Percy sat in the back of a long, sheik and expensive Lexus. The interior was basic combination of a dark chocolate like brown and a nightmare black. Extra features were fairly limited save for an in-car phone and a built-in sat-nav as the car itself rarely saw any usage because most of Percy's family used shadow travel or other such means of getting around. But according to the Fury Alecto, "Your father has ordered us to go by car to mask your power otherwise those fools from camp half-blood may try to take you back with them or even capture you" She had informed him as they set out in her typically raspy sounding voice.
Percy sighed heavily as he began to flick through the last few details of the school he was going to go and "break out" his little brother and sister from.
Bianca and Nico D'Angelo were Percy's only two living siblings, even if they should've now been in old age given the fact that they were born in the earlier part of the 1900's. Percy had made the extra time to ensure that he could come back to the States to help move them into the Lotus Hotel and casino with the help of his father and Alecto.
Several years ago whilst Percy was back out on the open road, his father had moved the two of them to several boarding schools over the years before finally sending them to their current school, Westover military academy.
Since the information his father had passed him was brief, Percy had looked up the school on the internet using his phone on the journey there. Founded at the end of the nineteenth century, the Academy was designed to create the next generation of military officers for the American armed forces. But now in keeping with the modern principles of a "military academy", the school was now more focused on "rehabilitating" more troublesome members of todays youth.
The plan that Percy had come up with was so simple it was almost insulting.
The academy was holding its anual end of semester party in the main school gym. That meant there would be a lot of mortals in the room so Percy had plenty of cover to operate under or places to lose those foolish demigods that would dare try to take his little brother and sister from him. Also, he would be able to use simple mist modification to fool the mortals into thinking they knew him so that he could blend in with them even more. So all he would have to do is find his little brother and sister then carefully pick his way out through the crowds and get into the waiting car, which for all intents and purposes was a simple plan.
Percy let out a small sigh as he placed the black folder onto the seat next to him before staring out of the slightly frosted window, the ice clouding some of the outside scenery, but serving to only add to its mystery and beauty.
Like most of northern America during the winter, Maine suffered from heavy snow fall that would blanket the world in an endless white shroud, the snow sometimes so white and perfect that it was almost as white and smooth as the "skin" of a ghost, whilst gently reflecting the sun, causing the small ice crystals to glisten and glint like strobe lighting in the setting sun. Trees looked as if all of the life had been sucked from their very cores as they frosted over and offered no resistance, the ice simply creeping up the trunk as if the tree had lost the very will to live, soon turning them into gigantic frozen popsicles that littered the frozen wastes or creating dead and frozen forests that were once places alive with the sounds of gentle bird songs and the rustle of foxes through fallen leaves. Now they were nothing more than frozen husks...adding an eerie beauty to the frozen landscape of Maine.
Percy smiled lightly to himself. It was the first time in many, many years that he had actually been happy to see the snow. For many years Percy had feared the arrival of winter in all it's beauty and cruelty as it disrupted operation after operation after operation, sometimes almost costing him an entire decades worth of work in meer hours or days. It was the one thing that he had learnt to fear over the years. Winter could either help you turn the tide of an entire campaign or long, drawn out battle...
Or cause you to crash to defeat.
Percy continued to brood as he ran possible scenarios through his mind as to how things may go down at the academy. All of a sudden, after what seemed like an age, the in-car phone began ringing, an old-school ring that you'd expect to find on a 50's phone. Percy sighed as he went to answer the phone, but he was cut off by Alecto who snatched the small, black receiver out of its cradel before placing the device firmly between her shoulder-blade and left ear. The fury spent less than a minute on the phone talking to whoever it was on the other end in hushed tones and whispers than even Percy could not pick up.
Eventually, Alecto put the phone down and sighed. "Whatever she's just been talking about is really bad news...after all she is NOT one for subtilty." Percy continued to race through possible scenarios until the fury spoke up. "Percy, that was your father on the phone." Immediately Percy tensed. His father NEVER had any real direct hand in any of Percy's missions, even just passing him information was left to the Furies or other various ghosts and human like monsters from the underworld. So whatever the news was, it had to be bad.
