Freedom
~.~.~.~
Part I: Chapter IV
Jail Break Number One
Jason didn't have the sense to follow any of Percy's orders. He didn't want to break into the largest jail in the country to break out one half-blood. Percy was smart for trying to break out one person instead of everyone. If he broke everyone out, where would they go? Percy couldn't let hundred of demigods stay in his mother's apartment. And not all would fit in Jason's home.
Jason was only going since there was a chance Piper and his friends would be there. Maybe she was stuck in a jail cell waiting for Jason to save her. Or maybe she was really gone and his mind betrayed him. Maybe he was going insane. Maybe he was crazy.
The weirdest thing about it was, he didn't even care about rescuing the Gods either. They could have helped but they didn't. But did that mean they deserved Tartarus. Apart of Jason was shouting yes. If Percy, Annabeth, and Nico had to do it then they could to. But yet again, their punishment would be much worse.
Percy and Jason were still in his house trying to figure out how exactly they were going to break in and leave with a Half-Blood all without getting caught.
"Have you ever seen what it was like? The jail I mean?" Percy asked him. Jason shook his head.
"Nope, but I've heard it's like the huger version of The Big House," he answered. Word has gotten out about the jail. Jason's heard some people pass his house talking about it one time. Apparently people think giving in mortals and calling them demigods is okay. The monsters depict whether they have godly blood by their scent. Also meaning, once they get there the monsters could easily sniff them out.
"Rachel told me some interesting facts." Percy said as he searched Jason's fridge.
"Jason, do you have anything to drink besides liquor?" Percy chuckled, "You're killing your liver."
Jason rolled his eyes as he ignored his comment. "There's tap." he said. Percy shook his head and grabbed a plastic cup, filling it with water from the pipe.
"What did Rachel say?" Jason wished he knew ahead of time that Rachel was still in the city just like he was. He could've stopped by and it would have been easier to cope rather than living on his own. Jason heard from other people that Sally Jackson was the best mother in the world, but he didn't want to intrude on her hospitality.
Percy sat back down sipping his water. He started playing with it, making it levitate and turning into balls. "Remember Pasiphae?"
Jason nodded. In the House of Hades, his friend, Hazel Levesque battled her alongside Hecate and won at Pasiphae's own game.
"She recreated the Labyrinth, just like she wanted." Jason said.
"And guess where the Labyrinth leads to?" Percy said. Jason's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.
"No way." he said.
"Way. The Labyrinth still leads to Camp, so I bet that's a route that goes straight to the jail and I know some entrances that can take us there." Percy said as he took a sip of the water, sighing in relief as the water cooled his throat.
"Okay, but what happens when we get there? We can't charge inside demanding to search for a demigod." Jason said. Percy became suddenly quiet.
"You haven't thought of that, have you?" Percy gave him a sheepish grin.
"I kind of was going to wing it as we went along." Jason chuckled.
"Same old Percy."
"Hey! Just because I woke twenty-four doesn't mean I'm not allowed to be seventeen inside!" Percy complained.
"I never said you couldn't." Jason didn't do much growing up either. He never went to school so grades wasn't of importance to him at all. He had no one to teach him or walk him through it.
"We might have to wing it anyway since we've never been inside," Jason agreed. Percy stood and fingered his ball point pen.
"Good. But, we need to find the closest entrance. It should be like in basements and have a Delta sign along the wall." Jason felt that breath on his shoulder again. He shuddered as if a ghost just danced on his grave.
"Jason," he heard Piper's voice whisper. Jason turned around to find her body. Jason was really going insane. He put his head in his hands.
"Dude, you okay?" Percy put his hand on Jason's shoulders. Jason stood.
"I keep seeing her, today of all days for some reason." Maybe it was the liquor playing with his mind. Maybe it was the fates saying, Ha-ha you tried to forget but it's what's making you remember.
"What is she telling you?" Percy said. Jason knew Percy probably thought he was going insane too. Maybe that's why he's playing along as some kind of empathy. Whatever Percy was doing, he was glad he was there for him.
