Strength of a Leader
Chapter 2
-Percy-
Groaning, he forced his eyes awake, groggy from being knocked out during the fall from the cliff. "Well, well, look who's awake." a voice he didn't recognize said condescendingly from his right causing him to spin, or at least try to before he dropped to his knees in pain from the spike wound in his shoulder.
"Who are you?" he spat angrily, his eyes flitting around for any source of water he could use to heal and get a power boost.
"I am Atlas," the voice said in amusement causing him to stiffen at the name he easily recognized "General of the Titan armies.".
"Then why am I not dead?" he demanded warily, looking now for an escape instead of a fight.
"Because you will be taking Luke Castellan's place under the Vault of the Sky," Atlas said calmly "the same place that he freed me from.".
"And I should do this why?" he asked in confusion "To me this is just punishment for the traitor.".
"Yes Jackson," the voice of Luke said from behind him, causing him to turn and see the treacherous son of Hermes being forced to his knees by what looked like a dark grey cyclone "that is probably what you would think. But we have a bit of leverage you just might want to be aware of."
"Bring the woman!" Atlas called before he could ask what leverage they were talking about, "We captured her the moment you were brought here." Atlas said with a smirk "Luke knew that you would beā¦less than cooperative.".
Before he could ask who they were talking about he froze, seeing a pair of Cyclopes dragging his mother forward as she struggled to get free. "Mom!" he yelled in shock, trying to force himself to rise despite the injuries that covered his body.
"Percy!" she yelled as she tried to break the Cyclopes' grip to get to him.
"You see young Perseus Jackson," Atlas said arrogantly "you have two very simple options here. The first is that you take Luke's place under the Vault of the Sky. The second is that we will kill your mother slowly and painfully while making you watch before doing the same to you.".
"Fine!" he said instantly, "I'll take the vault. But you have to swear upon the river Styx that neither you nor your armies will harm my mother and that you'll take her back to her home.".
"I swear upon the River Styx that once Perseus Jackson has taken the vault of the sky I shall send Sally Jackson back to her home and that neither I nor my armies will attack her. Atlas swore with a smirk as thunder sealed the oath and he began crawling over to the vault, ignoring his mother's protests and Atlas' laughs.
Getting to Luke he clawed up to a rough standing position and took part of the weight of the sky before Luke rolled out with a gasp or relief. "N-now you do your end of the deal." He grunted, trying to not cry out at the extra pain the weight put on his wounds.
"Of course Perseus, I am a Titan of my word." Atlas said with a smirk, the Titan snapping his fingers causing his to vanish with a flash of light, his last sight of her being her heartbroken eyes. "Now, we can't have you dying from those wounds." Atlas said with a smirk before the titan muttered a spell and he suddenly found himself standing in knee deep water that he instantly began healing his injuries and giving him extra energy. "That pool will constantly replenish," Atlas explained with a sadistic smirk "that way the pain will always be healing and coming in so you'll never grow numb to it.".
Snarling he rose up to his full height as he pushed up with all his strength, trying to hold the sky up as much as he could as he felt his muscles constantly being torn and worn by the weight only to be healed moments later by the water. "I will see you trapped here again Atlas," he snarled "and I will enjoy seeing you returned to your prison.".
"You will only be freed from there should we capture one of those pathetic Olympians," Atlas said with a dismissal snort before turning to leave "and even that is questionable with how entertaining you may prove to be.".
-Annabeth-
"P-Percy." she gasped out in shock, tears streaming from her eyes as she gazed at the cliff where she had just watched her best friend and practically brother get dragged down to save her. A yell of anger caused her to turn and see Grover punch a tree, denting the wood and causing its Dryad to pop its head out to protest only to gulp and shoot back inside when she saw Grover's furious glare.
"W-what just happened?" the girl they came to recruit, Bianca, asked in shock, the two new demigods staring in shock at where Percy had been dragged down.
"My best friend just got captured that's what." Grover snarled, a surprisingly feral look on the Satyr's face as the searcher began pacing back and forth angrily "And I am going to track down that bastard and tear him limb from limb!".
