Percy ended up ordering room service for himself and Annabeth, so they wouldn't have to leave their room. They ordered burgers that tasted better than nearly anything they could ever get in the US. They sat on the bed together watching the movie Real Steel with Hugh Jackman on HBO while they ate their burgers. Percy kept his arm around Annabeth the entire time so she would remember that he would always be there for her. Before she fell asleep, Annabeth felt Percy place a kiss on the top of her head. That night was very peaceful for all six of them.

When Annabeth woke up the next morning, she was alone. Not just in the bed, but in the room. She got frightened. All the events came back to her. She looked around and finally noticed a note on the desk. The desk was in the corner of the room near the window and next to the TV which sat on the short dresser directly in front of the two beds. Annabeth walked over and picked the note up. It read:

I've gone over to Nico and Leo's room. I need to speak with them. Afterward, I can explain anything you want to know with this business. All 6 of us are going out to breakfast around 0730 so Travis can sleep in.

- Percy

When Annabeth finished reading the note, she looked over at the clock sitting on the nightstand between the beds. It read 06:24. She was surprised and slightly impressed that Percy had woken up before seven o' clock. Annabeth decided to jump in the shower.

When she had gotten out of the shower, she came out of the bathroom with only a towel to cover herself. She entered the big room in the same attire. "Well I could get used to seeing this when business is over."

Annabeth turned quickly and relaxed when she saw it was only Percy. Then she blushed remembering her appearance. Percy got off the bed where he had been sitting watching TV and strode over to Annabeth. Wrapping his arms around her shivering body, he pulled her against his broad chest. He smiled and gave her a lingering kiss. Not enough to satisfy her wait of over a year.

"Hey. How long have you been up?" Percy asked.

"Since around six thirty. When did you leave?" Annabeth responded.

Percy chuckled. "I left probably oh-six-ten."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow and said, "Why are you using military terminology when I'm not in the military."

"It's morning so military time is not that different from twelve hour time when you say it out loud. Besides, I think you're smart enough to figure it out without being forced to memorize it." Percy finished with a grin.

Annabeth only shrugged and walked out of his arms. She went to the small bag Percy brought in. She unzipped it and dumped the contents of the bag on the second bed that had hardly been touched. Clothing, accessories, and women supplies were spilled all over the bed. She raised an eyebrow had certain pieces of jewelry that were spilled out, but did not comment. Percy came up behind her to look over her shoulder. He grinned at the same pieces of jewelry that Annabeth had raised an eyebrow to. It was quite comical.

When Annabeth bent over to pick up clothing, her towel slipped off her shoulders. Percy, of course, did nothing to stop it. When the towel fell, he placed his hands on her hips as she attempted to turn around. She was planning on picking up the towel, but Percy decided to interfere.

He kept his hands firm on her hips from behind and kissed her neck. He knew where her weakness was, but he never hit it. She halfheartedly told him that it wasn't the time, but he could tell she didn't really mean it. He continued to kiss her neck and worked his way down as he slowly turned her around. She finally emitted a soft moan of pleasure that made Percy's eyes cloud with lust that she had been longing to see.

They ended up late for breakfast.

The men had raised eyebrows at Percy and Annabeth coming to the breakfast area together in the manner that they did. They had guessed something came up and they were taking care of it, but the fashion in which they came into the breakfast area said it was because of something else. But what really got them was the look in Percy's eyes. It was light and carefree like the teenage Percy that they had met. Whenever they saw him in the A2 business or military, he never had that happy air around him. It was always work. They figured that maybe Annabeth being here wouldn't turn out as bad as they thought it would. She would probably be a slight distraction to Percy, but hey, everyone could use a distraction sometimes. Especially in Percy's case, since he hasn't seen her for more than a year and was always working the hardest of any of the men, including those not present at the time.

Once the awkward air had dispersed, Leo and Travis were able to get the conversation moving again. All six of them went up to the buffet to get something to eat and drink. When they had sat back down at their table, they might as well have been tourists because they never once mentioned anything work related. It was just six friends in a foreign country enjoying breakfast together.