"Jason, Catch me if you can!" He heard her voice taunt. Jason spun around and saw Piper sticking her tongue out at him and broke off into a sprint. She opened the door to the cellar and sprinted down the stairs.
"Is she taunting me?" He whispered to himself. Percy made a face. "I think she wants me to follow her," he said. Percy raised his eyebrows.
"By the Gods, let's go then," Percy said. Jason sped walk to the door to follow but Percy halted him.
"Maybe you should, I don't know, put on some better clothes and get your gladius!" Jason grinned before running into his room for a change of clothes. He came out looking similar to Percy. He had on a sweatshirt with his old Camp tee underneath with jeans and sneakers. Jason had his gladius strapped to his side. He put his picture of him and Piper in his pocket. Jason held her dagger trying to depict whether he should bring it or not.
"I think you should bring it. Who knows if we come back?" Percy shrugged. Jason pursed his lips and strapped it next to his gladius. As they descended down the stairs, Jason took in the scenery. The floors creaked and there were spider webs everywhere. Not clean at all. It made Jason realize how much of a slob he had been.
Piper was standing in front of Jason as if she had been waiting for him for ages. She flashed him a smile and ran off in another direction. Jason took after her.
"Where are we going?" Percy said.
"Wherever she does?" Jason stopped as he saw Piper sitting atop a barrel swinging her legs back and forth in a childlike manner. She winked at Jason. Jason blinked noticing how much her presence affected him. When he opened his eyes again she was gone.
"You're a genius." Percy breathed. Behind where Piper was sitting was a faint Delta sign. They found it. Jason was living above a secret passage way for seven years.
"I think the Piper you are seeing is probably your guts." Jason didn't know whether that was supposed to be a compliment to make him feel better or something else. Either way he waved it off. Percy uncapped Riptide. The bronze light definitely would light up the dark walls.
"Ready?" He asked. Jason nodded.
"Let's do this." Percy touched the sign with his fingers lightly and it glowed blue. The wall slid open and Percy descended into it. Once they were both inside the walls shut with a slam.
"The entrance to Camp should be about two stops afar. We'd only need a mortal if we were looking for Daedalus' workshop." They began to walk for what felt like two hours when it's only been twenty minutes.
"Stop." Percy suddenly said. He started to feel the walls. "Help me find that Delta sign." Jason suddenly started feeling the walls as well. How Percy knew where exactly to stop, Jason still didn't understand. Jason's never been in the maze before. He didn't even want to be. They would be random creaks and scuffles that weren't even his or Percy's and he felt as if he was being watched. He would turn his back to check but there would be nothing there. It's the liquor. It's the liquor, he'd say.
A blue light immediately glowed underneath Jason's hand and the walls moved so they were opened. The sky was dark.
"Come on," Percy whispered, "before it closes."
Jason flew out of the maze using the winds to hoist him up as he grabbed Percy and lifted him up. Percy cursed in Greek before saying," I forgot Superman could fly before Jason shook his head and told Percy to shut up.
When Jason had placed Percy on the ground and was standing straight himself on the ground, his jaw dropped. Camp Half-blood, it looked like a wasteland. All the Cabins were gone, the pavilion, the arena, everything was gone. In its place was a large building with three floors. There were lights waving everywhere and random monsters or mortal officers were guarding the building. But there was something even bigger missing. Jason couldn't place his finger on it.
"Let's rock." Jason said. Percy and Jason crept towards the building straying away from lights and any passing guards on patrol. Jason spotted a door that was open and some guards were carrying trash bags out of it. Jason poked Percy and pointed to the door.
"Too easy," he whispered putting his hood over his head. Percy ran over to the door before Jason could give a signal. Jason cursed and ran after him. He was the same old Percy.
Percy uncapped Riptide and waited for the door to open. After a minute, Jason through his hands in the air to turn the knob and open the door himself. Percy gaped at him as Jason grabbed his arm pulled him inside. They were standing next to a stairwell with signs on it.
Floor 3: Minor Cells
Floor 2: Cafeteria and Olympian Cells
Floor 1: Guards Quarters
Basement: Special and Controls
"I think Gaea's lowered her standards." Jason muttered to Percy.
