Chapter 29: One Last Time

Percy really wished Annabeth were here. She'd know what was happening.

Instead, his brain was short-circuiting as it tried to process what just happened. His eyes were wide as he took in the sight of Riptide stabbed deep into a stomach. Only…

… it wasn't his stomach.

It was Atlas'.

The resulting bellow of pain from the Titan deafened Percy, but he was frozen in place. He couldn't understand why Koios had just impaled one of his own.

Koios' laugh is what finally drew him out of his shock. His gaze turned to the icy giant with disbelief written all over his face. The Titan smirked victoriously, and turned to Percy with a smug grin.

Percy only uttered a single word. "Why?"

"I never liked Atlas," Koios casually stated. "Too much brawn, not enough brain. I should have been the leader of the Titan forces, not him. But… there is another reason."

An ominous rumble of thunder drew Percy's eyes back to Atlas. Golden ichor was pouring out of him, and he was starting to crumple under the weight of the sky. Percy's eyes widened as he understood.

"I needed a better prison for a certain demigod," Koios crowed triumphantly as he saw the horror sink in.

Percy immediately began thrashing, pulling away from Atlas, struggling to return to his feet. No, no, I can't, not again! No, no… he thought, furiously yanking at his chains. He wouldn't go back under there, he wouldn't!

Koios was watching his struggles with an amused expression on his face, even as his guards nearly lost their grips on Percy's shoulders. He casually walked behind Percy, before fiercely kicking him in the back, sending him straight to the ground. Percy wheezed as Koios planted his foot on his back, pressing down just hard enough to make breathing difficult but not impossible. He leaned over and whispered in the demigod's ear, "Take the weight of the sky, son of the sea. It's either that or you, me, this army, this mountain, and the entire Bay Area are flattened, including the little Roman camp."

Percy froze, eyes going wide. Hazel, Frank, Reyna, Steve, Tony, Natasha, Bruce, Clint, everyone…

…

Annabeth.

Koios had him. They both knew it. There was no way he could allow that to happen. Percy stilled, going limp. Koios removed his boot and he was hauled to his feet. Percy glared at the icy Titan standing in front of him, before dropping his head. He hesitated for only a second more before nodding.

The crowd behind them, which had been strangely quiet, erupted into cheers. Koios stepped to the side, gesturing Percy forward mockingly. The hands that had pulled Percy to his feet now shoved him forward, nearly sending him back to his knees. As he stumbled, he felt another hand on his arm, a brief, warm, comforting squeeze. He didn't turn his head. There wasn't anyone to see. But he appreciated the comfort anyways.

Percy straightened and approached the dying Atlas before pausing and turning to Atlas, extending his cuffed wrists.

"Free my hands." As he said the words, Percy was eerily reminded of Artemis, who had said the exact same words as she offered herself up in the same way to save Annabeth. He gave a wry grin internally at the flash of déjà vu. The Fates really did have a sense of humor.

Koios smirked, almost as if he could sense his thoughts, and brought Riptide up, cutting his chains expertly.

Percy rushed to Atlas as fast as his ankle chains would allow, and stretched his hands up to touch the swirling clouds. In the brief moment that they held the sky together, Percy made eye contact with Atlas, and saw Zoe and Bob looking back. Then Atlas was gone, fading into dust, and Percy, once again, held the weight of the sky.

Alone.

PNPNPNPNPNPNPNP

Natasha sprinted away from the cheering mob of monsters. Her body was on auto-pilot, moving as fast as possible back to the rest of her team. Meanwhile, her mind was in shock. She didn't understand everything that had just happened, but she did understand that the plan had just gone horribly wrong.

Percy being captured had been a risk, but he'd insisted that it was the best way to get Koios to lower his guard. Natasha went with him to help out from the shadows and do some reconnaissance. Then she would return to the team, lead them in, free Percy from the cells he and Annabeth had described, and ambush the monsters from behind as quickly and quietly as possible.

