It all started when Percy and Annabeth finally convinced the east and Hudson river, (by bribing them with a sand dollar) to destroy the armies heading to Manhattan through the rivers.
On their way back, Percy, being the hero he is, started driving their scooter (a red Vespa) back to the command centre, which was located in a Plaza near the empire state building. Percy started going on speeds which were beyond the limits of the scooter, (despite the many protests of Annabeth)and heroically lost control, and went headfirst in to a pole with a loud thump.
"I hope your proud of yourself, seaweed brain," growled Annabeth, shoving the scooter of her legs.
Percy got up and gave Annabeth a hand, and started scratching the back of his head sheepishly.
"You think I'd get a ticket for that?" Replied Percy, starting to dust his and Annabeth's clothes.
He looked up only to get slapped on the back of his head,
"Hey, oww! What was that for!"
Annabeth stared at him angrily and yelled,"You drive like a maniac, smash into a pole, and almost get ME killed not you, but ME, since your all invincible and whatnot, and still think you can make jokes? You should at least be happy that I never got hurt! Otherwise you'd be in some serious trouble. Besides, I don't know why you said "ow", it's not like you can get hurt anyways." Annabeth said, stating the obvious.
"Ouch wise girl. I might not get hurt physically but your words sure kill! I mean, why so serious all of a sudden! It's not like I did it intentionally," cowered Percy.
"Well its still your fault because you were the one driving," Annabeth said glaring at Percy.
"Whatever, lets just continue to the plaza already. We have limited time before Kronos and his army starts invading."
"Yeah maybe around an hour or two," Annabeth clarified.
Percy gave her a perplexed look, thinking to himself how in Hades would she know that? But he decided to let it pass.
Line Break
After jogging about 10 minutes they reached Madison Square Park, which was only about a five minute run from the plaza. When they started walking through the park, Annabeth suddenly came to a stop. It took Percy about a second before he realized that Annabeth was not with him. He turned around to see her fidgeting with her hands about a couple of meters back. He quickly made his way back to ask her what was the hold up.
"Well, I've been meaning to tell you for a while now, but due to all the recent events, I keep forgetting to," Annabeth admitted.
Percy looked at her momentarily confused. "I'm listening..." He said.
"You do know what Automatons are right?" she asked.
"Umm you mean like the one we met last year in the labyrinth?" he questioned.
"Yeah that's exactly what I'm talking about," Annabeth said, surprised his seaweed brain actually remembered that far back.
Percy stared at her in anticipation. "Sooo..."
"So I was gonna say that Daedalus had a backup army of automatons in Manhattan, if in any case he wanted to defend or attack Olympus," Annabeth said quickly.
Percy took a while to process the new information and what she was implying, before bouncing up and down in excitement. "Annabeth, you're a genius! That's exactly what we need at the moment! With the automatons we have a good amount of soldiers, and that means we are one step closer to victory!" Percy said in excitement.
Annabeth just nodded her head, not knowing what to say.
"What are we waiting for then? Let's quickly go and activate them! The sooner we get that done, we can head back to the plaza and start organizing our army," said an excited Percy.
"Yeah well... I think you should go on to the plaza and get everything sorted out. I mean, the quicker everyone gets to their positions, the better, right? Annabeth asked.
"Yeah, but-"
"Oh give me a break. You don't need to worry about me, I'll be fine. Activating these statues need brains, which clearly your lacking. All I have to do is activate the one in the park and it will automatically awaken its brethren in the city," she said.
"Touché Annabeth. I'm sure I'm not as stupid as you say I am..." muttered Percy.
"Are you sure you'll be okay though? That doesn't sound like an easy task to accomplish by yourself," he said.
"Of course for you it isn't," she said with a smirk.
"You seriously need to remember that I can handle myself just as much as you can, Percy. I'm not someone you need to watch out for 24/7. You of all people should know that," Annabeth said sternly.
Percy recoiled in fear at his friend's anger, "Whoa Annabeth! Talk about waking up on the wrong side of the bed! Why have you been so aggressive towards me lately? I hope you're not still mad at me for smashing that scooter earlier..." he said muttering the last bit.
