Mask Of Joy
Chapter 2
Annabeth's POV
Annabeth could feel Mr. Ellia's eyes on her from where he sat opposite her while Butch drove the Quinjet. She was entranced by her phone as it was a 30 min flight she didn't have anything better to do.
She sighed after feeling his gaze on her for the past twenty minutes and looked away from her phone screen to meet his gaze directly. He had his arms cuffed behind his back which, she imagined, must have been very uncomfortable.
He smiled at her, though she didn't return it. She just stared back at him with a blank look. She still wore the reporter disguise as well as the glasses even though she didn't need them, but she kept them anyway.
After a whole minute of starring at each other, she gave in. "What?"
"Nothing…" he smiled and she glared at him. He cleared his throat nervously. "Sorry it's just… you look so young. How old are you? Twenty two? Twenty one?"
"My age is of no concern of yours," she said.
"Aw too bad. How about your name? Is it really Miss Chase?"
Annabeth didn't answer. He studied her for a second before he pursed his lips and scrunched his eyebrows. "At least answer me this: who are you people?"
She smiled at him. "Since you have ties to the TITAN organization, you must recall ARGUS, no?"
His eyes widened in surprise. "You? You work for ARGUS?"
"Yes."
"That explains a lot." He gulped and looked away for a second as if thinking before meeting her eyes once more. "Listen I don't know what you want from me, but I can assure you I'm not your enemy."
"You already said that."
"It's true," he said. "Whatever you thought you'd find in my safe…"
"You know what we were looking for," Annabeth said.
"Really?" he asked unbelieving. "My suitcase full of money? Or that old manuscript?"
Annabeth frowned at him. "What old manuscript?"
He sighed. "A couple years ago, an old friend of mine worked for the TITANs. He was mad, he was. He had discovered a new source of power that the TITANs wanted to use."
He cleared his throat before he continued. "But as he finished, he gave me his manuscript, his life's work. He had told me to keep it safe. It was the last time I ever saw him. When I tried to contact him again, well he was…"
He choked and looked up at Annabeth with sad eyes. "The TITANs found out that I had the manuscript and they wanted to exchange it by being my secret benefactors so I could finish my eco-friendly building and power this bomb my friend developed."
Annabeth remembered the miniature sun that Luke had used. This mad scientist was the reason why Percy was gone. She glared at Mr. Ellia with pure hatred. "And you accepted, didn't you?"
He looked at her in horror. "No!"
She frowned. "What do you mean? You said-"
"I said that they needed my building to power their weapon, but I didn't know that until two years ago and I confronted them about it." He shook his head. "That's when I learnt what they truly were. But, it was already too late as they had enough data to build their weapon for what they wanted."
Annabeth stayed silent thinking about what he had said. She couldn't really blame him for what happened two years ago as he hadn't known he was part of it. The TITANs had been the true enemy, but now they're gone, except for the few that still lived scattered all around the world.
She sighed before she looked back at him as he looked down at his feet. She frowned. "Why are you telling me this, anyway? You could've confessed at the interrogation?"
He shook his head. "No, I needed to justify myself," he said. "And… well I don't know why, but I feel like… I can trust you… for some reason."
A smile played on her lips without realizing. "What about the one who beat us to that safe? You looked surprised when you saw it empty, so I'm guessing you didn't know, which means you have no idea who could have beaten us to it, right?"
"Yeah, about that… why did you take my safe again?" he asked motioning his head to the square safe sitting on the seat next to him. Annabeth had decided to take it with them for further analysis as she believed there was a pattern between this safe and all the other safe's that have been opened in the past few months.
"Further analysis," she replied looking at the safe. "There might be some kind of pattern with all the other reported cases of safe's being opened by brute force. I don't believe it to be a coincidence."
He frowned. "Yeah I think I recalled you saying that before that guy knocked the living daylights out of me!" he yelled at Butch in the cockpit.
"Well it seems like you're not like the big bad guy I imagined you to be," Annabeth said.
"I told you," he said leaning forward as much as the seatbelt allowed him. "I'm not your enemy."
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"Annabeth?"
She shook her head back to reality. She sat at the Situation Analysis table with Chiron at the head of the table. He hadn't changed much in two years. Or maybe it's because she spends so much time with him that she doesn't notice the difference.
