Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Chapter 17: Things Get Complicated
Onboard the TS Empire State VI - Somewhere in the North Atlantic Ocean
Scott's POV
Nico and I ran from the bridge and headed for the lower levels of the ship. As Percy had told us the students were held in two cargo holds in the lower levels. On our way I broke radio silence to contact my team..
"Gareth its Scott come in." I said. I waited a couple seconds and then I heard the radio signal.
"This is Gareth." Gareth said on the other line. He sounded out of breath, but I didn't hear gun fire in the background.
"Status report." I said anxiously.
"All monsters are dead and the enemy pirates as well. A few jumped overboard, but our snipers took care of them." Gareth said. Thats my team always on top of everything.
"Good job, have Allen take over the bridge and send Ben to the engine room to get us some additional power for the ship. We may have to leave in a hurry. Also, Percy Jackson is onboard the ship don't shoot him." I said.
"Understood, what do you want Alex and me to do?" Gareth asked.
"Get your asses down to the lower level and help the kid and I rescue the students." I ordered sternly.
"Aye, sir." Gareth said in a hurry. Nico and I continued our way to the lower level. We reached the area near the moon pool and I noticed that the submersible was gone.
"Where in Hades did they do with the submersible?" I asked. Nico looked around and shrugged his shoulders. We found the first cargo area just off the moon pool. Nico was about to reach for the wheel to the hatch and I grabbed his arm abruptly.
"What's going on?" Nico said nervously. I looked at the wheel and then I saw the two wires running down and behind the large plate that covered the lock mechanism. I had a horrible feeling and I knew something was wrong. I called on the radio.
"Gareth come in." I said. A moment later the radio signal crackled.
"Gareth here, we found the other cargo area." Gareth said.
"Don't turn the wheel it's rigged." I yelled.
"Understood boss, what do we do?" Gareth asked anxiously.
"Get our equipment and I'll need Ben down here too. Send Alex to the engine room for the time being." I ordered.
"Will do boss." Gareth acknowledged.
"Scott, can you disarm it?" Nico asked. I had no idea until we took the metal plate off the lock. A few minutes later Gareth and Ben appeared.
"Ben, the bomb has to be behind this metal plate." I said as I motioned toward the metal plate that covered the lock mechanism.
"Understood boss, it's definitely a bomb there is a double trip wire here on the wheel lock." Ben said as he pointed to the two wires leading from the wheel to the internal lock mechanism. Ben carefully unscrewed the plate on the front of the lock mechanism and carefully removed the plate. Everyone looked in awe at the bomb attached to the hatch. It was a binary system with two separate chemicals one blue and one red. There was a larger tube below that looked like the area where the two chemicals would be combined. At the bottom of the large tube were a detonator and timer. There was also a timer at the top of the bomb that was clearly used for mixing the two chemicals together. The two trip wires were attached to the timer at the top of the bomb. Everyone sighed in relief because that meant the bomb was not armed yet. We needed to figure a way to get the students out of each cargo hold. Ben walked to the other cargo hold and began to work on the lock mechanism of that hatch. A heard the radios signal sound off.
"Scott, we need you on deck we have some visitors who want to speak with you." Alex said.
"We'll be right up." I said. "Ben, you and Gareth come up with a plan for getting the students out." What the Hades is going on now?
"Aye, sir." Ben said. Nico and I ran up the stairs to the bridge. When we reached the bridge we ran inside and waiting for us next to Alex was Percy Jackson, Theseus, Athena, Poseidon, Annabeth, Thalia, Malcolm and Clarisse. Nico ran over to Thalia and hugged her. I walked over to Theseus and bowed my head.
"Great job Captain." Theseus said. Theseus saw the concerned look on my face. "What's wrong?"
"Atlas has rigged the two cargo holds that contain the students with explosives, plus the submersible is missing." I said.
"What kind of explosives?" Theseus asked.
"It's a binary chemical system it would be powerful enough to sink the ship." I said.
"We need to get Atlas." Poseidon said.
