Ch14

Percy took control of the situation immediately. He might've been new to the divine world but hunting monsters was firmly in his wheelhouse and he had more experience planning a hunt than either of his friends. An injured arm didn't affect that in the slightest.

Hunting Medusa was going to be nigh on impossible. If the myths were accurate then one look into her eyes would turn them to stone, and judging by the graveyard of statues the myths were very accurate. Then he had to take his injury into account. He had to grit his teeth against Dean's voice echoing in his head.

Only idiots and desperate assholes walk into a hunt already injured. It's a dangerous enough gig without inviting stupidity.

He could almost feel Dean's hand on his shoulder, comforting but also holding him in one place long enough to assess his injury and plan treatment. He grit his teeth and shook his shoulders, swallowing the automatic wince as it jostled his arm. He was serious about their nectar and ambrosia being a limited resource. They couldn't waste it on him when there was the possibility of water healing him.

He steadfastly ignored the voice that was whispering in the back of his mind. The one that said if walking hurt then the upcoming fight was going to be agony.

Everything was fine right up until he moved his arm, which sent pain lancing all the way up to his shoulder all over again. Every step jolted it, despite his attempts to keep it still. He tried to keep his expression as calm as possible; the others didn't need to know just how badly he was coping. His plan was going to be complicated enough without dividing their attention between their role and his injury.

"Okay," he blew out a breath and tried to settle himself. Jumpy hunters were almost worse to hunt with than greenies. "Her myth is one I know pretty well. Assuming it's accurate–"

"That can depend on the translation," Annabeth jumped in and Percy nodded in acceptance.

"My namesake beheaded her while she was sleeping, right?" Annabeth nodded and Percy motioned to the well lit store, "I'm guessing we're not going to be that lucky, so we'll need to try and strike when she doesn't expect it."

"How are we going to do that?" Grover sounded skeptical and Percy grinned at him.

"We aren't, you are."

"What?"

Percy dug through his bag and pulled out the shoe box Luke had given him. "I can't fly, and no offence but Annabeth is better suited to watching my left than you are. You've also got the superior sense of smell that I'm kind of banking on." Percy held out the shoe box, "we're going to be the distraction. You're going to come at her from behind and lop her head off."

Grover took the shoe box with shaking hands. "You want me to behead her? With what?"

Percy reached into his pocket and withdrew Riptide. "With this."

Grover blanched. Annabeth stepped forward, "Percy, I'm not sure this is a great idea." She looked at Grover apologetically and said, "Grover has little to no sword experience and you want to throw flight into the mix too? Not to mention, given who my mother is, Med…Aunty M is probably going to target me with extreme prejudice. Chances are I won't be able to guard you and me."

Percy grinned again. "I'm banking on that, actually. The reaction, I mean. I'm also hoping that given who my godly parent is, she'll have a rather extreme reaction to me too."

Annabeth didn't stop frowning. "You're banking on this being a volatile fight and giving up your best weapon, while you're injured."

Percy sighed. "Look, in the original myth, Perseus was gifted winged sandals by Herm- by Luke's dad. I can't fly and with my scent she'd smell me coming from a mile away. Considering we're going to be handicapped by our lack of sight, Grover is going to be the only one who can pinpoint her location with any accuracy and he's not going to be able to take her head off with a knife, hence Riptide. You're the best of us with a knife and therefore the most likely to successfully defend yourself and me."

Annabeth looked floored. "That's…incredibly well thought out."

Percy scowled, "I could do without the tone of surprise, but thanks."

She looked a little sheepish at that but it was Grover's expression that Percy got caught on. Percy couldn't tell what he was thinking but he was studying Percy with a serious expression Percy had never seen before.

After a moment Grover blew out a breath. "You really think I can do this? My job is normally to help evade the monsters, not take them out."

Percy nodded firmly, and that was that.

...

While Grover got suited up and took a few moments to give himself a crash course in flying, Percy and Annabeth figured out their approach. Ideally the fight would be outside to give Grover some wiggle room with his flying but trying to lure Medusa outside when they were down one sense and they were in her territory would likely be a suicide mission.

Percy watched Grover veer from one side of the clearing to the other as he tried to find his balance in the air and grimaced. "Grover!" he called as quietly as he could, "we're going to be inside, you don't need to fly as such, you need to be able to step high enough to take her head off without struggling. Try leaping into the air and then landing again."

