Chapter 37: The Ship.

[A/N: The ship is like the size of two Imperial star destroyers, and looks like the Axium from Wall-E.]

"What did they do to her..?" Percy whispered in agony.

Luke put his hand on Percy's shoulder, not knowing what else to do. The other four looked around the room anxiously.

The six of them had snuck aboard the ship, with very direct mission orders from Chaos.

Obliterate the ship and try to get Estelle out.

For three hours, they had slowly, painstakingly, snuck past every obstacle before finally making it to Estelle's chambers. If you could call it that. She was in a completely white room with a singular half glass half mirror wall, which the team members were staring through.

It had a small bed, a small desk, and many, many drawings, with only about two crayons and 3 sheets of blank paper left. There were splotches of blood in the room, and Estelle was rocking on the bed, sobbing, bunched into a ball.

But that's not the worst part. Not even close. She was about six, and her body was covered in multicolored tattoos and scars, all glowing various shades of red or black.

Percy stared at his sister through the glass in pain and anger. "How... how could they! She's a child!" He said angrily.

Orion looked around the room they were in, his robotic eye whirring and clicking as it analyzed everything, sending it directly to Beckendorf to be utilized.

"Guys, we need to get out fast. The moment we get her out of that room, the entire ship will know," he said.

Percy took his mask off and stuffed it in his cloak, before turning and nodding to Theseus. Theseus grimaced and pulled his arm back for a punch. His fist slammed into the glass wall, obliterating it.

Estelle's head whipped to the glass, and Percy rushed forward, noting her one bright, glowing orange eye. Red lights started flashing, and alarms started to blare.

"Estelle, hey," he said quickly as he got stood in front of her. "We're gonna get you out, okay?"

She stared at him with wide eyes. "P-percy?" She asked hesitantly.

Percy nodded. "Yeah. It's me, Wavepool."

Estelle grabbed his cloak and hugged him tight, crying.

Percy swallowed with difficulty and picked her up in his arms, cradling her crying form, as she sobbed into his chest.

He turned around and rushed out of the white room. Theseus grabbed the Veroxian metal door that had slammed shut behind them and ripped it apart.

"Security measures like that don't work against me," he said somewhat pridefully.

Castor slapped the back of his head. "Not the time!" He said as he rushed out of the door.

Lee laughed at Theseus's astounded face as he followed Castor.

Soon, all of them were running through the hallways they had snuck through, cutting wires and kicking open random doors on their ways through.

They entered a massive room full of monsters. As they slashed through them, Castor's eyes widened.

He threw his hands up, and instantly, all the members of the team were incased in massive, viny balls. In his last moments, he smiled.

"What is-" Percy began to say before he was cut off by a massive explosion. A small symbol on Estelle's shoulder glowed a deep red.

The vines receded, and everyone stared at the room in shock. Everything was charred black, and there was no sign of Castor.

"Go!" Lee yelled, tears stinging his eyes. They continued running through hallways, not processing what had just happened. It had happened too fast.

Eventually, they wound up to a crossroads. Orion and Lee went to the ship engine while the other three went to the docking bay.

Orion and Lee ran as fast as they could, refusing to slow down. Orions' eye could see through the metal of the ship, so he could see the monsters and soldiers catching up to them.

Then, they stopped at another crossroad. "Shit," Lee said.

Orion's eye swiveled around zooming in, trying to find the correct path.

"That one!" He pointed out. Lee nodded, and they continued.

The frantic running of monsters started behind them, getting louder and louder, until a door shut in their face. Their eyes widened in surprise and fear. They turned around to see the monsters, laughing at them.

"Dammit," Lee said.

"Don't worry," Orion said. "We can-"

Suddenly, Lee whirled around and slammed his hands on the doors, putting as much heat into them as he could.

The doors melted quickly, but the monsters realized what he was doing and surged forward.

Orion fired his bow as much as he could, but it didn't do much in close quarters.

"There too much!" He yelled behind him. "My bow can't get enough of them!"

Then, Lee grabbed his back. "What are you-" Orion began to ask.

Lee threw him through the red hot hole in the door. "Go!" He yelled. "You know mechanics. I don't. Blow this fcking ship to Kingdom Come!"

He put his hands on the doors and melted them again, sealing them.

Orion watched with wide eyes as monsters tore into Lee, who grimaced and finally welded shut the last piece of the door.

Suddenly, the door began to glow. Orion's eyes widened, and he scrambled backward before standing up and running further into the ship.

