Hey guys! I hope you enjoy this chapter, there should actually be action next chap so I hope you guys are looking forward to that! As always please do read and review- and to the reviewer who asked; yes they do have their camp necklaces, I just don't really mention them very much.

Percy grinned widely when her gaze moved towards the direction of the sound as a band of thirty adolescent girls crossed Fifth Avenue. They wore white shirts, silvery camouflage pants, and combat boots. They all had swords at their sides, quivers on their backs, and bows at the ready. A pack of white timber wolves milled around their feet, and many of the girls had hunting falcons on their arms.

The girl in the lead was very familiar to Percy, and Annabeth and Thalia beamed widely.

"Zoe." Thalia stepped forward, "It's been too long-"

"It has." Zoe nodded, "Lady Artemis told us to come and find Persephone." her gaze focused on the daughter of Poseidon "She said to follow her orders and support the battle for Olympus as best we can."

"It's real good to see you." Percy declared, moving forward and hugging Zoe tightly before she pulled back, "So you guys can take the Lincoln tunnel for us?"

"Of course-" Zoe paused, "Is Nico-"

"He's in the Underworld, hopefully he'll be able to bring Bianca back up here soon." and Zoe's shoulders lost a tiny bit of tension.

"That is good. When she arrives would you-"

"I'll send her straight to you." Percy promised, squeezing Zoe's forearm before letting god- and Zoe turned, head held high as she called;

"Hunters, move out!" and then she was taking off at a run, down the avenue, her Hunters close behind, followed by their wolves and falcons- at least the tunnel should be well enough defended now.

"Thank the gods for Zoe," Annabeth said. "But if we don't blockade the rivers from those boats, guarding the bridges and tunnels will be pointless."

"I know." Percy nodded, "I have a plan though- kind of- the start of one." Percy let out a breath, "I just need to get there-"

"We'll be with you." Thalia stated firmly, "Right Luke?"

"Of course." Luke nodded, "I'm sticking with you Sephie. No matter what I'll be by your side."

"Good." Percy turned to look at the others, taking them all in for a moment. Gods she hoped this wasn't the last time she got to see them all together.

"You're the greatest heroes of this millennium," She needed to say something after all, they were marching off to war, "It doesn't matter how many monsters come at you. Fight bravely, and we will win." She raised Riptide and shouted, "FOR OLYMPUS!"

They shouted in response, and all of their voices echoed off the buildings of Midtown. For a moment it sounded brave, but it died quickly in the silence of ten million sleeping New Yorkers.

Then they rushed off, splitting up to go wherever they had been ordered to go, Nyssa took to the skies again quickly, Leo already in the air, starting a wide circle above them as Percy turned to face her girlfriend, Luke and Thalia- Will and the other Apollo kids were the best medics were quickly deciding where the best place would be to set up an infirmary.

"We need to get to the rivers as soon as possible. Gods this is- I mean-" Percy let out a frustrated noise, running her fingers through her hair- it hadn't grown out much, she'd kept cutting it up short, something about long hair almost made her feel uncomfortable these days.

"We can't drive." Luke muttered- and that was true enough, oh there were plenty of car to choose from- but they were all wedged in bumper-to-bumper traffic. None of the engines were running, which was weird. It seemed the drivers had had time to turn off the ignition before they got too sleepy. Or maybe Morpheus had the power to put engines to sleep as well. Most of the drivers had apparently tried to pull to the curb when they felt themselves passing out, but still the streets were too clogged to navigate in larger vehicles.

It was Annabeth who found the unconscious courier leaning against a brick wall, still straddling his red Vespa.

Percy hauled him off of the scooter, frowning "Annabeth and I will go on ahead- you two are gonna have to try and find something else-"

"We'll figure it out." Luke gave a short nod and Thalia grabbed Annabeth's shoulder, squeezing gently before the two girls got onto the Vespa, Percy in front driving and Annabeth holding onto her tightly from behind as they zigzagged down Broadway with the engine buzzing through the eerie calm. The only sounds were occasional cell phones ringing—like they were calling out to each other, as if New York had turned into a giant electronic aviary.

Even with the Vespa progress was slower than Percy would have liked- every so often they had to stop and deal with people who'd fallen asleep in front of cars, or accidents that happened due to things being left unattended- like fires. It was annoying but both of them agreed that it was important.

