A/N Yet again thanks for the support. In one night views went from 3000 to 4145... HOW? I am pretty much flying from excitement. This story is not even week old. Reveiws:
Adrian King1: Percy will have his own team, but later on. Right now he will be staying with The Team.
Chimera629: He will call them out on all their wrongness. He is not passive, just reasonable. Also, the thing about teamwork I took directly from superman's speech in the episode "Usual suspect". He stopped using riptide after he got the trident. While he still carries the sword with him all the time, he wanted to learn how to fight with his trident and turned out to really enjoy it. Runs in the family. He will face many fine swordsman such as deathstroke or even Ra's Al Ghul himself. He will practice with Martian Manhunter, but for now
CRUDEN: Actually, I rushed things on purpose. I intentionally skipped most stuff that were in the episode, because like I mentioned before I will not rewrite the whole thing with Percy in it. He will have major impact on everything. Also, I really wanted to get to Bialya episode, because it's where the magic will actually start.
Bialya
Sptember 4th, 18:34
Team successfully landed Bioship just behind the border and infiltrated the enemy territory. Everyone were in their stealth-mode to avoid detection. Kaldur's plan worked perfectly. Percy could hear and speak with the team with no danger of accidentally causing them all to fall into coma. They silently moved toward the coordinates to find a military encampment. Miss M wanted to fly in invisible and assess the situation, but Percy stopped her.
"Not so fast. We have no idea what is in there." She stopped, but still levitated ready to leave. Percy sighted and continued explanation. "If Batman is right and whatever came through this anomaly is there, you might be in danger. All of you are. None of the weapons you possess will work on monsters. And their sure as heck will hurt you. I will go." He summoned his trident and to his surprise it came to him in darker version. It was still gold, but the shaft was concealed by shadows. Cool. My weapon has it's steal mode too. "I can deal with the threat."
"Yeah right." Wally was skeptic. Percy was strong, but he often moved like an elephant. "Superboy is more stealthy than you."
Neptune smiled and focused on the trick he had been practicing. He took a step back and shadows embraced him and he partially disappeared. Apparently Hades blessing was more potent than he was initially led to believe. He still couldn't rise dead or shadow travel, but he learned how to merge with darkness and hide. While moving through shades, he made no sound and was hard to spot for untrained eye. His dark-colored armor and black hair perfectly melded with darkness. His face was also covered by shadows, but his sea-green eyes were standing out a bit. He stepped out of the obscurity and smiled even wider. "I will manage."
Kaldur stayed silent for a moment and analyzed pros and cons. Percy made a good point. He was the most qualified of them all. "Fine, You will go. Miss M. Keep an eye from the air and be ready to help. Remember. Recon only."
Neptune nodded and stepped back into darkness. Without making any sound whatsoever he sneaked toward the camp. When he got to the material serving as a wall, he stopped for a moment, wondering how to get in without rising suspicion. He tried sensing life behind this wall, but luckily there was no one close. He cut one of the straps holding it to the pole and sneaked inside. He was now standing behind a line of tanks. He counted at least ten. There was also few trucks to carry soldiers and six jeeps armed with mini-guns on top. A thought crossed his mind to try and sabotage it all, but he dismissed it. This wasn't why he came there.
Percy progressed toward the tents. He was about to enter one of them, but suddenly a powerful impulse passed through mind-link. The connection with Kaldur was terminated without any warning. He looked around and noticed all soldiers mobilizing and preparing to move out. No one came toward him, so he figured they did not spot him. A realization came to him. They did not find him, but M'gann. He sped up to get a better look on the situation. First tanks already moved out, but a group of soldiers formed a tight circle around someone. Some hooded man stepped out of a tent and looked around. Once he noticed the crowd of soldiers he walked there. They separated to let him pass and Percy had chance to confirm his suspicions. Inside laid unconscious Miss M. Soldiers aimed their guns at her. Percy jumped from one shade to another and closed on to hear what is going on.
"So what are supposed to do with her?" A soldier wearing sergeant's uniform asked. The hooded man pondered the question before finally answering.
"Hm... Kill her. We won't be able to contain her and she might compromise the whole operation." The voice sounded strange, not entirely human.
