"Well, now we know for certain that something nefarious is going on," Hestia told the group. It consisted of the same Olympians as before- Percy, Artemis, Hestia, Hades, and Poseidon. They decided to have this impromptu rendezvous on the streets of Olympus.
She continued, "Percy, did you get any clue of who the perpetrator may be?" she asked him.
Percy looked down at the pathed roads, concentrating hard on what he remembered. "Well, on the person responsible, all that I really know is the note that he wrote me. Besides that, not much."
Artemis looked at him hopefully. "There's nothing else you remember?"
Percy relived the moment. "Well, that note disappeared in a dark red mist. That could mean a lot of things, or it could simply be a random choice by the perpetrator. Beyond that, I'm not sure."
Hades stroked his pointed beard. "Well, there are two interesting things here. One, Percy is the only one who has witnessed these attacks. Although that might be random, the attacker also wrote the letter to Percy, which suggests to me that it is not merely coincidental. Perhaps, " he looked seriously at Percy, "he is after you in some specific way." Everyone's eyes diverted to the ground, except Poseidon and Artemis, who looked nervously at their son/husband respectively.
Hades continued, "Second, if we can't get much information from the one behind the attacks, perhaps we can get some secondary knowledge from the mortals who were used for the scheme."
Percy took a deep breath. "That's a great idea, Hades. I remember which apartment that lady came from. And with the man who tried to burn the Statue of Liberty, I'm sure he's now in the legal system after I handed him over to the cops."
"I will try to get some information from the other brainwashed mortals," Hestia offered.
Percy nodded in agreement. "Artemis and I can go to the two in New York City. Let's meet at sundown tonight. Hopefully we will have some new information from there." The rest of the group members nodded their heads and teleported away.
"Since when did you turn into a criminal investigator?" Artemis asked Percy with a smile on her face.
He smirked. "Freddy always has a plan."
They found their way into the police station, hoping to find the man behind the Statue of Liberty burning.
Percy noticed that they looked like regular civilians. "How are they going to let us see the man?"
Artemis gave him a smirk. "Has anyone ever taught you how to control the mist?"
Percy shook his head. "I've seen Thalia do it once or twice, but no one has ever showed me how to do it."
"Watch and learn." She focused, bringing her hands together. Then, she moved her arms in a circle, and Percy saw his outfit changing. After a couple of seconds, the two of them looked like your run-of-the-mill police officers. Percy straightened the badge on his button up.
"You have to show me how to do this some day," he told her.
"It comes in handy sometimes-"
"Officers," a man approached them. He didn't have the same attire as them. Just a button up with the sleeves tucked and jeans. Nevertheless, it was clear that he had a lot of authority in the police station.
Artemis and Percy nodded at him, trying their best to act like policemen.
"I don't believe I've seen you hear. Are you two new to our district?" he asked.
Percy started to freeze, but Artemis looked right into his dark eyes. "Yes we are new to NYPD. I'm sergeant Diana Jackson, and this is my partner and husband Percy Jackson."
He smiled towards them. "That's nice. We hardly get any couples here, but the ones that do are here to last." Percy looked over at her and smiled. She looked down and blushed.
"Anyways, I'm chief of police Jason Gideon. What case are you two a part of?"
"We're here to talk to the man behind the Statue of Liberty burning," Artemis told him.
He nodded his head. "Alright, I'll bring you to him. But I'll warn you, you probably won't get much information. He seems like one of the criminals we end up sending to the psychiatric ward. He won't stop repeating the same lines over and over."
Percy and Artemis took the man from the cell and brought him into an interrogation room.
Percy and Artemis stood there with their arms cross. He turned his neck towards her. "I'll take good cop, you take bad cop," he whispered. She rolled her eyes at him and approached the man. She set the papers Jason gave them on the table.
She read his name on the files. "Peter Stone, what were you doing at the Statue of Liberty the other night?" she asked him. He didn't reply. He slowly shook back and forth, looking out into the distance, but not focusing on anything in particular. Percy eyed her worryingly. She mirrored his expression and then looked back towards the man.
"Listen, sir, tell us what happened." Percy could sense an edge to her voice. She didn't like waiting on men, regardless of their mental state. The man kept rocking. If anyone looked at him without any context, they might have thought he'd seen a ghost.
Artemis slammed her fist on the metal table, leaving a dent. Percy grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back.
"Listen, I don't think he's going to say anything," he told her.
She looked at him, "Then what do we do?" He looked towards the ground, stumped.
"We could ask your broth-"
The door opened. "Knock knock, Captain Phoebus for backup." A disguised form of Apollo walked into the room, wearing a pair of aviators and a fake mustache. He took off the glasses and put them in his front pocket. He wore a similar outfit to the two of them.
"Don't tell me you called him here," Artemis threatened towards Percy. He shook his head incessantly.
"Don't worry, uh, sergeant," Apollo reassured her. He leaned in and whispered to the two of them. "The god of truth is at your service. Speaking of the truth, Artemis, why didn't you tell me you were prego?" he asked.
Artemis seemed very annoyed, not even answering the question, but she motioned for him to talk to the man while rolling her eyes.
