Chapter 56: My cat conspires against me

.

===========================

Today 3100 words and a lot of action.

============================

' Percy '

...

The Nemean lion was a beast.

Literally but also figurally speaking.

The moment the Spartacus came within reach the lion jumped forward, over their heads, and lashed one out mid-air with his front paw.

Some Spartacus had handguns on their belts, but most of them had regular Greek swords.

A few lashed out with their swords and would've cut off his paws but the skin was invincible.

The lion landed behind the 12 Spartacus and had devoured one upon landing on it.

The Spartacus stared at the Nemean lion who had just eaten their friend and killed him.

To my surprise the Spartus did not reform or reappear somewhere else. The belly of the lion must have destroyed it essence or something.

Neat.

This was our sign to attack.

Though we could not kill them permanently, we could keep them busy till the lion arrived to swallow them and our plan.

Nyx threw both her daggers at the Spartacus who were distracted by the lion.

Upon contact the Spartacus immediately disappeared and I remembered her daggers were made of hardened void and that all wounds made with this dagger would never heal.

I wondered why she even got those weapons.

Nyx charged forward at the remaining Spartacus yelling, "This is Sparta!" which would've been hilarious wasn't it for the kids who were screaming in the background.

Through the mist they probably saw Nyx murdering an innocent security guard and with my luck they would only remember a boy with black messy hair with the name Percy.

Zoë and Bianca nocked an arrow at their bows and began shooting at the Spartacus who tried to move around the Nemean lion.

They shot each a Spartacus in the head. They fell down to the ground, like a pile bones.

Then they began to rearrange themselves and slowly put themselves together.

Luckily the lion jumped over the Spartacus who tried to surround him and devoured the pile of bones. The other did reform and shot at him with a gun but the bullets bounced of his hide.

Thalia and I jumped into battle and fought alongside Nyx who was swirling through the Spartacus like a deadly storm.

I used Frostsilver and Riptide to attack the Spartacus who tried to attack her from behind while Thalia shielded us from the Spartacus who tried to take aim, Aegis apparently also worked on the dead because when they looked at it their bones began to shake and rattle.

Everytime a Spartacus went down Nemean lion charged at the remains and swallowed them like they were cat food.

Quickly we got rid of all the Spartacus.

The Spartacus were kind of easy to kill but the problem with them was their quick regeneration, this made them way harder than they would be normally.

Unless you had a giant invincible lion.

When the last Spartacus went down we all looked around to see the entire building was empty, guess we had scared away all the tourist.

Apologies for that.

I wondered for a second where the security guards were, until I saw some through the window standing outside of the museum.

"We need to move." I said and pointed at the security guards outside.

"We can take them." Nyx said.

"Please…" Zoë said, "we are not going to hurt mortals."

The lion meowed, gaining our attention.

He stared at me like he was saying, Where's my whale?

"Not now." I said and pointed outside to where the guards were standing, readying their weapons and talking through their walkie talkies.

"So did you tame it?" Thalia asked, "Like Cerberus?"

I shrugged, "I guess so."

The lion meowed and leaped onto me, for a second I thought I would be crushed under the lion's weight but it landed with both his paws besides me.

I looked up to the massive face of the lion. It opened it mouth and…

Licked me.

Meow

"That's a yes." Bianca noticed, she was smart.

"We can't take it. It's to big for the van anyway." Zoë said studying the lion.

I wondered for a brief second what I would do with it, unlike Cerberus the lion could not shadow travel.

Then to my surprise the lion began to change size, it image flickered, like a lightbulb.

A blue symbol appeared above the lions head. It was hanging in the air and gave of a blue glow.

The symbol kind of looked like a capital B but with triangles instead of curves.

One second, a lion, was standing over me.

Next second there was a red kitten sitting on my chest, looking at me with its yellow eyes.

Meow

The symbol faded.

We all stared blankly at the lion, I mean kitten.

"What happened?" Thalia asked.

"I honestly don't know." I admitted.

The kitten jumped of my chest and began to play with its tail fascinated by the movements.

'It's the mist,' Chaos said, 'I combined the rune "'Berkanan" with the mist.'

'What's Berkanan? And how does the mist work?' I asked.

I hoped it was not just mist, or I would be stuck with a giant lion inside a car while I thought it was a kitten and that would've been embarrassing.

'Berkanan, a Norse run. It represents a birch tree.' Chaos said.

'Glad to know that.' I answered sarcastically.

'It stands for growth and birth, and a few other things. I combined the rune with the mist, so it can change form whenever it wants.' Chaos explained sounding extremely annoyed by my lack of knowledge.

"It's the mist." Nyx told the others.

I got up from the ground and looked at the kitten licking my reeboks.

"That's impossible." Zoë muttered.

"I'm new to this stuff," Bianca said, "But are lions supposed to be tamed and turned into a cat?"

"It's still a lion," I said, "It can change form now, maybe it has to do with being tamed by me."

