Chapter Nine: Denver
I don't own Percy Jackson, Rick Riordan does.
This story is inspired by Kevin 1984's Son of Chaos.
Annabeth swore to Athena something was seriously wrong with Percy Jackson. Sure, he had always acted like the whole world had wronged him so much. Anything that dismays him, a word, an expression, even a gesture might send him off the rails.
He was so cocky, so self-righteous, and so bitter that sometimes he reminded her of how Luke had became. But Annabeth shrugged it off, the guy's father is the first Primordial. Gods are weird, so are their children, period. Big mistake, especially for a child of Athena.
Annabeth always thought that somebody ought to knock him down a peg, and it looked like someone did. When she and the others found Percy after his impressive high diving, the demigod looked pretty shaken up. He was sucking in oxygen hard, like he had been drowning, or just woke up from a terrible nightmare.
His face was pale, paler than she'd ever seen, and when he saw her, he looked dead at her, like he'd saw a ghost. The wild strangeness on his expression directing at Annabeth, so strange that Percy couldn't even cover it up. He didn't say anything then, just looked at them before breaking into a sprint.
Annabeth swore she saw tears streaming down his cheeks.
Whatever happened to him back there, Annabeth was sure it was a lot more than just a monster.
It took them hours, literally hours of running before finally catching up with Percy as night descended. By the time they finally caught him in their sight, Annabeth thanked all the Gods that came to her mind, even Hades, that she could finally stop and catch her breathe.
That's when yet the weirdest thing happened. She saw a flash in front of her eyes, like a demigod dream.
She was watching, herself stood somewhere up high, was that a Celestial Bronze warship? She was looking down then. Annabeth followed her past-or future-self's gaze, and she saw herself gasping. Percy was there, standing in the middle of a crowd of what must be over two hundred teenagers, all dressed in purple T-shirts, some of them were armed with a sword or a spear, some wore a helmet and body armor.
But she spotted Percy with one single glance anyway, like how her eyeballs were attracted to him by magnetism. He was walking towards the ship with his arms around two other teens like they were best friends. He looked eased, happier than she'd ever seen him, but somehow, Annabeth had a feeling that statement was false.
Percy wore… was he wearing his bed sheet? No, he was wearing a plain white toga with a purple cape attached to it, like a Roman warrior returning from battle. Roman? Where did that come from? Somehow, Annabeth knew he was looking at her, just as she knew that she was looking at him, their eyes never leaving each other.
The ship came to a halt, and Annabeth saw herself slinging down a rope from the ship, leaving her dagger and shield behind. She landed on her feet gracefully, like her mother descending onto ancient Greek battleground, destroying her enemies with her might.
The sea of crowds parted for Annabeth, and she walked down that path without hesitation. She could hear a few more bodies dropping from the ship in a faint distance, but she didn't care. Some parts of her mind registered how beautiful the city was, how brilliant the architectures were, like her personal branded dreamland, but she didn't care. She saw a girl, dressing in full battle armor with a purple cape flying on her back, much like Percy's, but she didn't care.
She saw Percy, smiling at her, and that's all she cared about, as if everything else in the world didn't matter. She surged at him, just as he rushed at her…
Then the dream faded. Annabeth blinked hard, what on Earth was that. She registered Percy's mouth opening, and words forming on his lips, presuming to apologize for the wild chase he'd sent them on half way across St. Louis, but she didn't catch a word.
She felt something, just like how something inside her stirred, for a very brief moment, so brief that Annabeth's dismissed it for the battle adrenaline when she first saw him on Half-Blood Hill, dragging Grover across the field.
She saw something too, a flash in front of her eyes, like a cold breeze just blew at her graveyard. Now she remembered what she'd saw clearly.
They were together again, standing back to back with their armors on and weapons drawn. They'd been standing in the middle of an army then, wasting monsters and gutting demigods, fighting their way out. Annabeth saw something moving, a flash of movement at the corner of her eyes. Without hesitation, she threw herself in front of Percy just as the blade pierced her skin.
Annabeth blinked again, the rest of the demigods plus Grover were already moving. Percy casted her a subtle glance, not stopping in his track.
