Chapter 3: Escape
Percy opened his eyes slowly, stifling a groan. There was a knot on the side of his head, and his nose ached fiercely. His side stung a little as well, where one of the Amazons must have got a cut in.
His eyes snapped open fully, and he sat up quickly, which made his head spin. He lay back down unsteadily. Looking around him, he saw golden bars in a circle. Realization hit him like a hammer to the gut, and he groaned again, this time not bothering to try and hide it. He was in a cage.
Someone tapped the bars lightly, then called out, "He's awake!" Percy sat up again, but much slower. He managed to stay upright that time. An Amazon warrior stood outside the cage, peering down at him. Her spear was propped up against the wall nearby.
Percy frowned. "All that trouble to capture me and you just lean your weapons on the freakin' wall? Gee, rub it in, why don't you." He grumbled, climbing unsteadily to his feet. The Amazon blushed and picked up her spear. Then she seemed to realize what she had done and frowned at herself. Dropping the spear, she fingered her knife like she might want to use it.
Percy glanced around. It looked like they were inside some sort of warehouse. A catwalk criss-crossed over the top, which was where he was. Boxes littered the floor, some small, others as big as a truck. A bunch of Amazon warriors were seated in the center of the warehouse. They seemed to be having some sort of meeting.
Abruptly it dawned on Percy that there were more than the dozen that had attacked him. Looking down, he estimated there were at least thirty women there, all trained warriors. Whistling, he looked at his captor. "Aren't you guys supposed to be based in Seattle?" he asked.
She frowned. "How did you-never mind. You demigods always were the nosy type."
Percy snorted. "That's exactly what you guys said the last time you caged me up." The Amazon blinked.
"What?" she said. She looked at him intently. "You do look familiar," she said disbelievingly.
Percy nodded, wondering if she'd remember. Apparently not, because she kept that same blank look. "It was two years ago. I was passing by to go kill a…" he waited for her to finish. Nothing. Percy sighed. "Sea monster?" he prompted. She still didn't recognize him. "Yeesh." Percy said, shaking his head. "I've gotta' work on my impressions."
Then she realized she wasn't really looking at him; she was looking through him. Percy reached a hand through the bars and snapped his fingers under her nose. "Hey!" he said. She started, jerking upright.
"What?" she asked.
Percy sighed. "Glad to have you back, Sleepy." He muttered. The Amazon narrowed her eyes at him. Percy leaned against the wall of the cage as far away from her as possible. He watched her watching him for a few seconds, then began looking around some more, thinking, Gods, this is really awkward. After a few minutes, he said, "So…how 'bout that weather today?" She stared at him like he was some sort of retarded monkey. "Just trying to make conversation." He said.
"Really?" she responded, arching one eyebrow. Percy whistled.
"How do you do that?" he asked.
She looked really confused. "What?"
Percy pointed at her forehead. "Raise your eyebrow like that. I never could figure out how to do it." Scrunching his eyes, he tried to copy her, but failed. She stared at him, a bit worriedly. "Not gonna tell me?" Percy said after giving up. She shook her head. Percy frowned. "Gods, talk about boring." He said, half to himself, then raised his voice.
"Yo, Amazons!" All thirty turned instantly and stared up at him. "I need a new guard up here! This one is really boring!" he called down. The guard reached a hand inside the cage and tried to hit him, but missed. "And she's abusive!" he added.
A small round of laughter ran through the women. About half of them disappeared, walking under the catwalk. A minute later, they appeared off the left from behind a big stack of crates. The one in front was obviously their leader. Percy could tell by the way she carried herself, so full of confidence, so sure that her orders would be obeyed. But there was also an air of taking orders as well. So not the Queen. That sucked. Hylla knew him, and Percy wished she were here. He could use a friendly face about now.
The Amazons stopped in front of his cage. "Any trouble?" the leader asked.
"He tried to get me to show him how to raise one eyebrow. That's about it." The guard responded. The leader nodded and turned to him. After an intense study lasting about ten seconds, she said, "You look awfully familiar."
Percy nodded. "I know." He hoped maybe this one remembered him better. No such luck. "Do you remember me? I was on my way to kill a…." he used the same prompt he had used for the guard, with the same result. "Sea monster." Percy finished. "You guys locked me up in a cage for 'disturbing the horses', I believe it was." The leader looked like she was on the brink of a discovery, but still no remembrance. "Gods, this really gets annoying." He growled.
"I think I might remember you." She said finally, and Percy started clapping slowly.
