Chapter 6 - Bargain
As Percy had suspected, it was approaching midday by the time Kronos stalked down the street, surrounded by the usual chaos of the city. He glowered at the demigods whom watched him pass and slunk past the gods – everyone now aware that he'd mated with Percy – and firmly slammed the door into the Security chamber behind him.
Percy blinked at the door. "He's not happy," he guessed.
Thalia snorted. "No shit," she said scornfully. "Gods, Percy. Go after him, he's your omega now."
The demigod instantly shook his head. "No," he said firmly. "No – I'm giving him his space. He's likes his space."
"There's a line between giving him space and giving him room to kill all of us, Kelp Head."
Percy's jaw tightened. "Yeah. I know. I just… can't help but think it was too easy."
Thalia quirked an eyebrow. "Too easy?" She echoed. "Percy, you came back covered in blood."
The demigod huffed. "It looked worse than it was." He took in a deep breath. "But… I don't know."
Percy spent the better part of the entire week simply staying in his omega's nest. He wasn't sure what heats were usually like – or what omegas in heat were usually like, but Kronos cuddled. He cuddled and he explored Percy, as if he hadn't done so enough that first night, until Percy either had to leave or he caved in to the omega.
Over the past few days, the gods had been getting more and more anxious over Kronos' waning scent. Percy knew why. His omega was losing the sweetness of his scent, the smell turning bitter and sharp so that it lingered on Percy's tongue whenever he took a breath.
He was coming out of his heat.
Zeus had likened him to a declawed kitten compared to a wild big cat – using Kronos' black jaguar form as a kind of analogy – in saying that when no longer on his heat, Kronos would likely try to murder them all. Percy sort of thought it was an extreme mood swing and suspected that the god was exaggerating.
At least until Kronos felt himself again and proved it by surprising them all in a sudden rush towards the door. Even before the alarm had been raised, the Titan omega was happily trotting down the street and across Queens Midtown Tunnel, also surprising the demigods guarding the bridge from any attempts from the Titan Army – which had been suspiciously silent – to attempt to retake the tunnel and enter Manhattan again.
Percy watched in utter disbelief as the omega left, leaving utter chaos in his wake.
"You've got to be joking," he breathed.
"I told you it was a terrible idea!" Poseidon exclaimed, turning on Athena. "You can't trust a Titan."
"Wait," Athena said quietly. "We wait and see what happens."
"If Kronos returns with his army at his back?" Poseidon growled.
"What army?" Artemis asked dully, fiddling with her bow. "We decimated them."
"If he returns with intentions to attempt another advance," Zeus said flatly. "We kill him."
An involuntary growl rumbled from between Percy's lips. "No."
Zeus blinked. "No…?"
"You won't kill him," Percy said fiercely, "I won't let you."
"You won't…." Zeus' expression abruptly darkened and he uttered a curse in Ancient Greek. "You won't even let us near him, will you?"
Realisation dawned on Percy then, why Kronos had abruptly decided that he wanted to mate with Percy. The alpha was sort of impressed that his omega had been able to plan so well while under the influence of his heat, but found he wasn't really too surprised. "No," Percy quietly admitted, knowing that it was the cold truth.
The omega had known, of course he had. Trapped in that Security Council chamber, enemies having taken the compound, and then an alpha with a known fatal flaw entered and Kronos had leapt at the chance to keep himself save. With a fatal flaw of loyalty, it didn't matter that Percy had figured it out, he would still want to keep his omega save, want to protect him from anything that would harm him. Kronos had manipulated Percy into taking the omega under his protection. The son of Poseidon could easily rally the demigods since they trusted him.
Poseidon groaned. "Great."
"Look," Percy said slowly, "I think he knows that he's been beaten here."
"They why return to his army?"
"He hasn't," Percy murmured, "he's returned to the alphas he knows more than he does me. Oceanus… the rest of the Titans, most of them are alphas, right?"
"Yes," Zeus mused. "They are." He observed the horizon, watching for any sign of any army.
Percy ducked his head. "I feel like an idiot."
Poseidon gripped Percy's shoulder. "No matter, son. We'll figure something out." Whether that meant they'd just kill the Titan anyway or not remained to be seen.
The gods returned inside, leaving Percy with Thalia and Annabeth beside him. "This sucks," Percy bemoaned. "My omega's run off. A great start. Am I really that bad?"
"No," Annabeth said firmly. "No, Percy, you're not. You're amazing."
Percy blinked. "Uh, thanks. But why would he just run off like that?"
In the end, Kronos only disappeared for a good hour. A demigod sent back word that he was hovering at the other side of the Queens Midtown Tunnel and the gods and a dozen or so demigods immediately rushed over.
Kronos was leaning against the wall in the hard shoulder, just outside the Queens end of the Queens Midtown Tunnel. He was staring sullenly down at his feet, hands buried into his pockets. The Titan lifted his head as Zeus approached, passing the guards the gods had placed.
"I'll make a bargain," Kronos said without pause, diving head-first into the matter at hand.
"Oh?" Zeus questioned, quirking an eyebrow at the omega. "What – exactly – does this proposed bargain entail?"
The omega's expression dropped slightly. Percy had the sudden urge to force himself between Zeus and his omega, because – damn it – Zeus was upsetting him! "I'll come with you," Kronos said, expression becoming resigned. "If you don't track my army – monsters not included – and allow the demigods and my brethren to leave, unchallenged."
Percy's heart hammered in his chest. Was Kronos handing himself over?