Someone'd better tell her what the Hades is going on.
Line Break
Two days later, the questers found themselves sitting in a gleaming chrome diner at the train's destination, Denver. Percy noted that the train still operated with its last carriage blown-ah no, missing. It's a miracle that no one discovered anything strange yet.
He had volunteered to buy everyone dinner considering it an apology for having them chasing him across St. Louis for hours, not that anybody else had any cash with them anyway.
"Hey Clarisse." Percy suddenly said, dropping his cheeseburger back onto the plate.
"Hmm?" Clarisse muttered, stuffing a handful of French fries into her already-full mouth.
"I think I saw a motel on the corner of the street, why don't go and make sure we can get ourselves checked in tonight?" Percy suggested, reaching into his pocket and pulling his magical credit card out, reaching it out to Clarisse. "You can pick their grandest suite."
"Alright," Clarisse grumbled, snatching the credit card from Percy's outstretched hand, "But don't be too surprised if comes back overdraft."
"I think the balance is unlimited," Percy pointed out, grabbing another sandwich across the dining table, "and do take Theseus with you, we don't need him to humiliate himself by trying and failing to flirt with some girl here."
"Even better!" Clarisse grinned and shouted wickedly as grabbed Theseus roughly and picked him up by the ear, dragging him away from his far-from-finished dinner.
"Hey!" Theseus protested loudly, "Get your dirty hands off me war spawn! My father will hear about this!"
"Oh shut up princess!" Clarisse rolled her eyes disdainfully, "Another word comes out of that trap of yours and we will find a nice, sweet sewer for you to sleep tonight."
That shut Theseus up for good as he was still being half-dragged out of the diner by a vicious looking Clarisse.
Annabeth raised a suspicious eyebrow at the exchange, but decided against making a comment.
That's when things went crazy again.
Line Break
"Apparently our brother here has gone mad." Kronos decided, his morphed into one of disgust as he turned to Koios, "What do the mortals call it? P-P… P something?"
"Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder," Koios replied, his eyes turning away from Hyperion, "and it seems that you are correct, brother. Hyperion is nothing like the Titan he was before leaving for Athens."
"I KNOW WHAT I SAW!" Hyperion bellowed from middle of the room, away from the two Titans' thrones, "Krios almost beat me to death, and Prometheus burst into a pool of blood right on my face!"
Kronos only gave a sneer filled with contempt, "Do not be a fool, Hyperion, even if I do believe you, who could have been powerful enough to do it? What does that mean?"
"I do not have the answers to what you ask, brother," Hyperion shook his head, "What I do know is, just before Prometheus died, he gave me his last words: 'No more games, kill the son of Chaos with everything you've got, or it will be the end of the Titans.' Something about the Primordial too. Does that sound like a joke to you, brother?"
Kronos growled, he was in front of Hyperion in a flash. There wasn't much that needed to be said as Kronos jammed his fist onto Hyperion's jaw, knocking the mad Titan unconscious in a thud.
Koios looked at Kronos with interest, formulating a plan in his mind as his eyes then averted to Hyperion, "I don't know about you, brother, but I think what Hyperion just said deserves our attention."
"I know what I'm doing," Kronos waved dismissively, "Especially when dealing with that bastard Jackson. Speaking of Hyperion, according to him, our dearest brother Krios is no longer with us, which is unfortunate, since he has been running the project for me. Koios, it seems that you are the most suitable candidate left. You are here by appointed as the new director of the project, and I do expect you to pick up the pace things are going, the progress has been… unacceptably slow, and we can not afford it if there isn't a significant break through anytime soon. Understood?"
Koios nodded.
"Excellent," Kronos grinned wickedly, "Now, bring up our newest test subject."
Koios waved, and he door to the room of black thrones banged open. Two armed guards stormed in, both male demigods, dressed in heavy Greek style battle armor, with a Celestial Bronze sword sheathed on their waist, a circular shield strapped onto their back and various daggers and short blades strapped and sheathed on their weapon belt and combat boots, a Greek Fire grenade hang loosely on the other side of their waist.
