Ahh. Demigod Files 2.0. A story of memories, further adventures, and of course the questioning of characters we all know and love. This is going to be a longer AN, so sit back… further…further… further... great, now you fell out of your chair.

Just so we're clear, the chapters in this are waaay longer, so I won't be updating daily on this one. Not reliably anyway. Sorry.

IMPORTANT MESSAGE! After this chapter, we take a break to interview Miz, Jacob's faithful talking sword. Soooo, if you have something you want to ask Miz, send in the question via PM or review and hope it gets selected.

Starting us off in this little escapade is a story that takes place before Shame of Olympus but after Sins of the Fathers. More attentive readers will recall mention of this incident in previous stories. Read and enjoy.

Jacob's POV

Last night had been, for lack of a better word, rough. Alex had talked about how she'd be getting a learner's permit next year, and how she should practice driving now. I had tried to convince her it was a bad idea but somehow, someway…we ended up speeding down the highway being chased by at least four cop cars.

I'm still not sure how we eventually lost them, but needless to say that night I'd gone to bed exhausted and maybe a little bit annoyed. But when I woke up the next morning, she wasn't in her bunk. She wasn't in any bunk.

All I found was her sheets a mess and her necklace on her pillow. Oh yeah, and knife stabbed in the middle of her bunk with a note tied to it. That was a bit of a dead giveaway something was very, very wrong.

I unraveled the note, not sure what to expect. It could be a prank, a death threat, or a prank death threat. Instead, it only had a one word message scrawled on it: Bring. That was literally it. Bring. What the heck did that mean?

I got dressed, my brain working to try and figure it out. It had to mean something, like a clue or maybe only a partial message. Bring…bring what? Thinking ruined my appetite, so when time came for sacrifices at breakfast, I just lazily dumped my entire plate into the fire and sat back down, lost in thought.

When I got back to my table though, in the spot where Alex always sat, a crudely carved map of Camp Half-Blood had been etched into the seat. And a circle was carved in right in between where the Zeus and Hades cabins would be. I looked around, checking to see if anyone else had noticed. No one had.

Alex was leaving me clues to something, that had to be it. But it still didn't explain why her necklace was still in the cabin, she never went anywhere without it. I excused myself from breakfast and training for the day. I'm sure Chiron wouldn't mind…as long as he didn't find out.

Remind me to blame Alex for being a bad influence once I find her.

Out by the Zeus and Hades cabins it was quiet. No one stayed in the Hades cabin to begin with, and Rick and Tony, the two sons of Zeus, were off at training, probably schooling new campers or settling a bet with the Ares kids.

I didn't find anything extremely prominent at first, so I looked around a little, and found really bad drawings in the dirt not too far away. One was a zigzag lightning bolt drawing, the second was a crudely drawn war helm, and the third looked like a disproportionate trident. But together with the message I'd gotten this morning, it sent a clear message. Someone wanted me to bring them the three most powerful weapons of all time.

Yeah, that would fly with the gods.

"Hey Jake," a sly voice greeted from behind me.

I spun around, and behind me was a misty Iris message, showing Evan Nakamura himself in his not so secret hideout in the desert. I pulled out Miz and clicked him to life, but Evan held up a hand, discouraging me from literally cutting the IM off.

"Ah, ah, ah…You wouldn't want me to leave before I deliver the message, would you Jake?" Evan taunted. I only glared in response.

"That's a good boy," Evan taunted. "You're a smart guy Jake, I think you know what I want."

"You should know there's no way I'd give any of those weapons to you ever," I stated. Evan just laughed.

"I suppose your right. Oh well, I tried. Say Jacob, before I go, have you seen Alex anywhere?" Evan asked, making my blood run cold. It all clicked. The knife, the note, the bad drawings of dangerous weapons, Alex missing…

"Where is she?" I demanded.

