Chapter Title: Polybotes Attracts The Worst Possible Kind Of Attention
We were probably, without a doubt at all, the strangest reinforcements in Roman military history. Hazel rode Arion, who had recovered enough to carry one person at normal horse speed, though he seemed to be cursing about his aching hooves all the way downhill.
I didn't even pay much attention to him.
Frank transformed into a bald eagle—which Percy, with the expression he showed on his face, most likely still found totally unfair—and soared above them. Tyson ran down the hill, waving his club and yelling, "Bad pony-men! BOO!" while Ella fluttered around him, reciting facts from the Old Farmer's Almanac. I don't even know why she was doing that, but she was. Either way, it really looked weird as hell if I had to be honest with you. But I guess people had certain ways of dealing with stress when on the battlefield, and I guess that might have just so happened to have been Ella's method of dealing with stress.
I wasn't planning on stopping to ask her about it, though. I had other concerns to deal with in front of me now.
As for Percy, he rode Mrs. O'Leary into battle with a chariot full of Imperial gold equipment clanking and clinking behind, the golden eagle standard of the Twelfth Legion raised high above him.
We skirted the perimeter of the camp and took the northernmost bridge over the Little Tiber, charging onto the Field of Mars at the western edge of the battle. A horde of Cyclopes was hammering away at the campers of the Fifth Cohort, who were trying to keep their shields locked just to stay alive.
Seeing them in trouble, Percy turned very angry. Just as he was about to go to their aid though, a bullet slammed into the heads of a few of the Cyclopes, killing all of those that the bullet passed through instantly.
I smiled, because that kind of shot could have come from only one person. One who we desperately needed at this time right now.
Nice to see you and the others are back now, Colton.
The trio may have been a bit late — all things considered right now, but it was nice to see that those three had apparently been successful in their quest to retrieve Argonaut and made it back to camp.
Percy shouted, "Fifth Cohort!" and then he and Ms. O'Leary slammed into the nearest Cyclops, which happened to be stunned from the sudden death of some of its comrades. The last things the poor monster saw were Mrs. O'Leary's teeth. I didn't watch the gruesome scene unfold for long.
After the Cyclops disintegrated—and stayed disintegrated, since we had freed Thanatos — Percy leaped off his hellhound and slashed wildly through the other monsters. I went to work with a few monsters that came my way, my skill with the sword on full display here. Of course, this is what I had trained for during my time at Camp Half Blood. I wasn't the greatest swordsman in 300 years at Camp Half Blood for nothing after all.
Tyson charged at the Cyclops leader, Ma Gasket, her chain-mail dress spattered with mud and decorated with broken spears.
She gawked at Tyson and started to say, "Who—?"
Tyson hit her in the head so hard, she spun in a circle and landed on her rump. I couldn't really help but chuckle at the sight there.
"Bad Cyclops Lady!" he bellowed. "General Tyson says GO AWAY!"
He hit her again, and Ma Gasket broke into dust. I had to admit, it was amazing to watch Tyson in action. I had to admit that indeed, no question about it.
Meanwhile Hazel charged around on Arion, slicing her spatha through one Cyclops after another, while Frank blinded the enemies with his talons. Those poor buggers probably were surprised to be attacked in such a manner. But hey, they made the mistake of being here in the first place.
Once every Cyclops within fifty yards had been reduced to ashes, Frank landed in front of his troops and transformed into a human. His centurion's badge and Mural Crown gleamed on his winter jacket — which given that we were back in the warm country, I found it odd that he was still wearing it honestly.
"Fifth Cohort!" he bellowed. "Get your Imperial gold weapons right here!"
The campers recovered from their shock and mobbed the chariot. Percy did his best to hand out equipment quickly, for there were many hands that wanted something.
Monsters tried to close in on them all as they did, but I just made short work of them with Backbiter II. I loved this sword so much honestly — it was just as good as the original that Kronos gave me, if not better. It just felt like the good old days — not that I wished for a return of those days, mind you.. for very obvious reasons. Reasons that had me on the road to redemption after all.
