Chapter 8: Escape...Almost

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, that honour goes with Rick Riordan. Neither do I own any of the characters mentioned.

Mount Orthys: Kronos' POV

"Kronos! We have them!". My brother Prometheus came into the throne room acting like we had just won the war. "Those demigods in New York, we found them. They were staying at the ruins of Mount Olympus, why we didn't check there I don't know.". I gave him the task of finding those demigods a few days ago, apparently he just found them now. He should have found them the hour I sent him, I don't know why it took him, a titan, days to find a number of weak demigods.

"What took you so long brother?"

"Did you not here me? They were staying at Mount Olympus; it is ruined but its power is still strong enough to enable its disguising magic. We can not sense anyone weaker than a god in it. One of the patrols were out and saw a small scouting party, the hell hound sent out a call warning everyone that they found demigods. They were pursued back to their base and were followed by about 50 monsters."

"Go and find Atlas, tell him to send a force to help with those monsters you sent. How many can you send to keep the vigilantes busy?"

"I can send close to 200 mixed troops; why do I have to find Atlas exactly?". His questioning was slightly infuriating. No one should be asking me why I say what I do or why I give such orders. I am the one who toppled Olympus after all, I am the one who defeated Zeus.

"Do not question me Prometheus. After all I have done you had better just do what you are told and move on with your orders. You are my brother but you are still under my command so you will do what I say without question, understand?". He stood there looking at me with a grim expression and with a nod he left the throne room to find Atlas. Atlas was the king of monsters and could summon them wherever he wanted at a whim. He will send a force that will ensure the destruction of those demigods are complete. I have no need for them to be alive anymore, the demigods we have now will do just fine.

Third Person POV

Prometheus made his way to Atlas' old prison, it sits at the top of Mount Orthys where he used to hold the sky preventing it from hitting the Earth. This is where Ares, the god of war now resides taking Atlas' old punishment as his own. The prison was a little redecorated now though, instead of a ugly mountain top which it used to be, the place where Ares was on a elevated platform, a throne sat in the middle of the room facing the god as if Atlas enjoyed watching him struggle under the burden which may very well be the case. The entire room was made of jet black obsidian stone like most of the palace but there were statues of Atlas surrounding the outside and murals of monsters attacking demigods and gods on the walls. The king of monsters was not on his throne, he was standing off to the side talking to one of his lieutenants, the gorgon Medusa getting an update. "Our numbers are swelling by the thousands every 6 hours now my lord. Soon they will be enough to beat even the undead army of Hades in battle." she told him. As soon as Atlas saw his brother he ordered the gorgon to the side and await further orders. "Ah, Prometheus, how are you brother? Still chasing demigods through the city?" he mocked Prometheus.

"Very nice to see you too Atlas. That is why I am here, our brother Kronos does not believe that I have sufficient forces to deal with the demigods. I have sent 200 monsters that I had at the ready and he still wants you to send in reinforcements."

"Very wise of him. You should never underestimate the strength of demigods now brother. They may seem weak but compared to an average monster they are quite strong. Medusa, come here.". The gorgon walked over and stood straight waiting for an order. "Where are they and how many are there Prometheus?".

"They are at the Empire State Building and there are 25 of them."

"Alright, send another 1000 monsters into Manhattan and you lead them personally to the demigod base. I want you to be there to tell me they have fallen. You may use my power to summon the troops and yourself there.". With a nod she disappeared and she along with a thousand other monsters appeared in Manhattan.

"Atlas, you summoned a thousand monsters in the busiest city in the continent. Do you know what panic you are about to cause among the mortals?".

"Not nearly as much panic as we will deliver within a week's time. They are mortals anyway, they will see something different and believe it. Now we wait for the gorgon to come with news of the demigod's death. Maybe she'll bring back the leader's head for a nice decoration…" he said with a small grin.

Empire State Building: Percy POV

If you asked me 2 weeks ago "What are you doing this summer?", I would have answered "I am going to do my best to do absolutely nothing.". I had planned on playing on my computer, maybe see my friends and go to the beach every now and then. If only that had happened. Now I have been sucked into a world full of legends, I have met gods, found out my dad is one of them and now I am about to lose my life to a bunch of mythological monsters that I didn't think existed a week ago. So not exactly what I had planned for my summer vacation. I, along with about 25 other demigods, are trapped in the lobby of the Empire State Building about to be attacked by well over 100 monsters all intent on killing every demigod here. As it is the front doors are empty and none have come in yet, we have archers on the flanks covered by kids with spears and a formation of us armed with swords in the centre to keep the monsters from flooding in. Our reserve force consisted of a total of 5 people, let's say it isn't looking good for us. There was no chance for retreat, the only way back was a elevator and that could only have 8 people so we have to stand and fight. We can only survive by turning every monster to dust.

Annabeth seemed a little shaken at the moment and for some reason I wanted to steady her, "We'll make it through this.". My tone sounded confident and she visually started to calm down.

"You seem pretty certain of this?"

"You've already beat these guys before by yourselves. Now you have some help."

"And what help would that be exactly?"

"I'm here now, we'll fight together.". I was about to make a joke about my training for a half hour will make me invincible but the explosion kind of ruined it. The monsters had waited long enough and they charged the front doors blowing them off the hinges.

A wave of dracaenae charged through the doors first, there was one set of double doors so the forces they could send through was limited and the first few that went through didn't make it 5 feet before they were brought down by a volley of arrows. That didn't faze the monsters behind though and more and more dracaenae charged in. Soon the arrows were not enough and the first monsters had reached the sword wall but they met the same fate. The skill of the demigods was too great and monster after monster fell until the first wave was destroyed and ash from a few dozen dracaenae covered the floor. Not a single demigod fell in this engagement, a few had some minor injuries but nothing that prevented them from leaving the line. Clarisse left her position which was the center of the swords line and went to talk to Annabeth. "That was nothing, just a party to test our defenses. If that was the forces they could spare as a test, then they have a lot more troops then what we thought.".

