Chapter 2:

The Rescue of Queen

Percy stumbled across the camp borders. It had been a month since he had found the three demigods, but he hadn't gotten any leads on Annabeth. He left Camp to go search for her, only to get in trouble with several monsters.

He even tried to visit his home but every time he went there, he was faced by several monsters. He slew most of them, but they eventually pushed him back several feet, but they never killed him or hurt him fatally, something so uncharacteristic of them that it seemed that something was wrong. Very wrong.

This trip also seemed to clear his thoughts and he realized that the only people who were to blame were the Olympians. They are the people who have ruined the lives of demigods. They had taken my Wise Girl

But he hated one goddess the most. The goddess who he trusted so much. She had betrayed him. She had refused to tell him because she didn't trust him. Artemis. His teeth ground and his body shook at even the mention of her name.

What are you thinking, Percy. Of course the god damn goddess of maidens would do everything she could to make your life even harder, he thought angrily to himself.

When he entered the camp, he noticed something wrong. Every demigod was moving around the camp hastily and were even stumbling. He stumbled to the nearest cabin which happened to be the Nemesis cabin.

A boy, Pierce, walked out of the cabin and bumped into Percy, sending them both falling on the ground. Percy groaned and said, "Is that how you greet people these days?"

Pierce stood up hurriedly and said, "I am sorry. Wait, you are Percy Jackson. The Percy Jackson. Oh, my gods, I can't believe I am talking with The Percy Jackson."

Percy waved his hand, used to this popularity, and said, "Can I have some ambrosia or nectar?"

The boy nodded and ran into his cabin. He exited after a few minutes with a flask of golden liquid, nectar. Percy drank the whole thing, a dangerous feat, as too much godly thing can kill the drinker.

Percy stood up with new vigor and asked, "Where is everyone going?"

Pierce replied, "A new prophecy has been issued."

Percy groaned in annoyance and said, "For fuck sake, one month and a new prophecy has been issued, right after the last Great Prophecy."

Percy realized that Annabeth's disappearance and the arrival of these new recruits seemed too… coincidental. It couldn't just be a simple mistake of fate. It had to be planned. But who could've planned it?

Pierce interrupted Percy's thoughts and said, "The prophecy stated that Hera has been captured."

Percy froze in his tracks as his mind raced with possibilities. Hera is captured, Annabeth is missing, three new recruits; this can't be an accident.

Percy asked, "Is there a quest for it?"

Pierce nodded and said, "Yeah, the three demigods you brought? They are leading the quest."

I nodded and ran off towards the rec room where the meeting was most likely taking place. Arriving he noticed that the only occupants in the room were the three demigods discussing something.

I coughed out loud, gathering their attention and said, "I am going along with you all."

The boy with blonde hair and electric blue eyes stepped forward and said, "No you are not."

The girl with extremely pretty kaleidoscopic eyes held his hand and pulled him back and said, "Jason, stop. We need all the help we can get. Also, he is the one who brought us from Grand Canyon."

Jason blushed from the contact but glared at the Percy, who seemed unfazed. Percy noticed the other person who seemed to be tinkering with something in his hand. Percy rolled his eyes and said, "Son of Zeus, Daughter of Aphrodite and Son of Hephaestus. There are several ways this could go wrong."

All three turned to him with confused looks and he sighed in exasperation and said, "Don't tell me you don't know the myths."

The Latino kid spoke up, "Um… ding ding we lived in a Wilderness School. We didn't exactly get what you might call, stories."

Percy seemed agitated and said, "Well let's just say, Aphrodite and Hephaestus don't tend to get along."

Jason piped along and said, "Its because they divorced after Venus… er, Aphrodite cheated on him with Ma- I mean, Ares."

Percy nodded and said, "Jason, how do you know the roman names of the gods?"

Jason looked conflicted as he tried to remember how he knew about the Roman names, but he came up with nothing. He shook his head at Percy and Percy just sighed and nodded.

Percy looked at the map and said, "Ok, we can't follow this map. We don't know where we are going or where Hera might be captured but I need to find her. She knows where Annabeth is."

Jason protested again, "Who said you are coming with us?"

Percy replied back calmly, "Listen, new kid, this is not up for debate." With that, he stepped back and said, "Now how do we move from here? Did the prophecy say anything about where we are going?"

The trio shook their head and Piper recited, "Child of lightning, beware the earth, The Giants' revenge the seven shall birth, The forge and dove shall break the cage, And death unleash through Hera's rage."

