Yeah, yeah. I haven't updated recently. I kinda got addicted to Online Risk, and then spent hours playing it, so… back to the battle.

Down on city level, I saw Percy's Hellhound, Mrs. O'Leary snuffling against an overturned hotdog stand. I took a few paces to my left, and sure enough, there was a man dressed in a white and black apron, fast asleep on the sidewalk. He had his thumb in his mouth. Ahead, Camp's security guard, Argus was waiting. He never said anything, and I know why: I'd seen the eye on his tongue, and it me shudder. However, he was clearly scared. Percy walked over to explain what had happened on Olympus and how the gods weren't helping, and just before Annabeth pulled me aside, I saw him roll his eyes, which made me feel like I was watching an illusion; his whole body seemed to roll.

"What were you and Percy whispering about on the elevators?! He won't tell me!"

I turned to the stormy-eyed daughter of Athena, and gulped slightly. She definitely wasn't taking no for an answer.

"Uh…battle tactics. You know, if like, monsters surprised us or whatever."

She just looked at me like, 'That was the best you could do?'.

"Why aren't you two telling me? Me?!"

I swallowed.

"Look, Annabeth, it has nothing to do with you, or something you've done. It's just…me and Percy have figured out our roles in this battle."

She seemed confused, but managed to finish my sentence.

"And you don't like it?"

I nodded.

"Can't you tell me something?"

I shuffled slightly, and opened my mouth starting to say,

"Well, the monsters we'll be fighting will be led by…"

But Percy had walked over, Argus driving off, presumably back to camp. He was holding a shield, looking confused.

"Um, Argus said…well, gestured, that you knew what this was?"

Annabeth took it, saying,

"Yeah. Its one of Daedalus' inventions. I had Beckendorf make it before…"

She glanced around at Silena. If she heard, she didn't show it.

"Anyway, the shield bends sunlight and moonlight. You can literally see anything under the moon and sun as long as natural light is touching it."

I opened my mouth in a half 'Oh' and half 'Wow' manner. Annabeth placed the shield on the floor, then backed off slightly. We leaned away as well. At first, the image zoomed and spun, completely unfocused. I saw everyone else start to move, and welcomed the lack of motion sickness. They had all crowded around us, peering at the shield. When I looked back, was zooming East Sixtieth past the Bloomingdale's, then turned up third avenue.

"Whoa, back up."

Connor had leaned forward. "Zoom in right there."

Annabeth frowned, making the shield reverse to where Connor was pointing.

"What? Invaders?"

"No…right there. Dylan's Candy Bar."

I rolled my eyes as Connor grinned at his brother.

"Dude, its open. And everyone is asleep. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

I barked out a laugh, and most of the others, rolled their eyes or sighed. Katie scowled,

"Connor!" she scolded. "This is serious. You are not lotting a candy store in the middle of a war!"

Connor muttered an apology, but he was still grinning. Annabeth had passed her hand over the shield, and another scene melted into existence: FDR Drive, looking across the river at Lighthouse Park.

"This was let us see everything that's going on across the city," she explained.

Percy called over to Mrs. O'Leary, saying,

"Hey, girl!"

The Hellhound bounded over, and the car on the road she cross shuddered slightly as her paw connected with the pavestone next to it.

"You remember Grover? The Satyr we met in the park?"

"WOOF!"

I smiled as Percy tried to talk with the Hellhound. She was intelligent for a dog, but she was still just that…a dog, albeit at least thirty times the size of a rottweiler. That 'WOOF' could've meant 'Sure, I remember Grover!', or 'HOTDOGS!', or possibly 'Have you seen my tail? I wanna eat it!'.

Percy seemed to assume she understood, as he continued,

"I need you to find him. Make sure he's still awake. We're going to need his help. You got that? Find Grover!"

He said the final order like you say 'Fetch the ball!', which seemed to work, as she raced off. I turned from the suddenly one-sided conversation (even less so than before), I saw Pollux peering over at a sleeping policeman, his brows furrowed.

"I don't get it. Why aren't we asleep? Why just the mortals?"

Silena spoke up.

"This is a huge spell."

We all looked at her.

"The bigger the spell, the easier it is to resist. If you want to sleep millions of mortals, you've cast a very thin layer of magic. Sleeping demigods is much harder."

I was impressed, and judging from Percy's face, I knew what he was about to ask.

"When did you learn so much about magic?"

