters apart, and stagger. Also, I need you to watch my six."

"Your 'six?' I assume that means your back?" I asked.

"Correct. Lady Diana, we ready to roll?" he called.

"We are. And Perseus? Don't screw up!" she responded, almost sounding... teasing?

He grinned and gave her a little salute. "Have a good one. I'll see you there."

He then lowered his night-vision goggles and began walking into the forest, rifle pointed in front of him. As the rest of us went after him, a new thought crossed my mind.

What are we getting into that we need Percy here?

Fun fact: for anyone that noticed, the brief exposition in bold at the start of the chapters is set up Call of Duty-style: 

     --> Mission (in this case, chapter) name

     --> Date, time (dd-mmm-yyyy, hhhh [no "hours," because the US Navy and Marine Corps do not add "hours" after the military time, while the Army does])

     --> Narrator's name, rank/title

     --> Narrator's group/unit

     --> Location

Percy has a tougher personality than in canon, as shown here. However, if we're being honest, real SOF operators and servicemen in general, especially if they've served in combat, will emerge battle-hardened, and can take a lot more than normal people can. They may not be invincible, indestructible, or fearless, as they're still human beings like the rest of us, but it does take a lot to scare them or hurt them.

Feel free to drop a question in the comments if you have one.

Until we meet again. Stay safe!

- ADF-2