A/N: Hi! It's been awhile since I last updated this story, and I don't really have a good excuse. I kind of just lost interest in it, because I didn't see the story really going anywhere. I edited some of the chapters that I had written but hadn't posted yet, and I think I have it going in a direction that I'm a little more satisfied with. It's still a work in progress, though, so keep that in mind. Thanks!
Argus dropped them off a few blocks from Grand Central. Well, it's official, Percy thought. We're on our own again. They walked in silence until Percy cleared his throat.
"When we get there, what are we going to be looking for? I know this is probably the least direction we've gotten on a quest ever, but I figure you have at least a idea of what to do"
Annabeth rolled her eyes at him and kept walking.
"No, I'm serious. I have like, no clue what we are doing. But you'll figure out a plan like always, right Wise Girl?"
They arrived at the Station and shoved and pushed their way past the fleeing tourists (?) through the doors into the large domed ceiling of the main terminal. All of a sudden, both of them stopped dead in their tracks, somehow avoiding being trampled by the spooked mortals. Annabeth blinked and rubbed her eyes, and Percy did the same.
"Is that really there?" she asked.
"I think so", replied Percy.
Before them stood, or rather laid, a giant stag that had crushed most of the interior of the room. It was the size of ten semis, and probably about as heavy too. It was dark grey, and it's eyes were terrifyingly red. Percy had no clue what the mortals where seeing, but he had no doubt that it was horrible.
"Annabeth, what the hell is that thing?" he said, his voice cracking.
"I have no clue," she replied.
They walked towards it anyways. It stood up, its antlers catching most of the debris falling from the once beautiful columns, and as it bent down to look them in the eyes, they barely managed to keep from being crushed. The giant bloodshot red eye stared at them, and Percy noticed that the iris was glowing, bathing them with an unearthly light.
"Hello, little demigods. How goes your day?', the thing said.
"It was going well until you showed up" shouted Percy, trying to summon his usual bravado.
"Wait," whispered Annabeth to Percy. "We don't know if this thing is friendly or not"
"Well, judging by the massive size and glowing eyes, I think we can assume that it isn't," he whispered back.
Their attention was drawn back to the stag when it started to speak again. "Are you, perchance, Annabeth Chase and Perseus Jackson?"
Dammit, thought Percy. If this thing was using his full name, there was a 99% chance that it was not friendly.
"If so, your day is about to get much worse," continued the monster. "If not, well… your day is going to get a lot worse too. It's really a lose-lose situation, but I'll give you a much easier death if you just tell me the truth."
Percy and Annabeth looked at each other and back at the giant stag. Their eyes darted back and forth as they had a silent argument. Annabeth's stormy gray eyes declared "Let's just lie and see if he'll free us, and kill him if we need to. That way, less people know we're on this quest" and Percy's sea green ones said "Let's tell him the truth. We could use an easy fight, and I'm pretty sure a lot of people already know, judging by this monster. " They kept glaring at each other in a contest of will, until Percy looked down at the ground, vanquished.
Annabeth cleared her throat and looked right into the giant's large, crimson eye. "No, we aren't those demigods that you speak of. Now, is there any chance that you can just let us go?"
"No, none," responded the stag.
"Fine," sighed Annabeth. "I guess we'll have to kill you then," she declared, while drawing her dagger and getting into a battle stance.
The thing seemed to sigh, too, and the giant eye retreated up into the sky, where the rest of it was waiting. Percy allowed himself to hope for a second that it had changed its mind and was leaving, when it spoke again, its gravelly voice deeply at odds with the rest of its graceful figure.
"A pity. I was much enjoying life again, and it took me so long to get here"
Percy immediately felt the familiar rush of adrenaline flood his system as he prepared for battle. Although in battle he was always on the verge of dying, it was also where he felt the most at home. Here his ADHD was an advantage rather than a weakness, and he could always rely on his instincts. He ran towards the stag, uncapping Riptide as he went. Although he had no idea what he was doing, he trusted Annabeth to come up with a plan. He ran onto a discarded information desk, and jumped off, landing on one of the legs of the stag. Climbing up to the back while the stag was moving was rather hard, but he did it anyways. When he got on the thing's back, he started to stab everywhere. The great gushes of blood nearly knocked him of his perch, and once again Percy found himself missing his powers over water, although they couldn't have possibly helped him now. He paused in his frenzied stabbing to look over at Annabeth, who was going in and out of invisibility, and when she looked at him and pointed up, he assumed that he was supposed to get to the thing's head, and started to climb once again.
He finally got up to the face, and once again went with the strategy of blindly stabbing and slashing everywhere. Although he stayed on for a pretty long time, considering the distinct lack of handholds and the fact that he was on a moving animal, he thing shook him off and he landed on the ground, rolling on instinct. He got up and groaned. After pulling a stunt like that, he was sure to be sore tomorrow, if he would even make it to tomorrow.
"Annabeth, how are we going to kill this thing? Even Riptide isn't making much of a dent on it!", he yelled, swinging his sword as he charged the stag again.
"I'm working on it!", she shouted back. "Just distract it for a while so that I can think of something!"
Percy nodded grimly and set to work. He ran around the stag's legs, weaving in and out while slashing at the most vulnerable points of it's hooves. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Annabeth climbing up through the rubble up to one of the few walls that was still standing until she perched at the top of one of the two colonnades flanking the entryway. Her face lit up with the expression that Percy knew meant that she had a (hopefully) genius idea. She looked down at him and frantically motioned for him to get out of the building. He nodded back at her and ran for the doors, weaving through unmanned kiosks and stands as he did.
He got at least a hundred feet away from the structure before he doubled over, panting for breath. Without his godly gifts, everything was a lot harder. He turned to look back just in time to see the whole roof collapse onto the awaiting monster. Percy stood there, stunned, and then ran for the ruins.
"Annabeth!", he cried out, hoping against hope that she had survived the cave in. "Annabeth!"
"It's charming to see such devotion, but I'm fine.", said a familiar voice from behind him. Percy turned around and smiled in relief as he saw who was smirking at him. He ran at Annabeth and crushed her in a hug. After a few seconds he stepped back quickly, trying not to make nit awkward but failing. "
"Do you know where are we going next?", he asked her. "I didn't hear the monster saying anything about any certain location, and generally a god or goddess shows up by this time to tell us where to go"
"Well, the stag is a patron animal of one goddess in particular, and I'm assuming that Artemis didn't send it here on purpose. The last I heard of Thalia, she and the Hunters were holed up in Wisconsin, trying to catch a rogue centaur who was terrorizing the inhabitants. I think we should head over there", she answered.
"So, umm, should we get a bus to Wisconsin?", he asked. "I'm assuming that a train is out of the question, considering that we just destroyed the train station"
"Yes, we should."