Before soldiers fully comprehended the order, Neptune launched himself from the shadow and punched the nearest one. He flew away, tackling at least dozen others. Without giving them time to react to new threat, Percy then stomped on the ground and released an earthquake that knocked all remaining enemies in medium range. He was about to pick up Megan up, when a paralyzing pain went through his head. Someone was trying to break into his mind. Percy tried pushing him away. He managed to turn around to see the hooded man, now with the hood down. He was right. This wasn't normal human. In front of Neptune stood a pale bald man. His brain is visible though a clear dome over it, with some strips of skin over the dome. Three red lines decorated each cheek.
"Sneaky little bastard. Somehow you avoided detection and feedback from my mental attack on your martian. Very well. Let's see what you have inside this mind of yours." The pain in the head increased. "Psimon says: submit!" Percy was immediately stripped of all strength to resist the intrusion. He was mildly aware of soldiers slowly standing up and reorganizing. This bald man was now scouring his memories until connection was broken. "You! You... How are you not insane?" Psimon was trying to step back, but he tripped over one of the guns and fell. He was now crawling back. "You... what was that place?"
Percy slowly became aware of the situation. A sound of unlocked machine gun awaken him. Immediately, his mind went into battle mode. Time seemed to slow down as he looked around. Before they even opened fire, Neptune fired water from his gauntlet, freezing it at the muzzles and causing most of the guns to explode, knocking some soldiers back. Those, who only now came into action started firing, but Percy dodged all the incoming bullets. He then created micro earth-quake to launch himself high in the air. They tried shooting at him, but he deflected the bullets with his trident. Still in the air, he gathered the water from now melted icicles and used it to distract the soldiers. He then landed on one, immediately knocking him out with the impact and proceeded punching and hitting through their ranks. He was careful not to kill any one though. They might serve evil queen, but it doesn't mean they should die because of carrying out the orders. The soldiers, seeing that firing at him is completely ineffective decided to instead run away. Or how their commander kindly called it: "tactical retreat!" Initially, the instincts told Neptune to chase them, but he remembered about Miss M. He dashed there on his top speed. She was slowly starting to wake, but Percy still splashed some water on her, just to be sure.
"Katchhhhaa, s'nomoth… K'azzar M'gann? N'da M'arzz... Ah'lunzz… s'sess b'rakahzz…Hw'asheta!" She finally sat straight up and spoke in unknown language.
"Um... English please?" Percy was very dumbfounded. Athena blessing really did a number on him when he learned that he knew almost 70 languages. Maybe he would not kick her in the end... not so hard.
"Oh! Sorry. I did not realize I am on earth. How did I get here though..." She started speaking English which Percy was grateful for.
"Just sit here and try to rest. I will be right back." Neptune's eyes behind his mask darkened. He started walking toward Psimon, who was now cowering in the corner. "You! What have you done to her?!" Seeing that Psimon only cowered more, Percy hit the ground with blunt end of his trident. "Speak! NOW!"
"I... I ordered her to forget. But... Something went wrong. She was connected to others. It created a feedback loop..." He stumbled upon his words. "Her memory is shattered to pieces." Percy was about to knock him unconscious, but Psimon spoke more. "Who are you? What was that place? How... How are you still sane?"
"Maybe I'm not." Was Neptune's only response before he knocked him out with blunt end of the trident. He then walked back to Megan and helped her on her feet. "Sorry. I had to take out some trash." He gave a prominent smile. "I learned what is wrong with you though."
"Wrong? What would be wrong with me? Why would something be wrong at all?" She went into defensive. At first it surprised Percy, but then he just shrugged. After all she just woke up on alien planet that she never visited before.
"Your memory has been shattered to pieces by enemy telepath. You forgot... I don't know how much of your life."
"Hello Megan. Of course." She started levitating and her eyes glowed green. For about three seconds she was like this, which gave Percy time to look around and analyze the situation. The camp was half-ruined, with about three fourth of tents devastated after the earth quake. The screen surrounding the camp was either torn by the earthquake or soldiers he threw/punched. Most vehicles left or if they didn't earthquake and icicles took care of them. Some had torn wheels while other pierced engines or gas tanks. The place was massacred.
Finally, Miss M.'s eyes stopped glowing and she landed. "Ok. I repaired the damage to my memory, but I still can't figure out what exactly happened..."
"This guy happened." Percy pointed to the knocked out Psimon in the corner. "He used some psychic powers to make you forget, but mind-link between you and the team created some... feedback loop or whatever he called it. I'm no specialist in this thing."
