11:53 pm
Annabeth POV:
They had been at this for a little more than an hour now and it started to grate on my nerves and it's starting to show judging by the expressions about the makeshift command center on the Argo 3. I hate pitiful looks and the mortals were giving me exactly that. The demigods knew better however and were just tiptoeing around me as if I might explode. They most likely remember last time me, and Percy were separated like this. Pain shot through me as those memories resurfaced. I still hadn't taken everything of mine out of Percy's room during my short stay there while Sally and I used each other for comfort in between search missions looking for Percy. Today was not about saving my heroic and idiotic boyfriend as much as I wanted it to be. Instead, the goal was to retake New York and purge it of all monsters. Then somehow prevent the mortals who as of this morning didn't even know we existed from destroying everything me and the rest of the demigods worked for.
"Percy is going to be in the center of this again isn't he" asked Leo at his place at the control panel, which is still a wii remote, looking serious for once in his life. Between the situation at hand and Calypso, Leo had grown up. He still was his usual annoying goof ball, but he had an air of responsibility to him. That scared me Leo and responsibility is not a good combination.
Looking across the shimmering model of New York and the bright red, green and blue dots that signify monsters, demigods, and mortals respectively. This specific feature was added by the Hephaestus and Hecate cabins when the Argo 3 was made. Since its original purpose was for easy transit between Camp Jupiter and Rome it needed an early warning system for the demigods. Gold was for god, black for titan, brown for giant, red for monster, green for demigod and blue for mortal. The actual ship itself is twice as big as the original Argo 2 and had celestial bronze mixed with imperial gold hull. It could fly and float like its predecessor. The biggest difference was that it had more Roman designs such as trebuchet, catapults and even a bath. Instead of Hephaestus it had automations named Mandy and Mark. Mandy was a wolf and Mark was a Pegasus both served as the spot Festus played in the second giant war. More interestingly Mark and Mandy can detach and fight as gigantic bronze automatons as long as one stayed at the stern of the ship. Mandy had the honor today much to Marks annoyance.
"Shcreechchch. Grrraaaachcchcch." Screeched the still complaining Mark.
"Vanessia, can you take a couple of your siblings to try to calm that annoyance. It has already neglected several projectiles and we have begun to take minor damage to our starboard side." I asked the second child of Hephaestus in the room.
"He. He is not an it." She said to me while throwing by a scathing glare.
"Impressive what you guys have managed to build." General Richmond commented to my right.
"It is especially after two separate wars." I answered with a little bit of pride before giving him an earnest look and continuing "This took the Hephaestus and Volcan children almost an entire year to build and design. It served as a tool to unite the two camps further and as a source of coping over the death of many brothers and sisters they have lost."
The General just looked dumbfounded. "A bunch of teenagers build a gravity defying warship with more weapons and defenses than a Nimitz class aircraft carrier in a year."
"You forgot to mention the two Artificial Intelligence animatronic war machines that fly the said gravity defying boat." I reminded him smugly. "Though it would be wise not to think of us as children and teenagers. We have gone through enough that we no longer view ourselves as kids. So, we insist on respect." I added on as an afterthought.
An Iris Message shimmered to life and the figure of one Clarissa La Rue and Chris Rodriguez in full armor surrounded by a huge battle appeared in the center of the room.
"We found Percy. Sending us ahead was a good idea. A bunch of monsters that were pushed back into the city had bounded towards Percy and the rest of the survivors at Goode High School." Chris told Annabeth stoically.
"Prissy is the only one holding back the tide of monsters before we got here. The mortals had run out of their celestial bronze ammunition a while ago. He is in pretty bad shape. You should get here fast because he refuses to rest and is continuing to fight." Clarissa sounded worried. That was not good because if Clarissa was worried about seaweed brain, then it means percy is definitely not doing okay. The dread she felt before intensified. Panic began to fill her brain as she imagined her boyfriend on the brink of death.
"Fly to him. Leo Mcshizzle Supreme has got this. We will stick to the plan until you get back with Percy. Before you say something like 'Leo you aren't responsible enough' Calypso is just downstairs." Leo spoke in his usual grating manner but this time it was oddly comforting.
"The Pegasi are all being used in combat." I told him wanting to go to Percy more than anything else but knowing it wouldn't be wise.
"Oh, come on! Pull a Percy for once! Take a risk! I know you can figure out a way, easily, to get to him. You just worry about the 'responsible decision' the 'smart decision' get off it and go make out with Aquaman." Leo rebutted.
