Percy Jackson: Genderbent

Chapter 25

Perci's POV:

The statue didn't really explode. It just looked like it did. Personally, I would have preferred if it had. Sure, we would have destroyed a classical piece of artwork from who-knows-when by who-knows-who, but I think it would have done the world a favour. Who needed another chunk of marble? I'd be saving countless kids from a boring lesson on art. I got the feeling they wouldn't have seen it that way, but it's the thought that counts.

Anyway, there I was, staring at the exploding statue. That didn't really explode. But we've already gone through this.

It flapped its wings, and hovered above the platform it had just been standing on. I recognized the Nike statue we'd seen earlier, the Nike Victoire de Samothrace or something. Her cold, marble eyes locked on the girdle, then slowly met mine. I didn't know if statues had feelings, but if they did, this one's glare had so much hatred and malice I involuntarily flinched.

She shrieked (not unlike an eagle) and swooped down on me. I jumped out of the way, and landed with a heavy thud! The girdle weighed me down, and made it harder for me to maneuver. I cursed as the statue came at me again. I dove out of the way, landing heavily yet again. I scrambled to my feet (who knew a stupid girdle could be so heavy?!) and quickly took out Riptide.

The statue turned to me, and I swung the sword. It glanced off her wing, propelling me forward with unexpected momentum. I lurched forward, the extra weight of the girdle causing me to loose my balance. Halfway through my stumble, I regained my balance, but used the momentum for a football tackle.

It wasn't my brightest idea.

Imagine running into solid marble. That's sort of like... no, that's exactly what happened. It hurt. And she didn't move an inch. In fact, she gave me this expression like, seriously? I was wondering the same thing.

I backed away quickly, making sure not to loose my balance. Suddenly, the boys swarmed in.

Leo had lit his hands on fire, and was trying to burn her. It was a kind of successful attempt, but he needed to light his hands really hot for her to burn. It looked like it was taking a lot out of him, while the marble wasn't melting quickly.

Jason was having about as much luck with his sword as I did. It kept glancing off her, and Jason kept getting more and more frustrated. Nico was managing to do some damage, but nothing too significant.

I darted in, and cut off the wing Leo had been trying to heat. His fire had made it softer, so Riptide could cut through it no problem. Nike turned to me, looking annoyed and more than a little mad. Ignoring the others, she made for me. I did the smart thing and ran.

I had no idea where I was going. I was briefly aware of an alarm blaring through the museum, and tried to stay away from the mortals thronging to the entrance. I ran through the halls, Nike limping after me with her one wing.

I briefly wondered if Nike was an automaton, like the ones we'd used during the Battle of Manhattan. Maybe it could be deactivated?

"Um..." I racked my brains trying to remember what Annabeth had said. "Daedalus, um..."

Before I could go on, I burst out of a back entrance to the museum. The statue followed, with Jason, Nico and Leo in pursuit. We surrounded Nike, but she just watched us in amusement.

"All right, statue. Game's up. You're surrounded," Leo smirked, while Jason rolled his eyes. "What do we do with it?" Nico asked, and we all paused. "Nothing we do seems to harm it," Jason recounted thoughtfully. Then he turned to Leo. "Remember that trick you and Perci did with the fire? Maybe we could do it again?" Leo shrugged, looking over at me. "Maybe."