Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or the Heroes of Olympus Series.

Story: Perseus and the Monster Force

Chapter 60: A New Friend

Third Person's POV

Camp Jupiter

Lupa took off running toward the sounds of the trumpets as her body began to glow before she changed into her wolf form. She howled loudly, calling to her pack. Daedalus watched in fascination as the goddess ran to reach her pack before the group rushed away to confront the battle that raged outside of the fortress walls.

Daedalus made his way to the stables where his family stayed. He reached the stables before he entered. He looked around until Phelan stepped out of the shadows; the six-armed automaton looked at his master curiously, scanning the immortal son of Athena with curious red glowing eyes. "The enemy has begun their attack," Daedalus said, Phelan's eyes pulsed in anticipation. "Gather the family and meet me at the gates of the fortress." Phelan nodded before Daedalus left the stables and ran toward the sounds of battle.

A few seconds later Daedalus reached the stone walls of the fortress. Hylla and Bobby stood on the top of the walls directing the archers in their attack of the monster army that consisted of Cyclops, Centaurs, Telekhines, Empousae, Laestrygonians, Hyperborean Giants, Scythian Dracanae, and Hellhounds. The arrows flew towards their targets only to be hit with wind and blasts of light. Daedalus looked on as a group of giants over thirty feet tall with another group of beings that ranged from ten to twelve feet tall. Daedalus stood next to Hylla. "Giants and Titans fighting side by side."

Hylla nodded stiffly. "Unheard of, but it makes sense, Terra and Saturn are working together. "I don't see Saturn."

"You won't, he's still trying to rise, but his brothers are here. The one in the golden armor is Hyperion, the one with the ram horns is Krios, and the other in the celestial bronze armor is Atlas," Daedalus replied.

"What of the giants?" Hylla questioned.

Daedalus surveyed the enemy. "It appears that we have Porphyrion, Ephialtes, Otis, Gration, Mimas, Otus, Hippolytus, and Clytius." Daedalus paused for a moment. "What is it?" Hylla asked curiously. "Damasen, the bane of Ares; he isn't here, " Daedalus replied.

"Is that bad?" Hylla questioned.

Daedalus shrugged his shoulders. "He didn't fight in the first giant war. No one knows where he's gone."

"We don't have time for such concerns. We have a battle to wage and a fortress to protect," Lupa dismissed.

Daedalus nodded. "My family will be here soon. How are we holding up?"

Bobby turned from his inspection of the grounds. "We're badly outnumbered and they have too many giants for us to face."

Artemis appeared before them in a shower of silver light. "My lady," Hylla said as Daedalus and Bobby bowed to the goddess. Lupa smiled showing off her long canine teeth.

Artemis acknowledged them with a nod of her head. "I have come from Olympus, the gods will arrive soon with the Greeks, but we do not know if it will be enough. Athena and Triton have not showed themselves; neither have Poseidon and his Atlantean army."

Lupa stared out from the fortress wall at the army of monsters and giants that formed a wall of death and destruction on the other side of the Little Tiber. "What are our numbers?"

Hylla looked away from the enemy lines. "We have two hundred legionnaires, plus thirty hunters, along with the Monster Force."

Lupa nodded. She knew they were vastly outnumbered. She looked at Diana. "The Greeks?" Diana frowned. "They have around sixty campers," she responded. Lupa's frown deepened. "We have to hold out for as long as we can," Lupa said, trying to sound as upbeat as possible.

Sea of Monsters – Polyphemus's Island – the volcano

Perseus dove out of the way as the corridor collapsed around him, he saw a round cavern and dove into it, but unfortunately it wasn't a cavern, it was an ancient lava vent. The son of Lupa slid down the vent, screaming his lungs out at the speed of the descent, until the angle changed and Perseus found himself sitting on the floor of a cavern. He looked around the room before his enhanced senses caught scent of food. Perseus's stomach growled; the smell was intoxicating. He stood up and wiped the dirt and dust from his clothes. He twisted the ring on his finger before his imperial gold sword sprung to life in his hands. The golden glow of the weapon cast light into the darkened cavern. He walked through the cavern until it opened up into a much larger one. The smell of food cooking intensified. A light was now visible along the other side of the cavern. Perseus ran toward the light, until he stopped in front of the lighted cavern entrance.

