Percy Jackson was in some deep shit.

No, it wasn't because of the telephone poles flying dangerously through the air, the power lines whipping in every direction.

And no, it wasn't because some giant robot was busy trying to flatten him, either with his foot or a sword the size of a skyscraper.

No, what had him in so much trouble right now was the girl he had just saved from being squashed like a bug. The girl that, after pushing her out of the way, he had accidentally fallen on top of. The girl, whose breast was currently being slightly fondled subconsciously by her teammate. Yes, Percy Jackson was victimized by some cosmic power, with Bianca di Angelo an unwilling participate.

"Perrrrrrccccyyy?" The raven-haired Hunter cried, her voice struggling to keep calm. "Whaaattt arree yoouuu dooiinnngg?"

Percy just sat there, straddling the girl, his hand resting comfortably on her breast. He was quite shocked - for a twelve year old, she was quite developed… Wait, what was he thinking?!

He quickly let go, mumbling his apologies and such, when suddenly a cold touch of silver pressed against his throat. "Percy Jackson, what are you doing?"

"Ah, Zoë, uh…" Percy rambled a bit, though he knew it was all for naught. Frankly, he figured that the lead huntress would justify his death in any way, and considering the only other two in the team were a girl and a Hunter fangoat, no one would really stop her.

But luck seemed to be on Percy's side. Well, as much luck as a twenty-story bronze automaton waving a battleship-sized sword could be. Just when he felt Zoë Nightshade would bring justice upon his head, Talos the Giant cut a hill of god trash down to size, causing a mini avalanche to fall on top of the three. It was all Percy could do for grabbing the hunter lieutenant and somehow throwing her judo-style over the top of him, quickly smothering her and Bianca to protect them from the falling debris.

Thalia and Grover flinched as their three teammates were buried under a mountain of garbage. The daughter of Zeus glanced at her satyr friend. Over the summer Grover had made an empathy link with Percy, which allowed the two to share feelings - something that kind of grossed her out. However, at times like this, where the status of one of the two was unknown, the link was extremely convenient. Thalia sighed in relief as the goat-boy gave a subtle nod, enough to tell his punk friend that the three were fine.

But that still left them with a rather large opponent to face, and the girl really wasn't sure how to deal with it. Lightning would do nothing, unless Hephaestus had programmed Talos with electricity, something the demigod seriously doubted. Her trusted shield had been ineffective, obvious when used against a robot whose toe could easily flatten her. And stabbing it in the ankle over and over again would only make it agitated, making the automaton all the more dangerous. And that was if you could get to the feet before it flattened you like some spit-out gum.

Grover was busy trying to bash it around with the electric poles, which was as effective as hitting a bronze shield with a stick (thinking about it, wasn't it basically the same?). In fact, those poles were just making the entire situation more dangerous, what with the wires whipping around in all directions. Thalia really did not want to get fried by some lines. Even the low voltage ones had enough to bake her insides. Then again, seeing as she called down lightning every now and then, would electricity even shock her?

"Grover, we need to lead Talos away from Percy!" The goat nodded again, quickly playing something with his reed pipes that led to the poles of shocking death to pull back a bit. Thalia backed up a bit to, hoping that the bronze giant would pay attention now that three threats were buried.

Still, exactly what the two of them would do once the automaton rounded on them was somewhat lost. The daughter of Zeus began to worry that perhaps this was all pointless. Once again her mind wandered a bit, wondering if she and her friends were all just playthings with which the gods could entertain themselves. She had heard about Percy and Annabeth's near-death experience at some rundown water park in Denver being an instant hit on Hephaestus TV. No doubt this stupid quest was the next season in "Watch our Children Fight for their Lives!" or whatever show her father watched. The pain, the anger, the humiliation of it all drove her to do something reckless. She charged the giant.

Grover tried to shout out something to stop her but he could not be heard over her own pounding heart. What was she doing? Wasn't this suicide? All of the sudden a line from the quest's prophecy popped into her mind: One shall be lost in the land without rain. Well, this was southwestern USA - an empty, barren wasteland. Her death would certainly qualify. And maybe this would help her escape the pressure of living up to her father's expectations as well as being the victim of the Great Prophecy. I'm sorry, Percy. Looks like you'll have to deal with that.

But before she reached the still giant, the ground shook. Earthquake? Thalia had grown up in California, so she knew all about earthquakes. But this was Arizona! How could an earthquake hit here?

Suddenly gashes in the earth appeared. Tons of debris slipped over a newly formed edge, falling into the abyss as fissures slowly crept closer and closer to the giant automaton. Who had this power? Thalia ran through a list of Greek gods and their powers, but geokinesis on this level was something only Gaea, a primordial goddess, claimed. Not even Hades could tear the earth apart like paper - or at least, that's what she thought. Give her a break - she was just six months free from being a tree for five years. She was bound to have forgotten some stuff.

The daughter of Zeus continued to watch as the hill that her friends were buried in gradually shrank smaller and smaller. Talos turned back to his wreckage, Thalia swearing she could see a look of confusion on his immobile face. Finally, all the debris was gone, leaving a very dirty and bruised boy standing there, hovering over two girls. Thalia gasped - an aura pulsated around the son of Poseidon, reminding the punk-dressed demigod of her brothers on the Olympian council. She would hate to admit it to Seaweed Brain, but he looked way hot at that moment. The daughter of Zeus shook her head to clear mind. Besides, she was more interested in California surfer types, like Luke and Apollo. It hadn't occurred to her that, besides the blonde aspect, Percy fit the surfer type much more than either of those crushes.

