Salvete. Here is the huge action scene! Enjoy! (well, okay, it's half of it)

Just to let you know, I spent two hours on this on Thanksgiving, and more on other Thanksgiving break days. I'm updating way early to apologize for the long break. I'm so sorry for not updating for that long, and I really hope I've kept most of my readers. I hope you like it. (crosses fingers)

Disclaimer: Do we have to go through this every week? I don't own this. You don't own this (unless Eoin Colfer or Rick Riordan is reading this. Doubtful.) Just build a bridge and get over it. Then blow it up like they did in Anna and the King. . .

Chapter 12

Atlantis

Trouble leaned out from behind the building and fired. He quickly ducked back, but not before a loud cry was heard. That was the first celestial bronze bullet to hit Oceanus. It was needless to say that Trouble was at least a little proud of that.

Then the heavy current streamed through his area, knocking him off of his feet and making him dizzy. It stopped so suddenly that Trouble didn't even have time to blink. He scrambled around to try to face the Titan, who had drawn him out into the middle of the road. He needn't have worried. Poseidon was wrestling with Oceanus. They were gripping each other's arms. Both were at full size, and this caused many buildings to crumble.

Trouble smirked. An open oppurtunity. He bent down on one knee and shot Oceanus right in the leg. Oceanus roared and stumbled, which provided Poseidon with the oppurtunity to punch Oceanus. The punch freed Poseidon from Oceanus's grip. Poseidon grabbed his trident and sent a stream of pure energy straight at Oceanus. The energy blasted into Oceanus, who went diagnally up to the surface, ironically knocking over the Andromeda. The Andromeda tipped over and countless monsters spilled into the ocean. Oceanus thrashed and gold dust littered the ocean. Only a small band of monsters remained.

Loud cheers interrupted through the ranks of LEP officers. This was the closest thing they'd had to good news all day. Trouble and Grub Kelp had arrived at least four hours ago, and still the hazardous fighting continued. Trouble had seen more of his fairies crushed then he could count. The LEP was going to heavily suffer from this fight, and everyone knew it.

Oceanus turned and began swimming back to Atlantis. His eyes searched the ocean floor, searching for the LEP officer that had shot him twice. LEP officers ducked back into hiding. One small victory had occurred, but the war was not yet over.

* * *

The Empire State Building

The elevator music was far too cheerful. Finding no security guard was bad enough, but to add to that, the keys to the elevator were sitting on the desk. Percy had glumly lifted the keys off the counter. The small group followed him to the elevator. Six hundred floors later, the bell dinged, and they cautiously stepped out. They were prepared for anything. Well, almost anything. . .

Normally, from the elevator, you can see multiple parties on Olympus. You could almost see the minor gods having fun. You could see the throne room, which looked like the Parthenon on the outside. Inside, twelve thrones occupied the space in a U-shape.

Today, however, the whole mountain was dark. The only lights that led you to believe there even was a mountain were coming from the throne room. Even Artemis and Holly—who had never seen Olympus before—could tell that there was something seriously wrong.

A voice interrupted their thoughts. It was an empousa. "Well, now, what do we have here?"

Everyone whirled to face the monster. Percy rolled his eyes.

"You have got to be kidding me," he muttered.

The empousa continued. "Two demigods, one of Artemis's Hunters, a fairy, and a human. Strange."

Artemis couldn't see the monster beneath the woman. Holly realized this and stepped in front of him, drawing her sword. "Stay back," she murmured to him in Gnommish.

Artemis was certainly confused, but he trusted Holly enough to know when to stay back.

Percy was immune to her fake beauty, having seen the monster beneath. He drew swords with Annabeth.

Thalia decided to try a more diplomatic approach. "You do realize what will happen if you try to harm one of Artemis's Hunters, right?"

The empousa--who appeared to be Kelli-- rolled her eyes. "Maybe, if she wasn't sitting in Julia's amulet right now."

That sentence was a goldmine of information for everyone, not just Artemis. She had just flat out admitted that the Titans had control of the most dangerous substance on earth—well, dangerous to the gods, anyway.

"Five against one, that's hardly fair. How about we. . .even the odds?" Kelli continued, advancing on the group. The group of five didn't hear the demigod sneak up behind them and grab Artemis around the neck. "Thank you, Ethan."