"Yeah, well, I don't think she expected us to come," Percy said. "I wonder what Special is for."
"Yeah well, you can check because we are going to have to split up." Percy heard footsteps and shoves Jason against the wall as the staircase door opened. Two guards walked by with trash bags as they hid behind the door.
"I don't know Fred, that kid from Cell twelve on the second floor scares me. She took my nose and wouldn't give it back!" Jason's eyes widened. Could that be?
"The Hecate kid? Actually that Apollo kid is weird too. Mumbling about how she saw we were all going to pay. I'm not getting paid enough for this stupid job."
Jason and Percy stood from their spot.
"We'll relieve you of it then," he smirked. When they were done, Percy checked out his guard uniform.
"I feel...like Gaea threw up on me." he groaned. The get up was a disgusting green. Gaea has no taste. They pushed the guards out of the door and leaned them up against a random tree. Jason shocked them hard enough to be asleep for a while. They weren't stupid enough to leave their Camp tees with the knocked out guards so they wore underneath the uniform. Jason put his gladius in the boot the guard was wearing, which were now on his feet, and he put Piper's dagger and picture in an inside pocket.
"Cool, walkie talkies!" Percy squealed childishly. "So if we split up, we should use code names just in case the walkie talkie connects to every other guard."
"Oh yeah, I'll be Travis and you be Conner." Jason grinned. Percy raised an eyebrow.
"What?" Jason said with a confused expression, "They were like the greatest ninjas ever, why not?"
Percy shrugged. "I'll go to the control room to see if I can find a way open specific cell doors. Once you find Apollo's kid, tell me their cell number and I'll unlock it." Jason nodded.
"But how will I know which kid is his?" Percy shrugged.
"That guard said one of the kids practically told him of her forethought. It's obviously a girl. Figure it out." Jason nodded then flew off up the stairs to the second floor.
He creaked open the door to the second floor to see few guards. The cafeteria doors were closed and the lights inside were off. Jason sprinted in an opposite direction before the guards could see him. He opened a door labeled "Cells" and went in. He made sure to blend in with any of the passing guards.
As Jason walked, he recognized some of the demigods inside. There weren't much. These cells were supposed to be for the children of the Olympians. Maybe most of them got away and these were the kids that weren't claimed before the war. Jason held his hand down to avoid attention. He tried not to look in the cell and more at the labels above them. Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, Ares. Jason vowed to come back for all of these half-bloods but Jason wouldn't be able to handle that with only Percy's help. He now understood why Percy wanted to find all of the seven first. All of them together would be able to handle a mission like this but not separately. Most demigods were sleeping and only few were awake.
"Hey, you, guard, I'd like to remind you that my ass is sore from all of the sitting I've been doing. So if you could please do me a solid and take me to the bathroom." A girl yelled. Jason immediately turned to the familiar voice.
"Eleni, it's not going to work. You might as well...I don't know...shut up?" A deep male voice calmly replied. Jason knew him. Octavian's most loyal centurion. Well more like the legion's most loyal centurion since he follows orders only, depending on who's in charge.
"What? A girl's got a right to pee!" Jason's head ready the label above the girl's cell and it said Apollo. Her hair was long and wavy. Her blue eyes were wild and glinting. She too was in a green jumpsuit.
"Well, either hold it or pee yourself. I don't care but we are not getting in trouble because you won't keep quiet! Remember last time?" he retorted.
"When are you going to get over that?" She said exhausted. The girl sighed and slumped down on the hard floor and then smirked.
"If I didn't know better it sounded like you cared."
Michael Kahale's tinted slightly underneath his slightly dark complexion, but he kept his face composed. "It's a good thing you know better."
Jason took the silence as time to make himself even more known. "Hey!" He whispered.
The girl turned her attention to him and glared at him, her blue eyes making him nervous. Michael sat up off the floor, alert and attentive.
"What do you want?" Michael demanded.
Jason lifted his cap to reveal himself.
"Oh my gods. Jason?" His eyes widened. The girl scrambled to her feet.
