Rage of a Demigod
AN: Hello there, my dear readers! After the last chapter, I just needed to write another chapter. Especially after your support. Remember, reviews give the writers more motivation, so keep them coming.
Now to reviews.
Gamelover41592: Oh *beep* indeed.
Lazymanjones96: I hope I don't disappoint.
RedHood001: Thank you for all the praise.
Yes, I do know that I'm already changing the canon by including Marcus, but he is more an insertion into the already existing canon while the things I do with Phorcys and Atlas were changes that had nothing to do with Marcus being there. I just wanted to write them more complex. Still, I'm glad that it was received positively. I'm also happy that you like the way I portray Blackbeard.
And wow, did I really write the nightmare scene THAT well? I honestly thought that it wasn't really that special. Or the scene where the mist appears.
14 Of All The Consequences...
Percy and Annabeth weren't sure what to think about their situation. Here was one of the most infamous men in front of them, one they honestly forgot was back with all the things that were happening during that time. They expected to run into monsters, not pirates. Which one was better was yet to be decided.
Zoe glared at the man. She heard and even witnessed some of his vile deeds. He definitely deserved his notorious reputation. The urge to leap up and strangle him was incredibly strong in her.
"Now," Blackbeard said as he rubbed his bearded chin. "What shall we do with you?"
Percy swallowed a lump forming in his throat. "Well, um, you could let us go," he suggested in a polite tone. "You could also probably point us to where Cottus of the Hecatoncheires is."
Annabeth quickly turned to Percy. "No, don't tell him that! He's a son of Ares!"
Percy's eyes widened when he heard that. 'Another one? Ugh, me and my big mouth,' he thought as he bit his lip in frustration and embarrassment. The attention of Ares was the last thing they needed and now he might have accidentally gotten it.
Blackbeard laughed. "Indeed, young demigod. My father is Ares, the god of war. Though, I find this situation to be quite fortunate."
Zoe, still glaring at him, asked. "And how are thee fortunate?" Her voice was strained, showing her resentment, which Blackbeard either didn't notice or just ignored.
"Well, you see, my father gave me instructions to overlook the Sea of Monsters, try to find anyone suspicious," he said before smiling and looking at the trio trapped in a net. "And now I run into you, demigods who for some reason are looking for a giant, and seemingly have a gripe with Ares. I hardly think of it a coincidence."
Panic spread over the demigods and the former huntress. Right now it seemed like they would end up in the clutches of Ares.
"Look, we saved you, didn't we?" Percy asked. "If it weren't for us, you and your crew would still be guinea pigs on Circe's island. So, why don't you let us go, and consider the favor repaid?"
Blackbeard was silent for a moment as if contemplating what Percy had said. That gave Percy some hope that maybe they had a chance to get out of this.
"Men," Blackbeard called out as he turned to his crew. "Do you remember this boy as the one who saved us from that cursed witch?!" That got several nods, murmurs, and positive confirmations. "However!" He then pointed at Percy. "Weren't he and the girl also the ones who stole our ship?!" He was once again met confirmation from his men, but this time louder. "So tell me! Should we just let them go?!"
"NO!" they answered, making Blackbeard smiled.
Percy could only watch in horror. Any hope he had was dashed away.
"And what did thou think would happen?" Zoe told Percy. "There is no use in bargaining with men like him."
Blackbeard turned back to the three, his face full of mirth. "You know, my ship would have lost to me if my father didn't return it. So for what you did, you can consider your favor repaid. But, unfortunately… you three are to be kept on my ship until further notice."
Annabeth scoffed. "You said that we were even. So why are you keeping us as prisoners?"
"My dear, that is, unfortunately, something out of my-"
He interrupted as Zoe burst out of the net with her dagger in hand, shocking the crew, and rolled away from Blackbeard's reach before taking out her bow and arrows. They may have been designed to fight monsters, but Blackbeard honestly wasn't far off.
When her arrow was notched, she was ready to take aim but her eyes widened when she saw a frightened look on Percy's face as he starred into a barrel of a pistol, one belonging to Blackbeard.
"Nice try, but not quick enough," Blackbeard calmly said as he inched the pistol closer to Percy's face, with the young demigod's eyes widening further. "But I'm sure that my bullet is faster than your little arrow. So please, be polite and drop them."
