Percy Jackson and the Child of Victory (Annabeth Chase x Reader)

I Join A Quest...Again

Frank/3rd PΩV

FRANK HAD NEVER FELT SO SURE of anything, which made him nervous. Nothing he planned ever went right. He always managed to break, ruin, burn, sit on or knock over something important. Yet he knew this strategy would work.

Hazel found them a tunnel with no problem. In fact, Frank had a sneaking suspicion she didn't just find tunnels. It was as though tunnels manufactured themselves to suit her needs. Passages that had been filled in years ago suddenly un-filled, changing direction to lead Hazel where she wanted to go.

They crept along by the light of Percy's glowing sword, Riptide. Above, they heard the sounds of battle – kids shouting, Hannibal the elephant bellowing with glee, scorpion bolts exploding and water cannons firing. The tunnel shook. Dirt rained down on them.

Frank slipped his hand inside his armor. The piece of wood was still safe and secure in his coat pocket, though one good shot from a scorpion might set his lifeline on fire. When Frank was a baby, Juno appeared in front of Frank's mom and Grandma while they were sitting with baby Frank in front of the fireplace. The goddess warned them that when Frank's stick, which was currently burning in the fireplace, was consumed, Frank would die. Emily, in a panic, removed the stick from the fire. She and her mother would later wrap the stick in bubble wrap to protect it.

Bad Frank, he chided himself. Fire is the 'F-word'. Don't think about it. 'There's an opening just ahead,' Hazel announced. 'We'll come up ten feet from the east wall.'

'How can you tell?' Percy asked. 'I don't know,' she said. 'But I'm sure.' 

'Could we tunnel straight under the wall?' Frank wondered. 'No,' Hazel said. 'The engineers were smart. They built the walls on old foundations that go down to bedrock.' 'Well that just great' Y/N said in frustration. '...And don't ask how I know. I just do.' Hazel said

Frank stumbled over something and cursed. Percy brought his sword around for more light. The thing Frank had tripped on was gleaming silver. He crouched down. 'Don't touch it!' Hazel and Y/N shouted.

Frank's hand stopped a few inches from the chunk of metal. It looked like a giant Hershey's Kiss, about the size of his fist. 'It's massive,' he said. 'Silver?'

'Platinum.' Hazel sounded scared out of her wits. 'It'll go away in a second. Please don't touch it. It's dangerous.' Frank didn't understand how a lump of metal could be dangerous, but he took Hazel seriously. As they watched, the chunk of platinum sank into the ground.

He stared at Hazel. 'How did you know?' In the light of Percy's sword, Hazel looked as ghostly as a Lar. 'I'll explain later,' she promised. Another explosion rocked the tunnel, and they forged ahead.

They popped out of a hole just where Hazel had predicted. In front of them, the fort's east wall loomed. Off to their left, Frank could see the main line of the Fifth Cohort advancing in turtle formation, shields forming a shell over their heads and sides. They were trying to reach the main gates, but the defenders above pelted them with rocks and shot flaming bolts from the scorpions, blasting craters around their feet. A water cannon discharged with a jaw-rattling THRUM, and a jet of liquid carved a trench in the dirt right in front of the cohort.

Percy whistled. 'That's a lot of pressure, all right.' The Third and Fourth Cohorts weren't even advancing. They stood back and laughed, watching their 'allies' get beaten up. The defenders clustered on the wall above the gates, yelling insults at the tortoise formation as it staggered back and forth. War games had deteriorated into 'beat up the Fifth'. Frank's vision went red with anger.

'Let's shake things up.' He reached in his quiver and pulled out an arrow heavier than the rest. The iron tip was shaped like the nose cone of a rocket. An ultrathin gold rope trailed from the fletching. Shooting it accurately up the wall would take more force and skill than most archers could manage, but Frank had strong arms and good aim. Maybe Apollo is watching, he thought hopefully.