I'm a weakling. It's not even one a.m. and I think I'm sleepy enough to go to bed. *sigh*

Chapter XI
OOOOOOO SHINY BATTLESHIP

Percy paced wildly in his cabin, on the verge of smashing things. How dare she give off another stupid prophecy, at this time? He still had so much to do! And she was going to ruin it! And just as he was about to recruit his first God, dammit! This was sooooo not the time to be fucking up his plans.

Angrily moving about his cabin, he picked up a random vase. He wanted to smash it, to throw it against the far wall as hard as he could, but instead he set it back down. No. He wasn't going to take his rage out on some inanimate object.

He was going to take it out on the person who threatened to fuck up all his plans. But it was still before curfew, and he huffed in frustration. He didn't want to wait. He wanted to tear her into shreds now. Maybe she was already asleep. Didn't having the job of Evil-Plan-Ruiner tire her out? Maybe he could go now, and just make sure he wasn't spotted. She lived in a weird cave off the edge of camp, like a hermit or a hobbit or something, didn't she?

Rage clouding sense, Percy stomped off. It was so obvious! Now that Annabeth was dead, maybe he had more time before people started figuring it out, but regardless, he would have to move his plans along more quickly. He slammed the door to his cabin shut, and just barely remembered to breath and not look like a sociopath before he took a back-track around the cabins. He came as far as the pavilion before he stopped. Campers were milling about, shuffling along on heavy feat, faces grim.

He couldn't do it now. Not so soon. And certainly not in broad daylight. That was like having a giant arrow pointing at him, stating Prophecy Boy on it. He sighed, and went back to his cabin. He was still so furious. Maybe he could vent in the lake?

He ran over to the beach, throwing off his shirt on the way. As soon as he was on the edge of the deck he jumped off. He sank into the water, and propelled himself to the bottom of the ocean. God damn fucking redheads. He stayed there, at the bottom. A few water nymphs swam up to him, expecting him to converse with him as he always did.

They stayed away after he suffocated one of them in an air bubble, anyways.

Eventually, the cool veil off night had fallen over the camp. Darkness shrouded his surroundings, the air licking his skin for the first time in hours after he finally resurfaced. He smiled thinly. He was dry when he got out of the water, the wet sand sticking to his dry converse.

Now he could do it. The water had calmed him, but as soon as he was released into the air's dry arms, rage surrounded him again, clouding common sense and any completely rational thought that may have occurred to him.

He walked straight to where he could remember her secluded cave being. Maybe if it was far enough, he could finally enjoy making one of his victims scream.

Alas, though it took him several minutes to find the thing, he didn't deem it far enough to let her scream. A curtain of beads served as a door, and upon entree, he noticed paint splatter covering the walls. Random paintings and canvasses were all over, with scattered bean bag chairs and-was that a TV? Lucky bitch! There were various other things, but he didn't pay them much attention. It was a literal woman cave. He rolled his eyes, stepping further into the cave.

Now he could see her, still passed out in one of the bean bag chairs, laying spread eagle, drool dripping out of one corner of her mouth as he snored loudly. Wasn't that an attractive sight? He sneered, uncapping Riptide. Twirling the sword around, he wondered how he should kill her. There were many ways, after all.

He finally shrugged, and let the cool metal of his sword rest gently on her neck. Her eyes fluttered open. Rachel didn't see much besides a twisted, vengeful smile, before she was choking on her own blood.

Jesus, waiting for a God to come back home to his palace was boring. Here Percy was, sitting in a chair seven sizes too large for him, practically falling asleep, for hours now, and Hephaestus didn't even have the decency to show up before he forgot his speech? How rude! It wasn't as if he had ages to just wait around. He would like to get back before he was found missing and Rachel was found dead. He kicked his feet idly. He couldn't leave now, he wanted to get this done before Hephaestus decided to leave him because he killed Rachel. And wouldn't that be horrible? He couldn't have that.

He was actually starting to doze off when the bright flash had him sitting upright in the throne he sat in. It took him a mere moment to fix his smirk onto his face, to clear the fuzziness out of his eyes and to righten himself, but he did it before Hephaestus turned around and realized he wasn't alone.

