Chapter Seven: The New Hero
Percy woke up in the Poseidon cabin to his alarm going off, he picked himself up and looked around impassively.
Today was the day when he would leave for a quest on which the fate of the entire world rested... which meant that the fate of the world rested on his shoulders...
Percy was understandably pissed at the situation he was finding himself in, one day he was lounging on a beach, chilling under the sunlight and the next day he is told that he must leave on a dangerous mission to save the world, he sighed and walked towards the bathroom to get ready for the day.
Twenty minutes later Percy was ready for the upcoming quest, he was wearing some light yet sturdy clothes, he had food, flashlight, fresh pair of clothes, bandages and other necessary items in a his bag, in his pocket he had secured his magic trident so that he could face whatever challenge the quest throwed on him, all in all he was feeling rather satisfied with his preparation.
"Percy" he heard a familiar voice call from behind him.
He turned aroud to see a person that he hadn't expected to see for a long time.
"Dad..." he whispered, "what are you doing here? what if someone sees you?" he asked as he looked around nervously as if someone would jump in and surprise them any second.
"Nobody would see me son..." he reassured.
"Percy listen... I... I wanted to apologize for... well... everything, especially for keeping you in the dark about who I really am." he said as he looked down in what appeared to be shame.
"Dad please! you don't have to apologize for anything... I understand why you did this... and it doesn't matter to me if you are god or a human... what matters to me is that you are my father, and that you were always there for me when I needed you." Percy promised.
Poseidon stepped forward and hugged his son, "Thank you Percy... you don't know how much this means to me, I was afraid that you wouldn't forgive me." he said.
"Look at you... all powerful god of the seas, afraid of what you son would think of you... the Greek mythology made you sound like a ruthless and fearsome god, what happened to you?" Percy joked.
His father smiled and said, "I met you mother... and then we had a son..." He sighed before continuing "Be careful on your quest Percy, I will be forced to kill my idiot brother if something happens to you while trying to retrieve his stupid bolt."
"I will not fail dad, thank you for coming, it means a lot." he said.
Poseidon ruffled his hair and said, "Of course I'd come before my son's first quest, if I didn't come then your mother would toss me back into the sea..." after a pregnant pause he continued "Use your trident Percy, I believe you have already tried it once, it has been a part of you ever since you were born, your divine powers have have charged it for twelve years, at this point it would act like an extension of your own body, it will always answer to you Percy, you will find that in your hands... it would be a most fearsome wepon."
Percy nodded in understanding. "It saved me life when the Minotaur attacked me... actually now that I think about it... the Lady saved my life too, at least I think that it was her."
"What?" his father asked.
"Um the woman who I keep seeing everywhere, she helped me when I almost died at the hands of the Minotaur, she said something... I don't remember what but it gave me the will to survive, I don't know how but it feels like it was her." Percy confessed.
Poseidon looked worried, Lady Chaos had saved his son's life... once again the creator of the universe had taken personal interest in his mortal son.
But that was not the main reason for his worry, it was Percy's confession that he almost died that worried him, he was not ready to let his son face the cruel world alone but sadly he had no choice, it was so ironic, even though he was a god he could do less for his son than he could have done as a mortal father.
"I am really proud of you Percy, not many can claim to have defeated the Minotaur alone." he said, purposely avoiding any discussion about Lady Chaos, the truth was that every god was afraid of the ancient hyper powerful brings who ruled the universe, and there was no entity more powerful than Chaos herself. When such an entity seemes to be obsessed with the life of your twelve your old son then there is a lot a father can worry about and absolutely nothing he can do about it.
"The Minotaur and twenty hellhounds." Percy corrected proudly.
Poseidon's eyes widened, "What?"
"Yeah, the Minotaur had backup, the hellhounds almost ate my leg off." Percy said, wincing at the painful memory.
"You defeated twenty hellhounds and the Minotaur... Perceus... I cannot express how proud I am..." he was speechless, a young Demigod taking on so many enemies and living to tell the tale! it was unheard of!
"But what is Hades playing at, twenty hellhounds! he was trying to slaughter my son!" He roared and the entire camp started shaking as a massive earthquake hit it.
