Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Chapter 18: The Real Plan
Somewhere in the North Atlantic Ocean
Percy's POV
As we left the bridge Annabeth grabbed my arm and pulled me to the side. As I turned around and faced her she suddenly punched me straight in the jaw.
"Oww, what in Hades was that for?" I said. Annabeth rolled her eyes at me and glared daggers at me as I rubbed my jaw.
"That's for leaving me on the beach while you left with Mr. D to go risk your life again, you brave idiot." Annabeth said. I saw Thalia and Nico both smirking at me. I glared daggers at them until they looked away. "Besides I know that punch didn't hurt you that much."
"Do we have time for this right now?" I asked sarcastically.
"No, but you're going to tell me you're sorry for leaving me." Annabeth said.
"I'm not going to lie, I'm not sorry that I left you behind, this ship was too dangerous while the pearl was still intact. I don't need this right now." I said. I turned and walked away leaving Annabeth completely stunned. I walked passed Nico, Thalia and the others, I glared at them just waiting for one of them to comment, but they wouldn't meet my eyes. "If you don't want to join me, then I'll just rescue my friends on my own." I ran up the steps to the main deck of the ship. I knew exactly where I could find transportation. As I exited onto the deck I saw Allen standing by a line hanging over the side of the ship. I ran over to him.
"Percy, Scott asked me to give this to you. It should be enough weapons for you and your friends to get the job done." Allen said as he hand me the large black bag, it weighed over a hundred pounds and I easily placed it over my shoulder. "Where's your team?"
"Thanks for the weapons. They should be here shortly." I said, hoping that would be the case. Allen nodded and then ran off toward the engine room. I grabbed a hold of the line and began to climb down the rope. As I reached the water I saw five Hippocampi surface and head my way. Hello my Prince. I heard rainbow say as he approached.
"Good to see you my friend." I said. Are others joining us? I looked up to the top of the deck and I saw Malcolm and the others looking down at me. I climbed on Rainbow's back and waited for everyone to reach the water. Everyone climbed aboard a Hippocampi, I expected Annabeth to join me on Rainbow, but instead she sat behind Malcolm on the other Hippocampi. Malcolm gave me a worried look, but I smiled back at him I could see the relief on his face.
"Perce, where are we going?" Nico asked. I looked at the tracking device readout and it showed the location of the enemy submarine that was heading in the same direction as Atlas's helicopter.
"We're heading south the submarine is heading that way at approximately twelve knots." I said. Then I patted Rainbow on the head. "We should be able to keep up with them easily." Rainbow moved away from the research ship and the other Hippocampi followed. We traveled at fifteen knots for about an hour until we reached a safe tracking distance and then we matched the speed and course of the submarine. As darkness began to settle around us we continued to follow the submarine, Thalia and her Hippocampus moved along side Rainbow and I. I saw the angry look on her face when she looked my way.
"You need to apologize to Annabeth." Thalia whispered I could see the anger in her eyes.
"Thals, I'm not apologizing for leaving her at camp, I'm not going to lie. I left her to protect her, I didn't know what would happen and I would rather risk myself than her." I said with annoyance clearly audible in my voice.
"Do you know how hard it was for her when you were hurt?" Thalia asked. I could imagine and I remember the tears she shed when I visited her dream self.
"Yes, I can." I said as I looked into Thalia's eyes, she turned away after a few seconds.
"All I know is that you hurt her back there, she worries about your safety as much as you do hers." Thalia said angrily as she moved back to join Annabeth and the others. Maybe she's right. I should say that I'm sorry that I left her, but I'm not sorry for wanting to protect her, if that makes sense. I don't know, when I told her this wasn't the time I meant it. I have two of my best friends in the world trapped with that bastard Atlas. The anger toward Atlas began to boil inside of me and I didn't realize what was going on until I heard Rainbow in my head. My Prince are you all right, the water has become much rougher. I looked around and now the ocean was full of white caps and the wind began to pick up around us. I concentrated and I easily pushed away the anger, the white caps stopped and the wind calmed down. We didn't need any storms at the moment, I thought.
"Rainbow, I'm fine now, thank you." I said. I noticed Nico move along side me.
"Perce, don't worry Thalia is just concerned about Annabeth. She doesn't want to see the two of you fight." Nico said.
"Its o.k. Nico, I know she cares for us, but I have other things to worry about now, too many things really." I said as I thought about the other three missions currently going on. I almost wish that I could astral project myself to see how they were all doing, but I have an important mission myself. I guess Nico noticed my far away expression.
"Perce, you o.k.?" Nico asked.