The two guards dragged in a girl, who was a small-framed, slim figure, looking twelve, at most. She had long, silky jet black hair that reached as far as the back of her waist, tangled and stained by blood and filth. Her sea green eyes were big, deep as the ocean itself and livid. Cuts and bruises covered her body, with a large gash across the abdomen of her shirt and knife cuts tearing and ripping the fabrics, evident of the torment she'd been put through recently.
The girl was struggling, but both her hands and feet were firmly locked in Celestial Bronze bounds, and the guards were being far from gentle. A third guard emerged, tailing a few feet behind with a revolver in his hands, loaded with non-lethal tranquilizing rounds, the gun point aimed at the girl's neck with dead precision. A automatic crossbow was hang over his shoulder, with a dozen sharp, one hundred percent lethal Celestial Bronze arrows locked into the chamber and a quiver strapped onto his back, filled with more Celestial Bronze arrows.
Both guards yanked the girl roughly and flung her across the room, right at the feet of Kronos' throne. The Titan nodded and the three guards bowed before backing to the corner of the room.
"Well, well, look what we have here," Kronos grinned in satisfaction at the girl, "you look almost ready for what we have in store for you, I assure you we are going to have so much fun. Looks like Krios has been putting his toys in action, my brother does wonders when it comes to the art of torture, it's almost entertaining to watch, don't you agree?"
The girl spitted in disgust, "Screw you, Titan, you are not getting anything from me!"
"That's not very nice, is it?" Kronos mocked with a wicked grin on his face, his gaze turning to one of the guards standing by the far end of the throne room, "I think Ms. Jackson here needs to be taught a lesson on basic manners, will you do the honor?"
"With pleasure, my lord." The demigod, who looked no more than sixteen or so grinned sadistically, his eyes shined with a sick satisfaction as he brought up his revolver and shot the girl in the stomach. The girl cried in pain and her body shook as the electric round struck her, sending bolts of imminence pain into her body.
"My brother will find me, and he's going to send you back to the hellhole you belong, Kronos." The girl choked out between gasps of pain.
"Your brother, you see, is just like you, Grace Jackson," Kronos said, the same sadistic grin still stretched across the corners of his mouth, "He has too many attachments, he cares to much. His one fatal flaw is personal loyalty, how pathetic. He can not bear to see the ones he loves to get hurt, which is his greatest weakness, and that makes him vulnerable. I can break him, just as easily as how I am going to break you, Jackson."
"Bring her back to the torturing chamber!" Kronos ordered, "And do thank Ms. Jackson for being so co-operative here."
The same guard shot her two more times, one at her leg and the other hit her shoulder, "That ought to teach her to behave like a good little girl," He grinned, "Come guys, let's take this filthy whore back to the chamber who we can some more fun with her, and don't even think about trying anything funny, bitch, I've got more than enough rounds left and I'd be more than happy to use them on you. Let's go." He beaconed at the two other guards, who took one arm each, and dragged her out of the room with her legs dangling on the floor.
"Now that's settled with, I expect you to be particularly brutal with that one. Let's crush that pretty body of hers before working on her spirit." Kronos said, ignoring the look of disgust on Koios' face as he gave his orders, "Update me on our current subjects."
"Subject A1 has been resisting, the same way she has been fighting us for the past years. I have consulted with Krios before he left for Athens, something must be grounding the girl to reality, anyone else would've already been broken after being inflicting pain all forms of pain possible, both physical and mental for over a millennium." Koios took a momentary pause before continuing, "Subject B1 has only been with us for a very short period of time, though she has been evidently more co-operative than subject A1. We have been making progress on either subjects and have collected valuable data from them, however subject B1 is not gifted like subject A1 is, a gift which would benefit us when the war arrives. As for subject B2, she will go through an extensive phase one before the implementation of phase two of the project, in which a significant breakthrough is needed and I believe she would be our perfect candidate to initiate phase three with. If this succeeds, which I believe is only a matter of short time comparing to subjects A1 and B1, we will be able to deal with both Chaos and whatever force responsible for what happened to our brothers."
"One small syringe worth," Kronos said, a syringe filled with black liquid magically appeared in his hands, "All that trouble I had to go through to get my hands on it. The only way is to deal with some Primordial scumbags nowadays. The huntress is getting to close to this."
