Chapter Title: We Get Trapped In Manhattan With Kronos' Army

Alternative Chapter Title: Saving Private Yew, Part Two

(A/N: The more things change, the more they stay the same. In addition to the continuation of references from TMNT 2003 Season 5 Episode 1 "Lap Of The Gods", this is also partially inspired by a small bit of New Super Mario Bros U/Luigi U/Deluxe. This chapter contains some stuff that will tie in with another explanatory chapter on "Monster King Explained" that I plan to publish once this arc of the story is over.

As always, shout-outs to TheTimeTraveler24, -JASONSGRACE , Imaginebooks , Morro11 , and TsarinaTorment for being both inspirations and because I use some of their characters. Now, on to the chapter!)

Previously on "Heart Pierced":

"All who would stand in their way.. WILL PERISH!"

The flaming, massive sword wielding Cyclopes approached the bridge on the earthen walkway that had risen out of the water, and as if this was an animated episode, it growled as it approached before breathing fire and the entire screen in front of you getting covered in flames before turning black.

Kronos was absolutely shook. Even as Luke, he couldn't shake off the fact that he knew full well, even in power, how minuscule he was to the twelve foot flaming cyclops that came towards the bridge in slow motion for now while he thought about things.

And before you say anything, if he knew full well how minuscule he was to the Cyclops coming at them, he knew full well what exactly that monster was.. because it was no ordinary or special Cyclopes.

This was Αζαμόθ, Ancient Greek for the name "Azamoth", one of the twelve wardens created to serve the six elemental heralds.. the main enforcers of the Monster King. In case you were wondering who these enforcers were, they were the six figures in Greek elemental armor that had been trekking up to Manhattan the night before. Azamoth was one of two wardens created by Typhon, the original and first Monster King - though his mother Gaea had not originally intended her youngest son with Tartarus to have the power this title held, to serve Χάρις, or Cháris, the fire herald. Since both Heralds and Wardens had been created by Typhon himself, while almost as nearly as powerful as the Giants, they could easily make short work of a Titan if they so wished to on the orders of their King, for Typhon had created them for one thing - to be loyal to who held the power of the Monster King, no matter who it was.

No, Kronos thought in his head, stricken for once by fear. This is impossible! Koios would have told me something about this beforehand! There hasn't been a Monster King in the world for the past 64 years! The Monster King's army wouldn't be awakening now unless..

Fear morphed into realization, and then anger, and then rage, even though Kronos himself despite all his abilities was merely powerless to do anything against a Warden. It all made sense now to him, why Typhon awoke a month earlier than he was supposed to.. had gone on the weird ass course that ended right back where he started, his slower than normal pace towards Olympus, and why even now.. he had taken a detour north through southern to central Illinois, before turning east once more. THAT TREASONOUS WALKING ASSHOLE, he shouted angrily in his head. He crowned a new Monster King among the children of Olympus and is buying time for his king to arise!

By this time, despite the slow motion, Azamoth stepped onto the Williamsburg Bridge, having already caused most of the combatants on both sides to flee. Percy had already called for Blackjack, and he flew off with Annabeth just as Azamoth reached the bridge. Many of the Apollo kids as well as Austin and Kelli had grabbed the MG42, ammo boxes, barrels, and scattered down the Manhattan side of the bridge back towards the city, all of them scared out of their minds and except for Kelli, who knew as well as Kronos and many of the monsters who scattered on the Titan Army's side of the bridge, not knowing what the hell the monster who had entered the battle was, or what was even going on. Most of the demigods on the other side of the fight had fled in terror too, leaving only Kronos, Percy, Michael, Ethan, Alabaster, Theo from Apollo and Alexander from Hermes - both Titan Army demigods, Kayla, and Colton on the bridge as Azamoth stepped onto it, the flaming Cyclopes melting support beams and other metal parts of the section of the bridge they all were at like they were simply paper. The bridge rumbled and shook, and they could hear cracking sounds and splashes coming from underneath them.

