A/N: Don't worry, I'm not dead. Sorry for being slow on the updating now. I've just enrolled into university and yeah. I'll still be updating, just not as fast anymore. Don't worry, I won't be gone.

Thomasjwood: If it was only that simple :D

Zayden StormVoid: Your reviews are always fun to read. Thanks!

DeltaWin13: If it was only that simple.

Theunwillingtraveler: Thanks!

Grey Fox Ninja: Of course there would be chapters like that. A perfect relationship is no fun without a sprinkle of drama.

Kenneth: Maybe.

Kromp the Ronin: Thanks man!

Reallyinfinity: Pretty much everything.

Shall we continue?

It's gonna be an intense chapter

Oh, and, um, PSA warning. I suggest you be careful reading this chapter because it's slightly . . . disturbing. Reader's discretion is advised.

Chapter 11

Percy woke up to a sprawled auburn hair on his chest. He and Artemis had fallen asleep in one of the guest rooms that the Rebellion had provided them with. He smiled at Artemis who was soundly asleep on his chest. Percy moved carefully as he moved Artemis without waking her up.

He went outside of the room to see Nico and Piper arguing at the lobby. "–no idea what he's like." Piper said as Percy went closer towards them. "Even if that was the right location, how do you know it's not an ambush? Or a fake location? Or a setup to get you framed?

"I'm telling you, this is our only chance." Nico argued. "We haven't had a solid lead like this. Plus, Silena tracked him down. Name one person who is better at this stuff other than Silena."

Piper was silent for a while before Percy cleared his throat. "Morning,"

"Morning," Piper smiled. "Aren't you up early?" Percy noticed that Nico was glaring at him.

"I'm gonna have breakfast," Nico grumbled. "See you later." Then he walked away towards the cafeteria.

Piper sighed. "Sorry about that. He's just . . ."

"Mad at me." Percy finished. "Look, sorry about last night. I was being kind of a huge dick." Percy said at Piper, but she just smiled.

"I understand. Beckendorf as well." Piper said.

He just smiled gratefully. "So, what were you guys talking about?"

Piper scratched the back of her head. "Silena, our tech gal, has discovered what can possibly be the Hacker's true location."

"Then, what are we waiting for? We should go there now."

"Believe me, I would love to." Piper muttered. "But it's too dangerous. We don't know if it's a setup. We don't know if we'll get ambushed. We don't even know if the location's real."

"Can't we just bait him out?" Percy said. "Offer me as bait and when he gets here, catch him."

"There's no way."

Percy gritted his teeth. "You can't stop me from doing this."

"No, I mean, there's no way to actually catch him if he arrives there." Piper explained.

"What do you mean?"

"There's a reason why we call him 'the Hacker'." She said. "He hacks into the AR Glasses to make sure he projects himself into your vision, the same way a World Boss will be projected by Olympia. In other words, he can hurt you through the game and what not, but you can't hurt him. When you saw him back at the skate park, that was Olympia projecting him through your Glasses. He's not really there."

Percy was in disbelief. This was the adversary that they were dealing with? "There must be some way to get to him."

"If we can get through to how he's projecting himself, we may be able to track down where he is."

"So, how did Silena managed to track him down in the first place?"

"She reused the footage from your encounter with him and tried to track it back to it's original source." Piper said. "But the source always switched places. The one time the source stopped moving entirely was just now."

"So, are we going to go after it?"

"We? Maybe. You? No."

"Why?"

"You need to be in the showcase," Piper said. "Which happens to be tomorrow."

"But I want to help,"

"You can help," A voice said behind Percy from up the stairs. "By going to the showcase." Percy turned around and who he saw made his blood boil.

"Dad," Percy said mockingly.

"Mr. Don." Piper said as she bowed in respect.

Poseidon just nodded at Piper. "Can you leave us alone for a minute?"

"S-Sure," Piper said as she hurriedly left the area.

Percy and Poseidon had a stare competition for a minute before Poseidon broke the silence. "How've you been doing?"

"How do you think?" Percy growled. "I spent all my life without a mother or a father. And when I finally meet one of them," He glared at Poseidon. "He turns out to be you."

"And you are unhappy of that?" Poseidon said with a slightly confused tone.

Percy balled his fists. "Why did you leave me?" Percy asked. "Just tell me that."

"I've never left you." Poseidon said. "Believe it or not, I've been watching you since you were born." He took out a picture from his coat pocket and showed it to Percy. Turns out it was a picture of Percy when he was just a baby. "Your mother didn't tell me she was pregnant with you until –" Poseidon took a deep breath. "Until I found out she died giving birth to you."

