Theodore Walters's Story

Theodore walked calmly walked through the halls with his hands folded behind his back. It was all he could do to ignore the sirens blaring to every corner of the building. He hardly heard the frenzied footsteps of guards around the corner.
"Oh that won't do." he muttered before searching for a solution. To his right there was door and he quickly ran to it to try the handle. Locked, of course. At first touch Theo already understood it's locking mechanism and knelt down to crack it. He tried his best to ignore the blaring siren and approaching footsteps but he couldn't ignore what was inside his own head. Just then he felt the image of a cave impact his mind and jolting him from his work.
"Screw it. Too many distractions." he said exasperatedly getting up from the door. Taken a step back, he threw his foot forward against the door and watched as it snapped open. Hurriedly he stepped into the doorway and slammed it shut. None to soon as right afterwards he heard the guard's footsteps charge down the hall.

Theo breathed a sigh of relief before scanning the room around him. It was another interrogation room, and sitting towards the center was another half-blood. The blonde hair boy was no one he recognized but his struggle against the restraints caught his eye.
"Need any help with that?" he asked though he already intended on dismantling them. He quickly stepped his way around the unconscious interrogator to the boys side. Theo ignored how vulnerable kneeling beside this demigod made him and set to work. Without the pressure of approaching guards he had them open in a matter of seconds. "You'd think the gods could make better restraints." he mumbled before standing up.

Phoenix Estrielle

If Phoenix wasn't already annoyed enough, this was more than sufficient to make her think of marching straight up to Zeus and pulverize him into a pile of godly poop.

"When did you start working for Kronos?" The raspy, cracked voice prompted her again. It was much too dark to see barely five feet ahead of her, except for pairs of blood-red eyes that glinted maliciously in the shadows. Phoenix was strapped tightly to a chair - not to mention that it was darn uncomfortable as well, in what she supposed would be the torture chamber of doom and gloom.

"Kronos? If by working for him, you mean stuff like beating his ass up right, putting him back in his place in that filthy abyss of the underworld, then yeah, I started my service last year," Phoenix spat out, her voice laced thickly with sarcasm.

"A stubborn one, aren't you sweetheart? Just like your daddy. Now tell me, why did you betray the Olympians? How did Kronos get you to join his side? Speak, Daughter of Hades!"

"Cookies," Phoenix hissed, her lips drawn into a tight smile. "Kronos bakes lovely cookies, didn't you know that? He has pretty unicorns and rainbow popcorn in his possession as well. That's how we were oh-so tempted to join his little army of mindless zombies," she paused for effect, staring hard at the unseen creatures with eyes that spoke of determination and fearlessness. "Fools," she finished, a coy smile on her face. Apparently, her interrogators didn't quite seem to take humor very well.

"Dispose of her, she is of no use to us. Let her rot in the Underworld for all eternity - that is the price for treason."

"Ah, hell," Phoenix muttered, as figures began advancing on her. Immediately, various sorts of escape plans came almost like a natural instinct and reflex to her, analyzing the situation in as many ways possible. However, it seemed that there was only one logical action to be taken at that moment: Beat the shit out of these guys. Or rather, eradicate them - send them straight to the dark abyss of Tartarus. Hmm, it sounded like a pretty good plan to her.

"Ciao, send me a postcard," Phoenix grinned as the ground below them rumbled and shook like an angry beast, smothering the shocked cries of her interrogators who flailed wildly about. The next few seconds seemed to pass by in a flash as a fissure appeared; a large, gaping mouth that mercilessly devoured every creature that once stood above it. Almost as soon as it happened, the ground sealed itself close, shutting whatever that fell through in its murky depths below. All that remained was deathly silence - and a very, very annoyed Phoenix still strapped onto her chair. She wondered if her power to summon underlings would still work, lest they should turn on her instead. Oh well, it was worth a try.

"Accursed souls of the Underworld, heed my words, for my desire is your command," Phoenix ordered. This time, there was a slight rumble before the mangled hand of a creature broke through the ground, fingers clawing the air. Another appeared, then another, until four ghastly, decayed figures could be seen pulling themselves up from the Underworld and into the realm of mortals. The skeletal creatures stood in a neat row before Phoenix, bowing slightly with fists on their chests - or rather, what used to be flesh was now reduced to tattered skin exposing dry, charred bones.

"How can we assist you, daughter of Hades?" They gurgled. Okay... so the summons did work; that was a relief. It wouldn't exactly be desirable if she were to be destroyed by her own underlings, now would it?

