Hey guys, it has been forever! I know, I know. I'm really sorry, I've just been exhausted and unable to get much time to just sit and write. This chapter will be kind of slow, but it will pick up in the next chapter. Again I'm sorry for taking so long to update. I want to thank all of you for your wonderful reviews and comments on this story. :)

One more note, have you seen that they are making a Maximum ride movie?! I'm so excited! I can't wait to see this book finally go onto the big screen.

Disclaimer I don't own Percy Jackson or Maximum Ride all rights belong to Rick Riordan and James Patterson

Argo II- Annabeth

I had spent hours staying awake, reading, trying anything I could to keep myself distracted. It was a blessing when Leo had limped in to tell me that everyone had arrived and the leaders of each group were ready for a quick meeting. After covering Fang, who was practically asleep, with a blanket I followed Leo to the room where everyone was waiting. Chiron, Reyna, Clarisse, and many other familiar faces crowded the room, including one Sally Jackson. I nearly had a heart attack at the sight of her.

"Sally, what are you doing here?" I demanded as I walked up to her. Immediately I regretted going against Thalia's advisement and telling Sally what was going on. Her face turned pale and she looked exhausted.

"I want to help any way I can."

She seemed to forget that she was a mortal. Despite all of her courage and strength, she couldn't be on the front line. Percy would not be able to handle it if Sally got hurt. I wouldn't be able to either. We had gotten close when Hera took Percy away. Sally trusted me to bring Percy home then, so why was she reluctant to wait now?

I gave her a hug, "I know you do, but putting yourself in danger is not a good idea. If anything happened to you, I don't think Percy or I would be able to forgive ourselves."

She tighten her arms around me as if I would slip away. I loved Sally. She was an awesome parent and a wonderful person all around. I knew Percy was such a sweetheart because of her. It took me a moment to realize, she was tired of waiting on the sidelines. She had to be here. Ready to welcome him with open arms that would hold him and never let him go.

"You can stay." I told her softly. "But you stay on the ship. No heroics. Besides you can help take care of the wounded. I'll bring Percy to you as soon as possible, I promise."

Sally nodded and released me so I could address the rest of the people in the room. They all shifted uneasily, wanting nothing more to rush in and get Percy back. I scanned the crowd to see if I could find a guilty looking face, sure enough Tyson was sitting in the corner with Mrs. O'Leary. The two were trying to make themselves seem smaller and unnoticeable but I knew that they were the ones responsible for Sally's appearance on the Argo II. It was kind of miraculous they had brought her here, I mean us non-children of death demigods can have a hard time with shadow travel. How had it not driven Sally insane on the way over here?

Percy's mom grabbed my shoulder and gave it a squeeze, "Don't be too mad at him, he wanted to help, and Chiron wouldn't bring me."

I released a sigh and pinched the bridge of my nose. Sally was about as stubborn as her son. And Tyson was an enabler, then again so was I. "Okay people, the place we are going to infiltrate is a secure mortal organization. Their first and second line of defense are their soldiers and the Erasers."

"You mean…." Connor giggled. Travis picked up when his brother couldn't continue. "They're going to chuck erasers at us?"

"No, I mean they have giant dog mutants that are almost more devastating than a Hellhound attack." I scowled at the twins. "Percy is in serious danger, now it not the time to be making jokes, if you don't have anything significant to say that would help Percy then I suggest you wait on the deck until we finish our plans."

Grover walked to me with a concerned frown. "Come on, Annabeth, you know they are worried about Percy too."

I tried not to let my anxiety affect me too much, but in the time it took them to make that joke, I could have almost been done relaying my plan. With a long sigh I continued to speak.

"As I was saying. They have the soldiers and Erasers, from what Max and the others have told me, these Erasers can change shape and look completely human, er, more like a supermodel. I guess if you don't recognize them, don't trust a pretty face." I warned. "The plan is simple, we have some divisions fighting on the outside, you're main line of defense will be Argo II. Leo will set it up so that it will fire at the school and the Erasers. Our second line will be helping to push me, the other seven, and the flock into the school."

Everyone was starting to look leery. I didn't blame them, we weren't supposed to be fighting humans, only mythological monsters. Even if the workers of the school were just barely in the 'human' category, they were still mortals. Clarisse finally spoke up, sounding every bit like the trailblazing warrior she is.

"Fight to kill or incapacitate them."

A voice chimed up from the back, "Definitely to kill. Knock them out if you can, but you better make sure they stay down."

