Hello! If you are here, it means you like this enough to read the next chapter! Yay! Same deal applies as last time...

Disclaimer: I'm a teenager girl, not Rick Riordan. I don't own anything but the plot and whatever OCs I want to throw in there.

Tempest had impeccable posture, so being supported by him was practically like leaning against a wall. He held his head high, and his voice was commanding; he was a leader, in every sense of the word. And his companions seemed willing to follow him.

"Sorceress, get the door open. We gotta move, back up is probably on its way."

Percy's vision was slightly off kilter, but he did his best to follow the movement as the girl slid a door open, before leading them through a maze of twisting tunnels and passages. They emerged into a brightly lit room, where there was a man in scrubs and two girls...

Then Percy passed out.

XXXX

The room was bright. Really bright, and it was sort of hurting his eyes. Percy blinked a few times, trying to adjust to the blinding white in the room. After the spots were cleared from his vision, he analysed the area. He seemed to be in some sort of infirmary, laying on a cot. To his left Clarisse was still out cold. On his right, he could see the guy in scrubs from before leaning over "Ghost King", and could just make out their conversation.

"Why must you worry me?

When you leave, I feel tortured

Why do I love you?"

Percy instantly felt guilty for intruding on this seemingly intimate moment, but a part of him was relieved to find that 'Tempest' had less competition.

"Was that supposed to be a haiku? Anyway, Will, I don't see why you are making such a fuss. There were no casualties and, from what that girl- Annabeth?- told us, we have six new recruits."

Hey, looks like someone had a normal name.

"Yeah, and we also have my boyfriend with a gaping hole in his shoulder!"

"Will-"

"Nico, do you always have to do this? Risking everything with no one to watch your back?"

Looks like both of them had real names.

"Yes! I took out eight guys. The smaller groups we bring, they less chance for casualties. This is my responsibility, and my commitment."

"I know, I know... I just worry about you. Best thing to happen to me in this hell hole." Will put his needle into a small tray containing some gauze and a bullet, and then peeled his surgical gloves off. Nico/ghost king sat up and rolled down his sleeve.

It was sweet, almost sickeningly so. Out of respect for the couple, he coughed to let them know he was awake. The doctor was soon at his side, lifting up his head and prodding at a rather tender lump there. Nico addressed him

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Perseus. You prefer to be called Percy, correct?" Percy nodded, absent-mindedly noticing his slight Italian accent . "Your companions informed us of your unit and it's demise. Its about time you went pro." After looking to Will for confirmation, he extended a hand to Percy, pulling him up. Nico showed him out the door and began leading him through what appeared to be an old office building.

"Welcome to Heroes of Olympus, solider." Percy couldn't stop the gasp that escaped him. The HOO was public enemy number one, and Gaea's rewards for simply information was enough to set a person up for a kingly retirement. There was always am optimistic person in their small HQ, who was holding onto the pipe dream that they would do something press worthy enough for them to be recruited. Sometimes he would fall to it in moments of weakness or discouragement. Now, after everybody was gone, they finally made it to here.

"We are offering you a spot on the squad, if you're still up for this life."

But was he, really? Everything they had worked for was gone, and Gaea still proved she had power over everyone. Everyone. His friends had died. What would they do? Beckendorf would do it. Selina would do it. Lee Fletcher sure as hell would do it.

Percy would do it for them.

"I'm in."

As if he needed more influence to join, 'Tempest' walked in. "Welcome to the team." Just his voice, deep and solid, sent his heart into little, fluttering jumps. "You've already met Nico. I'm Jason, and the other two to pick you guys up were Hazel and Frank." Jason. It was a good name, a strong name. Jason nudged Nico. "I'm surprised Will didn't lock you down in the infirmary and never let you go."

"Trust me, he wanted to. We should probably take Percy down to his friends and debrief him and such, huh? Or do you want to lock him down in the infirmary?" It could have just been wishful thinking, but he thought he saw the blonde's ears turn pink from what the symbolism was implying; however, the man turned around too fast and the brunette was motioning for him to follow.

XXXX

While this organization was larger, it still was quite limited in resources. The only training they needed was in how the systems worked. No one knew anyone's last names, except for a few that had know each other previously or who had complete trust in the other. Outside of HQ, only code names were used-hence Tempest, Ghost King and Sorceress. You didn't chose it ("Do you seriously think I would be 'Ghost King' if you could?") to prevent the choice of something personal that could be traced back to you. No one wore masks on missions, their philosophy being they weren't ashamed of their purpose. Jason and Reyna, a.k.a. Praetor, were top dogs, with Nico and Frank, a.k.a. Metamorphosis, as second in command. There were two of everything, for safety and reassurance; consequently the smallest missions were two people and it was recommended to room with another person. Traitors were handed to Gaea as a member of the HOO, which was a worse punishment then any member could have thought of.

They were all outfitted with new code names-he was Tsunami, Annabeth, Silver Owl, Thalia was Sparky, Clarisse was Pit bull and Chris was Torero- and were given false identities to stay hidden(They would still need to buy groceries and pay rent for some apartment or another, and any pictures released in the press needed to be untraceable back to them). Now, they were about to be armed by their technician Leo, a.k.a. Torch, with the various odds and ends of weaponry they could pick up. A curly haired Latino popped his head put from behind one of the many workbenches . "Hey, knew recruits. Bout' time. Lets see what we got for ya'"

"Everyone knows the best weapons are SWORDS!" Percy looked up to see two girls perched in the rafters, with a third standing and pointing some sort of sword (one of those old Japanese ones, seen in those ninja things, maybe?) at him.

"Ignore them! I'll get Piper to remove them later, but first we have to get you guys with some death in a stick. " He pulled out a tablet computer and began scrolling through some sort of list. Meanwhile, Annabeth was tinged pink from her sternum to the roots of her hair at the mention of the Cherokee girl that had set up their new names.

Looks like they'd be nursing their crushes together.

"Tsunami? Lamer than mine. But I have something absolutely fab for you. The jackass who owned this baby-" He leaned back and handed the antique rifle to him. "-was so egotistic he named it! Meet "Riptide", who actually works now, thanks to yours truly. Get it? Tsunami, riptide, eh?"