Percy let out a sigh. "I am so sorry," Mera apologized once again from inside her tank. Percy had made it out of ice and water from the sea. After the mermaid had calmed down he had explained what had happened and the mermaid had been apologizing to him continuously since then.
"I told you it's fine Mera," Percy reassured her again, "see it's already healed," the demigod pointed at his nose which looked as if it had never seen a scratch.
"Yes that is true but I still hurt you my prince please forgive me," Mera bowed again.
"Relax Mera you reacted on instinct, it's understandable," Percy then raised an eyebrow, "but ah why exactly did you call me 'prince'?"
Mera blinked, "well you are a son of Poseidon yes?"
"Yeah, but how did you know that?"
"I can sense the sea in you, and it is a much stronger connection than mine or my siblings, so you must be a son of Poseidon."
Percy looked impressed, "wow, you're pretty smart huh," Mera blushed, "but still why do you call me prince?"
"Well my lord every child of Poseidon is considered as a prince of the seas. Hence it is the duty of every subject of the sea to call you as such."
Percy whistled, "Damn, I didn't know that. But either way don't call me prince, or your highness. I don't like the whole title thing. Kinda makes me sound like Ares."
Mera blinked, "but your highness-"
"-Percy, my name is Percy," the son of Poseidon interrupted, "and besides I really haven't done anything to deserve to be called a prince."
Mera shook her head, "that's not true, you saved me."
Percy smiled, "yeah… I suppose I did. How-if you don't mind me asking, how did you get there?"
Mera's face shifted to one of sadness and pain. Percy regretted the moment he asked her that question. 'Oh you stupid mother fucker!' Percy cursed himself, "Hey I'm sorry you don't have to I didn't realise-"
"-No, no it's okay," Mira said as tears welled up in her eyes, "I...it was my idea. My fault. Tere didn't want to go, none of them did. But I insisted and….I should have just stayed home!"
Tears flowed freely from the mermaid's face. Percy didn't know why, but he felt heartbroken to see them. The demigod climbed into the tank and pulled the mermaid close, "it's okay, you're alright now."
You have entered a water body! Due to your parentage you have gained a boost!
+1000 HP
+1000 MP
All wounds are healed
All ailments cured
Water Breathing ability active
+1000 HP(+1000 HP due to necklace of Poseidon) = +2000 HP
+1000 MP (+1000 MP due to necklace of Poseidon) = +2000 MP
"It's my fault, it's all my fault," Mera's tear rolled down her cheek and floated in the water slowly transforming into small piece of crystals. Percy's eyes widened in shock he didn't know mermaids cried tears made out of freaking crystals!
"It's not your fault Mera," Percy assured the mermaid holding her tight, "the only one to blame is that monster."
"It's dead right? You killed it?"
Percy nodded, "yeah, it's gone."
The redhead nodded and slowly she fell asleep in Percy's arms. The demigod and the mermaid floated in the water as neither moved. She was exhausted and Percy didn't feel like waking her up by moving away. His arms were becoming numb while holding her but the way she shivered made him realise that she needed it.
Percy sighed, 'why did I have to remind her?' Percy looked up to the sky and saw the moon overhead. 'Artemis would be flying it right now', Percy realised 'I wonder whether she can see me.'
Percy's thought began running all over the place, but they came back back to one thing, the vision he saw from looking into Clotho's true form. The visions were clear in his head, Percy doubted he could ever forget them.
Him fighting a Titan, and someone he didn't recognize which meant he probably pissed someone else off too. Then there was that image of him holding up the sky, which was a scary thought in itself . Annabeth had told him about Atlas and the fact that if any mortal even tried such a feat they would die immediately.
Then there was the image of him fighting on top of a floating city next to Luke, and that part scared him a little. Last year Luke wanted to work with Percy to protect the camp, but that was right after their fight at the warehouse district when Clarisse almost died, so Percy wasn't in a forgiving mood. This vision though made him wonder, 'did I actually do the right thing?' He didn't want to think about it too much, after all Clotho did say those images were of possible futures, not the future.
And then there was the image of him kissing Artemis…..yeah, not even going to touch on that. Percy tried to not think about it but the more he tired, the more he thought about it. Especially the part where she kissed him.
Percy shook his head as blood was slowly rushing to his face, he really didn't need to think about this now. Soon however the feeling of floating in water got to Percy, there was something about it that just made him….. Feel….feel good. Fell as if he was in a state of bliss. His control over the ship slowly went away as the boat slowed down to a halt, his eyes started to get heavy and slowly he drifted off to sleep.
You have slept in water; HP and MP have been restored 100% each. All ailments and negative status effects have been cured.
"Is he sleeping next to a mermaid?"
Percy's eyes shot open hearing the voices. He was still in the tank holding Mera close and all around them were the members of the crew. Percy found Mera snuggled up against his chest as she murmured in her sleep.
"Oh shit," Percy slowly moved the mermaid aside and pulled himself out of the tank. He looked up at the crew still staring at him, "this is so not what it looks like."
"His third day on the sea and he has already screwed a mermaid," Marc said with a grin, "you're my hero Percy! All hail the playboy Perseus!
"Get some kid!" William yelled out as the rest of the crew cheered on.
"Guys I'm telling you it's not like that!" Percy tried to explain as he climbed out of the tank.
"Sure, it's not like we caught you guys sleeping together on the first day," shouted a crew member called Frank.
"Fuck off Frank!" Percy shouted back.
"Relax Percy we're just messing with you," Marc said pulling Percy into a headlock, "my little boy all grown up. Why it was just yesterday when he was still a virgin."
"Damn lucky brat! His first time got to be with a mermaid!" Someone else from the crew shouted as Percy pulled his head out of the head lock.
"For fuck's sake guys I'm telling you the truth! She just needed someone to talk to and I jus-"
"-Spent the whole night talking, sure. That's why we found you two snuggled up together like lovers," William commented causing the enter crew to burst into laughter again.
"Knock it off lads!" Galen came in shouting at the crew, " Have some respect, this kid saved our lives yesterday!"
Percy smiled, "thanks Galen."
The large man nodded and pulled Percy close, "Kid as your friend I feel like I must warn you, mermaids are very territorial, once she marks you as her own there is no going back. Also wear a condom, always wear a condom."
Percy face palmed, "not you too…."
"Percy? Is that you?" Mera's voice called out from inside the tank. Instantly all the sailors shut their mouth and watched the mermaid pull herself to the edge of the tank.
"Wow," Marc exclaimed, "so beautiful."
"Her voice," a crew member who looked like he was from Siberia exclaimed with tears in his eyes, "it sounds like a melody from heaven."
Percy looked confused and looked around, "why are all of you just staring at her like that? If you stare any harder you might end up making holes in her."
"They cannot hear my voice Percy," Mera explained, "all they hear is my voice singing."
"Why can I….right, son of Poseidon thing, forgot about that," Percy scratched his head.
"What is she saying?" Galen asked, "or a better question who is she?"
"Oh right, I haven't introduced you guys yet," Percy walked in front of the tank, "this is Mera. I saved her yesterday from being eaten by the Giant lobster yesterday. Remember I told Odysseus about a mermaid? Well this is her."
"Wow," Marc slowly approached the tank, "so beautiful."
Marc tried to touch the tank but Mera jerked back in fear.
"Wow maybe you shouldn't go near her just yet Marc," Percy exclaimed pulling Marc back up, "she isn't used to other people, not after what happened."
"We should get her something to eat," Galen said, "Zeff! Cook her something up!"
The blonde chef raised an eyebrow, "what does she like to eat?"
Percy turned to the mermaid, "you hungry?"
Mera looked at all the men looking at her, she felt nervous but managed to nod, "I like seaweed."
Percy raised an eyebrow at that. He turned to Zeff, "she likes seaweed."
"One plate of fried seaweed coming right up."
Mera kept fighting around looking at all the sailors around her, Galen noticed this quickly, "lads we are making her uncomfortable. Let's step aside for now, let Percy deal with her for now."
The crew nodded and quickly went off their own separate ways. Percy stayed with Galen just behind him, "take care of her Percy, she looks like she might faint at any moment."