As they were passing Madison Square Park when Annabeth said, "Pull over."

Percy topped in the middle of East 23rd. Annabeth jumped off and ran toward the park. By the time she caught up with her, she was staring at a bronze statue on a red marble pedestal.

Percy raised an eyebrow, looking at her girlfriend before she focused on the statue. The man was sitting in a chair with his legs crossed. He wore an old-fashioned suit—Abraham Lincoln style—with a bow tie and long coattails and stuff. A bunch of bronze books were piled under his chair. He held a writing quill in one hand and a big
metal sheet of parchment in the other.

"Why do we care about . . ." Percy squinted at the name on the pedestal. "William H. Steward?"

"Seward," Annabeth corrected. "He was a New York governor. Minor demigod—son of Hebe, I think. But that's not important. It's the statue I care about."

She climbed on a park bench and examined the base of the statue.

Percy stared at her girlfriend, her eyes narrowing, "Don't tell me-"

"Turns out most of the statues in the city are automatons. Daedalus planted them here just in case he needed an army."

"To attack Olympus or defend it?" as much as Percy liked Daedalus he hadn't exactly been the most moral of people.

Annabeth shrugged. "Either one. That was plan twenty-three. He could activate one statue and it would start activating its brethren all over the city, until there was an army. It's dangerous, though. You know how unpredictable automatons are."

"Uh, yeah." Percy gave a jerky nod, "Yeah I do- I swear I still have nightmares about the defective Talos. Are we seriously-""I have Daedalus's notes," she said. "I think I can . . . Ah, here we go."

She pressed the tip of Seward's boot, and the statue stood up, its quill and paper ready.

"Oh I so don't like this. What's he gonna do Wise girl, take a memo?""Shh," Annabeth. "Hello, William."

"Bill," Percy suggested innocently.

"Bill . . . Oh, shut up," Annabeth gave her a dirty look. The statue tilted its head, looking at them with blank metal eyes.

Annabeth cleared her throat. "Hello, er, Governor Seward. Command sequence: Daedalus Twenty-three. Defend Manhattan. Begin Activation."

Seward jumped off his pedestal. He hit the ground so hard his shoes cracked the sidewalk. Then he went clanking off toward the east.

"He's probably going to wake up Confucius," Annabeth guessed.

"I hope Confucius isn't as confused as I am. What's Confucius?"

"Another statue, on Division. The point is, they'll keep waking each other up until they're all activated."

"And then?"

"Hopefully, they defend Manhattan."

"Do they know that we're not the enemy?"

"I think so."

"That's reassuring." Percy thought about all the bronze statues in the parks, plazas, and buildings of New York. There had to be hundreds, maybe thousands. Well at least they'd hopefully have a lot more allies.

Then a ball of green light exploded in the evening sky. Greek fire, somewhere over the East River.

"We have to hurry," Percy breathed out before they ran for the Vespa.

They parked outside Battery Park, at the lower tip of Manhattan where the Hudson and East Rivers came together and emptied into the bay.

Percy slipped off the scooter, taking a deep breath, "Wait here for me-"

"But Seaweed brain-" Annabeth grabbed Percy's hand as she turned to rush towards the rivers, "You shouldn't go alone."

"I'll be fine Wise girl." Percy gave a soft smile, "And since you can't breathe underwater-"

"You're so annoying sometimes-"

"Like when I outsmart you." Percy yanked Annabeth closer, pressing their lips together before she stepped back, "Remember Wise girl. I have the curse of Achilles now. I'll be fine."

"I swear if you go die because you're a dumbass I will come down to the Underworld and kick your butt-"

"Looking forward to it." Percy gave a grin before she took off, scrambling down the shoreline and wading into the water.

Percy grimaced as she stared into the water, her eyes narrowing slightly- it was disgusting- it was probably cleaner than it had been but the water in the New York Harbor was beyond filthy- it disgusted her right to her very core. It wouldn't harm her, but still. Gross.

She shook her head, pulling a face before she dove into the murk and sank to the bottom. She tried to find the spot where the two rivers' currents seemed equal—where they met to form the bay. That would probably be the best spot to get their attention after all. And to piss them off.

