Hell And High Water (Percico boyxboy)

XXV

Nico woke Percy early the next morning so the two could actually pack for their trip to Camp Half Blood, since Percy didn't want to the day before. But, to be fair, Nico didn't want to that morning. Actually, the son of Hades still wasn't too stoked about going but, as of the previous day, he felt he kind of had to.
Percy wasn't too excited, either, but that was because he didn't want to get up when Nico roused him. He actually even pulled the younger back onto the bed and wrapped his arms around the son of Hades, cuddling the younger like a giant teddy bear.
Nico gave a sigh. "Percy we-"
"Shhhhh," The older interrupted. "I'm sleeping."
Nico looked behind him and saw a slight smile on Percys barely awake face. He smiled back, finding himself unable to try and make Percy get up, before snuggling into the older demigod to be held until the son Poseidon decided to get out of bed.
It wasn't much time, though, before Hazel stomped into the room, yelling at her half-brother and pretty much making Percys decision for him.
"Nico," she crossed her arms "what the heck are you doing? The two of you should be packed already. Get up!"
Percy rolled onto his back, unfurling the younger from his arms, and clamped his hands over his ears. Nico was left chuckling at the son of Poseidons reaction to Hazels yelling but she scoffed and shook her haed. Nico looked at her with a light smile and the daughter of Hades left the room with a growl and Nico tried once again to get Percy up and ready, this time with success.
The two teens started, right away and with a little difficulty, packing their things to leave, although Nico still wasn't really sure if he should bail out on Hazel. He wanted to go with Percy, to be sure the elder got to Camp okay, but he wanted to stay behind with his half-sister, too.
Nico tossed one of Percys shirts to him but didn't go back to packing his own things. Instead, he spoke to the elder demigod.
"Percy, I don't know about this..."
Percy threw the shirt onto the floor and turned to the younger. The look on his face was one Nico had never seen before, well at least never on the son of Poseidons face. It was such an angry look that Nico even felt a little afraid. He actually found himself glancing around the room to make sure there weren't any bottles or glasses of water that Percy could have manipulated at will.
"What are you talking about?" The elder spat, bringing Nicos attention back to him.
The son of Hades looked back at the elder and sighed. "Percy, Hazel-"
Percys growl cut Nicos words short. "What about me, Nico? Do I not matter? Does the fact that I want you to go with me not matter to you?"
The younger shook his head and took a few steps closer to the son of Poseidon. "Percy," he spoke softly but with force, "don't go there. What matters to me is your safety, as well as my sisters. Knowing you're going back to Camp Half Blood is reassuring and I know you'll be safe once you're there. But on this side, things will get much more serious. Hazel and Frank are goin' after Typhon and the Manticore. They will be risking their lives day in and day out and I can't handle not knowing whats going on with her every minute of every day. The only way I'll know that is if I stay with them." He tried to toss a small smile out at the end but he failed when he looked at the son of Poseidons face.
Percy threw one of Nicos pairs of boxers at the younger and ran into the other side of the suite where Hazel and Frank were talking quietly, planning on how to get Leo back. They both stopped when they saw the son of Poseidon and looked up at him.
"Nicos talking about staying."
The daughter of Hades opened her eyes wide and shifted her gaze to her half-brother, who had come into the room just seconds behind Percy. He looked pretty angry about Percy being a taddle tale but Hazel was happy the son of Poseidon told her what was going on.
She smiled at her half-brother and approached him slowly, fixing the wrinkles in his shirt. "Nico, Nico, Nico. I know exactly why you don't want to leave and you need to let it go. I'm not a porcelain doll, okay? I won't break if I'm dropped. Franks here, he'll protect me."
Nico shook his head at her. "That's not fair to me, Hazel!"
"Life's not fair, Nico." She spoke flatly.
The son of Hades was prepared to get into a heated argument with his half-sister but it stopped before it even started when Hazel's phone rang. She held a hand up to silence his very first word and answered the call, keeping the phone off of speaker.
