As I've been saying for the past number of updates, I'm sorry for the wait, and I'll try to write faster, but my parents and work aren't making it easy on me. Hope you all like the update.
Battle Of The Museum
Percy's POV
Well, as much as I hate to say it, my escape plan didn't go as well as I hoped. I was able to escape from that general and make a run for getting away. But he quickly had monsters after me. I ran as fast as I could and I was able to hold my own for a while, but with how tired and exhausted I still was, I wasn't able to hold my ground forever. They were able to get me down on the ground and I couldn't fight on. I was too exhausted. They had me handcuffed and they had me on the ground. I was irritated how they brought me down like this, despite how I was able to stand up to them despite my condition. I can only imagine how pissed Ares might be as well. After all, he's been training me to be the best, and being brought down after teaching me so much about fighting would probably not sit well for him. I'll most likely be in pretty deep shit the next time I see him. And call me probably going crazy, but I could've sworn I heard Kronos mocking and laughing at me in my head.
'This is what has become of you for defying my offer to join me little demigod.' I thought I heard the voice of Kronos say in my head, or maybe I was just hearing things; considering the state and situation I was in, I didn't know, but didn't dwell on it.
As soon as they had me, they had me dragged back to the room and back to the general guy. I wasn't happy to see his ugly face again, but I was happy that he wasn't standing as normally as he did earlier.
"I'll give you some credit kid, that was well thought out, but not well enough." The general said.
"I have an act for pulling dick moves, no pun intended." I said, referring to me punching his crotch earlier.
He looked like he was gonna comment on that, but he didn't because before he could say anything, my half-brother Antaeus came in.
"General, the demigods of the quest are here." Antaeus said.
'What!? Annabeth, Thalia, Grover, and Zoe are here? Well this is just fucking perfect. Not only do I have these guys to deal with, but I also got those four other people to deal with. How can things possibly be any worse?' I thought to myself.
"Seize them. Use Percy Jackson as bait. Force them to surrender. Make them witness Percy Jackson's demise, if necessary." The general ordered.
'I just had to ask. Fuck my life.' I thought to myself.
His servants all bowed and lifted me up by the chains on my handcuffs and hauled me out. If I wasn't so tired, I probably would've tried fighting back. But I was just in no shape to be able to keep resistance up for too long. Gods, I hated being restricted like this.
"Demigods!" A cyclops called out to them when they were found in a now empty part of the museum, grabbing all four of their attention towards the group of monsters on a platform above them.
"Monsters." Zoe gritted as she and the others drew their weapons.
"You're finished. Surrender now and come with us quietly. Your quest has now come to an end." The cyclops said.
"In your dreams, we'll never surrender." Grover said.
"Hmm . . . Not even for our recent trophy?" The cyclops said, gesturing for me to be brought over in sight.
"PERCY!" Annabeth said shocked, as the others were put in a state of shock as well, . . . well, Grover and Thalia at least, but probably not Zoe as much.
"Percy? How?" Thalia asked as the cyclops grabbed me by my handcuffed wrist and hauled my up in the air.
"Interesting how attacking your camp, despite it not being a successful attack, can lead us to such a noble prize." The cyclops said.
I just looked anywhere but any of the faces that were around. I really didn't want to see how I was being looked at by friends and foes alike.
"Let him go!" Annabeth demanded.
"If you want his life sparred, then just simply surrender." The cyclops said.
"Don't do me any favors." I spoke to my . . . my associates, I guess.
"Shut up!" The cyclops demanded.
Just then, I felt a very unpleasant strike to my back. One of the monsters had just whipped me in the back, and really hard at that. I shouted at the impact as I felt my skin burn and ache from the whip. And considering how I felt something kinda slide down my back, which was clearly my blood, it was a really deep lash. Either that lash left a mark on me or it reopened my earlier injury. Probably both though, I don't, but it didn't matter because it fucking hurt. The others went wide eyed at this to. Clearly, this was a very unpleasant sight for them.
"If you wish to relieve the son of Poseidon of his pain, then simply surrender and come with us quietly. To refuse us is to die. To run away is to die. To charge at us is to die, and all will also cause the son of Poseidon's death." The cyclops said.