Percy nodded, "I will, by the way how long do you think it will take to reach Nassau?"
The man looked at the the sun, "well according to the sun it might take us an hour or so to get there."
Percy looked surprised, "really?"
"No you idiot! Who the fuck can tell locations based on the position of the sun? What do I look like a god of navigation? I'll have to check the maps you made to give you a real answer. Though I'm surprised you can't sense where we are."
Percy frowned, "I can, but I can only tell that we are somewhere past the coast of South Carolina but before Miami. Maybe my connection with the sea isn't good enough to give an exact location."
Galen nodded, "yeah it's okay for now. I'll get this done, you talk to the girl."
Percy nodded and when Galen left he turned to Mera, "feeling better?"
"Much, I am still not used to humans," Mera said with a frown, "Kelly though….. she loved humans. She wanted to see one in the future….she won't ever get the chance now."
Percy wanted to speak up and reassure her again that it wasn't her fault but now something changed, there wasn't' fear or guilt, only anger.
"Did it suffer?" Mera asked with rage pouring out of her in waves.
"Yeah...yeah it did."
Mera growled, "It deserves eternal torment." Percy didn't say anything, he simply nodded along. "It all began back in atlantis," Mera's voice took on a gentle tone as she began her story, "I...I wanted to go out into the world and explore. I was being foolish now that I think about it. My father had just punished me and I wanted to spite him so I gathered my friends and simply left. We traveled far and for a while it was good. Then that thing got to us."
Her voice had changed now, it was back to fear, "it tortured us for hours, it felt like days. It broke us mentally, destroyed every piece of magic we could use and threw it back at us. Every water spell we had was useless. It then pierced us with it's fangs over and over again. Kelly died screaming. She killed herself just to get away from the pain. It didn't like that. To use her as an example it ate her whole. Then it hurt us all one by one. It skewered the one who refused to bow with the spikes on it's tail while eating those who died in the process. The only reason I am alive was because it wanted to lure my father….only you came instead."
Mera looked at the demigod, "how did you defeat it?"
Percy snapped his fingers forming an ice ball in his hand, "ice. That thing could control water, but it couldn't control ice. I mainly used every light spell I had, I had a light canon which burnt a hole through his head after which me and the rest of the crew tossed crude oil on the bastard lighting him up."
"Did he scream?"
"Yes, he did."
"Good." There was something sadistic in Mera's tone, but that was understandable. Percy wasn't one to judge; if that thing had done something to the people he cared for he would have probably disobeyed Clotho and tried to use the crystal of Kefka to bring the monster back just to torture it forever.
"So what now?" Percy asked, "we are on a quest, I'm a demigod from camp half-blood and right now I'm heading on a very dangerous mission. If you want you can come with me and stay on the boat, or I can I don't know call you a sea taxi or something? Is that even a thing?"
Mera smiled, "there is no such thing as a sea taxi Percy. But… you are right. I do wish to go home. My friends had family, they all deserve to know what truly happened to their children."
Percy nodded, "I'll call my dad and tell him to send someone to pick you up."
Mera nodded, "thank you Percy."
The demigod walked away leaving the mermaid alone, she looked like she needed some time alone. He summoned a huge mist causing a rainbow to form inside it when the sunlight passed through. Percy took out one drachma and tossed it into the rainbow calling up his dad after saying the prayer to Iris.
Soon the image cleared up to reveal the form of his father who looked like he was sitting on a big throne underwater. "Percy?" Poseidon asked as a smile bloomed on his face, "what a surprise! It's been a year hasn't it son? So what's the occasion? Or is this a simple hello?"
Percy smiled, his dad sounded so much like him, or was that the other way around? "I actually called to ask you a favor dad."
"Shoot."
"Do you know a mermaid named Mera?"
Poseidon looked startled, "why yes, yes I do. She's my granddaughter, Triton's daughter. She recently went missing and no one knows where she or the rest of her friends are."
Percy nodded, "well I found her, only her. Some kind of sea monster lured them all outside and then tortured them. It seemed the monster was trying to call Triton out for a fight but I heard it first and I ran over as quickly as I could." Percy had carefully worded his words. He had said lured so that Mera wouldn't be blamed for wanting to leave the city, it wasn't much but anything would help in taking the guilt off the poor girl's shoulders.
"You found her?!" Poseidon asked in surprise. He then turned off screen, "Triton we found your daughter!"
Suddenly the rainbow shifted again as a green skinned man appeared. His eyes were green like Percy and Poseidon but his facial structure was more feminine. While Percy looked more Greek with his tanned skin and strong jaw triton had a very sharp face that reminded Percy of a shark. The man had black hair like Poseidon but it was tied back in a pony tail.
"You have found my daughter?!" Triton yelled into the Iris message, "where is she?!"
"She's safe aboard the Ascension."
"The Ascension?! Odysseus' ship? That scoundrel has probably already defiled her!" Triton turned off screen "father you must do something about this!"
The image changed again showing Poseidon, the sea god looked tired, "is she safe Percy?"
The demigod nodded, "I'm keeping her safe but I still have my quest to complete. I'm heading towards Nassau now and it might get dangerous. Can you come and pick her up? She has been through hell and back dad, I think she really needs her family."
Crash!
Percy jumped a little hearing the sound of a door being broken coming from Poseidon's side of the message. Poseidon sighed, "I just got that door fixed. Anyway Percy Triton is coming to get Mera. By his speed I'm, sure he'll be there in no time."
Percy nodded, "thanks dad. Oh and by the way do you know where we are? I can't exactly tell our location, but I think we are close."
Position blinked, "really? You can consciously use your connection with the sea now? That's amazing Percy! We need to celebrate when you get back! Not many, if at all, can do such a thing. Worry not Perce, you are just two hours away from your destination, you should arrive there soon enough."
Percy smiled, "thanks dad."
The sea god nodded and smiled back, "oh and by the way you never did tell me who kidnapped Mera and the others. Was it Oceanus?"
Percy shook his head, "no, it was Janai'ngo."
Poseidon blinked, his face slowly drained of all colour and then, "WHAT?! You faced a Great Old One and didn't tell me?!"
"Ah sorry dad got to go, super emergency!" Percy said waving his hand in front of the rainbow.
"Get back here Perseus Jackson! Your mother and I are going to have a word about your recklessness!"
"Sorry what was that?! I couldn't hear you!" Percy yelled out as the Iris message quickly disappeared. Percy sighed in relief." Whew…. Dodged that one." He walked back towards Mera's ice tank just as Zeff walked over with a plate of fried seaweed.
"Here, for the mermaid," the cook gave Percy the plate.
"Thanks Zeff, I'll make sure she gets them," Percy nodded and walked to the tank. Mera looked better now, less distraught and more calmed down. She looked at Percy and smiled, "breakfast is served."
Mera licked her lips looking at the seaweed, "that looks delicious Percy." Percy smiled and jumped into the tank splashing water everywhere.
"Here you go," Percy said giving the plate to Mera who quickly dug into the meal like it was going to be her last. Percy was beyond astonished, "boy you sure can eat."
"Food has never tasted this good before," Mera commented as she swallowed the seaweed whole quickly eating the rest. "Percy could you please reform some ice around my tank?" Mera asked pointing to a hole in her tank which was slowly enlarging by the moment.
"Oh, right sorry, forgot about that," Percy said as he froze the whole up before reinforcing the entire tank, "there, it should last for about a few more hours now."
"How can you control ice so easily?" Mera asked, "I do not know anyone in Atlantis who can do such a thing."
Percy shrugged, "it's a gift."
Percy smiled and let the girl eat as slowly they began to talk more about Mera's life in Atlantis. Percy didn't really know anything about the city, even though he technically was the prince of said city, and every thing Mera said about it amazed him.
'Maybe I should visit some time,' Percy told himself. Mera's eyes sparkled when she described her childhood home, Percy could tell that talking about it took her mind off her friends so he didn't feel like interrupting.
It seemed that Mera was a scholar above all else and that she loved books, something most people teased her about by calling her a daughter of Athena.
