A/N: Told you that was a heavy chapter. Don't come at me because I did warn you.
Guest: We may never know.
Kenneth: Thanks!
RainSoL: I know. And yeah, that kinda made sense. I think.
Dinklebergsc3: No thanks, but thanks!
jonkatarina: ;)
CombatFan134: Meh. ;)
Quihi: He is.
Let's get to it. Again, another PSA warning. Not as intense as the previous one, but there are some indications of it here and there. Just to be safe. Reader's discretion is advised.
Chapter 12
That night, they decided to stay at the Orphanage.
The Rebellion's HQ was under lock down. Piper called the ambulance and the police. Their statements were written down and they were asked to leave the area as the police get their investigation underway.
The ambulance carried their bodies away under a white blanket. Beckendorf and Silena were confirmed dead. Silena had an instant death from a gunshot through the head while Beckendorf's cause of death was suffocation. Meaning he was hanged to the death.
While it had been a few hours past midnight, none of them was too eager to sleep. Hestia had been kind enough to let them stay there for a while, to help gather their thoughts, but no one was eager to do so. No one was talking.
Percy was worried about Thalia. She'd saw their death first hand. That kind of experience for someone as young as Thalia . . . it can't be good for her. Thalia was sitting on a sofa, hugging her knees and not looking up.
Piper looked shaken up, just as the rest of them. She kept fidgeting her fingers as she stare blankly into nothing. But it was evident that she'd been crying. Artemis as well, who was sitting next to Piper. Her hands were trembling in fear as the real threat of what they were up to was now evident.
Percy, on the other hand, was with Nico. The warmth helped eased their nerves a little bit. By the looks of it, they needed every bit of comfort they could have.
The news media was having a field day. By the time Percy and his friends were escorted out of the Rebellion HQ, news reporters were already surrounding the place trying to catch on any stories from anyone on what just happened.
Article after article popped out in the Internet. Most of them blamed the AR Glasses to be the cause of death. Some blamed Percy because of the Hacker's threat. Percy's heart felt like it was clenched in a fist of ice. He was feeling guilty of Beckendorf's and Silena's death.
"You okay?" Nico broke the silence.
Percy stared into the fire. "It's my fault." Percy muttered miserably. "He was looking for me. He warned me about staying out of the showcase. Beckendorf and Silena was just a warning. Who knows who he'll kill after this?"
Nico glared at him. "Keep talking like that and I'll shove that burning log in your eye." He grumbled. "Beckendorf and Silena died to stop him. The Hacker plans on controlling everyone. You are the key to him doing so. If he gets his hands on you, they'll die for nothing."
Percy sighed. "What should we do now?"
Nico stared into the fire silently. "At this point? I have no idea." He admitted.
They stood there in silence for what seems like an eternity before someone knocked on the door. All of their heads snapped up at the sound of it. Percy looked at Nico to see him with a guarded look on his face. After tonight, none of them were keen on getting guests.
Percy and Nico walked slowly, almost tiptoeing, towards the door. Someone kept knocking on it. It's not like a furious knock. It was more like to see if anybody's home.
To Percy's relief, a female voice called out. "Percy? Are you there?"
It was Annabeth.
Percy opened the door slightly and peeked through it for confirmation. Sure enough, she was there. He unlocked the door for her.
From the red rings evident in her eyes, Percy knew she'd been crying. As soon as she saw him, her eyes lit up as she jumped and hugged Percy.
"Ow," Percy said. "The ribs, the ribs."
"Thank god you're safe!" Annabeth exclaimed as she kept hugging him. "I was so worried!"
"Yeah, I know," Percy grunted. "But the ribs."
After Annabeth had finally let go of him, he smiled sadly. "How did you know I was here?"
"Where else would you be?" Annabeth said. "When I saw the place was surrounded by the police, I came here. I figured the others would be here as well."
Percy nodded. "Come on in."
Annabeth came in. Everyone loosened up, except for Artemis who just had an eyebrow raised at her. When Annabeth saw Piper, she rushed towards her and gave her a hug.
"Annabeth," Piper wheezed. "My ribs."
Annabeth let go. "I'm sorry about what happened." She said as she sniffed. "When I heard what happened I thought . . . I thought . . ."
Piper hugged her. "I'm safe. We all are."
"But Silena . . . And Beckendorf . . ."
"I know." Piper sobbed. "I know, Annabeth."