"Say hi Alex," Evan said cheerily, stepping aside to show me Alex herself, straining against chains on her wrist that had to be held by at least two people per chain. She saw the IM, saw me, and shouted. "Don't do it Jacob! I can get out of this on my— argh!"

She collapsed to the ground when something hit her upside the head. Evan stepped back into view, shaking his head.

"I told you morons to break her!" Evan yelled. "She doesn't sound broken to me!"

There were sounds of people grunting and getting hit, chains rattling, and people choking. But finally, Alex cried out in pain again and I saw her form crumple to the floor, panting hard. Someone hit her with a bat while she was down.

"That's better," Evan grumbled. "Anyway, I think you know how this works. We get the weapons, you get your friend. Sounds like a fair trade."

"I'll flay you alive," I promised. "That's if she doesn't first."

"I'm sure," Evan said dismissively. "One more thing before I go. Don't even bother storming our base, because she's not there. When you have what we want, make a burnt offering to Hecate, and we'll make the trade. Try to pull anything before, and she dies. With you watching."

Evan swiped his hand through the IM after that threat, and I was left dumbfounded. Evan wanted me to give him the three most powerful weapons ever built, and in exchange Alex got to go free. That's if Evan kept up his end of the bargain, which knowing him, he wouldn't.

An IM sprung up out of the air again. "Oh and, you've got four days," Evan added before the Iris Message promptly vanished.

I hate him. So much.

"Hold up," Han said, raising a hand. "Let me see if I have all of this. Alex got kidnapped by the Pit, and now she's prisoner somewhere, we don't know where."

"You've got it so far," I told him.

"And if we don't hand over the three most powerful items in existence to the most scary dude on this planet in four days, she dies. If we try to rescue her instead of going along with the deal, she dies. And if we can't even get the items to start with, she dies?"

"That about sums it up," I said.

"Okay, okay, I still getting it so far," Han said. "What I don't get…is why me and Will are here."'

"Yeah Jacob, you do know the Big Three aren't just going to give up their favorite toys, right?" Will asked me, looking worried. Why shouldn't he be? He was seventeen, an older camper with years of experience. I was eleven, I had one major quest and one year of experience under my belt, and I was suggesting a stupid plan. Stupid on paper anyway. "They're like immortal three year olds, they don't like to share."

"I know," I said. "That's why…we're going to steal them."

Han spit spit out the bits of tin can he'd been chewing and started choking. He repeatedly slammed a fist against his chest until he got his food to go down. Will stared at me with his jaw slackened and left eye twitching. When Han was done almost dying, he bleated out, "W-w-what?"

"Are you insane?" Will asked me. "Haven't you ever heard the story of the Lightning Thief? Picture how angry the gods got then times three. THREE TIMES THE HATE, Jacob. When they're done with you you'd be lucky to be a pile of ash."

"Now I really don't know why me and Will are here," Han added.

"I can't pull off something like this on my own," I admitted. "Will, you're the best thief at camp, I could use you. Han, c'mon buddy we've gone through worse…"

"No we haven't!" Han protested. "I want to live, thank you. Maybe find a nice girl, settle down, nice place in the woods maybe…I can't do that if I end up reincarnated as a flower! C'mon Jacob, use that blonde head of yours."

"You're going to hate hearing this," Will added, "but is one camper really worth the risk?"

"This one is," I stated. I needed to convince them, Will at least. "C'mon, you're a son of Hermes, god of thieves. This is the biggest theft of all time and you're saying you don't want in? And besides, I've got a plan that'll get Alex free and return the stuff we steal to their rightful owners, who may be very happy with us for returning said items so long as we don't get caught."

"So you're saying…" Will said, leaning back in his chair, "that we're going to steal the weapons without anyone finding out it was us, save Alex, return the weapons, and then reap the rewards?"

"That's about it," I said. "You in or not?"

Will thought it over. "Ah, what Hades. Life too short not to try and steal a little excitement out of it."

"Who do you guys think you are, Oceans 13?" Han asked. I gave him a look like, Well, are you in or out?

