Chapter Eighteen

Jason

"This is Percy," the Atlantean sounded slightly winded, "there's a mother of a war machine down here that I can only classify as 'really big and powerful' that was tracking my group. I've sent them on to what I think is the engine but you should keep an eye out in case there's more."

"Need back-up?" Jason asked before he could stop himself.

There was a moment of silence before he heard the tell-tale sound of something metal getting punctured.

"No, I'm fine," Percy responded, "but this thing won't fall. Like I said, stay alert."

"This is Reyna, we've found the engine room, or the power source," the Princess hesitated, "we're not sure which, and we're not sure what it does."

"It doesn't—oh would you just die—it doesn't matter," Percy panted, "just hold it down. Once Fly-boy and his group get to the bridge, they won't be able to do anything. I'd expect them to send counter-boarder after you. And I wouldn't be surprised if—oof!"

"Percy?"

"Perseus?"

"'m fine," came the slurred response, "too' a big hi'. Maybe bro'e my jaw. Don' wo'y abou' i'."

"That doesn't sound fine," Sorceress muttered.

"He'll be fine," Vulcan shrugged, "I saw him punch a steel door clean off its hinges."

"It doesn't concern you that one of our heaviest hitters just broke his jaw fighting something that could be coming after us?" Ghost asked nonchalantly. Vulcan paused.

"I mean, no, because our heaviest hitter is here," he said after a moment, "but I mean, sucks for Riptide. Which, by the way, how'd he even get such a cool name? They used to call me Fireman until I got annoyed and told them it was Vulcan, and that I was the old god born again. Even you had to pick your own name, Praetor!"

"Aquilla News gave him the name," Ghost said, "one of their reporters, Piper McLean, wrote an article about him. He was described as a riptide, and the name stuck."

"I wish I had been given a cool name," Vulcan huffed, "now I'm stuck being an old god. I could've been something cool, like…like…"

"Like…?" Sorceress teased, "what a heroic name."

"I'll figure it out!" Vulcan insisted, before walking right into Jason. "Hey!"

"I'm staring at a very big throne," he said, "and nothing in it. Does that worry anyone else?"

"That's easily…" Vulcan began before just throwing his hands up in dismay, "very big."

"It's nearly forty feet tall," Ghost said, "which if it goes by human proportions, means whoever sits in it is about sixty feet tall."

"Oh boy, a sixty-foot tall giant is here," Vulcan groaned, "how do we kill it?"

"Percy?"

There was a loud crack and then profuse swearing.

"I'm here," he replied. "Evil alien robot, zero, Percy Jackson, one. Percy's jaw, one, Percy, zero. What's up?"

"How big was the evil alien robot?"

"I don't know, twenty feet tall, half as wide? It took up most of the hall."

"…crap."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"We just found a throne that forty-feet high. Ghost estimates whatever sits in it is at least sixty feet tall." Jason told him.

"…crap." There was a moment of silence, "alright, Reyna, Changeling, how are things where you are?"

"A few of these demon things showed up, but uh, the princess took care of it," Changeling reported, "she's really scary."

"Thank you," Reyna responded politely, "it takes courage to admit that you are intimated by an ally."

Jason couldn't help the grin that spread across his face. Reyna had, excluding her misguided attack on Percy, never failed to be anything but friendly with most people who crossed her path. Even now, she was the same.

"Alright, then I'm going to cause a bunch of problems, see if I can draw the big boss out of hiding," Percy said, "I'll keep you all informed."

"What about your jaw?" Sorceress asked, "did you heal it?"

"Healing is a bit of a strong word," Percy laughed, "I'll need to get it checked properly after, but for now, I'm good. Don't worry about me. Just…be ready for whatever comes your way."

"What are you planning on doing, Percy?"

"Nothing smart, and something that will definitely clear out a decent part of the hull. Are there any humans around me? Above, below?" Jason scanned the area around Percy before telling him no. "All right, you should probably hold onto something. Last time I did this, I nearly drowned an island in the Pacific."

"Should you be doing it again, then?" Changeling asked.

"Probably not," Percy answered. A moment later, the carrier was rocked, and Jason punched a hole to take a look outside. A massive wave had formed in the Potomac before tearing into the side of the hull, and ripping part of it off, before driving into the new breach. After that, he lost sight of it. Following it through the decks, he saw the water rush through the halls, the pressure blasting into the demons and flattening them, as well as destroying equipment and other…things.

The water burst out the other side of the hull, and flowed back into the Potomac, making the water level rise a few feet and flooding some of the closer buildings before receding again. For a minute, there was nothing. Not a sound, not a movement—zilch. But then, slowly, a low rumbling filled the ship.

