Thanks for all the reviews... THEY WERE AWESOME! ...*coughs*
I didn't get up to the 20 reviews, but that doesn't matter. I was, like, DYING TO UPLOAD! Plus *coughs* Megs wanted more of the story.
So, here is the next chapter :D
Percy's POV
Oh gods, what do I do now? Annabeth is with the person the guy who wants Demi-gods dead, and she is one! I have to save her. I know I love Annabeth Chase - yes, I said love - but I don't know which one I love. The one I met a mere week ago - which is unlikely, yet possible - or the one from my past... and present. Could this get any more confusing?
Definitely.
It could also be both of them. I don't remember anything about the Annabeth from my past, but there is something there. Annabeth is never wrong even in this really unlikely situation, but there is nothing in my mind of her, at camp or otherwise. It's strange because everything else is there. The intense sword-fights, capture the flag, people, campers, monsters, friends - wait, is that Nico? - enemies, cabins, places and so many memories. There is one where I am in New York, at Central Park, with Nico and Thalia. We are staring up at the sky, pointing at the clouds. Nico was talking about one shaped like a boat. Then, there is another memory, the same place and time, where we are all holding bronze swords and glaring at a tall, leathery woman as she grimaces down at us. Which is real? Is my whole life a lie? Is this like The Matrix, where I'll wake up and the world will be in some kind of apocalypse, just to see how messed up the world really is. Nah, too sci-fi. [A:N/ I have NOTHING against sci-fi... infact, I kinda love it :D ] Then again, whoever thought Greek Mythology was - exactly that - mythology, is kinda small minded. Who knew?
Annabeth knew.
Confusing much? Yeah, a lot.
But how come I see Nico and Thalia in these memories. And Piper and Jason too. How do you explain the unexplainable trio as an actual trio in your memory And there was a large boat too, but everyone was much older. And there was no Thalia this time, and still no Annabeth. If she was so important to me before, then who is she?
I guess this is why they call me seaweed brain, then. Yeah, I thought so.
"Yo, Perce, what's this?" Nico asks, pulling me out of my reverie and holding the pale card with Annabeth's name on. Her keycard to this place. I glance at his face to see if he saw the name, a small piece of recognition on his face. Nothing. I take it from him, grimacing slightly. "Dude, it looks like a pass. Like to get in a building or something."
"Yeah, they use these at offices," Thalia pipes up. Not helping one bit.
Oh yeah, 'cause Annabeth is the girl who works here because she was asked to kill you and your half-mortal friends. That doesn't complicate things...
The again, she didn't kill us, for personal reasons. She gave up the job and possibly her life for all of us. If I was any other person, like my friends here, we would all be dead and Annabeth would be fine, going out to kill some other people. But I'm me, just plain ol' Percy Jackson, which leads me - again - to thinking how important I am to Annabeth and, therefore, how important she is to me. I'd want her to be safe, no matter what.
"It's Annabeth's," I say, passing the card to Thalia and sighing. The couple look at me with confused expressions and I, reluctantly, hand over the letter. They would find out soon enough. "Read this."
I watch and wait, their faces changing from the grim ones I know is on mine, to confused and shocked. I guess that kind of letter could do that to you. I gotta say, I'm glad they read in their heads, especially Nico. I say this because I have already imagined reading it in Annabeth's voice and hearing it in Nico's deep voice would spoil the whole thing for me.
"This is completely insane," Nico mutters. "But ridiculously feels real!"
"Percy," Thalia starts. "Did you notice this."
"What?" I ask, walking over to her and reading over her shoulder.
"The numbers going down the side of the page," she pauses. I look down the side. "Every time she starts a new paragraph, there is another number; like she has used the numbers to her advantage, and not to tell you the amount of things."
"Three, one, nine, four," I say, seeing them and hoping this will get us out of this cell. Maybe it can work.
"What do they mean?" asks Nico.
"It's either a lock code or an entry code," Hazel interjects. She glances at me for a fleeting second before saying, "It won't get us out of here, only into someplace secure. Like someone's office." Again, she looks to me.
"The dude with the gun?" Nico asks, actually using his brain for once. I know, Thalia looks shocked too. Hazel only nods.
"Then how do we get out of here?" asks Frank, putting an arm around Hazel, glancing at her expectantly.
"Dude, I can't get this to unlock. It needs some kind of card, the key and wires are too thin and long. Does anyone have a small slip of paper of a credit card or something?" Leo says, breaking the silence. I would guess he hasn't been listening, but I already know. Leo is about the manual, not so much the conversations. The whole rooms turns to me and then looks down at Thalia's hand, seeing the keycard glisten in the dim lights of the room. I smile slightly and say,
"Leo, we can do one better than that."
