Chapter Nineteen
Percy's heart had stopped, but then it started up, before stuttering and repeating. Jason couldn't move, and he felt his blood go cold. It was only Ghost suddenly reappearing from the shadows that drew him from his own shock. The smaller man had been noticeably absent during the fight with Atlas, but Jason also knew that of all the people he had gathered, Ghost wasn't strong, or magical, or anything like that. He was quiet, and smart. There wasn't much he could have done in the fight.
"I have a medical facility that can treat him," Ghost said, placing his hand over Percy's chest. "His heart is irregular and erratic. I can get him there in thirty minutes."
"That's too slow," Jason shook his head, "where is it? I can fly him there in a tenth of that time."
Ghost hesitated, glancing at the others, but Reyna grabbed him arm firmly.
"Please," she begged quietly, "he is dying."
"It's in Detroit," Ghost said after a millisecond, "on Belle Isle, underneath Lake Muskoday. There'll be a short window, maybe five seconds, where a hangar in the middle of the lake will open. Follow the tunnel, and there'll be a doctor waiting for him."
Jason pulled Percy into his arms, angled himself roughly towards Detroit, and shot out of the ship. He hadn't been lying when he said he could get him wherever Ghost had in a tenth of the time. The thing was, he didn't normally fly as fast as he was. It pushed the upper limits of his stamina, and broke the sound barrier twice over, but he was in Detroit in three minutes, slipping through the hidden hangar doors into a large, underground network of tunnels. As promised, there was a tall, young man in a doctor's coat ready with a gurney, which looked to be reinforced to hell with welded support beams underneath it, and even then, it groaned under Percy's weight.
"What happened to him?" The doctor asked, "our…mutual friend wasn't very forthcoming."
"Honestly, I'm not entirely sure, but I think he was possessed by a god." Jason answered, "whatever it was, it's given him a heart attack. His pulse is erratic right now, but all his other organs seem to be working fine."
"How do you—wait, never mind, I can find out later. Alright, so, according to everything my theories show, I'll need a diamond tipped tools to get in there. This should be fun."
It was not, in fact, fun. Jason was on standby the entire time, having offered his help. He didn't think offering his help would mean being forced to stick his hand into Percy's chest and physically massage his heart to keep it beating because the doctor—'Please, call me Will'—was worried what the defibrillator might do to him. After three hours, Will was finally convinced that Percy was out of immediate danger, and told Jason that he'd have to be observed for a few days.
He immediately left to return to Washington, and when he arrived, the ship was still floating above the city, and it was completely surrounded by tanks and soldiers. Reyna was currently in a heated argument with who Jason presumed was the officer in charge, and the man visibly relaxed when he saw Jason floating above them, like he immediately expected him to side with him about whatever was going on.
The look on his face when he landed beside Reyna was worth it. He didn't even need to ask what the topic was because Reyna beat him to it.
"They want to take the ship and study it," she said, "it's too powerful and too dangerous to let any one nation have control of what's inside."
"I took one down in Russia though, so they're probably—"
"That one is gone," Ghost materialized beside him out of nowhere, and he seriously had to figure out how he did that. "So's the one that was over the Atlantic. This is the only one that's still here, and we don't know why."
"Who are you, again?" The officer—a general, he recognised the insignia—asked with a pointed look.
"Smarter than you," Ghost replied easily, before turning to them, "Vulcan and Changeling are finishing a sweep of the ship to make sure there's no one left behind. They should be with us soon."
Soon was after another ten minutes of arguing, because, no, general, not all aliens are the same, and we're pretty sure this goes beyond Aliens, so take a step back and be patient. Changeling touched down first, shifting from bird to human, and it took Jason a moment to realise he had no kind of disguise on. But the General looked at him in horror.
"You have no face!" He exclaimed, and Jason blinked, because he very clearly had a face. Changeling gently slapped his forehead.
"Right, the magic." He muttered, blushing red. "I have a face, sir, but my partner cast a spell that means people can't see it. I never really thought about how it would look to other people."
Vulcan arrived a few minutes after that, and his arrival was quickly followed by a loud thrumming in the air, static building so thickly Jason could almost taste it. He didn't even have time to open his mouth before a dark portal opened above the ship and drew it in, before closing just as quickly. They were left with the ruins of a city, and the end of an argument. The General's mouth hung open, and Reyna looked more than a little pleased with herself.
