Chapter 11: Attack
Cronus took in his surroundings with little interest evident in his golden eyes. The condo was large and extravagant, the furniture a bloody crimson red and the tapestries, curtains, and carpet were all a bright gold. Sitting in the large, leather armchair at the center of the room was Prometheus, who had inhabited the body of a twenty-two year old blond man. "Hello Cronus, I see that you've acquired yourself an interesting host."
"That I have, and I have come because I want to know what you are doing here. I assume that you're in control of both fighting armies, am I correct?" Prometheus grinned and sent his guards to stand outside.
"That you are. I have pitted the Romans and the Greeks against one another, each believing that the other is to blame for the destruction of their camps and the imprisonment of their trainers."
"Did you take Morpheus?"
"Of course I did. Those pesky gods would have used him to communicate with their children. Keeping him locked up has proved a most wise move."
"And the prophecy hardly concerns you?" Prometheus laughed at the mention of the prophecy.
"You must be joking. That prophecy will not come to pass. I have destroyed the camp of their only allies and they have no way of stopping me. How could they, if they don't even know that I'm the one running this show?" Cronus smirked cruelly. This is going to be easier than I thought.
"What do you plan to do when the demigods have destroyed each other?"
"Take over the world of course."
"No you won't." Backbiter suddenly appeared in Cronus's hands and the scythe sliced through Prometheus's middle like a hot knife through butter. Cronus kicked the corpse halves away in disgust and glared at the few demigoddess servants still in the room. "Get rid of this body and clean this rug." He ordered as he sat in Prometheus's armchair, grinning like the Cheshire cat. His plan wasn't half bad, but he was a fool for thinking that I would work under him. Now, I'll just let his little plan play out and reap the rewards.
Darien could see a block of condos and one specific condo seemed to be the one that the most people were going in and out of. "I know where Cronus is." Darien said, and Karen pulled out the floor plan of the building that Darien had given her the address of, marking all the places where he had seen guards.
"All right, I want Akira and Nico to shadow travel and check our numbers for the guards in that building and around that condo. Darien, I want you and Annabeth to take two pegasi and do a sweep of the initial area. Percy, you and Veronica will stay with me and help me with this floor plan."
"You don't need both of us for that! Let me go out with Annabeth or –"
"You will stay with me. It would be too risky to send you out. We don't know which Titan is controlling everything, but they obviously believe that you are the greatest threat. The attack here was to get rid of you specifically because you have the most experience in foiling Titan plans." Karen said when she interrupted Percy, her eyes daring him to object or argue. Percy bit his lip and remained silent. The others went out for their tasks and Veronica smiled.
"What's the reason that I'm here boss? I could have helped Annabeth and Darien, but you asked for me to stay instead. Why?"
"The second we get the information on the building and the surrounding area, we're moving out. You and Percy will be going in through the disused sewer line. It will put you two outside of the building, and I'll have Annabeth and Darien move in from the roof." Karen turned and looked directly at Percy. "You two have a special mission: to reverse Nikolai's deal with Cronus and bring him back to us. Annabeth, as Athena's daughter, will probably be able to figure out who is behind this during the attack. She's bright enough to be able to decode it simply by the Titan's choice of décor. Many of them favor certain elements that the others don't, which makes identification easy. Once we have Nikolai, retreat and we'll figure out how to deal with the Titan in due course." Percy looked behind her and noticed that she had turned her microphone on so the others could hear her.
"I'll keep my eyes open for any such hints." Annabeth said, and Karen thanked her. Percy and Veronica basically watched as Karen wrote down the information, satisfied only once she got every single detail down. Then, she rattled off a plan over the intercom after only five minutes of deliberation.
"Annabeth and Darien, you two enter from the roof. There's an air duct there big enough for the both of you. Enter through there and exit it as soon as you see a grate. It's not too strong but it should last until then. Nico and Akira, how do you guys feel about bringing Mrs. O'Leary out there to help you distract and draw out some of the guards?"
"That's fine. We'll hold them as long as we can." Nico replied, and Karen turned to Percy and Veronica.
"Get going already, while the rest of us distract the soldiers that are out patrolling the streets. It's about time that we showed them just how much we appreciated having our home destroyed." Karen said, and her soldiers cheered from outside of her door. Veronica and Percy both grinned and Karen showed them to the door to the sewers in their underground hideout. "The water should guide you two safely there. Be careful and don't take any unnecessary risks. We'll be having a celebratory dinner later, and I was thinking that I might let some of our cooks make some sweets."
"Really? We're so going to be back soon, especially if you're going to make a chocolate cake too."
"Of course I will. Might as well go all out and do so." Karen replied with a grin, seeing them off before heading to her soldiers. "Let's go! They're counting on us to distract our enemies. Nobody take any unnecessary or dangerous risks. I want to see as many of you come back alive as I can." "Yes ma'am!" The men, women, and children of the resistance barked back at their commander, and Ares's daughter smirked. She pulled out her cell phone charm, a white skull with ruby eyes, and it transformed into a broadsword that was nearly as tall as she was. "Father, if you can hear me, protect my warriors well. Bestow Nico, Percy, and the others with enough strength to carry out their missions." Karen smiled sadly and led her soldiers out of their hideout and out of the church, straight out into the open of the deserted streets.
Akira and Nico looked dead into each other's eyes and knew exactly what to do. Nico whistled and Mrs. O'Leary appeared from a shadow, tail wagging and happy until the soldiers came out of the building. She growled at the approaching army as she grew back to her normal size. "Shall we get ready?" Akira asked, unsheathing her black katana, and Nico nodded, his black sword appearing in his hands. The army froze as the ground was ripped apart and the bodies of the dead rose up to fight them. The second the last skeleton rose from the ground with his sword, the battle began.
