LOVE THE WAY YOU LIE . . . hoo

XXVII.

AFTER WATCHING PERCY, Annabeth, and Piper lose their luck at staying hidden from the giants, the rest of the crew ( including Mia ) decided that they should finally help them. But first, a dramatic entrance.

"Come on, then!" Piper yelled. "I'll destroy you all myself if I have to!"

A metallic smell of storm filled the air. All the hairs on Mia's arms stood up.

"The thing is," Jason said from next to her, his sword gleaming gold straight into Mia's eyes, "you don't have to."

Frank stood at his other side, his bow ready. Hazel sat astride Arion, who reared and whinnied in challenge. Mia hefted both of her swords, smirking down at the giants even with the light in her eyes.

With a deafening blast, a white-hot bolt arced from the sky, straight through Jason's body as he leaped, wreathed in lightning, at the giant king.

* * *

For the next three minutes, life was great.

So much happened at once that only an ADHD demigod could have kept track.

Jason fell on King Porphyrion with such force that the giant crumpled to his knees — blasted with lightning and stabbed in the neck with a golden gladius.

Frank unleashed a hail of arrows, driving back the giants nearest to Percy.

The Argo II rose above the ruins and all the ballistae and catapults fired simultaneously. Leo must have programmed the weapons with surgical precision. A wall of Greek fire roared upward all around the Parthenon. It didn't touch the interior, but in a flash most of the smaller monsters around it were incinerated.

Leo's voice boomed over the loudspeaker: "SURRENDER! YOU ARE SURROUNDED BY ONE SPANKING HOT WAR MACHINE!"

The giant Enceladus howled in outrage. "Valdez!"

"WHAT'S UP, ENCHILADAS?" Leo's voice roared back. "NICE DAGGER IN YOUR FOREHEAD."

"GAH!" The giant pulled Katoptris out of his head. "Monsters: destroy that ship!"

The remaining forces tried their best. A flock of gryphons rose to attack. Festus the figurehead blew flames and chargrilled them out of the sky. A few Earthborn launched a volley of rocks, but from the sides of the hull a dozen Archimedes spheres sprayed out, intercepting the boulders and blasting them to dust.

"PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!" Buford ordered.

Hazel spurred Arion off the colonnade and they leaped into battle. The forty-foot fall would have broken any other horse's legs, but Arion hit the ground running. Hazel zipped from giant to giant, stinging them with the blade of her spatha.

With extremely bad timing, Kekrops and his snake people chose that moment to join the fight. In four or five places around the ruins, the ground turned to green goo and armed gemini burst forth, Kekrops himself in the lead.

"Kill the demigods!" he hissed. "Kill the tricksters!"

Before many of his warriors could follow, Hazel pointed her blade at the nearest tunnel. The ground rumbled. All the gooey membranes popped and the tunnels collapsed, billowing plumes of dust. Kekrops looked around at his army, now reduced to six guys.

"SLITHER AWAY!" he ordered.

Mia, who had shadow traveled down to get on everyone else's level ( for once ), laughed maniacally as she sliced them down as they tried to retreat.

The giantess Periboia had thawed with alarming speed. She tried to grab Annabeth, but, despite a bad leg, Annabeth was holding her own. She stabbed at the giantess with her own hunting knife and led her in a deadly game of tag around the throne.