CHAPTER TWO
Percy sighed as he watched the guard take away his belongings and his clothes, leaving him bare, with only the red jumpsuit he'd been so graciously given.
He tugged at fabric around his neck, squirming in discomfort. Whoever did the Blackfort's uniform management needed to be fired ASAP.
Add to that the moldy walls and electrified metal bars in front of the windows, and you'd think the prison was collecting human rights violations like trading cards.
The guard returned– it was a rather short man with pointy ears and buck teeth. He grunted, gesturing towards the main door. Through the windows, he could see the courtyard.
Percy made his way over to the door, a group of ten other inmates on his heels.
Now, the reason why he was currently stuck in the galaxy's most filthy, corrupt and downright evil facility, stood right beside him.
"I suppose you couldn't pull some Olympian strings and get us out of here, could you?" he asked Annabeth. "Considering the fact that you landed us here. Just an idea."
No reply. She frowned at the nothingness in front of her. Percy scoffed.
"Alright. Just hashtag askin'."
"Do you ever shut up?" she groaned.
"No. No, I do not," he admitted. "It'd go against what I stand for."
She raised an eyebrow. "Which is what, exactly?"
"For one, I'm vehemently against attacking innocent people on a merchant spacecraft."
The three of them– Percy, Annabeth and Grover, walked out onto the courtyard. Inmates of all shapes and sizes roamed around, working out, eating, you name it. They did toss the newcomers weird looks, which Percy had a bad feeling about.
"Uh, please," said Annabeth. "You're far from innocent. You helped steal the bolt. Theft is not exactly paramount to innocence."
"Technically, I found it."
"With the help of?"
"A tracker."
"Exactly. Now, as soon as these buffoons realize that we're not criminals, but government officials, we'll be on our way."
"We?" said Percy.
"Me and Grover," she clarified. "You can go back to whatever serpent pit you crawled out of."
"How kind of you."
A different guard briefly informed them where their cells were, before they were promptly left alone in the courtyard. Percy's eyes narrowed as he regarded the rest of the inmates with no small amount of suspicion. What did they do to get in here?
Well, he somewhat knew the answer. Smugglers, terrorists or worse… Oddly enough, they were some of the only humans there. And he was most definitely the only Azurian.
At least, that was until he recognized a certain head of red hair in the crowd.
"There's no way," he muttered, breaking away from Annabeth and Grover. He weaved through the crowd, pushing the rather unhelpful inmates aside. He grabbed the person by the shoulder. They turned around–
"Nancy Bobofit," he said with a quirk of his eyebrow. "What the hell are you doing in a place like this?"
Her freckled face scrunched into a frown. "Ugh, of course it's you."
"In the flesh," he said. "Now answer."
The last time he'd seen her wasn't on Azuria. He'd had the misfortune of meeting her a few times throughout his career as a bounty hunter, since she had become a ravager.
Ravagers were… not the easiest people to deal with. They smuggled items and sometimes people into whatever system would pay them the most. To add to that, they were known to be stubborn and uncooperative.
Right up her alley.
"What am I doing here?" she scoffed. "Same as you, I suppose."
"You do look rather worse for wear."
"Fuck you," she groaned.
"Hey, don't run away from us!" said a voice behind them. It was Grover. The satyr came running up to them, a very reluctant Annabeth in tow.
"Your friend told me to uhh… 'go back to the serpent pit I crawled out of', so…"
He waved his hand dismissively. "That's fine, she's not used to making friends."
"We're friends?" asked Percy.
"We got arrested together, what's a better bonding experience than that?" Grover said with a shrug. "Besides, you've got more information about… our mission. So."
Percy hummed, turning back to Nancy, only to see that the Azurian girl had disappeared. He sighed.
"Nevermind, I suppose."
"Got ties with ravagers, do you?" said Annabeth, frowning. "Figures you'd be familiar with the inside of a prison."
"We can't all evade the law by waving around an Olympian flag," he snarked. "Some of us experience consequences."
She rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Grover insists that you come along, so I suppose I'll have to bear your company for now."
"Poor you."
"Indeed. Now, if by tomorrow I've received no word from my mother, we'll have to break out of here by ourselves," she said, followed by a sigh.
Percy noticed she'd tied her hair into a ponytail, her black and blonde braids pulled back to reveal more of her face. Her features were sharper than he thought, almost reminiscent of an owl.
"It's better than nothing, I suppose," he shrugged. "Until then… don't stray far. If one of these groups of thugs catches us alone…"
He let their imaginations finish that thought, but he could see that they had received the message.
Some time passed as he sat there, watching the stars above. The protective dome above the courtyard shimmered a cold, blue hue.
He had to admit that he didn't even know where the Blackfort was located. Its location wasn't top secret as far as he knew, but it wasn't well known either. He realized it must be because it wasn't stationary– it moved around.
So where were they now? Orbiting some unknown moon? He wondered where his Howler was. Had they confiscated it as well?
He glanced over to his companions. Annabeth was looking at the same thing he was, her face tilted towards the stars. He couldn't help but notice how they seemed to dance in her eyes, a dozen droplets of gold falling through a storm of grey. It was the most peaceful he'd seen her.
Eventually, the alarm began to echo through the prison– it was time for all prisoners to return to their cells. Percy was told to stay in cell X005, the same one Grover would be staying in. They wordlessly settled into their respective bunks– the mattresses were hard as stone.
The lights were shut off shortly after that. It wasn't long before sleep claimed him.
That night, he dreamt of birds and horses.
He stood on a beach as a thunderstorm raged on above him. The sea was running rampant, swallowing anything that dared go near it. Not even on Azuria had he seen storms of this kind.
In the distance, a pitch black stallion rose to its hind legs, kicking at something– a golden eagle. The horse neighed, and the sea's anger seemed to intensify somehow.