Luke's POV
"Yes, I know," I tell him, standing up straighter against the wall, trying to look more important. He glares at me and I feel uncomfortable, seeing the blackness in his eyes and knowing they are shrouded with hatred. I am doing this all for Annabeth; for her safety. I have to tell myself this every time, and it hurts me all the while to know. It's as long as she is safe and that Jackson kid is far away from her, where he can't hurt her anymore. She may hate me for it, but it's for her own good. As long as he keeps up his end of the deal, Jackson will be gone.
"And your part is done?" he asks, the raspy voice booming and reverberating on the thick walls, spreading a cool breeze around. As soon as his voice stops, there is an eerie silence. He takes a slow toward me, his dark shadow looming. I gulp thickly and nod.
"Yes," I say.
"Good," he replies, turning around, satisfied. I almost breathe a sigh of relief, but know this is definitely not over.
"What's the next step?" I ask, watching the back of his head go back into the shadows.
"We have to see what they make of the situation. I need to see if they are lenient to my plans or not."
"Will this - " I am cut off by him.
"The Jackson boy will be long gone when Annabeth returns again." I smile slightly, feeling a weight off of my shoulders.
"Thank you," I say, sighing. "Thank you Lord Kronos. I appreciate it."
Percy's POV
Click.
The metal door swings open and we all sigh in relief. I walk out first and look up and down the corridor for any guards. No one. Thalia looks to me as I nod and catch her eye.
Lets get out of here, she mouths and I smirk. I let everyone else out of the cell, which includes Thalia and Nico, and open the next one, containing Leo, Hazel and Frank. The un-explainable trio, and they have no idea. I'm not sure which is more confusing, my life as a Hero, or my one in this life, a normal boy in education, living in New York. Or which I'd rather be, I guess it's a tie. But you can have education, living in New York and being a Demi-god, whereas you can't be normal and be one. But if you're the other option, you can't be a Demi-god. It's like a one way deal.
"FREEDOM!" Leo shouts before Hazel clamps a hand on his mouth, silencing him. I go to the final cell and open the door to Juniper, Grover, Piper and Jason. None of them move, though.
"What's up, guys?" I ask.
"Piper hurt her leg. She can't walk," Jason says, looking down at the brunette in a cringe-worthy way.
"We can't leave you here," Thalia states, looking at her brother as she says this.
"Thals, we'll be fine. Really. I promise. Piper can look after me and I can look after her," he says, smiling a little. Thalia is reluctant, but turns away from the pair, followed by Nico, trying to comfort her a little. I guess it doesn't work because we here a strangled 'OW' five seconds later in Nico's tone.
"You'll make sure nothing happens to either of you?" I ask, glancing briefly toward Thalia and Nico, or where I think they are. It would destroy Thalia to have her brother taken from her, no matter how much of an idiot he is. I don't really have anything to compare it to, so I can't empathize for either of the pair. Jason looks me straight in the eye, glances right to Piper and smiles. When he moves his focus back to me, I see the sincerity in his eyes and know he means it when he nods. None of that stopped the niggling feeling in my gut that something was going to wrong. Call me pessimistic, but I'm pretty optimistic most of the time, anyway. "Okay, just keep safe."
"We can be surveillance for them if anyone is coming. They won't be alone, Perce," Grover interjects, putting an arm around Juniper. I wonder if they're demi-gods too.
"Thanks Percy," Jason says. "You know, you're not the annoying prick I always thought you were after all. You can actually be mature sometimes. Wish you all the best, mate." I almost laugh, but instead try to swallow, and fail, just to talk for a little while longer.
"Thanks for the compliment. If you weren't so arrogant sometimes, I think we might be friends," I say, laughing weakly. "But you are, so no point there. I think, if you concentrated on the right things, maybe people wouldn't hate you so much." Jason looks sideways and I know he understands. Ahh, just a bit of manly advice-sharing before we all possible die, again. I guess it's just an occupational hazard; the whole being a demigod thing. Then again, plenty of weird things have happened in my life before, although the weirdest ones have been in these past three weeks that Annabeth has been at our school and in our lives for a second time. I look at Grover and Juniper, then to Piper and Jason one last time."Bye."
I turn away from Jason and Piper and walk over to my other friends, sighing slightly. Nico is rubbing his arm and glaring at Thalia while she is talking with Hazel and Leo and Frank just sort of glare at each other; Leo is trying not to laugh. I smirk at them all and walk past them to the corridors and begin walking, not knowing whether they are following or not.
"Any idea which way?" I ask, finally turning around at a fork in the corridors. Hazel quickly replies with a,
"Left," then we all continue walking. I'm glad my friends are with me on this one, even though I'd still do it without them. This whole experience has made me feel somewhat alive if that makes any sense. Sometimes you see a film, or listen to a particular song, which moves your mind to think about things in a whole new light. You get this strange sense of adrenaline and you feel as though you can do anything.
