AN: Aaaand about two aeons after the launch of chapter 18, I'm back. College, guys! Big round of applause for that shit. So this chapter is either going to be even longer than the last, or it's going to be two parts, or chapter 20 is going to be the size of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Haven't really decided yet how I'm going to be doing the pacing. In addition, there was a few comments concerning Leo's death and 'what I may have in store for him', to paraphrase. I guess he was popular?
I'll shut up now. Please enjoy! I own nothing, not even Tyson's comic book.
Camp Life, Chapter Nineteen
Demons in the Dark/Airbourne Chaos
In the orange sunset of the Mediterranean Sea, one hundred miles west of the Isle of Crete, the supercarrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN - 72), flagship of the U.S. Navy's CSG-9, or Carrier Strike Group 9, cuts through choppy waves. Accompanied by a guided missile cruiser, the USS Cape St. George (CG - 71), and several destroyers, the armada is one of the most intimidating sights in modern history.
Inside the captain's cabin of the Abraham Lincoln, Tyson, former street kid, adventurer, summer camper, and General of the Cyclops army, is sitting in his armchair with his feet up, munching on some peanut butter cookies and reading a comic book. Ella the harpy is fluttering about the room between the large tome on the desk - The Complete Edgar Allen Poe - and Tyson's chair, chattering about ravens, breakfast cereal, and their similarities. Tyson interjects every once in a while with an anecdote concerning boysenberry jam and its cohesiveness with peanut butter, taste-wise, but aside from this his attention is firmly focused on his comic book.
A knock sounds on the door just as Tyson finishes the Green Lantern. He looks up eagerly, wondering who it could be. There are so many interesting people on this big boat.
The door opens, and a young sailor, wearing the insignia of a Petty Officer Second Class, pokes her head in side.
"Uh . . . sir?" she says, staring at the comic book in Tyson's hands. "You have a priority transmission from Admiral Brunner. It's on your line."
Tyson thanks her cheerfully and grabs the phone off the wall, nearly destroying it in the process. The petty officer winces and quickly steps out.
Over the line there is a brief dial tone, then a pause and a series of clicks as the line is decrypted. Then Tyson hears Chiron's warm voice and, beams. "Mister Admiral-horse! This is Tyson. I am on the boat like you and Daddy told me."
"Wonderful, Tyson! I knew we could count on you. Do you remember the plan?"
"Yes! The plan is, help Percy and Annabeth by hitting monsters with big sticks from far away."
"Er . . . yes, quite. Well, the time has come, Tyson. Are you ready?"
Tyson looks questioningly at Ella, who nods gravely. "Ella is ready. Tyson is ready. BGM-109 Tomahawk Cruise missiles are also ready."
"Okay," says Chiron, "Then good luck, Commander."
A hundred miles to the north, in the faint late evening light, Jesse Fairway stands next to Steven Rust as their little group rests in a copse of trees halfway up Mount Olympus. Rust fingers the safety of his M4 Carbine nervously and glares out at the sinking sun.
"Come on, you guys," he says after a moment. "We gotta move."
"Fuck off," says Travis Stoll amiably, grimacing as he adjusts the bandage on his chest, his breastplate lying in the grass. His wound from the fighting yesterday was not as serious as it had seemed, so Steven had reluctantly agreed to take him with. Connor Stoll is sitting next to his brother, playing with a yo-yo, and the other members of the group - Danny, Drew, Amanda, Piper, and Coach Hedge - are all eating quickly and quietly while they have the chance. Piper looks worn and her face is a bit pale. Her fingers play along the edge of her dagger, but her eyes are staring out into nothing.
Jesse knows Leo didn't make it yesterday, and he kind of wants to say something encouraging and helpful to her, but he has no idea what.
Danny is a stoic as usual, munching on beef jerky, Coach Hedge is looking excited while he munches on plastic sporks, tossing them into his mouth one at a time.
Amanda has her earbuds in and her eyes closed. As Jesse watches her, she yawns, looking completely unworried. And also very, very, hot in her white t-shirt, riding up to show a tantalizing hint of toned midriff, and her tight jeans and combat vest. A semi-automatic pistol is holstered at her waist, next to a machete, and her baseball bat is lying next to her.
Jesse forces himself to look away, and sees Steven staring at him, his normal bad-tempered expression replaced by an amused one.
"What?" Jesse asks defensively.
The older boy shakes his head. "Nothing, kid. Nothing at all."
Connor sniggers. Drew smiles.
"You guys suck," Jesse mutters, reddening. They laugh at him.
Amanda pulls an earbud out to hear what they are saying, and smiles to herself a bit. She knows Steven doesn't approve of blocking your hearing while wandering around enemy territory - and honestly, it does sound stupid when put like that - but lately she's been getting into these 'chillstep' mixes Jacob Van Isaac had been showing her, and she can't stop listening to them. The daughter of Apollo turns off her iPod and grabs her heavy equipment pack, filled with all kinds of nonsensical, complicated military equipment only Steven and Danny understand. Connor, Piper, Hedge, and Jesse have similar bags.
Jesse pats his pockets to make sure he has everything. Steven had insisted on arming them all, and he had an AK-74 with a scope, a pair of hacking knives, and a Browning 9 mm pistol complimenting his sword, Biter, and his bronze shield. Steven had also insisted on plenty of firearms, such as Danny's M14, Drew's shotgun, and Connor's Javelin missile, and everybody except Coach Hedge has a 9mm or .45 pistol on them.
Steven leads them higher up the slopes, through tall, slender trees and hanging vines. The light is steadily disappearing. Rust sets a punishing pace, but no one complains. They have work to do.
Percy stares up at the mountain, his mouth set in a hard line. Annabeth and Nico flank him, wearing similar expressions. As they look into the distance, a young Roman runs up to them. Percy bends slightly, and the legionnaire whispers urgently in his ear, then sprints away. Percy straightens up and says, "That was Rust. They're almost in position."
Annabeth nods distractedly. Nico scratches his head thoughtfully and says, "I don't know about you guys, but this is kinda fun."
Percy shrugs helplessly. "I hate to admit it, but I know what you mean."
