Venom: Lethal Protector

Chapter One

Chapter One

The blood was on Percy's hands. There was no doubt in anyone's mind about that. He hadn't washed his hands since it happened. The evidence was right there.

     Percy didn't regret his decision. In fact, he enjoyed it. He reveled in it.

     Then the Olympians called him to justice. They had met in their throne room, just like the solstices that had had in years before. The demigods joined them, witnessing the trial of Percy Jackson.

     The Gods looked at him with varying degrees of disinterest. Most didn't really care how the trial went, it didn't affect them. The only ones looking at him with anything other than boredom was his father, Hestia, Aphrodite, and Apollo.

     The Hunters gathered at the foot of Artemis's throne, looking at him with a mixture of disgust and pride. Disgust that he was a man, pride that he killed a bad one. They all looked at him like that, except for Thalia. Artemis herself looked at him with worry. Why, no one else knew.

     Percy looked forward, his eyes trained right in Zeus. He didn't let his eyes wander. The blood on his hands dripped onto the marble floors. His face remained stoic, no emotion in his usually expressive eyes. They had taken Riptide from him, and it hadn't returned to his pocket. He wondered if the magic had gotten messed with.

     The room was quiet as they waited for the trial to begin. Finally, after minutes of waiting, Zeus stood up. He banged his master bolt on the ground twice. "Perseus Jackson. You have been accused of the murder of Octavian Apollous. How do you plead?"

     "Guilty. I did it. I killed him." Percy spoke. He didn't hesitate. His voice remained even. Now he let his eyes wander. They grazed over the Gods as he thought of what he was going to say. "That's right. I did it. I killed Octavian, and I saved the lives of many demigods. He was working with Gaia. Need I say more?"

     It surprised the Gods. He admitted to murder like he was admitting to stealing a cookie from the cookie jar. There was no emotion in his voice, not even anger. If anything, there was an underlying sense of satisfaction, like he could die happy knowing that he did what he believed was right.

     What had his time in Tartarus done to him? The Gods could only wonder. The older Olympians knew of the horrors down there, horrors that even they had run from. Kampe, the jailer who scared them shitless, Percy had faced at the age of 14. Maybe the fact that he had only commited murder now and not earlier should've been looked at as an accomplishment.

     "But do you have the right to condemn me? You all have killed for much less, haven't you? Too little of a sacrifice, a sarcastic comment on a bad day? An entire flood to wipe out an entire age? If you're going to stone me. May who be without sin cast the first stone." Percy said.

     "Apollo. The victim was of your blood. What do you propose we do to this murderer?" Zeus asked.

     "The victim wasn't without fault. I believe Percy should be let go, having done the right thing." Apollo said.

     "I propose Tartarus for the little bugger. Ought to bring his ego down." Dionysus said, sipping a Diet Coke from a wine glass.

     "Quiet child." Zeus reprimanded.

     "I think that death is a fair enough punishment." Athena said. "After all, pay for a death with another life."

     "Just kill the boy already. Get it over with." Hera muttered from her throne.

     Percy scratched the base of his neck. He scratched an itch that had started to bother him. In doing so, his shirt moved, revealing a mark burned into his skin on his pec. A skull over crossbones.