We walk and walk and walk for at least another ten minutes, only wasting time, and finally reach the room where this all started. It looks the same apart from several chips and cracks in the wall. The floor is void of bodies, unlike before, and the blood has all gone from the walls. I guess it's part of being a multinational company that kills certain types of people, corresponding to the subject matter... blah, blah, blah. The chips and cracks are the only signs that there even was something going on before now, and they will probably be gone the next time we arrive here. That is, if we ever do come back. Which I'm seriously hoping we will after all this today.
"Percy, how are we ever going to get to his office with the security cameras? Did you even think of that? What if we get spotted, then get arrested for trespassing, then get thrown into jail. Blondie will never get out of here, and we'll be rotting in some ridiculous jail cell, trying to think of a way to break out of jail, leading to even more problems?" Nico asks, panic seeping so casually into his voice. I've never heard a mans voice get so high when talking about going to jail. In fact, I've never heard Nico speak like that before.
It's funny, I've never thought about it like he said. They can arrest us for trespassing, which is the absolute truth, sort of, but they can't get arrested for shooting innocent people. How does that work? One, because we'd sound insane and desperate trying to tell a cop that. Two, because we'd be gone before we have a chance to prove anything.
"I can fix it all!" shouts Leo from behind us a short way, a small piece of metal in his hand, already joined together with several wires and a piece of gum. Where he got any of those bits, I have no idea. But I do know that we have a genius computer hacker who also happens to be a Pyromaniac, in case we need a quick escape. Then Annabeth won't get tortured, and we won't be captured. But everyone will be dead.
So optimistic, Perce.
"Okay, Leo, you cause a distraction and we'll get out of here. Then you can take down the cameras using the computer. Is there a way you can get that woman away from her computer?" I ask, turning toward the brunette sitting behind the grey desk, her dark brown eyes fixed on us as she continues to type her way through a very long email. Kind of suspicious, but who cares? We're going all out now.
"I will use the Valdez Charm to persuade the lady," he says, raising a single eyebrow, his gaze flitting over to the dark-haired woman. He smiles, cracks his knuckles, the piece of metal-or-whatever still in his hand, and walks over to her. His walks sways a little, trying to express swagger but just looking like a bit of a douche.
Leo's POV
"Hi there. The name is Valdez, Leo Valdez," I say, leaning on the cool metal counter. I wonder what type of metal this is. Possibly, and most likely, aluminium. Do you think they'd mind if I stole it for conventional uses? Maybe, but I could leave my experiment work in my will for them. That would be a really bad idea, given they're this, apparently, evil company that kills everyone on sight. I could make a weapon that actually -
"Is there a problem Mr Valdez?" the lady asks, looking up at me and stopping from her typing. How dare she interrupt my thoughts with her lovely voice. Dang, look at her eyes. They're like melted chocolate. I wonder if they'd be dark chocolate or milk chocolate... Probably dark chocolate. I love dark chocolate. I love her eyes. Her hair is curly too, but pulled back into a long ponytail. My hair is curlier than hers, but what if - "Ahem? Mr Valdez?"
"Ahh, sorry," I say, smiling sheepishly. That was probably a good call. I could have thought some serious stuff that I would - "I'm your technician, I was sent to fix your computer."
"I didn't send for a technician," she says slowly.
"What's your name?" I ask, dying to know everything about her. Percy is gonna kill me for this. I glance around and realize he has already gone, taking Frank and Hazel with him. Damn, that boy works faster than a toddler trying to do the chubby bunny challenge.
"Lauren. Lauren Culling. Why do you ask?" Lauren asks, fluttering her eyelashes slightly. DAMN THAT IS HAWT!
"Just curious. Miss Culling I was sent here to be a technician. And as this is the only computer, this would be the computer I was called about, capiche?" I some try not to be too hard on her, but some girls think that's hot. I wonder if she thinks I'm hot. She looks about my age, maybe only a few years older. If I eat her eyeballs, would they taste like chocolate? I don't want to eat her eyeballs, just curious.
"Truth is, I'm new here, so wouldn't know how to do that," Lauren mumbles, looking down a bit. "But I can do this." Suddenly, she jumps up from her spinning chair, springs at me and lands us both on the floor. Not exactly what I expected, but this could be a start for something new. Maybe?
"Wait, we've only just met," I say, smirking at her and flashing my teeth. She growls and pushes her hair away from her face. Her heavy knees are pressed against mine and one arm holds mine above my head, the other positioned across my throat. I have no idea if this is really the sort of thing people do in relationships, but this is nothing I have ever experienced, seen or heard of. She seems a bit... hostile.
"Jerk," she mutters, glaring down at me. "Who are you really?" Huh?
"Leo Valdez! I wasn't lying!" God, over protective much. What people will do to keep their jobs these days.