Unfortunately for him Annabeth caught what he said, and shot him a look of annoyance. "Ohh just shut up already Percy. Don't remind me of that again. That's just one of the many stupid things you have done."
"Hmm.. I'll take that as a compliment," Percy replied happily.
Annabeth just rolled her eyes in annoyance.
"But seriously Annabeth, to be honest, I know you can handle yourself just as much as I can, if not better. But the only reason I'm asking so much, is because it's dangerous to be alone out there, you know, with the war and all. That's why I want to be there to have your back, just in case," Percy said seriously.
Annabeth looked at him in shock after his mini speech. "Trust me seaweed brain I'll be okay."
"Okay then... See you soon?" he asked with a smile.
"Yeah, I hope so," she said with a smile that could easily be told as fake.
With that Annabeth turned around and headed towards the statue.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Percy muttered to himself before heading off towards the Plaza.
LINE BREAK
Percy quickly made his way towards the plaza, his thoughts still going back to Annabeth. It all seemed so out of line to him. Why would Annabeth not want Percy to come with her? They did mostly everything together. Why so independent all of a sudden. Does she think he will mess everything up? Or even worse, does she not trust Percy with the ability to activate hundreds of automatons when needed?
Percy shook his head in frustration. This is no time to be in doubts of one of his longest friends, Percy thought to himself. He could trust Annabeth with his life, just as much as he could with his cousins Thalia and Nico.
Speaking of Thalia and Nico, he seriously needed to get back to the plaza as soon as possible, so he could inform them, and all the campers about the plan he had in defending Manhattan.
Percy quickly made his way into the plaza, only to hear people chattering and gossiping in scared, fearful, and excited voices. "Everyone, QUIET!" Percy yelled in a commanding voice, and instantly there was silence.
"Alright, I need all the Cabin leaders up here in the front." he said motioning to the space in front of him.
Nico and Thalia were already at Percy's side, waiting for his orders.
"You took quite some time out there. You weren't making any detours were you?" Nico said cocking his eyebrow in a teasing manner.
"Yeah last-minute fun before the battle begins," Thalia said with a smirk.
"Shut up you guys. We did what we had to and came straight here." Percy said smiling himself.
"Where is Annie?" Thalia asked finally noticing the absence of her best friend.
Percy looked in her direction. "She's on her way now. She went to Madison Square Park to activate some automatons to aid us in the war."
"And you let her go alone?" Nico said surprised.
Those two are usually, no, more like always together, Nico thought to himself. In fact, Percy is almost like her loyal doggy. The thought made Nico chuckle a bit.
Percy rolled his eyes at his surprised face. "I told her that I will come with her, actually, more like begged her, but she said she will do it herself. I dunno she's been acting really weird lately."
"It's probably just nervousness before the battle." Thalia said as a matter fact.
"Yeah I hope so," Percy said before turning to everyone else.
Travis and Connor stoll, Katie Gardener, Michael Yew, Charles Beckendorf, and Selena Beauregard all quickly made their way to the front and were awaiting orders.
"Hmm... I think we are missing one more person," Percy said nonchalantly.
"Actually Perce, I think we're missing two people," Nico corrected.
"And who would the second one be?" Percy asked confused.
"None other than that arrogant, hot-tempered daughter of Ares, Clarisse La Rue." Thalia said clearly unhappy.
"Wait, you're not saying that she's not here because of that fight the Ares and Apollo cabins had over that War chariot, are you?" Percy asked surprised.
"Yeah, I heard her saying the day before, that we aren't honouring her cabin, the way they deserve to be, so she won't fight in the war. But we managed to convince her cabin members, despite all the threats from Clarisse, to join the battle. They said they will come but first they will try to convince their leader, Clarrise. Sadly, without her, they can't really fight well as a team." Said a worried Selena.
"If in the end she doesn't come around, the rest of the cabin will just join the battle," She added.
Everyone stared at her for a moment before murmuring among themselves. Out of all the murmuring voices, one persons voice could be heard loudest among the others.