After several awkwardly silent seconds, Percy finally spoke up, "What's happened? Are Bianca and Nico okay?" his voice was becoming more and more filled with worry with each and every passing syllable. Alecto shook her head before speaking, "No your brother and sister are absolutely fine...it's just things may have just gotten a whole lot more complicated." Percy relaxed slightly knowing that his brother and sister were safe, but he knew that something major was still wrong. After a deep breath, Percy finally spoke up again.
"So what's happened Alecto? Has Zeus sent extra fools to help the camp weaklings that he has sent against my father's children?" Percy growled out the second part. Again the Fury shook her head, a small grimace creeping across her face before she found the courage to speak.
"He's sent the hunters."
(One hour later, Westover military Academy, North Wing Corridor, Main Staircase.)
"Of fucking course, something ALWAYS has to go wrong when I go on missions." Percy snarled as he bounded up the wooden old stair cases of the Academy's north wing. Percy continued cussing constantly under his breath, using a mixture of greek and english as his footsteps echoed loudly as he continued sprinting up the stairs as he replayed the whole scenario through his mind over and over.
Things had been going perfectly well to begin with. Two of the Academy's teachers, some french woman and one Doctor Thorn had questioned him as to who he was and what he was doing in the school. Percy had used a quick bit of mist manipulation to simply pass by their little interrogation as he jogged to the main sports hall.
The hall itself was some hundred metres long and about as wide, if not slightly more. Scattered around the room were young boys wearing their Academy dress uniforms, a black pair of trousers and shoes with a black jacket emblazoned on the shoulders with the slightly puffed up white shoulder pads. The buttons down the front of the jacket were an ivory like white that looked incredibly smart but not overly flashy whilst the Academy's coat of arms was stitched onto the jackets breast pocket. Where as the girls were wearing an assortment of luxurious gowns and dresses that varied in colours, turning the hall into a plethora of colours that swayed and moved like an ocean of mixed paints and colours. It was rather impressive.
Percy immediately set about the task of locating the three demigods that Zeus had ordered to "save" from the possibility of a monster attack. "The only monster they would have to worry about is you Zeus..." Percy had snarled as he continued to move amongst the dancers and socialites of the party, blending in to the crowds effortlessly after using the mist to alter his appearance, turning his skin to a light tan colour without the scars to all but the most perceptive of people.
The three "heroes" were easily identifiable from everyone else. After all, they stood out like a sore thumb compared to everyone else...well to a trained individual like Perseus at least.
The first one he spotted was a girl who he easily identified as a daughter of Athena. She had blond, curly hair that flowed effortlessly down to her shoulders and stormy grey eyes that seemed to analyse everything in seconds. Her skin was tanned perfectly, instantly painting her as a Californian girl, and given that Percy's fathers realm's entrance was in LA, he could spot a Californian girl a mile away.
The next one was an arrogant looking boy of around the same age as Percy (physically at least.) He was tall-ish at around 5'11 but he was rather thin and weak looking. He tried to compensate for this by trying to look "cool" with overly gelled up hair and a cocky smirk that Percy would've loved to just wipe from his face...but he was under orders not to hurt the fools so he left him alone... until he noticed the colour of his eyes...
Sea-green.
"A son of Poseidon..." Percy hissed to himself in the back of his mind, it had been a long time since he had seen another child of his birth father...and as always, this one proved to be a pathetic imitation of his greater sons such as Percy himself or Theseus. Shaking his head he quickly assed that the boy was clearly physically weak and pathetically weak in terms of demigod power. At least he would be no trouble.
The last girl, however, caught Percy's eye.
She was clearly either leading the quest or the most experienced, judging by the way that she actually had some success blending in. She would use crowds as cover and mist manipulation to try to appear like she was part of a larger group, but her power only stretched so far so it was only believable at first glance. However her simple party trick was hardly going to affect Percy. Her hair was cut short and set into an array of spikes that almost made her look like she had a hedgehog on her head. Her frame was slight and she was fairly short at about 5'8, but there was no denying that she had a powerful aura that indicated one of two possibilities to Percy...but his theory was confirmed when he saw her eyes...
Electrical blue.
"A daughter of Zeus as well? I guess Hestia was right when she said that most male gods can't keep it in their trousers..." Percy snickered to himself briefly before seizing up the girl. It was true that she did seem very powerful, but the fact that she was still young meant her power was simply not even on the same planet as Percy...so at least he wouldn't really have to hurt them if he needed to fight them over his siblings.
