Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Chapter 25: Road Warriors

Annabeth's POV

I warched as Percy ran into battle with his Atlantean battle armor on. He looked like a knight from medieval times about to fight a dragon. The first Lastrygonian threw a rock, but Percy easily deflected it with his shield. Percy moved so quickly that none of the three monsters could catch him. I waited until I saw my chance and I attacked one of the monsters as soon as it bent over to try and hit Percy. I landed on its back and stabbed my knife between its shoulder blades. I grabbed hard on the hilt of the knife and slid down the monster's back cutting a huge gash as I moved. When I reached the ground I looked up to see the monster disappear in a shower of gold. One of the monster ran towards the one I just dispatched it moved so fast that I couldn't get out of the way it was going to run into me at full force, I closed my eyes and waited for the impact. After a second or two with my eyes closed I opened and I couldn't see the monster, instead laying on the ground covered in golden monster dust was Percy's trident. Then I realized what happened Percy must have thrown his trident and took out the monster before it hit me. I looked over and saw Percy fighting the last monster with Riptide in his hand. How did he know it was going to hit me? That's all I thought about, then I heard a loud noise and then I realized the last monster had pulled a tree out of the ground, it was going to hit Percy. I saw the tree swing at Percy and I yelled his name, but the tree smashed where he had stood and my heart literally jumped out of my chest. Then I saw something shine on the back of the monster, it was Percy in his battle armor. How did he get up there? The monster must have realized by now that he had missed and was now trying to grab Percy. I saw Percy jump up from the monsters back with Riptide raised and the next thing I saw was the head of the monster rolling across the highway as it's body dissolved into golden dust. Percy slowly walked over to me, how did he know where I was my hat was still on? I took off my cap and looked back toward Percy, his armor was now gone and Riptide was back in his pocket. As he approached me he smiled broadly and I couldn't help but smile in return.

"Good work wise girl." Percy said happily.

"You too, thanks for saving me." I said, I might be a daughter of Athena, but I can thank someone from time to time. "How did you know where I was?" I asked. Percy looked at me thoughtfully and I could see him struggle with the answer.

"Actually I have know idea, I just knew." Percy said contemplatively. Part of his new abilities I guess. Percy walked over and grabbed his trident from the ground and I watch as it dissolved back into his gauntlet and then the gauntlet morphed back into the bronze wristband.

We walked back over to the remains of the car Percy was barely able to open the trunk to pull out our belongings.

"What do we do now?" I asked. Percy smiled and pulled out a black I-Phone, how did he get that?

"When did you get a cell phone?" I asked.

"It was Theseus's idea, he said that Hephaestus and Hermes developed an APP for the I-Phone that scrambles the signal so monsters can't track us, cool huh?" Percy said.

"Sure is, when do I get one?" I asked. Percy smiled and handed me the phone.

"This is a prototype, but you can have it if you want." Percy said. He was giving me this one of a kind phone.

"Why are you giving it to me, Theseus gave it to you?" I asked.

"Hey, I don't really need one, besides you always liked having a cell phone, I'd feel better if you had it anyway." Percy said sincerely. Awe, he was worried about me, he's such a seaweed brain still.

"So who should I call?" I asked. I saw Percy think for a moment and then I could see a thought cross his face.

"I know, let me see the phone for a moment." Percy said. I gave him the phone and he dialed a number. "Yes my name is Percy Jackson and I'm insured by your company we just had an unfortunate accident and our car is totaled. We need a rental car so we can finish our travels. So you can find us with the GPS in the car? Good, we'll be waiting by the vehicle, thank you." Percy turned off the phone and handed it back to me.

"You called your insurance company?" I said. Percy nodded then smiled.

"Wait for it." Percy said smugly. A bright yellow light appeared in front of us and when the light dissolved a brand new Toyota Highlander Hybrid stood before us. The driver side door opened and a smiling Hermes came out.

"I'm so glad to see that both of you are alright. Percy your car is a wreck, what happened?" Hermes said. He was dressed as usual with a jogging suit and his winged shoes.

Percy just looked at him and smiled, let's just say that sometimes monsters hit their targets. I saw Hermes grimace, so they totaled your vehicle, good thing that you have Hermes Auto Insurance.

I smiled at that. "Hermes you have a car insurance company?" I asked.

Hermes smiled and said, "Yes, my dear actually Percy is one of my first customers, Theseus was kind enough to set Percy up with an insurance policy."

"Cousin, I must say that your company is incredibly prompt and the service is great." Percy said.

Hermes grinned at the compliment. "Thanks, Perce you don't know how much that means to me. Here are your keys to the Highlander, enjoy and don't worry we'll get you a replacement car when you get home." Hermes said, as he disappeared in a golden light.

Percy and I loaded our bags in the back and drove off toward Las Vegas.

"Percy, this time maybe you should do a better job of keeping your eyes on the road." I said jokingly.

"Hey, I can't help it if you're very distracting." Percy said. I just smiled back at him I guess I can still effect his emotions. That's good to know.

"One question, I like your Atlantean battle armor, but what happened to the armor that Theseus gave you? I know I still have mine back at camp." I asked.

"Well, actually the armor Theseus gave us was ceremonial, its not really meant for battle. So I still have it, but I would only wear it for special occasions not when I'm about to fight a charging Lastrygonian." Percy said.

"I used mine in the last Capture the Flag." I said. Percy just looked at me in shock.

"You did? Did Theseus see you?" Percy asked

"I don't know." I said worriedly. Would that make Theseus mad if he saw me wearing the ceremonial armor for Capture the Flag?

"Good, I'll have to talk to dad and Tyson about getting you some real battle armor." Percy said confidently.

"OK, thank you." I said. That's all I could think of.

"Don't worry Wise Girl no problem unless the armor was damaged." Percy said. I forgot, I did get hit with a sword and there was a gash in the armor. I just assumed it could be fixed easily.

"Percy, it was damaged a little." I said. Percy looked at me a little concerned and then I felt like someone just punched me in the stomach. "What's wrong?"

"That armor is very hard to fix without adding to the damage. I'll talk to Tyson, I'm sure we'll figure something out." Percy said reassuringly. I hope he's right I wouldn't want Theseus to be disappointed.

I tried to put aside any worries about the armor and concentrate on our current mission. We kept driving to the west and hopefully we would be in Las Vegas in another day and a half. I wonder how Thalia and the Stolls are getting along. I hope Thalia hasn't killed them yet.

I know this was a short chapter, but these chapters will be short as we go back and forth between the two missions, enjoy. I had a few people ask about Percy's new armor versus the one he got at the end of Darkness Approaches, I hope this chapter helped.