"Forget that dumb bitch! We left her the damn chariot what more can she ask for! We should just tell the Ares campers to forget her and use that strength their father has given them to good use! They don't need a leader, just tell 'em to kill every monster in sight!" Came the voice of none other than Michael Yew.
Michael Yew is the commander of the Apollo cabin. He is really bad-tempered and has a smart mouth, often getting into fights with the other campers, especially Clarrise. But he is really amusing to have around, also because he shows a lot of respect towards Percy, Thalia, Nico and grudgingly Annabeth.
Everyone started screaming a chorus of "yeahs" and "he's right", and one person even yelled out loud an unnecessary "where's the washroom around here!"
The screaming and arguing went on for about a minute or two before Nico lost his temper, "Shut the hell up all of you!"
There was instant silence, as everyone knew not to get on the bad side of the child of Hades.
"Not bad, death breath. You should command more often," Thalia snickered in barely more than a whisper.
Nico shook his head at her request. "Nahh that's Percy's job. I might send someone to the underworld if I get really angry. Besides, Percy's way better at giving orders than me." Nico said in the same undertone.
Everyone one was looking expectantly at Nico before Percy spoke up, "Okay guys, we understand your anger towards Clarrise but what has happened is unchangeable now. If Clarrise is going to come, the better for us. If not, then we'll just have to fight without her. Is that clear?"
All the demigods nodded their heads in agreement, much to the satisfaction of Percy, Nico and Thalia.
"Good. Now, We're going to organize where each demigod will be making their stands. Before that, I would like to call up to the front the one person I mentioned earlier. I need Malcolm up here, so he can lead the Athena cabin in the battle." Percy said surprising a lot of the campers.
People were starting to protest that Annabeth should lead her cabin when Thalia snapped, "Listen you ass holes! Percy is the one who's organizing the battle formation here, and he's the one who decides who leads what! So stop acting like a bunch of babies and prove to us, and to each other, that your worthy of being in this battle and can act like true soldiers. I'm sure Percy has his reasons for making Malcolm lead instead of Annabeth. Either way, Malcolm is second in command and is just as capable of leading as Annabeth is. So if you don't like it, than just suck it up!"
Nobody said a word, as they knew that they were a second away from getting fried by Thalia's lightning. There was a minute of silence until the Stoll brothers broke it by shouting,
"Whooo! Wait 'a go pine cone face!" yelled Travis.
"That's my girl!" Connor added, before both went running off to hide in between the campers.
Nico couldn't help but snicker quietly at the twins antics. But that didn't go unnoticed by Thalia, so he ended up getting fried, and smelling like roasted chicken.
Percy chuckled to himself at the scene before him and muttered his thanks to Thalia before continuing. "So as I was saying, we have 8 bridges and tunnels to guard, and we have exactly 8 troops with one leader each. So hear me out and let me know if you have any suggestions."
"Beckendorf, you and your cabin mates along with the Dionysus cabin, go to the Holland Tunnel. Set up your traps and machines and whatever you guys got. Just defend the place. Travis, take half of the Hermes cabin to the Brooklyn bridge, and Connor, take the other half of the Hermes cabin and cover the Manhattan bridge."
"Roger that!" they both said in unison.
"Katie, take the Demeter cabin and guard the Brooklyn battery Tunnel. Silena, take your siblings to the Queens-Midtown Tunnel. Do whatever you can to ward off the monsters."
"But Percy my siblings and I aren't really fighters! We won't be able to hold many monsters off!" cried a terrified Selena.
Percy stood there contemplating on what he should do when suddenly, a load BOOM! was heard on the roof of the plaza.
Percy stood there mortified that the invasion had begun, and was about to tell everyone to take cover, when someone came crashing down from the ceiling with a load THUD.
When the mysterious man stood up, it was none other than Mike Jones, from the Ares cabin.
"Ermm...uhhh...sorry for the big commotion but umm.. We uh... Kinda had some trouble piloting the Chariot and well, as you can see, we crashed into the building," Mike said sheepishly.