Annabeth agrees privately, but says, "It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt."
The other two contemplate this in silence. Their solitude is interrupted by footsteps.
Nico can tell that one of the two people approaching is a shade, currently reborn into a physical form but still dead, and a non-human with a mortal soul. Annabeth can tell that, from measuring the rhythm and sound of the footsteps, that one of the two people is Grover the Satyr, and the other is Luke Castellan. And Percy, who can neither tell detect souls nor focus long enough to decipher a person's identity by their gait or footsteps, turns around.
Luke and Grover, both looking mildly uncomfortable in each other's company, nod at Percy and step up next to the three companions. "How's it going?" Percy says, surprised that he can feel so casual with his former mortal enemy.
Luke shrugs. "Not bad," he says. Grover agrees, probably because he doesn't have to deal with Coach Hedge for a little while. Percy nods, and the group relapses into silence.
From their position in the midst of the ruins of the Giant Army's camp, the face of the mountain can be seen clearly. The twilight is marred every so often by the crashing sounds of rocks being piled high by the Giants Leon and Hippolytus. Most of the remaining Giant Army troops are now scattered in the forests coating Mt. Olympus, and, if one had binoculars, one could occasionally see the movement of monsters and demigods/demigiants in the trees. Now the lower hills are being crested by Percy's soldiers - the Hunters, specifically, who are used to both scouting missions and the terrain, while Clarrise's heavy cavalry takes a rest in the few tents and shelters still standing, here at the foot of the mountain.
The groups contemplation of the awe-inspiring home of the Gods is cut short when the sound of music comes from Percy's pocket. The son of Poseidon sighs and produces a conch shell, which appears to be playing 'Under The Sea' from The Little Mermaid, and raises it to his ear. "Hey, Dad. What's up?"
The others stare at him, Annabeth's mouth twitching with amusement, Nico shaking his head in amazement, Luke laughing openly. Grover, knowing Percy as he does, just rolls his eyes.
Percy listens to the Conch Shell, rolling his eyes patiently. "Yes, Dad, I did. I - Yes. Okay. Tyson says - I know he is. Yes, we are. I'm waiting for Rust, okay? Uh-huh. I will. Bye."
He rolls his eyes and replaces the Conch shell.
"Fathers, man," says Nico sagely.
A hundred miles to the west, what was two months ago an uninhabitated (except for some sheep) plain is now paved and filled with airstrips, tents, vehicles, portable buildings, and several massive hangers. Several denizens of this new town, officially known as FOB (Forward Operating Base) Grevena, are at this moment hauling fueling lines away from a large fixed-wing aircraft sitting on one of these airstrips. The plane is large but squat, with heavy-looking wings equipped with large propellers, two on each wing. Its painted a nondescript gray color, and would not look in any way menacing except for several massive gun barrels protruding from the port side.
As the ground crew clears away from the AC-130 Spectre gunship, the proppellers begin to rotate, signalling the engine start up. The sound, loud though it is, is suddenly overpowered. The ground crew looks over their shoulders at another airstrip to see a pair of A-10 Thunderbolts roaring down the runway, lifting into the sky and banking to the east, towards Mt. Olympus.
Inside the cockpit of the massive plane, the radio comes to life.
"Oscar-Hotel Three-One, this is control. You are cleared for takeoff and egress via south tower, slow taxi. Happy hunting."
The pilot acknowledges, then looks over at his co-pilot, who happens to be his brother-in-law. They shake hands.
The plane begins to roll forward.
Rust glances around the clump of plantlife cautiously, then closes his eyes. The breeze seems to pick up for a moment, making the thick grass and bushes rustle. Other than that, though, there are no signs of life.
Rust beckons forward, and his crew gathers round. They are on top of a ridge, looking out over a large swath of mountainside. Below, a large force of monsters is camping down for the night. It's obvious they have no leader due to the unorganized nature of the camp, and the thousands of blazing torches illuminating the mountainside. Rust motions to Danny, who begins putting together the device they've carried on their backs.
"There's got to be ten thousand of them down there," whispers Amanda, laying down in the thick grass beside Jesse, so that their shoulders are touching. She rests her head on her arms and mutters something about sore legs. Jesse nods, staring down at the thousands of fires, like all of the stars in the night sky.
"Why is it the heroes are always outnumbered?" he whispers.
Amanda peeks at him through her arms. "'Cause we're the best."
Jesse looks at the small part of her face he can see. She looks at him intently, seriously. "I know," he says quietly, smiling a bit.
Rust crawls over to them and whispers, "Get some rest, you two. We've got twenty or twenty five before we need to move."
Jesse nods at him, and Rust slinks away. Amanda raises her head and smiles a bit. Jesse smiles back and rests his head on her shoulder, closing his eyes. She presses her cheek against his temple and murmurs, "Your hair's getting long."
He smiles drowsily, then his breathing evens out. She decides to emulate him.
Piper stares down at the fires of her enemies burning far below, but her thoughts are not ones of hope. They are of loss.
Leo's smirk still burns in her brain. Every memory of him she has of her and Jason ditching him for some alone time, every time she got annoyed with him or made fun at him hurts. Like physically hurts.
As she stares down at the monsters, her knuckles tightening painfully on the handle of her dagger, Rust appears silently at her side. To her credit, she manages not to jump.
"You okay?" he whispers.
"I'm fine," she whispers back, hating him a bit for asking. Just like everybody else. Every single fucking person.
"Bullshit."
Well, he's the first one that's said that.
"Go away, Rust."
Rust doesn't answer. She turns to glare at him. "I said- "
He stares at her, his mouth half open. Frozen.
Piper leaps to her feet, pulling her pistol out and pointing wildly around - all her friends are unmoving -
"Sorry about that, girl," says a gruff voice, sounding embarrassed. "I suppose I could've warned you . . ."
A massive figure moves into the faint light. Piper gapes for a second, then drops to one knee. "Lord Hephaestus," she murmurs, mind spinning.
The Lord of the Forge waves his hand idly. "That's alright, that's alright. No need for formality, I shouldn't think."
"Er . . yes, sir." says Piper uneasily. "Um. Did you want to speak with me?"
