Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO. The fuckers won't hand it over!

When Percy woke up the next morning, he felt a whole mess of emotions. There was the same comfort that he had felt last time he had woken up with Sara. She was still with him, in her gloriously comfortable bed. Physically, nothing was any different. But they both knew better. Everything was different. They'd had their day of fun, and oh what a day it'd been, but it was time to move on. They couldn't sustain any kind of relationship. If they tried, then they would both be kicked out. For Percy, that would suck, but he would be ok. He would go back to earth, bide his time, and find a way to kill his murderous brother. But he knew that Sara would be lost without Chaos' army. When they had first gotten to know each other, Percy had told her a lot about his time on Earth, but she had never said a word about what she had done before joining Chaos. He knew that, whatever she'd been doing, wherever she'd been, it hadn't been good. He was willing to respect her decision not to talk about it. But he knew that she would hate to be sent back to wherever she'd come from. And he couldn't be the one to send her there. She deserved so much better. So they had to stop whatever it was that they had going on. It hadn't been going on for very long, but that didn't matter. They cared about each other.

He could tell that she was awake. Neither of them said a word though. They knew that as soon as they did, it would make it real. They would need to say goodbye. He wasn't sure how long they stayed in bed together, just lying there. He didn't care. But their duties forced them to have their conversation. They both had things to do, and neither of them could be late. Sara was the braver of the two, opting to start the conversation.

"Percy... You know what has to happen."

He took a deep breath. He really wished he didn't. But he did.

"Last night was the last time." he said reluctantly.

He felt her nod.

"Yeah. We can't carry on like this. We'd be caught."

"I guess." he said glumly.

"No guessing about it. She would find out at some point."

"Would she?"

"Percy..." she sighed.

"No, seriously, "he said, lifting himself up on an elbow to get a better look at her, "Would she?"

Sara turned over so that she was facing him.

"Of course, she would. She's the creator of the universe."

"Doesn't mean she knows everything."

"Well, no, but she would still figure it out."

"Would she?"

"Percy, "she said, laughing now, "You can't keep repeating that, and expect it to be your entire argument."

"Can't I?" he said with a grin.

She laughed and swatted his chest. He was glad that he could break the tension slightly.

"No, you can't!"

"Ok, fair enough. How about this for an argument then. I'm a fantastic liar, and I know for a fact that you are too."

She quirked an eyebrow.

"What makes you think I'm a good liar? I've never even lied to you."

"You were undercover for 25 years before we met, you have to be at least decent."

She pursed her lips at him and grinned.

"Ok, you got me. I could bluff a blind man into thinking he could see."

"Perfect." he grinned.

"But we would need more than the ability to lie well."

"Of course we would. We could set up ground rules for how we behave in public. We could figure out ways to see each other out of everyone's way."

She smiled at him for a long moment, before it turned sad.

"Percy... no matter what we do, it would never work."

"Give me one good reason why it wouldn't."

She sighed.

"For starters, your bunkmates would notice if you go missing every night."

"I can sneak out after they're asleep."

"Then they would notice that you aren't there when they wake up."

"I could sneak back before they're up."

She raised an eyebrow.

"So you're going to wait for them to fall asleep, then sneak over to my place, spend some time with me, and then sneak back before everyone wakes up. How much time would that leave us? Maybe 2 hours per night? And keep in mind, that means that neither of us can sleep at all."

He hesitated. She had a point, and she knew it. No matter how hard they tried, they would never be able to sustain anything meaningful. And he didn't want a purely sexual relationship with Sara. He really liked her. He had fun with her. She was so good to talk to. She was just great to be around. The fact that the sex was mind-shattering, was just a very happy bonus.

"Ok, fine. That wouldn't work. But there has to be something that we can do."

She sniffled.

"There isn't." was all she said. That was all she needed to say.

He leaned back into her bed and sighed.

"I can't believe we have to do this."

"I know. I can't either."