"Well done! Not exactly what I was hoping for, but still, improvement." He said, grinning. A few of the other Amazons chuckled. The leader arched an eyebrow. "Oh, come on! That's just insulting, man!" It arched higher. "I mean woman." He added hastily.
She shook her head. "I'm pretty sure I would've remembered you if you had been like this." She said.
Percy shrugged. "I was in a bit of a rush, back then, so the stupidity was sort of discarded. Mostly." He said. She nodded, frowning slightly. A few of the Amazons muttered to themselves, and others looked like they were trying not to laugh, but the leader never even cracked a grin. This would be fun. "I'm Percy, by the way." He said, sticking his hand through the bars. She took it warily, and Percy suppressed a wince. She had a really strong grip.
"Kinzie." She said.
"Kinzie." Percy repeated. "Nice name."
"I have a few questions for you Percy." Kinzie said.
"And I have a few answers, though whether or not I'll give them to you is yet to be seen." He said, pulling his arm back and massaging his wrist. Kinzie almost smiled at that, Percy was sure. "How about this: we both are curious about the other. So, I propose a compromise: a question for a question. For every question you I ask, I get to ask one. No lies, no dodging answers, straight-up truth. You cool with that?" he asked.
"You're pretty bad at this whole negotiating concept." Kinzie noted. Percy grinned.
"One of my many talents." He said.
"You're not really in the position to be dealing right now." Kinzie said.
"Yeah, but see, I'm really good at shutting up, surprising as that may seem. And to get me to talk, it will require moving me from the cage. And even though it's thirty to one, I'll still do something crazy and try to escape, which might or might not fail, and end up with a couple of us in a lot of pain. And repeat." Percy said, leaning casually against the bars of his cage.
"That remains to be seen, Percy." Kinzie said, arching an eyebrow.
Percy huffed. "That's just mean." He said, frowning at her.
She studied him for a few moments, while Percy waited patiently. "Well, I guess question time will have to wait then." She said, turning away.
"I'll be here 24/7 unless you change your mind." Percy called.
She stopped and added, "Oh, and about that new guard…Diana, think you can handle it?"
One of the Amazons grinned. "Of course, Kinzie." She said.
Kinzie nodded. "Marla, you've been relieved of guard duty." She said. Marla swallowed a bit nervously, picked up her spear, and followed them. Percy's new guard, Diana, walked over and watched him. After a minute or so of this, Percy began to feel a bit uncomfortable.
"Please tell me you're not just gonna stand there staring at me all day." He said after a minute. "Because if you will, I'm asking for Marla back." Diana grinned and tossed her shoulder-length cinnamon-colored hair over her shoulder, and Percy was suddenly shocked by how blue her eyes were. It was kind of unnatural.
That thought almost made him laugh. He lived in a world of gods and monsters. Next to that, really blue eyes were nothing. "You know, I do remember you." Diana said after a moment. Percy grinned.
"Thank the gods. I was about to say, I really need to work on my first impressions if caging me up wasn't enough to make you guys remember me, especially after the panic I caused when I broke out." He said.
"Yeah." Diana continued. "You threw a rope around my legs and left me hanging from a sixty-foot-high walkway for an hour."
Percy frowned, trying to recall his encounter. "I don't really remember that." he lied, the image coming unbidden to his mind.
Diana shrugged. "Doesn't matter anyway." She said. "Just do me a favor and if you try to break out again, which you no doubt will, don't hang me over the edge of the walkway again." She asked.
"Sure. Next time I'll just drop a box on top of you." He said nonchalantly. She shook her head slightly.
"Oh yeah, it's all coming back to me now." She said, and it didn't sound like a good thing.
"I have that effect on people." Percy admitted.
"Shut up." She said, raising an eyebrow and turning around and facing outwards.
"Okay, this is getting ridiculous." Percy said. "Either teach me how to do that or stop doing it around me." Diana laughed.
"Do yourself a favor and stop trying." She offered.
"Not happening."
Maybe two or three hours later, Kinzie came back, and this time alone. Percy stood up from his seat on an overturned bucket, nodding to her. "Have you decided to agree?" he asked.
Kinzie spoke to Diana. "Leave us." Diana nodded and went over to guard the stairs. Then Kinzie turned to Percy. "I have another idea: you tell us what we want to know, and we leave Arion alone."
Percy snorted. "Please, you wouldn't hurt Arion. I know. You had him captured for years and never really hurt him once. Besides, the question for a question is the only option I'll accept."
