chapters 166-170

chapters 166-170

–Earth Marvel, Layla's Penthouse–

"Is something wrong, Akeno?" Asia asked. Asia just got back from having a fun day exploring the city with her newest bodyguard. She was happy because she got to explore all she wanted and she also got to heal quite a few people who desperately needed it. She always enjoyed doing that! Their looks of thanks were reward enough for her.

Natasha had kept her word to Layla and put a small detail of trusted SHIELD agents on Asia to keep the girl safe. She was currently being shadowed by Sharon Carter. Sharon thought Asia was a very sweet girl. She was blown away by Asia's healing powers–as was anyone else the girl healed.

Sharon wasn't quite sure how she felt about the Nephilim, Akeno, though. Sometimes Akeno would be mischievous and teasing, and other times she would be sitting around wallowing in depression... So pretty much a standard teenage girl.

"There's that feeling again." Akeno said. She was currently staring out the window, off into the city. She felt something calling out to her. It was very close. "I sense the same lighting from before. It's close by." The only thing that was strange was that she didn't sense any emotions in the lighting this time. There was no God throwing a tantrum.

"The random lightning storm from a few days ago? Is it going to happen again?" Sharon asked in concern. That had caused a lot of property damage and even a few civilian deaths! Whole sections of the city lost power, including hospitals where people were on life support. At first, SHIELD had thought that it was the Mutant Storm, battling some of the villainous Mutants again. They had later confirmed that to not be the case though.

If something similar was going to happen again, then she would have to contact her superiors at SHIELD. They couldn't afford for the city to be hit with another unexpected black out after all. It made them all look incompetent!

CRACK!

"Eeeeeeep!" Asia ducked down to hide from the thunder.

"What the hell!?" Sharon exclaimed.

A lighting bolt just flew by their penthouse window. It didn't come from the sky though! It came in sideways! That absolutely wasn't natural. The lighting bolt had slammed into a nearby building and left deep scorch marks in its steel exterior!

The call she was feeling was becoming more intense for Akeno. She didn't think she could sit back and wait anymore. She turned towards Asia and the SHIELD Agent. "I'm going to go check out what that was." Akeno's four black wings appeared behind her as she opened the window. She hopped out and took to the New York skies.

"Wait!" Sharon tried to stop the teenage Nephilim but it was too late. Akeno had already left. "Damn it..." Sharon muttered. This whole situation screamed 'supernatural' all over. She pulled out her communicator and decided to at least call in some backup for Akeno in case the girl needed it.

Sharon turned back towards Asia who was hiding under a table away from the lighting. She sighed gently and went over to comfort her. Sharon was glad that at least she had the easy baby sitting assignment here.

...

Akeno flew over a dozen blocks before she found herself approaching the area of the empire state building. Nearby, on another building's rooftop, she saw a strange sight.

A teenage boy looked to be having a deathmatch with a much younger boy. The little boy was carrying a golden sword and appeared to be able to control water. A nearby water tower had been destroyed and the kid was hurling large amounts of water at the teenage boy.

Unfortunately for him, the teenager was able to fly and he was carrying some kind of artifact made of Divine Lighting! Akeno could feel it. It was this artifact that had been calling for her! She flew closer to get a closer look at what was going on.

"Luke! You can stop this! It doesn't have to be this way!" The boy said as he conjured a shield of water for himself. It was just in time too. Another bolt of thunder was sent from Luke's lighting artifact at the boy. The water shield managed to disperse most of the charge, but the boy still screamed in pain when he was partially shocked.

"Of course it has to be this way, Percy! Can't you see! The Gods are evil! They don't care about us! All they care about is their dwindling power! But now I know the truth! Other beings exist! Beings that are truly worth serving!" Luke said fervently. He caressed the Lighting bolt in his hands. This was his ticket to power and revenge! He wouldn't bow his head to their uncaring Olympian overlords any longer.

Akeno wondered what Gods these two were talking about but figured it didn't matter much. She wasn't going to watch a child get murdered in front of her. She knew that she might have been acting mopey lately, but she wasn't that angsty...

Luke was hovering in the air with a cruel smirk on his face. Down on the rooftop, Percy could barely stand himself up. His muscles were still spasming from the electricity he'd just been hit with. Luke pointed Zeus's Master Bolt at Percy and willed it to fire. He grinned when the lighting shot out towards percy.

What should have been the final attack though, ended up being thwarted!

Luke wasn't expecting a girl with four black wings to swoop down, right in front of Percy, and block his lighting blast!

Akeno grimaced as the divine lighting hit her. It wasn't powerful enough to do significant damage, thanks to her Heavenly Lighting Bloodline, but it still stung. She was used to shocking others, not getting shocked herself!

