Chapter 11: Dogfight

Percy

With heavy downpour and violent thunder booming across the skies, most people would have mistaken this fulgurating storm to be nothing more than that, just a freakish weather effect caused by the unpredictable fury of Mother Nature.

Of course, that was far from the truth…

Phud-plud-phud-phud-phud-phud—

Somoehow, that ear-splitting sound of gears rotating at high-frequency was getting super annoying as it spat out a barrel full of small projectiles their way. It was a miracle how none managed to hit after they tried out an attack from their blind spot.

"Shit!"

Circling around its minigun cannons, Thalia was really struggling to avoid the helicopter's attacks while keeping him steady in her arms.

"We need to disappear, Thalia!"

Another flash of lightning descent from the heavens and strike the whirling rotors with precision, but like before, it didn't have any effect and only manage to cause minor turbulences. Not that it mattered, it was a distraction after all. The bright flash momentarily blinded the pilot, giving them just enough time to disappear into the darkness.

Heavy breathing escaped them at the same time.

"Th-This is tougher than I thought…"

Percy sighed as they were temporarily safe while hiding in the grey clouds, it provided a brief respite to restore their strength, but not that it would stop their radar from picking up on their location. It was only a matter of time before this equally matched battle resumed at full force.

"I didn't know a helicopter can tilt on its axis that quickly." He sighed, "It's almost like he was laser tracking us or something."

Thalia nodded in dismay.

"It has to have been modified based on our individual strength. They know I am capable of using lightning attacks so they put a dampener on their hull, rendering all my most powerful attacks useless."

"And we can't get close enough to attack with our swords either. It turns too fast, plus those machine guns would tear us apart the moment we get too close."

"At least you can stop their missiles with a water bubble."

Percy scowled, "Please don't ever say those words together ever again. You make it sound so stupid and childish for some reason."

"Hmm." Thalia snickered in amusement.

"So, how do we get out of this mess?"

Thalia mused with a smile. Percy didn't like the way that subtle smirk looked, not one bit.

"I've got an idea, but it's going to cost you."

...

"No! That's a terrible idea!"

"It's the only one I've got… unless you've got a better one?"

Percy met it with silence.

"Trust me," Thalia smirked, "Besides, this would be a good opportunity for you to learn that magic spell on the spot now, right?"

"Why don't I feel a shred of confidence from your suggestion?"

Thalia made a resounding snicker, "You'll be fine. I promise."

Reluctantly agreeing with her suicidal plan, Percy could only pray for mercy. For this to work, he would need to stay conscious and alert, but that's only if he didn't already go splat.

On second thought…

"I changed my mind… This is crazy."

But it was too late.

Before he could offer a logical explanation as to why her plan was insane, Percy just got yeeted from his life support with as little fanfare as possible. He met her snickering and smirking expression, a moment of weightlessness hung him in stasis midair.

"Remember to keep your mind at ease and don't forget to release mana from your magic circuit." Thalia waved so cheerfully that Percy almost wanted to curse her to the pits of hell, "Good luck!"

Percy had a long list of colorful adjectives ready to spit out at the blithe girl casually smiling at his all-too-likely demise, but his vocal cords snapped like a rubber band being stretched to its limit and any semblance of coherent words refused to come out.

Only screams of terror escaped his lips, "Ahhhh!"

Thrown like a sack of flour into a storage basement, there was nothing solid to grip onto. His momentary weightlessness grace period finally expired. There was no hesitation, gravity took him prisoner like being indebted to loan sharks, and in the blink of an eye, his body plummeted like an anvil dropped from an airplane.

"Typhoon hurl! Typhoon hurl! Oh God, please work! Typhoon Hurl!"

There were at least fifty feet where Percy spent it diving toward the ground and bawling his eyes out. He could only imagine what Thalia wouldn't give to snap a picture of his face right now.

Thankfully, he eventually crashed into what felt like a mattress made of marshmallows after finally falling out of the dark clouds. While it would have been way cooler to land on his feet with a superhero pose, of course, he was no superhero, hence why he got it handed to him and managed a landing on his butt. His back hurt at the immediate impact. As soft as the cushion was, the fifty feet drop was still hefty enough to cause some major damage.

"Damn you, Thals…" Percy rubbed his sore back and stood upright.

