Disclaimer: I do not own Heroes of Olympus, or any of the associated characters.

Summary:See Previous Chapter.

CHAPTER TWO

Storming Olympus was not the smartest life choice any of them had ever made.

Technically, it wasn't storming, but barging into a meeting of the Olympian Council and issuing demands sounded a lot less Heroic than the implication of a final, desperate charge against impossible odds.

And if their plan didn't work, Athena-Cabin-devised or not, then they wanted the song sung about it by future generations to sound freaking awesome.

Apollo kids were a bit obsessive about that.

If they couldn't free their father, then they would at least make him proud

No one could pinpoint exactly how word got out, but it didn't take long for the Apollo cabin to find out, and even less time for cabins Ten and Eleven to send agents to figure out why the normally sunny campers were stalking around looking like they wanted to kill someone.

The Aphrodite cabin could never resist gossip, and the Hermes kids were nearly as bad, being children of the messenger god, so it was a matter of hours before everyone at Camp Half Blood knew.

It was a matter of minutes before they were IM-ing their friends at Camp Jupiter, which resulted in Frank and every second Centurion (they couldn't leave Camp Jupiter entirely leaderless), plus a few Legionaires heading to New York as fast as possible for the first United Demigod Council.

Despite it's posh-sounding title, the first half-hour of the First United Demigod Council mostly consisted of Cabin Seven ranting and the other Demigods attempting to calm them down.

Mr D hadn't been sent back to camp yet, so one authority figure wasn't a problem, but that still left one more. Jason looked around, "What are the dangers of Chiron returning before we finished?"

The Stoll brothers grinned, making everyone else instinctively cringe. "Not high. We sent our youngest siblings to keep him occupied, headed by Lacy of Cabin Ten and armed with a list of the most time-consuming and awkward questions we could brainstorm."

Drew laughed wickedly, "Let's just say: Chiron may be putting out an ad for a new assistant co-ordinator to field uncomfortable puberty-related questions by the time they're through with him."

Ouch. Poor Chiron.

Will Solace dragged things back on track. "Look, I know Dad could have done better than to listen to Octavian's flattery, but he probably saw a glimpse of what would happen to his Legacy, and... Well, you Romans knew him best; what are the odds of my not-so-illustrious relative sacrificing himself if there wasn't something big in it for him?"

There was a lot of uncomfortable shifting from the Romans, who didn't like admitting weakness. Then again, it was Octavian. Even Michael couldn't argue. "Minimal to non-existent, as much as I hate to admit it."

One of Annabeth's half-sisters, who had aspirations to be a lawyer and loved debating, jumped in. "So you could argue that Apollo saved the day by telling Octavian what he wanted to hear. Even what he needed to hear to make the choices that led to his participation in Gaia's defeat."

Austin beamed at her. "Exactly! Besides, isn't the ability to make our own choices, good or bad, part of what being a Demigod is all about?"

There were nods and murmurs of agreement all around. Kayla, who could hold a grudge better than most Nemesis kids, folded her arms. "Besides, if Dad is going to be punished for what his Legacy did, why isn't Hermes in the hot-seat for Luke's actions? Or Athena for Daedalus handing Ariadne's string over to Kronos's army?"

Hazel placed her hands on her hips, "Or Mars, Ceres and Venus, even. Octavian's family has been sending sending kids into the Legion for centuries, and Apollo isn't the only god mixed up in that family tree."

Percy nodded in agreement. "Or my Dad for Sciron trying to steal the Athena Parthenos and attempting to kill the Prophecy Seven? Well, Prophecy Five plus Nico, since Annabeth and I weren't there, but -"

Annabeth elbowed him to stop babbling. "Look, I agree with all of this, but we need some kind of prescient. We need a position to bargain from."

Frank raised his hand. "Python. On Delos, Apollo told us that no one was receiving prophecies because Python had taken over the temple."

Chris Rodrigues grinned. "A combined quest, Greek and Roman, to kill a monster that it took a god to bring down last time? That's deserving of one heck of a reward, and if they only have to dish out one collective one, instead of one reward per demigod, I can see most of the Gods going for it."

Dakota looked apprehensive. "Python, though, that won't be easy. Almost impossible, even."

Clarisse laughed. "I single-handedly killed a drakkon. Impossible is something that happens to other people."

Vicki from the Nike Cabin shrugged. "It's a mentality that worked for Alexander the Great, and Clarisse won't be fighting alone. How to we get there, though?"

Jason glanced at Nyssa. "You've still got Leo's blueprints for the Argo II, right? We can modify one of the trimarines to get us over land, and Percy can speed us up a bit on water."

Percy nodded. "The sea monsters we killed last time should take a while to re-form, and my half-sister Kymopoleia likes us, or at least Jason, right now, so we shouldn't have too many delays there."

The Quest worked out with almost no problems, unless you counted a brief visit from Poseidon, who wanted to know what his son was doing going off to the Ancient lands so soon after last time, and a brief squabble over who got to lead the charge, which Clarisse won.

