This chapter is actually a serious one, violence and whatnot. Huzzah!
"Nico, it has been decreed that you are forbidden from attempting to rescue Percy. We cannot risk losing you to Gaea's corruption." Hermes said sadly, "Percy is like a son to me, but even I know we cannot risk the whole planet for one demigod."
"I don't care if the gods have forbidden something, Hermes. Didn't stop me last time," Nico spat venomously, "I WILL go to help Percy, and there is nothing you can do about it, save killing me."
Hermes rubbed his eyes tiredly. "I thought you would say that..." He stared at Nico for a few moments. "Very well. The last time you disobeyed us, it all worked out, and we are better off because of it. We now have more warriors to help us in this fight. If we lose you, it will be disastrous, but at the same time, if we also lose Percy," he paused again, "I truly fear for our lives."
"So... you won't stop me from going?" Nico asked in confusion.
"No, Nico, I will not. I beg of you not to fail in this, for if you do, it will mean our destruction." Nico nodded at him seriously, and Hermes disappeared. Nico sighed and turned to his team. "I'm going to help Percy, and I don't care what you think."
"We want to help you, Greek," Thor said quietly, "If you are so loyal to this demigod, Perseus, than he must be worth saving. We will come with you." Nico shook his head.
"No, this is between me and Gaea. I'm not going to risk your lives for that of my cousin. This is my fight." He shadow-travelled away before they could protest. He arrived in his room, and quickly shoved his armour and weapons into a bag before disappearing again, this time to the Underworld.
He paused a moment, to catch his breath, before heading into the palace. Luckily, it seemed Hades was in Olympus discussing the new threat, because the palace was as silent as a tomb. Nico headed to his room and rummaged around until he found what he was looking for. The Map.
It had been a gift from his father after the Titan war, and it displayed the whole world, but instead of showing countries and cities, it was covered in gold dots. These dots signified monsters. Nico smirked, and quickly scanned the map for any anomalies. Almost immediately, he spotted something wrong. In the southwest of the United States, in the state of California, was a huge mass of golden dots.
Nico manipulated the map, causing it to zoom in, and he gave a bark of a laugh. Death Valley. How fitting. It seemed Gaea had made the National Park her home base.
Nico rolled the map back up and shoved it into his pocket before pulling out his armour and putting it on. He was really glad it was so comfortable, as it seemed he was wearing it more than his normal clothes. He was glad of the enchantments the Hecate cabin had put on it so that it cleaned itself every 24 hours, because if they hadn't, the armour would be encrusted with blood.
He holstered his weapons, and packed the last of his godly food into another pocket. He really needed to restock, because he only had enough for one person now, and he had a horrible feeling that Percy would be needing it more than he would. With that depressing thought, Nico entered a shadow, and stepped out into the desert.
An hour later, Nico was regretting his rash decision to travel to a desert without food or drink. Stupid, he thought to himself, as he trudged through the sand, grumbling as he roasted in the sun because of his black armour. He took out the Map, and searched it, having already zoomed it in to show the area close up. It showed that the largest grouping of monsters, the most likely place that Percy was being held, was right in the middle of the desert. If he kept heading in the direction he was already travelling in, he would hopefully arrive soon.
By now, the sun had begun to set, casting deep shadows over the dunes, and Nico was just about to reach the top of the dune he was climbing. When he reached the top, he looked up from the map, swore, and dropped down flat on the ground. He slowly edged his way forward, until just his head was peaking over the top.
In the area below him, in between two huge dunes, was a massive sandcastle. Nico admonished himself for the ridiculous comparison, but the fortress in front of him truly resembled a sandcastle, like a massive bucket had just deposited the castle in front of him. That was where the hilarity of the situation ended. Surrounding the fortress was a massive army, about the same amount of individuals as the army he fought in the Underworld, except this one was populated by both normal monsters, and Earthborn.