"Stop!" he wanted to yell, but his throat was bone dry. No sound would come out. He tried to take a step, to physically stop the fight, but his feet sunk deeper into the sand with every movement he attempted.
The battle continued as he was swallowed deeper and deeper, until finally his head disappeared under the sand.
Percy's eyes fluttered open. He groaned, peeling himself off the uncomfortable mattress. He stretched the kinks out of his spine.
"Man…" he muttered, rolling his aching shoulder.
Grover was nowhere to be found. What time was it even? He didn't have a clock, or even a sun. Or, well… anything really.
All there was to do was go to the yard to find Annabeth and Grover. When he did, he found them sitting in the corner against the wall, seemingly conspiring as they kept casting glances over their shoulders. He couldn't help but roll his eyes.
"What are you two doing?" he asked, exasperated.
Grover beamed at him with those crooked teeth. "Annabeth has found a plan to get us out," he said proudly.
He raised an eyebrow. "So… no Olympians?"
A flash of hurt crossed the girl's features, but she quickly schooled them. "No. They have… more urgent matters to tend to, clearly."
"It doesn't matter," Grover assured them. "We're getting out on our own."
He nodded to Annabeth, beckoning her to start explaining. She sighed, raising her arm to point at something in the sky.
"The energy shield that's keeping us contained. It gets deactivated whenever we return to our cells," she explained.
Percy frowned. How had she noticed that?
"You want to escape via the roof?" he questioned. "Into open space? You know the whole area would be turned into–"
"A vacuum, yes. Which is why we'll have suits," she said.
"And how exactly do we get those?"
"There's a room full of them somewhere. They're used by the people who work maintenance on the exterior of the prison."
Percy hummed, eyeing the energy shield with uncertainty. "And once we deactivate the shield, we'll be launched into space," he muttered. "To do what? Float around until they capture us again?"
Annabeth rolled her eyes. "No, idiot. My spacecraft can hone in on my DNA. It's been tracking us ever since we were captured."
Percy blinked. He wasn't aware that such technology existed. "How?" he asked.
"Powerful AI. Some Olympian magic."
"Magic," he scoffed disbelievingly. "Alright."
Grover continued her explanation. "The hard part would be getting to the control room, at the top of that tower." He pointed at the largest tower in the Blackfort, with paned windows, behind which he could see dozens of faceless guards watching over the courtyard.
"That's a deathwish," Percy said dryly. "But so is flying into open space. Alright, I'll bite. What else is there?"
"Once in the control room, Annabeth can disable the shields," Grover said. He seemed rather confident in his friend's ability to disable a shield using tech she'd never even see before. Percy didn't comment on it.
Until something caught his attention.
"Hold on," he said. "If you disable the dome, you'll kill everyone in the yard. They'd die in seconds."
Grover blinked. "Oh…"
Even Annabeth, smartass that she was, seemed stumped. "You didn't think of that," he guessed.
"No, I suppose I didn't," she admitted begrudgingly. "What do you suggest, then?"
Percy hummed.
"Disabling the shields… you could do it this instant?" he asked. An idea began to form in his mind. A bad one.
She nodded slowly. "Yes… why?"
His lips stretched into a toothy grin. "I'll find you a window when everyone is forced to return to their cells early. Until then, you'll need to keep a low profile."
Annabeth blinked. "What? How would you possibly—"
"Don't worry about it." Percy rose to his full height once more. "Alright, go find some place to stay low until I've done my thing."
"What is it that you plan to do?"
"Can't tell you."
"And why not, pray tell?"
"You won't like it!" he said, taking off towards the center of the courtyard.
Finding Nancy Bobofit was easier than he had expected– she was sitting in the same place he'd found her yesterday, eating some… actually, he didn't want to know what it was. Grey prison slop was a good way to describe it.
"Bobofit," he said, much to her dismay. She turned around with a groan.
"What?" she hissed.
"I need your help with something. Call it a favor."
She raised an eyebrow. "And why would I do that?"
"I'll owe you," he said. "And to add to that; if you don't, I'll be stuck here for quite a long time, and I'll devote all of my time in the yard to pestering you relentlessly."
She glared at him. "Your self esteem clearly hasn't taken any major hits since I saw you last. What makes you think I can't just sick one of my boys on you?"
"Because, I'm about to offer you something you can't refuse. You want out of here, correct?" he asked with a grin.
She nodded slowly, eyes narrowing.
He sat down on the seat opposite of the girl, leaning over the table. "Well, me and those two…" He pointed to the other side of the yard, where Annabeth and Grover were discussing something. "Are about to break out of this shithole."
Nancy's eyes widened. "And how the hell will you manage that?"
He wordlessly pointed to the sky, where the dome made of energy protected them from the dangers of outer space. "That is how," he said.
"You're crazy," she told him. "Absolutely insane. You'd be branded a criminal. Even more than you already are. They'd put a bounty on you."
Percy shrugged. "Better than being stuck in here for the foreseeable future. Now, once the shield has miraculously been disabled, you could hitch a ride out of here with us. However, all the prisoners need to be back in their cells…"
"Because you'd be killing them by disabling the shield, otherwise," she finished. "Say I did agree to this madness, I'd be painting a target on my back too."
"Not if the only faces they see are ours. If you mask up, they won't even know it's you until… well, they check the registry and realize you've escaped, but by then the news of their hunt for us would've likely already been spread throughout the galaxy and you–"
He pointed right at her.
"Will be considered a casualty. With a minor bounty at worst."
Nancy sighed, running a hand through her bright red hair. "What do you need me for, then?"
Percy hummed, trying to find a delicate way to put it. He found none. A sigh escaped his lips as he looked up at Nancy.
"I need you to help me start a riot," he said.