She also knew a variety of spells, she showed Percy one where she hardened a handful of water into a sphere. When Percy touched it it felt like a solid mass, like a piece of rock, it seemed Mera was good at Water transformation, something Percy, while good at, didn't really learn to develop so well.
Percy could harden the surface of water to walk on, but Mera could harden the water around the entire boat and lift it out of the sea. Maybe Percy should think about grinding his water control skills.
Mera was also skilled in potion making, something Percy didn't even know was a thing. But apparently everyone in Atlantis was crazy about potions and loved Mera's ability to make a cure for nearly any disease. It seemed one of the reasons Mera and the others were so far out was because they were looking for a particular herb that was very rare to find.
Soon however two hours passed by quickly as the man in the crow's nest called out, "land ho!"
Percy got out of Mera's tank and looked ahead and there it was, Nassau. The boat was far away but when Percy activated his 8.0 Eyesight perk he could clearly see the dock filled with cruise ships and tourist attractions along the streets.
"We are almost there lad," Galen said walking up to Percy, "do you know where exactly we need to go?"
"Wait, I think I got a map from Hermes," Percy said opening his inventory. He had stored everything Hermes had given him inside his inventory and this was the first time he actually looked at them. There was the can of glue and multivitamins along with spare clothes and….is that a pirate costume?
Percy smiled at Hermes antics and quickly took out the map he got in the bag. It showed Nassau and there was a big red dot along the west of the island on something called, 'Albany Golf course.'
"How did you do that?" Galen asked, "you just pulled it out of thin air!"
Percy raised an eyebrow, "you didn't know? It's a gift from dad, long story. Anyway, we need to enter through here," Percy said pointing at the beach closest to the golf course, South Ocean beach.
"Hmm, how about here," Galen pointed to a small inland of water called Albany Marina,"it looks like a great place to dock the ship."
"I don't know, it looks like a place mortals use a lot for their boats. Can we blend in?" Percy asked.
"We'll manage," Galen said turning to his men, "alright lads we are going to the southern region of the island, turn west and go around!" He then turned to Percy and pointed at the map, "can I have this?"
Percy nodded, "yeah sure." Galen walked away and Percy turned to Mera, only this time Mera wasn't alone as Marc and William were there talking to the mermaid. She smiled and laughed at something the Frenchman said, they looked like they were getting along well. Percy smiled, she was getting used to humans.
Seeing Mera being kept company Percy decided it was time to change, after all he had been wearing the same clothes for over two days. It was a good thing Annabeth wasn't here otherwise she would have thrown him into the ocean.
Percy walked into the sailors' quarters and quickly took off his jacket and set it aside. He opened up his inventory and looked for clothes to wear. There were the ones Hermes gave him but they all looked...silly. Percy didn't really know what the god was thinking, but one thing was for sure, he didn't have any sense of style, but then again neither did Percy. But even Percy knew that a pair of bright neon green pants weren't cool.
The demigod sighed and looked through the inventory until something stuck out to him; it was the pirate costume Hermes had packed for him. Percy grinned, Hermes may have meant for it to be a gag gift but Percy liked it.
The demigod took off his shirt and pants and quickly put on a new set of boxers. He then took the pirate costume out of his inventory and put his old clothes inside. He quickly changed and formed an ice mirror in front of him to see how he looked.
He now wore a white shirt with blue highlights underneath a leather vest that hugged Percy's chest tightly. He had leather bracers on each arm with a red sash tied around his hip serving as a belt. His pants were blue and baggy with leather boots at the bottom tying all the excess cloth together and a gun holster at the side of his hip for a fake toy gun. He had his armband of Cerberus tucked underneath his right bracer and a red bandanna tied around his head completing the pirate look.
Percy was impressed, it wasn't really that cheesy, heck it was halfway decent. He chucked the toy gun to the side and took out Yew's Breath from his inventory. He still hadn't returned it to Odysseus, not that he could, so for now it served as his primary weapon. He cut a hole in the bottom of the holster and slided the blade in. It was a loose fit, but he would manage.
Percy put on his leather jacket over his new costume and surprisingly he could pull it off. 'Hm, maybe I do have a sense of fashion.'
Ping!
'You have got to be kidding me.'
You have gained a new skill!
Fashion sense, Lv- 1 (30%)
You sense of fashion will dictate how impressive you will look. Being visibly impressive can help improve your social standing and may make you feel good.
+10 % chance of looking good
+ 5 % chance of enemy not wanting to harm you because of your amazing hip clothes
Percy's left eyes twitched when reading the skill, 'is this a joke? Fucking hell Clotho no one uses 'hip' anymore!' He closed the box and quickly left for the deck.
There Percy saw a lot more people next to Mera's tank as almost the entire crew was now talking to her. Percy smiled and walked up to them, "having fun?"
"Oh hey Percy," William waved, "we were just telling Mera about the time Galen kicked your ass."
Mera smiled, "they may not be able to understand me but they do tell the best stories."
Percy's eyes twitched again, "I see, did you also tell her about how I beat each and everyone of you single handedly?"
The crew looked a little scared as Mera laughed at their reaction. Percy smirked, "that's what I thought."
"Alright enough flirting lads time to get to work," Marc said getting up and kissing Mera's hand, "it has been a pleasure mademoiselle, I hope to see you again soon."
Percy smiled as the mermaid blushed a bright red. The crew, including Percy, all began to work to get the ship into port. They had reached Albany Marina located on the south side of the island fairly quickly. The entrance to said marina was a wide channel that opened up to the port inland. Galen carefully sailed the 50 foot long boat into the port anchoring it to the left right in front of the local port authority.
"Alright lads remember that time we snuck into Russia?" Galen asked as the rest of the crew were getting ready by arming themselves with weapons, "we do the same. Team Alpha and Beta come with us, Gamma and Delta stay here and protect the ship and our guest. If any trouble arises leave, we'll find our way back to the meet up point. Any questions?"
"No sir!" The crew shouted.
"Good!" Galen replied as he slowly lowered the anchor as they finished docking into the port. A wooden ramp was lowered down from the ship as sailors began to get off the ship.
Perry walked up to Mera, "okay Mera I'm going to have to go now, I still need to finish my quest. Will you be okay staying here?"
The mermaid nodded, "I will be fine Percy, thank you for your concern. The crew of this ship seem….nice."
Percy smiled as he refroze part of Mera's tank just in case before getting off the ship himself. Percy saw around twenty members of the crew standing next to Galen as they were talking to a bald brown skinned man in a good looking suit. Percy quietly snuck up next to Galen and stayed out of sight as he listened in on what they were talking about.
"And I will tell you again sir you have docked unregistered and without warning, that is a direct violation of the procedures here at Albany port!" The man yelled at Galen. He was around Percy's height and human, and the fact that he had the balls to yell at Galen earned him Percy's respect. He was also an idiot, but a brave idiot nonetheless.
"Look Mr..." Galen began.
"Megan M. Megan."
"Look Mr. Megan I know you are just trying to do your job here, but so are we. So if you would just let us pass we will be out of your hair in let's say an hour, max."
"And I'm telling you Mr. Galen that this isn't the 1500's! You cannot just show up and expect free docking! We are a prestigious port used by the wealthy and the famous. We cannot just allow-"
"-Oh for the love of the gods," Marc exclaimed as he stepped up and snapped his fingers causing a sharp cold wind to blow. Percy could feel the Mist taking effect over the mortal man's mind as Marc spoke, "you will let us pass. We have every right to be here."
Mr. Megan looked mesmerized as he repeated what Marc said, "I will let you pass. You have every right to be here."
"You will also not allow anyone to hassle us, understood?"
"I will not allow anyone to hassle you, understood."
Marc nodded and turned to Galen, "let's go already."
Galen sighed, "Always so impatient."
Percy smiled and walked forward, "I just think he wants to get back to Mera as fast as he can." Marc looked taken back as the men snickered at the comment. They moved past Mr. Megan and towards the mainland leaving the human confused as to why he was outside his office in the first place.
The island itself was beautiful to look at with shops littered all over the place and food stands around every corner. The roads were made out of cobblestone and the streets were clean of any garbage, something Percy could say was a great change of pace from New York.