Percy watched as Apollo approached Peter. As he spoke to the man, Percy could sense a form of charm speak on him. It wasn't to make him do whatever he asked. No, it just made him tell everything he knew. At least, that's what it was supposed to do.
"So tell me, uh, Peter, why did you try to burn down the Statue of Liberty?" Apollo asked him.
This time, Peter spoke, "I hope she loves me now."
"That was the same thing he told me last time," Percy whispered to Artemis.
"Who told you to commit this attack?" he pressed on.
Peter paused for a moment, in which it appeared he lost all form of reality. Then, he shot up in his chair. "He told me if I burned the Statue of Liberty, then she would love me again. That's all I ever wanted," he spoke loudly.
"Who is this 'he' you are referring to?"
"I hope she loves me now. I hope she loves me now. I hope she loves me now..." he kept repeating.
Apollo took a step back to talk to Percy and Artemis. "This isn't good. Not even I can get him to tell the truth. Whoever this person he is talking about is, was able to seriously brainwash this guy. I can't even sense any of his memories or anything. At this point, he's just a body without a functioning brain. He may be alive on the outside but he is seriously messed up on the inside.
Artemis scrunched her eyebrows. "What does he mean by that line he keeps repeating? Why would anyone love someone after burning down a building?" Percy and Apollo narrowed their eyes. Percy spoke, "Perhaps the brainwasher was able to convince him with something he already was looking for. Maybe this man really wanted this girl, and then all the controller had to do was manipulate his train of thought into believing that setting the statue on the fire would give him what he wanted."
Apollo and Artemis both slowly nodded their heads side to side. "Perhaps," the said at the same time. They looked at each other and narrowed their eyes at each other.
After that, Apollo looked back towards Peter. "There's nothing else we can do with this guy. Let's go to the other person you were going to interview," he told them. Artemis scoffed. "And how exactly did you know we were going to do that. And don't give me this 'I'm the god of truth nonsense'," she steamed.
He looked worried for a second, and then his face was back to confident and collected. "I was keeping watch over my little sis. As I was jogging on Olympus today, I overheard your groups conversation. For now on, count me in on this investigation," he told them. Artemis stared at him and rolled her eyes.
They walked out of the room and teleported to the apartment building where the lady who had the bomb lived.
They walked up a flight of stairs. "Um, guys, is now the time where I tell you that I have no clue which room she lives in?" Percy asked hesitantly. Artemis gave him what I will now refer to as 'the look' (Oof, sorry for the 1st person. Just thought it would be easier from this point on, as Artemis gives Percy 'the look' often. (It's her annoyed face (Parenthesis inception)))
"You didn't think of that before we made it here?" she accused. "How are we supposed to know which room is-"
"It's this one," Apollo told them, standing up by a random door.
"How do you know that?" Percy asked in wonder.
"I'm the god of truth. I may have troubles seeing exactly what more powerful beings are up to, but with mortals, no problemo," he told him.
Artemis gave Apollo 'the look' and knocked on the door.
Percy noticed they were still dressed as officers. "Hey guys, don't you think we should change our outfits? She doesn't even know that she committed a crime or anything."
Apollo nodded. "Absolutely!" He snapped his fingers and all of them were dressed in workout attire.
Artemis looked down at her tanktop and leggings. "Why would you make me wear this garba-"
The door opened. "Hello?"
Apollo gave her his signature, blinding smile. "Hi Elise, would you mind if we talked to you for a second. We're from the floor above, and we heard that your husband passed away." He turned around and conjured a bouquet of flowers. "Our condolences," he added.
She took the flowers and smiled nostalgically. "Thank you so much, please come in."
As they walked inside, Percy leaned over to Artemis. "It appears she was not brainwashed as badly as the other guy." She nodded, although Percy could tell she felt stupid wearing the workout clothes. Percy noticed a little bit of a baby bump by her stomach, but he decided not to mention anything to her.
She motioned for them to sit on the couch, as she sat on the reclining chair. She looked at a picture of them on the opposite side of the living room. "Carson and I just got married a couple of months ago." She gulped. "And then, on his way to work last week, he got jumped. As far as the police were concerned, he gave the man his wallet. But, I guess it just wasn't good enough for him," she said, on the verge of crying.
"That's tragic. Some men can just be so vile and reprehensible," Artemis told her. Elise nodded her head. "What have you been doing in the meantime to recover?"
Elise wiped away a couple of stray tears. "Well, I've taken a couple of weeks off from work. At first I hardly left the apartment. But now I go for walks every morning."
Percy nodded his head. "You know, I think I saw you walking yesterday when I was leaving the apartment. Where were you headed?" he asked.
At first, Elise looked a little bit suspicious at the seemingly unimportant question. But then, her expression turned more confused. She hesitated. "I, um, I can't remember," she replied, grabbing her knees. Artemis looked at Percy.
"And, um," Percy stumbled. "I thought I saw you with a heavy backpack on. Do you know why you had that on?" He hoped he didn't push his luck with her.
