A/N. Review!

"This was patetic, and I'm not talking about Hercules, but about Percy and Zoe, Hercules don't see his labors as a matter of pride but as jobs that he wasted his life doing it, and he does view immortality as a curse.

You simply did this because you wanted to show Hercules being humiliated, and show how powerful Percy and Zoe are compared to him, not because this was in character because it wasn't, at least be honest about it." -Shadowhunter2077

HAHAHAHAHAHA. Look, I'll give you credit where credit is due, you got one thing right. Hercules (in the myths and MoA), does see his labors as jobs he wasted his life on and he does view immortality as a curse. I know that. Do you think you're the first person to tell me that? But here's the thing. You are reading a little thing called FANFICTION. That means that I'm not following traditional myths and stuff. Did you miss the part where Percy is literally the Devil? Lucifer is not some loyal guy who peacefully rebelled against God. He's evil incarnate whose pride made him lead a war against heaven. What about the part where I made Annabeth join the titans in the last book. I didn't see you complaining then? Besides, with Hercules, I'm keeping his character consistent with how I characterized him in the 2nd chapter of the previous book. So yes, not in character with how he is in the original myths and MoA, but it is in character for how I made him.

Now, about Percy and Zoë, you are dead wrong. I actually didn't really want to do anything with Hercules at all. I wanted to just leave it at that he died and didn't get made a God. But then I thought about how people would react to that. So I came up with this instead. On top of that, I feel like that suited Percy and Zoë's character. It's definitely a lot better than how Rick did it in MoA. Where Percy almost fanboys over the guy. Also, I don't need to show how powerful they are, because that's been slowly building up over this whole book.

Anyways, hope you like the rest of the book.

Alright, onto this extremely late chapter.

How were they captured by pirates? That was the thought that was running through everyone's heads as they were tied to the mast of the Argo II. The five demigods had only one small hope as the moon shone high overhead. Percy and Zoë were MIA. The pirates couldn't seem to find them.

The pirates were dolphins. The five of the seven weren't surprised since you know, they were kind of buddy buddy with the Devil and all, but they had to admit, it was a new curveball. Some had bottlenose snouts, and others flippers. It was like a group of humans bred with a group of dolphins and these were the results.

Except the main guy. The captain. He seemed human. They couldn't know for sure, since he was covered in gold everything. Armor, mask, gloves, he was covered head to toe. The only indication that it wasn't his skin was the holes in his mask for his eyes. His eyes were sea green, the same color that Percy often took for his own eyes.

"Where are the two I sent to check the ship?" The captain said. His voice was rich and velvety. The five demigods were entranced by his voice. They could listen to it all day. Like ASMR.

One of the crew members shrugged, before making a sound that sounded between a man's grunt and a dolphin's laugh.

"Damn it. Do I gotta do everything around here?" The captain said. "You two, come with me." He pointed at two of his crew members. They walked below deck and entered a hallway with seven rooms. Three on the right side and four on the left. Each room had a mahogany door with a glowing name on it, indicating the owner of the room.

The golden pirate turned to his left. The name was written in red. Leo. The man slammed the door open. The room was a mess. It looked like it was a bedroom turned into a workshop, like a dad's garage workshop. Screw, nails, tools, and machines were everywhere. There was a table in the center. No one was in the room.

The golden man left the room and walked across the hall to the next room. In yellow script written on the door, was the name Jason. The pirates entered the room. It was tidy. The bed was made, the floor clean, the room didn't have a speck of dust on it. There was no one in the room. They left the room.

The next room's door read Piper in pink. They opened the door to find a semi-clean room. Clothes littered the floor, but there was no trash anywhere. They rummaged through the clothes, and after deducing that there was not a soul in the room, they left.

The next room read Hazel in purple. They entered the room. Drawings covered the walls. The pictures ranged from pencil sketches, to detailed charcoal drawings. The subjects were a multitude of people, animals, and objects. The room itself was relatively clean, save the stray sheet of paper. Like the others, there was no one in the room.

They left the room. More of the dolphin men were in the hallway. Three of them. "What are you doing down here?" The golden captain asked.

"You were taking a long time sir. We were worried something happened to you." One of the dolphins said.

The golden pirate laughed. "Something happening to me? In the last millennia that I have led you, has something ever happened to me?"

"No sir."

"That's right. Now, stay with me. In case something were to happen to me."

The next room had Frank, written in green on the door. The room was nice and neat, though, dog hair seemed to cover the bed. There was no dog, and there were no humans either.

The next room, the second to last one, had the name Zoë written in black on it. Upon opening the door, they were met with an empty room. There was nothing but a floor, and walls. Not a speck of dust. It was like no one ever entered the room.

