Hello!

I hope you had a nice New Year (mine was good, thank you. Here is the next chapter!

PS: The story will mainly be in Will's POV, except for a few chosen chapters


Chapter 2 - How Nico crashed a pefectly good car

A door slammed, startling Nico di Angelo from his short nap. He looked up, blinking slightly against the sharp light of the single lamp in the room. He could make out a figure standing in front of the door, but not more. It took a while until is eyes adjusted to the sudden light and the figure became clear.

It was a rather tall man, a lot taller than Nico, but that wasn't saying much. He was short. He was wearing sunglasses and the standard bandana of the Titánio Kai Gígantes, green with the black scythe, was around his neck. Apparently he loved the gang so much that he also dyed his hair green. He looked ridiculous, but Nico wouldn't tell him that. He already had enough broken bones in his right hand, he didn't need more. So he kept his mouth shut and just glared at the guy, waiting for him to start the conversation. Whoever that man was, he wasn't a talker.

Minutes went by without either of them saying something and Nico started to feel anxious. This wasn't good. He hadn't been in here long, just a couple of days, but he had quickly learned that silence never was a good thing. It more often than not meant waiting for an interrogation and those were something the young Demigod didn't enjoy in the least.

Before he was captured by some of the Titans, the less brutal section of the Titánio Kai Gígantes, he had only heard stories about what happened to prisoners in Tartarus, their headquarters. Rumors about pain, torture and death. It had never been a place Nico wanted to go, but on a cloudless night in June it had happened.

He had been running an errand for the Demigods in Brooklyn and been a bit too careless about it, now paying the price for it. It wasn't the first time one of them had been captured by the Titans and he certainly wouldn't be the last, but until now, none of them had returned, alive that is.

Since Nico could remember it, they were at war with the Titánio Kai Gígantes. The Demigods, a gang from the northern parts of Manhattan, were the only ones who could still defy them, all the other gangs were either extinguished or had a treaty with them. Since then the Titans had randomly attacked members of the Demigods, either killing them or taking them prisoner for interrogation. Either way, they ended up dead.

Nico knew he was going to die. No-one had made it out of their clutches before and Nico certainly wouldn't make it either. He just wasn't good enough for that.

Sometimes he wondered if the rest of the Demigods had made a shroud for him. It was their tradition to burn a shroud for every fallen member and a couple years ago, after the last rescue mission had failed, they started to make the shrouds after each prisoner was taken. They wouldn't be coming back, so why wait? That was their excuse. Nico had always suspected that it was because the elder ones didn't want to think about their dead family for too long.

At other times he wondered if they had even noticed him missing.

He didn't know how long he had been gone, time was hard to tell in this cell. It was completely white, with a single bright light at the top and a dark gray chair, Nico was currently tied to. The chair had appeared not that long ago, maybe a day, maybe two. It was hard to say.

The door opened again and Nico shifted his gaze from the green haired guy to the newcomer, dread settling into his stomach. He didn't want another interrogation, he probably wouldn't survive that.

The new guy looked exactly like the first, just with purple hair. Probably twins. He was holding a phone, but other than that, Nico could not find anything that could harm him. Didn't mean anything, but a little flame of hopefulness started burning in his chest.

"You are being transferred", the second guy said.

The first one started to grin, which really creeped Nico out. Whatever it was that made him so happy, it couldn't be good.

"Transferred?", Nico asked.

His voice sounded raspy, he should drink more.

"You think we kill our prisoners here? Imagine the stench of all that rotting flesh", the first guy said.

"Otis", hissed the second and shook his head subtly.

He obviously didn't want Nico to hear about this. It made Nico more curious. So this place, where he would die, it was where all the others had too? Maybe if he could send a sign to the Demigods when he was there, they could finally bury their fallen. It would be too late to save him, of course, but that didn't matter.

Nico had known he would die young since he formally signed up, when he was ten.

His whole family had been apart of the Demigods, so it was only logically for him to honor them by also being a member of the gang.

Otis snapped Nico out of his thoughts by pulling him from the chair roughly. He hadn't even noticed being untied. He couldn't enjoy his newfound freedom for long, because in the next second, the second guy pulled his arms forward and quickly bound them together with zip tie. The hard plastic dug into the skin of his hands and Nico had to refrain from voicing his pain.

