Sorry for the late update. I had testing this week, and I didn't find time to upload it. Hope you like this chapter.
The ship Leo had dreamt of his whole life was saving the world.
He loaded the ballistae with ammo, and he loaded his cannons with cannonballs. He attached machine guns and sniper rifles to the side of his ship and loaded up the Hephaestus and Apollo campers, along with some of Athena's.
The night was dark, but it was easy to see all the Gaea-monsters. They were erupting from a giant hole in the ground, and monsters and demigods were attacking them. The never-ending amount of clay dolls was overwhelming, but Leo and the other campers felt confident after hearing Artemis's speech. He had stood outside in front of the Big House and told the Greek and Roman Half-Bloods his plan.
The Romans loved it. It required a lot of attacking and killing. The Greeks loved it for its strategy; even more so when they figured that Artemis had planned it that way: strategy to lure the Greeks in and war to lure the Romans in.
Leo had to admit his plan was great. Parts of it were simple: attack the monsters with all they had. Other parts of it were complicated, like opening up the Earth and destroying it from the inside.
Artemis, Holly, Percy, Atlas, and Annabeth had gone to San Francisco. Nico was tired after shadow-traveling everywhere and anyways, he was needed here. Mrs. O' Leary was fast asleep in the volleyball court.
They had taken Leo's portal to the mountain. He didn't really care what Artemis did with it, only as long as he got it back to him after he was done.
Calypso.
Leo sighed and turned to the nearest Hephaestus camper. "Is everything ready? Are our shield up?"
The camper nodded. "All shields and weapons are ready. Do we have permission to attack?"
Leo looked over the side of the Argo II. They were floating a few hundred yards away from the big hole where the monsters were coming from; it was the perfect distance for their weapon range. When they were on the ground, they didn't have time to retrieve and assemble the catapults to attack the monsters with. So they had used shear strength and muscle to push the monsters back. But now they had the upper hand. They had weapons.
He looked back up at his half-brother, who looked nothing like him, except for the hardened hands. He barely knew him, but they fought together and for the same cause.
"Yes. Attack at my mark."
The Hephaestus boy turned around and shouted to the rest of the campers onboard. "Ready your weapons!"
The sound of clanking metal and weapons being loaded filled the silent night air. Leo turned to Festus, his bronze dragon figurehead that controlled the ship. "Festus, turn the lights on."
Festus made a clacking sound and started whirring. A few second later, the whole ship lit up, the wood glowing in the darkness. The area around the camper's weapons glowed too, so they could see what they were doing better.
After everything was silenced, and they could see their mark easily, Leo yelled, "On my mark!" Ballistae stretched and fire was lit on the end of the cannon baller's rods. "Get set!" Machine guns whirred and sniper lasers were pointed at the area of monsters. "Fire!"
Leo quickly covered his ears with his hands, and everything around him exploded. The cannons and ballistae fired first, and while they were reloading the machine guns took their place. The snipers took out the farthest monsters deep underground, shattering them five at a time.
Once the cannons and ballistae were loaded, he called for them to fire. "Cannons aim for the ground! Ballistae aim for the heads!" He waited a few more seconds, studying the field. "On my mark! Fire!"
The machine guns and snipers stopped firing, and the cannons and ballistae started shooting celestial cannonballs and giant arrows tipped with celestial bronze heads. The cannons and ballistae did the most damage because of their size, but it took longer for them to reload than it did for the gunners.
Once the visible ground was clear of the Gaea-monsters, Leo spotted two figures emerging from the darkness. One had a sword as black as death and the other held a long calvary sword. They ran as fast as they could to the edge of the hole and steadied themselves. They looked at each other, and Leo thought he saw a smile form on both of their lips. Then they jumped straight down.
Leo waited. He watched the ground beneath him for any signs that the hole was disappearing. After a few moments, the earth started to tremble. Some Gaea-monsters tried to climb out, but were crushed by rocks and dirt. The hole was collapsing.
And then the roof of the hole collapsed inwards, and the surrounding earth around it was fed into the giant hole of a mouth.
Leo watched the ground for a few more seconds, panic starting to rise in his throat. The earth was flattened, but where was Hazel and Nico?
And then Leo heard a familiar WHOOSH!, like a small whisper. He heard two bodies topple to the deck of the Argo II, and he turned around, a smile on his face.
"You did it!" he whooped! "You killed them all!"
Nico grumbled something inaudible, and pushed himself out from under Hazel. He rolled weakly for a few feet, then put his arm behind his head.
