Percy didn't even slow down, he grabbed Jared by the throat and slammed him into the cage where Kate threw her hands between the bars and grabbed the man by the neck choking him.
Percy then turned to the old man, "it's over."
"How did you get here!" the man tried to move closer to Castle, he was going to threaten his life, but Percy was faster.
Percy caught the man's knife hand and pulled it up so fast it popped the old man's arm out of it's socket.
"ARGH!" the older man roared as he held his now useless arm in pain. Percy threw a punch clipping him in the jaw and knocking the man out. He also knocked out a couple of teeth, but considering that he wasn't dead Percy figured it was a job well done.
"Percy! A little help!" Kate called. Jared was struggling away from her grip as he tried to reach his gun a few inches away from him.
Percy sighed as he walked up to Jared, drew back his foot, and kneed him right between the legs sending the older man into shock.
"Thanks," Kate said as she let go of Jared's prone form, "can you open this?"
Percy nodded "one second," he bent in front of the lock hand covered it with his hands. He then began to move it, pretending to be working on it when in reality he slowly unlocked it using his ring of Alcyoneus to manipulate the metal lock.
The cage opened up with a click and Kate jumped out wrapping Percy in a hug, "thank God you came when you did."
"I would have been here sooner, but I was calling the cavalry."
"Where are they?"
"Probably still traveling from NY to Queens," Percy shrugged as he moved to unstrap Castle from the table he was on, "I didn't actually return back to the precinct, I stuck around, just in case."
Lie Successful!
"Right," Kate moved her hand to Percy's chest where the bullet hit him, "how are you walking right now?"
"My jacket isn't just for show detective," Percy smiled, "it's a new type of armour a friend of mine invented. Like kevlar, but better."
Lie Successful!
"Amazing," Kate felt the fabric, "where can I get one?"
'Well all you have to do is date the daughter of Zeus, and then you can get your very own!' Percy smiled, "unfortunately it's very expensive. My friend gave this because I saved his life."
"I see...fine, for now let's just get Castle upstairs," Kate went to pick up Castle but Percy grabbed the man carrying him fireman style, "you sure you can carry him?"
Percy rolled his eyes, 'woman I can deadlift buildings, I'm sure a slightly pudgy writer won't be a problem,' "I'll be fine. Anyway, tell me what happened."
"Well after you left Castle and I went to talk to the man. At first it was fine, he spoke about what he did during his case, who he talked to. But then Castle noticed something, the old man was softly insistent on the fact that this murder had nothing to do with the older ones.
"And then....and then I pushed, I realised you might be right, it was stupid of me, I know. But I started to question the man, treated him like a suspect, and he noticed. Then you called, I picked up and the next thing I know his son had a gun trailed on my head. Thank god you noticed something was wrong."
Percy nodded as they walked to the living room and put Castle on the couch, "right...I'll go down to check up on the two, you stay with Castle, here," Percy tossed Kate his phone, "call up Espo and Lanie, they must be worried sick."
Kate nodded as Percy tied Parkins and his son up with a rope he found in the dungeon. They wouldn't be able to run away any time soon.
The swat team arrived in the house five minutes later, truly amazing considering the traffic. Obviously this swat team was from another nearby percent, Espo and the rest only arrived after a good 20 minutes.
By the time everything was said and done Percy had gotten a new notification;
Quest Completed!
Find and Stop the serial killer!
Rewards:
+10,000 Exp
New title!
Congratulations! You unlocked a new title!
Junior Detective— While active you will gain + 2 INT and WIS. +10% bonus on rewards from all crime related quests!
Some time Later;
Percy and Castle stood side by side as they looked through the one way mirror in front of them. On the other side was Kate and Espo both currently interrogating Parkins. The old man had a giant bruise on his lower jaw with several missing teeth and a disjointed arm.
"Damnnn," Esposito whistled, "didn't know Percy was such a badass."
"He mentioned something about self defence classes," Kate smiled, "didn't think we would get such great results from them so soon."
"Well whatever, I'm just happy he's on our side, a kid that smart, I can't imagine how it would be if he turned on us," Espo shuddered.
"Yes, but he won't, he's one of us now, like you were Richard," Kate glared at Parkins. The old man had his head down, he didn't meet her eyes. "You were a cop, one of us, and you abused the power you were given."
