"Giovanni?" We quickly hid our weapons.

Giovanni grinned. "Hello, my friends! I knew I would find you here."

"How did you know where we were?" Athena asked.

"I went back to your hotel to talk to you about something important, but the receptionist said you left," he said as he approached. "She told me that you hailed a cab somewhere around the Parco. I thought I would find you here, and I was right."

I began walking towards the van. "So, what were you going to tell us, Gio—"

"Amelia, stop," Athena told me, then turned to Giovanni. "We never told the receptionist where we were going."

"What?" I looked at Athena in confusion.

Poseidon's eyes narrowed. "You're one of the Rogues, are you?"

"The Rogu— What?" Giovanni cleared his throat. "What do you mean? I-I'm not sure I understand what you're saying."

"Stop the act, Giovanni. Or is that even your real name?" Athena scowled. "For someone who fooled us with his acting, you're quite bad at lying. Not only you lied to us about telling the receptionist where we were headed, but you also lied about that person being a female, who actually was a male."

Zeus drew out his sword. "Who are you?"

The Italian took a step back.

"Y-you don't believe my innocence?" He smiled at me nervously. "Not even you, amica?"

Pressing my lips into a thin line, I took out my staff in reply.

"I don't know what to believe anymore."

His smile faltered. "Oh. . . I guess the show's over, then."

In a flash, he took out a couple of guns and pointed them at me and Poseidon. I gasped.

"Don't be fooled by my weapons' appearance," Giovanni said, dropping his Italian accent. "I can promise you, these could hurt far worse than normal guns would."

"Drop them down!" Athena growled. "I-I'm warning you!"

"None of you are in a position to negotiate. Including you, Athena." He smirked. "Now, since I've got you all wrapped in my fingers. . . I believe you'll have to give back something that belongs to me."

Our eyes landed on the Artifacts sitting next to Poseidon.

"I don't want any of you doing any movement unless I say so," Giovanni said. "Except for Athena, I want you all to drop your weapons slowly."

Zeus, Poseidon and I let go of our items on the ground as he instructed.

I glanced at the brothers for eye contact, but they were too focused on the guns pointed at us. I sighed as I heard their worried thoughts in their head.

Giovanni moved the gun pointed at Poseidon. "You. Come over here and bring over Argentum and Ignis."

Ignis? Is that the name of the hammer?

"Walk in an orderly fashion," he continued, "If you try anything stupid, I can reduce my dear amica here to atoms in one shot."

That made Poseidon look over me in pure worry. I gazed back with the same look.

"I'm sorry," he said in his mind.

Sorry? Why is he sorry? He didn't do any of this, other than stabbing—

I shook my head. Focus, Amelia. There's got to be a way out of this situation. But how? I could shield all of us with my powers, but we were too far apart and the barrier might not be able to reach the others. Besides, I still don't know how to activate them without thinking of some negative thoughts.

Poseidon made his way to Giovanni, dragging the heavy Artifact along by himself. As soon as he got to him, he put the hammer beside the armed Italian and threw Argentum under his feet.

"There." Poseidon glared at the gun pointed at him. "Now let us go."

Giovanni clicked his tongue. "Not yet, Poseidon. I believe you have a certain shield that I also need."

"I won't give it to you," Athena spat.

"If you insist." He sighed. "Just grab it from her then, Artemis."

A newly arrived Artemis held Athena down and took Aegis from her. "With pleasure."

While Artemis walked away with the shield, Hermes suddenly flew in and smacked Zeus in the head.

"Ow!" Zeus yelped, touching his head.

Hermes landed near Giovanni, sticking out his tongue. "Losers!"

The lady archer stopped by Poseidon and swung a fist to his face, making him stagger and fall.

Artemis turned to Giovanni. "I want him to pay for what he did to Apollo. Shoot him to pieces!"

"No!" Athena and Zeus shouted in chorus.

"Don't do it!" I cried.

Giovanni shook his head. "As much as I'd love to test my guns to new targets, that's a no. We have orders to—"

"I don't care what the man ordered us to do, Vulcan!" she yelled. "I want him to suffer! I want them to know what it feels like to lose a brother!"

My eyes bulged out of their sockets. Artemis and Apollo were siblings?

Wait. Now that I think about it, that's not really surprising. . .

"Whoa, whoa. Calm down, moon girl." Hermes went over to Artemis. "Just chill, alright? You know we can always get him back by his—"

"Shut up, Hermes!" Artemis shoved him away. "He wasn't able to test it, so why do you think it'll work now that he's gone?"

While they continued arguing among themselves, I glanced at Athena and Zeus, who were looking at each other. Zeus turned to me and began making some weird expressions. I stared at him blankly. He sighed.

Just read my thoughts, okay?

I gave him a subtle nod.

We'll try to get back the Items, he said in his mind. But you'll have to make a barrier to shield us from their attacks.

"I don't know how!" I mouthed furiously.

Athena said. It's that or we lose everything.

I suppressed the urge to whine and instead took a deep breath. Closing my eyes, I cleared my head from all distractions and concentrated my power into a wide, glass-like dome that I pictured encircling me, Athena and Zeus.

Think of something that keeps you motivated, Amelia. Something that gives your life meaning.

Meaning. . .

Now I know what Poseidon meant! Protecting my loved ones is what motivates me, the same thing that I had in my head when we were in the museum!

A surge of energy was pulled inside me like a huge rope and I saw that invisible force making its way to where my friends and I stood.

"What the hell is this?" I heard Hermes say.

