Chapter Three: You Should Run
June 18th 2011 - 6 days before the Feast of Fortuna, 1900 hrs, Deck, Argo II - Washington, United States - Jason Grace
Jason glanced at the bulky figure in front of him, if what he knew about Roman mythology was true, then Lycaon would be one of the most salvage and equally cunning monsters ever walked on Earth.
The situation was bad.
So far, Jason didn't see anyone other than Lycaon, but he would be a fool to think the Lycanthrope had come alone. The darkness of the night had shadowed the deck, it was a pool of blackness and Jason could hardly see a thing.
The thundering stormy clouds blocked the little moonlight from the ship, Jason could glimpse no light, he could hardly make out the features of Piper's face now. He was fighting blind, and Jason was certain Lycanthrope vision was much more adapted to darkness than his human eyes.
"What?" Lycaon snorted tauntingly, "Got nothing to say now little hero?"
Jason clenched his fist, "What do you want?" He spat.
"What do I want?" Lycaon laughed, "The real question is, what do you want? You are one of Mother Earth's most wanted, only second to Percy Jackson. Terra has me in charge of hunting down demigods, and I dare to say I've been doing a splendid job! You should be avoiding me like a plague, even if you are a son of Jupiter, you should have enough sense to evade me. Yet you want to find me, in the middle of your quest. So I'm curious, what do you possibly want from me, Jason Grace?"
"You should know, Lycaon," Jason was panicking internally. He cursed himself for being foolish enough to not set up defensive wards around the ship and letting Lycaon surprise him. He took a deep breath, cleaning his sweet-stretched fists to ease his nerves. Putting on his best mask with typical arrogant son of Jupiter smirk, he snorted at the Lycanthrope, "I am a Praetor of the Twelfth Legion Fulminata, my father is Jupiter, the King of Gods, both Leo and Piper are senior Centurions and we are here on behalf of Olympus, what do you think we could possibly want with you?"
"Curse you Jupiter!" Lycaon paled, for a moment, he was completely ignorant of the presence of the three demigods, "Diana's little girls have been annoying as it is, now the Romans!"
Jason and Leo exchanged a discrete glance, understanding each other perfectly well.
"You are bluffing!" Lycaon accused, glaring at Jason murderously, his eyes were glowing a dark gold as the wolf struggled to break free. His glare, fixed on the son of Jupiter, was so intense that he had completely missed Piper reaching for Katoptris, her fingers were only inches away… "We outnumber you at least a hundred times, and we caught you completely by surprise, you were unprepared! No! You are lying! You are lying just like your father!"
"Now take a look around you," Jason smirked, his voice filled with disdain while Leo made moving at the corner of his vision, "You are on board the Argo II, a Roman ship that was built solely for war. We were ordered explicitly to wipe out your clan on our way to Juno, it seemed that the Gods believed you and your half-breeds wouldn't be much…"
Lycaon led out an enraged roar, his vision had darkened completely as he lunged at Jason in a wolf-like movement. The son of Jupiter sidestepped the attack just as an orange ball of fired slammed onto the werewolf square chest. Lycaon was sent flying with a cry.
He jumped back onto his feet, only to find a Celestial Bronze dagger slashing across his chest as Piper used her momentary freedom to her advantage and struck. The sharp blade glazed at Lycaon's heart, piercing it in one swift motion that would have meant the end for any monster as ichor poured from the wound rapidly.
Piper whipped her dagger away and fell back to rejoin Jason and Leo. The trio of demigods looked at Lycaon in horror as the bleeding stopped altogether in less than a second. The king of lycanthropes led out a dangerous growl as the wound slowly healed, fading until not a trace of the damage Piper'd done was left visible.
"Silver," Piper whispered in realization, "Only silver can kill lycanthropes."
"Mierda," Leo swore in Spanish, "We've got loads of silver weapons onboard, but they are all in the armory."
Lycaon stood with another growl, his eyes had returned to blood red while the three demigods took an involuntary step back.
