AN: Hey guys! So first things first, I want to say thank you for the support you've shown the first one-shot. I'm glad you guys enjoyed it so much!
Next, it's time to announce the winner of the poll on my profile! But see, here's the thing. It was actually a tie between Augustus and Jocelyn! So I've decided to give you a one-shot for each of them. Today, you'll be getting the one about Augustus and next week I'll give you the Jocelyn one-shot. Thank you everyone who voted!
Alright, let's go ahead and get this show on the road. Enjoy the story and DFTBA!
Summary: Augustus Grace had been having a normal day until Jake called him during third period. Jake had gotten himself into some kind of trouble, and he needed Augustus's help. Of course, Augustus wasn't expecting "help" to involve fighting a couple of killer stone lion statues.
Spoilers: Up through the end of "The Missing Prophecy."
Augustus Grace and the Attack of the Killer Statues
Augustus's day was going fine until he got a phone call from his best friend. Before that, things had been going pretty well.
The cold February day had started normally enough. Augustus had gotten up a good hour and a half before he went to school. He hated waking up, but he always insisted on waking up early enough to look good for school. He was the grandson of Aphrodite, after all. After dressing and doing his hair, he'd gone downstairs and eaten breakfast with his brother and mother. His dad was still upstairs sleeping, having just returned from an archeology dig in Greece. After eating, Augustus pulled on his pea coat, earmuffs, and scarf, then departed for school. His mother dropped him off first, then took his brother Riley over to the Middle School. He texted his girlfriend Elizabeth "good morning" (she always got up later than him and really didn't like getting texted before she'd had a chance to fully wake up).
He walked into the school and found his locker. After stowing away his coat and backpack, he went to the cafeteria to hang out with his mortal friends before first period started. Fifteen minutes later, classes started, and Augustus went about his day as he normally would. He took notes, did his assignments, joked around with his mortal friends. Everything was fine.
Then Jake called.
Jake was Augustus's best friend, and the son of Hephaestus. Even though Jake was two years older than Augustus, the two had become firm friends during Augustus's first summer at camper. And just last summer they'd gone on a dangerous quest together with Augustus's now-girlfriend, Elizabeth.
Anyway, Augustus had left his third period class – Global Studies II – to go to the bathroom. On his way back, his phone went off. He checked the caller ID. "Call from Jake Anderson."
Augustus raised his eyebrows. Jake knew he was at school. Which meant that something was happening. And knowing his luck, it was probably something bad. Augustus answered the call. "Dude, what's up?"
"Sorry to call you during school," Jake panted. From the background noise, it sounded like he was in the City, and also like he was running. "I wouldn't call you if it wasn't important, but I need your help."
"What do you need?" Augustus asked, already planning his escape from the school building. Not that it would be hard. He'd just charmspeak his way out the front door. Although when the school's receptionist came to her senses and called his parents, he'd be in serious trouble. One thing at a time, Augustus thought.
"Can you meet me in Central Park?" Jake asked. "That fountain with the angel statue on top?" Suddenly Jake cursed. There was a crashing sound in the background.
"What's wrong?" Augustus asked. "What's happening?"
The line went dead. Augustus slid his phone back into his pocket. He wasn't sure what to do but meet Jake where he'd said – and hope that his friend showed up in one piece.
The fountain Jake was referring to was the Bethesda Fountain, located towards the center of Central Park, right along Terrace Drive, one of the roads that cut through the park. The fountain was shut off because of the cold weather. At the top of the fountain, there was a statue of a winged angel. The fountain was supposed to be a reference to something from Christianity, but that's not what Augustus thought about when he saw it. Every time he'd passed by the fountain in the park recently, he stared at the angel statue and scowled, forcibly reminded of the terrifying Weeping Angels from Doctor Who, which Elizabeth had made him start watching.
The area was deserted. Augustus supposed that it wasn't that odd. It was fifteen degrees and the middle of the morning on a Tuesday. Anyone not discouraged from visiting the Park by the frigid temperatures or piles of slush and snow was probably at work or at school.
So Augustus stood there, agitated, staring at the angel statue for fear it would move. He tapped his foot nervously, worried about his friend. He was also worried by the fact that he didn't have his sword on him. Even with the Mist helping out, Augustus really didn't like to push his luck by carrying around the four feet of celestial bronze wherever he went. So most days he left his sword at home. Most days it wasn't a problem, but then most days he didn't get phone calls from his demigod friend at ten A.M.
