Alright, here is another chapter. I'm grateful to all the comments saying you guys are ok with the slightly longer wait times. I want to do this story justice so I don't want to rush anything. I appreciate your patience.

(Jason POV)

Jason woke up feeling surprisingly good. Considering he had been stabbed in the gut just a few days prior, he was pretty close to being back in fighting shape. He still didn't fully understand what Percy had done, but he was grateful.

He also felt a little guilty too. Every once in a while, he would see Percy wincing in pain and grabbing his side. Percy didn't have any injury there, but it was clear that he had taken on the pain of Jason's injury when he healed it.

Nevertheless, Percy had told him not to worry about it, and assured him that he was totally fine. After all the things he had seen Percy do, nothing really surprised Jason anymore.

So, Jason rolled his shoulders and got out of bed. They had a meeting planned at breakfast, but he could use some fresh air first, so he went out onto the deck.

He blinked when the morning light hit his eyes. When his eyes adjusted, he saw Percy leaning against the mast. He had been spending every night there so far, and usually dozed off sometime before dawn. The dude also napped here and there, but he was not getting a lot of sleep.

Piper was leaning against the railing on the starboard side, she had drawn the pre-dawn Percy shift, so she looked a little exhausted. He walked up to her.

"Hey Pipes," he said casually as he walked up, careful to keep his voice low. It didn't take much to wake Percy, the dude was wound so tight that he was always ready to jump into action at the slightest indication. The dude slept with Riptide in his hand.

She smiled at him, "Hey." She looked him over. "You're looking better."

He stretched. "I know, Percy is seriously a miracle worker. I feel almost as good as new."

"Good," she poked him in the chest. "You're not allowed to go dying on me, ok?"

"Yes ma'am," Jason said. Keeping his voice low, he asked, "How is he doing?"

"I'm not sure," Piper whispered. "Annabeth is worried, I mean, all that stuff he said to Juno? That was scary stuff."

"Tell me about it," Jason replied. "I thought Juno might wipe us all out. But honestly, can you really blame Percy for how he feels? I have problems with Juno too, I mean, she stole me away from my old life. She forced my mother to abandon me as a baby. And Percy…he's been through way worse than I have. I don't blame him for hating the gods."

Piper studied him, "Well, I guess. But you can't really say that swapping places with Percy was all bad right?" She bat her eyes at him.

Jason sighed, "No, not when I got an incredible girlfriend out of the deal. But that kinda reinforces my point honestly. I got lucky with my side of the trade, I met you. Percy lost Annabeth."

"But they're back together now," Piper said easily. "They'll be ok."

"Speaking of Annabeth," Jason said, "she said we should meet at breakfast to talk about Olympia."

"Good, I'm hungry." Piper stood up to stretch. "Hey Percy. Time to wake up."

Percy was on his feet in an instant. It was almost like he had been pretending to be asleep rather than actually sleeping. He scanned his surroundings, "Alright, Let's go."

The three of them went below decks. As they walked toward the mess hall, they heard banging from the engine room.

"Leo," Piper said. "You guys go on, I'll get him."

The others were waiting for them, Frank and Hazel were pouring over a map of Greece, and Annabeth was toying with her knife, she smiled when she saw Percy, and held his hand when he sat down next to her.

Pretty soon Piper and Leo came back and they were able to get to their meeting.

"So," Annabeth leaned forward to address the table. Now that she had Percy back, she had really returned to her natural leadership role. "We're going to stay airborne and drop anchor close to Olympia. It's about five miles inland so we can't stay long, or Gaea will send monsters after us. Based on what Juno said, we have to find the goddess of victory and subdue her somehow."

Percy drummed his fingers against the table. "I have my problems with goddesses and don't have a problem with fighting them, but isn't Nike one of the good ones? I kinda like victory."

Annabeth looked uncomfortable at Percy's comment about fighting goddesses, but she pressed on. "That's a fair point. I get why she would be at Olympia – home of the Olympics and everything. But I don't get why we need to subdue her."