"I've done too much today," he yawned. "I'm going to sleep. Goodnight." He turned over and started to snore.
Hazel stumbled to her feet and brushed the dirt from her clothes. She wiped her blade with a cloth she kept in her back pocket and tucked it in her belt. She looked up to Leo and said, "He's done a lot. Even with his scepter, he's shadow-traveled and fought more than he's ever had to. Now that the Gaea-monsters are gone, the earth is more vulnerable and it will be easier for him to summon the undead. But he'll need a few hours of rest."
Leo nodded and pointed at the collapsed hole. "What'd you do in there?"
Hazel sighed and leaned up against the mast of the ship. She watched as two Athena campers propped a pillow under Nico's head and threw a blanket over him. She turned her head to the sky and stared up at the stars. "All we did was use our powers, Leo. It wasn't anything much."
"But what did you do?" Leo asked, suddenly interested. He slid down the railing of the Argo II and sat opposite Hazel.
"We caused an even bigger hole under that one that went straight to Tartarus."
Leo stared at her in awe, and his fingers started tap-dancing their way across his lap. "Wow." he said.
"Yeah."
They sat in companionable silence for a minute until Leo said, "So...you just sucked up a hole."
Hazel smiled and relaxed her shoulders. "Yeah. That's basically what we did." She leaned her head back against the mast and closed her eyes. "We should probably contact Artemis and tell him what we did."
Leo nodded, even though she couldn't see him. "Ok. I'll go do it." He got up and headed below deck.
He stopped by an Apollo camper, who was walking across deck to help with disassembling the guns. Leo stopped him and motioned toward Hazel. "Hey, could you get her something to eat? Maybe some nectar and ambrosia, too?"
The Apollo camper nodded. "Sure thing, Leo. Anything you want." He turned to the culinary part of the deck, where kitchen with ever-filling plates of food were, and some nectar and ambrosia were stored.
Leo continued to below deck, where he kept a steamer and a lamp just for this occasion. He stopped to unlock one of the doors and slipped inside, leaving the lights out.
He tripped a few times, but he managed to make his way to the small table that held his supplies. He fumbled for the switch on the lamp, and he turned it on. He searched for the battery-powered steamer and filled it with water from a jug on the floor.
Leo sprayed the steam in front of the lamp and turned until he found the perfect angle. He focused the steam in front of the wall, which was shiny, just for this purpose.
He turned the light up on the lamp until he saw a perfect rainbow, then fished a drachma out of his toolbelt. He tossed it into the rainbow and asked for Artemis in San Francisco. The image shifted until he saw Artemis, amazingly, keeping eye on his watch.
"Artemis!" Leo shouted. Artemis turned his head, and when he spotted Leo, he smiled.
"Ah, Leo. I take it everything is going well?" He adjusted his tie and smoothed out his suit. Leo heard a female voice coming from Artemis's side of the connection, and Holly appeared in front of the screen.
"Hey, Leo!" she said. She looked excited about something, so Leo thought that must be good.
"Hey, Holly," he said back. He flicked his eyes to Artemis. "Yeah, actually, we sent the crater to, uh...Tartarus."
Artemis looked confused for the merest fraction of a second, and then a smile formed on his face. "So the Gaea-monsters are taken care of?"
Leo nodded his head, and Artemis smiled even wider. Leo noticed that his sunglasses weren't on, and he could see Artemis's mismatched eyes clearly.
Artemis nodded back to him and straightened out the cuff of his sleeve. "Well, they were the least of our problems. But that's okay! I got the rest."
Leo decided not to question Artemis and said he would see him later.
"Bye, Leo!" Holly yelled, right before he cut the connection.
Artemis chuckled to himself quietly. What a day. This morning he had woken up in his hotel room and discovered that Holly had been kidnapped. He also proved the existence of demigods, convinced all the faries of Haven to go through a mysterious portal and fight for them. Not to mention, he was now in charge of all the fighting races: demigods, monsters, faries, goblins, and dwarves.
And now here he was. Heading for the biggest monsters ever created. And he was laughing.
Something had clicked in his brain. He now understood everything. Gaea's plan to rule the world was a simple one: attack the demigods and kill the gods and raise the Titans and let Gaea come to power. But that wasn't the only thing he understood. A three-hundred I.Q. brain tends to think things over and over and over until it gets a compatible solution. And, after many weeks of thinking it over, he finally understood everything. Death was nothing. Life was...nothing. Nothing was everything
Holly was giggling with excitement because she had seen Artemis's expression. It was pure joy mixed with pure calmness, and she couldn't help but feel an overwhelming sense of happiness at looking at his face.