"Let's go, let's go!" Dakota urged, grinning like a madman as he swigged red Kool-Aid from his flask. I had to admit, it would be interesting to see what Dionysus would think of him — since he was the son of his Roman counterpart. I personally would like to hear what Mr. D would have to say, believe me. "Our comrades need help!"
Soon the Fifth Cohort was equipped with new weapons and shields and helmets. They weren't exactly consistent. In fact they looked like they'd been shopping at a clearance sale for OP stuff. But they were suddenly the most powerful cohort in the legion — from rags to riches, like Colton had intended.
"Follow the eagle!" Frank ordered. "To battle!"
The campers cheered. As Percy and Mrs. O'Leary charged onward, the entire cohort followed—forty extremely shiny gold-plated warriors screaming for blood. And given the density of enemies, it was likely that they would get some. I mean, you couldn't miss an elephant with the mass of monsters being huge as it was at this fight.
I split off from them, looking for Michael and Lavinia. I could still see the action on the Fifth Cohort's area unfold as I went though, since I didn't see them at first. All the while, gunshots pierced the noise of battle so distinctly, making it know to me that Colton was apparently finding plenty of targets to shoot at. I didn't blame him for taking that many shots, for the monsters were pouring in like one giant mob right now. So basically speaking.. it was like a turkey shoot.
They all slammed, basically head first figuratively, into a herd of wild centaurs that were attacking the Third Cohort. When the campers of the Third saw the eagle standard, they shouted insanely and fought with renewed effort. I cleaved my way through a few Cyclopes on my own, charging towards the aqueduct and the swirling center of battle occurring there.
The centaurs didn't stand a chance. The two cohorts crushed them like a vise. Soon there was nothing left but piles of dust and assorted hooves and horns. Plus, there were some bones too.
"Form ranks!" the centurions shouted. The two cohorts came together, their military training kicking in. Shields locked, they marched into battle against the Earthborn.
Frank shouted, "Pila!"
A hundred spears bristled. When Frank yelled, "Fire!" they sailed through the air—a wave of death cutting through the six-armed monsters. The campers drew swords and advanced toward the center of the battle.
I saw Michael just ahead of me, sword in hand, dealing with a centaur. I stabbed the thing as it was flailing on the ground, trying to prevent Michael from stabbing it. It disintegrated upon being stabbed by Backbiter II. Michael turned to me. "Thanks man — still got some distance to go with regaining my trust after what you did, but thanks.." he said to me, and I felt bad inside a bit.
"Yeah.." I replied. "Don't mention it. Where's Colton and Lavinia?"
"Trying to locate the enemy commander.." Michael responded. "At least Lavinia was. Colton is.." He paused, listening to the rapid sound of gunfire echoing above the noise of battle. "..most likely going on a killing spree at this time."
"Cool.. let's go for the aqueduct.." I said, and charged once more, leaving him in the dust.
"HEY, WAIT UP!" Michael shouted, following after me.
I caught sight of the enemy commander when we reached the aqueduct. Both the First and Second Cohorts were trying to encircle the Giant there, but they were taking a pounding. The remaining Earthborn threw barrage after barrage of stone and mud. Karpoi grain spirits—those horrible little piranha Cupids, I hated those buggers so much —were rushing through the tall grass abducting campers at random, pulling them away from the line. I shuddered at the thought of what exactly those things were doing to them, though given the sound of extremely rapid gunshots and karpoi screams and campers then proceeding to rush back to the fight, it was evident that Colton had noticed and was putting a stop to it.
The giant himself kept shaking basilisks out of his hair. Every time one landed, the Romans panicked and ran. Judging from their corroded shields and the smoking plumes on their helmets, they'd already learned about the basilisks' poison and fire. I caught sight of Lavinia out of the corner of my eye now as she fired and killed one of the Basilisks from range.