Han caved. "Fine. I'll come. Just let me tell my mom I love her one last time."

Will shook his head and turned back to me. "Well Grand Master Schemer, what's the plan that gets us out of this alive?"

I smiled, glad to have both of them aboard. As I laid out the plan and ignored Han's protests to all the dangerous parts (of which there were many) I could help but feel almost excited. Yes, my best friend's life was on the line. Yes, we were planning something very stupid and impulsive, but this was my next big quest. This was it. The thing was, we had to plan fast. Four days wasn't a lot of time, and today was already halfway over. The first step of our plan for world domination was finding a reasonable excuse for being gone for the next few days. Will came up with a pretty solid one, and tomorrow we were going to implement it. I hated not going today, but it had to be done.

Our little meeting in my cabin was called to an end when dinner began. Han and Will left, but before I followed them out I stopped to grab Alex's necklace off of her bunk and stuffed it into my pocket. She'd need it once we found her. That night at dinner, I made an offering to the Big Three, just to be on the safe side.

"Gods damn it, he's heavy," Han whispered meekly. His goat legs were shaking as he, Will, and I all carried and bound and bagged (Yes, bagged, not gagged) Argus into an empty Pegasus stable .Argus was struggling pretty violently, but so far the three of us and the sack we'd stuffed him into had been able to handle it. His weight however, was another problem entirely. The multi-eyed monster was heavy, even with all three of us lifting.

"Shut up, you're going to get us caught!" Will scolded as we heaved poor Argus into the stable and shut the door.

"Think anyone will find him?" Han asked, panting.

"Not before we're gone," I said. "Now c'mon, Chiron's expecting you."

Han sighed, and the three of us headed to the Big House. Han was due to head back into the mortal world for a while to look for more demigods to bring in to camp. Argus was going to be the one driving him out, but now…let's just say someone else would have to drive Han.

"You know, even if we only got caught doing this part we'd be in a ton of trouble," Han said.

"Will you stop worrying?" Will asked. "Worrying just makes it harder to lie."

"We're lying to a centaur, stealing from gods, and planning to walk away from it with pats on the back, and you want me not to worry?" Han asked. "Seriously, what is wrong with you two?"

"Too many Oceans movies?" Will joked. The two of us cracked up laughing, but Han just groaned, muttering, "We are so dead," all the way to the Big House. It would've been annoying if I didn't agree with him on several levels. This was stupid, dangerous, an liable to either get us killed, get Alex killed, or maybe even get the gods killed. But…I was doing this for the right reasons. Come to think of it, Alex definitely owes me after this.

"He'll never go for it," Alex insisted as she pulled against the chains keeping her secured. She didn't know where she was, if she had she would have told Jacob. What was clear was that wherever she was didn't get much traffic. It was outdoors, the sky was dark and stormy yet she could pull no lightning from the angry clouds above. Her lip was busted from that last little fight with some of the Pit who'd been holding her chains. Now though, they were "safely" secured it the ground.

"Sure he will," Evan said. "He'll come up with some grand scheme to get what he needs, save you, and walk away without ever giving me what I want. But we're ready for him. And Jacob and whatever little plan he comes up with doesn't stand a chance."

"Evan turned to the four children of Athena that Pit had at its disposal. "You're sure you can beat him?"

"One impulsive strategist against four children of Athena?" the lead one scoffed. "Please, there's nothing he can come up with that we can't prepare for."

Evan nodded. "Good, that's what I like to hear. But I'm warning you, do not under estimate him. The cost for a mistake like that…" Evan's mechanical hand clenched involuntarily in anger, "is a heavy price indeed."

Alex tried to make her hands a small as possible and slip out of her chains, but without success. Her Hands were too wide too slip through. There were other means of escape, but that would mean waiting for the right moment. For now, pulling and yanking would get her nowhere and she had no real means of escape. Let the Pit think she was a helpless prisoner then. It would be their last mistake.