"Good thing you didn't put your men on that ship General," Ghost said neutrally, but somehow, it still came across snidely. "Otherwise you might have to explain to your superior how American lives were lost after the fight was over."
The General glowered, but Reyna clearly decided that with the threat of the ship being boarded gone, there was no need for her to stay around. She nudged his arm and then flew upwards several dozen yards, and he quickly followed.
"How is he?"
"He was stable when I left," he said honestly, "but it was touch and go. He'll likely need a few weeks of bedrest and then who knows how much time to recover. Or maybe nothing at all. I don't know enough about Atlanteans to give you a proper answer."
"Do you think Ghost will allow me to see him?" She asked him. "He did not seem eager to reveal his hospital."
"It wasn't a hospital," Jason said, before correcting himself, "well, it was a fully stocked medical facility, but it was in a cave underneath a river on an island in Detroit, so it wasn't really something that was easy to access. Did you find out where he went while we were fighting Atlas?"
"He was moving wounded civilians out of the way," Reyna told him, "and organising those who were willing to help. He does not like the attention he received."
"Like Percy?"
"No, Perseus doesn't like attention because people have an idea of him that he doesn't care for," Reyna shook her head, "Ghost does not seem to like any attention."
"Well, he is still technically on the Detroit PD's top ten list, so that might have something to do with it." Jason shrugged. "I'm more concerned about what Artemis and Chiron are going to do with him."
"I found it odd she did not come with him," Reyna agreed, "and I know her—she'd never willingly be left behind. I believe I will go to his island and find out why she left him alone."
"We could use some help here," he said carefully, "we all did our best to avoid damage, but Percy flooded most of the riverbank, and there's people trapped who need rescuing."
He saw the moment of hesitation but Reyna, as he knew, was not selfish. She nodded, and they returned to the ground. The others gathered around him, and he saw the flash of annoyance on the General's face to be suddenly ignored.
"There are people stuck in the metro system where the entrances collapsed, so we need to clear the debris out there first," he began, "after we've gotten the civilians clear, we should work on clearing the rubble blocking the roads. The sooner those are clear, the sooner first responders can come to help. Sound good?"
"You've got it boss man," Vulcan nodded, "how's our boy?"
"Stable," Jason said simply. "We can talk later. We've got work to do, yeah?"
XXXX
"They want to give us all Presidential Medals of Freedom," Jason told Percy. The Atlantean was propped up in a bed, surrounded by flowers that Jason had brought from all the others. He looked distinctly uncomfortable for it. "For 'our actions during the crisis and the days that followed.' They also tried to make it sound like I won the fight for us. Didn't take."
"I know," Percy grinned, "I watched the interview. I thought it was hilarious, and you'd never know, but Nico did too."
"Nico?"
"Our friend Ghost. Nico di Angelo. He's a meta, did you know?" Percy shifted so he was sitting up more. "Nothing overly flamboyant, like shapeshifting or bursting into flames, but you know how he can just…appear, like you never knew he was there? It's called 'Shadow Travelling.' Pretty cool."
"I was not aware of that," Jason said slowly, "what about his faceless mask?"
"Dude look around us," Percy motioned to the room, full of state-of-the-art medical equipment. "He's rich. It's probably got like, sensors on it or something like that. That kind of tech has existed in Atlantis for a century, if not longer. I'd ask, but he's been avoiding me since I told him I had figured out his identity."
"How did you?" Jason asked, before adding, "figure it out, I mean?"
"He didn't know I have enhanced hearing. Got into a heated debate with Doc Will, and both of their full names were used. I'd do the research, but they only let me read physical copies of things, and they've kept my armour hidden from me."
"I'll keep you updated," Jason rolled his eyes. "Also, I need you not to freak out about what I'm about to tell you."
"Oh boy, that inspires confidence," Percy muttered. Jason finally bit the bullet and addressed the issue he had been avoiding.
"Reyna went to your island and met with Artemis and Chiron. I'm not sure about the exact details, because I only found out after the fact, but apparently she and Artemis got into an argument about something that's going on in Atlantis, which escalated into a fight, and now half your cave-base is wrecked."
