Percy Jackson and the Assassins
You could say that Percy's life had never been easy. After 5 years living under the shadow of his first great prophecy, that wasn't even his to begin with (but that is a whole other story), and then being kidnapped for eight months, sent to a different demigod camp in San Francisco that was home to the roman aspects of the gods, and being forced to team up with them to defeat Gaia, the goddess of the earth herself, he had began to think that there was little left in the mythological world for him to do. He hoped that he could finally begin to enjoy himself, and start living like a normal teenage guy. Well, as normal as demigods could get. But oh no, despite all he'd been through, Percy's adventures weren't finished yet.
In fact, what came next could be considered his greatest trial of all. For in his anger, desperation and, of course, jealousy, one being, banished forever to the depths of Tartarus, with the last of his strength, set a bounty on Percy's head in the hopes that, through this last effort, he may gain some small satisfaction in knowing that his greatest enemy was dead. That being was Kronos, and this is the story of Percy Jackson and the Eight Assassins.
Chapter One
"C'mon Seaweed Brain, harder."
Percy ducked as the jagged blade passed by his head, close enough for him to feel the air being pushed out of its way. He rolled as a smaller, bronze blade swung at him while he was vulnerable, barely avoiding the sharp edge. He moved in quickly, striking at his enemy himself, but the defence of his opponent was almost perfect, and his blade was stopped by the jagged blade, while the knife went for his stomach. He backed up in time and raised his sword in a defensive stance, waiting for the next move. His enemy had the same idea, however, content to wait until attacked.
He knew that brute force was not the way to win. As his opponent was so quick to remind him,
"If you're too stupid to swing a sword properly, what good will big muscles do you?" No. He had to find a weakness and exploit it. Problem was, his opponent knew a lot of weaknesses and how to negate them. There was practically no move in his arsenal that she didn't know the counter to. His skill with a blade would not help him prevail either. That left only one option.
"C'mon, surely the great hero of Olympus won't be defeated by a girl," she jeered at him. He felt a little bit offended, mostly at the amazing amount of sarcasm she managed to pack into a single sentence, but he knew this was just another ploy of hers. Her tongue was sharp, he'd give her that.
Luckily for him though, he had one trick left up his sleeve. Despite her extensive range on proper techniques for wielding a blade, she did have a weakness, one she had told him about while they were sailing the sea on a dinghy. Her fatal flaw.
So instead of get angry and attacking, he simply smiled at her.
"I don't know," he remarked casually, as if it were simply a trivial matter, "I heard that she was a great archaeologist that designed grand fashion salons up on a mountain somewhere." She raised an eyebrow.
"It's architect, idiot," she jabbed back, "I know that it's a big word, but even you should be able to remember that." He kept that polite smile plastered on his face, and he knew it was annoying her by the cute little arch in her left eyebrow. He chuckled to himself. It was working.
"Oh that's right," he sent back, "I remember now. That's the job where you sit quietly at a desk all day and doodle. What an intellectual profession." That ticked her off. He could see her hands clench her weapons a little bit tighter, and her eyebrow arch a little more.
"Oh yeah?" she half-shouted at him, "and I suppose dropping a bit of string in the water and sitting there waiting for something to bite is so much more difficult." He chuckled at that, both inwardly and outwardly.
"Whatever you say, darling" he said and watched with glee as her face went a little red. She hated it when he called her that.
"'Whatever you say, darling' this!" she shouted and attacked as quick and as hard as she could.
It was over pretty quickly from there.
He darted forward, pushing her jagged blade to the side with his. Not expecting the move, she stumbled forward, and Percy used her unbalance to quickly strike the knife from her hand. It bounced on the floor once, and slid too far away for her to retrieve in a hurry. She tried to bring her other blade around, but Percy simply grabbed her outstretched arm and bent it slightly, causing a flash of pain to run down it. She dropped the sword and fell backwards, grunting as the arm throbbed. When she stood to face him again, his sword was staring her in the face. She winced, not at the pain in her arm, but at the pain of losing once again.