Granted they had moments where everyone in the entire breakfast area turned to look at them. One such moment was when Percy attempted to use chopsticks on his noodles and dumpling. He seemed to be especially talented with them because he ended up getting one of them stuck in between Frank's thumb and index finger which were sitting on the table. It wouldn't have been too bad if Frank hadn't been on the other side of the table on the other end. Percy ate the rest of his meal with a fork and spoon. He didn't want to risk a knife since Leo, Travis, and he were still laughing about the chopstick incident.

When they had finally finished their breakfast because they were full, Annabeth thought that the entire populous in the breakfast area sighed with relief. She laughed silently when she thought about their faces tomorrow when they all come for breakfast again. When her laughter turned not so silent, all the guys looked over at her strangely. They hadn't said anything and she normally isn't the one to think of the funny things in her mind and start laughing before it is said out loud.

Finally Nico asked the question that the others had on their minds, "Uh, Annabeth? What exactly are you laughing about?"

That sobered her up but only slightly. She said with a slight chuckle in her voice, "Don't worry about it, but just out of curiosity, did any of you notice how the employees at that breakfast place reacted when we stood up to leave?"

The guys glanced at each other then collectively shook their heads expecting that she would give an answer.

She didn't. Annabeth just smirked and nodded her head in understanding. Then she walked ahead of the boys to press the elevator button.

When the men thought she was out of hearing range, Travis started by saying, "What was with that question and why do you think she was laughing out of the blue?"

The men all shrugged and Leo said, "It's a girl, Travis. There is no way that we're ever going to be able to understand them. They're just too confusing and make no sense."

Travis chuckled, looked up and down the hallway then said lowly, "Don't let her hear that. She might go all demigod on you."

That made all the guys laugh. Nico said, "Yeah. Watch your back, man."

By the time the guys made it to the elevator, Annabeth had watched the elevators come and go three times as she stood at the end of the hall where the elevators were. Unknown to the guys, she had also heard every word they said. She had even heard the demigod comment that Travis had made. She internally grinned when she thought of what she could do to get back at all of them.

The elevator ride to the third floor wasn't that long, so when they stepped out the boys ran towards the rooms. Annabeth shook her head at their childishness. When she got to the rooms, the guys were having a competition to open their doors the quickest while the other person bunking with them attempted to mess the others up. Percy won because Annabeth wasn't shouting at the other two. As Frank and Nico struggled to focus with Leo and Travis shouting at one another, a man down the hall came out of his room and shouted at them. Leo and Travis stopped their own shouting to listen to him. They quickly figured he was speaking Chinese and Frank and Nico handed the key cards off to Travis and Leo who quickly opened their own doors and retreated into their rooms.

Percy chuckled, waved towards the Chinese man down the hall and said, "Dui bu qi!"

He then retreated just like the others. Annabeth had just strode in when Percy got the door open, so she saw none of the events that happened afterward. She did hear Percy shout something in Mandarin though. She made a mental note to ask him how to say it and what it translated to.

Percy walked into the main room and sat on the same bed he did the day before. The only difference was that he didn't have a beer this time and it was much earlier in the day. Annabeth was sitting at the foot of the bed Percy just flopped on watching television. She turned when Percy made her go slightly airborne with his weight bouncing her end of the bed up in to the air sending her the same way. Percy patted the bed beside him. Annabeth rolled her eyes but crawled over to the head of the head and settled with her head on Percy's chest. He wrapped his right arm around her shoulders.

"I figure you've got some questions?" Percy finally asked, breaking the silence.

Annabeth tried to speak but her voice failed her, so she simply nodded.

"Don't ask any personal questions yet. Only those that have to do with the reason for being here and the A2 business."

"Okay." Annabeth managed to get out. "I'm wondering if A2 has anything to do with the Argo II from the Giant War?"