That made a difference. A few minutes later Grover skidded to a stop and Percy unsheathed his ankle knife. They all looked at the well lit emporium and at the slowly sinking sun.

It was time.

...

They all entered together, grimacing at the bell that tinkled as they pushed the door open.

"Just a minute dearies!" The voice was melodic, almost enchanting and Percy had to fight the urge to lower his knife and walk towards it. Annabeth even took a full step forwards before shaking her head looking dazed. Percy carefully ignored Grover's furrowed brow and concerned gaze.

If you're struggling to throw off her magic out here, how well do you think the rest of the hunt is going to go?

Percy took a deep breath. Grover was white-knuckling Riptide and Percy gave him what he hoped was a reassuring look. He held up his hand silently.

Five minutes. Give us five minutes before you come looking.

Grover nodded grimly.

...

Percy stalked forward silently, Annabeth on his left. They were both on high alert. No matter what they did, how much they planned, going up against an opponent you couldn't look at was always going to be…difficult.

The building was filled with more statues. People dotted around the reception, faces twisted in various expressions of terror and horror. When Percy glanced through the windows out into what looked like a garden centre, he could just make out the outline of more statues. He tried not to look too closely.

Every face was twisted in fear. Some had their hands raised, arms outstretched as if to fend off an invisible opponent. Their last moments, forever frozen. He swallowed down the bile rising in his throat.

There was no point to this. Medusa wasn't feeding. She wasn't defending herself. She was luring defenceless people, innocent people into her trap and killing them.

This whole fucking emporium is probably haunted to high heaven.

The thought haunted him.

They ducked down a hallway just past the receptionist's desk. Percy could hear…hissing through one of the open doorways. He paused and Annabeth locked eyes with him, tilting her head in question.

"I can smell you, children." Medusa drew the 's' out in a crooning hiss.

Annabeth's face had gone sheet white. She reached out and carefully set her right hand atop his left shoulder. He carefully ignored the ache that had settled there from his burn. There's no reason for it to hurt. You got burnt further down. Get over yourself.

"Children…" the crooning voice came again. He blew out a silent breath. He was used to hunting things in the dark. Granted, he'd never been completely blind before but this, he could do this. He nodded once at Annabeth and let his eyes fall closed. He slipped through the doorway to face Medusa, Annabeth tucked behind him.

"Son of Poseidon." He could hear a soft swishing noise ahead of him, in time with the soft footsteps that sounded as though they were…pacing? "Was it you who I felt shake off the Mist earlier? Your will must be very strong, just like your father." Her voice turned sweet. Flattering. Either she was blind or willfully ignoring Annabeth behind him.

He grit his teeth. He'd been banking on an extreme reaction but he'd honestly been praying she'd be pissed off when confronted with the obvious evidence that Poseidon had moved on and found another woman. Not…vaguely admiring.

He was firmly ignoring the Dean-like voice in the back of his mind telling him she was flirting. He was twelve and obviously wasn't interpreting her tone correctly. Nevermind that she sounded like every girl who had ever hit on Dean at a bar.

"You look just like him, you know. You have his strong features."

Oh god. Bad thoughts. All the bad thoughts. Ew.

He had to get further into the room, had to get her facing away from the door so Grover could creep up behind her.

"Come closer." Her voice was breathy and he fought against his revulsion. "What is your name, child?"

He started shuffling forward and to the left, on a diagonal both closer and away from her voice. "I'm not sure I should give you my name," he said carefully, and hid his wince as Annabeth's grip tightened. "I'm not supposed to give it to strangers. Besides, I might be new to this but don't names have power or something?" God he hoped he wasn't walking them into a corner.

Medusa chuckled. He hadn't heard her swishing footsteps for a while, but she sounded like she was still facing him. Was she just standing and waiting? Watching?

"My dear, as a son of Poseidon you may be powerful but you are not nearly powerful enough to be concerned about your name. Besides, in another world I might have been your step-mother. That hardly makes us strangers."

Percy's mind was racing. There were so many ways this could go. He might've talked a big game when laying out this plan but they were taking so many risks. For this whole scheme to work he was to get her facing away from the door, and he had to do it loudly. He felt Annabeth squeeze his shoulder and let go. Good. He shuffled a little further into the room, towards Medusa.

