Percy woke up groggily to the sound of tapping. His eyes refused to open, but he shook out of his tired state and woke up.
Looking at his surroundings, he found out that he was trapped inside a see-through cube-like cage. I was transferred, he realized. Maybe someone figured out where I was originally? His shoulders slumped in disappointment. Well, it's not going to matter anymore. They lost me.
He sighed. ADHD was getting the best of him. He started to excessively tap on his leg. Sadly, that started to bore him too. Percy decided to just try and figure out how to get of the situation at hand. Even if Zoom caught him a couple of times trying to sneak out (The first time not pretty; he tried to vapor travel out of there and instead he appeared right in front of Zoom. He had a bad beating after that.), he was definitely sure he would escape. Besides, there's no other option than just sitting and waiting like a damsel in distress. That was so not his job.
Percy looked down at his hands. Turns out the things pinning him down were some high-tech shackles that were attached to chains that were tied to the floor. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the water vapor around him. I can do this, the sea prince encouraged himself. I can do this. He exhaled deeply and focused on what he wanted the H2O to do. Alright...Any second now. Come on...
But the trouble was that the water wouldn't come to him. Percy couldn't feel the familiar tug in his gut that signified his control of the element.
Maybe he didn't practice his new power hard enough? That could probably be it. Or maybe it was the thing that bonded his hands together. It could be causing the malfunction of his powers. He could've sworn that Annabeth talked to him about this once. They have gotten to the topic of superpowers when they were taking their long conversations in bed. Also his dad talked about it to him about it once a few months ago.
After the Giant War, his dad visited Percy while Percy was strolling across the shoreline, trying to process all the demigods they lost in the battle. He felt the familiar aura of godliness and the power of the ocean appeared near him and he smiled. Percy turned around and saw his father standing there; his eyes still had the sea-green glow. The god still had his Bermuda shorts and the signature Hawaiian shirt. The demigod smiled.
"Hi Dad," he greeted. Now after a few years, it was comfortable to acknowledge that the Greek god of the seas was his father. It became normal to treat him as a parent than rather an all-powerful being that could kill you in a snap (which Poseidon was, obviously. But that wasn't the point).
"Hello Percy," he replied back. A faint smile was on his face then replaced with a grim expression. "Listen, son. We need to talk."
The god then asked Percy to walk with him and they discussed about many things: the war, Tartarus, then finally, his powers. "You are at the coming of age where you are given more abilities than you bargained for, Percy. You won't have powers as powerful as Triton's, but it would be powerful enough to disrupt the water flow of the world."
"Wait...hold on." Percy made a time-out sign with his hands. "Powers? More of them? So basically my abilities will multiply and my powers I have now will become--"
"--Stronger? Yes," Poseidon interrupted. It seemed that he tightened his grip onto his trident. "But it will become unstable for the first few weeks."
Percy gulped. "A few weeks?"
"A few weeks," his father repeated. "That's one of the reasons I came to you." He sighed. "I know you and the daughter of Athena--"
"Annabeth," his son reminded.
"--are going to set up for the rest of your senior year. However, your powers could be activated in any moment and maybe depending on what your emotion is then, you could start a hurricane that wipes out your entire high school or a tsunami that wastes out the whole of New York."
Percy crossed his arms. "So, what's the deal?"
"Hmm?"
"Where am I going to go and why am I sacrificing my perfect normal time with my girlfriend?"
Poseidon chuckled. "Alright." He looked straight at his son's emerald eyes. "You would be coming with me to train and to learn the masters of your powers. Tyson has already mastered his abilities as well--and before you ask Cyclopes have a very interesting timing on where they get their powers.
"I know this might be hard for you so I'll just give you a choice to agree or disagree. You will call when you decide yes or no." Then the god disappeared in a flash of light. Percy looked away. He might seem stupid, but he wasn't that stupid to look at his father's true form.
A few hours later, a discussion and a kiss from Annabeth, he finally decided to agree to the offer his godly parent gave him. He grabbed a drachma and got to the call.
For the next month, his dad, Tyson and Triton (who reluctantly offered to teach), taught him how to adjust to his new water-based abilities. His dad was right. It was pretty hard to control. He almost dismantled the gaming room (again). Triton taught him about far-communication with animals, Tyson gave lessons on how to summon water from air, and Poseidon gave advice on weaknesses and the comparison between metahumans--which Percy had little knowledge about because Hera happened--and demigods.
Percy tried to recall on what his godly-water side of the family had advised him. He recalled that his father told him that metahumans aren't as different as demigods. Well, they don't get chased by monsters 24/7 or go on epic quests but in powers, they have some similarities. Like control over elements. Also metahuman prevention gadgets could prevent demigod powers as well....
