Chapter 11 : Separate Ways
Percy and Piper sat at a table together as they enjoyed their meal. "So, what's your plan?" Piper asked.
"Hm?" Percy snapped back into reality. "Sorry, I wasn't listening."
"Talking to you is like talking with gerbil." Piper rolled her eyes. "You are staying, right?"
Percy nodded. "I'm not backing down now."
"Neither am I." Piper said with determination. "But everyone will be split up. There will be people leaving this evening and we will be short of staff."
"I know." Percy gritted his teeth.
"So, what's the plan?" Piper asked.
"I've got something in mind." Percy said. "But I need to talk to everyone about it first."
Piper nodded. They then sat in silence together. Percy felt like there's something in the air whenever he spent time with Piper. Something he couldn't really put into words. He's . . . excited whenever he sees Piper.
It's the same way he felt whenever he saw Annabeth.
Wait, that can't mean . . .
"Percy!"
Percy jumped. "Wha-? What's wrong?"
"You're asking me? I could ask you the same thing." Piper groaned. "Why are you staring at me?"
"What? I wasn't staring."
"Uh huh." Piper said, clearly unimpressed by his marvelous attempt to lie. "Are you okay? You look a little red."
"I'm okay." Percy decided to put that thought way, way at the back of his head. He had other things to focus on for now.
Percy nodded, hoping Piper would drop the subject. "Well, suit yourself." Piper said although it was clear that she was worried.
"I need to talk to Reyna." Percy said. "Catch you later."
Line Break
"That's your plan?" Reyna exclaimed. "Are you crazy?"
"Unless you have a better way to destroy their base without a full battalion after you." Percy said. "And this is the best way to do it."
"You can't be serious." Reyna asked as she continued her workout on the treadmill.
"You know that I have the highest chance of surviving this if we do it." Percy explained.
"Have you at least talked about this to Thalia?" Reyna asked while panting lightly.
"No." Percy said.
"Then you better tell her." Reyna said. "You know how she is whenever you act alone."
"I know." Percy muttered.
Line Break
Thalia was not interested in talking with Percy as she was more interested in shooting wildlife from the rooftop.
"Isn't Artemis going to be angry at you for killing these wild animals." Percy asked.
"It's not killing." Thalia nocked an arrow. "We hunt for survival. It's the natural cycle of life." She fired the arrow. Percy couldn't see where it went as it sunk into the treeline, but from the whistling signal from the other Hunters, he knew she'd hit the mark. "Plus we're gathering food for Monique's group." She turned towards Percy. "What do you want?"
"Come on, Thalia." Percy said with exasperation. "I didn't mean it like that."
'"I know." Thalia said nonchalantly as she pulled another arrow and fired. The arrow flew for some distance before disappearing into the treeline. Another loud whistle from the Hunters.
Percy sighed. "Look, I have a plan for the attack." Percy said. "Would you hear me out?"
"Lay it on me." Thalia said.
Percy explained his plan thoroughly.
"Are you sidelining us again?" Thalia asked.
"No, that's not it." Percy added. "It will be the perfect chance to do so, while their whole army is distracted and their base is empty. It'll be easy to take over and we can defend against them when they come back."
"And you're gonna go face them alone?" Thalia raised an eyebrow.
"Of course not, dummy." Percy rolled his eyes.
"You're the dummy." Thalia countered.
"I know my limits, Thalia." Percy said. "Even I can't go against an army that big without help."
"You did last time when we made it out of the city."
"And I almost killed myself doing so." Percy admitted. "What do you say? Distract and conquer?"
Thalia thought about it for a moment before nodding. "Distract and conquer." She agreed. "Have you told anyone else?"
"Just Reyna for now." Percy said.
"Not sure Piper's gonna like that plan."
"What do you mean?" Percy asked. Thalia stared at him as if he's supposed to know what she's talking about. "What?"
"Dude." Thalia said. "Seriously?"
"What?"
Thalia rolled her eyes. "I can't figure it out for you." Thalia said. "I'm gonna have a meeting with the Hunters. Let's meet up with the rest who stay later on."
Line Break
That evening, Percy and the rest of the people who wanted to stay gathered at the exit to see Monique and her group off.
They were heavily packed which would no doubt make it hard for them to travel fast but luckily Rachel's mansion had a few off-road vehicles that could help.
"Are you sure about this, Rachel?" Monique asked.
"Take them." Rachel said with a smile. "My dad won't even notice they're gone."
Monique nodded. "Thank you." Monique squeezed Rachel with a big hug. "And thank you for providing a place for all these people."
Rachel chuckled. "Are you kidding me? I just gave you a building. You were the one who helped and gave them hope. If anything, we should be thanking you, Monique."
Monique sadly smiled. Percy knew that she didn't want to leave them behind, but they were adamant on staying. She continued to say thank you and goodbye to everyone who stayed, which was not a lot. About sixty people were left while the rest went with Monique.
When Monique got to Percy, she hugged him. "Thanks." Percy squeaked as she squeezed his ribcage.
"Protect them, Percy. Make sure they're safe." Monique said.
"You can count on us." Percy said.
Monique smiled. After a few more tearful goodbyes, Percy turned to the group that remained.
"Okay, meeting time." Percy said.
Line Break
The meeting room seemed larger when there's a lot less people. Before, it was always crowded but now, it was about a quarter full.
"We're gonna do a headcount." Percy said. "Demigods?"
"Twenty." Reyna said. "All in fighting condition."
"Hunters?"
"Fifteen." Thalia said.