"Percy. My name is Percy."

"Hmm." She sounded amused, and admittedly he probably painted a pretty awkward picture with his closed eyes, his knife, and his shuffling steps. "Percy." She rolled the name around, dragging out the 'c.' "Derived from Percival, one of Arthur's knights."

Percy took a few more steps towards the back of the room, and he heard Medusa turn to follow his progress.

Please. Please let Annabeth be successful.

"Derived from Perseus, actually. Slayer of Medusa." He tensed and the room fell silent, even her soft hissing ceasing for a heartbeat. When Medusa spoke, her voice was noticeably cooler and a few steps closer.

"Do you think yourself to be a hero child? Eager to fight, to rid the world of perceived wrongs? Kill the monsters?"

"I don't know if I'd call myself a hero," he listened closely for any sound of movement, "but I'm more than happy to put down anything that poses a threat to our existence."

Her laugh was chilling. "Spoken like a well trained pawn of the gods. How long have they been guiding you, child? Tell me, Perseus, do you know what plans the Council has for you?"

A rage ignited in his stomach. "I am no one's pawn," he snarled, "and after you've guided so many people to their death, can you really comment?"

"Percy, dive!" Annabeth's warning saved him. He reacted on instinct, diving to the floor and rolling just in time to feel Medusa lunge over him. He pushed away the agony in his arm and lashed out with his knife, feeling it catch on something. Medusa roared.

He scrambled back towards where he thought the back of the room was.

"Give up, Perseus. You are destined for a short life filled with immeasurable pain and suffering. You will watch everyone you love die, because that is what happens to the pawns of the Olympians."

Medusa's monologue allowed him to keep track of where she was. She didn't appear to be in any rush to kill him, stalking slowly towards him.

"You would do so much better as one of my statues. Less pain. Less suffering. Your friends and family might even survive without you there to put them at risk."

He felt someone yank him behind an obstacle of some kind.

"Annabeth?" He whispered.

"You can open your eyes, just be careful."

"You were supposed to stay–"

"Your friend can join you, Perseus. You would never be alone again. We could be together forever. I would never abandon you as your father abandoned me."

Okay, that's officially moved past 'creepy' territory into 'weird.'

"Where the fuck is Grover?" He hissed, keeping his voice down. Annabeth tilted a silver tray around the corner of the shelf they were hidden behind, because of course they were facing off against Medusa in a staff room of some kind.

"He's in the doorway. He's going to need more noise to hide him."

Percy flashed a grin at her. "Guess that means you're up."

She grinned back savagely. "Why don't you introduce me, then?"

...

"You are being hunted on all sides, Perseus. I stand as a testament to the wrath and judgement of the gods, join me before you are inevitably sentenced to a fate worse than mine."

"It's a no from me," Percy stood and stepped out from behind the shelf, eyes carefully shut once more. "But you might have more luck with my friend. What do you say, Annabeth? Want to ditch the gods for the woman who defiled your mom's temple?"

"Hmm," Annabeth pretended to consider as she joined him. "Going to have to pass on that one Percy, thanks for the offer."

"Athena spawn." Medusa spat the words as though they burned. "I will shatter your statue and use the pieces as paper weights."

The soft swishes of Medusa's gown were Percy's only warning.

"Move!"

He heard the crashing of the shelf hitting the floor only seconds after they rolled clear. Percy strained his ears, knife held ready in front of him, trying to keep track of both Annabeth and Medusa.

"Percy!" Annabeth cried out and Percy lunged towards the sound. He lashed out with his knife and heard Medusa snarl. A moment later decidedly Annabeth-shaped fingers latched onto his arm. A haze of pain radiated up to his shoulder. Annabeth's voice cut through the fog.

"If you cut me, Seaweed Brain, I will gut you."

He didn't have time to dissect that sentence. "Stay low, we need to keep her in one spot and keep out of the way." Her grip tightened momentarily before she released him altogether. He swallowed against the bile climbing in his throat.

"This is such a stupid plan," he could hear her mutter as she moved off.

He moved towards Medusa, keeping his stance defensive.

Grover, you better not lop my head off by accident.

...

He took a deep breath. One half of fighting relied on predicting the opponent's movements, and that was something out of Percy's reach for this particular fight. The other half, though, the other half was reactionary, and Percy was fucking good at it.

