Chapter 7. Well…Fuck
Percy could honestly say that he was having a blast. He was currently dodging the flaming bull that was charging about, another was being manhandled by Tyson. Clarisse, daughter of Ares, was likely upset by Percy stealing the fight from her, but screw her. He was having too much fun. His bull had lost one of its horns and received a massive gash in its side, while Tyson's was just about crushed. Percy knew that this game had to end, so he let the bull charge once again and neatly sidestepped it. While Percy paused to gather his focus, the bull rounded on him again and took aim. As it charged a bizarre thing occurred, the bull's metal head suddenly just fell off. There was no blade involved, no movement from Percy, only a small bit of steam that wisped up from both sides of the cut and went unnoticed by all but Percy.
"Jackson! What do you think you're doing? That was my fight!" Clarisse shouted, looking about ready to run Percy through with her spear.
Percy merely regarded her for a moment, pondering how little effort it would take to kill her. He could make her body's water suddenly explode outward, tearing her to pieces. But Tyson was still nearby and happy, plus an angry Clarisse could be fun to play with.
"Sorry, I must have been a bit confused. When I saw you about to be trampled to death I just thought you might need a hand, I guess you being flat on your ass with your spear about ten feet away was just a part of your brilliant battle plan. What was the next part if you don't mind me asking?" Percy asked in an almost enthusiastic voice, resulting in Clarisse coming even closer to killing him.
"Peter Johnson." A voice, which Percy would describe as man-bitchy, called out.
"Ah Dionysus, how's sobriety treating you?" Percy asked cheerfully, causing the camp director to simply scowl. "Aw don't be like that, or you'll have wrinkles long before you're allowed out of here."
"Percy." Another voice rang out. Percy looked to the newcomer, and really didn't care.
Chiron was standing in all of his centaur glory, equipped with bow and arrows to boot. His face was clearly haggard from stress, but he seemed in good spirits. There were some campers behind him, a few looked like children of Aphrodite but the majority was Apollo demigods.
"Hey there Clydesdale, how's it hanging?" Percy asked cheekily, and then turned to Silena Beauregard. "Hey I'm only asking because you and your sisters were probably thinking it." If looks could kill, from demigods anyway, then Percy would already be dead. He couldn't help but feel like at least a few gods up on Olympus had fallen into laughing fits.
"That's not funny." Silena snarled.
"No it wasn't." Percy said, feigning remorse. "It was hysterical."
"Anyway, what brings you here Percy?" Chiron asked, trying his hardest to keep the children of Aphrodite from attacking Percy.
"Nothing, I was just passing by and noticed your campers getting their asses handed to them. You know, the usual." Percy answered.
Chiron pinched the bridge of his nose. "Well then, I don't suppose we can expect Divinity's assistance."
"Tell you what, I'll give my boss a call. See what we can do, alright." Percy said, fishing out his phone.
Mike's number was still set to speed dial, but what was different was that the call made it to the second ring. Mike never allowed that. On the third it finally picked up.
"Hello Percy." A familiar voice said on the other end.
"Hello Luke, why do you have my boss's phone?" Percy asked casually.
"Because he's here, with me." Luke's reply sounded like it had a smirk.
"Let's meet up then, have a chat, then I can beat you senseless and drag you back to your old man. He is still willing to pay good money for your safe return." Percy suggested.
"Maybe later, but for now let me put him on." The line was quiet for a time, then another voice came. "Hey Tsunami, how soon can I expect you to spring me?"
"Not long Mike, how you holding up?" Percy asked, catching the cue from Mike.
"Fine it's a little like that mission 4-7-13, a wolf in sheep's clothing, a golden sarcophagus, and a prick in Bermuda shorts." Mike passed along, Percy nodded as he began to write the message down.
The line went silent again, and Luke's voice came through again. "Now then, I'm sure you noticed the camp's…condition. If you want to save it and your friend, then you'll need to come find me."
"Actually, I think that one of those is about to be rendered incorrect." Percy said.
"What do you mean by tha…" Luke never got to finish his question, something happened on the other line. When Percy realized Mike had been captured he triggered his phone's trace program, which alerted Divinity agents to the location of the captured asset. "WHAT IN THE HELL IS GOING ON?"