They shoved him forwards and lead him out of the room. Nico stumbled a bit. He hadn't used his legs in a while and it hurt to walk. Thankfully they didn't walk long, because at the end of the hallway, a elevator dinged open. The two men shoved him in, not giving Nico any chance to catch himself before slamming into the floor.

Otis grabbed him by the arm and yanked him back up, then pressed the button for the first floor. Nico was gritting his teeth, trying to breath through the pain flaring up in his right arm. He was so focused on that, he missed the door opening again.

They stepped into a garage only occupied by a SUV. A woman was standing next to it, tapping her foot and glaring at them.

"Otis, Ephialtes, you're late", she snarled.

Otis visibly gulped, while the other guy – Ephialtes – just nodded.

"Sorry, Pasiphae, I was busy", he said.

Apparently Pasiphae knew with what he had been busy because she grinned wickedly. Nico didn't want to know.

"Anyway, hurry up. We are going out for some drinks tonight and it would be better you would be back by then", she said.

Then she stepped around them, going back towards the elevator. Ephialtes pushed Nico towards the SUV, but didn't let him get in yet. The windows of the car where all darkened so no-one would suspect anything. Other than that there was nothing special about it. Hundreds of cars like this were on the roads of New York everyday.

Otis gave a bandana to Ephialtes, followed by some duct tape. He had one hand still wrapped tightly around his arm, forcing Nico to stay put while they put the bandana around his eyes, rendering him blind. Then there was a tug on his arm and Nico cried out in pain.

"Stop, he's too loud", one of the twins said.

Before Nico could process what they meant, something sticky was put over his mouth. His eyes widened in shock, not that he could see any better. Had they just put duct tape over his mouth? He tried to say something, but nothing came out. Just great.

The next thing he knew, he landed in the back of the SUV, two doors slammed and the car started moving. There were no seats there and Nico would have groaned if he could. He struggled a bit to sit up and when he did he blinked slightly to get the light away.

Wait, light?

He opened his eyes fully, surprised to find himself able to see. Wasn't he blindfolded not a second ago?

The bandana was still there, but not as tight as before. It had been folded when placed over his eyes and due to the rough landing it must have slipped. It was now resting on the bridge of his nose, the rest of the bandana completely unfolded. The edge of it was tickling against his chin. He probably looked like a typical bandit from the old western films.

Nico looked around, trying to find out if the twins had seen him, but noticed that he was facing the back. Through the window he could see a light brown building. That must be the HQ of Titánio Kai Gígantes. Nico didn't recognize the neighborhood, so he attentively stared out of the window, until he recognized something. It came in the form of a restaurant Nico and his friend Reyna had eaten at just before he was captured. It wasn't all that far away from the HQ, which meant he could probably show the others were it was. But for that he had to get out of this car.

He risked a glance toward the front, where Ephialtes was driving and Otis was staring into space. There was a gun in a holster at his side, if Nico could just get it...

He looked away again and down at his bound hands. He had to figure out a plan or he would die and then the Demigods would never be able to find the HQ.

A few minutes later, they were now in a completely different part of New York, in southern Manhattan, which was also good to know, he noticed something.

Outside it was getting dark and Nico was starting to loose the little shimmer of hope, so he just let his gaze drift over the back, trying to distract himself from his impending doom. Somehow the thought of dying wasn't nearly as scary as the thought of not being able to help his family. His gaze landed on the door behind Otis and he nearly laughed. It wasn't locked. The door wasn't locked.

Of course, at this speed jumping out of a car would probably kill him, but if the car went just a bit slower he could make a run for it. Where was a traffic jam if you needed one.

They turned onto a smaller street, Otis said something about driving around traffic and Nico cursed internally. The only option now was to crash the car. Or grab the gun and hope for the best. Nico settled for the second option.

He whirled around, as fast as he could, grabbed the weapon, unlocked it and pointed it at Otis. He wanted to say something, but unfortunately that was impossible. Ephialtes glanced back and cursed. But he didn't slow down. Instead he grabbed under his seat.