"Hello." There was no questioning the anger and tension in Hazel's tone.
'Miss Hazel Lavesque.' It was Typhon. And he was smiling. 'How are you?'
Hazel cleared her throat. "What do you want?"
'My oh my. You people really don't like small talk.'
Hazel remained silent.
Typhon sighed. 'Fine. Then let me do the talking.' He sniffled a bit. 'Everyone here knows your brother plans on ditching out. I don't like that idea. So, I am going to make sure he doesn't.'
Hazel gritted her teeth, not liking how the morning was going so far between Percy, Nico, and now Typhon. "How?"
'Oh, sweetie,' Typhon teased 'that's the easy part. I've known where you were staying for a while now and I am here, waiting to escort you, Frank, Nico, and Percy from your hotel.' There was a smile clearly on Typhons face. Hazel could practically hear it.
The daughter of Hades pulled the phone away from her ear for a moment and took a deep breath before bringing the speaker back to her mouth. "And where will you be escorting us?"
The other three demigods perked up hearing Hazel say 'escorting'.
Typhon chuckled in Hazel's ear. 'To Leo, of course.'
The daughter of Hades clenched her fist. "Why would you take us to Leo?"
He chucked again, or rather just kept the last one going. 'To make sure all four of you actually make it, since that apparently wasn't obvious.'
Hazel tensed and started panicking just a slight bit when she heard that. She never thought the men would make sure all four demigods came to get Leo back but she knew she couldn't let anything of the sort happen. She needed to get Nico and Percy away from all this any way she could before it was too late. And, if that meant coming up with a lie, which was against her better judgment, then so be it.
"Well, two of us are already gone."
Typhon gasped at that and it almost sounded real. 'Is that so?'
Hazel grabbed a notepad and wrote *get your stuff and get out now use basement door Typhon is here* before tossing it to her half-brother. "It is. They left sometime last night."
Nico read the note and pulled Percy behind him in a frenzy so the two could finish packing as quickly as possible, no longer caring whose clothes were whose or that he didn't want to leave his half-sister. Nico checked everything to make sure nothing was left behind before grabbing his car keys and heading back over to Hazel, who was still talking to Typhon.
"When I got up this morning."
A few more seconds passed before Hazel hung up her phone and looked to her half-brother. "You gotta go!"
Nico shook his head. "This isn't what I wanted."
Hazel nodded and took Nicos car keys to exchange them for her own. "I know, but it's what needs to happen."
Nico wrapped her quickly in his arms and held her tight in his grasp, not wanting to let go. It took her a second but she returned his embrace lovingly. Nico was close to tears at the thought of leaving his only real family in some hotel with two crazy murderers after her and he gripped his half-sister tighter. But he had to let her go. He had to leave...
Nico forced himself to pull away from his half-sister and turned to Frank.
"Keep her safe or I swear I'll find you and kill you."
Frank nodded, not doubting the son of Hades was capable of following through with his threat. "I will."
Nico turned back to Hazel and took her hands. "Please keep me updated."
She nodded and kissed his cheek gently. "Go."
Nico gave a nod before looking deeply into her eyes and turning away. He let Hazel's hands slip from his own and grabbed onto Percys before heading down the flight upon flight of stairs they would need to conquer in order to reach the basement.
And that's where the real problems began.
Nico grasped the handle of the basement door tightly before cursing fiercely.
"What?"
"It's locked" He spat back.
Percy groaned lightly. He had been trying to stay as calm as possible through all this but, at that point, calm was the last thing on his mind. He couldn't help but think that something as simple as a locked door could potentially lead them to be standing at Deaths door, and that was not where they wanted to be.
Nico pushed Percy gently away from the exit and dug something out of his bag.
"What's that?"
