Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter
The Unrelenting Frozen Seas: Symphony of Tempering
Chapter Sixteen: The Westover-Othrys Connection
Beta: ShadowofAxios
Rhode had arrived at Westover with Thalia, Percy and Annabeth after a long trip by train and then a drive by rental car driven by Rhode just in time for the military academy's winter dance. Thankfully, Grover had warned them about the event beforehand and they'd all brought formal wear and so managed to blend in easily enough.
"All right, now that we're all changed and don't stick out like a sore thumb. Here's your orders," Rhode said. Being the senior Camper on the mission, she was naturally in charge. "We go in there and mingle with the other dancers whilst looking for the di Angelo kids that Grover mentioned. Find him and liaise with him if possible. Keep on the lookout for monsters though. If the di Angelos are half-bloods like us then they'll be here too."
"Dance partners?" Annabeth asked, in full on quest mode, even if she looked cute as a button in her outfit.
"Thalia and I, and my favorite little couple on their own. Try not to cow eye each other though. Got it?" Rhode teased as she smiled at the sputtering couple.
It was just too precious.
Shaking her head, Rhode got back into the game. She held out her arm to Thalia and smiled.
"My lady~" She said with a courtly tone.
Thalia rolled her eyes at that, but gamefully took Rhode's hand and allowed her to lead her into the hall, Annabeth and Percy following behind them similarly hand in hand.
The hall inside was pretty big, about half as big as the Great Hall back in Hogwarts and was thoroughly decorated for the occasion with streamers and the like. Long tables had been set up along the sides of the hall laden with food and drink, whilst smaller cocktail tables were dotted around the edges to allow dancers to gather around. The whole central part of the hall had been left empty and was serving as a dance floor with the music provided alternatively by what looked like the student orchestra seated on the stage and a DJ set up to one side.
At the moment, kids and even some of the teachers were dancing to a classical number being performed by the orchestra, though many of them, mostly but not only the students, looked stiff as boards doing so. Some kids were drinking punch, awkwardly speaking with their same gender friends, almost frightened to go speak to the opposite sex. And most strangely there was a gaggle of girls running around, teasing some boys with kisses and beads like a swarm of piranha.
I was never that nuts as a tween, right? Rhode pondered as she and Thalia headed for the dance floor.
As the current song ended and the orchestra prepared to begin the next number, Rhode and Thalia slipped seamlessly into the throng of dancers as they arrayed themselves for a waltz.
Taking dancing lessons down in Atlantis had been a lifesaver, as Rhode was easily able to take the lead, pulling Thalia along slowly with easy to follow steps. Thalia fumbled a bit, but was quick on the uptake.
"We'll let Percy and Annabeth scout the perimeter," Rhode told Thalia as she led her sister through the beginning steps of the waltz. "We'll see what we can see from the dance floor. But try to be discreet."
"Right," Thalia said as she tried not to be obvious as she eyed their surroundings. And failing miserably.
Not helped, Rhode was sure, by the way everyone seemed to have eyes on them as they danced. Whilst it wasn't uncommon for a pair of girls to dance together, as friends if nothing else, it wasn't exactly normal either. Not for an intimate waltz at least.
Still. Thalia really needs to work on being more discreet. Rhode thought as she pulled Thalia closer, turning them around as she took her turn scanning the crowd. Succeeding to be much more discreet than Thalia had.
"Anything?" She whispered softly against Thalia's ear. Her sister made a negative grunt in reply before they pulled apart and continued dancing through the crowd.
At least she's got her dancing down. Rhode mused, happy that Thalia wasn't stumbling over her steps any more and causing her to accidentally step on her feet. Or trip them. Or any number of accidents the daughter of Zeus caused when she'd taught her to dance on the trip over to Westover.
"I've spotted them." Thalia said as Rhode twirled her. "They're over by the punch bowl on the left side. Close to the bleachers."
"Good, we'll blend with the crowd some more and dance our way over to them." Rhode said as she eyed the two young children, a girl and a younger boy, with olive skin and silky dark hair.
According to Grover, who Rhode spotted watching the two kids from a short distance away and having a whispered discussion with Percy and Annabeth who had apparently found him, the two were the potential demigods they were here to assess and if they were like them, recruit. And at a glance, Rhode was feeling sure that her old friend had been right about the two Italian kids. They radiated power. Muted due to them not knowing who they were but it was still there prickling slightly at Rhode's senses. The thin layer of Mist that clung to them was yet another dead giveaway. Rhode wasn't much of a mystiokinetic to be honest but she had enough skill with the art to tell that much.
I'm not seeing many striking features on them that can let me guess at their divine parent though. So maybe a minor god? But they wouldn't feel that strong if that was the case, not unless it's a particularly powerful one. She thought, going over all the traits she knew from the various demigods at Camp.
Rhode was still pondering the matter and carefully guiding herself and Thalia towards the edge of the dance floor nearest the di Angelos, hoping to make it seem like they were headed for the punch bowl the kids were standing next to when an adult walked over to talk to the two. He must've been a teacher. The way the already awfully uncomfortable kids got even more tense at his presence told her as much.
Though Rhode couldn't really blame them. The man would have had her on edge if he was her teacher too. He looked like he was trying too hard to act as a soldier and thus came across as what she was sure Percy would have called a "silly wannabe soldier". After a few brief words with the di Angelos, he began to lead the two away. Not, however, before he shot Rhode a malicious grin
Alright, subtlety is going out the window it seems. Rhode frowned at the man as her hand went inside her pocket.
"Thalia, we have to catch up with them." Rhode said, as abandoning the pretense of the dance, she let go of Thalia's arms and began running after the di Angelos and what she was sure was the monster who had led them away, all the while thanking her foresight in picking a dress with a short enough hemline that it didn't hinder her movement too much.
"That guy was a monster wasn't he?" Thalia asked as she fell in beside her.
"Yeah, I think so." Grover confirmed as he and the others likewise joined them as they rushed out of the side door to the hall the di Angelos and their captor had exited out of. "He's masking his scent. Probably with some magic. So I can't be sure."
"Either way, it's best that we follow them to be sure." Rhode concluded as they found themselves in a long hallway. "You've the kids' scent?"
"Yeah. It's unmistakable. Smells like the underground." Grover said with a nod as he pointed to their right. "They're this way."
"Then lead the way, Grover." Rhode ordered. "We've a couple of half-bloods to save."
The trail led them to Westover's central courtyard. It was a pretty picturesque place which overlooked a cliff on one side but the scenery was ruined by the sketchy teacher from earlier and a group of men in black tactical gear armed with assault rifles manhandling the children and trying to force them onto a helicopter
Pulling out Spellbound, she pointed it at the slowly swirling blades of the helicopter and cast, "Confringo!"