"HEY!" Percy yelled the words in her best underwater voice. The sound echoed in the darkness. "I heard you guys are so polluted you're embarrassed to show your
faces. Is that true?"

A cold current rippled through the bay, churning up plumes of garbage and silt. Oh she was getting somethings attention at least.

"I heard the East River is more toxic," She continued, "but the Hudson smells worse. Or is it the other way around?" she tilted her head, faux innocently.

The water shimmered. Something powerful and angry was watching her now. She could sense its presence... or maybe two presences. It was working, it had to work.

For a moment Percy was afraid that she'd miscalculated with the insults. What if they just blasted her without showing themselves? But these were New York river gods. If she knew anything about New Yorkers then Percy figured their instinct would be to get in her face.

Sure enough, two giant forms appeared in front of her. At first they were just dark brown columns of silt, denser than the water around them. Then they grew legs, arms, and scowling faces.

The creature on the left looked disturbingly like a telkhine. His face was wolfish. His body was vaguely like a seal's—sleek black with flipper hands and feet. His eyes glowed radiation green.

The dude on the right was more humanoid. He was dressed in rags and seaweed, with a chain-mail coat made of bottle caps and old plastic six-pack holders. His face was blotchy with algae, and his beard was overgrown. His deep blue eyes burned with anger.

The seal, who had to be the god of the East River, said, "Are you trying to get yourself killed, kid? Or are you just extra stupid?"

The bearded spirit of the Hudson scoffed. "You're the expert on stupid, East."

"Watch it, Hudson," East growled. "Stay on your side of the island and mind your business."

"Or what? You'll throw another garbage barge at me?"

They floated toward each other, ready to fight.

"Hold it!" Percy's voice was sharp, "In case you two haven't already noticed there are bigger problems at the moment-"

"The kid's right," East snarled. "Let's both kill her, then we'll fight each other."

"Sounds good," Hudson said.

Before Percy could protest, a thousand scraps of garbage surged off the bottom and flew straight at her from both directions: broken glass, rocks, cans, tires.

She was expecting it, though. The water in front of her thickened into a shield. The debris bounced off harmlessly. Only one piece got through—a big chunk of glass that hit her chest and probably should've killed her, but it shattered against her skin. Well, it had definitely been a good idea for her to swim in the Styx.

The two river gods stared at her.

"Oh great. Daughter of Poseidon?"

"Yes." Percy growled the word.

"Took a dip in the Styx?" Hudson asked.

"Yep."

They both made disgusted sounds.

"Well, that's perfect," East said. "Now how do we kill her?"

"We could electrocute her," Hudson mused. "If I could just find some jumper cables—"

"Listen to me!" Percy yelled. "Kronos's army is invading Manhattan.'"

"Don't you think we know that?" East asked. "I can feel his boats right now. They're almost across."

"Yep," Hudson agreed. "I got some filthy monsters crossing my waters too."

"So stop them! Drown them. Sink their boats."

"Why should we?" Hudson grumbled. "So they invade Olympus. What do we care?"

"Because I can pay you." Percy reached up to the camp necklace around her neck, lifting it up from beneath her tee, showing them both the sand dollar.

The river gods' eyes widened.

"It's mine!" East said. "Give it here, kid, and I promise none of Kronos's scum are getting across the East River."

"Forget that," Hudson said. "That sand dollar's mine, unless you want me to let all those ships cross the Hudson."

"We'll compromise." Percy broke the sand dollar in half. A ripple of clean fresh water spread out from the break, as if all the pollution in the bay were being dissolved.

"You each get half," she said. "In exchange, you keep all of Kronos's forces away from Manhattan."

"Oh, man," Hudson whimpered, reaching out for the sand dollar. "It's been so long since I was clean."

"The power of Poseidon," East River murmured. "He's a jerk, but he sure knows how to sweep pollution away."

They looked at each other, then spoke as one: "It's a deal."

Percy gave them each a sand-dollar half, which they held reverently.

"Now for your side of the deal."

East flicked his hand. "They just got sunk."

Hudson snapped his fingers. "Bunch of hellhounds just took a dive."

"Good. Stay clean you two."

As Percy rose toward the surface, East called out, "Hey, kid, any time you got a sand dollar to spend, come on back. Assuming you live."

"Curse of Achilles," Hudson snorted. "They always think that'll save them, don't they?"