She tightened Annabeth's invisibility cap on her head and continued running. The hat had definitely made her job easy, allowing her to walk just behind Percy and his escort and block some of the projectiles thrown at him. Granted, she couldn't do much without drawing suspicion, but she'd blocked a few nasty-looking rocks that could've spelled disaster for her new teammate. Annabeth had insisted she keep it as long as she promised to take care of it and Percy. Natasha hadn't thought she'd need it, but she'd never been so grateful for a woman's stubbornness, even if said woman had punched her a couple weeks ago.

As Natasha plunged into the mist that surrounded the peak, she thought of the expression she'd seen on Percy's face as Koios had revealed his new prison. She'd never seen such a clear show of fear and horror on the teen's face. He'd told them about his first battle on the top of this mountain, but he'd glanced over the part where he'd had to hold up the sky, making it seem like it was really no big deal. But that expression told her otherwise. After seeing it, she couldn't resist trying to offer some small amount of comfort as he'd walked forward. To her, it had been worth the risk. Natasha had heard Koios' ultimatum and the acceptance that crossed Percy's face. After the amount of fear she'd just seen, she understood what this would do to Percy.

She'd run before she could do more than glance Percy's expression as he took the weight from the dying Atlas, but it had been enough. His face had nearly radiated pain, and his mouth had hung open in a silent scream. And if he was in that amount of pain after only a moment of holding the weight of the sky, Natasha wasn't going to waste any more time fetching the boys. They needed to get him out of there as soon as possible.

Natasha burst through the mist layer and sprinted to the rendezvous, the sudden wind nearly knocking her over. She called out to them out to them as she got close. Steve spun when he heard her voice and caught her as she barreled into him. She quickly straightened and stepped away as Steve recovered from her unexpected arrival.

"Nat! What's wrong?" Bruce asked, confused at her rapid return.

"We've got to go!" she exclaimed, allowing worry to show on her face to express the severity of Percy's situation. "Percy needs us now!"

She spun around and started walking quickly towards the peak, the rest of the team following immediately. She knew it wasn't often that she showed her emotions, but she was worried. Percy's situation was desperate, she knew it.

"Nat, wait!" Steve called up to her. "What happened?"

She paused briefly to allow them to hear her over the raging wind. "Something went wrong. Koios didn't put Percy in a cell, he imprisoned him back under the sky."

"What's so bad about that?" Tony questioned, though he had the good sense to not be sarcastic. At this point she probably would have punched him.

"He didn't tell us everything. I didn't stay long after he took it but…" Nat took a deep breath, "…you didn't see his face. He was terrified and the pain I could see it causing him…"

She didn't continue after glancing at their faces. She could see that her point had been made. Steve just nodded.

"Let's go."

NSNSNSNSNSNSNSN

Steve was scared.

Not much scared him at this point. A lot surprised him, but not much scared him.

But he'd never, ever seen Natasha so worried. The woman always concealed her emotions beneath a vibranium wall. The only person she showed emotion around was Clint. But she'd just come running into him and the wall had come down enough to let them see the worry and concern underneath. He didn't know if she'd done it consciously, but either way, it scared him.

Nat turned and continued walking briskly towards the cloud wall. Steve followed, thinking furiously. This threw off their plans in a major way. Percy and Annabeth had described the layout of Mt. Othrys in detail, so he knew that Percy would be at the edge of the cliff surrounded by open space. In addition, Tartarus was supposed to emerge from just a few feet in front of that.

"Nat, what did it look like up there?" he asked. Regardless of whether Percy was in trouble, he needed to know everything. They couldn't just run in blind.

"It's bad. There's more than five hundred up there, probably more by now," Nat replied, evenly, wall now firmly back in place, "and all of them are just waiting for Tartarus to come through, watching that Tear thing."

"All of them?" Bruce asked, surprise clear in his voice.

Natasha nodded. "That's the only good thing. No guards, everyone's focused on what's about to happen."