"Hey Luke, Don't fuck with Divinity." Percy snapped before hanging up.
"What was that about?" Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, asked. She had come up at some point, but kept quiet.
"My boss passed a code." Percy said, scrolling through his phone's voice archives. Finding the correct one he pressed it.
"Mission 4-7-13, a wolf in sheep's clothing, a golden sarcophagus, and a prick in Bermuda shorts." Mike's recorded voice came through.
"What code?" Annabeth asked, puzzled.
"Divinity missions are archived in an alphanumerical order, not purely numerical. Mike was saying concentrate on the 4th, 7th, and 13th words in the message. Sheep's, golden, Bermuda. Bermuda triangle a.k.a the Sea of Monsters. Golden sheep, likely meaning the Golden Fleece." Percy said, surprising Annabeth.
"The Fleece could save the camp." Annabeth realized.
"How is the camp in danger again?" Percy asked, only to be pointed at the pine tree in the distance. Even from here it was clear that the tree was dying.
"We can save the camp, we just need to go after the Fleece." Annabeth said excitedly, turning Percy back towards her.
"What 'we'. I came here on a whim, I'm not obligated to help you." Percy said simply.
"What about Grover, he's gone missing? If there's one thing I know about events like these, they are never unrelated." Annabeth said, aiming to work a nostalgic angle.
"Who?" Percy asked, the name was familiar but he couldn't place it.
"Grover, the satyr. The one who went with us to retrieve Zeus's bolt. You let him have access to Divinity's databases to help him find Pam." Annabeth explained.
"Oh him, he contacted me a few days ago. Said that he was planning on investigating a powerful source of nature magic in the atlantic. Which means he probably found the Golden Fleece, which also means that he is probably dead right now." Percy said, not too concerned with the situation.
"And you aren't the least bit worried?" Annabeth asked, close to shrieking at Percy.
"Get this through your head. I'm an agent of Divinity, which means that I..AM…A…MERCENARY. I get hired, I go fuck someone's day up, and then I get paid." Percy said.
"What if I hired you then?" Annabeth asked.
"You couldn't afford it." Percy snapped back, quickly losing patience.
"The Fleece is supposedly in the possession of the cyclops Polyphemus." Annabeth began.
"Your point?" Percy asked, knowing that this girl was about to make the mission seem more appealing.
"How many hundreds of heroes do you think have braved the Sea of Monsters? Potentially a massive number of relics and items, all fit for sale." Annabeth said, playing her only hand.
Percy crossed his arms in thought, there was a chance that Annabeth was right and some items worth some serious coin were waiting to be found. But it was a huge swath of ocean fraught with danger, and Percy would normally not take such a chance unless absolutely necessary. But the message Mike had gotten out, about the Golden Fleece. If Luke was after it then that meant that Percy could retrieve it and so use it as bait to bring Castellan to a location of his choosing. He would use the Fleece to save the camp, it was a good way to get a favor from Chiron.
"Alright then, you have a deal Chase." Percy said, delighting Annabeth. "But we play this my way, and Tyson comes if he wishes to." Tyson was now overjoyed at hearing this.
"If you're going somewhere to save the camp then I'm coming too." Clarisse said.
"Lovely." Percy said sarcastically, dialing in his phone again. "Divinity requisitions. This is Agent Tsunami requesting use of a deep sea water craft with room for five. Extended duration provisions. Pull location for drop off."
"What was all that about?" Annabeth asked as Percy stowed his phone.
"Ordering a small ship for us to use." Percy said simply.
"How long will it take to get the request processed." Clarisse asked.
"It's already done." Percy said, looking down as his phone beeped. "The ship will be here in about four hours."
"How did that get accepted so fast?" Annabeth asked, puzzled at the speed of the response.
"You know how most organizations require days to process most matters?" Percy asked, walking towards the cabins.
"Yes." Annabeth and Clarisse asked in unison, before glancing at each other. Tyson was following behind, marveling at the sights.
