My Take On The Guardian Story

by Me010

A (in my opinion) fresh take on the "guardian of the hunt" story. Give it a read if you feel like it. Hopefully it interests you

42. Chapter 42 - Run

Chapter 42 - Run

Percy could never know why, exactly, he did what he did next. Sara and, presumably, the rest of the Dead Men, had come streaming into the room, armed, and ready to kill. One look into Sara's eyes told him all he needed to know. She would do what she had to. No, she wouldn't be happy about it, but she'd do it.

So, Percy did the only logical thing that sprung to mind.

He jumped out the window.

Straight through the glass, over the balcony railing, and down 6 floors.

And just to make things even worse, the street was seriously crowded. He couldn't use his shadow powers to ease his fall. He just had to take it, and really hope he didn't mess himself up too badly.

He kind of did, but also kind of didn't. He cracked two ribs, and dislocated his left shoulder. That was bad. But it was far less bad than it could be. If he'd broken his leg, he'd have been done.

He couldn't shadow travel away. There were far too many people watching him. So, he just staggered to his feet and did his best to run away. If the Dead Men took the strairs down, then he'd have some time. The smart move, would have been for one of them to make a controlled descent down the building from the window Percy had just flown through, while the others took the stairs.

That was exactly what they did.

A woman - not Sara; this one was brunette - flung herself over the rail, and pressed against the building wall. She kept her eyes fixed on Percy's fleeing form, even as she scaled down six floors.

'Shit!'

What Percy needed more than anything, was a quiet place for him to shadow travel away.

And go… where? If it was at all possible to shadow travel from one planet to another, and Percy didn't know for sure, he knew he wasn't capable of it. He was stuck on Lomik, for the time being at least. He suddenly regretted not exploring the planet more. Maybe then, he'd have had options. But no. He'd been so focused on his mission, that the idea of actually seeing the alien planet he was on, just seemed silly.

His best option, would be to go to the middle of the desert, and live off the land until he'd had the chance to think some things through. There was no way they could track him to one specific sand dune. The very notion, was just ridiculous. The 150-mile walk with his Task Force through nothing but dunes, suddenly seemed extra smart on his part.

The brunette was behind him now, and she was getting a lot closer. Percy was fast, sure, but she was a machine. He had never seen a living being move like that. Percy could see a bar on the right side of the street. There. He'd run inside, get to the bathrooms, shut himself in a stall, and no one would see him shadow travel away.

Unfortunately, Percy was on the left side of the street. And it was a busy road. And the cars were fast.

Seeing little other choice, Percy leaped out into the road, narrowly dodging a speeding car, and immediately had to jump to avoid having his legs crushed by another car. He landed on the windshield, and the impact sent him sprawling.

"Holy shit, are you ok?" the driver basically screamed.

Just then, the brunette caught up with him. Percy sat up quickly, and she flung herself at him, aiming to tackle him to the ground where she could take him down.

With the barest second to react, Percy sent fist into her stomach as hard as he could. He heard her gasp, and she stumbled back a step. But just one step. A punch like that, from Percy, with that much force behind it, would have sent any normal person flying away.

The brunette responded with a right hook straight to his jaw, and he felt his brain rattle in his skull. A machine. Percy stumbled back several steps, which annoyed him vaguely, but quickly got his bearings. He needed to get out of the fight soon. The other Dead Men would be closing in soon.

Just as the brunette machine went in for another savage attack, Percy reacted quickly. Faking supreme disorientation, he managed to goad her into overextending slightly. He took the tiny edge she gave him, and ran with it. She had been going for a straight left, probably aiming to capitalise on his already-damaged face. At the last instant, Percy ducked under the blow, and slammed an elbow into her throat. The crushed trachea would probably kill even a member of Chaos' Army. It might slow this brown-haired menace down for a few seconds.

Percy ran for the bar and pushed through the crowd of people that had gathered outside to watch the man who had gotten hit by a car, beat up a woman. They were not on Percy's side. But the moment he pulled out his pistol, they parted before him like the Red Sea.

He ran inside, going straight for the bathrooms. And to his equal parts shock, awe, and horror, miss Terminator was right behind him. If there hadn't been witnesses, he would already be dead, or in her custody. He knew that for a fact. She'd just send a wave of shadows at him, and since Percy could reasonably assume that she was pretty powerful, it would probably overpower him.

May the Gods bless day drinkers.

Percy was nearly at the bathrooms, and his advanced senses told him that there was someone in the men's room, but the women's room was empty, so he went in there.

But he couldn't shadow travel away once he was inside. He had to wait for the Terminator to come in behind him. The bartender had sightline through the women's bathroom door whenever it opened, which he himself had probably arranged. If he simply shadow traveled away, then the Terminator would open the door, and the bartender might see him. So, he'd have to wait for the door to close behind her.

If he had been a split second faster, he might have got away cleanly. But miss Terminator managed to get a hand around his bicep the moment he shadow traveled. She went with him.

Percy had, on instinct, gone to the desert. The instant his feet touched down on the sand, he knew he had messed up big time. The Terminator's momentum sent her crashing into Percy, knocking him to the ground. She took the opportunity to get a better hold on him, wrapping her arms around his throat, and trying to choke him out. Then she shadow traveled them both back to the Infantry base.

Panicking, Percy shadow traveled again, back to the desert where he had first brought them, only this time he sent them a mile above the sand.

And they were falling.

Percy was trying to throw her off. What he really needed, was a split second when they weren't in physical contact. She kept shadow traveling them back to base, and he kept dragging them right back to the sky, and they were fighting the entire time.

He tried to use the technique he had learned on Earth, when he'd sent the hunters away from a monster camp right after an army of Giants had arrived. He wanted to send her away. Anywhere would do. But the moment he tried it, he felt her countering him. Resisting his powers with her own. He concentrated hard on it, but she was more powerful than he was.

He slammed his head backwards, in a reverse headbut, and he was pretty sure he heard the satisfying crunch of a nose breaking, over the howling wind in his ears. Then he did something he wasn't exactly proud of. He tucked his chin as close to his chest as he could get it, and bit her on the bicep. There was no way for him to be certain, but he could have sworn he heard her scream 'Ah, what the fuck!'.

Then he kicked backwards at her knee, and it was finally too much for her. Her grip on his throat slackened, and managed to wrench himself away. But she caught hold of his bicep at the last moment, and they were stuck together once again. Percy kicked her hard in the stomach, and she folded around the foot. Then she twisted around his ankle, and used her free hand to punch downwards at his knee, shattering the joint completely.

Percy screamed into the wind. That had seriously hurt.

The Terminator was starting to think more clearly. She used shadows to create a parachute above herself and Percy, but Percy used shadows of his own to destroy it before it caught the wind.

But she might have had the right idea about that. The ground was starting to look really close. That was a problem Percy had not foreseen, back when he'd first sent them up into the sky. He needed somewhere safe to send them, or they'd both die on impact.

And the answer was the simplest, easiest solution he had ever dreamed of.

The ocean.

Percy shadow traveled them both straight into an ocean he could see in the distance, having them appear about 30 feet below the surface.

The Terminator, who had been in the middle of an inhale - Percy was vaguely surprised she even needed to breath at all - immediately began to choke on the sudden water. Percy, ever the helpful companion, assisted her efforts. Using his powers over water, he sent streams of water directly down her throat and into her lungs, hoping to make her pass out as soon as possible. If she sent them back to the Infantry base again, it could mean trouble. They'd be waiting for them now, having realised what was going on.

But she didn't. Apparently, the shock of suddenly drowning under 30 feet of water, was too much for her. She did nothing but struggle against him, but she wasn't going to get anywhere with that. Not in Percy's domain.

10 seconds later, she was unconscious. Percy shadow traveled them back onto land. He dropped her on the ground carelessly, and collapsed next to her. His leg fucking hurt.

The moment he felt like he could breath without his heart pounding in his ears, he flicked a finger to make the water in her lungs shoot out of her mouth. She coughed and spluttered, but she wasn't awake. Percy lay there for another few seconds, gathering his strength. Then he shadow traveled again.

This time, he went to the first city he'd come across while following the contact. He had wanted to hide out in the desert, and he had tried to, but now that the Terminator knew where he had been trying to go, there was no way he could actually go there. Maybe they'd know he wouldn't go there now, and turn their attention to the cities, but he couldn't be sure. It was safer to hide out in the city.

Percy's first port of call, was a cafe. It was a horribly painful walk there, since his knee had been thoroughly shattered, but he used shadows to wrap the join under his pants, and fought like hell to keep from limping. Painful was it was, the walk was worth it. He needed coffee, and a quite place to think for a while. But coffee wasn't a big think on Lomik, as he had found out to his horror about a week earlier. He ordered some kind of tea-smoothie hybrid which he wasn't entirely sure he'd like, but the women behind the counter told him had plenty of caffeine. He took his drink and sat down in a table as far away from the windows as he could get.

What the hell had happened?