They lay together for a little while longer. But neither of them was under any illusion about what it meant. It was them saying goodbye. Eventually, Percy decided to make the first move. Sara had initiated the conversation, so he felt it was only fair that he went first that time. He let out a deep sigh, leaned in, and gave Sara one last, long kiss. He tried to make the kiss say everything that he couldn't find the words to convey. He wasn't sure how well he succeeded, but she didn't voice any complaints. He got out of her bed, got dressed, and climbed out of her window. As he walked to the training building, he allowed one single tear to drop from his eyes.

He reached the training building and took the elevator up to his bunk. He felt like streamed shit. He really didn't feel like training that day. But he didn't really have a choice. He might enjoy sparring though. It could allow him to vent some frustration.

As he walked into his bunk, he found that he was going to have an opportunity to vent his frustration much earlier than sparring. Everyone in the bunk was standing around his bed. They grinned at him like sharks the instant he walked in. He knew he was screwed. They hadn't said a word to him yet, but he knew that they had enough to really screw him. There were 9 of them. 6 males, 3 females. The males were between 6'2 and 6'6. They were all extremely muscular. Two of the women were 5'10 and the third was 6'1. They were also muscular, but far lither than the males. They were all dangerous on their own. All together, they were fucking lethal.

Percy had one advantage over them though. He still had the same bunkmates that he had been training with before Chaos had advanced him after his mission. They'd all been in training for around 15 years, and he had only been training for 10, but he had still been kicking their asses when he'd been moved up. He was even better by now. He was certain that he could beat any of them senseless. But all of them at the same time? That was going to be a challenge.

One of the bigger guys spoke first.

"Well well well. Where have you been all night?" he asked with a shit-eating grin.

"None of your fucking business." Percy replied, hoping to shut this whole thing down before it got out of hand. It didn't work.

"It might be. Depends on what you were doing."

"I wasn't doing shit."

"Weren't you? So, what? You were just staring into space since yesterday?"

Percy didn't say anything.

"I'll ask you again. What were you doing?"

"I stepped out for a cup of coffee. That a crime nowadays?"

"Where's the coffee then?"

"I drank it."

"Where did you get it?"

"What do you care?"

"I might wanna get myself some."

"You're a big boy, you can find your own damn coffee."

The shit-eating grin intensified.

"You know, we've got ourselves a little theory."

"I'm sure it's fascinating." Percy said sarcastically.

"Oh, it is. You wanna hear it?"

"Nah."

"Tough, you're gonna. You see, we heard that you were doing another psych eval yesterday. We also heard that the one doing the eval was that super hot new instructor. You were gone all day yesterday. You didn't come back last night. You only came back just now."

"That's not a theory. You just pointed out a bunch of stuff that I already knew."

The guy only grinned harder. Any harder, and he was going to swallow his own fucking head. What a shame that would be...

"I'm getting to our theory. First, you wanna deny any of that?"

He couldn't deny any of it. It was all true and provable.

"No. Amazingly, you got through a whole sentence without being wrong about something. Is that why you guys are all here? To celebrate?"

The big guy tried to grin a little harder, but Percy could tell it was fake. That last comment had gotten to him, if only slightly. Percy noted that for later. It might come in handy.

"Well, I'm glad you aren't denying any of that, cause we know it's true. Now, I'm wondering, what were you doing between the end of the interview, and getting back just now?"

"First of all, that's still not a theory. It's a fucking question. Learn the difference. Second, what I was doing, is my fucking business. I don't see where you come into it."

"I'm getting to our theory. You're so impatient. You need to take a load off."

"If you don't get out of my way, I'm gonna take a load off on your fucking face."

The big guy was grinning for real again. He was getting to Percy, and he knew it.

"You see, our theory is pretty interesting. We figure that you just couldn't resist that hot blonde. We figure she took a shine to you too, Chaos knows why. Maybe all of that talking about your deepest darkest feelings, and all of your mushy gushy emotions, just made her melt. Who knows? But we figure that you two got a little conversation going after the interview. We figure you two talked for a long time until finally, you weren't talking anymore. And now, here you are. Just got home, after spending the night with blondie."

Percy fought to keep his face even. He couldn't afford to let them see how panicked he was. If he did, it was game over. Instead, he nodded slowly and pretended to be impressed.

"Wow. I mean, wow. Did it take all 9 of you to come up with that fantasy?"

