Hyperion fell down, burned to a crisp, and weakened beyond all reason, but not dead. I on the other hand...

My entire body went to a series of uncontrollable spasms, and my brains felt like they were bashing their way out of my head. The terrible burning sensation returned to wreak havoc on my body. My body started to glow. A slit of light appeared on my arm like a cut. Another tore open on my cheek. The godly energy was tearing me apart. And in the middle of it all, something hit me.

It was a feeling that somewhere out in the world, someone needed me. Someone in greater despair than me. Then the words came. Percy help me. It was the voice of a girl, of a friend. I focused on the voice, because for some reason it gave me hope. Someone desperately needed me to be strong. So I stood up and silently thought a response to whoever had just called out to me. I'm with you. 

The pain continued, but the cuts of light slowly started to seal themselves. The voice needed me, so did Chris, the rebellion, and all of Olympus. The pain began to recede, but in a painful way. It wasn't wearing off; I was holding it back with sheer willpower. When the pain was almost gone, I turned off the god powers. Chris cursed and pulled the javelin out of his leg. There was a lot of blood.

I wondered how much distance Clarisse and Iris had covered while Chris and I had held off Hyperion. I decided to test a theory. Once Chris and I were out of the Underworld, we went to the East River and I used my powers to make part of the water turn to mist and create a rainbow.

"Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, please accept my offering. Clarisse, New York City," I said and tossed in one of my emergency drachmas.

Sure enough, the mist morphed into a perfect image of Clarisse and Iris outside of the coral tunnel entrance in Times Square.

"Huh, he's alive," Clarisse muttered.

"Nice to see you too," I retorted. "You go on to Typhon's Prison, and we'll catch up."

"Actually Percy, Chris will catch up. You've got another mission," Clarisse informed me.

"Says who?" I asked.

"Athena," Clarisse told me. "A different rebellion member caused a nice little distraction, so now is the perfect opportunity to free your dad."

My heart got a little excited. I was finally going to go rescue my dad. And I was going to shove Atlas back under the sky where his ass belonged. Hang on dad, I'm coming. A thought hit me.

"I'm going alone?" I asked.

I should've expected a pft response from Clarisse. "Don't be ridiculous Jackson. Tyson and Travis are en route to meet you there."

"Just Travis?" I asked. "What about Connor?"

Clarisse stiffened. "It's been a hard war Jackson. Just don't bring it up around Travis okay?"

I was shocked. Connor was dead. I mean, I knew there had been casualties; I'd even lost my mom and stepdad, not to mention some close friends. But I never thought the war would separate the Stolls.

I pushed out the depressing thoughts in favor of more practical ones. How was I going to get all the way to California? Then I remembered my useful but poisoning god powers. I could be at California in seconds if I shadow traveled. I found a nearby dark corner and jumped into it. The next instant, I was standing outside the entrance of the Garden of the Hesperides. Thankfully, I wouldn't have to wait until sunset, because the gates were open due to the chaos of the Titans.

I did, however, have to wait for Travis and Tyson. They rode out of the bay on two Hippocampi. Tyson gave me another hug, although slightly less painful, and Travis nodded at me. Together, we went in to save my dad.

Athena is pretty smart. I know it should be obvious but still it surprises me on occasion. The place was in chaos. There were a lot of monsters, but they were all leaving. In the middle of it all, Atlas was screaming orders, telling them to move faster, or to get back to their positions. At some point he shouted for someone to get his latte. A quick headcount left us with about twenty enemies, twenty-one counting Atlas.

"Can you guys take the monsters?" I asked.

Travis studied the enemy for a minute. "Maybe, but what about Atlas?"

"And daddy Poseidon?" Tyson put in.

"I'll handle Atlas, and we'll get Poseidon once we're done kicking ass," I told them.

"So that's the plan?" Travis asked.

"Yup."

"Just checking," Travis said sarcastically.

We drew our weapons. Travis drew his twin swords, Tyson drew his solid Celestial bronze club, and I drew my knife/sword. I jumped out first and extended my knife into sword form. Atlas leveled his spear at me. Two hell hounds leaped at me, but I batted them away and kept charging. A manticore lunged at me, but soon realized there were over seventy moon arrow protruding from his chest. He keeled over dead. Finally, my sword clashed against Atlas's spear.

I was vaguely aware of Tyson and Travis engaging the rest of the enemy. I soon realized that there were too many for them to handle, so I multi tasked and fought both Atlas and the rest of the monster guards. I jumped away from Atlas and cut through three Telkhines before leaping backward and taking a swing at Atlas's head.

He retaliated by stabbing at my leg, which I blocked. He raised his spear again, but I tossed a flash bang at his face and followed up with a blast of fire. He stumbled backward, leaving him wide open for my vine whip. He recoiled further backward. Before I could continue my assault, he threw a javelin at my chest, and I went flying backward.

He sliced, the spear point glancing off my throat. I fired a few sun arrows, forcing him back. I jumped up and grabbed him by the throat. He clawed at my wrists, and I flung him across the battlefield. He skidded to a halt, and found me on top of him punching him repeatedly in the face. When his head went slack, I grabbed him by the ankles and slammed him into the ground behind me. I drew my sword again and started slashing and hacking. At first Atlas struggled, but after a few hacks he stopped. Ichor covered the ground. When I was sure he'd had enough, I turned my attention to what was left of the other guards.

Ten monsters had Tyson and Travis cornered. Tyson swung his club and sent a monster flying. Travis stabbed and another turned to dust. I notched eight arrows at once and fired. The other monsters died.

I grabbed Atlas by the back of his neck and dragged him behind me as I walked over to Poseidon. When my dad saw me, his eyes widened.

"Percy!" he cried. "You've made it!"

"Hey Dad," I greeted. I pulled my dad out from under the sky and shoved Atlas back under where he belonged.

"Hold this for me," I told Atlas.

Poseidon smiled at me. "Good to have you back son."

I hugged him. To my surprise, he hugged me back. "Good to have you back too Dad."

Tyson ran up and hugged us both in massive group hug. Travis cleared his throat.

"Um, guys?" he tried. "I hate to cut this short and all, but we've got company."

I looked to where he was pointing and saw Kronos himself riding in. I looked at Poseidon. He was in no shape to help me in a fight, and Tyson and Travis were just too weak in the power department. We had one option left. We ran like frightened little girls.