And now Artemis understood everything.
The cyclops tapped him on the shoulder with one meaty hand. "Art-him-is, when we attack?"
Artemis turned to face Tyson, Percy's brother. "We're not attacking now, Tyson. Not anymore." Ella, who was perched on Tyson's shoulder, tilted her head to the side.
"Why not, Arty?"
Holly couldn't help but form a scowl on her face.
"Because, Ella, we don't need to attack. No problems can be solved by attacking."
Holly mimicked the harpy by tilting her head at Artemis. The Mud Boy had certainly changed. "Artemis, if we're not going to attack them, what are we going to do?"
"Make peace with them, of course. What else?"
"But-" Holly looked at the crumbling remains of Mt. Tamalpais. The giant Cyclopes and Hekatonkheires were slowly making their way down. There was no way they could get there in time. The portal had to cool down first.
"But what?" Artemis asked patiently.
"How do we get there in time? If we don't hurry, they might become evil and destroy San Fran!"
Artemis turned to Atlas and Percy and Annabeth, who were standing behind him, watching them with idle confusion. \
"Yeah?" Percy said.
"I've heard you were a fast runner."
Annabeth stifled a laugh. "Percy? He's the worst! He can't even beat an Aphrodite girl!"
"Is this true, Percy?" Artemis asked.
Percy bent his head and looked at the ground. "I'm not the best." Then he lifted his head and said, "Anyways, even if I was fast, I wouldn't be able to make it." He motioned toward the mountain with his shoulder, his eyes still on the ground.
Annabeth stopped smiling. "Percy, is there something you're not telling me?" When he didn't answer Annabeth gently put her hand under Percy's chin and lifted his head up. "Percy?"
Percy met her eyes and said, "Yeah. There is." There was no sound except for Atlas and Tyson's heavy breathing. He continued. "Remember that time in Tartarus when we had our eyes closed, and I told you to get on my back?"
Annabeth nodded slowly. She remembered, all right.
"And remember that I told you that the chasm across the river was over twenty feet?" She nodded her head again, more quickly this time.
"Yes, and you managed to jump it. With your eyes closed, and with me on your back."
"Yeah."
There was silence. And then: "How did you do it, Percy?"
He shrugged his shoulders. "I drew power from the river."
"But you weren't in it! How did you get power from it if you weren't in it?"
"I learned to control my powers better."
Annabeth looked at him questioningly, starting to understand what he was saying. "You mean that as long as there is a water source nearby, you have energy?"
He nodded, and Annabeth broke into a grin. Percy looked at her confusedly. "What's the matter?"
"That's it?" she said. "That's all that you didn't tell me?" He nodded slowly.
"Yeah. I'm sorry for not telling you earlier-"
"But this is great, Percy! I thought you were going to tell me something bad, like you were going to die in three days..."
Percy gulped and looked at Artemis. "Yeah. Does that answer your question?"
Artemis nodded his head toward the mountain, hands clasped behind his back. "So you can run there and back quickly?"
Percy studied the distance from the giant mountain of rubble to where they were standing now. It was a few miles. The Golden Gate towered over their heads, and a car honked at Atlas.
"I think so."
"Okay," Artemis said. "I want you, Ella, Tyson, and Atlas to get to the mountain as fast as you can. Tyson-" he turned to the cyclops, who was passing Ella a jar of peanut butter. "You grew in the Titan Battle. Can you do it again?"
Tyson looked up from his jar and said through a mouthful of peanut butter, "Daddy let me that time. I don't know if I can do it again."
"Do you think he would help you if you asked him?"
Tyson shifted uncomfortably. "I don't know. Maybe. Daddy might be too busy..."
Artemis turned to the water of the San Francisco Bay Area. "It wouldn't hurt to try, would it?"
Tyson and Ella had found them in the woods, getting ready to open another portal. They had asked if they could join, and Artemis had immediately said yes. He had been counting on them to be there, and he needed their help.
"Wait, wait, wait." Atlas interrupted. "Who says I'm doing anything?" He peered down at Artemis. "I never said I would help you."
"We fed you," Artemis said. "We gave you clothes that were extremely hard to find. We got you out from under the sky." Atlas looked down at his shirt, and Artemis continued. "And anyway, I don't think you came back to the mountain just to see your old home crumble. I think you came to help."
Atlas grumbled something unintelligible, and Tyson looked up with a smile on his face. He had the best hearing out of them all.
"I'm sorry, what was that?" Artemis said. "I thought I hear you say something."
