A/N - WARNING! You know it's bad when I throw an author's note at the top. For those that do not want to read about Percy attacking Khione, turn back now! I really don't want to keep playing damage control after the last controversial chapter. So please, if your comment is only going to be "That was too much" or "WTF dude, why would you write that?" then please just skip this chapter. It will be the last time any violent act is perpetrated by any of our main protagonists, so you won't have to worry about this happening again.

I May Have Been a Little Upset

Palírroia handed the keys to me and, with a more than miffed Piper following, I stormed down to the dungeons to face Khione. During the trip, we crossed paths with Hazel, who took one look at me and bolted back down the corridor. I'd definitely go and check on her later, but for now, I had much more pressing issues.

Piper and I made our way downstairs and passed through the heavy metal doorway of the dungeon, too steamed to even shut it like a decent person. It was just as I remembered it. Cobbled stone walls and a cold stone floor with faint lights emanating from the bits of coral.

The only difference was now a small carpet of snow coated the floor in front of the middle cell. Its inhabitant rested exactly where I first found her, chained up crucifiction style against the wall. She would definitely be praying for mercy after I finished with her.

I unlocked the cell door and marched straight up to the snow goddess. She slept, her eyes closed and her breathing slow. Let's change that.

I called on the moisture of the room, be it floating through the air or clinging to the cobblestones, pulling it together until a mass of water, no greater in size than a basketball, floated before me. With a wave of my hand, the ball dispersed, forming a small sheet, and enveloped Khione's body. My fist closed, constricting the water around her, increasing the pressure to near inhuman levels. The shackles around her wrists unlocked, yet her body remained pinned to the wall.

This was more than enough to stir the goddess from her sleep as she grunted from the contact and her eyes shot wide open. The pressure prevented her from moving, but the pain visibly shone in her eyes. Such a crime would not go unpunished, and its severity called for drastic measures. She was a goddess after all, so I didn't need to be gentle.

"So," I said, trying to keep my voice level, "I give you a chance to get out of here. I tried to be nice. I wanted you out of this dungeon as much as you did."

My watery grip on her tightened, squeezing every part of her body.

Her icy blue eyes glared daggers at me. Her face turned a shade darker as her blood flow and airflow slowed to a crawl. Despite her effort to look angry, I could see the fear in her eyes. She knew she fucked up. Now she was going to pay for it.

I continued. "Despite all of my effort to help you… you… you go and attack one of my handmaidens." I laughed a bit. The nerve of this woman left me perplexed. I couldn't help but almost enjoy just how much she looked like a cornered rabbit.

Khione made efforts to escape from the water, its pressure near enough to make her implode. The strain evident, she managed enough to slightly turn her head. In her thrashing, her eyes left me and settled on the one other person in the room, Piper. Her eyes widened and she audibly choked in absolute horror.

"Oh, don't mind her for now," I said. "She'll get to you in a bit."

With that said, I grabbed Khione's arm and pivoted her across the cell, successfully slamming her thin body against the bars.

The pale goddess cried out and struggled to breathe, but I wasn't going to let her rest. I immediately came up behind her and yanked her up by her hair. She gasped out and reached for the bars, trying to pull herself out of my grip.

If she wanted to be with the bars, she should have just asked me. I gave her exactly what she wanted by thrusting her head forward, slamming her face first into the bars. She audibly screamed and cried out. I pulled her head back and stared down at the golden ichor streaming down her face.

The goddess finally decided to speak.

"I— I'm sorry," she gagged out.

I twisted her around and tossed her into a corner of the cell. She landed with a CLANG and looked up at me. I prowled up to her and knelt down. My face moved forward and settled right next to her ear.

Her body trembled and eyes widened at my next words. Their implication clear to anyone.

"Oh, no you're not," I whispered. "Not yet."

No one. No one messes with my friends. I may not have known the nymphs too well, but I still considered them as such. I couldn't really tell you what happened. Any semblance of self control were thrown out the window as I vented my wrath upon her. Khione's screams and pleas for mercy fell on deaf ears. By the end of it, my arms were too sore to lift, and bruises and ichor coated her body.

Did I really do that? How? I looked down at my knuckles and found the answer. They were all dark purple, with flecks of golden ichor staining them.

The snow goddess grasped one of the bars in her little corner. She shivered and wept silent tears. Her nose bubbled ichor as she hyperventilated. Her left eye swelled shut.