Zoe glared at Blackbeard and grit her teeth in frustration. As much as she hated it, Blackbeard was right. Percy would have been shot long before her arrow pierced Blackbeard's skull.
She looked at Percy, who was now looking back. He probably would have told her to fire anyway, but even he was frightened. Then she looked at Annabeth, who had a look in her eyes that begged her to comply with Blackbeard's demands so Percy wouldn't get hurt.
With a sigh, Zoe dropped her bow down before taking off her quiver and dropping it along with her dagger.
"Now, that's better," Blackbeard said. His dark eyes then met his men. "Restrain her."
"Yes, captain!" two responded before walking over to Zoe and grabbing her by the arms.
"And now grab the other two. And get them below the deck with the others," ordered Blackbeard as he holstered his pistol.
'Others?' All three heroes thought as the crewmen removed Percy and Annabeth from the net and restrained them. They struggled for a bit but the men had a firm grip on their arms.
The three of them were being pushed towards an entrance that had stairs that led below. Once they descended the creaky stairs they were moved through a hallway that led to an open area behind a caged door, and that's where what they saw shocked them.
On each of the rooms, there were other people there, easily over two dozen of them, chained up and seated into rows of three. Most of them were women, but there were several men as well, and all were dressed in rags. In front of them were wooden planks that were obviously oars.
Percy and Annabeth actually recognized some of those women. They worked at Circe's resort that the two of them were all those years ago. They didn't have the fondest memories of that place, but seeing those women chained up, and those miserable looks on their faces they couldn't help but feel sad.
They turned their head when they heard chuckling behind them and saw Blackbeard.
"I must thank you," he said. "Not only did you free us from that witch, but you also made us immune to her magic and provided us with people for our labor work."
Percy and Annabeth glared at the pirate captain. Just how despicable can he be? He imprisoned the women from the island and essentially turned them into slaves. And from the looks of it, he didn't stop there.
"Take any valuables they may have, and put them with the others," Blackbeard ordered, with his men holding their packs, and even taking out Annabeth's dagger.
The trio were then pushed forward and walked past several rows of slaves who only looked at them with pity. They stopped at the first empty row on the right, and the men forcefully seated them, with Percy at the right end, Annabeth in the middle, and Zoe at the other end. Several crewmen picked up some metal belts and tied them around the trio's stomachs while the other picked up a chain that was pinned on their row which they pushed through the rings on the front of the belts. The chain was a smaller chain that was shackled to one long chain, connecting slaves from one side, with ones on the other side in the same predicament.
Another crewmember came, holding a pin and hammer. The others made way for him and he kneeled before putting one side of the pin inside of the chain links and began hammering into it. Loud pounding noises were heard as the chain was now pinned to the wooden board next to the seated slaves.
"There we go, nice and sturdy," the man said with a smirk before rising up. "Now you just sit there and wait. We'll be back soon." He laughed before walking away and other crewmen along with him as they shut the caged door with a loud clang.
Percy glared at the retreating men before looking down at the chains as he gave them a tug, receiving only a little rattle. "Ugh, why is now of all times that we don't have a guy with super strength with us?"
"Percy, can't you use your powers on the ship as you did before?" Annabeth asked.
Percy blinked before remembering that two years ago he was indeed able to control the ship, and with how fast things escalated he didn't have time to properly remember. But maybe this could be used to their advantage.
He closed his eyes and focus, trying to access his connection to the seawater and the ship. After a few moments, his eyes opened and he had a confused look on his face.
"What's wrong, Percy?" the blond demigoddess asked.
"I… I can't feel my connection to the sea," Percy said. "Something must be blocking it."
Annabeth was shocked to hear it but decided to have at least one more thing tested out. "Percy, can you tell us where you are currently located?"
"Why art thou asking him that? I think it's pretty obvious where we are?" Zoe asked.
"Percy has an innate ability that allows him to know sailing coordinates. It seemingly comes with being a son of Poseidon," Annabeth answered. "He was able to do it instantly when I asked him the last time."
"Yeah, well, there's a problem," Percy said. "I have no idea where I am. My mind is blank."
Annabeth gave a dejected sigh. "It would appear that Ares did something to this ship when he brought it back. We'll need some other means to escape."
An idea came to Zoe's mind. "Percy, is Anaklusmos with thee?"
