Louisa shook her head, pulling herself together and opened her eyes. She looked to her right and saw Lucy-Jo looking around and singing quietly to herself as if she was here for tea.
They were in some computer room/holding cell/warehouse- a large room that Louisa couldn't make any sense of. She and Lucy-Jo were sat two metres apart, rope binding their wrists and holding them to metal support columns.
Bustling about them were men in black and white uniforms that had a jagged, three diamond loop insignia in red on their backs. Many of them glanced frequently at the two friends, seemingly unaccustomed to being this close to women.
"Psst!" Lucy-Jo hissed. Louisa looked at her through the corner of her eye. The assassin nodded at one of the terminals and Louisa noticed a screen focused on a small figure in a semi-lit holding cell, his wrists shackled in thick metal manacles and a similar binding about his torso, both chained heavily to the wall. He was kneeling, sat on his feet with his head bowed. Judging by the calm rise and fall of the heart monitor on the next screen and the low brain waves with the occasional spike, he was asleep. It was definitely Alvie- blood had dried on his cheeks from a possible psychic attack.
"Ah, you're awake." A man in a white lab coat over dark clothes smiled down at them. Lucy-Jo spat at him, a Keepers' symbol of 'marking'. It was a silent message to Louisa that this pale faced, light haired, hazel eyed nutjob was the 'psychiatrist' Lucy-Jo had been assigned to kill.
The 'psychiatrist' sneered in disgust. "Charming." He stepped towards Louisa and studied her face for a moment, half-turning to look at the screen featuring Alvie. "Are you his mother?"
"Aunt." Louisa replied shortly.
"Oh yes, that's right. His mother's blonde. Are you related to the father?" Louisa glared at him. "Possibly, yes. You see, I meet so many new faces in this profession, they all blur together eventually."
"I don't care." Louisa said bluntly. He stared at her, unimpressed.
"Well, would you care for the state of your nephew?" Louisa shot him a 'no duh' look and he frowned.
"To think that all I need was a neuro-scrambler to bring down the great Lucy-Jo." Another man appeared, a muscle mountain compared to the 'psychiatrist'. He had jet black hair cropped military style and icy blue eyes that sparked with a high intellect. He had a rough and square-ish complexion and would have been considerably handsome if not for the cold sneer and the evil glimmer about his features. He was dressed all in black, the material seemingly warm and durable, but not restricting in any sense.
"'N' rope." Lucy-Jo added, raising her bound hands to emphasise her pint. He scowled at her, but that was probably his usual expression.
He turned to Louisa.
"Who's this?" He mused.
"The boy's aunt." The 'psychiatrist' replied eagerly. "I, um, haven't got her name just yet. The computer is running up DNA records and-" The second man silenced him with a dangerous look.
"What is your name?" He demanded. Louisa held her hands out, one mockingly ready for him to shake in that universal sign of making acquaintances.
"Jimbob Charlie Stevenson. 'N' you?" He ignored her out-stretched hand and the clearly false name.
"Ugh, that's Strike." (He needs a better name, I know, but I can't think of anything! What about you guys- any ideas?) Lucy-Jo sighed. "Great name, I know." She said, having noticed her friend's amused look. "We all call him Miss. Baseball, I think." She swung her hands, swinging an imaginary baseball bat.
"Oh. How terrifyin'."
"His family have been the Keepers' main enemy for, like, ever. We hate the lot of 'em."
"Don't blame ya. With a mug like that, ya can only hate 'em." 'Strike' growled angrily, taking a step towards Louisa, but a beep behind them caught his attention and a better idea seemed to ignite in his mind.
"I would be careful what you say, miss. Your nephew may not fare well."
Alvie was awake and staring around the cell, confused. A rectangle of light flooded to his feet and fright cut across his expression as two men in white lab coats and a large, muscular man marched into view, their backs to the camera. The guard pulled a key from his pocket and detached the chains from the wall, hauling Alvie unkindly to his feet and treating him like a disobedient, rogue dog. Louisa bristled in fury and pulled against the ropes keeping her trapped, much to the amusement of her captors.
Her nephew was dragged out harshly, the manacles clearly digging into his wrists and ribs. The 'psychiatric' moved over to the terminal and pressed a few buttons. The camera image of the now empty cell changed to another room that resembled a police interview room. The metal table in the middle had various items on- a spoon, a glass of water, a plain metal cube, a Rubix cube and some machinery that Louisa didn't recognise. She could see a white board on the left wall, a packet of white board markers on the little shelf below it.