"Nicely done, Wise Girl," Percy grinned. "Living up to that nickname, I see," Annabeth smiled and blushed slightly.

Then she said, "So what is A2?"

Percy sighed. "It's very complicated," he started, "But I think I still have some down time right now so I can tell you. A2 is short for Argo II as you already figured out. It is a sort of business that I run. We use a more modern and advanced model of the Argo II except she looks like a mortal ship from the outside, even if you're immortal. The outside is modeled like a cargo ship. An old freighter that can barely hit twelve knots where in reality it can hit up to eighty if truly necessary. The place where a ship's name would go can be changed in the Command Center. The bridge looks like any other ship's bridge and cannot be changed no matter what. The Command Center is the cool part. It will look like a break room, but when certain people with special remotes type in correct codes into three different locations, it changes into the second control center of the ship, among its other purposes. We've also got more than just the ship in terms of 'transportation' devices. We've got three different jets (one of which we came here in), a helicopter, multiple land vehicles, and other vehicles for the water.

"The entire ship has multiple defenses against both immortal and mortal weapons. And of course she has her own attack system too. Leo had way too much fun designing this, but so far it works and has come in handy. The Command Center operates many of the weapons and the ones that are manual are still connected to the Command Center because they are coded with certain people's palm/finger print and won't work for another unless Command Center interferes. It's a great system. There are many similarities in other vehicles, but I'm not going to explain them since the A2 is our main vehicle and basically HQ.

"We've got a huge crew and everyone has their jobs and whatnot. We've got people stationed at other places as well. Certain jobs only have one person holding the position, while others have many. The A2 is referred to as our business occasionally. We mainly use ship terms, but if we're talking in a public place, we talk like it is a company or corporation or something along those lines usually. I am the Captain, but when we're in public most will call me Chairman. The highest rank. I'm the big boss and there is no board to override me which means unless someone in the crew can convince me to change my command, what I say goes. Captain and Chairman are the same rank for us, we just use different names. For most we don't actually need to change the names though. Nico, the Stolls, Leo, Frank, and I are the high ranking officers I guess you might say. Jason was too. His death was not just the military's loss, but the A2's as well."

Percy heaved a great sigh before continuing, "The crew is practically made up of mercenaries, but we only accept missions if they will be or mostly be for the benefit of all 'sane' countries involved. Right now, we've been asked to do something for the USA but we're looking into it first. That's one of the reasons we're in China. If we confirm that we are going through with this mission, it starts here. Not in Beijing, but in Xi'an. From there we'll see where else we have to go."

All through the explanation, Annabeth just listened quietly. It sounded like the system was set up quite well and was reliable. However, even though Percy had not talked much about specifics in terms of what they do, she got a sense that it was very dangerous work. She was impressed at the amount of courage that her husband possessed. One might think she would have grasped that fact long ago, but he still surprises her every so often.

Percy looked at her and asked, "That all you wanted to know? At least for now?"

Annabeth smiled and nodded in response.

Percy returned the gesture and looked at the clock on the bedside table that sat between the two beds. He gently sat up, removing Annabeth's head from his chest. Annabeth shot him a questioning look, but he just held up his index finger in a sign that said just wait.

Percy left to go to Leo and Nico's room then to Travis and Frank's. He never told her why he was going to their rooms quickly. She soon found out when Percy came back in the room with all four men following him.

Percy winked and said, "We got work to do. Along with all the stuff I told you before I left, A2 also has lots of cool gadgets, hand-held and otherwise."

Annabeth raised her eyebrows but said nothing. They men got to work on whatever they needed to do. Annabeth figured that they needed to check in on their mission that they were on at the moment. She guessed they would want to know the motives first and foremost. While she was contemplating, the men had produced many 'gadgets' and other equipment from Percy's second bag and the bag that Leo had brought in without Annabeth noticing. They had a mini high tech workstation. They all got to work and sat somewhere messing with controls or touch screen monitors. It was very impressive when Annabeth thought about what these same men were like when they were teenagers.