"If you're ready," Chiron was saying to Han, "you can have Argus drive you out right now. By the way, have any of you seen Argus lately? I can't seem to find him anywhere. It's not like him to simply just disappear like this…"

"Nope haven't seen him," Han said hurriedly. "Nowhere, nada, no sign up him. Wonder where he went. Do you know where he went because I sure don't. Ha-ha-ha-ha…"

Will elbowed him in the ribs, thankfully shutting him up without Chiron noticing. Although, there was nothing we could do about Han's nervous behavior. He was sweating, his legs were shaking like Jell-o, and he was chewing his shirt like there wasn't a scrap of food for miles. There was a pretty good chance of him giving us away before we even got started. And I was not going to knock out Chiron, stuff him in a bag, and drag him into an empty stable. That had been hard enough with Argus, I didn't want to think what it would be like if we tried Chiron.

"I could drive him out," Will oh-so-casually volunteered. In contrast to Han, he was so much better at this it was scary. It must come with being a Hermes kid, because Will had it down to an art. "I mean, he's due out and with or without Argus somebody has to drive him. There a half-bloods who need rescuing."

"Hm, I suppose so…" Chiron mused.

"Can I go with them?" I asked then. "I mean, just to say goodbye to Han?"

Chiron thought over our little suggestion. "I don't see why not. But be careful. Monster attacks have increased recently, don't want any of you boys getting hurt."

"You and me both," Han gulped nervously.

"What was that?" Chiron asked.

"Nothing!" Han shouted instantly in response. He broke down into nervous laughter and his stance became wobbly. Whenever I got that way, Alex had a trick to straighten me out. I decided to try it on Han now. Yup…I slapped the poor satyr across the face.

He snapped to attention. " Ready to sir!"

Then he marched, yes, marched out the door, leaving me and Will staring dumb founded. Chiron was scratching his head as well. "There's something wrong with that goat," he murmured. "Take care you two, come back safe."

"We will," Will and I chorused as we walked off to catch up with Han. I couldn't believe that had actually worked. Yes, on paper it was supposed to work, but after seeing Han trying to lie…gods, the Ares campers could have seen through that and their dumber than a sack of—

I felt something hit me in the back of the head, and I went down with the sound of laughter in my ears. Will helped me up with one hand, and in the other he held a javelin with a weighted boxing glove at the end of it. I resisted the urge to smack myself and turned around. Sure enough, not too far away was Roxanne, receiving high-fives from her siblings for the throw.

"What was that for?" I called out.

"You know!" was her terse response. I groaned and walked off. Stupid Ares campers…

"OW!"

"Well, I think we pulled that off pretty well," Han said in a relaxed tone. He leaned back his seat and folded his arms behind my head. "You know, you guys had me a little worried for a second there, I thought you were going to crack under pressure or something. Good thing I was there, or Chiron might have suspected something."

Will turned and glared at him. "Han, I'm not opposed to throwing you out of this van. Shut up."

Han held up his hands defensively. "Geez, calm down, just trying to keep us entertained. We've got a long ride ahead of us…right? I kinda forget the next part of the plan."

"You didn't forget Han," I told him. "We just didn't tell you."

"Wait, what?"

Will handed me his cell phone. "C'mon Jacob, try to reel in a big one. It won't look convincing if all the van gets is a couple dents and dings. Something that could punch a hole in it would be nice."

"Already on it," I assured him, going through the list of contacts and making call after call. "Hopefully he's back by now. Sure would be nice to remind him he still can't touch me."

"What? He who?" Han asked. I just held up a hand and pointed to the phone in my hands like, Not now, I'm on the phone. Han just panicked some more. "Wait, Jacob you might want to put that away, we don't want to attract any monsters."

"Yes we do," I corrected him with a smile.

"…oh."