Hephaestus nods without looking at her, playing with a few scraps of metal. Just like Leo.
"I did, yes. You were close to my son, I know." He glances down at the monsters below uninterestedly
"Yes, sir . . . "
"Well," continues Hephaestus, finally looking at her, his eyes smouldering, "I wanted to say thank you. We Olympians don't get to interact with our kids a lot - and it's probably better that way, despite what I imagine you think."
Piper says nothing.
"Anyways, Leo had a bad childhood. I tried a little bit, but my mother kept interfering. You were his first friend. I don't think you have any idea how much better you made his life."
Piper closes her eyes tightly to stop the tears.
Hephaestus makes a slight motion, as if to reach out to her, than thinks better of it.
"That boy there, Aeolus's boy, means well, you know. They all do. You should listen to them. Leo is in a good place now."
He pauses. "So . . . thank you, Piper McLean."
He turns, than glances over his shoulder. "My wife says hello."
Hephaetus vanishes in a column of flame.
All is silent for a second. Piper sighs slowly.
"If you insi- what the fuck?!"
Rust stares up at her, reaching for his handgun.
"It's fine," Piper says quickly. The others stare up at her.
"Get down, you idiot," snaps Steven, grabbing her pant leg and tugging. As she returns to her prone position, he glances behind them, than looks at her suspiciously.
She smiles wanly, reassuringly, at him, and kisses his cheek. "I'm fine, really, Rust. Go check on the others."
Steven frowns, then nods and slips away to Danny, who is examining a small readout on the side of the machine they'd lugged up here.
"How long?" he asks.
She holds up three fingers.
Will Solace glances through the trees in front of him, then fires. His arrow takes a monster in the throat, bringing it down.
"Nice shot, boss," says Kara, crouched beside him. Vinnie peeks over the hedge and releases his arrow.
A few feet away, Thalia leaps from cover and charges up the path, swinging her spear, her shield Aegis on her arm. The rest of the huntresses follow her.
Will sighs. He doesn't know why he got put with Thalia, and frankly, he doesn't like it. He doesn't like her. Or her snooty Huntresses either. He isn't used to girls who don't, well, like him. Even Annabeth is nicer than these chicks, and that's saying something. Why couldn't he get put with Reyna? Or Laurel? They're hot. And sort of nice.
"Cover her," he says, resigned, and the Corleano twins laugh.
Adalina glances worriedly down the path, clambering up through the rocks. Behind her, Lester mutters complaints under his breath, and behind him a group of demigods and other mostly-human soldiers troop tiredly up the mountain.
One of her men, a grizzled, middle-aged loner named James, lengthens his stride to catch up to her. "Ma'am?"
"What is it?"
"I think there's something behind us."
Ady glances down the dark path, leading through crumbled rocks and stone to twisting trees. They were one of the first groups to ascend the mountain, but the way this is going, she wouldn't be surprised. "Are you sure?"
"I'm positive, Ma'am."
Ady, looks down the path again, than turns back. "Ok, here's what -"
Thunk.
James is no longer standing next to her.
She turns to her right to see his corpse pinned to a massive boulder by a thick spear. The impact of the projectile has destroyed his torso. A sound makes her turn farther to her right. James's right arm is flopping on the loose shale.
"Run," she whispers.
Her troops need no encouragement.
The flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln is bustling with controlled, efficient energy. Sailors hurry as the elevators bring two F-18 Super Hornets to the rear portion of the deck. An aviation's mate directs a Sea Hawk helicopter gunship to a landing area, and the catapults prepare to launch a pair of jets into the sky. But all this commotion halts, or at least pauses, as the sailors' heads turn in unison to starboard.
There is a flash from the rear deck of the USS Cape St. George, and the dark, sleek, cylindrical shape of a Tomahawk cruise missile rises majestically into the air, trailing billowing clouds of exhaust, then curves to the north and disappears.
The activity resumes, but with a more feverish, uneasy accent.
On the deck of the Argo II, Butch Malinowski rises from his swivel chair and stretches. His only companion, Kevin, the son of Mercury who until recently had been thick as thieves, no pun intended, with Travis and Connor Stoll. The camp is completely deserted except for a couple of skeleton guards roaming the borders. Butch and Kevin are stationed at the Argo II's radio equipment. They hadn't been told why, just that Percy said it was 'super important, alright guys? Thanks!'.
So here they are, and had been, for the last day and a half. The radio hadn't made a sound in all that time.
At one minute to nine, that changes.
The only warning Jesse and Amanda get is a faint rumbling sound, then a whoosh.
And then the monster camp below them disappears in a flash. They instinctively cover their eyes.
The flash is followed by a concussive sound so loud Jesse literally cannot hear himself thinking. The ground shakes.
When the sound dies and the brilliant light fades, a wave of heat dries his throat and makes him cover his face again. Cursing, he puts his body over Amanda's.
When all is quiet again, and the air cools, he opens his eyes and checks Amanda, who smiles reassuringly at him. He then directs his gaze down the cliff.
Where the monsters camp had once been, a long, gently sloping hillside, is now a smoking crater. The landscape is grey and smouldering. The monsters and everything the hill had once contained are now turned to dust.
Jesse turns to see Travis and Connor with tears in their eyes.
"That was beautiful," Travis whispers.
Connor nods solemnly, apparently unable to form words.
"I feel . . . I feel insignificant, Connor."
"Like . . . like we have a lot to learn, Travis?"
"Exactly, brother."
"You're right, brother."
They wrap their arms around each other and sob. Jesse shakes his head in disbelief. It's almost like, every time he feels they can't surprise him anymore, his brothers do something even more ridiculous than the last time.
"Knock it off, you idiots," snaps Drew, smacking the Stoll's heads together.
"This is no time for tomfoolery," agrees Rust, though he's snickering under his breath. "Let's move, you guys. There's still plenty of enemies out there."
Jesse and Amanda exchange looks, then reach for their packs.
"All units this net, Oscar-Hotel checking in, entering combat zone. How copy?"
Butch actually falls out of his chair. Kevin squeaks.
They stare at each other in shock.
The message repeats.
Butch dives and grabs the headset, fumbles it on, then snatches the pieces of paper Percy gave them.