"I'm worried about the other missions there are too many lives at stake. If I had just played along with Atlas until the time was right I could have prevented this from happening, instead I just got myself shot. Maybe Annabeth is right I am a too brave idiot." I yelled loudly, too loudly as everyone looked at me worriedly. I saw Annabeth stare at me in the darkness. "Nico, I need to know what's going on over on that enemy sub. I need you to watch over me while I do this."
"Do what?" Nico asked curiously.
"I'm going to astral project my spirit over to the submarine." I whispered to Nico.
Nico looked at me in complete shock. "You're going to do what?" Nico said louder than he should have. I grabbed his shirt and almost pulled him into the air.
"Will you keep it down I don't want anyone else to know. If they ask you about me just tell them that I took a nap, got it?" I stated sternly. I glared into Nico's eyes and I could tell that he knew I meant business. He nodded in agreement as I let go of his shirt. I closed my eyes and concentrated on my spirit. I created a link, a life line between my body and my spirit and then I start to release the line letting it out slowly at first and then more quickly as my spirit floated toward the submarine. After what seemed like an hour I reached the submarine. In my spirit form I was able to pass through the metal of the hull easily and I appeared in the bridge of the submarine. I made myself completely invisible, so I would not be recognized. I saw the Captain of the submarine and so I followed him as he walked back to his quarters. I followed him inside and waited for him to do something.
After a few minutes I heard a knock on the door the Captain said, "Enter." The executive officer walked in carrying a set of papers that looked like orders. He handed the papers to the Captain, he inspected the orders and then sat back in his chair clearly thinking about what he just read. "We have our orders finally we are to use the submersible to go to the coordinates listed. The search site is approximately two miles southeast of our base. Once there we're to use the small sub to find the remains of the V2 rocket that was lost during the war. We are to bring it back to base for processing and analysis. It appears that the spy mission to steal blueprints and materials for creating a hydrogen bomb were successful. Once the V2 is found and processed it will only be a matter of weeks before the V2 would be ready to launch armed with a hydrogen bomb filled with the special metal that we have in storage. The V2 is important because it flies for most of its trip in outer space, some place even Zeus can't go. It will move too fast for Zeus to destroy on its way back to Earth. The Olympians will not know what hit them. The explosion would be so great that it would annihilate everything within a hundred miles of New York and irradiate every living thing out to five hundred miles. The death toll will be staggering and western civilization will be destroyed in America along with the Olympians."
"A great plan sir, how did the master think this one up?" The executive officer asked curiously.
"Well the decoys and the main plan were thought up by his brother Prometheus." The Captain said.
"I though Prometheus is in Tartarus?" The executive officer asked.
"He is, but we have a spy, she has been providing the information on all his plans." The captain said. "I must rest now continue our course to the excavation coordinates provided. We should be there in a day."
"Aye, sir I'll keep us on course for Gough Island." The executive officer said as he left the Captain's quarters. I immediately moved out through the wall and then through the hull of the ship. I slipped back up through the ocean depths and reached the ocean surface. I followed my life line back to my body and then I suddenly felt myself wake up as I took a loud inhale of air.
"Perce, are you o.k.?" Nico asked with concern in his voice. Then I noticed that Thalia and Annabeth were also looking at me. Annabeth was sitting behind Thalia on her Hippocampus. I noticed Clarisse and Malcolm asleep on theirs.
"Percy, what did you do?" Annabeth asked vehemently. I didn't feel too happy about the tone of her voice.
"I spied on that submarine." I said.
"You can still astral plane even while you're out of the coma?" Annabeth asked curiously.
"Yes, I wasn't sure I could, but yes I can do it." I said. The three of them looked at me like I was a freak. "Hey, why are you all looking at me like that?" I was starting to get pissed off now.
"Sorry Perce it's just that this new ability is pretty awesome and strange. I guess it will take us a few moments to get use to it." Nico said sincerely. The others nodded their heads in agreement, but Annabeth wouldn't meet my eyes. "What did you find out?" I relayed the entire story as I remembered it from the sub when I was done the three of them sat on their Hippocampi in stunned silence.
"We have to stop them." I said. The others were still in shock.
"How?" Thalia asked. I looked at her and smiled mischievously. They all stared at me and then smiled in return.
"What are you going to do?" Annabeth asked worriedly.
I looked into her eyes and I could feel and see the worry. "I'm going to put on my armor and use my trident to destroy them, son of Poseidon against nuclear submarine." I said.
"Why do you always have to do these things alone?" Annabeth asked. I knew her question dealt with more than just this one occurrence.