Percy felt the tears welling up in his eyes. "And when you finally found out about me, you just wanted to take me away? From my life? From everything I've ever known about?"

Poseidon looked at Percy sadly. "I wanted to take you away for the same reason you hate me. It's so you don't have to live on the streets with those peasants."

Anger boiled inside Percy. "Peasant? For your information, these peasants took care of him. These people you call peasants took care of me so I could be here today. These peasants are my family." Percy said angrily. "Which is something that you will never be part of."

Poseidon sighed. "I am merely telling you the truth. I do care for you."

"Well then here's the truth," Percy spat out. "You are not my father. I don't have one." He said before storming upstairs. Before he left, Poseidon called him.

"Percy," Poseidon said. "You still have that box I gave you?" Percy stayed silent. "When the times come. Open it. You'll know when."

Percy just stayed in silent, but he was angry at him still. Poseidon just sighed as he went towards the building exit. "Stay safe, Percy. Try not to die." He said before exiting.

Percy took a deep breath before he collapsed to the ground. Being angry was tiring as his legs were trembling. The built up emotions inside him was starting to mix up. He didn't even realize his muscles were tensed until he sat down. His body felt sore everywhere. He felt like crying. All the shitty things in his life that had happened. He felt miserable when he looked back on all of it.

"Percy?" He heard familiar voice called. He looked up the stairs to see Artemis, still half-asleep. "Why are you up so early?"

Seeing Artemis made Percy smile. She was the best thing that had ever happened to his life. There was almost no secret between them. Percy had never been happier than he had been when he was with Artemis. When Percy saw her, he saw that his life hadn't been that bad. He remembered all the times he'd demanded for more of Hestia's cooking and the all the time he'd got into an argument with Thalia.

He smiled at those memories.

"Hey," Percy said. "You need to brush your hair."

Line Break

Beckendorf had called them for a meeting in the cafeteria. He thought they should have breakfast as they discussed their plan.

Percy and Artemis sat next to each other, no surprise there. Thalia sat next to Percy as well. Sitting next to Beckendorf was a girl who Percy assumed was Silena, Beckendorf's girlfriend. She had black luscious hair that flowed down her neck and startling blue eyes. She had the look of a natural diva and the kind of beauty that made everyone stare at her as their brains malfunction.

Thalia had been introduced to everyone last night, except for Silena. So they shook hands.

"Now, our plan." Beckendorf said. "Silena?"

She cleared her throat. "So, I think we should get Percy into the Rookie Showcase venue tonight." She said. "We need to sneak him in t"here."

Percy stared at her incredulously. "Excuse me?"

"People are going to have a witch hunt just for you, thanks to the Hacker." Silena said. "By the time the event goes off tomorrow, you won't be able to get in there without being spotted. Now, when the venue's empty, is the perfect spot."

"Where is the venue, exactly?" Piper asked. "It changes every year."

"The Colosseum," Beckendorf supplied. "The one that Olympia built, not the one in Rome."

Artemis made a 'time-out' gesture. "Are you suggesting we sneak Percy in there?" She asked. Silena and Beckendorf nodded. "Do you know how heavily guarded that place is?"

"I know someone who can help." Nico said. "Only if she agrees to help though,"

"Who?" Artemis asked.

"Annabeth."

Percy mentally cursed. Things have been awkward with Annabeth since their little 'date' at the Plaza. This would be awkward to explain to Artemis. Percy glanced at Nico to see him trying to suppress a grin. Maybe this was his way of him getting his revenge at Percy.

While Percy was glad Nico wasn't mad at him anymore, he was slightly annoyed. But then again, they had no other choice.

"Can we trust her?" Piper asked. "We don't know. She might try to turn Percy in to the Hacker."

"She won't." Nico said, smirking at Percy.

"Yeah, she won't." Percy agreed with a sigh.

"How would you guys know?" Artemis asked.

"It's just a gut feeling," Nico said. "Plus, she's a friend of Percy, isn't she?"

Artemis had never glared at her new boyfriend so intensely before. Percy felt that glare pierce though his head. Percy sent Nico a clear mental message.

Shut the fuck up.

"We've met a couple of times." Percy admitted. Nico looked like he was trying hard not to laugh.

"Didn't she met Hestia a few days ago? You were taking her out on a date." Thalia added, also playing into this practical joke.

Nico was dying of laughter on the inside. Percy could see his face was red from suppressing laughs. He gave a fistbump to Thalia who returned it with a giggle.