"Fastwing has a bad leg and a horrific gash to his side, but it should be patched up. You can take him." Butch said in a concerned voice like he hated himself for suggesting it. Glancing over to him I knew that Fastwing wouldn't likely be injured to have much problem with the trip. Butch would never have suggested taking him otherwise.
"Get Will, tell him to meet me in the horse stables." I answered before booking it there myself. Hang in there Percy I am coming. Along the way I stopped by my bunk room to quickly put on my armor and grab my weapons. By the time I made it to the stables Will had already gotten Fastwing ready. Without saying a word, me and Will hoisted ourselves on Fastwing much to his protest. With a tug on his harness, he jumped out of the warship and into the battle-stricken city scape below us. The buildings around us were peppered with holes and on occasion held golden dust. The street below was full of sounds of gunfire, blood, demigods, mortal soldiers, and monsters. Festus seconds before a griffin attacked us obliterated it with his fire-based abilities. Soon the horde of monsters thinned, and we made our way through the streets of New York and neared Percy's school. There before us stood a small army of monsters only held back by 6 demigods. Clarissa, Chris, three of her brothers and sisters and Percy. Percy looked beat up and had more blood covering him than skin. His hair was matted and caked with blood, dust, and mud. He was panting heavy like his clothes were made of lead and he just did a ten-mile run up strait stairs. His sword, while still an arch of destruction not even she could track through the air, was held limp, and dragged at his side between enemies. He had a bandage on his leg that was soaked in enough blood it probably was not doing anything. The most terrifying thing though was his right arm was broken and the bone was sticking through his skin. Crying out, I leapt from Fastwing before he even landed and was at Percy's side before anyone could react. Faintly behind me I could hear Will dragging Percy by the ear back towards school much to his protest. My world became a blur of enemies and battle. For what felt like hours but according to the placement of the sun it couldn't have been more than forty-five minutes back up arrived in the form of a homicidal wolf and dragon. The metallic she-wolf bigger than a dump truck Mandy came in breathing a torrent of molten rock and metal from the cars and pavement she ate earlier. On her shoulder blades were two twin canons capable of firing projectiles made from whatever she ate. Between her and Festus the monsters that were plaguing us let up and I could finally see how Percy was doing.
I found Percy inside of the school's gymnasium along with hundreds of other injured people all bandaged up with clothes and other fabric like material. Will was running around like the place was on fire between patients two sing the healing songs the children of Apollo used to heal the injured and on occasion to fix a bandage.
"Hey Annabeth, how are you doing? Crazy day huh." Percy asked on the other side of the gym as a crowd of mortals both stayed far away from him and gaped like he was some god or superhero. His voice didn't betray any pain and actually sounded nonchalant but the way his eyes were dimmed I knew better.
'Shut up Seaweed brain. You are the one who went on a noble suicidal mission!' I wanted to scream at him, but the words were caught in my throat. Instead, I smiled and hugged him in an embrace that I'm pretty sure would make Tyson proud.
"Don't ever do that to me again." I said to him muffled by his shirt and proceeded to smack him hard up against his head.
"Do you have any idea how worried Sally is right now? She nearly had a heart attack." I told him while he was rubbing his head.
"Yeah… I know." Percy sheepishly said between a slight grimace of pain. Rumbling was heard overhead that could only be the muffled canon fire of the Argo 3. Standing up I addressed the room.
"We are placing a forward positioning base in central park, near the Victorian Gardens Amusement Park. We are going to evacuate all civilians outside of New York City to makeshift refugee camps…" I began to take charge of the civilians as the rest of the demigods took care of the monsters outside.
One day later
10:39am
Percy POV:
I walked around what should probably be classified as the weirdest military base in human history. It had your usual military base or what I assume to be the usual military base complete with a command tent. It also had however demigod influence were ever you looked with a makeshift stable, space cleared out for sparring, and a flying warship floating right above everyone's heads. New York City was secure as of three hours ago at the cost of hundreds of soldiers, twelve demigods, and thousands of civilians. The deaths hang heavy in the air burdened by the loved ones they left behind. Both Annabeth and I earned the respect of the soldiers due to our previous combat experience fighting and leading wars against monsters. Not that most of the other demigods didn't earn the respect of the mortals either. I'm pretty sure I heard Will complaining about the mortal medics obsessing over ambrosia and the public opinion on demigods seem to be wary respect and admiration.