Percy tried to understand what this meant. Ugh, Annabeth is good at thinking. Not me.

"Did Chiron say anything about this prophecy?"

The trio shook their head again and Percy groaned. He stood up and began pacing around. Then he stopped suddenly and said, "We need to get moving. As much as I don't want to, we need to rescue Hera to get Annabeth's location."

Jason said, "And help Olympus."

Percy winced slightly and said, "Yeah, that too." He wouldn't let his bitterness get in way of this mission.

He asked, "So how do we move from here? Is Chiron lending us anything?"

Leo twittered, "I have a much better solution." His maniac smile sent shivers down everyone's back and they looked at each other thinking, Uh-Oh.

*Time Skip* (Battle at the Wolf house)

The quest up to this point had been extremely tough and Percy was surprised that the new kids had survived up until this point. They had found the wolf house with Hera inside of a cage but had quickly realized that they were not alone.

Large wolves bounded from the darkness, each with a huge body and glimmering fangs that could easily lacerate flesh. As the group of demigods took a fighting stance, the wolves snarled and charged.

"Leo, you cut Hera's cage. Piper try charmspeaking Gaea so her connection to the cage is weakened," Percy ordered. The two demigods nodded and rushed to complete the tasks that he had set out for them.

"Jason, you and I will hold off these damn wolves."

"Damn right we will. Let's kick some mutt ass," Jason said.

Percy dodged under a claw and growled at Leo, "Be quick about this, Leo. I don't know how long we can stand all these wolves."

Leo continued with the cage and replied back, "I am trying. Why don't you try instead?"

Percy rolled under a wolf and stabbed him in the back with his sword. As he withdrew it, the wolf burst into golden dust. Percy stood upright but the golden dust quickly formed back into a wolf.

Percy groaned as another wolf stepped next to the should-be-dead wolf. He quickly leaped over the wolves and stood next to Jason who seemed to be getting overpowered. He quickly killed the wolf who was fighting against Jason. Jason stared in a daze as Percy quickly engaged two other wolves.

Percy shouted, "Anytime now Jason."

Jason shook out of his daze and used the wind to push a wolf off Percy and engaged another wolf with his sword.

Piper continued to charmspeak the cage and the Earth Goddess, Gaia, while Leo continued breaking the cage with his tools.

Hera stood inside her cage and struggled against her shackles. Percy hurried to her and said, "Hera! Where's Annabeth?"

Hera gained a disgusted look, but her eyes held sadness. She said, "I don't know. Must be somewhere with her brainy ideas."

She was met with a blade at her throat as Percy replied, icily, "Hera, Where. Is. Annabeth?"

Hera slumped and said, "I am afraid I cannot tell you."

Percy began shouting, "That's what EVERYBODY keeps telling me. NOW TELL ME WHERE ON THIS EARTH SHE IS BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T, THEN I SWEAR I WILL TEAR OLYMPUS TO THE GROUND TO FIND HER."

At this point everyone, monsters included, was watching the interaction between a puny demigod and an Olympian goddess, the queen of heavens no less.

Hera for her part looked shocked, mostly because she had never seen such an upstart demigod talk to her. She felt enraged and right at that moment, Porphyrion burst through his mound.

All eyes turned to him as he opened his eyes, which were blank white and bellowed, "Alive. Praise to Gaea."

The monsters cheered while Jason let out a heroic whimpering sound. Percy heard it and turned to Jason with an are-you-serious look. Leo and Piper began working more furiously.

Percy said, "Jason, continue with the monsters. Watch my back. I would ask you to use Tempest, but he is busy with Leo, so use your own powers."

Jason turned to Percy and asked, "What about you?"

Percy deadpanned, "I am going to make a Giant Tuna."

Jason looked confused but he didn't have any time to ask as the monsters began pressing forward. Jason drew his sword in a fighting position while Percy faced Porphyrion.

Porphyrion looked at the scrawny looking kid and threw his head back and laughed. "Outstanding. Poseidon sacrificing his son to me. I am honored and all, but it will not save you all."

Percy drew his sword, Riptide, and taunted, "If you knew about me, which you should have, you would know that you shouldn't be worried about my dad, but you should be worried about me. I hope you enjoyed your two and a half minutes of rebirth, giant, because I'm going to send you right back to your dad. Tell him hello and say that his wife misses him a lot and will be there for a vacation later on."