"How many are we talking about?" I asked impulsively.

"I'd say over 500, no one would send out almost 50 troops to test our defense unless they have a sizable force to send afterwards. The next attack will be much bigger and a lot stronger. I can guarantee that."

Without thinking I looked around at the demigod's formation and noticed something that was wrong. I don't know why I noticed it but I saw a weakness in the line. The swordsmen were amazingly trained but a large force will push them back and break their line with their weight. No matter how skilled they are they won't survive for a minute when they are forced to fight by themselves. "We have to change something" I told them. "There's a problem with the formation.". Annabeth looked at me with raised eyebrows and Clarisse looked like she was about to kill me.

"This was my formation, it's the best we can do with this size of force. My dad is the god of warfare which includes warfare formation and Annabeth, the daughter of the goddess of wisdom agreed with me. But if you can find a flaw in this then please point it out.". I told them my thought and it was dismissed right away. "The archers will thin out any force capable of doing that. They have quivers enchanted by Apollo so they will never run out of arrows. Any force will be thin and we can take them on no problem.".

"What if they advance with shields together on the sides? Or they keep attacking until you're too tired to fight?"

"You assume that these monsters are capable of holding a formation? You have only been here for a day, only seen monsters from a distance. You've never fought them so you wouldn't know that they are mindless. They charge in and attack anything within sight. They don't follow order's; they are blinded by their rage of all things Olympian."

"Maybe that's the problem, you've been fighting them your entire life but they haven't had a master until now. They took over your camp, no monster could do that without a strategy and commands from somewhere. My guess is that a titan is their leader, wasn't one of them called the King of Monsters or something?". That's when Annabeth's eyes turned from thoughtful to panicked.

"He's right Clarisse. That's Atlas, he was the general of all forces from the titan army. He controls all armies and he would be able to send the monsters in any formation he thinks will be the best to use. I don't know why I didn't see it earlier but Percy's right, we need to fix our troops. Have everyone retreat to the elevator, we will send up groups 5 at a time until all of us are up. You, me, Percy, Will and Connor will be the last up. Create a defensive circle around the doors. With a nod Clarisse went to reorganize the troops and send the first group up to the roof. The monsters must still be deliberating on how to attack because we were able to send the spears and 2 of the swords up before we heard a yell of rage. Cyclops had charged through the door first and these monsters were not easy to take down. We had a small semicircle of 5 swords, Clarisse and Connor forming a semi circle around the elevator doors with a few archers being protected. They fired the arrows and the cyclops seemed to be unaffected by them, if anything they got angrier. I instantly knew I was right about the formation, these monsters would have charged right through the line and the demigods would have been slaughtered in seconds but I couldn't take any praise at the moment. The cyclops eventually fell when they hit the reception desk each with 5 or 6 arrows protruding from their chest and they fell in heaps of dust.

Dracaenae were behind and they were armed with bows and they started firing at the semi circle forcing us behind our shields. Our archers were outnumbered 3-1 so they could rarely loose an arrow to try and narrow the advantage the enemy had. Surprisingly the dracaenae had failed to hit anything but a shield and the elevator came back down, the archers loaded into it and we had another half minute until it would come back, that means another minute until we can retreat into it ourselves. As the bow-armed dracaenae kept a steady stream of fire the lobby started to fill with an assortment of monsters. More dracaenae were in the ranks along with empousa and cyclops. There were also others I hadn't seen before but have been told about in class, there were Laestrygonians (giant cannibals), wolves that were twice the size of any found in a zoo and others I didn't know. There was easily 200 in the lobby and at the moment there was 10 of us. I am not a gambling man but I am pretty sure these aren't good odds. The bows had stopped firing and the monsters rushed us all at once. The shield wall was lucky that we were already against a wall or we would have been thrown to the ground. I saw one demigod have his shield ripped away and an something had taken his wrist and pulled him into the crowd. Annabeth stepped in his place and now I was the last man not fighting. I saw a demigod raise his shield to block a sword strike from an empousa but he missed the spear stroke from a Laestrygonian a few rows back and was impaled through the chest and fell to his knees. I instinctively stepped in his place and now there was 7 of us left. I had my sword in my right and a shield in my left and ready to face any monster that entered my reach.

A dracaenae had come towards me first and I dispatched it with a quick thrust from riptide. Next a cyclops had stumbled it's way forward and it being a few feet taller than me and much stronger I knew one hit would cause my death. I attacked first surprising it and lashed out with my sword causing it to backup a step and I sliced his leg closest to me making him lean over in pain and I severed his head turning him into dust, stepping back into formation I got ready for the next. A few monsters just saw how easily I destroyed that cyclops and 2 dracaenae came forward with an empousa. The dracaenae were armed with spears and the empousa had a sword. The 2 snake ladies had reach on me which was a problem but the empousa was my biggest worry as I knew she was a more skilled fighter. I blocked each thrust the empousa did with my shield and I knew how to get kill them finally. The next thrust I turned my body and dropped my shield at the same time grabbing the spear shaft and pulling the demon towards me slicing my sword across her chest killing her and turning to the other two. I impaled the other dracaenae with the spear but she fell with it still in her so I quickly retrieved my shield from my feet. Then the weirdest thing happened, the empousa didn't attack but started talking to me. "You should just drop your shield young demigod; you know you would like it much better if I killed you. Just drop your weapons and come here.". Was she kidding? Yes, I would love to go to you unarmed and open for any attack, best idea I've heard all day. Not. But as I looked to my side I noticed the person beside me start walking towards her with his arms at his side still holding his weapons though and that's when I realized what happened. Empousa had power in their words and she was persuading him to do what she says. I pulled him back quickly keeping an eye on any possible threats and noticed it was Connor Stoll.