The last room had the name Lucifer, written on the door in shining gold. They entered the room and instantly knew that what they saw was impossible.

They had stepped into a large room, with no visible walls. There was only a white marble floor. There was a translucent mist that hugged the ground. There was a light illuminating the room, but they couldn't see where the source of it was. Their footsteps echoed through the empty room. Could they even call it a room?

They looked up, and there was no ceiling. Just an eventual darkness. They turned behind them, looking for the door that brought them there, but there was nothing there. They walked for what felt like an eternity. It seemed like no matter how far they went, there was no end to the room.

The golden pirate looked around him, realizing that his crew was gone. He was alone in this unknown land. He drew his sword and crept forward. The mist clung around his lower legs as he moved throughout the room.

The mist was surrounding something up ahead. The golden pirate approached it and examined it. It had the body of a human, with some characteristics of a… dolphin. It was one of his crew members. One of the first ones he sent down to check the ship.

"What happened to you?" He asked softly.

"Starved, presumably." A voice said from behind him.

The pirate turned around to see a tall man standing before him. He had hair as dark as night, with piercing sea green eyes. His skin was tan, like he spent most of his time at the beach. He wore a black suit, with red accents. A red ruby ring adorned his finger. The pirate almost missed the wings that stuck out in the man's back. The wings were folded behind him, so you could only see the tips of them behind the angel's shoulders.

"Who are you?" The pirate asked.

"Must finally be nice to ask that question, rather than it being asked to you, hm?" The man said.

"What?"

"I mean, everyone is always asking you who you are. Isn't that right, Chrysaor?"

"How do you know me?"

The angel placed a hand over his heart, like he was hurt. "It's my business to know things. Like how I know that you comrade there starved to death."

"How could he? He wasn't gone for more than an hour?"

"To you maybe. But here, time moves faster. For your hour in here, it's been, well, let's say, half a second. It's been weeks since he entered here."

"You did this." Chrysoar said. "You killed him."

The angel raised his hands. "Hey, I didn't do anything. He trespassed on my territory. It's his own fault for entering."

Chrysaor dashed forward and stabbed the angel in the chest. The blade went clean through. He let go as the angel made a sound that, weirdly, sounded like a dolphin. The angel fell to the ground.

"Ooo. That's two gone now." The angel's face said from behind him. Chrysaor turned around to see the angel standing there, unharmed.

"I just stabbed you."

"No. You stabbed poor Brian there." The angel said, pointing at the thing he just stabbed. Chrysaor turned back around to see the angel on the floor fade into another one of his crew members.

He turned back to the angel. "Who are you, devil?"

"I think you got it." The angel smiled. Fire lit up behind the angel's eyes.

Chrysaor turned around and picked up the sword. He turned and swept at the angel. The angel blocked the blade with his own and used the captain's surprise to his advantage. As Chrysaor felt the shock in his arms, the angel grabbed Chrysoar's hand, held it up, and slid his blade through the golden armor and into his chest.

Chrysaor sucked in a breath as he was laid on the ground by the angel. He pulled his blade out of the pirate's chest and cleaned the blood with his sleeve. More red accents on his suit.

"Zoë, you can kill the rest of the crew in here." He said to the air.

The sounds of wailing dolphins sounded through the air before the place resumed its haunted silence.

Zoë appeared next to Percy as the room shrunk back to the normal room they had before. The small bedroom with their small amount of belongings. The minibar in the corner.

Percy took in a deep breath. "The smell of death always surrounds you after you kill." He said.

Zoë smiled and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek. "Let's go free the demigods."

They walked above deck, only to be met with the rest of the dolphin crew. "Leave us." Percy said.

Almost as if they were in a trance, they all slowly walked to the railing and jumped ship, diving into the dark water below.

Zoë cut the demigods free. They all rubbed the marks where the rope had irritated their skin.

"Leo, we'll fly the rest of the way to Rome. Should only take a half a day. We'll reach Rome by noon."

A/N. So, uh, please don't murder me. School started back up. Senior year baby. Already off to a shit start. I also just caught covid again, last Friday, the 2nd of September. So yeah, not exactly enjoying life right now.

Originally, I planned to cut out the pirate stuff, but then I got the idea of showing a new side of Percy, the manipulative side. Let's be honest, he knows how to manipulate his enemies to do what he wants. And it's something that Lucifer does in the comics a lot. So here it is. Percifer manipulating Chrysaor into killing one of his crewmates and then basically committing suicide by attacking Percy.

Also, some foreshadowing for what should be the next chapter. Ten points to whoever can guess it.

Thoughts?