Nico quietly cursed in every language he knew, before scanning the fortress for any means of entry. The only entrance he could see was a large door made of stone, and it was protected by two gigantic Earthborn, both of which wielded a knife in every hand. Nico continued to scan the area, the beginnings of despair gripping his heart, when an idea came to him.
Though the fortress was surrounded by monsters on all sides, they all faced out towards the desert. Nico guessed this was because they were waiting for him to arrive. Unfortunately for them, this meant that Nico had the perfect opportunity to make use of the beautiful shadows the tall building was creating, and no one would turn around to see him. It was a miracle they hadn't spotted him already.
Nico slowly created shadows around his body, and allowed himself to sink into them. He emerged from them, crouching, at the side of the fortress. Now for the tricky part. Nico unsheathed two daggers, and cloaked himself in darkness. He then than reached up as high as he could, and stabbed into the wall. The sharp dagger sunk in as far as its hilt. He tugged on it experimentally, and was pleased when it bore his weight without a problem. He smirked to himself. Now all he had to do was get in through the only window large enough to fit him, three storeys above.
It was slow, and painful, but ten minutes later, Nico hoisted himself through the window, shoulders aching with the strain of bearing all his weight. He sheathed his daggers, and rolled his shoulders. That was going to hurt tomorrow. He looked around, and saw that he was in a dark, empty room, that had one door set in the wall directly opposite him. He stalked forward, soundlessly making his way across the room. When he reached the door, he crouched down, so that if anything swung at him when he opened the door, his head would remain attached to his shoulders. He gripped the handle tightly, and slowly opened the door, a sliver of light illuminating the dark room.
Outside, he saw nothing. Just an empty hallway that travelled to the left, with doorways interrupting its otherwise smooth walls. He opened the door further, and slipped out, still crouched low, ready to spring at a moment's notice. He carefully closed the door, and winced as it made a quiet click. He froze, but after a minute with no sounds, he crept down the hall, opening doors as he went, and growing more and more confused as he saw more empty rooms. What was going on?
Finally, he found something promising. A trapdoor that when opened, revealed a ladder that disappeared from view after only a metre. Pure darkness. It was Nico's kind of place. He stepped onto it, and began climbing down, closing the trapdoor after him, plunging the narrow shaft once again into complete darkness. Nico blinked his eyes, but even with his excellent night vision, it was impenetrable. He continued climbing down for what felt like ten storeys, until he reached the bottom. Nico lightly dropped to the ground, and crouched. When he realised he could still see nothing, he sighed in defeat, before raising his palms to his eyes, and muttering "Zo̱í̱ Áv̱ra." Life Aura.
Immediately, his surroundings lit up with dots of light. Insects were revealed and if he strained his eyes, he could see the faint pulsing of a soft green light across the now illuminated cavern. Percy. Nico hissed with the pain of the beginnings of a killer migraine, but didn't drop the life detecting vision. He saw no other life forms in the cavern but for himself, Percy, and the numerous insects that called the cavern home, so he dropped all stealth, and sprinted towards Percy.
Just as he was about to reach his cousin, the ground in front of him erupted, and twenty Earthborn materialised out of it. Nico unsheathed his sword, and lunged at the one nearest him. He flipped onto its shoulder, and used its head to swing around, dragging the blade along its neck, separating the head from its shoulders. Before it disintegrated, he leapt onto another, this time stabbing its spine, knocking it to the floor, where he decapitated it like he had its brother.
By then, the others had surrounded him, and attacked as one. He slashed and parried, stabbed and flipped, and took down another ten, no problem. As he faced seven of them in front of him, he failed to notice in time the eighth behind him, and it swung a clawed hand at him, slicing across his back through the gap in his armour, in a path of fire. He snarled in pain, spun around, and slashed the beast from the head down, cutting it clean in half. He whirled back around, and attacked the remainder with renewed fury, the pain of his injury lending him strength, as well as leaching it from him.