"But how is that you were unaffected?" M'gann started to wonder. "Hello Megan! You weren't attached to the mind-link directly, but rather through Kaldur. That's why you only ended up with a big headache I imagine."
"Yeah. You fell down and they wanted to shot you so I intervened."
"So you took down the whole camp of trained soldiers? You don't look hurt in any way at all."
"Back home I fought in two wars, always against overwhelming enemy forces. Believe me when I say that this..." he made a hand gesture to show all the destruction "Was like child's play compared to what I had to deal with. Not killing them was hard, but they aren't worth it nor deserve it. They only carried the orders. This one on the other hand" He pointed the trident at Psimon "Should probably be put down for good, but... I don't like killing mortals." Seeing her puzzled look he wanted to explain, but he heard a loud roar and top of a tank landed not so far from them.
Miss M. quickly rose to, only to see soldiers closing on Superboy not so far from the outpost. "It's Co... Superboy. They are going to kill him!"
"Not on my watch. I am ready for round two." Percy gathered the water from nearby sources such as the pierced engines and stored what he could in his gloves. He carried the rest as he propelled himself with mini earth-quake to get there faster.
Even from afar they both knew that Superboy was in disadvantage. While the normal guns couldn't hurt him, tanks were armed with armor-piercing ammunition. Conner was already bleeding and his shirt was tore in multiple places. He kept attacking though, with even more fury than usual. There was something feral in his behavior. Percy formed a whip from the water and swiped it low to undercut the soldiers. Once they were down, the quickly close the distance while water bound them to the ground and solidified into ice. One of the tanks turned it's cannon at him and fired. Without missing a beat, Percy dodged the shell. He then tossed his trident at another tank to see it explode after weapon pierced the barrel just before it fired at Superboy. Not bothering to summon his weapon back, Neptune grabbed the tank and lifted it, before spinning around and using the additional momentum to throw it further away. Some soldiers opened fire at him, but he used water in his gauntlets to stop bullets.
While he was fending off most of the soldiers, Miss M. sneaked on Superboy and accessed his brain to try and repair shattered memories. Her eyes glowed green, but when she was sucked into his subconsciousness, she became visible. Some soldiers wanted to shoot her, but suddenly a black thing zoomed next to them and took their guns.
"Are we late to the Party?" KF asked. Suddenly, arrows came practically raining on surprised enemies. An irritating laughter filled the air as several explosions took out the jeeps that army used for increased mobility.
"Not at all Kid Flash. The Party is not over yet." Neptune smiled and pointed to incoming reinforcements. "I know you don't remember, but we are a team. Fight together and watch each other's back. Let's go!"
Neptune plunged his trident into nearby rock and salt water started pouring. He then twisted the tree-pronged spear and changed small stream into a flood under his command. The top of his weapon started crackling with lightning as he made the water into octopus-like tentacles that grabbed three incoming tanks and smashed them together before throwing them away. With heavy weaponry out of the way, team proceeded with their attack. The battle was quickly over.
After KF tied the soldiers up, Megan transported them all except Percy into joint mental realm. She remembered the warning he gave them the previous day. He just sat there, watching as Miss M. repair their memories. Once she was done, the Team finally could talk with them
"What exactly happened out there?" KF was first to break the silence. "Also dude" this was directed to Neptune "We knew you are strong, but I could never imagine that strong. You used heavy tank like a Frisbee. Exactly how much power do you have?"
"Enough to make the gods fear me. That is not important right now." He saw their looks, but completely ignored it. "Mission first. Time for stories will come later. Where is Aqualad?"
"Safe in the nearby cave. When we lost out memories, Superboy went on a rampage. He attracted much attention. Some of us blacked out, but an earthquake woke us. We had no idea what is going on, but by comparing notes and scraps of out memory we managed to make something out of it. Then, we saw you three dust like half an army. Of course we decided to join. Aqualad was still unconscious so we hid him and came to help."
"I will go check on him and restore his memory." M'gann volunteered.
"We must all move before more reinforcements come. Our mission is still in progress. I want to know what is it that they were guarding."
They separated and while Miss M. flew to help Kaldur, rest of the team went back to the outpost.