Percy regarded her with that stupid grin of his. How she longed to punch him in his perfect teeth right now. But fair was fair and he had won. Swallowing something hard and difficult to get down, aka her pride, she yielded and the blade shrunk down into the size of a ballpoint pen.
Percy watched as she said the words. How sweet they sounded to him, even though he won every time. It was nice to be better than her at something, especially when they were both rather competitive people. It was like payback, for her winning every single Capture the flag game that they played.
"Stop smiling stupidly at me like that and come give me a kiss." She said, raising her eyebrow as if daring him to say no. He grinned one more time and quickly leaned in. His lips neared hers, but just before they touched, he felt pain in his stomach and he dropped to his knees, hunched over. He looked up at her with betrayal, but she simply smirked at him, and turned, walking away with a smug prance. His lips curled into a smile, despite himself. He should have known it wasn't going to be that easy.
Line Break
Annabeth probably wasn't going to be in the best mood with him at the moment, so he decided to relax at his favourite place. Laying down on the warm sand, sipping slowly from a can of coke that one of the satyrs had smuggled in for him - life didn't get much better than that. He simply watched the waves roll up and crash onto the beach, slowing wearing down the ground's defences. It was a sight that he found fascinating, the ocean waging war against the sand. He could feel the power of the waves, power that he knew could very much pound this beach into submission if it so wanted. Power that he was heir to.
It was a strange thing, to think that such an immeasurable entity was part of him. The waves and the sea were his birthright, and yet it was still hard to believe that they were his to command. It was unsettling almost, that he still didn't have complete control over it. There were times he was afraid it would get away from him, that he wouldn't be able to stop it, and he would hurt someone because of it. But at least here, on this beach, he felt safe. He took another sip, letting out a sigh at the cool, refreshing drink. At least here, nothing would bother him.
He spoke too soon.
"Percy" said a voice from behind him. He groaned as he lifted himself up from his comfortable position in the sand. He recognised the voice, one belonging to his mentor Chiron, the immortal centaur who dedicated his existence to the teaching of all demigods who made it to Camp Half-Blood, one of the only places that was supposedly completely safe for his kind - a few poisonous scorpions and hellhounds aside, of course.
"Yes master?" he responded, only half-joking. He had a lot of respect for Chiron after all. The centaur grimaced at the title. He shook his head.
"Come, my boy," he said, holding out his hand, "I must discuss something with you." Percy frowned. That didn't sound good.
"Something bad?" he asked. Chiron looked uneasy.
"Not here," he responded simply. Percy nodded, knowing what that meant. The last time his mentor had said that was when the mummy that housed the oracle had walked all the way into the middle of the capture the flag game that was being played (Long story).
He took the offered hand and rose, slightly bitter at the thought of having to leave his happy place so soon.
On the way to the Big House, Percy couldn't help but smile at the camp around him. It had grown so much from the time that he had first stumbled over the boundary line. The gods had kept true to their promise, and every summer kids poured over Half-Blood hill, each with a different story of how they got there, from being chased by hellhounds and furies to being driven in a limousine. But at least most of them made it.
The cabins had grown even more. With more kids of each god coming in, expansions had to be made, redone and then more had to be added each summer. They were starting to look more like houses than cabins really. In fact, many of the campers had begun calling them that.
The pavilion was too small for so many. Nearly eight hundred kids couldn't all fit in that small tent, so Chiron had some Cyclopes build an even bigger one, so that it covered an area almost the size of the two of the "cabins" put together. More activities had been added, extra chariot tracks, more forges, and a second, smaller amphitheatre for the more experienced campers to train in. Even the lava wall had been redone, so now it was twice as big, and four times as hard. Percy knew that from experience.
