Percy Jackson: Hardened

Chapter 7

Just great.

Here I am, sitting in some stinky old cell, gods know where in Tartarus, while some b-list Norse god is taking over the world.
I've only been awake a short while, but time is irrelevant down here, seeing as Tartarus controls it.

However, I might have a slight advantage over him. I'm hoping that since he wasn't able to reach me, he is unaware of me strengthening my powers. The element of surprise is always a killer advantage in combat, sometimes literally.

Soon enough, a small compartment in my cell door is opened with a painful screech. At the sound, my mind switches gears to strategy.

I pretend to sleep, hoping to fool whoever is checking in through the peephole.

Assuming my acting fooled the watcher, I begin my escape as soon as I hear the shriek of the metal compartment closing. That sound is my escape. The door is rusted, or more like corroded from the pit's toxic air, making it weak.

With one strong kick, I crash through the cell door, causing quite the commotion in the otherwise silent hall.

I waste no time in dashing off, in search of the exit.

Unfortunately my plans are once again foiled by a certain smelly pit primordial.

"Now, where might you think you're going, Jackson?"

The smell of his nasty breath hits me like a train. Someone really needs to introduce him to a toothbrush.

"Hopefully the way out of this place."

He laughed menacingly, and the dark corridor somehow got even dimmer.

"Look man, I really need to get back to the mortal world. If you want, you can tag along and we can get you some breath mints?" I offer.

The temperature drops dramatically and I feel the air burn my throat much more than before. In the blink of an eye, the primordial's fist was coming straight for me at a speed that should be impossible for his impressive stature.

However, with my reflexes sharper than ever, I dodge and fly into a kick aimed for the center of his mangled chest.

He blocks my kick with a screen of darkness, but still stumbles slightly from the force.

Taking his momentary shock for my advantage, I send numerous blows to incapacitate the primordial god. Few of my hits land, as his surprise lasts less than a second, but it is enough for me to gain a slight upper hand.

Finally I manage to serve a harsh direct blow that sends the god of the pit straight into a wall.

I almost instantly regret it as the infrastructure of the building begins to shake and crack, and chunks of the ceiling begin to fall.

With one last sinister laugh, Tartarus fades into darkness, leaving me to be crushed.

I take off with speeds that rival my pace at the bottom of the Marianas trench. Not having a single clue on the whereabouts of the exit, I brace myself and smash through the wall of the already deteriorating facility.

I quickly thank the fates I was not held captive underground, before regaining my speed.

Seeing as I have no one to hold the doors of death for me, I instead head off for the entrance from the underworld. The closer I get to the entrance, the more strain the pit puts on me, trying to pull me back.

With one final leap, I burst from the pit into the underworld, strangely relieved to be in my uncle's domain.

Having sensed a new presence enter his kingdom from Tartarus, the god of the underworld appears by me in a blinding light, clad in his helm.

"Reveal yourse-- Percy?"

I struggle to keep from thinking about Nico. Gods I miss death breath.

I shake my head and begin to search for the water signatures of the members of Fury's Avengers Initiative, and find them in the all too familiar New York City.

"It's great to see you, but I've really got to get going. Catch you later, Uncle!" With that I vapor travel away, leaving a gaping Hades.