"Ya better not hurt him." She snarled, bunching her fists.
"Or what?" 'Strike' challenged. Louisa didn't respond and there were a few seconds of tense silence, interrupted by the sudden rumbling from the walls- the plumbing. This gained some confused looks and then cries of panic as water exploded from the walls in powerful jets, knocking men flat on their behinds and keeping them there.
In all this commotion, Lucy-Jo managed to retrieve her hidden Swiss army knife, concealed in the thick sole of her trainer- Joel's handiwork, something he was very proud of. By the time she had cut herself free, ten seconds later, she was waist deep in water while sat on the floor.
"You're good." She grinned at Louisa.
"No-one picks on my family 'n' gets away with it." She grumbled. Lucy-Jo waded over and cut her friend free. Louisa grabbed her wrist briefly and Lucy-Jo was suddenly dry, realising she had Louisa's natural water-proofing.
"So cool." She childishly splashed Louisa before getting down to business and hurrying after her friend. They whacked anybody that got in their way full pelt in the face and Louisa, the assassin noticed, had the water trap quite a few people. Lucy-Jo decided that, in her next life, she wanted to be a demigod.
They located their stuff in a secure metal crate in the far corner. Lucy-Jo picked the lock with her Swiss army knife and Louisa water-proofed it all.
"OK, how do we find Alvie?" Louisa sighed.
"We make 'em talk, obviously."
"I knew you were gonna say that." They set about pulling drown victims from the water and physically beat the requested information from them, even though the majority were as thick as a thousand planks.
Alvie looked at the various items on the table and then at the white board, as that was less confusing. The hug muscle man stood, blocking the door, while the two men in the lab coats stood in front of him, requesting he proved his abilities to them. Alvie just stared at them. At some point, he wasn't sure when, his brain had gone into major shut down and it was only after that insanely uncomfortable sleep did he first have his clear, understandable thought. He didn't know where he was or who with. He couldn't understand why he was imprisoned or how they knew about his telekinetic and telepathic gifts. He didn't respond to them at all, feeling blank of any necessary thought or reaction. He wasn't sure, but they could have been asking him to… bend a spoon? With 'mind intervention', as they put it, but their words went in one ear and out of the other.
They were getting annoyed with him, but this didn't bother him.
They wrote stuff on the board, questions ranging from simple things- What's my favourite colour? - to complicated questions involving unsolved crimes, riddles or scientific inquiries.
He said nothing, he did nothing and he wasn't going to do anything.
Not that that was a conscious choice, he just felt so robotic and void of all emotions. There was no point in this. Bending spoons? That was one of the first things Crystal had made him do when they first found out about his capabilities.
The thought of his ex-girlfriend sent a pang through him and he must have uttered some pained noise as they stopped talking and stare at him, befuddled.
The muscle man by the door stopped all investigations by relaying orders from over his com-link.
"We're to move him now. The prisoners are out and on their way." The pair in the lab coats scurried to pack everything up and clear the board. Their guard stomped forward and snatched up the chain, yanking Alvie sharply to his feet. Pain shot through his wrists, up his arms and danced around his chest, blurring his vision.
He didn't recall the transition from the room to the helicopter, but he remembered several explosions, man-handling and pain and then being shoved brutally into the helicopter. Somebody snapped his seat belt in place and then his guard was holding the chain tightly, not letting him go. Not that Alvie tried- he didn't understand what was going on.
Their new employer and his new right hand man sprinted onto the rooftop, soaked to the skin and shouting for the helicopter to start. That order wasn't noticed until a torrent of water slammed the door from its hinges and flooded the rooftop. 'Strike' and his acting 'psychiatrist' jumped in, pulling the door shut and the rotors kick started with 'Strike' issuing mortally dangerous threats if they were not in the air five seconds ago.
Alvie stared down at his shoes as the helicopter gained altitude. It was only then did he realise they were going to be very high up.
Louisa and Lucy-Jo splashed onto the rooftop, the daughter of Poseidon shouting Ancient Greek curses worthy of her father. She summoned her bow, ignoring Lucy-Jo's protests, and fired an arrow.
"What about Alvie?!"
"It's a tracker!" She shot back.
"'N' what happens if they knock it off?"
"There's a secondary tracker that's magnet 'n' it sticks. They ain't gonna be able ta get rid of it." Lucy-Jo sighed.