"Connor, snap out of it! She's tricking you!" and with a shake he came to his senses and stepped forward but this time with a snarl on his face and his weapons ready. Before she could say another word Connor had cut off one of her arms causing her to scream then cleaved off her head with a single blow. Note to self, demigods did not like to be controlled. The monsters slowly disengaged as if they had been ordered to and as I looked at our small semicircle I noticed there was 6 of us, one more demigod had fallen in the time that I stepped up to the fight. A figure stepped from the crowd and I couldn't quite make out what it was because of the hood it was wearing but it was clearly in charge of the monsters. Maybe if I killed her the others would retreat…Another demigod must have had the same thought and charged. Right before he swung his sword it took off his hood and his body froze and looked like it was turned to stone. I could only see his back and couldn't see the monster but immediately knew what it was, Medusa had come to attack us. I shielded my eyes knowing the myth, her gaze could turn people to stone and this was obviously true looking at the frozen demigod. The others did that also but we could still hear her. "So this is the best that you Olympian children could do? Please, we've only sent a fifth of our force and we have you running back like a bunch of rats. Now who's in charge here? Surely you will listen to reason.". She stopped talking and I realized she was waiting for one of us to step forward. Before Clarisse or Annabeth could I decided that I would, those two were far more important to the rest of the demigods than I was.

"Here I am Medusa. My name is Percy Jackson and I have commanded these demigods since Olympus has fallen."

I couldn't see her face as my shield was covering my eyes but her voice sounded amused. "And why don't you show me those eyes young Jackson. Surely a warrior like you who commanded these brave mortals isn't afraid of a simple monster like me! But if you won't look, I suppose I'll just kill you when you're blind.". I heard a sword being unsheathed and could hear her footsteps towards me. "Percy, just fall back to the elevator! It's here!" I heard Annabeth scream but I knew that if I fell back the monsters would charge and everyone would be slaughtered. I barely know these people but I knew that they were worth fighting until the end for. I stood my ground and waited for her to approach.

"So you would sacrifice yourself for the others to leave would you? How noble, I'll kill you quickly then we'll deal with the others.". With that she started her attack.

I'm not a master at sword to sword fighting but I know it's not the smartest thing to scream whenever you swing your sword. Luckily Medusa wasn't that good either and she did exactly that and because of it I was able to blow her first few strokes with my shield. She kept swinging and every time I could feel where she was going to strike so I put my shield their trusting my instincts and it was working but I knew it couldn't last forever. She landed blow after blow on my shield but finally she got past my guard and felt something like a hot knife being sliced across my bicep. It wasn't a crippling blow and I could still use my arm but it hurt, a lot. I looked down at it to see how bad it was and it was okay, just needed a bandage but I noticed something else. It was my shield had that was hit and I saw the back of my shield when I looked down and noticed that it was polished and reflective. I remember how she had been killed before, the warrior had used the reflection to see her and fought her that way. I finally had a strategy. I turned around and walked a few steps to the elevator trying to trick her and she fell for it. "Where do you think you're going Percy? Leaving so soon?". I saw her in my shield and swung around with me eyes shut and swung my sword to where I knew where she would be. I kept my shield raised to block her strike and lowered my sword to strike her thigh. I felt a satisfying thud meaning I hit my mark and pulled back in a crouch with my back to her seeing her again in the reflection. She looked dumbstruck as to how her thigh had been cut open and she looked at me with surprise. "Why you little." And she took a step towards me but I quickly backed up until I was a mere 2 meters away and swung around with my shield out and hit her in the temple with it then followed with a sword strike and felt a shudder through my arm when it hit. There was a short scream and I felt her body squirm for an instant then I felt nothing. I opened my eyes and saw a pile of dust at my feet. The crowd of monsters backed up a step not wanting to face me and I took that time to run to the elevator the others held open for me. They just stared at me as I hit the 500th floor and the doors closed just as the monsters charged again. The others didn't say anything until we got to the roof out of the elevator.

"How on Earth did you do that!" Annabeth and Clarisse shouted at me simultaneously, Annabeth out of shock and Clarisse out of irritation.

"Do what? Fight her? I kind of just did what I thought would work best."

Clarisse spoke first before Annabeth could get a word out. "No one has beaten a gorgon since the original Perseus did millennia ago. I'm pretty sure you did it even faster though, I have never seen a newly trained fighter move like you. You act as if you've been yielding a sword for years, like you were born with it.". Her tone sounded slightly accusing as if I'm holding out on something yet I feel like they are missing the bigger picture.

"Alright, I have no idea how I did it but there's a problem here. A horde of monsters is downstairs, there's only one way up and down and we are trapped up here. What do we do?".

Annabeth stepped forward to speak, "Percy is right, the enemy won't be able to come up here with a large force, a could at a time max so a minimum of 10 troops need to keep watch at all times until we know we can leave. We'll set up a barricade out of what ever we can use and go on from there. Percy, can I see you for a second?". I had no idea what she wanted to talk about but after she arranged the watches we went back into her room. "Why did you do that?"

"Do what? Fight her?"

"You stepped up when she asked for the leader yet you have only been here for a day. Do you really think that you have already taken over this camp?". This astounded me, here I was trying to save her life but all I get in return is an accusation? I didn't need this.

"Now hold on a minute, that isn't what I meant. You are far too important to these kids to lose. If you lost to Medusa, which you would have, the others would have been beat. There is no question about it yet I only the other hand, barely know anyone. If I lost then you could escape up here, it was to save your butt, not to show I own these kids." I could tell that she instantly regretted what she had said.

"But honestly, how did you defeat Medusa, she is, was sorry, one of the strongest monsters in Tartarus, definitely one of Atlas' top lieutenants."