Someone had killed his team, that's what. Someone had killed his team, right under his nose.

It seemed like an amazing coincidence that this had happened at the exact time that he had been out of the apartment. Too much of a coincidence. Percy knew that he was the best fighter of the group. Perhaps that was why they had waited until he'd been gone. If anyone were asked to bet money on who'd be the most difficult opponent of the group, they all would have bet on Percy. But only if they knew each of their backgrounds. It had nothing to do with Percy personally. It was to do with Spec Ops Operators being a cut above the rest of the Army.

So, whoever had done this, had to have known that Percy was Spec Ops. Unfortunately, that wasn't as much of a lead as he might have hoped. Given his moderate fame within the Army, the list of people who knew who he was, was frustratingly long.

But it did narrow it down to someone within the Army. Someone in the Army had sold him out to the contact, whoever the hell he was.

That would have to be Percy's next port of call. There was no point trying to figure out who had sold him out, without speaking to the contact first.

And that presented a whole new set of challenges. After the Dead Men had been sent in to take Percy down, whoever was leading the Operation on Lomik had to assume that their surveillance was blown, and try to take the contact in with force. They had probably kicked his door down mere seconds after Sara had done the same to Percy. And the contact would know that. He would have fled the moment he saw Percy's impression of a trapeze artist.

So, how was Percy going to track a well-connected individual, whom he knew very little about, and who had demonstrated some incredibly detailed tradecraft training, when he could be anywhere on an entire planet?

Well, Percy did actually know one thing. Two, even. Percy knew that he was fleeing from Chaos' Army's hunters, much like Percy himself. And Percy knew that he was highly trained in tradecraft, much like Percy himself. So, if Percy was in the contact's shoes, which he basically was, where would he go?

Percy's current plan was to hide out in the city, by breaking into an apartment and laying low until he figured out a plan. But that hadn't been his first plan. That was his second. His first plan, had been to effectively double-bluff his purseuers by going to a remote area where he had already been, where he would sense anyone coming well in advance.

And suddenly, he knew. Oh, he knew.

But that would have to wait. He was tired. The bout with the Terminator lady had been exhausting. Not to mention the psychological stress of it all. And if he was completely honest with himself, he felt deeply betrayed. By Chaos' Army. By Chaos herself. And by Sara. He knew she was just following orders, but it still hurt that she would have killed him if it had come to that.

Percy wasn't about to take on a man who'd clearly been well-trained, when he was half-cocked. He needed sleep, and food.

He finished his tea/smoothie, which had been predictably terrible, and left the cafe, already having shapeshifted into a more bland-looking persona. Percy joined the busy crowds and let himself be caught up in their midst as he went wherever they were going, no clear destination in mind.

Percy ended up waking around the city for around 2 hours before settling on a destination. It was hard, choosing a place. His training told him what he needed in a good hideout, and there were a few places that fit the bill perfectly. But the people hunting him had been through the same training. He and Sara had even worked together for years. She knew how he thought. How he operated. So, all the places that his instincts told him to go for, were rejected. When he found a place that he didn't particularly like, he went for it. It just felt wrong.

The apartment wasn't half bad, and that was the problem with it. If he'd had the freedom to set up wherever he wanted, he would have gone for the rougher parts of town, where people did not get to know their neighbours and most certainly didn't help random people who showed up searching for someone. Operationally speaking, that was the best place to go, when you didn't want to be found.

But the place he had ended up choosing, was almost the exact opposite. The building was nice. It had probably been renovated quite recently. It was hardly a palace, but it was definitely upper-middle-class. If someone saw him in there, and Sara and the others came asking questions, they'd remember. But he would only stay there for as long as it took him to get some sleep, and sort his head out. If he'd been planning a longer stay, he would have relented and found a place in the shittier side of town.

He allowed his senses to sweep through the building, and found a few vacancies. He chose the one closest to the top. Sara and the others would assume he'd want to stay close to the ground, after his previous method of escape. He broke the lock as gently as possible, and scoured the apartment for valuable resources. But there was basically nothing useful. It was vacant, after all.

It took every shred of willpower Percy had, not to set traps at the front door and windows. He desperately wanted to. But if the Dead Men sensed the traps from the street, then it would be a giveaway. They'd know he was in there for sure. So, he simply bolted the door shut, and made his way to the bedroom. Of course, he couldn't sleep in the bed. Or in the room at all. If he was somehow tracked to that apartment, they would go straight for the bedroom, correctly assuming that he needed sleep. So, Percy ruffled up the sheets, and creatively arranged the pillows to make it look like a body. It wouldn't fool them for more than a fraction of a second, but he would take anything he could get.

Once the business with the bed was fixed, Percy turned to the closet. There were some pillows and spare sheets in there. They looked frustratingly comfortable. Percy assembled a small bed right there in the closet, though it resembled more of a nest than anything else. That would buy him another fraction of a second. If they saw he wasn't in the bed, they'd turn to the closet. They'd assume that he was masking his presence, but that he was right there. But he wouldn't be.

His project in the bedroom complete, he turned to the bathroom. There was a bathtub, mercifully, which he filled with water. Percy slid inside, without taking off his clothes, and slid beneath the surface. Instantly, the water flooded his lungs, and it felt like the most refreshing breath of air he had taken in hours. The water served a dual function. First, it would further mask his presence to anyone searching for it. It was harder to detect scents or sounds or tastes when the person who was supposed to be emitting them was underwater. Second, if the Dead Men cornered him in there, he'd have the water there to manipulate into a weapon.

Suddenly exhausted, Percy closed his eyes, and was unconscious almost immediately.

—-

Sara was annoyed. No, that was an understatement. She was seriously pissed off. There were several reasons for this, and she liked to think they were all well-founded. First, Chaos had personally rerouted her entire team, as they'd been on their way for some very well-deserved R&R, after a particularly difficult mission. That had annoyed her. Then, she had told them exactly why she had done so. That annoyed her even more. She did not like the idea of bringing Percy in, with force if necessary. She didn't like that idea, for several reasons. First and foremost, she just didn't want to. She knew there was no way Percy had attacked and killed his entire team. From the look of things, Chaos didn't either. But she didn't know what had happened anymore than they did, so she had to go with what she'd been told. The second reason Sara didn't want to bring Percy in, was because she didn't want to go against him. If he really had snapped, and attacked her and her team, she knew they'd win. They had tens of thousands of years of experience between them, and they were literally the best of the best of the best of the best.

But she couldn't deny that Percy was an amazing operator. During their years of Operating together, they had been backed into corners a few times. It was during those times, when she had seen Percy fight all out, against a clear and imminent threat. What she had seen, had truly impressed her. She'd seen him slice through entire legions of enemies, with nothing on his face but a grim, determined look, and an air of pure confidence. Well-earned confidence, as it turned out.

She had been following his progression as closely as she could, basically from the time they had first met. While she hadn't gotten much from his Instructors at Basic, she had been able to monitor him very closely as soon as he started down the Spec Ops path, where her name opened doors. His Selection Instructors had had nothing but praise for him, all the way through. One of them had even roared with laughter about the time Percy had disarmed him during the initiation for Hell Month, and beaten him with his own rifle.

Then he'd started OTC, and Sara had been getting updates on his performance almost daily. What she had heard, had made her heart soar with joy. He was going to make it. There was no way he wouldn't. He was consistently proving himself to be an exceptional trainee. His Instructors had even told her, in the strictest confidence of course, that he was probably one of the very best candidates they had ever trained.

Then there was the 5-year gap when he was operating alone, and she scoured through every After Action Report he wrote, for every Operation he undertook. Reading between the lines of his modest self-reports, she had seen that he was more than living up to his Instructors' expectations of him. Mission success after mission success after mission success. He was unstoppable.

Then there was the period, which she may have considered the very best in her life. 23 years of Operating side by side, with the love of her life. During that time, she taught him everything she could think to teach him. He soaked it up like a sponge, and implemented it well. Every Operation they went on was better than the last. He did better than he did last time. It wouldn't be long before he was unstoppable.

But of course, all good things must end. Apparently. The Dead Men had made their offer, and she'd accepted. But that hadn't stopped her from checking in on him. She had certain people she knew within the upper echelons of Spec Ops command send her regular updates on his missions, and his overall well-being. Even as she'd spent virtually every waking moment training with the Dead Men, integrating herself into the team so they could function flawlessly as a single organism, she spent her nights reading his AARs. It seemed he was taking her absence out on the poor fuckers Chaos sent him against. He get deadlier and more dangerous with each mission.

His killing of a former Spec Ops Operator turned assassin for hire, had cemented his reputation as one of the most dangerous people in the Army, despire his young age. Sara herself had met the former Operator he had killed. She hadn't liked him much, but she'd had to admit that he was very good at what he did. But not as good as Percy, it seemed. She inwardly crowed at that.

Then she'd heard another amazing piece of news. He would be leading a Task Force. After just 49 years of active service, he was being put in a leadership position. And to top it all off, the Task Force's mission was centered on Lomik, which was a hotbed of activity. A key role there, would be a feather in anyone's cap.