Steve nodded, processing the information. He sighed, knowing the other three wouldn't like his decision. "Alright, we've got to do this slow. Tony, fly around the peak as quietly as you can, staying in the cloud layer. Natasha and I will go through first, and get behind them. We'll start taking them out one-by-one, for as long as we can. As soon as we're spotted, Tony hits hard from above while Bruce hits hard below. I'll make my way to Percy, free him, and then we'll rejoin the fight." He raised his hand to cut off Tony's protests, before shooting him a sympathetic look. "I know, Tony. But if we want to have any chance of winning this fight, this is how it has to be." At this point, they'd reached the barrier separating them from their newest and youngest teammate, as well as hundreds of monsters.

Tony scowled. "That doesn't mean I have to like it."

Bruce patted the mechanic's shoulder sympathetically before turning back to Steve, a knowing look on his face. "Steve, Percy said that there always has to be someone holding the sky."

Steve winced. "I know. I'll figure it out." He had to. There was no way he'd let a kid suffer.

Tony nodded, hesitating slightly before stepping forward to clap his hand on Steve's shoulder. It was heavy in more than one way. The worry in the billionaire's eyes touched Steve before the faceplate shut, replacing them with the strangely comforting blue-white glow of the suit's eyes. "Be careful, Capsicle."

Steve grinned slightly. What used to be a mocking nickname had turned into a friendly tease and today, something more. Steve knew that Tony had lost a lot in his life, and he was going to do his best to not be added to the list.

He looked at Nat and Bruce, thought about Clint and Bruce, and now Percy as well. He may have come out of the ice alone, but he wasn't anymore.

Tony removed his hand before silently taking flight, heading left to his position. Steve locked eyes with Bruce, nodding once before heading into the mist, Nat right beside him, just as he knew she'd be.

As they were about to exit it, he felt a small piece of fabric pushed into his hands. A quick examination with his fingers told him it was a hat. Squinting through the fog, he could just make out the white Yankees symbol.

He shot a pleading look at Nat, though it was wasted in the fog, and gave a very unsoldier-like whine in her direction. "Naaat…"

"We both know that I'm better at stealth than you are. And you'll need it if you want to get to Percy when the real battle begins. As soon as we reach the trailhead, you are putting that hat on, understand?" Nat had taken on her no-nonsense tone, and he knew that there was no way he was getting gout of this.

"Fine," he grumbled. "But that doesn't mean I have to like it."

"Watch it Steve," her tone was teasing now. "You're starting to sound like a certain genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist."

Steve groaned as they emerged from the fog and began the final climb.

However, the mood immediately died when they glanced over the top ridge. Steve's mouth went dry as he spied the number of monsters awaiting them. He could just see Percy's hunched form at the front of the crowd, a giant pale figure, Koios he assumed, just in front of him. The crowd was cheering loudly.

"They're still jeering at him," Steve heard Nat hiss, disgust plain in her voice. Listening a little closer, Steve could now make out some of the calls being directed at the young demigod.

"Weakling!"

"Coward!"

"Demigod scum!"

"You killed me twice!"

Though one eyebrow raised slightly at that, his face was, for the most part, fixed in a distasteful expression. They were definitely monsters, in multiple meanings of the word.

He raised the Yankees (seriously it had to be the Yankees?!) hatabove his head and hesitantly lowered it onto his head. He nearly fell over thanks into the sudden disorientation. He couldn't see his hand as he lowered it, his legs when he looked down, or even his nose if he crossed his eyes slightly.

Natasha gave an amused look in his direction when she heard a small stumble. "Come on, Rogers, it's not that hard."

Steve sent another useless glare in her direction before turning his focus back to the situation in front of them.

"Hey Cap," Tony's voice sounded over the comms, "are you currently praying that Brooklyn will forgive you for your betrayal? "

Steve sighed. "Now's not the time Stark. Are you in position?"

"Ready and waiting."

"Alright then. Nat will sneak around the mob and attack from the far side while I do the same thing from this side. Tony, when you come in, you cover her. Bruce… try to get the Other Guy to cooperate similarly to how he did at New York. Try to make sure he knows friend from foe. Sound good?"

"Yeah. Quick question:" Bruce's voice sounded across next, "what's the signal for Tony and me to attack?"

Before Steve could answer, Natasha cut in. "If you hear a scream," she started, totally deadpan, "attack."