From behind him a voice called, "Gus!"
Augustus whirled around, too relieved to hear his friend's voice to really register the fact that Jake had just called him "Gus," a nickname that seemed to be spreading more and more daily. Augustus didn't mind that much, not anymore, but it was still weird.
Jake was a pretty intimidating guy. He was several inches taller than Augustus – which was saying something, because Augustus was quite tall. Jake was also quite a bit broader. His hands were huge and calloused from working in the forges at Camp Half-Blood. Jake's dark hair curled out from beneath his winter hat. His jacket was unzipped and he was panting, like he'd been running. Which, from the sounds of the brief phone call they'd had, he had been.
"Jake," Augustus said, relieved. "You had me worried, dude. What's going on? Why do you need my help?"
Before Jake could respond, movement flickered in the corner of Augustus's eye. He turned towards it. Two large things were atop the raised road that was Terrace Drive. They leaped down into the plaza in front of Bethesda fountain and moved towards Jake and Augustus, slinking on all four legs like top of the line predators. Which, Augustus realized, they were. Because they were lions. Stone lions. Augustus blinked. "Please tell me those aren't the stone lions from the main public library."
"Those are the stone lions from the main public library," Jake said grimly.
Augustus resisted the urge to glance behind him at the angel statue to make sure it hadn't moved. "And why exactly are the lion statues from the library alive?"
The lions were moving closer, their back legs tensed, like they were getting ready to pounce. Their stone lips were drawn in a silent snarl.
"I don't know about alive," Jake said. "But they're automatons."
"Sometimes I want to strangle you," Augustus said.
The lions chose that moment to pounce. Jake and Augustus dove away. The lions flew past and landed in the fountain. They whirled around. One turned towards Jake, who pulled his sledgehammer from his belt. The other turned towards Augsutus. Great, Jake has a weapon, Augustus thought. But of course I don't.
Augustus's lion leaped towards him. He leaped ten feet into the air, straight over the lion's head, and hung there, floating. The stone lion opened its mouth to roar at Augustus, though no sound came out. Augustus guessed that stone automatons weren't fitted with vocal chords. "Sucks to suck," Augustus yelled at his lion.
He turned in midair towards Jake, who'd just sent his own lion adversary sprawling by bashing it across the face with his hammer. The lion who'd targeted Augustus was now turning on Jake, too. Couldn't have that.
Augustus swooped towards his friend, touched down behind him, grabbed Jake under the armpits, then shot back into the air. Augustus grunted in pain. Jake was heavy, even with the wind helping him hold the son of Hephaestus's weight. He flew them north and touched down in the patch of woods not far from the fountain, panting. "I'm guessing we don't have much time before those lions catch up with us," Augustus said. "So explain – quickly – why the lions from the library are trying to kill you?"
"I was going through the notes of one of the old Hephaestus cabin Head Counselors, a guy called Jake Mason," Jake explained. Augustus smiled slightly. Jake was going through Jake's notes. "Anyway, he fought during the Titan War. When Kronos's army invaded Manhattan, the demigods were hopelessly outnumbered. Luckily, Annabeth Chase had found out that almost all the statues in the City were automatons, and could be used to help defend the City."
Oh great, Augustus thought. The statues really can move. Guess I'm not sleeping tonight.
"And I thought," Jake continued, "that since we're at war with Gaius, I'd find out if the automatons still worked, just in case we had to defend Manhattan again."
Gaius. The name caused a spike of white hot hatred to go through Augustus. The crazy son of Kronos had confronted them at the very end of their quest the previous summer, just when all of them thought they were finally safe. Gaius and his troops had attacked them. Gaius fought Elizabeth personally, and he'd cut off her arm. The sound of her scream had been the most terrible thing Augustus had ever heard. Almost without meaning to, Augustus had summoned a massive windstorm in his rage and driven off Gaius and his soldiers. Still, Augustus itched for a chance to meet Gaius again and punish him for what he'd done to Elizabeth.
"So let me guess," Augustus said, "the automatons don't work anymore."
