The Avengers of the Earth Book 2: Chapter 19

Zachery POV

Percy, Julius, Adam, and I were walking down Eleventh Avenue in Manhattan. We were searching for a weird thing called the Uranus. I immediately suspected something astronomical but then I remember Sky Guy. No, not Anakin Skywalker. The god Ouranous. Bad, right? But whatcha gonna do? You do what a god tells you to do.

Anyways, we were entertaining ourselves by playing out Epic Rap Battles of History as we walked. Turns out Percy and Adam knew them too. We were crossing 34th Street and in the middle of Abe Lincoln vs. Chuck Norris.

"…I’ve read up on your facts, you cure cancer with your tears? Well tell me Chuck, how come you never sat down and cried on your career? You’re washed up has-" I was rapping Lincoln’s line when a big guy with a beard stepped out of a taxi and blocked our path. He looked like Zeus. In fact, I almost mistook him for Zeus. Adam bowed, "Lord Zeus."

"No Adam, get up, this isn’t Zeus." I said. At my words Percy drew his sword. I took out my measuring tape, with the sword still retracted. Percy nudged with his elbow and said, "Who is this freak show?"

I was about to tell him who it was when he opened his mouth. "I am the Almighty—"

"Ouranous." We both completed.

"Didn’t He-Whose-Name-Shall-Not-Be-Spoken chop you up a zillion years ago?" asked Percy.

"Don't remind me."

"Then how in Hades are you here?" I asked.

I learned something very important that day: names are very dangerous. Hades showed up. Now we bowed. When we got up, Ouranous and Hades were glaring at each other.

"Hello, Grandfather."

"Hello, Grandson."

"Aren’t you supposed to be in my basement chopped up?"

"Is everyone this annoying?"

"Then how are you here?"

The six of us were suddenly transported to a cloud. Ouranous sat on a throne. The rest of us stared at him in awe.

"Wow," I said to myself. Then I realized Adam was probably scared senseless. Hades looked uneasy too.

"This is not your brother’s domain. It is mine." He said to Hades. "Sit," said Ouranous. Hades waved his hand and made his black throne appear. He sat. We sat on the clouds.

"You see, I do not like my wife or sons. As a matter of fact, I was very glad when you and your brothers defeated your father, Hades. With my son exiled and chopped up like me, I thought I could regain a bodily essence and return to the world. But that would not be when my wife sent her giants after the gods. Once more I was trapped. Then, as you know, my son made a comeback a few years ago. This gave me more hope that I too could return to the world. And at long last I have."

"How?" I asked.

"I am the Sky. The Sky was not destructed. So I manifested myself out of the Sky."

"So now what?" asked Hades.

"My dear child," he began.

"I’m not a child. I’m four thousand years old. Even more than that."

"I’m more than eight thousand years old. Now, as I was saying, I’m here to help. My wife still thinks I am in your pit. I shall fight her. I will ensure that I put an end to her as much as I can. I will gather my children. You may be interested to know that my wife also attacked my other sons and daughters during her war. They will not protest against their father. I will bring them to your side. I swear it on the Sky and all that is in the heavens."

Thunder boomed in the distance.

"Great," I said. "Care to give us a list?"

"Oceanus, Hyperion, Koios, Krios, Thetis, Mnemosyne, Theia, Phoebe, and Rhea."

"Mother lives?" asked Hades in shock.

"But certainly! Your father attempted to revive her, but she was always a strong spirited girl! She would not allow him to bring her to the Earth. But she did come back after he was destroyed."

Hades stared at him, with his jaw open.

"Stop it! Now, what should we do now?" I asked Ouranous.

"Seek children of the Titans, or children of the Protogenoi, like yourself."

He hit a sour not there. I knew one of the Protogenoi was perhaps my father, but which one remained uncertain. "OK then."

"Now then, be off, my children!"

Josh POV

The Sky. I was under the Sky again. Suddenly I felt like the weight had loosened up a bit. It felt lighter. Much much lighter. Sort of heavy (like 1050 pound barbells heavy), but I could lift it. Thunder boomed in the distance. I thought I could hear voices in the distance, but that was probably just me going insane.

James POV

Me and ole' Axelrod found ourselves staring at a jail cell door.

Just a few seconds ago we were at our Iqaluit hideaway. My grandfather was half Inuit. Oh wait--let me tell you why we were there. We were going to rescue some of Oscar's pals, remember? Our plane crashed over Burgundy. Me and Ax went for some snacks but we got teleported magically to Iqaluit. Frustrating, no? Suddenly, we heard a growling outside the bear fur door. I slowly crept towards door, then I yanked the chain, moving the door away from sight a revealing a.......

"Wookie!" Ax and I shouted. Holy Zeus! Wookies in Canada!

"Grawwwwr!" it moaned, speaking what sounded like Shyriiwook.

We approached it carefully. We attempted to grab his arms, but as soon as we touched him we fell in a hole.

"It was a fologram!" shouted Ax, his voice muffled.

"A fologram?" I asked.

"A hologram you idiot!" he snapped.

"Hello? Hello?" A voice suddenly snapped me back to reality. We were still staring at the door. Slowly we turned around and saw six people.

"Who are you?" one asked, a big and buff guy.

"Demigod--err demititans is more accurate."

"Interesting. You're obviously also Gaia's captives," said another, with shaggy hair, and the face of the children of Hermes.

"I suppose you're the same." said Ax.

"Yeah. I'm Jason. These are Atlanta, Teresa, Henry, and Arch. Oh, and Norm."

I stared at Norm. He stared at a gun, which had a mirror on the side.

"Son of Aphrodite?"

"Yep."

I sighed. "Sit down, Ax, this is going to be a long time."

As we sat down a guard open our door and tossed eight boxes in.

"What's for lunch?"

"Dinner," said Jason, "always mac and cheese for dinner, bread loafs for lunch, and cereal for breakfast.

"Is it any good?" I asked.

"Henry eats it. We don't really. Just open up the disposal bin."

"I''ll pass."

"What kind of cereal?" asked Ax.

"Frosted Flakes."

"At least I like those."

"How long have you been here?" I asked.

"Three months, twenty three days, four hours, and 37 minutes."

"Wow." I said.

"Hey guys," said a voice in the distance.

"Oscar!" said all the others at once.

A supersonic plane showed up next to the window.

"Hey guys! Me and my new buddies here, Richmond and Mark here to save the day! Cue the heroic mus--"

Suddenly the plane was shot out of the sky. From the cell's window we saw three gruff monsters come out of a hole in the mountain and dragged them inside.

Five minutes later the door opened. Oscar, Nico di Angelo, and the person I assumed to be Richmond were thrown in.

"So. Ten people here. Who has an idea?" asked Richmond.

Malcolm POV

I was with Nyssa, Clarisse, and Will Solace. Three days ago we got a message at Camp (still under reconstruction) saying that Nico and bunch of other people were trapped in the Swiss Matterhorn. We were taking a plane--only because Zeus was our common grandfather. Still, I'm not fond of planes. The plane was going to land in Zurich and we would have to find some way to get to the Matterhorn from there.

The plane took off from the JFK Airport at 12:30 at night, New York time.

"Sleep guys, we're in for a long ride." I said.