All in all, it was looking up for good ol' Camp Half-Blood. Percy hadn't had any other siblings yet, but that just meant that all the improvements made to his cabin where for him alone, and Tyson, when he occasionally visited. Showers, heaters, even a game room had been added with an upgraded Playstation that allowed him to hook into mortal networks and play like any other guy, whilst hiding the signal from monster senses with a complicated spell that Tyson had gotten one of the Hecate kids to enchant it with. All in all it was pretty awesome.
He was snapped out of his musing by a small nudge from Chiron. They had arrived at the Big House. He followed his mentor up the steps into the lounge, with the stuffed leopards head above the biggest recliner and the soft Dean Martin playing in the background. Chiron gestured to one of the chairs. Percy sat, and Chiron followed him, his legs magically compressing into the wheelchair that he used to hide his true form. Percy decided to get straight to the point.
"So what's the problem" he asked. Chiron frowned. He didn't answer for a while, and when he did, it was with a restrained tone, like he was being very careful in what he said.
"I need you to oversee one of the satyrs. He's on his first mission, and he may be out of his depth. He's having trouble and I'd like it if you'd go see if you can't help him get his charge to safety."
Percy frowned as well. This didn't seem too difficult.
"What's the catch" he asked, suspicious. His mentor shifted uneasily.
"I'm not sure. I have a feeling about this. That's all." Percy got the feeling that Chiron knew very well what the problem was, and if he didn't want to share it, well, that was enough to put Percy at unease.
"I'm not sure…" he began to say, but Chiron stopped him.
'Your father requested this one" he told Percy. That shocked him. His father wanted him to go? Did that mean that he had another sibling? Or was it something else? He made a decision.
"Alright," he said, "where am I going?"
Line Break
Now he began to regret his choice. Standing in the freezing wind outside this creepy looking school, similar to the one where he found Nico and his sister, he couldn't help but mumble curses at Chiron, at himself, heck, even his dad for sending him out here. Sure he was the son of the sea, but this damn cold still got to him, despite it also giving him extra energy. He tried moving the snow away from him, to see if that would warm him up, but to no avail. The snow moved, but the cold didn't. He pounded on the door once again, hoping that someone would answer before he died.
Fortunately, some one did. Also fortunately, it was the very satyr he had come to help. Unfortunately, he didn't look very pleased to see him.
"What took you so long?!" he hissed at Percy, who was rather taken aback at the animosity. He held his hands up defensively.
"I came here as fast as I could bro. Sorry" The satyr glared at him.
"Get in, quick. We don't have much time." Giving him no time to comply, the satyr grabbed his arm and yanked him in, slamming the door shut behind him.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Percy protested, "What's wrong?" The satyr said nothing but dragged Percy along as he raced down the hall.
"You're late," he said, "and he's almost got them."
Percy groaned in frustration.
"Who?" he asked, "who is he? Why is everyone being so secretive?" The satyr stopped in his tracks. He turned to Percy with a puzzled expression on his face.
"You don't know? He asked. "Chiron didn't tell you?" Percy, clearly unhappy with that remark, shook his head. The satyr paled.
"Then that means… oh no!" Spinning on his heels, or whatever satyrs have, he raced down the hall, leaving Percy standing there, still confused. With a sigh, he took off after the panicked creature.
Unsurprisingly, the satyr was faster than him, and he soon found himself completely alone. Lost in the halls of what appeared to be a derelict castle disguised as a school, he once again cursed his stupidity for accepting this job. He wandered along, passing lockers and classrooms, none of which gave him any clue to where he was. The only sound was the faint howling of the wind from outside and the crackling of the torches that cast an eerie glow on the walls. It made him feel uneasy, not that he wasn't before. This time, however, it was stronger. With every step, his body grew more and more insistent that he turn around and leave this place, leave it to its own devices. The candles seemed to grow darker, and the shadows almost looked like…images, figures reaching out at him. Dread built up in him, and he started to have trouble breathing. He felt something, something unusual, something powerful. It almost felt like it was right behind him, about to strike. His shoulders tensed, and he came to a stop, casting his senses around him. For a few seconds nothing, but then there was a small swish as if some fabric had rubbed against rough stone.