"Well, none of you can breathe underwater and besides we don't have time to wait for backup." I said. I saw Thalia look at Annabeth then Thalia climbed behind Nico and allowed Annabeth to take the Hippocampus. Annabeth moved over closer to me, I knew she wanted to talk about what happened earlier today. She was right we needed to work through this.
"We need to talk about what happened earlier today Percy." Annabeth said.
Before she could continue I said, "I'm sorry that I didn't bring you to the research ship, but I'm not sorry for trying to protect you. I hope that makes sense." Annabeth just stared at me and gave me her patented smirk.
"For once seaweed brain it does make some sense." Annabeth said. "You need to understand that we need to work together. I worry about you going off on these solo missions as much as you worry about me. When you were shot it felt like a piece of me was slowly dying with you. I can't handle that, please think about that next time. I need to be with you, especially during these dangerous missions."
"I understand that now, Thalia told me about what you went through when I was hurt, but you can't be with me all the time, just like I can't always be with you. I know we both want to protect each other from harm, but sometimes its impossible." I said as I looked into her eyes. I moved closer to her until we were only a foot apart. "I love you more than anything." I grabbed her hands and held them tightly.
"I love you too." Annabeth said as she squeezed my hands tightly in return. "Just remember that you don't always have to do things alone. I don't need protection, I can take care of myself, o.k.?" I stared into those stormy gray eyes that I loved and saw the truth she was speaking. I didn't want to hurt her.
"Agreed, when you can come with me, I won't stand in your way." I said. I leaned forward and kissed her. I could feel both of us melt into the kiss. We separated after a few minutes to catch our breath.
"Now go and destroy that damn sub." Annabeth ordered. I stared into her eyes then I smiled. I saw her eyes grow big as my eyes lit up with my night vision abilities. I let go of her hands and then slipped under the waves. I extended my armor and it covered my body, my helmet extended over my head. I pushed the small trident symbol on my gauntlet and the trident extended into my hand. It's time for some payback I thought. I swam at full speed toward the submarine. I could sense the submarine increase speed to over forty knots as it tried to run from me. My sixth sense went off like an alarm bell as I sensed the aft torpedo tube doors open. Two torpedoes suddenly fired toward me, before the first one could hit me I fired a blast from my trident and the torpedo exploded sending a massive shockwave through the ocean. My armor protected me from the blast. I didn't have time to breath easy though as I felt the second torpedo flying through the water toward me. I made up my mind to end this game right now. I swam at the torpedo at full speed. I willed the currents to push me through the water as I swam at over sixty knots, right before the torpedo hit me I veered off and around the torpedo. I allowed the torpedo to regain its lock. It followed directly behind me gaining on me slowly as I swam at full speed. I saw the submarine come into view ahead of me. I swam directly for the submarine. I could sense the sub turning at tight angles, but it wasn't enough to evade me. The torpedo was now only sixty yards behind me and closing I reached the enemy submarine and allowed the torpedo to close within thirty yards I suddenly veered straight up and headed for the surface the torpedo struck the enemy sub directly into the engine room. The last thing I heard or felt was the blast of the torpedo and the breakup of the submarine. The concussion blast from the explosion sent me flying out of the water. I landed back into the ocean only fifty yards from my friends. I cleared my head and slowly swam back to them. I pulled myself up onto the back of Rainbow with my armor still in place. My trident melded back into my gauntlet and my armor retracted. I caught my breath as I felt someone jump on my back, it was Annabeth. She hugged me tightly, a little too tightly.
"Annabeth or is this Tyson because whoever it is you're squeezing the life out of me." I said as I tried to catch my breath. I felt the tightness of the hug relax.
"Sorry." Annabeth said. It took me a minute to catch my breath, but I relaxed completely as Annabeth rested her head on my back. I heard Thalia and Nico move over next to us.
"I hate to breakup this touching scene, but I assume you destroyed that submarine?" Thalia asked.
I smiled at her and Nico. "Yes, with they're own torpedo." I said.
"Well, we can't follow the submarine, how are we going to find Atlas?" Thalia asked. I felt Annabeth tense behind me.
"Guys don't worry when I was spying on them I heard them set their course for Gough Island. It is a protected island in the Southern Atlantic Ocean almost the midway point between South America and Africa. It is controlled by the United Kingdom. This island is a nature preserve with only a small weather station with a skeleton crew. Not sure why Atlas is there, but he must have a reason, we're going to find that out.
AN: I hope you enjoyed this chapter I guess Percy really messed up Atlas and Prometheus's plans. Next chapter we'll check in on the other three missions, we have a lot to cover. Sorry I forgot that Prometheus was Atlas's brother, its correct now thanks for the reviews.