Artemis glared at him for a few more seconds while sending a clear message. We're going to talk about this later. She huffed before relaxing herself. "Fine."

Silena and Piper looked like they were trying not to smile while Beckendorf was just confused. "Well, that's one thing settled." He said. "Also, by the time the showcase commences, we need to protect Percy."

"How are we supposed to do that?" Artemis asked. "I will be busy with my team. I assume you guys are going to be busy as well, along with Nico who's going to participate in the Rookie Showcase." Then she glared briefly at Percy. "And Annabeth is going to be busy with her team."

Beckendorf grinned. "You know, the Rebellion doesn't consists of just us. We've got allies everywhere." He said. "I'll contact someone to look after him."

"So, that settles it then." Percy said. "Can we eat now?

Line Break

After eating, Percy found himself in the Rebellion's Training Room. He decided if he's going to face the Hacker soon, he better get some training on.

The Training Room was covered with white tiles from floor to ceiling. It made the room unusually bright. Just near the entrance, Percy noticed a control panel. There options to change the weather, change the environment, even options to make Olympia project a dummy for you to train with.

Percy went with to train with a dummy. He put on his AR Glasses to see the dummy standing in the middle of the room. It looked like a white crash test dummy. Percy had set the difficulty to Max and the same class as him, which is Duelist. The dummy had two swords like him, both of which were also white.

Percy took his swords out. He decided to test out his skills with two swords. He took a few deep breaths before readying himself, putting himself in combat mode.

3 . . .

2 . . .

1 . . .

The dummy was really fast as it closed in the distance between them in just two seconds. Percy barely had time to react as the dummy struck overhead with both swords. Percy raised both of his swords to block them but the dummy was faster. It kicked Percy square in the chest, making him stagger backwards. Percy grunted at the force of the kick.

"Tough little shit, aren't you?" Percy grumbled.

The dummy wasn't giving him any breathing room as it lunged at Percy, both swords were ready to slice him in half. Percy ducked under the swords and tried to stab the dummy through left and right, but it turned sideways so that the blades went past its gut and back area harmlessly.

The dummy elbowed Percy on the forehead before it went for the slice at Percy's neck. Percy managed to block it with one of his swords. The dummy's other sword was making its way towards Percy's midsection. Without a choice, Percy broke away and stepped back from it.

Again, the dummy wasn't giving him any chance to get some rest as it jumped high towards the ceiling. Both of his weapons shimmered and disappeared before being replaced with a bow and a quiver.

"Wait, what?" Percy muttered to himself. The dummy fired arrows with no hesitation. Percy dodged and blocked as many as he could before eventually tripping on his butt from trying to dodge everything.

By the time he was looking at the dummy again, the dummy was in its way down. In his hands, a massive axe that looked like it could split Percy in half as easy as Percy ripping a paper in half.

Percy rolled out of the way as the dummy cleaved the spot on the floor he'd been in. The dummy wasted no time in going for its next move. It swirled around, using the axe's momentum to propel its body forward towards Percy while the axe was coming straight at Percy.

He rolled backwards to avoid getting chopped in half. Why was the dummy changing weapons? Percy had specifically set it to a Duelist class, which was the same class he was. Was the dummy bugged? Was it hacked by the Hacker? Had Nico tampered with it just to mess with him?

The dummy changed weapons again as it threw a javelin at Percy, which Percy dodged but it narrowly misses his head. The dummy then charged at him at full speed with a hammer in hand.

Not the hammer you use for nails, mind you.

A fully blown war hammer that's almost as tall as Percy and looked like it was designed specifically to bash people into a grease spot.

The dummy lifted the hammer up, which was ridiculous because the head of the hammer looked like an anvil which is heavy as hell.

It struck at Percy in full force. A force that could probably turn his bones into mush before the dummy dissolved into nothing.

Percy sighed in relief. He looked at Nico who was at the control panel, one of his eyebrows was raised.

"How did you lose to a dummy?" He asked.

"It's bugged." Percy panted. "It changes weapons all the time."

Nico frowned. "What class did you put it on?"

"Duelist,"

"Then it's not bugged." Nico said. "Don't tell me you don't know that?"

"Know what?"

Nico facepalmed himself. "Duelists are capable of wielding any weapon in the game, except for weapons that wield magic."

"Yeah, I know that. You can use anything for battle, right?"

"Yes," Nico said. "But you can also change them in the middle of a battle." Nico said. Percy stared at him blankly. "You're kidding."

Percy shook his head. "Didn't know that."