"WHO DARES?" The voice echoed around them. It didn't seem to come from anywhere as much as everywhere, which was slightly terrifying.

"You guys heard that too, right?" Changeling asked.

There was no response, but Jason could just make out Percy tossing insults at the 'bitchy voice in the walls.'

"I think I made him mad," Percy said. "But there's still no sign of—oh shit."

"Percy?" Jason said.

"Perseus?"

Then he heard it. A steady thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Jason looked around, but like with the voice before, he couldn't place the sound. When he scanned for where Percy had been earlier, there was no sign of him.

"I've lost track of Riptide," he said, "I can't—"

He was interrupted himself this time by a new hole in the floor opening up, a brief orange blur flying past, and a hole opening in the roof. Then, the thumping started again, before another hole opened up, and the battered body of Percy slammed into the ground.

"Ow," he said weakly. His left eye was swollen shut, and his face was nearly purple in its entirety. "I think I made him mad."

"Oh yes, mortal, you certainly did," an impossibly deep voice growled, and Jason whirled around to find the being that sat in the massive throne. Unless there was a surplus of sixty-foot tall beings. "Who are you to disrupt my master's plans?"

"Who's your master to subject this planet to his whims?" Jason countered, "this is a place of freedom and peace, not murder and abduction!"

"Freedom and peace?" the giant laughed, right as Reyna and Changeling emerged from one of the holes. The moment the Amazon saw Percy, she rushed to his side, gently prodding around his face. The giant watched for a moment, before he turned back to Jason. "Amazonian and Atlantean royalty. It was their ancestors who banished me from this world before I could bring it under my master's domain eons ago. Aided by those treacherous Olympians."

Sorceress had kneeled beside Reyna and healed Percy's face to the best of her ability. Rather than the swollen and bruised mess it had been before, now it was just a bruised mess. Percy rammed his trident into the floor and used the leverage to pick himself up.

"Listen, dickwad," Percy said, "I don't particularly care for the surface. I've lost enough to it already. But you attacked my home, and my people. You put my family—my sister—at risk, and for that, I'm going to finish the job whichever ancestor of mine started and drive my trident through your skull."

Jason was taken aback by the sheer rage emanating from the Atlantean, and Sorceress had literally flinched away from him. Only Reyna didn't seem to be surprised, and even then, she was nodding along, like she agreed. He'd have to have a word with them both once this was over.

"I know that Trident," the giant grinned at Percy, "Poseidon wielded it in the First War. However did it end up in the hands of a mere mortal?"

"I asked nicely," Percy replied calmly, "now, before I reintroduce the two of you properly, I at least like to know the identity of who I'm fighting."

"You are bold, Atlantean, I'll give you that," the giant nodded, "I am Atlas, Titan of the West, and the vanguard of my Lord Kronos' armies. Each world I conquer, I conquer in his name. And yours is next. And because I am not devoid of honour…"

The Titan glowed a bright silver, and when it faded, he was only twice Jason's height, instead of ten times. He filed all the information away to deal with after the fight, because honestly, between Atlas finishing his boast and Jason comprehending what he meant, Percy had already launched himself forwards, Reyna hot on his heels.

"Uh, I guess we're fighting the giant," Vulcan sighed before his body erupted in flames again, and he charged Atlas.

"We're fighting the giant," Jason confirmed.

He heard the sound of tank treads, helicopters, and fighters zipping around the carrier, but he pushed it entirely from his mind until the situation was dealt with. What was the old expression?

Finish the fight.

XXX

Finishing the fight turned out to be more of an endeavour that Jason would have expected. The moment Percy made contact with Atlas, the Titan boomed a laugh, grabbed the haft of the Trident, and used it to throw Percy clean across the room. A backhand caught Vulcan before he could land a blow as well, but he recovered mid-air, rotating a full three-sixty degrees before levelling out. Reyna was the first to land a tangible blow, and even then, Atlas' armour caught most of it. Unlike the other two, however, Reyna was able to duck underneath his counter strike, before ramming her sword upwards. It was deflected again, but that was when Jason struck, throwing a haymaker that could have levelled a building right at Atlas' jaw.

The Titan's head jerked to the side, and he slowly brought it back, before grinning at Jason and hitting him with a headbutt.