Every demigod was silent except for the remaining 20-30 Ares campers who quickly made their way down, and an exasperated "you don't say" from none other than Travis Stoll.
Michael Yew, however, looked ready to blow up. His body was trembling in rage and he was about to stand up and just deck the son of Ares in the face when suddenly, someones hand was on his older shoulder trying to calm him down. That someone was none other than his half-brother Will Solace. He ls the only one presumed to be able to calm Michael down without getting into a fight. Him and Thalia, because he was wise enough not to mess with her. If anyone else, then he would gladly get into fight with.
"It's not worth fighting bro. Just let Percy handle them," he said reassuringly.
Michael replied with a huff and some mumbling about never giving the chariot in the first place, before sitting down.
Percy wasn't sure if he should be angry at the Ares campers because of the way that they almost gave him a heart attack, or if he should be happy because he was just thinking about reinforcements and ironically, they showed up.
He decided on sticking with the latter, because he knew being angry and fighting won't get them anywhere.
He looked at Mike reassuringly. "Hmm... I understand Mike, but next time try to cause less of a scene. We were just in the middle of dividing the campers at different entrances. Thanks for showing up. We are in great need of some children of the war-god."
Mike smiled in gratitude. "No problem Percy. The only problem is, Clarrise didn't budge, despite all our efforts. She could be really stubborn sometimes..."
"Gee you think?" muttered some of the campers.
Percy decided to ignore the comment because time was clearly not in their favour. They spent half an hour just trying to decide who goes where. Kronos could invade any moment, they needed to get a move on.
"Okay if there's no Clarrise then I guess we'll just split you up in the places of need." Percy said quickly.
"I think 10 of the Ares Campers should go with Selena. That way they will have the support they need." Nico said hurriedly.
"Yup, and that'll leave only 20 of them." Thalia added.
Percy looked at them gratefully. "Alright awesome. The 59th street bridge will be covered by the Athena cabin led by Malcolm, as well as 10 more Ares campers."
"So now there's 2 more entrances left." Came the voice of Michael Yew.
"I hope you contacted the hunters Thalia. We really need them at the moment." Percy said urgently.
"Yeah I did Kelp head. They will be coming through the Lincoln tunnel and will make their stand there." Thalia said grimacing at the thought of the hunters.
She hated the fact that they hated her for rejecting Artemis's offer for joining the hunt. She would have joined them, if it wasn't for the fact that they could not be around men or be in any relationship with them. That would mean she can't have a boyfriend! Honestly, whats the fun in that! Some boys could be repulsive against women but not all boys. Take Percy and Nico for example.
Also, the known fact that makes Thalia, well, Thalia, is her outfit. Which is her black infamous 'death to Barbie' t-shirt, and jeans. Being a hunter means always wearing a silver uniform. So basically there are to many negatives than positives to being a hunter. So she just had to decline it. At least lady Artemis wasn't to upset about it.
Thalia was bought out of her thoughts at the sound of Percy's voice. "That leaves us to the last entrance. The Williamsburg bridge."
Percy looked at Michael expectantly.
"Ohh yeahhh! That bridge has Apollo written all over it!" Michael said puffing his chest out in pride.
"Actually, no. Not the whole Apollo cabin will go there. I want just you along with a few of your best Archers to position yourselves along the bridge. The rest of the Apollo cabin, led by Will solace, will heal the wounded campers and also provide support, (along with the last 10 of the Ares cabin), throughout the other battlefields." Percy said commandingly.
Michael was stunned for a minute before gathering himself. "But Perce, I don't think just a few of us
can-"
"Hah! What happened to the 'big and macho' Michael Yew?Don't worry Percy, I think he can handle it." Nico said teasingly.
"N-no I d-don't think I can take the whole b-bridge with only a few guys." Michael stuttered in fear.
Percy,Thalia and Nico started laughing like crazy at Michael's expression.
"Don't worry bro, we got your back," Nico said reassuringly
Percy finally recovered from his fit of laughter and patted Michael on the back. "Nico, Thalia, Annabeth and I, will be fighting alongside you on the bridge." He said.