Silena blushed, and I spoke up, less out of wanting to defend Silena, and more wanting to put Percy on the spot.

"What? You thought that all the Aphrodite kids just sat in front of mirrors all day? Kinda rude, Percy."

I raised my eyebrow in a very convincing 'I'm looking at from the moral high ground' face. The son of Poseidon spluttered as Silena her siblings grinned at me, obviously getting what I had done, and I guess kinda thankful.

"Wha…no…I didn't mean…I don't think…"

Annabeth stood up from the shield and elbowed Percy in the ribs, saying,

"He's teasing you, Seaweed Brain. Honestly…"

She grinned at me, then shared joke of Percy's denseness a common theme to grin about. Annabeth glanced at the shield again, and her smile dropped. Suddenly, she dropped down in front of the shield, and then called,

"Percy. Come here."

I peered over at the shield as well. The bronze image showed Long Island Sound near La Guardia. A fleet of a dozen speedboats raced through the dark water towards Manhattan. Visible clearly on every boat, were demigods in full Greek armour. At the back of the lead boat, a purple banner emblazoned with a black scythe, rippled against the speed of the boats.

"My boat's cooler."

Annabeth glared at me as I muttered that, then turned back to the shield. Percy watched intently, and I could see his…well…his essence change. He wasn't the awkward teenager embarrassed by my joke anymore. His posture had changed, his sea-green eyes speedily scanning the shield like a military general. His force was quick and forceful, almost making you want to follow the order.

"Scan the perimeter of the island. Quick."

Annabeth instantly shifted the scene south over to the harbour. A Staten Island Ferry was steadily pushing through the water. The deck was crowded with familiar looking reptilian women- Dracanae. A pack of nearly twelve Hellhounds prowled around as them. Swimming in front of the boat, was a bunch of dark dolphins…hang on. The shield seemed to answer my thoughts, and zoomed into the swimmers. The doglike faces of the Telkhines splashing through the water, swords on their waists appeared in the screen.

The shield morphed and switched again. The Jersey Shore, right next to the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel. Over one hundred assorted monsters were storming past the lanes of frozen traffic: Laistrygonian Giants with tree clubs, rogue Cyclopes, a few fire-spitting dragons, steam pouring from their noses and what seemed completely unnecessary to me, a World War II-era Sherman tank, pushing cars out of the way as it rumbled into the tunnel. Percy quickly asked another question.

"What's happening with the mortals outside Manhattan? Is the whole State asleep?"

Annabeth shook her head, frowning.

"I don't think so, but it's strange. As far as I can tell from these pictures, Manhattan is completely asleep. Then there's a roughly fifty-mile radius around the island where time is running really, really slow. The closer you get to Manhattan, the slower it is."

She swiped her hand, and a new image appeared. I saw what looked like a Highway in…New Jersey? It was the weekend, so there weren't that many cars, but, even though the drivers had their eyes open and appeared to be awake, the cars moved at about one mile an hour. A pigeon was flying overhead in slow motion.

"Dad. He's slowing time."

Annabeth nodded, then looked up, gasping.

"Wait, Fayden! Percy told me Kronos' time slowing thing didn't work on you! Do you think you could release some of the affects here?"

I shook my head. "I'd maybe get the mortals to speed up to half their usual speed, but it'd take a lot of energy; I'm not a Titan. Besides, I don't know why, but Kronos has removed mortal life from the equation by doing this. The mortals will have zero risk of dying. Why would the monsters attack sleeping humans when they've been ordered to attack us? There'll be in more danger driving around in a panic, with Giants smashing them out of the way."

Annabeth nodded. I peered at the shield again, and said, at the same time as Katie,

"Hecate."

She blushed and I grinned, then nodded at her. She coughed, then said,

"Hecate might be helping Kronos with this. Look at how the cars are all veering away from Manhattan exits like they've been told to turn around…or forced to."

"I don't know!"

Annabeth sounded incredibly annoyed.

"But maybe…they've surrounded Manhattan with layers of magic. The outside world might not even know what's happening."

I cut across her. "Yeah. They'll just think that the visit they planned to Manhattan is stupid, and they should go somewhere else."

She nodded, continuing,

"Exactly. Any mortal coming towards Manhattan will slow down so much they won't know what's going on."

Jake murmured something I couldn't catch. Annabeth nodded at it, and said, rather gloomily,

"We can't expect any help coming from outside. It's just us."