Whole base was ruined. Most of the tents were wrecked and machines turned into scraps. Only three tents, the ones furthest from the rest, survived. Neptune was leading them with his weapon ready in case some monster jumped on them, but once they checked that the place is clear they split up to cover more ground. Percy went to the still standing tents. First one was some kind of a lab, with multiple vials of what looked like blood in different places. He quickly looked into the files that were left, but most of it was in Bialyan which he did NOT know. Apparently in his world this country didn't exist. There was constant mention of "Project Cadmus 2.0", but beyond that there were nothing he could make sense of. With a bit more time he would probably figure out some of it, but instead he decided to pack it together with few samples of the blood. He was about to leave and torch this place when another thing got his attention: a small square of ambrosia was laying on one of the Petri dish he missed during haste search. He grabbed it and left the lab. He went to the next tent to continue the search when he heard a scream.
Immediately, Neptune rushed there to see what caused it. He entered the third tent to find two metal cages. There was small blanked and a bowl of some food that looked really untasteful. Percy's initial thought was that it was where they kept some animals, but then he saw what caused the scream. While one of the cages was open, in the other he noticed a young girl, about nine, with shining blond hair. She was tied with a golden rope and looked really beaten. Her clothes were tattered and there were cuts and bruises all over her visible skin. Percy wanted to break her out this instant, but he noticed why she screamed. A woman around 35-40 years old with straight black hair was laying on the floor. Psimon was holding her at gun point.
Neptune did not think. His muscles tensed and he tossed the trident at villain in front of him. Three blades entered Psimon's body without trouble piercing him through. His body went numb and gun fell of his hand.
"I..." He tried to say something but then his body just cracked and he landed face first. Life completely left his body and Percy could sense that at least part of this energy entered the trident. He walked to now empty corpse and picked his weapon.
"Sorry you had to witness it. I... It was him or you and I believe I made a right choice." The woman was still in a bit of a shock, but she walked to her daughter and tried opening the cage doors, alas without success. Percy grabbed the door with one hand and ripped them off, breaking the lock in the process. He let the woman untie the girl while he quickly cleared his weapon of blood.
"Thank you... Whoever you are." The woman turned to him and thanked. She was now carrying the little girl in her hands. Apparently little one passed out from stress.
"Yeah. Sorry. People call me Neptune." Her face remained stoic, but he could see a faint glimmer of hope in her eyes. "This is not really the best place to talk. Take her out of here and call the others."
"No need for that. We also heard the scream, but we got held up by some soldiers that felt too bra..." Wally paused mid-sentence when he saw Psimon's dead body. "What happened here?" The rest of the team, now including Miss Martian and Aqualad were standing there in shockk.
"I did what had to be done." Percy stated coldly. "He was trying to kill them." He pointed at the woman and the girl.
"That doesn't make it right." Robin said without the usual mischief in his voice. "Life is worth the same no matter to who it belongs."
"I have to disagree. Neptune made a right call. If he really had to chose between Psimon and his victim, he did what was for the best." Kaldur stood up to defend Percy.
"As much as this philosophical discussion is interesting, there is something wrong with my daughter." The woman spoke, her voice revealing barely any emotions, but they heard the distress in her voice. Percy walked over and touched girl's forehead. It was burning hot.
"Something is wrong. She has really high temperature." Percy applied some cold water to stop her mind from overheating. "We must get to the nearest hospital."
"No! No hospitals. They won't help her. Did you find anything in this camp that reassemble golden apple juice or brownie?" While the rest of the team was completely clueless as to what is going on, Percy immediately understood and pulled small square of Ambrosia from his private (infinite thanks to Apollo) reserves. He actually integrated the bag into his belt so he always had a supply with him.
"Here. Ambrosia should stabilize her." She extended her hand, but Percy did not hand it immediately. "I think there is no need to tell you that it will only work on a half-blood?"
"I am perfectly aware how it works Perseus." At this point team stopped understanding anything. How could she know Neptune's identity.
"Cabin?"
"Second Cohort for me, Cabin one for her." She responded.
"Ok guys. That's nice and all, but we've gotta move." Wally finally managed to speak. "I can hear incoming reinforcements."
"No! We must get my notes and journal. It is too valuable." The older woman handed girl to Percy who passed it to surprised Kaldur before running after her. Luckily, they did not have to look too hard. Everything they had was in the third tent. She grabbed their bags and followed the team into Bio-ship that was now parked inside the encampment.
Somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean
September 4th, 22:16
"Now explain everything from the beginning. Slowly. I will clarify whatever details they won't understand." Percy said to the woman. He took his mask off because there was really no point in hiding his identity and it started to itch.
"My name is Doctor Helena Sandsmark. I am world renown archaeologist, specialized in ancient Greece and Rome. I am also granddaughter of Minerva. Served my time in second cohort." Here Percy gave an explanation on how Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood work. "As I was saying, I specialize in ancient north Mediterranean civilizations. Almost ten years ago, back when I was still young and making my way through the world of science I met a really charming man. I naively believed he was the one. We broke up soon after, but nine months later my daughter Cassie was born. I wanted to find this man, but only later I discovered that this man was in fact lord Jupiter, or rather Zeus." Here, Percy finally explained in details to best of his knowledge how the split personality work with gods. "Like I said, Lord Zeus..."
"No need for the formalities. Ol' Drama queen won't do anything to you here. We are completely safe from them." Percy smiled mischievously.
"Fine. Zeus then explained that as a child of big three, my daughter was in constant danger because of how strong smell she had. He said he couldn't protect her, or we would all experience wrath of Lady Hera." Percy wanted to correct them, but dropped it, not wanting to interrupt again. "I took my daughter to New Rome and lived there for a bit. My mother took care of her when I was traveling with my work. No one knew who her father was. I couldn't reveal it to anyone not only because he was one of the big three, but also because she was born of his Greek aspect. After the second Titan and Giant war were over and camps were united, I hoped that things would settle down." Percy promised to one day tell them about the wars, but they did not have time to write ten books. "Sadly, Fates just lost their favorite toy and were in really bad mood so another great prophecy was spoken. A demigod Daughter of Zeus on the day of her sixteen birthday would bring back the time before Gods. Before you ask, no, I don't know the exact wording. I was too busy trying to run away with young Cassie. I am not a fool. I know how paranoid Zeus is. Everyone knows after what happened to you. Anyway, we've been traveling, hiding from the monsters for weeks. I had some friends that helped me, but in the end there would always be only the two of us: Me and Cassie. One night, we were running through the woods somewhere in Louisiana. A group of monsters attacked the motel we were staying in. I packed my daughter and we run. Somewhere in the middle of the forest one of the monsters caught up with us. Your favorite I might add."
Percy pondered the question before it came to him like a charging bull "Beef hear a.k.a as the Minotaur."
"Exactly. Except you weren't there and Cassie doesn't really know how to fight. I am also more of a strategist. You are the only living person to kill this monster in single combat. Back to the story. He was closing on us and in desperation I prayed to every single god that wasn't Zeus or Hera. Suddenly, there was a loud crash as the earth shook and Minotaur was gone in pile of golden dust. I was saved by Poseidon himself." Percy was so proud of his dad, the only god that actually did something. "He offered me and my daughter a second chance. A travel to world abandoned by gods."
"Just like that?" Artemis asked unconvinced. "I am no expert, but usually Gods do not give people things for free."
Percy wanted to protest and defend his dad, but Doctor Sandsmark stopped him. "She is right. Your father and Hermes actually wanted me to find you in this dimension. Hermes told me to give you this." She pulled an exact replica of the belt Percy wore in his armor except the buckle was made of imperial gold instead of... whatever batman made it. "He said that pockets are enchanted. They contain various things for you to use, including infinite storage of Ambrosia and Nectar, just like your current belt. The whole manual is in one of the compartments. Your father wanted me to tell you that he is proud of you and what you achieved." Percy blushed slightly.
A loud scream interrupted the talk. Cassie was awake and now she was throwing herself in pain. The water was still keeping her from burning, but Percy suspected the problem was inside her. He quickly pulled more ambrosia and gave it to her, but she spit it out. The godly food caught on fire.
"Oh no. We have real problem here. She is overloading with power." Percy explained. Seeing that no one understood it, he explained. "When I first arrived here, my body started to absorb raw energy of my father's domains. I was slowly being overloaded with power like when I ate too much godly food. It would start burning me on the inside..."
"How did you stop the process?" Helena asked with her usual cold voice, but there was clear note of distress.