The sea breeze hit Percy hard empowering the demigod, there was something about being on land yet smelling the sea that really excited Percy. Most of the buildings at the port were directly opposite the water with open doors and windows to let the wind through. Strangely enough there weren't many tourists here. It was summertime and the streets were nearly empty, it seemed odd to Percy, but then again this could just be the boring part of town.
Just then Percy noticed something in the corner of his eyes, "hey guys wait up I need to get something."
Galen and the others stopped, "what is it?"
Percy pointed at the end of the road where a small watch shop was located, "I need to get a watch."
"Now? You need to do that now?"
"Think of it as a souvenir," Percy said with a shrug, "plus I really want a watch."
The crew shrugged as Galen sighed, "fine, go get your stupid watch. We'll wait here."
Percy took out around 500 $ and gave it to Galen, "why don't you guys go get something to eat, I won't be long."
"Wait you can store money as well?!" Galen asked surprised, "kid you're better than a bank!"
Percy shrugged and kept walking towards the watch shop. He really wanted a watch, it was on his to do list for quite some time now and this was the perfect chance. Plus it would be a cool looking souvenir.
Percy entered the shop and found that it was small, around 20 feet big. There was a counter at the back with a man sitting behind it reading the newspaper. He looked at Percy and raised an eyebrow before going back to his paper. The demigod then turned to the watches lining up the walls of the shop. There were so many to choose from and that excited Percy, maybe he had a fetish for watches or something?
Just as Percy was about to look at some of them the door opened again, "relax girls, I'm telling you with these watches we can time the bombs instead of blowing them all up at once."
Percy brain went on overdrive the moment he heard the term, 'bomb'. He turned and there standing next to the door were three people Percy was familiar with. There was a young woman with white blonde hair wearing a blue leather jacket over a white shirt with a pair of simple jeans and short boots. A tall buff blond man with a yellow and purple Hawaiian print shirt with shorts and a small fiery strawberry blonde haired girl wearing a pair of tights with a tank top..
Percy sighed, 'not these guys again.' This was the same team that had tried to stop him, Clarisse and Annabeth from finding out about the Gergosas back in Boston.
"Elsa it's him! Peter Jackson!" Anna shrieked out loud.
"First off, it's Percy Jackson, and second why can't I just enjoy this one thing without having a bunch of crazy people attack me?!" Percy shouted out as he drew Yew's Breath with his left while uncapping riptide with his right. Anna reached behind and pulled out a metal bat that was strapped to her back.
"Wait!" Elsa shouted, "we don't want to fight!"
Percy and Anna stared each other down but didn't move. Percy turned to Elsa, "why are you here?"
"For a vacation," Kristoff said sarcastically.
"Answer me properly or I'll freeze your stupid mouth shut."
"Yeah well I would like to see you-"
"Enough Kristoff!" Elsa spoke up shutting the man halfway. She turned to Percy, "I promise you when I say that I mean you no harm, I mean it. We are here to track down someone, a man named Argo, we didn't come to fight you, I promise."
Percy narrowed his eyes at Elsa and studied her face. Just then his lie detections skill kicked in;
No lies detected!
Percy sighed as he lowered his blade as Anna lowered her metal bat. "Why are you looking for Argo?" Percy asked narrowing his eyes at Elsa, "last time I saw you three you were working for him by stopping us from getting to New York."
Elsa nodded, "yes, that was a mistake. We didn't know who we were fighting for, all we knew is that he was related to the man who….who turned me into this," Elsa said covering her hands in ice, "I didn't realise that the man we worked for was the man we were looking for until it was too late. We then spent a better part of a year tracking him to Nassau."
Percy looked at Elsa's hands, if he recalled correctly she and her sister along with the guy who smelt like a reindeer were all looking for the man who gave Elsa her ice powers. And from what Percy knew about Argo that sound just like something the freak would do. Percy sighed, "fine, I believe you." He then holstered Yew's Breath back and recapped Riptide.
"So now that we explained our story, why are you here?" Kristoff asked after Anna put her weapon away.
"Vacation," Percy replied with narrowed eyes.
Kristoff blinked "seriously? What a coincidence."
Anna sighed, "He was being sarcastic sweetie."
Kristoff blinked cluelessly until he became angry, "why you little shit-"
Percy put a hand up, "bind." Ribbons of mana flew out of Percy's hands and wrapped themselves around Kristoff immobilizing the man. Percy turned to Elsa, "I came here for Argo too. The man has a new weapon called a Gergosa. Giant, nasty things that feeds on humans. I don't know how he makes them, but he does."
Elsa nodded, "we got the same intel. He owns an underground bunker somewhere in the area. Looks like we want the same thing then."
Percy nodded, "looks like."
"Hey can you ah get these things off of me?" Kristoff asked from the floor.
"Will you try to hurt me again?" Percy asked raising an eyebrow.
"No, I promise," Kristoff said giving Percy his best smile. The demigod sighed and released the binding allowing Kristoff to get back up, "thanks."
"Your welcome, now why exactly are you guys here in this shop?" Percy asked.
"We need watches for making bombs to use in the bunker," Kristoff explained , "you know, to blow it up."
Percy sighed, "next time to shout out bomb in public, you might gain unwanted attention."
"Right, is he working with us now?" Kristoff asked Elsa and Anna, "because if he's working with us then I need an extra aspirin."
"Well that all depends," Elsa asked Percy, "do you want to team up?"
Percy nodded, "we want the same thing right? Anyway let's get you those watches, all our commotion probably scared the owner half to death. Let me just-" Percy turned to use the mist to hypnotize the man but found that the store owner wasn't even paying attention, instead he was still looking into his paper not caring about what was going on outside, "never mind then."
In ten minutes Kristoff had bought around 40 watches while Percy got one for himself. It was a simple electronic watch that was said to stand up to 30 minutes of water pressure, not much, but it was something.
Percy took his new 'friends' outside and looked for the crew. He quickly found them eating cotton candy by the water and walked up to Galen and the others. The sailor looked at Percy's new group and raised an eyebrow, "friends of yours lad?"
Percy sighed, "something like that. Galen meet Elsa," Percy pointed at the blonde haired ice controller who nodded politely, "Anna," the petite martial artist waved a hello, "and the guy who smells like reindeer piss is Kristoff," the tall blonde man glared at Percy.
"And these guys," Percy said to Elsa and her team pointing at the crew, "are a crew of partial immortals sailing the seas forever with Odysseus, who currently is out of action. Any questions?"
"Are they coming with us?" Galen asked.
"They are after the same thing as us," Percy explained, "plus they have bombs, big loud bombs."
Galen and the rest of the crew looked impressed. Marc walked up and took Elsa's hand giving it a light kiss, "it would be an honour to fight for you my lady."
"No thanks," Elsa said with a smile taking back her hand, "I like to fight my own battles."
The crew snickered at Marc's rejected face. The poor Frenchman just got a face full of Elsa' best ice queen impression. "Alright let's get moving," Galen said drawing attention to him. He turned to Kristoff, "where did you leave your bombs?"
"In our car," Kristoff said pointing to a large red hummer parked outside the port area.
Percy looked at the car and scoffed, "overcompensating for something are we?"
Kristoff shot him a dirty look, "shut up brat! Do you even have pubic hair yet?"
"Alright enough!" Elsa shouted before Percy could respond, "let's just focus on the mission ahead okay? How are you all going to reach there?" She asked Galen and the crew.
They all looked confused, "well… we were just planning to walk really," William said with a shrug, "it's not really that far."
Anna raised an eyebrow, "what are you guys talking about? The Blue Shark golf course is pretty far away."
"Blue Shark golf course? No, Argo's at the Albany golf course," Percy said taking the map from Galen checking it again before handing it to Anna, "see."
Elsa and her team looked at the map and Kristoff spoke up, "well out intel told us that Argo is at the Blue Shark, not the Albany."
"Oh really?" Percy asked sarcastically, "you mean the same intel that had you work for the very guy you guys were hunting?"
"...point taken, Albany golf course it is."
"Not so fast Kristoff," Elsa intervened, "who is your source Percy?"
