Where's a Weasel When You Need One?
If you have ever had the misfortune of coming face to face with a basilisk, first of all; well done for not being dead, and secondly; you'll understand why I wasn't thrilled about this development. For those of you that haven't: imagine if an eel and a vampire bat had ugly love-children that can spit fire. And have razor blades for teeth. And they generally hate you and want to kill you. Now you also understand why I was panicking.
I'd faced the monsters a couple of times before, and I had hoped that I would never have to again. But, alas - the fates hate me (thanks fates), and so here was a random mortal brandishing a fucking basilisk gun?
I could be confused about that later, now I needed to deal with the angry pool noodle currently hurtling towards me.
Quickly, I rolled to the side, landing in a crouched position on the balls of my feet, my back to the large hole in the wall. The basilisk twisted and looped back round, moving through the air the same way it did in water the last time I faced one - maneuvering itself in all directions effortlessly. Great. It hissed loudly, the retractable flap thing on its head expanded forward, giving the impression that it was wearing a really unfashionable headdress. Its sickly yellow eyes glinted with maliciousness under the dim lights of the vault corridor and it bared its teeth wildly. Its many, many rows of tiny dagger-shaped teeth.
I tried to remember everything I could about the species: abilities, weaknesses, anything; but I was drawing a blank. Except for the fact that I was pretty sure they hated weasels. Which was of course super useful in my current situation.
Gods, where was a Frank Zhang when you needed one?
With no weasels in sight, I decided to try the next best thing. I clasped the familiar weight of a ballpoint pen in my hand. One click, and Riptide was unleashed. Further down the corridor, the criminals looked shocked. They were staring... straight at Riptide? How was that possible? Unless...
Nope, not the time for conspiracies. I saw Annabeth taking advantage of their surprise, punching one square in the face. I smirked, then shook myself to attention.
My sword seemed to hum, the bronze buzzed with energy - it was restless after so many weeks of disuse. After all, I couldn't exactly go around beheading muggers left and right could I? Needless to say, Riptide wanted taste of action, and the basilisk was more than happy to provide.
"Okay ugly, that really fucking hurt so I'm going to need you to-"
For the second time that night I was rudely cut off by a giant fireball. This time I had the sense to duck, allowing it to soar past my head and into the wall behind me, where it doubled the size of the previous hole with a deafening crash. At least now we knew how they'd got in in the first place. The sirens I'd heard earlier were much closer now, but I couldn't concentrate on those.
"Man, you better hope they have insurance because I'm pretty sure you can't pay for that."
The basilisk took no interest in engaging in witty banter with me (hurtful); it was more interested in flying piranha-teeth-first straight at my head with impossible speed. I turned my torso to dodge, but I wasn't quite quick enough. As the wicked sharp spikes along its back slashed across my arm, I remembered another important fact about basilisks.
They're deadly poisonous.
I recalled Frank telling me how one had completely disintegrated his bow, just by touching it.
Thankfully, my arm wasn't disintegrated - it was encouraging to know I was sturdier than a bow. However, encouragement didn't really mean anything as pain exploded in my shoulder and upper arm, making me yell. Riptide clattered to the floor.
There were three large gashes across my bicep, which wasn't looking too good. Underneath the torn layers of my suit I could see red, blistering skin, and blood began to seep into the surrounding fabric. The thing that worried me most though, was the numbness slowly spreading from my wound down my arm, rendering my movements stiff and painful. Reaching down to collect Riptide was agonizing, and I began to panic a little - what was I supposed to do if I couldn't hold my sword?
"Percy!" A shout from Annabeth sharpened my focus; was she in danger?
I whipped my head round, one of the robbers had his arm around her neck, another approached her, fist clenched. Her arm was bent at an odd angle. I seethed - how could I have been so stupid? I'd left her to fend for herself against three clearly well-trained criminals. Maybe more, if any of the others had woken up. Ignoring the pain in my arm and the basilisk circling my like a vulture circles his prey, I ran towards my girlfriend. But as I got closer, I realized her arm wasn't bent, it was pointing. To...a little gray machine? Across the hall of the-
Ohhhhh. It was a water fountain.
Annabeth elbowed the man holding her in the nose (kind of poetic if you ask me, considering how my night had started out) and grabbed the neck of the other one, ramming his face into her knee. Of course, I should never have doubted her. I altered my course, heading for the water fountain. The basilisk seemed to sense my change in mood, it shrieked and dove - but this time it was too late. Even with one arm out of commission I felt my power surge through me. The water in the fountain answered my call. It shot out like a fire hydrant, knocking the basilisk through the wall into the street. I let it wash over me, subsiding some of my pain.
Of course, dingy tap water isn't anywhere near as potent at healing my injuries as water from the ocean - or any other body of water for the matter - but at least I could feel my fingers again.
Annabeth approached, carefully placing a hand on my non-injured shoulder. Behind her, six unconscious bodies laid zip-tied together.
"You good?"
I nodded, "Yeah, you?"
"Think so."
We both turned to face the shrill shriek that erupted from our reptilian friend outside, then turned back to each other.
"Let's finish this."
We stepped into the street; it made me feel slightly smug to see the snakey monster looking worse for wear - covered in scrapes and bits of gravel. (Maybe I shouldn't have been talking, I hadn't looked in a mirror yet.) It was still airborne, but it wasn't moving as gracefully as before. I could see the effort it was taking to maintain its altitude - like its own body was heavy, weighed down by the water dripping from it onto the concrete below.
Like a trapped animal it snarled and flailed as Annabeth and I circled. Every time it snapped out it was met with a blade. It danced around like this for a bit, then lunged for me one last time. Too slow. I smacked it with the blunt, heavy hilt of my sword, sending it to the floor where my girlfriend delivered the final blow. She drove her dagger through its eye and back out again. It wriggled futilely, once, twice, before finally going limp. I breathed a sigh of relief.
We stood for a second, staring at the monster's corpse expectantly. My mind didn't even register what it was we were waiting for until Annabeth practically whispered, a horrified look on her face,
"Perc... It isn't dissolving."
Oh shit. She was right. Usually, when a mythical evil beast meets its end, it disintegrates into ashy nothingness, returning its spirit to Tartarus where it can focus the next few decades on reforming. But this? The basilisk looked like a dead fish, lying limp and gross on the street. I felt the weird urge to poke it - maybe to make sure my eyes weren't deceiving me. However, at that moment the police cars (that had taken their sweet time) arrived. I'd watched enough Daily Bugle to know that we probably shouldn't stick around for pleasantries.
"Wise Girl, we need to go." I gently tugged Annabeth's arm. She blinked, her eyebrows still furrowed in deep thought, but she followed me as I raced to the nearest alleyway. We climbed a fire escape and disappeared over the New York horizon.
We were so focused on our own getaway that we didn't see the figure slip out of the bank behind us, slinking into the shadows.