That's… probably the best way to do it, Steve thought. If they wait for a spoken signal it could be too late. "Just keep your eyes and ears open you two. This isn't going to be easy, but neither was New York. And this time, the stakes are just as high. If these monsters and Tartarus get off this peak…" The solemn silence stretched for a moment. Steve sighed. "Let's go Avengers. For Connor, Mrs. O'Leary and every kid who's lost their life because of these monsters. Be ready."

Steve cleared the last few feet to the flat peek and straightened. It was hard to resist the temptation to duck and find cover, but a single glance down reminded him he didn't need to. He moved forward as quickly and quietly as possible. He may be invisible, but he wasn't automatically incapable of making noise.

A glance to his left showed Nat flitting from shadow to shadow, scarce though they were, proving her right when she said she didn't need the invisibility cap. The sun was approaching noon, and because they were in the eye of the storm, the sun was beating down directly on them. It wasn't the greatest conditions for sneaking around, and Steve couldn't help but be grateful that Nat had insisted he take the hat. He would have easily been spotted by now if it wasn't for the woman's foresight.

He'd never hated her being right so much than he did now.

Steve took his position at the southwestern corner of the crowd. Bruce/Hulk would come in from the west, Tony from the east, and Nat from southeast. The ruins and currently empty camp were on the southern corner of the peak, and the surprisingly large space definitely gave the monster army the advantage. The more Steve and Natasha could take out now, the better.

Once his shield was firmly strapped onto his arm, Steve drew his dagger. It definitely wasn't his favorite fighting method, but stealth and speed was definitely more important right now.

Natasha's voice crackled softly over the comm. "Steve, everyone's in position. Do we begin?"

Taking a deep breath and checking the Yankees cap to make sure it was still firmly on his head, Steve pressed the button on his comm to allow for constant communication. He needed to be able to hear everything that was going on with his team and vice versa.

"Now," he said firmly, as he plunged his dagger into a cyclops' back. The monster was on the very edge of the crowd, with only one other next to him. The stabbed cyclops disintegrated into sand immediately, and by the time his buddy had noticed, he was already following him to Tartarus.

The next to fall was a hellhound howling to the sky. It quickly dissolved into a pile of shadow. Steve was nearly caught when another nearby hound seemed to hear him approach before he managed to slip his knife in its ribs.

Often, as Steve got close enough to strike, he would see the monsters wrinkling their noses as if they were just barely getting a whiff of him. However, his scent was never strong enough to alert them before they were already dead. Steve was starting to understand why Chiron thought they would be so effective against monsters. According to Percy, the ability to smell demigods coming was a big factor in a monster's hunt, but if they couldn't smell, or see in Steve's case, their attacker, it left them more open for attack. Especially so when all of their attention is taken watching one of their greatest enemies suffer.

Steve's blood boiled as he thought of Percy, alone and in pain. As he caught a falling spear to prevent the noise of it falling to the rocks, he remembered the teen's eyes. The deep green that could be light and playful at times, but more often dark and stormy, full of pain. Steve nearly growled in anger, but stopped himself just in time. No child should have been forced to go through what Percy had, regardless of their parentage. No person should suffer so much loss and pain before they were old enough to vote.

The next dracaena he killed received her death stroke straight across the throat.

Hold on, Percy, he urged the demigod silently. We're coming!

Steve and Natasha were good, but they weren't perfect. Sooner or later, Steve knew they would be discovered.

He'd just hoped it wouldn't be so soon.

A Cyclops, not fifteen feet away from where Steve was killing another telekhine, turned its head to the right, a confused expression on its face, and tapped its ear. Steve cursed his stupidity. Previously there had been at least five rows of monsters behind that one, causing all sorts of noise, shouting, howling, and stomping, where now there was silence and piles of golden dust. As the cyclops turned and caught sight of the empty space, its eye widened, almost comically, and its arm reached out to alert its fellow.