Max came walking in, she no longer looked as pale or as tired. She gave everyone an evaluating scowl as she held onto Fang for support. Fang followed her suite, trying to assess all of the demigods in the room. I motioned them to stand by me and give their feedback on how to handle fighting the school and their monster mutts.

"Well, they are mortals. I have always taught my students not to harm mortals. No matter how vulgar they are." Chiron, my mentor, obviously didn't like the idea of killing any mortal. "Isn't there a better way."

"All due respect, if anyone has that mindset, you might as well go home." Fang told the centaur.

Most demigods looked surprised when Fang had made that suggestion, but he was entirely right. These people won't give us the same indulgence that we could give them. I have seen that every time we have had a near encounter with them. Heck, the Erasers wanted to kill me for the fun of it when they had come for Percy. The School and its employees had no sense of morality. That made them dangerous.

Max nodded, "These people will not give you the same luxury, they won't be merciful. They torture children for a living, killing and capturing won't be met with any qualms. If we aren't aggressive enough you guys could be their next victims."

The whole room went still. We were well aware of the awful and nasty ways that monsters killed demigods, but for a threat to come from a mortal, for us to have to fear mortals, it was an entirely new concept. I reminded the Greek demigods briefly of the battle we had on Percy's sixteenth birthday and told them to fight even more fiercely than we had in Manhattan. The Romans provided everyone with any non-magical weapon they could find. It wasn't much, in fact some of them looked rather ancient, but they would have to do.

"If everyone is clear on the plan, we attack up in ten." I muttered as I grabbed a silver blade. "Be ready."

My head was pounding; the concussion was making itself known. I half thought I would collapse as I left the meeting room. Chiron couldn't know about how injured I had gotten. Despite his faith in me, I knew that the old centaur would try to bench me from the fight. Max and Fang, both who were also still a little wobbly, followed close behind.

"Are we really that close to the School already?" Fang asked. "I thought that it would take a lot longer."

I smiled softly, "Leo can get the Argo II to go pretty fast, especially when he knows what I'm like when I get testy. The others, from the Roman and Greek camps, have other means of quick travel."

Max was looking over my shoulder at someone, when I turned I saw that her gaze was directly onto Sally. "She's Percy's mom right?"

Sally must have felt our eyes on her because she looked our way before she walked up. She had that typical; I'm smiling because if I wasn't I'd be crying- smile on her face. If one didn't know her as well as I did-they wouldn't see it at all, but I knew it all too well. I could sense Fang and Max instinctively tense up before they decided that they weren't being threatened.

"Hello, Max, right?" Sally looked like she wanted to hug the bird girl, but she thought better. "I want to thank you for taking care of my son."

"You're son is quite a hand full," Max grinned cheekily. "But I am fairly used to handfuls. I have five other mouths to feed. I promise, Sally, We will get Percy back from the School."

Sally's blue eyes went misty, "I know you will. My son, has an uncanny ability to find and befriend good people."

If she had said the same thing to me when I had first met Rachel I probably would have full heartedly disagreed. I had absolutely hated Rachel, but Percy assured me that she was a good person. And of course he was right. Now he had found Max and her team who were a lot like us.

"I do have one favor to ask though," Max began. "My youngest member, Angel, I don't think she's ready to fly let alone infiltrate an evil base-…"

Sally smiled, "I'd be happy to keep an eye on her for you."

Max nodded gratefully before wandering off with Fang. I watched as Sally's smile slowly began to wane. She was most likely thinking about Percy again. We were so close to getting him back, to fighting the school. Yet like everything, the closer you got, the farther it felt. I wanted to comfort her in some sort of way, but couldn't think of anything that I could say that hasn't already said. So ultimately we just sat against a wall together until it was finally tie for us to start the invasion on the school.

"I'll bring him back." I promised once more before heading to the deck with the rest of our infiltration party.

The romans mounted up onto their eagles and Reyna on her Pegasus. The Greeks and the ones who didn't have a ride made their way off of the boat and down towards the ground. Everyone giving a battle cry with the name of their godly parent or grandparent. I would have laughed about how ridiculous they sounded, but I had bigger things to worry about.

Max walked up to me and gave my shoulder a nudge, "Are you ready to face the school?"

"To save Percy, I was born ready."

She gave a nod and both she and Fang grabbed me by my arms to take me into the air. I felt as if I were on a roller coaster as they brought me over the edge before we went into a strait dive towards the ground. The large cold building of the School grew closer and closer into view, waves of demigods falling from the sky like rain. It took mere moments for the school's alarms to blare through the hot desert air.

Again, sorry I haven't updated in a while. But I hope you enjoy this chapter.