Chapter 22: Sabotage
3rd Person POV
A loud groan permeated throughout the infirmary tent within the Hunters of Artemis instantly spurring the snoozing lieutenant, Thalia, awake. The figure responsible for the groan stirred slightly and blinked his eyes open before he tried to sit up. Unfortunately, he was still much too sore and collapsed back onto the cot instead.
"Percy," Thalia breathed in relief before her anger and apprehension that he wouldn't wake reared its ugly head again. "You idiot!" she screeched at him and pounded his chest, sending him into a bout of coughs and laborious breathing.
Once his breathing was under control, he turned his head and gave the lieutenant and the girl he was rapidly developing feelings for a small smile that stopped any arguments that she had in her throat. "Hey Thals," he said softly and noticed the tears that started to gather in her electric blue eyes, but refused to fall. Thalia just sighed heavily instead and carefully helped him sip from the glass of water on the bedside table.
The effect was immediate. His throat was no longer dry and the soreness of his muscles had dissipated enough to prop himself against the numerous pillows that his mother had no doubt accumulated for him. "How long was I out?" he asked in a much clearer tone, but before Thalia could answer, two more figures came into the tent.
"He's been out for three days now, Milady! I don't-," Phoebe began to say, but stopped dead when she saw her younger brother sitting upright and alert in the bed. "Hey Pheebs," Percy said with a shit-eating grin on his face, only to have it literally smacked off a moment later by his sister. "Ow," he whined, making Thalia snicker.
Percy then noticed his mother silently scrutinizing him and began to fidget under her gaze. He dared to look up and saw a whirlpool of emotions in her usually non expressive eyes; anger, worry, anxiety, but the one that stood out to him the most was pride. She was proud that he had protected his sisters and himself. She was probably even more proud that he didn't unnecessarily kill a maiden, even if she was out for his head.
"Three days Perseus," she said firmly, cementing the fact that he is in some trouble for making them all worry as much as he had. "Sorry Mom. I didn't-," Percy started to say, but was cut off by the fiercest hug his mother had ever given him. Thalia and Phoebe noticed the tender atmosphere and opted to leave the two to their privacy.
Artemis POV
"I was so scared," I whispered in my son's ear as the tears gathered in my eyes. They only started to fall when Percy rubbed my back and whispered soothing words to me like I was the child in the scenario. "I had to just sit there and watch you fight against someone your equal, perhaps stronger than you had the sun not been setting. I-I thought it was going to be like Zoe again," I whispered as the guilt and fear welled up.
Fear that I would lose another member of the Hunt. Fear that it was going to be one that I was closest to again like Zoe. Fear - primal and essence crushing fear - that it was going to be my own son. The same boy I had raised, nurtured, and cared for since he was six and had the guts to demand to join the Hunt.
"I'm sorry, Mom. I couldn't put any of you at risk. It was my burden to bear and now it's over, at least for now," he said quietly to me as the tears had run out. I pulled away slowly, but gathered his hands in mine. "For now?" I asked and he grimaced, but nodded. "Nichibotsu-chan won't come after us again, but that still leaves Amaterasu-sama, and any other deity that has it out for me," he told me and I frowned.
"But we can worry about that later. Now, we have a little more than 8 months until the Great Prophecy is upon us and Typhon will awaken soon, meaning you and the others will have to try and stop him," Percy told me and I frowned again, but there were no tears that time.
Part of me wanted to cry again. My son had just gotten out of a life or death battle from another Pantheon entirely and now he had the Great Prophecy and the fate of the Western World sitting on his shoulders. I was sure that it felt like Atlas' burden tenfold, but when I looked into his eyes, the fiery determination he had since I first met him - even before I adopted him - was burning brighter than ever.
"Agreed. What now?" I asked and he threw the blankets off of him and stumbled as he stood up for the first time in three days. "Now, I go and see my sisters so they know I'm okay and we enjoy a small reprieve for the day. Tonight, I'll make an IM to the camp and tell them to start preparing. I have a few ideas that I'll run by Annabeth," he told me and I nodded before I leveled a steely gaze at him.
