"Talos," Zoë frowned. "It's Talos."
"Who–who's Talos?" Percy stuttered.
"One of Hephaestus's creations. But that has to be a prototype, or a defective model."
The metal giant didn't seem to like the word 'defective.' He moved one hand to his sword belt and drew his weapon with a horrific screeching sound, rusty old metal against rusty old metal.
"Somebody took something," Thalia said. "Who took something?" She stared accusingly at Percy, who shook his head.
"I'm a lot of things, but I'm not a thief." Ash was staring at Bianca, who was avoiding eye contact and looking strangely guilty, but she didn't have much time to think about that. The giant metal monster took one step and closed half the distance between them.
"Run!" Grover yelped. They split up as Talos swung his sword and took out a row of power lines, which exploded across Thalia's path. Zoë's arrows shattered harmlessly against its face. Grover brayed like a baby goat and clambered up a mountain of metal.
Ash ended up next to Bianca, Percy following her as they crouched behind a broken chariot.
"Bianca, it's okay. Just give it back! Throw it down!" Ash was saying.
"Ash, I, I..." the younger girl's voice quivered. "It's too late!"
"What did you take?" Percy urged.
Before she could answer, a shadow blotted out all light. "Move!" Ash shoved them down the hill just as the giant's foot smashed a crater in the ground where they'd been hiding.
"Hey, big boy!" Grover yelled as the monster looked down at the three of them. He played a quick melody on his pipes, and the downed power lines began to dance, wrapping themselves around Talos's calves.
"Come on!" Percy told the girls. Ash was tugging on Bianca's arm but she stayed frozen. From her pocket, she brought out a small metal figurine.
"It.. it was for Nico. It was the only statue he didn't have."
Ash's face twisted with sympathy and pain. "How can you think of Mythomagic at a time like this?" Percy asked incredulously. There were tears in Bianca's eyes.
"Throw it down," he said in a more soothing tone. "Maybe it'll leave us alone."
She dropped it reluctantly, but the robot was still going after Grover. It stabbed its sword into a junk hill, thankfully missing the satyr, but also sending an avalanche of scrap metal crashing over his head.
Thalia yelled, and a blue arc of lightning hit the monster in his rusty knee, making it buckle. But that just ticked it off. Talos lifted his foot to reveal a treaded sole, like a sneaker, with a large manhole in the middle. Red words that took Ash a good 30 seconds to process read FOR MAINTENANCE ONLY.
"Crazy-idea time," Percy said. Bianca looked at him nervously, Ash expectantly. He suggested going into the maintenance hatch to try and control Talos from inside.
"How? You'll have to stand under its foot! You'll be crushed," Bianca exclaimed.
"Distract it," Ash told them. "I'll get the timing right."
Percy's jaw tightened. "Absolutely not."
"I'll go," Bianca suggested.
"You can't," Ash argued, looking a bit frantic. "I won't let you die."
"It's my fault the monster came after us. It's my responsibility. Here." She picked up the little god statue and pressed it into Ash's hand. "If anything happens, give that to Nico. Tell him... tell him I'm sorry."
"Bianca, no!" Percy reached after her but she was already charging at the automaton's left foot. Ash immediately ran after her, wings extending briefly to lift her down the scrap metal mountain. Thalia and Zoë had its attention for now, and the young Huntress yelled for them to help, scrambling to balance herself at the right place.
"Bianca!" Ash called as Percy attempted to distract the giant with a stab to the toe. Several things happened all at once. Talos looked down at Percy and raised his foot to squash the pesky demigod beneath it. Bianca darted under the foot as Percy threw himself away down a heap and into a refrigerator. Ash dived to tackle Bianca out of the way, but missed and was booted out of the air by Talos' ginormous metal toes. She soared in a high arc, landing roughly in the sand all the way back where the junkyard ended.
Rolling and skidding, her head had just hit the concrete of the highway when she finally stopped. She blinked up at a surprisingly beautiful clear blue sky, and then everything went black.