Kronos snapped back to reality, and decided to act then and there. "RETREAT, YOU FOOLS!" He shouted at Theo, Alexander, Ethan, and Alabaster as he turned his Mount and after nearly avoiding a slash from Azamoth that sliced through the roadbed cleanly, causing bits and pieces of the bridge - slowly at first - to start falling into the East River, galloped like hell for the Brooklyn Side. The four Titan Army demigods followed their leader, screaming their heads off and running like hell was on their heels as more and more pieces of the bridge started falling into the East River.

At the sound of Azamoth slicing through the Williamsburg Bridge cleanly with its sword, the four Olympian demigods had turned tail and ran, and not a moment too soon, for as soon as both parties had gotten at least 20 yards away from the slash in the Williamsburg Bridge, the bridge began collapsing rapidly behind both parties. They all ran as fast as their legs - or mount - would allow as Azamoth, satisfied with what it had done, cackled triumphantly as the bridge collapsed more and more, plunging cars and mortals alike to a watery grave in the East River, just more victims of the enhanced death toll the Battle Of Manhattan would bring in this timeline. It would seem cruel to the families of those who died from all of this, but for the actions of those who change events as we know them, there must always be a price.

The flaming Cyclopes turned towards the fleeing group of Titan Army personnel, ceasing its laughter as its spoke once more. "You have been warned not to interfere with what has been foretold for centuries, the end of the period without a Monster King.." Azamoth said menacingly, mainly towards Kronos. "Persist in your efforts to destroy Olympus, and your evil will be the end of you!"

Kronos, his temper up, had no such intention of obeying that warning - he wanted to crush the Gods and he would do so. As such, even though he heard the warning, he was plotting his next moves as Azamoth jumped off of the piece of the Williamsburg Bridge he was standing on which has somehow magically not fallen into the East River, into the air, and to the shock of many, disappeared into thin air.. as did the other seven Wardens - though they all had caused about little to no damage to the other tunnels or bridges prior to that, their mere presence combined with their elemental powers spooking both sides enough to cause them to flee to their respective sides in terror, including even the Hunters Of Artemis. Oh, their lady would never let them let it down if she found out. After Azamoth disappeared, the piece he had been standing on finally fell into the East River.

Michael had almost fallen into the river, too. He had tripped and dazed, he almost spent too long as the cracks from falling pieces of the bridge raced up towards the Apollo head counselor. At the last second however, hands had grabbed him, picked him up and hoisted him over someone's shoulder, and like thunder, that person had outran the cracks speeding along behind them until they had made it back into Manhattan. Not until Michael was put gently down on a bench and the dazed effect wore off, did he find out that the person who saved him..

.

.

.

.

.

.

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..was Colton Reynolds.

But, as the earthen towers crumbled into the East River as well, and both sides gazed in horror at the now completely destroyed for the most part Williamsburg Bridge, the sounds of more thunder - and the pained screams of their mother Hecate in Kelli's, Lou Ellen's, and Alabaster's ears all around them had both sides looking around in different directions.. only to see in the distance, a swirling mass of dense, dark clouds going around and around in what a very odd shape, getting closer and closer to each other the higher one looked up as it rose up into the clouds, past the height of Olympus and beyond like a funnel.

Running along the state border of New York and New Jersey across the Sandy Hook Channel to Raritan Bay and on land to the Garden State Parkway, before turning north and following the Parkway all the way up west of Newark before it turned east at where it met I-87 and I-287.. across the Hudson River and along I-287 to Port Chester and then following the New York and Connecticut state border before turning southeast just west of Fishers Island and curving around in an arc at 30 miles radius out from Montauk Point, the eastern tip of Long Island before moving southwest close to the coastline before completing the odd shaped swirling mass back at Sandy Hook Channel, this had once been the second storm that was approaching Manhattan earlier. It seemed harmless enough, so much so that no one had really paid much attention to it. Once it got in that particular shape though, without warning.. a dramatic change erupted out of nowhere as the Heralds suddenly hijacked control of Hypnos' and Hecate's magic in and around Manhattan, not only maintaining it.. but also preventing both minor gods and Kronos from regaining control of that area, pushing Kronos' and Hecate's magic even further out while also paralyzing Hypnos and Hecate with horrible pain - so much so that they couldn't do anything more than maintain what they had currently cast as they writhed in agony.