They all looked worriedly at me and at each other. Well three of them for sure, one probably more worried about other things than me, but that's not important.
"Percy." I saw Grover whisper to himself.
"Put your weapons down now." The cyclops demanded.
"No guys. Don't do what they tell you to do. They're just gonna kill us all anyways." I said.
And me saying that resulted in another lash of a whip to my back and me yelling in agony.
"You should really learn to control your tongue kid." The cyclops said.
"Fuck you." I breathed out through my tightly closed teeth.
And then another lash came and caused another shout out of me. I could also feel a tear forming in my eyes.
"So, what's it gonna be, demigods? I won't wait forever, and neither will the boy." The cyclops said.
They all took one look at me and saw the point he was making. I was injured, crippled, and weak right in front of them. And if I don't end up dead by their hands, I'll probably end up dead with the possible chance of blood loss, because I could feel a lot more drops of blood sliding down my back. I was deeply breathing in and out though my pain and my vision was starting to blur a tad bit. I had my head move up to face up at the ceiling because I felt like I was gonna be seeing the light in just a few minutes. But as I looked up, I discovered something. Something that I didn't know was from clumsiness, or luck. The cyclops was holding me by the chains connected to my handcuffs, and when my eyes looked down, I noticed that I was being held right in front of a railing. How was this helpful? Well, long story short, it appears that the cyclops is the same as the general. Not really too smart and not able to overlook some certain things. Oh, and part of Ares' training involved always being aware of your surroundings.
"The boy is nothing." Zoe said griping her bow and arrow tighter.
"Nothing!? Percy is everything!" Annabeth countered.
'Funny, I don't really feel like much of anything right now.' I thought.
"Go ahead, shoot, hunter of Artemis. But if you do. You'll only succeed in killing the boy instead of any of us." The cyclops said.
Zoe's glares intensified and her knuckles were starting to go white. Even though she didn't care about me living or dying, she clearly didn't want to risk a shot if it meant killing me instead of a monster.
"But of course, you don't have to drop your bow and arrow, you can just keep doing what you're doing and get the boy killed anyways." The cyclops said, bringing out a dagger and bringing it to my throat.
Annabeth had a tear in her eye, Thalia was trembling, and Grover was shaking in fear. They didn't want to give up, but at the same time, they didn't want to get me killed. The only thing I got to say for this moment was that it's a good thing that I'm smarter than Ares. Don't tell him I said that.
"Well, anything you'd like to say?" The cyclops said as he pushed his dagger tighter against my throat.
"I got something to say." I said.
"And what's that?" The cyclops asked, turning his direction towards me.
"All things I devour; birds, beasts, trees, and flowers. I gnaw iron and bite steel; also grind hard stones to meal. I slay kings and ruin towns, and even beat high mountains down. What am I?" I asked.
"What?" The cyclops hissed, obviously not found of this game I was playing.
"I'm time. Time for murdering your ass." I answered with a kick to the nuts.
The cyclops howled in pain and dropped his dagger. It was then that I placed my feet on the rail, got behind the cyclops and wrapped my handcuffs around his neck. That was when the cyclops that had the whip tried to strike. But being as quick as I could, I moved behind the cyclops and the lash made contact with the cyclops' eye.
"Aaahhhh!" The cyclops exclaimed as I then jump down the railing, taking the cyclops with me.
I flipped him under me so he would break my fall. Accomplishing that, the cyclops faded into golden dust after the fall, heading back to the hellhole he crawled out of. I then used Riptide to cut the handcuffs off and freed myself.
"Percy!" Annabeth and Grover shouted relieved as they made ran over to me.
Thalia and Zoe did to, and Thalia was very relieved that I freed myself to. Though Zoe's reaction and emotion on the subject was hidden.
"Percy, are you okay?" Thalia asked worried.
"Been better." I answered.
Just then, there was a deep growl that was heard coming from nearby. I didn't like it one bit, and I was hardly able to even stand. Fighting wasn't going to be a walk in the park this time. We turned in the direction that the growl was heard from. It came from a door that was open and that had nothing but black for us to see. But there was something else in there, and it wanted us dead.
"Take care of them. I gotta report to the general." One of the cyclopes on the platform above said as all of the other cyclopes came down and attacked.
