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Mary's P.O.V
I carried the limp Josh. I could have sworn that he looks like a ragdoll when he is limp.
I slung him over my shoulders, and I continued our journey to Mount Othyrs.
I hope that my days of becoming a giant to be over, and have I mentioned the disadvantages of becoming a human giant? One of them is being rejected by friends, and having only a few friends. Previously, I have Hippolyta as my friend, since she was also in the experiment.
If Josh hadn't done his stupid research assignment, then none of this would have happened, but noooo... he had to do his research assignment on genetic engineering.
I was harsh on him firsthand, but as soon as I realized that Josh's research paper got stolen, I figured out that Josh was innocent.
So now, we were in Las Vegas, and we were trying to get to San Francisco.
I looked for a bus, but we can't see any bus stops. The place is stuck with traffic. I figure that if we walk just a few more paces we will see the bus stop sign.
Sure enough, we found the bus stop. I purchased some tickets so we can ride on the bus. I held Josh in one hand so everyone is not gonna see what I have in my other hand.
Josh is still exhausted, and needs to be carried by me. I shook him gently. "Hey Joooooosh..." I spoke with a sweet tone.
Josh is still not moving, I knew that the amazon had treated him badly, and Josh used up all his strength while trying to break free the chains.
I walked inside the bus, with Hippolyta.
Once we get inside, I took out a hamburger out of my pack and offered some to Josh. He still hung limply so I shoved just a little beef inside his mouth. He seemed to be chewing it, but it's so faint that I could barely see it. He chewed it bit by bit, and slowly he came around.
"Uhhhh....." Josh murmured.
"Josh! you're awake!" I hugged him.
"Uh, yeah... barely." Josh murmured, but looking at him awake is more than enough for me to make me hug him.
I handed him to Hippolyta, while I stood up and flexed my muscles. It's been quite a while since I flexed. The other passengers gasped at my ripped muscles. They were very very huge, probably the size of 2 to 4 bodybuilders, or even more.
I sat down again, and tried to find a place to sleep. I noticed that some people were getting up from their seats, because they think they saw a giant is about to sleep.
I decided that I would not sleep on the chairs, because I am afraid that I would break them, so I slept on the bus floor instead.
Dreams found me, and I found the place where I used to exercise.
Right in front of me, were two ton cars and 5 ton light truck. On the far end, the heavy trucks were there, which weighed 15 - 30 tons.
I was eager to exercise. I was just 11 years old back then, and I've gotten this powerful.
I started on the 2 ton cars, they are nothing. I picked them up like picking a piece of paper.
Then I moved on to heavier cars, such as Alphard and other heavier cars. It just felt like picking up your everyday Ipod touch.
When I got to the extremely heave trucks, which weighed about 60 tons, I was about to lose courage, and when I lift it, I was surprised that it felt like holding a medium-sized chair.
The scene changed to when I was 16 years old.
I am so bored. I don't have anything to lift weights with. The 100 ton trucks were now like lifting a piece of book. Lifting a huge passenger airplane was now like lifting a small-sized bookshelf, and I can drag 5 aircraft carriers at the same time.
So I was sitting at the edge of Mount Othyrs, and I just felt that nothing of the training suits me.
That's when my father come to visit me.
"Mary Lester." My father groaned.
I ran up to the mountain, and found my dad holding some kind of ceiling. I could tell that it is not a good thing to hold that ceiling.
But at the same time, I also felt that this is going to be a challenge.
"Can you hold this for me?" Atlas asked.
Wow, very tempting.
"Yes, sure father." I told him. "I'll take it."
Then I touched the cold, heavy clouds. And when Atlas ducked, I was surprised that this felt heavier than any other objects that I trained with. This is what I'm talking about, a suitable training for me.
I woke up to screaming.
Annabeth was shaking me to wake. "Wake up Mary! We've got trouble!"
First thought that appeared in my mind: Where is Josh?
I looked around for Josh, and it turned out that Annabeth got him in her arms, and I sighed in relief.
I got out of the bus just before it explodes. I got out my javelin and looked for monsters.
In the sky, there were eagles. I don't know what they were called, but they have bronze beaks and huge wings that spread over 5 meters at least in each wing. I threw a javelin at one of them with deadly accuracy and it disintegrated.
I looked for Hippolyta, but she was nowhere to be found. I saw something right in front of me like the earth was a little unsteady. Just then, a figure shot out from the earth, and it's Hippolyta.
I stumbled back in surprise, and my javelin returned to my hands.
I saw some laistrygonian giants trying to stop us, but I just swept my javelin across them, and they yelled in pain before they disintegrate.