"Grover?!" Thalia gasped in shock at the Satyr's out of character declaration.
"Listen Thalia," Grover growled "you may be my friend but Percy is my brother. My loyalty is to him over you any day and I would march into Tartarus if it meant saving him.".
"As would I." she added, shakily rising to her feet as the hunters of Artemis marched over.
"Foolish boy." She heard the one she assumed to be Artemis mutter softly as they approached causing her to spin around and draw her knife in rage.
"Shut up you sorry excuse for a goddess!" she yelled at the shocked moon goddess "My brother just sacrificed himself to save us, by Hades he saved the life of one of your hunters, but all you do is sit there an insult!".
"My hunter didn't need saving," Artemis said with a scowl "and you would be wise to learn your place."
"Goddess or not you need to learn one important thing Artemis," Grover snarled, the satyr glaring scornfully at the goddess of the hunt "nobody insults Percy Jackson like that without having to deal with consequences.".
"And what would those be Satyr?" the Hunter with the circlet in her hair asked scornfully.
"Besides the fact that he's Poseidon's favored son?" Grover asked with a snort causing the hunter Percy had saved to stiffen "Most of the camp are loyal to Percy above several of the gods due to the simple fact that Percy would give his life for any one of us, he tries to protect us, and he's not afraid to talk back to you and the rest of your stuck up council. A habit I plan to start doing myself.".
"T-that boy was a son of Poseidon?" the eighteen year old hunter asked cautiously, the girl stepping forward and not showing the usual anger or arrogance of the rest of the hunt.
"Yes he was," she answered cautiously "why?".
At her words the girl dropped to her knees, a look of shock adorning the silver clad girl's features. "H-he's my little brother," the girl explained "I am Marina Deloque, daughter of Poseidon, and member of the hunt for the past two-hundred and thirty four years.".
"This doesn't matter right now!" Grover spoke up "Right now we have to explain what's going on to the Di Angelos, get them back to camp, and then save Percy.".
"An explanation would be nice!" the still confused Bianca exclaimed desperately "The sooner the better please!".
"Long story short the Greek gods are real and one of your parents is one," she explained simply as she forced herself to her feet "the Titans are starting a war to try and take over and are recruiting every demigod they can to their cause. Anyone that doesn't join them is killed and fed to their monsters.".
"A-and the guy who saved us?" Nico asked hesitantly.
"That was Percy Jackson," she explained softly, her tears flowing freely as she gazed at where her brother had gone "son of Poseidon and one of the strongest demigods in the world. He has beaten Ares in single combat, he's been to Hades and back and slain monsters most demigods need years of training to even have a hope of surviving against with next to no training at all.".
"He's just a male." Artemis tries to speak up with a snort only to shut up when she pointed her dagger at the goddess' throat with a snarl.
"Never," she growled "insult Percy in front of me.".
"She has a point Artemis," a new voice said, disapproval clear, as they turned to see a man wearing all golden clothes with golden hair and sky blue eyes "your 'hatred' of men is getting tiresome.".
"What are you doing here Apollo?" Artemis demanded angrily.
"I came here to make sure you didn't murder these demigods for pointing out your flaws," the sun god stated irritably "even Dad is upset with you right now. Percy not only saved his bolt a couple years ago but has now saved Thalia's life twice but you just go around insulting him and his sacrifice.".
"He's a male!" Artemis exclaimed.
"So am I!" Apollo screamed in anger, golden flames dancing across the god's visage "Are you going to vilify me just for not being born a girl? Are you going to try to shoot me on sight just because I don't have breasts? You're more than welcome to have your virgin oath, you're more than welcome to distrust men, but your hatred and attacks on men are getting on the last nerve of the council. Now I'm going to be sending these demigods to camp, you do whatever it is you wish to do with your hunters but I'd recommend you take some time to do some serious soul searching." The sun god said firmly before, with a snap of his fingers, her word exploded into light as she suddenly found herself on Half-Blood hill along with Thalia, Grover, Nico, and Bianca.