He peeked around the corner of the entrance and into the larger cavern that it led to. The sounds of pots and pans moving and a low humming sound emanated from the cavern. Perseus's eyes widened as he saw the giant standing over a very large stove, no, it wasn't one you could find at Sears or any other appliance store. The giant was roughly twenty feet in height, with cherry red skin and a beard the color of rusty iron. The giant wore coveralls and a large apron that read, "Kiss the Cook," and he held a large wooden spoon in his hand that was the size of a canoe paddle. He stirred something within a giant pot, the size of a witch's cauldron. He whistled while adding herbs and spices to his concoction.

The giant sniffed the air before he turned around with the wooden spoon held in front of him like a weapon. His eyes met those of Perseus. "Who are you?" the giant yelled.

Perseus stepped into the entryway of the cavern. "I am Perseus. Who are you?"

The giant sized up the teenager before him, before he replied, "Damasen, Bane of Ares."

Perseus smiled; he remembered his dad's story about the friendly giant, the opposite of Ares. "I'm not here to fight you," Perseus reassured before his sword turned back into a ring. Damasen's eyes grew big at the sight.

"Why are you here?"

Perseus sighed. "My friends and I were looking for a statue. A statue of the goddess Athena, it's in this cave. I was sidetracked while trying to lure away Arachne's kids from my friends."

Damasen nodded. "Arachne, an evil one, she is."

"Yeah, we kind of figured that one out."

Damasen chuckled. He sniffed the air once again. "What are you? You aren't a demigod."

Perseus shook his head. "I am a mistake, a child of Lupa and Poseidon."

"A child of Rome and Greece," Damasen said in awe, "the child of the prophecy."

Percy's green eyes darkened. "You know about the prophecy?"

Damasen's reddish eyes were filled with sadness and despair. "I was stuck in Tartarus, but my mother took pity on me, and allowed me to return, but only as the cook for her forces. I stay here and cook, until my brother, Enceladus, comes for the food."

Perseus felt the heart wrenching pain in the voice of the peaceful giant. "At least you are away from the Drakon, from your torment."

"A torment removed for a new punishment, slavery."

"You can come with me. My friends and I can free you. The goddess Athena is with us."

Damasen's mouth hung open at the news. "The wisdom goddess is here?"

"Yes, she is with my friends."

Athena and the others…

Jason and the others walked toward the mother of all spiders. Arachne stared at them with hungry eyes. "You shall pay for the death of my children," she said.

Jason threw his coin into the air before an imperial gold spear appeared in his hands. Thalia stood at his side with her own spear, and the replica of Aegis strapped to her forearm. Reyna and Dakota held their swords, the four demigods, were ready to fight Arachne. The group of demigods stepped between the monster and Annabeth. The daughter of Athena lay on the ground bound within the cocoon of webbing. Dustin desperately struggled to remove the chains that bound him to the large rock wall.

Arachne shot forth strands of silken web toward the demigods, but Dakota and Reyna cut through the webbing with their swords. Arachne scurried toward them, the clawed tips of her six legs tapped across the stone floor of the cave. She thrust a clawed leg toward Jason, but he spun out of the way as Thalia jabbed her spear into the joint between the leg and Arachne's body. The mother of spiders screeched in pain before she tore the blade from her body, but before she could attack the son of Jupiter, Thalia smashed her replica of Aegis into the face of the monster. Arachne stumbled back, her vision cleared just in time to see two imperial gold swords slash her to pieces; she screamed in agony as her body dissolved into dust. Reyna and Dakota turned to the children of the sky with brilliant smiles on their faces. Jason smiled in return. Thalia just rolled her eye. "Don't get cocky," she admonished. Thalia turned toward the fight with Enceladus, but she froze in shock as a creature stepped out of the shadows, it had the body of a lion, the head of a man with three rows of shark-like teeth, and the tail of a scorpion with a poisonous spine visible, dripping green venom on the ground.

"Manticore," Thalia said. Jason and the others all stared wide-eyed at the creature. The monster may not be the largest or the most powerful, but with his mix of long range and short range weaponry, it was a difficult beast to kill. Thalia notched her arrow ready to let it fly before a spike flew through the air and struck the daughter of Zeus in the shoulder; she dropped her bow on the ground as she stumbled backwards. Jason ran to her aid. "Thalia," he yelled.