Unfortunately, his troubles weren't over just yet. The enemy easily found his whereabouts now that he was out from hiding in the clouds. Barrels spinning from its high-powered turret and missiles guiding rockets at the ready, Percy sighed and brushed his wet hair from his forehead.

"Fine! Come at me then!"

Cursing his heavy dark bangs dripping with endless rain and a body that's completely soaked from head to toe, an amorphous mass of downpour gathered at his palm, its surface area expanded to form a fifteen feet rectangular shield just about an inch thick.

In response, half a dozen rockets fired from either side of its launchers with incredible speed.

"Huaahh!"

Phasing right past his water shield, Percy just barely managed to stop short the dangerous projectiles from hitting him head-on. Slowing their momentum to a crawl through sheer willpower alone, Percy enveloped the missiles still blasting away inside a spherical bubble, then he waved his hands to spin it around, reversing their direction and sent them flying back at the enemy.

"Here! Have a taste of your own medicine!"

It didn't work, heavy machine gun fire blasted the missiles to smithereens before they could even get halfway between them. The ensuing explosion rocked them both backward.

Blown off his feet, Percy had to cast a new Typhoon Hurl spell just to keep himself in the air. He skidded on his feet and caught his balance, but even before he could get back to the fight, a sudden high pitch sound of barrels rotating with increasing frequency bear down on him. Percy barely had time to react before the first high-caliber round was fired right for his chest.

Phud-plud-phud-phud-phud-phud!

"Percy!"

Up above, Thalia had used the precious time Percy brought her to build up the necessary charge for her next attack. The sword in her right hand pulsed with yellow energy and vibrated static electricity waves that contrast with the purple flashes of the skies. It was a rather beautiful dichotomy as the stormy skies lit up like a kaleidoscope with her elemental control.

Yet, she froze in horror as a cloud of smoke exploded and covered the skies where Percy was hovering just moments ago. Heavy machine guns rained down hellfire on him until the last rounds were exhausted from the spinning barrels. It took a while for the rain to clear up the area, and what Thalia saw afterward rendered her completely speechless.

"Heh… Show off," Thalia shook her head, unable to hide her small smile.

A short distance below her, Percy looked up between the clouds with an exasperated and half-sarcastic plead, "A little help would be fantastic right now, Thalia."

Instead of being shredded to pieces by those high-caliber machine guns, Percy held every single round fired in a spherical bubble, his already fantastic elemental control made sure to slow them down before any could penetrate his protective barrier.

Thalia almost wept with tears at how much the son of Poseidon had grown but a grin found its way to her lips instead.

"That was amazing, Percy!" Her shout echoed like thunder, "Don't worry. I got this now."

Thalia's intentional cries drew the enemy's attention to her. Flying up to gain altitude in the dark clouds, she angled her fully charged blades at a diagonal level, aiming down at least forty-seven degrees where the helicopter was trying to catch up in elevation. But even as fast as their modification could allow them, it was impossible to catch up to her speed being the daughter of Zeus.

"This is it! You are finished!" Thalia bellowed and pull her arms back, "Lambent strike!"

As fast as a lightning bolt, her sword propelled at a blinding speed, a trail of yellow flashes pulsed from the tip after launching her attack and breaking the sound barrier. Her sword held straight and unyielding amidst the rough weather, following her targeted trajectory as it speared passed at the cockpit windshield and the pilot behind the seat of the aircraft. There was no escape.

The front of the attack helicopter erupted with sparks and flying debris, a pillar of smoke rose from behind the destroyed cockpit, her overwhelming attack pierced the heavy background rain around them with an ear-splitting zap even louder than the thunderstorm. Now, consistent orange sparks flew out of ruined computerize machines and circuits.

The pilot was clearly dead now.

And yet, loud reverberating clanks of damaged gears and the stuttering of rotors trying desperately to turn could be heard even when there wasn't anyone controlling it. As the attack helicopter spiral out of control and fell steadily out of sight, Percy sighed a breath of relief and crashed onto his right knees.

They've won.

"Thank God! We did it!" Percy cheered half-heartedly as he was nearing exhaustion.

Thalia relaxed her arm too after unleashing that heavy attack. It felt numbed. In fact, every part of her body felt as if she was burning, but that's only to be expected after she deployed her unleash armament skill for so long. This might actually be the first time she pushed herself this much without a single break whatsoever. Thalia imagined the same could be said for Percy, that's why…

"Let's get down before I lose control of my abilities." Thalia flew down to catch Percy in her arms, "I don't think I can keep this up much longer anyway."