The fiery orange light of her spell hit the rear of the machine, Rhode making sure to avoid the cockpit, and disabled it in a spectacular but controlled explosion. These guys might be kidnappers, but that didn't mean she wanted to kill them.
"Get to cover!" Rhode ordered as her hand reached for the belt around her waist. Her thumb was just about to touch the coin that was fitted into the belt buckle, the disguised form of her Pallas Armor. She was confident that it would be more than enough to protect her from the bullets the gunmen were about to shoot her way.
She was forced to abort the motion though as her instincts screamed and heeding them she threw herself to the side as a small missile of some sort flew past where she was. However, her dive was a little too slow and her belt had been cut from her waist and dropped into the snow.
She went to use the Summoning Charm to pull it towards her, but a hail of bullets changed her priorities and she instead turned to run for cover.
No wait! She thought as she glanced around her for suitable cover. Those aren't bullets shooting at me. They're spines!
"Manticore! The teacher is a manti-" Rhode heard Percy shout just as the gunmen finally opened up with their guns and the sound of the gunfire drowned him out.
"Shit!" Rhode cursed as she ran for the nearest cover, a concrete neoclassical pavilion but strangely no gunfire was being directed her way. Not even more of what she realised must have been the Manticore's quills.
The reason why quickly presented itself as the aforementioned monster leapt in front of her in its full monstrous glory, cutting her off. His human face remained but everything else had changed, as he now sported the body of a lion and the tail of a scorpion. All in all, making for a truly grotesque combination.
"Come godling, I wish to taste that flesh of yours. I've hadn't had one of your kind for a long while. Come feed me, Dr. Thorn hungers!" The Manticore sneered with his leonine face.
"You're a doctor? I guess they must be giving out PhDs to just about anyone nowadays." Rhode taunted as she used her Toxikinesis to send two streams of Hydra venom whipping towards the monster from the small fanny pack she'd hidden under the single large bow that decorated the back of her dress.
"My PhD speaks for itself. Now be laid low, child!" He roared and pounced forward and out of the striking arcs of Rhode's poison whips, his powerful paws digging into the snow as he closed, clearly intent to maul her.
She prevented his advance with several spear thrusts with Spellbound, managing to take an ear off the beast as she retreated backwards.
He roared, pawing at his head while his tail flicked forward, sending several spines speeding at her. She pulled at the snow, making it turn to water and then into an ice shield in front of her in nary a second. The spines hit the shield with tremendous force, shattering it like so much glass and keeping their course would've pierced right through her if she hadn't dove out of the way.
"What-?!"
"My spines are hypersonic, godling. Did you think such a thin barrier of ice would stop them?"
She spun her weapon towards him and channeled her powers. In response, shards of the broken ice shield flew at the manticore. He flicked his spiny tail again, most of the spines hitting the large shards of ice and shattering them into harmless pieces, but several sank into his flesh.
He roared in pain and went to pounce once more, but Rhode was ready for him. She gathered up all the snow around her into large stakes as she turned them solid. It caught the Manticore mid-pounce, but his powerful forelimbs snapped at them, batting the icy stakes out of the way as he continued his course.
"Not so easy, you fake doctor." Rhode snarked as she leapt back, her jump assisted by the runes she'd stitched into the soles of her flats. She'd known a fight in her formal wear was a possibility and so had made sure to prepare them accordingly. It was this precaution that allowed her to avoid the vicious swipe of the Manticore as he landed and create a safe distance between them.
"My PhD is completely legitimate!" The Manticore roared angrily, sending another barrage of his spines her way that Rhode used a Protego to deflect as she ran at the Manticore from the side in a bid to flank it.
He cut her off by slamming his tail into the ground, forcing her to leap back from him once again.
Shit! I'm not having much luck with this guy. Though by the way that the sound of the nearby gunfire was dying down, her family was having much better luck. A fact that made the daughter of Poseidon smile.
"Looks like my friends managed to take out your goons."
Thorn chuckled, making a sense of uneasy wash over her. "Do you think I only brought one team on this mission? Unlike you, girl, we have numbers on our side. And a sizable number of disposable troops!"
As if on cue, which was total bulllshit, the veil of magical silence that had kept them hidden was broken and the roar of two new helicopters filled the air as they rose up from behind the nearby cliff.
"Shit!" Rhode cursed as despite the risks, she turned her attention away from the Manticore and leveled Spellbound at the new arrivals whose nose mounted miniguns were already spinning up to spit lead at her family and the di Angelos which were all scampering for cover.
"Confringo!" She cast at the nearest of the two helicopters, blasting it out of the sky heedless of its human occupants. She was in no position to worry about the lives of those who had sold their services to the enemy.
She was still turning towards the other machine when she felt one of the manticore's poisoned quills stab her in the back. She felt the poison surge supernaturally fast through her body through her Toxikinesis but had no time to do anything about it, instead she focused her attention on casting the blasting spell on the other helicopter.
"Confrin-"
The green eyed girl never finished the spell as- seemingly too impatient to let its poison do its work- the Manticore swung its tail at Spellbound. Normally Rhode would have been able to react in time, but distracted as she was by focusing on her spell and weakened by the poison flooding her veins, she was unable to do anything as the monster's tail knocked her weapon clean out of her hands.
Nor could the daughter of Poseidon do anything more than struggle feebly, the poison taking its toll as the Manticore knocked her over. She struggled but could do nothing as she felt the back of her dress be snatched up in the maw of the monster and she was lifted off the ground. Her head spun and the next thing she knew, she felt her body slam into metal, making her see stars.
The last thing she saw as the poison finally knocked her out was the sight of her family helplessly looking on, as they rushed out of their cover and the helicopter let up on its unrelenting suppressive fire to turn and fly away.
As the helicopter carrying his kidnapped sister disappeared from view as whatever magic it used to keep itself hidden until it made its appearance earlier was once more used to cover its getaway, all Percy could do was watch in cold, impotent fury.
"Dammit! Why can't I hit it!" Thalia shouted from nearby as she shot yet another lightning bolt in the general direction of the long gone machine.
"Thalia, it's gone. You have to stop." Annabeth said, trying to calm the other girl down.
Percy ignored them, he had faith that his girlfriend would be able to calm her sister down eventually. In the meantime, he glanced at Grover who had gathered the di Angelos and was explaining things to the shellshocked siblings.
Demigod 101. Talk about not fun.
That attempt at his typical humor felt hollow and weak even to him. But with his sister taken by the enemy, who could blame him?