Will smirked as we continued down the road. Han stared at the phone in my hands with anxiety, and he flinched every time the van hit a bump that shook it a little. Poor guy, this quest really had him on edge. Usually he wasn't this…paranoid. But for whatever reason, angering the gods scared the goat milk out of him. Er, not literally. That would be gross.

There was a light thud, and the van shook in response. It was quickly followed by another, and another, each one steadily growing more powerful. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my silver click pen. My thumb, middle finger, and index finger fiddled with the blue grip of the pen. For some reason, I was a little nervous about this. I guess I should be, especially if the monster we'd attracted was the one I'd been hoping for.

Sur enough, the car lurched to the side, two huge horns puncturing the side before yanking out. We went rolling off the side of the road, ending up on our side dazed and confused. Han was struggling against a jammed seat belt, I was suspended in my seat by mine, and Will was pinned back by and airbag that wouldn't deflate like mine had. I unbuckled, fell and managed to climb out the shattered windshield. A moment later Han cut off his seatbelt with a knife and followed. Last out, Will managed to get his sword out, puncturing the airbag and getting it out of the way. The three of us stood outside the officially trashed van, going over the damage.

Then we heard the thud of heavy footsteps behind us. All three of us spun, weapons draw. The Minotaur, in all his tighty-whitey glory, was only about twenty feet away from us, and he looked mad. Or hungry. Or maybe both, I can't tell through all of that ugly.

"Hey big guy," I taunted. "How've you been?"

He let out a snort and charged. Will dove left, I dove right, and poor Han was left staring wide-eyed at the beast charging straight for him. In a last ditch effort, he ducked. By some miracle, the Minotaur stomped right on over him without even touching Han. Han stood back up, jaw agape.

"Nice move Han!" Will shouted as he and I charged.

Will got there before I did, and he took a slash at the Minotaur. The bull man dodged and batted Will aside like nothing. Will went flying back, and I jumped onto the Minotaur's back. IT should have been an easy kill, just stab down and be done, but once the Minotaur started thrashing around I lost my grip on Miz and it tumbled away to the ground. So I was left clinging to his sweaty, meaty neck for dear life, already getting a serious case of whiplash. Eight seconds later though, I was thrown off and landed on the ground with a thud.

The Minotaur continued to thrash and stomp around, his enormous hooves leaving huge dents in the ground that very easily could crush me. I rolled to avoid one hoof, and ended up watching the other crash in front of my nose. I tried to scramble away, but one of the Minotaur's legs kicked out, giving me a serious crack to the ribs and knocking me off balance. When I saw a hoof raise high above my face, I was pretty sure that was it. I was going to be turned to a splatter on the underside of a monster hoof. But then, the Minotaur himself staggered back, a knife embedded in his chest down to the hilt. He let out a confused moan, and crumbled away to dust.

Han trotted up and lifted his knife out of the pile of dust, brushing it off.

"What?" he asked, noticing my stares. "Just because I flinch at ever noise the sky makes, that doesn't mean I can't throw a knife."

There was a light rumble in the sky above, and Han flinched correspondingly, dropping his knife which would have stabbed him if he hadn't had hooves instead of feet. I shook my head. Just when you think Han will impress you, he goes and does something like that.

Will hobbled over, rubbing his side. "Well what are we all just standing around for? We've got three days, and symbols of power don't steal themselves. C'mon, move your butts, it's a long walk to Manhattan from here."

He was right. We spent the rest of that day walking the remaining fifteen miles into New York. By the time we got into the city and found a cab, the sun was setting. Which meant Chiron probably knew we were missing by now.

Dax, head counselor for the Athena cabin, examined the wreck along with Rick from Zeus and Grind from Ares. "Well, this is the van."

Rick whistled at the sight of it. The van was beat up, laying on its side with flat tires and a puddle of spilt fuel. It was covered in dents and dings, and shattered glass littered the area. But the most prominent detail was the two massive holes in the side of the van.

"What do you think happened here?" Rick asked.