While she had utter confidence in his abilities, as an Operator and a leader, she had still asked her Team Leader to have their R&R on Lomik's nearest planet. She wanted to be right there, just in case anything went wrong. But she wasn't expecting anything to go wrong. Percy had proven himself thousands of times by that point, and she was sure everything would go off without a hitch.

She just wanted to be nearby.

When the call came that something had gone terribly wrong, she and her team had been on a ship, most of the way to their destination. When Chaos herself had told them that Task Force Gothic Serpent had sent an emergency distress signal, she had nearly passed out. Then Chaos gave them the details.

Apparently, General Gilln had received an emergency communication from one of the Enforcers on Percy's team. Apparently, Percy had gone crazy, and started attacking them. Apparently, he had already killed two of the Spies. Apparently, he had a gun.

Still reeling from the shock of what she was being told, Chaos told them to bring Percy in, preferably alive. They all knew what 'preferably' meant. 'Do your best, but don't worry if it doesn't work out for you'. Sara, by that point, was utterly furious. To her credit, Chaos had looked deeply disturbed when she'd given the order; but she'd given it.

Sara was a soldier. Soldiers followed orders. Especially when those orders came personally, from the woman who created everything in existence. She would do as she was told, and she'd hate herself the entire time.

Or at least, she'd try to do as she was told. Everything had been going well enough at the start. After several strongly-worded cautions to the rest of the time, the Dead Men were starting to take Sara seriously when she said that Percy was not to be underestimated. They lined up in a stack outside his apartment door, Sara in the lead, as she was the newest Operator to the team. With one final deep breath, and a desperate hope that he would understand what she was about to do, Sara kicked the door hard enough to send it flying off its hinges, and flowed into the room, rifle in hand, as she had been trained to.

The look on Percy's face when he saw her, made her want to weep. He was shocked, and scared. And he was heartbroken. He couldn't believe that she was the one who appeared to be leading the charge against him. He felt betrayed.

But as soon as they had taken him into custody, without harming him, she could explain the situation. She could explain to him that she was on his side, really, and she would do everything she possibly could to get him out of whatever trouble he was in. She would do whatever she could to clear his name, as she already knew there was no way he had done what they were saying he had done. She knew that.

Then he jumped out of the window.

Sara had not expected that. Not in her wildest dreams. The pure shock of it, stopped her in her tracks for one precious second. Then, she almost jumped right out after him, eager to catch up with him, slap him over the head for being such an idiot, and then explain that he had to come with her, but everything would be ok.

But before she could, her Team Leader said, "Nami, follow him. Everyone else, back down the stairs."

She had wanted to resist, but there was nothing for it. He was her Team Leader. Sara was a soldier. Soldiers followed orders.

She bolted down the stairs, taking them five at a time, and burst through the front door just in time to see Percy on the ground, punching Nami in the stomach. She winced inwardly, even as she sprinted towards them. She watched the fight as she ran, and lost them both when Percy ran into a bar, and Nami followed. Then she sensed them shadow travel away.

Sara stumbled to a stop, and turned to look at her teammates. They looked infuriated. That probably hadn't been how they'd expected that to go down.

With nothing else to do, they found a quiet alley, and shadow traveled back to the Infantry Base.

Sara was annoyed that Percy had gotten away. She had hoped that he'd come quietly, but had half-expected him to fight. If he had chosen to fight, then she expected he'd probably manage to take down one or two of them before they overwhelmed him and brought him in. She never considered he'd escape. She was simultaneously annoyed that he'd actually managed to evade her and the rest of her team, and that she hadn't considered that he could.

And just to really top it all off, General Gilln was shouting at them.

All of those annoyances had bonded together and fed off each other to make her absolutely furious.

"How could you have let him escape?" the General was demanding, "He was one man! I thought you were supposed to be the best! How the hell could this happen?"

All 5 of them - Nami still hadn't reappeared - were sitting in a conference room, arms crossed, glaring at him. It never ceased to amaze her that people like this found the nerve to yell at the most dangerous individuals they would every lay eyes on.

Sara kept the rage at bay by fantasising about all the different ways she could kill him from where she sat.

Just as Sara pictured the 86th way she could do it - hurling a nearby pen through his eye and into his brain - Nami shadow traveled into the room, soaking wet, covered in bruises, and obviously beyond furious.

Sara's Team Leader, a man who looked 25, but was actually tens of thousands of years old, named Plean, immediately stood up and at looked at Nami demandingly.

Nami didn't say anything. Not to them, at least. She was muttering to herself. Sara heard 'fucking motherfucking fuck' and 'dissolve him in acid' and 'just you fucking wait, motherfucker'. Nami was a colorful one.

"Well? What the hell happened?" the General demanded, not sensing or not caring about her obviously towering temper.

"He fucking drowned me! Fucking piece of shit! I'm gonna get him! You think I won't? Just you wait and fucking see! He's a fucking dead man!" Nami screeched.

Plean blinked at her.

"What do you mean, he drowned you?"

Nami rounded on him. She pressed her clenched fists against the table, and leaned towards him.

"I mean," she said in a clipped tone dripping with palpable rage, "Sara's fucking boyfriend shadow traveled us both into the middle of the fucking ocean, and fucking drowned me!"

Plean, sensing danger, put his hands up in a show of submission.

"How are you alive then?" another male team member, Iolk, asked.

Nami spun her head towards him, her hair flying dramatically, eyes wild.

"I don't know, do I? I didn't stop and ask! I just woke up, after he fucking drowned me, and I was in the middle of the fucking desert!"

Sara knew what must have happened. Percy must have pulled her out of the water once she was awake, and resuscitated her before shadow traveling away. She decided not to point out that the man who had, as Nami put it, 'fucking drowned her' had also saved her life, for fear of her rage turning against her next.

No one said anything for a few seconds as Nami breathed deeply, making an effort to control her rage; a little too late, as far as Sara was concerned.

"Sara, you know him best," Plean said, turning to her, "What'll he do next?"

Which was a very good question, the answer to which, Sara had been thinking about ever since Percy had escaped.

"General, I assume Percy didn't go anywhere or do anything that wasn't related to the mission while he was here?"

The General nodded.

"Ok. I need to see a map that'll show me where he and his team watched the meeting, and the city where we found him. I want to see the route Percy took to follow him."

The maps were provided, with a bright red line indicating Percy's most likely route, as he hadn't actually told anyone where he had gone. The route showed many miles of open desert, with two cities between the place Percy had began, and where he had ended up.

"Nami, when he shadow traveled out of the bathroom in the bar, where did you end up?"

Nami, who had deflated considerably after her outburst and now simply looked deflated, sighed deeply.

"I don't know, exactly. We were just in a desert somewhere. Then he shadow traveled us around a mile into the air to try and shake me off. I kept taking us back here, but he kept sending us back. When he suddenly sent us to the ocean, I was too shocked to do anything about it."

Sara nodded thoughtfully.

"So, his first instinct was to hide in the desert until he could figure out his next move," Sara said, careful to keep her suspicions about his guilt, or lack thereof, out of her voice, "But not anymore. As far as he's concerned, the desert is burned. He knows we'll check these maps, and he's assuming we could check every inch he's explored. So, he'll go for a city."

"Which, I suppose, brings us around to the obvious question," another male Operator, Vazi, stated, "Why leave Nami alive?"

"Well, I love you too, Vaz," Nami drawled with an eye-roll.

"Nothing personal, Nami, but you have to admit it's curious. The guy murders 6 teammates in cold blood, but spares the crazy bitch hunting him down?"

Nami raised her middle finger at him at the words 'crazy bitch', which Vazi parried with a faux-charming smile.

"What the hell does it matter? He did. Now you need to move on, and catch this son of a bitch!" the General growled at them all.

Plean gave each of them a quick look, and without saying a single word, they all knew that they would return to the subject when they were alone, but to drop it for now.

Sara turned back to the map, and thought for a few seconds longer, bringing herself back to the days when she and Percy Operated together.

"He'll go to one of the cities. Definitely not the one where we found him. It'll be one of the other two. Probably the one further away. It'll feel safer to him. He'll look around for an apartment where he can lay low for some time, get some rest, and figure out what to do next. I'm willing to bet that he'll want to find a place in the shittier part of town. Safer that way. I don't think he has the resources to pay for a place, so he'll break into one."

The rest of her team and the General watched her very carefully for a few seconds.

"How sure are you?" Plean asked.

"100% about most of it. I'm a little iffy on the neighborhood he'll be in, though. He might anticipate that we predict he'll be in the shittier part of town, and go higher-class instead."

Plean sighed, "Odds?"

Sara shrugged, "Flip a coin."

Plean said nothing for a few seconds, and then sighed again.