"Hmm," Phoenix frowned. "Why did I even summon four of you? Okay never mind, how about getting rid of these?" Phoenix nodded to the chains wrapped around her body. "Neither the living nor dead can break these, but you are the undead, after all." That was all it took to free her from her burdensome position - her underling had disintegrated the enchanted chains with just a mere touch.

"Why, thank you. You may go," Phoenix, likewise, placed a fist over her chest and bowed. It wasn't necessary since they were her underlings, but she made it a point to show her gratitude - undead or not. In an instant, they faded into the shadows, leaving an empty space where they stood. However, the fact that she was actually held captive and interrogated by subordinates of the Olympians had a highly disturbing quality to it, not to mention that she was pretty sure her own interrogators had been her father's. She hadn't the time to ponder over the situation, when sudden images flashed rapidly through her mind, leaving a lingering presence of someone's aura....

Of course. Erin May, daughter of Hecate. And, judging from the rising commotion coming from all sorts of directions, Phoenix assumed that the possibility of her being in her current predicament alone was little to none. Oh well, the more the merrier, that's what they always say. She found the exit of the room she was in rather quickly, proceeding to navigate through the confusing passages that split up in all sorts of directions. Not surprisingly, she met with few resistance - manpower must have been used up in chasing the other demigods around. Amusing. She had not even found the need to transform Stormbreaker, which still sat snugly on her index finger as an onyx-black ring.

Phoenix rounded yet another bend - this time, pausing momentarily. Oh, lookie. Familiar people. "I assume you got Erin's message?" one even said.

Wonderful. Civilization. Finally.

"Hello boys, glad to see you here. Now then, let's bust out of this place, shall we?" Phoenix gave them a coy smile. An entire force of Olympian subordinates, versus three of the best demigod elites around. What were the odds?

"Do you know how many people are imprisoned here?" The boy asked. Theo kept his eye on him while he rose to his feet. He had trusted the boy when he came in because he was restrained but now he had second thoughts. Not everyone in here was falsely accused of betrayal. He stared at the boy until he recognized him as Alexander Tyr. He had been some talk among the Hephaestus campers but he wasn't surprised he didn't recognize him. He had stayed away from such gossip.

He cleared his throat to answer when another person came into the room. "Hello boys, glad to see you here. Now then, let's bust out of this place, shall we?" she said with a coy smile. Great he thought as he sized up the intruder. She looked as if she could have killed them upon entering so he decided to trust her for now. "Well I can't say I'm glad to see anyone here but yes we should escape now." He said returning her smile.
He started to walk towards her when his feet rattled one of Alex's chains. He leaned down and picked up the chain. Tossing it up and down in his hands he then grabbed Alex's manacle and attached them. He swung it in a circle beside him and smiled. For the circumstances it was a nice makeshift flail. He handed it over to Alex in satisfaction. He didn't know how well the child of Athena could handle himself without a weapon so he gladly relinquished it. He walked to the doorway while quickly rubbing his hands together. "After you." he said upon reaching the door. He had no weapon for himself but by this time his hands were heated to enough to at least burn anyone they touched.

Phoenix Estrielle

Phoenix studied the two demigods momentarily. She knew them, of course, but whether they could say the same would be another matter entirely. Theodore looked wary of her, but it was of little concern to Phoenix. She was used to people giving her that particular look - she was after all, a child of Hades. In any case, Phoenix was pretty sure they could be trusted - no one walks around with chains and a wild look in their eyes, so differentiating friends from foes shouldn't be much of a problem. With that being said, she watched Theodore fiddle around with the metal things, and narrowed her eyes.

"What? That's unfair. Was I the only one who got strapped to a chair with enchanted chains? Those things can only be broken by the undead. Ridiculous," Phoenix muttered.

Just then, the sound of approaching footsteps could be heard down the hallway. The bad news: They could end up cornered and stuck in the room. The worse news: The footsteps sounded like they belonged to a quantity that the three demigods would be more than willing to avoid. This was a higher level of opposing forces than the ones Phoenix had encountered so far - not surprising actually, since meeting up with the other demigods running loose would only mean bumping into more pesky Olympian subordinates.

With a flick of her hand, Stormbreaker emerged; a deathly black longsword forged from Stygian iron at her disposal. It was a pretty weapon, and Phoenix took pride in it.

"Alrighty, time to move. Anyone knows where the exit is? Or should we just destroy the whole place? I wouldn't imagine Zeus would be particularly pleased about that," she cast a bemused look at them and shifted into an offensive stance, her fingers curled comfortably around the hilt of Stormbreaker. At the same time, her mind raced at an impossible speed, calculating the odds and the best strategy for survival. It wouldn't be wise to invest time and energy into trying to fight their way through the scores of enemies approaching, yet there was only one exit out of this room. Unless...