It had been so sudden, so instant that Clarisse herself was shocked when she blinked once and suddenly, a clear night sky had been suddenly replaced by the visible swirling mass of clouds. She was confused and weirded out, unsure of what was going on from where she was at Camp Half Blood. Little did she realize that wasn't the only effect this storm had. Typhon was also helping in it, which is why it had taken that detour northwards to delay his approach one final time.. and his power strengthened it to where almost no Titans, gods or other creatures or demigods unless they had the power to shadow travel through such a powerful ring of magic could enter or exit.. practically speaking, the Olympian forces and the Titan Army were now trapped inside this mass of magic and clouds swirling around all of them, cut off from reinforcements from the Gods or other sources of assistance from the outside from both land, sea, and air for the Titan Army. Typhon would allow the magic to weaken enough at a couple of points in the future, but for now.. he simply went even slower than before, completely confusing the Gods that fought him. Only when Hermes called out that he couldn't communicate with the demigods inside Manhattan anymore, did the Gods realize that something was wrong, at which point Typhon broke his hold over the attraction to Olympus that drove him and proceeded to explain a few things to the Olympians. (A/N: Might make that a deleted scene part later on in a deleted scenes fanfic, since while this is centered on Colton, do think it would be good typing it out later. For now though, continue.)

For now though, the Olympian forces (minus the Ares Cabin) and the Titan Army - shaken, scared, terrified, confused, worried, and more, broke off the action for the night. Neither side was willing to go at the other across the bridges and tunnels for now - even the forces in Queens and northwest of Manhattan on the New Jersey side of the Hudson, joined by Hyperion, Pallas, Koios, and Perses, were afraid to cross into Manhattan and possibly get attacked by one of the Wardens. Therefore, both sides spent the night preparing for the next day and tried to get a sense at what the hell was going on around them.

- — - — - — - — - switch to Colton's POV - — - — - — - — -

We all met back up at the hotel. The satyrs under Grover, the demigods from all the cabins except that of the bulk of my sister, Sherman, Austin, and I's cabin, as well as the Hunters Of Artemis. Asterios had somehow joined up in the fight as well, as he walked in alongside the Hunters Of Artemis, the Hunters eying him less warily than they might as well would have due to.. you know what. For the most part, we have lost very few of our number. A couple had died and others wounded, but that was it.

We still had probably close to 90-92% of our forces still in the fight. For now though, none of us wanted to go back out and engage the monsters for now. We all stood there in the lobby, in awkward silence with Kayla's hand in mind, the very presence of Kelli there with us not even causing so much as an angry outburst at all. All of us were bewildered and frightened at what had just happened, at the unbelievable that had occurred.

It then hit me that if the same thing had happened to the others, it most likely would also have them wondering exactly who is the Monster King and Queen.

You really think they know about us now yet? Kayla asked in my head worriedly.

Nope, but let's not say a word.. the Gods know.. so we will let them reveal it.. and we'll explain the rest.. hopefully Michael keeps his mouth shut.. I said back to her telepathically, and looked at her. She nodded, and just wrapped her other arm around my waist, trying to stay calm. We all were trying.. for our worlds, as much as I had tried to avoid any potential leak about the secret of Kayla and I getting out to anyone other than those who knew which was now probably going to be pointless, had pretty much been turned upside down after what had happened out there earlier tonight.

It was a while before the silence was eventually broken.

"Okay.." Travis said finally, still wide eyed and hyperventilating a little. "..anyone want to explain what the absolute fuck just happened out there? And why the Williamsburg Bridge got absolutely demolished?"

"Believe me when I say, Travis.." Annabeth said a bit weakly, lying on a nearby couch, healing from the poisoned knife. She was somehow healing faster than normal, even with Will's help, something which bedeviled the whole Apollo Cabin. "I have absolutely no idea at all.. what just happened. Or how the Williamsburg Bridge was destroyed." She was also shaking quite a bit, because she still feared Cyclopes a bit.