"Hermes," Percy replied simply.
"...okay then, to Albany golf course it is," the strange group of Abyss assassins and Odysseus crew members all started moving. First they went to Kristoff's rented car and took out several huge bags of explosives. There were around five bags filled with them and when Percy looked inside he found green sticks tied together with duct tape with wire running all over it.
Military grade C-4,
1 stick of C-4
Damage - 700 Attack
Range of explosion for one stick - five feet
Percy's hand started to shake, "t-this is military grade C-4," he looked at Kristoff, "how did you guys even get them into the island?"
"You don't want to know," Anna said grumbling as the crew quickly began walking towards the Albian golf courses that was just down the road from the port area.
They walked along Ernie's Way past a few houses before they came upon the 60 feet fence of the Albian Golf course.
"How are we getting in?" Marc asked.
"Marc, Marc, Marc," Percy said shaking his head, "why do you always ask such stupid questions?" Percy pressed his hand on the metal and spread his Ice control along the metal making it brittle. He then sent a strong pulse of his Earthquake control mana through the metal shattering the fence.
"Wow," Kristoff turning to Elsa, "can you do that?"
The ice queen shot Kristoff a glare but remained silent. Soon the entire team walked into the golf course but hid inside the tree line not wanting to draw attention in case Argo had guards watching.
"Why a golf course?" Percy asked startling everyone, "like if it was a castle of a warehouse I would get it, creepy evil dudes like that sort of stuff. But why a golf course?"
"Maybe he likes golf?" Anna replied with a shrug.
"So where is he supposed to be hiding anyway?" Asked Galen looking around, "I don't see any secret hiding places where one can put the entrance for a secret base anywhere around."
"Didn't Hermes tell you where it was?" Marc asked Percy.
The demigod shook his head, "no, he didn't say anything about that. Maybe we should just look around and hope to find something?"
"Splitting up sounds like a great idea," Galen said nodding, "we can cover more ground that way."
"But how can we call each other out if we find the base?" Kristoff asked.
"Maybe we can just shout really hard?" Galen suggested. Percy sighed and walked away from the group towards the golf course.
"Wouldn't that get the mortal's attention?"
"Maybe we could disguise it, like maybe a bird call." Percy found the perfect spot, he raised his fist high into the air and channelled Body form and Earthquake control into it.
"So what will the bird sound like?"
"How about, kaka-"
"GIGA IMPACT!"
BOOM!
Rocks were thrown to the side as everyone looked towards the source of the explosion. Percy stood in front of a massive hole he just made and when the crew looked over they found an underground tunnel leading into the golf course.
"How did you know?" Elsa asked Percy.
The demigod shrugged, "son of the earthshaker, no big deal."
"You probably alerted Argo to our location kid!" Galen shouted.
"We traveled here on a 1000 year old ship. If he had surveillance outside he probably already knows, besides we are about to blow this entire places to kingdom come, so what's the point about being stealthy?"
"I'm surprised mortals aren't already swarming us," Marc commented, "Strange, there seem to be few around."
"Yeah we noticed the same," Anna explained, "we think it might be something to do with Argo."
"You think he's kidnapping them?" Percy asked. From the corner of his eye Percy could see Elsa frown, Percy could understand why, he wasn't stupid.
"He definitely kidnapped them," Elsa spoke up, "let's get down there. We find the kidnapped people, free them and only after they are all safe we blow the place up, agreed?"
Everyone nodded in approval, "agreed," Percy said as he jumped down into the tunnel. Everyone followed suit and soon the group was going down the earthy tunnel. The surface was solid, Percy's couldn't even see cracks in the dirt. The walls of the tunnel were lined up with candlestick that didn't seem to melt and the ground lined with stone, hard stone.
"So any idea which direction we are going?" Galen asked.
"Doesn't matter, " Kristoff replied as he placed a bomb along the side of the tunnel. He then took out a watch he bought in the shop before and took off the back case. He attached a couple of wires to the battery and set the watch's internal alarm for an hour from now.
"How does the bomb work?" William asked.
"I set the alarm in the watch for 12, when it rings there is a significant drain in the battery that gives a signal through these wires," Kristoff pointed to the wires attaching the watch to the bomb, "that causes it to go off."
"Hm, crude but effective," Marc commented.
The group continued to walk ahead but the tunnel just seemed to go on forever. "So where's that reindeer of yours?" Percy asked to pass the time.
"Sven? Oh he couldn't make it, it's too hot for him," Kristoff replied.
"Then aren't you kind of powerless without him?"
The blind man shrugged, "I have more tricks up my sleeve."
Percy and the other kept up the small talk and soon the tunnel opened up to a huge room. Percy was at the lead and the moment he saw what was there inside the room and pushed everyone back hushing their protest.
"What's wrong Percy?" Elsa asked as the whole group, directed by Percy, slowly walked away from the doorway.
"There are around 50 armored bears inside that room," Percy said taking out his blades.
"Bears?" Galen raised an eyebrow?
Percy nodded, "bears."
"Sigh, might as well go," Elsa said snapping her finger forming a sword made out of ice.
The group charged forward into the room and immediately the bears came into view. Every single one of them were standing on their hind legs like a man and covered from head to toe with armor designed especially for them.
Upgraded Bear,
Lv- 21
HP: 2,200/2,200
MP:0/0
Race- Bear
Str- 32
Vit-34
Dex-11
Int-1
Wis-1
Luc-0
A bear which has been enhanced through magic by one crazy Mother Fucker. They have the ability to walk on their hind legs like a man and wear armors to protect them from weapons.
Kill to gain- 350 Exp.
Percy channeled up his Giga impact and collided head on with one of the bears lifting it off it's feet with brute force and smashing it into the bear behind it causing them to both disappear into dust afterwards.
"Wow," Anna whispered in astonishment.
"I am so glad we aren't that kid's enemy anymore," Kristoff said as the rest of the crew began their attack on the bears. Galen was a beast as he used his physical size to take on the bears head on beating them with his bare fists.
Percy sliced through the armor of his opponent with Yew's Breath before cutting off it's head with Riptide. The bear disappeared into nothing leaving behind 200 $, but Percy was too busy moving to collect it.
"Come on big guy," Anna said grinning as she swung her metal bat at her bear opponent. The bear roared and blocked it with it's paw before swinging at anna who dodged at the last second. The petite girl smiled, "oh you're so going to pay for that-"
CRUNCH!
Anna was cut off mid sentence as Percy came smashing into the fight by launching his foot into the bear's chest plate breaking it into pieces and destroying the bear in the process.
"Ah...I kind of had it handled," Anna began but Percy was already moving all over the battlefield. He kicked, punched, sliced and destroyed one bear after the other. Percy had single handedly managed to kill off more than half of the bears by himself leaving everyone there confused and scared.
"Percy, remind me never to piss you off," Marc commented as the group looked around the cave.
"Guys why is there money littered all over the room?" William asked pointing at the loot Percy's kills left behind, "and where are half the bears? How did they just vanish like monsters do?"
Percy shrugged, "maybe some of them were mixed with some elements of the supernatural, Argo is crazy enough to do something like that right?"
Lie succeeded!
The group bought the lie, everyone except Elsa and Galen, and soon they turned to other tunnels leading away from the room. There were now around 10 exits from the room, not including the tunnel they came from.
"Any idea on how we move forward from here?" Elsa asked.
"We split up," Galen said, "teams of two. Each team takes three bombs each, and we meet back up outside."
"What if some of us don't make it?" William asked.
"Percy can you still do that super speed thing you do?" Galen asked the demigod.
"Yeah, but I'm not nearly that fast, I could probably check one or two tunnels, but not much."
"Good enough, but that's a last resort, so then everyone must focus on getting out in time. Now everyone pair up!"
The crew then quickly paired up with Kristoff and Anna together, obviously and Galen going with Marc. Percy however didn't want to get paired up.
"I work better alone," Percy said when it came to his turn, "I can run faster than anyone here and so cover more ground."
The group agreed with Percy, they didn't really see a problem with that, before Elsa stepped up, "actually Percy I think it would be a good idea if we paired up."
Percy raised an eyebrow, "why?"