Just then, from the door I mentioned, out came a Nemeon Lion. We ducked and avoided it's pounce.
"Nemeon Lion." Grover said.
Great, first chimera, then cyclopes, now a Nemeon Lion. As if things weren't bad enough.
"I got this." Zoe said as she headed for a higher ground to shoot from.
"I got this", now where have I heard that from? Oh yeah, Clarisse when camp was being attacked by a Colchis Bull and she thought she could take care of it, only to get thrown on the ground and nearly killed. She's lucky that Tyson saved her, that's all I have to say. Back to the fight.
"The Nemeon Lion's gonna be tough." Grover said as we were all fending off against the cyclops and the Nemeon was waiting for a moment to pounce again.
"We know Grover." Annabeth said.
"Anyone got any bright ideas?" I asked, which resulted in me getting "what?" expressions.
"Fine. I'll handle the Nemeon Lion. You guys just take care of the cyclopes." I said as I made my way away from them.
"Percy, no!" Thalia said.
"Hey, you fur licking fuck, over here." I called.
The Nemeon Lion turned its attention towards me and started to pounce. I ducked and remained on guard as it leaped over me and was ready to pounce again. If you haven't noticed, no, I don't really have a plan or any idea on how to beat this thing. Its fur is indestructible and the only place that I can hit it at that will kill it is the inside of its mouth. But with how it's teeth are shielding the inside of his mouth, that wasn't going to be easy. And the others were preoccupied with the cyclopes, so I couldn't ask for help, not that I wanted their help in the first place. So I was left to just let the Nemeon Lion pounce and me just dodge until I can think of an idea of how to kill this thing.
"We need to help Percy." Annabeth said as she dodged a cyclops' attack, stabbed it in the foot, and then the heart, thus killing it.
"I said I got this!" I said as I dodged yet another attack from the Nemeon Lion.
"But Percy, you're hurt." Thalia said as she threw a thunderbolt at a cyclops.
"No shit Sherlock!" I commented as I remained on my defense.
Ares has been training me for a lot of things and enemies I'd most likely have to fight in the future, but I didn't think that the Nemeon Lion was one of them. At least not specifically, I think. There weren't really many specific motives for his training sessions, other than making the best fighter out of me. Either way, I was really struggling with this fight and I had no idea how to get through it. And the amount of blood that was slowly slipping out of me wasn't making this any better. At least the others were having an easy time with their fight against the cyclopes. Especially Zoe since she was shooting them from a distance they couldn't get to. If only she could do something about this Nemeon Lion here. Like at least distract it or something so I can deliver a killing blow.
"Hang on Percy. We'll be there to help you in a minute." Grover said as he seemed to be fighting through speed.
"I'm fine, thank you very much." I said, dodging another attack.
I wasn't sure how much longer I could last. I thought I was as good as dead. Especially with when the Nemeon Lion pounce again, it somehow got smart to land closer to me than the other times and was able to run its claws on my leg. The impact also was enough to have me land really hard on my leg, and I felt like something in my snapped. Either my leg was badly sprained, or broken. Either way, I couldn't get back up and my leg was aching up a storm.
"Percy!" Annabeth said as she saw what happened.
Everyone else saw this as well. And they could all tell that I was in a pretty bad situation. The Nemeon Lion saw this and was gonna deliver the finishing blow. So it leaped up and was about to finish me off.
"No, no, No! Get back!" I exclaimed and then something just came out of me.
I just raised my arms up to try and shield myself, but then suddenly, waves of water came from my hands and then shrouded around the Nemeon Lion. It formed as a ball of water that held the Nemeon Lion in the air. The Nemeon Lion tried to get out of the ball of water than I somehow suddenly summoned on it, but wasn't able to escape. It was trying to claw its way out, but wasn't able to break free. I had no idea how or why this was happening really. But since the Nemeon Lion was suffering from it, I guess I had no reason to complain.
"The rage of Poseidon." Zoe said as she came back down from her position with a shocked expression on her face.