"Rest assured, brother," Koios inclined his head, "The huntress knows nothing about what has been going on in the black fortress. She is far behind us in progress, and it appears that they have decided to personally intervene, it appears that we are not the only ones who don't like her digging too deep. Whoever her supplier is, has gone quiet, and she has not set a foot away from her hunt."
"Nightshade is no threat to us, it seems, Jackson is the one who we need to worry about," Kronos nodded, "Well then, let's get on with it."
Line Break
The second the dinosaur sized motorcycle pulled over at the diner, a shockwave sent through the structure of the building. All conversation ceased as the ground shook, someone might as well just hit the pause button.
The motorcycle's headlight glared a harsh, flaming blood red, classical shotguns painted with blood red flames holstered on either sides of the motorcycle. The rider swung himself off the bike, a wicked grin worn on his face with a hunting blade strapped on his thigh that only proved the notion further.
"Greetings, punks," The man said as he pulled and swung himself onto the only empty seat next to Annabeth, directly facing Percy, "Hope you are enjoying your meal, because you are going to do something for me."
Annabeth and Grover seemed to be frozen in their seats, their eyes widened in shock, but Percy knew exactly who he was. In fact, Percy only knew him too well, "I don't see why we'd do that, Ares, did that thick skull of yours get fried by Hephaestus?"
The tension was dangerously thick now, the air between the table was thin and somehow Percy could smell something being scorched, something near Ares…
"You are lucky I'm feeling forgiving tonight, punk," Ares said through gritted teeth, red flames burning tall in his eyes, though Percy'd rather believe that Kronos is a peace-loving philanthropist than Ares didn't try, key word, try, to incinerate him on the spot for reasons other than Chaos' threat, regardless of how empty it had been… "I have a proposition for you. I can see you guys are running short on supplies and need a way to reach the destination of your quest. Here's what I'm offering: Fresh supplies enough for all of you to make it through the week, and a free ride all the way to L.A., with one stop at Vegas, that's it. In return, I only ask you to do one tiny favor for me, that sounds fair, no, generous, doesn't it?"
"Tempting, but tenuous, I think we'll past. We have no interest of working for a scumbag like yourself, even if we don't have an ongoing quest at our hands. Besides, I believe you just ignored the fact that we have enough supplies to last through the summer with us and we are more than capable of finding our own transportation to Los Angeles," Percy smirked at Ares cockily, "But points for your effort anyway, lord."
"How dare are you rejecting a quest issued by a God, myself, demigod?" Ares snapped furiously, his body was literally steaming, and Annabeth was having a hard time being crowded against the window by Ares' broad figure.
"No law of the Fates states that a quest offered by a God must be accepted by the hero, quite the opposite, actually. So I think we'll be fine. We have already accepted a quest demanded by your Olympian council, your douchebag for a father himself, in fact." Percy only rolled his eyes at Ares, "Now unless you have anything else to relay to us, milord, I think we'll settle for a night of rest so we'd have a better shot at retrieving your father's missing symbol of power. I'd hate to imagine what'd happen if this goes sideways because of you, a civil war among the Gods would be nasty, don't you say so? Though I'd imagine you wouldn't be nearly as sad as the rest of us, would you? A war on that scale would, after all, make you more powerful, powerful enough to… Let's say, challenge your father's throne, isn't that right, my dear great-great-grandson?"
"Well, if you insist, then I guess I can only express my deepest regret that every mortal in this diner will be dead before you can set a foot out of the door." Ares' anger had, somehow, subdued, and he was giving Percy that Ares-only vicious grin. For the first time, Percy had a bad feeling about this, as if Ares knew something he didn't, "Oh don't get me wrong, everything you said has been absolutely correct, and if you are still not interested in my offer… Well, it's almost tragic how fragile mortal lives are, don't you agree son of Chaos?"
"Ha, you are most certainly right," Percy laughed, "I suppose I'll just have to kill you first to make sure that doesn't happen."
"I'd agree with you here," Ares laughed back, "Except there's three of you against me, a God, I doubt if that's enough to take an Olympian down, do you?"