"Jason. As in Jason Grace?" The girl spluttered.
"How are you here? Is there others?" Michael grasped the bars on the cell before jumping back. The bars burned him and he rubbed his hands together after shaking them off.
"We came to break you out, I think. We need a child of Apollo to help Rachel."
"Then that's me." She smiled. Jason slapped his head to his forehead. She was the only child of Apollo in the cell. Of course.
"I found her," he said into his walkie talkie before turning back to them.
"You can see the future?" He asked.
"That and the present. I'm guessing that's why she needs me." she guessed. Jason nodded.
"She said you had a ring you can draw power from right?" Her face fell.
"When Gaea took us captive, she took all of our weapons and magical items. I think they are in the control room." she said.
"I'm sorry, what is your name again?"
"Ashley, Ashley Eleni." Jason pulled his walkie talkie out and tried to contact Percy.
"Travis to Conner." he said. Michael made a confused face.
"Yep." Percy replied.
"Numbers eighteen and nineteen," he said implying the cell numbers. Suddenly the glass shifted to the right and was gone.
Michael stepped out surprised. "You're breaking the both of us out?"
Jason frowned. "I'm not going to just leave you here. You're still a fellow comrade and my friend."
Ashley stepped out of her cell. "And I'd force him to let you out, anyway."
"Conner to Travis, meet back outside quick, by the Labyrinth. We've got company!" Percy spoke through the walkie talkie.
Jason cursed.
"What's wrong?" Ashley asked. Jason started to run towards the way he came and Ashley and Michael followed him out. Jason avoided the stares he was getting from demigods in other cells who were now awake. He wished he could have helped them. Jason paused as guards were coming towards them realizing the jig was up. They were led by a group of dracaena. Jason drew his gladius.
"Any ideas?" Ashley asked. Jason knew they couldn't go the way he came from. Michael and Ashley had no weapons to fight either.
"Yeah, run!" He yelled. They all sprinted to the other direction. They made a couple of twists and turns and ended up lost. Soon they reached a dead end.
"Crap!" Michael cursed, "I'm good with a sword not passageways." Jason tried to think. He needed to find a stairwell to go back to the first floor. He would suggest burning a hole in the wall to jump out, but he couldn't promise a safe landing to all of them.
"Psst" an echoed voice rang out. Jason smiled to himself and followed Piper who was running down the hall and looking back at him. Then found the stairwell. They ran down to the basement and into a room that said CONTROL. As soon as he opened the door Jason collided into Percy.
Jason immediately locked the door behind him before he slumped against the door, slightly out of breath. He had really let himself go, it was gonna take a lot for him to get fit again.
"That's her? Oh, Ashley. Nice to see you alive." Percy greeted. Ashley gave him a side hug.
"You too, Jackson."
Michael sized Percy up, yet Jason could see the respect in his eyes. "I'm not sure if I should refer to you as ex-praetor, or-"
"Percy's fine."
Ashley walked up to a large wall with shelved weapons. She pointed to a spot with jewelry on it. "Those are mine."
Jason tried to open the glass covering the shelf. "It's locked. Maybe I can-"
He was cut off by the shattering of the glass. Michael slammed it with his fist. Then he shook his hand out nonchalantly. Ashley blinked in admiration, her eyes taking a long pause on his biceps.
"Nice." She breathed. The corners of Michael's mouth turned upwards for a small second before returning to his emotionless mask.
"Got it." she yelled gleefully. Jason's breath hitched. Where did they get that from? Jason grabbed the cornucopia and held it protectively in his arms. Michael plucked up a random sword, weighing it in his hand before deeming it good.
Ashley put one pin in her hair and turned a second one into a bow and her necklace into a quiver full of arrows. She placed a ring on her finger. It was the ring Rachel was talking about.
"Everything feels right again." she grinned. There was a banging against the door.
"Not quite!" Percy yelled, "On my signal, charge and run out the exit straight to the Labyrinth!" Michael raised his eyebrows.