Just then, thunderbolts suddenly came out from my fingertips and to the ball of water. The Nemeon Lion was howling in pain and still trying desperately to get free. But it wasn't able to. Eventually, the Nemeon Lion was beginning to lose its focus and was slowing down. It kept slowing down until it suddenly started to glow. The glow started to get bigger and brighter until the ball of water was now a ball of light. That was when I felt so exhausted and tired that I could barely move a muscle. The ball of water and light then fell to the ground with a splash. In sight wasn't the Nemeon Lion anymore, but only it's skin in the form of a fur coat. I remembered how this works all too well. The tales of Hercules has always been one of the main topics Chiron would discuss with his class back at Yancy Academy. That reminds me, don't get the wrong idea about Hercules. He's really not as nice as Walt Disney would make you think through the cartoon and all. Hercules defeated the Nemeon Lion and took it's skin off the beast with his own bare hands as a trophy. The skin is still indestructible and proves to be the perfect shield for those who wear it.
"Percy, how'd you do that?" Thalis asked.
"I don't know really. I just panicked and it sorta happened." I panted.
I felt my heart accelerating, my vision wasn't clear anymore, and I felt light head and dizzy. I don't know how I did it, but I won another big victory. Though I didn't feel like it. I felt more like my life fading away and being sucked out of me.
"Well, it happened, and that's there is to it." Zoe said as she went to pick the coat up and as Grover helped me up.
"Percy, you don't look too good. You look pretty pale right now." Grover said.
"What gave you the first idea? The fact that I got kidnapped and tortured by cyclopes, or the fact that a Nemeon Lion was so close to sending me to hell?" I asked, showing that like how I was forced to find Bianca and Nico with them, I was not at all happy about getting involved in such a peril when I should be with my girlfriend and my unborn baby.
"The coat is yours Percy. It is your right as the slayer of the Nemeon Lion." Zoe said, handing me the coat.
"Why does it have to be me?" I asked.
"Just accept it." Zoe said.
I looked at her for a minute, reflecting the expression she had on her face as best as I could despite how terrible I felt. She actually wasn't glaring at me, but her expression was a neutral one. She looked like she wasn't too interesting in the matter, but was a part of it because she knew she had to be. It was kinda the same for me, except I wasn't gonna stick around.
"I don't want it nor do I even need it. Plus, this quest isn't even my quest nor something that I'm a part of. And more importantly, I have no desire to get stuck in this mess." I declared.
Her expression remained mostly the same, but I could tell there was some confusion in her eyes.
"So you take it and get moving." I said throwing her the coat, which she caught, and I began to take my leave.
Just then, there was a war cry heard coming from another part of the museum. I had a feeling that the general still had a few friends to call in.
"Go, I'll hold them off." I said.
"Percy, are you crazy? You'll be killed." Thalia argued.
"They want you guys because they want your quest to be a failure. As for me, well apparently, Kronos has a price on my head and it's attracting a lot of monsters that want that payment. If I can distract them, they'll lose all of their attention on you guys" I said.
"But you'll die!" Annabeth argued.
"Not likely, but I'm willing to take the chance." I said as my dizziness started to kick in again.
"Percy, you can't fight like this. You need help." Thalia tried to persuade me.
"Just go. Just go fulfill your quest and don't worry about me. I'll be fine." I said and then started to lose all focus.
"Percy?" Thalia asked.
"Perce?" Grover asked.
I couldn't hang on any longer. The blood loss, the most likely dislocated leg, the dizziness, and the accelerated heart rate was just too much. The effects of the cyclops and the Nemeon lion were still on me and the effects of the chimera have yet to leave. I was just in no shape to go on like this, which made me losing my consciousness all much easier.
"Percy!" I heard Annabeth yell as I fell backwards and the next thing I could remember, being caught before I hit the ground and once again, being consumed by blackness.
So as usual, sorry for the long wait. And just to remind you all, I haven't read the books in a while, I don't really remember every detail of the story and I really don't have the time to read them again, unfortunately. So if I got anything that was terribly off involving the scenery, enemy, or plot, or if I end up getting anything off on future updates, feel free to let me know. I'd rather be made aware of my mistakes instead of being left in the dark and leaving that mistake uncorrected. I'll have another chapter posted as soon as I can. Thanks for the patience and support, and take care. Hope you liked the chapter.