"Oh it will be enough," Percy grinned, "More than enough you'll find it. In fact, I'd be more than capable of taking you down by myself."
"Such spirit! I like you, Chaos spawn," Ares laughed even harder, "and a great sense of humor too. I don't think I'd ever laughed this much in my life."
"That just proves how humorous I really am," Percy said, "Especially considering I wasn't even trying to be funny in the first place. Just imagine how hard you'd be cracking up if I was."
"Very funny. You know what punk, you'd be twice as funny as you really are if you are half as funny as you think you are, just how funny is that?" Ares said, and he shoved the table over, before connecting his feet with the piece of furniture, sending it flying at Percy.
Percy jumped left and moved out of the way just inside. He wasted no time before diving forward, slamming his body onto Ares, sending the war god straight onto the floor, "Can't even kick straight now, can we?" He taunted, and jammed his fist on Ares' stomach, before jumping back and summoning his combat gear by pulling the watch resting on his left wrist, "I'm really going to enjoy what happens now."
"You and me both, punk." Ares grinned maniacally, and a set of heavy Greek style battle armor materialized, covering every inch of the war god's exposed skin. An enormous baseball bat that would have made coach jealous appeared in Ares' right grasp. Urgh… What is it with the Gods and baseball bats anyway? First Heracles then Dionysus… Dionysus… bastard's so going to pay for it the next time Percy sees him, "How would you like get smashed punk? Classical or modern?"
"Smash this." Percy said. He quickly pulled out his pistol from the holster strapped tightly onto his right thigh and fired at Ares. The war god caught on orange flames as the bullet made contact with him, incinerating instantly at contact.
The baseball bat glowed and the next thing Percy knew it was replaced by the shot gun previously holstered by Ares' motorcycle, "How about a bit of both, punk?" Ares said, and he pulled the trigger.
Switching to vampire mode, Percy flashed and jumped aside from the bullet with ease. It dug into the far wall behind him and the Celestial Bronze exploded at contact, "Explosive rounds?" Percy rolled his eyes at Ares, "That's cheating! Do I need to teach you the basic combat conduct now, Ares?"
Ares fired another round and this time Percy didn't even move. The bullet struck the ceiling and took out the chandelier. A few mortals blinked in confusion, but went back to their dinner anyway. Talking about our love for the mist…
"Wonderful aim Ares!" Percy shouted, sarcasm dripping from his tone, "No wonder why they call you the God of War!"
"Oh you are about to see why they call me the God of War, punk!" Ares yelled back, unloading the bullet shells from his weapon before pushing two more bullets into the chamber and loading the weapon again, "Try this!" He shouted, and fired at Percy again. This time the second round was aimed at where Percy's landed dodging the first shot. Percy snapped his head up and ducked the bullet, just barely. His hands went up and he sent a silent thanks to Chaos when he felt his ears were still attached.
"Damn it!" Ares swore loudly and reached for more ammunition, not caring the terrible influence on young children as he did. That's when Percy saw his window. It was barely a second, but that's more than enough for an experienced warrior like Percy. It was a split second decision and an easy one to make. He sprang into action then, leaping into air and bringing his knee up, slamming it onto Ares' stomach hard before bringing his elbow down, gutting the war god by his neck.
Ares choked as he dropped his shot gun. Percy spun and delivered a powerful kick at Ares' groin causing the war god to cry out in pain before bringing up his fist one more time, sending Ares crash landing onto the ground hard, all of that done in a swift motion.
"The next time we meet… Urgh… You are going to regret this, punk." Ares choked out. Percy looked at his disdainfully before picking up the shot gun and unleashing both rounds at the war god's chest, barely missing his heart on purpose.
He brought the weapon down then and snapped it with his knee. Percy released his hold and the Celestial Bronze cluttered onto the ground, "I look forward to it then." He spat with disgust, and beckoned at Annabeth and Grover, who appeared too astonished to move, their eyes wide and their jaws swung open, "Well come on then, I don't plan on staying here all night."
Percy leaned down and picked up the blue nylon backpack Ares left on his seat, "You don't mind if I take this, do you?" He mocked, "A little bird told me there something very interesting in there, don't you think so Ares?"