I was a little drenched with sweat, but otherwise I'm ok. Meanwhile, Josh is still sleeping and is still tired, from the looks. I wished that he would wake up and help us.
Annabeth handed Josh to me. I picked him up and stared at his sleeping form. Indeed he was very tired, but I figure that the sun is healing him.
Then a thought occurred to me, this is midday, then why isn't Josh healing?
Then I had realized that we were standing in the shade all this time. I decided to bring him the a field of sunlight.
I held him in the middle of the field of sunlight, and he seemed to be recovering from his haggardness fast. Josh started to wake and groaned.
"Josh! You're awake!!!" I hugged him tightly.
He looked at me in a daze. "Uhhhhh...."
I put him down and he stumbled and my first thought is that Josh is about to fall, but no. He can stand properly and began to walk.
Josh's P.O.V
I was dazed from the battle, since the battle had been unfair.
I was left to rot in chains for 3 hours while I writhed and struggled and after that, I was forced to go face to face with the Amazonian Queen! How was that for bad?
I should have known that Otrera had wanted me dead, I just realized that by now.
Just then, we approached Mount Othyrs, the base of the titans. I wished I could have more time to rest but it looks like we have reached our destination.
Mary raised her hand as if to slap me while she looked in front of her.
Sure enough, in front of us was Michelle Lester and Eddie Kanakaredes, both parents who made experiment to both Hippolyta and Mary.
Mary and Hippolyta's face turned to anger in one second, and they both lunged at their parents so quick they don't have time to dodge. Hippolyta got Eddie while Mary got Michelle. They were crushing their own parents.
"Urgh......." Michelle struggled.
"OWWWW!!!!!" Eddie screamed.
"Now I want some answers!" Hippolyta and Mary said in unison. "Why are you using us as experiments!"
"C-c-can't.... breathe..." Michelle said.
Both Hippolyta and Mary put down their mortal parents. Hippolyta summoned a vine that emerges from the earth and wrapped both Michelle and Eddie towards the ground.
"Now, you will either tell us." Hippolyta demanded. "Or I will let the earth consume you!"
"Now, Hippolyta." Annabeth said. "Be reasonable. You should talk to your parents about how you can be normal again."
"No Annabeth!" Hippolyta snapped. "My parents have used me and my friend, Mary as an experiment! I will have to kill her!"
Eddie and Michelle were now screaming in agony and despair, since they couldn't believe that they met their children again.
"No! Please!" Eddie shouted. "It was him!" He pointed at me. "He's the one who made the stupid research paper!"
"But you're the one who stole it, am I right?" I countered.
"Well... yeah." He admitted. "But..."
"Enough of this!" Mary said. "I cannot wait to crush my parents!"
"WAIT!!!" Michelle screamed in agony. "We will explain why we make you experiments!"
The vines were now tighter, Eddie and Michelle's breaths came in agonized spurts. Then the vines loosened and they gasped for breath.
"It's because we don't have a license for our laboratory!" Eddie explained. "I really enjoyed my research and then an idea came up to my head! I have decided to conduct a growth experiment..."
"What kind of growth experiment?" I clenched my fist and is ready to strike them. "You almost cost me my whole life you piece of crap!"
"I'm sorry Joshie!" Michelle begged. "I shouldn't have stolen your research paper!"
"Now, let's see what would I do to you." Mary told her.
So Mary grabbed their parents and is about to crush them. Hippolyta melted through the earth and came back with a set of poison.
Hippolyta gave Mary the poison and they both looked at each other and nodded.
Mary and Hippolyta both poisoned their parents by forcing Eddie and Michelle to drink a poison.
In a second, the parents body became rigid, and began coughing out blood. They continued to cough out blood and after a while, their bodies went slack. Michelle was the one to die first, since she is a mortal. Meanwhile, Eddie is a son of Nyx, so it would take him a while to die.
After a couple of minutes, Eddie died from the poison, and so does Michelle.
I stared in shock at both Hippolyta and Mary. They just murdered their parents! I couldn't believe the friend that I had had just killed their own parents!
"Hipp... Mary..." I was speechless. I can't believe that they could do such a thing.
"I'm sorry Josh, I..." Hippolyta and Mary was about to reason. I didn't listen to their reason I just ran into the forest.
I entered at just the bottom of Mount Othyrs, and continued to keep running. I can feel tears streaming down my cheeks as I ran. I just ran and ran until I felt tired. I stopped at the nearby tree full of coconuts and collapsed and buried my face in my hands and started sobbing uncontrollably. I was devastated by my friends action. How could they murder their own parents? Especially in front of me?