Shaking his head to dismiss such dark thoughts, he walked over to pick up Rhode's things. Her belt and Spellbound's disguised spyglass form.
"Rhode," he said more to himself than anyone as he clutched his sister's precious belongings in his hands. "I'll rescue you. No matter what it takes. I swear this on the Styx."
It was to the sound of the supernatural thunder of his oath that a small army of young women dressed in silver parkas suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
Seated at the back of the bus that Lord Apollo's chariot had transformed into after Lady Artemis had called him in and requested he give her family, the di Angelos and the Lady's Hunters a lift back to Camp, Annabeth kept herself busy and away from dark thoughts by trying to glare a hole through Bianca di Angelo's head.
Much to her utter fury, the stupid little girl had chosen to become a Hunter of Artemis!
Sure it was undoubtedly an honor, all Hunters were personally chosen by the goddess herself and she did not make the offer to just anyone. Annabeth herself had been greatly honored to have received it alongside Thalia and Bianca after Lady Artemis had belatedly shown up to help them with the Manticore and his mortal minions. But it was the reason that the younger girl had accepted that infuriated the daughter of Athena.
The Italian girl hadn't outright spelled out her reasoning of course, but Annabeth was a daughter of wisdom and she could read between the lines. When Lady Artemis had made the offer to her, all Bianca had asked was about whether it would free her from her responsibilities. And since she had only one real responsibility, that meant freeing her from her brother.
Considering how Annabeth's sister had just been kidnapped, that she'd take special affront to someone doing something as life changing as becoming a Hunter of Artemis for such a reason was no surprise. And that didn't even take into account the fact that Bianca was a complete neophyte to the demigod life which just made the whole thing all the worse.
"Uh, Annabeth, not to interrupt your brooding or anything, but maybe you should stop Thalia?" Grover said, suddenly pulling the daughter of Athena from her thoughts.
"Thalia? What's she doing?" Annabeth asked, blinking in confusion.
Grover nodded towards the front of the bus and Annabeth turned to see her sister being goaded into taking the wheel by Lord Apollo.
Her eyes widening at what was likely to happen if the daughter of Zeus did, Annabeth began to shout.
"Thalia, do-!"
She was too late though and before she could even finish her warning, Lord Apollo's chariot swerved violently to the side and she slammed into Grover as they slid along their bench.
"Ow, ow, my hooves! Stop stepping on my hooves, Annabeth!"
"I'm sorry, just, buckle up!" She screamed at the top of her lungs and lunged for a seatbelt. "Thalia! Whatever you do, don't kill us!"
"I'm trying!" Thalia shouted back as she had the chariot swerve to the other side as she overcorrected.
"Ah, don't worry about it! She's getting the hang of it." Lord Apollo said airily, ignoring how practically everyone else was practically screaming in fear as Thalia's erratic driving continued to send them slamming into each other and the sides of the bus with every jerk of the wheel.
No, she won't! Thalia is terrified of heights! This is a terrible idea! Annabeth thought as she recalled her sister's ironic and irrational fear. One that was causing her to drive the airborne Sun Chariot like a terrified madwoman as proved by them just blasting through a billboard! Oh gods, we might actually die.
"Lord Apollo, cease this madness!" One of the hunters screamed out from the back.
"Madness? Come on, stop exaggerating!"
"I hate heights!" Thalia shouted, sounding terrified. "Lord Apollo! Take the wheel! Please!"
"Nope. The only way to overcome your fears is to face them." The god said, offering Thalia a very out of place cheeky smile.
"Can she do it when our lives aren't on the line?" Percy shouted reasonably.
"Oh, where's the fun in that?" Lord Apollo said, his smile turning mischievous.
Grover bleeped in fear and Annabeth gulped as they both tried to prepare themselves for what was ahead. Exchanging a look, they wordlessly shared a thought.
We're so screwed!
Sometimes Annabeth hated being right so often. This was one such occasion as what followed could only be described as some of the most uncomfortable and frightening five minutes of her life.
After a terrifying trip back to Camp thanks to a halpful Lord Apollo, Percy had been the most mobile of their little group. Grover was out cold from the turbulent flight and Annabeth was busy trying to keep Thalia from having a full blown breakdown after being needlessly forced to confront her acrophobia by the sun god. So it was up to him to debrief Mr. D and Chiron about what had happened, during which he'd discovered much to his dismay they already knew what happened and were helpless to do anything.
Which just pissed Percy off! Chiron he could understand. But Mr. D was a god wasn't he? Surely he could do something! But he refused and didn't deign to say why either. The jerk!
It had taken everything Percy had not to blow up at the wine god for his apathy and only the knowledge that he had to tell his Dad about what happened and he couldn't do that if Mr. D turned him into a squirrel or some other ridiculous punishment stayed his hand. It hadn't been easy though.
That was done with though and now was the real hard part.
"Poseidon. Atlantis." Percy said as he activated an IM using the special spring inside his Cabin.
"Hello Percy." Dad greeted as the connection was established and his image appeared in the rainbow. An image that showed he was mightily upset, if the angry set of his eyes and the deep furrowing of his brow were any indication. Oh, and let's not forget how the waters around him were churning violently.
"Hi Dad, so I guess you've heard?"
"Yes, your sister has been captured by the Titans." The Lord of the Seas acknowledged with a nod. "And before you ask, no, I cannot do anything. She's been taken to Othrys. And unless I storm the mountain, I have no options. But as your dear uncle-"
The way Dad spat out the mention to Zeus told Percy more than he wanted to know about the animosity between them.
"-still refuses to declare war on the Titans, doing so will not only prematurely begin the Second Titanomachy but also spark a civil war between us Olympians. I think even in your anger you can see why that would be a bad idea?"
To hear his Dad confirm it, really made the blow hit all that much harder. Yet his anger surged at how helpless he felt. That Percy couldn't do anything. It was only slightly assuaged by the knowledge that Dad and the rest of the House of Atlantis were just as helpless. He knew they would move heaven and earth to save Rhode if they could, and if they weren't doing so then it meant that they couldn't. So what could a mere half-blood like him do?
"We can't do anything at all?"
"For now? No." Dad told him with an angry shake of his head. "But the opportunity will come, Perseus. It will come soon. And when it does-"
"I'll take it." Percy declared without hesitation.
Dad nodded with a hint of a proud smile. "I have faith in you, son. Bring your sister home."
"I will, Dad. I swear it!"
After talking to his Dad, it was time to visit the stables. Rhode was pretty much the den mother to all of the Camp's Pegasi. So they deserved to know. So Percy told them everything.
