Lord of the Eclipse

18 | We Rub Some Toes

"Art thou sure about this?"

"Absolutely not," Annabeth said defiantly with a small sigh, resting her hands on her hips. "This is beyond stupid."

"And thank you for your vote of confidence, Annabeth." Phoebe snorted as she rolled her eyes. "It will work; I mean, it has to."

"And if it doesn't?" Grover asked warily, chewing on the napkins as discreetly as he could. His eyes kept darting towards every person that entered the snack bar, occasionally sniffing the air for any signs of monsters. So far, they were safe.

"Then we go through with plan B," the other hunter said simply before sipping on her cup full of soda. "I mean, that is why we have a backup plan, satyr."

The daughter of Athena glared at the maiden hunter, pushing a few pieces of french fries around on her plate absent-mindedly. "But the back up is way worse than the original plan itself, Phoebe. It's crazy,"

"And it shall work," Zoë promised, eyeing the untouched hamburger. She opened her mouth as if she was going to say something else, but the sound of gunshots caught her attention. Her hands slid into the sleeves of her olive green jacket where a silver and Celestial Bronze knife were sheathed on each arm, concealed from the naked eye.

"Perseus," Annabeth said instantly before casting a brief sideways glance at the lieutenant. The hunter only gave her a vague nod in response.

"Get to the statutes," the daughter of Athena said. "There are rumors about them being automatons of some sort. Wake them up, and get the Hades out of here as fast as you can."

She was gone before anyone could protest, the door slamming shut in her wake.

The scene unfolding before her was a nightmare. Mortals were running around in havoc as a sole figure stood amidst the chaos, surrounded by a loose ring of men with decaying skin. Each had a loaded rifle, aiming at the person standing in the center. Annabeth couldn't get a clear view, but the sound of the bullets hitting the pavement were as clear as the sounds of gunfire itself.

Perseus stood there calmly, the skin from the Nemian Lion was now a dark blue cloak draped over his shoulders with a hood that was pulled over his head. It was convenient in times like these, as it was as light as silk yet it could deflect the strikes coming from any weapon, even the weirdly complicated looking sticks that seemed to be shooting small balls at him. He would occasionally use a warglaive as a boomerang, beheading a spartus when he had the chance. The Stygian Iron seemed to keep them down, as Celestial Bronze had no effect on them whatsoever.

The god hummed his favourite Greek song quietly to himself, reminiscing the times when he and his siblings would take a stroll through the streets in Ancient Greece, occasionally visiting their temples and hunting in the untamed woods together. Then his thoughts drifted towards Artemis being held captive in the hands of a titan, and the remaining skeleton soldiers suddenly dropped, their severed heads rolling away as their bodies crumbled into a mound of golden dust.

Behind one of the fallen figures stood Annabeth, a small snarky smirk plastered on her face. She gave him a look as if she was challenging him.

She was gripping the same blue cap he had seen her remove once before she materialized before his very eyes. What had the other campers called it? He was pretty sure that they mentioned this once before. It was a thing called a baseball cap? He wasn't so sure, but it was something of that sort, from what he can remember.

But he pushed the thought away and sheathed his twin warglaives before the cloak shimmered and turned into what he learned to be a varsity jacket. It was quite comfortable, for one.

"We should get going," he said, brushing off the monster dust from the sleeves of the jacket. "Their reinforcements will be coming after us soon."

———————

Using statues for a getaway plan wasn't Annabeth's smartest idea. They didn't even know if the angel statues were actual machines that work, or if they were just normal sculptures of bronze with weird superstitious mortals rubbing at their toes. But, alas, it was the only formulated plan that didn't end in them taking a swim in the dam. By the time they reached the two towering statues, their friends were already gathered around the base of the one sitting on the left.

"We must go," Zoë said instantly. "But how does one activate an automaton?"

Perseus arched a brow at Annabeth.

"Pray to your mom," the god said simply, giving the hunters a nonchalant shrug. "I mean, they were gifts made for Zeus crafted by Athena herself, you know."

The blonde demigod only glared at him, but she tried anyways. She took a tentative step towards the angel closest to her, and muttered a simple prayer under her breath. For a while, nothing happened.

"Maybe its gears have gone rusty over the millennium?" Phoebe suggested, slight disappointment laced in her tone. She frowned, contemplating on the possible reasons as to why the angels remained motionless. Perseus, on the other hand, rested his hand on the gleaming toe. His face lit up almost immediately.

"Celestial Bronze and Imperial Gold," he said, his eyes sparkling with amusement. "Smart of Athena to mix the two. No, hunter, the gears will never grow rusty, regardless how long these automatons stand here. We only need time for," he caught himself before he could say 'my half-sister' and straightened himself before anyone could notice, "for Athena to answer Annabeth's prayer." The blonde demigod did not let the sudden change of the immortal's voice go unnoticed, but she kept it to herself.

"Maybe she's busy?"

Perseus almost decapitated a flying pigeon when the sound of metal gears hummed to life, abruptly breaking the silence. When he looked up, however, he was greeted by a sight he never would have dreamed of seeing.

The angel statue grinned down at him. An almost human voice came from the other automaton.

"Good morning, dudes. The weather's fantastic, isn't it?"

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I'm planning to make a Pirate!Percy AU fanfiction because I'm like obsessed with it right now I don't know why.

UPDATE: THE FIRST CHAPTER OF THE FANFICTION HAS BEEN PUBLISHED. THE TITLE IS THE LOST PRINCE. CHECK IT OUT ASAP.

-A/L