Disclaimer: I don't own PJO since my name's not Rick, nor does it end in Riordan. Even then, I would still post on FanFiction because it totally gives you the chance to see if people like the new plot for a story, and where I could make it more likeable. Am I the only one who feels that way? Yes...okay I'll shut up now.
Chapter 7: More on Demigods
The Secretary of Defense stood in one of the elaborate holding facilities for all mythical creatures: human and otherwise. He had been called to come down the facility by the subordinate in charge, a twenty-year-old man named Marcus. Marcus had said there was some important news for the Secretary and that he needed to come to the facility ASAP.
The Secretary had, and was now waiting for Marcus to show up. Marcus had finally shown, after several minutes, immediately apologizing profusely. The Secretary just waved him off, telling Marcus to get straight to the point, instead.
"Ah, yes. You had called for a search for this boy, right?" Marcus asked, pulling out a picture of a boy. They boy from the video the Secretary's informant had shown the war council to convince them of his cause.
The Secretary nodded, so Marcus continued on, "I believe he is here right now. The boy's name is Percy Jackson."
The Secretary nodded in approval, so Marcus grinned, and told the Secretary to follow him. They walked through a door at the corner of the room they had just been standing in. The holding facilities were like a glorified prison, they were composed of thick concrete, with rows of rooms holding the inhabitants. All of the holding rooms were on one side of the building, while the other side held a testing room to try and uncover how much power a person held, and where they were to be categorized.
In the holding rooms, each person was placed in a room based on their power level. The doors on the outside had a number from 1-5 and a letter from A-E, with the level 1's having the most power and the level 5's being the least harmful. The letters represented the class, meaning if someone was an A, they had mastered their powers, and could kill someone with the powers if they chose to.
Marcus kept walking down the hallway for the holding cells, until he stopped at Level 3A, and walked up to one of the rooms. Marcus waved the Secretary over, and opened the door to the room. Inside, like Marcus said, was the raven-haired boy. Now that the Secretary could get a closer look, he realized there was a grey streak running down one side of the teen's hair, but other than that the boy looked exactly like the one in the video.
The teen, Percy, was lying down on the provided mattresses- people can say what they like, but the government isn't that cruel, not to children- staring at the ceiling in boredom. He looked up when the Secretary walked in, observing him quickly before looking at the ceiling again.
In truth, Percy didn't really care about the two men standing in front of his mattress. He had been in the facility for at least a month before he received his tag. He had woken up in a similar room after he passed out, back at Goode High. The people in charge had put him through a series of tests, then threw him in the room he now presided in, just two days ago. Now that the preliminary tests were done, Percy had a lot more time to think about what was going on, and he didn't like it. Percy had inspected the room when he was first thrown in, and he found that if he could somehow darken the room, it would match the scene from his dreams. Thinking about that had led him to wondering if he was supposed to be here. Percy couldn't help, but wonder if the Fates had been trying to warn him about this place.
He had dreamed about the council meeting on Olympus last night, so he knew that others were definitely here, and that the other demigods were getting no help from Olympus. This slightly irritated the demigod; how could the Olympians so carelessly ignore their biggest force in the war? Then, he started wondering about who else was captured, like him. Chiron had said he was losing contact with everyone, and that could translate into several things. As far as Percy was concerned, Chiron had too many contacts to lose communication with.
Percy was going to lose himself in his thoughts again, when one of the men in front of him cleared his throat. Percy looked up irritated, it was the older man, with an air of authority around him, whom Percy had identified as the possible leader of this whole thing. The man was staring pointedly at Percy, as if expecting something. Percy rolled his eyes, but addressed the man, letting his irritation show in his voice.
"May I help you?" He asked.
The Secretary raised an eyebrow at the demigod's attitude, but sighed. His informant had warned him about the teenager's apparently infamous sass. He needed answers, though. The teen was powerful, and he apparently had a big role to play in the oncoming "uprising" his informant had mentioned.
"Come with me, I have some questions for you," The Secretary demanded, walking out of the room already.
