CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR:
"So milady…" Zoë trailed off with a teasing smirk, "Thou hast fully adopted this new look?"
Percy frowned at the black-haired huntress from his seat on a log, where he was sharpening a batch of spare arrows. "I thought I fixed that Ye Olde English thing."
"You did." Zoë bobbed her head. "I switch back on purpose sometimes to piss off Thalia."
"Ah, of course." Percy nodded in understanding.
Zoë turned her attention back to Artemis with a raised eyebrow. "So? Is the 20 year old look a permanent thing now?"
Artemis glanced briefly at Percy and shrugged in an attempted casual manner. "It feels more natural at this point."
Zoë caught the glance and grinned like a Cheshire cat. "More natural? Or are there things that can only be… enjoyed in an older body?"
Ichor rushed to Artemis' face as she gaped at her lieutenant disbelievingly.
Percy just snorted and leaned in to whisper conspiratorially. "Trust me, there is plenty to be enjoyed even in a younger body."
Zoë turned back to him and grinned lecherously. "Oh? Do tell, Perseus."
Percy leaned back and smiled with a slightly glazed look in his eyes. "Well, in about 700 years, Apollo, Hermes, and I finally corrupted Artemis enough to get her to pull some pranks with us. Naturally, she soon took over as the mastermind, seeing as how Apollo and Hermes are tragically ailed with chronic idiocy. One of our favorites was one with just me and Arty, and let's just say that the elderly folks of the New York subway were not at all prepared for the show put on by two extremely attractive 12 year olds."
Zoë burst out laughing while Artemis glared at Percy, but the effect was lost to the light dusting of gold on her cheeks and the barely noticeable, amused twitching at the corners of her lips.
/
Percy ducked his head under the stone overhang as he stepped into Bunker 9 at Camp Half-Blood.
"Huh. I can't believe I forgot to mention this place! It was kinda important. Sorry 'bout that, Leo, but I'm glad you found it anyway."
The elf-like Latino boy looked up from where he was poring over a large spread of blueprints with his cabin mates with a dopey grin plastered on his face.
"Percy! What's up, dude?"
Percy smiled back at him. "Not much, mi amigo. Whatcha working on in here?"
Leo stepped back and gestured at the highly detailed sketches of a Greek warship with a dragon figurehead. "Voilà! The Argo II!"
"Serendipitous," Percy murmured to himself as his eyes roamed over the drawing. "How long do you think it will take for it to be fully operational?"
Leo shrugged. "Anywhere from a month to six years; it's kinda hard to tell with these things."
Percy shook his head with a chuckle. "Just give me a rough estimate, I won't hold you to it. We might have an upcoming conflict that we'll end up needing transportation for."
Leo sat up a little straighter and turned to call out to one of his siblings. "Beck! How long on the entire ballista system?"
Charles Beckendorf, a heavy-set black boy looked up from his tinkering and scrunched up his face in thought. "Four weeks, maybe? Three if we overclock."
"The engine?"
"Uh… month and a half, probably."
"Miscellaneous structuring and architecture?"
"Not a time concern."
"Flight systems and stabilizing matrices?"
"Mostly done in conjunction with the engine, might take a little extra tinkering."
Leo nodded, satisfied, and turned back to Percy. "Two to three months is probably a good guess."
Percy nodded and called out to the rest of the demigods as he ducked back out of the bunker. "Alright, cheers guys. Have fun with your merry machine making! See ya later!"
/
Percy crouched low on a tall tree branch, next to the tree in which Artemis was perched next to him. They sat in the shadows, observing a large horde of monsters that was camped out in a clearing almost directly below them.
"That's quite a lot of beasties," Percy observed impassively.
Artemis glanced at him with a grimace. "That's the fourth group this week. It's almost like they're pouring straight out of the Doors of Death."
At her words, Percy froze, his face paling to a chalky white. "Ah… shit. Can't believe I forgot about that too."
Artemis swiveled her head and eyed him critically. "What?"
Percy shook his head. "Later. We need to deal with our pals down here first."
Artemis turned back to the gathering of monsters and drew her bow, idly noting out of the corner of her eye that Percy had followed suit.
"This won't be too bad; 'tis nothing we have not dealt with before."
Percy snorted lightly as he hopped over to Artemis' branch and pulled her into a time vortex. "They'll be half gone by the time they even realize we're shooting at them."
/
Fifteen minutes later, Percy stalked through the now-empty clearing, nudging various weapons out of the way as he picked his way through the field of golden monster dust. Artemis dropped down lightly onto the ground behind him and peered over, trying to see what he was looking for.
As if reading her mind, Percy suddenly spoke up. "I'm trying to see if monster dust can be converted in some way to power up the immortal-catcher."
Artemis raised a questioning eyebrow. "And?"
Percy clucked his tongue and shook his head disappointedly. "Doesn't look like it. Their actual essence goes back to Tartarus; this stuff is just the junk that's left behind."
"Shame."
Percy hummed noncommittally and spun around to face her with a bright smile. "Well, I guess we're done here! Back to camp?"
Artemis rolled her eyes good-naturedly at his crazy mood swings and flashed away without another word.