With a wave of her hand, the foreign lighting was dispersed from her body. Akeno was surprised. That lightning...felt almost reluctant to leave her.

"Ara, don't you know that killing children is generally frowned upon?" Akeno asked Luke hovering in the air.

Luke frowned. Unlike the rest of the sheep at camp half blood, he actually kept up with world events. He knew he was floating in front of a genuine Angel–A genuine Fallen Angel just like the now world famous Layla! This girl even bore a heavy resemblance to Layla herself. 'Was this her sister or something!?' Luke wondered.

Luke eyed the four winged Fallen Angel warily. She was standing directly in front of the young Percy Jackson. Luke knew that killing Percy was now going to be almost impossible.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!?" Luke shouted at Akeno demandingly. "Do you know who you're messing with? I'm a Demigod! The son of Hermes himself and the chosen of the mighty Chronos!"

Akeno giggled. This guy was name dropping his whole family as if he was some kind of Young Master... "Ara, what a rude way to introduce oneself. You might need a bit of punishment..." Akeno said as she licked her lips. Electricity danced across her fingertips. "I am Akeno Himejima by the way." She introduced herself without saying anything but her name. She had no interest in discussing life stories with a guy that was trying to kill a child.

xxx

The only reason Akeno was even here in the first place was for that artifact in Luke's hands. Even now it was calling out to her. She could almost feel it crying every time Luke used it. It did not find him worthy, hence why his Lightning Blasts barely had any power behind them.

Percy Jackson behind her was wondering if he just got saved by another weirdo... Ever since discovering the world of gods and monsters his life had been completely crazy. He just wanted to go to school and have friends like normal kids. Not fight for his life against monsters!

Luke gripped the Master Bolt tightly and planned out what to do next. Did he risk fighting the Angel...or should he flee.

Luke chuckled to himself.

He supposed the answer to that question was obvious. Above all else, he was a survivor! The wings on Luke's shoes flapped hard as he spun around and raced away as fast as he could fly!

Akeno gaped when she watched him turn around and run before they even fought! She wasn't used to that. She was used to fighting Stray Devils who would fight till the bitter end no matter what.

"Seriously! He's running away!?" Percy exclaimed behind her.

"He won't get far!" Akeno said as her wings spread out. She wasn't letting that artifact go! She flapped her wings and rocketed back into the air. She followed the direction that Luke had left in. She could sense that he was weaving between dozens of buildings to try and lose her. It was a pity that that would never work. As long as he was holding that Lightning Bolt, Akeno would be able to sense his location anywhere in the city! She started to rapidly gain on him as she flew through the skies of New York.

As he was fleeing through the air, Luke glanced behind himself and paled! "How!?" He shouted in fear. 'How did she find me already!'

Akeno was almost right on top of him already and he had a head start! He grimaced and flew 90 degrees downward. They were directly over central park and Luke was hoping to lose Akeno in the trees.

CRACK!

That wasn't to be, though! Another bolt of lightning surged through the air and blasted Luke in his back. He let out a wail of pain as he lost control of his flying. He ended up crashing into the treetops.

Akeno flapped her wings hard and paused in mid air. She was perplexed. That lighting didn't come from her. She looked around and saw two figures descending from the sky into the trees where Luke had crashed. If they were also after that artifact, Akeno wasn't going to let them have it! It was calling out to her and she didn't feel like sharing.

She flew down between the trees and landed onto the dirt with a heavy thump. Her arrival did not go unnoticed.

Luke was lying on the ground unconscious and two women were standing over him. Both of them turned to her.

Akeno was momentarily taken aback. Both of these women were incredibly beautiful.

...Both of them were also wearing tight Black and Yellow leather outfits that left little to the imagination. Akeno approved. These two women were definitely in her strike zone.

One of the women had caramel colored skin and silver hair. She was incredibly beautiful and Akeno thought that she could mistake the woman for a goddess. She might actually be, considering Akeno could sense a hint of divinity emanating from the woman.

The other was a bit younger and Akeno figured closer to her own age. Akeno had to do a double take upon seeing her because, for a second, she was looking at an almost perfect copy of Rias. The only differences were this girl had slightly lighter red hair and her eyes were a striking green.

Akeno licked her lips before she spoke. "Ara, hello you two. Might I ask what you're doing out here. And why did one of you attack poor Luke there? That was mean, you know. I was in the middle of chasing him down to punish him!" Akeno said with a fake pout on her lips.

The older of the two beautiful women held her hands up calmly and spoke.

"Hello. I am Storm of the X-men. We were in New York investigating the strange weather lately." She said while eyeing the black wings behind Akeno. She almost didn't believe the news, but it seemed that Angels really had been popping up all over New York lately.

He scoffed and casually swung his sword to bat the mortal's attack away. What he wasn't expecting was for it to be so powerful! When the red blast connected with his blade, he almost felt his arm go numb! "Since when have mortals become so powerful!?" He hissed angrily.