"Well, if we're flipping a coin, then I want to bet on both outcomes. We'll split up; cover both options. Sara, Vazi and I will check uptown. Nami, Lax, and Mittlo will check downtown. If you catch a glimpse of him, you call it in, and hold back. This time, we're doing it right. He won't know we're within a hundred miles of him until he wakes up in our custody.

—-

Percy awoke with a start. Someone was knocking on the door.

"Hello? Is someone in there? This is my apartment! If there's anyone in there, come out right now!"

A man's voice. Brittle. Trying to sound intimidating. Or maybe an act. Maybe one of the Dead Men, seconds away from breaking down his door.

But he wasn't going to jump out the window. Not this time. Moving quickly, Percy climbed out of the bath, drained the water, and dried himself off. Then he shadow traveled away.

He reappaered at the observation point he and his Task Force had first established to watch the meeting in the shack. Just as Percy settled in to start waiting for the contact to arrive, the door swung open. But no one went inside, or came out. The door just stood there, wide open.

An invitation.

Percy stood and moved his pistol from the small of his back, to his right hip, for quicker access. If things went wrong, he'd need every fraction of a second he could get.

He shadow traveled down to the doorway and walked in slowly. He could just barely sense the contact's presence inside. He was sitting at a dining table, palms together in his lap, legs crossed at the knee. Percy couldn't sense a gun. He walked inside and saw him, confirming the absence of a gun.

"Mr. Jackson, it's so wonderful to see you again."

Percy had to fight to keep the surprise off his face.

"I suppose that puts me at a disadvantage, Mr…"

The contact smiled broadly, "Well, let's see… what's a good Earth name… Why don't you call me John?"

"John, it is then."

"Excellent, excellent. Please, do sit down, Percy. You don't mind if I call you Percy, do you?"

"Please do."

"Yes, I suppose I'd prefer to be called Percy, if my full name was Perseus."

Again, Percy kept his face neutral.

"Well, I see you're very well informed, John."

John shrugged modestly, but said nothing. So, Percy continued.

"Why don't you spread some of that information around?"

He smiled now.

"What would you like to know?"

"What happened to my team?"

"I killed them," John said, so matter-of-fact-ly that he might have been commenting on the weather.

Percy's jaw clenched, but he kept himself in check.

"Why?"

"To frame you, of course," John continued in the same tone, "As soon as I found out you were the one following me, I was delighted. Here was a chance to knock out a serious player, once and for all. You haven't known about it, of course, but you've been something of a thorn in our side for some time now. Killing Ghilp, for instance. He was one of ours. That was a serious enough blow to our Operational capabilities. So, when the opportunity to take out the man responsible came along... And without having to lift a finger, ourselves. Except, as I said, for killing your team. But you and I both know, they didn't mean much. No, the Dead Men would take care of you for us. So much easier that way, you know what I mean? Personally, I wasn't much looking forward to going against you. And now, it seems I won't have to."

"How do you figure that? You killed my team, and you think… what; I'm just gonna let that slide?"

John smiled again.

"Come on, Percy, don't pretend you cared about them at all. You hardly knew each other. They meant nothing to you."

"I didn't like them," Percy allowed, "But I was responsible for them. They trusted me, and you killed them."

John quirked his head teasingly, "Did they all trust you, Percy? Or I suppose the more pertinent question is, did you trust all of them?"

Percy stared at him for a few seconds, but said nothing.

"Your Assassin; Carro. He's one of ours. Has been since long before you ever met him."

'His body wasn't at the apartment… Fucking stupid!' Percy internally critiqued.

"So you killed them together."

"No, no, nothing like that. No, I did it all myself. Our mutual friend, Carro, simply let me know that you were on to me, and where you had set yourselves up to watch me. I had him tell me when you left the apartment. Then I came over, handled business, and Carro sent a distress call to General Gilln. Then he fled, to Migun, I believe. That's where he is now."

Percy narrowed his eyes.

"And why are you telling me where he is?"

John looked at him like it was obvious.

"So that you can bring him to Chaos, of course. He's proof that you're innocent. All she'll need to do is take a look at him, and she'll know you're telling the truth, and you have been the entire time. She'll welcome you back with open arms, after that."

"I thought your plan was to frame me."

"Well, yes, it originally was. But to tell the truth, the way you evaded the Dead Men was fascinating. I thought to myself, 'Now, John, can you really let a man with skills like this, go to waste?'. And I concluded that I couldn't. And anyway, Carro has outlived his usefulness. He's already told us everything he knew, so there's really no harm in letting Chaos have him back."

"You figure I'd be more useful working against you, than out of the fight? I'm sorry, but your logic doesn't really track."

"Against us?" John chuckled, "You won't be working against us, Percy. You'll be working with us."

Now it was Percy's turn to laugh, "And why would I do that?"

John leaned forwards, "Because you've seen it now. The spell has been broken. Soon, you'll start to realise that Chaos and her Army aren't all they're cracked up to be. You may have already started to see that, but it's ok if you haven't. When it hits you fully - and believe me, it will - you'll come back to us, and be our spy. And, remembering what happened last time she accused her golden boy of betraying her, Chaos will be terribly unwilling to accuse you again. You'll be our perfect agent."

Percy stared at him for a few seconds.

"Who's 'we'?"

John grinned.

"No, I'm afraid we're not quite there yet, Percy. Soon, though. Soon, we'll give you all the answers you want. Certainly more than Chaos will ever give you."

Percy sighed deeply.

"I think you're forgetting one thing, John."

John looked genuinely puzzled.

"What's that?"

"I've got all the proof of my innocence, right here."

John laughed. Fully. Right from the stomach.

"No, Percy, I'm afraid you haven't. This was fun though. We should do it again soon. Oh, and by the way, I'd get clear of the building if I were you"

Just as Percy was about to launch himself across the room, John disappeared. He teleported. But it wasn't shadow travel. It was something else. Percy had never seen it before. But it was good. Instantaneous. Certainly faster than shadow travel.

Cursing himself, Percy went back outside, and wondered what John had meant when he told him to get clear of the building.

Then he heard it.

The screeching sound of the sound barrier being shattered, as something sliced through the air faster than a bullet, and certainly much bigger.

Percy started sprinting, eyeing a small formation of caves nearby. 5 seconds later, he had just made it inside, when a missile hit the shack directly, and annihilated it. The force of the explosion still hit Percy, even though he was almost the length of a football pitch away. The shockwave hit him, and set him flying into the cave wall, where he hit his head so hard, he was knocked out cold.

—-

If Sara had been angry before, that was nothing compared to now. Now, she was downright murderous. And that may not have been an exaggeration. The fucking General, had ordered a fucking drone strike.

Chaos wanted him alive.

Drone strike.

How were those two ideas congruent at all?

She was going to kill him.

Apparently, sattelite images had picked up on Percy entering the house. And instead of calling them, the General seemed to have taken it upon himself to blow the whole damn place to hell. Including Percy.

Chaos wanted him alive.

Sara wanted him alive.

Drone strike.

Sara stormed into the TOC just as the General was spluttering his excuses.

"-eed to justify myself to the likes of you," he was thundering at Plean.

She was across the room faster than anyone in the surrounding area could blink. She grabbed the General by the throat, lifted him up off his feet, and slammed him against the wall. Suddenly, her knife was in her other hand, and pressed against his throat.

"Woah woah woah!" the entire TOC screamed.

Some of them drew weapons, but the rest of Sara's team drew their own, keeping everyone else at bay.

"What," Sara said, in a dangerous, low voice, "Were you thinking?"

"I- I was just doing my damn job!" the General gasped.

"Your job was to lead us to him! Not drop a missile on his head!"

"You weren't getting it done! I did the only thing I could! Honestly, I was told you were supposed to be the best at this kind of thing! Or maybe it's just you! Maybe you're not putting in as much effort as you could! I did hear that you were making a fool of yourself with him a few years ago. Perhaps you're secretly hoping he'll escape?"

Sara punched him in the stomach fiercely, and was forced to drop him when he started vomiting all over the floor. She was just preparing a kick to the temple, when Plean shot her a warning look. Reluctantly, she did nothing to damage him further.

A few tense seconds passed by in silence in the TOC. Weapons were still drawn on both sides, and the situation could easily turn explosive if the wrong move was made. But neither party was willing to back down first.

Mittlo, the most level-headed of the team, was the first to speak up.

"Alright. I suggest we all just put the weapons down, on the count of three. There's no need for this situation to escalate. We're all on the same side here. So, I'm gonna put my gun down, and do the countdown."

In a remarkable show of calm, Mittlo holstered his pistol, as everyone in the TOC watched him.

"Alright. Now everyone else. On the count of three, everyone puts them away. Ok? One… Two… Three."

The rest of the Dead Men were the first to return their pistols to holsters. Seeing this, everyone who worked the TOC put their own weapons down, still eyeing the Dead Men suspiciously.

"Alright, then, let's get on with it," Plean said first, "Who here was watching the satellite feed when the missile struck?"

Nothing happened for a second, until a small brown with dark hair raised a hesitant hand into the air.