"Magicians?"
"Ten on our side." Carter announced.
"Norse people?"
"You mean einherjar." A person rolled their eyes. Percy doesn't really know his name. His hair was dyed sea green and gradually turned back to its normal brownish color at the roots. His eyes unsettled Percy, one of them being dark brown while the other one is pale amber. The glint in his eyes reminded Percy of the mischievous glint from the Hermes' kids.
"Ah yes. Thank you, Mister . . .?"
The man glared at Percy. "I'm not a mister." The person said. "Well, most of the time I'm not. It changes really, but most of the time I prefer to be identified as a 'she'."
Percy's face flushed. "Sorry. I wasn't aware."
"The name's Fierro. Alex Fierro." She introduced herself. "The einherjar and Valkyries total up to sixteen."
"So that's sixty one people." Percy counted. "So, let's-" Percy was cut off when Rachel cleared her throat. "What?"
"We have nineteen mortals." Rachel said.
Percy blinked. "Seriously?"
"What? You think mortals can't fight?"
"No, no, no," Percy said. "Don't get me wrong. I just didn't expect you guys would stay."
"Tough luck demigod, we're staying." A guy from the crowd grinned.
A smile of appreciation crept onto Percy's face. "Thanks." Percy said as the mortals grinned in approval. "So we got eighty people in total."
"What's the plan?" Carter asked.
"Okay, I'll explain as best as I can."
As he explained, everyone was listening intently. One person was even taking notes.
Percy's plan involved the classic strategy of 'Distract and Conquer'. Since they know about the mansion, Percy wants to use the building as a bait for the Crusaders to attack. In the meantime, the group will make their way to the Crusader's nearby base and do a hostile takeover while it has minimal defense. The group will move in advance one day earlier than the Crusader's plan of attack since they do not have the mobility of the Crusaders. So when the Crusaders attack this empty mansion, the Resistance will attack the Crusader's base at the same time.
"Any questions?" Percy asked.
Carter raised his hand. "Yeah, you say that, but how are you going to make sure that they're going to take the bait?" Carter asked.
"I agree." Piper chimed in. "When they see that this place is empty, they're just gonna turn around and head back. It'll buy us only a little bit of time to take over."
Percy, Thalia and Reyna exchanged looks. Thalia nodded in encouragement. "I'll stay." Percy said.
"You're kidding." Piper said. "Alone? Against all of them?"
"I won't be fighting them directly." Percy assured her. "I'll distract them and keep them here long enough to buy you some time." Percy said. "In the meantime, Reyna, Carter, and Thalia will divide you guys into groups. Reyna, I'm leaving you in charge of strategy. Lead them to victory."
Reyna nodded. "Will do, Percy."
"Wait, just hold up." Piper waved her hands. "Are you really doing this? Going alone against them? Aren't you afraid?"
Percy bit his lower lip. "There's no time for me to be afraid. This will work. Trust me."
Piper looked like she wanted to argue, but Percy shot her a look that said, later.
"Any other questions?" Percy looked around. No one raised any questions or objections. "Then get ready. We have a long day tomorrow."
Line Break
Piper pulled Percy to the outside of the mansion where no one could hear them. "Tell me you're not actually going through with his plan." Piper said.
"You're not gonna change my mind, Piper." Percy said. "I'm going through with this."
"But why alone?" Piper argued. "Take Carter with you. Take Thalia. Take anyone but don't go in alone."
"I can't." Percy said. "The more people I take, the less likely we can take over their base which is the whole point of this attack in the first place."
"But aren't you afraid?" Piper asked. "Don't tell me that you're not afraid or some stupid shit like that."
Percy kept silent as he wouldn't meet her eyes.
"Answer me!" Piper demanded.
"Of course I'm afraid!" Percy lashed out unintentionally. Percy took a deep breath. "I'm scared, Piper. I'm scared of dying and I'm scared of losing my friends." Percy's hands were trembling. "But I can't show it. These people need hope. They need someone to look up to and I can't do that if I show any signs of weakness. I have to be strong for them."
Piper looked at Percy sympathetically. She grabbed his hands and was surprised and how bad it was trembling. "Percy, you don't have to bear that burden alone. You have us. You have me." Piper said softly. "Stop trying to save everyone by yourself. Who says that saving the world is a one man job?"
That actually calmed him down a bit. Maybe Piper's doing a bit of charmspeak or maybe she's just being honest. Whatever it was, it was working.
Then, she did something that Percy didn't expect. Piper pulled him into a hug. Her arms wrapped around his neck as she pulled Percy into a tight embrace. Percy returned the hug as well.
"We're here with you, Percy." Piper whispered. "You're not alone."
When Piper finally pulled away, he found himself longing to hug her again. He put that thought at the back of his head. "Thanks, Piper." Percy kissed her forehead.
Wait . . .
"Uh." Percy immediately backed away. "Sorry." He said awkwardly. "I just, uh, it was, uh . . ."
Piper was blushing hard and Percy could say the same about himself as he felt his face burning up. Piper was just as speechless as he was.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to." Percy said. "It's just, um, let's forget that happened, okay?"
When Percy noticed the look of disappointment in her face, he wanted to slap himself in the face. "Y-yeah." Piper said. She hurriedly went to the door. "It's okay, Percy. Good night."
Percy smacked his hand on his face. Why did he do that? That was so stupid of him.
As he was in the middle of berating himself, he heard a voice from the forest. "That's one way to do it." Percy turned around and was surprised to see a familiar face.
"Artemis?"