Percy sighed loudly and dropped back against the bed.
"It apparently also caused an international incident between Atlantis and the Amazons, since Reyna is their representative in 'Man's World' it might have led to war. Chiron talked everyone down, but they really want to know where you are. Your brother is getting anxious."
"Triton spent years without me, he can wait a few more days," Percy sighed. "I'm healthy, something no one wants to tell me, but I'm weaker than normal. Which is why I'm being kept here. I'd honestly just like to go somewhere private to finish healing up. Feel like helping?"
"Maybe. Depends on where you want to go."
"Legally, I still own the lighthouse I grew up in," Percy said, "my mom's will had her life insurance paying it off, and I had the Atlantean Royal Spymaster make sure that payments kept going in. If I have to be on bedrest, I want to do it there."
"Not Atlantis?"
"I don't think I want to be in Atlantis right now, Jason," he said quietly. "There's a lot going on that I don't want to explain right now."
"And going home would help?"
"It's my childhood home," Percy said, before adding, even quieter than before, "it's the only place with photos of my mom."
Well, damn, how could Jason argue with that.
"Alright," he said. "I'll talk to Will."
"And if he won't let me leave?"
"Then I'll break you out." Jason promised. "But it shouldn't come to that."
XXXX
Thankfully, Jason did not have to break Percy out. He talked to Will, explained the situation, and very heavily laid on the 'it's the only place where he has photos of his mom' card. The Doctor conceded within minutes, with the concession that Percy be flown via Will's private jet, which was absolutely stocked like a flying hospital. It was only when Jason saw the plane itself that he connected the dots.
"You're Will Solace!" He blurted out. "Solace Enterprises!"
"Yeah, buddy, catch up," Percy laughed as a nurse fretted over him. Both he and Jason had been against outsiders, but Will managed to convince them that he actually had an alibi for being able to get Percy from the capital to Detroit without anyone knowing that they allowed others to help them. "Did I forget to mention that earlier?"
"You did," Jason glared, "I can't believe I didn't put it together."
Will had blushed a little at all the attention, but quickly went back into Doctor Mode when the nurse started getting a little too handsy with Percy, who had also turned a shade of scarlet. The flight was uneventful, and Jason flew alongside the plan rather than in it so he could think, before escorting them all the way to the Lighthouse. It had changed since he had last seen it, six months ago, with the addition of a taller wall topped with spiked fencing, a sturdier gate, and security cameras.
"I hired a contractor," Percy explained, "anonymously, and really expensive, but they did the work, no questions asked. I figured I'd be coming home, sooner or later, and wanted it to be ready."
"Well, it's certainly much more private now," Jason said, "though us showing up here like this is…"
It was the opposite of privacy. Percy and Jason on their own were enough to be major headlines. Together though? God, the things the news did with that. He'd probably have a half dozen texts from Lupa to find out what he could about Praetor and Riptide being seen together, despite the fact he was still 'on vacation' in Hawaii.
Inside, the Lighthouse was…kind of like a museum. Or maybe a memorial. There were photos of Percy all over the place, in different stages of life, and while he was alone in a few of them, in almost all the others, he was surrounded by people. There was a kind looking woman who could only be his mother, a blonde girl and a brown-haired boy wearing a Rasta cap, and most surprisingly, Fredrick Chase. That man, Jason did know by sight.
"I haven't been in here since I was eighteen," Percy said after a long moment of just standing in the house. "And the last time I was here, I broke the door. I still don't know who had it replaced. I'm also surprised it wasn't looted."
"There were police on scene that day," Jason explained. "They stopped the reporters and onlookers from going into the house. Kept it cordoned off for nearly a month." At Percy's look, he flushed. "I wrote that paper about you—I needed to know everything that led up to your vanishing into the ocean for six years."
"Right. I keep forgetting you have a day job." Percy chuckled, running a hand over the back of a chair. "Thank you, Jason."
"Hey man, I'd have wanted to go home too. It's no trouble."
"No, not just for getting me here," Percy explained. "For getting me to Detroit. For stopping my fight between myself and Reyna all those months ago. Just…thanks."