Percy jumped up in surprise at seeing this side of his father, his eyes were glowing brightly and waves of energy were rolling off him, it was at this moment that Pery, for the first time, truly appreciate the fact that his father was infact a god.
"I see I have startled you, sorry for that outburst... I... I will deal with my brothers later... just be careful Percy, Chiron will give you another gift from me, a sword, I cannot give it to you directly because, you know, the whole gods not contacting their children thing..." he explained.
"Yeah" Percy nodded, he a basic idea about the ancient laws, essentially it was a law made to make the life of a demigod as painful and tragic as humanly (or godly?) possible.
"And son, remember that you are more powerful than you think you are, for years your Trident has been siphoning your divine energy to hide your true powers, the power that you used to defeat the hellhounds was just a fraction of your true potential, as your journey progress your powers will replenish from the twelve years of starvation it was forced to endure, soon you would be able to take on much larger challenges than any of your peers could ever hope to. Good luck my son, no matter how your quest goes, Sally and I will always be proud of you." His father said and dissappered in a splash of fresh sea water.
A couple of hours later...
Argus, a weird yet friendly, man-eyed guy, dropped the three of them, namely- Annabeth, Grover and Percy, at the Greyhound Station, from there, a short walk later they found themselves sitting in the back seats of a bus waiting for it to get going, just as they were about to leave, an old lady boarded the bus. She wore a crumpled velvet dress, lace gloves and a shapeless orange-knit hat that shadowed her face, and she carried a big paisley purse. When she tilted her head up, her black eyes glittered, she was followed by two more, similar looking ladies.
Percy's eyes narrowed, something was off he, he could feel it.
"Hey Grover, you smell something off?" he whispered inconspicuously.
"Yeah man, how did you know?" he asked.
"Just a feeling... we need to get off the bus." he said urgently.
"We cant! there is no way out except the one past those creepy ladies." Annabeth said.
It was too late, the bus jerked forward and they were off.
"Were trapped!" Percy said nervously.
Grover suddenly looked very pale, "we're going to die..." he said.
"What's wrong?! what did you smell?" Annabeth asked.
"it's the furies, all three of them!" he cried in horror.
"Chiron was right then, Hades must have the bolt, why else would he send his most loyal servants to kill us." she said.
"Does it matter anymore? we are about to die!" Grover cried again.
"No one is dying today, except these furies." Percy declared with a determined glint in his eyes.
"You can't take the furies alone Percy!" Annabeth cried with frustration laced in her voice.
"We'll see." he said.
Suddenly the furies got up one by one, "I need to use the washroom" one of them said.
"me too" the other one chimed, "me too", said the third fury.
"Yeah... not suspicious at all..." Percy said. "Annabeth, I need to borrow your cap!" he ordered.
Without question him she handed him over her invisibility cap, Percy put it on and silently walked past the furies to the driver, he was surprised that they didn't notice him but was nonetheless glad that the first part of his plan worked.
Just as the furies reached his friends Percy pulled the steering wheel and sent the bus crashing to one of the sides of the tunnel, the passagers screamed in fear and the furies were thrown towards the other side of the bus, he uncapped his pen and the Riptide appeared in his hands, without waiting he ran forward and impaled one of the distracted furies, it howled in pain and turned into dust, acting fast he sliced sideways and took out another fury just as easily.
Annabeth unsheathed her celestial bronze knife and impaled the last fury in the heart and it too disintegrated into dust.
She sighed in relief and put her knife back, "We just took out the three furies... wow!" she exclaimed.
Unfortunately that was where their bus journey ended, the vehicle slowed down to a halt and the passagers started pouring out, it looked like Percy's 'distraction' had left the bus in an unusable condition.
As Percy got off the bus he noticed the mortals were looking at them weirdly, he could only imagine what the poor souls saw though the mist, he had a strong suspicion that they had just witnessed a couple of teenagers ruthlessly murdering three grandmas, "Guys we should probably get out of here." he suggested.
His friends didn't need to be told twice and soon the three of them were sprinting off away from the tunnel, after half an hour of walking Annabeth suddenly halted.
"What's wrong?" Percy asked.
"Shit... I left our bag at the bus..." she whispered in horror.
"Wait?! Isn't that the one in which we had kept all our money?" he asked nervously.
"Yes... Oh God I messed up, I am so sorry guys!" she cried.
