Ok important POV update- Frank chapters are now only every other Argo II POV round after Nico. So no Frank this time, he will star on chapter… 35 :0.

Enjoy!

XXVII

Nico

Nico wanted to shout at Leo, to smash his sword against his head, maybe to clear it up a little, but it was too late. The mortals fired into the vulnerable flank of the fleet, and he yelled at everyone to duck and cover as the mortal fleet's projectiles began wreaking havoc throughout the demigods.

Although the response was quick, the initial blast had caught them off guard, and the mortals managed to get off a second volley before the ship crews managed to respond to the high pitched alarm and reach RECON Bravo (DEFCON 2) positions and shields activated.

Shields?

Well, yeah. They weren't exactly like plasma spheres that could block nuke blasts like you see in Halo and Mass Effect, but they did a good job of keeping smaller projectiles out and reduced the damage of larger ones by slowing it down. They were invisible too, so that helped.

RECON Bravo ordered to fire only when fired upon, which they had, so demigods unloaded into the mortals, unleashing a wave of hurt.

"Leo!" Nico ran to the helm, sliding under as a projectile soared overhead (Cuz Nico is just awesome that way) and reached him. "How could you forget?" He screamed. Nico glanced at the rest of the crew. Piper and Hazel, unable to do much, were under, waiting things out while Frank and Coach Hedge worked a ballista. Jason was trapped underneath some rubble, but he looked OK.

Leo was madly clicking attack orders and stuff. "I just forgot!"

Nico took in a deep breath. Calm down, he told himself. "Is there any way to escape the mortals?"

Leo hesitated. "There is one way. We could dash for the cover of Crete, about 100 miles north. But we will not make it far, they have too many guns."

"Try," Jason said, coming up behind the 2. "Is there any way to hold up the mortals without harming them?"

"No, t- Well, there's something I can do, but it's never been tested before." Leo said carefully.

Nico quickly responded, "What is it?"

The son of Hephaestus took a deep breath. "It's a secret weapon the camp designed if we ever needed to fight the Romans. A magnetic thermonuclear blast that's been altered to not harm any living things, but will wreck any sort of godly metal and can disable electronics."

Jason opened his mouth, but Leo quickly added, "It's still in a very pre-pre-alpha stage. It could explode in the tube, or release a nuclear blast and flatten the entire island of Crete. Not to mention it would kill us. The shields it releases to contain the explosion itself is still in development."

"What about the mortal metals like gold, iron and titanium?" Jason asked.

"We only know for sure that Iridium and silver won't be unaffected by the EMP blast."

This time, Jason seemed more hesitant to use the weapon. "Is there any other choice?" He asked.

Leo shrugged. "As said, we could destroy the mortals-"

"Not happening," Nico cut in. The mortals had already been through enough during the Second Titan War.

Leo shit him an irritated look. "As I was saying, we could blow them up, or try to outrun them, or use the weapon."

Nico looked at Jason, giving him the look that said, "Well? You've always wanted to be the leader instead of Percy. Here's your chance."

Jason ignored his look and thought. Or at least, Nico hoped he did.

He said, after a while, "Use the weapon."

Leo held his finger in the air for a moment, then touched a random point. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, the most amazing thing.

Nico stumbled back as out of nowhere, a hologram of some sort of map appeared in front of Leo, with virtual buttons on the bottom. It was about as wide as Leo arm to arm, and slightly taller than him. The entire thing was shaded blue, and darker parts obviously represented deeper parts.

He also guessed that the small circles to the bottom right were the demigods, while the red dots a slightly to the right were probably the mortals.

A blob of green ahead mostly likely was Crete.

Leo smiled evilly. "Welcome to the Argo II- Battle Stations active."

He grabbed the air to his right, and a blue ball appeared. He dragged it in front of him and let it float there, then pinched it with both hands. A diagram of some sort of artillery shell appeared, with information Nico's ADHD and dyslexia couldn't process.

Leo quickly scanned it, then pinched it out and threw the ball back to the side again, where it disappeared. Nico would only watch in awe as Leo began tapping buttons and dragging lines, probably the course of the prototype weapon.

After a couple minutes, Leo said, "It's ready to fire."

The map now had a new red button floating around next to the map, and a line was connecting the Argo II to the mortals.

"Give me one more visual on the mortal fleet," Jason said.

Leo double tapped the red dots, arranged in a hexagon. The map zoomed so that it only showed them, in an overhead satellite view. Then Leo pinched the map and it zoomed again, now from a much more detailed perspective. Nico could see the individual sailors running around. The point of view seemed to be facing the head of the fleet, above them and moving backwards as the mortals advanced.

"Some of it is simulated, but you get the idea." Leo said, a small smile of pride playing at this lips.

After a couple seconds, Jason took a deep breath. "Use it."

Leo nodded and punched the red button to his left. Then he dragged a holographic microphone out of nowhere and spoke into it, "All Hellfire elements, the Mother Load is firing. Standby."

At the head of the ship, Festus creaked and opened his mouth, a tube coming out of it. Then something in it went BOOM and a missile shot out of its mouth, leaving little smoke in its path. It quickly disappeared from sight and Festus retracted its mouth.

Nico turned his attention back to the holographic map display. Just as something exploded in the distance, the hologram suddenly whitened. When everything returned to normal, the mortal ships were still there. Except, they had stopped moving and the lights coming off of them were gone. The guns had ceased firing as well.

Nico almost smiled in joy. But then things went wrong. Another explosion sounded, and everything white-outed. This time, when everything cleared up, things did not look good. Nico gasped slightly. Jason muttered "My gods," and Leo just stood there in shock.

The ships were completely nonexistent. In their place, was an entire mess of debris. Large pieces of metal that used to be the hull and rectangular tubes that once fired were strewn about. Many human figures were in the midst, some unmoving, others desperately clinging to something. One super-massive piece stood out. It was probably the top deck of the aircraft carrier in the center of the fleet.

"No," Jason said, eyes wide in shock.

"So that's what happens when it's used against mortal metals," Leo whispered. "What do we do?"

Jason frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Do we continue on, or try and save them?"

Nico looked at the son of Jupiter as he got a troubled expression on his face, debating whether to lose time and save the mortals, or ignore them in hopes of saving the whole world sooner.

"I… don't know."

Leo's eyes flashed in anger. "Well, you should! This is what a leader does. Decide." He practically shouted.

"I…" Jason looked down. Nico stood by, watching him carefully. He was resisting the urge to strangle Jason for making bad decisions and utterly failing at leading the Argo II.

"Decide." Nico spoke.

Jason's fists clenched. He closed his eyes, and spoke slowly, "Keep going."

Right so! As a celebration for 500 reviews, all you wonderful people are allowed to ask me ANYTHING, so long as it's not private, like phone number, last name (I might tell you my first…) and such. Ask away!

(Sorry for forgetting this in the last chapter)

Jason! How could you!

Quote of the chapter- DEATH: The number 1 killer in the world. Tell your friends.

Song of the chapter- Skyfall by Adele

Entertainment of the chapter- FTL- Faster Than Light

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