Clockwork

23

"What do you need with them?" Percy asked. The spy was unconscious and tied with Amanda. Jasmine was awake, and she was recovering from whatever the so-called Eleven had exploded and spread in the air rather quickly compared to the others.

Eleven stood there, a sadistic grin on his face. "My father created you? You look rather outdated."

Percy couldn't help but agree. Eleven was built like an android, artificially intelligent. Percy was the opposite; he was built like a clock, so he could be easily repaired but hard to actually control. Percy controlled his own mind and couldn't be reprogrammed, which he couldn't say for Eleven. Everything about him seemed to be remote controlled. Eleven was more of a humanoid robot, while Percy was a robotic human.

"What is that sound? That odd clinking noise?" Eleven asked, obviously annoyed.

It was Percy's heart. Metal tapping metal as it beat at a steady pace. The sound was usually undetectable, so either Percy was losing his touch or Eleven had exceptionally good hearing.

"That's coming from you?" Eleven asked, disbelief creeping into his voice.

So this guy was capable of emotion. Good to know.

Then Eleven started laughing. His laughter was a horrid sound, a high pitched cackle, that seemed to echo as if it were multiple people laughing. Air escaped from the metal flaps he called a throat and the sound filled the air, and the wires that sprouted from his eyes swayed like a bouquet of serpents.

"Y-you have a heart? Y-y-you've weakened yourself, to have some useless organ? Why would you ever do that?" Eleven asked through his laughter.

"A heart? That's pretty far-fetched. It doesn't really sound like one, does it?" Percy asked innocently. Which was true, his heart didn't make a thumping sound with every beat.

"You're right, it almost sounds like... a clock," Eleven said. "How fitting. Let's take a look, shall we?"

The son of Hephaestus bounded towards Percy, and Percy could do nothing but lift his arm. Percy didn't know what the son--or creation-- of Hephaestus planned to do, but in the last second Percy rolled his shoulder, and his regular sword ripped through Eleven's tattered skull just as his hand tore through the metal of Percy's armor, tearing off Percy's limb.

Blood and oil-covered both of them. The nanobots materialized in and out of existence, giving Percy a makeshift arm. It was a fake, but it kept any gears from falling out.

Eleven's wires from his eye sockets dropped limply, and his body seemed to shut down.

"Must... complete... mission..." He mumbled. With surprising speed, he struck Percy with newfound strength, and Percy didn't bring out Riptide fast enough to meet the blow. Eleven's hand met Percy's helmet, and the sound of metal hitting metal filled the air. His helmet cracked in half, showing Percy's less than pleased expression.

Blood from Percy's scalp trailed down his face as Eleven grabbed the three girls and took his opportunity to flee. He didn't have a good grip on one of them though, and they injured themselves on a tree. A trail of blood followed them, and Percy rolled his shoulder and held Riptide at ready before following in after them.

The line of trees were thicker, and Percy had to weave through them to keep the bloody trail insight. But there was a peculiar trail of decaying trees. They were slowly dying, withering to dust. Like what had happened in the camp.

Percy had a choice now. Follow the dying trees, and maybe find the woman described by the demigods of Camp Half-Blood, or continue being lead by a trail of blood.