A Game of Fate
Chapter Twenty-Seven
They caused a massive disturbance once they arrived.
Percy led the chaos, charging into the lobby, seizing the intercom, and screamed, "To arms! To arms! We are attacking the mothertrucking Titans right now! So get your sorry asses out of bed and get to the front lawn in ten minutes! I repeat, TEN MINUTES!"
Leo ran in to the lobby, sprinting in circles, and once Percy was done with the intercom, Leo grabbed it, "WHERE'S THE LAB? I WANT MY LAB!"
"Dude, you don't need to yell," Percy said mildly. "Upstairs, E wing, take a right turn."
"Thanks."
Jason had his face in his hands the whole time.
Either way, Percy and Jason headed back to their rooms, strapping on their gear and weapons, and hurrying down. Despite only taking three minutes tops, there were already a few people waiting downstairs for them, a few maids passing out croissants and coffee.
"Was that necessary?" Hazel said, her face flushed.
"That was stepping slightly over the line," Frank said, his chin dotted with crumbs.
Reyna, Nico, and a few sleepy Hunters mumbled in agreement.
Percy ignored them, peering over their heads, and felt himself grinning when he saw a familiar blond in the back.
"Hey, Annabeth!" Percy said, hurrying over.
"Hey, Percy." Annabeth said tiredly. Her eyes were rimmed with red, as if she had been crying, but it could have been a side-effect of being dragged out of bed at – Percy checked his watch quickly – five thirty-seven in the morning. She had her hands wrapped tightly around a mug of steaming black coffee, but it was clearly untouched.
"Sorry for dragging you out of bed," Percy said, tucking his hands in his pockets. "But we kind of need to get going."
"At five in the morning?" Thalia said skeptically.
Percy held out his arms. "I can't wait!"
Nico frowned, "What is that on your…"
"Come on!" Percy called, cutting Nico off, shoving his hands back into his pockets, and hoping that Nico wouldn't tell anyone else about the bomb. "Everyone, gather around!"
By now, a rather large group of Olympus agents had gathered, sleepy, but slowly waking up thanks to the help of coffee and breakfast pastries.
Percy hopped onto a chair. "All right guys. I'm really sorry for forcing y'all to wake up this early, but it's kind of important. Because right now, we are going to attack the Titans headquarters!"
"Do you have a plan?" Reyna said flatly.
"Yes!" Percy said, a little too eagerly. His mind raced as he tried to formulate a plan in two seconds in order to avoid suspicion. "Well… first, we'll send our army up to the Titans headquarters, right? We'll split our army into two, one to attack the left, the other on the right, and at the same time, we'll send uh…"
"Leo has these things called the Death Carts," Jason hopped onto a chair beside Percy. "They're these cute little carts, the size of this chair, but really heavy, heavy enough to spring whatever traps there are. We'll send the Death Carts ahead first, to activate all the traps, and then we'll attack."
"Yes," Percy said a silent thank you to Jason. "While we're all fighting the armies, a team will head inside to kill the Titans. Jason and I will be leading the charge. Annabeth, Piper, Reyna, Frank, Hazel, Thalia, Nico… since we're all best buds, mind if you accompany us into the hole of doom and face a high chance of getting slaughtered?"
"Why not?" Frank chuckled.
"And once we kill the Titans, we'll set off some flares. Once you see fireworks blowing up the sky, the war's over! Life is peaceful once more…"
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?"
Percy felt his smile breaking. Zeus was pushing through the crowd, the Twelve Olympians behind him, and he was not happy.
"YOU'RE LEADING A CHARGE?" Zeus yelled. "WITHOUT MY CONSENT?"
"Yes?" Percy squeaked. All that bravado seemed to have vanished.
"HOW DARE YOU - "
"Shut up," Jason said.
Zeus shut up.
Jason looked at Zeus coldly. All the fear and self-doubt seemed to have vanished from his face as he stared Zeus down. "We're going to attack, whether you like it or not."
"I'm the Head of Olympus…" Zeus spluttered.
"And what have you done so far?" Jason spat. "Sit back, criticize, and drink your coffee? Or maybe spending time with your new girlfriend?"
Zeus's face was crimson.
"We're going to attack the Titans and finish the war. You can come along if you want, but if you trip over your own feet and end up blowing yourself up, don't come crying to me and pointing fingers at everyone but yourself." Jason finished.
The entire assembly was deathly quiet. For a ridiculous amount of time. Zeus was frozen with shock. After a meek moment, people began continuing what they were doing quietly – finishing off their food or ducking into rooms to change.
The silence was broken by Artemis, who clapped her hands.
"I'm with the boy," she said. She already had her bow ready. "What are you all waiting for? They've helped us immensely so far. It's shame on us not to give up on them."
Everyone burst into cheers, waving their weapons, faces alight with determination and glee.
It was going to be awesome.
It took them two hours to get to the Titans Headquarters. Everyone hurried to finish their preparations, and stormed through the city streets, charging towards the Headquarters. The Death Carts were wheeled there, along with other siege weapons. Leo was a magician – updating at least a thousand weapons and creating a thousand more new weapons, but as Percy peeped into the lab to ask about his bomb bracelet, Leo could only shake his head sadly.
Either way, they arrived, refreshed and filled with excitement. Along the way there, they had created battle plans, and when it was time, everything went down in flames of glory.
Olympus charged – sprinting the last hundred meters, ramming right into the headquarters. The Death Carts were sent ahead first, triggering a chain of fiery explosions across the front lawn. The agents ran after them, careful to watch their step, but Annabeth did feel his heart wrench when he saw a young man scream as he fell into a pit, followed by the awful sound of bones crunching.
At the same time, Titan agents poured from the Headquarters, dressed in armor as black as night, armed to the teeth, and hatred clearly painted across their faces. They ran forward, the two armies clashing like thunder, weapons screaming, sparks flying, and blood was definitely spilt.
Then, the Olympians came.
Zeus, as usual, was the first – his Master Bolt throwing sparks of brilliant electricity across the field, knocking out Titans ten at a time. Poseidon was next, stabbing with his Trident. Hades followed, every strike filled with darkness and danger. Artemis and Apollo were at the sides, picking off the more heavily armored adversaries with their arrows, and Hephaestus unleashed a flurry of fiery blows with a surprisingly high-tech cannon. The Titans were forced back, stunned, regrouping as quickly as they could.
"Percy!" Annabeth shouted. "Hurry!"
"Right!" Percy said, snapping out of his daze. The rest of the assault group followed after them.
Annabeth, Piper, and Reyna led the way, slipping to the side and effortlessly knocking aside any opposition in their way until they reached a little window near the back, covered in fresh iron bars. Hazel sprang forward, and almost lazily threw a small vial of Leo's acid over the metal, and instantly, the smooth surface began bubbling and sizzling. In moments, the bars were gone, the window smashed, and everyone tumbled in.
"Huh," Annabeth said. "Wait… the last time… was it a storage room?"
Reyna and Piper nodded solemnly. The last time they came here to rescue Artemis, it had been a storage room filled with boxes and dusty furniture. Now, it was a chamber, with glassy marble floors and a higher ceiling. Cold, white light streamed from the other windows, and despite the burn of exercise and adrenaline, Annabeth suddenly felt cold. A thick velvet curtain were several meters in front of them, stretching across the entire room.
Right on cue, the curtain fell, pooling on the floor like a puddle of velvety blood. Standing there in a straight line, faces cold, were the Twelve Titans.