"So we are taking it?" Thalia asked glaring at the lion, suspecting it to attack suddenly.

The cat growled at Thalia, returning the glare.

"That's a yes." Nyx and I said simultaneously.

"We better get going." Bianca said pointing outside.

"Isn't it weird there's no alarm?" Nyx wondered, but we already ran to the exit.

Zoë shouted things like "Gas Leak! Dangerous! Nothing to see here!" while snapping her fingers, the mist have been working overtime because the guards ignored us totally and let us leave without any trouble.

We crossed Potomac and ran towards the van but a pack of wolves and my sister were waiting for us.

14 feet away from us Despina was leaning against the van and seemed to polish her nails with one of her ice swords.

She was surrounded by a pack of wolves. I counted at least 10 this time, which worried me.

One of the wolves was peeing against the front wheel.

'Where'd he gets those new wolves?' I wondered for a brief second.

Despina looked up when she was us and smiled, "Well that took forever."

The wolf that was peeing against the van morphed into a Lycaon.

"Ieeks! He pied against our van." Nyx called out, "Even I don't do that."

Despina glared at Lycaon, "What did I told you about peeing against things, it's disgusting."

Lycaon glared at Despina but did not say anything.

Despina turned towards us and noticed our new team member.

"You got a cat?" she wondered.

"It's not a cat." I said, this was the cue for our cat to morph back into a lion.

Instead, it just ran towards Despina and began to bump its head against her snow boots.

Despina frowned while all the wolves stepped back and showed their fangs.

"It's cute." she noticed, "Does it have a name?" She wondered when she knelt down next to the cat and began to pet it.

I wanted to ask my sister to stop petting my cat and tell my cat to stop befriending the enemy, instead Zoë was first.

"Stop petting the Nemean lion." she shouted then glared at me, like she wanted to say, your sister, your cat. Your fault.

Despina scowled at Zoë, "Nemean lion?"

The cat morphed into a lion and roared.

The roar razed through the streets, newspapers and snow flew up.

The wolves eyes filled with fear and they let out a scared bark.

"The lion." Lycaon growled, "this is beyond our powers."

Lycaon morphed into a wolf and fled.

The rest of the pack soon followed and within a few seconds the entire pack was scared away.

Despina, however, did not seem to be surprised at all by the lion's true appearance.

She glared at the direction the wolves fled, "Ugh, such a coward." she muttered.

"All bark and no bite." I joked.

Thalia snickered, "good one."

"Go away now, we don't have time for this." Zoë said.

Despina yawned, "But I do."

Zoë glanced at us, "It is six against one we can take her."

Thalia took out her mace canister and turned it into a spear.

She touched her bracelet and Aegis sprung to life, I uncapped Riptide and summoned Frostsilver.

Bianca and Zoë had their silver bows out, and Nyx summoned a pair of daggers.

"Lion come here!" I demanded.

The lion turned around and turned back into a kitten.

It ran towards me and sat at my leg and looked up at me with his golden eyes.

"Can you go back to lion form?" I asked.

The kitten meows but did not transform into a lion.

I frowned, "Why don't you listen?"

The kitten stared at me and I had the idea he tried to say something.

'Can you teach me how to speak feline?' I asked Chaos.

Chaos immediately replied, 'I could, but I want you to learn it yourself.'

'Because learning the language of my cat is something I can train.' I said sarcastically.

'Indeed!' Chaos said cheerfully.

I stared at my cat and tried to interpret the expression.

I decided it must have been saying I'm not going to fight someone who petted me.

I sighed, "My cat is not going to do anything." I told Zoë.

"You haven't given it a name yet?" Despina asked.

I glared at her, "Hey keep my cat out of this."

Despina shrugged, "You should name it Rebel. Get it? Because he never listens to you."

The cat meowed.

I like it It seemed to say, or maybe it just wanted fish.

"You are already a pain in the ass." I told the cat.

"Quit talking." Zoë demanded.

"She began." I pouted and pointed at Despina.

Despina shrugged, "Anyway are you guys gonna flee to because it's getting cold." she laughed at her own joke.

Bianca and Zoë aimed their bows at Despina.

"Give up Despina." Zoë said with a scary tone.

"What about no." Despina said, and she stepped away from the van.

She snapped her finger, and the shield of winter flew of her back and attached itself to her right arm. In her right arm she held an ice sword.

She took another step and Zoë released her arrow, followed by Bianca.

Despina blocked both arrows with her shield.

She smirked, "Lets play."

She stamped her feet into the snow and suddenly ice began to appear on her back, it began to attach itself to her back and to grow and reform itself.

With a crackling sound the ice on her back formed itself into two angelic wings, her wings seemed to be made out of pure blue ice, each feather was made of ice and seem to be separated from the other.

Her wings were around 7 feet wide combined and 3 feet tall.

For a quick second I thought, 'those wings are made of ice. She can't fly.'