"We found the trophies you kept in your basement," Esposito explained as he tossed a folder of pictures onto the interrogation table, "the left pinkie's of all your victims. You kept them in little jar of stuff I can't even begin to pronounce. But luckily you did such a good job at preserving them we were able to extract DNA from them and match it to the victims found 30 years ago."
The old man said nothing. Kate continued, "listen Richard, you are going away for life. You will die in prison, but it doesn't have to be alone in a jail cell."
The old man looked at Kate, "what do you want?"
"A list of all the cases you tampered with over your entire career."
"You want me to destroy my own legacy?"
"You already did that when you killed people," Espo cut in, "do this, and we can think about reducing your son's sentence by just a little bit."
The old man chuckled, "no detective, no. If I do this, I want you to send that useless brat away for life!"
Kate raised an eyebrow, "you would do that to your own son?"
"He isn't my son!" the man snapped, "he's an overweight disappointment! I want him dead, I would have done it myself, but then I would have no one to clean my shit."
Percy felt like puking, he was so glad Poseidon didn't treat him like that.
"Fine, we get your son more time in jail, sounds like a plan, you ready to play ball?" Espo asked.
The old man turned to Kate, he sighed as a look of confusion overtook him, "I was so careful. So many years without getting caught.....how...how did this happen?"
"You got cocky," Kate supplied.
"No, no I never get cocky. I'm not one of those killers that need to show how smart I am detective. I know how smart I am, I don't need to be recognized for it. No....maybe it was my old age, maybe..." the man looked like he was trying to remember something, something long since forgotten.
"Maybe you missed it," Espo rolled his eyes, "or maybe it's because you just got bored. Or maybe you finally grew a fuckign conscious and wanted to get caught."
"No...no I didn't want to get caught....I never wanted to get caught. I can't explain it....it was like...like something turned on in me. Something I thought I switched off."
"And when did this happen?" Kate asked curiously.
"Three months ago."
Percy's eyes widened as he gasped. Castle noticed as he looked at the boy, "what? What's wrong?"
"I-I....nothing, nothing," Percy replied.
"Percy come on, it's obvious something's gotten to you."
Percy waved his hands altering Castle's memories, "I'm fine Castle. Move on."
The writer looked dazed before nodding, "right...tell me if something's wrong." Percy sighed, it looks like he was going to have to use his Mist Control a lot more these days.
Percy turned his attention to the interrogation currently going on. Parkins was currently telling his sad story of how he was abused as a kid. How his father used to threaten to cut off his pinky toe if he didn't obey. In the end Parkins seemed to only kill when it suited him, he was careful, and very very methodical. The more Percy thought about it the more it seemed strange that such a man would just jump up one day and decided 'hey let's go kill someone!'
'Maybe it has to do with Kronos rising....he did say he started feeling the urge to kill around the same time Kronos got revived so....'
Percy looked at the man, he really looked. Before he was always distracted, he needed to read his info card or save Castle's life, but now Percy had more than enough time to look at the man.
The older man had many lines across his face, he lived a very sad life. But there, right in the middle of his forehead, Percy could see something. Something was there, but it was hidden, almost like.... Percy's eyes widened, 'like the Mist.'
Immediately Percy focused as he glared a hole into Parkin's forehead. His eyes kept gazing over the forehead, his mind unable to process what he was seeing, but Percy pushed on, he refused to look away.
And then like glass shattering, the illusion broke.
Suddenly a black crescent moon appeared on Parkin's forehead. Even now the black mark seemed to fade in and out of reality, there was some powerful magic in play here, the kind even Percy had trouble breaking.
Percy didn't know what it was, he couldn't even see it long enough to Observe it, he needed help. If this illusion was strong enough to muddle the sight of a demigod, then Percy would need the eyes of a God to help him. Fortunately he had one on call.
Percy turned to Castle, "hey Castle I'm going to hit the john, be back in a second."
"Right, I'll call you in case we have a runaway gorilla or something. You know, in case we need your help subduing it," Castle chuckled. Percy rolled his eyes and he walked out of the room. He quickly went outside the precinct and into a nearby alley.
He looked at the silver ring around his finger, the sma ring Artemis gave him. He never took it off, well most of the time. He focused on the ring, 'Artemis, I need you.'