Impossible! Boss Lady couldn't be captured so easily! She can't! Flóga shouted in denial, stamping her hoof into the ground of her stall and flapping her wings furiously once he'd finished. She can't! I don't believe it! I refuse to believe it!
Rhode's mount wasn't the only one losing it though. All the Pegasi were.
Who's going to feed us what we like!? One mare Percy didn't know the name of cried out in alarm. Who's going to spoil us!?
That's not the big issue! A stallion said, shouting as he paced uneasily in his stall. Who's going to train us and help us pick good riders? Or help us deliver our foals!?
These and a thousand different cries of alarm echoed throughout the stables as the Pegasi panicked.
She does all that? How is she able to do all of that? Percy thought in stunned surprise. He had helped her at times, but it made his heart twist even more since by the way he was hearing about all this for the first time he clearly wasn't helping enough.
But now wasn't the time for him to wallow in his inadequacies.
"Calm down!" He shouted commandingly, pouring every ounce of the authority he could muster into his words. "All of you! Calm down right now!"
It was like a switch was tripped, immediately the entire previously panicking stable of Pegasi froze before obediently standing straight, as if awaiting orders.
"Now isn't the time for us to panic. We need to focus on figuring out some way to save Rhode."
But, Boss, how are we gonna do that? Blackjack asked, looking at him questioningly.
He wasn't the only one. All the Pegasi were.
Percy really wished he had an answer for the. But he couldn't.
"W-We'll figure something out." He said lamely as he spun around, too ashamed to admit he didn't know. "Just be patient while we do."
Without waiting for a reply he walked away. He couldn't face them. Not without a plan.
Wise Girl, please have something up your sleeve. Percy begged as he headed off in search of his girlfriend. She always had a plan or was cooking one up, surely this time was no different.
It had to be!
Thalia was dreaming. The blurry edges of her vision were the sure signs of such. Rhode had taught her as much. And the sense of foreboding and weight that surrounded everything told her it was likely a prophetic one. Normally she'd take pride in having mastered something her sister taught her but she couldn't this time, not when the content of the dream was breaking her heart.
In front of her was Rhode, wrapped in chains and forced to hold up some massive weights over her head. All the while, parts of her were chipping off like she was some living ice sculpture due to the strain.
Thalia tried to reach out to her sister, offer her some help or comfort or something. But as soon as the thought crossed her mind, the scene shifted. Not that what it became was much better.
This time Rhode wasn't in any visible pain. Instead, she was imprisoned, not that it was that big of an improvement, in a golden cage atop a mountain seemingly made out of raw darkness and looking forlornly out of the bars of the cage as she sung the opening verse of Madonna's Rescue Me.
"I'm talking, I'm talking. I believe in the power of love. I'm singing, I'm singing, I believe that you can rescue me."
Waking up as the last line of the verse left Rhode's lips, Thalia immediately threw off the sheets of the nice four poster bed that Rhode had bought for her and whilst still dressed in her pajamas consisting of a contrast stripe tee and pants which coincidentally were another gift from her sister, she raced up to the Big House. All the while ignoring how the gravel and wet dew covered grass irritated her bare feet.
At the Big House, she was unsurprised to find Jack already there standing just next to its front door and shouting at Chiron who was looking down at him from the wraparound porch.
"Just organize a rescue mission already, you old horse!" The son of Khione demanded. "Rhode's been the Titans' prisoner for long enough! Who knows what they've done to her already!?"
"Yeah, Chiron. We need to hurry!" Thalia said in between gasps of air as she caught her breath from her run. "I just had a prophetic dream! She's being tortured! We need to rescue her! Now!"
"A prophetic dream?" Chiron asked, looking at Thalia sharply. "Are you sure?"
"Yes," Thalia insisted. "Rhode taught me how to spot the signs!"
"And you'd be right." Mr. D said as he teleported out from a purple mist to stand next to Chiron. "But it changes nothing."
Thalia and Jack both opened their mouths to call bullshit but no sounds came out of them.
"It's too early in the morning for backtalk from a pair of wet behind the ears mortals," the god said, glaring at them both with his beady bloodshot purple eyes. "So I've silenced you. Consider yourselves lucky that's all I'm doing for ruining my morning."
"Mr. D-"
"Oh, don't worry Chiron. It's just temporary." The god said with a dismissive wave towards the centaur. "As for you brats, listen clearly because I will only explain this to you once. And you Chiron, better listen too before you go sending our Campers off on missions without consulting us again. Whether the gods decide there's to be a quest or mission or whatnot is up to us. And any leaders we appoint. Not a pair of emotionally compromised spoiled children and never without our consent. And we've decided it's not time yet. Got it?"
Before Thalia could do anything else, she found herself back in Cabin One apparently having been teleported back there by Mr. D.
"Damn you!" She cursed, her voice apparently having been returned to her as she picked up the nearest object, her pillow, and tossed it against a wall in her frustration.
It was the day before the Capture The Flag game, and Su hated the very idea that Camp activities were continuing unaffected even with Rhode kidnapped by the enemy, and the daughter of Demeter was attending a meeting of the Head Counselors as they brainstormed how they planned to face the Hunters.
"So everyone is clear on the plan?" Sherman Young, Clarisse's stand in whilst the more senior child of Ares was missing doing who knows what, asked as he eyed everyone in turn, receiving eager nods from everyone.
"We'll beat the Hunters, doing something Campers have never done before and prove ourselves to the gods and demand a reward." Su said with burning determination flowing through her veins once everyone had nodded. "And ask that reward to be a mission to rescue Rhode."
"For Rhode," Percy said, his face dark and radiating menace as he played with the Pallas Armor coin between his fingers.
"For Rhode!" Everyone chorused with determination.
During the Capture The Flag game, Jack found himself assigned to the team led by Annabeth as they made their way as stealthily as they could towards the Hunter's flag. And with him being the lynchpin of their plan to win the game no less. It almost made him giddy. That when they won, they'd be able to leverage the victory into a rescue mission for his girlfriend was just icing on top of the cake.
"Still no sign of them?" Jack asked as the daughter of Athena removed her invisibility granting Yankees hat and shook her head whilst stepping out of the undergrowth to join them huddled inside a concealing thicket.
"It's an ambush." Her brother Malcolm said with a frown. "But why wait till now to spring it? We're almost at their flag."
"Pride." Travis Stoll, older of the Stoll brothers and co-counselor of the Hermes' Cabin said.
"They want to show off." Connor, his younger brother and fellow co-counselor of the Hermes' Cabin added.
"Well, we'll just need to turn the tables on them won't we?" Jack shot back.