The God stood still, eyes narrowed. "You're the Jackson boy." He said, his scarred face twisting as he spoke. Percy's smirk grew.

"Indeed I am."

"What are you doing here, within my palace walls?" Hephaestus slowly walked up to him. In his current state, he towered over Percy by several feet, his broad frame blocking the light from hitting Percy's face. But Percy wasn't scared. Even if he was, showing intimidation right now would ruin all his plans. And now, he couldn't afford another setback.

"Several reasons. You may have heard the rumor that Oceanus has been possessing me?" Hephaestus nodded. "Yes, well, that's a lie."

"That doesn't answer my question."

Percy sighed. "You're boring. Simply said, I am here because I am on a mission, and I need your help, as much as I loath to admit it." Hephaestus raised a shredded eyebrow. He stood directly in front of Percy now, though standing up in the throne allowed Percy to be eye level. An ax rested casually in his right hand, the whole thing the size of Percy's leg.

"What mission?" Hephaestus' tone portrayed no emotion. Percy could only help he was considering his offer and not getting as much information as he could before smiting Percy on the spot for fun. Maybe he wouldn't do it because Percy was in his throne and he didn't want to get it dirty? Whatever the reason, Percy continued to talk quickly.

"Overall, my mission is to rule. But to do that, I need help. I've already enlisted the assistance of the monsters, promising them a position of power under my rule. And, I also need the help of a few Gods and Goddesses, such as yourself."

"What do you need me for, exactly?"

"Weapons. Armor. Ideally, I was hopping you could upgrade Riptide to have the power to kill the Gods, and if not something similar that could."

"Who do you plan to kill?" Now he was just getting on Percy's nerves. He didn't know if he was making any headway at all. He could just be spilling all his plans on Hermes TV for all he knew! Trying to fight the growing instinct to fight and then flee, Percy forged on, fingers twitching. He could feel Nightshade under his skin, within his mind, ready to attack and defend him. But he held off.

"I've already eliminated Ares and Athena. There are various others, but my end goal is to get rid of Zeus." Percy mentally cringed. He hated stating his plan out loud, so casually, like he didn't have anything at stake. But it had to be done. He would probably need to do it again, to get the rest of the Gods he wanted on his side.

"Wasn't a prophecy given just earlier tonight? I believe it was describing you?" Percy frowned.

"Unfortunately. True, it is forcing me to speed my plans along, but no matter. She is disposed of, and won't be making another prophecy again."

Now he just admitted to murdering a mortal. Great. This was going so well. Percy was ready to have Nightshade attack when suddenly, Hephaestus smiled. "I'm in."

Percy blinked. "Just like that?" Hephaestus nodded.

"I'm tired of Zeus treating us like toddlers with no privileges. Besides, I've been itching to try something new to make. One request, though." Percy drew back, eyes narrowing.

"What?"

"I get to kill Aphrodite."

Percy gave a wicked smile. "Done and done. Now, I have a quick favor to ask of you."

Percy waved to various campers as he walked by. A few people asked about the yellow tool belt slung over his shoulder, but he waved them off and simply said it was a gift. It took him awhile to find Leo in the huge camp, and he finally had to ask his cabin members where the boy had gone.

He was lead to a huge stretch of stone on the borders of camp. He stared around confusedly for a few moments, identifying some minute cracks in the oddly straight stone wall, along with some dark, rougher patches. This had to be thing Jake was talking about, Percy reasoned with himself. What else could be the 'giant mass of stone that has burn marks all over it'?

Percy sent out Nightshade, glancing around nervously. She slipped into the cracks on the wall like a wisp of cloud, leaving Percy to repeatedly look around his shoulder in search of people who may see him.

Suddenly, the stone moved. Dust fell, the ground shook, and with the loud groaning noise the stone made as it moved, Percy was heavily convinced it was alive. He waited a moment to make sure it was done moving, trusting Nightshade to cover herself or slip back when she would be unnoticed. Percy didn't even manage to take a full step into the place before he was assaulted with a fiery Latino.