"Ahhhh, I have an idea," Phoenix grinned. "If that stupid door is the only exit out of this room, then we'll just make another. This building is filled with hallways and rooms, so we'll simply smash through this wall here," she nodded at the furthest wall. "We should be able to pop out somewhere eventually."

At that moment, the first wave of enemy forces had rounded the same bend Phoenix had took earlier - and of course, spotting the three wanted demigods. With a great roar, he bellowed, "THERE! THEY ARE OVER THERE!"

"Yes, yes, don't need to get all worked up," Phoenix muttered and rolled her eyes, then proceeded to buy some time for Theodore and Alex. Again, mangled creatures smelling of death and decay clawed up from the ground. This time, it was six skeletal figures dressed in armor and wielding swords. Fallen heroes, Phoenix presumed.

"Buy us time. Destroy them," Phoenix instructed. Her underlings bowed, then marched out of the room. More of this summoning crap, and she'll probably pass out in two hours or so.

"Ahhhh, I have an idea," Phoenix grinned "If that stupid door is the only exit out of this room, then we'll just make another. This building is filled with hallways and rooms, so we'll simply smash through this wall here," she nodded at the furthest wall. "We should be able to pop out somewhere eventually.".
"Sounds like a plan." he said walking away from the door. He had almost been looking forward to bashing a few of the guards heads. It would serve them right for their blind loyalty to the Olympians. They had fought alongside them in the war and what the Olympians believed did nothing to change that.
When he reached the wall he placed a blazing hand on it. He watched as the patch around his hand sizzled and desolved. He pulled his hand away and shook it to cool it down. It was effective but not effective enough under the time limit. He took a step back and gestured for Alex to give it a try.

When his hands had considerably cooled down he brought one of them to his necklace. "Daedalus, awaken" he muttered under his breath. Under his hand he could feel the tiny automoton jerking it's way from crescent moon shape. When the motion stopped he brought his hand away to allow the mechanical satyr to stand in his palm. The automaton wasn't perfect, even now Theo was counting the imperfections, but for now it had what he needed. He interrupted the series of clicks (a morse code feature Theo was especially proud of) with his request. "Daedalus, hammer." he said bringing his other hand beside the other. Daedalus gave a single beep to acknowledge the request and then opened up his chest cavity. Beside the gears and electrical wires rested a minuscule bronze hammer about the size of Theo's thumbnail. Daedalus grabbed it's handle before turning to throw it into Theo's other hand. Theo had to move his hand over a few inches to catch it and knocked daedalus of his hooves while he was at it. Note to self: improve daedalus's depth perception. "Thank you Daedalus. Now sleep." he muttered bringing his back up to his neck. When he felt daedalus tug against the chain, he pulled his hand away to focus on the hammer. Upon receiving his attention the hammer started to grow until it took two hands to support it's weight. He softly tapped the base on the ground before walking over to the wall. He restrained from hitting it strait away and instead stopped to listen for anything on the other side. It would do them no good to break the wall only to run into more guards. Sadly, all he could hear was the sounds of battle coming from behind him. "Hear anything on the other side?" he asked turning to the child of Athena. Surely his senses were finer than Theo's after theo had spent the last two years listening to hammers strike anvils.

Phoenix Estrielle

Two of her skeletal warriors were down, only four left - traces of their existence disintegrated into smoky piles of grey ash. Phoenix had spent the past five minutes defending the entrance of the room, cutting down both demigods and creatures left and right. They all screamed bloody murder as they threw themselves relentlessly against the daughter of Hades; her unwavering determination fought back time and again. Her movements were swift, precise and accurate, conserving her energy for when it would be needed the most. Though of course, sheer willpower would soon be futile against hordes of enemies who were more than willing to capture and annihilate them. Taking a risk, Phoenix quickly glanced over her shoulder to check up on the boys. They darn well better not expect that her stamina was going to last forever.

"Earth to Alex and Theodore, are you guys done? I can't hold them back for the whole day you know," Phoenix said as she narrowly dodged a spear which embedded itself in the wall behind her, then deflected a sword with a flick of her wrist. Two more came down on her and she dodged them again, yet the third time wasn't as fortunate. A son of Ares had sliced her left arm, leaving a deep, bloody gash running all the way down to her wrist. With a cry, Phoenix staggered backwards, fury and pain blazing in her eyes as the blood dripped continuously on the cold marble floor. It was a burning pain that stunned her momentarily, weaving its way into her stomach as she tried to regain her balance. Uh oh. Not good.