"Uh, uh, Oscar-hotel, this is - wait, it's not on. Kevin, turn it on. Kev - there you go - uh. Okay. Oscar-Hotel, this is Hospitality, uh, good copy - we copy you."
There is a pause, then the disembodied voice replies.
"Hospitality, this is Oscar-Hotel Three-One, on station. How copy?"
"Loud and clear, Three-One," says Butch, becoming increasingly confident. "Be advised, Three-One, you have friendly ground elements in the area, positions are marked, use caution."
"Roger that, Hospitality. All units this net, this is Oscar-Hotel Three-One, rolling onto target areas, beginning long-range support and suppression. Over."
Several new voices reply, and Butch glances at Kevin, who looks excited and worried all at the same time.
"Get ready, kid," he says encouragingly.
Ady sprints through the trees Lester at her heels, not daring to look over her shoulder.
They were down from nineteen to seven, in just an hour. Every one of her men had been killed by spears sailing in from the inky black of the night.
Even as she takes a step, she hears the whistling and throws herself down.
Some demigod, in his early twenties, whose name she doesn't know, is decapitated by a spear. His body flops to the ground, spraying blood everywhere. Lester grabs Ady and hauls her to her feet.
"Come on," he whispers urgently.
She scrambles after him, not daring to look behind her.
Ana stares far down below at the lights of the former Giant camp and grimaces.
The mutters of her few companions behind her, combined with the thunder of boulders smashing into the mountain, keep interrupting her thoughts. She wishes she had the heart to tell them to shut the hell up, but she can tell they're worried.
She turns to look at their shelter: a small, half-ruined temple, with white columns covered in ivy, cracked tiles, the rubble of a roof that had probably collapsed two centuries ago, all leading to a cavern into the mountain.
Into the mountain, down into Tartarus.
And the Doors of Death.
Hayden and Elizabeth, Atash, Nessus the centaur, and Adolf Hitler are all arguing bitterly, crouched in between the columns. The only few people she'd been able to gather from her army as they'd fled.
She wishes Wes was here. He'd disappeared in the flight into the trees and that was the last she'd seen of him. She hopes he's alright.
As the cacophony of smashing rocks and cursing and snarling begins to make her lose her mind, she opens her mouth to scream at them when her ears detect something she hadn't noticed before.
She turns away from her companions and stares into the night. For a moment she is stumped, then she sees a faint flashing in the sky, followed, a minute later, by a distant thundering sound.
"Oh, that's not good," she whispers, feeling dread creep into her veins.
Chris Rodriguez throws himself back behind cover as shrapnel goes flying. Clarisse glances at him and raises her eyebrows.
He shakes his head. "No dice, hon."
Clarisse sighs. "So much for our battle. Fucking assholes," she adds in the general direction of the sky.
"Yeah," agrees Chris, though privately he's glad for the help. He could use a nap.
High above them, Oscar-Hotel Three-One banks to the left, its airframe shuddering as its 40 mm Bofors cannon opens up on Giant Army positions a football field away from Chris, Clarisse, the Ares cabin, and the Fifth Cohort led by Dakota and Gwen. The massive rounds aren't made of celestial bronze, but the sheer force of their impact, and the resulting explosion, into the ground disintegrates the monsters entirely.
Unfortunately for the demigods (or fortunately, if your name is Clarisse), the monsters are far from done. Even as the 40 mm shells send up debris fifty feet in the air, a group of evil centaurs begin a charge of the Fifth Cohorts position.
Dakota pops up next to Chris and takes a swig from his hip flask of Kool-Aid. "Reyna says retreat," he says cheerfully.
Clarisse eyes almost pop out of her head. "What?!"
Rust and Coach Hedge see the two hellhounds slipping through the woods ahead of them and don't bother strategizing or warning anyone. They leap forward in unison , Rust smashing a hellhound about the neck with his metal arm, Hedge swinging with his cudgel. The hellhounds dissolve, wailing piteously.
Jesse fires his assault rifle at a couple of giant spiders rustling through the trees to his left, than hurries after Amanda and Drew. Piper and the Stolls are bringing up the rear.
"Jesus," gasps Drew, panting as she runs after her boyfriend, "I never thought I'd be grateful for your Nature Hikes of Death, dear."
"See?" says Steven cheerfully, "I've totally known what I've been doing, this entire time. I told you."
"Yeah, right," mutters Jesse, trying to regain his breath. The Stoll twins chorus, "Bullshit," in unison.
"You guys," says Rust, not winded at all, "are simply jealous."
"Jealous? Of what?"
"My incredible good looks."
"Well," says Drew, considering.
"Yeah, right, Mr. Robocop." sniggers Amanda.
Rust stops and turns. He points his silvery arm at Amanda and with a pop his index finger ignites and flies over her head, missing her by inches.
Everyone stops and stares.
"Are you crazy? You coulda killed me!" she screams at him, raising her bat.
The dracanae that was standing behind her collapses, it's spinal column destroyed by Rust's finger-missile.
"Oh," mutters Amanda, looking sheepish.
Steven glares triumphantly at her. "Clearly you haven't learned to trust me yet, Brooks! Well. We'll have to fix that! You know what we're going to when we get back to camp? You're going to be doing hikes every day! And push-ups and sit-ups and runs and weights and whatever else I can think of! You'll be lucky if you can crawl into your bed at night! Let alone Fairway's."
"Thanks, man," mutters Jesse.
Amanda rolls her eyes. "Whatever. If I kill more monsters than you tonight," she says with a predatory gleam in her eyes, "maybe I'll take you on some hikes." She taps her bat for emphasis.
Rust sneers.
"Ok, you two, let's go," says Drew, rolling her eyes at them. "We've got a lot of ground to cover still."
As if on cue, the howls of hellhounds rises into the night.
"Are they always like this?" whispers Piper to Jesse as the others start to move.
"Pretty much."
"How are you not insane right now?"
"I . . . you know what? I have no idea."
"Hey, Brooks?"
"Yeah?"
"Could you grab my finger for me? It's right over there."