"Uh... don't worry about that, I have some extra money... It should be enough to get us to LA." Percy said gesturing at his own bag that he had packed in the morning.
Annabeth suddenly hugged him and then just as suddenly backed away, blushing furiously she said "Thank god you packed a backup back! you probably just saved the quest from coming to a premature end."
Percy waved it off as no big deal and they started walking again.
On their way they started getting hungry and Percy suggested, "Stop at a restaurant?"
Annabeth nodded and said, "That sounds like a good idea, how much cash do you have?"
"Not much, let's find an... affordable... restaurant, we don't want to spend so much that we are unable to get a ride to LA." he said.
"Good Idea, there, that looks like a good place to go!" she said pointing at a old dimly lit business with a bright neon red cursive sign.
"Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium" Percy read out.
"Wait... how did you read that? don't you have dyslexia?" Annabeth asked.
"Nope, who gave you that idea?" Pery shrugged.
"Um... Because all demiogds have dyslexia?" she said.
"Huh... weird, well I don't, come on let's go in, I smell hamburgers." Percy said.
"Wait!" Grover exclaimed, "I smell Monsters!" he said.
"You do?" Percy asked and halted in his tracks.
"Yeah I am positive." he nodded.
"Oh come on Grover, your nose is probably clogged by the furies, I am going to the snack bar." Annabeth complained.
"No wait... I trust him, let's not take any risks unnecessarily, we shouldn't forget that the fate of the world rests on our shoulders." Percy said.
Annabeth visually deflated, "Are you sure you aren't a son of Athena, Seaweed-Brain?" she asked.
"A what brain now?" Percy chuckled, "let's keep moving wise girl."
Luckily they were able to find a small pizza joint soon, they all settled inside and ordered a couple of large pizzas.
"Where are we camping for the night?" Grover asked as they waited for their food to arrive.
"No idea, ask Annabeth." Percy said.
They both looked at her expectantly.
"I don't know either... I haven't been to the real world since I was seven." she said.
"Wait... then you must have been in camp Half Blood since for all these years?" Percy asked.
"Yep" she said popping the 'p'
"Well that must suck." he observed offhandedly.
"It does" she nodded.
They were interrupted when their pizza arrived.
"Well I am famished... let's dig in." Percy said and picked up a slice.
"Do you think they serve tin cans too?" Grover asked out of nowhere.
"No I don't think so, just eat your vegetarian Pizza Grover." Annabeth said.
For a few moments they ate the Pizza in silence, that's when Percy noticed that the glass on his table was shaking.
He closed his eyes and focused, he could hear distant thuds coming closer.
"Umm... guys, unless my Dad is pissed off at something, I think we might have something huge coming towards us." he broke the news.
Annabeth notice the shaking for the first time and got up abruptly.
"Something's not right here" Grover said.
"We need to get these people out of here." Percy said urgently, he didn't want them to get caught between whatever was about to happen.
"Annabeth go pull the fire alarm, use your cap, do it without being seen." he ordered.
she shakily nodded and did what he said, the fire alarm started blaring and the establishment was soon empty except for them.
The thud got louder and louder and soon they could make out what was coming, it was a bull, a huge bull, made up of gleaming metal.
"The Colchis Bull..." Annabeth recognised the bull with horror, "They are one of Hephaestus's creations."
"What did we ever do to spite Lord Hephaestus." Grover whined, it was a fare point, why would Hephaestus send his bull before them?
Percy pulled his Riptide but then thought about something and capped it back, "This isn't going to cut it." he said looking at the two storey tall metal bull that was coming closer and closer.
He put his hand inside his pocket and instead gripped the trident, he pulled it out and the trident magically extended and growed to its full size.
"Wow, nice wepon Percy." Annabeth said.
"Thanks... Ready Guys?" he asked.
"As ready as I'd ever be." Annabeth said.
"Ready" Grover squeaked unconvincingly.
The Colchis Bull smashed through the front wall as if it were made of cardboard, it's eyes were glowing red and smoke was coming off its nose, it locked it's eyes with Percy and without waiting for any invitation, it charged.
They jumped out of the way and the bull smashed though the other wall.
"We need to get outside before the building falls on us." Annabeth cried.