I looked around. Percy seemed to be doing the same. Just over forty demigods. Every one looking stunned, scared, or a mixture of both. I couldn't blame them. We'd been shown hundreds of enemies, against our less than half a hundred. I caught Percy's eyes, and we both seemed to understand each other. All this, then three Titans, most likely with more monsters. But we kept that to ourself. Percy steeled himself, then addressed everyone.

"Alright. We are going to hold Manhattan."

Silence.

Silena tightened a strap on her armour nervously, then said,

"Um, Percy, Manhattan is huge."

"We are going to hold it. We have to."

He turned to me, an unspoken message to speak up in his eyes. So, I did,

"Yes, we are. So, what that we have only forty of us? We saw what happened last year in the Labyrinth. We were massively outnumbered, and where are we now?"

An Apollo camper called out,

"Yeah? Where's Lee Fletcher?!"

The others murmured amongst themselves. I glared then called out,

"You really think you'll all survive?"

Silence.

"Stop kidding yourselves. If you don't want a rousing speech, fine. Shock Therapy. A lot of you will die. Lee Fletcher? Did anyone see him die? Did anyone see the little kids who died in that battle? I did. A little girl, no older than twelve, impaled against a tree by a spear. Right through the neck. I watched the blood pour down her body. She was progressing in her training; she had promise. Then one Dracanae came along and BAM!"

I smacked my hands together, and the demigods nearest me flinched away.

"She's gone. You go into this fight with his attitude? With that attitude?!"

I gestured to the Apollo camper, who looked like he wished he hadn't spoken.

"You're already dead. Your broken corpses laying the foundations for the Titan rule. You fight thinking like that, forget Olympus…forget Manhattan. Their already lost. It'll be a fight for survival, and you'll all lose. So, are you going to focus on the so few mistakes we've made? Yes, demigods die! It happens! But another thing that we do is fight back! Each one of you think to yourself! Do you want to be the mauled body in a Hellhounds mouth? The mush smeared on a cyclops' club? Of course not! So fight! We destroyed the forces of in the Labyrinth! Here?! WE can do it again!"

Everyone seemed to have changed in attitude. They were all staring at me in awe. I breathed in, then continued.

"You all see a group of teenagers against an army of scary, ridiculously strong monsters! Why do they get the praise! I see a small army of trained, incredibly skilled warriors, against an army of pathetic creatures, who die when you touch them! Just one swipe! So, can we defend this city? My answer is…easily. The pathetic excuses Kronos calls an armed force is marching towards us…right now. Well! WHAT ARE WE DOING! LET'S GO SEND THEM BACK TO TARTARUS!"

About halfway through my speech, Percy had started clanging sword against his shield. Annabeth hit her dagger against her armour. Slowly, towards the end, more and more created noise. Connor smacked his magic sword against his shield. Silena slammed the butt of her spear into the ground repeatedly. When I finished, an uproar of yells burst into being; a cacophony of yells and noises. One phrase rose above them all:

"SEND THEM TO TARTARUS!"

I turned to Percy, and he was grinning like mad. He gestured to me, and it took me a while to realise he was letting me continue, with his help. I turned back to the demigods, and cried above them,

"Right! The Wind Gods have cut of an aerial assault. He'll be travelling through land…through our city. Who knows it better than us?!"

Above the yells, Michael Yew called out,

"They have boats!"

I opened my mouth to speak when a voice next to me spoke up.

"I'll take care of the boats."

Percy had stepped up beside me. Michael frowned.

"How?"

Percy grimly stared ahead.

"Just leave it to me."

I saw his look, and trusted him. Nodding, I addressed the crowd again.

"We need to guard the bridges and tunnels. Let's assume they'll make a strike through Midtown, or Downtown."

This was the easiest way to the Empire State Building, as everyone knew. Percy nodded then started pointing.

"Michael, take Apollo's cabin to the Williamsburg Bridge. Katie, Demeter's cabin to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel."

I cut in, speaking to Katie,

"Grow thorns and stuff over the entrance."

Katie nodded and Percy continued.

"Do whatever you can to stop them advancing. Connor, you take half the Hermes cabin and cover Manhattan Bridge. Travis, you take the other half and cover the Brooklyn Bridge. And do not stop for looting or pillaging!"

A collective groan erupted from them all, before they started preparing. I butted in as Percy closed his eyes, trying to remember the other bridges.

