Author's Note:
Yes, I should have posted this chapter two days ago. No, I don't have a good excuse, I got distracted. And then I got distracted again for four hours only for the Packers to lose to the ass that is Tom Brady. I have very strong opinions on football and I will not be taking criticism at this time, thank you very much. But that's all besides the point. Thank you for understanding.
Here we go, spiraling off into another personal character arc! (once again, despite my hatred for the person, violence can only lead to more violence. And an existential plot arc that this character is about to go down. Peaceful protesting, not what goes down here)
Cheers!
justapercyjacksonfan
Chapter 17
"That one."
"You're sure?"
"Definitely."
"Perfect. Okay, head back down that trail, but wait when it splits off. I'll be right there." Jess said.
"What are you doing, Jess?" Jo asked
"I won't be long. If you run into trouble, just yell, I'll be able to hear you." she answered, ignoring the question.
"Jess, whatever you're doing it might not be a good idea if you won't even tell me."
"Jo. I've got this. It's important for getting Bri back." Jess lied
"Oh….okay, well are you sure you don't need help."
"Of course. Go."
Jo frowned, but headed back the way the two girls had come. She glanced over her shoulder as she left, but Jess had disappeared.
…
As soon as Jo turned around, Jess ran off the trail and hid in the trees, keeping an eye on the daughter of Apollo until she was well and truly out of sight. Then, she swarmed up the large tree near the edge of the path. As she climbed she didn't get tired, instead finding it easier and speeding up as she found the perfect branch to keep an eye on her quarry.
This time, she was aware of the speed and strength that was filling her arms and legs. This time, she noticed her senses opening up, how the world became brighter and louder and more defined. There wasn't anyone else around in the small clearing the officer was standing in.
Without unsheathing her daggers, she took her aim and hurled one at him. Not to hit him. Just to draw his attention closer to the tree line. It worked. Jess picked her way down her tree, her work there done, until she was close enough to the ground that she wouldn't smack herself in the face with her jump. And then jump she did, smack onto the idiot policeman. She heard him yell out with satisfying pain in his voice. For some reason that felt foreign to her, she smiled at the thought that he was in pain. Served him fucking right.
She gave him another satisfying smack, and he groaned in pain.
"This is what happens to people who hurt my friends." she whispered, twisting his arm a little. "You never saw me. This never happened. Understand."
"I'm - taking you in." he managed to whimper out.
Her first response was to increase the pain she was inflicting to his arm. "I said, this never happened. So there's no one to take in. You. Should. Understand. Perfectly." she said, increasing the pressure with each word.
"I-"
"Understood?"
"Yes."
"Good." she released him, standing up and grabbing the knife she had thrown before disappearing and hustling to meet Jo.
"So, how was...whatever you needed to do?" Jo asked.
"Uh, fine. It's taken care of."
Jo gave her a skeptical look, but let it drop. Jess took the lead, guiding them to meet back up with Caleb and Ian. She had felt the blessing of Nemesis fade as she'd been running away from the cop.
And despite how good it felt to make him suffer, to make him feel bad, the fact that it felt good was...disturbing. It made her sick. That wasn't her. She liked the power it gave her. It let her take care of her friends. But was it really worth it if both times she used it she could feel her morals slipping away?
Yes
She could feel part of her insisting that the only thing that mattered was if the scales were balanced in the end. That the ends justified the means. That her heritage was to be the perfect and impartial vessel of vengeance. Her godly side, the thing that made her special, insisted that it didn't matter what she had to sacrifice to make sure everything worked out.
And the more she pushed the thought to the back of her mind, the more it pushed back, refusing to just be covered up. What was she supposed to do, pretend like she hadn't just assaulted a man? Her friends would be disgusted, Caleb would hate her for it! So...yeah. She had to do just that. Play it like everything was peachy, even as two sides of her mind battled to prove that they were right.
…
"Are we all clear on the plan?" Ian asked
Caleb and Jess both nodded, but Jo raised a tentative hand. "So, what am I supposed to do again?"
Ian sighed. "Cover me with your knife just in case they notice us."
"Okay...okay, I think I've got it. And the back up plan?"
"We don't have one." Jess put in. "Stay alive. Everything needs to go right."
Ian hesitated, but spoke up again. "Remember, there are five large cyclops. It took all five of us to take out that one in Florida, and Bri isn't likely to be in fighting condition. We've improved as a team since then. Rely on each other. Caleb, your freezy powers took down the Nemean Lion. Jess, you defeated the karpoi single-handed with that revenge power up. Any chance of doing that again?"
She shook her head, looking rather uncomfortable. "I don't control when it activates."
Caleb arched an eyebrow at her. Jo recognized it as the exact expression he'd worn when Bri had claimed there was no way to summon the Hunters.
"And Jo, you've held us together. Without you, we'd be even more lost and do even more bickering. We're going to get Bri back, and finish our quest."
There were nods all around as the pep talk finished. The sun was about to go down.
"Caleb, you have your Nemean lion's skin?"
He nodded. "Then it's time. Jess, find your vantage point. Jo, you're with me for finding a hiding space. And Caleb...we're covering you. Time to meet with the captors."
Author's Note:
Once again. Assault is not good. Jess just has some problems she's going to need to work out.
And now, because I'm sure someone was offended by the Tom Brady comment above...I don't care what you think, I hold my opinions proudly and without backing down. I grew up not in Wisconsin, so my entire life, I've been made fun of for liking the Packers. I genuinely didn't even care if we won the super bowl, I just did not want the Buccaneers to be able to host the super bowl, and I really wanted to kick Brady's ass. oH i wAnT tO gO bAcK tO tHe sUpEr bOwl. Bitch please, you've been there like, nine times. We haven't been since 2010. I'm just rather annoyed in general.
Moving on to more FFN relevant things.
Thank you so much to Zalibhai, for favoriting, as well as JasonMcBee, Audrey Evans1 and xXAnonumosXx for following and favoriting this story! Y'all are the fucking best.
Fairyn - thank you! I'm glad you liked it, I really didn't want it to come across as offensive!
xXAnonumosXx - to be fair, it is rather long, lol. The pillars were a mix of me needing something to keep Chaos in check and umm….I was playing a lot of Breath of the Wild when I came up with the idea for this fic. There's some pretty obvious parallels to the divine beasts! (and then chaos...calamity ganon….yeah,
Thank. Goodness. My second language is Spanish, not French, so I've been thoroughly relying on google translate. I try and make sure that it at least translates back into English, and if it doesn't, I tinker with that sentence until it translates back into what I originally typed in.
I loved separating them, so you're basically just validating all the things I love about the story! TYSM! It's fun, because they work pretty okay together, but they do have a natural power imbalance without Bri, their lancer. I don't know how familiar you are with five man band roles though, so I'll shut up.
That's all from me for now, have a lovely day!
justapercyjacksonfan