Suddenly a silver circle appeared above the ring and Artemis's face appeared. It was similar to an Iris message but Artemis told Percy it was sort of her own personal method of communication, "Percy? What is it?"
"I need you help Arty, it's urgent and it won't take more than a few minutes."
"I see," the redhead looked around and talked to someone Percy couldn't see. She then turned to him, "alright, I assume you're in a place I can teleport to without any witnesses?"
"Yup."
"Then wait a few seconds." Artemis cut the call and the silver circle disappeared. The very next moment the goddess appeared in a flash before Percy dressed in her usual silver parka. Now however Artemis looked a bit older, 16, maybe 17, she also had her hair braided with just the hint of vanilla rolling of her scent.
"What's with the older look?" Percy asked.
"Why? Don't' like it?" Artemis raised an eyebrow.
"Not at all, just curious," Percy waved it away.
"Well if you must know we had a new hunter who was a bit older. I thought that if I age myself up to her age it would help her adapt quicker."
Lie Detected!
Percy blinked, 'why is she lying?' Percy was curious, but it honestly didn't matter. "Right, well, anyway thank you for coming. I wouldn't have called if it wasn't urgent, but I really need your help."
"Sure Percy, what's the matter?" Artemis asked as he guided her into the police precinct.
"So yesterday I started my job here," Percy motioned to the police department, "and we ran across this serial killer that reemerged after over 30 years of silence."
"I see, and you caught him I presume?"
"Goddess please, who the Hades do you think you're talking to?" Percy grinned, "the old man didn't stand a chance."
"So what did he do."
"Well, he....he killed a bunch of people."
"How many?"
"Five that we know off. Two grown men, a woman, a teenage boy and.....and a little girl."
Artemis scowled at the last one, "did you hurt him?"
"I popped his arm out of his socket."
"Good. Now why do you need my help?"
"I noticed something when we were interrogating him. Something I didn't realise was even there. In all honestly it was pure luck that I even spotted it in the first place."
Percy lead Artemis into the room where Castle and he were looking at the interrogation from before. He waved his hands wrapping the Mist around Artemis rendering her invisible to Castle.
"Hey Percy, back so soon?" Castle asked.
"Yeah, what did he say?"
"Nothing important, just rambling on and one about what he did with them before....you know."
Percy nodded, he then altered the Mist around Castle blocking out his and Artemis's voice. "You're getting better at that," Artemis commented.
"Thanks, it's not a skill I'm proud off, but it's necessary," Percy sighed.
"So this is the man?" Artemis glared.
"Yeah, now, I want you to look at his forehead."
Artemis narrowed her eyes, "okay, what am I looking for?"
"A black mark on his forehead. It would be right in the middle of his forehead," Percy pointed, "it was a little difficult for me, so maybe-"
"Got it," Artemis cut in as he eyes glowed silver, "it looks like....like a" she gasped, "a black crescent moon."
"Yeah, any idea what that is?"
"Percy don't you realise what this is?!" Artemis snapped, "that's the mark of Kronos!"
Percy's eyes winded as he looked the man. His mind began to spin faster and faster. Random thoughts theories and ideas began to mix.
"Artemis come with me," Percy walked out with the Goddess following him.
They stood in the middle of the police station and Percy turned to Artemis, "how many of the people here have the mark?"
"I can see...." the Goddess looked around, "one, two.....ten.....twenty, easly."
"Do any of the police officers have it?"
"No, none of them have the mark. But most of the criminals behind bars do." Percy immediately turned and ran to the front. "Percy wait!"
The Goddess and demigod now stood outside. Percy turned to Artemis, "how many now?"
Artemis turned her silver gaze on the general populace. At least a hundred people were walking in front of them. It was Saturday night and people were out to party. Artemis began to count, and kept going and going and going.
She gasped when she was done, "h-half."
"What?"
"I said half," Artemis turned to Percy, "at least half of the people before us have the mark of Kronos."
"Artemis what exactly is the mark?"
"It's...it's a representation of Kronos's domain."
"Which one?" Percy asked but he already knew the answer.
"Evil, it's a mark of evil," Artemis turned to the people, "everyone with it become a part of Kronos's domain. They.....they power him. He's using them as a battery, drawing his energy from them."