Nico sighed. "No wonder Beckendorf wanted someone to protect you." He cleared his throat. "Well take a seat, my student. I shall educate you in the ways of a Duelist."

"You're a Necromancer. How are you supposed to know how to play a Duelist class?"

"Because I read the guide, dumbass." Nico rolled his eyes. "Now, after this we're going to have a spar."

Line Break

When Percy and Nico finished with their little training session, Percy was tired as hell. He'd learned how to switch weapons and such, but he was no expert in doing so.

"You're a quick learner." Nico said as he drank some water. "Most people don't pick up as fast as you."

Percy was too tired to respond. He was laying on the floor with his chest towards the ceiling. He was drenched in sweat and his body felt like they were wrapped in lead.

Duelists has no skill in particular. They rely on the combat abilities of the player. But, they can wield almost anything that exists in the game, except for weapons that requires magic abilities like staffs and wands. Aside from that, a Duelist can use them as weapons. Most classes are limited to one or two types of weapons, which made Duelists a flexible class. Though they can only go so far depending on the player's ability to fight in combat.

"Get some rest," Nico said as he got up. "Big day tomorrow."

"Hey," Percy called him. "Sorry about . . . you know."

Nico snickered. "I figured I got my revenge on you this morning." Nico said with a grin.

Percy managed a tired laugh. "So, we cool?"

Nico grinned. "Yeah, we're cool." Nico said. "But get some rest. I don't want you showing up to the showcase tired and shit. I can't be saving your ass all the time." He said before leaving the control room.

Percy nodded as he lay down there for a few minutes to catch his breath. Instead, he fell asleep.

Line Break

Percy woke up to what he figured was the middle of the night. The Training Room was dark and Percy's body was sore from sleeping on the floor. He woke up and decided to take a shower before going to bed, because he smelled like a pair of old boxers.

He shakily stood up and stretched, sending a wave of pleasure down his spine. He walked over towards the exit when the lights suddenly turned on in the Training Room. Percy stopped dead in his tracks.

He felt a cold chill down on his neck. Someone else is in this room. Percy looked around and saw nothing, but he knew that's not true. Percy gulped down the lump in his throat as he put on his Glasses.

Sure enough, the Hacker stood in front of him.

He hasn't changed from when Percy last saw him. That same mask and hooded robe, and the state of him flickering as if he's trying to exist in the world.

"Ah, Perseus Jackson," The Hacker said. "It's finally good to meet you without any . . . interruptions."

The fact that he knew Percy's full name worried him. Only a handful of people knew about Percy's name, and none of them could be the Hacker.

"What are you doing here?"

The Hacker chuckled in a sinister tone. "To meet you, of course." The Hacker gestured towards him. "And to give you one final warning."

Percy wanted to move, but he couldn't. He wasn't inflicted with Paralysis. He was just too afraid to move.

"Do not go to the showcase." The Hacker warned. "Or else."

"Or else what?" Percy asked.

Then, a shrill scream pierced the night. Percy knew that scream was from inside the building and he knew who's it was.

Thalia's.

"What did you do?!" Percy whirled around in anger but the Hacker had already disappeared. Percy ran towards the exit to see where the scream was coming from.

To Percy's slight relief, he ran into Artemis so he knew she was safe. Percy saw that Nico and Piper were wide awake as well.

"Who was that?" Nico asked.

"Thalia," Percy gritted his teeth.

"Percy!" Her voice screamed from the cafeteria. They all rushed straight towards it. It felt like a cold hand was gripping Percy's heart as dread filled up his body.

They burst into the cafeteria. What they found horrified them.

Thalia was crying as she hugged her knees with her hands covering her head. She was sobbing and crying hard. But that wasn't the worst part.

Hanging from the ceiling with a noose tied to each of them, was Charles Beckendorf and Silena Beauregard. From the looks of it, they had recently passed. Blood was evident on their faces as Beckendorf had several wounds on his body. Silena has a hole go through her head that looked like it was caused by a bullet. Blood was dripping from their feet to the floor.

"Oh god . . ." Percy could hear them almost choke. This . . . this was just cruel.

Percy could almost hear the Hacker laughing and whispering in his ear.

You did this to them.

A/N: Some heavy stuff. Like I said, reader's discretion is advised. If you found that disturbing, I'm sorry, but I did warn you. So don't sue me if you have any issues please.

I know. Shit's intense. Sorry I won't be updating as frequent because, well, I'm in uni now. I will still be updating, so you bastards don't need to worry. Welp, this chapter was hard to write. Leave your thoughts in the reviews I guess.