"I saw my lieutenant kiss you before your battle. Care to elaborate?" I asked him and he paled drastically, which would have been funny in any other situation. He recollected himself and donned his emotionless mask. "We're at war. We both don't have the time to focus on that right now," he told me, hoping I would drop it.
"And after?" I raised an eyebrow as I asked. Percy sighed heavily and looked at the ground with interest before he looked me in the eyes again. "I don't know, Mom. It'll be something we will have to figure out between us first, and then with you and the Hunt," he told me sincerely, giving away his feelings on the matter.
Truthfully, I couldn't bring myself to be mad or disappointed at the two of them. Maybe a small amount, but he gave a very mature and realistic answer, so I left it alone for the time being. I walked forward to him and gave him another hug and a kiss on the forehead before I patted his cheek.
"Good boy," I said and then smirked mischievously. "But she does have a knack for making you blush a shade similar to pomegranate juice. It's rather cute," I told him and got a near match of the exact shade I was referring to, and laughed as I walked out of the infirmary.
Later that night
Percy POV
"O, Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering. Show me Annabeth Chase, either San Francisco, California, or Camp Half-Blood." [AN: If my math is right, it's somewhere around January right now and I'm not sure if she'd be at home with her dad for school, or on Winter Break, or camp just because of the war. Uncle Rick does a time skip anyways between BotL and tLO, so it's unclear.]
The IM flickered to life to reveal one of my best friends outside of the hunt, clamouring over some books, whether for homework, pleasure, or both, I wasn't sure.
"Yo, Wise Girl!" I called and her head snapped up before she smiled at the sight of me. "Hey Percy. What's up?" she asked and I smiled in return. "Not much. Just woke up from a 3 day coma. How are you?" I asked and she narrowed her eyes at me immediately. "What happened?" she asked threateningly and I rubbed the back of my head.
"Amaterasu-sama sent her daughter to kill me and we had a fight. I won and she won't attack me or the Hunt anymore, but that's not why I called," I told her and her shoulders sagged in relief ever so slightly. "Good. I'm good, just… 8 months until the proverbial end and there's a lot to consider," she said quietly and gained a faraway look in her eyes.
"I know, that's why I called. We have 8 months. I'm anticipating Typhon will break free from his prison soon, and that the Gods will be absent to handle that threat. The Hunt and I will eliminate as many monster warbands as we can while we train, but I need you to ensure that the campers are ready for anything," I told her and she frowned but nodded.
"I also have an idea that I wanted to run by you in regards to Kronos himself," I said carefully, knowing that she still saw Kronos as Luke. I heard her suck in a breath, but waited for me to continue. "I imagine that he'll hole himself up on the Princess Andromeda until he's ready to make a move. He'll probably send forces to the camp to test our defences, but when he doesn't find purchase, he'll be biding his time," I said and she nodded.
"I was thinking the same. He'll be there along with the… higher-ups of his army until he's ready," she told me in response and I nodded. "If the Gods are fighting Typhon, he'll have a direct assault on Olympus and there are… too many ways to get there from anywhere outside of Manhattan," she added and I hummed in agreement.
"That will leave us to defend the mountain, but he won't wait until the day of my birth to start, which is why I want to have the Hephaestus Cabin make me Greek fire bombs and a detonator," I said and her eyes lit up with understanding.
"So we can bomb the Princess Andromeda and eliminate a good portion of his important players. Not bad, Seaweed Brain," she said with a smile and I frowned. "That nickname may have fit for the other bastard, but clearly I am not stupid," I told her and her eyes darkened for a moment. "Fine… Seaweed Breath," she said and I offered a small smile.
"Anyways, that's what I was thinking, but I go alone," I said and immediately raised my hand when I saw her go to protest. "Just think about it for a moment. I've been with the Hunt since I was 6 so my stealth is leagues above anyone else's, even without your invisibility hat, and I'd be out at sea where I'm at my strongest. I'm the best option," I told her and she frowned minutely, clearly understanding the logical points in my argument.
