Waves (Percy Jackson & DC Crossover)

Hunting Friends and Monsters?

Percy's POV

Water dripped down the damp concrete walls of the aging subway tunnel. Everything was abnormally dark as many of the lights were broken and those that remained only gave off a dull glow. Percy grimaced as he passed some especially obscene graffiti that covered nearly every surface.

This might just be worse than New York City, the demigod thought stepping around a pile of overflowing trash bags.

Then something caught his attention. An odd sound from a tunnel to his right echoed down the otherwise silent tunnels. Percy slowly approached the off-branching passage with Riptide ready to block a sudden attack. When he got within fifteen feet of the opening, the Son of the Sea took control of the droplets hanging in the air and used them as a grid just like he did in his recent battle with Medusa. He felt as many of them were moved or attached themselves to something as it passed.

After a minute, Percy detected four distinct figures. They appeared human, or humanoid at least and one was a good several inches taller and bulkier than the other three. The demigod also took in their passive stances, and although they had weapons, they were not held in a threatening manner. He smiled slightly and lowered his own weapon. He knew it definitely wasn't a monster as they would have been able to smell him and most likely attacked him already. Additionally, he had a pretty good guess as to who it might be.

"I know you guys are there. What are you doing here?"

There was a bit of scuffling and muttering before someone with pink and blue pigtails stepped out from the side tunnel, looking a little guilty. Behind the figure were the remainder of the Hero Syndicate.

"We couldn't let you go alone," Cheshire said. Even though she rarely showed emotion, it was easy to see how much she cared about the members of this group. They'd adopted her when she'd been betrayed and abandoned by her father. "After what happened last time, we don't trust you to not get into trouble." The team couldn't help smile at that.

Then the smile faded from Percy's face and he became more serious. "You won't be able to help to much, and you could get hurt." He was immortal, which made him harder to kill, while they were not. He hated the idea of putting his family in harm's way, especially when they didn't even have a way to kill any monsters they might encounter.

"True," Ivy hummed before her eyes glowed with a dangerous light. "But we can slow them down, distract them, and watch your back while you take care of them."

Percy shook his head. He really couldn't win against them. "Fine, let's get hunting." He lit a fire in the palm of his hand to provide more light and they continued down the abandoned railroad tracks.

Along the way, he noticed Harley had decided to bring along her comically large wooden hammer, which he had to agree would work better to hold back monsters than a mortal gun. She also must have given Cheshire her metal bat because the assassin held said bat, looking strange as it was covered in boldly colored stickers that clashed with her overall demeanor and dark clothing.

"Any clues as to what monster crossed over?" Slade asked, his deep voice reverberating off the curved walls. He still had his swords and ballistic staff which were long enough to fight monsters while not getting too close.

The demigod shook his head, "I haven't seen anything yet. Are you sure the portal opened around here?"

The expert assassin nodded, "It opened a little further down this main subway tunnel."

As is on cue, Percy saw movement. It was fast, but he was sure something had been peering around the corner from one of the side tunnels. He's fire had reflected off of the thing's large eyes, before it had retreated backward.

"Stop," Percy whispered as he held out his arm to stop his team behind him. He once again reached out with his senses to the surrounding water in the air. He saw the shape of the monster ahead of them, but what was more concerning was the fact that he located more of them all around them. "They're Scythian Dracaena, and they've got us surrounded."

The Hero Syndicate turned to cover each other's back with their weapons ready.

"How many?" Slade asked as they glanced down the dim off branching tunnels.

"Nearly two dozen."

Harley frowned, "Ya guys hav' noticed that more monster thingies ar' coming through da portals these days, right? And they ar' happen'in more often too."

Both Percy and Slade nodded as they began to hear the monsters approaching. It was a unique sound, like the Snake Woman were half gliding across the ground, half walking. When they slinked out of the darkness, everyone except Percy tensed.

"Plan?" Ivy asked quietly.

"Draw them close. Don't attack them, I've got this," The demigod whispered back.

"SSSSon of the SSSSSSSea," The Dragon Woman in front of Percy hissed. It was the same one he'd seen from the side tunnel. "You dare hunt usssssss?"

Percy smirked, "You sided with Kronos and then Gaia during the second Titanomachy and Gigantomachy. You've killed countless of my kind and are now on my home turf. Of course, I'd hunt you."

The Dracaena had been moving closer the entire time he spoke. Now they were just out of weapon range.

"You are foolissssssssh, demigod," The leading monster hissed "We outnumber you."

"But I outpower you," and with that, Percy lit a fire ring around his team and himself before pushing it outwards. Most of Dracaena screeched as they were engulfed in the heat and the others slithered back. Percy sprang forward, running Riptide through one of them before decapitating another. He set more of them on fire and watched as all of the monsters burst into golden dust one after another.

Turning around, Percy smiled at his team a few feet away. He didn't need them for this fight, but he was still glad they'd followed him. It showed how much they cared about him. These were his enemies after all. He also like that he wasn't alone and knew they would be of help in future, possibly harder fights.

Harley smiled back, stepping towards him before her eyes widened and the smile was replaced with horror. "Look out!"

Percy heard glass breaking behind him as the few working light bulbs in the tunnel burst. He just had enough time to look behind him and see the shadows elongating towards him before he was wrapped in a world of darkness.