Tyson steps out onto the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln, enjoying the feel of the cool night air on his skin. Ella flutters up to perch on his shoulder. Sailors stand at attention and salute, then return to their tasks, as he strides forward. Before he can take more than five steps, an F/A-18E launches from the catapult, blurring in front of him. Its wingmate follows a second later.
Tyson looks about for a moment, than sees what he's looking for and walks along the tarmac. Near the end of the deck, a Ch-46 Sea Knight Dual Rotor Helicopter sits alone, it's rotors tied down and it's chocks in. Tyson looks for the nearest sailor and points at the large vehicle.
"Make that helicopter go," he instructs kindly.
The sailor stares. "Er . . . yes, sir."
"Going to help Percy," Ella says in approval, "Good plan."
Tyson beams. "You think so?"
"'It is a long cherished tradition among a certain type of military thinker that huge casualties are the main thing,'" Ella recites, "'If they are on the other side, that is a valuable bonus.'"
Tyson frowns.
"That is a bad plan. Helping Percy is a good plan."
Tyson nods with determination.
Ana taps her spear's butt against the ground as she thinks. She and the others had retreated farther into the shelter of the ancient, ruined Greek temple for fear of being spotted by whatever aircraft was out there.
Now she is staring at the stars, half obscured by dark clouds, listening to her mother whisper drowsily.
And wondering when Percy Jackson is going to get here.
Percy Jackson stares down at the mountain from his seat aboard the SH-60 Sea Hawk helicopter carrying him, Jason, Nico, Annabeth, Luke, Abe Lincoln, and Cleopatra up towards the summit. Every once and a while the helicopter, and its companion, carrying seven more demigods and shades, bank and twist to avoid surface-to-air missiles and RPGs carried by monsters.
"Can we do this every time we have a quest?" asks Nico, remarkably cheerful. Of course, he's sitting next to the imperiously beautiful Cleopatra, so that may be why.
"You're getting lazy," says Annabeth, smacking his leg.
Nico shrugs. "Seriously, though. Every fucking quest we have, it takes us like days and days of hitchhiking and walking and random magical transport and all kinds of shit. Why don't we just keep this helicopter?"
Percy shrugs. "Dude, half the fun is sleeping in semi trucks and stealing cars and stuff. You wanna give that up?"
"Yes."
"Well, fine."
Abe leans in close to Cleopatra and whispers, "What are cars?"
She shrugs helplessly. Luke chuckles quietly.
Orion the Hunter and Ethan Nakamura watch the girl and her only remaining companion stumble tiredly through the trees. She had clearly noticed the other three stragglers in her group were gone; Nakamura had cut them down with his sword a few minutes ago. She has to be getting tired, Nakamura thinks, she's been running for an hour now.
Orion moves completely silently after them, and Nakamura follows. He feels like they should hold off on killing the other fellow for a while in order to draw her further up the mountain; if they kill him to early, she could just give up and turn around and fight.
Another crash of rocks smashing together makes him look up. Orion curses silently and grabs Nakamura by the scruff of his neck and leaps as pieces of Mt. Olympus tumble down towards them in an avalanche of rock and shale.
The Hunters massive, superhuman leap carries them high over the deadly stream of stones. They land safely, without making a sound.
Nakamura looks upwards to see the girl and her friend still striding gamely away from pursuit. He breathes a sigh of relief.
"Let's keep moving," whispers Orion, for the first time in hours. "But stay alert."
Nakamura nods fervently, rubbing his eye patch.
Jesse crouches in the underbrush, pistol out, as the other settle in around him. Rust pulls a radio out of his pocket and begins listening intently.
Amanda establishes herself back-to-back with him, her weapon out, then leans back so she can rest against him.
"This is fun," she says.
"It's not bad," Jesse admits.
Drew, laying prone nearby, cocks an eyebrow at Amanda and smiles. Amanda sticks her tongue out.
"Always so bloodthirsty," says Coach Hedge, munching on a tree branch like it's a chicken leg, "I like it."
"You're not the only one," says Travis, sniggering.
"Jesse and Amanda, sitting in a tree, K-I -" Connor silences abruptly when Amanda sticks her baseball bat in his face.
"Quiet, please, ya'll," she says sweetly. "Steven's on the phone."
Rust finishes his conversation and looks up. "Jackson, Grace, and the A-team are heading up to the Doors by chopper. If we hurry, we can beat them there and steal all the glory."
The newest version of Rust's Marauders cheers and gets to their feet.
"Hospitality, this is Witch Doctor, thirty degrees north north-east, angels 10. Engaging projectiles, over."
Butch makes a frantic checkmark on his list, which is covered with scribbling, then says, "Roger that, Witch Doctor; be advised, Tangos in the area. Exercise caution, over."
Witch Doctor, an F-18 flight, acknowledges. Butch tosses the headset (Due to a clerical error, there is only one. Butch blamed the massive cartons of ammunition in the hold for this) to Kevin, who begins directing air traffic coming in from Poseidons fleet.
He begins tallying aircraft and call signs, wishing they had more paper, when Kevin taps him on the elbow and hands him the headset. He dons it.
"Yes?"
"Hospitality, this is Bastion One. How copy?"
Butch sighs. This is getting old.
"Good copy, Bastion, go ahead."
"Hospitality, be advised we are looking for - "
The voice suddenly cuts off. Butch is alarmed. "Bastion? Hello?"
A new, familiar voice comes through the headphones. "Hello? Hello? Percy? Is that you, brother?"
Butch blinks. "Tyson?"
"You aren't Percy."
"What? No. This is Butch, Tyson."
"Oh! Rainbow Ponies Boy!"
Butch groans. He'd been hoping Tyson wouldn't remember that little nickname.
"Yes, General Tyson. It's me."
"Okay, Rainbow Ponies Boy! We want to land our helicopter. Is that okay?"
Butch frowns, then peers out over the deck. "Yeah, sure, Tyson, give me a minute, okay?"
He puts down the headset and runs down into the camp. "Hey, guys!"
Near the entrance of the camp, Jacob Van Isaac, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, that girl Lacy, and Nathan and Gemma - the day sentry shift for the Argo II - are seated around a campfire, drinking water and eating s'mores. They look up in surprise as Butch comes running down the gang plank.