He whirled around. Nothing. But instead of relaxing him, the sight only heightened his paranoia.
The sound of a scream snapped him out of his revere. The feeling went away, replaced by a sense of urgency. With a clear direction in mind, he ran as fast as he could in the direction of the sounds that now seemed to be unending.
Cries of "Please, no!" and "Let him go!" guided him as he chased down what was most likely the source of his mission. They grew clearer, more distinct, until he rounded a corner and saw a sign above two wooden doors reading 'Gym.' He smiled to himself. Of course it was. Without even bothering to open them, Percy dropped his shoulder and burst through. And that was when his day got even worse.
Hurtling away from him, two scared children clutched in his bare, muscled arms, was a large man. Percy couldn't get a good look at his face, as it was turned away, but the man's back was uncovered and very hairy. He towered over the mortals who stood frozen in horror as he escaped. Some were crying out in terror, others yanking at the doors that wouldn't open, and still others hiding under the bleachers, begging for mercy. The satyr that had met him was nowhere to be found, but Percy spotted what looked like a rough club and some old pair of Nikes lying scattered in the middle of the gym. He clenched his fist, and without another thought set out after his prey.
The man didn't seem keen on fighting Percy however. Percy followed him as he tore through the woods, pushing himself as hard as he could to keep up. Whenever he lost the track, as hard as that was to do, the screams of his targets kept him on track until the trees started to thin, and the ground began to slope down. Soon after that, the screams began to slow down, and Percy took the time to hide behind one of the last trees before the ground softened and lead to what seemed to be…a beach?
Why on earth would his enemy lead him here, where he was strongest? Didn't he know who Percy was? Something didn't add up, and Percy wasn't going to reveal himself until he knew what that was. So he watched as the man threw the children down at his feet, and waited.
He kept waiting, staring almost exactly at the spot that Percy was hiding in. He didn't move for what seemed like hours, and Percy was running out of patience. He was just about to step out and confront him, when finally, he began to talk.
"I have brought them here, at your request. Let us talk about my reward already" said a rather surprisingly mild voice for his size. A voice that seemed to reverberate in Percy's mind replied, saying
"I see that, but your task is not yet complete." Percy frowned. He didn't like where this was headed.
"There is one more thing you must do," claimed the voice, "someone has followed you. He will put these children in jeopardy. Kill him first, and then you will have your…reward." The man snarled in Percy's direction.
"Who's there?" he growled, and Percy decided this was the perfect time to reveal himself.
"No one much," he remarked as he pushed himself to his feet, "just the guy who's gonna whoop your ass." The man didn't seem fazed at all. He gave a gruff laugh and bared his teeth.
"Bold words, boy. But no one has been able to kill me for centuries, least of all the likes of you!"
Percy unsheathed his sword and pointed it at the man.
"Oh yeah?" he said, "then you're long overdue."
And with that he charged.
So this is the start of what i hope to be a pretty epic story. Basically the idea is that Percy has to face eight assassins while also protecting a demigod who is pretty special to the mythological world. I hope you all enjoy this because i plane to work really hard on it.
If you didn't know, as a lot may not, this story is inspired by Batman Arkham Origins, where Batman faces eight assassins as well. I thought it would be cool to do something similar for Percy, and so this was created. And i will do my best to actually finish it (I'm horrible at doing that.)
So yeah. I don't have a very clear idea of the story, so if you want, feel free to send in suggestions. I have created two of the assassins, but the rest are still a mystery and so is the bulk of the story. Any input will be appreciated and acknowledged.
That's all. See you in the next chapter!
And feel free to review if you want. Knowing what I did good, and what i could work on certainly helps.
Note: I updated this chapter because i wasn't fully satisfied with the writing. Plus in the next chapter i changed the order of events a little, and so this didn't make sense. But it's all good now, and i hope to upload the next chapter soon