"Alright. Did the target make it out, or is he still in the shack?"

The technician, who looked even more nervous at being addressed directly, gestured feebly at the screen in front of him.

"Well- uh- I saw someone sprinting away from the shack just before impact. Dark hair, seemed pretty tall, and pretty broad. It could have been him."

"Was he hit by the impact?"

"He must have been. He only made it a couple hundred feet. I think he was going for some caves, but I can't be sure."

Plean paused for a second, thinking.

"Alright. We have to assume he wasn't killed. Give us a truck, and we'll go check it out."

As they left the TOC, Plean leaned towards Sara and spoke in an undertone.

"If he is alive, what'll he do?"

Sara considered it.

"I think he'll try to get off world. He's seen what we're apparently willing to do to get him. He might decide that it's too hot here, and try to figure a way out."

Plean thought for a second.

"The only regularly scheduled way off this planet, is the transport flights to Migun. If he wants to leave the planet, that'll be how he does it."

—-

Percy awoke with a groan. His head was killing him, and sprinting that fast on a damaged leg hadn't been good for it. It wasn't still broken, of course, after he'd spent a few hours underwater, but it was pretty sore. His head was pounding after the impact with the rocky cave wall. It took a few moments for him to make sense of his current situation.

Rising shakily to his feet, Percy stumbled to the mouth of the cave, and looked up at the sky. The sun was still up there, bearing down on the sand below. So it hadn't been too long since he was knocked out. He'd need to get out of there soon. The Dead Men would be on their way.

He took a second to take a look at the shack, but he couldn't find it. There wasn't even any debris from what had been there before. Not a single scrap of wood. As if it had never even existed. Powerful stuff. It registered vaguely in his mind, that he was lucky to be alive.

A fucking missile. Someone really wanted him dead.

Percy needed to think. His only lead, was the Assassin, Carro. Carro had somehow made his way to Migun, which Percy knew was a nearby planet that Chaos' Army used to store the bulk of their supplies. The things that couldn't be seen by the Lomikian native, because it was too advanced for them. Migun, on the other hand, was thousands of years further along than Earth, so they wouldn't bat an eye at the various things that Chaos' Army - hiding behind a public front as a Private Military Company - stored in warehouses they rented in the more rural parts of the planet.

Percy knew that there were regular journeys being made between Lomik and Migun; practically daily. And from Migun, Carro could schedule a transport almost anywhere. But it would take a few days. If Percy moved quickly, then he could get his hands on Carro before he left. But if he, Carro, made it off Migun before Percy could get there, then it would be far more difficult to track him.

Getting to Migun, meant taking a Chaos' Army transport, as there was no other way to get off world from Lomik. And he, Percy, was currently the most wanted man on the planet. That presented a few problems. But that was the thing about being raised as a partial deity and then going through OTC. There were precious few problems that were truly unsolvable. Everything had a solution. There was always something to do; something to try.

And there were more difficult problems to find a solution to, than sneaking onto a transport ship.

Percy shadow traveled to the sleeping quarters that had been assigned to him at the Infantry Base. He was reasonably certain they'd be empty. And he was right. Taking extra care than usual to conceal his presence from prying ears and noses, Percy cracked the door and looked around outside. There was the usual hustle and bustle of an Infantry Base. There was always things for everyone to do, so people were kept busy enough, even when there wasn't anything going on.

He stayed where he was, and listened for hints of conversation about transports going to Migun. A few minutes later, he heard two logistics specialists talking about a flight in just 20 minutes. Excellent.

Percy shapeshifted, lowering himself to 6'4 and shrinking himself to 250 pounds. He lightened his hair, making it a dark blond, and tanned his skin, to make it look like he had been out in the sun for several months. Careful not to let anyone see him, Percy left his bunk, and wandered over to the airfield, scouting out for anyone suitable while pretending to be busy checking something.

There was one guy who might work. He was 6'5 and 275 pounds. So, within Percy's height and weight limits. He'd stand out a bit, but he would look like someone who was supposed to be there.

But there was a risk associated with that. He'd get off world ok, that was for sure. But unless he killed the guy whose place he was going to take, which was not an option, then he was going to wake up at some point. And when he did, he'd go straight to his superior, who would take it to their superior, and it would go right up the chain until the Dead Men were told. Then they would be right behind him.

But that could also be useful to him. Once Percy caught up with Carro, he'd need someone there to help him bring the Assassin to Chaos, who John told him would be able to verify their stories. The Dead Men, who had been in the apartment where the slaughter had taken place, might have noticed Carro's absence. Once he told them this was one of the people he had supposedly killed, maybe they'd be intrigued enough to bring them both to Chaos. Maybe Sara would convince them. If she believed him, that was.

Percy tailed the guy, covertly, for five minutes before an opportunity presented itself. He was alone. So, Percy, with the trained ease that came from being a Spec Ops Operator, walked up behind his target, wrapped his arm around his throat, and squeezed. The guy struggled, but was unconscious in seconds. Percy dragged him to the bathrooms, which he sensed were empty, and stripped him of his clothes. Shifting his body to made him an exact duplicate of his target, Percy put on the the guy's clothes, trashing his own, but saving his socks for a gag. The unconscious guy also had a backpack full of spare clothes and some cash, which Percy slung over his shoulder. Then he left the bathroom, found a length of rope, came back, and tied him up.

A few minutes later, Percy boarded the transport ship.

"Name?" some guy with a clipboard asked him suddenly.

Percy panicked, but kept it off his face.

"You don't know who I am?" he asked, trying to sound derisive.

Clipboard man scowled.

"It's a security precaution. There's an Assassin on the loose, he could assume someone's identity to get off world."

'Sara' Percy growled internally. This was probably her idea.

"And how exactly, would you like me to prove myself?"

Clipboard man opened his mouth to answer, when someone else came up behind Percy and clapped a hand on his shoulder.

"Leave Pialo alone, will you, you suit? Shit, I was just talking to him 10 minutes ago. I don't think the boogeyman could have got him since then; do you?"

Clipboard man huffed in annoyance at the general dismissal, and stalked off to find someone else to question.

So, Percy's cover name was Pialo, was it? That was helpful to know. Now, he just had to hope that the guy who had saved him from Clipboard man wouldn't strike up a conversation.

"Jeez, fuckin' suits, am I right?" the Infantry guy said to Percy in a tone that demanded agreement.

"Yeah," Percy scoffed, "If ya can't hack it in the real Army, go push some fuckin' papers around, why don't ya?"

The Infantry guy laughed, and slapped Percy on the back again before walking off, much to Percy's relief.

With nothing else to do, Percy joined the small line to get on the transport ship.

—-

Sara and the rest of the Dead Men returned to the Infantry base a few hours after they left, having come up empty handed. Percy hadn't been there. That was either a good thing, or a very bad thing. Either he had been the person running away from the shack, and had managed to get away before impact, or he had still been inside when the shack had been hit, and was instantly pulverised.

If they found out he was dead, Sara was going to kill that General. She didn't know how, or when, but she would do it.

Not having slept since before Chaos had sent them after Percy, they were all exhausted. None more so than Nami. She had been the one who'd fought Percy, and been, as she wouldn't stop pointing out, fucking drowned. She had calmed down since the incident of course, returning to her usual calm, clinical self. But Sara knew she was still fuming.

Aiding the exhaustion's war against each of them, was the fact that they hadn't got any closer to Percy ever since he'd first escaped them. They'd searched high and low, with nothing to show for it. It was embarrassing for the elite unit, who liked to think they were a cut above the rest. They were a cut above the rest. And yet this Operator - practically a child, he was so young - seemed to be running circles around them.

They decided to check in with the TOC for any new leads. If there was nothing to report, they'd get some sleep and continue their search when they woke up.

"We've been trying to contact you," a young technician told Plean when they asked.

"Our radios were out of battery. Haven't charged them since we got here. Why? What happened?"

"A young Infantry soldier was found unconscious and tied up in the bathrooms around 20 minutes ago."

Instantly on full alert, Plean asked, "What was he supposed to be doing?"

"He was scheduled to fly to Migun for some R&R."

"When does the transport leave?"

"It already did. An hour ago."

"Well, get a message to it!"

The tech cowered slightly, but shook his head.

"We've been trying. It's only a small ship; not set up for long distance communication. It'll be too far away now. In fact, it should be landing in Migun in another hour."

Plean cursed so loudly, half the TOC jumped in fright.

"Ok, you get me a line of communication to the landing port on Migun, and arrange a ship to take us there ASAP!"

The tech nodded shakily, fiddled with some knobs on a large radio, handed the receiver to Plean, and the scurried away to arrange a ship.

Once Plean and whoever was on the other side had established their identities, Plean started speaking urgently.

