Chapter 19: Battle on the Bus

A/N: Here's the new Chapter! Which also means the next four chapters are up on my for early access as well as the chance to vote on the direction of the story!

Percy and Co have a somewhat illuminating convo with the Furies, but it was only ever going to end one way.

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He only has a split second to decide, but at the end of the day while Percy might have learned he was a natural at combat, that didn’t mean he necessarily WANTED to fight. Still, could they possibly talk it out? Well, there was only one way to know. Holding up a hand to stave off Clarisse’s battle preparations, Percy shakes his head.

“Let’s try words first.”

Annabeth, Clarisse, and Grover all look at him like he’s insane. But Percy has made up his mind.

“Look, be ready for a fight… but let me see what I can do.”

Then, he stands up right there in the middle of the bus and waves his hand.

“Hey! Mrs. Dodds! Back here!”

The three Furies had been about to sit down at the front of the bus, perhaps to make sure that he and his friends couldn’t get off. But as Percy flat out calls them out like that, they freeze and look almost incredulous under all that twisted grimacing and seething rage they’re giving off. Then, as Percy persists in waving them back, they slowly begin to approach.

It’s obvious they expect some sort of trap, even as they get closer, but while Percy does have his hand in his pocket and Riptide merely a single tug away, he’s not planning to fight if he doesn’t have to.

Hissing at him, the woman who’d masqueraded as his math teacher narrows her eyes.

“My name is not Mrs. Dodds, brat. It is Alecto.”

Right. Alecto of the Furies. Glancing at the other two angry-faced women, Percy holds back the urge to shiver in fear.

“Of course. Alecto. And that makes you two Megaera and Tisiphone, yes?”

The two don’t seem inclined to dignify that with a response. Percy gets the impression that the Furies don’t talk much. He also gets the impression that they’d much rather be flensing the flesh from his bones at the moment over chatting with him. Still, they ARE chatting with him, so that’s a good sign right?

“Look, you guys work for Hades right? God of the Underworld? And me and my friends are on a quest right now for a God too. So since we’re all servants of the Gods, do you think you guys can back off? I get that monsters kill demigods or something, but aren’t you lot supposed to be a more civilized kind of monster?”

There’s a brief pause at that question, and Percy can feel his friends all giving him even more incredulous looks than before. Okay so maybe diplomacy isn’t his strong suit. But still…

Alecto and her sisters sneer at him, with the former being the one to reply.

“Foolish brat. Do you think you can lie to us? Do you think you can hide it from us? Return what you stole, and we will kill you quickly. That is the only offer I will give you.”

Return what he stole? Wait, did they think he had the Master Bolt too?! Starting to feel a little frustrated, Percy growls, not quite registering the way it makes every woman on the bus, Furies included, straighten up a bit as the sound reverberates through his chest. He’s too busy being annoyed to be honest.

“I don’t have the damn Master Bolt! Look, Alecto… you literally tried to kill me while I was on a school field trip. You of all people should KNOW that I knew nothing about all of this bullshit just a couple weeks ago. I seriously only found out I was a demigod AFTER we fought in the museum! So how in the world could I have stolen Zeus’ Master Bolt, huh? How could I possibly have gotten away with it?!”

There’s a brief pause and Percy thinks he might actually be getting through to the Furies. In fact, they all look at each other for a moment, seeming to communicate privately between one another. So maybe he’s actually-!

But just as Percy is feeling a kernel of hope, the trio of Furies suddenly have fiery, burning whips in their hands, uncurling and hissing and sizzling as they land on the bus’ floor and seats.

“Foolish boy. Even now you persist in your trickery. You say you knew nothing of our world. You lie as easily as you breathe! You slew me with a sword of celestial bronze on our very first meeting, giving truth to how your father must have trained you in secret for these tasks! You have angered the Gods, Perseus Jackson! You have crossed Zeus! You have crossed Hades! Prepare to die!”

As if to punctuate Alecto’s words, there’s a sudden crashing sound way too close to the bus that sends the whole thing rocking. Up ahead in the driver’s seat, Percy hears the bus driver curse.

“HOLY SHIT!”

But neither he nor his companions have time to worry about that because the three Furies all bring their whips to bear a moment later and all Percy is left time for is to draw Riptide from his pocket. Alecto’s eyes widen in outrage and also vindication when she sees him wielding the celestial bronze sword.