Percy's mouth opened slightly as realization struck him. He quickly searched his pockets and sure enough, he found the pen. He couldn't help but smile. Having a sword that magically appears in your pocket after you lose it is very handy.
"Then we will be able to use that to escape. I'll cut the chains," Percy said as he went to uncap Riptide.
"No, wait!" Zoe called out in a harsher but quieter tone. "Listen, hide it, now." Percy wasn't sure why she said that but he obliged. "Listen," she continued. "We need to wait for a proper opportunity. They said they were returning soon so they may be here the very next second. And thou have to remember, besides Blackbeard, the other men are regular humans, and Celestial Bronze would be useless against them."
"Ah, oh, right," Percy said. He remembered the times when his sword was used on mortals where it just passed through them. And if he freed Annabeth, Zoe, and himself now, then the crewmen could, and since the three of them weren't armed they would probably be overpowered, and Blackbeard would also learn about Riptide. "So I guess we're stuck for a while."
Zoe nodded. "Unfortunately."
"Hey, what are you whispering over there?" a voice from the other side called out making the three of them look over. They saw a boy a year or two older than Percy and Annabeth looking at them. He had red hair and blue, eyes and unlike the others, he didn't seem so depressed.
The boy then smiled and waved at them. "Hi, remember me?"
The group was confused at first, not really recognizing him, but then something clicked for Annabeth. "Wait, you're Jake. A son of Hermes," she said.
"Yep, that's me," he said in a chipper tone.
"Oh, right," Percy said. "You're the one who constantly got in trouble with Chiron for breaking camp rules." He remembered several times where he saw Jake being scolded by Chiron for things like being late for archery practice or sometimes breaking the rules of competitions because he found them boring. "Didn't you defect to Kronos' side?"
Jake gave an awkward shrug. "Well, yeah I did. But then I decided I didn't really like it there, so I decided to go away from there."
"So, you defected from the camp to Kronos, only to end defecting back from Kronos?" Percy asked.
"Eh, what can I say? I didn't realize what I was signing up for. I mean, I know we weren't treated the best, but it was definitely better to be on the side of the gods. Seriously, there is no way I was going to agree to what Kronos had planned."
"And how did you end up here?" Annabeth asked.
"I was on a boat, sailing back to camp, but then this ship appeared and attacked us. I was brought here, while the other passengers…" he paused, gaining a sad look. "Let's just say there is a reason they aren't here right now."
There was a brief moment of silence as Jake finished speaking. The demigods felt bad for him, having come to his senses only to be taken prisoner and people that helped him getting killed. Even Zoe felt remorse. The young man was obviously only misguided but saw the error of his thinking and went to fix his mistakes.
"Though I must admit, I didn't expect to see you two here. You seemed too good for it to happen to you," Jake said.
Percy shrugged his shoulders. "Just goes to show that not everyone is perfect."
"Whatever you say," Jake said. "You know, you and Annabeth were a topic here for a little while." Seeing the curiosity on their faces, he went to elaborate. "Some of these women were Circe's island. And they said how the two of you broke those pirates out. They blame you for their misfortune."
Percy and Annabeth looked over and saw that some of the women were giving them the stink eye, obviously remembering them.
"Well, we…" Percy stuttered, trying to think of an excuse. "We didn't think something this bad might happen."
"Perseus Jackson," Zoe began. "Thou had left defenseless women alone with a crew filled with thieves, murderers, and rapists. What else could have happened?"
Percy, even Annabeth considering she is the one who actually brought the pirates back, couldn't help but feel guilty. Sure, they needed to escape from Circe's island at that time, but they wouldn't have wanted to leave these women to be slaves and… entertainment for the pirates.
They couldn't feel guilty for too long as the caged door opened, revealing a light-skinned man with long dark hair and a whip in his hand, and a shirtless man of African descent carrying big drumsticks.
"I hope you had a good break because it's time for us to move," the pirate with a whip said as he looked over the captives. "Jim, give them some tunes."
The pirate with drumsticks, now named Jim, smiled. "I will, Thomas. Oh, I will," he said before walking over to the drum. The slaves quickly went to grab the oars, already familiar with the routine. Percy, Annabeth, and Zoe mimicked the action, knowing this would have been expected.
Jim then began pounding on the drum, after which the slaves began rowing, following the tempo of the drum, with the trio also beginning to push and pull on the oars. The whip pirate, Thomas, then began giving several lashes as motivation, with the slaves grunting in pain as they were hit.