Percy figured that Piper and Annabeth must've been best friends from the way they interacted. Percy sat down next to Artemis who'd stopped trembling. He laced his fingers through hers. She smiled at him gratefully.
"Percy," Artemis said softly. "Are you sure about this?"
"About what?"
"This," Artemis said. "Going after the Hacker and such. I mean, I know the dangers of it. But now that I've seen it right in front of my eyes." Artemis shook her head. "I can't lose you, Percy. Not again."
"Hey," Percy cupped her cheek with his hand. "We're gonna get through this, okay? I'm not going to leave you." He kissed her forehead. Percy noticed that Annabeth noticed it. He felt a sharp glare coming from her, but he decided not to question it.
Artemis smiled at him. "You should talk to Thalia. She's a bit shaken up."
"I know." Percy looked at Thalia with worry. "It's not right for her to see that."
They stayed for another minute in silence before his AR Glasses rang. Everyone turned their attention towards Percy. Who could be calling him in the middle of the night?
Percy was a bit scared on taking the call. What if it's the Hacker again? What if he tries to kill any one of them again? Percy let the Glasses ring for a few seconds.
"Pick it up." Nico said nervously. "I'll keep an eye out." He said as he put on his AR Glasses.
Percy gulped down a lump on his throat before answering the call. To his massive relief, it was Grover.
"Percy!" Grover sounded frantic on the other line. "Dude, where are you?"
"I'm at the Orphanage," Percy said. "What's wrong?"
"Everyone is looking for you," Grover said. Percy could hear chaos at the other end of the call. "They're after your head. You need to get out of town."
"Where are you?"
"I'm at Crimson College." Grover said. "There's a mob here and they're sweeping the city looking for you."
Percy took a deep breath. "Thanks for the heads up, Grover. Stay safe." He said before turning the call off. "We need to move now." He turned towards Annabeth. "Can you get me into the showcase?"
Annabeth nodded. "I'll get on it as soon as possible."
Percy turned towards Nico. "And you? What will you do?"
Nico took a few deep breaths. "The show must go on. Piper and I will represent the Rebellion at the Rookie Showcase."
Piper stood up and nodded. "For Beckendorf and Silena."
"I'll go with you guys." Thalia said. "You're gonna need everyone."
Percy looked at her with worry. "Are you sure about this?"
Thalia looked scared, but she was trying to put up a brave face. "Yeah. I can deal with this."
"I'll be with my team." Artemis said. She turned towards Percy. "Promise me you'll stay safe?"
"I can't." Percy admitted. There's no knowing of what they'll face and the things they will go through. Artemis didn't look satisfied with that answer, but she knew that he couldn't promise her that. She was just trying to comfort herself.
"So, are we all set?" Annabeth asked. "If we are, then we need to move."
Line Break
Percy was in a limousine with Annabeth. He was dressed in a tuxedo, a black haired wig and a pair of glasses with joints so thick that they look like they could withstand a karate chop.
If this was Annabeth's idea of disguise, then it's going to work.
Annabeth sat silently with him until she broke the silence. "So, you and Artemis."
Percy winced. "Yeah. It just kinda happen."
"'Kinda happen'." Annabeth repeated as if she's trying to decipher what he actually meant by that. "Isn't she your ex?"
"Yeah."
"And you just went back with her?"
Percy looked at her in confusion. "You sound like you've got a chip on your shoulder."
Percy swore Annabeth was glaring at him from the reflection on her window, but it was hard to tell. Instead, she just replied with, "It's nothing."
They then sat in awkward silence for the rest of the trip. It took about thirty more minutes before they finally reached the Colosseum.
From the outside, the Colosseum reminded Percy of a floater kids use for swimming. If the kid was the size of a twenty foot tall giant.
The Colosseum shifted colours every few seconds, from blue to green to red. On the walls were the words Colosseum written in big bold white letters. Spotlights were shining all over the stadium, lighting up the area.
"Whoa." Percy's mouth dropped. "That place is huge."
"I had the same reaction you had when I first saw it." Annabeth grinned. Then, her face turned serious. "Get ready. Security's here." They stopped near a metal gate designed with sharp points above it so that no one can climb over it without getting stuck.
Percy cleared his throat and straightened himself. The window on Annabeth's side opened. A security guy dressed like an FBI agent peeked through the window.
"ID please," The guard said. Annabeth handed her Glasses to the security guard. After he did who knows what to the Glasses, he handed it back to Annabeth. "And the gentleman's."