"I just wish I had a way to make the bombs that I'll put in the boiler room invisible. I don't think I can manipulate the Mist well enough for an entire yacht of monsters and demigods," I trailed off in thought.
"That's it!" she exclaimed. "Mist!" She rolled her eyes when my face must have shown confusion. "Not the Mist, but mist! The same way we use mist and light to create a rainbow for IMs, in theory, could be used as a trick of the light to make it look like the bombs aren't there!" Annabeth yelled excitedly and my own mind began to race with the possibilities.
"Like a bastardized method of your cap… That could work. I could even weave the Mist into it enough to cover any gaps," I said and she smiled in excitement. "Okay," I said finally. "I'll work on perfecting that as much as I can for the next 8 months, but we'll have to hit them close to the Prophecy date so they don't have time to recover," I told her and she nodded seriously.
"I'll handle things on the Camp end, just make sure to send each other updates if anything changes," she said and I nodded and swiped my hand through the message.
"Hey Thals," I said without turning around. "Hey Perce…" she said, but trailed off toward the end, cementing my thoughts for what she wanted to speak about as I turned around.
"You want to talk about what happened before the fight," I stated and she nodded. I sighed heavily, which probably made her even more nervous than before. "Thals… we have a war that we're about to go into far sooner than all of us can hope-," I started and she deflated, making a massive amount of guilt well up in my chest.
I hated that look on her face, so I immediately sprang forward and pulled her into a hug. "Let me finish, Thunder Bug," I said and felt her smile against my chest. "I do feel the same way about you. I don't think I would know if it's love or anything remotely close to that yet, but I do care for you and more than just a friend and sister in the Hunt, but..." I trailed off again, but she picked it up.
"We have a few more priorities to handle first," she said softly and I nodded and pulled away to tilt her chin up so she could see my eyes. I momentarily got lost in her electric blue ones and how vulnerable they looked in that moment, but found my voice regardless. "Once this is all over, we'll have all the time we need to figure it out. First between just me and you, and then we can talk to Mother and the Hunt and figure it all out together. Okay?" I asked softly and she gave me a small smile and a nod.
"Good," I said and pressed a tender kiss into her forehead. "Come on. I'm tired and we have a lot of work to do in the next 8 months," I told her and walked her back to her tent with one arm around her shoulders.
3rd Person POV
The next 8 months, Percy and the Hunt did exactly what he said they would. They hunted any monster warbands that they came across all over the U.S. and trained as much as they could. Percy told Thalia, Phoebe, and his mother of the idea to use mist and the Mist to reflect the light to make both himself and objects appear to be invisible.
It was difficult at first, but once he mastered stationary objects, he moved on to moving ones (primarily himself), and finally multitasking while he did it. He couldn't keep an object invisible while he was fighting (other than himself and even that was difficult), but he worked on keeping objects invisible while he did chores, ate, and talked.
That was the tricky part about the method. He had to be able to compartmentalize his mind to stay in the present task or conversation, while maintaining the illusion, but finally managed to get it down 70% of the time around the 6 month mark. It was around the same time that Artemis was recalled to Olympus to prepare both some defenses and for Typhon.
He also pushed himself with his standard training of weapons, taijutsu, and his various jutsus to make sure he was in peak condition and that his attacks were even stronger. He usually trained those with Thalia and Phoebe, but on his own as well.
Finally, the day came for him to head to camp after conversing with Annabeth.
Phoebe POV
"Start moving to the Manhattan area and be on standby no later than August 10th," Percy told us and we rolled our eyes. It was at least the 12th time he had told us in the last two days alone. "We got it, Little Brother," I said, enervated and he smiled a little before he finished his packing.