"I'll help!" Atlas said, raising his voice. "My mom's a jerk, and I would hate to see her ruling the world."
"Very well, Atlas. You will accompany Tyson, Percy, and Ella on their journey."
Tyson hefted his club, as if ready to leave. "When do we go?"
"First, Tyson, ask Poseidon if he will make you...bigger. Ask him to make you as tall as the other cyclopes." He nodded to the water. "Go ahead."
Tyson glanced at Artemis, unsure of himself. Then he stepped up to the water and spoke a few words. At first, nothing happened. Then the ground shook, and small tidal waves lapped against the shore. Tyson started to grow; his large feet got even larger; his meaty hands got meatier; his broad back got broader. Ella squawked and flew off his shoulder.
Tyson grew until he towered over Atlas, and continued to grow until he was easily taller than the Big House was. His clothes and club grew with him, and he stared down at them from the sky. "Hey," he said, "why'd you all shrink?"
Ella squawked uncertainly from the ground, then decided that Tyson looked even better bigger, and flew up to his shoulder so she was perched near his ear. "Tyson!" she yelled. "We're not small, you're just big!"
Tyson looked around and compared himself to the Golden Gates. The top seemed closer than before, and he shuffled his feet, trying to get a better view of the mountain.
"I can see the Cyclopes and...Hundred-Handed Ones! Percy, there's Hundred-Handed ones!" Tyson clapped his hands, and the Golden Gates shook. "Briares will be happy!"
Ella squawked something in his ear, and his eyes lit up. He reached down in his pocket and withdrew a giant jar of Extra Crunchy Peanut Butter. He reached into his other pocket and found a giant spoon there. Ella gave a long squawk of excitement, and dived down to the jar, which he placed on the ground.
"Tyson!" Percy called up. "Are you okay?"
Tyson squatted down so he could see them better. "Yes, brother! I am okay!"
"Good!" Percy yelled. "Do you think you can make it to the mountain now?"
Tyson didn't even have to think about it. "Yes, I can make it brother. I can crush any mountain now, like the Hundred-Handed ones!"
Artemis raised his voice so he could be heard over Tyson's loud, slow breathing. "Tyson! Can you carry Annabeth with you? I'm sure she would want to come!" Annabeth said that yes indeed, she wanted to come, and Tyson lifted her to his shoulder.
"I will take the pretty girl to the mountain!"
Annabeth smiled, and Ella squawked indignantly.
"And the pretty harpy." Ella smiled too, and snuggled up close to Tyson's shoulder.
"Okay!" Artemis shouted to everyone in the group. Tyson tried to hold his breath, but that just made him dizzy. "Get ready to run!" Percy closed his eyes and concentrated, and Atlas rolled his shoulders. Tyson set his right leg in front of him and picked up the jar of peanut butter. "Go!"
Atlas, Percy, and Tyson all took off for the mountain. Percy was the fastest, running nearly sixty an hour. Atlas kept pace with Percy, and Tyson stayed closely behind, so as to not make them fall over when he took a giant step. His club swayed every time he moved, and he kept it still with his hand. In an instant, they were all out of sight, except Tyson, who's head bounced over the midnight traffic.
Artemis watched them leave, and Holly tugged on his sleeve. "Artemis, why couldn't I go? I have wings. I could make it just as fast as they can."
He kept his eyes trained on the mountain and watched a group Hekatonkheires jump off the mountain. The white lightning from the top of the mountain turned to an earthly green mixed with a sky blue, and then faded, though Artemis knew it was still there.
"Because, Holly, I need you with me."
"What for?"
"We need to get to Olympus. And quickly."
Holly loved the ride to Olympus. Artemis did not.
The portal had gone through a lot of trauma today, and he did not want to take the risk of going through it while it was still cooling down. So he strapped an anti-gravity belt to his waist and told Holly to hurry up with it, they didn't have all day.
She had laughed merrily, but Artemis didn't see what was so funny about their situation. She said nothing was funny about it and draped camfoil over him and attached a cord to his belt. She started up her wings and soared as high as she dared without killing the Mud Boy.
They traveled over the states quickly, and Artemis struggled to breathe. Holly was nearly at airplane height. Even though she had smaller lungs than him, she had been trained to go as high as possible. He wasn't used to it, though, and every few minutes he tugged on the cord to make Holly drop a little lower so he could get air, then she would soar back up for another few minutes and the process would repeat.
Artemis eventually got used to the high altitude and stopped tugging on the cord. He couldn't see much because of the camfoil, but he felt Holly's boot hit him in the face.