Jason, over the span of his life, had been shot, set on fire, hit by a train, shot with missiles, sheared the top off a mountain, set on fire with missiles, and quite literally taken an asteroid to the face. Not once had any of those fazed him in the slightest. Atlas' headbutt, however, sent him reeling backwards, and for the first time in his life, he tasted blood. He wiped the back of his hand against his mouth, and unsurprisingly, it came away red. But it was new, and it made him angry.

He spat a globule of blood onto the deck, before ramming back into the Titan. This time, he was taken off balance, but only long enough for him to grab Jason by his cape and use it to throw him into the wall. He very nearly went through it, but a hand shot out and grabbed him before he could.

"Capes bad," Percy grinned at him, but like Jason, his mouth was bloody. "You should consider ditching it."

"Maybe another time," Jason said. "Shall we?"

"After you, flyboy," Percy pointed with the Trident, and Jason launched himself at Atlas once more. This time, however, he wasn't alone. Despite his words, Percy was right underneath Jason, sliding into Atlas' legs, and Jason knew that if he had hit him like that, his knee would have shattered, invulnerable skin or no.

Atlas just grunted in annoyance before slamming a fist into the ground where Percy was laying. The Atlantean rolled out of the way before slamming his forearm into Atlas' elbow which, again, just seemed to frustrate the Titan more than anything. But it allowed Reyna to get onto his back and bring the point of her sword down into his shoulder. The armour he was wearing seemed to take most of the blow, but she pressed her weight down on it, and the result was a roar of anger from Atlas, who reached up, grabbed Reyna by the neck, and launched her at the opposite wall as hard as he could.

Her body was intercepted by Percy, who took most of the impact, before setting her down and checking her pulse. He grimaced, moved her behind some debris, and turned on Atlas. Changeling, who had shifted into a rhino, rammed into Atlas from behind, and Sorceress used her spooky magic to hit him with the smoky black tendrils. Vulcan blasted him with a jet of fire, and Jason finished off the combo by flying up and then dropping a punch onto Atlas' other shoulder, feeling an immense sense of satisfaction when the armour crumpled underneath his fist and the Titan howled.

Naturally, everything went wrong at that point.

Atlas grabbed Changeling by the horn, and like with Reyna, launched him away from him. He managed to shift into his normal body, but he still collided with Sorceress, while Vulcan was violently ejected from the ship, hurtling out of one of the breaches that had been made over the span of the fight. That left Jason and Percy, except Percy was conspicuously absent, so it was just Jason on his own. He cracked his knuckles and squared up with Atlas, who was grinning morbidly at him.

"I know what you are," the Titan crowed, "I was so distracted by the Amazonian and Atlantean that I was ignoring you, but I remember. Your people came to this planet once, millennia ago, when my kind were still worshipped as gods. We didn't interfere then, but nor did we need to. Your ancestors took one look at this planet and knew that they didn't belong. Which begs the question—how did you end up here, Jovian?"

"Long story, we don't have the time," Jason replied, "can we get this over with? There are people who need my help down below, so the sooner I kick you ass, the sooner I can help them."

"If you insist, mortal," Atlas sighed, "a shame that the Atlantean has fled. He destroyed one of my armies almost singlehandedly. I owe him for that."

So Percy was gone. That was…kind of unwelcome news. But it was news to deal with later. Jason had to deal with an Atlas on the offensive. He ducked under a vicious hook and floated away from a knee. Atlas was slower, yes, but not by much, and still fast enough that Jason had to focus. He managed to get two quick jabs in before he was caught by a cross and sent careening backwards, and suddenly it was all he could do not to get pummelled. Changeling and Sorceress were still unconscious, Reyna was still a heap on the floor, and Vulcan had yet to return.

He was ducking, weaving, flying above, sliding underneath, but Atlas wouldn't stop. He kept grinning and laughing as Jason dodged him, landing a few hits in, which didn't seem to serve much purpose. Here he was, the most powerful man in the world, and he couldn't win. He could try and fly Atlas into the stratosphere, but he had a feeling all that would do was annoy the Titan. This wasn't good.

He was winding up for another hit when an orange-gold blur slammed into Atlas, sending him staggering backwards in a way none of Jason's hits had done. Jason blinked in surprise as Percy returned on the warpath. His trident was wreathed in lightning, and it extended up his arm and across his body, sparking off him like he was a conductor. Which, given his metal armour, he kind of was.

Percy spun around Atlas, slashing the back of his leg with the counter-point of the Trident, before using it to spring himself up and over, plunging feet first into the back of Atlas' head. The Titan faceplanted into the floor, and when he rose, his face was twisted into a furious snarl. Percy waited patiently, and to his surprise, the look of anger faded on the Titan's face, and instead it was replaced with one of amusement. Then he started laughing.