Nico flipped the device in his hand a few times before pressing a button on the side and seeing small red numbers appear. "A prototype nano-bomb. It was made for the military but never labeled as safe, since the blast range was wider than anticipated."
Percy stared at the small bomb in awe. "Where'd you get it?"
Nico stuck the device to the door and pulled Percy as far as he could away from it, even going as far as standing on the other side of a wall, before the 'nano-bomb' gave a small bang and pieces of metal flew from the door. One even embedded itself into the wall, going all the way through it, only a few inches from Nicos head and he tensed and slid away from it in shock. He waited for the sound of falling rubble to cease before pulling Percy to his feet and to the, now, largely open exit.
"It was the last thing Charon gave me before he died." Nico said, finally answeing Percys question. "He told me to put it to good use. I just hope he'd be happy with what I did with it."
Percy gave the younger a light smile and a small nod, hearing him talk about his friend, and Nico gripped the elders hand tightly to pull him further into the basement. The door, which was completely gone, was replaced by a small cloud of smoke, filling the space under the 'exit' sign, that they struggled to see through. The two teens had to step over the rubble to get out, but the mess was the least of their concern. Hotel workers had found their way into the basement and there were yells and hollers about the mess then someone cursed loudly and shouted about the door. Or, lack thereof, rather.
The son of Hades dragged the elder up the basement steps, into the parking lot, and to Hazels car before pushing Percy into the passanger seat and starting the engine from the other. Percy looked in the rear view mirror and saw something he would have preferred not to: three people climbing onto motorcycles, all with large guns in their grasp.
"Um, Nico?" Percy said nervously.
"What?" The younger had just finished turning the key in the ignition.
"We have company."
The son of Hades looked behind him and saw the three, now moving and quite close to the car. "Shit. Can't I ever get a break?! Damn it all to Tartarus!!" He turned to the elder demigod and looked him in the eyes, speaking with a harsh tone. "You remember when I taught you how to use a gun?"
Percy went wide eyed, being able to imagine where Nico was going with that and not liking the idea, but nodded anyway.
"Well that's gonna come in handy." He flopped a large pistol into Percys lap. "Forget everything I told you in the firing range about aiming and just shoot those bastards. Va bene?"
Percy nodded and Nico quickly put the car in gear and tore out of the parking lot, followed by the motorcycles and their riders. Percy bounced around the passanger seat as he rolled the window down and stuck his torso out of it, like they do in the movies. He tried to aim and make sure he would be able to hit the 'target' but the car and the motorcycles were bouncing around way too much as they sped down the San Francisco street. He couldn't steady his arm or judge the distance and each second that passed made it harder to do either of those two things. And when you top it off with the distraction of someone yelling at you, it's even worse.
"Percy! Stop fuckin' around and just shoot! Don't worry about aiming, just shoot!"
Hearing that wasn't the easiest thing, but it put Percy in a whole new state of mind. He slipped into his demigod mode of thinking and started squeezing the trigger as many times as he could, just hoping to hit something. He didn't care if it was a person, a bike, a tire, whatever. As long as he hit something. The more damage he did to the people behind them the better, but doing damage wasn't his sole concern anymore. Instead, it was just causing enough of a ruckus to get the riders away from the car.
The first couple of shots Percy fired missed anything but the next few found a true target. One hit a tire, flipping a bike over and sending it's rider flying. Another hit a man's arm, causing him to drop his gun and lose control of his bike. The third hit a man in the chest and it became very apparent he wasn't wearing a vest when his bike tipped and he fell from it, rolling down the street in a bloody mess. Nico looked in the mirror as he shifted gears and noticed that Percy had taken out three of their persuers, but there were still two left. One held an AK-47 and was attempting to spray shots at the car and the other, a woman, had some sort of grenade launcher type deal that did not look freindly.
"Percy," Nico said flatly as he shifted yet again. "I need you to do something you're really gonna hate."