"Percy!" Leo exclaimed, startled. He diminished the flame in his hand, but Percy was still glancing worriedly at his smoking hair. Leo patted it, waving him off. "What're you doing here? How'd you get in?"

"The same way you do?" Percy attempted with a sheepish smile. Leo snorted.

"With a huge blast of fire? Really, Aquaman, how'd you get in?" Leo tilted his head, genuine curiosity in his eyes. Percy let himself relax a little. Leo had nothing against him.

"We all have our secrets, don't we?" Percy shrugged. "To be honest, I'm not quite sure. I just kinda...touched it, and it opened." Again, Percy shrugged.

"Huh."

"Yeah."

"Neat."

"Yup."

"So why're you here, in my bunker of all places?"

"Bunker?"

Leo lit up like a candle. "Bunker nine! I found it a while ago. It's where I found was able to repair Happy."

"You found the secret to happiness and incorrect grammar in a bunker in a giant slab of stone?"

Leo rolled his eyes. "No, Happy the Dragon. The giant metal dragon that me, Jase and Pipes used to do the whole, 'quest' thing?" Leo lead him into the bunker. It was shiny. And a mess. Tools littered the place, bulletin boards covered the room, each packed with papers and blueprints. Off to the side was a pile of scrap metal, on top of which a golden briefcase sat. Percy raised an eyebrow. "That would be Happy. He's sleeping right now, so I switched his modes so he didn't take up as much space. Don't tell him I told you he's fat, though, he'd try and burn me, and then all papers would get ruined."

Percy was lead father into the bunker. It was huge, towering above him and spreading out on all sides. The stone structure hadn't been that big, had it?

"And why'd you name it 'Bunker Nine?'"

Leo silently pointed upwards. Stretching his neck, Percy spotted a banner, reading Bunker 9 in bold, metallic letters. "Hephaestus cabin is number nine. You never answered my question by the way."

Leo collapsed into a little spinny chair. Percy only noticed then that he was covered in grease. His hands were filthy, with Hades-knew-what under his nails and in the creases of his palms. His clothes were torn and ripped, and dark circles were under his eyes.

"Have you been sleeping at all?"

"Not really. I've been working on something. I'm trying get it ready so it's good to go whenever we need it, which will probably be soon, no matter if everything 'cleared' with Gaea after Jason came back. With the Gods and Goddess dying...who knows?" Leo sighed heavily. Then he brightened.

"But I'm good. I can handle it. Now, you decided to delight me with your presence because…?" Leo trailed off.

Percy finally pulled the tool belt off and handed it to Leo. He took it, blinking.

"Cool. Make it easier to transport stuff, I guess." Leo nodded. "Thanks, Perce."

Percy smiled. "Please, a simple tool belt? We're Demigods. Try it on." Percy urged, making little motions with his hands. Leo raised an eyebrow, but looking moderately more excited now, he fixed the yellow garment around his waist, which automatically adjusted to fit his slim hips perfectly.

"Woah." He breathed. He moved around a bit, but the belt didn't jostle. He put his hand in one of the openings, and came back with a nail. He looked transfixed now. "How'd you get this? What does it do? Where'd you find it?" Leo asked in rapid fire, annoying Percy slightly, even as he laughed.

"Calm down dude. It's been floating -literally, there's a big fish tank- around my cabin for awhile, I've never known what to do with it or even what it was, for a while, but then I figured out how to work it and I thought you'd use it a lot more than I would. You don't have a weapon, anyways."

Leo's face morphed into awe. "You mean…" Eagerly, his hand dove into a yellow flap. He game back up with a hammer that looked quite heavy, though Leo seemed to have no trouble with it, besides a bit of a stumble. "This is so cool!" We swung it around, laughing as he did so. Percy backed up cautiously. He didn't want to take a hammer to the face, thanks.

"This is awesome! Thanks Perce!" Leo jumped up and down slightly, and now he was pulling all sorts of things from inside the yellow band. Percy wondered if he had done a bad thing, Leo would surely be attached to it now, but, oh well?

"What is it you're working on?" Percy asked suddenly, spotting a looming figure in the back of the room. How'd he miss it? Oh, right. Dragons.