"Silena, take the Aphrodite crew to the Queens-Midtown Tunnel."

One of the girls started cooing.

"Oh, my gods! Fifth avenue is so on our way! We can accessorise, and monsters, like, totally hate the smell of Givenchy!"

I sighed, saying,

"No delays!"

Then paused.

"Unless the perfume thing actually works."

Half a dozen Aphrodite girls tried to kiss my cheek. Roughly three managed to before I pushed them away.

"Ok, enough! Percy?"

He was already calling out to the Hephaestus cabin.

"Jake. The Holland Tunnel. Use Greek fire, set traps. Use everything you have."

He grinned as he clasped the hap-sack he had. Every Hephaestus kid had one.

"Gladly. We have a score to settle. For Beckendorf!"

The entire cabin burst into cheers. I waved them down and said,

"Ok. The Fifty-ninth Street Bridge. Clarisse,"

Then I stopped wincing. She hadn't shown up. Annabeth stepped up, saying,

"We'll take that. Malcolm, take Athena cabin. Activate plan twenty-three on the way, like I showed you. Hold there."

"Got it."

Annabeth turned back to Percy, continuing.

"I'll go with Percy. Then we'll join you, or we'll go where we're needed."

Somebody on the group, and I was positive it was a daughter of Aphrodite, snickered, saying,

"No detours you two."

A giggle spread through the demigods. I rolled my eyes. Percy ignored them and said,

"Ok. Keep in touch with cell phones."

I frowned, and Silena called out,

"We don't have cell phones."

Percy picked up some random woman's Blackberry and chucked it to her.

"Now you do. You all know Fayden's or Annabeth's number, right?"

There was a murmur of assent.

"If you need us, pick up a random phone and call. Use it once, then drop it, so monsters can't zero in on your location."

Everyone grinned. Travis cleared his throat, but I held up my had before he could even speak.

"No!"

Travis looked taken aback. "You don't even know what I was going to say!"

I just looked at him like 'really?'. He grumbled something intelligible.

"Hold it Percy."

Jake Mason was looking worried.

"You've forgotten Lincoln Tunnel."

Percy cursed. I knew why. Right now, a Sherman tank and a hundred monsters were marching through, and there were no forces to spare. Then I heard a voice I hadn't heard in over a year.

"How about you leave that to us?"

I spun around, quickly followed by everyone else. In her white shirt, silvery camouflage trousers and black combat boots, the volcanic black eyes of Zoe Nightshade met mine, and we both grinned widely at each other. Her bow was strung across her back, and a sword was at her waist just like every other hunter. A pack of timber wolves, pure white trotted around their feet, and most of them had hunting falcons perched on their arms. But one girl caught my attention. Standing to the left of Zoe, with spiky black hair with a black leather jacket, the only thing that was even remotely in the hunter's colour scheme was Thalia's silver skull earrings. It definitely wasn't the 'Death to Barbie' shirt she was wearing, with a little barbie doll that reminded me a lot of Aphrodite, and subsequently her kids. I mean, the doll had an arrow through it head, but. (I won't admit that I want to do that to Aphrodite…).

I'd like to say that I made all these witty observations right away, but after not seeing the girl I was (I won't say it. No. I'm not giving you the satisfa…) …the girl I was deeply in love with for nearly a year (we could barely IM, because of the war), my mind went straight into 'One action at a time' mode. I ran forward at the same time she did, and we hugged in front of everyone, causing an orchestra of 'Aws' from the Aphrodite kids, but I ignored them, just holding her as tightly as I could to me. See was succeeding, however, and began to slowly crush my ribs. I said so, and she laughed, pulling back.

"My god, Fayden! It's been so…long!"

And then she hugged me again, face flushed. She seemed to want to lean in to my cheek, why I don't know, but then stepped away, blushing again. Annabeth and Percy had run over, and Zoe had walked to where I stood.

"She's missed you, huh?"