"Like I said earlier, I have no idea. I just fought on my instincts and it worked."

"ANNABETH, THE ELEVATOR IS COMING!" we heard from outside and we both rushed to the elevator and sure enough the doors were opening on the ground floor.

"Archers, to the sides, spears in front and swords behind as reserve. Hit them in the flanks and get rid of these beasts as quickly as possible." Annabeth ordered them. I admired how she acted under pressure, she never seemed fazed when others needed her. It seemed as if she knew the others were leaning on her and she had to be strong, it was admirable yet most likely very taxing. I couldn't think on this for long because the elevator door dinged and apparently the monsters are not the brightest without a gorgon leading them. 4 dracaenae left the doors and evaporated instantly by arrow fire. They didn't get a foot outside the doors. Like the attack downstairs though, they weren't going to give up after the first assault. The elevator was constantly going up and down bringing monsters to the roof but every time the doors opened a volley of arrows came through the doors and turned the creatures to dust. Every 30 seconds or so a few more monsters were sent Tartarus. After a few minutes of this the elevator finally stopped and we were able to relax. The archers put down their bows and they all looked exhausted from firing their bows non-stop ever since the first wave broke through the doors downstairs. The kids who were in reserve went to the elevator doors and retrieved all the weapons that the monsters had left when they were brought down, the demigod arsenal just about doubled in spears and swords thanks to the attack. We left 5 demigods, 3 archers and 2 kids armed with either a spear or sword to stay guard and everyone else was told to go and rest. Annabeth, Clarisse, Will and I all went back to the only room on the roof.

"Will, did you get the casualty report?" Annabeth asked.

"We lost 5 when we were retreating to the elevator. 1 was from Ares, 2 were from Hephaestus, 1 was from Hermes and the last was from my cabin, Apollo.". Everyone looked devastated from this but I think I took the news the worst. They were all used to losing friends now, in the past week they lost an entire camp's worth but this was new to me. My knees gave out and it was lucky I was in front of the couch or I would have hit the floor. I ended up sitting on it and tears were streaming from my eyes.

"It's all my fault!" I managed to get out. "It was me who told everyone to go back to the elevator. I am so sorry, it's my fault.". I couldn't say anything else, the feeling of horror and realization that it was my idea that killed them overwhelmed me.

"Percy, if you hadn't realized that our line was too thin then one of two things would have happened, we would either be done there fighting still with greater casualties or we would all be dead. You saved us from total annihilation back there and we all owe you our lives. Yes, we did lose friends, and we will mourn them but not now. Now we need to make sure that they didn't sacrifice their lives in vain. We need to make sure that those beasts downstairs don't take any more of us.". Annabeth's words calmed me down a little but I still couldn't shake the feeling that it was my fault. She was right about one thing though, we couldn't think about them now, that had to wait. Right now we had hundreds of monsters all waiting for a good moment to attack and wipe us out. We had to think of a plan.

"Clarisse, how many do we have left?"

"We have 21 including us left. The numbers aren't the problem though, it's where we are. There's only one way up and one way down, the elevator. They can't come up without being killed and we can't come down for the same reason. At the moment we're at a stalemate. We don't need to worry about titans because Olympus' magic still prevents them from teleporting in, they have to come in this way and they won't bother to go through all that just for us. Our real problem is food and water, we have been scavenging for a while and have next to nothing. A day's worth is possible if we ration." Clarisse answered Annabeth's question.

"Alright, we have 21 against several hundred. We can't go down so we have to wait it out for as long as possible. Is that the longest we can stretch out the food and water?". Clarisse nodded her head and Annabeth didn't look like she was happy with that answer. "Alright, so we have a day to think of a plan. Does anyone have any suggestions?"

No one spoke up but something popped in my head. If we wait here then we'll be tired and hungry, the monsters will be waiting. There isn't any plan anyone could make unless someone can make food and water appear out of thin air so there was only one thing we could do. Fight. They weren't going to come to us so we would have to bring it to them. "We have to fight them downstairs." I said out loud. The looks everyone gave me were priceless. They ranged from surprise to confusion to outrage, I almost laughed at how everyone looked.

"Are you serious?" Will finally spoke up.

"Think about it, we will be in no condition to fight in a day. We have one way to escape and it's through a horde of monsters. If we wait a day then they will be expecting us, if we charge as soon as possible maybe we can take them by surprise. I'm not saying we kill every monster out there but get outside and try to get away. We split up so we won't be as easy to track and meet together somewhere and make a new base.". It seemed a good idea to me anyway,

"It's not that simple Percy" Annabeth said. "The reason we chose Olympus in the first place is because of the magic border around it. The power kept the titans from knowing where we were, any large group of demigods can put up a huge presence that any powerful entity can sense. If we all escaped and met up somewhere they would know where we are instantly."

"So we don't all meet; we lay low until we can put up a fight. The gods are still free remember, some of them anyway. Once they get enough strength they will start their attack to free the other gods and we come out of hiding at the same time."

"And where do you think everyone will go Percy? Our camp was destroyed, Mount Olympus is in rubble, we have nowhere to go. This was our last fall back."

"I don't know okay, I just know that this is our only chance. If we wait for tomorrow then we will all die, this is the only way to survive. I recommend that everyone gets some rest, we leave a guard up and everyone else gets some sleep. Now if anyone has another idea then please speak up, I'd love to be wrong.". Honestly I did, if anyone else had another idea I would love to side with them. I hated my plan but it was the only that didn't end up in us dying. When no one spoke up I got worried that we were actually going to go through with it until Annabeth spoke.

"He's right, you three go and tell all the campers. I've got to get rid of these papers." As she nodded to the desk. I was about to leave with the others when I remembered something. Something very important.

"Actually, Annabeth, can I talk to you for a second?". She nodded her head and continued on cleaning the desk off and the others left to tell the demigods of our plan. "I forgot something the gods told me until now. It's something important."