"Oh, it's more than just fantasy. It's the truth. It happened. And we're gonna tell Chaos. But first, we're gonna have some fun with you. Seeing as we won't have the chance after we tell her. And who knows? If you don't survive, you don't survive. We'll just tell her that we confronted you about it, you turned hostile, and we had to do what we had to do. We'll cry at your funeral though. If you get one."

That sent Percy through a loop. They were planning on killing him? The whole situation just got elevated. Suddenly, he was fighting for his life. He made sure they didn't see him worrying. Image and perception are important factors. The more scared you are, the more confident you pretend to be.

He pretended to be amused.

"So, what? You guys are gonna kill me for having sex?" he said as if he found the very idea to be funny.

The big guy chuckled.

"Nah. We've all wanted to kill you for a long time now. You've just never given us the excuse before."

Well, that was interesting. He decided to go with plan B.

"Yeah, fair enough. But there's just one problem with that plan. Otherwise, it's solid though."

"Oh yeah? And what's that problem then?"

Percy took a step forward. He had very long legs, so the one step covered a decent distance. He was within arms reach of them now.

"You fucking goons aren't gonna do shit to me." he said menacingly.

The big guy grinned just a little bit more.

"Oh, yeah, we are."

Just then, all 9 of them pulled out knives. He might have been able to take them all if they were unarmed, but not anymore. They had knives, and he was totally fucked. He didn't let them see that though.

"Project confidence, "he thought to himself, "Fake it 'till you make it."

"You remember when I used to train with you people? You remember how I used to kick your ass up and down the mat? Back off now, and I'll consider letting you go without reliving the memories."

"That was one-on-one. Now it's nine-on-one. I think we'll be ok."

Percy decided to unleash one of his most dangerous weapons. Psychological warfare.

"Well, some of you will certainly be ok. I'll admit, I might not be able to take all of you. I'm not arrogant enough to think I could beat all your asses at the same time. But I know I can beat the shit out of a few of you before you take me down. Which of you do you think it'll be? Cause, at least the first 4 of you are gonna spend a long time recovering. Maybe more."

He saw a few of them glance at each other nervously. They knew he had kind of a point. He was just hoping that they didn't realize something that could undermine his entire point.

The big guy spoke up again.

"Relax. We all have the second blessing. No matter what he does, we'll be fine in a few hours."

"Shit." he thought.

They all regained some bravado. They knew that he had a point. And he did. Short of killing them, there was nothing he could do without them recovering quickly. He knew that he could break all of their bones, and they would heal in a day or two. He was out of tricks. His last chance was to blindside them somehow.

Percy smirked at them. He took another step toward the big guy. He was the biggest of them all, and he needed to be dealt with first. Maybe if they saw their apparent leader fall, they would reconsider. If not, then it was eight-on-one. Technically an improvement.

Percy kept up the broad smirk. He counted down in his head.

"3.2.1. GO!"

(A/N: If you're a bit squeamish, then maybe skip ahead to the next BOLD section.)

He slammed his forehead into the big guy's nose as hard as he could. Percy enjoyed headbutting people. The forehead was one of the strongest parts of the human body, and the nose was a great target. It was safer and more powerful than punching. It was a much better opening than a kick. The headbutt did its work. The big guy collapsed like he'd been hit in the face by a bowling ball fired from a canon. It was a great hit.

Percy didn't wait around to see if the blow had scarred the others enough to make them reconsider. He doubted that it would. Instead, he moved on to the next one. It was another of the big guys. He decided to immobilize that one. He went down slightly and crashed his foot into the guy's knee. He made sure to kick it all the way through, so that the guy's knee was at the exact same angle, just on the other side. He went down with a horrible screech.

That was as far as he got before the rest of the had reacted. He darted for the next one, one of the women, but he felt a knife slice into his shoulder before he could make it. One of the guys had come up on his right. The slash had been a desperate move because Percy was so fast, but it had still done some minor damage. It was nothing to worry about in the long term, but it was a potential hindrance for the rest of the fight. He didn't let it stop him though. He had to take as many of them as he could before they were able to form some kind of strategy. He kept on going for the woman he'd been on his way to. He reached her and wrapped his left arm around her throat to keep her steady, and launched a colossal elbow into the side of her head. It knocked her out instantly.