/
"You had quite the reaction when I mentioned the Doors of Death earlier," Artemis said, laying down in the pile of animal furs in her tent as she watched Percy change for bed.
They weren't having sex yet, and didn't plan to at least until they got married; Zeus was surprisingly cool about the whole getting married thing, but neither Percy nor Artemis wanted to push their luck. That being said, they did share a bed seeing as how Artemis, surprisingly, was a cuddler, and Percy obviously had no complaints.
"I mentioned that last time around, Thanatos got captured and was being guarded in Alaska by Alcyoneus, right?"
"Hmm," Artemis mused, "You may have mentioned it in passing."
"Right, so if Gaea has accelerated her plans like we hoped she would, it's likely that the same thing is happening again. Your comment got me thinking about how the monsters haven't really been seeming to stay dead recently."
"How are we supposed to fight against an army that replenishes its numbers indefinitely?"
"Yes," Percy mused, "That is a problem, isn't it?"
"We have to deal with that, then," Artemis declared resolutely.
Percy nodded in agreement. "We should report our suspicions to Olympus and then go check it out."
Artemis shrugged and burrowed into Percy's side as he climbed into bed. "Tomorrow, then."
/
"Back to Alaska? And a Gigante, you say? Hades' bane? You have a penchant for finding danger, Perseus." Zeus looked at Percy through narrowed eyes.
"Well, I was hoping that this trip would've been a honeymoon…" Percy faltered at Zeus' reddening face. "Right. Not the time. Sorry. On a more serious note, I am confident that Artemis and I will be able to handle whatever it is that we come across."
"Well then, how many demigods will you take on your quest?" Zeus asked.
"None. We need not pointlessly endanger mortal lives." Percy responded immediately while shaking his head.
"Oh?" Zeus raised an eyebrow. "Do you not need a god and a demigod in order to kill a Gigante?"
Percy hesitated slightly. "I… don't actually plan on killing him like that."
Zeus furrowed his eyebrows and scrutinized Percy, while Hephaestus' eyes suddenly widened as he bolted upright.
"Perseus, no. Tell me you're not."
Percy looked over to Hephaestus and grinned. "Sure am, Heph."
"Are you insane?!" Hephaestus demanded furiously. "With Alcyoneus?! You'll be killed!"
Percy smirked roguishly. "Only if I die."
Hephaestus shook his head in exasperation. "Yes… that's what being killed means. This is a suicide mission!"
Percy groaned. "We'll be fine, stop worrying so much. Artemis is the most skilled fighter on Olympus by a large margin, and I… well I'm awesome."
Apollo let out a bark of laughter somewhere off to the side, while Artemis closed her eyes and seemed to be counting to ten. She really did not like that word.
"Does anyone want to explain what in Zeus' name they're talking about?" Athena demanded impatiently.
Percy glanced at her, then back to Hephaestus, then finally back to Artemis.
"I'll let Heph explain," Percy decided as he grabbed Artemis' hand. "See y'all later!"
With that, they flashed out of the throne room leaving several exasperated gods and several more chuckling at Percy's antics.
/
Percy and Artemis were strolling back into the Hunters' camp hand in hand when she looked up at him.
"I assume you mean to somehow absorb Alcyoneus' immortal essence to power the immortal-trapper?"
Percy grinned down at her. "Smart woman– I knew there was a reason I married you!"
Artemis just rolled her eyes.
"When do we depart? I hope you are not planning to ship us across the Pacific in another boat," Artemis said warningly.
Percy hesitated. "I… was actually hoping that we could ride your chariot to Alaska."
Artemis's head snapped back to glare at Percy as she growled dangerously at him. Percy responded reflexively by shrinking down to his 8 year old form and pouting cutely up at her. Finally, she succumbed to his baby seal face and rolled her eyes and sighed. "Fine. But only because I inexplicably love you."
Percy beamed at her. "Aw, I love you too, Arty! How does tomorrow morning sound for departure?"
Artemis mentally face-palmed. "The moon travels at night, you moron. We'll leave right after I inform the Hunters."
Percy rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Right. I'll go pack our stuff then."
/
Artemis was holding the reins to the four golden reindeer that were guiding the Moon Chariot across the sky when she noticed a number of small projectiles flying in front of the reindeer, only to be snatched out of the air and gobbled down. She followed the path of flight to see Percy, who was seated next to her, tearing chunks out of a piece of toast and chucking them out for her deer to snack on.
Artemis groaned. "Must you poison my reindeer with your pernicious comestibles?"
Percy glanced over at her but continued to throw toast to the deer. "I only understood about the first half of that sentence, but I think I got the gist. Regardless, these are magic reindeer, Arty. They literally can't get poisoned. Besides, they seem to be enjoying it."
Artemis ignored his argument and smacked the toast out of his hand, sending it soaring over the side of the chariot.
"Hey!" Percy protested.
Artemis stared at him imperiously until he cowed, sliding down in his seat and summoning another piece of toast, this time for himself to nibble on.
"Sorry," he mumbled.
Sufficiently appeased, Artemis nodded and turned her attention back to steering the chariot with a satisfied smirk on her face.
/
AN: So, a little bit of fluff, thought I'd get some cute Pertemis interactions in. Mostly a filler chapter.