PERCY

The ride took a little over an hour. Every now and then Andrew would check his receiver to make sure we were still going the right way. During that time he and Rachel really hit it off. I guess since they're both artists they had a lot to talk about. Rachel was especially interested in this fool's gift he had mentioned. I don't know why, but I was starting to feel kind of jealous.

"Basically, my mom made me the living embodiment of the fool archetype. That includes every court jester, goofy sidekick, and lovable oaf. Therefore I have all the freedom of the fool." He explained. "I'm one of the few people to have complete freedom of speech. I can insult anyone, even the gods, and they'll just laugh it off. Plus, some people and monsters think I'm so unimportant that they often don't even notice me. There have been times that enemies have run right past me to get at some other demigods."

"That doesn't sound like a great gift," Rachel commented.

"Actually it's kind of a relief," he said. "I let Superman do all the heavy lifting, while I, in my Jimmy Olsen capacity, take care of the rest. I'm part of a proud yet underappreciated archetype in fiction."

"You do realize that you aren't actually a fictional character right." I asked. I was seriously starting to suspect this guy was a little nuts. Something about his smile made me think he'd be right at home terrorizing Gotham.

"To quote a son of Apollo, all the world's a stage." He shrugged. Suddenly his device started beeping. Andrew hit a button to silence it and examined the screen for a moment. "Well, they've stopped moving, so we should be right by their base."

Sure enough we were right at the edge of an old pier. The entrance was marked by a sign with a picture of a shark fin rising out of the water. Judging by how Andrew's mouth dropped as we got out of the limo, I don't think he was expecting the place to be so big. Admittedly, neither did I. There were warehouses all around. It looked like there were enough to make up a small town. Somewhere nearby, I could here the barks and snarls of several hellhounds.

As she got out of the car, Rachel turned to the driver and told him she'd call when we were done. He didn't even ask what we were planning to do, just nodded and drove off. Apparently he's used to her running strange errands.

"Guess it's a good thing we came along." I commented. "Looks like you'll need a few extra hands to get this done."

"Yep," Andrew said. He shrugged off his pack and started pulling out bronze disks with several buttons on them. "These are remote activated charges" he explained, suddenly serious. "Each one will have a blast radius of about seventy-five yards, so be sure to spread them out. Putting one on every third building should be sufficient."

"Another of your girlfriend's inventions," Rachel guessed.

"Yeah, she builds a bunch of gadgets for me, but explosives are sort of a specialty of hers." Andrew confirmed. "Although this is the first time she made them on purpose." he smirked at this, probably some inside joke.

"Okay, so Rachel and I will go one way while you go the other, and we'll meet in the middle." I said, taking charge.

"Actually, Rachel will go on her own." Andrew said sheepishly. He rightfully assumed that I wouldn't like the idea. Before I could protest he added, "It's important that we maintain stealth for as long as possible. I wasn't joking when I said she would be harder to detect than you. If you're going to stay here, you'll have to stay close to me. My ability to hide my scent should mostly cover yours too. Otherwise those hellhounds will sound the alarm."

He turned his attention to Rachel, handing her a bag with half of the charges. "But remember, while they don't always smell mortals, you're not invisible to them. If they see you planting bombs, they will come after you, so be careful."

She nodded and took the bag. Andrew quickly told her how to set the bombs. Then she turned to me. "Relax, I'll be fine." She said, giving me a quick hug. With that she turned and ran around the corner of the nearest warehouse.

Now it was just me and the fool. "Let's get started," I said, walking the opposite direction of Rachel. I had a bad feeling that this mission was not going to be easy.