I pulled away from the cell and looked to Piper. An odd mix of glee and horror adorned her face, like a madman who made their first kill. I unbuckled my belt and slid it out of the loops of my shorts. With a shaky hand, I lent it to Piper.

"Help yourself," I said.

She gingerly took hold of the belt and thumbed it over with a torn expression on her face. She looked down at the device and rubbed the leather all the way down to the buckle. Her jaw set and a brooding malice took hold of her as she made her way towards the helpless goddess.

THWACK!

My knuckles really hurt after that. I hope they heal after a good dip in a bath.

THWACK!

Crap. Now, I've got to hold up my shorts on my own. Hindsight really sucks.

THWACK!

I wonder how Nimba is doing. I'll definitely have to check on her when we finish here.

THWACK!

Speaking of checking up, I should also go by Hazel's to make sure Piper and I didn't scare her.

THWACK!

There's still so much to plan and take care of for the other girls. Still got to go shopping.

THWACK!

Hmm. I wonder what we'll have for dinner.

THWACK!

My thought train continued like this for a good long while. Piper held nothing back. The writhing goddess sobbed and screamed until her voice was raw. The worn leather on my belt snapped and cracked with every strike. At some point, Piper decided to reverse her grip on the belt, using the buckle as her main weapon.

Only when a tangible phrase came from Khione's mouth did I step in.

"Leave it to Percy's dollar whore to carry out her master's bidding," she choked. Ichor sprayed from her mouth with nearly every word, coating the stone floor with the shiny substance.

When her words reached my ears, I immediately marched right back into the cell. I raised my arm to strike again.

Before I could land a blow, Piper grabbed my arm to stop me. Bewildered, I looked down to her.

"I've got an idea," she whispered. "Just let it happen."

With her troubling words said, she turned back to Khione and laughed.

"Dollar whore?"

She knelt down and wrapped the belt around Khione's neck, tightening it as far as it would go.

"Oh, honey," she said sweetly. "I'd do this for free."

With that, she looped the belt around one of the bars and yanked it. The leather strip worked like a pulley and forced Khione to slam into the bars, choking her simultaneously.

With her audience where she wanted, Piper grabbed my arm and pulled me right next to Khione. Her free hand had my cargo shorts at my ankles in no time since my belt wasn't exactly available.

"Let's see just how much of a 'dollar whore' I am. And you will watch this. If you don't, this will get much worse for you." Piper's voice was startling on so many levels. Charmspeak washed over us both. Rage and lust simultaneously wove their way into her words.

Khione whimpered. "But I can't see out of this eye! It's not my fault I'm now half blind!"

I internally winced at her words. It was my fault she couldn't see.

Piper didn't share my sympathy. "Well you better crane your neck and turn your head. Otherwise, this will only be the beginning."

Following her words, Piper violently plunged her head down on my growing erection. Her mouth seemed to be improving in skill. Her tongue viciously circled around my head and ran along my shaft. She moaned out as she blew me, her free hand now plunging into her sweatpants.

I couldn't help but groan. My hands wrapped around the bars of the cell, gripping them tightly as I tried to keep myself standing. Where on Olympus did Piper suddenly become this skilled? Did her time with Annabeth have more to it than I thought?

Khione did her best to look at us, but the angle prevented her from getting far. The belt around her neck made it nearly impossible to maintain, so she often fell back against the bars. Each time she did, Piper would yank on the belt, strangling Khione and forcing her to try and look at us once again.

Piper bobbed fervently. Never before did she put in this much energy. She was passionate before. Despite the familiar passion, it seemed more like Piper was trying to make a point.

Her fingers left her sweatpants and grasped my balls. While her fingers may have been dripping, her grip was far from soothing. The soft hands now shuffled around my balls like dice. Her grip tightened.

As much as it shames me to say it, this really turned me on. This wild side of Piper was a whole new breed of crazy and it was extremely hot. Her gagging and hot mouth were already pleasurable. But now she had to add extra tension by playing with my balls and gently biting the tip of my aching erection.

"Nnngg, Piper. Fuck!"

That was probably to most coherent thing I could muster. Her bobbing speed increased and soon her hand left my balls and began trying to stroke my shaft whenever her mouth left it.

Khione still struggled. Her good eye streamed tears and her lips were streaming ichor. It wouldn't have surprised me if she was paralyzed as a result of the belt around her neck. As much as she struggled, she would occasionally slip up and Piper would yank the chain, choking the goddess yet again.