"I know Argo," Elsa said causing Anna to sneer at the mention of the name, "he lays out traps everywhere and it's better if you're paired up with someone to help you out in case you get stuck."
"I have a third sense when it comes to danger snow queen," Percy explained remembering his Area Sense, "I got this covered."
Elsa narrowed her eyes, "and what if it's a trap you can't avoid?"
"I doubt there's anything that could not be avoided."
"Either way it's better to go together."
Percy looked like he wanted to argue but a look from Galen shut him up. So the protesting demigod got paired up with Elsa and the two ice users walked down the furthest tunnel on the left which lead them down a steep set of stairs.
"You were very brutal back there," Elsa spoke up as they walked down the stairs.
"Yeah, I know," Percy said in a low tone as he kept his head down watching where he stepped.
"It was almost like you didn't even consider them as living beings," Elsa commented narrowing her eyes.
Percy sighed, "They were the enemy Elsa. If we didn't kill them they would have killed us.."
"It's not that Percy, I can see something is going on with you, something has changed. The last person I saw being that ruthless was 'The Agent,' the world's top assassin. I didn't like working with him, his methods were….absolute and the way he killed was like watching a storm pick up houses. He didn't have pity or remorse, a quality I find inside of you Percy."
Percy chuckled, "so I'm as good as the best assassin in the world huh?"
Elsa narrowed her eyes, "I'm serious Jackson. What the hell is wrong with you? Last year when we fought you had the chance to kill me, to kill all of us, but you didn't. You were more focused on getting away then fighting. You could have done the same here, just bind all those bears using your blue ribbons or even freeze them solid. But you didn't you wanted a fight. You're more ruthless now."
"And why is that a bad thing?" Percy asked.
"Because Argo has a tendency of using transformed humans as bodyguards. The last base I was in had humans transformed into sharks which Argo used to monitor the base."
Percy stopped walking. He began to wonder whether he had just slaughtered innocent people back there, 'no,' he told himself, 'no the info box would have told me so, it said Race-Bear, not human.'
"They weren't human," Percy replied as he began walking again.
"How do you know?"
"I have the powers of an informant remember? I know when a man is a man and when a bear is a bear."
"And if you're wrong?"
"I'm not."
"But if you are?"
Percy snapped, "you know what you are starting to get on my nerves Ice Queen! Why the hell do you care anyway?"
"Because I'm standing in front of a 13 year old boy who just said that he was okay with killing people!"
Percy shook his head, "you know for a hired gun inside the Abyss you sure have a strong moral code."
Elsa narrowed her eyes, "you're 13 and you're telling me you don't have a moral code?"
Percy laughed, "if you knew what type of life I lived, the type of life any demigod lives you would know that our moral compass is broken from birth. We have monsters chasing us since we are kids. The safest place for us isn't home, no if we stay with our mortal parent there's a good chance they might end up as lunch for some monster. So we leave, we go to a fucking camp in the middle of nowhere where we finally get to be with others like us and we get a family. And then some crazy motherfucker comes in and steals Zeus's Lightning bolt or poisons our guardian tree basically making the rest of our summer shitty as well.
"We aren't meant to be normal humans Elsa, so don't expect me to act like one. We are warriors, not civilians. We are the children of gods, beings that can destroy mountains or cause tsunamis with a simple thought, we aren't meant to be normal. I live in a world where my enemy will kill and eat me if I don't fight back, so yeah, I'm not wasting energy by keeping the bad guys alive. Plus you know, they were just bears! Stupid bears!"
Elsa looked at Percy as cold fury built up in her, she took a deep breath and then let it out, "Let me tell you a story Percy. It begins in my hometown, a small miserable place that I barely remember. It was always cold there, I hated the cold. But I had my sister, Anna. Our parents died when we were young, we didn't have anyone else to go to. We moved from foster home to foster home. Anna was always loved by any family that picked us up, the only reason they even chose me was because Anna insisted we were a package deal. But even then I got us kicked out, it was always my fault. But one day we found someone, a man who seemed to care more about me that Anna. Argo seemed like the foster parent that Anna and I dreamed about. He cared for us both, me more than Anna, and some part of me liked that. But after a week staying there, that fairy tale was shattered.
"He took us when we were asleep. We woke up strapped to a table next to each other with something being pumped into us. He stood over there watching us with his sadistic smile, the table was freezing, but his smile was colder. He stroked my cheek and said , 'I know you don't like the cold my ice princess, but don't worry. The cold will never bother you again.' I don't remember what he did, all i remember was pain, unbearable pain. Anna went through it too, but after a day she stopped and was taken outside the lab. I thought she died, but only later did I find out she got lucky. She didn't have the signs of gaining any new powers, but I did.
"It was a week before the pain stopped when Argo finally released me. He smiled and spent the month training me, teaching me to use my powers. And for that month I grew attached, he promised never to cause that kind of pain to me and I loved him for it. He trained me to be a weapon, to be ruthless, cold and emotionless. He used me as a weapon to kill people, to kill innocent people. I once froze an entire family of a man who crossed Argo and I smiled as he broke the ice into pieces killing them all. I was his prized possession, but one day, one day he messed up.
"He was taking me through the dungeons, where he kept all his slaves and I saw her, I saw Anna. I didn't know she was alive, and I think Argo forgot about her as well. The moment I saw her there sitting in her own feces like an animal I broke.
"I attacked Argo with all I had, every single thing he taught me I used to fight him. I managed to get Anna out of there and we ran, ran as far and as fast as we could. I carried her on my back until I ran out of breath. I thought we were going to die when a couple found us, they took us in and they nurtured us back to health. They were Kristoff's parents and they were the first couple that accepted us both. Over the years I learnt to control my powers, not through anger but through sheer will power. I was in control of my powers, not the other way around."
"Why are you telling me this?" Percy finally asked.
"Because I saw you back there, and you reminded me of myself when I was young. You reminded me of how lost I was when serving Argo. Back then the ice was using me, not the other way around."
"Just because I'm a little extreme in the way I do things doesn't make me a monster Elsa."
"No, but it makes you less human," Elsa said.
"Well, then it's a good thing I'm only half human then huh?" Percy said ending the conversation.
The duo placed a bomb along the side of the tunnel they were going through before walking forward. Percy looked at his watch, it was 11:20, they had forty minutes to get out, but both Percy and Elsa wanted to find Argo before anything else.
As Percy kept walking along the tunnel a warning rung out in his head;
Warning! There's a pressure pad in front of you!
Percy jumped to the side pushing Elsa to the wall. "What are you-" Elsa began when Percy pointed at a lifted tile on the ground.
"Trap," Percy said letting Elsa go, "see, told you I have a sixth sense when it come to danger."
Percy smiled and took a few steps forward and suddenly the floor gave out below him causing the demigod to fall down. Gamer's mind kicked in fast destroying all signs of panic. Percy looked down and saw spikes at the bottom of the pit, he poured 2000 mana into his marble skin skill. He didn't know how much he would need, but better safe than sorry;
Defence- 158,000
Percy braced for impact but instead of feeling several points of impact Percy's body hit something solid. Percy got up and opened his ice and found himself standing on top of a platform of ice. The demigod could see the spikes underneath the ice and turned up to see Elsa with her hands at the side of the pit with a trail of ice leading to the platform.
"Argo doesn't just use pressure plates, he also uses motion sensors," Elsa explained as she formed ice platforms along the side of the pit to help Percy back up.
"Thanks, I guess you were right, it was better to have help. But just for the record I had it handled."
Elsa raised an eyebrow, "really? And how did you have it handled?"
Percy knocked on his skin causing it to ring out, "I can strengthen my skin to be as hard as stone. The spikes would have hurt, but wouldn't have killed me. Heck I doubt they could have even pierced my skin."
Elsa looked impressed but said nothing as she created a bridge of ice over the pit for them to cross.
Along the way Percy's area sense detected more and more traps and Elsa helped them get around them all. Eventually the skill leveled up;
Area Sense, Lv-4 (50%)
Allows the user to get a sense of the area around him/her. The higher the level the more information is provided.
Effective until 35 feet.