As Percy, Annabeth and Zoe moved the oar, they found it to be quite harder than it looked. Even the three of them had to put quite an effort to move it.
Thomas, who was overlooking the slaves, saw that the newcomers had a bit of a harder time working the oar, no doubt not used to the labor. No problem. He knew how to properly motivate people.
"Faster!" Thomas yelled as he swung his whip and hit Annabeth on the back, making her slightly scream in pain.
Percy immediately looked at his girlfriend with a worried look."Annabeth!"
"Quiet!"
Thomas once again swung his whip, this time hitting Percy on the back which made him grunt from the sudden burning sensation on his back, and then he gave another one to Annabeth, who once again yelped as slight tears formed in her eyes. Both of them now had their shirts torn, some blood forming on their backs.
Jake watched the ordeal with, a strained look on his face. It was never easy seeing someone new here getting such treatment. And to see it done on his former friends is even worse.
"Come on, keep rowing," Zoe said quietly, but loudly enough for them to hear her through the sounds of the large drum. The couple bit their lips to ignore the pain and began rowing faster.
Thomas looked at the scene smiling. Looks like he was able to give them the proper motivation. And he would continue doing so. He then moved through the rows to oversee how the others were doing.
If glares could kill, Thomas would have died a million times over with how hard Percy was glaring at him. The urge to pick up Riptide, slash his chains and attack him was almost overwhelming, but he knew he wouldn't achieve much. Riptide wouldn't hurt him, and besides a whip, the pirate had a sword of his own. And the drummer would have helped him as well.
He looked over to Annabeth and saw that she was able to bite back her tears. But when he looked at newly formed wounds on her back he couldn't help but cringe. To be hurt in such a way could even leave permanent scars.
Right now, Percy knew who to target first when they get their chance to escape.
Chiron, out of his wheelchair disguise watched a group of demigods practicing at the archery field. This practice was supposed to have been overseen by Zoe, but she never showed up, so he volunteered to take the role himself.
Another thing out of place was that Percy also wasn't at the practice. Neither did Annabeth. Only one of them being late would have been understandable, but three of them?
Chiron then saw two demigods approach him, Selina Beauregard and Charles Beckendorf. "Well, have you been able to find anything?"
They shook their heads. "Sorry, but we found nothing. Percy wasn't at the Poseidon cabin, and neither was Annabeth at the Athena cabin," Charlie explained.
"We tried asking other Athena campers but they had no idea that Annabeth was missing," Silena said. "And we couldn't find Zoe anywhere, and we had other people help us look."
Chiron frowned. This was very worrying. "Thank you, both of you. You may return to your duties." The two of them nodded before leaving, after which Chiron let out a sigh.
What happened to them? First Marcus went missing without a trace, and now the three of them had as well. Chiron just knew that those two cases were connected somehow. He would need to organize a search party, again. And this time he hoped they could find something.
To say that he didn't think of Annabeth and Percy as his own children would be a lie. And while he wasn't as close to Zoe as the other two, she was also a valuable member of the camp, getting over her distaste of the campers and helping them in their archery skills.
Chiron closed his eyes and prayed to the gods for the safety of those three. After what they've been through their lives didn't need to get worse. He wished he could do more but now he felt powerless.
In all the years of his immortal life, only now did he begin feeling his age.
AN: And that is it, my dear readers! I bet you didn't expect this to end up happening. I hope that you ended up finding it interesting, at least.
But, let me take a moment to talk to you about one thing about the Percy Jackson books. Have you noticed that super-strength among demigods is portrayed inconsistently? It only came to me as I wrote Percy talking about not having a guy with super strength. For example, in The Sea of Monsters Percy and Annabeth couldn't move a boulder, then in the next book they individually hold the sky, which should be billions of tons in weight, but in The Last Olympian, they once again can't lift a stone statue weighing twenty tons. I know the two of them holding the sky is an iconic moment but I'm just saying that them doing it is pretty inconsistent with how usually their strength is portrayed.
Sorry for the small rant, but it's just something that kind of bothers me when I wrote that they couldn't get of chains when I had the, well, Annabeth in this case, shown to hold the sky.
Anyway, I implore you to read my other stories, they'll be worth your time. And leave a review, they are great motivators.
See you next time!