"That thing.." Percy stated. "..it sliced through the bridge with its sword.. we booked it and the bridge began collapsing not too long after. Michael would have been a goner if Colton hadn't been there." He did a swipe almost exactly like the flaming Cyclopes back on the bridge had done when it swung its sword and cut through the bridge like it was paper.

"Yep.. I owe him my life.." Michael said. "But still.. who or what the fuck was that flaming Cyclopes?"

Katie's brow perked up. "You all.. got attacked.. by a flaming Cyclopes with a large sword?" she asked in disbelief. "A giant hound - not a hellhound, that's for sure - with five heads showed up out of a dark area that appeared out of nowhere in the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel where we were." (A/N: Before you say anything, no this is not Cerberus. Different dog here.)

"You should have seen what came out of the water for us.." Connor remarked. "This massive skeleton warrior with what looked like a pitchfork in its hands, made out of water rose up out of the water next to us on the Manhattan Bridge."

The other stories were similar. A monster have come out of nowhere that defied all the expectations we had of monsters. A large, hulking beast with massive teeth, two horns growing out of its head, and a third eye in the center of its forehead.. wearing a loincloth of tiger pelt, with what looked like a spiked club in its hand, and made out of light - no, seriously.. literal light - had hopped out of a small light source - and yes, a small light source - in the Queens - Midtown Tunnel and spooked the complete shit out of the Aphrodite Cabin. Silena looked scared out of her mind. (A/N: I'm just going to leave this here, this one was a Japanese Oni made out of light. Some of these Wardens will be monsters from other cultures just to emphasize how much the Monster King is interlinked with other Pantheons.)

The crew at the Brooklyn Bridge had an encounter with a large Yeti made out of Earth with a massive steel club that had soared into the air out from the cover of the buildings on the Brooklyn side of the Bridge.

The Athena kids on the 59th Street Bridge had a large, tall dude dressed in ancient Chinese clothing with its arms outstretched that looked like a stiff yet somehow living corpse appear out of the shadows on the Bridge suddenly without any warning. Killed quite a few monsters and enemy demigods over there by apparently absorbing something from them before it had disappeared, from what I had heard. (A/N: This one is supposed to be a Chinese Jiangshi, a type of reanimated corpse in Chinese Folklore also known as a Chinese hopping vampire.)

A large Drakon - well it was the body of a monster that is - with the head of an alligator and literally most of a worm for a tail - had burrowed out of the Earth in the Holland Tunnel.. right in the middle of the enemy lines, killing some mortals unfortunately.

And as for the Hunters in the Lincoln Tunnel, apparently Asterios had appeared as a larger version of the Minotaur (A/N: yes, I am referring to the description I gave him in "Started From The Bottom" for his appearance in actual monster form) out of an actual ball of fire. Evidently, the ceiling of the tunnel had magically stretched up a few feet somehow right before he appeared, only to revert to normal at the end. Once he turned back into his human form - the only one to do so out of all of them, he had refused to tell the Hunters anything and repeatedly said that he was here to help. Needless to say, even Kayla was shocked at that one. (A/N: If you've been counting, you'll realize that is only eight. You'll see the other four eventually in the series.)

Either way, all experiences - with the sole exception of Asterios at the end of what happened in the Lincoln Tunnel - was basically the same. Out of nowhere, a monster unlike anything we had ever seen before shows up, sends both sides fleeing and then disappears into thin air right in front of our eyes. It was, for a lack of a better word, downright insane.

"So.. we all got attacked by.. some random monster we had no clue existed up until now?" Miranda asked, fear present on her face.

"Yep.. it would seem so.." Thalia added. "Plus, this freaking storm.. or whatever this thing is.. has like cut off all communication. You can't even Iris Message the Gods now."

"It's definitely magic.." Silena said, shaking off her fear long enough to speak. "..way more powerful stuff than anything I've ever heard of."

"You should have seen Kronos' face.." Percy added. "You could tell, he definitely knew what the thing that attacked and destroyed the Williamsburg Bridge was.. the fear in his eyes was just.. something shocking to behold."