"I love you all. Stay safe and stay ready. I'll see you all soon," he said and let his gaze linger on Thalia for a moment before he vanished into a mist to head to Camp. The rest of the Hunt started to get back to their duties, but Thalia stayed rooted in her place, looking in the direction he had left.
"He'll be fine," I said softly and she turned to face me and gave me a tentative smile.
"I know."
LINEBREAK
3rd Person POV
"This bag has all the charges, and this watch is the detonator. Just press this button when they're all online and boom," Charles Beckendorf said as he handed Percy a backpack and Percy strapped the watch to his wrist.
"Right. If I'm not back in 3 days, assume the worst," Percy told them and they grimly nodded from their places on the beach at CHB. "Be careful, Kelp Breath," Annabeth said and Percy chuckled lightly.
"You got it, Wise Girl. I'll be back in no time," Percy said and dove into Long Island Sound.
LINEBREAK
Percy found the ship in hardly any time at all and surveyed the patrols from beneath the waves. 'One, two, three,' he thought as he breached the surface silently and landed on the deck, immediately using his new illusion technique to vanish from sight.
He was seriously grateful that his father had taught him to suppress his presence and any residual scent would blend in with the ocean air around the ship. He crept silently through the corridors to the boiler room, easily slipping past any monsters that were patrolling or lounging around the yacht, not even giving the idea of an intruder a second thought.
A monster was guarding the boiler room, but hardly any patrols passed by it, so he waited for his window and drew a kunai from his pouch. In a flash of motion, he clasped his hand over the unlucky empousai's mouth as the kunai pierced her heart and she dissolved into golden dust. Not wanting anyone to see the evidence, he willed water to collect the dust and deposited it into his bag before continuing with his mission.
He planted the bombs at the key points in the boiler room and coated them with heavy mist with a thin layer of the Mist weaved into it to ensure that no one would find it. With his mind divided into two separate tasks, he snuck his way to where Kronos was standing regally, overlooking the deck of the yacht.
Once he was in the middle of Kronos' line of sight on the deck, he dropped the illusion around himself and made sure to keep focused on the one around the bombs.
The reaction was immediate. Kronos ordered for his troops to surround him while he looked on from above. Just as Percy planned.
"Perseus. Or should I say, Grandson," Kronos cooed at the demigod who stood with his hands clasped behind his back. Percy internally scoffed at the arrogance they held for not chaining him.
"Great Grandson, if you want to be technical about it," Percy snarked back, making Kronos give him a cruel smirk.
"Indeed. Artemis' adopted bastard… but that's not your true heritage either. No, in reality you're the son of-," Kronos started, but Percy cheekily cut him off. "Susano'o. Yes, I imagine your spies relayed that information to you."
Kronos faltered, but only for a moment. Percy caught it regardless. "Don't think me so naive, Kronos. Intelligence wins wars after all."
"How did you know that, boy," Kronos pestered and Percy chuckled lightly. "Peace, Kronos… well, perhaps not peace. We are enemies after all."
"Should I take this as a preemptive strike then? One mere demigod against all of us here?" Kronos mocked and Percy waved his hand flippantly. "No. I simply came to converse before our great bout."
"Speak, demigod," Kronos said with narrowed eyes.
"I assume this conquest to return to your glory days is final and there can be no negotiations?" Percy asked a little petulantly, making Kronos boom with laughter.
"Unless your terms are the imprisonment and dethroning of the Gods you so blindly serve," Kronos said, still chuckling.
"I suppose not then. A pity then Titan of the Harvest," Percy said and smirked when the rage was etched on Kronos' face.
"I am the Titan Lord of Time, foolish demigod!" Kronos thundered.
"Of course. A scary concept Time is, but shortsighted to believe it will win you this war. Even you are subject to Time's ploys, Kronos. You merely guide its flow," Percy said lightly, making Kronos growl.
"I am immortal!"
"So are monsters, technically speaking."
"Why are you really here?" Kronos asked, further narrowing his eyes.