(Maimer was hard to argue with, especially when Clarisse's Son-of-Hermes boyfriend had quietly pick pocketed the Romans' weapons)

Will wore himself out healing everyone after the fight, to the point where he got to the last bed and passed out, directly on top of Nico, who wasn't too upset about it. The son of Hades even laughed when Hazel started fanning herself, then pulled the blanket over over both of them and told everyone else to go away.

(Katie and Lacy managed to gag the Stoll brothers before they could make any bawdy remarks, but it was close.)

Arriving back in America, they parked/anchored the Unity in New York Harbour and headed straight for the Empire State Building, lugging Python's head with them. The doorman tried to protest, but they weren't in the mood, and he backed down at the sight of thirty demigods brandishing a very sharp assortment of weaponry.

They marched to the main temple, ignoring the minor gods and goddesses who called greetings and fell silent at the sight of Python's severed head. The doors were closed and too heavy to simply push open, but Lou Ellen pulled out a small model of a trebuchet, muttering a few words that enlarged it to full size.

The doors may have been too heavy for a demigod, but Python's head, impacting at high speed and velocity? No problems.

The demigods entered, making the Olympians look away from the slightly battered head in the middle of their circle of thrones, and Will took centre point, flanked by Nico on one side and Thalia on the other, the rest of the Centurions and Head Councillors arrayed behind them. Even Clovis was awake and alert.

Tall and golden and angry, the very image of his father right before he cursed some hapless schmuck, Will addressed Zeus directly. "We've just returned from dealing with Python at Delphi. We all agreed on asking for my Father's release as a reward."

Zeus narrowed his eyes. "Is that so?"

Percy stepped forward, eyes stormy. "Apollo didn't do anything wrong except listen to praise and flattery. Anyone here can tell you that Octavian was good at convincing people, and I, personally, have had enough of broken promises."

Now Zeus looked ready to reach for his Master Bolt, but Nico drew his attention. "Free Apollo, or this will be the last quest that any demigod in either camp carries out. No -"

Percy interjected, "Unless it involves a direct, non-godly threat to the safety of demigods or the camps as a whole."

Reyna agreed, "Which means that threatening to smite or turn us into something won't make us do whatever it is."

The rest of the demigods nodded, and Nico continued, gripping Will's hand tightly. "No quests, with those two exceptions, no matter who requests it."

Zeus drummed his fingers, looking irritated. "I could send you to join your father, if you are so... Boy, what are you doing?"

The youngest child of Apollo present was scribbling in a notebook and muttering, but looked up at Zeus's near-shout. "... Trigger-happiness by smithing with finesse... I'm composing the epic of what we're doing. Don't worry, everyone who voted for not using Dad as a scapegoat will be painted in a good light."

That... Was not as reassuring to most of the gods as it could have been. Ryan's smile, charming and innocent and far too familiar, was even less so. "It's being automatically recorded as I write, so turning this copy to ash won't help."

Zeus growled, having never reacted well to things not going his way. "I could always smite the rest of you, instead."

The other gods stiffened, tensing for action, but Annabeth merely shrugged, hooking her arm through Percy's as if they were on a date in Central Park. "You could, but then you wouldn't have anyone to do your dirty work or encourage belief in you, at least until the next generation where they aren't curious enough to ask why they don't have older siblings."

And if the Gods didn't fade before that happened, without their strongest instruments of influence there to anchor them. It was a valid point, and they all knew it.

Zeus threw up his hands, making Percy smirk as he remembered Poseidon once commenting that the King of the Gods would have done better as the god of Theatre. It was hard to disagree. "Look, we already handed punishment down, officially! We can't just turn around and reverse it!"

Gwen, who had refused to let her retirement from the Legion stop her from coming along to the Council or the Quest, shrugged. "Then transmute it. Change it to a lesser sentence or a shorter duration that ends today. But our Father will be pardoned before today ends."

Dionysus seized the opportunity with both hands, clinging to it like a child with a favourite toy. "He can replace me at Camp Half-Blood, then these insolent children can be the ones to put up with his terrible, incessant haikus."

Althea rolled her eyes. "You know it's only that terrible when Athena, Ares or Artemis are around, right? Dad swore that they wouldn't hear any good poetry until they coughed up an apology for saying his spheres of influence were stupid."

Hermes groaned. "That's why we all had to suffer through verses to make your ears bleed? And how did you find out?"

Will shrugged. "It's common knowledge, and I saw some of the poetry he wrote for my Mum. It's breathtaking in comparison. Anyway, whatever you decide, we expect a visit from Dad to tell us the result by the end of the day."

They had pushed their luck far enough, and Will's last remark made for a good parting statement and dramatic exit.

And even if they did have to put up with poetry of dubious skill, Apollo couldn't be worse than Mr D.

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A/N: Ok, I couldn't think of what to give Apollo as a punishment, so fill in the blanks or write your own version and PM me with the link.

I thought it was weird that the god of Poetry could be bad at it, especially when he clearly has no such problems with music or healing, and no other gods seem to be so affected, so I made something up to explain it.

Interaction between Gods and demigods is always hard for me to write, and I never quite manage to get into Zeus's head properly, so reviews on if it worked of if this turned out as a piece of crap would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Nat