The Lion Boy

The Lion Boy Part 17

Percy POV

Later that night a Hermes camper who was a few years older than me, whom I didn't recognize came up to me. She had brown hair that reached to the small of her back, full lips, a light olive complexion, and dark brown eyes. A trouble making smile was spread across her face.
"Here are three genuine-fake passports." She walked away, a bounce in her step.
"Thanks, uh- Whats your name?" I asked as she started to disappear back in the crowd. She turned back for a second, just a last glance at her face.
"Bel, and, no problem!" I never saw Bel again. She died going home to visit her mother. A monster attacked the car half way back. The both of them died, but I'm just grateful she died loved. At least, that was my understanding. Demigods never live very long. Still, we had a quest, and though the death of anybody was sad, I didn't know her well enough to really grieve, and neither did Luke, so we moved on quickly. The next morning as promised, we were driven to a military base. A son of Ares Chiron taught at camp got us in.
"Alright, I'm Nick. Now shut up and get onto the plane. Stay still, stay quiet. I'll bring you food throughout the flight, and will get you out when we land. Have fun." He reminded me of Thalia. Then he led us back to the cargo area of the plane, nestled us comfortably between the bombs, and left us.
"Mm. Nice and cozy and roasty toasty." Luke said cheerfully.
"You'll be roasty toasty if this thing gets a little lighter fluid." Annabeth snaps. It was early morning, apparently too early for Annabeth.
"Quiet you two." I whispered quickly to them, and sighed a bit. Hadn't Nick told us to be quiet?
"If you're tired, nap. We have awhile." I said, closing my eyes myself.
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Roughly twenty four hours, hundreds of games of rock paper scissors, and a lot of sleeping later, we landed. Nick snuck us out quickly, taking us about a mile away from the base. A simple,
"Good luck," Was our last words of encouragement before we were alone again. In a war zone. In a very anti-American orientated country. I didn't know exactly where we were, just somewhere in the middle east. Somehow it had escaped my mind to ask, you know, the country we were in. Or, perhaps, the language they spoke. Stupid little details like that. I supposed we would find out soon enough.
"Just like the good old days again." I said, thinking of how we met.
"Well. We have absolutely no idea where she's being held, so I say we listen for the sound of gunfire and follow that." Annabeth chimed in helpfully. I shrugged.
"It'll have to work, in the meantime, let's start walking. We have to get somewhere eventually." And we did.
Coming into a town, we looked around. Children my age scrambled from alleyway to alley way, looking for shelter. Buildings all looked abandoned, but out of the corner of my eye I could see people peeking out of windows, or shutting curtains. Curious, or afraid of the strange children walking so casually through their home. Another kid, no more than three walked warily towards Luke.
He said something in another language, maybe Arabic, but held his hands out, asking for food. Luke looked to us, seeing if he could share. We both nodded furiously. We could live. He smiled gently at the small boy, and dug into his pack, handing him loaf of bread, a gatorade, and a small jar of peanut butter. We had packed to sustain ourselves, and eat a bit of junk food. Yes I could summon food if needed, but I also needed all the energy I could get. We had drank all of the water on the way here, knowing I could pull more out of the ground if needed. The other strays poked heads out of alleys, and came up as well. Asking. Luke ended up emptying his backpack, and giving away one of our canteens, which I had refilled with water quickly. I saw a car coming. Picking up the boy who had come first, I ran into an ally, grabbing the hands of several children to take with me. Once in, I put a finger to my lips. That was a universal sign, right? Maybe, maybe not, but the kids seemed to understand. Moving them behind us, we crouched down. No luck. Gunfire sounded.
Armed men wearing a covering to protect their faces from the harsh sand of the desert, and to protect their identities, came rushing down the alley, guns trained on the three of us. Their was a building behind me with a side door down this particular alley, which I opened, and ushered the children inside, leaving just Luke, Annabeth, and I.
"Put your hands up." I whispered to them.
"We surrender!" I called out. Five of the men rushed forward, grabbing our arms, and pinning them behind our backs. I had a way to get us out of this, eventually.
"You, Americans?" This was coming from a man that was obviously the leader.
"Yes." I said, hoping they didn't shoot us before I could let this work. The leader nodded towards our packs. Perfect. As the more men surged towards us to ransack the bags, I, as Fall Out Boy would say, lit 'em up. Setting my body on fire, I ran for the leader. I don't know what the mist made me appear as, it sure wouldn't let a flaming kid hang around. Maybe they say a child ninja who wielded a flamethrower. I wouldn't know. They opened fire. 'Beth and Luke knew a golden opportunity when they saw one, and taking advantage of the chaos, jumped their captors.
Annabeth jumped away, and flipping, kicked the man in the back of the head. He crumpled. Luke swung his leg under his jailers legs, and he went down on his butt, loosening his grip on his pistol. Luke grabbed that, and swung it into his gut. He fell, clutching it, and groaning. Luke opened fire, having practiced at the beach house, he made sure to only graze arms and legs. We would have gone for swords, but Olympian metal doesn't work on mortals. The men screamed and ran as he saw I was going for him, the men were still shooting at me, but the bullets melted before they could hit home.
The leader had backed himself into a dead end now, and to my horror was using a body that the group had shot while it was alive as a shield. I dropped the flames.
"Take your men away now, before I make them go." I growled at him. I was furious, I had heard gunfire back with the children, but I held the false hope that perhaps they were warning shots, meant to intimidate the townspeople. I wasn't sure he understood. I felt my mind move a little faster than normal, and knew my blessing from Rhea was kicking in. A strong mind, she had gifted me, and that finally translated, as it had been doing (albeit slowly) before. I repeated my threat in Arabic. Then opened my mouth again to say more.
"And if I ever have to come back to this village because of you, it will be the worst mistake of your life." I warned.
He nodded and shakily started for the other end of the alley. Reaching that he ran for the truck they had drove up in.
"Retreat! Retreat!" He yelled, getting into the driver's seat, and flooring the gas as soon as all of his men were back in the vehicle. I walked back over to Annabeth and Luke.
"Lets make a proper meal for the village, shall we?" They smiled at me.
I walked into an old building, and pulled out a rug. I brought it to the town square and started to get more. Everybody would sit. Once I thought I had enough, I went back into the building, and summoned a humongous pot luck sort of meal. Soup, steak, mashed potatoes, were all included. I brought it out, and sat it down. Then started walking away.
"They'll eat it." I told Luke and Annabeth as we left.
"They're just waiting for us to leave, after all, who's going head on with three ninja kids?" We smiled, and as we kept going I thought I heard the sound of cheering.
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A/N: Hey guys. I'm sorry I haven't been updating, vacation and all that. I won't be updating until at the minimum the sixth now, done with all the preprepared chapters. Sorry about this one, I don't feel it was my best. On the bright side, I am working on a Percico/Pernico one shot as well as the Doctor Who / Percy Jackson crossover. Still haven't decided if the crossover will be more than a one shot. I have picked out the name though and made a cover, it will be called Demigods in the TARDIS. See you later.
Your Favorite Demigod,
Isa Rivers