I could feel the pressure in my scrotum building. Apparently, so could Piper. She pulled off of me and stared me in the eyes. The pink glow in her eyes looked angry. How were her eyes even turning that color? There wasn't much light in here. Her hand resumed pumping my length at an increasingly rapid pace.

"Do it," she said. "Blow your load into my little mouth and show our captive how much of a slut I really am!"

What the hell Piper!? Where did this come from? I couldn't take it. The build up was just too much and Piper's charmspeak layden voice became more than I could handle. I grabbed the back of her head and forced her onto my throbbing rod. She sucked as hard as she could before I finally let loose.

"FUCK!"

My orgasm crashed in a near painful manner. Piper took it all like a champ and held herself in place. Rope after rope of cum spilled into her mouth and not a drop left her lips. My hips spasmed as she held me up. My knuckles turned white from grasping her hair.

I collapsed as the moment passed, panting as though I just ran a marathon. Piper though, wasn't done. She shifted over to Khione and yanked on the belt, making the goddess choke. Piper took advantage of the situation and threw her mouth onto Khione's, spilling my cum into her mouth.

The goddess choked and spluttered as the substance passed her bleeding lips. Piper didn't move though and stayed in place until Khione thoroughly swallowed it all. Once she completed the deed, Piper pulled away and took my arm. Her lips were stained in my cum and Khione's ichor.

She hauled me up and licked her lips before swallowing everything she took in. One look later and the pink in her eyes faded, returning to their normal kaleidoscope selves. She leaned forward and kissed my cheek.

"You know," she whispered into my ear, "I wouldn't be opposed to trying this in reverse. Maybe you could take me aggressively some day. Preferably with a more… innocent audience then our snow goddess here."

I gave her a stunned look and she simply shrugged with a sheepish smile on her face. She then reached down and undid Khione's makeshift leash. She handed it to me and I set it back to holding my shorts up. I took her hand to lead her out of the cell, but she pulled away.

"Oh, I'm not done with her yet. She didn't keep looking, so I have some more work to do."

My shoulders sagged. "Piper, we—"

"I already gave her the warning. Plus, you only got to see a small portion of what she's done. We have some more history between us that we need to… discuss."

I could see the malice in her eyes. There was no winning this battle.

I sighed. "Don't be too rough."

She gave me a cheeky smile. "Of course not. Now get out of here. We need to have some girl talk."

I walked out without any further arguments and closed the dungeon door behind me. My last image of Piper was of her advancing on the collapsed goddess with her dagger in hand.

As the door finally thummed shut, I took in the events of the past hour. I attacked and abused someone. Regardless of why, I told myself I would be better. Yet here I was, not only torturing and assaulting another, but allowing her nemesis to have free reign on her without me keeping her in check.

My back hit the wall and I slid down it. My head fell to my hands as I sobbed pitifully. I did this. I am becoming someone I'm not.

A gentle hand wrapped around mine. I looked up to see Calypso, her comforting smile broken with teary eyes. It didn't take a genius to know she saw me. She saw what I did.

She wrapped her arm around me and brushed my knuckles with her thumb. Her touch was soothing, though it didn't help the throbbing in my hands nor the guilt pressing itself on me.

I leaned into her shoulder and silently shed a few tears. She rubbed my head and whispered comforting words into my ear.

"It's okay, Percy," she said. "Don't be afraid."

My hands trembled under her touch. This was no matter of me simply acting out of line. I took all of my morals and threw them in a woodchipper.

Slowly, but surely, her calm words manage to stop my crying. With all that passed, I knew Piper needed to be stopped. I knew I needed to rush back into the dungeon and prevent her from harming Khione further. As I worked my body to do so, a seemingly unearthly weight dragged me back to the floor.

She deserves this, a voice whispered. Let her suffer. Let her scream.

For all of my willpower, I was hopelessly outmatched as the voices needled into my brain, preventing any and all actions to help the snow goddess. No doubt this very same voice prevented Calypso from standing in.

I looked up at Calypso and met her warm gaze. Her almond eyes and timeless features beguiled me as they had before, but it was her soothing smile that drew me in. Her natural beauty was nothing if not perfection. I don't care what Aphrodite has to say about it, but I found several people, even her own daughters, more beautiful than her.

"Your actions were no fault of your own, Percy," Calypso said.