"I... I was not even aware at that time. When I was in the sea, I felt something pulling me, so I followed it. I found my father's trident and it bonded with me, stabilizing me at the same time. It... I don't know. I think it served as a filter or something to the power. From what I was told gods in our world served as buffer of the power. Because demigods got their powers from them, our bodies are accustomed to specific amount of it. In this world, there is nothing to stop us from drawing directly from the source. It is burning her."
"Then... I don't know! Stabilize her! Do something!" Doctor Sandsmark dropped all illusion of calmness and started screaming.
"I don't know how."
"Then take me to someone who knows!"
Percy wondered for a moment. League had Zatara to deal with problems of magical nature, but this was more of a case of mythology. Diana would be best, but she is a fighter not a wizard. THEMYSCIRA! "Set a course for coordinates I'm sending you." Percy spoke to Megan while frantically pressing buttons on holo-screen. "I need to make a call. Top speed. Nothing must slow us down. Life or possibly lives are at stake. We have no idea what exactly will happen if she overcharge with power." Miss Martian instinctively followed Percy's command. There was this spark in his voice, the way he talked... He was a natural born leader. "How long exactly have you been imprisoned?"
"Less than a week. I had hard time keeping track on time while being held in the cage in dark tent!" Helena screamed at Percy.
"Doesn't matter. In her current stage, she won't survive much longer." Percy stood up from his chair and went to the back of the ship to have some privacy while making a call.
"Diana. This is Percy. I need your help. It's life or death situation with potential of large number of casualties. Meet me at Themyscira ASAP."
"What's going on?" Wonder Woman's voice sounded through the comm.
"I found another demigod from my world. She was imprisoned by Queen Bee. Right now she is getting overcharged by the power. If we don't do something soon, she will die. And with the amount of power that she gathered, I fear she might go nuclear." Percy remembered how people compared gods' true form to hundreds nukes going out at once. If Cassie gathered even small fraction of this power after she released it it would destroy everything in the area.
"I will meet you there. Hurry up." Diana ended the communication and Percy returned to the main deck.
"Can't this thing go any faster?" Helena was screaming at Miss M, which caused Conner to tighten his fist until his knuckles turned white.
"It is already going at top possible speed. I don't have any way of accelerating it further. We will be there in about an hour."
"She might not have an hour! This excess energy is burning her from the inside!"
Kaldur was silently analyzing the whole situation. Finally, he turned to Percy. "Neptune! Your trident. Ocean-master used it to drain the power of Aquaman and other Atlanteans. Maybe you can do the same for Cassie and slow down the process."
Percy summoned his trident, but he wasn't convinced. "I don't know Aqualad. I mean... I never used it this way. I have no idea how."
"Just try. Maybe you'll figure something out."
Percy pointed his trident at Cassie and started thinking about draining her power. Nothing happened. I need to try a different approach. He closed his eyes and visualized energy filling the air and flowing through/into young girl as a currents in the sea. He channeled his power through the trident and tried manipulating the currents of energy inside Cassie. It really did feel like controlling the water, but a familiar tug in his gut told him something is happening. Since he arrived in this world, this sensation no longer appeared when he used his power, but apparently now it returned. He opened his eyes to see lightning crackling between the trident and young demigod. With each passing second, Percy felt more and more power. His weapon started to get heavier and hotter. Finally, he was forced to cut the connection.
"Put us underwater. I can propel us using the currents. I need to unload some of this energy." Percy ordered and Miss M followed his command. She trusted him to do the right thing. Somewhere deep in her mind there was this lingering memory of Psimon's dead body. What if not? What if he doesn't do the right thing in the end?
Once they submerged, Percy channeled all the gathered energy together with his own to create a new current that would propel them at unimaginable speed. He was pretty sure he just broke some laws of physics, but he didn't care. Cassie needed help and each second could mean the difference between life and death. He was determined to protect her. Somewhere along, he saw a part of himself in her. Just like him, she was haunted by a prophecy hanging over her head. She was child of a big three, which caused every monster in the state she was in to come get her. He pitied her, but at the same time he hated Zeus for his pride and stupidity. How is that this jackass was still the king?
