broken

chapter fifteen

Percy POV

Annabeth found me. When I see her face, I want nothing more than to run to her and hug her and hold her. Her face is covered in grime, but her eyes shine with pride and a few more emotions I can't place. I dart my eyes back to Calypso, trying to convey a message. And she seems to understand.

"Calypso," she says, "are we going to do this the easy way, or the hard way? You know I'm stronger than you." Calypso's face contorts, a rush of emotions passing over it.

"What's the difference?" she asks. "You're going to kill me no matter what." The confidence in her voice is unmistakable. She truly believes we won't spare her.

"Calypso, we won't kill you. I won't kill you," Annabeth says, her eyebrows furrowing. "What do you want anyway?" Calypso's eyes flick to me, her mouth still held up in a smirk. Glancing back at Annabeth, I see her eyes fill with realization. Oh, how I missed those eyes. She looks at me, and I shake my head, trying to tell her never. She doesn't seem to believe me, and she turns back to Thalia and Reyna, no doubt trying to figure out what to do. I glance back at Calypso, and her eyes meet mine. I instantly harden my face, telling her with my expression that I will never leave Annabeth.

Her smirk fades, and I turn away, walking over to Annabeth and everyone else, noticing there are a lot more people here than I expected.

"Annabeth," I say, and her eyes meet mine before I continue, "never." She looks like she's trying to believe me, but I know it's difficult for her. I wrap my arms around her. "I swear to every god in existence. I will never leave you." She nods her head, and I gesture towards Calypso. "What do you want to do with her?"

"I need to talk to her, privately. So we have to capture her. I was thinking of bringing her back to Avengers complex, because they have more cells. She's strong Percy, she'll be hard to detain."

"So how do we capture her?" I ask quietly, glancing back at Calypso, her smirk completely vacating her face at how close Annabeth and I were standing. Annabeth smiles at me lightly before facing the rest of the group. She was in her element now. Nothing would stop her.

"Okay. So, all the guards are basically wiped out now, right?" she asks Thalia.

"Unless they're hiding somewhere," Thalia answers, pride shining through her voice. Annabeth motions for Reyna, Thalia, and I to follow her, and she pulls us away from the rest of the group.

"All we need to do now is detain Calypso. She's strong, but there's a lot of us. I need someone to distract her while one of us tackles her to the ground, and the other handcuffs her. I don't think that we'll need many people for that, but I have a feeling there are more guards somewhere." She looks around at us, and I can see the gears working in their heads. Reyna was going to distract, Annabeth was going to tackle, and Clarrise was going to put the handcuffs on her.

"Percy," Annabeth says, "Stand guard at the door with the others. I have a feeling we're going to have some company once she's in handcuffs." I nod, pulling out Riptide. I walk over to the door, and give everyone a quick smile. I know they're glad I'm safe, but the fight isn't over yet.

I quickly tell the rest of the group to line up, and we form a barrier between the small room with the girls and the rest of the world. My back is facing the room, but within a minute Annabeth taps me on the shoulder and I turn around. I see a small cut on her cheek and some bruises on her arms, but Calypso's behind her, her arms handcuffed behind her back. I think we're ready to go, but then Calypso yells some sort of command, and dozens of guards come rushing our way. No, these weren't guards. They're monsters.

"Monsters, they're monsters!" I yell, and watch as they're wiped out by the rest of the crew. They're so many of us that we trip over each other, but pretty soon there's only a coating of ashes on the floor to remind us that anything was there ten minutes before. Annabeth smiles at me and grabs Calypso's arm, dragging her to the entrance of the warehouse. We all follow her, and I'm so glad this is over.

I see Leo in Tony's arms, but notice the slight rise and fall of his chest, understanding he's only unconscious. I look to Tony's right and see a man with a metal arm holding Connor's limp body, a small knife sticking out of his chest, his blood stained shirt the only sign that he was once alive. All it takes is one look at Travis to confirm my suspicions. All the pride, all the hope, all the joy is wiped off my face immediately.

No. This is my fault. He died because of me. A few tears make their way down my cheeks as I fall to my knees on the hard floor of the warehouse, my body now racking with silent sobs.

Everything I do. Someone gets hurt. Why did I think everyone was safe this time? Why did I think I could do it? I can't.

I'm just a broken kid from Manhattan.