In which Percy is not in very good condition right now, poor thing.
Replies:
Thickneck: Yeah, Percy's pretty good at pretending.
Undeath9087: Yeah, they'd have been dead in seconds without Bob running interference.
Drizzle: Percy would ask that you give her blue cookies please.
Guest: Luckily for them it doesn't lol.

Tartarus laughed- the sound was almost like a mountain cracking in half- Percy wasn't even sure it was a laugh- it sounded half like a roar. Either way she doubted that it was a good sign for the three Demigods and one Titan.

"This form is only a small manifestation of my power," he spoke, "But it is enough to deal with you. I do not interfere lightly, little demigod. It is beneath me to deal with gnats such as yourself."

"Uh-" Percy's throat was very dry, it was not a nice feeling as she stared up at the- god didn't even feel like the right word really. And fuck but her legs were shaking so much she half expected them to collapse beneath her. "I mean- I feel the need to point out that you don't actually have to. Like, really, you don't want to go to any trouble just for us. We're nothing special really. You could just ignore us."

"You have proven surprisingly resilient," Tartarus said. "You have come too far. I can no longer stand by and watch your progress."

Hm, that was very much not good, very very much not good. They were dead- they were so dead. Percy could barely breath with the terror clawing its way up her throat.

How could she protect her brothers from a monster like this?

And she watched as Tartarus spread his arms and throughout the valley thousands of monsters wailed and roared, clashing their weapons and bellowing in triumph- never a sound Percy enjoyed hearing. And the Doors of Death shuddered in their chains.

"You should be honored little demigods." Tartarus told them- and really, really? Percy was feeling distinctly not honored thank you very much, "Even the Olympians were never worthy of my personal attention. But you, you will be destroyed by Tartarus himself."

And all around them the roars of triumph faded- and Percy's gaze flicked towards her brothers- Leo and Nico both had tears streaming down their faces, they were staring up at Tartarus- and Percy could almost feel the despair rolling off of them both.

That was actually pretty understandable under the circumstances. Percy blinked back her own tears.

Her brothers were here because of her. Because she'd fallen and they'd refused to let her fall alone- and despite how hard she tried she couldn't force away those horrible thoughts, whispering that they'd had so much left to live for- love and futures.

All she'd ever wanted was to protect the people she loved and she was going to lose them, There was no chance of her managing to save her brothers, no matter how much she wished she could. And she had to forced down her own flood of tears at that. She would defend them with her dying breath but she would not lose hope she would not let herself cry in front of him.

Percy forced herself to straighten up, staring up at Tartarus as silence descended around them- and it was very, very clear that the monsters were all waiting for Tartarus to act.

The god of the pit flexed his fingers, examining his own polished black talons. He had no expression, but he straightened his shoulders as if he were pleased.

"It is good to have form," he intoned. With these hands, "I can eviscerate you." His voice sounded like a backward recording—as if the words were being sucked into the vortex of his face rather than projected. In fact, everything seemed to be drawn toward the face of this god—the dim light, the poisonous clouds, the essence of the monsters, even Percy's own fragile life force. She looked around and realized that every object on this vast plain had grown a vaporous comet's tail—all pointing toward Tartarus.

Percy swallowed hard, she wasn't sure what she should do- should she grab the boys and try to run? Should she distract him to try and give her brothers the chance to escape- but the attempt would be useless wouldn't it? There was no way Percy could buy them enough time to get away from Tartarus.

What would happen if Tartarus decided to kill them? Would there be any rebirth? For some reason Percy doubted that she'd just get sent back to Elysium.

She felt her sword slipping from her grip, and she heard it hit the ground with a thud but she didn't care.

Tartarus hissed again- laughing. He was laughing at them- but even Percy's anger wasn't hot enough to force back the icy terror that was overwhelming. "Your fear smells wonderful." he told them, "I see the appeal of having a physical body with so many senses. Perhaps my beloved Gaea is right, wishing to wake from her slumber.

And he stretched out his massive purple hand towards Percy- she needed to run, needed to do something, anything other than just stand there. But she couldn't move, could barely breath- and then Bob was in front of her.

"Begone!" The Titan levelled his spear at the god. "You have no right to meddle!"

And Percy's hand flew up to press over her mouth, stifling her shocked gasp.

"Meddle." Tartarus tilted his head. "I am the lord of all creatures of the darkness, puny Iapetus. I can do as I please.
His black cyclone face spun faster. The howling sound was so horrible that Percy let out a horrified cry, clutching at her ears as Bob stumbled, the whispy comet tail of his life force growing longer as it was sucked towards the face of the god.
Bob roared in defiance. He charged and thrust his spear at Tartarus's chest. Before it could connect, Tartarus swatted Bob aside like he was a pesky insect. The Titan went sprawling.

"Why do you not disintegrate?" Tartarus mused. "You are nothing. You are even weaker than Krios and Hyperion."

"I am Bob," said Bob.

Tartarus hissed. "What is that? What is Bob?"

"I choose to be more than Iapetus," said the Titan. "You do not control me. I am not like my brothers."

The collar of his coveralls bulged. Small Bob leaped out. The kitten landed on the ground in front of his master, then arched his back and hissed at the lord of the abyss.