She focused hard on her past memories. "I don't really know. Wait a minute," she shut her eyes and put her hand to her temple. "I think I do remember where I got the backpack from," she told them. The three looked at each other. "It was just lying in front of the door before I left. I," she faltered. "I, never mind."
"You can tell us," Artemis said. "We're here for you." Percy looked at her suspiciously. 'No reason to lie' he thought to himself.
"Well, it's just that, when I saw the backpack, I couldn't help but putting it on. It just, it just seemed like if I did, then Carson would be happy or come back. But once I put it on, well... I can't tell you anything after that. Not until I was back home, at least," she told them.
Apollo stood up. "Well, I think we better head out. We don't want to make you relive the tragedy any further," he told her. She seemed wary of his quick departure, but nodded her head and gulped.
"Thank you guys for stopping by. It means the world to me." The three shook their heads towards her.
Artemis looked at her husband and brother. "First," she said. She snapped her fingers, and Percy and her were back in their normal attire. Apollo on the other hand was left in a daisy dukes and a bikini. Apollo looked annoyed for a second and then snapped his fingers, and he was wearing a leather jacket with biker jeans. He grabbed the aviators from his pocket. "I was really digging that whole police officer get-up," he told them.
Artemis gave him 'the look'. "Second," she teleported them to Olympus. After a bit of time, it was sundown, and the rest of the group came.
Percy recalled all of the events that took place that day. The others were left in shock.
"How is it that one of them gets their brain fried and the other merely forgot it?" Hades asked. The three shrugged their shoulders.
"What I don't understand is," Hestia told them, "why do these events seem to be connected to their loved ones? If I had to pin a motive on either of them, I would say that they did these things because of retribution for something or someone they lost." The rest of the group nodded their heads in agreement.
Artemis spoke, "It appears that the person behind these attacks is really good at manipulating emotions. Perhaps the perpetrator was able to use their emotions to justify the actions of the mortals."
They talked for a little longer, although not much more was gathered from their conversations.
"Well, let's call it a night guys," Percy told them. They all agreed. They had been doing a lot to catch this perpetrator. "Let's keep up the work. Although nothing too big has happened yet, it's clear that it won't stay that way."
They members flashed out, leaving just Percy and Artemis. Percy looked over to her. She looked tired. "Is something wr-" he asked. She just let herself go, falling into his arms. He embraced her as she tucked her head by his side.
"I can't just have a year or two of peace," she told him. "As soon as Kronos was finished, you disappeared. I never rested until the day that I saw you again. And now, after a couple months of you as an Olympian, trouble is stirring again. All while I, the retired goddess of maidens, am having our first kid," she said.
Percy wrapped her a little tighter. "You know, I would say the Fates have a cruel sense of humor, but now, it appears that reality, without any deliberate order, also has a level of irony to it." She loosened even more in his arms. "But you know," he continued, "that has nothing to do with how we react to these situations. Things around us may be happening, but they only are 'good' or 'bad' when we decide that that is the case. Reality just is. And you know, we might as well love it, because it's real whether we like it or not."
Artemis chuckled, tickling Percy's stomach. "I was there when Rome had Marcus Aurelius as emperor. You sound just as much of a Stoic philosopher as him."
"Come on, let's go," he said. He picked her up bridal style, and this time she didn't complain. "I think they just finished building my palace, let's go see if we can't sleep there."
Percy took them towards his new house. It was built right next to Artemis' giant log cabin. His was a modern house, with pillars of marble and large sheets of windows. As he walked to the front door, he stepped over a little bridge, and underneath it was a river being fed water from a small waterfall on the side of the landscape.
On the inside, the modern theme continued with an electric fireplace and charcoal colored counter tops. Percy set Artemis on a plush couch and walked towards the kitchen. When he opened the cupboards, he noticed that it was stocked with all of his favorite foods, including every blue candy imagined. "Artemis, can I get you something?" he called out to her.
She was still laying on the couch. She mumbled, "Just a water, please." He went over towards the sink, and next to it he found a cardboard box that he left for decorating the house. He filled her a glass and brought the box with him over to her.
"Here you go." He gave her the glass and she sat up so he could sit by her. When he sat down, she rested her head on his side.
"What's in the box?" she asked.
Percy gave her a little smile. "Just a little bit of things to decorate the house." He pulled out a couple of pictures of them on their honey moon to Australia. The first one was the two of them in front of the Sidney Opera House. Percy was wearing a blue tank top and sunglasses, while Artemis wore a gray t-shirt and had her hair pulled into a messy bun. The next was of them in the wild. The two of them were sitting on a wild crocodile. She was smiling and Percy looked like he was in the process of peeing his pants. Artemis had set up the camera in a tree with the timer on. She coaxed Percy into sitting in front of her, but he was not excited for that to happen.
With each picture, they recalled their memories together. This went on for a while, until Artemis stopped talking. Percy noticed that she fell asleep on his shoulder. He grabbed her and brought her to his master bedroom. He tucked her underneath the covers and kissed her forehead.
"We'll get through this, Artemis. I love you."
Just a little fluff as the cherry on top of this chapter. Thank you for reading, have a great day! Let me know what you think of the story so far!