"ATTACK!" Lycaon led loose a monstrous battle cry as shadows descended from above. Dozens of werewolves dropped onto the ship's deck on ropes, only to be joint by dozens more werewolves who emerged from the horizon and climbed onto the ship. "KILL THEM ALL!"
Werewolves charged at them with their claws and fangs, savage grins present on all their faces. The first werewolf moved in a dark blur, and Jason could only bring up Ivlivs instinctively and swing it, hoping for sheer dumb luck. Jason was lucky, his blind swing caught the werewolf's chest as the blade tore it in two, cutting the lycanthrope apart.
The trio then turned and sprinted back into the ship, completely missing how the two halves of the werewolf squirmed back together.
June 18th 2011 - 6 days before the Feast of Fortuna, 1700 hrs, Portland, Oregon, United States - Percy Jackson
"I just had to do it," Percy whispered, but Zoë showed no indication of hearing him as he turned around and waked at Phineas, "at least once."
Phineas looked at him with the same amused expression and it all made Percy hate him even more, "Young love, always so touching. You do surprise me, dear brother of mine. Out of all the girls who would have thrown themselves at you, you chose a two-thousand-year-old man-hating huntress who is bound to doom you one way or another. Love can ruin even the greatest men, that's why I don't bother."
"I'm not here fore chit-chat Phineas!" Percy snapped, "Let's just get this over with."
"Very well then," Phineas smirked. He snatched the two vials from Percy eagerly, and placed them on the table carefully, shoving the piles of food off. Percy's heart was caught in his throat as he watched Phineas eyeing the vials carefully. Phineas' eyes closed in concentration and ran his fingers along the ceramic surfaces, a tremor passed through the ground. The vial on the left shook slightly more.
"You are a fool, Percy Jackson," Phineas grinned at his wickedly, his hand closing around the vial on the left, "Your time has come, now drink up."
Percy took the vial on the right with shaking fingers, his teeth were cluttering and he couldn't make it stop. The son of Vesta closed his eyes, took a deep breathe and downed the content in one swallow.
"A toast to the sons of Neptune." Phineas' grin widened at the sight of Percy doubling over. A pained, feminine scream could be heard as Zoë sprinted at him, tears in her eyes. Hazel had trouble keeping her back, her own eyes had gone red.
"NO!" Zoë screamed again, kicking out at Hazel blindly, her hands shot at Percy, but the daughter of Pluto held her back. "You can't be dead! Percy! You c-can't… Y-You just can't…"
"Zoë, please," Hazel choked out, sobbing, "Please."
Percy however, didn't notice any of it as his vision blurred. He collapsed to a knee, barely keeping himself upright with a hand, the lone palm he'd stuck out on the ground was the only thing that supported his weight. He felt like someone had just shoved a full liter of gasoline into his mouth before setting it ablaze with a match. His throat was burning, he couldn't breathe…
Suddenly his vision cleared.
Zoë stopped crying, disbelief and relief both filled her eyes. Phineas looked stunned, his expression froze, a wide hole formed where his jaw had fell. For a moment, Phineas was too shocked to even register what was happening around him, he could only see Percy getting up, all evidence of pain vanished from the demigod. "Impossible…" The seer muttered.
A look of loathing crossed Phineas' face for the briefest second, then he blinked and smiled as if nothing had happened.
"Impressive, Percy Jackson," Phineas said, his gaze was fixed on Percy, "I can see why the Gods value you so much, Saturn himself underestimated you… and he paid. Yes, yes," Phineas muttered, it sounded like the words were meant for himself only as he took the demigods in.
Zoë marched at Percy, who had all the sudden gone very pale. She then punched him in the face.
Achilles' curse or not, it hurt.
"What the Hades is wrong with you!" Zoë yelled at him, "You were almost dead!"
Before he knew it, Zoë threw herself at him and pulled him into a bone-crushing embrace. Percy was bewildered by her mood swings, but only found himself loving her even more.
What a love-sick idiot he was.
A wave of disappointment shot through Percy when Zoë pulled away, her usual huntress look had slipped back on her face again. Percy sighed internally before turning to face Phineas.