I looked for Terminus, but I had to curse when I found him. The statues were busy trying to hold off monsters trying to attack the city, and there were succeeding, but with the consequence of robbing the only god that could help us. Fuck.. fuck.. fucking shit, I thought to myself, given that currently on the horizon, hordes upon hordes of more monsters were rushing into the valley. How are we supposed to even win this? Like seriously, how are we even supposed to?
Sure, we had the Monster King, but I currently had no clue as to where Colton was, nor was I aware of if he knew about the fact that more and more monsters were coming down into the valley right now.
Reyna soared above the giant, diving in with her javelin whenever he turned his attention to the ground troops. Her purple cloak snapped in the wind. Her golden armor gleamed. Polybotes jabbed his trident and swung his weighted net, but Scipio was almost as nimble as Arion. Just enough that Polybotes missed every time.
That was a relief.
She noticed the Fifth Cohort marching to their aid with the eagle. She was so stunned, the giant almost swatted her out of the air, but Scipio dodged. I breathed a sigh of relief at that. Reyna locked eyes with Percy and gave him a huge smile.
"Romans!" Her voice boomed across the fields. "Rally to the eagle!"
Demigods and monsters alike turned and gawked as Percy bounded forward on his hellhound. Well, to be fair, I think they were already gawking due to the fact that a maniac Colton was taking potshots on them, killing clumps of monsters left and right with a single shot for each of them. I don't really know to be sure.
"What is this?" Polybotes demanded. "What is this?"
Percy felt a rush of power coursing through the standard's staff. He raised the eagle and shouted, "Twelfth Legion Fulminata!"
Thunder shook the valley. The eagle let loose a blinding flash, and a thousand tendrils of lightning exploded from its golden wings—arcing in front of Percy like the branches of an enormous deadly tree, connecting with the nearest monsters, leaping from one to another, completely ignoring the Roman forces.
When the lightning stopped, the First and Second Cohorts were facing one surprised-looking giant and two hundred piles of ash. That much for such a powerful attack.
I groaned. You got to be fucking kidding me. THANKS A LOT, JUPITER.
Zeus.. Jupiter.. whatever his form, I was pretty sure at this point both of them absolutely sucked.
Our optimism faded pretty quickly, as could have probably been expected.
I looked around. The Fourth Cohort was still surrounded by Cyclopes. Even Hannibal the elephant was having a hard time wading through so many monsters. His black Kevlar armor was ripped so that his label just said "ant" by now.
The veterans and Lares on the eastern flank were being pushed toward the city. The monsters' siege tower was still hurling explosive green fireballs into the streets. The gorgons had disabled the giant eagles and now flew unchallenged over the giant's remaining centaurs and the Earthborn, trying to rally them.
"Stand your ground!" Stheno yelled. "I've got free samples!"
Polybotes bellowed. A dozen fresh basilisks fell out of his hair, turning the grass to poison yellow. "You think this changes anything, Percy Jackson? I cannot be destroyed! Come forward, son of Neptune. I will break you!"
Percy dismounted. He handed Dakota the standard. "You are the cohort's senior centurion. Take care of this." Dakota blinked, then he straightened with pride. He dropped his Kool-Aid flask and took the eagle. "I will carry it with honor."
"Frank, Hazel, Tyson," Percy said, "help the Fourth Cohort. I've got a giant to kill."
He raised Riptide, but before he could advance, horns blew in the northern hills. Another army appeared on the ridge—hundreds of warriors in black-and-gray camouflage, armed with spears and shields. Interspersed among their ranks were a dozen battle forklifts, their sharpened tines gleaming in the sunset and flaming bolts nocked in their crossbows.
"Amazons," Frank said. "Great."
Polybotes laughed. "You, see? Our reinforcements have arrived! Rome will fall today!"
The Amazons lowered their spears and charged down the hill. Their forklifts barreled into battle. The giant's army cheered — simply because the Amazons were intercepted by waves of monsters, preventing them from joining the main battle.
I'm pretty sure I was panicking now at this moment. That's when Polybotes managed to land a hit on Scipio, sending Reyna falling to earth. She screamed on the way down.
"REYNA!" Hylla's voice sounded.
