Remedy Rescue (Remedy Series #2)

Chapter Six

He was walking back, lost in thought when something wrapped around his throat and arms, restricting him. Percy seized up and kicked his leg back but was only met with air. They dragged him into the nearest alleyway, out of view of the streets. The knocked him on his back and his head cracked against the ground, causing his vision to blur.

Above him stood something that was by no means human.

~~~~

Percy stared at the creature with a wide-eyed and dazed look up at the creature before him. It looked like no Greek monster he'd ever encountered before, and he'd encountered a few. Its head was smooth and scaly and it had the face of an old man and the skin clung to its face, giving it a haunted look. Beady black eyes that swallowed the iris glared down at him and strong, bony hands held Percy down on the ground. The alien creature was stronger than its frail looking body portrayed.

Percy clenched his fists and snarled at the alien, too busy thrashing in its grip to realize it was actually trying to speak to him. It slapped him clean across the face and Percy froze. The alien took its chance.

"Listen, mortal," It hissed. "For I have a few questions for you."

Percy said nothing, only glaring at the alien and reaching out for the feel of water around him, sloshing around in the pipes below and the buildings around.

"You were frequently spotted with the trickster, Loki. What relationship did you, a mortal hold with such a creature? His consort, perhaps?"

Percy didn't even hear the last sentence.

Did.

D i d.

It said did. Did as in past tense. As in something that once was but no longer is.

Percy's fear receded as he registered the alien's words. "Did?" He asked slowly, the word sounding as if it were foreign. Did implied a past relationship. Did implied something that was no longer ongoing. The creature was not one that neither Percy nor Loki were personally familiar with. Which meant it knew Loki was dead.

"Yes! Now I suggest you chose your answer to this next question wisely if you value your life. Were you, close enough to the Trickster, to know what made him mortal?"

Everything stopped.

Everything clicked.

Percy's voice was low and dangerous as he next spoke. "You... you killed Loki." T'was, not Percy that needed to fear for his life. In fact, it was Death that the demigod might very well embrace.

Percy's words were no question.

They were fact. He was stating it. It was not a question, but a cold, hard fact.

Percy couldn't hear the alien's voice over the noise of the blood roaring in his ears, begging for a fight, to slay the creature that took his lover. 

The pipes lining the alley shuddered as violent water swirled in the metal tracks, straining to be free. The pipes groaned and gave way, releasing a powerful spray ready for Percy's command.

And boy did he use it.

With a flick of his wrist, the water roared to life, growing over the alien's skin like a weed. In shock, the alien attempted to shove off the rising water but it only crawled over its hands and travelled up its arms, closer and closer to its face. The water started to choke it, entering any space it could find, anything to make the alien suffer as Percy wished. The alien's yelps were stifled as the water filled its mouth and started to choke it. It filled its nostrils, blinded its eyes until the alien was clawing at its face, fighting for breath. Percy watched on in stony silence, wearing a mask of indifference. Minutes passed and slowly the alien dropped unconscious, almost dead. It stayed conscious longer than a human would. It lay there twitching.

I could keep doing this. I could do it so easily. I could kill it right here, make it suffer until its last breath. Let it feel my pain... 

It was overwhelming, Percy's urge to kill the creature. And he could do it. So, so easily. The alien would suffer too. Drowning was a terrible way to die.

"Percy!"

Percy flinched and recoiled, losing his command on the water as frightened eyes flashed before him.

Annabeth?

She was there, standing nervously in the corner, looking on in horror at what he was doing. In a flash the alien was replaced with Akhlys, suffering and drowning in her own blood and fluid, in poison, Annabeth in the background begging him to stop.

Is this who I am now? Is this all I fought to become?

No.

It isn't.

They'd be horrified if they saw me now.

The water receded.

Percy took a deep breath.

Go back. Go back to them. Talk to them. Don't push them away too.

But of course, Percy wasn't going to leave the alien lying in the alleyway. He had questions, and one way or another, the demigod was going to get his answers. The only problem was getting the alien to the tower without freaking out the mortals.

Perhaps it was time for Percy to get back in the habit of manipulating the Mist.

Percy grabbed the alien's foot and dragged the body to the nearest street, envisioning that he was walking a dog. When nobody freaked out Percy assumed it was working.

He was at the foot of the Avengers Tower. All he had to do was cross the road. Cross the road and there was no turning back. 

They know now.

Percy put one foot on the road, following the swarms of people. He was closed in by people, all with destinations in mind. Places to go. Places to get to. People to get to. Somebody bumped Percy's shoulder harshly and he turned around to say something when he noticed.

All Percy had left was a shoe.

Where'd the alien go?

~~~~

A creature of foreign appearance knelt before a being greater than himself. 

"My Lord. Loki had a partner."

A deep, almost gravelly voice responded, sinister intent laced in his voice, even with a single word. "Oh?"

~~~~

Been a while, my apologies.

Peace,

BTSWD
Borntosingwithdrama