"I believe some answers are in order."
"Indeed they are," Phineas said, the same smirk was present on the corners of his lips again and somehow Percy knew it meant trouble, "fire away."
"I need the precise location of where Thanatos is being held in Alaska," Percy said, sitting down that he was facing Phineas.
"Hubbard Glacier, Percy Jackson," Phineas answered, the smirk still on his face. The same amusement was gleaming in his eyes again, "Your precious God of Death is being held in Hubbard Glacier."
Percy didn't know where it was. He turned to Zoë, who looked as blank as he was, and offered him an apologetic look. Hazel, on the other hand, gave him a small nod.
"And what would I be facing there?" Percy continued, "Who or what is guarding Thanatos?"
"An army," Phineas smirked, "Your worst nightmare awaits you there, Percy Jackson. It is an army of shadows not even Pluto himself can touch. You might want to keep the Gorgon blood ready because it will be a far less painful end for you."
"What else?" Percy demanded, his eyes boring into Phineas'.
"A surprise," The seer grinned, and Percy didn't like the feeling he was getting at all, "Prepared personally by Terra herself, just for you. Wouldn't want to spoil the surprise for you now."
Percy's eyes narrowed, "What surprise?"
Phineas only gave him a sinister look, "I already answered your question, dear brother. The next time you get someone to make an oath, make sure you state clearly that they need to give you all of the answer you seek. If you can't break the rules, bend them. A twirl of my tongue and you get the truth, but just how twisted it is, I do not know."
Percy cursed in Greek.
"Now what else do you want to know, son of Vesta?" Phineas looked at him with what Percy knew to be great disdain, he was reminded of how Ares had looked at him during their encounter on the beech of St. Monica. As if he was beneath his boots, as if he wasn't worth his time.
"I want to know about the Greeks, have they joined forces with Gaea?" Percy inquired, his tone was flat and his face was stoic.
"Yes, Percy Jackson," Phineas was beaming at him when he spoke those words, amusement glowing in his eyes, "Over a hundred Greek demigods have joined the ranks of Terra's army. Camp Half-Blood is under the control of the Mother Earth now, only so few remaining who are in fierce opposition, but they no longer hold power, the Gods have abandoned this obsolescent Earth. The world will burn, Percy Jackson, believe me it will."
Percy, whose face was completely blank by then, rose to leave, but Phineas spoke again.
"Not so fast, dear brother," The seer was smirking sinisterly, Percy's body tensed alarmingly, "I made an oath to answer your questions, but I uttered no word about letting you leave."
June 18th 2011 - 6 days before the Feast of Fortuna, 1910 hrs, Argo II - Washington, United States - Leo Valdez
"Blast them!" Jason cried, a bolt of electricity shot from him palm, striking a werewolf in the chest. The Lycanthrope dropped in a thud and was soon swarmed by his advancing comrades.
Leo concentrated hard, calling his inner demigod power. Half of his was God, and he'd put it to good use. With a loud cry, a wall of orange flames shot up, consuming a wave of Lycanthropes who were surging at him too quickly to halt themselves in time.
Loud, animalistic screams erupted as werewolves crashed into the wall of flames, a sickening smell was in the air confined air as Lycanthropes were scorched alive. More and more werewolves screamed at the torching sensation orange fire on their skin.
Large beards of sweets formed on Leo's forehead rapidly as he struggled to keep the wall of fire up. Sure he trained his fire power regularly and never hesitated to use it to his advantage during spars, but keeping up a wall of flames powerful enough to reduce an endless wave of Lycanthropes to dusts was taking a toll on him.
"To the armory!" Leo told Jason, his knees buckling as the veil of flames fell. The Lycanthropes were too stunned and scarred to move for a moment, allowing the trio of demigods to turn and sprint away. An enraged cry shook the werewolves out of their trance, they marched with even more enthusiasm and ferocity than before, their fallen comrades already reforming.
"We can't hold them off," Jason said, conjuring a small ball of electricity in his left hand and throwing it over his shoulder as soon as it danced into existence. It was impossible to miss, the werewolves had formed a black storm, and they were approaching fast, eager for blood, "We have to abandon the ship."