"What?" The son of Poseidons words were laced with worry; he wasn't sure what he would like less than shooting a bunch of people on motorcycles in the middle of the street.
"In the backseat," Nico said quickly but clearly, "there's a sniper. Climb behind and grab it."
Percy swallowed hard but nodded and climbed into the backseat before taking the sniper rifle in his hands. "Got it."
Nico looked in the rear view mirror again. "Okay. Through the window, aim it at the one with grenade gun."
"With the what?" Percy queried, frightened.
"The grenade launcher, Percy! It's the woman! Aim it at the woman! Specifically her gun!"
Percy nodded as beads of sweat started to accumulate on his brow and his mouth dried like the Sahara Desert. He positioned the rifle on his sholder the way he thought he should and asked Nico to steady the car. The son of Hades tried to keep the steering wheel as even as possible but that wasn't the easiest thing in the world to do when you're being chased down by people with guns while trying to avoid hitting other cars on the road, all at once.
The man with the Ak-47 fired a few rounds that littered the back end of Hazel's car in bullet holes and made Percy jump, but he got back into position as quickly as possible. He tried his hardest to ignore the gun shots and just do what needed to be done but getting shot at was nerve racking. And it got worse for him when the woman readied her gun to use it.
"Oh, gods, Nico she's gonna shoot us!"
"Oh, fuck no!" Nico shouted, looking into the rear view. "Percy, aim at the mouth of her gun!"
"What!?" Percy turned a little to look at Nico, a shocked and tense expression on his face. "How?!"
"Very carefully!" The younger shouted as he tried to miss a pot hole.
"Shit." Percy cursed under his breath and tried to aim down the barrel of the woman's large grenade launcher. But it wasn't the easiest thing to do. People say staring down the barrel of a gun that's pointed at you is the scariest thing in the world. Well, Percy figured, they had never tried to aim and shoot down the barrel of the gun pointed at them before. He was in a heavy panic and it got much much worse when the woman shot a grenade out of the end of her barrel. The son of Poseidon froze and then flinched when the grenade landed on the bed of the truck next to them. Nico swerved away from the pick up with heavy curses just seconds before the grenade exploded and sent the truck, along with the car right next to it, up in flames.
Once the son of Hades got himself pulled back together and steadied the car on the road again, he told Percy to shoot.
"Just shoot the damn gun, Percy!"
The elder demigod forced his shaking hands to steady and he aimed the sniper one more time. He prayed to Poseidon as he did, asking for a steadied hand and a good shot. The son of the sea god could feel his heart pounding in his chest so loudly that everything else faded into background noise: the screeching of tires and the younger demigods yelling could no longer be heard because of it. But, much to his surprise, his heartbeat had suddenly steadied. Within a fraction of a second, Percy felt as though the entire world had stopped moving and it was just him and the woman's gun. He rested the sniper on the head rest of the back seat and steadied it, pointing the barrel in the direction of the woman with the grenade launcher. He aimed right down the large barrel of the frightening gun, flicked the bolt of his own gun up, back, then forward, and squeezed the trigger with little hesitation. The seconds before the bullet hit it's target seemed to go by so slow that Percy felt he had missed. But he couldn't have been more wrong. Once time seemed to flow properly again, an explosion emanated from the woman's bike and sprawled over the other man's bike and at least a hundred foot radius with her at its center.
Nico looked in his rear view mirror and whooped and hollered at the sight. He started congratulating Percy for a good shot and he slammed his foot into the floor, speeding away from the explosion.
After a few minutes, Percy finally calmed enough, and Nico slowed his driving enough, to climb back into the passanger seat and speak to the younger.
"Hazel's gonna be mad" Percy said calmly.
Nico squinted his eyes as he drove carefully, sure to follow each and every traffic law now that they were a good enough distance from the hotel. "Why?"
Percy chuckled a bit. "There's a hole in her back window."
Nico chuckled, too, and the two kept on their way back to Camp Half Blood.