"Well schist," Percy said as he realized what situation was in. The speedsters, the cage, the clamps on his hands...The Flash whoever he was found out who Percy was (probably) and wanted to meet him, but Zoom decided to kidnap him because reasons unknown. Percy sighed. He put his head against the jail wall and slept to the sound of pounding.
---
He didn't know when he fell asleep, but when he woke up the chains seemed looser in his hands. Maybe I could..?
Percy did again his water vapor technique. It didn't work, not to his surprise. He gritted his teeth in frustration. He tugged and tugged yet the bonds wouldn't get out.
"Where in Hades am I?!" he yelled, obviously done with Zoom's shit. Percy struggled against the chains even more.
"That wouldn't work. I've tried," a feminine voice called out to him. She sounded bored.
Percy looked up. There was another girl in another glass prison who was also in chains. Her face told him that she was bored, also signifying like him, she was also done with Zoom's crap. She had ginger (or was it light brown? Percy wasn't sure because of the lighting of the room) curly hair which was messy. Her face was covered with stains and grime; when was the last time Zoom let her bathe herself? Her shirt--no, dress (was that a dress from the 1960's or that was just him) was also dirty. Tear marks were shown clean on her face.
"Who are you?" Percy asked curiously. He wanted to know what the girl has done to get Zoom's attention and got her here.
"Jessie Wells. You?"
"Percy Jackson," he nodded. "What did you do to get yourself landed in this place?"
"My dad, sort of," Jessie must've noticed his alarmed expression. "No, my dad isn't Zoom, but Zoom is using me as sort of a bait for him. He's using my dad as a pawn. My dad runs Star Labs, you see and he kind of made Zoom when the particle accelerator exploded. Ever since, he tried to prevent meta attacks happening including Zoom. Some stuff happened between them and that's how I ended up here."
"Wait." Percy made a time-out symbol with his chained up hands. "Your last name is Wells, right?"
Jessie nodded.
"And your dad is in charge of the Star Labs, right?"
Jessie nodded even more.
"Your dad is Harrison Wells, isn't he?"
"Obviously," she deadpanned, using a Snape accent.
"Okay, I've been in a wa--I mean I've been living under a rock this whole time but isn't he also the guy who--correct me on this one--killed some guy's parents 15 something years ago?"
"What? No! He's not!" she exclaimed.
"Oh. Must've been a different Harrison," he slumped. "My girlfriend loves giving me info on other cities other than New York and Central City happens to be one--because of all the meta stuff happening. Especially the Flash. She loves the Flash. With his red speedy get up and all. She also admires your dad. She was devastated when she found out he killed a person's mom.
"Hold on. Last time I checked he didn't have a daughter; he had a wheelchair. And he's actually dead," he realized. His eyes widened with shock.
"My dad is alive and walking with two feet, thanks."
The two looked at each other with confusion. "Are you sure you're not hallucinating? I mean, who knows how long you've been here."
"My streak has been two months and I think you're the one delusional, even if you just got here a day ago," Jessie snapped.
"A day? I've been in this box a day and I've been in that dark room for three! Annabeth is not only going to kill me, she's going to obliterate me into the sun!" And she's not even a child of Apollo! he silently added.
"Well, I bid you good luck," Jessie smirked. Percy glared at her in the process.
---
An hour passed. Then two. The man in the metal mask in another cage kept pounding on the glass in a repeat pattern. Percy and Jessie ignored him. Complete silence was there for 120 minutes until Jessie decided to break the quiet tension. Her back was leaning against the translucent wall.
"So how did you get here?" she asked in a raspy voice. Probably from lack of water.
"I don't know exactly," the demigod replied, looking up at the dark ceiling. "When I was at the ordinary world, I was finally going home after a long...day of camp. I learned from my stepdad that my mom was getting her first novel published--"
"That's cool," Jessie interrupted. "Continue."
"Anyway, then my stepdad and I heard a strange sound. We thought it was just Zeu--the weather but it wasn't even raining. I went to check what was going on but hey, now I got into this mess," Percy explained. "Gods, Paul. He's going to think it's his fault for letting me outside."
"What happened to your real dad?" She asked. Percy's heart raced with fear. Here come the lies.
"My mom said he was a wealthy person. She said he was confirmed lost at sea. Not dead, just out there. Somewhere," he lied.
"Huh." Jessie looked down. "My mom died when I was little. I met her, but I don't remember anything about her, partially because I was too young."
"What happened?"
"Car crash."
"Sorry I asked," the demigod apologized.
"It's fine."
Another long stretch of complete utter stillness erupted in the room; the only sound was the pounding of Metalface's fist against the pellucid cage.
----
A day went by. Percy spent most of the time having long chats with Jessie. He learned that she was incredibly intelligent, just like Annabeth. If he got out of this mess, maybe he'll introduce her to his girlfriend. They would have a great time together.