Percy nodded with relief. He saw a slight flickering of electricity in those vibrant blue eyes. They seemed a bit duller than before. Perhaps she was nearing her limit as well after her armament unleashed for longer than normal, "We should rest a bit before heading out, right?"

"You're damn right, I definitely need a warm bath after soaking up in a freezing cold rain storm."

Percy chuckled, "Maybe there is an inn nearby that we can—"

But the words left his head because a sudden shadow behind them snapped him from all thoughts. He only knew to put his right hand up before it was too late.

"Percy-yy?"

Just in the nick of time, Percy made an incomplete water barrier to counter…

Boom!

A forceful explosion knocked him and Thalia out of the air. Countless shrapnels from the blast were cutting right through them with no mercy, even his barrier wasn't enough to protect them.

Separated upon impact as they fell from the skies, Percy barely regained his consciousness enough to see Thalia diving straight down with her head first. She wasn't moving.

"Thalia!" Percy angled his body and dived straight down to catch her.

Catching her hand, Percy pulled desperately to wrap himself around her body. Despite holding her close and keeping her safe, she wasn't moving. They were now coming up on the drop just a few hundred feet above the thick tree lines.

"Damn it! Typhoon Hurl!"

Percy managed to cast their safety net while falling at least a hundred miles per hour as he landed on that familiar soft platform. He also managed to soften Thalia's landing with his own body, a pained groan left his throat after almost breaking his back but he pushed pass the pain all over his body and cradled the unconscious girl in his arm.

"Thalia! Hey, wake up!" Percy tried to smack her awake to no avail.

Like a bad omen, the sound of a half broken-down chopper still partially functioning as expected descent from the skies, yet when he looked up, his sight wasn't lying. The pilot was not moving, a silver sword stuck through his chest after Thalia speared her attack through the cockpit window, so how…

"I know what you are thinking, son of Poseidon. You are wondering how this thing is still flying?"

Percy almost gasped at the revelation.

"Well, it's simple really. I was the one controlling the aircraft from the very beginning."

"Walter…"

His voice was being broadcasted from somewhere on the chopper.

"That's correct, son of Poseidon." His monotone intonation was the same as it was during the press conference: indifferent and hiding behind a mask, but surprisingly, not once did his words nor his speech patterns sound evil to begin with, unlike Luke, "I am glad you were able to figure it out."

Finally able to speak face to face with his enemy, Percy only had one question on his mind for the puppet behind AMK's existence.

"Why? Why are you doing all this? Why side yourself with Amphitrite and Kronos?" Percy shouted, "You know Rachel would never allow you to conduct these immoral experiments, yet you still poison her memories, so why? How can you use your own daughter like that? What is your real goal?"

There was a long pause as Percy stared face to face with a flickering heads-up display behind the co-pilot seat. A blurred holographic figure sat behind it.

"You couldn't possibly understand my reasons, Percy." Walter sighed softly at his name, "I am sorry it had to come down to this, but I never did want to hurt anyone. All I wanted—"

Percy bit his lips when Walter stopped mid-sentence from revealing his motives, "You can't be serious about that, not after what you've done to us. I saw what you did to Mera, what you did to countless others, so don't give me that crap about remorse and forgiveness. You were ready to blow up your own daughter just now! How much of a vile monster can you be?!"

"Don't bring my daughter into this!" Walter's monotone voice shifted as he showed his rage, "I would never hurt Rachel! The only reason why she's in this mess right now is because of you and your interference. She would be been safe and resting at home if you didn't stick your nose where it doesn't belong!"

Glaring behind the hazy curtain of heavy downpour around them, the anger in his voice fueled the change in the chopper's hovering pattern. It tilted into attack mode despite its broken turret.

"That's why I won't let you or anyone stand in my way! I'll bring her home, no matter what it takes."

Percy shook his head and glared back into his hologram, "Over my dead body. Rachel will be staying with us now, I won't let you hurt her any more than you already have."