Half the reason his spars with his cousins resulted in so many bruises was because they had to put him down fast. He picked up patterns like nobody else, and Medusa was a talker.

He felt a taloned hand wrap around his knife arm and he lashed out with a kick. She was forced to release him and he didn't move.

"Percy?" Annabeth's concerned voice came from his left.

Good. Lets keep her facing this way.

"I'm fine. I've got this."

"Such arrogance," Medusa's hissing voice held a condescending tone that immediately raised Percy's hackles.

"Why don't you come closer and say that?"

"Gladly."

This time she twisted his knife arm and forced him to drop his weapon before wrapping both hands around his throat. He fought through the instinctual panic as she cut off his oxygen supply.

This is gonna hurt.

He brought his arms down on hers, breaking her grip on his throat. He tackled her, not giving her a chance to pull back like she wanted to.

They both crashed to the floor. She immediately flipped them and pressed him into the floor. Her grip returned to his throat, restricting his airway but not cutting it off entirely.

His injured arm felt like it was aflame.

Something was biting at his eyes, his cheeks, his lips. His nausea returned at full force as he realised it was her hair.

"Let me see your eyes, son of Poseidon. Join me. You owe the Council nothing. Not your loyalty, not your life, nothing. Stay with me for all eternity. Open your eyes, child, and rest."

Percy tensed. He was going to have to time this just right or Medusa's head wasn't the only one Grover was going to take off.

Three, two, one–

"NOW!" He roared, kicking up at Medusa and rolling.

Medusa fell silent mid shriek, and two thuds echoed through the room.

Percy stood silently. Aside from the fluttering of winged shoes and heavy breathing, it was quiet. No hissing or whispers of dress on the floor. He opened his eyes. Medusa's head sat on the floor, next to a pile of sulphur.

Dead.

EARLIER THAT DAY

A small part of Dean was impressed. Clearly Percy had been paying attention to the various survival and evasion lessons he'd been taught over the years. Dean couldn't count the number of times they'd drilled him on what to do if they ever had to go to ground while he was with them. It hadn't happened- yet- but they'd certainly gone over it enough that Percy could do it in his sleep. Chances were, he was probably safe and in relatively one piece unless he'd found whatever monster he'd gone after.

It also meant Dean couldn't fucking find him.

After Bobby's phone call out by the crash site he'd hightailed it to the nearest bus station. There was always the chance that Percy was at a different station, certainly there were enough stations around the city that he had options but considering the distance from the hill Dean had come from- where Percy had definitely been- and what Dean had taught him, the odds were pretty high that this was the station Percy had ended up at.

Dean couldn't have been too far behind Percy- he had to believe he wasn't too far behind Percy- but there was no sign of him. Either Percy had gotten extremely lucky with the bus times or he'd gotten spooked by the phone call with Bobby and left in a hurry.

Dean was willing to put money on the second one.

A quick drive through the area around the station confirmed that Percy hadn't left on foot, not that Dean had expected him to. Percy wouldn't exactly stick out while walking around a city, especially since he was walking in an area with a bus station but he knew that Dean was out looking for him. Dean could easily pick him out of a crowd, he'd done it a million times before and doing it again would be no hardship. Percy knew that, and he was far too skilled to make it that easy to find him.

With everything in Dean's life turning to shit, Sam gone, Dad on a bender somewhere, and Aunt Sally gone, Dean just wanted- needed to know Percy was safe. Preferably in person.

Definitely in person.

He needed to know that what little was left of his shattered family was alright. He'd been betting Percy would appreciate it too, which was why he'd hoped Percy might leave some bread crumbs behind. Might let Dean find him. But Percy didn't want to be found, that much was now clear.

And for all his skills, for all his training, Dean couldn't fucking find him.

...

Dean's next port of call had been to chat up the lady selling the bus tickets. She'd listened with a sympathetic ear as he sold the story of a boy missing his brother now that he'd gone away to college, a story that hit a little close to home these days, but she hadn't seen anyone matching Percy's description. He wasn't in the mood to accept the hookup she was clearly angling for either.

He'd been about to throw in the towel and call Bobby when he'd noticed the security cameras.

...

It had taken him ten minutes to adjust his story just enough to convince her to let him have a look at the footage and only another ten to spot Percy standing at the phone booth.