Percy was crying now she realised- but not out of fear- and that made it okay. The tears were tears of gratitude for their Titan friend. And she watched as Small Bob began to grow, his form flickering until the little kitten had become a full-sized, translucent skeletal saber-toothed tiger.

"Also," Bob announced, "I have a good cat."

No-Longer-Small Bob sprang at Tartarus, sinking his claws into Tartarus's thigh. The tiger scrambled up his leg, straight under the god's chain-link skirt. Tartarus stomped and howled, apparently no longer enamoured with having a physical form. Meanwhile, Bob thrust his spear into the god's side, right below his breastplate.

Tartarus roared. He swatted at Bob, but the Titan backed out of reach. Bob thrust out his fingers. His spear yanked itself free of the god's flesh and flew back to Bob's hand, Percy's mouth dropped open in awe- and she could see out of the corner of her eye that Nico and Leo were straightening- staring with just as much awe as she was.

A second later Small Bob dropped out of Tartarus's skirt. He ran to his master's side, his saber-toothed fangs dripping with golden ichor.

You will die first, Iapetus, Tartarus decided. Afterward, I will add your soul to my armor, where it will slowly dissolve, over and over, in eternal agony.

Tartarus pounded his fist against his breastplate. Milky faces swirled in the metal, silently screaming to get out.

Bob turned toward the three demigods. "Take the Doors. I will deal with Tartarus."

"Bob-" Percy's voice cracked, "You- we love you."

"Yeah dude." Leo's voice wavered ever so slightly- because they all knew Bob was likely to die if he fought Tartarus- who threw back his head and bellowed—creating a vacuum so strong that the nearest flying demons were pulled into his vortex face and shredded.

"Deal with me? the god mocked. You are only a Titan, a lesser child of Gaea! I will make you suffer for your arrogance.

And as for your tiny mortal friends…"

Tartarus swept his hand toward the monster army, beckoning them forward. "DESTROY THEM!"

And oh no, no no that wasn't good. Percy had Riptide in her hands instantly, and she and her brothers knew each other well- Nico dove for the chains holding the Doors of Death, his Stygian Iron blade slicing through the left side moorings in a single swipe- meanwhile Percy and Leo charged into the first wave of monsters.

Nico could handle the doors- Percy and Leo would deal with the monsters- and Percy swung her sword, slicing the head off an arai- and she forced down a pained groan as she felt like she was getting sliced up- but she kept fighting, taking down half a dozen telkhines in one slice, out of the corner of her eye Percy could see that Leo was a fireball, burning so brightly that it was hard to look at him, tossing balls of fire at the monsters that weren't fire proof- and- Percy blinked- some of the balls of fire burned green, and the balls of green fire exploded on impact- taking out dozens of them at a time and Percy saw Nico lunging to the other side of the doors, slicing through the second chain- which on one hand, very good, at least they'd fucked up Gaea's plans but- well, as satisfying as that little fact was, it did mean that when the doors opened it would be their last chance to escape- after that the Doors would disappear.

Percy needed to make sure that her brothers were inside of that stupid elevator. No matter what else she did.

She winced when the Doors shuddered, and then opened with a rather pleasant dinging noise.

All the while Bob and his saber-toothed sidekick continued to weave around Tartarus's legs, attacking, and dodging to stay out of his clutches. They didn't seem to be doing much damage, but Tartarus lurched around, obviously not used to fighting in a humanoid body. He swiped and missed, swiped and missed.

More monsters surged toward the Doors. Nico fended off spears and weapons with calls of darkness, diving into the Doors as they started to close- and Percy could see what he was doing.

It was like any elevator- as long as Nico was stood where he was the doors would stay open, of course that was both a blessing and a problem because it meant Nico couldn't move.

"PERCY! LEO!" Nico screamed their named, "Get over here."

Percy glanced at Leo, squinting slightly, and gods but he was burning brightly- but- he looked like he was tiring Percy was tiring too- she had dozens of cuts all over her body- she let out a curse, sprinting towards Leo and leaping onto the back of an arai- slamming her blade through it's shoulder and dropping down- and she let out a pained scream- and gods she was pretty sure she remembered the monster that curse came from- it had been during one of their less world ending quests.

It had been a harpy that had attacked them during- she couldn't remember what they'd been doing but Percy had managed to knock it into some less than stable cliffs, which had had a small landslide and crushed the monsters legs- Percy hadn't thought much of it at the time- it had been on Kronos side after all but- now she wished she'd killed it a little more humanely.

She hit the ground hard- and she knew, there was no way she'd be able to move- but Leo was already rushing towards her, blasting back monsters with waves of fire.

"PERCY!"

"It was an arai!" Percy called, "My legs are crushed." she wasn't sure how she wasn't still screaming- it was agony but she needed to focus. "Get me to the Doors!" and then Leo was at her side, no longer engulfed in flames, and he hauled her up, Percy forcing back another scream as he backed them towards the Doors, Nico clearing a pathway with shadows that surged out and sent monsters tumbling backwards.

Then they reached Nico- and Percy swallowed hard as her gaze flicked between Nico and Leo- "I can- Leo, set me down here. You guys get in the elevator. I'll hold the button. Just go."