A Pirate's Life For Me

Cat's Out Of The Bag

Thalia and Nico's ships moved at the same speed, slowly gaining on the dark blue ship.

"Get ahold of Dark, ask him what his plan is!" Light ordered.

"Yes, Ma'am!" Will shouted. He ran up and began to work to make an Iris Message. Using the spray the bow was throwing up, he drew sunlight directly through it.

"Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept my offering and show me Nico di Angelo or Dark." Thalia ordered.

"What do you want, Light?" Nico seemed to be going over battle plans with his second in command, a dark skinned girl with wild, cinnamon-ish colored curls.

"What is your plan for this attack?"

"I think we should each take a side of the ship. This pirate seems to be a runner, he won't be on deck when we get there. Ransack the ship, we'll split the crew as prisoners, and we'll dispatch Green Eyes together." Nico explained.

"I rather like that. But I want the boy with the eyepatch." Thalia growled.

The son of Hades scowled for a moment. "Fine. I get the first pick of the others then."

"Deal. It would seem that they are slowing down." Thalia observed.

Nico turned to watch the ship. One of the sails had collapsed, flapping uselessly. It seemed that one of the ropes had snapped and the sail could no longer be pulled taut. A scrawny figure scrambled around the rigging, trying to get the sail undone, but he had been unsuccessful until now.

"Close in." Thalia ordered with a devilish grin.

"Gladly." Nico swiped through the message and turned his attention to the shadow cast by the mainmast of his own ship. 

Using his umbra-kinetic powers, he pushed the boat forward, using the shadows to reach forward and pull while others shoved from the back.

Thalia watched his method of speeding up and nodded in approval. With a wave of her hand, wind burst up and pushed her ship faster. She made sure to match pace with the black ship next to hers, if they weren't in sync right now, they could lose this blasted captain.

"Prepare to board!" Both captains bellowed at the same time.

On Nico's ship, rows of skeleton warriors, their parts stored in the bilge, assembled at the bow. The living occupants of the ship lined up next to them, all with their weapons at the ready. Nico was moving the boat fully by himself now.

On Thalia's ship, the group was much fewer. She didn't have the option to create warriors, she had never been good at that. It had always been Jason's job, but now he was gone. However, her crew was ready, their weapons glinting lightly in the sun.

They were closing in on the dark blue ship and could see figures frantically working to speed up the ship's movements. It wasn't working. The boy in the rigging, they could see it was a boy now, was still scrambling about, attempting to free the limp sail from it's position.

"It won't budge!" They heard him faintly scream.

"PREPARE TO BE BOARDED!" A strong voice screamed from their target.

The black ship and the white ship split and rounded their crippled pray. "Grappling hooks!" Thalia bellowed.

Working quickly, the two crews lashed the three ships together.

"Board!" Nico yelled to his demigod crew, keeping the skeletons where they were for the moment.

He knew he wouldn't need them. The crew of this other ship was pitiful. His crew would be able to take them alone, there was no way they'd survive both his and Thalia's crew.

"Circle up!" A voice on the ship bellowed as demigods spilled onto the center ship from both sides. The tiny crew closed in on itself, weapons facing outward.

Thalia and Nico's boots hit the deck at the same time and they strode towards the circled group.

"Well, well, well, what have we here?" Nico asked.

"Looks like a bunch of untrained kids." Thalia remarked.

"Could say the same about you." One of the boys on the crew remarked. The boy next to him elbowed him sharply.

"And you are?" Nico asked condescendingly.

"None of your business, son of Hades." The large boy spat back.

"Harsh. But I do prefer to know the names of those I kill." Nico remarked.

"That won't be happening today, di Angelo." A familiar voice responded from the group.

The young teens split and Reyna stepped into view.

"Thalia, Nico. What brings you here?"

"Why the Hades are you here?" Thalia demanded.

"Had to find work somewhere, didn't I?" The daughter of Enyo said acidly.

"Here's a lot better than on one of your ships." Piper stepped up as well. Frank was at her side and Leo dropped from the rigging to stand next to him.

"You fools." Nico snarled. "Where is your captain? And where is that pesky son of Posiedon? I'd rather like to spill his blood today."

"If anyone is to spill blood, it shall be me." A voice remarked from above.

Thalia and Nico looked up to the quarterdeck and gaped.

"Hello, cousins." Percy stood there, his tricorn hat tipped slightly sideways on his head and his long coat flapping slightly around the calves of his high boots. His hand rested on his sword hilt as he smirked down at the dumbfounded captains.

"Were you looking for me?"

[A/N The pic is more the position he's standing in than anything. Performance went really well today, I'm really happy about it!]