My head slumped. "That doesn't make what I did right. I assaulted her. I attacked her and there she couldn't do anything to protect herself."

She lifted my chin to face her. "Percy. Take it from the word of a sorceress. I don't know how, but you were not in control."

My eyes widened. "What?"

She brushed my cheek with the palm of her hand. "I could sense some power at work. Unfortunately, I have been away for so long, I couldn't tell you whose it was."

Great. So not only was I putting on a show for the Olympians, but now I was a puppet for some higher power as well. This left me feeling great if you couldn't tell.

With a labored sigh, I pulled myself up. "Still. I'm sorry you saw that."

She gave me a small smile. "No worries. It was… well, terrifying. I am happy no one else saw it. I wouldn't know how the others would react to this."

I shuddered at the prospect. If they saw that…

"Well," I said, "let's be thankful they didn't. By the way. What brought you down here?"

She gave a shy smile. "Well, I came to ask if I could be given some more clothes. I heard you were heading down here, so I followed."

Great job, Percy. You completely forgot to actually get clothes for Calypso. Come to think of it, the Hunters were likely struggling as well. When I last saw Zoë, she was wearing… a chiton? Hmm, were the nymphs supplying them?

"I have absolutely no problem with that. We might still be able to go to Ogygia, since it's kind of like this island."

Calypso bowed her head and fumbled her hands around. "Umm. Actually. I'd prefer if we didn't."

I wasn't quite sure what to make of this. "Why?"

"Well," she said. "I want to look at this as a way of moving forward and leaving my old life behind. Normally I would just weave my own clothes and be done with it. I still could too, but…"

"... But?"

"But I hoped I could use this as an opportunity… to see the world you lived in…"

I laughed at the premise. "You mean New York? Trust me, there isn't much there to please the eye."

"I know. I know. You told me it is a place where nothing can grow. But, I would still like to see what new things have come about the world."

I brought my hand up to my chin. "Hmm. I don't see any issues with that. I could definitely take you to get some more clothes…"

I could see the glow in her eyes getting brighter. Her feet were shuffling and her hands were wringing themselves.

"Okay," I said, "I'll do it. Just let me take care of some things real quick and I'll meet you at the front."

Calypso squealed in delight at the news. She lunged at me and wrapped her arms tightly around me before kissing my cheek.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

With that, she bounded down the hall and up the stairs, whooping to herself the whole way.

I gave a small smile and shook my head. She is going to be disappointed with New York. Going from a green forest to a grey one wasn't as nice as some made it out to be. With that thought out of the way, I followed Calypso's trail up the stairs, but made one slight change. I needed to go check on a certain daughter of Pluto.

A/N - Yes, I know. This update is coming in later than usual. There are two major reasons for that, and they both go together. First off, I rewrote this chapter several times. Not because I wasn't happy with it, but because I wanted to get the message across without getting me ousted by my readers. Because of that, you can imagine what the second reason was. I was reluctant to update and post this chapter. After the damage control I found myself carrying out after the chapter with Annabeth, I really didn't know how you guys would react. I guess I still don't for now. But you deserve the update.

This is the very last chapter in which any of the main protagonists act violently. This being said, there is one other instance later on where Percy almost acts on a violent urge, but he doesn't follow through. You'll have to wait for a while before that point though. This chapter is arguably the most important, as it catalyzes several plots. I honestly wasn't going to include the bit with Calypso at the end, and just save it for the next chapter. But after the Annabeth scene, I decided to include it just to cover my butt. Maybe this will give you a clue as to why people are acting out of character. Of course, the others (especially Percy) isn't going to put those facts together for quite some time. More drama is to come.

Just a quick response to a certain comment. There is a reason certain people haven't been seen. Don't you think that perhaps the lack of characters being around could serve as character behavior in its own right, given the circumstances (do you honestly think the Hunters will hang around everyone else, especially if they are in this predicament)? The Hunters and Selina will get their spotlight, and Percy will end up acknowledging that he's just overwhelmed by the sheer amount of people for the time being. Trust me, later on, Percy will eventually be having sex in almost every chapter. But we have a long way to go before then.

Go ahead and keep the Artemis votes coming in (seriously, did I have to call you guys out like that just to get some replies?). The next few chapters will lack any sort of sex, but you know I'm always a fan of teasing the audience. Even eleven chapters in, there are still plenty of necessities to clear away.

As always, leave a review. This is Ronin signing off.