Everyone nodded, determination shining brightly in their eyes.
The remaining distance to the flag was as uneventful as the rest so far, but the group of Athena and Cabin Eleven Campers didn't let their guard down. They knew full well they were walking into an ambush after all and were just waiting for it to be sprung.
As it happened, it was just as Annabeth, under the invisibility of her magical baseball cap, snuck cautiously into the clearing where the Hunters had planted their flag that the aforementioned immortals chose to fall upon them.
"Got you!" A short girl that didn't look older than eleven said as the arrow she fired from her perch in the branches of a tree overlooking the clearing successfully knocked Annabeth's hat clean off her head and made her visible. "You might be invisible but you're noisy as hell! Your friends too! Get'em girls!"
At that dozens of previously concealed Hunters made themselves known, bows raised with arrows nocked and aimed at every single Camper there. Heck, just with a quick count Jack realised it was more like three arrows per Camper.
"Jack, now!" Annabeth shouted as she pulled out a Celestial Bronze boomerang, of all things, and threw it at the girl that was this group of Hunters' apparent leader even as she dove out of the way of the Hunter's arrows.
Jack didn't need the prompting. As soon as he got a fix on the Hunters, something he'd gotten as soon as they finally dropped whatever bullshit stealth magic they used, thanks to his ability to sense things through the snow that blanketed everything this late in winter, he'd begun channeling his power.
"Get frozen!" He shouted as he flash froze all the Hunters. "It won't hold for long, Annabeth! Toss me the flag!"
"Here!" The head counselor of Cabin Six said as she tossed the Hunter's flag his way.
Deftly catching it even as he got onto his staff, he shot off into the sky the moment he had it secure under his right arm. Just in time too, as he was still climbing out of the treetops when the icy prisons he'd trapped the Hunters in shattered and without so much as missing a beat they began shooting arrows his way.
He wasn't worried though.
This was his season, his element. The Hunters were worthless compared to how much power the cold crisp air granted him. It's my time to shine, suck it you Girl Scouts.
With the boost he got from the season, he was simply too fast and agile for them and he easily zipped and zagged his way through their fire, making a beeline for the creek and victory.
Whilst Jack and Annabeth were stealing the Hunter's flag, Su was leading her Cabin as part of the team defending the creek that separated the two halves of the Capture The Flag play area and the crossing of which with the flag decided victory.
It was a boring affair so far and a number of her siblings' attention had started to drift, but a few snaps of Helel's tendrils had them back on full alert. Didn't they know how important it was that they won this game? That Rhode's life might well depend on it? How dare they slack off!?
"Uh, Su," Miranda said warily. "A runner from the group at our flag just came by with a message. It looks like the Hunters got it and are making their way over here. We need to hold them off until the others can converge on our location."
"Got it, Miranda. Thank you." Su said with a brisk nod, before raising her voice to address the rest of her Cabin. "You heard Miranda. We've got incoming. Look lively!"
She got a series of acknowledgements as her siblings readied for battle, some drawing their swords and those with them calling on their plant allies. As for Su herself? She wrapped herself in her Ent armor and had Helel's vines grow to their maximum extent thus surrounding her in a mass of writhing tendrils.
Su heard the plant song from the trees in her mind warning of the Hunter's approach long before she heard anything with her ears. The power of flora wasn't as strong in winter, but it was still there and still readily answered her call.
"You shall not pass." Su hissed like a viper as she commanded the plants to rise, to wake from their slumber and attack her current enemies that were in the way of saving Rhode.
Whole leafless trees that had been hibernating the winter away awoke and began swinging their branches at silver blurs that shot towards Su and her siblings. But none scored a blow, the Hunters were simply too agile to be hit by the sluggish swings of the sleepy trees.
Her anger began to boil over at the sight. Su refused to just let them pass. And if anything, the anger of Demeter was to be feared.
"Sunflower Cannon!" Su roared as the tips of Helel's vines transformed into giant sunflowers and began firing their seeds at the incoming Hunters at hypersonic speeds, tearing whole sections off anything they hit.
It seemed this was at last something that the damnable Hunters could not dodge and most of them were knocked to the ground with serious wounds from Su's deadly bullet seeds.
"Cabin Four! Get them while they're down!" Su roared and for a moment her siblings hesitated, causing her to growl and turn to them in anger. "What are you waiting for!?"
"Oh Hades, she's gone full Mom." One of her siblings whimpered, but they all obeyed.
As they should.
"She's nowhere as terrifying as Lady Demeter." The familiar form of the Lieutenant of Artemis and the Hunters' leader, Zoë Nightshade, said as she leapt at Su with her twin silver daggers drawn and the Campers' flag strapped to her back.
Su's soil black eyes cut to the Hunter, even as she sent Helel's vines whipping through the air at her as her blood sang with the need to see the Hunter defeated and broken before her.
"Though thee makes a good attempt. Well met, young harvester." The tall, lithe girl with brown eyes, a slightly upturned nose, copper-colored skin, and a silver circlet braided into the top of her long, dark hair said as she spun and somehow transformed into a sliver dervish that cut any of Helel's vines that got anywhere near her to pieces.
Su's eyes widened marginally at this, especially as the silver blender got closer and closer to her by the second. Guess I might have to try something drastic.
Just as she was about to activate her next trump card though, a big black blur slammed into the Hunter from the side and sent her tumbling to the ground. A blur that as the Hunter, in a show of truly superhuman strength, kicked it off her was revealed to be Beckendorf.
"Cavalry's here, Su." The counselor of Hephaestus Cabin said as he rolled back to his feet as he promptly moved to tackle the Hunter once more.
"Do not touch me, boy!" Zoë screamed with cold fury as she stepped to the side, grabbed his arm and in one swift, graceful move managed to send him tumbling to the ground where she promptly stabbed him in the shoulder with an arrow that visibly dripped with some kind of poison.
Sedative. Su concluded when Beckendorf immediately passed out and she attempted to punch the nimble Hunter with her Ent armor's massive fists. Not so much to actually hit her but to force her back a little so that she could work a little rapid alteration on Helel. With a little concentration, small pods grew rapidly along the vines that glowed a deep orange as they swelled. Their soft shells cracking and breaking as they grew to the size of golfballs.
As they burst, they released a noxious, vile green gas from the broken pods. It hissed and spread the tiny particles it carried in the chilly breeze, covering the area in her poisonous pollen.
"Thy ability of alteration is frightful. Thee would do well within the Hunters." Zoë informed her, disturbingly unaffected by her poison.
"Sorry, but I'm already in love." Su retorted as she tried to lash out with Helel's vines. "I have it on good authority your goddess would disapprove."