"I need your help," he says breathlessly, before running towards the piles of crates that formerly were housed in the underbelly of the ship. The son of Iris begins examining them.
"Flashlights, ammo, graham crackers, batteries, whetstones, ammo . . ." he mutters to himself, rummaging through them. After a minute he finds what he's looking for.
"Flares!" He says triumphantly, holding them up.
His friends stare at him, bemused.
"Here," he says, shoving them in Jacob's arms, "go light these outside the camp. There's a helicopter coming, help it land."
He dashes back up the ramp.
Jacob stares at the bundle of flares in his arms. "It's 'cause I'm black, isn't it?" he ventures, hoping that pretty girl Gemma will laugh. She doesn't.
"Come on," says Rachel, grabbing a couple. "Let's go. If we don't get them out in time, he won't be able to land."
"You know a lot about helicopters?"
"Don't ask."
"They're retreating!" Reyna hollers, lifting her sword in the air. The First Cohort roars in response, banging their weapons on their shields.
Jake Mason pokes his head out from behind a large fallen tree. "Huh. They are."
Reyna eyes him. "What exactly were you doing down there?"
Jake raises his hands. In them is a half-wired contraption. "I was making a landmine. For when they overran us."
Reyna stares at him. "What do you mean, overran us? We won!"
"Yes, which is strange, because they outnumbered us three to one and they had the high ground, and they were mounted against light infantry. That seems . . . odd."
Reyna snorts, but she seems suddenly uneasy. "You haven't seen the Legion fight before."
Jake shrugs. His landmine was only half finished, anyway.
Reyna frowns, then glances out over her troops. She seems to come to a decision. "We'll rest here for the rest of the night, I think."
"Great," says Jake brightly, wondering how to turn his landmine into a pillow.
Rust examines the ruins they had just reached with interest. The columns are almost completely green with creepers, though a little of the original white stone peeks through. The floor is large and mostly flat save for large chunks of rock that are to symmetrical to be natural - Rust figures they were once part of the roof.
In the back of the temple, hewn into the mountain, is a hole big enough to fit three adults walking side-by-side. He looks at it uneasily, then turns back to the others.
As he does, a loud rumble shakes the ground. The sounds of trees falling and rocks crashing comes from nearby.
"Landslides," says Danny grimly, tapping a rhythm on the butt of her assault rifle with her fingers. Rust nods. They're running out of time.
He glances at his troops.
Piper looks drawn and pale, though he doesn't blame her. He has his own suspicions about who those seven prophesied demigods are. The Doors must be affecting her already.
Danny looks worn but ready for combat. Not excited or bloodthirsty like most of her siblings would be. He likes that. It's dependable.
Jesse seems puzzled about something, but also ready to fight. His sword is in his hand and his shield is strapped to his forearm. Rust makes a mental note to ask Drew or Amanda if they can get the kid a hair tie.
Amanda is cheerful as ever, looking about as if to spot monsters already. She is standing close to Fairway, and Steven permits himself a little smile. He knows he supposed to be all macho and crazy and Guns! Ammo! Explosions!, but they're just so damn cute.
Coach Hedge is nibbling on some creepers. Rust isn't worried about him. The old bastard hits like a falling tree. A falling thousand year-old Redwood.
Drew is watching him, smirking. He's probably going to get teased about caring about other people later. He doesn't mind. It's absolutely worth it.
Travis and Connor are sitting down, munching on dried meat and candy. Rust admits he had some reservations about them at first, but underneath their silly, joking exteriors are true professionals. They had been at New York. They know what they're doing.
"Where are the enemies?" asks Amanda, looking around and playing with the safety of her pistol.
Rust shrugs. "Dunno. But once Jackson and his crew get here, we'll choose seven and that will be that. I guess."
The others nod. Jesse frowns. "Hey, Steven? There's like . . . a vapor."
The Camp Armorer blinks. "Excuse me?"
"There's a shimmer," says Jesse weakly. "Look, behind you - "
Rust turns. He doesn't see a shimmer.
But he does see a girl with a spear.
Ana stares at the demigods and the lone satyr in amusement. She recognizes those idiot twins from her kidnapping, and of course the Cherokee girl, Piper. The gorgeous Asian girl, the redheaded girl with the big rifle, the small kid with the shaggy blonde hair, or the other blonde girl, she isn't familiar with. But she recognizes the tall guy right away from his Echelon profile. Steven Rust.
Ana smiles cheerfully. Piper's face fills with hatred and dread. She grabs her pistol and pulls the slide back. Ana can hear a round click into the chamber. The daughter of Aphrodite points the weapon between the Egyptian girl's eyes, making Ana smile even wider. Why does she look so pissed? Ana hopes that idiotic son of Jupiter died.
The Stolls leap to their feet, drawing their weapons. The Asian girl frowns. The younger blonde girl hesitantly raises her own handgun.
Steven Rust stares at his friends, then at Ana.
"Who the hell are you?" he says blankly.
Ana sighs. Typical.
"I'm Ana Massri."
Rust frowns. "Oh. You're the other leader? Jackson without the manly parts?"
Ana glares. She already doesn't like this one.
"Yes, sure. That's me."
"Oh," says Rust cheerfully. "Well, if you don't mind, we'd like to go down that tunnel you're standing in front of. So if you could - "
"I'm not moving."
Rust shrugs. "Ah, well, if you're sure, young lady. Danny - "
Piper flicks the safety off her Glock 17 and pulls the trigger. The shot impacts the tunnel wall behind Ana. She hears some scuffling and cursing from Hayden and Adolf, and hopes they have the presence of mind to shut the hell up.
"You look really bloody angry," says Ana happily. Piper hisses. "Please tell me Grace died. You see, my brother was killed yesterday, and it would be great if - "
"You killed Leo," snarls Piper, her arm shaking with fury.
Ana falters.
So, you know my name. What's yours?
"Leo Valdez? He's dead?" she whispers in shock.
His eyes seem to glow mischievously. "Compliments of Chef Leo."
A tear runs down Pipers cheek. Her finger tightens on the trigger.