"Well what is it? Unless it can get us out of this situation I don't really care."

"The gods told me to tell you something, there was another camp Annabeth." With this news she stopped her work and froze.

"Another camp?"

"It's kind of like Camp Half-Blood they said. It's called Camp Jupiter but instead of Greek it's -"

"Roman" she said before me. "That was supposed to be a myth. Only a few of us had ever heard about it and that's only if we research about our history for a long, long time."

"They said you didn't know about it though; you weren't supposed to know about each other. They said something about civil wars and bloodshed whenever you met."

"I don't know but I knew there was another group of demigods out there. I'm a child of Athena so I like to research information and I was reading the records of past campers and noticed that there was a huge decline in the camp in the 1860's. I researched it more in the camps records and found that there was nothing on that time period. It was just erased from anything I could find it seemed so I read papers that were based on the following years and they talked of battles. They didn't say where or what for but the enemy was referred to as 'them'. I did more research about random battles that our camp had been in and it's happened several times and always spanned a few years, the enemy was always termed 'them'. I finally found a record that was hudreds of years old that talked about another Camp but I dismissed it. It didn't say anything else other than it was another demigod camp and I figured we would know about it so I figured it was false but apparently it wasn't. Did the gods say why we never found out about each other?"

"I already told you, whenever the two camps meet there is a civil war. Their kids fight each other until their numbers are critically low so the Olympians decided that it would be better if they never found out about each other. That must be why they erased the records."

"What does this have to do with our fight though?"

"The Gods told me that the camp was also over run but that a few demigods had escaped. They are supposedly the strongest in their camp and they said we were supposed to meet up with them. They didn't say where or when, just that we were supposed to."

"Well that's nice to know and if we survive today then maybe we'll try to group with them but until then go and get some rest. Your plan so you'll be in the first group, get ready.". It was obvious that she wanted me gone so I left and found Will and asked where I could sleep. He showed me where one of the fallen campers had been staying and told me I could use it. I said thank you and tried to fall asleep. It usually took me a little while to crash but I did it instantly and I instantly regret it.

Normally I dream about random things, maybe a day in class, maybe a nightmare where I fall to my death but this was different. I was on Delos island again but there was no one in sight. I walked around the island looking for the Olympians but more importantly, my mom. When I reached the amphitheater I finally found someone, I couldn't figure it out who it was but it was definitely not mom. I walk down the stairs and found that the man sitting facing away from me was Poseidon. "Thank you for coming Percy." He said without turning around.

"You make it sound like it was my choice. I went to sleep and here I am, it's not like I wanted to come here. Ever since you sent me to Manhattan all that's happened is I've been chased by monsters, they attacked the demigod base and they took over all but the roof of it. Being back here wasn't exactly on my top 10 list to do."

"I'm sorry about that Percy, I had no idea that the monsters would find you and attack so quick. The titan Atlas sent the gorgon Medusa and a thousand troops to lay siege to you today. I know that you have sent 300 back to Tartarus including Medusa. Good job by the way, that was some amazing sword work. And you were right, your forces would have been destroyed if you didn't retreat up the elevator and this plan is the only way to survive."

"Wait, you were watching us!". All of a sudden a feeling of hate flowed through my body. The gods watched as we fought for our lives. 5 kids lost their lives and all the Olympians did was sit their and watch! "We were about to be slaughtered and you just sat there! If you came we could have destroyed the entire force but no, apparently we aren't good enough for you all mighty gods!"

As I said that his face looked like he had been punched in the gut. He looked pained that I'd say something like that. "What did you want us to do Percy? Did you want us to come and help fight them? I have told you that we can't, if we did then the titans would have come. Not one or two but all of them and they wouldn't have spared you. They would have captured us, killed you and then they would only have the underworld left to take over. We couldn't Percy but trust us, we wanted to. We had to hold back Apollo when he saw his son die, he was about to go there and avenge him but we couldn't allow it!". Hos tone showed that he was on the verge of tears and my anger subsided, he was being honest and I know all the Olympians felt like this.

"Where is everyone else Poseidon?" I asked changing the subject.

"They're here but you can't see them. Remember Percy, it's just a dream, you are the one who isn't really here."

"Why did you bring me here then?"

"I have something to tell you. When you go downstairs you won't be alone. The others I told you about are there already. Hera has been giving their leader directions in his sleep and they travelled a lot faster than we anticipated. They will fight beside you but you have to get away Percy. Even with them though you will not have the numbers to take on 900 monsters. Fight till the doors and take the subway, you will have to split up into different groups and take different trains. Annabeth was right when she said the titans would sense a large group of demigods. You have to go now Percy but know that I'm proud of you. You have succeeded all my expectations. You will be strong Percy and the more you use riptide the faster you'll reach there. The sword still has some of the skill that the previous owner had and it will help you greatly. Remember to trust your instincts and please Percy, don't give up on us."

I woke up with a start and say Annabeth over me just about to shake me awake. "It's time Percy, we have the group you'll go with. Do you have a plan for where everyone will go yet?"

"I do actually, get everyone together and I'll tell them."

She got all the demigods together and I stood on a makeshift platform (the couch from Annabeth's office) and told them my plan. "Now listen, we have to be quick about this. Don't ask how I know any of this but just listen. When we go downstairs there is going to be some help but we have to hurry, they won't last long by themselves. When we get outside we need to go to the subway and we need to take separate trains and split up in groups okay? Go with people you trust, groups of 3 only. Go to a place where you think is safe and we will find you when we know it is safe to come out of hiding. Good luck everyone, I will lead the first group out the elevator and we will clear as much room as we can for the next groups. Let's go."