"Ah, a shame thy hormones affect thee so."
"Don't you dare cheapen what I feel for Rhode to mere hormones, you dried up twat! Unlike you, I don't pretend to live in Neverland. I'm not afraid of the real world."
"What Su said." A cold, dark voice said and both Su and Zoë paused as they turned to warily eye the new arrival.
Su was unsurprised to find Percy stalking towards them, his whole body radiating barely restrained violent intent and as he did Riptide materialised in his hand even as he tapped the belt buckle of Rhode's belt that he was wearing and the Pallas Armor formed around his body.
"Time to go down, Nightshade." The son of Poseidon said, as the entire creek behind them seemed to explode as all the water shot up into the air as it transformed into a single gigantic serpentine construct. "I won't let you stand in the way of rescuing my sister."
With his statement made, Percy unleashed the full fury of the creek he'd seized control of by having the serpentine construct he'd shaped it into change into a literal tsunami. One that flowed harmlessly around the Campers but wrapped around every Hunter in its path towards Zoë in a spherical prison of water.
Not to be outdone, Su added her own little addon to the devastating attack and sticking Helel's vines into the flowing water, she had it pump contact based sedatives, of various different formulations, into it.
"Lady Tyche, why hast thou forsaken me? To face a desperate sibling. Truly thou hast cast me aside." Zoë managed to bemoan before she was consumed by the torrent Percy had unleashed and swiftly wrapped up in a watery prison.
One that young Nico di Angelo ran up to as his contingent of Campers arrived and spat into.
"And that's for tricking my sister into abandoning me," the little boy said angrily with a vicious look in his eyes, before turning and stalking off.
Su shook her head in amusement at the sight before turning to Percy who was just deactivating the Pallas Armor.
"Any news from the team we sent to take the Hunter's flag?"
"No," Percy said with a frown.
"Think we should send them some backup?"
"No need," Lee Fletcher, counselor for Apollo Cabin said as he and his siblings arrived.
"I see Jack with their flag on the way. You guys should be able to spot him in three. Two-"
"I see Jack! I think he has the flag!" Someone shouted, pointing eagerly towards the opposite side of the creek.
Su turned in the direction the boy was pointing and sure enough, Jack was indeed on the way.
As much as Su hated it, at least the boy was good for something.
If only once.
"We've won." Jack declared pompously as he landed on their side of the creek, causing the Hunter's flag dedicated to Artemis to transform into one bearing the sigil of Khione.
He frowned at the sight of his mother's symbol and tossed the flag away in disgust but it was quickly snapped up by someone else as Campers mobbed him, chanting his name and attributing their victory to him.
"Disgusting," Thalia said as she arrived with Cabin Five which she'd grouped up with for the game. "It's not like he was the only one responsible for our victory."
"Does it matter who is?" Percy asked and Su nodded, transforming Helel back to normal and reabsorbing the Ent armor into the seeds she'd strategically embedded into her skin.
"All that matters is that now we can go petition the gods to let us rescue Rhode." Su said as she returned to normal.
"Right, yeah." Thalia nodded, but still shooting a dirty look Jack's way.
The sound of hoofs in the distance, barely audible even to her enhanced demigod hearing over the loudly celebrating Campers, meant that Chiron was on his way to declare their victory. Something that almost brought a smile to Su's face, but even as her muscles twitched to do so, a sudden ill feeling washed over her.
Immediately, she and her siblings, and to her surprise the two di Angelo children, turned to see the mummified corpse of the last Pythia that was the respectacle for the legendary oracle staggering over to the group.
"The Oracle," Miranda shouted seconds before Su herself could, causing everyone to turn to face the stumbling mummy.
"What-!" Chiron said as he spun around just shy of the Campers and joined them in gaping as the undead horror shambled towards them from behind him.
Said undead abomination waited till it had everyone's attention before it opened its mouth and released a cloud of sickly green smoke that wrapped around it and transformed its appearance into a simulacra of Rhode as it addressed them in the daughter of Poseidon's voice.
"Five shall go west to the goddess in chains,
One shall be lost in the land without rain,
The bane of Olympus shows the trail,
Campers and Hunters combined prevail,
The Titan's curse must one withstand,
And one shall perish by a parent's hand."
"Well, that's a thing." Mr. D said with a smile as he teleported in and the mummy turned around to stagger back towards the Big House. "And now it's finally time."
"Time for what?" A particularly clueless Hunter asked. "And 'the goddess in chains'? That's not Lady Artemis is it? It can't be, right?"
"Who knows? As for what it's time for? A rescue mission, that's what." Mr. D said, shooting the girl a disgusted look. "Zoë Nightshade as the leader of the Hunters, you will liaise with the leader of the Camper contingent and make the arrangements."
"Of course, Lord Dionysus." The Lieutenant of Artemis said with a bow. "And who will that be?"
"Thalia Grace," Mr. D said, looking at his half sister with his eyes ablaze with purple fire. "Make sure you bring Poseidon's girl back, you hear me?"
"Of course, I will." Thalia shot back with burning determination.
Now how am I going to convince her to take me on this quest.
Even as Camp prepared to mount her rescue, Rhode found herself being all chained up and dragged at sword point by a pair of Telekhines as they escorted her behind Luke to some place or other in the rebuilding fortress of the Titans on Mount Othrys. When she'd first been brought here, it was a ruin with only the lower levels fit for habitation but in the mere days since then it had magically rebuilt itself to the point that it was almost as if Lord Zeus had never blasted it into oblivion in the First Titanomachy. It only had the very tops of its towers left to rebuild and even those were well on their way to completion as stones magically floated into the air and into place.
"And here we are," Luke said as they arrived at an open field outside the still partially ruined fortress. "The point where the sky meets the earth."
"L-Luke, I-I can't take this a-anymore! S-Switch! Please!" A kneeling girl about Rhode's own age with bone white hair said as she held up a swirling mass of clouds on her shoulders. She was bleeding from her eyes and her voice was rasping as if she was dying.
"Don't worry, Pam. I've brought your replacement right here." The son of Hermes said sweetly.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" The girl sobbed in joy.
Luke offered the girl a smile before turning to Rhode. "You know what you need to do, correct, Rhode?"
Rhode felt for the girl. She looked like she was about to die. But despite that, she remained defiant. She refused to do what Luke or his Titan masters wanted her to.
"She joined up, it's not my fault she is getting fucked over for it."
The girl must've heard her because she screamed in despair at hearing that, causing Rhode to flinch in sympathy.