"In another hour, you'll be getting a troop transport ship landing in your port. There's a man on it who needs to be stopped by any means necessary. I'll send over a photo of what we suspect he may look like. But he's capable of shapeshifting, so bear that in mind. His natural height is 6'7, and his natural weight is around 300 pounds. I want you to gather everyone you possible can, and round up anyone that comes off that transport who's between 6'3 and 6'11, and weighs between 250-350 pounds. Don't underestimate anyone there. The individual we're looking for is highly dangerous, and he's wanted for massacring his entire team. You understand me?"

The guy on the other end must have vehemently agreed, because Plean looked very happy with himself and dropped the radio.

"We've got him," Plean growled to the rest of his team.

Sara said nothing.

And Plean noticed.

"You got something to add?" he practically growled at her.

Sara sighed, "Some security officers on Migun? They won't get him."

"There could be up to 80 of them, each and every one of them searching for the guy. He's good, but there's no way he can turn invisible."

She shrugged, "As far as those security officers are concerned, he is invisble. He'll run circles around them."

—-

Percy was feeling distinctly apprehensive when the transport landed. He was hanging back, pretending to dawdle and fuss with his bag. He wanted to see how everyone else off the transport was greeted. If Pialo - the real Pialo - had been found already, there might be people waiting for him.

To his surprise, he saw a few people getting picked out of the crowd, and led away by no less than three security personnel per person. Then he started to notice a trend in the people getting taken away. They were all near his maximum or minimum height and weight.

And by the way the security officers were scanning the faces, he knew they had an image of Pialo. He had been found.

Percy cursed under his breath, and thought for a second. If they saw him disguised as Pialo, then they would know for sure it was him. The remaining security officers - 40 odd - would come down on him in an instant. Percy didn't know if he could fight them all off, but he was absolutely sure he couldn't do it without killing a few of them. So there was no way he could fight.

He had to shapeshift. But there were still 20 Infantry soldiers on the transport.

Making up his mind, Percy hiked up his backpack, and made his way to the back of the transport, where the bathrooms were. There were two, opposite each other, and his senses told him they were both empty. Percy cracked the door of the one on the right, just enough to glance inside, and then closed it again. Then he ducked into the bathroom on the left and locked the door behind him. Now secure and safe from prying eyes, Percy shapeshifted. He shrunk himself from Pialo's 6'5 and 275 pounds, to a still large, but smaller 6'3 and 250 pounds. It wasn't a great difference, but by hunching his shoulders and stooping, he could make himself look smaller still. And Pialo's clothes, which he was still wearing as he had nothing to change into, now looked bigger on him, which would hopefully make it harder to determine his weight. He also darkened his hair, and added some stubble to his chin, under his lip, and the sides of his face.

Then Percy shadow traveled out of the bathroom he had changed in, to the other one. Now, in case anyone had been watching the bathrooms, they wouldn't realise that one person had entered a bathroom, and an entirely different person had exited.

Rucksack still slung over his shoulder, Percy climbed off the transport. He wanted to stretch after having been stuck to his seat for a few hours, but he didn't. His goal was to look as small as he could, and that would not be accomplished by stretching.

Head ducked low, gait slow but confident, Percy tried to walk right away. Hopefully, no one would even look at him.

The 42 security officers were milling around in sets of three. That seemed like an awful lot, but there were some positives to consider. For starters, several other transport ships had landed at the dock within 30 minutes of Percy's. That meant that there were a lot of people for the 42 security officers to search through. Another positive, was the architecture of the dock itself. There were plenty of steel - or steel-like - beams that were covered in concrete littered throughout the platform. They provided plenty of concealment, and Percy was able to manouver himself through the officers' sight lines.

Another issue, however, was cameras. There were dozens of the things, and there was bound to be a few techs in the security room scanning through the tapes, looking for anyone who matched the description, and seemed to be evading the officers.

What was supposed to be a 5-minute walk through the dock, ended up as a 45-minute slog through wave after wave of security. More and more of them kept joining the party. They were probably being called in from a nearby station somewhere. The whole thing was, frankly, ridiculous. By the time Percy walked out onto the street and hailed a cab, there were more security officers than civilians present.

And now that that entire mess was dealt with, he could focus on the next one. Carro, the Assassin. Percy had to find him, and he had to do it fast. It wouldn't take too long for him to find a ship going off world. If he got away, he'd be away for good. Percy would never find him. Not without the resources Chaos' Army had at its disposal. Not while those recources were being used to hunt him.

So, if Percy were Carro, and he needed to get off world, how would he do it?

Migun was an incredible place. There were a hundred ships leaving the planet every day. But it was slow. Trips had to be booked several days in advance. So, Percy might have some time, but there were around a hundred different travel agencies and flight companies that he might have used, and Percy would just have to hope he came across the right name. And Carro would certainly be using a pseudonym. There was no way he'd be traveling under his real name. No, he'd be using a fake name. He'd have fake ID.

But it might not be very good fake ID. Unless Carro knew that this mission would be his last with Chaos' Army, which he probably hadn't, then he probably wouldn't have a decent cover identity established on Migun. Which meant he'd have to get something made in the moment. It was entirely possible to get some quality documents quickly, but they wouldn't be great. Great took time.

Carro would prioritise speed over quality. And that would limit his options. He'd have to travel by a less reputable company. One that didn't ask too many questions about its passengers. But he'd be careful not to overcorrect, and travel with a really bad company, because that would be what people expected him to do. No, he'd be somewhere in the middle ground.

100 companies, were narrowed down to 20.

Then, Percy took a look at the destinations, and asked himself where he would want to go. He'd want to put some serious distance between himself and Lomik, even on a Universal scale. So, he used the knowledge of the geography of the Universe that he had accumulated over the years, to figure out which planet was the absolute furthest from Lomik and Migun. But he wouldn't want to wait more than a few days.

By the time he had considered each option, Percy found two that he felt were the most likely. The first one left in two days, and would take him an extraordinary distance from Migun. The second was the next day, and it would take him even further.

If Percy had to choose, he'd bet on the later one. It would be more secure that way. But because the flights were at different times, he could set up and wait for him at each one. He'd get him one way or the other. Unless he was wrong. In which case, he was screwed.

Percy stole a small supply cache that Spec Ops Command kept on Migun in case any Operators needed to access some funds, and used the money to buy a few nights in a decent hotel. He wanted to be comfortable while he waited, and he was sick of breaking into apartments. Plus, he figured that's what the Dead Men would expect when they arrived - if they weren't already on the planet. His pattern over the past few days had certainly suggested that he'd go for a residential apartment before a hotel.

Once he'd left Pialo's backpack in his new room, Percy left again, in search of a pervert.

—-

Plean was fuming.

He had been fuming for almost an hour.

Ever since the head of security at the Migun garrison had reported that Percy wasn't among those they had rounded up. Apparently, they had questioned each man relentlessly, extracting all kinds of details about their personal lives that Percy couldn't possibly know if he was assuming their identity.

The moment they had arrived on Migun, the Dead Men had personally questioned each of the suspects, and Sara had confirmed that Percy wasn't one of them.

First, Plean had gone quiet. Sara had become accustomed to this over the years of working with him. After the silence, he became apoplectic.

"How the fuck is this Operator doing this?" he demanded of anyone and everyone within several miles of him.

Sara shrugged, not phased by the rage, "I told you; he's good."

"He's not just good. He's embarrassing us," Vazi grumbled from behind a palm pressed to his face.

Sara shrugged again, "He's very good."

"The moment," Plean forced out, "That this is over, we're going to train for stuff like this. We're supposed to be the damn best. This is just fucking ridiculous."

"We can discuss that when it's over," Nami said, the reasonable one for once, "But for now, we need to figure out his next move. Sara, what'll he do?"

"He'll use this place as a port," Sara said immediately, "He'll want to get off world as soon as possible. But he'll take the time to set up a good fake ID. At least, as good as he can get it within a few days. After that, I have no idea."

"There has to be a place he knows," Mittlo tried, "A place where he feels at home. Somewhere he'll want to go to more than anywhere else."

"How about his home planet?" Vazi suggested, "He's from Earth, right?"

Sara sighed, "You're not listening to me. He's very good. He's not gonna go anywhere we expect him to go. Earth is the last planet he'll try. He'll avoid that whole damn solar system. If he goes anywhere, it'll be completely random."

"So; what? You're saying we're just fucked?" Plean said irritably.

"No, I'm not saying we're fucked. We can track him. But it'll take some time. Our best chance, is to catch him before he leaves Migun. At least we know he's here right now. We should check apartments in the city. He won't be anywhere near any space ports, but he won't be too far away either. Probably between 50 and 75 klicks. We can have some analysts check off-world transports and see what they think is most likely."

—-

The pervert wasn't hard to find. Percy just had to go to the seedier part of town, and then his senses did the rest. He sniffed out drugs with an ease that would make an airport K9 blush. He approached him, hood low over his face, hands in his pockets, doing his best to look shifty.

"Ayo, man, I need some help."

The pervert barely glanced at him.

"Man, keep walking."

"No, seriously. I got cash."

Which was true, but only technically.

Now, the pervert looked at him with renewed interest.

"Oh yeah? Well, watchu need, man?"