"Holy shit! That's Ares!" Percy exclaimed. Was the God of War here to kill him for failing his quest?

"Language, young man!" Steve said almost instinctively. He unstrapped his vibranium shield from his back and started rushing over to help Akeno. "You know, in my hometown, men don't try to attack ladies with swords!" Steve yelled as he moved at superhuman speeds towards Ares! He punched forward with his shield.

"Another impudent mortal!" Ares growled out. He swung his sword towards Steve's shield. Ares was expecting his Olympian blade to easily cleave through the human's flimsy shield and kill the man.

That did not happen.

His celestial bronze sword, forged by Hephestaus himself, harmlessly bounced off of Steve's vibranium shield. Ares's eyes widened in shock and he was thrown off balance. Steve's blow continued unimpeded and his shield smashed right into the god's face. It connected right with his nose!

A loud crack wrang out!

Ares's head whipped backwards with the blow. He stumbled back a few steps. He felt something warm dripping down his chin. He reached his free hand up and wiped his face. His eyes widened in shock at what he saw! A trail of golden blood was flowing from his broken nose. Ares quickly reached up and snapped his nose back into place with a hiss of pain. "Blood!? My own blood? How can a mortal instrument hurt me? A shield no less!" He spat out hatefully!

Captain Rogers smirked and then said something he might end up regretting. "God? You're no God. You bleed gold, but at the end of the day you still bleed like the rest of us. You'll go down just the same!"

"Graahhh!" Ares was done playing around! He had originally been sent down here to retrieve Zeus's Master Bolt, after Poseidon's spawn failed in his mission to bring it back to Olympus. When he had arrived, he was surprised to find the mortal woman Zeus had been constantly complaining about. She was some kind of evolved human. She had the ability to manipulate the weather. Even better than his illustrious father could! That had naturally made Zeus furious and the God of the Sky demanded the woman's death! Ares tried to kill her in a moment of opportunity to win some points with his father.

Divine power flared around Ares. His trench coat disappeared and was replaced by golden armor. The sword in his right hand was now accompanied by a shield in his left. He would now take this fight seriously as the true God of War!

xxx

Ares pointed his sword at Akeno! "You, winged woman, return my Father's Master Bolt immediately and I might grant you a quick death!"

Akeno scowled. This 'God' was just as haughty as some of the Devils she'd had to deal with in her past. "I'm afraid the Bolt has chosen me as its new mistress. It has completely fused to my being. We will never be separated."

Ares scowled. "Then I'll just cut it out of your corpse!"

"Ares please stop!" Percy exclaimed as he ran forward. He was gripping his celestial bronze sword, his father gifted him, tightly.

"I went easy on you the last time we fought, kid. If you weren't Poseidon's brat I would have cut you down already. Back off!"

Percy was deciding on whether to fight Ares again, but Captain Rogers held out his hand in front of the boy. "A kid your age should never have to fight, no matter who your father is. Sit this one out, sport. We've got this." He said reassuringly.

Percy nodded and moved off to the side. He still didn't know if even Captain America could beat a god though...

Storm's eyes were glowing white and she started levitating off the ground. Thunder rumbled in the sky above everyone. The clear night sky quickly turned cloudy. Thunder clouds manifested all over the city, all controlled by Storm. "I had no quarrel with you. Just remember you started this fight!"

A bolt of lighting fell from the heavens towards Ares. Only his millenia of fighting instincts allowed him to raise his shield above his head to block the thunder. Electricity rippled across his shield but he held firm.

While Ares was distracted, Steve rushed forwards to try and hit him again. At the same time, Marvel Girl threw another telekinetic blast at Ares's back.

The God growled when his shield clashed against Steve's. Steve's charge was halted before Ares kicked him in the stomach. The air left Steve's lungs from the blow. He flew backwards and smashed into a nearby tree. Ares whipped around and stabbed Marvel Girl's blast with his sword. This time he was prepared for her power. He cut through her blast and charged towards Marvel Girl to cut her down. He thought her to be the most dangerous person here.

He was wrong.

Akeno rushed in front of him. Her Thunderous Lightspear stabbed forward! She wasn't holding back either! Ares threw up his shield but screamed in pain when Akeno's spear made contact with it. The Heavenly Thunder, wrapped around her Lightspear, traveled through his celestial bronze shield and delivered a powerful shock to him! Ares's whole left arm went numb. He couldn't defend anymore!

Akeno discarded her spear and pointed both hands at him. A powerful Lightning Blast impacted Ares's armored torso at point blank range. He let out a loud scream of pain as he was blasted backwards, smashing through multiple park trees.

Storm and Marvel Girl both flew towards Akeno and landed next to her.