Holly whirled around to see her friend being choked by Ethan, who also held a knife to Artemis's throat. She angrily moved towards them. Ethan began to cut the knife into Artemis's throat. A tiny, ruby-red drop of blood rolled down his neck. "Stay back, fairy, you don't want your precious friend to die, would you?"

Holly froze in her spot and glowered at the demigod.

The empousa saw Holly's distraction and attacked. She lunged for Holly, who was not paying attention to Kelli. Percy reacted fast and blocked her way.

"You want to fight again, Perseus? I believe we have a score to settle," Kelli said, calmly.

Percy rolled his eyes and kept Riptide pointed at her. "Yes, I think we do." That being said, he lunged at her heart. Kelli jumped back, and Thalia joined in the fight.

Annabeth took advantage of the turmoil. She noticed Ethan was solely focused on Holly; he wouldn't notice if Annabeth suddenly disappeared. Annabeth put on the hat. She snuck around behind Ethan and used the hilt of her dagger to knock him out. The sudden release of pressure on Artemis's throat made him gasp for air. He stumbled forward as Ethan slumped to the ground. Holly quickly supported Artemis to prevent him from falling over.

Annabeth took off her hat. "You can thank me later."

Kelli saw her comrade fall and looked in his direction. Percy didn't need an invitation; he plunged Riptide into her heart. Golden dust filled the air and coated their clothes.

"Lovely," Thalia commented.

"Let's get out of here," Annabeth said, wasting no time with congratulations. "Who knows what else is hanging around?"

With a nod of agreement, the group of five started up Mt. Olympus. Artemis, whom still hadn't quite caught his breath, was walking in the back with Holly.

"Tell me," he wheezed. "What was that thing?"

Percy heard the question and answered for her. "It was an empousa. She's basically a vampire, but a whole lot uglier than you mortals make them out to be."

Artemis nodded, though he had only seen Kelli's true form in the brief second before she had turned to dust at Percy's sword.

Annabeth motioned for everyone to shut up and get out their swords. They were approaching the throne room. Only the gods knew what lay inside, though that might not be so true anymore. Holly's LEPrecon training kicked in, and she motioned for everyone to stay still. Shielding, she moved towards one of the pillars and leaned around to look in. She was baffled by what she saw. Two teenage girls were lounging on different thrones. One had dark black hair and olive skin. She was watching a girl next to her. The one next to her was extremely pale and had golden hair that was pulled back into a tight braid. Her eyes were closed, as if she had a migraine. On her neck was a huge amulet. It had a dark black stone in the middle that seemed to pulse with power. This was clearly Neco deus. Holly's eyes widened, and she returned to the group. She unshielded. One glance at her face clearly told the others what the needed to know.

Suddenly, a shout came from inside the throne room. Everyone peeked in from the shadows. It was the pale girl. She was sitting up, looking directly at them, and her eyes were wide. They were a strange neon green.

The girl next to her spoke. "What is it? Julia?"

Julia was shaking. "Intruders. There are intruders on Mt. Olympus."

"Chillax, Kelli and Ethan will handle it."

Julia shook her head and stood up. She stumbled as did, and the other girl caught her.

"Where are you going?"

Julia ignored the girl. "Come on in," she called. "I know you're out there! There's no use hiding!"

Her voice seemed different: almost ice-cold.

"Stop hiding, Perseus. You knew you would have to face me eventually," Julia said.

Olivia backed away slowly. This was not her close friend. It was Kronos.

Percy, still outside, stood up slowly. He walked through the pillars.

"Really, Kronos? Taking over a young girl's body? Face me yourself!" Percy yelled angrily.

Julia's body slumped to the ground and smoke poured out from it. A man's shape formed and flickered. It looked like Kronos's real form then vaguely resembled Luke. He wasn't completely there; he was just a really real ghost.

The inhuman combination slowly walked towards Percy, who raised Riptide.

Kronos/Luke smirked. "You really think you can beat me with that piece of junk metal?"

"I don't need to. This isn't you; it's just a shadow of you come to distract me while your army advances," Percy said.

Kronos/Luke opened his mouth to say something, but the suddenly he looked away. His mouth fell open and the shadow disappeared as if washed away by a huge wave. Something must have happened to the Andromeda.

Olivia was crouched over Julia. "What did you do to her?!"