"Kronos? Being scared of a monster? That's a first.." Travis tried to joke, but Percy just shrugged his head.

"Fear wouldn't be the right word.." Percy added. "More like he was downright terrified."

"Why would he be terrified?" Annabeth asked. "He's King of the Titans."

"Unless he knows something we don't know.." Malcolm chimed in, and Colton couldn't help but agree. Kronos definitely knows something, that's for sure.

Cecil from the Hermes Cabin joined in. "Probably whoever this Monster King and Queen are, these monsters probably work for them.. they did say something about them returning.." he said, and everyone stared at him.

"The one at the Williamsburg Bridge went further.." Percy relayed to the others. "Said something to Kronos about considering this as a warning not to interfere into what had been foretold for centuries apparently, the end of a period without a Monster King."

"What would he be interfering with?" Katie asked. "Who or what the hell is the Monster King? And why are we only learning of this now?"

"I don't know.. we can ask the Gods when all of this is over.." Percy said anxiously. He was definitely unnerved by the whole event that had played out at the Williamsburg Bridge and I didn't blame him. I was trying - and failing - to figure this out myself. Why me? What the hell kind of secrets is Typhon keeping from me and Kayla?

I wanted answers.

"Hey.. uh.. not to make everyone uneasy.. but if we can't communicate with the gods.. what are the odds that Kronos' army is having the same issues?" Hunter said nervously, her eyes darting back and forth. Everyone looked uneasy regardless after that remark, including me.

"So.. are we.. trapped inside.. whatever this is.. with them?" Katie said fearfully.

"Possibly.." Malcolm said with more terror than confidence in his voice.

"That's not helping at all, Malcolm.." Katie said back, shaking quite a bit. Travis put his arms around her to hug her and she didn't call him out or anything. She simply clung to him for comfort.

"I'm sorry, Katie.." Malcolm replied, tears in his eyes. "I.. just don't know at all."

"Let's all get some sleep.. patrol duty should be established though. Thalia, Annabeth, I'll leave that to you two.." Percy said, sounding kinda like Chiron as he did so. "We'll need all the rest we can get for tomorrow. This whole Monster King business is likely not going to stop Kronos from continuing to try to destroy Olympus. He'll likely continue the assault tomorrow."

"You got it Percy.." Thalia said back, then she and Annabeth plus the Hunters as well as Sherman and Austin left. I turned to Kayla as everyone else went to find a place to sleep while Michael sent Lee along with the Stolls to raid a drug store for supplies.

How do you think everyone is going to react when they found out the truth? She asked me worriedly in my head once more.

Personally, I don't want to think about that.. let's just get some sleep, my Queen, I replied back and she just walked with me down the hall, both of us looking to find a spare room to sleep in. We swiped a key card from the front desk before we did though.

Kelli, Aurora, and Belle somehow managing to get along was the last thing I remember seeing in the lobby that first night. It was weird.. but hey better than nothing.

- — - — - — - — - Back To 3rd Person POV - — - — - — - — -

The dark elemental herald was busy that night, as next to no one under the storm in and around Manhattan (excluding Camp Half Blood) slept a long while without having a terrifying vision involving the same stuff on Fifth Avenue that Kayla and Colton had seen on Olympus.

What was different about their visions though was that instead of a sword, the figure on the horse was holding a trident with the bladed end on fire. Also, the horse and rider weren't standing there in the light before they saw them. Their was a loud hideous sound of the horse calling out, then a long malicious laugh in their air that chilled the vision's recipients before the horse and rider burst out of the darkness out of nowhere, trident aimed right for the recipient's head right before they woke up screaming.

Kayla, meanwhile, had a pleasant sleep. Colton.. however..

If anything, what he got definitely left him with more questions than answers come morning.

(A/N: And there you have it folks! Michael Yew will indeed live on into the Second Book! Hope you enjoy and keep yourselves tuned for more crazy stuff next time around. And yeah.. a lot more civilian death here than in canon, but that's the price you have to pay sometimes.. Azamoth, I will say, definitely in his head is probably the wildest out of all the Wardens.)