Leo stopped, still smiling widely. More widely than usual, anyways. "Work on what?"

"The thing that you've been losing sleep over. What is it?"

Percy thought Leo would have illuminated this whole bunker in darkness if he was on fire, with how bright his face was glowing. "Oh! It's a battle ship. I haven't quite decided what to name it yet, but it's going to be awesome, just wait."

Percy raised an eyebrow. "Battleship?"

"Yup!" Leo said, popping the 'P'. "It's gonna have guns and fire and it should fly and sail and it's gonna have a Wii-remote control panel, and a cool dining area, and it'll be awesome!" With the way he was talking excitedly, and moving about, Leo had never reminded Percy of a little kid more. It was almost adorable, if it wasn't slightly annoying.

"Sounds interesting. Good luck, but make sure you sleep, okay?"

"Sleep? Now that I got this baby to help me out? No way!" Laughing, Percy shook his head and walked out. He vaguely felt Nightshade join him a after the stone door had closed. It would be smart to get Leo onto my side, with the battleship...or to at least have him snugly under my thumb. I can't tell anyone, not even Jason, sadly. Who knows whose loyalties would shift? I can hardly trust the Gods. Percy sighed, blew some hair out of his face, and walked back to camp.

Percy wandered the camp at night. It was well past Harpie-time, and so Percy was free to walk as he wished. He started out in the training area, contemplating how to best kill things, but ended in front of the Zeus cabin. Not that it surprised him, really. Percy sat under a back window, and closed his eyes. Something just kept drawing him to Jason, but who was he to complain? He didn't mind it. Not really. Jason was useful, and capable. Not to mention easy on the eyes. I mean, c'mon. Every knew chicks digged scars.

Percy stretched his subconscious. He wasn't sure how long he spent wondering around Jason's dreams, manipulating the scenes to convey what he wanted. He was pretty sure he even figured out how to make sure Jason remembered the dreams, and had a lot of fun eating ice cream with the boy. Shame he couldn't taste it, but it was thought that counted, wasn't it?

But then, he felt a tugging sensation on his subconscious. It was unpleasant, but Percy ignored it. When it bordered on painful, only then did he leave, huffing as he left Jason all alone on a beach. Blackness consumed him, until he came to a brightly lit room.

It was much like the scene he had just left. He was on a beach. Light blue waves crashed against the shore several feet away. It was sunny, and Percy was relaxing shirtless in a beach chair, sunglasses resting on his nose. He squinted against the sun.

"You're being stupid." A voice spoke suddenly. Percy sighed. He had almost forgotten.

"How's that, Luke?" Turning his head, he narrowed his eyes at the person next to him. Luke also sat in a beach chair, arms behind his head, eyes closed. Percy felt vaguely jealous of the six pack he was rocking, then snorted. Luke was dead. He was trying to compete with a dead guy. He was pathetic at times, really. Besides, he liked Jason's six pack better.

"You're forgetting our mission. You're spending more time than necessary on trivial things."

"Excuse me, but have you forgotten how much I've done? I don't see you doing anything." Percy huffed.

"I'm dead, genius. And you didn't have to give Leo the belt. You don't have to manipulate Jason, or his dreams. You didn't have to kill Rachel. What ever happened to searching the attic in the big house? Forget about that, too?" Luke glared at him. Percy looked down.

"I'm sorry, okay? And what if she recited another stupid prophecy? I had to get rid of her."

"It's a little late for that now, isn't it?" Luke snarled. Percy flinched.

"Did you just bring me here to criticize me, or can I return to what I was doing?" Percy bit out, turning red from more than just the sun beating down on his back.

"You need to hurry. That stupid prophecy-" Luke glared at Percy, then slumped back down into his relaxed position. "-Put a time limit on our plans, so now it's either hurry the fuck up, or say goodbye to world-domination and hello to self-damnation."

"You've been thinking of the line for a while, haven't you?"

"Shut up, Jackson."

Oh Luke, you silly bun-bun you.
And so many Leo puns. I was so proud.
NO OFFENSE TO ANY RED HEADS. PROMISE. I'M TECHNICALLY A RED HEAD TOO. (dyed hair)