"I've been having some… uh… trouble with the ladies. They don't like me for some reason. I was kinda hoping you had something that could… help me out. You know what I mean?"

The pervert grinned.

"Ahh, shit man, I know what you want. Here, check this out."

He brandished a small baggie with some pills.

"Just give 'er two of these, and she'll get real friendly real quick, you know what I mean? She'll be all yours."

Percy eyed the pills with affected greed.

"Alright, man, that's cool. So, can you give me like… 10?"

"10?" the pervert laughed, "Shit, man, you want 10 of these things?"

Percy pretended to grin slyly, "Well, you know, I got big plans this weekend."

The pervert laughed heartily.

"I'm not about to turn down a sale, you know? Alright, here's 10."

The pervert handed over 10 pills.

"Alright, that's gonna be 200. And that's with a discount."

"I get a discount?"

"What can I say? I like your style, my man!"

Percy pretended to laugh, despite his skin crawling.

"Yeah, sure man, thanks."

And then Percy, casually as anything, grabbed the pervert's neck, and jerked it harshly at a 90-degree angle, snapping his neck, and killing him instantly.

The move was so subtle, no one even noticed it.

Pocketing the drugs, Percy went back to his hotel room to finish preparing for Carro.

The first of the transports turned up nothing. Percy waited at the space port for nearly 6 hours, feeling horrifically exposed as he did, but confident in his tradecraft. Carro hadn't showed. So, Percy had packed up and gone back to his hotel to sleep for a couple hours.

Then he left for the second transport that he felt Carro was likely to use.

And this one, yielded far better results.

Percy saw him.

Of course, Carro didn't look like Carro. He looked like anyone else in the crowd, as a good Assassin would. But Percy recognised him instantly. It was in the way he moved. He was just too at ease. He was just too inconspicuous. He was just too unremarkable. It was a carefully constructed appearance. No normal person could be so unnoticeable.

It wasn't as if he stood out like a sore thumb or anything. But Percy knew his stuff. He'd had years of training, a good head on his shoulders, and patience unbeffiting his ADHD diagnosis.

Now, came the difficult part. He had to get Carro without anyone seeing him.

If he just openly attacked Carro, things could go real bad, real quick. A cornered animal is a dangerous animal. If he felt like he had no other option, Carro would use his powers in an effort to escape Percy. While Percy had no doubt whatsoever that he could kill Carro no matter what powers he pulled out of his ass, he didn't want civilians to see it. Otherwise, Chaos might not take him back even if he did prove his innocence.

So, the takedown would have to be quiet.

And Carro, the fucking idiot, gave Percy the perfect opportunity.

He went to the bathroom.

Percy grinned. It was so much easier hunting non Spec Ops.

He followed Carro into the bathroom, acting as nonchalant as possible. Carro wouldn't recognise him. No way. So, as Carro moved to the urinals, Percy simply walked up behind him, stabbed the syringe into the side of his neck, and pushed down on the plunger.

As soon as Percy had got back to his hotel room after his meeting with the pervert, he'd hidden the pills and found a hospital nearby. Then he'd just walked inside, found a syringe, pocketed it, and shadow traveled back to the hotel room. He'd found a bowl in the small kitchenette, dumped the pills in it, and crushed them to powder. Then, using some other supplies he'd stolen from various labs, he turned the crushed roofies into a liquid, which he'd sucked into the syringe.

Now, Carro was unconscious before he even knew what was happening.

Percy put a hand on his unconscious form and shadow traveled them both back to his hotel room.

Now, Percy had a slight problem. He had foreseen it, sure, but he hadn't been sure about how to solve it, so he'd left it up to future Percy. He wasn't sure how long Carro would be unconscious, and he had no way to contact Sara and the Dead Men directly. There was always the option of going down to the dock where he had arrived on Migun, but if Carro woke up while he was gone, that would be difficult to explain.

And even though Chaos' Army had a presence at the dock, it was still a commercial dock. He couldn't just shadow travel there dragging an unconscious body. That would raise far too many questions. So, he'd either need to let Carro wake up and then drag him kicking and screaming to the Dead Men, or he'd have to leave and come back.

In the end, Percy decided that the roofies had to be powerful enough to keep Carro down for the 30 odd minutes it would take to convince Sara and the others to hear him out and come with him. Especially since he'd given him 5 times the recommended dose. So, after dumping Carro on the bed, he shadow traveled to a secluded part of the dock where he had arrived.

He found the office that the Chaos' Army Enforcers used, and simply walked in, wearing his natural face.

"Hi there, my name's Percy Jackson. I believe you're looking for me."

The Enforcers inside gaped at him. For several seconds. It was kind of awkward, really.

Then, as if an invisible entity had suddenly snapped its fingers, they all leaped up, drawing handguns and bringing them to bear against him. For a split second, Percy was slightly concerned they'd just shoot him.

They didn't.

But one brave soul did surge across the room and pistol whip Percy on the temple. That hurt. The guy that had done it, kept a hand on Percy's shoulder, and swept back behind him, checking for weapons as he did. He was decent enough at it. But he found nothing, because Percy was unarmed. If things went wrong, he wouldn't need a pistol or a knife to get away.

Someone instantly hailed the Dead Men on their radios, and they were in the room seconds later. Like the Enforcers, they kept handguns drawn and aimed at Percy's chest.

"What the hell are you doing here?" a big guy asked Percy. He was probably the leader.

"I've been framed," Percy replied calmly, trying to to let his pounding temple bother him too much.

"Well, shit, never heard that before, fugitive," a woman said sarcastically. Percy realised she was the same one he'd fought the day he'd escaped.

"I have proof."

They stared at him for a second.

"Well, where is it?" the big guy who had spoken first asked.

"In my hotel room."

The big guy snorted.

"And if you're trying to lead us into an ambush?"

Percy sighed and shook his head.

"Why would I do that? First of all, you outnumber me 6-1. Second, you all have thousands of years of experience, whereas I only passed OTC 49 years ago. I don't stand a chance against you. Certainly not all of you at the same time. What kind of trap could I possibly construct in the last two days that would negate that advantage? And anyway, why would I lead you into a trap? You had no idea where I was until around 45 seconds ago. Why would I risk it?"

"You might see it as a chance to take us off the board before we do catch up to you," one of the other Dead Men said.

"The only way to take you off the board in any meaningful way, would be to kill you. I'm not interested in killing any of you."

The big guy, the likely leader, snorted.

"Yeah, I'm sure you don't."

Percy was about to speak, when Sara beat him to the punch.

"He could have killed Nami. He had her unconscious. He chose to let her live, even though it screwed up his plans."

Percy looked at her, slightly surprised.

She seemed to believe him. Enough to give him the benefit of the doubt, at least.

For the first time since she'd showed up in the room, Percy took a good look at Sara. She looked kind of terrible. Still astoundingly beautiful, but tired. Exhausted, even. Percy was willing to bet that in the 4 days he'd been on the run, she'd had maybe 10 minutes of sleep. Probably not even 10 consecutive minutes of sleep.

Her hair was a mess, and he could see dark rings under her eyes. Her eyes themselves seemed oddly bloodshot. Like she'd been crying recently. But she still looked tough as nails.

"Well, maybe things have changed since then," the leader guy sneered.

"They haven't. Look, you were in the apartment where I supposedly massacred my team. You noticed that there was someone missing, didn't you? The Assassin, Carro. He collaborated with the guy we were supposed to be observing, and sold us out. They killed the rest of the team, and framed me for it."

They all watched him carefully for a few seconds.

"Alright. Let's assume we believe you, just for a second. Where would this Carro person be?"

"In my hotel room."

Percy then related the address and room number to them.

"He's unconscious, on the bed. Chaos can see if he's telling the truth, can't she?"

Another second went by in silence.

"Nami, go ahead."

The girl Percy had fought, nodded curtly. Then she disappeared into the shadows.

"Alright. Step aside kid; I'll take over," the leader guy said to the Enforcer who was standing behind Percy with a hand on his shoulder.

The Enforcer nodded hesitantly, and waited for the leader guy to make physical contact with Percy before removing his hand. This way, there was no way for Percy to shadow travel without taking someone with him.

Now that the leader had his own hand on Percy's shoulder, they all settled as if they were preparing for a long wait. Some of the tension that had been in the room, started to ebb away, as Percy knew it would. That level of adrenaline, aggression, and tension wasn't sustainable for long stretches. Now that the more immediate threat was over, and there was nothing to do but wait, they could all relax a little bit.

Soon after, Nami shadow traveled directly into the room they were all in, with a still-unconscious Carro in her arms.

"I recognise this guy from the photos of the Task Force. Everything checks out so far," she said.

The leader guy gave Percy an appraising look, and then made his decision.

"Alright. Someone call Chaos. She'll figure all this out."

One of the Dead Men closed his eyes and Chaos materialised in the room less than a second later.

She seemed stressed. On edge.