There was an edge to her voice indicating that she was teasing me, and that sentence had a double meaning, but I ignored it, holding out my arms for a hug. She obliged, embracing me like a friend, not as if she never wanted to ever let go…or crush my ribs. Annabeth and Percy were saying hi to Thalia, and I was catching up with Zoe, but all five of us knew that only two of us actually wanted to hang out, and three of said five knew exactly why, (Hint: Me and Thalia are oblivious. Wait a minute. I am addressing my life in third person as if I had the knowledge that's being hinted? Huh. I'll stop that. It's weird). Thalia turned to me, but Zoe's face reminded us there was war going on. Thalia immediately activated her shield, causing everyone but me to flinch away. Although that was less out of fearlessness and more out of the fact that I was staring at Thalia's face, which was a thousand times more beautiful than Medusa's head was scary (Good god I sound like a fucking Romeo and Juliet Play). The hunters all let their falcons soar above their heads, and drew bows and swords, splitting in two between who wielded what. I concentrated, and my armour appeared over me, Astyfilaka strapped to my back in it's simple but elegant gold and black scabbard. Percy nodded at me.

"You're going with them?"

I grinned and he raised his sword.

"Good luck."

I nodded, then raced off, joining the group of silver warriors as they hurried across Manhattan to Lincoln Bridge, Timber wolves sprinting ahead, falcons swooping through the sky. I was right at the front of the group, level with Thalia and Zoe, although I may have been cheating, using just a light drain of my power, that I barely felt, to increase my speed. The only sign was the very pale glow on my shoes. Zoe looked over as we ran down streets and roads, heading for the one undefended bridge. She seemed surprised, shocked even.

"How the hell are you keeping up? We do nothing…but hunt!"

I could tell she was not tired, but running and talking is still annoyingly hard. I grinned. It wasn't for me.

"Eh. Maybe I'm just better than you?"

Zoe laughed, and pushed me. I shoved her back, and she nearly stumbled into another hunter, which would've been a funny but disastrous collapse. Unfortunately, me shoving Zoe was interpreted as 'He's attacking mum!', by one of the Timber wolves. It slowed down, still running, and growled at, keeping in-between me and Zoe. I tried to hide my nervousness, by shooing it, hoping it wouldn't notice my pale face as I watched the razor-sharp teeth. Instead of running off, it snapped at my hand, and I pulled back. Zoe laughed, and told the wolf to shoo.

"Violent, aren't they?"

Zoe grinned, but another hunter had caught up.

"They aren't violent boy. They just have good taste. I want to bite you."

I gave the moody teen my most dazzling smile, and she just scowled at me and slowed down, falling behind deliberately. Thalia had caught up on my other side as I finally saw the Manhattan-side entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel. The first ebbs of monsters were streaming out of it. The hunters with their bows drawn slowed down, jogging into a semi-circle around the tunnel, where they started unloading perfectly placed arrows; each one taking out another monster. The hunter's wielding swords kept running, straight at the horde.

Zoe was leading the archers, and had jogged off, but Thalia was wielding her spear, running in with the melee fighters. I poured in the speed, zooming ahead. The hunters finally noticed my glowing armoured boots as I smashed into the first Giant with enough force to send him falling backwards into another. I skidded to a halt to far away to finish them, and a Cyclops blocked me anyway. It raised its club, roaring, then took a massive swipe. I had to flatten myself to the ground to avoid it, then roll forward. I was under its leg, and unsheathing my sword, I winced in pity as I thrust up. The monster gave an anguished cry of pain; my nuts twinged in sympathy (all males understand that no one, not even an evil Cyclops, deserves that. Only doing that to my douche of dad would give me pleasure).

The Cyclops dissolved, raining dust on my helmet but I had moved on, meeting the next monster I could find as the other half of the hunters smashed into the monster's forces, along with all the Timber wolves. Around thirty canine fighters growled at the monsters. I got to admit, having large hunter wolves is a huge advantage. They attacked in small groups; a few would pin a Giants arm, for example, while another couple bit its legs, then finally, the last of the small group would leap at the chest of the monster, biting and ripping. All in all, a painful way to die.

A Hellhound charged at me, maybe half the size of the giant tank I saw rolling forward, maybe halfway down the tunnel. It leaped at my head, fangs bared, but four arrows sprouted in its neck before I could raise my sword. Not even looking round, I ran on. I saw a hunter being beaten back by a particularly large Giant, who was swinging a small ash tree, leaves and all, as a weapon. I ran forward, and my eyes glowed slightly. I had to be careful. I had a funny feeling I wouldn't get much opportunity for rests, and I knew that three mega bosses were due to arrive at some point, along with a showdown involving Kronos himself. I had to pace myself.