"I'm afraid that would not be wise sir." I said. Poseidon glared at me angrily.
"Why is that?" Poseidon said sternly.
"He may have a way to remotely arm the bomb and besides we are pretty sure that he split his submarine force into two groups; one headed to New York to fire his nuclear missiles on Olympus and Camp Half Blood, the second force heading to fire a nuclear torpedo on Atlantis." I said. Poseidon's eyes grew wide with this realization.
"Then we have three missions before us; one we have to stop the submarine force headed to New York, two we have to stop the submarine force headed to Atlantis and lastly disarm the bombs." Theseus said.
"What about Atlas?" Percy asked.
"I'm afraid he is the least of our worries right now." Theseus said. Everyone nodded in agreement. We suddenly heard a noise coming from Atlas's ship, we looked over toward his ship and a helicopter was taking off and heading toward the south. "Zeus should be able to destroy that for us. We should contact him."
"No, you can't he has hostages." Percy said. I didn't know how he could tell, but he was clearly looking at the helicopter, some how he was able to see that far away in detail. "He has Chris, Terra and Stephen on his helicopter"
"What? That bastard has my son." I said angrily.
"I'm sorry Scott, but we will have to go after them later." Theseus said. I was about to protest when someone spoke up.
"Not necessarily, you see that small submarine that is pulling away, look at its hull do you see something attached to it?" Percy asked. We all looked at the small submarine that was pulling away and heading to the south attached to the top of the submarine's hull was a white submersible, the research ship's submersible. "A few of us can take Atlas's ship and go after him. The tracking device is still attached to the sub." As soon as Percy said that a huge explosion erupted from Atlas's ship the noise broke several windows on the bridge and the wake caused by the force of the explosion rocked the research ship violently. In a matter of minutes Atlas's ship slipped beneath the waves. "Dammit!"
"We can't worry about them now we have all of these bombs to deal with." Theseus said. I couldn't believe he just said that.
"I'm not leaving my friends to that bastard. You do not need me to handle the bombs." Percy said. I really do like this kid.
"Yes, we do son, you can help us stop those submarines." Poseidon said.
"If I can get you additional help to stop the submarines will you let me go?" Percy asked anxiously. Poseidon and Theseus both nodded. Percy closed his eyes and I could see his brow furrow in concentration. After a few seconds he opened his eyes. "They will be here in a moment." After a minute of waiting a blue-green mist appeared in front of us on the bridge when it dissolved standing in front of us were two gods that I never saw before.
"Pontus and Thalassa, so Percy called you." Poseidon said matter-of-factly.
"Lord Poseidon, my wife and I would be happy to help hunt down the submarines targeting Atlantis." Pontus said.
"Good, Theseus and I will handle the subs heading for New York, Percy you have my blessing to go and find your friends." Poseidon said.
"What shall I do?" Athena asked hopefully.
"My love you need to go to Olympus and tell your father what is going on and inform him that we may need his assistance if the missiles are launched." Theseus said. Theseus kissed Athena, then he and Poseidon disappeared. Athena said her good-byes to Annabeth and the others then disappeared.
"Pontus and Thalassa, thank you for helping." Percy said.
"You're most welcome nephew, we will contact Tyson and Triton on our way to Atlantis, they should be able to assist us." Pontus said then he and his wife disappeared.
"Percy, can we come with you?" Annabeth asked, but I knew she meant Thalia, Nico, Malcolm and Clarisse as well.
"Yes, you can." Percy said. "Scott, will you and your men be o.k. here with disarming the bombs?" I wish I could go with him, but people were counting on us here.
"Yes, please save my son, I wish I could go with you, but I'm afraid that my team is needed here to deal with these two sets of bombs. Good luck my young friend." I said as I shook his hand in thanks.
"We won't fail you sir." Percy said as he ran out the door followed by his friends. I hoped he was right, but at the moment I had over a hundred students that depended on my team for survival. I prayed to the gods that we would succeed.
AN: I guess the title is correct it appears that everyone has their hands full. What else is new, huh?