"If you said that any later, I'm sure he would have pissed his pants," laughed Thalia.
"Would not!" Michael retorted.
"Sure, whatever." Percy said to Michael's whiny response.
Before Michael could say any thing Percy continued, "So The Williamsburg bridge will be under the protection of Michael Yew and a few of his siblings, along with the one and only, Fearsome Four." Percy said with confidence.
Michael's face immediately lit up in relief and happiness. The thought of fighting alongside the Fearsome Four brought a smile to his face.
The trio snickered at the look of relief on Michael's face.
"Thanks guys, I knew you wouldn't leave me to die." he said.
Nico smirked, "No problem man, we knew all along that your boastfulness was nothing but a bunch of bull-"
"OKAY, so as I was saying, all the entrances are secured and ready for battle. The only thing left is to pray to the gods that we will win this battle, and go back to camp with victory." Percy said seriously.
"Don't worry Perce, this battle is as good as in our hands." Said Beckendorf.
"And why is that?" asked Percy.
"Well, obviously because we have the almighty Fearsome Four on our side." Selena said with a smile.
"And it's not like they have ever lost a battle, now was there?" Asked Katie Gardener, joining in.
"Nope, they haven't. That's why we will kick Kronos's sorry excuse of a butt, and go back to camp with pride!" Travis said enthusiastically.
"It's not like you don't have enough already," Connor murmured to himself.
"Hey, I heard that! And it's not like you don't have any less pride than me!" Travis retorted.
"No, actually you-"
"Can you to lovebirds cut it out! We don't have time for you to be yapping about your honeymoon! Just shut up and listen!" Screamed Thalia.
The Stolls were about to say something about her inappropriate comment, but decided against it. The last thing they want is to get blasted by lightning.
"Yeah, please shut it guys. Don't piss off the FF (Fearsome Four) right now. Otherwise you'll die even before the battle starts." Michael stated.
Travis and Connor paled at his remark. To piss off the FF is NOT a good thing. After that incident couple of years back, the kids at camp realized the hard way that these four, are not the type to threaten, challenge or even anger. The ones who got the full outcome of this were none other than the Stoll brothers.
Percy, Thalia, Nico and Annabeth were the most respected throughout camp. Why? Well as you know Percy,Thalia and Nico are the children of the big three. So ultimately they are really powerful. So imagine all three fighting in one team kicking monster ass. On top of that you have the "know it all" and the strategist of the matter, Annabeth, adding to the team.
So how did they get the nickname 'Fearsome Four'?
Travis and Connor knew exactly how they got it, and why they got it.
FLASHBACK
It all started that one day when a few campers were having an argument, on why the children of the big three always got to go on quests, lead quests, and even issue quests. Why they were always the captains of CTF (capture the flag) and why they were assumed to be the strongest. The ones who started the argument were none other than the Stoll brothers and Clarrise. All because they thought they were not being respected and thought the big three should be put in their place. So they were planning on doing something to humiliate them or even just dishonour them, when word got to Nico and he informed his cousins of the scheme. So they talked about it, and in the end, Percy decided that they will inform everyone of their intentions during CTF that evening.
Somewhere in the other side of camp...
Travis and Connor were deciding what they should do to their most favourite trio. They thought that the best thing to do, is just keep pulling pranks on them, one after the other until they just go crazy, but then again, if they get caught, then god knows what will happen to them. They were sitting there contemplating, when the conch horn sounded, signalling that it's time for CTF. Oh well, so much for the big plan. Clarrise is sure to eat them alive if she found out they never had a plan ready. Guess we will have to quickly think of something later, they said to themselves, and with that they left.
On the CTF field, everyone was getting their armours, weapons and everything ready, when Percy, Thalia and Nico stood on top of a table, and tried to catch everyone's attention, with no success. After a bit of earth shakers from Percy and a bit of lightning from Thalia, they were ready to make their announcement.
"I know you guys are getting ready for- yet again, another capture the flag match. But if you guys are okay with it, we have something else planned for today." Nico said, grabbing everyone's attention by now.