As Percy bent down to check the two bodies of his companions, the bronze automaton decided to make his move. Thalia screamed, sure that her friend was about to be flattened. But just as Talos' foot fell, another pulse from the Earth shook, forcing the giant to stumble into another mountain of trash, tipping it into the shadowy deeps of. At that moment an orange blur shot past the robot and stopped right in front of the punk girl.

"Percy!?" Thalia shouted in surprise. It was well known that Percy wasn't the fastest of half-bloods, but he had just crossed an area of fifty yards in four seconds flat. And if that hadn't shocked the girl, then the green aura surrounding the boy did. "What is that?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Percy, after gently laying down the unconscious forms of Zoë and Bianca, looked up at his cousin questioningly.

"That… That green stuff, all around you!"

Grover hobbled over, huffing. "Percy, are you doing that?"

"What are you two talking about?!"

"Why are you covered in some green mist?!"

"How did you make the giant fall?!"

At that moment, said giant decided to get back to his feet. The three conscious questers stared at it, but Percy was the first to move.

"Percy, what are you doing?"

"Listen, I'm not sure why, but I think I'm the only one who can take Talos on." He pointed at the two hunters. "Get those two to safety."

"Percy, that's impossible! You'll be killed! Don't be so reckless, Kelp Head!"

The son of Poseidon just gave a small grin and then charged at the bronze giant. Thalia tried to stop him, but Grover held her back. "You can't, Thalia."

"What are you talking about? We have to help him."

"No, we've got to take care of these two. The sooner they are out of harm's way, the sooner we can help Percy."

Thalia wanted to argue, but the look in Grover's eyes stopped her. She knew he was afraid for his best friend, but this was the best idea. Grudgingly, she stooped down to pick up Zoë. "Fine, let's go." She started to run. "And no funny thoughts about Bianca," she shouted back at the goat-boy who instantly turned red.

"Hey, that's mean."

"Please, you're nearly twenty and you're so in love with the Hunters, I'm not sure what you would do."

Meanwhile, Percy was busy dodging Talos' feet, wondering why in the name of Hades had he decided to fight a giant automaton headon. Sure, he was impulsive, but this was just way too idiotic on his part. Taking on something as big as the apartment building his mom rented? Why was he so stupid?

Still, something screamed within, saying that he could destroy the giant. He quickly turned to his abilities - excellent sword-fighting skills! Well, that was somewhat useless against something 200 feet tall… Getting strength from water! That would be convenient, but since he was in the middle of a desert... Skateboarding? Yeah, that would help… NOT! Wait, why was there a skateboard in Hephaestus' junkyard?

Just at that moment, Talos' foot landed three inches away. Argh! Percy groaned to himself. Sometimes his ADHD picked up the lamest of distractions at the most inopportune times. Like, for example, when he is about to be something a giant bronze robot would want to scrape off of his foot.

And yet, despite cursing himself for his way too hyperactive senses, his focus kept turning to the skateboard. It was a pretty sick skateboard with wings on the sides. Must have been made for Hermes. The winged skateboard had been dislodged from the junk it was trapped in and was rolling to some cracks in the ground… Huh? Why were there cracks in the ground? Percy couldn't recall seeing them there earlier. And they seemed too jagged to be cut from a giant sword. No, it was more like the Earth had been ripped apart.

Confused, the young demigod considered the possibilities of why this was while diving from another stomp. He was pretty sure Grover didn't have that ability; Thalia shot lightning; Zoë did nothing but shoot arrows and complain about guys in general; and Bianca… well, she was a demigod powerful enough that a freaking manticore attacked her. But she was a wild card, since no one was sure which god was her parent. Maybe this was her doing?

But just as Percy was about to come to that conclusion (while trying to figure out why he was doing this during a fight… while dodging a battleship-sized sword and feet the size of tanks… sometimes his ADHD could let him do some amazing things), a single nickname popped into his mind: Earthshaker. Percy frowned. Where had that come up from? He couldn't think of anyone with that nickname.

As he dodged a sword thrust that gouged out a deep hole in the ground, Percy again considered the possibilities. When he had visited Los Angeles a couple summers ago, Hades caused an earthquake that leveled much of the city. Perhaps it was him? But why would he do that? He would kill a demigod sooner than save them, or he would just let Fate run her course and let the spawn of his family die. There would be no reason for him to do anything here… unless a certain girl whose parentage was currently unknown had the God of the Underworld as a father. That may explain things~

But still, that didn't seem right. The son of Poseidon just couldn't shake off the feeling that he was the only one who could take down the giant robot, and there was no way in Hades that his uncle would ever consider helping him. Percy sighed in disappointment, knowing he was losing energy, fast. The entire fight was exhausting, and all he had managed to do was prick Talos around his ankles, which seemed to just make the automaton more angry. Percy glanced at his sword, Riptide. To think that his beloved sword actually came from Zoë… The blade shined in the sunlight, radiating power… Percy frowned a bit, running between the giant's legs. If Anaklusmos drew power from the ocean, then how could it radiate power in the middle of a desert? Suddenly, things started to click for the demigod. He couldn't explain it, but he just knew what to do.

He stabbed his sword into the ground.

For a few seconds, nothing happened. Percy stood there, shocked at his actions. He might have felt like he knew what he was doing, but right at that moment, with an automaton the size of a skyscraper looming over head trying to kill him and his only weapon buried two feet into the ground, he felt completely idio~... hold on, how did it sink two feet into the stone-hard ground?

Just as the young demigod thought that, the entire valley blew up.