I just want them to consult and ask them for a way to make Hippolyta and Mary normal again, but instead they refused to do that and killed their parents. What kind of child are they?
I just kept sobbing beside that coconut tree, and didn't care for anything else. I sensed that the earth beside me quavered a little.
Hippolyta's P.O.V
I walked towards Josh and grabbed his body I looked at him with guilt. He sobbed into my right arm. "I'm sorry Josh, I didn't mean to kill them in front of you."
Josh looked up at me. His whole face were red from crying. "But you know that your parents are going to find a way to make you normal again!!!" He screamed. "How could you..."
"Josh, I'm sorry." I sounded melancholy and apologetic, but he won't accept it. He just kept sobbing and wailing like a baby. I tried to comfort him, but I don't know how.
Mary knelt beside him. "Josh, please. We're sorry that we killed our parents. It's just that we don't like becoming experiments."
Josh glared at her with his red, puffy eyes. "Mary! You're part of this too!" I could sense his emotions. They were full of devastation and he just can't believe that we would do such a thing. Well, I guess that everyone could have their bad times.
I wished that Josh hadn't seen us murdering our parents, now Josh might hate us.
I gently about to touch him, but he saw it and smacked my hand. "Listen, I am NOT going to go in this stupid...."
That's when I reacted. He is going to go with us, whether he want it or not. I grabbed him quickly and he started screaming and yelling. Mary was right beside him, and had a black duct tape. He started hammering my fists and screaming.
Mary put the duct tape on his mouth, but he didn't stop fighting, so I summon some vines from the earth and I imagined the vines tying his hands together and his legs.
I cut the vines so they were disconnected from the earth, and sure enough, they were still strong enough to hold Josh.
Mary doesn't have any idea where to go, so I told Mary to hold my hands, and melted through the earth and into the ground.
In the earth, I can sense every presence on earth. I picked the one closest to our position and burst through the ground.
I know where we are. We were at my house, the part where the ground wasn't enclosed with any ceramics.
Josh kept struggling, and I peeled his gag off. He started to gasp, and glared at me. "Why do you bring me here??"
"Because you wouldn't listen to us," Mary said. "And so I think it would be a good idea to keep you here until...."
"UNTIL WHAT???" He screamed. "You just killed your parents and you didn't show any remorse? What kind of child are you, anyways? Has the experiment made you like this?"
I was a little shocked by his word. Did our parents put something else in the experiment chamber? How could I have done this to my poor Josh? It must have been the hormones that our parents gave. I recall that Mary's and my parents were putting more than HGH.
"Okay." I told him. "I'm going to release you from your bonds, now. Don't do anything stupid."
He kept glaring at me, but after a few seconds, his look receded and he nodded.
I touched the vines, and they unwrapped themselves from Josh. Josh stretched his hands and legs, and exhaled. "Hippolyta, Mary. What you just did is really intolerable. Just give your parents a chance."
"Why would we?" Mary asked. "She made us experiments."
"Yeah." I agreed. "I don't want to be exiled by my friends."
Josh throught about it for a while, and he spoke. "Actually, I want to talk to you about my past." Josh said.
"Is it about your parents?" Mary asked.
Josh nodded. "It's far worse that you will imagine. My mother is not as kind as you are when I was a child."
I mused. Could his past be more terrible than us? Or could he be lying? By the way, I just waved my hand. "Go on."
"Alright, I might have not told you this story before, because it leaves wounds on my heart. I..." He faltered. "I was about the age when you were made experiments, about 4 years old."
Mary and I listened.
"So, when it was my 4th birthday, my mom turned into a sinister, demonlike being." Josh told us. We all were shocked. "I was... made slave by my own mother."
His story shocked us. He? Being enslaved by his... OWN MOTHER??? You got to be kidding me!
"And that went on for... 3-4 years, and the demon inside her left." Josh said, tears streaming down his cheeks.
I could really tell that this is one subject that he can never tell without releasing so much pain that he held inside his heart.
"So..."
"DON'T ASK WHAT HAPPENED NEXT!!!" He snapped. "The important thing is that I did not turn into the tyrant you guys become!"
And he started sobbing miserably on Mary's huge hands. Mary hold him tightly and she had to be careful not to crush the little Josh. She knew how much pain poor little Joshy had gone through, and yet he remained his determination to become good again.
I just realized that this Josh guy never gives up, no matter how much pain he had endured, no matter what he had gone through, he always reached his goal.
"I understand, Joshy."