I am sorry is all I can say. My usual writing is at the bottom of the chap I feel like you may appreciate that. And I am sorry.

Their journey through the junkyard following Zoe's lead-she could tell the directions based on the stars-which Percy was willing to admit was pretty cool.

Bianca, Nico and Grover seemed fairly excited as they looked around-though Zoe had been somewhat harsh, ordering them to leave the piles of junk alone-they didn't want to incur whatever traps Hephaeustus had left- Percy and Annabeth especially, Percy wasn't unaware of the fact that Annabeth was glancing around wearily for any sign of creepy metal spiders-sure it was unlikely that there actually were any there but still, no one could blame Annabeth for being afraid of them.

Still even Zoe and Thalia's warnings didn't stop the two youngest members of the quest, plus Grover from playing with the stuff-and honestly Percy couldn't exactly blame them-there was a lot of really cool looking stuff- Percy spotted electric guitar shaped like Apollo's lyre that looked awesome, and Grover found a broken tree made out of metal. It had been chopped to pieces, but some of the branches still had golden birds in them, and they whirred around when Grover picked them up, trying to flap their wings.

Finally, the edge of the junkyard became visible about half a mile ahead of them and Percy squeezed Annabeth's hand reassuringly. She could see the edge of the highway stretching through the desert, the lights bright in the distance. But between them and the road…

"What is that?" Bianca gasped.

Ahead of them was a hill much bigger and longer than the others. It was like a metal mesa, the length of a football field and as tall as goalposts. At one end of the mesa was a row of ten thick metal columns, wedged tightly together.

"Those-" Annabeth blinked, "Those are toes."

"Cool." Nico grinned, and Percy rolled her eyes.

"Creepy."

Percy, Thalia and Zoe exchanged concerned looks and nodded to each other.

"Let's go around. Very very far around." Thalia suggested.

"I agree." Percy spoke up, "As much as I wanna get out of here quickly I do not like this-there's toes, no one just makes toes."

"You think it's part of something bigger." Annabeth grimaced, "Yeah we're gonna go around it."

Ping.

Thalia hefted her spear and Zoe drew her bow, but then they realized it was only Grover. He had thrown a piece of scrap metal at the toes and hit one, making a deep echo, as if the column were hollow.

"Why did you do that?" Zoe demanded.

Grover cringed. "I don't know. I, uh, don't like fake feet?"

"Come on." Thalia ordered, "We're going around."

After several minutes of walking they finally made it to the highway, and Percy let out a breath of relief as they stepped onto the abandoned but well lit stretch of black asphalt.

"We made it out." Zoe looked relief, "Thank the gods."

But apparently the gods didn't want to be thanked. At that moment, Percy heard a sound like a thousand trash compactors crushing metal.
Percy whirled around. Behind them, the scrap mountain was boiling, rising up. The ten toes tilted over, and Percy really wished she hadn't been right-it was a bronze giant in full Greek battle armor. He was impossibly tall—a skyscraper with legs and arms. He gleamed wickedly in the moonlight. He looked down at us, and his face was deformed. The left side was partially melted off. His joints creaked with rust, and across his armored chest, written in thick dust by some giant finger, were the words WASH ME.

"Talos!" Zoe gasped.

"Who—who's Talos?" Percy's voice shook slightly, "I can't remember that myth."

"One of Hephaestus's creations," Annabeth said quickly, gripping Percy's hand tighter, "But it's too small. There's no way it's the original. Maybe it's a
prototype."

"I don't think that's gonna help us much." Percy muttered, forcing back her panic.

He moved one hand to his sword belt and drew his weapon. The sound of it coming out of its sheath was horrible, metal screeching against metal.

The blade was a hundred feet long, easy. It looked rusty and dull, but Percy didn't think that would matter in the end. Getting hit with that thing would be like getting hit with a battleship.

"Someone took something," Zoe said. "Who took something?"

Percy groaned, "We're screwed, we are so screwed." she noticed something in Bianca's eyes-was that guilt? Percy's eyes narrowed as she let go of Annabeth's hand, opening her mouth to speak, but she didn't get the chance, because the giant defective Talos took one step toward them, closing
half the distance and making the ground shake.