The Giant' club slowed to about half it's speed, giving the hunter plenty of time to roll away. She didn't seem surprised, so I assume Thalia had told them about me. I ran in as she got her breath, and stabbed the Giant just below the knee. His club swung down at full speed, missing everything, and he crumpled on one side because of the leg injury. His chest now lowered, I leaped onto his leg, scrambling up, then jumped at his neck. My sword pierced his throat to the hilt, and he immediately dissolved, meaning I fell about seven feet. I landed okay, but was slightly disoriented by the sudden stop. An unknown claw ripped against my arm, the Spartan Greek style not protecting the whole appendage. I cried, focus restored, and whirled around to see dust drifting through the air and a silver arrow on the ground. Turning, I saw what the jobs of the falcons were. When a monster dissolved, and the arrows used fell to the floor, a falcon would sweep in and snatch them up, before depositing them back to the owner. Each archer had about two falcon's each, I guess because the one's belonging to the melee fighters weren't needed by their owners. Only one falcon body lay on the floor, having been snapped at by a Hellhound.

I saw Thalia's golden shield beat against another monstrous dog, and ran over. She was yelling, and beating the creature back, but I ran at its side on, thrusting straight into its side. It exploded into shadows, hiding Thalia. When she appeared, grinning, I said,

"The job is to kill them!"

"Fuck off!"

I roared with laughter and turned back to the fray. A few monsters had broken through and were charging at the archers. I sprinted as fast as I could, and intercepted the four Dracanae before they were close enough to attack. Judging by the 'not immediately dead monsters and falcon pick up', I was too close. The four snake women raised their spears and nets in a long line, forming the first rank of a Phalanx. They advanced rapidly, and I did the most unexpected thing. I charged the wall of spears. They all converged, but slowed before I was impaled in multiple important places (no innuendo there…every part of me is important thank you very much). I ran through the ranks, lining up with them as one tried to throw a net at me, but ended up tangling her ally. In the confusion, I stabbed both, and rounded on the other two, who had gained control of their spears, and seemed to be splitting up. However, the moment they appeared out of the same horizontal line as me, that is to say, the moment my body wasn't shielding theirs, arrows sprouted from their heads, and they both exploded.

Again, I didn't even turn. I ran back into the fight. The main force had arrived. The thirty or so that now lay as hoover bag filler on the ground were the fastest troops, easily killed by numerical advantage of around forty hunters. But now seventy odd monsters poured out of the tunnel, all roaring in anger. I ran forward, yelling,

"GET BACK!"

Without questioning it, the hunters retreated, letting all the forces assemble. I knew what they were doing; waiting for the Sherman. I ran amongst the hunters, shouting,

"WE NEED TO BE CAREFUL! THEY'RE WASTING TIME FOR THE TANK!"

Some of the hunters seemed to understand, they'd probably seen it, but Thalia rounded on me.

"Tank!"

I nodded.

"A massive Sherman about halfway down the tunnel. The last time I saw it, it had stopped moving!"

I had to shout to be heard over the tumult of monster wails. My prediction was wrong however, as a great shuddering groan shook the tunnel slightly, and the screeching of metal treads started again.

I called the hunters who had melee weapons.

"YOU NEED TO ATTACK THE GIANTS! GET THE CYCLOPES AND LAISTRY…YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN, OUT OF THE WAY. LET THE ARCHERS TARGET THE SMALLER MONSTERS! WE NEED TO THIN OUT THE CROWD!"

My shouts could just be heard by the female warriors, who immediately ran forward, I ran towards Zoe, who lowered her bow, looking anxious.

"What is that noise!"

"Tank!"

Her eyes widened but I 'shhed' her.

"I need you to tell your archers to target the Hellhounds and Dracanae. Also, bring about a third into the fight! We don't need as many archers!"

She didn't hesitate. Shouting out the orders, she gestured to the far end of the semicircle, and the archers there immediately put their bows over their backs and drew their swords, charging into the fight. The rest of the hunters ran round to fill the gaps, now a larger space between them. However, we now had about 15 more soldiers, bringing it up to 45 versus 70. I ran back towards the skirmish as Zoe shouted to the remaining bowme…bowwomen.

A Hellhound leaped at me. I slid under its jump, and never heard it land, the soft clatter of arrows hitting the floor drowned out. A Dracanae charged at me, but never made it two steps. Finally, I attacked a Cyclops, who was swiping at two hunters, the girls desperately trying to swing past the massive club. I ran to meet them, and to my surprise, they welcomed my presence instead of just accepting it. They were turning to me for orders. Wow. War really does change people.