"Leo," Piper hissed urgently, "Does Argo II have a self-destruct function?"
"When you are building what's probably the most massive warship in the history of New Rome," Leo replied, "You don't build it so you could just blow it up later. Lucky for you, I can probably overload the ship's energy core, destabilizing it. If someone could go down to the weapons bay and manually set off all the bombs we've got onboard, the energy core will blow and everything onboard will be ripped apart."
"I'll go to the engineering and take care of the energy core." Leo ordered, "Jason, arm all our Greek Fire missiles, make sure you leave yourself enough time to get out of there. Piper, I need you to go to Bridge, lock it down and engage emergency ejection protocol, you know how to ride Festus. Sparky will be fine on his own, son of Jupiter and all, but one of you guys will have to pick me up on the way down."
Both Jason and Piper knew what Leo meant instantly, the look of determination on the son of Vulcan's face was matched by Jason's and Piper's.
"And if I don't make it." Leo stopped in his track, his expression was the most serious anyone has ever seen, "You guys are the best friends I could have ever had."
June 18th 2011 - 6 days before the Feast of Fortuna, 1715 hrs, Portland, Oregon, United States - Zoë Nightshade
Zoë froze. She could see Percy doing the same. Hazel had a stunned look on her face as her grip around her Spatha tightened.
She couldn't believe what she just heard.
She could see Percy turning to face Phineas again very slowly, his expression grim.
Phineas barely lifted a finger to dispatch all three of them at once, and they were in their top shape. Now, after the painful fighting and the intense stand off, there was no way they could last more than a few seconds against the son of Neptune.
Zoë looked at Percy desperately, but he seemed just as helpless as she was.
Realization came crashing down like a wave, there was no way out.
She was the Lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis for two thousand years, she had long lost the count of how many wild beasts had perished at her hands, countless dangerous fugitives wanted by the Olympian Council were hunted down by her personally. She'd had more than her fair share of life or death situations, her escapes from death were far closer than narrow. In any given day of the last two millennia her life was on the line, maybe she was used to it.
But she had never felt anything like this before, her impending doom was approaching, and there was nothing she could do. There was no escape, no help coming, her Goddess was torn apart by Greco-Roman split persona. Did Zoë fear death? No, she did die once.
But this time was different, she didn't want to leave, not yet. She glanced at the man next to her, and her hand found its way around her dagger. If she was going down, she'd go down fighting next to Percy Jackson proudly.
The last time she felt anything remotely close to what she was feeling now, she was on Mt. Othrys facing her father. Percy Jackson stood by her side as well, but the nature of their relationship had taken a drastic change. It had turned into something she would never dare to fathom before.
"Put away that pretty sword of yours," Phineas waved with a snort, "If I want you dead, you'd already be dead fifty times over now, Percy Jackson. The same goes for you, Hazel Levesque, the vial of Gorgon blood in your hands would make sure I don't return to the land of living for a long time, but just how do you think you are shoving it down my throat?"
"Killing you or capturing you would put me in favor of the Mother Earth," Phineas continued, "But I am an old man now, I have lived thousands of years and spilled thousands of secrets. There is so little left in this world that interests me anymore. You, however, do interest me, Percy Jackson. You and Terra would make an excellent show for me, now be gone, I can not wait to see what happens in Alaska."
Boom.
Piper'd better be there to catch me.
Guest: Whoever you are, you are right. Percy can't tell either Jason nor Thalia about the other, so he chose to direct Jason to Lycaon who Thalia is after. The pair will be re-united in no time.
The other Guest: I'm genuinely curious, just how OOC the characters are?
AN: Not my best chapter, I apologize for that. I do need your opinion on something, should I throw more mundane stuff into the story, like more light dialogue, or should I keep it driven by intense action? I really want to know how I'm doing so far so leave a comment via review of PM, I really appreciate and need any form of support, they are what's driving this story forward. Thanks for your time and all your lovely reviews, until next time.