"See, you're not that cold hearted." Luke said with a victorious smirk, his hand ghosting along her shoulder and forcing her to jerk harshly to force it off. "Not as much as you pretend. But if you still want to act like it, well… Can you really do so even if Pam dies? She won't last much longer, you know. And when she does die, without anyone to hold it up, the sky will impact the Earth. The world won't end thankfully. But the impact will be like a meteor strike and since we're just a stone's throw away from San Francisco… Well, millions will likely die."
"You'll die too," Rhode spat at him, her sea green eyes trying to bore a hole in his face.
"Really? You think Lord Atlas and our other allies won't protect us? Will the gods do the same for you and the Campers? Or the mortals?" Luke said, with a smarmy smirk.
This had Rhode hesitating. The gods were bound by rules that prevented them from intervening too much or end up creating worse consequences for doing so. But would the Titans care about that? They were rebelling against the order of the world weren't they? So why would they care about following the rules?
They might actually do it…
"Mommy!" The girl, Pam, cried out. Snot dribbled down her nose, mixed with blood as the girl looked like she'd pop like a water balloon. "Mommy, it hurts! Please make it stop! Mommy, make it stop! I'll be good, please, just make it stop!"
Pam's desperate cries broke Rhode's heart and made her decision for her.
"Fine," Rhode spat, disgusted. With Luke? With herself for caving? She didn't know.
Luke just smiled and nodded to the Telekhines who promptly worked their magical craftsmanship and unshackled the lockless chains that had been wrapped around her, and using their swords nudged her to stand behind the by now all but prostrate Pam.
"Take it from her back, Rhode." Luke encouraged in a sickly sweet voice. "It's as easy at that."
Rhode didn't bother to respond, just picked up the mass of clouds, which felt deceptively light for the moment, off Pam's shoulders and transferred it to her own back. It was only as the mass, the sky, settled itself on her shoulders that the weight hit her.
Holding up the sky was agony unlike anything else. The weight was one thing, the immeasurable weight of the heavens was incredible and if Rhode wasn't in too much pain to think, she'd have been shocked that she wasn't instantly crushed by it alone. Instead, as the incomprehensible mass of the sky pressed down on her shoulders, Rhode felt like her body was burning from the strain, a burning so intense that it numbed but never fully dulled her senses and mind, leaving her in a pain addled haze. She could feel parts of herself burn away in the intense blaze. Were they body parts? Parts of her psyche? She didn't know and was in too much agony to care. All she could manage was a vague feeling of loss as they were crushed into nothingness by the immense weight of the sky pressing down on her being. Her only comfort was the unknown source of gentle cold that centred around her belly that fought against the fire coursing through her body but even that was struggling, growing weaker by the second.
It was as this strange comforting cold was beginning to truly weaken when a living statue of a bald man with grey eyes like stone, light brown skin, and a very muscular build teleported to stand beside Luke. Though he dwarfed the son of Hermes by at least two feet. This was the Titan of Endurance, Atlas.
"Hm, I must say Castellan, I am rather displeased with this development." The Titan frowned heavily. "We needed a maiden to attract Artemis, yet this woman's already been bedded and is carrying a whelp too. We will need to rethink our plans"
"Rhode's not a virgin!? She's pregnant!?" Luke said, sounding so flabbergasted as his face turned a dark red in his anger. "Who would dare touch her?! She's supposed to be mine! That was the- Jack, that little fucker. I'll gut him over his mother's head!"
The news that she was with child shocked Rhode enough that it actually registered despite the all consuming pain that clouded her mind. Even managing to clear it somewhat.
T-The comforting cold… I-It's m-my baby. Rhode realised in her moment of clarity even as it passed and her mind was once more completely frazzled by the incalculable pain.
"Wait! No matter!" Luke said suddenly before chuckling. "It doesn't matter! None of that matters! All that does is that I have Rhode now! Now and forever!"
With that he grabbed hold of Rhode's slack head and stole a kiss. A forceful kiss that left Rhode's lips bruised.
Not that the pain registered through the agony of holding up the sky. Though if it had, she probably would've been thankful that the damn bastard didn't want more. It would have honestly frightened her to her core that Luke had wanted a kiss. That he had romantic feelings for her at all.
"I've formulated a new plan." The Titan said suddenly, before looking to one of the Telekhines. "Go bring a new maiden."
The dog-like sea monster nodded and scampered off to obey.
Luke, looking alarmed, turned to Atlas but before he could say anything the Titan cut him off.
"Do not fret, Castellan." The Titan of Endurance said with a malicious grin. "Your precious toy is yours to keep, Lord Kronos promised, did he not? As for our plans, we will just see about using her in another way."
Luke nodded, quelled by this reassurance, and fell silent as he and the Titan stood silently watching Rhode suffer. The cooling comfort of her baby's power waning and her agony growing as a result.
"I have brought the replacement, Lord Atlas." The Telekhine said, an indeterminate amount of time later.
"Sarah," Luke said, addressing the young female demigod that the monster had brought. "Your mortal family lives in San Francisco, right?"
The previously confused demigod's eyes widened in horror even as she nodded.
"Then you know what to do." Luke sneered at the girl. "Take it now!"
The girl gulped but wordlessly nodded and willingly took the burden of the sky from Rhode, who collapsed feeling as if she was somehow lesser from even her brief time bearing the weight of the heavens.
She was so weak that she did nothing as Luke picked her up in a princess carry and carried her away. All she could do was watch as the poor Sarah girl almost instantly crumbled to her knees under the burden of the sky.
"Ah, this will do nicely! Excellent!" Atlas crowed with a bloodthirsty smile. "Try not to die too quickly, child."
The last sight Rhode saw as her exhaustion claimed her was of the near dead Pam lying by the side of the entrance into the fortress Luke was using and being tended to by one of her fellow traitor demigods. She looked like a living mummy. Not unlike the Oracle back at Camp. The only sign the poor emaciated girl was even alive was her shallow, labored breathing.
Do I look like that too? Rhode thought as darkness claimed her.
Maybe a day later, between the weakness from holding up the sky and the bouts of unconsciousness it caused Rhode couldn't quite tell the time properly, the daughter of Poseidon found herself escorted at the point of their spears by a group of Scythian Dracanae to a large pool where Atlas and Luke were waiting for her.
As she approached the pool, the abundance of water tempted her to try something and she tentatively reached out to it with her powers. However, the moment she did, the golden collar around her neck turned burning hot even as red lightning arced off it and the magical artifact cut off her powers before so much as a ripple spread across the pool's surface.