Then she spread her wings and flew forward towards us.

She hovered a foot above the ground and was fast, We all dove to the side while Nyx shadow traveled away.

Thalia lashed out with her spear at Despina but she had already spun mid-air and blocked it with her shield. Her sword immediately followed. I jumped forward and blocked it with Frostsilver and lashed out with Riptide at her stomach.

However, she was still turning around and her wing blocked Riptide.

I hoped Riptide would pierce or scatter the ice but it just bounced of.

I frowned, then I was hit in the back of my head by her other wing.

I fell to the ground.

I got up only to find out Despina was fighting Thalia from above.

"That's unfair, she has the high ground." Nyx muttered.

Then she shadow traveled on top of Despina and she fell to the ground due to Nyx's weight.

She dropped her sword and fell on her back. Her huge wings vanished when she hit the ground. Nyx stood on top of her smiling.

Zoë and Bianca had their bows but couldn't get a clear shot.

Nyx lashed out at Despina with her daggers but Despina blocked it with her shield.

Thalia brought down her spear at Despina's side but she caught it with her free hand and flipped it.

Thalia, who was still holding the spear, was launched at Zoë who yelped.

I raised my hand and poured water from the air and shot it at Despina.

Despina rolled away, throwing Nyx over her and got up.

Her wings appeared on her back and she flew straight up, she then threw her shield at me.

I dove to the side and grabbed Riptide from the ground.

After the Shield of winter struck the ground and where I just stood it flew back to her arm.

Thalia had gotten up and electricity crackled around her spear, her eyes were filled with anger. She aimed the spear at Despina in the air.

Despina quickly dove down at me.

A blue ray of lightning shot past Despina who was smirking, she changed position mid air and was about to kick me in the face.

I duck, and she flew past me and landed behind me.

Arrows flew at Despina but she blocked it with her shield and wings.

Then we heard a chopping sound in the distant and we all looked up.

In the distance, coming from the museum, a black military helicopter flew in our direction.

It was the a large black one, it had a mitrailleur attached to the side where a man was controlling it. The man wore a simple black swat uniform but had a bandana on his forehead.

On the front of the helicopter was a golden triangle with a scythe inside painted.

'Distract her.' Nyx mentally said.

"Hey Despina?" I said gaining her attention.

"What?" she asked annoyed and raised the shield of winter and spread her wings, however she still glanced at the helicopter.

'Keep her busy, she cannot take down the helicopter.' Nyx added.

"You play Pokémon?" I asked Despina.

Despina scowled at me, "What?"

I dropped both my swords and aimed my hands at her, "Fire beats ice!"

Immediately a beam of flames spurted out of my hands towards Despina.

"Flame thrower." I yelled.

Maybe I should not announce what type of attack I would do but the opportunity was just to good.

However, Despina was fast, really fast.

She waved her hand and a wall of water raise between us and squinched all the flames.

"Funny." She yelled from the other side of the wall.

I glanced back at the helicopter and noticed it was hanging uselessly in the air, my friends were also gone.

Even my cat.

"You're not the only child of Poseidon," Despina said laughingly, "Waterfall."

The wall of water turned into a huge wave that came crashing towards me, it rose at least 5 feet above my head.

I switched to water powers and wielded it to go around me.

When all the water subsided, Despina was smirking.

"Water beats fire." Despina said.

I glared at her, "You want to play like that?" I asked.

"Vine Wrap."

I snapped my fingers. Grass broke through the stone and snow and crawled up her snow boots and wrapped themselves around them.

I expected them to go higher, but they would not grow any larger than one foot.

Despina frowned and stepped forward.

All the grass immediately snapped and died down.

Well, an anti-climax.

I never got to know what type of counter-attack Despina would do, Nyx appeared in front of me and said, "Dark type beat everything."

"No, it doesn't." Despina and I complained, but Nyx stepped forward and touched my shoulder.

Shadows engulfed my entire body and for a second everything was black, then I was inside...the helicopter?

We were standing in the back of the helicopter.

The sound of the helicopter was deafening and I

In front of us was the cockpit sat a fat man with greasy brown hair and sunglasses was controlling the helicopter.

Zoë stood behind him and threatened him with a hunting knife.

Bianca was holding my cat and petting it and Thalia was leaning against a wall eating ambrosia.

"Fly." Nyx yelled.

"Fly." Zoë repeated.

The pilot nodded and suddenly we flew up higher and away from the battlefield we caused.

I glanced outside and saw Despina glaring at us, I wondered for a brief second why she was not chasing us, since she had wings.

Then we flew out of sight.

We all let out a sigh of relief, glad we made it out.

"Where are we going?" I asked Zoë who was threatening the pilot.

"Jail." the pilot mumbled.

Zoë hit the man with her elbow, the helicopter tumbled.

"Maybe it's not a good idea to hit the pilot." Thalia suggested eating Ambrosia.