Kronos' jaw tightened. "I called them together, I started this war. Don't blame them for following my orders."
Zeus scowled at him. "The just following orders defence?"
"Yes." Kronos' eyes flickered as he tilted his head to the side. "Unless you would rather not have a reasonably peaceful end to this war? And instead wish for me to simply turn to my true form here and now? No doubt that would produce an ending – for the entirety of the eastern seaboard."
Zeus stilled. "You're not powerful enough yet," he said. "You've just come out of your heat."
Kronos lifted an eyebrow. "Oh? Would you like to test that theory?"
Percy had to admit that it was rather impressive watching the omega match the alpha and unflinchingly look him in the eyes as he threatened to wipe the eastern side of America off the world map.
The god observed Kronos for several moments, before his lips flickered into a mocking smile. "Then by all means, Kronos. Your terms are received and accepted. We'll lay out our own demands for you later." Zeus stepped aside, turning to face Hermes, and nodded to the messenger god. "Bind him," he ordered.
Percy's eyes widened and he started forward, intent on protecting his omega, but Thalia grabbed his arm, "Percy, no."
"But he's handing himself over! Why are they-"
"The Nuremburg Defence?" Thalia frowned at Percy. "That's what Kronos is doing."
Percy blinked. "What? But that's… what?"
Thalia grimaced. "And in doing so, he's shouldering all of the blame for everything that his army has done. Everyone else was just following orders – his orders."
"I thought that was for war crimes?" Percy asked. "Sure, they set siege to the city, but that's not a war crime."
"Princess Andromeda?" Thalia questioned. "That was a cruise ship, Percy. A mortal cruise ship – where do you think they're all gone now? Antaeus' arena in the Labyrinth? – Forcing people to fight for entertainment. And then there's Typhon – whom Kronos ensured would wake to storm towards Olympus – how many states did he obliterate? How many mortals died?"
Percy stared after the Titan as he was led down the Queens Midtown Tunnel back to Manhattan. "A lot," he murmured, itching to go to his omega and at least walk next to him. Seeing the gods so close to him made Percy uneasy. "He's taking the blame for all of it?"
"Yes," Thalia said. "He gave the orders. By the Nuremburg Defence, he takes the blame. I don't think the gods are going to pass up this opportunity."
"What will they do?" Percy quietly asked.
"That's a good question," Thalia mused. "But – unfortunately – I don't know the answer. Guess we'll find out soon."
So I'll admit that I initially intended to make this a little longer, but then I had an idea and was like I've got to let them all know! so yeah. I saw the trailer for Captain Marvel recently (still don't know how I've managed to miss that until now) which got me thinking about Infinity War (as it will to most people, because that film was sad)and the Infinity Stones. Then I sorta skipped back to PJO (my mind tends to do that sometimes) and I was like PJO in Infinity War? And then the Soul Stone! The fucking Soul Stone, because Kronos you sneaky bastard - he LITERALLY HAS A WEAPON THAT CAN REAP SOULS! So what if Kronos was the Soup Stone's KEEPER and it was buried in Backbiter somewhere?! GUYS! THAT'LL BE AN EPIC CROSSOVER! Like maybe the soul stone that Thanos got (R.I.P Gamora - it was great while it lasted) was a fake or something and he's like *SNAP* but nothing happens and everyone - but especially Thanos - is like WTF NOTHING HAPPENED. So Thanos goes after the real stone, but just before he gets it off Kronos, the Master of Time (SUCK ON THAT THANOS) sets off the time travel that we all know will happen, and drags 1 (or a few) of the surviving Avengers back in time, only they know about the existence of Greek gods now, so everyone ends up getting involved, and Kronos and Loki are like secretly bros 'cus Kronos pretty much taught Loki everything he knows and they both piss off Thor so much and are just idiots for the entertainment value and Thor and Percy and like everyone else only put up with it because Kronos has the soul stone and Loki managed to keep the mind stone so they're like powerful idiots. Oh oh and then Peter P starts joining in with them and even Shuri because they're immortals guys how can you hate them so much? And then Shuri finds out that godly blood is like an energy source and she's like ohmygods can I have some of that? And Kronos is used to her at this point so he just fills a jar up with his blood and gives it to the crazy mortal like here - try not to wipe the continent off the world map and then Tony's like - unfair, I want some too.
*End of word vomit*
Onto the reviews:
ShadowsClaw: Oh good :). lol I just don't know what counts as explicit or not. Haha, yeah, Kronos' weakness is good sex xD
Mistress1296: Cool. Not really sure how to define 'explicit' lol.
Guest: Well, for a few chapters we'll have Percy trying to convince Kronos that touching isn't a bad thing lol
Colts12broncos18: Yeah, Kronos is gonna be a fun omega. As for Percy, I'm hoping I'm doing him justice as an alpha. Haha, oh good - was a little worried this wasn't going to get a good reception, but I was completely wrong. Yeah, Percy's a little thrown by all this, but he's trying to struggle through it and give Kronos some space at the same time. xD. Yes, there is the other shoe to come in this fanfic! 'Cus, as stated in this chapter, Kronos manipulated Percy into mating with him, so he'd keep himself safe. What does this mean? - Kronos doesn't really care for him, which will cause a lot of problems - especially when... the next canon events start to happen. But yes, eventually... very eventually things will settle. Kronos not in heat compared to in heat will start to be shown next chapter... so Percy will have his hands full. Your review was brilliant :D.
Maya21098: Oh good.