They arrived on Themyscira with record time. Percy created a bubble of cold water around Cassie after putting breathing mask on her face. The pain caused her to fall unconscious. They were now on the beach not so far from the city. Percy did not want to land inside the city, because the Amazons would shoot them out of the skied before they even got chance to say 'Hello, we come in Peace'. Percy decided to leave other boys to guard the ship and took Artemis, Miss Martian and Doctor Sandsmark with him. And of course Cassie. He tried calling Wonder Woman, but she did not answer. Only the voice mail came, which did nothing but increased Percy's irritation.
After the third time WW did not answer his call Percy decided to screw it all and motioned them to follow him. They all run/flew through the lush green island. Even in the middle of the night there was this untold beauty of the paradise on earth. But none of them had time for this. Percy guided them straight to the city. There was one more person who could help him, but he did not want to try until all other options were out of question. Now seemed like a right time. He dashed toward, careful not to let go of his hold on the bubble. The city gates were closed, but Percy didn't care. Time was running out and he could feel it. The water around Cassie was getting hotter and he could feel energy overloading her. He punched the gigantic gates, but they only shook. Irritated, he punched three more times. A voice could be heard from above.
"Who are you and why are you trying to breach the defenses of Themyscira? Answer now or we will shoot you all before you make a move." Familiar voice of Artemis the Amazon sounded.
"You know me. I am Perseus, son of Poseidon. Now let me in before I level this whole place. Human lives are at stake so don't push me." Percy was really in hurry and couldn't deal with hateful Amazons right now.
Artemis the Amazon actually stuttered, not being able to speak up. She heard of the real power Perseus possessed. He took out all the amazons in single combat and that was without using his powers. Heck. He even took her and Donna, two best amazons at the same time while handicapped. She had no doubt that he would fulfill this threat. "Alright. Open the gates sisters!" Although some other Amazons were reluctant to carry this order, others, who had more oil in their head, opened the gates and let the group inside..
Percy did not wait for the gate to fully open. He slipped with Cassie right behind him as soon as there was wide enough space. The team continued running through beautiful streets of ancient city, still preserved in flawless condition. Doctor Sandsmark and Artemis had to be telekinetically carried by miss M to be able to keep up with Percy. If her daughter's life wasn't at stake, Helena would actually stop and admire every single building. It was one thing to explore ruins, but another to witness a house that was still the same. It felt like she traveled back in time and now could actually witness the lives of normal people. Or as normal as tribe of semi-immortal warrior women can get.
They got to the stairs leading to palace hill. Miss Martian flew up with Artemis and Doctor Sandsmark. Percy just created a hurricane around himself and started raising up with Cassie. He was having troubles with staying in the air and not falling or shake in different direction. This was actually draining him bit by bit. The stress was slowly getting to him. Hold on in there. We almost arrived.
Finally, they all got to the temple/palace at the top of the hill. Queen Hippolyta was awaiting Percy outside in full battle armor, aided by her personal guard and some priestesses.
"Why are you here, my lord?" The last words were full of venom, but she was powerless. Percy was sent here by the gods, and he was a son of Poseidon. In theory, he had more authority than her, but Amazons would never listen to any male. Also, there was the fact that this boy was able to defeat any other person here in single combat and Diana was no where to be seen.
Percy moved the water bubble toward, showing the Queen and the others a young girl. "This is Cassie. She is the daughter of Zeus." At that the amazons gave a collective grasp. "She came from my world, but she is now being overflooded with power. If we don't do something, she will die, taking good chunk of land with her."
"And you brought her HERE!?" Queen screamed at Percy. "You are endangering the whole island!"
"That doesn't matter, because we will help her. You have the biggest collection of godly artifacts in existence. I'm sure there is something that can help her in there." Percy tried to reassure her, but truth is he was so focused on saving the girl that he did not take into consideration the others. Athena's words rang in his head. "You will destroy the world to save a friend."
Hippolyta wanted to argue, but one look at Percy told her that there was no point. Instead, she sighted and led them to the vault in deeper part of the palace. Percy was looking around, awing at the beauty of the Palace which he visited only once before. As it served also as a temple, Amazons forbid him from coming inside. He didn't argue back then, but at that moment he wished he did. If not for how pressing the current matter was, he would stand for hours in front of different mosaics and paintings presenting Olympians.
They arrived before large metal doors with Greek words carved in them. While to Artemis and Megan they meant nothing but a babbling and even Helena couldn't understand the dialect, but Percy was able to decipher it. Behind this doors lays the treasure of gods. Beware mortals! For those of you who lay eyes on the might for your own gain will suffer the wrath of Olympus. Standard threat. Queen Hippolyta stopped and turned to the group.