"I'd blow the flippin' thing up ta get the job done if Alvie weren't in there?"
"Same."
"Now what?"
"Are the mics workin'?" Lucy-Jo frowned at her one, securing it and calling Joel an idiot.
"Woo! You're back on line!" Joel beamed. Louisa put her own mic in place. "And I'm not an idiot!"
"Leo?"
"Lou! Oh thank gods! Are you two OK?"
"They managed ta get Alvie out before we got there. I put a tracker on the copter, but it's had a head start." The pair were silent for a few seconds. "Um, Annabeth 'n' Percy ain't online, are they?"
"We are now. What's happened?" Louisa glanced at Lucy-Jo. Your turn. The assassin glared at her, but she relayed it all as carefully as she could. She had quickly learnt not to get a daughter of Athena on her bad side.
"What? Lou!"
"Hey, I'm tryin'!"
"'N' it's kinda my fault too." Lucy-Jo said. "Miss was here." Joel inhaled sharply. Lucy-Jo gave him a few seconds to get his head together before continuing. "Lou flooded the place so hopefully he gets pneumonia or somethin', but he got away with the target."
"The Boss isn't going to be happy." Joel mumbled.
"You OK?"
"Y-yeah. I need coffee." There was a rumble on the mic and then a clatter as Joel dropped his com link on the table.
"What's wrong with him?" Leo asked quietly.
"Long story. Can ya get the tracker up?"
"No, of course not." Leo grumbled sarcastically. "Right, it's heading southwest. Overseas, I think." Leo fell quiet, humming to himself thoughtfully. "Oh. They're under the radar. They've jammed that somehow."
"Figure out their course, Leo." Annabeth instructed.
"On it."
"Percy, Annabeth…" Louisa started. "We tried, but there's two of us 'n'… they just kept comin' 'n'…"
"Yes, we can kick major ass, but not that many. St- Miss," Lucy-Jo caught herself, "He kept sayin' we could take down as many of his men as we like- he's got hundreds more."
"What happened to Nico 'n' that?"
"We got them out, but we couldn't find you." Annabeth sighed. "No, it's not your fault, I'm sorry for having a go at you." Louisa and Lucy-Jo shared incredulous looks- Annabeth Jackson… apologizing? The world was surely ending.
"It's our fault- we're worried about Alvie and… didn't think things through properly."
"I'm back. Anybody miss me?"
"Where's my coffee?"
"I take that as a 'no' then?"
"Shut up, Joel. Annabeth just apologized 'n' we're hopin' Percy would too."
"Two points." Louisa added, smiling grimly.
"Uh… this is a bit weird." Leo murmured.
"What's weird?"
"Right, this might not be right- Joel double check it and send it to Neville."
"Yup."
"But I think that helicopter is flying to Antarctica." Nobody spoke for a minute or so.
"Repeat that last one." Joel frowned.
"Uh, flying to Antarctica. I may be wrong. They'd have to pit stop though 'cos that helicopter won't make it from England to Antarctica. No way."
"Son of Hephaestus figured out the obvious. Give the boy a peanut."
"I will burn you."
"Boys!" Annabeth snapped. Joel and Leo promptly fell silent. "Why in Zeus's name are they going to Antarctica?"
"I may be wrong?"
"I'm getting it too though…" Joel contradicted quietly.
"I don't know. I'll message Boss 'n' see if he's got any files on it."
"You do that."
"I wasn't lookin' for your permission, nerd."
"Neville's the nerd! I'm the hunk!"
"Voice activation six-one-three. Cut Joel from mic four."
"What? No, L.J, don't-!" Joel's voice disappeared, replaced with static for a second before Leo's chuckle cut through.
"He looks like he's hacking something."
"Hmmm…" Lucy-Jo hummed, unbothered. Joel was always hacking something. He could hack the FBI and all over high security databases if he really put his mind to it and had a lifetime's supply of coffee.
"Right, rendezvous and- Lucy-Jo, is there somewhere we can go?"
"Uh, the nearest Keepers' fort is ten miles out of town. Underground."
"Joel's saying something about your family's house." Leo informed.
"I was tryin' to avoid that."
"Crazy family?"
"Yup."
"Welcome to my world."
And that will do for tonight!
Sorry it's not much, but I'm trying to roll in these Assassin characters to see what your opinions of them are (I'm still thinking of putting L.J's story up). And I have a plan; I'm just stretching it over several chapters and filling in the blanks.
Hope it's OK!