Prologue
The thunder and lightning outside seemed to mirror the scene within the warehouse. Burly men donned in black scanned the perimeter; dusty light bulbs flickered, and occasionally, dimmed. The heavy patter of rain was the only sound Percy could hear, as he blinked the blood out of his eyes. The scene was a familiar occurrence; Percy strapped down, doomed for death, interrogated to the inch of life, and then suddenly, he bites back, miraculously finding an escape while the building erupts in flames. Or at least, that's how it went in his head. Too many concussions led to too many mixed memories.
The man who was interrogating him had black intricate tattoos running down the length of his arm. Percy had noticed the large scythe engraved on his shoulder the moment he set eyes him. It wasn't exactly hard to miss. It was gold and dripping with blood, surrounded by a circle of bright red and orange flames. The man himself was less morbid than the tattoo. He had sandy blonde hair and blue eyes, and a face that probably would've looked mischievous if it were any other circumstance. The guy looked like he had aged 30 years in one day, and his handsome face was marred by an ugly pale scar.
Smack.
Percy's head reeled and stars burst behind his eyes. His mouth filled with blood and his eyes watered. His wrists and ankles were red raw from the friction of the too tight rope and his muscles tensed against them uncomfortably. The man gripped Percy's hair and pulled it so they were face to face.
"You gonna tell me where Chase is now Jackson?" he sneered.
"In your wildest dreams, Luke" Percy snarled.
Luke looked slightly taken aback, but recovered quickly. He glared hatefully at Percy.
"How'd you find out my name?" he asked, suspiciously.
"Magic,"
"I'm warning you Jackson-"
Percy grinned smugly.
"You still have your Kmart nametag on." He told him, and reveled in how Luke's face turned cherry red. Luke snapped the name tag off his tshirt quickly and stuffed it into his pocket. He then glanced up at Percy and threw his fist back to bestow another blow upon him
"Leave him,"
The voice was clear yet low, and (annoyingly) coming from behind Percy. It was as smooth as velvet, but held no warmth. Luke recoiled immediately and backed away from the chair and into a table. He eyed the man suspiciously, and Percy yearned to look behind him, but he was still feigning coolness. He tried to make himself look as comfortable as possible, an easy grin donned on his bloody face.
"So," he started. His usual tactic was to be as annoying as possible, which for some reason, hardly ever worked, but still irritated the crap out of his 'hosts'. "I finally get to meet Kronos, right?"
Luke stiffened, and glanced at Percy reproachfully.
"I'd be careful if I were you," he warned, and Percy involuntarily got chills. "Names have power."
"Silence, Luke," Kronos hissed, and Luke flinched.
Percy's ears strained to hear where the man was, but Kronos was probably light as a feather because Percy didn't hear a footstep.
"Boo," came a voice from beside his ear and it took Percy all his will not to jump. He grinned cheekily and turned to face his capture.
"Hey babe," he said and smacked his lips flirtatiously. Kronos looked at him distastefully before turning away. He walked over to a table where metal appliances gleamed maliciously. His back was to Percy when he spoke again.
"So, Mr Jackson," Kronos began casually, picking something shiny from the table. Percy identified it immediately as a hand clasp iron fist. Not fun to be punched with. Kronos slid the thing onto his finger and looked over his shoulder at Percy. "Be a good boy and tell us where Miss Chase is. That is," he added mockingly, spinning around and walking up to Percy's chair, "if you don't mind."
"Oh I do mind," Percy replied, not even bothering to conceal the bite from his voice. He hated being patronised, especially when he was tied up and couldn't knock the patroniser senseless.
Kronos looked down on him sceptically before he shook his head sadly.
A second later, a fist knocked into his head. The pain was momentous and Percy felt as if he was being punched by a god. Everything went black or a moment or two, as if the world was in a continuous spin. When his vision returned, Percy noticed it was rimmed with tears and there was a loud buzzing in his ear. He also saw that Kronos was sitting in a stool across from Percy. He must've been out for more than a moment. He spat a tooth and tried his best for a grin, but instead it came out like a grimace.
"Is that," he coughed, "the best you got, old man?"
Kronos grabbed the back of his torn shirt and yanked it up so his chair balanced on its two front legs and Percy was staring Kronos in the eye.
"I'll give you one last chance, Jackson. Where is Chase?"
"I see you dropped the Mr and Miss-"
"Where is she?" he roared
Percy spat blood in Kronos' face as a reply.
Kronos stood up, and took a handkerchief from his front pocket. He wiped the spit from his face slowly, and threw the handkerchief in a bin. He walked over to the table once more.
"Oh Percy," he said softly, "I was really hoping it wouldn't come to this."
He tapped his chin thoughtfully before reaching down and picking up a knife and a wrench. Percy envisioned thousands of scenarios in the blink of an eye, and lets just say none of them were happy.
"Well," Kronos looked over at Percy, his golden eyes twinkling viciously. "Shall we begin?"