Only when the last Earthborn had fallen, and he was surrounded my mounds of soil, didn't he run to Percy. His cousin was attached to the caves wall by celestial bronze cuffs on his wrists and ankles, and his head was drooping onto his chest. He wasn't conscious.
"Percy!" Nico hissed, but his cousin didn't stir. "Percy! Wake the fuck up, you lazy sea spawn!"
Nico almost cried with relief when Percy groaned, and opened his eyes, blearily. "Nico? Why are you in my room?" Nico rolled his eyes.
"You're shackled to a wall, you moron. This is a cave, not your bedroom."
Percy looked around, but couldn't see anything, and tried to yank his arms out of their restraints, "So I am. Mind helping me with these, dearest cousin?" Nico rolled his eyes again, but swung his sword, and with great precision, cut the manacles off. He caught Percy as he fell forward, saving him from a faceplant.
"Urgghh," Percy groaned, "Why do I feel like shit? Am I hungover?"
Nico sighed in exasperation, "No, you Seaweed Brain, you were captured by Gaea. How can you not remember the greatest moment of idiocy in your entire life?"
Percy's eyes widened, "Oh yeah! It's kinda blurry though... I remember walking towards the monster army, and then..." he sighed in frustration, "I think they sprayed me with something... yeah, something knocked me out, and then I woke up to your voice." He rubbed his head sheepishly, "Not really my best moment. Captured by monsters, honestly."
"Come on," Nico said, "We need to get out of here." He pulled Percy to his feet, but paused when Percy staggered, clutching his head as if in pain. Nico knew how he felt, the aura vision really messed with his head, what with making people glow and whatnot. To him, Percy was a green, humanoid, glowing blob. His back also felt like hell, and he could feel the steady flow of blood soaking his clothing beneath the armour. Lot of good IT had done. "What's wrong?"
"My head," Percy gasped, "Whatever those assholes gave me is messing with my brain."
"Not much to mess with, " Nico muttered, and rummaged in his pockets, removing the last of his godly food, giving it to Percy rather than healing himself. "Here, eat this." Percy gulped it down, and stood up straighter. He felt more awake, and his brain didn't feel like it was going to explode anymore. He gripped Nico's arm.
"Lead the way, cousin." Nico nodded, and then realised Percy couldn't see him, so grunted in agreement. He was about to shadow-travel them back to Camp, when the ground shook, throwing them both off balance. They fell to the ground. Groaning, they rubbed their heads, and with a great flash, golden light filled the chamber. Percy and Nico shielded their eyes, for they had become used to the darkness, and the light made their eyes sting. When they were able to see again, they gasped, and Percy pulled out Riptide from his pocket. Now that the room was filled with light, Nico banished his Aura Vision, but not before examining the figure before them. It glowed gold with so much godly power, it was visible to even the mortal eye.
"Well, well, well, my dear Nico," the honeyed female voice purred, "You have truly impressed me. Invaded my new home, evaded my army, and destroyed twenty of my lovely creations, all for your cousin. Soon, you will show such loyalty to me."
"No chance in hell," Nico snarled, and lunged towards her, Percy right behind him. Simultaneously, they attacked, but to no avail. It was like she knew what they were going to do before they did. She avoided every blow with ease, but did not retaliate.
And then she did. With amazing speed, she backhanded Percy, and he flew across the room, before crashing into another wall. He got to his feet, and brushed himself off, grinning.
"I'm invincible. Bitch slapping me across a room doesn't do much. Just ask Kronos... oh wait, you can't!" Percy laughed before he caused water to explode from the ground. The cavern obviously had an underground river, and it must have been pretty large because of the amount of water Percy was controlling. With a yell, he caused the water to crash into Gaea, just after Nico had leapt away. He then froze it, and dropped to his knees, panting. He still hadn't fully recovered from his capture.