In hindsight, she sort of had a point. Percy could even kind of see how it must have looked from her perspective. How could he, some completely unknowing brat, manage to not only get his hands on a sword like Riptide, but also kill her, an immortal long-lived monster, in a duel?

Somehow, he didn’t think that Alecto would accept the truth that she was just that terrible at fighting, to be honest. Or that he was simply a natural with the blade. Oh well, he tried.

The Furies flick out their whips and try to ensnare him in particular, but Percy puts the flexibility of his swimmer’s body to good use and bends around them. At the same time, he lunges forward at Alecto and… performs a last minute target switch, stabbing one of her sisters in the throat instead. None of them are expecting it, and Alecto and the other remaining Fury both howl in outrage as their sister is turned into a whole bunch of golden dust.

Percy just grins, especially when Clarisse shows up at his side, her spear in hand and deflecting the next whip strike from one of the Furies. This is easily winnable, Percy realizes, and he can see it on the Furies’ faces too. Alecto in particular looks as angry as ever and he’s just about to throw out a pithy remark her way when Annabeth suddenly grabs him by the arm.

“Percy, we have to get off this bus.”

Percy blinks, even as he finally realizes the bus is starting to slow down and pull over to the side of the road. Meanwhile, what was a sunny sky one moment has rapidly turned into a huge thunderstorm. Annabeth looks downright frightened when he looks over at her… but not by the Furies, Percy notes.

“It’s too big of a target. And the metal… the metal conducts lightning really, really well.”

Percy’s eyes widen as he finally realizes what she’s saying and also finally realizes what the original crashing sound that shook the bus originally was. It was a missed strike.

“Alright everyone, off the bus!”

Even the bus driver is getting all of the mortals off the bus, though they can’t possibly understand what’s happening between his group and the Furies. Seeing this, Percy grimaces and pushes forward, even as Alecto sneers and snarls at him and raises her whip.

“YOU WILL DIE HERE, PERSEUS JACKSON! YOU WILL-!”

Before she can strike at him though, Percy puts on a burst of speed and swipes her head off her shoulders with Riptide.

“Shut up. You’re in the way.”

At the same time, Clarisse has finished dealing with her Fury as well. In the end, the three Furies weren’t nearly as dangerous as Percy had thought… hell, he felt like even a bunch of children could have taken them. But he and the others weren’t children. Not by a long shot. However, the Furies WERE a signal booster, weren’t they? And a beacon for…

Just as Percy, Annabeth, Clarisse, and Grover are all racing off the bus, it happens.

KRAK-THOOM!

A massive lightning bolt comes down from the sky above and strikes the bus, practically exploding it. Percy just stares for a moment in awed amazement until Annabeth tugging on his arm again pulls him out of it.

“Percy! Percy, we have to GO! We need to get away from the civilians!”

That… that was fair. More than fair, even. Not only was Zeus’ attention apparently on this spot, but if he tried to kill Percy again, he might hurt innocent people. Grimacing, Percy nods and lets Annabeth drag him into the nearby woods as Clarisse and Grover follow behind them. They leave a bunch of confused people and a smoking wreck of a bus behind, but at least no one lost their lives. No one important, anyways.

-x-X-x-

“Holy shit, this is so good…”

As Percy chews the burger he’s currently holding in both hands, he groans in enjoyment. Beside him, both Annabeth and Clarisse are enjoying their own burgers as well with similar looks of contentment and happiness on their faces.

Running into a forest to escape Zeus’ wrath, Percy never in a million years would have expected to find sanctuary like they had. But here they were in Aunty Em’s Garden Gnome Emporium, being served burgers and fries that were cooked up right in front of them by Aunty Em herself.

Smiling slightly, the beautiful woman behind the counter clasps her hands together in front of her.

“I’m happy to hear you say that. You lot looked half-drowned when you came upon my Emporium. It’s so good to see you all looking so much better.”

It was true, they’d been soaked from the rainstorm and everything. Percy also can’t help but wondering if they smell by this point… hopefully not.

Aunt Em, by comparison, looks downright pristine. The beautiful, dusky-skinned woman wore a dark black gown that covered her from her neck down to her toes. Her coffee-colored face and hands were quite young in appearance though, almost making him feel weird for calling her ‘Aunty’. But she insisted. And… she was very pretty. Her eyes were hidden behind a pair of ever-present sunglasses, but she was still gorgeous by al other accounts.