I blinked my eyes open and just like I have imagined, a large transparent barrier expanded around us, making our foes step back in shock. While they were distracted, Poseidon took Aegis out of Artemis's grasp and ran to the shield. I opened up a small portion of the barrier and Poseidon slid inside.

Poseidon threw the bronze shield to his sister and picked up his sword. He then looked at me and smiled.

"So you finally got it?" he asked.

I nodded. "It took some time, but yeah. Thanks for your advice."

"This is nice." Zeus bent down and took his sword. "Why don't we just stay here till they go away?"

"You know I can't hold this barrier forever," I told him.

"Yeah, you're right." He shrugged, then pointed his sword at the people outside. "And I don't think they'll let us stay here too."

Artemis banged her fists on the shield. "What kind of sorcery is this?"

She took out her daggers and stabbed them on the wall. Instead of getting through, the sharp blades turned blunt.

"What?"

"Don't fret, I'll handle this." Giovanni aimed his guns at the shield and pulled their triggers, sending off a bunch of round bullets that blew up as soon as they touched the dome's surface. I moaned in pain as the mini-explosions sent tremors around the barrier.

He eventually stopped shooting when he ran out of bullets. "Hm. This is quite an impressive obstruction. It seems that my guns and your weapons are essentially useless against this. . . magic barrier."

"Well, do something about it!" Artemis yelled. "Don't you have any useful inventions that will get rid of this stupid shield?"

Giovanni tossed his guns away and walked over to the Artifact lying on the ground. He studied it for a second before gripping the handle and resting the hammer on his shoulder.

My jaw dropped.

"I've wondered why you got a hard time pulling this around, Poseidon. I thought it was odd." He strode back to us casually. "But it only feels like carrying a pillow!"

"How. . . is he doing that?" Zeus asked. "The hammer almost weighed like a ton of bricks when we were carrying it!"

"It must be because he's Hephaestus's Chosen," Athena said.

Giovanni placed the hammer down. He then began reciting some chant in a foreign tongue, his voice changing to a deep tone. The sides of the hammer's head suddenly glowed a fiery red hue and unfamiliar letters appeared on its surface.

"No, no! Stop it, Vulcan!" Artemis said. "If you continue doing this you won't be able to—"

"Quiet!" Giovanni, or Vulcan, interrupted. "I know what I'm doing."

He continued chanting and the hammer glowed brighter and brighter. Hermes and Artemis stepped away from their comrade as a ring of fire surrounded him.

Vulcan lifted the hammer and steadied its head at the barrier in front of me, his lips curling into a wicked grin.

I froze. "No. You wouldn't. . ."

"Oh yes, amica. I definitely would," he mocked. "With one hit of Ignis, your barrier should break away. You'll lose your vitality and leave your friends exposed in the process."

Poseidon stepped in. "Why you—"

"But don't worry, I won't do that." He moved the hammer away. "That would only make a small difference, and I don't like doing such a thing."

"What do you mean?" Athena growled.

"Well, Athena, you and I are not so different," he said. "We were both chosen by two of the most intelligent gods in the Olympian pantheon, so you must know that we like to make an impact to boast our ingenuity among the other mindless gods."

"H-how dare you say we're the same?" Athena stomped in front of him, the barrier the only thing stopping her from punching him. "We have nothing alike!"

"I beg to differ, but if you insist. . ."

Walking over the fire, he walked around the dome and stopped in front of the path leading up the mountain.

"I only wanted to say that I'm a thinker just like you, but where I lack wisdom, I make up for explosive impacts."

Vulcan raised Ignis above his head and slammed it down. The earth shook, and cracks began to appear onto the ground, branching out like wildfire. Where the fissures turned up lava burst out. The cracks eventually traveled up to the peak of the mountain.

"Vulcan, this is madness!" Artemis exclaimed. "What have you done?"

Vulcan collapsed on the floor, his grip still on the handle of the blazing hammer. He looked up at Artemis with a weak smile.

"You wanted them to suffer, right?" His head threatened to droop. "Here's my solu. . ."

His body swayed to one side and fell with a thud. As the ground continued to rumble, molten rock spewed out of the cracks. Smoke and ash fumed out of the dormant volcano.

"Seismic activity, sulfur emission. . ." Athena gasped. "Vesuvius is going to erupt!"

Zeus stared at the mountain. "But the volcano's supposed to be inactive!"

"Well, what else would you expect after what Vulcan did?" Athena turned to his brother. "Ignis is Latin for 'fire'. He literally used the hammer of fire to hit the volcano awake!"

"W-what are we going to do?" I asked, looking around in panic.

The lava from the crevices was almost at us while the crater from above glowed a violent red. My gaze turned to Hermes carrying an unconscious Vulcan, who surprisingly still had a grasp on Ignis. Artemis quickly picked up Argentum and went to help Hermes as they shuffled towards the van to escape.

Poseidon came to me. "Amelia, remove the barrier. We're going to leave too before Vesuvius erupts."

"B-but we have to stop it from erupting!" I said. "The lava will destroy the city and get the people in danger!"

The earth trembled even harder, making us stumble on our feet.

"Are you even hearing yourself, Amelia?" Athena looked at me square in the eye. "This is a force of nature we're talking about. We have to go before we get killed by it!"

Sighing in defeat, the barrier slowly dissipated in front of us. The smell of sulfur filled my nose as soon as we stepped out.

Poseidon gazed at the fiery peak of Vesuvius. "If this is what one Artifact can do, what kind of disaster could twelve ones unleash all at once?"

"No time to think about that, let's get out of here!"

The moment Zeus said those words, Vesuvius exploded.