"Do you think that'll keep her long?" Percy asked. A large cracking sound filled the chamber, and the ice exploded, shattering into millions of razor sharp shards. Nico raised a shadow shield just in time to avoid being impaled. Beautiful laughter filled the cavern, echoing of the walls, so it sounded like many people were all laughing at the same time.
"Foolish to think such petty tricks could harm a being as powerful as me, son of Poseidon. I am stronger than anything you have faced before," an evil smile marred her otherwise beautiful features, "And now you must pay the consequences."
Tendrils of earth surged from the ground at Percy's feet, and wrapped themselves around him. Percy yelped in surprise, and started to hack at the tendrils, until they secured his arms. He tried to rip himself free, but more encircled his chest, stopping him from moving. Nico started to run towards him, but more tendrils wrapped around his feet, tripping him up. They tightened, and he could feel them stopping the blood flow, crushing his armour into his skin.
"PERCY!" he yelled, as he watched the earth creep up his neck to cover his face.
Gaea slowly waltzed up to Percy, a gentle smile on her face, "Invincible you may be, child of the sea, but even you need air, hmmm?" Percy glared at her, and tried to speak, but the soil covered his mouth, preventing him from doing so. The soil crept up farther, and covered his nose. Percy's eyes widened in desperation as he began to suffocate. And Gaea laughed.
Nico was consumed by rage. His eyes bled to black, and he screamed with fury. The shadows around him exploded into life, and he sent them shooting towards Gaea and Percy. Gaea stepped out of the way, but that was what Nico wanted her to do. The shadows struck Percy, and surrounded him. With a roar, Nico sent the shadows to Camp Half blood before collapsing to the ground, his back leaking blood. He had never tried to shadow-travel someone without him travelling as well, and he could feel it draining his reserves. He slashed at the tendrils of earth around his ankles, and had just managed to free himself when he felt a hand latch onto his hair. The hand then pulled him up, and he was face to face with Gaea. Her hand came up and she ripped the mask that covered the lower half his face and neck, before latching a collar in its place. Immediately, he felt all his power disappear, leaving him as weak as a mortal child, and his sword fell from his limp hands.
"That," Gaea hissed, "Was very annoying. Now we will have to find something else to motivate you." Nico spat at her and she slapped him. Nico's vision darkened from the force of the blow, and his ears were filled with a ringing sound.
"Listen here, boy. The only reason you are alive is because you are the means to destroy those pathetic gods, without my hands being sullied with their disgusting blood. You will do as I say, or I will end your sorry excuse for a life. All you Underworld spawn are the same. Once your life is endangered, you will do anything to preserve it, because you know what awaits you when you die."
Nico smirked at her. "Well if that's your plan, than we've got nothing the worry about, because I will NEVER betray my family, no matter what you threaten me with. If I have to die to save them, then so be it." He glared into her golden, glowing eyes, with no fear. Her anger instantly morphed into a smile. She patted his cheek condescendingly.
"We shall see how you feel after a night spent in the dark with my lovely creations for company." She clicked her fingers, and no less than one hundred Earthborn rose up from the floor. She dropped him, and he landed in a heap on the floor. His fingers searched the floor until he grasped the handle of his sword. He gripped it tightly. Gaea laughed at him before walking backwards. "I will be back tomorrow, young Prince. Until then," and she dissolved back into the floor.
Nico painfully pushed himself upright, and raised his sword, standing proudly before the mass of enemies slowly advancing on him. He readied himself for battle. Somehow, he would have to escape without his powers. He couldn't rely on Percy to save him, because he wasn't sure whether or not Percy had even arrived at Camp, and the Avengers didn't even know where he was. No, he would have to get himself out of this mess, and he'd be damned if a bunch of dirt piles were going to be the death of him. With a great battle cry, he attacked.
Longest. Chapter. EVER. My hands... so much pain... curse this typing. I plan on either updating this story tomorrow, or starting another story that my friend asked me to begin. Or maybe I might just sleep... Anyways, you'll find out tomorrow. Yeah, reviews and stuff, thanks for reading.