But the moment he stop his observations was the moment things started to go horribly wrong.
Percy had been searching fruitlessly for several minutes when his attention was procured by the weak legacy of Poseidon who informed his partners in crime that "The weird Doc guy is making off with Hades spawn!". At just those words Percy almost lost control as he resisted the urge to walk up to the weakling and simply smash his face into several pieces of furniture for daring to insult his siblings...
But the news that they had been taken overrode that insult as Percy quickly crashed out of the main hall and into the cold stone hallways of the Academy's north wing in an effort to cut the bastards off. But unfortunately for Percy it appeared the Gods had decided to shit in his luck bucket again as he only just caught sight of the three measly demigods bounding around a corner, hot in pursuit of the bastard who had his brother and sister.
Percy set of at a decent paced run, hoping to keep an eye on the group but also to help maintain enough distance so that he could keep to the shadows and remain hidden.
He followed the fools like this for several minutes until they finally crashed out of a door, weapons in hand. "Those idiots! If they DARE attack that beast whilst my sister and brother are at risk they had better hope their mummy's and daddy's are close by or I'll rip them to pieces." Percy growled as he bolted towards the little door that the group had crashed out of. Instinctively he raised his shoulder as he collided with the door. But what he had not expected to occur was for the wooden door to be torn from its hinges in an explosion of wooden shrapnel and screeching metal the moment he collided with it until he was outside.
He had crashed out into a small field blanketed in a thick layer of snow. About one hundred metres to his left lay a dead looking forest, the trees like popsicles and their branches like icicles. In the middle of said field resided the three fools from the "quest", each with their respective weaponry drawn. The daughter of Athena a small yet efficient looking combat dagger, the child of Poseidon wielding a sword and the daughter of Zeus wielding a nasty looking spear that crackled with lightning as it danced and jumped up and down the shaft whilst a copy of Athena's shield, Aegis, sat comfortable in her left hand.
Percy smirked, sure they looked like they at least knew how to use their weapons but so did the group of fifteen or twenty monsters surrounding them.
Percy actually laughed a little as he slowly began to summon the shadows to his side, quickly peeling them from wherever they were hiding until they formed their customary blanket around his form until they settled and slowly began to form Percy's personal combat armour. Slowly, the lower portion of the armour began to take shape.
First came the boots. In keeping with his Saladin armour, the boots were made of light-weight, nightmare black Stygian iron alloy. The leg guards that followed suit were adorned with images of pain and battle that would sicken even the stoutest of warriors if they paid heed to them for too long, each one emblazoned in silver and flowed the chest piece. Like the rest of the armour, the chest piece was emblazoned with hellish images of battle in silver and gold, making them more than pronounced enough for all to see, the armour taking on a more greek feel as the piece clung to Percy's figure well, making him look larger than he already was as well as a hell of a lot more intimidating.
Then came the helm.
Unlike many people in Percy's position, he refused to use a standard Greek helmet, claiming that, like their Roman counterparts , they were not intimidating enough... and that was the main function of Percy's helmet. To intimidate the poor fools who thought themselves capable of standing up to the crown prince of the underworld. Shaped like a screaming skull, Percy's helm held nothing but hatred and fury in its look, instilling fear into his enemy's hearts, and like the rest of the armour it was a pitch black Stygian Iron alloy that Percy had spent months planning and trying to perfect... but the effect was more than impressive.
The first monster to notice him, an Emposeua almost frightened Percy at the terrified scream it let out when it saw his armour. The quest members looked around in shock like the rest of the monsters at the creature before almost jumping out of their skin at the sight of Percy in his armour.
Percy let out a small laugh as the figure holding his two siblings tried to order the lesser monsters to attack. "You cannot stop me, Dr. Thorne. I will be leaving here with the boy and girl and there is nothing you can do to stop me!" He shouted over to the cowering monster in Ancient greek as he slowly headed towards the monsters. Finally one of the three giants there developed enough courage to let out a week war cry as it raced forwards to try to attack Percy, who summoned his first weapon to his side.