Then Hayden appears from behind Ana, his hand outstretched. From the side of the mountain, an earthen spike detaches itself and shoots straight at the daughter of Aphrodite. It strikes her a glancing blow in the midsection, sending her flying.
Rust disappears faster then thought. Ana groans and raises her spear as her companions tumble out of the tunnel, weapons raised. The demigods all have weapons pointing at them now.
Rust reappears in the middle of the pavilion, carrying Piper in his arms, her head resting on his chest. Blood is visible on her abdomen. His free hand holds a naked, curved sword.
"Looks like it's time to play," he says softly, his face lit up with joy.
Ana motions her siblings and allies to stay back as Rust sets Piper down by his friends and comes at her. He moves faster than she would have believed possible, and she barely gets her spear up in time to block the decapitation blow.
She spins, but he moves out of range with a single step, then swings. She blocks, barely. It's been a while since she fought someone of this caliber.
Rust whirls about and thrusts, but this time Ana's ready; she sidesteps and punches him in the mouth, hard. He disappears again, reappearing (how does he keep doing that?!) back among his friends, wiping his mouth.
"First blood," he muses, examining the glistening red liquid on his fingers.
Ana sneers. "Come get some more, if you think you're hard enough."
Steven smiles at her. It's a worrying sight. "Okay."
He crosses the room in a second, his sword slashing, meaning to cut her from right shoulder to left hip. She sweeps her spear around to block.
His blade goes flying, clattering onto the broken, ancient flagstones, and she swings around triumphantly, meaning to impale him.
Even as she begins to pivot, her mind says, idiot, idiot, idiot!
Rusts kick slams into the small of her back, knocking her down. He reaches down with his metal arm to snap her neck and be done with it, but the wall punches him in his entire body.
Steven finds himself staring up at the stars at Amanda's feet, his body aching. Ana gets up and dusts herself off. The giant earthen arm protruding from the wall retracts.
He hears the thump-thump-thump of helicopter blades.
Ana offers a prayer to her Mother as she hears the helicopters. Even as she finishes her plea, Percy Jackson, Jason Grace, Annabeth Chase, Nico Di Angelo, Luke Castellan, Hazel Levesque, Frank Zang, Heracles, Arthur Pendragon, Theseus, and George Washington, among others, step into the temple.
Ana sighs. So much for this.
Percy looks at her calmly, his bronze sword in hand. "Surrender. This is your last warning."
Ana raises her spear the seagull feather flutters gently. "No, thanks."
Percy nods. "Fine."
He and Castellan charge her.
Water flows along Percy's body as he attacks, and Ana instinctively uses her powers. An earthen hand reaches from the ground to catch his blade. Ana blocks Castellans blows and waits out the two nanoseconds it will take the son of Poseidon to finish the golem's arm and renew his assault.
All around them, fighting begins. Heracles reaches for his old nemesis, Nessus the centaur, while Hayden and Elizabeth summon golems to attack Frank and Hazel. Adolf Hitler draws a Stygian Iron sword and engages Nico, George Washington, and Annabeth. King Arthur finds Atash, the son of Krios, standing in his way.
Jason begins staunching Piper's wound. She smiles wearily and curls her fingers in his hair as he works.
Adalina stops at the steps of the temple leading to the Doors of Death when she sees the fighting.
Hunters behind her, enemies in front.
She collapses on her scraped and bruised palms and knees, panting. Her body is on fire. After a moment she realizes something is wrong. Looking behind her, her blood runs cold.
Lester is gone.
Anguish fills her. One of her better siblings, hunted down like an animal. She hadn't even noticed.
She scans the interior of the temple, and sees Ana fighting Percy Jackson and a tall man she doesn't recognize. As she watches, her sister slams Jackson into the ground and strikes the unfamiliar demigod a glancing blow on the leg.
She doesn't need help, not that Ady is really sure she could give any. Hayden and Elizabeth are being overwhelmed, but Ady doesn't really care.
A twig snaps behind her.
She turns, startled, expecting to see either the faceless hunter behind her, or Lester, somehow alive.
It's neither. The small form, trembling, exhausted, filled with pain, belongs to Wes.
Ady cries out and grabs the young boy in her arms as he collapses. He must have climbed the entire mountain by himself. She tries to get him to look at her, but he only has eyes for Ana. "Must help," he whispers brokenly, then collapses. Ady sighs for a long moment, then picks him up and places him off the main peth, covering him with some leaves and branches. Hopefully enough to allow him to escape detection and maybe escape later.
"I'm going to help, mi hijo," she whispers gently. "I'm sorry. It will all be over soon."
She stands shakily and walks into the temple.
Ethan Nakamura watches Adalina walk into the broken building with satisfaction. Mission accomplished. He turns to see Micheal Yew standing next to him. He sighs. He really hates this eyepatch sometimes.
"All done?"
Yew nods. "Yeah. Everything that's going to get done before the end is done."
Nakamura nods wearily.
"Not quite everything, lads," rumbles a voice behind them.
Orion beckons them down the path. "He wants to talk to you."
They follow him down the path for about ten minutes. The sounds of landslides and boulders are becoming more frequent, while the pounding of cannons and bombs and shouting and metal-on-metal is dying off. The stars are partially obscured by light gray clouds, but the full moon means it's a reasonably bright night.
Orion leads the two Echelon agents to a clearing in the path. In the middle of the clearing, Lester Jones is sitting in the middle of it. His hands and feet are bound.
Micheal stands in front of him. "What?"
"Was it her?" Lester asks calmly.
Micheal studies him for a moment, then nods. "Yeah. It was her."
"I wondered."
"I'm not surprised."
"I guess it's over for me, then, huh?"
"We're not going to kill you, if that's what you're asking. You surrendered. Even we have rules about that."
Lester blinks but looks relieved. Micheal steps away. The four of them sit in silence for a minute, then the sounds of a helicopter reach their ears.
As Ana ducks another blow, this one from Jackson, who has blood running down his face, she hears her mothers voice.
DESCEND.
Ana takes a second to examine the battlefield. Hayden and Elizabeth are down, and Hitler is about to be overwhelmed. Nessus the centaur is dead; his head is ten feet away from his body. Atash is still fighting, but he's backed into a corner.