The giant's eyes narrowed. He planted one foot outside the pool and crouched to get a better look at his opponent. "So … we'll start by boasting, will we? Just like old times! Very well, demigod. I am Porphyrion, king of the giants, son of Gaea. In olden times, I rose from Tartarus, the abyss of my father, to challenge the gods. To start the war, I stole Zeus's queen." He grinned at the goddess's cage. "Hello, Hera."

"My husband destroyed you once, monster!" Hera said. "He'll do it again!"

"But he didn't, my dear! Zeus wasn't powerful enough to kill me. He had to rely on a puny demigod to help, and even then, we almost won. This time, we will complete what we started. Gaea is waking. She has provisioned us with many fine servants. Our armies will shake the earth—and we will destroy you at the roots."

"You wouldn't dare," Hera said, but she was weakening. Jason and Percy heard it in her voice as the earth had covered her up till waist.

"Oh, yes," the giant said. "The Titans sought to attack your new home in New York. Bold, but ineffective. Gaea is wiser and more patient. And we, her greatest children, are much, much stronger than Kronos. We know how to kill you Olympians once and for all. You must be dug up completely like rotten trees—your eldest roots torn out and burned."

The giant frowned at Piper and Leo as if he'd just noticed them working at the cage. Percy stepped forward and shouted, "Yo Porphy the porky, you said a demigod killed you eh? How, if we are so puny as you put it?"

"Ha! Do you think I would explain it to you? I was created to be Zeus's replacement, born to destroy the lord of the sky. I shall take his throne. I shall take his wife—or, if she will not have me, I will let the earth consume her life force. What you see before you, child, is only my weakened form. I will grow stronger by the hour, until I am invincible. But I am already quite capable of smashing you to a grease spot!"

He rose to his full height and held out his hand. A twenty-foot spear shot from the earth. He grasped it, then stomped the ground with his dragon's feet. The ruins shook. All around the courtyard, monsters started to regather—storm spirits, wolves, and Earthborn, all answering the giant king's call.

"Great," Leo muttered. "We needed more enemies."

"Hurry," Hera said.

"I know!" Leo snapped.

"Go to sleep, cage," Piper said. "Nice, sleepy cage. Yes, I'm talking to a bunch of earthen tendrils. This isn't weird at all."

Porphyrion raked his spear across the top of the ruins, destroying a chimney and spraying wood and stone across the courtyard. "Now, Son of Poseidon, I have finished my boasting. Now it's your turn. What were you saying about destroying me?"

Jason looked at the ring of monsters, waiting impatiently for their master's order to tear them to shreds. Leo's circular saw kept whirring, and Piper kept talking, but it seemed hopeless. Hera's cage was almost completely filled with earth. Percy glared at the giant standing in front of him.

He shouted, "I am the son of Poseidon," Just to intimidate the giant, he formed a tendril of water formed from the molten ice and stepped on it, then rose in the air, "Slayer of monsters, Slayer of Kronos, Bane of Minotaur." He kept rattling about several more titles that shocked the demigods and made the monsters weak at their legs.

For a moment, Porphyrion actually looked uneasy.

Percy took a breath and stated, "And now I'm going to destroy you, Porphyrion, and feed you to your own wolves."

Leo broke the tense silence and said, "Wow, dude. You been eating red meat?"

Percy launched himself at Porphyrion, determined to be the only one to walk away alive.

"You dare?" the giant bellowed.

Percy slashed at his chest and screamed, "For Annabeth!" With that, he drove his sword at the nearest target- Porphyrion's gut.

Porphyrion howled in pain and fell on his knees and held his stomach where a hole had appeared. Golden ichor started sprouting out of the hole. Ichor flooded through his mouth and he started coughing out. Percy stepped forward.

The circle of monsters let out a collective growl and moved forward—wolves and ogres fixing their eyes on Percy. Jason pointed his sword at the monsters and got in an offensive stance.

"No!" Porphyrion yelled. He regained his balance, only to stumble back to his knees, and glared at the demigod. "I will kill him myself."

Percy mocked him, "You will kill me yourself? First, you should stand up and then try."

Porphyrion growled and stood up and shouted, "You want to play with powers, boy? You forget. I am the bane of Zeus. I was created to destroy the king of Olympus, which means I know exactly what will kill you."

Something in Porphyrion's voice told Percy he wasn't bluffing.

He looked into Porphyrion's eyes and remembered every single moment he had spent with the trio. He looked at the three and noticed Jason getting overwhelmed by the forces. Piper seemed to be getting discouraged while Leo had beads of sweat on his forehead while he worked with whatever he was doing.

This was the end.