Soon the tunnel became filled with painting and fancy looking torches along the wall, if Percy had to guess he would say they were in Argo's living quarters. Soon the duo came upon a set of doors, each opposite to one another. They carefully checked the first one to find a storage room. Inside were tanks filled with body parts of different monsters, there was a cyclops eyeball and the wings of a pegasus near the edge of the room with the center filled with a huge tank containing the body of a Hellhound.
"Argo is a sick mother fucker," Percy commented as he looked at the green liquid containing the monster. The Hellhound's eyes were already liquefied, and if Percy had to guess so were the rest of it's organs.
"How can he even possess their bodies?" Elsa asked horrified, "don't they disappear after you kill them?"
Percy narrowed his eyes at the liquid and focused;
Preservation liquid,
This liquid when used on a monster causes preservation of the body allowing it to die a natural death, i.e. fade.
Warning! This product does not work on devious beings or monsters with significant power.
Percy's eyes shot open, "this thing can kill monsters Elsa!"
"What?!'
"This thing can cause monsters to fade!" Percy exclaimed.
"Bu-but that's impossible! If that's true… how powerful is that man?" Elsa asked the frightening question on Percy's mind.
Percy looked around the room and found three kegs each four foot tall with the label for the preservation liquid on top. Percy walked to the kegs and lifted them up putting them into his inventory.
"Where did those things go?" Elsa asked surprised.
Percy sighed, it was time like this when he really wished that people knew about his powers so he didn't have to keep explaining them every six seconds, "I put them in a pocket dimension for storage. Now let's see what's there in the other rooms."
Percy put one bomb on the wall of the room and left. The room directly opposite to this one was arranged like a chemical lab. There were chemical set ups located all over the room with ongoing chemical reactions. The beakers and vials were filled with chemicals that Percy couldn't even begin to pronounce, even with his now stellar English language skills.
"So this must be where he makes all his drugs," Percy said looking at the room.
"No...it's too small," Elsa said as she placed her hands on the walls causing it to slowly freeze over. The ice spread out from the wall to the floor and soon the entire room was frozen over with all the ongoing reactions destroyed, "I hope that at least irritates the bastard a little."
The two then walked out to the tunnel and went further down. After a while they came upon another door and this one lead into a huge library. Percy's eyes widened comically, here was information that Argo himself deemed worthy of attention. The man was mad, but a genius.
"Come on let's go, it's just books," Elsa said moving to leave when suddenly a gust of wind blew across her face.
Percy had gone super speed as he quickly began looting everything in sight. He threw all the books he found into his inventory He kept pulling each one up without even looking at what he picked up. Finally when it was all over Percy had around 58 books stored up inside his inventory and he noticed several boxes open up in front of him;
You have obtained the book containing the skill : Beginners Botanist
Would you like to learn?
YES/NO?
You have obtained the book containing the skill : Advance Zoology
Would you like to learn?
YES/NO?
You have obtained the book containing the skill : Basic physics
Would you like to learn?
YES/NO?
You have obtained a book containing the knowledge of Business administration
Would you like to learn?
YES/NO?
You have obtained a book containing the knowledge of The Universe
Would you like to learn?
YES/NO?
You have obtained a book containing the knowledge of Understanding languages
Would you like to learn?
YES/NO?
You have obtained a book containing the knowledge of creating a Nazism regime.
Would you like to learn?
YES/NO?
Percy bleached at all those notifications, and these weren't the only ones, there were around 30 more notifications behind these ones. He was so going to use these books to bribe the Athena kids. Those book worms always get the best food because they always get up so early! Seriously! Who the fuck gets up at 5 in the morning just to study more books?! Percy appreciated knowledge, but there was a limit!
Elsa blinked, "I didn't realize you were that fast."
Percy closed all the boxes in front of him, "yeah I know, people tend to have the same look whenever they see me do that."
Elsa then asked, "What are you going to do with them?"
Percy shrugged, "study them, maybe learn about what Argo is trying to accomplish by starting a war with the Olympians. You know, the usual."
Elsa nodded and walked up to the desk in front of the book shelf, she bent under the table and began running her hands over the side of the desk.
"Ah, what are you doing?" Percy asked.
"Argo always kept some papers hidden away, if I were to guess…." Click!, "right here." A hidden compartment opened up on the table's surface and in it was a brown leather brown book. Elsa picked it up and threw it to the side.
"That kind of looked important," Percy commented.
"It's a dummy," Elsa said as she began inspecting the bottom of the hidden compartment, "Argo had several like them all over the place. He used to pretend he couldn't see me and would hide them all over the place to give me a false sense of security, to make me think that I knew a secret of his. But he always used to hide his real journal elsewhere," Elsa then formed a thin line of ice and pushed into to the edge of the drawer slowly pulling it out.
Warning! Bomb!
"Elsa wait!" Percy shouted as he sent a blast of ice mana freezing the compartment whole.
"Why did you do that?" Elsa asked removing her hand from the compartment.
"My danger warning system kicked off," Percy explained as he slowly broke the wooden table away using Body From. The whole hidden compartment was then revealed through a block of ice. There was a trigger hidden underneath the hidden compartment with a bomb right below it, so if the false bottom was removed it would have exploded in Elsa's face.
"Thanks," Elsa said, "you have some quick reflexes."
Percy nodded as he carefully removed pieces of the ice to disengage the trigger and pull the real book out. It was identical to the one Elsa threw away but something told Percy this was the real one. Inside was filled with notes about secret projects and other things that Percy couldn't make out for the life of him, maybe Annabeth could help him out later. Percy put the journal inside his inventory and the two walked out of the now empty library. They continued down the tunnel and found a double door at the very end. They pushed the doors aside and stopped when they saw the room.
It was a lab of some kind, Percy saw the wall lined up with surgical instruments, some were clean, others were covered in blood. The room had tables all over, there were 12 in total and each had leather straps on them covered with blood. The demigod didn't need to guess what this room was used for.
"He used these for human experimentation," Elsa said as her arms began coating themselves with ice involuntarily, "fucking bastard."
Percy nodded and looked around finding charts and files lined up near the side. He approached them and read them, and he almost wished that he didn't.
From what he could understand Elsa wasn't the only one Argo had been doing experiments on. There were hundreds of them. The files here spoke of how Argo tried to put traits of different monsters into human beings.
There were several test subjects, with a lot of deaths and few successes. One test subject was a boy, age 11, Argo had put the cells of Hellhounds into the boy's body causing him to become a hybrid of sorts. He could Shadow Travel, something Percy never really got the hang of doing, and could also pass as a Hellhound himself. Something about him smelling like one.
Then there was the case about Argo transforming a woman into a gorgon before trying to transform her back. The experiment failed but the result gave the woman the uncanny ability to transform between her human form and he gorgon form, but anyone who looked at her in either form died instantly.
Then there was the case about Mist manipulation. This was different, instead of creating illusions the things created by this experiment would be real. Argo tried to experiment on a woman, age 21. He tried to make her into a conduit for the Mist, the results were...unexpected. The woman had gone through drastic physical alterations, her body had been de-aged, she looked 13, and instead of controlling the Mist to change the world around her to create illusions, she could only change her own body. It seems that the woman's brain had been damaged heavily causing her to be in a childlike state to mind, this restricted her transformations to cartoon characters.
Percy felt like puking the more he read. Argo was sick, he knew that, but never in his wildest dream did he guess he would be capable of doing something like this.
"What are those?" Elsa asked.
Percy looked downcast, "you don't want to know. Let's just go on and find this sick fuck."
Elsa nodded, "there's an exit over there," she pointed to a door on the far end of the lab, "I think it leads to the training room directly below us."
"Training room?"Percy asked raising an eyebrow.
"He has to have some place to train his 'prized possessions' doesn't he?" Elsa said. Percy nodded and placed the last of their bombs on the wall of the room as the two walked to the door. But as they walked past the middle of the room someone started to sing;
"All the other kids with their pumped up kicks better run better run, outrun my gun."
Elsa's eyes widened in fear and anger as she formed ice claws around her arms, "he's here."