"Run!" Grover yelped.

Great advice, except that it was hopeless. At a leisurely stroll, this thing could outdistance them easily.

They split up. Thalia drew her shield and held it up as she ran down the highway, Annabeth following her after exchanging a wide eyed look with Percy The giant swung his sword and took out a row of power lines, which exploded in sparks and scattered across Thalia's path.

Zoe's arrows whistled toward the creature's face but shattered harmlessly against the metal. Grover brayed like a baby goat and went climbing up a mountain of metal and Percy sprinted to Nico's side, grabbing his hand tightly and yanking him behind a broken chariot.

"Nico-"

"I didn't take anything-"

"I know you didn't." Percy said quickly, "I know you too well for that Neeks. It's going to be okay-" then Bianca skidded to a stop next to them, crouching too, a terrified guilty look on her face.

One look at that expression confirmed it and Percy tugged Nico behind her slightly, glaring at Bianca.

"You took something didn't you?"

"No-"

"Don't lie to me." Percy snarled, "You're gonna get us all killed. What is it that bow you looked at?"

"No-"

"Bianca please tell me you didn't." Nico's voice was pleading.

"Give it back." Percy almost snarled the words, "Get rid of it! Now."

"I… I didn't take the bow! Besides, it's too late."

"What did. you take?"

Before she could answer, there was a massive creaking noise, and a shadow blotted out the sky.

"Move!" Percy was dragging Nico as they sprinted down the hill, Bianca right behind them, as the giant's foot smashed a crater in the ground where they'd been hiding.

"Hey, Talos!" Grover yelled, but the monster raised his sword, looking down at the three children of the Big Three.

Grover played a quick melody on his flute. Over at the highway, the downed power lines began to dance. Percy understood what Grover was going to do a split second before it happened. One of the poles with power lines still attached flew toward Talos's back leg and wrapped around his calf The lines sparked and sent a jolt of electricity up the giant's backside.

Talos whirled around, creaking and sparking. Grover had bought them a few seconds.

"Come on! We have to keep moving-" Percy paused, Bianca was froze, her eyes filled with tears.

"I'm sorry." she shoved her hand into her pocket and pulled it out, unfurling her fingers to reveal a figurine-a statue of a god-Percy recognized it. She had one herself, a birthday present from Nico's collection-and she'd seen the specific one Bianca was holding before too. "I-It's for you." her eyes were on Nico, "It was the only one you didn't have."

Nico stared at her, a stunned look on his face. "Y-you risked everything for that? Bianca that-I already have Hades and that would never be worth this-"

"I'm sorry." Bianca was in tears, "I'm sorry this is all my fault."

"Get rid of it." Percy ordered, "Maybe if you put it back the giant will stop."

Bianca gave a tight nod, tossing it to the ground quickly

The giant kept coming after Grover. It stabbed its sword into a junk hill, missing Grover by a few feet, but scrap metal made an avalanche over him, and then Percy couldn't see him anymore.

"No!" Thalia yelled. She pointed her spear, and a blue arc of lightning shot out, hitting the monster in his rusty knee, which buckled. The giant collapsed, but immediately started to rise again. It was hard to tell if it could feel anything. There weren't any emotions in its half-melted face, but Percy got the sense that it was about as ticked off as a twenty-story-tall metal warrior could be.

He raised his foot to stomp and she saw that his sole was treaded like the bottom of a sneaker. There was a hole in his heel, like a large manhole, and there were red words painted around it, which she deciphered only after the foot came down: FOR MAINTENANCE ONLY.

Percy glanced at Nico, who nodded, a sign that he'd seen it too.

"Crazy idea time-"

"You wanna go inside of the hatch it it's foot." Nico's voice was steady, a gleam in his eyes.

"There might be a way to control it."

"Are you insane?" Bianca demanded, "You'll be killed."

Then Nico did something Percy wasn't expecting-the shadows from the piles of junk around them stretched out, wrapping around the two girls feet, and Percy's eyes widened in horror as she met his gaze. "Nico no-" but he was giving her a slightly shaky grin.

