𝐂œ𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐬é𝐬 [Percy Jackson]

171

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 and Hadrian unleashed a hail of arrows, driving back the giants nearest to Percy. It was hard not to drop everything and run to him, but Hadrian managed.

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!"

Past history apparently. 

"WHAT'S UP, ENCHILADAS?" Leo's voice roared back. "NICE EYE WOUND."

"GAH!' The giant still clawed at his missing eye. Hadrian just grinned, happy to hear Leo's voice. He had never thought of Leo as a calming influence, but it worked for him in the middle of chaos. "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. Hadrian couldn't help but miss Coach Hedge, gods that satyr would have loved this.

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!"

"Oh come on!" Hadrian groaned, "I was so nice to you"

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.

Hadrian's arrows cut them down as they tried to retreat.

The giantess Periboia had recovered from the charmtouch and charmspeak. She tried to grab Annabeth, but, despite her 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.

Percy was back on his feet, Riptide once again in his hands. He still looked dazed. His hand and nose were bleeding, he clutched his ribs, and Hadrian could already see bruises forming. But he seemed to be standing his ground against the old giant Thoon, who had somehow found his meat cleaver.

Hadrian picked a high enough piece of scaffolding, shooting down monsters and giants from far away. He loved this, the thrill of a fight, the adrenaline rushing from the top of his head to his toes- the way his ears rang with anticipation. All that mattered was the familiar weight of the bow in his hand, the bow which had become something of a third limb. 

Jason fought not far from him, cutting down monsters that got too close to him. Hadrian grinned and flashed him a peace sign and Jason just shook his head in disappointment. 

For a moment Hadrian felt elated... he let himself hope. They were actually winning!

But too soon their element of surprise faded. The giants overcame their confusion.

Frank ran out of arrows. Hadrian was tempted to toss him an arrow, but he changed into a rhinoceros and leaped into battle. Unfortunately, as fast as he could knock down the giants they got up again. Their wounds seemed to be healing faster.

Annabeth lost ground against Periboia. Hazel was knocked out of her saddle at sixty miles an hour. Jason summoned another lightning strike, but this time Porphyrion simply deflected it off the tip of his spear.

The giants were bigger, stronger and more numerous. They couldn't be killed without the help of the gods. And they didn't seem to be tiring.

The seven demigods were forced into a defensive ring.

Hadrian slipped his right hand into Percy's left. He still had a nosebleed, his face was covered in grime and dust. He looked utterly exhausted. Beautiful. 

I love you. 

He squeezed Percy's hand once more. 

I love you, no matter what happens here. 

Hadrian used his sleeve to wipe the blood from his face. 

"Be gay later" Jason chided. 

Oh? He figured it out?

But Jason was right, they had bigger problems.

Another volley of Earthborn rocks hit the Argo II. This time Leo couldn't return fire fast enough. Rows of oars were sheared off. The ship shuddered and tilted in the sky.

Then Enceladus threw his fiery spear. It pierced the ship's hull and exploded inside, sending spouts of fire through the oar openings. An ominous black cloud billowed from the deck. The Argo II began to sink.

"Leo!" Jason cried.

Porphyrion laughed. "You demigods have learned nothing. There are no gods to aid you. We need only one more thing from you to make our victory complete."

The giant king smiled expectantly. He looked at Annabeth with a glimmer of hope in his eyes that made the blood freeze in Hadrian's veins.

"Annabeth-" Percy cried out, whatever he was going to say drowned out by the rushing of blood in Hadrian's ears.

Hadrian looked at his friend- at her leg. A clean sweep across her calf was cut in a jagged line similar to the wound on Hadrian's left arm, no doubt a work of Periboia again. 

All of them watched in horror as a single drop of blood had made it's way down her calf, moving quickly down her achilles tendon and her heel. It hit the ground behind her foot and sizzled like water on a frying pan.

Fuck.

The blood of Olympus watered the ancient stones.

The Acropolis groaned and shifted as the Earth Mother woke.