After a couple of "sure" and "let's hear it", Thalia continued on. "Since some of you dim wits really hate our guts, and are against us being the leaders of Camp half blood," Thalia said directing a glare towards the Stolls, "We think instead of letting you continue to hate us, we will just prove to you, that we are more capable than you think we are." She said, earning confused looks from some of the campers.
"Instead of regular, boring CTF, we will have one massive spar, The big three kids and Annabeth, vs...The entire camp." Percy decided to continue.
After the last phrase that Percy spoke, there was nothing but dead silence. No one spoke a word. No one wanted to be facing the big three kids in a spar as well as Annabeth! She would have been their last hope, considering she was really close to the trio and would know their weaknesses.
Travis and Connor were somewhere in the middle of all the campers, looking like they were shitting bricks. This is not what they had in mind. Clarrise on the other hand was rubbing her hands in excitement. As a child of Ares, the thought of sweet revenge was coursing through her head.
"We will begin in 2 hours, better be ready." Nico said excitedly.
5 hours later...
All the campers were knocked out with the exception of a few. Percy, Thalia and Nico, were left with minor injuries and Annabeth was unconscious. The Stoll brothers were intentionally left untouched and were now on their knees asking to be forgiven. Clarrise was disarmed and was hanging upside down on the branch of a tree.
"So my dear friends, do you have any thing to say for yourself, before you join your partner in crime on that tree?" Percy asked the Stolls sadistically.
"W-were really S-sorry guys!"
"W-we will n-never, e-ever,"
"E-ever question your abilities again!" They both said one after the other.
"We p-promise!" They said in unison.
"That's good. I hope we will be in good terms after this." Thalia said with a smirk.
"Y-yes!" they stuttered.
"Don't think you will be left without a punishment for this protest of yours." Nico said earning a terrified face from the brothers.
"Yes. You will also be tied on that same branch as Clarrise, and we will leave you to Thals over here." Percy said almost cracking up when he seen the look on their faces.
Thalia cracked her knuckles and stated in a menacing tone "Get ready for some serious frying, boys."
"Try not to burn them to a crisp, Thals. We need a bit of their body's so we can show the other campers what happens when they mess with the children of the big three." Nico said turning away from the terrified boys.
"Yeah, but also make sure they learn their lessons", Percy said joining Nico.
With that Percy and Nico went back to their cabins and left the Stoll brothers at the mercy of Thalia. For a good couple of hours the weather was nothing but rain, thunderstorm, and lots of screaming.
Chiron had to go to the boys aid after he figured Thalia would show no mercy. Since that day the campers had a new level of respect and fear for the four. And that is how they got the nick name, the Fearsome Four.
END OF A VERY LONG FLASHBACK
"Okay guys, if you have that much faith in the FF, then I guess protecting the Williamsburg bridge won't be much of a problem." Percy said hopefully.
"Yeah, so I guess it's now or never guys! It's time for everyone to go to their respected positions and make their mother or father proud!" Nico said with confidence.
There was a chorus of "Yeah!" and "Ok's" and a really loud cheer of "FOR OLYMPUS!" before everyone headed out for battle except Percy, Thalia, Nico, and Michael Yew.
"Should I go on ahead and start positioning myself and my siblings on the bridge?" Michael asked.
"Yeah, you do that. We will be there as soon an Annabeth is back from activating the automatons." Thalia answered.
"Okay guys, see you soon." He said with a half-smile.
"Alright Michael, don't die on us!" Percy said with a smirk.
With that, the trio were left with waiting for Annabeth.
LINE BREAK
As soon as Percy left from her sight, Annabeth smirked before activating the automaton and saying, "Hello Governor Seward. Command sequence: Daedalus twenty-three. Attack Manhattan. Begin activation."
Annabeth smirked triumphantly, when the statue got up and started walking towards its brethren.
She knew for a fact that the stupid Olympians didn't stand a chance against Kronos's forces. With these automatons, it only improved their chances. Soon will be the downfall of Olympus and their brainwashed demigods, she thought to herself. All she had to do was continue with her acting, until the time is right to reveal her true self. With that, she started on her way to the plaza.