Her eyes found Percy's immediately, and it felt like she was staring straight through him, picking through his thoughts at her leisure.

Then her gaze turned to the unconscious Assassin at her feet. She seemed to understand the situation. She waved her hand over him, and he seemed to glow darkly for a second.

"Alright, wake him up. His shadow powers are gone."

One of the Enforcers scrambled around with a syringe, which he injected into Carro's neck vein. Three seconds later, Carro awoke with a shuddering gasp. He saw Chaos and gaped at her like a fish. A very stupid fish. Then he screwed his eyes shut again, and put on a constipated look. Percy knew instinctively that he was trying to shadow travel, but it was very funny.

"No, I'm afraid that won't work, Carro," Chaos said in a soft, dangerous voice, "Now. Let's see what you've been hiding from me."

Carro's entire body suddenly contracted like he was having a seizure. But he must have been held down by some kind of invisible force, because he wasn't moving very much, though not for lack of trying on his part. His eyes were wide open, though it looked like he was trying desperately to close them. Percy thought he could see his eyelids starting to tear through the effort. It looked horrific.

Then he let out the most ear-piercing screech Percy thought he had ever heard. It was an awful, horrible noise that told of nothing but pain and agony.

The whole thing lasted nearly a minute, and by the end, Carro was bleeding from his eyelids, - which had, indeed, torn - his nose, his ears, and his mouth. His throat had long since ceased to be able to produce noise. He had been screaming in silence for the past 20 seconds.

Chaos pulled away, her eyes glowing slightly with sheer power, and Carro finally stoped seizing, and lay still on the floor, weeping silently.

It was one of the scariest things Percy had ever seen in his life.

"Percy is telling the truth. Carro worked with an unidentified man, to frame Percy. Unfortunately, the knowledge of who this man was, has been blocked to me. Some rather powerful magic. I can't access those memories by force. But there's nothing stopping you from telling me, Carro. Tell me, and I will consider allowing you to continue existing."

Carro, still sobbing, made a scratching motion at his throat.

Chaos waved her hand, there was a mild glow at his throat, and then it was gone again.

"Of course, My Lady," Carro said in a voice so raspy, someone might have thought he'd spent the last 1000 years chainsmoking, "I'll tell you anything you want to know."

"Yes," Chaos said in a quiet, musing tone, "Yes, I thought you would, Carro. Who have you been working for?"

"I've been working for-"

And then one of the strangest things Percy had ever seen, happened. Just before Carro could choke out the last word, his eyes glowed faintly, and his mouth snapped closed as if compelled by magnets. Then his entire body began to hum like an engine. Suddenly, every cell in his body exploded with the force of a grenade.

Percy knew instinctively, that if not for Chaos erecting a forcefield just before the blast, he and everyone else in the room would have been killed instantly.

A few seconds passed by after the explosion, in pure silence. None of them could quite comprehend what they had just seen. Percy looked over at the Dead Men, who were tens of thousands of years old, to see if they had ever seen anything like that. But judging on the naked shock on each of their faces, they hadn't. Then, Percy turned to Chaos to watch her carefully. She seemed more vexed than anything else. As if her chess opponent had just made a really good move, and she was annoyed at him for thinking of it.

"If no one minds me asking, what in the name of fuck was that?" Percy asked quite loudly.

That seemed to break everyone out of their stupors. Chaos, naturally being the first to recover, took the liberty of answering his question.

"Excellent question, Percy. It seems someone has gone to great lengths to ensure that Carro, here, wouldn't be able to divulge particular secrets. That's just annoying."

"Ok," Percy said slowly, "Well, changing the subject entirely, would anyone mind if I went back to my apartment in Chaos' Realm? You see, I've had a pretty stressful few days, and I'd appreciate some rest."

Now, everyone in the room turned suddenly sheepish.

"Um, listen, Jackson-" the Team Leader guy tried.

"Save it. There's not all that much you could possibly say that would make any difference to me right now."

More silence. Then Chaos spoke up.

"Would everyone mind if Percy and I had a moment alone?"

There were some uncomfortable looks, but everyone did as they were told.

Once it was just Percy and Chaos, he crossed his arms defiantly and stared at her, unwilling to back down and concede.

"What the hell were you thinking, Percy?"

That shocked him a little.

"Excuse me?"

"Why did you run? If you had just gone with Sara and her team, then we could have figured all this out!"

"Why did I run? That's seriously the first thing you have to say to me? After everything that's happened? I was almost incinerated by a goddamn missile, and you ask me why I ran? Let me give you a word of advice, Chaos: don't send your most dangerous team of killers after someone, and not expect them to run for their lives!"

He was shouting by the end. It surprised him, really. He could vividly picture what she had just done to Carro. And she had done that, merely by maintaining eye contact.

"You're blaming me?" Chaos asked, arms crossed.

"Yeah, I kind of am. There's precisely one person who could reroute the Dead Men away from whatever they were doing at the time. You chose to send them after me. You could have sent Sara alone. Had her ask me to come in with her. I would have. You could have shown the slightest bit of faith in me, and not assumed the worst. You could have not assumed that I suddenly lost my damn mind, and slaughtered five teammates."

Chaos sighed deeply, "Percy, it looked bad, ok?"

"Ohhhhh, well, fuck me then. As long as it looks bad, then by all means, send in the killers and missiles."

"The missile… was a mistake. I asked for you to be brought in alive. The General shouldn't have done that."

"So, you'll apologise for the missile, but not for sending in your deadliest team to deal with me, instead of doing one of the hundred other things you could have done?"

Chaos said nothing.

Percy sighed, "Am I reinstated for active duty?"

She took a second to collect herself before replying, "As soon as you're done with the debriefing. Take as much time off as you want, before you go back to Operations."

Percy nodded at her, and then turned around and walked away.

He was already at the port that Chaos' people worked at, so he just had to speak to them about a ship to Chaos' Realm, and he could be on his way within the hour. There was the efficiency he loved about Chaos' Army. A transport like that would take days to arrange within the civilian world.

"Percy?" a voice asked from behind him as he was filling out a form.

He froze. He should have known she would come to talk to him.

Percy turned and saw Sara standing before him, picking awkwardly at a nail on her right hand. She looked terribly uncomfortable.

"Sara," he said in greeting.

This was the first time he was seeing her, really seeing her, since they'd said goodbye at the airport in Chaos' Realm when she'd gone to join the Dead Men.

"Can we… can we talk?"

Percy glanced at an announcement board that told him his transport would leave in 30 minutes.

"Sure. Better make it quick though."

She nodded gratefully and they sat down together on a nearby bench.

"I'm sorry," she said immediately.

And just like that, he felt the anger, frustration, and resentment dissipate within him. Not entirely, of course. But it did a lot.

Had that been too much to ask for? A simple apology? That was all he'd wanted. And Chaos hadn't even been able to give him that. She had never said she was sorry. She'd said the missile was a mistake, and that was about it. There was no admission of any guilt or wrongdoing on her part.

But now it was the first thing out of Sara's mouth.

"It's not your fault," Percy said, surprising himself by actually believing it.

"No, it is. I tried to tell them that you couldn't have done it, but they didn't believe me. I should have made sure they did. I should have refused to do it."

"Sara, stop it. You had no choice; I get that."

"I could have at least stalled them. Led them the wrong way, set them on false leads. I should have."

"Don't be ridiculous. I get why you did what you did."

She looked up at him, hope in her eyes.

"You mean, you don't hate me?"

That surprised him.

"Sara, I don't think there's much you could do, that would ever make me hate you?"

She hugged him, burrying her face in his chest. He'd forgotten how good it felt to have her pressed against him. He couldn't help be stroke her hair, just like he always had before.

"And besides," Percy said softly, trying to break the tension slightly, "Even if you had led the others the wrong way, it wouldn't have made much of a difference. I ran circles around you all anyway."

She snorted a laugh into his shirt.

"Oh, please. Three more hours, and we would have caught you."

Percy laughed, "Yeah, sure. Totally."

She looked up at him, eyes shining mischiviously.

"You would have been mine. Three hours at most."

He felt himself smiling down at her.

"Well, what would you have done to me if you had caught me, which you wouldn't have."

A grin was making itself known on her face.

"Oh, things that I would have had to ask the rest of my team to leave for."

"Well, shit, maybe I should go on the run again. I'll be sure to leave you clues, so that you can actually find me this time."

She slapped his stomach playfully.

"You're such an ass."

Percy was about to retort, when Sara's Team Leader came in.

"Hey, Sara, we need to- Oh. Uh, hi."

Sara disentangled herself from Percy's arms and looked up at her TL.

"What do you want, Plean?"

"Our transport's leaving. We need to get going."

Sara practically growled under her breath.

She gave Percy one last hug, and a tender kiss on the cheek. And then she was gone.

And Percy was alone.

A/N: Well, that's that. Hope you all enjoyed. This was another chapter that's setting up certain decisions Percy's going to make later in the story. Plus, it's just fun to write about characters going on the run. Anyways, stay safe.