Though she was very, very weird. She told him about flying cars and actual floating hover boards and watches that detected metahumans like the Flash. He corrected her that there were no such thing as flying cars or floating boards; those were only used in fiction stories. She dismissed the fact as a hoax.
Plus, she told him she takes more than one major in college. Percy definitely remembered that you only took one major in college, and if you weren't satisfied with it, you get to choose another one and discontinue that old major entirely.
Something was definitely fishy about this whole thing.
---
Days being in captive were very quick, much to his surprise. Zoom visited regularly to give them food. The food mostly consisted of various "healthy goods" as he called them. Percy would prefer the meal worse that elementary school lunches in general. Either the meal was too cold, too hard, too moist or too disgusting. The demigod and the girl realized that the evil speedster was giving them this for his own amusement. Peachy.
For going to the bathrooms and washing themselves were the absolute worst. The speedster took them into a separate room with both large and little buckets, a rag towel, a large towel and a chunk of soap. The faucet with rusty but had clean water (Percy had no problem with this, since he was the son of a sea god but Jessie definitely had multiple dilemmas). The toilet they were supposed to use was from at least a century ago. Percy cleaned it, but it felt worse than trudging through Tartarus (that was an understatement).
The man in the metal mask didn't have as much liberties as they did however. He was just stuck in his mask and cage, still pounding patterns when he was awake. Zoom pretended to ignore him. Jessie and Percy felt sympathy for the guy. He couldn't even talk.
Percy was lying down on the cold floor staring at the ceiling. Jessie was fast asleep, so was the man in the metal mask. Percy was wide awake, mostly because that he couldn't rest at all. There were no windows in the establishment and nothing else to look at, so he just thought about things.
Thinking was a great thing especially with his ADHD. Even though it was sometimes a weakness, it was a great distraction.
Names, thoughts, images and dreams floated around his head. Annabeth, Camp Half-Blood, Mom, Dad, Paul...What were they thinking right now? Is Poseidon blaming Hera for his disappearance? It was her fault the last time he went missing. Are Tyson, Sally, Annabeth, Paul, everyone he ever knew blaming themselves? No..they can't. Not again.
What about Caitlyn? What was her role in this whole thing? How did she figure out who the Flash was? How does she know the Flash? Who even was the lightning wearing scarlet speedster?
A slamming of a metal door alerted him from his thoughts. Percy jumped at the sound, his metal chains making a cring sound as he moved. Jessie and the other prisoner jumped up as well.
A shadowy figure approached his cage, his hands apparently in his pockets and a hood up. It was definitely not Zoom; he was so much taller. Who was this guy?
The mystery stranger got to his pellucid box and crouched down. The guy knocked on Percy's box, probably just to mock him. Instead, Percy narrowed his eyes. "What do you want from me?" he asked. Percy saw a sneer coming across his face, just as wide as the Joker's.
"Perce, I would really consider answering that question, considering I don't want anything from you," a familiar voice said. "I'm not going to break you out of here. I know you absolutely adore this place." he added.
"Why are--Who are you? How-How did you even know my name?" Percy demanded.
The man sneered. Seriously, Percy wanted to smack that smug look from the guy's face. But he couldn't. He was in a prison. Even if he wasn't, he couldn't at all. The guy pulled back his hood. Jessie and Percy gasped.
The hooded--now not hooded--mystery guy was Percy. Same hair, same tan, same everything.
But here's the catch. His eyes were flashing a vibrant red.
"Why I'm you of course," the other Percy replied snarly.
I hate my life, Percy immediately thought.
----
A/N Hey. It's me. Back at it again with the cliffhangers. And the long awaited updates. I swear, I'm worse than Rick Riordan. So today, I came across something spectacular. When I went to my works, I saw the most beautiful thing at the bottom of the title of this story. You know what it was?
1.k+ views and 100+ votes.
I actually busted some awesome dance moves right then and there. At first, I decided to try and abandon this story, but when I saw this I was like, "Wow, people actually read and appreciate my work.
So in conclusion, I continued on with this story and I just wanted to say,
Thank you.
Thank you for being that person who supported my story. I will make more chapters sometime this week or next week.
For reward, I typed up 2.k+ word for y'all. :0
Thank you again and forever always.
Also, HAPPY PRESIDENT'S DAY FOR AMERICANS EVEN THOUGH SOME OF US ARE MISERABLE TODAY BC THE ELECTION.
And lastly, have you guys heard of the Supergirl and the Flash crossover? Because I did. And it's going to be a massive Glee reunion and I will die in agony.
~readingisapriority
P.S. Check out my new story called Protectors! It's basically a multicrossover with OCs (that I took time to make a storyline for). Sue me but read it.