Her hair, however, was also done up in a turban that wrapped around her head tightly and lifted quite high into the air. Percy didn’t know what that was about and he felt kind of ignorant for needing to ask so he hadn’t yet. Did it mean she was Middle Eastern or something? But wasn’t it usually the guys who wore turbans?

Either way, best not to say a word, especially not when Grover had already stuck his foot in his mouth a few times and the beautiful Aunty Em had been so generous as to ignore the satyr. In fact, even right now, Grover was quietly whimpering off to the side, something about this place giving him the heebie-jeebies.

… Maybe it was the stone statues. If Percy had to put money on it, he would bet it was the stone statues. Em’s Emporium was supposed to just be Garden Gnomes, but there were actually statues of all sorts of creatures and people practically all over the place. Many of them were so life-like and life-size that Percy could only really imagine them being bought by some big establishment or rich dude. Like maybe for a church, or maybe for a mansion’s garden. Certainly, your average home owner with a garden wasn’t going to want a six foot tall statue of a dude smiling and waving, Percy suspected.

But then, what did he know really? People were super fucking strange.

“Thank you for this, ma’am.”

Percy is pulled from his thoughts by Annabeth’s voice as the Daughter of Athena pipes up. Beside her, Clarisse pauses and then quickly swallows and nods.

“Err, yeah. Thanks.”

Throwing Clarisse an approving grin for her efforts to be a more social person, Percy completely missed how Aunty Em tenses for a moment at Annabeth in particular’s thanks. However, he does not miss the way the beautiful coffee-skinned woman looks at him a moment later with a smile.

“Percy… might I speak with you alone for a moment?”

Seeing no reason not to, Percy shrugs and nods, rising from his seat just as Grover grabs him by the arm and whispers to him in a frantic tone.

“Don’t do it, Percy. It’s not a good idea!”

Blinking at the satyr, Percy rolls his eyes and chuckles at Grover’s antics.

“I’ll be fine, Grover. What, do you think Em just fed us all to fatten us up or something before the slaughter? Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Percy, that is exactly how a LOT of monsters operate!”

Well… okay, true. But still, Aunty Em wasn’t a monster. He was sure of it.

“Percy?”

From over in the doorway, Em pokes her head back through.

“Coming!”

He quickly hurries over, leaving Annabeth and Clarisse to their meal and Grover to his frantic worrying. Had his best friend always been such a worrier? Or was that something that was only coming out now that the satyr was no longer hiding his true identity? In the end, Percy puts it out of his mind and follows Aunty Em down a hallway and into another room.

Of course, he’s not expecting it to be her bedroom. Perhaps he should have. As the beautiful dusky skinned woman turns and sits down on the edge of the bed, smiling up at him, Percy realizes Grover might have been at least partially right. Em DID want to gobble him up. Metaphorically speaking. Even wearing sunglasses, she has this intensity to her gaze that even Percy can’t ignore.

“I’ve noticed you looking, Percy. Do you like what you see? It’s alright if you don’t… I’m not trying to take advantage of you… unless you want me to.”

Crossing her legs and then uncrossing them, Em all but poses for him. Her dark dress is actually quite form-fitting now that Percy is paying more attention. It shows off her beautiful curves, from the swell of her breasts to the width of her hips. She had a womanly figure that just would not quit. The type of woman that you’d see in passing and have to stop and go ‘damn!’ to yourself under your breath.

And she was right in front of him. Propositioning him. Despite saying that she didn’t want to take advantage of him, Percy did feel slightly beholden to Em. She’d taken them in when she didn’t have to, when she didn’t know anything about them. And then she’d even cooked for them and fed them. And the food was delicious.

But… he thinks of Clarisse and Annabeth, just a couple hundred feet away. Should he really be indulging in another woman right now? Or should he turn Aunty Em down?

-x-X-x-

A/N: For those having trouble imagining her as someone sexy, 'Aunty Em' (who is also someone else) is actually played by THIS ACTRESS in the upcoming Disney+ TV Show of PJO. The TV Show will probably be shit, but the actress is hot at least. So I'm happy to not go off of the book description of Aunty Em on this one.

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[ ] Percy lets Aunty Em down gently, it doesn't feel right to accept - 11%

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