Thalia's blue eyes were wide with shock; she reached for her shoulder before she pulled away quickly as intense pain burned through her body. Jason looked at the spike, green venom dripped from the wound in his sister's shoulder. "I need to take it out," he said. Thalia gritted her teeth before she nodded. Jason clutched the spike in his hand, and with one swift motion of his wrist he pulled the spike free from Thalia's shoulder. Thalia cried out in pain before she slumped back against the floor of the cavern. "Thalia," Jason called, but his sister had passed out from the pain.

"Don't worry demigods, you'll soon join in on the pain that your friend suffers," the Manticore taunted. Suddenly, the ground shook and a portion of the wall next to the Manticore opened up. The monster stared at the opening in the stone wall in wonder. "What is the meaning of this?"

From the opening in the wall stepped a giant, his body covered in bright green armor that was made from Drakon scales. He carried a shield that was ten feet in height and over six feet in length. The shield was made from the same Drakon armor, but it was also covered in large Drakon horns that had been sharpened into spear points. The giant stepped in front of the group of demigods, holding his shield protectively in front of them. "Stand down beast," the giant said.

The Manticore growled, showing off his shark-like teeth. "You traitor, why do you protect them?"

The giant smiled. "I am Damasen, I am no traitor to the likes of you. I pick my own battles and my own allies. My friend asked for my help; therefore, I will help him and his friends."

"What friend?"

The Manticore never saw the large blur that darted out of the cave, but the object was large, almost as tall as the giant, and much longer. The Manticore raised his tail ready to unleash a barrage of spikes toward the giant, but froze as something held his tail in its place. He looked back and froze at the sight. A giant black wolf stood behind him with one of its large paws on the Manticore's tail. The Manticore's eyes grew big and he shook with fear as he stared into the glowing green eyes of the wolf. A flick of the wolf's paw sliced off the Manticore's tail. The monster screamed in pain as blood flowed from the severed body part. The Manticore looked back again at the wolf, but it was too late. His last sight was the giant jaws of the wolf clamping down on the Manticore's torso before the creature was ripped to pieces. Golden dust filled the cave.

Damasen stared in wonder at the appearance of the wolf. He stood protectively in front of the demigods. "Do not fear me giant. I am known as Wolf, the other persona of Perseus," Wolf said.

"Other persona," Damasen repeated.

A cry of pain echoed through the cave. Wolf turned to see Athena on the ground clutching her side where golden ichor dripped from the wound. "You need to do better than that Athena," Enceladus mocked. Athena launched herself forward, but before she could reach the giant a large rock erupted from the ground tripping the goddess. Athena fell to the ground hard. Her spear slid across the stone floor. Enceladus towered above the fallen goddess. "Now you're mine."

Wolf raised his head and howled; a howl so loud that it shook the cave and froze everyone with fear. Enceladus turned toward the sound; his eyes grew twice their size, just as the wolf shot in front of him, slicing his claws across the armored front of the giant. Enceladus smiled. "This armor is…" he began before he looked down at the shredded armor that he wore, blood poured from the wound. He stumbled backwards. "How?"

Wolf stalked toward the giant slowly. He raised one of his front paws, imperial gold covered his claws. "Time to die Giant," he said. Enceladus had no chance to respond before Wolf struck, seizing the giant's arm in his jaws before he ripped the giant's appendage out of its socket with a sickening crack and tearing of flesh. Blood flowed like a river from the wound. Enceladus fell to the ground as Wolf through the severed arm away with one swift shake of his head. He walked slowly toward the giant. Enceladus was in shock. Athena and the others just stared at Wolf as he walked slowly toward his prey. He stood above the torn and beaten body of the giant. He leaned forward his terrible jaws only inches from the face of the giant. "Don't mess with my friends." Wolf sunk his teeth into the throat of the giant before he shook his head twice, ripping out the throat of the Giant. Enceladus's eyes bulged in their sockets before he began to fade into black sand that covered the cave floor. The sand turned into a greyish liquid that oozed into the crack of the floor before nothing was left of the son of Gaea.

Wolf turned his head toward the goddess. Athena sat on the floor clutching her injured side; her grey eyes wide at the sight of the blood and gore that hung from the jaws of the wolf. She finally composed herself, when she said, "Thank you."

Wolf bowed his head before the creature's body began to glow until Perseus stood before the goddess. "You're most welcome, Grandma."

AN: Sorry for the delay in this chapter. The next chapter will begin the battle at Camp Jupiter, the arrival of the Greeks, and a few surprise arrivals, so stay tuned more to come.