Behind him, the power of the sun detonated in a small area, blowing up an enormous chunk of the ship, obliterating it, and sending thousands of monsters to their cold, oxygen deprived depths, as well as almost making Orion permanently deaf.

Tubes began flailing around the hallway as Orion ran, spewing oxygen and other colorful gasses. 

His eyes filled with tears as he realized that he probably wouldn't ever get off this ship.
----------------------------------------------------------
Percy ran with Theseus and Luke behind him, still holding Estelle in his arms.

"Do you think they'll be okay?" Theseus asked.

Percy nodded. "Of course. Of course they will. Why wouldn't they?"

They continued to run, not encountering any monsters, red lights and alarms still blazing around them.

As they made into the docking bay doors, everything flashed bright yellow for a moment, and a massive BOOM rocked the ship.

Percy gasped as he felt Lee's hope disappear, signaling his death, while a mark on Estelle's shoulder glowed bright red.

"What is it?" Luke asked.

Percy swallowed. "It's Lee. He... he's gone."

Theseus and Luke stared at him for a moment.

"No," Theseus whispered.

Percy nodded. "Yes."

Luke's face flashed through several emotions before he spoke. "Dammit. How... ugh!"

Percy nodded and then shook his head. "It doesn't matter right now. We need to leave."

Theseus and Luke nodded, and they all entered the docking bay. It was big, and about three spaceships sat, waiting.

"All right," Percy said. "Theseus, you get a ship running."

Theseus nodded and entered on of the ships, while Luke and Percy stared at the hallway, waiting.

Percy looked down at Estelle.

"Hey," he whispered. "Estelle."

She looked up, into his eyes. He smiled and pulled a small hairpin out of his cloak.

It was a simple, black hairpin, that glowed with a white light. A gold word decorated it. Κύμα, or Wave.

Percy put it in her black hair. "This will turn into a magic battle-axe, or a spear, depending on which one you want. Understand? Its name is Κύμα, or Wave."

Estelle nodded and buried her face back into his chest. Suddenly, the bay shook, and a massive voice spoke.

"Oh, don't leave yet, it was just getting fun," it said.

Percy's eyes widened. "Tartarus..." he said.

Luke's eyes widened, and he unsheathed his sword. Suddenly, a black form appeared in the hallway. It slow clapped and walked forward.

"As great of an entrance as ever, brother," it said.

Estelle gripped Percy's cloak as hard as she could.

A red form appeared in the ships doorway, trapping Luke and Percy between the two.

"I know, I'm amazing," Tartarus, the red form said.

Erebus laughed and looked at Luke and Percy. "Well. Percy, my brother-by-technicality, what exactly are you doing with my test subject?"

Tartarus growled. "And why are you on my ship?"

Erebus looked at him in disgust. "It's my ship," he said.

Tartarus's swirling void face swirled faster, as if he was rolling an eye.

"It's carrying monsters, energy, and other things for me, so, it's my ship." He said.

Erebus rubbed his eyes in annoyance. "Never mind. Well, discuss it later. After we deal with these trespassers."

Tartarus nodded. "I can't wait to introduce them to the void."

Erebus reached a hand out towards Percy.

"Brother, I do have some semblance of mercy. Give me my test subject, and I'll let you all live." He said.

Percy shook his head. "I am not giving up Estelle," he said.

Tartarus laughed. "That was our deal, Brother Erebus. If he refused, I got to tear them apart."

The void face started swirling incredibly fast, and Luke and Percy started to get sucked in.

Their eyes widened as they started to get lifted from the ground, and realized that they had no way to fight back.

Suddenly, Theseus appeared behind Tartarus, having waited for the perfect moment to strike.

He grabbed one of Tartarus's arms and quickly pulled. Crunch!

Tartarus screamed and whirled around, smacking Theseus so hard he flew to the feet of Percy and Luke, who were again safely on the ground.

Theseus stood up unsteadily and then held up the torn off limb of Tartarus.

"How's it feel?" He asked.

Erebus stared at him, shocked, while Tartarus stayed silent.

All five beings stared at each other, evaluating and forming plans.

Suddenly, Tartarus shot forward and grabbed Theseus's face with his hand, lifting him into the air.

For 5 seconds, nobody spoke. Then Theseus grinned. "You don't have the balls to-"

CRUNCH!

Tartarus closed his fist as hard as he could, and then dropped Theseus's dead body to the ground.

Estelle's shoulder glowed red.