"Well they activated just fine," Jake said. "But something must have gone haywire with them. I don't know if it was just these two or all of them in the City, but instead of following my orders like they were supposed to, the lions just began to attack me."
The sound of snapping branches caught their attention. The friends whirled around and found the two stone lions approaching them. "Looks like they caught up with us," Augustus said. "How do we beat them?"
"They're stone statues," Jake said dryly. "Not easily, and I can't make the deactivation command work. But maybe you can."
"What now?" Augustus asked. He kept his eyes trained on the two lions, who were moving towards them remarkably quickly, snapping twigs underfoot and ploughing through low hanging branches.
"Use your charmspeak," Jake said.
"I can't charmspeak stone!" Augustus protested.
"Maybe not," Jake said. "But they're not just stone, they're automatons. And if you use the right command sequence anyway, maybe it'd work."
The lions broke into a run. "Okay fine," Augustus said quickly. "What do I say?"
"Command sequence: Daedalus Twenty-Three," Jake rattled off. "Shut down."
Augustus concentrated and felt the familiar charmspeak powers flow through him. "Command sequence: Daedalus Twenty-Three. Shut down!"
It worked better than he'd thought it would. It didn't work. But it did make the lions hesitate for a second. Then they were back to running. Augustus thrust out his hands and used the winds to send the two lions flying. Immediately he got a stitch in his side. The heavier an object was, the more effort it took to move them with the winds.
"Time to retreat again," Augustus wheezed. He grabbed Jake under the armpits and they shot into the air. It didn't look like talking to the lions was going to get them to shut down, but the charmspeak had affected them. He wondered…
He started flying back towards the Bethesda Fountain.
"Why are we going back this way?" Jake asked.
Augustus couldn't work up the energy to answer him. He didn't even have enough energy to give them a soft landed. When they touched down in the fountain's basin, they tumbled down. Augustus coughed. "Those lions," he panted, "were really heavy."
"Why are we back here?" Jake repeated.
"The charmspeak did work on the lions, but not very well," Augustus said. "But see, I've noticed that, at least for me, charmspeak doesn't work as well on non-humanoids. Maybe because I'm not much of an animal person. But," he pointed up at the angel statue above them, "she's a humanoid. And she's made out of metal."
"Are you actually suggesting we activate another statue?" Jake said. "That's the stupidest idea I've ever heard!"
"Well if you've got a better one, I'm all ears," Augustus said. "Because I'd really rather not activate this statue either." Partially because he was afraid it would actually turn into a Weeping Angel, but Jake didn't need to know that.
Jake sighed. "No, I don't."
At that moment, the lions found them again. They tensed to pounce. It was now or never. His voice surged with charmspeak as he yelled, "Angel statue! Command sequence: Daedalus Twenty-Three! Kill stone lions!"
For an awful moment, nothing happen. The lions pounced, and Augustus didn't have the energy to redirect them again. Jake hoisted his hammer. Augustus got ready to dive away.
Then, just before the lions hit them, a huge thing dropped out of the sky on top of them. The lions toppled away. Standing protectively between the lions and Augustus and Jake was a bronze angel, rusted green. The lions were about the same size as the angel statue, and there were two of them, but they were confused.
The angel pummeled them with her fists, which left craters in the stone lions. Her wings spun and sliced at them, like a pair of blades. The lions didn't stand a chance. Augustus almost felt sorry for them. Almost.
A minute later, all that was left were two piles of rubble. The angel turned back to Augustus. Its head twitched sideways and sparks flew out of its ear. It was malfunctioning too. Somehow, Augustus knew he could only control it for a few more seconds before it went haywire like the lions. "Command sequence: Daedalus Twenty-Three. Shut down."
The angel spread its wings, flapped once, and flew to the top of the fountain's centerpiece, where it became still again.
Jake, meanwhile, was examining the piles of rubble formerly known as the public library lions. "Wonder how the mortals will explain the disappearance of these guys," he wondered.
Augustus shrugged. "I'll be curious to find out when the story hits the news."
Jake turned to Augustus and smiled. "Thanks for saving my ass, man. You did good."
"Yeah well, what are friends for?" Augustus replied. "Just do me a favor? Next time you decide to activate ancient automatons that probably don't work anymore, don't do that."
AN: I hope you guys enjoyed that one! And I'll see you in a week for the Jocelyn one-shot!