"Oh, this is beautiful!" He cackled, "you knew you weren't powerful enough to cross into the mortal plane, so you gifted your trident to the Atlantean to serve as a conduit."

"That wasn't my intention," Percy said, except it wasn't Percy. The voice was too deep and unnatural. It didn't belong to the man he had come to know. "But the boy knew he could not defeat you, so he offered himself to me. I may be inhabiting his body, Atlas, but make no mistake—you face me now. And I will not show you mercy a second time."

"You don't have the power, Neptune," Atlas scoffed, "and that body won't last long, Atlantean Royalty or not. Very well then, cousin. Shall we?"

Not-Percy spun the Trident so that it was held parallel to the floor and attacked Atlas with a sharp jab that the Titan simply leaned away from. But then Not-Percy twisted the weapon, and it came back far faster than Atlas had expected, catching him across the face, which sparked and burned from the lightning. Atlas let out a cry of pain, and Not-Percy-Jason-is-pretty-sure-his-friend-has-been-possessed-by-an-old-god pressed his attack, attacking with both ends of the Trident, using the shaft to redirect Atlas' increasingly wild counters, and even swinging it like a bat at one point.

Like a switch had been flicked, the dynamic changed. Whatever being was controlling Percy was the best fighter he had ever seen, period. Atlas couldn't touch him, try as he might, and he was getting slower and slower with each wound that began appearing on his body. The desperate attacks started coming, and most of them were nowhere in the vicinity of being near-hits. That was when Not-Percy ended the fight.

He rammed the trident down into Atlas' foot, pinning him in place as he reached forward and grabbed his face with his hands, both of which were still flaring with lightning. Atlas screamed as Not-Percy began chanting in a language that was physically painful to hear. His hands flared a bright white, so powerful that it temporarily blinded Jason.

When the light faded, Atlas was gone, and Not-Percy was looking at him. His eyes glowed an unearthly white, and Jason had to blink as the image switched from Percy to a godly figure to back to Percy.

"If you act fast, you can save him," Not-Percy said. "He is a good champion."

Then, the light faded, and Percy's sea-greens were staring back at him again. The Atlantean was unfocused and swaying on his feet, clearly using the Trident to support himself. He opened his mouth, closed it, and then finally—

"Did we win?" He asked.

"Yeah, buddy, we won," Jason said, "you feeling okay?"

"I'm tired," Percy said, before looking around. "Oh, damn, Reyna. You go check on the others."

He staggered over to where he had placed the Amazonian, kneeling by her side and pulling her into his lap. Jason heard her stir, as he made his way over to Changeling and Sorceress, who were taking cover behind the remains of the throne.

"That was dangerous magic," she said quietly, "the Trident is one thing, but what just happened…it was painful for me to be around, and I'm attuned to magic in a way that very few are. For Riptide to have been the source…he must've been in agony. Must still be."

"He seemed fine," Jason frowned, turning to where Percy was quietly talking with Reyna. He looked tired, dark bags under his eyes, face bruised and bloody, armour torn. But that was just the physical. He focused his listening, eyes widening when he realised what was happening.

"Percy!" Reyna cried out as the Atlantean slumped over. "What's wrong with him?"

Jason was too busy staring to answer. He had heard Percy's heart slow, and then skip.

And then stop.

MMXX

I don't know man; I just have a thing for Percy using too much power and then passing out. Or I guess having a heart attack in this case. As I finish this, it's 5:20 in the morning, which really shows just how messed up my sleep cycle is, because I started writing the second half of this at like, 3:00 AM.

On the matter of things that have been mentioned, I've decided the name I'm going to use for the group, which will come up sometime in the next two chapters. I've also decided to keep this as one chunker of a story, broken up into 'books.' Book One is, obviously, 'Go into the Water' and Book Two is yet to be named, but I know the direction I want to go with it. Speaking of, Book One has two chapters left in it, and then we'll have an interlude chapter before we start Book Two. I'll also some of the more frequent questions I get during the Interlude.

Finally, as always, please leave a review. Tell me what you think of the chapter. Tell me if you love it, tell me if you hated it, tell me what your favourite and least favourite scene was, but for the love of all that is holy and my sanity, don't ask me to update. I'll update this story as I'm able, as I find motivation at ungodly hours, and as I'm struck by inspiration. I love writing, and I love being able to share this with you, but everytime I get a 'pls update' or 'update now' comment I die a little on the inside, and so does my passion to write. I want to make something good, not something fast. That takes time and effort.

Cheers, CombatTombat