Annabeth shook her head. "He's my butler. Just hired him."
"Does he not have an AR Glasses?" The security asked.
Again, Annabeth shook her head. "Doesn't believe in them. He believes the Glasses are the work of the devil."
For dramatic effect, Percy pointed at Annabeth's glasses and said. "El Diablo."
Annabeth looked surprised but managed to suppress it. "See?"
The guard stared at Percy for a few seconds. "Fine." He stood up and pushed a button on the wall. "Let them through!" The gates opened up, letting them through.
Once the guards were out of sight, Annabeth grinned at Percy. "Nice one."
Percy grinned back at her. He looked out the window to see that they were going into the Colosseum's underground parking lot. It was as empty as a cemetery. The driver parked them near one of the doors that led up.
"What now?" Percy asked as both him and Annabeth exited the vehicle.
"This is as far as I go with you." Annabeth said. "You need to hide here until tomorrow. Keep out of sight until the showcase starts. After that, the plan starts."
Percy nodded. "Well, good luck." Percy said.
"You too." Annabeth said.
Percy turned around and walked for the door. Before he could go through it, he felt something grab his shoulder and turned him around. Before he could react, Annabeth smashed her lips against his. Percy was surprised, but he didn't push her away.
It was a brief and sweet kiss. When Annabeth pulled away, she was blushing. "Sorry." Annabeth said. "Just needed to get that out of my system."
Percy replied with something intelligent, like: "Uh?"
Annabeth chuckled. "I'll make you a deal. If you survive tomorrow, I won't tell Artemis about this."
Percy paled instantly. Suddenly death felt like a sweet release instead of Artemis's wrath. "Noted." Percy gulped.
Annabeth smiled. "Be careful. I'll see you tomorrow."
Line Break
Percy found the Player's Lounge. He noticed that there were no cameras or anything, so he figured he would rest here. He locked the doors and blocked it with a drawer, just for extra precaution.
The place was near the roof of the Colosseum, which surrounded the thousands of seats but the middle of the roof was open to the sky.
The Lounge had a bar on one side of the wall, with the counter top surrounded by spinning stools. Sleek designed sofas were lined up facing the ceiling-to-floor window panels that overlooked the stadium, so you can see the entire field below.
It was still dark, but Percy could see a few bits and pieces of the Colosseum thanks to the moonlight. Seats surrounded the centre of the venue, which was a grass field the size of a soccer field. This place was insanely huge.
He didn't feel like sleeping, but as soon as he collapsed onto one of the sofas his eyes felt heavy. He wished that this had never happened. He wished he didn't pick up Olympia. He wished he hadn't beaten Luke in that stupid practice match.
He regretted being the cause of Beckedorf's and Silena's death. He felt like crying and punching a wall at the same time. Just as he was about to fall asleep, his AR Glasses rang. Percy put his Glasses on nervously. It was Artemis calling him.
He answered. "Hey."
"Hey," Percy could hear her sigh in relief. "You okay?"
"Yeah," Percy said. "I was just getting ready to sleep."
"Same here." Artemis said. "Percy, if anything happens at the showcase . . ." Artemis took a few deep breaths. "I love you, Percy."
"I love you too, Arty." Percy said. "Get some sleep. We have a big day ahead of us."
"Yeah." Artemis said. "Just making sure you're safe. Goodnight, dork."
Percy rolled his eyes with a smile. "Goodnight, Arty."
Line Break
Percy woke up to the sound of someone clearing their throat. He jolted upwards and prepared for a fight with his face half-asleep and his hair swept to one side. Probably with a drool lining up from his mouth too.
The person sighed in exasperation. "You didn't need to lock the door, you know?"
As the dizziness of just waking up faded from Percy's head, his vision cleared. He looked in front of him to see Frank Zhang grinning at him.
"Frank?" Percy said.
"That's me." He said. "Don't worry. Only players can enter this place. Since you're registered as the Wildcard, I guess that includes you."
Percy stretched as his bones made satisfying cracking sounds. "I guess."
Frank looked at him for a moment before his expression dropped. "I heard what happened. I'm sorry about –"
"It's okay." Percy cut him off. He didn't really feel like talking about it.
"So, what's the plan?" Frank asked.
"I don't think I should get you involved in this." Percy said. "It's too dangerous."
Frank grinned before he rolled up his sleeve, revealing a white arm band embroidered with a logo. A sword going through a skull.