As soon as the blow connected, he released her throat and used the arm to grab her knife. He spun around so that all of the rest of them were in front of him, rather than spread around. Easier to deal with them if they were all straight ahead, rather than splitting his attention behind him, to his left, and to his right.

He made a split-second decision to launch at the tall woman. He flung himself at her and pretended to go for a blow to the face, but dropped at the last minute and stabbed her in the foot, pinning her leg to the floor. He sprung up and launched an uppercut into her jaw to knock her out. He swung around again to face the rest.

"4 down, "he thought, "5 to go. Just a single cut to the shoulder. Not too deep. Not bad."

He dashed at one of the other guys, but he was interrupted on his way. The last conscious woman had dropped low and stabbed him straight in the right knee. It fucking hurt. And it meant that kicking was out of the question. He couldn't use his right leg to kick anyone, nor would it support his body weight if he tried to kick with his left. He grit his teeth and made sure not to scream. But the woman that had stabbed him was going to suffer.

He let his momentum carry him onward toward his intended target, but he had been staggered enough that he slowed down. He didn't slow down too much, but it was enough for the guy to counter him. As Percy tried to go for a punch to the throat, the guy ducked low and sliced his knife across Percy's stomach. He managed to use it to his advantage though. Before the guy could come back up, Percy grabbed his head, shoved it down, and then used his left foot to stomp on it. Hard. It knocked the guy out and would have easily killed a mortal, but it forced Percy to fall since his right leg buckled under his nearly-300-pound body weight. He'd been hoping that his right leg was strong enough, but he'd miscalculated. And that miscalculation was probably going to cost him his life.

From his position on the ground, he could see that he was truly fucked. He had a cut on his right shoulder, his right knee, and his stomach. He was surrounded by 4 well-trained opponents with knives. He didn't even have a weapon. Or did he? He was right next to the last guy he had knocked out. He might be able to reach over and pick up his knife. Then he'd at least be armed. That wouldn't make the biggest difference, but he would take what he could get by that point.

One of the guys reached him first and kicked him right in the chest, which was good and bad simultaneously. The bad part was that he got kicked in the chest. The good part was that the kick forced him toward the opponent with the knife, which was exactly where he had wanted to get to anyway. As he rolled, he picked up the knife. When he reached the next opponent, the woman who had stabbed him in the knee, he used the knife he had picked up to stab her in the knee. He decided to go for the back of the knee though. It made it easier to retrieve it after. Once the blade had done its damage, he ripped it out and slashed it upward, across her stomach, from belly button to sternum. Not the deepest cut and she wouldn't die from it, but she was sure as hell going to feel it.

"Payback, bitch!" he thought vindictively.

She screamed. It was music to his ears. Unfortunately, the guy that had kicked him was still on him. Percy felt a foot crunch against his skull, much like he himself had done to the last guy. He felt his brain rattle in his skull, as his head was smashed into the floor. The world went hazy, and his knife fell from his grasp. He fought to hold on. He knew that if he went unconscious, he was dead. No other way about it. He was going to die, then and there. The thought gave him strength. He wasn't going to die in his own fucking bunk. Not to a bunch of fucking recruits. He was Percy fucking Jackson. At the very least, he was going to take them all with him. Make them learn how bad an idea it was, to fuck with him. Cause he would fuck them right back. No more kiddie gloves. No more holding back. The rest of these fuckers were going to die.

He rolled away from the guy that had stomped on his head. He managed to pick up the knife of the girl whose knee he'd stabbed. He pushed himself up on his good leg and flew back toward the fucker that had stomped on him. He buried the knife into the spot where his jaw met his neck. The blade went up and straight through the brainstem. He was dead before he processed what had happened.