Their was a slight shaking like the beginning of an earthquake until a gap opened up in the very earth itself. The monster froze and watched on in horror as a ghostly hand thrust a nightmare black spear up into Percy's waiting hand, the shadows that danced around the blade echoing the screams of agony of those Percy had slew with the weapon.
Without waiting for the Giant to resume his charge, Percy simply hurled the weapon at the dumbstruck giant, sending the tip of the spear straight through the creatures chest cavity.
It didn't even get to cry out in agony before disintegrating into a golden, snow like dust that tainted the perfectly white landscape. But the weapon then continued its path as if it hadn't even struck a thing as it slammed into the second and third giants, repeating the same effect until it finally came to a rest, some forty metres from where Percy had just thrown it. Everyone and everything looked at the beast before them. The majority of the Emposuea surrounding the three demigods suddenly broke formation and headed straight for Percy, desperate to try and bring him down before he could do any more damage.
Percy smiled as he held out his hand again until a Greek style, Stygian iron and steel blade shot out from the ground, the steel snaking through the sea of black in an intricate pattern that lended the added benefits of having mortal steel in the blade.
When the first Emposuea tried to strike Percy by simply thrusting its blade forwards, Percy ducked under the blade at the last second with a unbelievible amount of speed and grace. As he came up inside the creatures guard, Percy delivered a vicious uppercut that cracked the foul animals jaw like a twig over a knee. He then capitalised on the beasts agony by wrapping its neck into the crook of his left arm as he quickly danced the blade to his right hand.
Another Emposuea behind the first tried to race forwards to help its sister, but was instead met with death as Percy pirouetted on his left leg, bringing his blade down in a vicious arc with impossible speed an accuracy as he sliced the monsters head open, simply disintegrating it into dust whilst viciously jerking his left arm, causing a sickening crack to emanate from the first Emposuea as it's neck snapped like a stick in Percy's vice-like grip.
A third and fourth enemy raced towards Percy, who ducked under their swiping strikes, only to deliver one of his own with surgical precision, cutting the two creatures in half as they quickly turned into two piles of sickly golden dust.
Percy's fifth enemy paled greatly when Percy looked at it, almost to the point Percy felt he could probably just say "boo!" and it would faint. But in keeping with his speed and grace, Percy grabbed the monsters sword arm wrist before crushing it in a vice like grip. The monster howled in agony before Percy twisted it's sword on itself and drove it home to ruthless effect.
As Percy looked to his last few opponents, he caught a small glimpse out of the corner of his left eye of a small streak of silver. Percy bit back a curse, instead saving it for his mind. "Fucking hell! Why now? I better get over there and deal with this Doc guy, I'm sure the hunters can take care of the rest" Percy smiled slightly as his entire body melted away into shadows as back as night before quickly manifesting behind a terrified Doctor Thorne...
"Wazz' up Doc?"
(Zoe Nightshade's P.O.V)
As much as Zoe hated to admit it, the male who had just appeared to help the group from that silly little camp was incredibly skillful and seemingly rather damned powerful.
Zoe and her sisters had looked on in utter awe at the speed and grace of the man. One second he was darting underneath the wild slash of a single Emposuea, the next second he was slicing two in half after already splitting one's skull open and snapping another's neck. It was, for all intents and purposes both terrifying and amazing at the same time. '
Terrifying because Zoe knew deep down that this individual could tear the vast majority of her sisters to shreds without even breaking a sweat. After all he was practically bored out of his own mind in-between his kills. He was simply playing around with the poor monsters and they knew it. Zoe knew it too... and she absolutely dreaded to think how skilled and merciless he truly was when he took a fight seriously.
But Zoe was also amazing based around how effortless and graceful the male made each and every one of his moves look. His speed was on par and surpassed many hunters whilst his agility was easily greater than the most elegant of dancers or the most brilliant gymnasts. His strength was like that of ten men, hurling a spear through several giants with ease and crushing an Emposuea's bones like they were meer twigs.
"Not bad for a male, huh?" Zoe heard her oldest friend, Phoebe smirk as she looked out over the mysterious warriors warpath with a mix of appreciation and surprise. The lieutenant of the hunt could not help herself as she let a small chuckle escape before replying to her oldest friend, "I think thee are lovestruck by the boy." Phoebe looked at Zoe with a murderous glare to which Zoe could only laugh at even more as her friend slowly pulled her bow from her back...