"Run away! Try and sneak back around as I attack!"

They seemed surprised, but disappeared. I yelled up at the cyclops.

"Hey, one-eye! Can you even see me, you vision-impaired moron!"

Hey, I was under stress. Don't judge my insults. I thought it was pretty good. Apparently, the Cyclops didn't like it, as he roared and swung his club with such force, that when I jumped out of the way, the concrete of the road we were standing on smashed up, leaving a pothole. The force of the blow seemed to pull on the monster's arm, as it stumbled forward and yelled in pain. I saw the two hunters right behind it.

But then disaster struck. Instead of pulling up towards me, like I thought he would, he reared up away from me, into the two hunters. The accidental swing of his club smashed one hunter. I saw her face and body already broken before she hit against the side of the tunnel, very dead. The other hunter screamed in anger, and before I could shout for her to get back, she had charged, completely missing the Cyclops leg. The monster kicked her, and his foot was as large as her entire chest and head. She was unconscious the moment the strike connected, and she to, was thrown in the same direction as her friend, dead as her friend was as well. My turn. My anger, instead of making me rage, made my eye's glint as I calmly sprinted towards the Cyclops. It had turned, confident in its kills.

Its swung…and missed. Before he picked it up, using both feet, I pushed off the ground, landing on his weapon. The Cyclops was already pulling his weapon up before he realised where I was, but it was too late. I flew from the club and my sword went straight down through his shoulder. Again, this made me fall, but the Cyclopes were not as tall as the Giants…from head height I fell only six feet.

I looked around, and saw to my horror that we were losing. At least ten hunters lay dead, and a pack of five Hellhounds and a Giant had broken into the ranks of the hunters, disrupting our ranged support. With maybe as many dead monsters as dead allies, we now faced 55 against only 36 or so, with another 25 archers being attacked. Finally, the Sherman was over three-quarters of the way towards the entrance of the tunnel. I saw Thalia finally kill a group of Dracanae, then scream over to me,

"FAYDEN! DO YOUR THING!"

Now, I was trying to pace myself. But every hunter would die. I threw my sword down, ignoring it as it sheathed itself back on my back. My arms were out, and golden mist spread from my eyes, down my arms, then finally to the other parts of my body. Like some kind of weird, futuristic cocoon, I was covered in a thin layer of golden mist, like an egg around me. I glared hard, and my eye's pulsed. The mist hardened to solid energy, then exploded outwards in a burst of circular, golden light. Every monster in, out, or near the Lincoln Tunnel froze solid, their own eyes gold as I struggled to keep them like that, the first drop of sweat creeping down my brow.

The hunters didn't waste a second. Every one dropped their weapons and pulled out their bows. Now it was just standing target practise. The pack attacking the archers-gone. The last three giants-a total of four arrows each, then gone. There were roughly 10-15 monsters, and the tank, versus 54 hunters when the arrows ran out. The falcons, along with the wolves, seemed to have frozen. Probably because whatever Artemis blessed them with to make them as badass as they are also let them classify as monsters. My arms failed and all around, the final few monsters' eyes cleared, while I passed out, collapsing to the floor. The last thing I see is the first of the World War II Sherman tank emerge, loaded gun turret swivelling.

"Oh, no you don't."

A loud clanking noise awoke me. I sat bolt upright, causing someone who was crouching next to me to yelp and fall backwards. Staring dead ahead of me, the giant tank had suddenly stopped, and many growls could be heard from inside. The remaining hunters seemed to be attacking the last monsters, but they had fled to the tank, and quickly disappeared inside the hatchet. At least, the humanoids had. The last three Hellhounds all burst in to shadow, but 5 Cyclopes (gives you an idea of how much bigger than a normal tank this thing is) and 7 Dracanae had disappeared.

I looked around to see Thalia rolling upright, shaking her head.

"God. Well, I guess it was my fault."

Before I could retort otherwise, Thalia had reached into her hunter's garb and pulled out a very small, silver flask, that glowed slightly. Judging from the looks around us, this stuff wasn't supposed to be given to me. She popped open the flask, and lifted me up, but I raised my hands. I even had trouble doing that. I seemed to be on good relations with the group of man-hating warriors, and I didn't want to ruin that. Thalia frowned.

"Fayden, I can see you're having trouble thinking, let alone moving. Drink."