"I simply wanted to see how accurate my observations and analysis were. Would you like to hear them?" Percy asked mockingly and Kronos gave him a "go on" gesture.
"Your plan was flawed from the beginning. You believe that your control over Time is absolute when in reality, your domain of the Harvest would have won you the war easily. You could have withered crops across America, limiting, and eventually completely cutting off, our food supply and other resources necessary for us to fight," Percy said and internally smirked when the look of contemplation schooled Kronos' features and silence reigned on the ship.
"Yes, but that plan would take years to yield any results. Not to mention my traitorous daughter, Demeter, and her brood would have interfered," Kronos argued while Percy just hummed.
"Perhaps. But you have spent millenia plotting and scheming. What's another decade or so for an almighty 'immortal Titan Lord of Time' like yourself? You're clever, far more clever than people give you credit for - enough to capture my mother -, could you not have done the same to Demeter?" Percy mocked and then internally rolled his eyes when Kronos smirked,
"Hmm. And what's to stop me from carrying that plan out here and now?" Kronos asked, thinking he had the upper hand.
Percy just chuckled in response. "Don't play pretend Kronos. We both know that you're too proud and in this campaign too deep to switch tactics now. Plus, with Typhon on the loose, you wouldn't dare let him be the one to tear Olympus from the sky when you believe that glory is yours. He was a contingency for when you fail, but that accolade is yours to claim."
It was Kronos' turn to chuckle. "Indeed. You would have made a valuable ally with how Poseidon treated you and your mother. It's not too late to switch sides," Kronos offered and Percy hummed.
"Perhaps not, but we both know that I won't. The Gods, admittedly, have dug themselves into the hole we're in now to some extent, but to be frank, you're just… the fucking worst," Percy admitted and started another bout of laughter from the mad Titan Lord.
"Remember who it was that let the world get this way, boy!" Kronos roared, but Percy just frowned.
"I just said the Gods are admittedly at fault. Are you even listening?" Percy admonished as he shook his head in disappointment, furthering the Titan Lord's ire. "However, what set the world on this path, Kronos? Was it not you that ate your own children out of the fear and paranoia that, unfortunately, was inherited by your youngest son?" Percy asked in a mocking tone, making Kronos snarl.
"If you follow that logic, you suggest that Gaea is to blame, or Ouranos before her," Kronos remarked and Percy actually grinned for the first time their entire conversation.
"Ah, but that's the thing about fate, Kronos. Only three beings know where it truly begins or ends. Except for, of course, this Prophecy we're all in now. It ends with you back in Tartarus," Percy surmised.
"I believe that this is the end of our conversation," Kronos stated and Percy chuckled lightly.
"It appears so. Forgive me, while in the den of the enemy I have become too analytical again. Monsters and enemy demigods on all sides; not traitorous, for their cause is just and well founded. They are simply misguided much like the Son of Hermes you possess now," Percy remarked as Kronos smirked and those surrounding him prepared to attack.
"Then you will die here and now!" Kronos roared, making Percy smirk at his face.
"I think not Great Grandfather. For we are on a boat on the sea where I am at my most powerful," Percy mock boasted.
Kronos roared with laughter again. "Your power is nothing compared to mine, foolish demigod!"
"That may be true, but that's also what blinds you, Kronos. I'm afraid I've been stalling," Percy said with a grin as he held up the watch detonator and Kronos' eyes widened. "Thank you for the chat, Titan of the Harvest. Next time we meet, it will be on the battlefield," Percy said while he gave a two-finger salute.
His body started to fade into mist as he pressed the button.
*BOOM!*
AN: Sorry for taking forever to update! My bday fell on a Wednesday so I celebrated the weekend before with my mom and the weekend after with my dad, plus work all week. The boat scene with Kronos and Percy talking was heavily inspired by DelayedInspiration's Backup Plan: The Blood War (or whatever the actual title is). Should get to FGS tomorrow for a chapter and hopefully Han Kami ga Kill as well, but we'll see. Let me know what you think!
Until next time!