Bingo.

Dean frowned as he watched Percy hang up the phone in a rush and walk up to the notice board.

That would explain some of Bobby's ire regarding the phone call.

The picture wasn't clear enough to see what Percy was looking at but he could see the frustration in Percy's body language as clear as day as Percy ripped something off the board and moved out of sight of the camera.

He quickly cycled through a few different viewpoints before he found Percy standing with two other…kids.

Bobby said Percy had backup. This…this was not backup.

He'd figured Percy wasn't hunting with anyone seasoned, or someone on the younger side considering they weren't driving but this…

He watched as they argued over something, passing the piece of paper back and forth and getting more and more agitated. After a few minutes they all stiffened and started glancing around, looking for all the world like a group of paranoid hunters. The sight sat in his stomach like a stone. A few moments later they left the bus station.

He swiftly changed to the car park camera. After a few moments Percy sidled into view.

Dean knew that walk. The purposefully casual stride, the careless glances at various cars. As unhelpful as it was and as much as the previous images were plaguing his mind, he couldn't help but grin as Percy strode up to a car and a few minutes later, drove out of the car park, stopping just long enough for his…friends to get in with him.

...

Dean had no way of tracking the car. He couldn't alert the cops because they already considered Percy a suspect and breaking him out of police custody wasn't exactly on Dean's bucket list. Not to mention it would seriously complicate Percy's life.

He was startled out of his thoughts by his phone ringing.

"Yeah?" He answered without checking the number.

"Dean, it's me."

"Bobby. Got something?"

"I'm doin' just great, thanks for asking. The phones have been ringing non-stop but I've been prioritising this little hunt so I'm not stressed at all."

Dean bit back his annoyance. "Yeah, sorry Bobby."

"Hmph. How close are you to our boy?"

Bobby sounded worried and Dean couldn't stop his surge of unease. "I just hit a wall. He boosted a car from the bus station but I don't have a way to track him without calling down more heat."

Bobby let out a string of curses and Dean felt a pit form in his stomach. "How bad is it?"

Bobby sighed. "Well, the good news is that I'm pretty sure I can tell you where he is. The bad news is that your timeline has just drastically shrunk. You gotta move it. Those calls I mentioned? I'm fielding hunters left and right who want to know what I know about the hunt in New York."

It felt like someone had sucker punched him. "Hunt? Bobby, what are you on about? Percy wouldn't have called it in and I highly doubt his 'backup' did considering they don't look older than he is."

"There's been more lightning strikes," Bobby said grimly. "They took out five cars on the highway. There's no comment on casualties yet."

Dean was going to be sick. He was going to–

Percy'd escaped one strike already, what were the chances he'd escaped another? He could feel himself spiralling, he needed to– He was going to–

He didn't have time for this.

Percy needed him.

He shoved all of his terror into a steel box in the back of his mind and let out a deep breath. "Give me the coordinates. The traffic's going to be shit so the sooner I get going the better." Please don't let Percy's car be one of them. Please. "See if you can figure out what monsters can control lightning."

"Are you going to let Sam know or do you want me to pass on the info?"

Dean grit his teeth. "Sam's made his choice. Last time we talked–" he cut himself off and blew out a breath. "Let's just say I don't think I should call him again until we've both had time to cool off. You might have more luck but he's serious about this whole 'getting out of hunting' thing."

"Now you listen to me–"

"Bobby, I don't have time to work around Sam at the moment. Percy is in trouble and I need to focus on the brother I can help, okay? If you think you'll have more luck then by all means, but Sam wants to leave all this behind and the best way for me to support him is to honour that."

"Fine." Bobby sounded ticked off but there wasn't much Dean could do about that. "But I ain't gonna mediate or anything. You two are big enough and ugly enough to sort your own issues. I'll text you the location."

Bobby hung up the phone. Dean took five seconds to scrub his face with his hands and breathe. Then he blew out an aggressive breath and started sorting his shit.

The text from Bobby came through as he got into the impala.

...

Hey guys,

First I just want to apologise for the late update. I started university in February and it's been a bit more of an adjustment than I thought it would be (my bad).
I've finally started settling into my schedule so I've been able to start working writing time back in and I've found myself in a steady enough place emotionally that I can really start writing again.

Anyway, this chapter has been a long time in the making, so I hope you've enjoyed it!