He was left with 3 opponents, including the woman whose knee he had stabbed. So practically, it was 2. They were both guys. Unfortunately, they had a spare brain cell. They were sticking together. The woman had been successfully removed from the equation. She was still screaming, with a knife embedded in her knee. She wasn't going to recover for the duration of the fight. Percy was at a massive disadvantage already. He was up against two opponents. He had no knife, it was still stuck in the other guy's head. And he was already heavily wounded. They were both in perfect health. He hadn't even touched them yet. Ideally, he would have waited. Made them come at him, rather than going on the offensive. But he didn't have that luxury. He was bleeding out. Rather quickly, too. The slice across his stomach was deeper than he had originally thought. The stab in his knee was steadily pumping blood. And he was sure that there was something going wrong with his head. Probably a brain-bleed. The stomp to the skull had been a heavy hit. He would probably recover from all of that because of Chaos' second blessing, but he would pass out first. And if he passed out, he was dead.

Percy had to end the fight quickly. He approached the two guys. He could return to her once he had dealt with the more immediate threats.

He hobbled to the two remaining goons as slowly as he could. He would wait for the first one to attack, and then he could counter. Better to counter than to go on the offense in his situation. The goon on the right, Goon 1, Percy decided, was the first to attack him. He went for a sweeping slash with his blade. If the hit connected, Percy's neck would have been skewered like a kebab. But it didn't. Percy had seen the blow coming, and grabbed the arm by the elbow. He broke it, forcing Goon 1 to drop his knife, which Percy caught left-handed. Before he could attack the other one, Goon 2, Percy felt him move. On reflex, he raised his arm to block, and a knife ended up lodging itself in his right palm. He screamed that time. It was a really painful place to get stabbed, and now his dominant hand was out for the count.

He still had the use of his left hand though, and his left hand was wrapped around a knife, so he had tools to work with. Luckily for him, Goon 2 made a mistake. Instead of letting go of the knife embedded in Percy's hand, he tried to pull it back. As much as it hurt, Percy forced his hand in the other direction, to make it harder for the guy to get his knife back. As his hand was yanked away, he left his throat exposed, and Percy seized the opportunity with both hands. Figuratively, that is. He lunged forward, as best as he was able with a knee that had been stabbed, and sliced his knife across Goon 2's throat. He left him to choke on his own blood.

(A/N: It's safe again.)

He was about to go find medical attention when a mistake came back to bite him in the ass. The second guy he had taken out, the one whose knee he'd kicked in, had recovered. Percy sensed some movement behind him, but he noticed it far too late. He barely had time to step to the side, as the knife went through his carotid artery. If he hadn't reacted, it would have caught him dead center in the throat, and he would have died for sure. As it was, he had sidestepped just enough that the knife cut the carotid, but not entirely. It was a little bit more than a nick. But with arteries, a nick is more than enough. Blood sprayed out of his neck like it had been shot out of a super-soaker. He was barely able to spin around and stab the fucker in the forehead. He left the knife where it was and brought his hand up to put pressure on his neck. If he could keep from bleeding out long enough, then maybe he would be able to heal enough to survive. Maybe.

He tried to get to the door of the bunk, but he collapsed immediately. One of his hands had been stabbed, and the knife was still embedded in his palm. The other was being used to prolong his life. One of his legs had been stabbed. He had a massive cut across his stomach. Walking wasn't much of an option for him. He tried desperately to crawl to the door, but it was extremely difficult with only one limb functioning properly. He was relentless though. If he could make it to the elevator, then Chaos would be able to heal him. She was just one floor away.

He tried to crawl as far as he could, but he only made it around 3 feet. He wasn't able to get further. He was about to try and come up with another plan when he was stabbed in the back. He gasped, as whatever air was left in his lungs, was forced out. The knife slipped right into his left lung. It missed his heart by an inch. He ran through everyone that it could have been. He was reasonably sure that it was the same one that had stabbed him in the knee.

He wasn't sure what to do. But he was saved from having to figure it out. He was barely conscious, but he was aware of the door to the bunk opening. He heard an eardrum-shattering scream come from whoever came in. He vaguely registered a wave of shadows crashing over him. He thought he sensed someone run over to him. He might have heard his name being screamed. And then he was unconscious.

A/N: Well, there's that chapter, folks. Thanks for reading. Let me know what you thought. A quick note, I still haven't decided on the main pairing for this story, so if you want to vote either Artemis or Sara, just PM me, or review. Either way, I'll take it into account. Anyway, stay safe, everyone. See you next time.