"He may be good but we should really show him how it's done." Phoebe said with an evil grin slowly playing across her face.
Zoe smirked slightly as she drew her own bow from her back...
"I could not agree with thee more Phoebe."
(Percy's P.O.V)
Several terrified yells were all that signalled the end of the Emposuea Percy had left for the hunt as he summond his spear back to his side.
Dr Thorn growled as his body slowly began to change into its monster form. Slowly, a furry main appeared around the man's neck as his arms slowly began to bend more at the elbows. His legs also bent like dogs as fur began to cover his entire body whilst a slimy, scorpion tail slowly weasled its way out of his rear. After several more seconds the transformation was complete. Thorn no longer existed...but instead, one of Percy's first quests stood before him.
"Ahhhh Manticore, how long has it been? You look good. Less... dead." Percy taunted to the monster whose eyes caught ablaze as he finally realised who his assailant was. "Impossible! Mortals lives are short and pathetic! You cannot possibly be alive...unless..." But Percy cut him off with a curt wave of his hand before speaking again. "Listen Manticore. You'd better let my siblings go or I swear I will shove your tail down your throat and make you eat poison spikes for an eternity." Percy growled as he shifted his grip on his spear, ready to react to any situation.
The monster let out a deep growl from its throat before simply dropping a terrified Bianca and a petrified Nico and dropping its head before charging at Percy. The old warrior smiled as he simply let his body melt into shadows, reappearing right behind the foul monster, driving his spear into the Manticores leg, causing it to howl out in utter agony as the spears time smashed straight through bone and cut through flesh like a knife through hot butter before slamming into the ground, holding the creature in place. "I'm glad to see all of this time hasn't changed your style one little bit my friend." Percy snarled as his sword reappeared in his grasp.
Just as Percy readied himself to drive the blade downwards, the monster shot several poisonous spikes from its tail, forcing Percy to dive to the right and out of the projectiles path. "Oh you are so going to pay for that, little lion man!" Percy snarled as he picked himself up and made his way over to the creature.
But just as he was about to, a rather short girl at around 5'6 raced over to Thorn's head, her upper body clad in a silver Parker whilst her face remained hidden under a hood. Her bow was raised and a gleaming silver arrow notched, ready to fire.
"Permission to kill mi..." But the poor girl was cut off as Thorn let out a blood curdlling roar, swipping the slightly framed girl in one of his massive hands before sprinting towards the cliff edge before simply tumbling off.
Before he even knew what his body was doing, Percy was racing towards the cliff edge, his mind racing as he drew to within only several metres of the drop, "Let's just hope I'm not too late and that her ladyship doesn't kill me for doing this." He whispered in the back of his mind as he reached the edge of the cliff...
And threw himself off.
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Hey guys,
So here is chapter four! I know we didn't get to see a whole load of action this chapter but I hope it has somewhat sated you in terms of heroic fights and what not. But seriously, next chapter out little Hero is going to have to deal with the fall-out of getting caught by the biggest man-hater on the planet and the several demigods from Camp Half-blood.
Hmmmmm, I wonder how that will all go?
Tell me what you think in the reviews if you decide to take the time to write one. What went well, what went not so well, what was good and what was bad. (Especially concerning the fight scene. I feel that they are possibly my weakest area of writing at times so tell me what you thought of this one!)
So all I have left to say is keep on being awesome guys! You are the sole reason that I am writing this story so keep up your amazing levels of support, I mean 38 reviews, 67 follows and 54 favourites! That is unreal! That also combined with 2,637 views as of typing this and I've been going for only a few days...well let's just say I would love to see more of the same from all of you guys! You have been immensely supportive and kind, so I hope I can prove myself worthy of such loyalty and support.
So remember to Read,Review,Fave and Follow, and,
Of course,
Keep it real like a Ninja,
CBF
N/B: Please note that I will get an upload schedule on my Profile page within a few hours of getting this chapter posted so keep an eye on that so you know when to expect the next update.
Also I would like to remind you that the poll for who Percy shall get hitched with is going to stay open for a while, how long I do not know... but I shall say long enough and leave it at that. So go to my Profile page and vote,vote, vote damn it! I want your opinions so do take the time to cast a vote!