I walked to the elevator and kids from the group followed me, I turned and saw who would join me. There was Will who I found out was the best archer here, two kids from Ares and one from Athena. 5 of us against 900, let's go have some fun. I looked at them and nodded my head, the rest of the campers were going down in groups of 8 so we had to last for just a minute and then everyone would be down and we can leave. "Alright, let's go.". I let everyone go in first so I was the last to get in, I would be the first to get out. I pressed the ground floor button and we felt the elevator lurch to the lobby. Everyone tensed and got ready for battle. Then the doors opened.

I charged out of the lobby first and thankfully no monsters had noticed the elevator coming down or I would have been dead within a second. As it was, none of the creatures were watching the elevator and the majority had their back turned, for what I do not know. I ran towards the nearest monster though, a dracaenae and sliced through her neck disintegrating her. I looked to the side and noticed that the other 4 demigods had the same luck, we all got out of the elevator without a fight and managed to take out at least one enemy. I was about to slice through an empousa but they heard me, or smelled me or whatever, they noticed me first. The beast was able to parry my sword strike and yell to the others "THEY'RE HERE". The closest to us turned around and I noticed that we were all of a sudden hopelessly outnumbered. About 20 seconds had passed so we should have reinforcements at any time. We charged the horde of monsters which in retrospect was maybe not the best idea but it stopped them from blocking the elevator. Will stayed behind armed with his bow and his aim brought down more monsters than I can count. He shot every monster he aimed at with a clean arrow between the eyes and sent them to Tartarus but even with his archery, the Ares kid's swords skill and the rest our talents combined, we were already being pushed back.

I heard the doors open behind us and heard Clarisse yell "CHARGE". Instantly our numbers were doubled and the crowd in front of us was pushed back a few feet from the small charge. I looked to my side and saw that Clarisse was there unrivalled in skill by any monster in this army. Every thrust she gave, every slash and jab vaporized another monster. She easily defeated 12 of the enemy before the elevator doors opened giving us more troops but something was off. The enemy were several hundred strong so they should have been able to push us back no problem. "Someone take my place!" I yelled to someone in reserve. When I felt someone touch my back I backed up to let them take my place and noticed it was Annabeth. "What now Percy? How do we get out of here?" she yelled behind.

"I'm working on it!" I yelled back.

I looked at the force we were holding against and saw that there wasn't nearly as many as what we saw before. The room wasn't full and there was only about 100-150 monsters here, where are all of them? There was easily 300 when they forced us upstairs and there's no way we killed almost 200 already. Wait, the other demigods were supposed to be here…that can't be, they wouldn't send that many for 3 kids. "We have to push now! Everyone, push forwards!" I yelled to everyone. With a collective yell they started attacking harder and faster taking down monsters left and right. Their training proved to be too much and not a single hole in the line opened as none of our side fell. We pushed them back to past the reception desk and I had an idea. "Archers, get on the desk and use it to hit any target you see. Aim for the empousa first and any larger targets." The 6 kids armed with bows ran forward Soon the horde of monsters had trained fighters taking them down in the front and had a rain of arrows falling on the heads turning any cyclops and Laestrygonian into dust effectively wiping out all of the enemy's stronger forces. I told the archers to not let up and went to rejoin the line. I was about to go back to where I was and take Annabeth off but I realized what her and Clarisse had done when I was gone. There weren't any monsters in front of them, they seemed to avoid them and I saw why. As they advanced they walked over a fine layer of dust covering the floor which could only mean that they had killed a lot of monsters. Easily 10 each. I figured they didn't really need my help so I went down the line looking for any weak points in our line. I recognized that there was one small point where I think a daughter of Demeter and a son of Hermes were starting to get pushed back. They were fighting a formation of dracaenae and there was no way they could beat this number of enemies by them selves. There was easily 15 of them and I knew that if they broke through the line here then it would be like a floodgate. The monsters would turn and attack us on both sides and that would be it, there was no coming back from that. The two demigods were starting to be pushed back when I ran in. I jumped into the shield wall which may not have been the smartest idea but it took their attention off the two and solely on me. Luckily since they were in a tight formation it limited their attacks so I quickly backed out of range. "Anyone have any plans how to take these down?" I asked the others.

"You think if we knew how then they'd still be standing?" the Demeter girl answered.

"Alright, on my say so charge, break their wall and take out as many as you can.". Now I know it lacked any planning but there wasn't a whole lot we could do.

"That has to be the worst idea possible. We'll just bounce off the wall and they'll kill us." The guy said. He had a point but there was always a chance we'll die this fight so why not.

"1, 2, NOW!" I yelled and I ran forwards with the other two behind me. I ran straight for the middle and ran straight at the small space between two shields and miraculously still landed on me feet. I blindly slashed to my left and right and the charge must have taken them by surprise because both monsters turned to dust. Both of the demigods managed to do the same and effectively the shield wall was destroyed by half. The remaining 6 instinctively backed up not wanting to share the same fate but I wasn't letting them escape. I swung at the closest one but they got their shield up first. I pushed into their shield with mine throwing them off balance and thrust with my sword feeling it hit home in the monster's chest sending it to Tartarus. The others had the same idea and soon the dracaenae were all dust.

I backed up from the fight to take stock and noticed that we were almost ¾ across the lobby with no losses. The archers were causing the monsters to stay covered behind their shields disabling them from helping out the other being decimated in the front. So far we haven't faltered once and there was just about 50 monsters between us and the door. I went back to Annabeth and Clarisse and told them what was going on. "We've almost broke free. The archers are keeping the reinforcements from breaking through, the only thing is that they have clogged the doorway so we need to take that out."

"Alright, we 3 will go and take out that defense, how far away are we?" Annabeth asked.

"Only about 10 meters away. There's a few monsters in our way but there's at least 20 in the door. About half of their force here."