Percy was shocked at her tone. This girl actually thought he had been the one to cause Julia to collapse.

"YOU!" an enraged scream yelled. Thalia stepped out from the shadows, with an arrow cocked.

Olivia recognized the girl and went pale. She suddenly regretted her poor fashion choice for this occasion.

Thalia approached at an alarming rate. "Get up," she hissed.

Olivia stood up with her arms raised.

"Thalia, what are you doing?" Percy asked.

Motioning with her bow, Thalia spoke. "This traitor deserted the Hunters about a month ago. This was after we discovered her selling secrets to Kronos. Artemis was supposed to turn her into a boar, but Olivia escaped before it was possible. Now I see she's returned to her master."

"Returned? I was never fully with Artemis, and I'm frankly surprised she thought I was. Ha! That foolish goddess! Protecting her 'friends!'" Olivia said. She rolled her eyes and did some accompanying motions to add effect to it.

A arrow ran through her side a moment later, and Olivia was down on her knees, clutching her side. The arrow had only scraped her side, not lodged in it. Thalia had a horrified look on her face. She shook her head in disbelief at what she had just done.

Holly stepped into the room and shot a blast from her Neutrino. Olivia slumped to the ground, unconscious. Holly professionally walked over and healed the scrape on Olivia's side. Afterwards, she picked the girl up and moved her to lean against one of the thrones.

Artemis, who had decided to come into the room along with Annabeth, raised an eyebrow. "Holly, where did you keep that?"

Holly tried to look innocent, but her smirk gave her away. "You don't want to know, Arty."

Julia choose this moment to wake up. Her eyes widened when she saw the room's occupants. She nimbly jumped to her feet and pulled a sword from her belt. "Get back."

"Julia, right?" Percy asked, taking a step towards her.

Julia felt threatened by this and lunged with her sword. Percy blocked with Riptide, but gently.

"I'm going to take that as a yes," Percy continued. Julia tried another move. Percy gently fought her off again. "Do you really want to fight?"

Julia ignored him and jabbed at his side.

Percy parried. "I'm going to take that as a yes, too. Are you really happy working with Kronos? You know what he just did. He took over your body to get to us. He won't hesitate to put you in danger."

A loud blast came from outside the throne room. Holly jogged over. One kid was quickly climbing the mountain. He looked furious and slightly wet. A small parade of wet monsters followed him. "It's Kronos!"

Annabeth, Thalia, and Artemis looked slightly panicked. They joined Holly at the pillar and ignored Percy's fight with Julia. Artemis quickly planned defensive maneuvers.

"Enough playing," Percy said, as he knocked the sword from Julia's hand. He pinned her against the base of Poseidon's throne, using the tip of Riptide. Julia looked into his eyes. "Look, I don't want to kill you. I really don't. You've been lied to and tricked, Julia. Kronos doesn't care squat about his minions. He will dump you the first chance he gets."

Julia shook her head. "No. He needs me. He needs the amulet."

"And what do you think he's going to do with you once he gets it? Set all the gods free? Doubtful. Listen to me. You have a choice: set the gods free the only way you know how or work for Kronos for the rest of your life. Do you really want that? Do you want to see the world destroyed? What about your parents and mortal friends? Would you risk their lives for your own safety?"

Julia was silent for too long. Kronos was standing at the door. His minions were sweeping in to kill them, but Percy couldn't concentrate on that now. His worry was that Julia wouldn't choose in the time it would take Kronos to cross the room and knock him away. He heard clashing swords and wished he could help his friends. Time was slowing down, due to Kronos's powers. The air felt like water and not in a good way.

Julia never answered. She reached up to pull the amulet off. Percy watched suspiciously just in case she threw it. Kronos was now running across the room, but he was too late. Julia had let the chain slip through her fingers.

The shattering Neco Deus echoed through the room with Kronos's protestant shout. Another quieter sound came through the noise: it was the sound of Annabeth's opponent plunging his sword into her. Golden smoke filled the room as the pissed-off Olympians were slowly released.

End Notes: (hides behind Muse) Don't kill me! Please don't kill me! Just yell at me over a review and tell me how much you want an update. : ) Don't worry, I have the next chapter written, so no delays there. It'll be up soon.

Valete,

Holly Marie Fowl & Athena