"Hey, Mud Boy. Where is this place at? You just said to head for Manhattan. Surely the gods don't live in New York?" She peered down at the blurry camouflaged object beneath her. "You still there, Arty?"
He cleared his throat and moved back the camfoil so it would look like a head was floating in midair. He couldn't see her because she was cloaking herself, so he put his sunglasses back on.
"Yes, I am still here, Holly. And yes, the gods are in New York."
Holly decided not to ask him any more questions about the gods anymore. He must have told her all about it on the jet to New York, but she had fallen asleep. She couldn't help asking something else, though.
"Artemis, what happened to your eyes?"
She figured Artemis wouldn't answer, but to her surprise, he said, "I got smarter."
Holly blinked, then burst out laughing. "There's no way you got smarter, Artemis. You can't get any smarter than you already are." She gave him a wide grin. She knew he could see her behind his sunglasses created from stolen fairy technology.
"Ok, you may be right. But I think I got somehow wiser, if not smarter."
Holly was silent for a while, trying to decide if he was being serious. The Mud Boy hardly ever joked. He was always serious.
Holly peered down at his face. She removed his sunglasses so she could see his eyes, and Artemis squinted back up at her. "I thought you lost your hazel one when you died?"
"Sometimes, Holly," he said, "it's not about the physical attributes of a person that change them. It's about the personalities of the people around them."
They arrived in front of the Empire State Building in record time, an hour later. Holly glided across the night traffic with ease and settled in front of the doors. She unstrapped Artemis and took the camfoil off. She closed her wings and turned to help him, but he was already standing, dusting off his suit, staring at city around them.
"So this is where the battle took place," he said, looking around. He pointed to a large crack in the ground a few meters away. "That's where Hades summoned..." he trailed off, studying the city. Then he jerked his head to the side and said, "Let's go. We haven't got time to waste."
Holly watched him in amusement, her arms crossed. "This is where Olympus is? In the Empire State Building?" Artemis nodded and motioned to the doors, craning his neck to see the top of the building.
"And that's where it turned blue..."
Holly slapped his rear end and pushed him to the door. "Let's go! We haven't got time to waste, remember?"
Artemis barely glanced at her, but nodded his head and held the door open for her. He continued to watch the city, then stepped inside himself.
The man at the desk looked up from his book. He noticed Artemis's suit and held up his finger. He took up a bookmark from beside a mug of coffee and closed the book.
"How may I help you?"
Artemis wanted to save as much gold as he could, including his drachmas and denarii. He had stacks of them, but he didn't want to waste it on this man.
"Don't you think it's a little late for us to be here, sir?"
The man studied them suspiciously, then said, "Yes, I do. What are you doing here, anyways?"
Artemis walked up to the desk and said, "I would like the key to the six-hundredth floor, please."
"There is no six-hundredth floor."
"You really, don't want to mess with me right now, sir."
The man watched him for a couple of seconds, then motioned toward Holly. "Who's the little girl?"
"Excuse me!" Holly said indignantly. "I am not a girl!" She jumped and managed to catch the edge of the desk with her fingertips. She pulled herself on top easily.
"I am a-"
"What she's trying to say is that she's a midget."
Holly punched him, and he fell.
"Give me the key. Now."
The man blinked and handed her the key. "Take any metal off when passing through the metal detector-"
"Yeah. Thanks." She trudged over to Artemis and kicked him in the leg. He managed to get up, though, seemingly without injuries. "Let's go, Mud Boy."
She walked to the metal detector and turned her Neutrino on stun. She shot the metal detectors, and static could be heard from them. She walked up to the elevator and pressed the button that would bring the car down.
Holly waited while Artemis dusted off his suit patiently. The elevator dinged, and they stepped inside. The doors closed, and Holly inserted the key. A button with the number 600 appeared, and she glanced at Artemis. He nodded his head, and she was just about to press it, when hair flew over the front of her face from a blast of wind from behind her.
Holly whipped around to face Artemis, but saw him smiling, his mismatched eyes twinkling in the dim light.
She heard a thump behind her, and she turned back around quickly to the panel on the wall.
Facing her was a smelly, greasy little man with a beard down to his chest. His fingernails were long and caked with mud, and his teeth protruded out of his mouth.
"You require my assistance, Mud Boy?" asked Mulch.
I'll fix all my mistakes as soon as I can. In the first few chapters I was really bad with "Artemis's" and "Artemis'." I'll fix those as quick as I can.
I'm also sorry for the stroy being so slow. I'll try and make it more fast-paced in the next chapter.
