( Leo POV )
Leo watched as the crowd whispered and stole glances to the gathered thrones, some in disbelief, the ballsy ones in pity though they were quick to hide it lest they be seen and possibly smite for it. He could understand though, he really could considering he would have been in their shoes nearly a decade ago.
It had been just over three days since the Moonlight Massacre as it was come to be known. Artemis had been unresponsive for over a day and off all her hunters only five remained though miraculously none of the campers who'd gone in her trip had died.
When the goddess returned to the land of the living she'd been rapidly switching between enraged and heartbroken, having lost all hunters that had been part of her group for millennia and leaving only recent additions.
The deaths and the fact that Artemis was defeated so easily and up until now the goddess had refused to offer more on what happened. With Artemis out of it for the last few days, other gods had to pull the slack and work overtime to flash the remaining demigods of Camp Half-Blood to Camp Jupiter and the Amazons had arrived just last night.
With the overflowing city, tempers and anxiety were rising high but Zeus had put his foot down for order, along with the help of Athena and Hephaestus.
Now they had called another war council, this time filled with senior members of every branch and grouping. At the center of the council chamber sat the thrones of the gods, the tops of both Greek and Roman pantheon for the few that were exclusive to one or the other.
Leo sat next to his wife, Calypso, within the audience seating rather in the lower tables. He might be a veteran of the second Giant War and now god, but he was never suited for being in the commanding positions as was far more content to give input if asked, otherwise he would focus on arming them up as best he could.
Leo was broken out of his thoughts when Zeus slammed an electrified fist onto his armrest, discharging a wave of static and ruining more than one hairdo. So not cool! With the silence restored and all eyes on him Zeus began the second war council.
"Now then," he began after scanning around. "It would seem that this Umbra has gone and revealed more of himself, along with the possible location of his base and we can assure of some gods that have betrayed."
The crowd and representatives started to murmur at that, eyeing the king nervously as he waved to Artemis.
"Artemis can confirm it, Lupa has in fact turned traitor."
That caused an uproar with the Roman demigods and those who saw her in a favorable light. It lasted for nearly a minute before Artemis shot to her feet and roared, "Enough!"
Silence reigned again as all eyes turned to the near rabid goddess. Without a word she waved her hand causing an orb to appear high overhead and only a few seconds later an image appeared of a large black wolf with yellow-silver eyes.
Like a mini clip it played forward and they watched in stunned silence as Artemis was about to stab the wolf before being interrupted by a raven beauty. Leo would have—pun intended—wolf-whistled if the situation wasn't so grave.
His jaw dropped at the revelation of Medusa (where the Hades did her snake hair go?) and then Lupa of all things turned into a chick … a very fine chick if he said so himself.
The image suddenly cut off and then changed to Artemis' view, making Leo wonder if the goddess didn't want them seeing how she got her ass handed to her. Leo didn't see the point considering how trashed she was when they recovered her alone with the survivors of the trip.
After all, Leo had seen enough of the goddess throughout the decade to know she would have gloated if she managed to take down even one of her attackers and considering it was a goddess, a monster (god too?), and a demon responsible for several disappearances and deaths, Artemis was laughably outgunned.
When the playing image focused on Umbra, revealing a somewhat human form for the first time, several murmurs broke out. It got even louder when they saw him turn to reveal his wings and one particularly loud gasp drawing his attention. His eyes focused on the centurion for the 2nd Cohort, a daughter of Venus if he recalled properly.
Normally he would ogle such beauties (but on the sly, otherwise Calypso kicked him to the dreaded couch), but what caught his interest was the fact that she was holding a small cross in her knuckle as if a life-line.
A Christian demigod? Now he's seen everything. What's more he could read her shaky lips as she mumbled to herself about 'fallen angel' and 'Lucifer'. He could see how she would jump to that, considering the resemblance was uncanny.
Overly powerful dude calling himself a demon, pitch black wings and power to freeze, especially considering that Lucifer was said to be in the last level of Hell, the frozen pit of betrayers.
Now Leo was pretty sure the big G didn't exist, otherwise a good 90% of the Greek pantheon and monsters alike would have been tossed into said pit long ago.
Regardless, the comparison was unnerving to say the least. What was next, a white angel with a big ass sword swopping down and starting to hack gods to pieces?
He shuddered with a sudden chill running down his spine making him look around. He knocked on the wood of his seat … just in case.
Thankfully Leo was broken out of his thoughts before it could get too messed up as the orb disappeared and attention returned to the council. They looked just as surprised as the attending demigods, possibly from Artemis remaining silent and apart from everyone until today. It was not looking good though and Leo had a feeling today's council wasn't bringing good news either.
"Now that we've gotten that out of the way, we can begin with some plans of defense," Athena spoke up as she stood and with a wave of her hand another orb appeared detailing the continental US and Canada. There was a bright beacon located in Ontario that Athena pointed too.
"It seemed that Umbra and his forces have made an appearance and we can distinctly feel a large amount of divine energy coming from somewhere in northern Ontario. Sadly, it is just beyond the metaphysical border of the Land of the Gods."
"So we do nothing!?" Clarisse shouted as she stood, already dressed in war regalia even if not currently armed.
"I was saying," Athena cut in with a glare that shut the veteran up. "It's close. Not enough that we can safely flash there and retain our power but enough that we can provide support and long rang attacks while a demigod army could safely attack. Therefore, we will start with smaller scouting parties heading north to get a lay for the land."
Athena paused as she waved her hand making the map zoom in closer to see a better picture of the terrain.
"Considering the heavily woodland and occasional mountainous areas, the primary scouting will be done by satyr and hunter teams," Athena said before stopping as Reyna raised her hand to get the goddess' attention. With Athena's nod Reyna stood while directing a nervous look at Artemis.
"But Lady Athena, how will there be hunters if they had such heavy casualties?" she asked and Leo nodded along.
The five surviving hunters were catatonic after being rescued and would flinch at the shadows. It was a wonder if any of them could return to the battlefield at all. Seeing one of the most elite groups of Olympus so broken had really done a number to the morale of the camp as a whole.
"We are aware," Athena replied while shooting a calculating look at Artemis as said goddess glared down at her own lap. "However to compensate, she along with all other Olympians will be recruiting demigods and forming elite groups similar to the Hunt."
"Such as?" Chiron asked, speaking up as he passed worried looks over the demigods. They were his charges after all, especially with the loss of Lupa.
"Without Ares, Bellona and I have decided to take up the mantel for primarily warrior styled demigods and so will recruit the heavier infantry from the camp," Athena answered while looking over the demigods.
"Artemis' Hunt and another group formed by Hermes will be mainly scouts and used for guerilla tactics. Apollo will form the archery team and medics, and so on and so forth."
"And joining a group is not optional," Zeus added as thunder cracked overhead sending a shiver through the demigod ranks present.
"Unless of course, you intend to run and turn traitor," Artemis added as she diligently scanned the chambers.
Leo nervously swallowed at the look in Artemis' eyes. They were so full of distrust and anger. He knew he was right, the news of these new 'squads' was not going to go over very well.
Sure, plenty were itching for war but basically drafting them into those groups and what was sure to be full of oaths calling loyalties into question would not endear them to the gods. Not to mention the mass movement into unfamiliar terrains.
Whelp, at least he now had an Argo III, IV, and V to load up rather than leave to collect dust.
How lucky was it that none were in any of his father's storages, otherwise they would have been blown to kingdom come with the freaky lightning strikes? Nothing says 'hello' and 'fuck you' like ballista bolts and Greek fire bombs raining from the heavens…
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Don't forget to throw some power Stones, to keep the story going.
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