The intact missile launchers began to buzz, "And you'll be a fool before I blast you out of the sky. You can't stop all my rockets all at once. Goodbye, son of Poseidon-nn—"

But the missiles never left their launchers, "Wait, what?! H-How are you…"

"Like I said," Percy said softly and hung his head, "I won't let you lay your hands on Rachel anymore. I won't let you do whatever you please and get away from the consequence. That's my promise to you."

Crack… Something snapped in halves as it was followed by another loud crisp vibration. It was the sound most familiar with something being crushed, the unfathomable pressure excreted was more powerful than the durability of the object itself.

"You…!"

"Mark my words, Walter." Percy snapped his gaze seething with intensity toward his hologram, "Don't try coming after us again, or else I won't hesitate! I'll be coming after you next!"

Snap! Snap! S-Snap!

From deep within the launcher, orange sparks blew outward one after another. The following explosion shook the skies with a deafening roar.

Booooom!

Blown backward, Percy just barely steadied himself even if he was well prepared for the aftershock. Turning his back, he did his best to protect Thalia as the skies were enveloped in a bright orange flame. Luckily, they weren't inside the blast radius, but the shockwaves and debris that flew outward were a different story.

"Ahh! Ugghhh…"

It took all of his strength to stay upright, but even after it was all over, he couldn't ignore a piece of something from the explosion being stuck in his lower back. He wanted to tell himself it didn't hurt, but pained groans escaped him nonetheless.

Percy stumbled, the sharp pain edged deeper with every movement.

"Oy? T-Thalia… Hey, wake up…"

No matter how much shaking he did, she wouldn't wake. At least she wasn't hurt, but the storm was only getting worse, and now they were stranded midair with no way to get down.

"Well isn't this just damn fantastic?"

It seemed one specific Olympian God heard him; an all-too-intentional whiplash smacked him in the face right then, followed by a really unnecessary soaking as if he wasn't already drenched from head to toe.

Percy could do nothing but look up at the skies while his mouth went half-agape in disbelief.

You can't be serious…

That's when a solution popped in his head for his current predicament. It was the only option Percy could think of that's just mildly better than the next bad idea in his head, but at this point…

"I am trusting you on this…" A whisper left his lips.

Looking back, their fight with the attack chopper was finally over. Nothing but the remnant of a shadowy mist remained where the explosion took place.

Percy was still trying to wrap his head around what really happened. His memories were a bit hazy before the subsequent explosion. Clearly, whatever he did wasn't something that could be willed to existence whenever he wanted, at least, it felt different, too different than the obliterating art technique, his newly acquired elemental control, or even able to cast magic on the spot.

All he knew was that the missiles exploded inside the launchers before Walter was able to fire them, but how he managed to make that happen would remain a mystery, left unsolved until he could do that again in the future.

"Could it be…?" He shook his head quickly, "Doesn't matter right now. I need to get us down safely."

Realizing now how he took her abilities to fly for granted, Percy could only sigh in mocking despair, and the fact of the matter was they were stuck on a magical floating updraft in the middle of a thunderstorm. The whole situation was comically ironic, but he couldn't think of a better way to get back on solid ground than that really bad idea in his head.

~~Sigh~~

Making a wide search, Percy spotted a cluster of lights from the east. It looked like a small suburban town and was also close enough to where they were stranded. Keeping a mental note of his general sense of direction, Percy glanced over the edge of his typhoon hurl magic-generated platform.

"About three hundred feet, huh?"

To be honest, Percy still had no idea how it was supposed to work; any surprise he felt after successfully casting magic for the first time was overshadowed by the fight with the attack helicopter. Even now, his luck might run out just when he's least expecting it.

"You are one crazy girl, Thals..."

But even so, it was his only choice. There was no other way around it.

"If we die, this will entirely be your fault…"

Even if she couldn't hear him, Percy couldn't care less. After all, his plan was beyond suicidal. One very likely and unforeseen mistake later, they wouldn't be going home. They would just go splat.

"Okay…Okay… This is crazy, but okay…"

Aiming for a spot with the least amount of trees blocking his path, Percy stood up despite struggling against the pain in his back or the extra weight while holding Thalia with his arms around her back and hooked underneath her legs. It was a bit embarrassing for sure, but he would have to complain later; that's if he could even survive these next few seconds.

"Fuck it!"

Taking a huge leap of faith, Percy launched off the only safety net he's got and immediately went plummeting toward the ground.

Yep! We are definitely going to die!