Percy rolled his eyes again, but followed nonetheless. Marcus followed behind them at the trio walked through the hallways again, going towards the other half of the building. Percy quietly observed the facility, paying close attention to the testing rooms where he could already see other teens and children going through tests like he had. Percy was slightly surprised to find that he didn't recognize any of them from Camp. They couldn't possibly be all demigods, could they? He was stopped from further investigation by the Secretary's sudden abrupt stop. They were now outside a room without a clear viewing window, like with the testing stations, at the far end of the hallway. The Secretary turned towards the door and opened it, motioning for Percy to enter.
Percy reluctantly complied, and stepped through the door to find the classic idea of an interrogation room in front of him. There were only two metal chairs, facing each other on either side of a metal table sitting at the center of the room. The walls and floor were made out of solid concrete, and everything looked bolted down. The only thing that ruined the look, was the lack of a giant mirror on one of the walls, not that Percy minded, though.
The demigod took a seat at one of the chairs and patiently waited for the Secretary to come in and take a seat as well. The Secretary did, after a moment, clasping his hands in front of himself in a no nonsense style. The Secretary stared at Percy with such intensity that the demigod started to feel a little uncomfortable, but still met the gaze head-on.
Finally, the Secretary looked away and cleared his throat. "I want to start by telling you I know the truth, so don't act innocent, and answer all my questions truthfully," The Secretary started.
Percy still stared at the Secretary, so he continued on, "Who are the Olympians declaring war against?"
Percy scoffed, "You don't know?"
The Secretary just gave Percy a look. "I want to hear it from you," He said.
"The Titans, of course," Percy said.
The Secretary stared at Percy a little more. "Okay, maybe you didn't understand me. Why is there a rebellion?"
Percy stared at the Secretary incredulously. "What didn't you understand? The titans are rising and want to overthrow the Olympians. That's the rebellion!" Percy explained.
The Secretary scoffed. "Yeah, sure, that's totally what's going on," He replied.
"Well, what do you think it going on?"
"Oh, I don't know, let's start with Mount Saint Helens; what happened there? Or what about Saint Louis? Let's not forget all the reasons for your multiple expulsions," The Secretary ranted.
Percy seemed to sink into his seat a little. "All of that was because of monsters and my luck, the demigods aren't trying to hurt anyone. At least, none from Camp," Percy said, sounding somber.
"Yeah? What about all the wars, then?" The Secretary retorted.
Percy seemed to not have a response to that. "Listen, we aren't trying to hurt anyone. Mortals get caught in demigod affairs all the time. It's not what we want, it just happens. We try to keep mortals safe, not kill them. We still have families out there, though some may not be the best. None of the demigods from camp are intentionally hurting people," Percy said, quietly.
The Secretary wasn't done, though. "You keep saying camp, like there are others who are trying to harm," He pointed out.
Percy sighed. "Yes, there are. They are the ones who sided with the Titans. They just want to burn Olympus down, and replace the rulers. They don't care about the mortals," Percy explained.
The Secretary had this look on his face, like Percy just confirmed all of his suspicions. Which, he did, but Percy didn't know that. He was under the impression that he might be able to leave if he convinced the Secretary that he wasn't a threat. The demigod had no such luck, though, because the Secretary had an entirely different train of thought.
"Exactly. They don't care about Mortals. So who is it to say that none of the other demigods will harm us either? That's why you're here, along with everyone else. The citizens will want insurance that they're alright, so we have you here," The Secretary explained.
Percy looked horrified. "You can't possibly think this will work! There are still monsters. How will they eat if all of the demigods are in this facility? Not to mention how are you going to keep this place monster free? How can the public be okay with locking up children! We're still human! There's a war we need to fight, you need us!" He yelled.
The Secretary just smiled at the demigod. "You'll see," He said, "Soon enough, you will understand."
A/N: Am I evil for ending it like that? Oh well, I'm not getting a lot of inspiration for this dang story, so sorry guys. I'm not putting it on Hiatus, though. I'd still give you a possibly crappy chapter if it happens, since I don't like being stuck with an A/N for a chapter. You guys probably don't care about what I'm saying, do you? I'm just the author, no biggie. On that note, BYE!