Nico cursed, it came out as something muffled not even he understood.

Otis was turning around, swinging a arm and knocking the gun out of Nico's hands. Then he climbed over the seat to get to him. Nico scrambled back. If it came to a fist fight, his hands would be useless tied together. So he opted for the next best thing. He kicked Otis in the face, smashing the sunglasses under his boot.

The Giant screamed and then charged. He threw himself at Nico, slamming both of them to the ground. The car jumped a bit.

Otis punched Nico, only grazing the side of his face due to a sharp turn. Still, the hit stung.

"Just kill him already!", Ephialtes yelled from the front.

Immediately, there were hands on Nico's throat, squeezing painfully. Oh shit.

Suffocating was one of the worst ways Nico could imagine to die. That and drowning.

His lungs started to hurt and breathing became harder with each second. Nico did the only thing his oxygen-deprived mind could think of. He kneed Otis in the balls.

The hands disappeared and with a whimper, Otis curled up.

Nico took a few deep breaths and pushed Otis off, before grabbing the gun again. He needed to get out of this car.

Normally, Nico had no problem focusing on his target, but this time, in a driving SUV, with not enough oxygen in his body and pain shooting up his arm, it was a lot harder. He blamed it on that that he missed and only hit Ephialtes in the shoulder.

He yelled in pain and turned around, a dagger in hand. Maybe his mind, too, was clouded with pain, because he forgot he was driving.

The car swerved to the right, losing speed. Nico was thrown against the door. This speed had to be enough.

He fumbled with the handle of the door, hoping there wasn't a mechanic locking system or he would be dead within the next second. Ephialtes was now completely turned around, slashing with the dagger.

Nico ducked under a swing and blocked another with the gun, a bullet going off and burying itself in the floor next to a still whimpering Otis. Nico was so distracted by the bullet, that he didn't notice the next swing. Only the fiery pain of a dagger burying itself into the flesh just below his right shoulder, teared him out of it.

Nico would have screamed, if he could. So, only a muffled cry came over his lips and tears shot into his eyes.

Ephialtes pulled the dagger out again and went in for another stab.

The next seconds were strange. Nico didn't realize what was happening around him, he only noticed the fire burning in his shoulder. His body acted on his own, all these years of fighting and training paying off.

With a kick to the shoulder, Ephialtes went flying against the steering wheel. The whole car now changing the side of the road. Another shot with the gun and Otis finally stopped whimpering, then Nico dropped it, opened the door and fell out of the car.

Hitting the asphalt was painful, but not as bad as sliding a few feet until he came to a halt. His actions just caught up to him and he winced.

His shoulder still felt as if it was on fire and the left side of his body felt like he just tore open the skin there. He quick look down confirmed it. His hoodie was completely torn and he could see that most of the skin was too.

Then there was a loud crash and Nico looked over his shoulder. The car had slammed into a building, but Nico really wasn't concerned about that. He needed to get away, find some Demigods.

Slowly he got back up to his feet, which was hard. He took a few stumbled steps, before slipping into the next best alley. Thankfully everybody was too concerned with the crash and the explosion that just went off to pay him any mind. Once inside the alley, he leaned against the wall and slowly slid down until he was sitting. He sighed, leaning his head on his knees.

The pain was subsiding, slowly being replaced by a numb feeling, which wasn't a good sign. How much blood had he lost? It didn't matter. He was bleeding out and there was nothing he could do against it. With the state he was in, it was impossible to reach the Demigods now. He was in a completely wrong part of Manhattan. He could never tell them about the HQ, or the other place. Hopefully they could find his corpse. He didn't want to end up in a hospital were they discovered the mark.

The only downside at the moment was that he was still bound, gagged and wearing the stupid bandana of the Titánio Kai Gígantes.


So, I hope you liked it!

I will update again during the week, so see you there

~thegoddesskym

PS: Am I the only one who can't read reviews? Since the 31. every review is unable to be seen, not just here but other stories too. Please tell me I'm not the only one

PPS: If you have that problem, too, then check your emails (if you get some for reviews) and read them there, it's how I do it, so you can still send me reviews :)