"Alright, let's go." We advanced and any monster that came our way was turned to dust within a second. We made it to the door and I noticed that there were fewer monsters than what I saw earlier and immediately knew why. We saw a volley of arrows fly through the air and a empousa ended up with a arrow in its chest and one in the head. Two others turned to dust before we got there, about 10 were left. We fanned out so that we covered any attempt for them to flank us and without a word we all charged forward. I raised riptide and sliced down to a dracaenae. She threw up her arm in a feeble attempt to block the blow but riptide sliced through it and buried itself in her shoulder turning her to dust immediately. I looked to the side and saw that I was already behind, Clarisse and Annabeth had already taken out 2 each. I thrusted at a cyclops leg hitting home and bringing it to its knees and decapitated it with the back swing. Any open monster flesh I would thrust home or if there was none I would hit riptide against the shields and swords to open up any weaknesses. Soon there was only a single empousa left and she was brought down by 3 thrusts by each of us into her chest and sides. "Clarisse, you hold the door and make sure that no one gets in." Annabeth told her as we jogged back o the others still fighting. We took out any monsters that were still fighting individually with the demigods and dispatched them with quick thrusts to their backs. Unbelievably we had taken the lobby without any casualties. "Clarisse, how does it look outside?".

"I see them all alright but they don't know we're here, they seem focused on something else."

"It's the others! We have to go now!" I yelled as I charged out the door. I'm not sure what I expected to do against about 600 monsters but I had to help. These demigods travelled across the country to help us, I wasn't going to let them die. The crowd in front of us hadn't realized that we had broken through the force they left in the lobby and we caught them unaware in the back. I cut off the leg of a hell hound that was directly in front of me and the kid next me, Connor from Hermes finished it off with a thrust to the neck. We got about a few seconds before the monsters turned and realized that we had escaped the building but it was already too late for those directly in the back. With adrenaline pumping through our veins we hacked and slashed through dozens of monsters as a unit and the archers kept up their fire taking out the harpies flying around above. At any monster I saw, whether it was a snake demon or a vampire, I turned them to dust. Soon we had them reeling backwards even though their numbers still heavily outnumbered us but they had no where to go. The majority of them were still focused on the demigods that came to our aid, if we didn't find a way to them soon then they would be destroyed. It's surprising they haven't fallen yet; they've been fighting for a while now for so few people. I was about to back away and try to find a way around when I heard a yell a few people down to my left. I instantly backed away and ran to who was hurt, it was Annabeth. A dracaenae was standing above her with her spear pointed to her chest about to thrust. I threw my sword not expecting it to kill her but it distracted her long enough to get to her and tackle her off of Annabeth. I got riptide back and dispatched the monster. I pulled Annabeth away to keep her from anything else reaching her and checked to see what was wrong.

"What happened?"

"That snake lady got me in my thigh with her spear when I was taking out a Laestrygonian. How bad is it?". I saw blood slowly seeping through her pants, I'm not a doctor but that can't be a good sign.

"I see a fair bit of blood, what do I do? I haven't done this before!" I asked. I'm starting to feel panicked because I have never been good around blood. Usually by this time I'm fainting but this time is different. I was more worried about her than passing out which is not a normal feeling.

"Go and get Will, he'll fix it up. You go back and make sure we keep pushing.". I nod and run to go get Will. Once I tell him what to do I go back to the line looking for any weak spots. Everything seems to be fine so I join in beside Clarisse. Her armour is coated with a thick look of dust and a red aura is covering her, I think I read about this happening to some warriors and it's called the 'blessing or Ares'. She was an unstoppable killing machine. In the few moments I watched her she and sliced a dracaenae in half, decapitated an empousa and dismembered a cyclops. Now I understand why none of the monsters are approaching her, she looked like she would kill any enemy in her way whether it was a monster or titan. Nothing could stop her, nothing at all. I backed away deciding that she didn't really need my help and went to the far left of our line and noticed how much progress we had made. There couldn't be more than 350 monsters left between us and the others. Not sure how but we had killed well over 200 of the enemies. To be fair we probably killed 100 in the charge and Clarisse has probably killed 100 on her own but still. That's when I saw lightening up ahead and witnessed well over 3 dozen monsters of all kinds being turned into dust. The entire front line wavered and I noticed why the others were still alive, they were boxed in a small store it seemed holding the front door. They weren't fighting in the open like I imagined. Regardless, they were obviously well trained and skilled yet we needed to find a way to them and we can only keep up this attack for so long until they push us back with their numbers. I remember all the papers and maps Annabeth had on her desk and a idea is coming to me. I run over to her and see Will standing up and helping her to her feet, the blood on her pant leg has stopped spreading which is a good sign. "Hey Annabeth, I found the others. They're holed up in the store right there, is there another way into it other than the front entrance?"

"Um yeah," her voice sounded slightly strained, she was still in pain from her wound, "there's a roof access. The ladder to get up is in the back, why?"

"I have a plan how to get us out of here. We can't win this fight no matter the progress we've made if we keep on going ahead like this, there's too many. We've stopped pushing and soon we'll be pushed back ourselves. Just when you get my signal fall back and pretend to retreat, try and divide their forces. You decide when you turn and attack again."

"What's the signal going to be?". I could tell she was in a fair bit of pain because she didn't tell me to do anything stupid but rather what the signal was.

"You'll know it when you see it." And with that I ran to the right side of our line and looked for an alleyway I could go into. The battle line was across the street, sidewalk to sidewalk and the store that the demigods were held up in was on the right side. I ran through the alleyway and took the closest left and took an alley that went parallel to the street. I ran forward trying to look for any monsters, the store was only a block away but the enemies surely had to think of attacking them in all entrances possible yet it didn't seem that way quite yet. I ran past an alley that ran to the street and heard a shout so I turned and saw a hell hound with a few dracaenae in it, most likely covering the alley from any attempt of attacking their flank. I stopped behind the corner to take them out before I got to the store, I didn't need to be chased and give the enemy another way to attack when we are already close to being wiped out. I waited until I heard the hell hound's paws hit the pavement right before the corner and blindly swung my sword where I though it would come out and sliced riptide straight through his skull. The sudden attack made the dracaenae stop and falter which ended up being their mistake. I quickly sent them to Tartarus and moved back before any other monsters saw me. I finally reached the back of the store, at least I think it's the right store and find the ladder beside a dumpster which smelled kind of like Gabe used to after a few drinks.