"From now on, only Percy, the young girl and I can go. Rest of you are forbidden from entering."
"You can't expect me to leave my daughter right now" Helena hardly stopped herself from screaming and settled on angry tone.
"I can. No one can enter the vault other than me and children of the three brothers. I am the high priestess of the Gods and their voice in mortal world. Who are you woman to argue with me."
"I am grand-daughter of Athena. There is more ichor in my veins than in you and the rest of the amazons in this room."
Hippolyta was taken aback by this, but she almost instantly regained her composure. "That doesn't concern me. Now if you wish for your daughter to live, you will stop wasting our time." She ignored any further protest. Instead, she turned back to the doors and touched the circle in the middle. It glowed and the doors slowly lowered into the ground. Behind there was dark staircase leading down into the mountain. She pulled a lever on the wall and torches lit the whole thing.
Percy and the Queen went down. Stairs led them to circular room with multiple pedestals. Even without windows, the whole room was lit light it was middle of the day.
"The gods gradually stopped coming down to the mortal world. After my daughter killed Ares, Zeus sent me a message. He asked me to gather all the artifacts that were left after them, as they will never again walk among mortals. My daughter collected as many as she could before returning them all here. We had no idea how many artifacts were left..." She was interrupted by Percy.
"It's not the best time for history lesson. I need something of Zeus. For me, it was the trident that did the magic. "
"We don't have any artifacts left after Lord Zeus himself... He never let his lightning out of his hand and he gave Aegis to Athena. Maybe..."
"I am here." It was the sound of Diana coming inside. "I didn't expect you to wait for me near the ship, but almost punching the gates out is an overkill."
"A girl is dying. Forgive me that I knocked a little bit too hard. Not important now. Do you have anything connected to Zeus to stabilize her?" Percy was happy to see Diana. She grew on him like an older cousin. Kinda like Thalia. Both were immortals, independent, feminist, brave and quite pretty.
"Hm... Only thing left of Zeus in this World is... Me! As far as I know I am the only daughter of Zeus living here and my father keeps his things close to him."
"You remember my first quest, right?" Percy joked. His mind was overworking itself trying to figure new solution. "That's it! how does they say it. EUREKA!" Seeing their puzzled glare, he elaborated. "Diana. You can serve as the filter. You were born in this dimension, so you are accustomed to extra amount of power. If we bind Cassie to you, she will safely draw the strength through you. It will let you regulate how much she can access."
Hippolyta wanted to protest, but Wonder Woman gave her no chance. "I agree. But how are we gonna go it?"
Percy summoned his trident and closed his eyes. He extended his senses and soon he sensed energy flowing through this room. Most of it was entering Cassie, but some was going into Diana. He focused on the 'currents' entering young demigoddess. He manipulated them and pulled some away, moving them through Wonder Woman, letting them pass her and only then enter the girl. One by one, the energy lines were rearranged. Then, Percy pulled excess energy from Cassie. He opened his eyes to see the lightning cracking at the end of his trident. The whole weapon was hot and shined with golden light.
"Here! Put this energy into this." Queen shouted as she tossed him a set of bracelets. Percy did as ordered, not having time to argue. After everything was done, he fell on one knee. This whole 'ritual' tired him. He slowly put Cassie on the ground and dispersed the water. Diana was still standing, but the aura of power around her changed. While before it was similar to Jason's back at his home, now it was a bit stronger. Not much, but still. It was like a toy just received new batteries.
"I-Is Cassie all right?" Percy tried to stand up, but he almost fell again from exhaustion. He had to support himself on his trident. Hippolyta walked over to her and checked her status.
"She will be alright." Queen picked her up and carried her bridal style "I will take her to some bed. You two should rest as well."
A/N And done. Finally. I rewrote this four times already. This chapter is giving me a headache. On the bright side I finally had a chance to show Percy's strength. One important thing: some powers are exclusive to his trident. This abilities are: energy manipulation (absorption, redistribution, generating lightnings), summoning salt water and piercing the bodies of villains. It's not the last time Percy kills his enemy. He won't kill the mooks, but when needed he will do what is necessary. Next chapter will contain a conclusion and repercussions for his actions (and him kicking batman's ass maybe.)