Frank nodded, "When she became a Roman goddess, she became Victoria. She was the also the goddess of Victory, but usually in a more militaristic way. You're right though, why would we need to subdue her, everyone likes victory."

Jason frowned, "All I know is that the ghoul Antinous said, 'Victory runs rampant in Olympia'. Juno warned us that we could never heal the rift between the Greeks and Romans unless we defeated victory."

"How does someone defeat victory?" Piper mused. "It sounds like a riddle or something."

Leo munched down on some junk food, "That's a good point. But hey, about this victory goddess being popular and whatnot – do you guys remember what her kids are like at Camp Half-Blood?"

Hazel and Frank looked at each other in confusion, they had never been to Camp Half-Blood. Everyone else nodded.

"Good point," Percy said between bites of pancake. "The kids of Cabin Seventeen are unbelievably competitive. When it came to capture the flag, they were almost worse than the Ares kids." Percy glanced at Frank, "Um, no offence."

Frank nodded. "So, you're saying that Victoria has a dark side."

"Her kids definitely do," Annabeth said. "They always have to be competing, always have to win. Their mom is bound to be more intense..."

"Wait," Piper steadied herself against the table. "Guys, the gods are split between their different personalities, right?" Everyone nodded. "If Nike is that way and she is the goddess of victory- "

"She'd be especially conflicted," Annabeth finished. "She would want one side or the other to win, so she'd be fighting herself."

Hazel rubbed her forehead. "But we don't want a single side to win. We want the fighting to stop. We want everyone to be on the same side."

"Maybe that's what the ghoul meant when he said the goddess of victory is running rampant," Jason said. "If she is torn between Greece and Rome, she might make it impossible to stop the fighting between camps."

"Like Ares," Percy added. "The guy's presence makes people want to pick a fight. She might be the same way, radiating an aura of competition and conflict, that could really escalate the conflict between the two camps."

Frank nodded. "You remember Phorcys?"

Percy looked at Frank oddly, "The old sea god we ran into in Atlanta? What about him?"

"Well," Frank sighed. "He said that Gaea's plans are multi-layered. Maybe this is part of that strategy, keeping the two camps divided. If the camps are divided, the gods are divided."

Percy nodded, "So we send a group of four of us, two Greek and two Roman. If we are balanced, we might keep her balanced."

Jason was shocked. He had seen Percy becoming a stronger fighter, but he was also really smart, especially when he grew serious.

"That's a really good point," Annabeth said. She looked really proud of the new strategic side to her boyfriend. "A party of four could really balance her out."

"I'll go," Piper offered. "I can try to charmspeak her."

Annabeth frowned, "I don't think so. Not this time. Aphrodite can be as competitive as Nike. Nike might be threatened by you."

Piper nodded solemnly. "So, who do we send?"

"Jason and Percy can't both go," Annabeth said. "Jupiter and Poseidon, that's a disaster waiting to happen. Nike would have you fighting in an instant."

Percy nodded, "Yeah, let's not go there."

"Frank and I can't go at the same time either," Annabeth continued. "Mars and Athena are pretty bad too. Athena and Poseidon are not a good idea either." She looked at Percy, "Just because we got together doesn't mean our parents don't still hate each other."

"Hold up," Percy said. "I don't agree, I don't think Nike could ever get me to fight you."

"Maybe," Leo interjected. "But for now, it looks like it'll be me and Percy for the Greeks, and Frank and Hazel for the Romans. That should work, right?"

Annabeth and Frank exchanged looks.

"It could work," Frank stated. "But no combination is perfect. That being said, I don't see too many conflicts in Poseidon, Hephaestus, Pluto and Mars. Not too much antagonism."

"Sounds good," Jason said. "Let's get you guys ready to disembark."

Everyone was getting ready to go when Percy interjected. "Wait."

They all stopped and looked at him.

"It won't work," Percy said solemnly.