"Well Divinity doesn't have to worry about that since we have worked to eliminate the needless bureaucracy and mountains of paperwork. Other organizations let themselves be slowed and sidetracked by their splintered groups and inability to operate efficiently." Percy explained.
"What do you mean splintered groups and inefficiency?" Annabeth asked.
"Most organizations are comprised of various groups that all contribute to the end goal in their own specific ways. The problem comes from either being too involved with each other's operations or being too detached. The happy balance is when each system can easily and quickly share information with each other system, but not to the point where a system can access information without authorization." Percy elaborated, reaching his cabin.
"So basically the groups only work with each other as the job requires, only knowing what their role is and how it must play into the roles of the others." Clarisse said, recognizing the wisdom of the setup. It was pretty similar to how she set up teams whenever war games were being played.
It was then that Annabeth and Clarisse realized that they had followed Percy into the Poseidon cabin. The two exited quickly, light blushes adorning their faces. Tyson looked about in wonder, taking in the comfortable looking bunks.
"Take your pick Tyson, just be ready. We are going on an adventure later." Percy said, reclining back.
It felt like only minutes but Percy knew that it had been hours. Tyson had gone off exploring and eventually found Charles Beckendorf, who showed him some tricks in blacksmithing. Percy knew that it was time to go, he could feel the ship in the water not far away.
When he finally found the group he needed he stood there, just out of the light for the moment. Tyson caught sight of him quickly, Annabeth and Clarisse weren't far behind. A quick head nod was enough to send the message to all of them. The quartet moved to the beach, in the distance was not one but two ships. Percy stopped for a moment, staring at the larger ship off in the distance.
"It couldn't be." Percy whispered.
"It couldn't be what?" Annabeth asked.
"I think Luke is a lot closer than we thought." Percy said.
Annabeth was confused for only a moment, before realization struck her. Percy made for the smaller ship that Divinity had provided. It was pretty nice. It had room for five, two bathrooms, a kitchenette, and a footlocker in Percy's room labeled 'from Mike'.
Percy set the course to intercept the larger vessel, and then decided to don his armor from the footlocker. It was his full kit medium armor, black with dark blue color scheme. A black body suit about twice as thick as a wetsuit clung to his form, capable of stopping small arms fire and even deflecting knives. On top of this were a number of blue painted armor plates, all averaging at around an inch thick. A gold, twelve-point star was stamped on the left pectoral plate. From there the weapons, the shotgun and assault rifle took their place on Percy's upper back, the kukri knives were moved to the outer thighs, a pistol took its place under Percy's left armpit, and a sub-machine gun was placed in his lower back. Each firearm had a few clips or magazines to go with it, either attached to the weapon by special mounting brackets or in pouches near the weapon in question.
Percy was finishing the final checks on the securing mechanisms of his weapons, most of them had a combination of easy release bracket and specialized magnets, when his phone rang. A split second look at the caller id was all Percy needed.
"Mike, are you ok?" Percy asked.
"I'm fine Percy, our boys got me out of that situation real quick. You got the message I see." Mike said, having already been briefed about the situation and of Percy's requisition order.
"Yes, but fortunately Luke has already arrived here. No need to go after the fleece anymore." Percy said.
"Negative Percy, the situation is more dire than that." Mike said in response.
"Explain." Percy replied, slipping into 'Agent Mode'.
"I was captured while investigating an operative that I suspected of turning rouge. I has been confirmed now, but this operative escaped and, as a test of her loyalty, was sent to retrieve the Fleece. The objectives now are as follows. Terminate the rouge asset, retrieve the Fleece, and reacquire Grover Underwood." Mike directed.
"Why Grover?" Percy asked.
"He has been accepted into Divinity, he was on a mission in the atlantic with a team of other agents when a freak weather shift pushed them into the Sea of Monsters. He is an asset now, and he must be retrieved." Mike answered.
"Copy that, directives acknowledged. Who is the rouge agent?" Percy asked.
Mike didn't answer, instead deciding to simply hang up. Percy was suspicious, but he had his orders and it was a mission. The course was adjusted again, this time directed to the atlantic.
It was time to enter the Bermuda triangle.