In desperation, Steve threw his dagger at the monster's chest, but by the time it arrived, it was too late. The original cyclops fell dead, but it managed to grab its neighbor's arm first, and that Cyclopes was able to scream as he saw the three feet wide bronze razor-sharp edge hurtling towards him.

Almost in unison, the last few lines of the mob turned to face the source of the scream in time to see the rebounding shield seemingly disappear in the middle of an empty space previously filled with their fellows.

Steve grimaced as he returned his shield to his arm. The alarm would spread quickly now. "The jig is up! Tony move in. Bruce, hold off, I've got a better idea. Wait for my signal."

"On my way Capsicle!"

"You got it, Steve."

"Nat, how'd you do?"

"For the situation? Pretty well. I managed to eliminate at least thirty. Why's Bruce waiting?"

"They can't see me, so they'll focus on you and the shiny bronze suit hitting them from the east. If we wait we can have Hulk hit them hard again from the west just as they've turned their backs," Steve explained as he drove his shield into a bewildered hellhound. "That should divide their forces and give me a path right up the middle, in between."

"Why wasn't this the original plan?" Tony's voice came through the comms just as the sound of his repulsors joined the shouts of confusion, turning the majority into screams of fear. Steve glance up to see the Iron Man suit firing heavily from just out of spear range. A large explosion soon followed.

"Now's not the time Tony!" Steve fought invisibly for a few more minutes as the majority of the army turned to face the two heroes. His super-soldier hearing could pick out the sound of Natasha's guns going off frequently, and Tony did not appear to be running out of explosives any time soon. As soon as the last monster was focused on the fight on the eastern side, Steve yelled, "Bruce now!"

Not two seconds later a huge roar echoed across the peak of Mt. Tamalpais. The Hulk sprang out of the mist and landed in the middle of the enemy backline, immediately decimating it. Steve actually winced slightly as he witnessed a cyclops look up with pure fear in its expression before it was thrown off of the mountain.

Though they couldn't do much to stop the Hulk's rampage, at least half of the army turned to confront him, just as Steve had predicted. The one's in the middle were turning back and forth in confusion, as if they weren't sure where to attack.

Steve made the decision for them.

He charged into the center of the mob, swinging a now-ownerless sword in wide swaths, cutting down monsters left, right, and center. His long arms combined with the sword's extra reach turned Steve into an invisible killing machine. The monster's confusion only made it easier.

In a matter of minutes, Steve had cut through the horde and emerged on the north side. Koios was standing not twenty feet in front of him, just next to the Rift to Tartarus, observing the battle with a curious gaze. And behind him…

… oh God.

Percy looked horrible.

The demigod was drenched in sweat, plastering his hair flat against his head and face. It dripped of his chin along with tears Steve could see flowing from the teen's eyes. He was hunched over on one knee, his hands and back supporting the spinning clouds above him as they came to a point. Though the scream was not audible, Steve could see it in the frozen expression on his young face, and grimaced to see pain so excruciating that he couldn't even scream.

Percy's entire body was trembling with pain and exhaustion, and Steve couldn't let it continue. He ran silently towards the boy, not sure shat he intended to do, before a white blur cleaved the air in front of him. He skidded to a stop in time to see his reflection on the bronze blade of a sword. Thanks to his abrupt stop, the invisibility cap had come loose and was now laying at Percy's feet. Steve allowed his eyes to follow the blade up to it's familiar hilt, and then to the eyes of its wielder. Icy-white met blue, and both were cold with hate for the other.

"That doesn't belong to you," Steve all but growled, glaring at the Titan.

Koios merely smirked, as he twisted Riptide, pulling it away from Steve and admiring its blade. "No," he agreed smugly, before lowering it to point accusingly at the soldier, "but I do so admire it's balance."

Steve fell into a fighting position, drawing his shield in front of him while holding his sword of to the side. In unison, the two began to circle each other, Koios towering over Steve. The Titan continued. "The involvement of you and your friends has clouded my sight since you interfered in New York. But now I understand. You and your mortal," Koios spat the word like it was poison, "friends don't belong here. This isn't your fight."

"I made it my fight when I saw the children you hunt," Steve replied with equal aggression. Koios adopted a thoughtful look.