Ana knocks Luke's blade aside, then Percy's a second later. She's barely able to fight both of them at a time; they're the perfect team, almost seeming to read each others mind. Any lesser fighter would have been killed a long time ago.
She concentrates, feeling the earth under her feet. At her bidding, the ground shakes violently, knocking her foes off their feet.
Ana turns and runs down the tunnel at full tilt.
Butch leads General Tyson, commander of the Cyclops Army, and the harpy Ella, onto the bridge of the Argo II himself. The others follow.
"We're still organizing the planes with where we know the enemy is, but it's getting harder," says Butch.
"The Giant Army is dispersing farther all over the mountain," adds Rachel.
"And our - your - F-18s can't hit a lot of the boulders hitting the mountain. They're fast and hard to track, and apparently one of the Giants over there can use magic. They're having to stay out of the area. Nothing is working."
Tyson nods thoughtfully. "Have to deal with them old-fashioned way, then."
"Mr. Butch?" asks Kevin.
"If you mean leading a group up there, we could do that. But we don't have a god."
"Um, Mr. Butch?"
"I could ask Daddy. He'd help."
"Mr. Butch!"
"What, Kevin?"
Kevin points, his face filled with fear.
Butch goes to the porthole and stares out. He looks for a long moment.
"Rachel," he says after a moment, his voice calm and steady, "Do you think you can fly this thing?"
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me."
"Maybe, but what the hell for?"
Butch stares at the long lines of banners and torches stretching out behind them. "Well," he says, "We've only just beaten the Giant Army. Now it looks like we're going to have to fight the Giant Marines."
As the members of the first cohort sit down in the field and eat their dinners or catch some sleep, Reyna walks over to Jake's spot by the fallen tree.
"I'm worried," she says bluntly.
"Oh?"
"You were right. This was too easy."
"Seemed like it. I'm just a builder, though. You're the expert."
"We're demigods. We're all experts."
"Yeah, I guess. So what do you think we should do?"
"I don't know," Jake Mason admits frankly. "Like I said, you're the expert. But I don't think we should stay here."
"So where should we go?"
Jake points on the horizon, towards the plains. "Maybe where that emergency flare is coming from?"
The giant Porphyrion smiles as he marches with his troops towards Mt. Olympus. He feels excited. Very excited. It's a chance for revenge - a second chance, rare with his mother. For him at least. He was never the favorite child.
Ahead of his troops, the demigods' flying ship raises into the air.
Porphyrion grins savagely.
Jesse watches as the others run down the tunnel after that girl Ana. Percy, that dead guy Luke, who Jesse now realizes is probably his older brother, Jason, Annabeth, Piper, who looked woozy but could walk, at least; Frank, Hazel, and Nico. A lot of the other shades, like Abraham Lincoln and Cleopatra had headed somewhere down the mountain with Drew, Danny, Coach Hedge, and his brothers Travis and Connor, who had been yelling something about emergency signals.
So now he's just standing in this broken temple with Rust, who's going through the pockets of the fallen enemies - the dark-skinned boy dressed in black, and the blonde brother and sister - and Amanda, who's trying to clean dirt and blood from her baseball bat nearby.
"'Watch the tunnel,'" she mutters, in a poor impression of Percy's deep voice, "Yeah, okay, Perce, you go save the world. We'll just sit out here. It's cool."
Jesse chuckles to himself and looks at the stars, but before he can really see them Rust stands up. And Jesse sees that shimmer again.
"Steven," he begins; the shimmery thing is right next to the older demigod, almost right behind him - "Steven!"
The shimmery thing disappears. Rust twitches.
"Steven?"
"Sorry," whispers the son of Aeolus, turning around.
Jesse stares. His eyes are no longer liquid black - they're solid gold.
"The son of the wind king isn't available right now. I am the Eidolon. May I take a message?"
Amanda looks up, freezing when she sees Rust's eyes and the sword in his hand. "Rust?"
Jesse reaches for Biter, his sword, feeling dread rise up inside of him. Amanda stands, holding her weapons nervously.
This is not going to be fun, they think in unison.
Thousands of miles away, in a dark room high up in the office building at 415 East 71st Street, New York City, an old man sits at his desk, watching the events at Mt. Olympus unfold. He stares at the screeing crystal for a long moment, running variables and testing theories in his head. For a long time he doesn't move.
Then, his face utterly calm, betraying none of the swirling emotions he feels inside, he reaches for a bright red telephone on his desk. He picks up the receiver and puts it to his ear.
"My Lord?"
The deep, thundering voice of the King of the Gods answers.
"It's starting to look bad at the mountain."
Zeus says nothing for a moment.
"Okay," he says finally. "We understand. Thank you."
The connection dies.
The old man sets the phone back on the cradle and rubs his eyes wearily. He wonders what that 'We' meant. A new set of calculations present themselves and he begins to try and decipher them.
AN: Well, thanks for reading, as always folks. I humbly apologize for the wait. Maybe it was worth it?
Hopefully.
I'd like to give a shoutout to Terry Pratchett, whom Ella quotes during this chapter, if I'm not mistaken. I'd also like to give a shoutout to my loyal reviewers as always. Please join their ranks! Truly, they are the greatest of Internet denizens.
Also, Shoutout to Ray. Just because.
Next Time: Jesse and Amanda have come so far since they stumbled out of the forest in front of Camp Half-Blood so long ago, and now every thing they have learned about camp life, every skill and talent and iota of raw experience and determination will be tested against Steven Rust, possessed by the Eidolon.
Butch, Rachel, Tyson, Reyna, Jake Mason, Thalia, Travis and Connor, Drew, Katie Gardner, Will Solace, the Corleano twins, and the combined strength of the Greek and Roman armies will face Porphyrion and his army. They have everything to lose, and if the monsters reach the tunnel to the Doors of Death, the Seven Heroes won't have even a fighting chance.
And Percy Jackson, Jason Grace, Frank Zhang, Annbeth Chase, Piper McLean, Hazel Levesque, and Nico Di Angelo must seal the Doors of Death and defeat Gaea and her most powerful daughter.
The end is here.