Annabeth and Grover shook themselves out of their trance before joining Percy in a jog, Ares' death glare imprinted on their backs, "Soon… Chaos spawn, very soon, you will regret this.", he said, before vanishing.
Line Break
"Alright bitch, for your own sake, you'd better start talking." Ares growled maniacally at the two chained figures in front of him, "I'm far from feeling merciful right now after the stunt the son of Chaos just pulled so, talk. I want to know his weaknesses, tell me how to break him, or, otherwise things are going to get really rough."
Atlanta spitted at Ares' feet.
"You asked for it, bitch." Ares said, a leather whip materializing in his hands, "Last chance. " There was no response, and the war god slashed out, the leather whip lashing at Calisto's exposed thigh. The ex-huntress cried out in pain while Atalanta screamed.
"Still not talking?" Ares taunted as he brought his whip up, only to lash out at Calisto again with full force, "I am really going to enjoy this."
Line Break
It was an uneventful night, maybe too uneventful. Percy didn't know, but he wasn't complaining. The silence of night was calming, though it meant very little to him since he wouldn't have slept anyway. Lately it seemed to be the only way to keep nightmares away.
Lying in the bed, doing nothing at all except for blinking emptily and staring at the ceiling like a fool… Percy couldn't believe he actually missed those nights in the Void, completely wasted by alcohol and women…
But of course, his life was never uneventful. In fact, it turned out wishing for one full night of peace would be a luxury for him to ask.
It must have been three o'clock when he heard the noise, the low-toned chatters and light footsteps. It was faint, too faint for human ears, but thanks to his newly gained abilities, Percy caught it. That's when the door of the motel was busted open.
Percy wasted no time before leaping into action. He brought out his ballpoint pen from his jeans pocket and uncapped it, Anaklusmos extended into its three feet long sword form. Percy sprinted and swung his backpack onto his shoulder as he did. The demigod brought both his arms up to cover his head as his body slammed onto the thin piece of paper called a wall in the motel.
He rammed onto the structure and knocked a hole on it, just large enough for him to squeeze through. Percy landed in the room next to his, which was Annabeth's. In any other circumstances it would have been an idea so bad that not even Percy would dare to think of, but desperate times required desperate measures, an angry Annabeth would be the last thing he'd need to deal with.
"What the…" Annabeth muttered as she jolted up from her sleep. Thank Chaos she was decent, otherwise Percy would have half of his teeth missing by the time they get back to camp.
"No time to explain!" Percy shouted as the sounds of explosions and door being brought down by brutal force and people shouting loudly came downstairs, "Grab your stuff and get the others, meet me at hallway!"
Annabeth nodded and quickly gathered her things, the backpack Percy took from Ares, which was stuffed with a few fresh T-shirts and jeans, a couple bars of Oreo, a hundred bucks in cash, a small bag full of Golden Drachmas, a zip bag worth Ambrosia squares, a canister containing Nectar and a few bottle of water. Percy was honestly surprised that Ares was actually being generous, and he managed to stuff all those things in one bag, because there was no way in Hades Percy could have done it himself.
She grabbed her trustworthy Celestial Bronze dagger from her nightstand and strapped it onto her thigh. Annabeth then picked up her Yankee cap and stuffed it into the back of her jeans, as for how, Percy had no idea and preferred to keep it that way, some things about Annabeth were better not known, Percy'd learnt it the hard way…
"Let's go." Annabeth said, and stormed out of her room. Percy followed, opting for the door this time since there's no need to be rude in front of a lady more than once in one night. Annabeth knocked the door to her right to wake Clarisse, someone Percy definitely didn't want to take his chances with… and Percy turned left and reached the door knob to Grover's room.
After dragging a dreaming Grover, who was repeatedly crying "Food!", "Tins!", "Enchiladas" and a bunch of things Percy hoped he never heard, out of his bed, and dumping a whole bucket of ice on Theseus (Swear to Chaos Percy didn't do it for fun, professional reasons only, okay, maybe a little bit, okay, more than just a little bit), Percy led the pair out the hallway, and met Annabeth and Clarisse, who'd both just gotten their, with their weapons out and ready for battle.