I climbed the ladder and was not expecting what happened next. Someone grabbed the collar of my shirt when I was about to reach the top and pulled me up the ladder and threw to me the ground. Next thing I know there's a guy above me who was built like a rhino, guessing he was the one who pulled me over. There was a girl beside him armed with a bow which was pointed in my direction. "Who are you and what are you doing?" the guy asked me.

"My name's Percy Jackson, I'm from the group of demigods that was in the Empire State Building. We're attacking the monsters from behind but we're about to be pushed back and if that happens none of us will live. I have a plan but I need to talk to whoever made that lightening earlier.". They both seemed dumbfounded at what I just said as if they didn't believe that I'm a demigod. "I can prove it to you later but right now we have to save the others. Where is the lightening guy?".

"Come on Frank, I think he's telling the truth. Let's bring him down to Jason and see what he says."

"If you think it's a good idea then okay, I'll take him downstairs, he wants you to stay up here and keep up the fire. I'll keep an eye on him." The big guy said. He offered my hand and helped me up which was quite the change from his earlier questions. "So you're Percy huh? Jason will want to talk to you."

"Wait, you know who I am? How?"

"He'll explain it when you talk to him.". Both of them seemed really relaxed and calm considering they just travelled across the country and are now fighting for their lives. But right now I needed to hurry, my friends didn't have much time left. A few minutes at the most. He leads me downstairs and we go through a door that lead into what seemed to be a grocery store. It must have been out of business because the shelves were all empty and the windows at the front of the store were boarded up. In the door was a kid about my age, maybe a year older but what was most surprising is how well he did in combat. Looking where he was he was standing on easily 2 inches of monster dust meaning that dozens of monsters had fallen where he stood. We came closer to him and Frank took out his sword and I followed his lead taking riptide out of my pocket and turning it into the sword. Frank eyed me warily as he saw what my sword did but didn't say anything of it and kept on walking towards the door. "Jason, we have a visitor for you." Frank said. Jason was a bit preoccupied at the moment facing two cyclops at the same time. When one swung his club towards his head he easily ducked it and blocked the spear shaft with his large Roman shield that was thrust at him from the other. The curve of the shield made the spear go to the side and Jason stepped forward and sliced a line across the cyclops chest while the other was regaining his balance from his attack. With his partner turned to dust the other backed up warily and at the moment he was unengaged.

"Frank, come take my place.". With a nod Frank stepped forward and Jason backed up, now Frank was guarding the door with his sword and shield. Jason stepped towards me, "Percy right? Let's go sit." And he walked to the register and sat on the counter. How on Earth did he know my name, how did anyone of these guys know my name.

"So you're Jason then, how exactly do you know my name?"

"We've been having visits from Juno ever since we left Camp Jupiter. She told us to go here and expect a battle and meet a young hero named Percy Jackson. Wince you came to us I assume it was you and by the way, we weren't quite expecting the battle to be an entire army. What exactly happened here?"

"I promise I'll explain everything but right now we have to help my friends. They won't last long but I have a plan to get us all out of here.". I told him my plan and he looked at me like I was an idiot but nodded his head.

"I don't know if it will work, your friends might get hurt also but then again, it might work. We have to go to the roof.". I followed him up and we went to the side of the roof where we could see the enemy army and a block away a thin line of demigods fighting for their lives. I noticed that the line was thinner than when I left which meant that more of the group had fallen.

"We have to do it now! They're about to be over run!"

"Jess, back up okay?", she stopped firing her bow and did as she was told. Jason walked up to the edge of the building and raised his sword and yelled "I, JASON GRACE, PRAETOR OF THE TWELFTH LEGION, SLAYER OF MONSTERS AND SON OF JUPITER CALL UPON THE POWERS OF MY FATHER TO DESTROY ANY MONSTER WHO OPPOSES ROME!", right before I was about to tell him that the gods couldn't help, he flicked his sword in the air and it transformed into what looked like a spear but instead of a tip, it had a statue of an eagle on it. He raised the banner and yelled into the sky and a bolt of lightening came down struck the spear and he thrust it towards the back of the enemy's army. I looked in awe as I saw dozens of monsters evaporate from electricity and soon my friends were standing by them selves, any monster in a 10-meter radius had been vaporized. I saw Annabeth turn and yell something and they all retreated in different directions scattering like I told them to, hopefully trying to reach different subway stations. Jess quickly ran forward and I wondered why until I saw Jason start to fall of the roof, it seemed like he almost passed out and had no energy left in him. She quickly grabbed his arm but his momentum was going to bring them both over if I didn't help so I ran forward and grabbed her arm puling them both so we all landed on our backs on the roof. All of a sudden I heard and explosion downstairs and that never means something good happens. We all looked at each other and I knew that Jason couldn't go anywhere by himself so I did the only thing I could think of. "Jess, you stay here and make sure he's okay, I'll go see what happened." I ran down the stairs and I was stopped in my tracks. The explosion definitely wasn't good, not at all.

This is by far the longest chapter I've written and hopefully won't be the last one that's over 10000 words. I hope you guys like story so far, I'm trying to figure out a way to bring in Piper and Leo and everyone but am struggling for ideas. If anyone has an idea, then put it in the reviews or pm me! If you have any ideas in general, then feel free to do the same! Thanks for reading!

-Alternatewriter