"The Labyrinth?!" He exclaimed. The doors burst open and when Percy screamed go, Jason flew overhead the other guards, knocking them out with electrical shocks. Ashley notched an arrow and let it burst out a bright light momentarily blinding the guards. Michael, Percy, and she then ran out the room and straight through the exit. Michael tripped a guard that approached them and broke his spear with his knee.
They didn't stop running until they reached the Labyrinth entrance. Percy touched the Delta sign and jumped inside the maze. Michael, Ashley, and Jason followed behind. Percy closed the entrance before anyone could see where they went.
Jason collapsed on the floor. Percy was heaving. He most likely hasn't ever run like that in years. Michael was leaning against the wall panting while Ashley was sprawled on the cavern floor.
Jason used Piper's cornucopia for water and handed bottles to all of them.
"What now?" Michael asked, looking at Jason. Jason looked at Percy.
Percy shrugged. "We crash here for the night. Then we make moves in a couple hours. Remember, we're winging it."
The concept seemed foreign to Michael. "Winging it?"
"Yup. Get used to that. Going with the flow."
"Of course you'd use a pun like that," Ashley snorted.
Percy smiled. "I'll take that as a compliment.
Michael and Ashley pigged out from food from the cornucopia. Being fed only one meal a day for seven years must have been horrible. After that they fell asleep pretty quickly. Michael sat back against the wall while Ashley hid her face in her knees.
Jason noticed Percy looked very distraught as he through pieces of food into the fire they started with candles on a cake from the cornucopia. Jason's heart ached.
"Dude, we did it. We are another step closer to finding the rest of them. Three down, four to go, right?" Percy nodded, sending him a sad smile.
"I guess."
"You guess?"
Percy sighed. "When I went looking for the control room, I couldn't help but wonder what was in that Special Room. I wanted to open the door, but then you said you found them so I went into the control room instead."
"And you're wondering what was in there?" Jason guessed. Percy nodded. Jason clapped him on the back. He felt a bit more peaceful knowing that he was closer to getting Piper back. The real Piper.
"Don't worry. I have a feeling this won't be the last we're seeing of The Half-Blood Jail."
She really didn't want to flash into that wretched jail in the middle of her spa day. She was pampering her host body. Cleaning out the obsidian black hair and releasing the tension from her once stressed back. She actually liked the taste of that soul, especially the long braid she had. And her pride. She was the perfect host.
Anyway, she had to flash from her home in Greece to come to New York. To what was supposed to be a jail.
"You fool!" She reprimanded, "How do you let two demigods slip out of your fingers. Two powerful demigods!"
"My Queen, we don't know. There were two other people with them, they broke them out!"
She immediately perked her ears. She ran into the basement. If those two managed to escape, this one could've as well. But maybe she didn't. After all, that wouldn't have been wise.
She slammed open her Special Room. She wasn't supposed to see her until later on in the week, but she decided to make the visit earlier. She walked over to the girl and slapped her.
"Did you know about this?" She grew even angrier as the weakling shrieked and cried. She hit her again.
"Quiet!" She turned to the sorry excuses for guards.
"It's time for her punishment," she stated. The girl began to squirm in her chains that bounded her to the wall. Her grey eyes flashed with fear and her pride and dignity were stripped from her years ago.
"No!" She cried. The guards grabbed her arms as she put her hand to her forehead. "Percy!" She screamed. She rolled her eyes.
"Oh honey, how many times do I have to tell you? He's DEAD! He won't and can't save you." The girl immediately went slack in the guard's arms and they dropped her to the floor.
"It's so much easier torturing them in their dreams." She smirked walking away. The guards shut the door.
"Now, I want you to find the escaped half-bloods along with the ones who helped them and bring them back here. I want to be notified immediately of their return."
"Anything else, Lady Gaea?" he said. She paused grinning to herself. She knew Jason Grace was somewhere out there. And she wanted him to hear the news.
"Tell Zethes to save me a seat at the wedding please." Then she flashed back to her spa.
Sorry i took so long to update, i was and still am in hospital receiving treatment at the moment but I am doing a lot better than I was originally doing. Hope you enjoy the update, see you all again soon.