"Oh, uhm, you're welcome," he nodded stiffly. This was new territory, after all.
"Don't get emotional on me," Percy—thankfully—cracked a grin. "I'll find a way to even the debt. Now you should probably get home. I'm sure there's someone's cat in a tree that needs rescuing."
"Yeah, fine, don't strain yourself talking to the fish," Jason fired back, before leaving the house and kicking up into the air. It would take him a few hours of flying to get back to San Francisco at a leisurely pace, but maybe he could stop up in Seattle and visit his mom. She'd been bugging him about an update on his 'new super-friends,' a name that he did not approve of in any way or form.
Even worse was Reyna's tongue-in-cheek comment to a reporter, while grinning at him, where she called their (one-time?) group 'the Argonauts.' Having to keep a straight face while talking to the Speaker of the House had been difficult, and even worse, it had been plastered on headlines on every news platform and blog. It was their official unofficial name. The others didn't really understand the joke, and Vulcan thought it was a 'pretty dope name.'
He was a few hundred feet above the lighthouse when he heard Percy speak unintentionally. He hadn't meant to be listening, but he had been tuned to Percy's heartbeat for a week or so, so he really wasn't at fault.
"Hey mom," the Atlantean murmured quietly, voice thick, "I'm home. Sorry it took so long to get here."
He quickly stopped paying attention and began the flight to Seattle. A trip to his own mom would be good.
XXXXVXXXX
"The surveillance team has put Perseus at his childhood home," Kymopoleia reported to her king solemnly. Triton was seated in his throne, leaning into his knuckles. "He was briefly accompanied by the figure the surface-dwellers know as Praetor, who he fought with at the other mothership, but he left shortly after. He's alone now."
"Why hasn't he come home?" Triton mused. Kym kept her mouth shut, but her gaze shot to Amphitrite, who was openly frowning. "Do you know something, mother?"
"I know many things, my son," she replied calmly. "On this matter, I know his reasons, but I will say no more."
"Percy is family!" Triton exclaimed, and Amphitrite refrained from rolling her eyes. "I deserve to know why—"
"It's his own business, my son," she cut him off quickly. "You are his king, and his brother. If you wish to demand his return, he will come, but not as your brother, but your subject. Let him return on his own, and he will do so as your brother. You cannot have both."
Her son flexed his hand several times before giving a curt nod.
"Continue observing, ensure that he is in no danger, and then pull the team back." He ordered. "He has earned his privacy."
Kym opened her mouth, closed it, bowed, and left. Once the door was closed, Triton slumped back into the throne.
"If the Amazonian is to be believed, Percy was possessed by the chief of our pantheon," Triton said after a long moment. "That kind of power…it could make Atlantis unstoppable."
"According to the Amazonian, he almost died for it," Amphitrite pointed out. "Do not go making grand plans if you lose your family for it. That is the fate that befell Atlan, remember?"
Triton just grunted. She tried not to sigh deeply at his behaviour. He was perceptive enough to realise that Percy was upset with him—though it took his brother immediately going to help the surface for him to figure it out—but not perceptive enough to know why. If he didn't figure it out for himself, things may not go as well as he wanted. Perhaps even the other way if Perseus took after Poseidon in more than looks. She was not looking forward for the aftermath of that potential situation.
MMXX
Lmao I wrote this in about 2 days total writing time because I read somewhere that if you wrote in Comic Sans, the words would just fly onto the page, and lo and behold, I've written this entire chapter in said font, and I kind of hate myself. But it worked, so this will probably be my new method for writing. Anyway, the aftermath of the attack, a quick mention of what the new group's name is, and other stuff. I didn't want to give them a name like 'the Seven' because my plan is for there to eventually be more than seven of them. For the most part, in the Book 2, Atlantis will take a backseat to the surface, as the world recovers from an extra-dimensional threat. Just a thing to remember—only the ships vanished from Earth.
As always, please leave me a review or send me a PM and tell me what you thought about the chapter. What were you favourite/least favourite parts, what do hope to see in the future, whether or not you think I'm a shitty writer for not doing X Pairing or how you'll abandon me if I do Y Pairing. I like those reviews.
Cheers, CombatTombat