"Jackson, Sir. We got words from the President he wants to meet you! I have orders to fly you to Washington." A soldier stammered out clearly terrified of being close to the person who had drowned a drakon 8 hours prior much to the frustrations of the Apollo healers.
"I would happily meet the President. However, let him know me and Annabeth aren't the only leaders of the demigods. So, I wish to request me and 9 others to join me there as well." I informed the soldier who only nodded.
"Also tell them that I will be making my own way there. I don't do well with flying." I added as an afterthought.
Me, Annabeth, Hazel, Frank, Thalia, and Grover all materialized out of the shadows with a very tired Nico. The Ghost King not so gracefully slouched next to a dumpster and waved us on while he took a quick nap. We made our way through Washington D.C. as mortals quickly realized who we were and began to point or snap pictures of us. Apparently, we are viral on the internet.
"I don't like how much we are getting recognized. Maybe we should have taken the mortal way here." Hazel said to no one in particular.
"No, we couldn't have taken a plane, and a mortal car can easily get attacked by a monster." Annabeth rehearsed from the quick meeting we had before departing. Pushing past the crowd, we walked towards the White House and prepared a long day of political bullshit. Unprecedently the US Congress and the President wanted to meet us as soon as possible and wanting to get this over with the demigods asked if we could go to both apparently on the same day. Within minutes we had full news crews following us and bugging us with questions with a slightly terrified crowd behind them. With a small nod towards Frank, he turned into a dragon and flew us the rest of the way to the White House leaving the surprised mortals behind. We were quickly ushered inside by the guards posted outside.
"Hello Mr. Jackson, Ms. Chase, Mr. Zhang, Ms. Levesque, and Ms. Grace." The President greeted us in the doorway.
"Lieutenant Thalia to you. Mr. President." Thalia bit back making President sound like a swear word.
"Thalia doesn't like it when people use her last name and she is the Lieutenant of Artemis and the highest in command of the Hunters of Artemis. Only second to the Lady of the Hunt herself of course." I added that second part once I heard a rumbling of thunder.
"Oh, of course." Was the only reply we got from the President before he began to usher us towards the conference room, we were using to meet the higher ups in the Military, FBI, CIA or whatever government body that is taking any interest in us. Which to be said is probably all of them.
"You can call me and Hazel Praetors of Rome" Spoke up Frank. He was getting thousand times more confident along with Hazel. Neither really acted much like their old selves when in formal situations like they are in now. Instead, they act regale and more militaristic fitting the position they were in.
Sitting down, the air began to get awkward as close to fifty eyes stared at us from all over the room. The guards that were at the doors seem to be more suited for combat against freaking insurgencies than actual guards. With full Kevlar vests, automatic rifles, high-tech looking goggles, and very trigger happy. All the safety was off on all the guard's weapons.
"Didn't you say there was 10 people coming Mr. President" an official looking Person sitting to the Presidents right asked the room not taking his eyes off of us.
"They will be here shortly. They represent other groups within the mythical world." Annabeth spoke up right before a blond-haired kid with a necklace with a white runestone and a teenage girl with a hijab. Following right after them was an African American kid with his sandy haired British sister.
"Now I feel there is some greetings that are in order before we get started." Samirah told the room.
"I'll get started. My name is Percy Jackson son of Poseidon and three-time hero of Olympus among other titles." I told the room trying to come off nonchalant.
"Annabeth Chase daughter of Athena and three-time hero of Olympus as well." Annabeth went next.
"Thalia daughter of Zeus and Lieutenant of Artemis." Thalia told the room bored as she had her mud caked boots on the table and picking at her nails with a knife.
"Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto. I am Preator of the Legions of Rome." Hazel said, looking powerful in her full Preator uniform complete with the purple robes.
"Frank Zhang, son of Mars. I am also Preator of the Legions of Rome." Frank told the room in the same outfit that Hazel had.
"Carter Kane, Magician of the House of life, Host of Horus, and Pharaoh." Carter went next.
"Sadie Kane, Magician of the House of life, Host of Isis, and High Priestess of the House of life."
"Samirah al-Abbas, daughter of Loki, Captain of the Valkyrie."
"Magnus Chase, son of Frey," The mortals preceded to give introductions much to the mounting tension from the demigods and magicians in the room.
"Now we would like to address the threat your kind undoubtedly places on the human race" the President started the conversation trying and failing to keep his discuss out of his face. "And the possibility to get you guys off of American soil."