The Rebellion's logo.
"You guys aren't alone." Frank said. "My team and I are with you."
"Holy shit," Percy grinned. "How many people are in the Rebellion?"
"More than I care to remember." Frank said. "So, what's the plan?"
Percy straightened himself as he explained. "We know that the Hacker is currently targetting the Rookie Showcase, but we don't know what for." Percy said. "And he wanted me to stay out of it, because he needed me alive to get in control of Olympia."
"Which means he's probably going to commit genocide here," Frank finished. "So, you're here so that his plan would fail?"
Percy nodded. "In the meantime, we try to locate the Hacker to see if he's here or not."
"How do you know he's even going to be here?"
"He has to be here," Percy said. "So far, he only engages people at a small scale via his image that the Glasses project. To do that on a crowd as big as the ones that'll be here today, you can't do that remotely. You have to be here."
Frank nodded in understanding. Then, the door to the Lounge slid open, revealing Artemis. When she saw him, the expression of relief was evident on her face as she ran up and hugged him, kissing him on the lips in the process. Frank just raised an eyebrow at it.
"Thank god you're safe." Artemis sighed. Then, she turned towards Frank. "Good to see you, Zhang."
"And you too," Frank said. "So, you two are a thing now?"
Percy and Artemis blushed. "If you can, act like it's not true."
Frank smirked. "Practice what you preach, brother." He said.
They stayed in the Lounge for a while as Nico then soon joined them. The crowd was starting to fill up the place. Thousands of them were taking up the seats. The morning turned to noon before Percy could even notice. By then, almost every seat in the Colosseum was occupied.
"Where are the other players?" Percy asked.
"They won't be here until evening," Artemis said. "We have some time to spare."
Percy nodded. "Where's Piper and Thalia?"
"Piper's dealing with some last minute business on getting Thalia to be a member for the Rebellion." Nico said. "That girl has some serious skills when it comes to persuasion."
"I'm sure they'll be fine." Percy said. "Plus, you're gonna have a nice addition to your team. Thalia's an amazing player. She'll do great."
"I know," Nico said. "She managed to get close to beating me several times."
"Really?" Percy asked. Nico nodded. Percy shook his head in disbelief. Thalia was getting better in this game by the minute.
"Guys," Artemis called both of them. "Come here for a second."
Percy and Nico went over to the bar where Artemis and Frank were having a discussion. The bar was manned by a robot bartender.
"I think I've found something that can help." Frank said. "Have a look at this video."
He passed Percy a transparent glass tablet. A video was displayed on the surface of it. Nico stood by Percy's side, waiting to watch the video with him.
Percy pressed play on the video. It was a replay of a match between two players. Percy didn't know anything about these players. It looked like an amateur match to him.
"What is this?" Percy asked.
"Just keep watching." Frank said.
Percy kept watching. It was a match against a Sorcerer against a Fencer. The Sorcerer has the upper hand because he has the range attacks.
One of his fire spells hit the Fencer and the Fencer panicked as he frantically tried to put the fire out of his body. Even though it's only through the Glasses, it felt real to him. It was like he's actually burning. The video ended abruptly after that.
"What was that?" Nico grumbled. "That was a horrible match."
"Here's the context to that," Frank explained. "That Fencer was a hacker. He's a small profile hacker who hacks the game so that he has an edge over his opponent. It makes that so his body would do things that he couldn't normally do. The same way the Hacker that we're dealing with operates."
"So there's a bunch of hackers." Percy said. "How does this help us?"
"Look closely." Frank said as he rewinds the video to the part where the Fencer was trying to put out the flames engulfing him. "See how he feels the flames?"
Realization dawned on Percy's face. The pieces start to fall in. "He feels it. He feels the pain."
Frank grinned. "Exactly." He said. "This hacking business works both ways. If he can get to us,"
"Then we can get to him." Nico said. "Even if it's just a projection of him through our Glasses, even if we attack him he'll feel it."
"So that means, we have a chance." Artemis said. "Now what?"
"We're gonna have to bait him out." Nico said. "Any ideas."
An idea formed in Percy head. It was a crazy, rushed out and off the shelf kind of plan. But it was the best one he could think of. He grinned in excitement.
"I'm going to make a hell of an entrance."
A/N: I guess I would end it there. The finale is close. So, I've been thinking. After all this is done. After the story is done. I've been thinking about . . .
A sequel :D