₪₪₪
"Hey, Ash," a soft voice called. Ash blinked to find herself standing on the banks of the River Styx. Bianca stood in front of her, but she was just slightly see-through, glimmering with a strong silvery energy both familiar and unusual to Ash.
"Oh, no, Bianca," the girl said, voice cracking slightly.
But the younger girl just smiled. "It's okay. Really. I'm just glad to have been able to protect you guys."
"But I was supposed to protect you," Ash said, blinking back tears.
"Team effort," Bianca shrugged, and Ash had to smile a little. "I'm just sad we didn't get to know each other better."
"I'll visit," Ash promised, wiping her cheeks. "Do you understand now... Why..."
Bianca nodded. "I can feel it. Down here. I think I'm going to go see my dad after I... well, you know."
"Don't go through the EZ Death lane," Ash advised, opening her arms and enfolding the di Angelo into a hug, fully sniffing now. "Wait for an audience before the judges. You'll go to Elysium, I'm sure of it."
"Thank you, Ash," Bianca said, returning the hug fiercely. "For everything." As she pulled away, she put her hands on the older yet slightly shorter girl's shoulders. "But I must ask you to do one last thing."
"Anything," Ash said immediately.
"First, tell the others thank you for me. Especially Zoë. And... take care of Nico as well," Bianca sighed. "That will forever be my biggest regret. Leaving him alone. I think it best that I give him time, knowing what I know about the two of us now."
Ash nodded slowly, understanding. "As long as I'm around, he'll never be alone. I swear it on the River Styx."
Even from deep below the earth, they could hear the rumble of thunder above. For a second behind them, the current surged; water crashed turbulently against the rocks, spraying them in fine mist.
Bianca smiled one of the most beautiful smiles Ash had seen in her lifetime, then looked towards where the arches of Erebus loomed in the fog. Ash held out a hand, and Bianca took it, her grip surprisingly firm and warm. She led the younger girl through the gates, giving Cerberus a loving pat on the way.
"He could use a playmate every once and a while," Ash told Bianca as the three-headed dog barked in delight. "And he'll give you all the love in the world in return."
When they reached the Judgement Pavilion, Ash stopped, turning towards a watery-eyed Bianca. The two girls shared a smile and one final hug before the Huntress began to walk away, however pausing after the first step.
"You'll visit, right?" the girl asked, displaying fear for the first time. Ash's heart broke all over again.
"Promise," she said, kissing her on the cheek. And so Bianca di Angelo strode off into the darkness.
₪₪₪
Ash awoke by sitting straight up and gasping like a vampire resurrecting out of their coffin.
"Ash!" Percy yelped, immediately running over from where he'd been digging through a huge pile of scraps. The sun was just beginning to rise on the horizon. She'd been laid out on one of the Huntresses' foam mattresses, covered with a blanket and propped up on several pillows. She felt very stiff and knew her body had taken a beating.
"Oh, thank the gods," Thalia said, making her way over as well with Grover in tow. The only one who didn't stop what they were doing was Zoë.
"How are you feeling, Angel?" Percy asked, gently pushing her back to sit every time she tried to stand.
"You look like shit," Thalia said bluntly as Grover pulled out some all-natural bandages.
"Thanks," Ash murmured, absently wiping her cheek just to find her hand wet with blood and tears. Fair amount of dirt, too.
"I... Bianca..." She said, still disoriented, as Percy grabbed a cloth and doused it in water.
"We're still looking," he said, trying to muster up a bit of hope for the girl while dabbing at her face carefully, cleaning the cuts and scrapes. Thalia's jaw clenched and she looked towards where Zoë continued to heave armfuls of junk out of her way.
Ash shook her head sadly. "It's no use. Bianca... Bianca is gone."
Nobody said anything, frozen with disbelief, then shock and sinking realization. One will be lost in the land without rain. The only sound was the scrape of metal against metal as Zoë dropped to her knees.