"Let's take the side exit." Grover said and held the door for them.
They ran like their life depended on it, because... well... it did.
As soon as they were out of the building it collapsed into itself and now where once stood a pizza joint was a giant pile of rubble.
The rubble started shaking and two great horns emerged from it followed by the entire bull.
"What is this thing made up of? if a building can't take it down how are we going to kill it?!" Annabeth cried.
"We will find a way," Percy said, "we have to..."
"Guys, I don't want to die" Grover said as the bull charged at Percy again.
Percy raised his Trident and ran towards the charging bull, midway through the run, he lept off from the ground and just managed catch and hang off of one of the Bull's horns.
Percy thrusted his trident inside the metallic skull but it could only pierce through a few centimetres of the hardened metal, nonetheless Percy used the trident and the horn to climb over the bull.
"Ow! it's hot! ouch, it's burning me!" he cried as he reached the top.
Percy tried to smash the bull's head with his Trident but he was thrown away as the bull violently shook its head, before falling off though, Percy has managed to make a descently sized hole in it's skull.
He crashed against a wall and cried in pain, he looked in horror as the bull neared him.
The bull's attention was diverted as a stone hit it's face.
"Hey! ugly bull! come here you lage heap of junk metal!" Grover cried.
This distraction was enough for Percy to recover and get up.
The bull charged towards Grover and everything slowed down.
Percy looked at his friend's horror striken face as the bull neared him.
Then Percy looked at a light pole between the bull and Grover, he felt the cold trident in his right hand hum with power... he felt his breathing even out, unnatural strength flowed into him as he jumped up the rubble, using it as a ramp and mid air he throwed the trident like a jevelin, putting all his strength behind it.
The trident flew at an impossible speed and hit the pole with a bang, cutting it from its base, the pole came crashing down on the bull and stopped the metallic beast in its tracks.
Annabeth pulled Grover, who was still frozen in fear, out of the way as the bull slided forward and crashed into the wall behind where he was standing due to the remaining momentum.
Percy ran up to his friends and checked the two of them for any injuries, Annabeth had a few minor cuts and scratches but nothing serious, Grover was fine physically but he looked like he had seen a ghost.
"You ok?" he asked him.
The goat boy lunged forward and hugged him.
"Percy man, thank you, you just saved my life." he said before hugging Annabeth too, "You too." he said.
"Hey G-Man, you saved my life first." Percy said with a smile.
"How did you do that? with the trident?" Annabeth asked as she looked at him.
"I don't know really, it's something that happened in the heat of the moment." he said.
She shook her head and said, "For a moment it felt like you were Lord Poseidon."
"Yeah I kinda look like him too." Percy said with a smile.
"How do you know that?" Annabeth asked with her eyes narrowed.
Percy caught his mistake, he wasn't supposed to know how his father looked, but it wasn't hard to come up with an excuse, "My mom told me of course."
"Oh yeah." Annabeth said as realization dawned on her face. Children of Athena often tend to overthink simple things.
Their conversation was rudely interrupted when they heard the bull stirring under the collapsed pole.
"It isn't dead yet?!" Annabeth cried.
"Percy man, do your trident thing again, quick!" Grover said urgently.
"I don't know HOW! It just happened back then." he cried.
"Just toss the damn trident at the bull!" Grover said.
"It isn't going to work, unless you are volunteering to put yourself in mortal peril again I don't know how to trigger my 'trident thing' on my own." Percy said.
"Stop it guys, think, what are we going to do now?" Annabeth said.
Percy closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, he opened his eyes and said, "I have an idea."
"What is it?" she asked urgently.
"I can sense a small river nearby, if we can get close enough and lure the Colchis Bull with us, I might be able to pull off a 'son of the sea god' thing." he explained.
"How do you know if it isn't waterproof?" Annabeth asked.
"Because I made a hole in its skull when I was over it, that would expose it's insides to the water." Percy explained.
"Just use the water around us, in pipes and stuff." Grover said.
"The bull is two storeys tall, there isn't enough water here, look! that car! do either of you know how to drive?" he asked.
"I can, but how do we get in." Annabeth asked.
"Ill take care of that." Percy said and walked over to the car before he bashed the door with his trident and then sunk it's teeth into the door before pulling the entire front left side of the suv off.