Either way, he still had mid length brown hair, bushy eyebrows and a scruffy beard that had grown longer through winter. He was still in his high tech wheelchair and he wore the same style of formal clothing: An open green two button suit over a grey jumper with the white collar of his shirt poking around his neck. A dark set of straight pants and brown boots. (Here's the link: chirons_outfit_2016/set?id=215783592)
He eyed her across the table with his intense brown eyes that were full of knowledge, warmth and kindness. Two other sets of eyes also starred at her from around the table. They belonged to Grover Underwood, he'd grown on her and was one of her best friends, he was her handler; Will Solace, another friend of hers that had joined ARGUS around the same time as her, he belonged to the medical staff and proved to be an exceptional doctor.
Chiron had been the one who had spoken. As she starred at him in blankly, he continued. "Are you alright?"
She nodded. "Yes, just… thinking."
"About?"
"The reported safes opened in the past months. They all said that the safes had been opened by brute force. I don't believe it's a coincidence and I intend to find the link between them."
Grover frowned at her. "You mean these aren't random? You think whoever's opening these safes is like… looking for something?"
"Yes," she said.
"But what?" Will asked.
"Well," Annabeth said biting her lip. "I do believe it has something to do with this German scientist," she said as she pushed the file in front of her across the table to Chiron who quickly read through it.
"German scientist? What, like some former Nazi or something?" Will asked. "I wouldn't be surprised if he worked for the TITANs."
"But what does this German scientist have anything to do with safes?" Grover asked confused.
"Well he was supposedly the one who discovered how to create that fusion energy that TITANs changed to a fusion bomb two years ago."
Chiron passed the file over to Grover and Will. As they opened it and read through the file, Chiron asked: "How do you know about this German scientist?"
"Mr. Ellia told me," she said.
"Did he now?" Chiron looked impressed. "He must trust you."
She sighed. "He did say… something like that."
Chiron nodded. "Well, as Mr. Ellia is interrogated, I suggest we focus our attention on this German scientist. Grover, up for the task?"
"Yes, sir." He saluted Chiron with one finger before he took the file from Will which earned Grover a glare as the latter must have been in the middle of reading the file.
"Will shall help you of course," Chiron said and Will nodded.
Chiron turned his gaze to Annabeth. "And I believe you already know your task: find the pattern and find out who opened those safes. I want to know what we're up against."
Annabeth nodded. She already had a few theories, but she still needed a little more time to validate them.
Chiron eyed all three of them before he said: "Dismissed."
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Annabeth walked out the circular elevator after the doors opened with the familiar ding! She made her way down the corridor and stopped at the door with the number 2001 written on it. She brought her hand up and knocked on the door.
She didn't wait to hear a reply as she knew she wouldn't get any and just opened the door. Inside was a fairly big room with a double bed, a wardrobe to one side, a glass window on the wall that showed the dark under water. The walls were painted in different shades of blue and black and green. The floor was covered in a beige carpet. There was a door on the far left that led to the bathroom.
Tyson sat at his desk next to his bed with his back to Annabeth. He was building something as he had dozens of mechanical parts laid on the desk.
She approached him and looked over his shoulder at what he was doing. He was building some kind of watch or wrist band. She sat on the desk so he could see her.
"Hey there Tyson," she said.
His look hadn't changed much in two years. He'd grown a good seven inches taller and had a recent haircut. His brown hair was more wavy looking then rat's nest like it used too. He was quite handsome and had the same lopsided grin as Percy. He was wearing a flannel shirt over a white t-shirt with ripped blue jeans and dark boots. (Here's the link: tysons_outfit_2016/set?id=215783042)
He gave her a small smile. He put the object on his hands down on the table and brought his hand up and spoke in sign language. Hey.
Ever since Percy disappeared, Tyson never spoke a word. He had become mute for the past two years. The pain of losing his beloved brother after losing his mother had been too much for him to bear.
Annabeth decided to reply in sign language too. What are you doing?
Just a project I'm working on, he said. He paused before he asked, where have you been?
Annabeth did her best to sum up her mission in sign language. She did it slowly so Tyson could follow even though he might be even better than her. When she finished, he looked deep in thought. Then he said, do you think that maybe?
What? She asked
That maybe it was him?
Annabeth's breath caught in her chest. She hadn't expected that question. Of course she had thought about it and a part of her was totally convinced that it was him, but it was still a longshot.
I don't know, she answered truthfully. But if it is him, and I intend to find out, then I will do everything I can to bring him back. To bring him home.
He looked at her hopefully. Do you promise?
Annabeth smiled at him before she did the sign: she put her index finger to her lips and then placed a flat hand on top of the thumb-side of the non-dominant "S"-hand. Promise.