"All the other kids with their pumped up kicks better run better run, faster than my bullet," Percy recognized the voice now. It was coming from outside in the tunnel.
"All the other kids with their pumped up kicks better run better run, outrun my gun," his voice was smooth, yet right under those soft tunes Percy could still make out the creepy voice of the man they came here to kill.
"All the other kids with their pumped up kicks better run better run, faster than my bullet," Percy could see a shadow now underneath the other side of the door. Slowly the double doors were pushed open and there stood Argo Kishin in his black and white suit and top hat. He smiled his creepy smile and showed off his sharp shark like teeth. "I work so hard and I have to come home to this? Didn't I tell you not bring boys home Elsa? You should listen to your daddy you know."
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Elsa roared as she sent a blast of icicles at the man. Argo smiled as suddenly his body turned black. The moment the ice touched his body it disappeared into nothing leaving him unharmed.
"Well that was certainly impressive," Argo said wiping of some snow from his shoulder, "you certainly have gotten better daughter of mine."
"I'm not your daughter!" Elsa yelled as she gathered her mana to try and blast Argo into next week.
Percy walked in front of her and put his hand up stopping her, "don't waste your mana, he's immune to magic attacks." Elsa glared at Percy but got her temper in control.
"I must admit Percy even I can't get her to stay calm like that," Argo said with his creepy smile.
"It's easy when you have common interest. Like for example we both want your head in a platter."
Argo chuckled, "nice one. You have a skill for insults Percy."
"Thanks it's called taunting. My level in it is 8 with a 40% chance of success."
Argo looked at him funny but shook his head, "kids these days, don't understand a single thing you mean."
"Where are your prisoners Argo?!" Elsa asked letting her anger show once again.
"They are not here right now," Argo said as he took off his hat and inspected it, "I got them off the island the moment a 1000 year old ship docked on the port next to my base, very subtle by the way. I would have never guessed."
Percy ignored the obvious sarcasm and focused. Something didn't add up. Percy remembered his quest well, it specifically stated three things, find and destroy the base, survive and not to let a single Gergosa off the island. So if the Gergosas were already off the island that means Percy would have gotten a failure notification by now, meaning they were still here.
"Where are the Gergosa?" Percy asked drawing Argo's attention to him.
"Around," Argo said as he took out a silver cigar box, "is that why you're here? Did the Gods send their little 13 year old champion to try and stop me?"
Percy narrowed his eyes, "did you forget the time I kicked your ass so hard you were forced to run? Oh and let's not forget I was 12 when that happened."
Argo didn't react at all to Percy's taunt. He simply opened his giare case and put a cigarette in his lips and lit it. He took a drag from his cigarette and blew out smoke, "the only reason I ran was because that stupid son of Hermes wanted to. And the only reason you hurt me was because I was careless in my efforts to obtain the Gauntlet of Kefka, a mistake I assure you will not happen again," Argo flicked the still light bud at Percy's feet.
Percy squashed the fire stick out with his boot and looked at Argo, "where are the Gergosa."
"Did you know that the Gergosa basically can't function in a group? It's true, they are big and strong, but they are very stupid. I always wondered how the Titan's even used them as soldiers in the first Titan war until Hyperion told me," Argo tapped his temple, "you see Gergosa's are like bee and they follow one queen. So to command them all you need is a few simple tools and a psychic connection."
Elsa's eyes shot open in realization, "Percy look out!"
Before anyone could do or say anything the ground broke open. A flayed hand came crashing through the stone wall sending everything in the room flying. Argo smiled as the hand closed around Percy pulling him downwards through the ground.
Elsa went to the edge of the hole and shouted out in fear, "PERCY!"
Betaed by- piyush. rai. 37853734 (seriously if there are any mistakes it's not my fault now.)
Merry Christmas...no wait Christmas isn't for half a year. Then... Happy Belated Easter! Two chapters in the same week, aren't you all luckly I don't have a social life!
Anyway you guys wanted me to give a summary of Percy's status and every thing... so here it is. Just remember I warned you.
Status-
Percy Jackson
Health-5,550/5,550 (+1000) = 6,550
Mana-3,150/3,150 (+1000) = 4,150
The Gamer
Title- Son of Poseidon
(+20 Str,+20 Vit, +20 Dex, while in water)
Level-28 Exp- 28,760/ 87,000
Race-Demigod
STR-50(+20)=70
VIT-52(+7+20)=79
DEX-50(+7+20)=77
INT-50
WIS-32
LUC-50
POINTS-60
MONEY- 224,137$/1,208D
Percy Jackson is a demigod, the son of Sally Jackson and Poseidon. He has ADHD and Dyslexia making it difficult for him to sit still in class, that has since changed, he is now considered a genius by some of his teachers and is considered very academically gifted. His behaviour has gotten him trouble over the years in various schools. Percy has a love/hate relationship with his father and wishes to find meaning in his life. Percy loves his mother, and every demigod in camp and will do anything to protect them all.
Status- demigod, giving Percy - +7 VIT, +7 DEX and the ability to breath underwater, enhanced strength, communicate with fish, create earthquakes, talk to horses, control water and look cool.
Titles-
· Son of Poseidon- (+20 Str,+20 Vit, +20 Dex, while in water)
· Deadman- gives the user a boost of +40 in all stats if their HP is less than 20%.
· Zombie Hunter- 40% more attack and defence when dealing with the undead. +10 to all stats when dealing with the undead.
· Leader- allows the user to control his troops easily giving a +10 to all stats for all subordinates.
Perks-
· Anger of Alecto- whenever the user succeeds in taunting an enemy they are infected with the Anger of Alecto which gives them double their strength but also makes them clumsy and highly ignorant of their surrounds.(Not active)
· Le Bete- gives +50 to all stats but will cause a complete loss of control every time Percy gets angry. For every person Percy kills while in this berserk rage he will gain+2 stat points. WARNING: The only way to stop this is to either kill Percy, shock Percy awake with something surprising or have no more enemies left to kill. (Permanent)
· Chimera's blood- Allows user to temporarily take on one trait from the last monster he killed. The user can use this trait for however long he wishes.(Not Active)
Trait used-Goblin's growth,
When paired up with 'Puberty' status will allow for user to grow to their nature prime faster and will help in obtaining muscle mass quicker.
Positive results- Quicker growth rate and bigger body size
Negative results- Increase in all hormones resulting in an increased sex drive that will cloud your thoughts.
· Canidae Tamer- user of this perk can control members of the Canidae family with relative ease. This also includes magical beasts like werewolves and Hellhounds!
· Equus Tamer- user of this perk can control members of the Equus Genus, like horses and zebras with relative ease. This also includes magical beasts like unicorns and pegasus!
· Luck day- On this speacial day you will have +25 stats in luck lasting for 24 hours. On your birthday you will gain +50 in Luc stats! (Lucky Day: Friday)
· Speed demon- Allows user to travel at unbelievable speeds at the cost of 200 HP per minute. Can be improved on with training, at present speed is: 310 Miles/hour (500 KM.)
· Body Form- Allows user to focus all thier strnght in one part of thier body. The focused area will gain X5 power for a dieserd time period. Cool down will last 1/3 as long and total strenght will be reduced by half till then.
· Telekinesis- the physic ability to move objects with your mind.
Range - 30 feet
Max weight- 50 Pounds
· 8.0 Eyesight - Gives user incrediably eyesight that is nearly 4 time better than normal human eyes. Gives proper defenitions to user allowing for amzing accuracy and perception.
Items Equied-
· Arm Band of Cerberus;
+1000 HP
+1000 MP
+ 10 levels to all skills involving darkness or shadows
· Wolfskin jacket,
A leather jacket made out of Marchosias' skin. It is immune to most weapons and it is immune to magic to a certain degree. It's durability can be compared to that of the skin of the Nemean lion and is know to be water resistant.
Durability- 85/100 (135/150)
Pin of protections;
Gives a boost of + 50 durability to any object it is attached to.
· Necklace of Poseidon,
Permanent activation of 'Son of Poseidon' activation along with +1000 for water dungeon bonus!
Amulet of Hasis,
Gives + 20% for all wind based attacks
+3% to health regeneration.