"Defend," she ordered her underlings as she retreated back into the room, still clutching her wounded arm. The pain had slightly subsided now, leaving a lingering throbbing - but painful, nonetheless. Now the question was, to shadow-travel - or not? In her current state, the possibility of passing out for a few days after the usage of that particular ability of hers was ridiculously high. Not to mention, it would have to include Theodore and Alex as well, which only added to the strain. Yet, the hideout in which Erin had shown her was not very far. Not very far at all...

"How annoying," Phoenix muttered, narrowing her eyes in frustration. Her indecisiveness was driving her nuts, and she always had the same problem as to deciding whether to shadow-travel or not. That ability was useful, though its repercussions were not exactly desirable, to say the least. Unconsciousness, nausea, splitting headaches - what's there not to love?

"To hell with it," Phoenix marched straight up to Theodore, grabbed his wrist, then proceeded to do the same to Alex. "First-class ticket out of this shit hole, hold on to your faces, and you're welcome."

Phoenix tightened her grip around the two and closed her eyes, trying to breathe evenly. She imagined slipping into the shadows around them, feeling its embrace, engulfing them in a void of darkness. Then, she projected images of the hideout Erin had shown her, leaving not a single detail out, lest they should appear in an entirely different location than the desired one. The few seconds seemed to stretch into an eternity, then all of a sudden, the impression of being on a bullet train travelling at the speed of light could be felt - though much, much faster. They were going at such an impossible speed, that none could hardly keep their wits about. Instead, they let their bodies go limp to simply move forward with the flow. However, in the next instant, blinding light flashed in their eyes as they met with the sudden warmth and glare of the afternoon sun, the darkness slowly dissipating around them.

Upon arriving, Phoenix stumbled forward, gasping and spluttering. Her vision was hazy and blurred, and she could hardly see a few paces before her. Not to mention, her head was pounding with pain, which was only increased by the damage done to her arm. She could feel the strength slowly ebbing away from her limbs - and her entire body in general. It was not much of a surprise, really; Phoenix had braced herself for the impacts of shadow-travelling before actually executing it. Yet, feeling the actual thing was a different matter entirely.

Although in her weakened and utterly disorientated state, Phoenix could somehow make out the outline of a figure standing in front of the designated area for rendezvousing. He - she presumed, was... a few steps away? She could not tell. Putting one foot in front of the other, Phoenix stumbled her way forwards, squinting hard at the uncanny, familiar face of the person before her. A few seconds later, her mouth twitched into a weak grin.

"Thaddeus..." She breathed. "H-how about waking me up an hour or so?" With that, Phoenix collapsed right into the son of Thanatos.

Alex's response stopped Theo from bringing his hammer down on the wall. Had Alex only told him there was no one on the other side he would have whacked away until it came down but the extra information brought new thoughts with it. From what he knew about architecture, which was a lot, they placed rooms of similar purpose close to each other. He could only guess if the gods followed the same principle but assuming they did, those other rooms Alex noticed were other interrogation rooms. Those interrogation rooms could hold more falsely accused heroes like him and Alex. Maybe they-
"Earth to Alex and Theodore, are you guys done? I can't hold them back for the whole day you know," the girl's voice snapped Theo from his thoughts and he looked back to where she was fighting. His eyes widened as he saw the four skeletal warriors armed with wicked swords. He was about to rush and attack the undead just out of instinct when he realized they were fighting against the guards. Unless Hades wasn't as insane as the rest of the gods, these soldiers had been summoned by one of his children. He looked at the girl with a hint of fear but mostly newfound respect. Sadly he was still watching when a soldiers sword pierced her defense.
They won't be able to hold out forever he thought before hefting his hammer to his shoulder. Act now think later he thought. It was a strategy that had yet to fail him and as he used it now he hoped it wasn't about to change.
He was just about to make the first swing when Phoenix came from behind and grabbed his wrist. "First-class ticket out of this shit hole, hold on to your faces, and you're welcome."
"What do you-" Again Phoenix interrupted him in a way he never would have expected. The world went completely black but he could hardly comprehend that before he was speeding faster than a bullet. He felt every part of his body go limp and he had to struggle to keep enough his hammer from rocketing off into the void. It was scarier than any monster he'd ever fought and yet it was over as soon as it started. A bright light sliced through the black and blinded Theo for a considerable amount of time. Before his vision returned he could feel that he was out of the darkness and on a rocky floor. He lurched forward upon landing and greedily gulped in air. He felt as if he had ridden 100 roller coasters all at once and he couldn't stop himself from faintly moaning. He laid himself down against the rocky floor and waited for the sickness to subside. Every one of his limbs were numb and he had no idea if he still had his hammer. Heck, he hardly knew if he still had clothes on but he was too disoriented to care.