"Got it!" Leo yelled.

"Sleep!" Piper said, so forcefully, the nearest wolves fell to the ground and began snoring. The stone and wood cage crumbled. Leo had sawed through the base of the thickest tendril and apparently cut off the cage's connection to Gaea. The tendrils turned to dust.

The mud around Hera disintegrated. The goddess grew in size, glowing with power.

"Yes!" the goddess said. She threw off her black robes to reveal a white gown, her arms bedecked with golden jewelry. Her face was both terrible and beautiful, and a golden crown glowed in her long black hair. "Now I shall have my revenge!"

The giant Porphyrion backed away. He said nothing, but he gave Percy a look of hatred and said, "Poseidon will die for your mistakes child."

Then he slammed his spear against the earth, and the giant disappeared into the ground like he'd dropped down a chute. Around the courtyard, monsters began to panic and retreat, but there was no escape for them.

Hera glowed brighter. She shouted, "Cover your eyes, my heroes!"

Percy nodded and made sure the others had their eyes closed as well. He instantly felt unimaginable heat, heat like he was near the sun but multiplied by a hundred times.

Soon the heat reduced, and he opened his eyes and saw the effective after effects. Every vestige of winter was gone from the valley. No signs of battle, either. The monsters had been vaporized. The ruins had been restored to what they were before—still ruins, but with no evidence that they'd been overrun by a horde of wolves, storm spirits, and six-armed ogres. Even the Hunters had been revived.

Percy glared at the goddess and threatened, "Now where's Annabeth?"

The goddess in question looked down and said, "I am guessing Jason has probably figured it by now."

"What do you mean?"

Hera looked at Jason and watched as he figured it out and said, "They are at Camp Jupiter, right?"

Hera nodded and said, "But there are important matters to press onto."

Percy stepped forward and spat at her, "Nothing is more pressing than Annabeth. I am leaving to find her."

With that, he turned around and started walking but Hera stopped him by saying, "Percy, Annabeth and you are part of this prophecy."

Percy froze on the spot and turned to her and said, "What do you mean? We are part of the next Great Prophecy?"

Hera nodded sadly and said, "Yes. Gaea and the Giants."

Leo piped up. "Yeah," he said, "I don't suppose that Porphyrion guy just melted and died, huh?"

"No," Hera agreed. "By saving me, and saving this place, you prevented Gaea from waking. You have bought us some time. But Porphyrion has risen. He simply knew better than to stay here, especially since he has not yet regained his full power. Giants can only be killed by a combination of god and demigod, working together. Once you freed me—"

"He ran away," Jason said. "But to where?"

Hera didn't answer, but a sense of dread washed over Percy. Porphyrion had mentioned the roots of Olympians. Greece. Percy turned to Piper who nodded coming to the same conclusion.

"Percy, don't worry, I'll find Annabeth," said Thalia.

Percy, surprisingly, shook his head and said, "If I am a part of this Great Prophecy, then I won't die till the end. So, I am going to go on a search for Annabeth alone. Thalia station the hunters at Camp Half-blood. If Olympus has been closed off-"

"A mistake on my husband's part."

"-then I don't suppose Artemis is helping much," finished Percy.

Jason stated, "I'll come with you. You'll need someone with you who knows the way to Camp Jupiter."

Leo and Piper nodded while Hera just stared impassively. Another surprise as Percy shook his head. He said, "No Jason. You need to be with Leo and Piper for the same reason that you stated."

Jason looked troubled but Percy ignored him, and he turned to Thalia and said, "Thalia, take care of your brother."

Thalia smiled at him and said, "But you will always be my cousin Percy."

He gave her a small grin and turned to Hera and felt his bitter feelings come to the top. He gave her a disgusted glance and said, "Make sure you see them there safely."

"It's not your place to tell me—"

Percy interrupted, "Enough Hera. Don't talk to me about my place. I am sure that by killing Kronos, I have a much higher position than you dolts. So how about you shut up and send them back safely."

With that, Percy walked out of the house while all the occupants of the house gaped at him in awe and shock.

The goddess sighed. "Fine."

Percy looked at the woods and took a deep breath. "I am coming, Wise Girl. I am coming."

M/N: Whew, this chapter was so hard to write. I tried to keep the facts straight and right but you know how it's hard when you change several things. Anyways, enjoy people. Next Chapter will be emotional. Kinda

T/N: Hey Guys, I hope you liked the second chapter of this story. It's significantly longer than what we are planning to write for future chapters, so enjoy it while it lasts!