"See you on the other side sis." he turned his head to look at Bianca, who was staring at him in open mouthed horror as Nico bent down and picked up the figurine, curling his fingers around it tightly.

"Nico-"

"Look after Percy for me. Promise me."

"N-Nico what-" Bianca looked like she was in shock, "What are you-"

"Please. She's gonna need you."

"I-" Bianca swallowed hard before nodding. "I promise.

And then he was turning and sprinting away, and Percy was trying to scream but nothing was coming out, the horror rendering her silent, open mouthed, tears streaming down her cheeks as she tried to break free from the shadows that had solidified around her feet, and Bianca was doing the same, both of them struggling frantically-and Percy was helpless to do anything but watch as Nico scrambled over piles of junk and towards the giant-and it was distracted by Thalia, who had learned that the giant was big but slow. If you could stay close to it and not get smashed, you could run around it and stay alive. At least, it was working so far, and Annabeth was helping her, two targets confused it at times.

Nico reached the giants foot, trying to balance himself on the metal scraps that that swayed and shifted with his weight.

Thalia and Annabeth hadn't noticed him yet-though Zoe had and she was rushing towards him, her first attempt failed-she shot an arrow toward the monster's face and it flew straight into one nostril. The giant straightened and shook its head, then she pulled out a knife and shot forward, stabbing it into the giants toe.

The giant looked down at her before lifting it's foot to try and stomp her like a bug.

Nico took his chance, darting under the foot and leaping up, grabbing the hole and hauling himself inside. Percy couldn't breath, she was dropping to her knees, feet still anchored into place as she stared.

The monster was about to finish Zoe off but Grover somehow dug himself out of the junk pile. He played his pipes frantically, and his music sent another power line pole whacking against Talos's thigh. The monster turned. Grover should've run, but he must've been too exhausted from the effort of so much magic. He took two steps, fell, and didn't get back up.

Thalia and Annabeth were sprinting towards Grover, screaming his name, but they'd never reach him in time as the giant raised his sword. Then he froze.

Talos cocked his head to one side, like he was hearing strange new music. He started moving his arms and legs in weird ways, doing the Funky Chicken. Then he made a fist and punched himself in the face.

Percy felt like her voice had been stolen. She couldn't even cry out, she could hear Bianca's panicked whimpering beside her, the frantic tiny whispered "No no no."

The giant hit itself in the head again and dropped his sword. A shudder ran through his whole body and he staggered toward the power lines.

Percy wanted to scream a warning but it was too late.

The giant's ankle snared the lines, and blue flickers of electricity shot up his body. Percy desperately hoped that the inside was insulated. Percy had no idea what was going on in there. The giant careened back into the junkyard, and his right hand fell off, landing in the scrap metal with a horrible CLANG!

His left arm came loose, too. He was falling apart at the joints.

Talos began to run.

"Wait!" Zoe yelled, running after ran after him, she was the only one other than Percy and Bianca to know Nico was in there after all, but there was no way she could keep up. Pieces of the robot kept falling off, getting in our way.

The giant crumbled from the top down: his head, his chest, and finally, his legs collapsed, and the shadows around Percy and Bianca's feet were gone and both girls were moving- neither of them listening to Annabeth and Thalia's confused questions as the other girls helped Grover to his feet.

And Percy could finally speak again, a scream ripping past her lips. "NICO!"

And Bianca was screaming his name too as they scrambled through the parts of the giant. Percy was shaking and crying as she scrambled among the parts, screaming her little brothers name- she heard Annabeth's confused yelling, out of the corner of her eyes she saw Zoe blocking their path-she was talking. Telling Annabeth, Thalia and Grover what Nico had done.

Zoe was crying Percy realized, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Percy heard Thalia's horrified cry, Grover's gasp.

She heard Annabeth calling her name.

But Percy didn't care. She couldn't breath, all she could do was scream Nico's name and search through the rubble of the giant.

But even as she did she knew.

Nico was gone.

Whoops, look what I did. No one seems to have seen that coming, please don't kill me lol. There will be a second update today to apologize for my evilness and to show the aftermath because it's important.