Kinzie sighed and rolled her eyes to the heavens, like What am I gonna do with this guy? "Fine. A question for a question it is." She said, and Percy smiled.
"Alright then." he said. "Ladies first."
Kinzie nodded. "Why are you here?" she asked.
"To watch over four demigods who are going on a quest to stop the giant king which in fact was given to me by Athena herself." Percy said, all in one breath. Kinzie was a little surprised at his straight-forwardness. "My turn." Percy continued. "Why are you here?"
"The Queen sent us to hunt down a particularly troublesome monster that hasn't been overly friendly with the Amazons the past few months." Kinzie responded. Percy nodded.
"Understandable." He said.
"Now, what were you doing with our horse?" she asked. Percy snorted.
"Arion is a friend of mind, and he asked me to break him out while I was doing the same thing. And by the way, he's a free spirit, not belonging to anybody."
"Then why were you riding him?" she asked.
Percy held up his hand. "That's another question. Let me ask mine first." He couldn't help but smile inwardly as Kinzie ground her teeth together. "What monster are you chasing?"
"The Chimera." She responded. Percy winced.
"Good luck." He said sincerely.
"Alright, what were you doing riding Arion?" Kinzie asked.
"Simple. Arion and I are chums, so he helps me out from time to time." Percy said, sitting back down. "So, Kinzie, my next question is: why did you capture me?"
Kinzie wasn't expecting that question, so she wasn't sure how to answer it at first. "You were riding Arion, and we felt that he belonged to us. So naturally we assumed you were a thief."
"Well, that's all for today." Percy said.
Kinzie frowned down at him, but Percy could tell she knew the audience was over. "Diana, back to your post." She said. Diana jogged back, eyeing Percy a bit warily, before assuming a guard stance outside his cage. Percy was biding his time, waiting for the right opportunity. And he was in luck, because a coil of rope was nearby.
Another few hours passed, and most of the Amazons had fallen asleep. All except for Diana and a few sentries. Percy acted like he was asleep and waited until Diana turned away to watch the other Amazons. Standing as quietly as he could, he stood and slipped his hidden lock pick out of the top of his shoe. He inserted it into the keyhole and eased the door slowly open. Thank the gods it didn't have rusty hinges.
He slipped out of the cage, but something he did alerted Diana, who started to turn around. Percy lunged for her, putting her into a sleeper hold. Daedalus hadn't only taught him how to use weapons. She trashed around, trying to knock something over, but Percy held on tight. As a last-second effort, she threw herself backwards, slamming him into the cage. This loosened his hold just enough for her to headbutt him and break free.
"Help!" she yelled. Percy cursed and kicked her in the gut, knocking the air out of her lungs. But it was too late. The guards had seen and were charging up the stairs. Percy grabbed the rope coil. Tying one end around Diana's legs, he knotted the other in a quick but effective knot around the cage bars and shoved her over the edge. She screamed, but stopped about halfway down. The rope held.
Unfortunately, she had now woken all the Amazon's who hadn't been woken yet. And the guards had reached the catwalk. Percy needed to get down, and fast, before the rest knew what was happening, but those stairs were the only way down, and there were three fully armed warriors blocking the way. Percy leaned over the edge and saw Diana dangling there about ten feet above a pile of cardboard boxes. A crazy idea came to Percy's head, and he sighed. "I hate my life." He growled, and jumped.
Thank the gods those boxes were empty. He crashed down into them, rolling to the floor and surprisingly only getting a few bruises. Springing to his feet, he raced over to where Arion was tethered. Oh yeah, Percy, help me! He said.
I know, I know. Percy growled mentally. Only a few Amazons stood in his way. One stepped forward, raising a sword. Percy caught her wrist and judo-flipped her over his shoulder. He was running before she even touched the ground. Another tried to stab him with a spear, but Percy kicked it out of her hands and punched her in the eye. The tried to get a round house kick, but he blocked it. Come on, Perce, get her! Uppercut! Left jab! Try it, man. Go for the uppercut! Arion called out encouragingly.
Hey Arion? Percy said, tossing the Amazon to the ground.
Yeah?
Shut the hell up. Percy said, summoning his sword. He slashed through the rope that held Arion. The horse reared, thrashing the air with his legs. Come on! Percy said, swinging on to his back. "Don't let them get away!" Kinzie yelled, running towards him. But Arion charged forward, knocking the warriors aside. He burst through the door and began running for the city.
"Yes!" Percy yelled, pumping his fist in the air. They were already far away from the Amazons, and he felt great. Until he saw the dragon falling from the sky.