Percy stared at the dead body of Theseus, and then looked back up to Tartarus silently. His face shifted to one of rage.

He was about to launch forward, but Erebus spoke. "Ah ah ah. Percy. If you take a single step towards Tartarus, I will kill Estelle remotely."

Percy froze and turned around to see Erebus with a small controller in his hand.

He put his thumb over a big, red button. "This will kill her painfully from the inside out. So I suggest, that if you want her to leave, you hand her over, and leave."

He grinned. Percy stared at him. He shook his head. "Never. I will never-"

Estelle suddenly spoke up. "Percy."

Percy looked down to her, and she jumped out his arms. "He said that if you give me up, you can live."

He stared at her in shock as she walked next to Erebus, and pulled his hand down. "Please let them go?" She asked as she stared into his eyes with her own pleading ones.

Erebus nodded. "Of course. Anything you wish. But first..." he nodded to Tartarus, who cracked his knuckles across his chest.

"Tartarus will kill the second-in-command," Erebus said.

Estelle's eyes widened and she tried to run back towards Percy. "No!" She screamed.

Erebus grabbed her neck and held her in place. "Oh yes," he said. "But don't worry. He won't kill your dear brother. He'll only beat him inches to death."

Estelle's eyes filled with tears as she struggled against Erebus's iron grip, before giving up and crying.

"Percy?" She asked.

Percy looked at her, sorrow in his eyes as Erebus held the controller in his free hand. "Yeah Wavepool?" He asked.

She swallowed. "Can... can you say hi to mom and dad for me? Wherever they are?"

Erebus laughed. "Isn't that a nice! She doesn't know! That's funny."

Percy glared at him as he spoke again. "As much as I hate to say goodbye brother...  I have tests to run! So toodaloo!"

Him and Estelle blinked out of existence. Tartarus turned to Luke.

"I've been waiting to kill one of dear old dads strike force members for ages," he said.

Luke took a step back, holding his sword tightly. "Percy. Percy, can you-"

Percy face morphed to one of utter rage as he whirled around and screamed at Tartarus. The soundwave blasted open the hangar and sent Tartarus careening through space, who vowed revenge after he got over his shock.

Air started to get sucked out of the hangar as the hole started to widen. Percy fell to his knees, and started to sob.

Luke grabbed onto his shoulder as he felt his feet get lifted off the ground. "Percy, I can't survive in space! You gotta do something!"

Percy's eyes locked with Luke's, and he very painfully made a bubble around them. He collapsed, and somehow managed to put his mask on.

Chunks of the ship started getting sucked out of the hole. Percy laid on the ground of the bubble, unable to move, while Luke watched the surroundings in fear, eyes widening every time something came dislodged and flew out of the hole.

Then, the bubble started to roll.

"PERCY!" Luke screamed. "Stop the bubble! Orion still needs to-"

Suddenly, explosions rang out across the ship, and a flying wing of one of the ships collided with the bubble, sending them flying out into space.

The bubble flew out into space, and Luke punched the inside, not wanting to lose another member.

Tears slid down Percy's cheeks as he turned his head to look at the ship.

Suddenly, Orion's voice played inside their masks.

"Hey guys," he said.

"Orion where are you!?" Luke yelled.

Orion coughed, and a wet splat was heard. "Got stabbed by a stupid Empousai. I don't think I'm making it off this ship. Managed to get to the engine room though. Got everything rigged."

"NO!" Luke yelled. "Orion, if you think you can- you- No! I refuse to- Goddammit!"

Orion laughed painfully. "Get a grip on yourself, Hero. Or else no one will listen to you in the future."

He coughed again. "For what it's worth, you guys were the best friends I ever had. These past years of my life were amazing."

Luke slid to his knees. "Orion... we can't lose another."

Orion stayed silent for a moment. "I'm sorry Luke. But you'll have to. Percy, there's a note in my room for you. And when you inevitably go back to Earth, tell Pheobe I'm s-"

The ship exploded in a violent display of yellow and orange, painting space in a beautiful mix of colors.

Luke stared at the explosion, and then fell backwards on top of Percy.

Tears silently slid down both of their faces as they mourned the loss of their team members, and the ultimate feeling of failure.

A small object flew out of the ship's explosion, whirring and zooming in, analyzing anything and everything, trying to complete its final objective.

Somewhere in space, Tartarus stared at the violent colors, and felt the power in his torn-off arm disappear, never to be retrieved again.

And somewhere else, far, far away, in a blank white room... Estelle's shoulder glowed black.

Comment