"Hey Clarisse, got any more of the stun grenades Beckendorf made left?" Percy asked as he approached. Clarisse pulled a tall grenade off her belt, with was full of weapons hanging.
"Just this last one." Clarisse said, and Percy nodded, "One will be enough. I want everyone to run to the roof as quickly as possible the second this thing goes off, got it?"
Nods and "Yes"es and "Got that, punk!" wonder who said the last one… (*Cough*Clarisse*cough*).
A dozen demigods emerged from the stairs. All of them were dressed in full battle armor, with a circular Celestial Bronze shield strapped onto their left arm, and either a sword or a spear held tightly in their right hand, except the one leading them, who clearly held himself with more authority than any other figure.
He wore a light chest plate only, not even a helmet or a shield. He held an automatic crossbow loaded with Celestial Bronze arrows, even more were stocked in the quiver swung over his right shoulder. A silver revolver was strapped onto his thigh, loaded with what appeared to be non lethal rounds, though Percy didn't want to test his theory in practice. Two Greek fire grenades hang on either side of his weapon belt.
"In the name of our lord, Jackson…" The figure, looking around sixteen bellowed, and Percy never allowed him the chance to finish. Without hesitation, Percy pulled the pin and tossed the grenade at the demigods who's crowded the staircase up.
A few loud swears and coughs were audible from the crowd as the leader shouted to maintain formation and pursue the four demigods plus Grover the Satyr, but they were already on their heels as they sprinted to the top staircase leading to the roof.
The demigods charged upstairs with Clarisse in the lead until a metal door blocked their way. "It's locked!" Clarisse called out as she tried the knob, "And those punks are closing up fast!"
"Move!" Annabeth shouted from behind, she pushed Clarisse and raised her dagger. In a swift motion, the daughter of Athena swung her dagger down, slamming onto the knob as the metal cluttered onto the ground with a thud. She then brought her feet up and knocked the door down with her combat boots.
"Remind me to never piss you off again brainie!" Clarisse yelled as she jumped out of the door leading to the roof. Percy almost choked but held his tongue and shoved Theseus to move. An arrow brushed pass his shoulder, striking the wall in front of him and Percy knew it's time to hurry up.
Percy jumped onto the roof and turned, he waved just as more arrows were sent flying at me, a wall of blazing orange flames went up, cutting off the hunters from the hunted. A loud swear could be heard even from the other side of the flames, something about "New shirt ruined" and "Bring down this motherf***ing wall of fire!".
Again Percy was glad he wasn't on the other side spending some quality time with Kronos' lapdogs.
"So what now?" Grover asked and Percy smirked, in such way that all his friends (Or enemies *cough*Theseus*cough*) knew it meant some serious trouble.
"I'd try to hold on to something if I were you," Percy said, "and ladies, this might mess your hair up just a bit." He closed his eyes in concentration, and started chanting loudly in the mother tongue of the Primordial, a language so ancient that only Chaos and his children spoke anymore. His arms started crossing just as how he remembered seeing Chaos doing.
"Do you even know what you are doing here?" Of course, Theseus had to open that trap of his, "Or are you just going to get us killed Chaos spawn?"
"Shut up!" Clarisse yelled and whacked Theseus on the head with her fist really hard. For the first time in his life, Percy wanted to hug Clarisse.
An enormous wave of energy shot from Percy's palm as a blue doorway exploded into existence, wind started picking up and the roof shook. For a brief moment, Percy thought the building was going to collapse, which would have been a really ironic way to die considering all the crap they'd put through to get there. Thank Chaos the motel wasn't as fragile as it looked.
"Everybody jump in!" Percy shouted. Annabeth was the first to go through, then came Clarisse after threatening Percy an eternity of misery in afterlife if it killed them, what else were you expecting from Clarisse, and Grover, who was panicking and Theseus, who Percy had to shove through the portal, he did do that one for fun.
Finally, Percy stepped into the portal just as the wall of flames extinguished and a rain of arrows was unleashed on him.
Thanks for reading and constructive criticism is welcomed!