"Really, Rhode." Luke said chidingly as Rhode writhed in pain, yet refusing to fall to her knees from the pain. "You know that the collar seals your powers and punishes you for attempting to access them. If we blocked Spellbound from returning to you like its enchantment was designed to, did you honestly think that we wouldn't seal away your most powerful weapon too?"
"Yes, the God-Butcher does good work." The Titan said with a smirk, apparently pleased with watching Rhode's suffering. "Perhaps she might be worth keeping alive even after we win this war."
Ignoring Luke and his Titan master, Rhode focused on shaking off the effects of her latest burn and electrocution.
"W-What do you want t-this time?" She croaked out at last.
"I want to test something." Atlas said, looking at her like she was a particularly interesting insect. "I want to see if you can use your authority as a daughter of Poseidon to summon the Ophiotaurus."
Rhode knew about the Ophiotaurus. She'd read all about it back at Camp. If the ancient monster was slain and its entrails burnt it would bring about the downfall of the gods. There was no way she would help the Titans summon the creature.
"I refuse."
At this, Atlas looked at Luke sharply and he nodded in reply.
"Are you that hasty, Rhode?" Luke said, stepping towards her. "Think about your friends outside Camp, your acquaintances in the Wizarding World, the Lilies-"
"If you refuse," Atlas cut in. "I'll hunt them down, drag them before you and kill them in front of your eyes."
Rhode felt her hackles rise as she glared nothing but death and hate at the Titan, who smirked at her.
"My, my, you really are your Father's daughter. It's in the eyes you know. Now, your answer?"
"Fine, I'll do it." Rhode said after a long moment of consideration, she was confident that it wouldn't work anyways.
She'd never been able to summon ocean life before so why would she be able to now? Besides wasn't the Ophiotaurus an ancient monster that emerged from Chaos with Gaea and Ouranos? Wouldn't that make it powerful enough to ignore her power even if she did? She was pretty sure it was anyways.
"So how do I do this?" Rhode asked honestly.
"Just call out its name." Luke told her with a smile that he probably thought made him look handsome but which Rhode just found demented. "We have reason to believe it's tied itself to the fate of a half-blood child of Poseidon. If that child is you, then just calling its name should summon it."
"And if it's tied to Percy?" Rhode asked, worried for her little brother.
"Then we'll-"
"Make alternative plans." Atlas said cutting Luke off, shooting him a warning glare. "Now, attempt to call the beast, girl."
"Ophiotaurus!" Rhode shouted, to absolutely no effect.
"Try again!"
Rhode shot Luke a raised eyebrow, wondering at his insistence, but just shrugged and did as he demanded.
"Ophiotaurus!"
Again, absolutely nothing happened.
"It seems she is not the one that the beast has chosen." Atlas said with a nod that told Rhode he had already expected as much. "Take her away."
The Dracanae began leading Rhode away, making ample use of their spear points to do so.
As she left, she heard the Titan speak to Luke,
"You really need not worry so much Castellan. Lord Kronos promised did he not, that you'd have your pet. Or do you doubt his promises? There is no need for you to keep coming up with these harebrained ideas to try and make her useful to justify us keeping her alive."
"I know, my lord, but I worry. You cannot fault me for that."
Judging by the angry tone that Atlas took as his voice became unintelligible due to distance, the Titan certainly could. Rhode almost pitied Luke for gaining the Titan's ire. Almost.
She was a little too busy fighting the bile rising in her throat to have any sympathy for him. She felt sick and disgusted at his desire for her. Does he really think this is romantic? Keeping me as a prisoner and stuffed into a dark hole? Oh yes, please fucking feel me up! Fucking moron.
"Don't dawdle, godling!" The Dracanae behind her hissed irritably as she poked Rhode's back with the tip of her spear, causing her to jerk forward and pick up her pace.
But it's that sick lust of his that's keeping them from killing me. Rhode concluded with a shudder, something that seemed to amuse her serpentine guards who chuckled at her expense.
It was tempting, very tempting to give these bitch lizards some lip, but she kept her fury in check. Without her powers, without her weapons, she was stuck at their mercy. The second I can get out of this though? Oh, you bitches better drop a spoil, because I'm going to make you into boots.
But now was not that time. Getting beat up for defiance whilst satisfying wouldn't be helpful.
I've gotta stay in as good shape as I can for when the others come rescue me. Rhode thought to herself with determination. That way, I won't be a burden as we make our getaway.
The thought that nobody was coming did not even cross her mind. Her family would come for her. She knew they would.
Done and done! Thanks to Nameless and Axios as always!
Ah, there we go. The start of Titan's Curse and it's been changed big time! Like, holy hell did we change stuff. Rhode, our MC, has taken the damsel role, for now. We'll see what happens. Now let's get to Camp's reaction. As we've shown, Rhode is a leader at Camp. The reactions show just how pissed and upset most of them are that she has been taken. Her closer friends and family, feeling the burn even more. The Capture the Flag game was changed up big time, with all the power players there to handle it, the Hunters got cold cocked in the face for sure. If you read between the lines, you might notice a few things in there for really subtext reading fans.
Nameless: Okay, the big thing I want to point out this chapter for those who didn't read between the lines, is how Jack responded to Rhode's kidnapping in comparison to every other one of her loved ones. If you read things carefully, you'd notice that unlike the others, Jack was the only one who wasn't consumed entirely with thoughts of Rhode. He was the only one who still had the wherewithal in the situation to gloat over getting one over the Hunters independent of any thoughts of Rhode. In contrast, everyone else's thoughts, regardless of what they were doing, always revolved back to Rhode.
Now, some might call foul on how we've made Rhode helpless, a damsel and so on. I mean, she was taken prisoner, people! Did you think they wouldn't put restraints or other means so she couldn't call upon her power? The power of Poseidon? This isn't Princess Peach in Bowser's castle. This is a highly trained and deadly warrior who could mow down waves of their forces. If they didn't put her in extra chains and the like, I'd question their competency.
Nameless: Exactly. And as Rhode herself mentioned at the end of the chapter, she's just biding her time. When the opportunity presents itself she'll be more than willing and able to be an active participant in her own rescue. She, and I guess readers, will just have to be patient. ;)
On a more general reply to the various criticisms to what we've been putting Rhode through, here's something to consider: Putting characters, even already strong characters, through difficult situations is a perfect way to make them even stronger as they overcome it. Look at how Princess Leia, who was already established as a very strong character by that point in the story, was enslaved and publicly humiliated by Jabba the Hutt in the first act of Return of the Jedi and eventually turned the tables and killed the Hutt with the very leash he used to objectify her. We are simply trying to do the same with Rhode here.
E4E: You know what to do! Smash that review button and tell us what you love! No flames and peace off my peeps!