His friends were looking at him with awe and shock.
"What?" he asked, "It's a magic trident." he said, in reality he was only partially correct, it was true that his Trident was a very powerful weapon but it was his own strength that he had used to pull the door off, his strength that had been hidden for twelve years was starting to replenish and as it turns out, he was very powerful, but that was not all, Percy would later find out that the source of the unexplainable rush of power that he felt when saving Grover was actually more ancient than any other being in the universe (expect one), he had unknowingly tapped into his own unexplainable chaotic powers, powers that belonged to a being older than the universe itself, The Aladrid.
"Annabeth would you happen to know how to hotwire a car?" Percy asked suddenly as he realized they didn't have a key.
"I do actually, every demiogd should know how to hotwire a car, the Hephaestus cabin demonstrates every year, I'd suggest you attend the next one." she said as she worked under the steering, and within a couple of minutes the engine started and they were rolling off away from the Bull.
"The river is...um... that way!" Percy said and pointed towards the direction in which he sensed a lot of water.
Grover looked through the back window and saw the bull had finally got up and had started following them.
"Annabeth you might want to go a little faster." he squeaked in fear.
Annabeth slammed her feet on the gas and the car raced forward at full speed.
The bull was starting to gain momentum as it crushed past the cars behind them, Percy winced in sympathy, he hated seeing unsuspecting mortals get caught in divine battles.
The bull was fast, really fast. Soon it was almost at their tail and about to crush them.
Percy had to do something, the bull was almost there, he jumped on the backseat and cried "Grover open the hatch!"
The satyr obeyed, he pulled the lever and kicked the hatch open.
Percy hung off the backside of the car and tossed his trident at the advancing bull, the trident smashed into the bull's face making it slow down for a few seconds, but it was not nearly long enough to loose him, the bull recovered and charged again.
"Just a few more minutes Annabeth! I'll keep him busy, just get us to the river" Percy cried, he focused on his water powers and felt the pull in his gut, a loud rumble reached his ears and fire hydrants running parralel to the road started erupting from the ground as water pressure launched them towards the metallic beast as if they were huge iron bullets, the hydrants smashed into the bull some even chipped off large chunks, this was enough to stop its advance for a while and it allowed Annabeth to take a sharp turn left and stop the car at the edge of the river.
They hurriedly got off the suv and hid behind the bushes scattered around the river.
Percy met their eyes and said, "You guys wait here, the next part I do alone."
"But Percy!..."
"No way!
"No! please understand! I won't be able to focus if you guys are in danger!" Percy cut them off, "I am NOT going to die, I promise."
"Just stay here please." he said and got out of the bush.
He stood at the edge of the river, one feet partially in the water, from far away he could see the Colchis approaching, he looked towards where his friends were hidding and nodded before facing the beast again.
Percy closed his eyes, he could feel the thud getting closer... the vibrations underneath his feet... he knew exactly where the beast was, it was as if the vibrations were communicating with him, he could feel it approaching, it felt as if he was seeing it from his mind's eyes, all sound around him was ceased as he focused, the cool sensation of the water around his feet, the moisture in the air surrounding him, the gentle sound of water flowing through the river, everything was clear, he felt the familiar tug, much stronger this time, it felt tighter and tighter and tighter until he couldn't hold anymore, he opened his eyes, the bull less than three feets away...
Two massive hands emerged form the river and picked the bull off the ground before it could smash into Percy, the hands were made of whirlpools of water and they were several storeys tall, their massive palms wrapped around the bull and crushed it tightly before the hands tore the bull apart like it was made of some cheap plastic and tossed it into the river like random junk metal.
Percy let go and the hands lost their shape, Percy lost consciousness just as the massive water arms came crashing down into the river.
AN: Next Chapter Coming Tomorrow
Hey Guys! I hope you have been liking the story so far.
I would really appreciate your input on a few things-
- Do you want Percy to be more a Trident guy or a Sword guy, of course, he would use both his Trident and the Riptide but which one would you want him to use more?
- (Question two removed, Previously Yesse's answer adapted for future chapters)
- Do you want me to stay close to canon or go more AU?
(any change made on the basis of your input would start reflecting after the next three chapters)
Thanks