"Well, let's see," Dax murmured, examining the scene. "Diameter of the holes, approximate distance between them…punctured inward, not out…" The son of Athena continued, his mind taking in every piece of evidence, making estimates on likely seating arrangements, guessing the amount of strength it would take to overturn the van, and things like that.

"They were driving down the road," Dax decided, "when right about…there the Minotaur hit and they went rolling, coming to a stop here. All the windows are cracked or broken but the windshield has been pretty much cleared away, so that's where they crawled out of."

"Okay, what happened after that?" Rick asked.

Grind spoke up. "See the hoof prints over here? Too wild a pattern to have been the initial charge. Someone or something made the Minotaur mad enough to start bucking like a Texas bull. Probably one of them jumping onto its back to go for the kill. No hoof prints leading away from here, and no blood. So they won the fight."

Dax looked to Grind, impressed. "How.."

"Look I may not know what the square root of pie is," Grind defended, "but Ares kids know their way around a fight. I could look at just about any battle scene and tell you what happened."

"And yet…you can't figure out a revolving door," Dax sighed.

"Watch it Brainiac!" Grind warned. "That big head of yours won't do you any good if it's splattered all over the floor!"

Dax rested one hand on the short sword that hung from his belt. "Go ahead War Jockey. Give me an excuse."

Grind's nostrils flared and his fists clenched, but his glare was met by Dax's cold, calculating stare. Despite every fiber of his body screaming to tear apart the cocky son of Athena, Grind backed down. Dax smiled, satisfied that he'd won the stand off.

"Smarter than you look," Dax muttered.

Grind briefly shot forward once again, and Dax flinched, but Grind stopped himself. The son of Ares shook his head. "Not worth it."

"Took the words right out of my mouth," Dax retorted. That pushed Grind over the edge.

Grind pulled a small hatchet out of his boot, which quickly expanded and grew into a full sized, double bladed battle ax. Dax yanked his short sword from its sheath in response, and Grind began to move forward. However, almost as if he had hit a wall, he stopped. Grind huffed and tried to take a step forward, but he was pushed back by a strong wind. Dax was met with similar resistance when he tried to move against Grind. Both fighters instantly looked to Rick, who had his hands raised.

"Guys, guys," Rick said, "…you do know I could take you both down if I had to, right?"

Grind huffed and stood down. His axe shrank back into a hatchet before returning to its place in his boot. Dax slid his short sword back into its sheath, still glaring at Grind but now casting some of that look in Rick's direction. Rick felt compelled to glare back. No one openly attacked though. They were after all, still on the same side. To some degree. At the very least, they still had to find out what had happened to Jacob, Will, and Han.

The three of us were in the elevator, riding all the way up to Mount Olympus. Han was chewing his shirt again, and Will was hating on the elevator music. I was, admittedly, nervous. Will was right. The last guy who'd stolen the symbols of power from the Big Three had ended up with a seriously screwed up life for a long time. I didn't want to imagine what would happen to us when we stole all three. Which was why Don't get caught was a big objective here.

The doors opened with an overly pleasant ding and the city of Mount Olympus stood before us. Every time I saw this place, I couldn't help but smile, because it was all designed by my mom. She'd done an amazing job too. It was something that made you hold your head a little higher, being the son of the Architect of Olympus. Even the title had a snazzy ring to it. I really hoped one day I'd have one like that. Too bad the Lightning Thief was already taken, since I was about to earn it.

We all had to act as casual as possible as we walked down the streets headed for the throne room. Which for Han wasn't easy. Still, we managed to make it to the throne room without too many people looking at us and wondering what the heck we were doing. Eventually, we reached the throne room.

"You just had to say hi to the wood nymphs didn't you?" Will asked Han. Our satyr buddy just shrugged, a smile on his face.

"I prefer stupid Han over nervous Han," I put in. "Let's just focus okay?"

Will and han both nodded agreement. I exhaled slowly and stared at the entrance to the throne room. "So…who wants to go in first?"