"How old are you? You look about sixteen, nowhere near old enough to be a technician in this kind of company." I guess she's smarter than she looks. "So, I'll ask again; who are you and what do you want?"
"I really am Leo Valdez. Yes, I'm sixteen. I'll share a secret for a secret and a compromise. How's that?" I ask, for once, being mature about this. She grumbles a 'fine' before I begin. "Okay, I'm not supposed to be here, there's this secret mission thing to save this girl and we all have to do everything so Percy can be with his one true love. And what's the deal, you're no older than me?"
"Okay, here goes everything," she sighs, looking around. "I'm rogue. I'm not supposed to be here either. I am tall enough and smart enough to pass as an adult. I've been working here, trying to find my sister for a very long time. About three years, give or take. I saw her once, but never again. I'm still looking for her. Anyway, what's the compromise?"
"You go out with me and I'll help you find your sister and you help me find my friend," I say, grinning at the look on her face. She hesitates. She's gonna say no and reject me, just like Hazel did. Not this again. Maybe I can build a hot girlfriend next time. Who knows, it could work?
"Sure," she says, standing up. I'm left looking at her legs, towering above me. I should not be looking there. But really, nice stems. HOLD DA PHONE RIGHT DERE! SHE SAID YES! "Do you know how to use a computer, 'cause we need to get these cameras down?" Thank God that was the question she asked. I feel masculine now, despite my age.
"I know everything about computers," I say. She sticks out her hand and I take it and kiss it. She blushes and I grin, walking to the computer and set my fingers down on the keyboard. Time to get to work.
Annabeth's POV
"Well, this isn't cliche at all," I say sarcastically, glancing around at the office, Grayson sitting behind his desk and me in the chair just in front of it. I don't understand all this stuff with villains and cliche situations. Right now, I am sitting in an office chair, opposite a lunatic with the gun on his desk. My hands are tied together with a piece of tape, as are my legs, and my body is bound to the chair by - the old classic - rope. I feel kind of ridiculous like this.
"And your point is, exactly, what?" he asks, sneering slight, fingers twitching toward the gun on the table. I roll my eyes.
"Look, if you're going to shoot me, just do it already. I'm dying from anticipation!" I say, widening my eyes with exasperation, as my hands are not quite available for use at the moment.
"I can't. Not yet, anyway." He begins to mutter and I roll my eyes again, looking around the room. It's a pretty basic office with metal blinds blocking out the world and a small thin light from the ceiling, dangling down below. The walls are all white, keeping with the bland color scheme. There are so many things that would make this office better, in terms of space use and color effectiveness. For instance, if the desk was in the back corner, instead of the middle of the room, it would save so much room and if one of the walls were grey, the rest of the room would seem more defined. Then again, I know this place, but they just don't know colors.
And suddenly I'm met with rage. This is the kind of rage I have never felt before. My arms feel stronger somehow and I have a serious urge to hit this idiot right in the temple and knock him out for good. He can't seriously think I'm going to sit here to wait for his right moment to shoot me! I have rights, even if those rights consider not being shot at all. I should be able to know what's going on, having been in on this whole thing for over a year now. They can't tell me I have to be shot at the right moment; when it's convenient for them to 'kick my bucket'. I decide, or fate decides. Luke would help me out of this, like he said he would all those years ago. He promised to stick by my side forever. He'd never abandon me, and I never him. He promised, and now he's not here.
But he will be. And he'll kick all you into the sky and back for everything you've done.
"Why the Hades won't you just shoot me? Luke can just come and get me! He'd take you all out in one shot and you wouldn't even hear the gun!" I shout, angry, at last.
"Luke?" Grayson asks, worry etched onto his features. For a matter of seconds, I feel elated and proud of Luke. But then I think; how does Grayson know who Luke is? They've never met, as far as I know. Luke has always been in the private part of my life; my social life, as you may say, rather than my work life. "He's coming? When? Where?"
"You know Luke?" I ask, confused by his almost panicky tone. Luke scares him, but why? I nod and peer at his face, trying to understand more than I do. "What do you know about him?"
"He's my boss."
So, I think I've figured out how this is going to end, and it's going to be good. Maybe a little crazy, but definitely interesting... perhaps insightful?
What did you think of this chapter? Did you like it? Did you hate it? I know, I couldn't wait to get 20 reviews, so I updated anyway! YAY FOR Y'ALL WHO DID REVIEW! THANKYOU!
Also, a few people said they really liked Leo's POV in another chapter nearer the beginning of Hero Squad, and I thought this would be a good way to introduce Laureo by Leo expressing his views about her... I hope it wasn't to OOC. If you find any random mistakes, let me know and I will correct them immediately!
please review...pretty please with cherries on top? S'il vous plaît? Por favor? If you review, you get a virtual cookie (::) YOU KNOW YOU WANT IT!