A Dark Cloud Over the Future Ch 17

Chapter 17: Breaking Bridges
Thalia ran to the shore and found Nico on the ground. She pulled some nectar out of her bag and poured some into his mouth. He began to cough, but his eyes opened and he took a quick look around, as if not sure where he was.

“Don’t move, just stay still for a few minutes,” Thalia said as she raised Nico into a sitting position. However, the two didn’t have time to rest as the phone Thalia had started to ring. She took it out of her pocket and raised it t her ear.

“Thalia, its Malcolm; the Apollo campers are being pushed back on the Williamsburg Bridge by the Minotaur. Kronos’ main forces are there,” Malcolm said over the phone.

“But what am I suppose to do about Nico? He can't move in his present condition,” Thalia replied, but Nico pushed off her shoulder and got to his feet.

“Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine. Go help the Apollo campers or there may not be a city to save anymore,” Nico said. Thalia wanted to protest but if Kronos’ main attack force was pushing on the bridge, she needed to stop them. She let out a whistle and a few pegasi flew in from the sky. She tried to get Nico on one, but they seemed to step back until Thalia ordered them to take him and being a daughter of the sky god, they listened, but a bit reluctantly. She jumped on another and started for the bridge, but at a lower altitude as she was scared to go any higher. As she approached the bridge, she saw the battle that was currently going on. All of a sudden, a car went sailing through the air and hit her pegasus, causing it to turn to dust as Thalia fell off and rolled to the ground, but the impact didn’t seem to hurt as much as it should have. However, as she got to her feet she took out her spear and began taking out monsters left and right. Some of the demigods that were on Kronos’ side charged her, but she managed to knock them out with a few hard hits to their helmets while the Apollo campers were taking out the monsters trying to flank her. Then, a huge shadow appeared above her head and she turned around just in time to roll out of the way of a large ax. The Minotaur pulled his ax from the bridge and Thalia could see the necklaces and camp beads of several campers. This enraged Thalia and lightning could be seen flickering in her eyes. The monster charged at her and lifted his ax in the air ready to strike, but Thalia simply thrust her spear though his armor at his unprotected chest. The monster turned to dust. She then looked at the monsters behind her defeated foe and they looked at her in fear as they moved back, but Thalia raised her spear and a bolt of lightning struck it. She then pointed the spear at the monsters who then knew what was going to happen as some tried to run while others jumped off the side of the bridge, only to be fired upon by the undead navy Nico had created. A blast of lightning shot from Thalia’s spear and hit the retreating army like a wave of pure destruction. This also seemed to effect the bridge as the ground began to shake from the damage the battle had caused it.

“Retreat,” Michel Yew called from the line of archers. “The bridge is cracking up!”

The Apollo campers ran off the bridge and Thalia went to follow them, but for a second she looked past the monster army and saw Luke sitting on his throne with an evil smile as if all the monsters he had just lost weren’t even important. But she followed the Apollo campers and she was getting reports that the army was retreating in other areas as well. She told the remaining campers to meet at a hotel where they could find supplies to heal the wounded. When she arrived, she saw people with cuts and scrapes, but what troubled her more was that she didn’t see all the people that were there earlier, but she didn’t want to think about it. She looked over to see Nico sitting in a chair half asleep, possibly from trying to keep control of the undead soldiers defending the water.

“We need more people,” Thalia said in her head before punching a nearby wall. Some of the others noticed this but didn’t say anything and continued on with their work. She took another glance around the room and saw Malcolm sitting in a corner. He as holding his head in his hands as if suffering from a headache and Thalia walked toward him.

“Is everything alright?” she asked him. He looked up as if not noticing she was ther and simply looked back down again before answering.

“I don’t know if I can do this,” he began. “There are so many of them relying on me and I can't keep up with all the information. I’m not a leader, I’m not…Annabeth.”

Thalia didn’t know what to do, so she that there trying to from the right words but none came to her. Then, a child of Hermes ran into the room.

“Thalia, Nico; there seems to be a group of monsters heading this way with a white flag. They are being lead by Prometheus,” he said as he took in a few deep breaths. Nico got up from his chair and Thalia walked toward him.

“Alright,” Nico said. “Let’s go see if they want to surrender.”

This seemed to lighten the mood as several of the injured seemed to smile at Nico’s bravery in the face of danger, but spending so much time in the Underworld, a place filled with unimaginable horrors could do that too you.

The met the small group in the middle of Central Park at a picnic table, not exactly the kind of place you’d imagine for a meeting between to army’s, but it would have to do. Nico sat down facing the Titan Prometheus while Thalia stood behind him with her spear out in case this was some kind of trick.

“I would rather have talked to the daughter of Zeus than a son of Hades,” Prometheus said.

“Trust me, you don’t,” Nico said back. “If the positions were switched, her spear would already be in your head.”

Prometheus seemed to think this was a joke because he smiled, but Nico knew it wasn’t. In fact that was why he decided to talk to him in the first place instead of Thalia.

“So what do you want?” Nico asked.

“I want you to surrender,” the Titan said back to him as he took a sip of water from his glass. “You can't win this fight, we both know that. Typhon is on his way here and the gods can barely hold out. Once he arrives, everything will be lost for you; I’m simply trying to lessen the damage.”

“And what if we refuse?” Thalia said from behind Nico.

“Then we take Olympus by force. Either way, it all ends the same. I have measured the odds and they aren’t in your favor. If you refuse, we will send a monster after you that you cannot kill. I have read the reports from our attack forces and one of your cabins is missing, interesting isn’t it,” he said.

“We won't surrender to you,” Nico said as he rose from the table. “See you on the battle field, I hope.”

“Wait,” Prometheus said as he reached behind him and pulled out what looked like a jar. “If you change your mind and want to give up, let out what is inside this pithos. Then we will know that all hope is lost.”

Nico took the jar and knew instantly what it was. “This use to belong to Pandora, didn’t it.”

“Yes, and now it belongs to you,” he said before turning around and heading back over to the Titan army. Nico wondered what he had meant by a monster they couldn’t kill, be he walked back to the base with Thalia and a few others with the pithos in hand.

Darkcloud1111 ~Fastest Hero Alive  22:51, October 17, 2011 (UTC)