She hit the ground hard with a thud, falling off of Scipio in the process on the way down. As scared as I was, I also had to wince because she hit the ground hard enough that she couldn't have landed without breaking something.
Sure enough, when she tried to get up, she fell over and clutched her leg in pain. Shit, I thought to myself as I noticed Polybotes grin and start to make his way over to her.She broke her leg.
"Praetor Reyna!" shouted some of the Romans. They wanted to help her, but from the way they were cowering, they were most likely scared of the Basilisks that Polybotes had spawned. Lavinia, however, seemed to be unfazed as despite her heavy weapon, she went over to Reyna.
Both of them looked nervous and scared though, when Polybotes reached them. "Well, well.. two Roman demigods, one of them the praetor.. you two will make a good meal for me!" he cackled, raising his massive trident in the air with one of his hands preparing to skewer both of them on the ends of it.
I was about to run over there and try to get both of them out.
Just when it looked like it was over for Lavinia and Reyna though, that's when a bright flash of light came out of nowhere, so bright that all of us had to cover our eyes. Opening them a few seconds later, Polybotes was falling over to the ground, landing with a massive thud right in front of both Reyna and Lavinia as if the giant had been struck in the back by an energy beam or something, just as a massive bolt of lightning came down and struck the aqueduct behind Polybotes. I had to cover my ears at the loud boom of thunder that followed.
(* "Terror Of MechaGodzilla (1975) - OST: Godzilla's Entrance", uploaded to YouTube by user Opera Kaiju, begins here and continues to the end of the chapter. Repeat as many times as necessary. *)
A sudden gush of water and wind was launched onto the battlefield, scattering monsters, Amazons, and demigods alike. In a then-rapidly spinning tornado of smoke and flashing bolts of lightning, accompanied by tornado like gusts of wind that flung hordes of monsters into the air like they were nothing, I heard a hauntingly familiar roar.
One that brought a smile to my face for a very good reason.
Looks like Colton remembers too, because if he's back.. then..
It was clear to me now.. that what was inside that stationary tornado on the aqueduct was the answer to how we would deal with Polybotes. Believe me when I say, never before was I relieved to have the thing that gave me nightmares for a few weeks after the Battle of Manhattan return to save the demigods once more.
"What? How? Who?" Polybotes said, flabbergasted. I don't think even he could have seen this coming, but then again, Colton had always been one for dramatic entrances and this.. was no exception.
I ran over to Lavinia and Reyna. Reyna looked shocked, scared, and confused, though Lavinia looked more timid.
"Luke.. who..? What.. even.. is that..?" Reyna asked me.
"It's Colton.. or rather.. what's inside of him.." I said back.
"Inside of him..?" she asked, before the smoke cleared, and I'm sure that both of them instantly looked terrified for their lives within a second of placing their eyes on what emerged from the smoke, Reyna more so than Lavinia — and for good reason.
Because it was the one figure from the past that scared Romans, Greeks, Monsters, Amazons, you name it — anyone in the Mythological World more than anything.
If Colton's memory was back, then it was safe to say that it.. was back too. Polybotes had attracted absolutely the worst kind of attention possible and now, he was about to pay the price of it.
There was no disputing exactly what towered over all of us, standing up on that aqueduct somehow as if it was weightless when we all knew it shouldn't even be possible at all. That the aqueduct should be crushed under the weight of what stood on top of it.
There was now zero doubt about what was going on at that moment in time, if what had preceded this had made it clear. What had made its appearance on this battlefield was the familiar monster that me, Michael, and Percy knew full well about. The one that had saved all of us in NYC last year, and had fought Porphyrion and his rogue giants alongside Kayla's Monster Queen form in September of last year.
Few other ways could sum it up simply.
It...
.
.
.
.
.
..was back.
The Monster King was back.
(A/N: Brief author's note here. Once the preceding chapters before Luke II are finished, I will then continue after this part up to and past the published Percy II part. Until then, hope you enjoyed the return of the iconic part of Colton Reynolds!)