"Such loyalty to a group you've hardly even met. As for us hunting them, its no less than they do to us. But tell me, Captain Rogers, what makes those children any less of monsters than those of my army? The Cyclopes are also children of Poseidon after all, what makes them any different from Jackson?" Koios gestured behind Steve at Percy. At this point, they'd turned a full one-eighty degrees, and Steve stopped. He wasn't willing to let Koios come any closer to the young demigod.

"The difference is that I don't see Percy hunting down other children to eat them just because they can." Steve stepped backwards, drawing as close to the teen as he could. He was close enough to hear the clinking of the ankle chains as Percy's trembling grew. A quick glance showed that the boy's chest was now nearly touching his knee as he tried to support the enormous weight. A chuckle from Koios drew his gaze back to the approaching behemoth. The air grew chilly as the icy Titan drew close.

"Ah, how naïve. You have no idea how this world works, how deep those instincts go. Because of that naivete, I will give you a choice." Koios gestured behind him at the battle. "As I said, this isn't your fight. I will pull back my army and allow you to leave, and I will swear to leave you unharmed as you descend the mountain. Or you can fight, and die by my hand, or that of Lord Tartarus' alongside the puny demigod you are currently failing to protect. You are mortals. You cannot stand against the might of darkness! Leave now and live, or fight and die."

Steve stared at Koios for a moment before bursting into full-on laughter. Koios narrowed his eyes at him as the laughs subsided.

"I don't know if you've heard of us, but we're the Avengers, Earth's Mightiest Heroes. And I will not stop until I have avenged every single hero whose life you've cut short," Steve yelled, his voice ringing across the battlefield before dropping to a low, threatening growl. "Because that's what those kids are: heroes."

Koios was glaring now. "Than die, little hero," he matched Steve's low tone, before tossing Riptide to the ground and drawing his own icy sword.

They both sprang forward at the same time, and the Titan's sword clashed the shield in an explosive bang!

SPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPS

It was worse this time.

So much worse.

Percy knew on some level that it was probably just in his head, but most conscious thought was being drowned out by Not again, not again, not again, not again, ow, ow, owowowowowOW!

He'd tried to explain what it felt like before, but nothing could due the immense, excruciating, heart-stopping pain that was currently coursing through his body justice. As he struggled to focus on what was before him, he couldn't distinguish what was real and what wasn't.

A flash of navy blue as it gently slid into his foot.

An arrow lodges itself into a forehead like a unicorn's horn.

Blue eyes of a soldier staring at him with worry and concern.

Grey eyes with a matching grey streak in her hair as she looked at him with the same expression.

A man's yell of "Avengers!" along with other words he couldn't distinguish.

A huntress' cry of "No!" as she threw herself in front of her father to protect a goddess.

A loud clatter as Riptide fell at his feet.

The roar of Atlas as he was once again trapped beneath the weight of the sky.

A tall blonde man standing tall to protect him from a Titan.

A girl in silver, then a tiger, then a deer, bear, and girl again fighting another Titan.

The past and the present were blending together as he struggled to tell which was which.

The blonde soldier falling back as his shield fell to his side.

A goddess shimmering with moonlight falling at the mercy of Atlas.

The clinking of his chains as he shook from the strain.

The buzzing of a Sopwith Camel biplane and the roar of machine gun fire as it flew by.

A roar of triumph as Koios lifted his sword to kill Steve.

"The first blood of the war!" as a spear flashes downward.

A flash of lightning blinds his eyes, and he sees no more.

The stars aligning in a new pattern he'd never noticed before.

"Live forever in the stars."

A/N: I saw a request in another story that I'd really like to ask you guys:

What song do you think best describes this story as a whole? I know many stories have songs as their themes and I'd really like to know what you guys think. I'm genuinely curious.

Also I would love your opinions on that last Percy segment. Not gonna lie, I'm kind of proud of it. Although forgive me if my exact memory of the Titan's Curse failed me, I didn't have a copy on hand.

Please Review and thanks for reading everybody! See you next chapter! It could be the last!