With that they all sat back down. "What are you talking about Seaweed Brain?" Annabeth asked.

"Me," Percy replied. "I tip the balance. I'm not just a Greek demigod, remember?"

"Shoot," Annabeth said. "I forgot about that, you're Roman too."

"You're right," Frank added. "We would end up with three and two, Nike would shift that quickly."

"So, we have to either add a Greek demigod, or remove a Roman one," Percy said. He looked at Annabeth. "I think you should come with us."

Annabeth frowned, "Seaweed Brain, that's a bad idea. Athena and Poseidon?"

"I would never fight you Wise Girl," Percy said matter-of-factly. "I don't think we need to worry about that conflict."

"But we would still have the Athena-Mars split, that's bound to cause problems."

"And Hephaestus and Mars wouldn't? They hate each other because of Aphrodite's affair." Percy looked at everyone. "Come on guys, let's be real, the Gods are a disaster all around, they all hate each other to some extent."

"Fine," Annabeth said. "I'll come with you. It's either that or remove someone, and I don't think sending only 3 is safe."

"Um," Leo said tentatively. "Why don't we just leave Percy here? He's the one disrupting the balance."

"No," Percy said resolutely. "I'm going. I have to."

"Dude," Leo said. "It's not personal, you're a great fighter. But you have to admit, you don't really like the gods, and it doesn't take much to make you start fighting. You-" He stopped suddenly as Percy stood.

The room was silent. There was an incredibly dark aura permeating the entire room. Percy's eyes were almost pitch black, with the gold in his eyes glowing dangerously. Everyone looked at Percy nervously and slowly backed away. Annabeth didn't, she leaned in and put her hand on his arm.

"Seaweed Brain," she said softly. "Calm down, it's ok. I'm here."

Percy looked at her, and slowly the aura began to fade. Soon, it was just Percy again. He sat back down and breathed deeply. He patted Annabeth's hand.

"Sorry about that Wise Girl. I'm here. Don't worry."

Percy looked at Leo again, "I'm going, end of discussion."

Leo looked past Percy at Annabeth, who nodded. "It'll be fine, Leo," she said. "Percy needs to do this."

Leo put up his hands in defeat. "Fine, I concede. Let's get going, Festus says we're less than an hour out."

With that, Percy stood and walked to the deck to get some air. The rest of them stayed behind a bit.

Once Percy was out of earshot, Leo spoke up again. "Are you crazy? You really want to send him down there?"

"Of course, I don't," Annabeth hissed. "But we don't have a choice. We need him."

Frank nodded grimly, "She's got a point Leo. We might need to fight Nike to subdue her, and Percy is pretty much the only we can count on to do that. And now that Annabeth is going, she should be able to rein him in, you saw how she calmed him down just now."

Leo shook his head, "This is crazy. Totally crazy." He looked desperately at Jason and Piper, "Come on guys, you have to admit this is insane."

Jason shook his head. "There is no right call here Leo. It's all various degrees of bad. And Frank is right, Percy is the only one who can match up to a goddess."

"Then why not send everyone at this point?" Leo asked desperately. "We could send everyone, and with Percy's dual nature, we would have 4 and 4. Let's face it, what if we have to subdue Percy instead of Nike?"

Jason sighed. "Honestly? I don't even think all six of us would be able to bring him down. He took down me and Frank easily, and I got the sense he wasn't really trying."

Frank nodded. "I know you're nervous Leo, but I say we trust Annabeth on this one. If she says Percy will be fine, then he'll be fine."

Leo sighed. "Fine, I'm outvoted. I still think this is crazy."

With that, they split up to get ready for their arrival in Olympia.

Alright, next chapter, Olympia!

I've got it set up so that Annabeth goes too, but I could send everyone if that's something you all want to see.

Let me know in the comments who should go to Olympia. Also comment with things you want to see. Should Percy end up fighting the rest of the crew? Should he fight Nike one-on-one?

PM's and Reviews are encouraged and appreciated.

Peace.