"What…"

My voice sounded like I hadn't spoken in years, but judging by the immediate actions when I woke up, I can't have been out for longer than a minute, five max. The tank remained unmoving, possibly because the monsters were forming a plan.

"It's moonwater. A magical energy drink for hunters. Drink it!"

"Isn't…that…liquor?"

Thalia laughed.

"No, you moron, this isn't moonshine. Now, drink it."

"Why…glare."

Ok, I really wanted to drink whatever this; my speech was annoying me. Thalia looked around, lowering the flask.

"No one but the hunters have ever tasted this stuff. In fact, no one but the hunters, and now you, even know about this stuff. Excluding Artemis, of course."

"Ask…them…"

"What?"

"Ask them…if…I…drink."

Stupid, motherf*%&ing, speech impediment! Thalia looked around nervously, then nodded.

"Um, ok."

But before she turned, I managed to cough out,

"I…saved…them."

It sounded like a desperate plea to remember that fact, but my smile told Thalia is was 100% a cocky boast that the hunters owe me. She turned and said,

"Guys? We'd all be dead if it weren't for Fayden, so the least we could do is give him some magical energy drink?"

The hunters are strange. They stick to something so strongly and stubbornly, it's as if they have ironclad proof that they know their right, but you provide any argument against them, and they either shoot you, or crumble, as if it was just a completely unreasonable or irrational thought. The moment Thalia spoke, the hunters went from being angry to almost pitiful of me, or guilty, as if they were angry out of pure principle. Women! I'm really glad they can't read my mind…or read my face, as its so slack. Slowly, nearly every hunter nodded, or hummed in approval of giving me liquid moon steroids. Thalia grinned, and turned back to me, uncorking the flask. I let her tilt my head back and swallowed the drink. It tasted like normal water in my mouth, but the moment I swallowed it, I felt like I could run for miles. My head cleared, my muscles stopped screaming, and I sighed in relief. Liquid Moon Steroids is amazing!

So, of course, I stood up, feeling fully refreshed, to notice the gun turret of a tank pointing at me. I noticed it was really quiet. Not even a growl or something. I turned to Thalia, and said,

"Didn't monsters, you know, climb in there? Why are they so quiet?"

She frowned, then laughed.

"You must have passed out again. We chucked a silver fire bomb in the hatchet. The monsters are dead."

I frowned. I don't remember passing out. I guess thirty seconds would be all it took for a firebomb to kill all the monsters in there, at nothing really changes in thirty seconds when you were staring at the sky, too weak to move. Wait? Firebomb?! I turned to Thalia again, and she seemed to know what I was about to ask.

"It's a speciality of Phoebe. We could only make one though, so no bombing the main troops."

Ah. That had been my second question. Before I could open my mouth again, the distant noises of battle, almost unnoticeable having grown used to the roars up close, suddenly loudened. I could hear it rather well, like a song playing in the other room. Its loud, but you can't hear the lyrics. It was giant vibrating noises, as if someone had taken giant guitar strings the size of suspension cables and strummed. I heard a massive cash over by, judging on basic geography, the Williamsburg Bridge. The crashing was followed by a loud splash of water. What the hell were they doing over there?

It was apparently something we were going to find out, as Zoe had the hunters ready to run in no time, but then my phone rang. I pulled the iPhone 6 out of my pocket, and saw an unknown number calling. It would have to be another demigod. I answered, holding it to my ear. Silena spoke on the other end.

"Fayden? You need to come to the Plaza Hotel. Annabeth…she's…just come."

I immediately hung up and ran over to where the hunters were waiting. Thalia and Zoe raised an eyebrow.

"That was Silena. We need to get to Plaza Hotel."

Next stage done. I think its Prometheus' deal then Percy's battle with Hyperion, and a new Titan. It's obviously not actually three Titans, but the Greek don't know about the Romans, and Jason beating Krios at Othrys. I'm going to try and tone down Fayden's power use in this battle, because it'll make the story more interesting, making him have to find more ingenious ways to fight, and I feel like there aren't really any massive decisions in fights anymore. Fayden fights, Fayden starts losing, Fayden uses his powers to win almost instantly. Finally, I'm not actually sure when/couldn't be bothered to search up when TLO was published, so I don't know if the iPhone 6 is too far ahead in time, but by now, I'm sure you'll get what I'm about to say…

I don't care.