"Great hit!" Marvel Girl complimented her. "You think you got him?"

Unfortunately, Akeno shook her head. "It'll take more than that to bring down a god." She said. Even if the God was weaker than she had been expecting. Akeno was expecting someone like Ares to be an Ultimate Class being. Thankfully he wasn't. Akeno would estimate his physique to be around the peak of High Class though. That was the only way he could have been fast enough to block Storm's earlier lighting strike.

Storm's eyes were still glowing white. She was glaring at where Ares had been blasted off too. "It matters not. He tried to kill us, we will put him down!" She declared. The wind started to fiercely pick up and whip around them. She was gathering the winds to launch a powerful attack on Ares. She needed a bit of time though.

"You think the Captain is ok?" Marvel Girl asked in worry. "Ares's kick sounded like it broke something and he's not moving." Percy was hovering over the Captain and crying as he tried to wake the man up.

Akeno grimaced at the sight. "He's still breathing, so he'll be ok." Akeno said sadly. She unfortunately couldn't focus on the man right now. He'd have to be healed by Asia later.

...

Ares grunted as he sat himself up. That last attack really hurt! "Zeus's Master Bolt seems to have really given that winged girl a powerup..." He muttered to himself. A viscous grin formed on his face. The ichor in his veins was pumping excitedly.

This was battle! This was war! He existed for this! How long had it been since the mortals had truly challenged the Gods!? Too long, he decided!

Ares picked up his sword and shield he had momentarily dropped from the pain. He started walking back towards the three girl's location. As his anger built up, his walking turned into a sprint! He rushed back faster than a speedy bullet!

The three girl's eyes widened when Ares's snarling form blasted towards them! In an unexpected move, he viciously threw his own sword towards Akeno! The sound barrier shattered as it hurled right at her. She threw up a shield of Light Energy to block the projectile.

While she was momentarily distracted, Ares rushed forward towards Storm. He could feel her building up a tremendous attack and needed to stop her! The winds were already raging fiercely!

Marvel Girl scowled again when she saw Ares try to once again attack Storm! She threw up a red wall of energy directly in front of his path.

Ares threw his shield in front of himself and directly smashed into the red energy wall blocking his path to the 'weather witch!' The red energy barrier shattered like glass but managed to slow him slightly. A dagger quickly manifested in his hands and he plunged it towards Storm's heart!

Marvel's Girl's barrier managed to slow Ares down just enough for Storm to finish gathering all the nearby winds. Before his blade could reach her hurt. Ares was assaulted by a torrential force of air pressure from all sides! The winds blowing from Storm were so strong that the god was completely halted in place! He cursed in his head! He couldn't move at all!

"Now! Jean!" Storm shouted out!

"Eat this asshole!" Marvel Girl raised her hands above her head. A giant orb of energy formed above her. It would be her final attack! Her limbs were shaking and sweat trickled down her brow. She was facing a god, so she channeled more power than she ever had before.

Ares panicked when he felt the power behind the redheaded girl's next attack. If he was hit by that, he knew he would be in deep trouble. On top of that, he could sense powerful Lighting manifesting around the black haired girl as well. If both attacks hit him at once he might die! "HELP ME OUT, YOU BITCH!" Ares shouted begrudgingly!

A woman's sigh rang out across the park forest. "Too think you've been bested by four mortals...that's pathetic brother."

Akeno's eyes widened. She hadn't sensed anyone else nearby. A silver energy arrow flew out of the woods directly towards her head. Akeno had to stop channeling her Lighting to duck out of the way. Another arrow flew directly towards Marvel Girl and she had to do the same. As she moved, the powerful orb manifesting above her dissipated into the air harmlessly. Marvel Girl scowled. She had used up almost all of her strength just conjuring that attack, and now she was almost exhausted!

"You owe me, Ares." A woman with long silver hair and silver eyes said as she emerged from the forest. She was also holding a silver bow that allowed her to channel moonlight directly into energy arrows.

Ares scoffed at his sister. The winds died down and he was released from Storm's hold. "Whatever, Artemis. Just help me kill these three already."

THRUM!

"Oh? You're going to kill my niece are you? I'd like to see you try!" An oppressive magical force came crashing down and blanketed the area! It only affected the two gods though.

Ares's and Artemis's eyes both widened in shock at the amount of power they felt. Whoever this being was, they were as strong as their father!

Akeno smiled and looked up. Hovering directly above her was Layla! She was back from wherever she went!

Layla quickly assessed the situation. For some reason, two of the X-men were here and both looked exhausted. They'd clearly been fighting on Akeno's side though. Layla noticed that Steve was critically wounded, and needed immediate healing. She didn't know why Ares and Artemis were attacking Akeno, but Layla wasn't going to let that stand!

XXX