Book Two: Chapter Nine
Part of the whole Argonaut thing was a plane that no one had used until Riptide came down to Austin. Leo had been surprised to get his call, but he wasn't going to turn down his help. Things were tough in Texas—always had been, always would be. But they were especially tough when cartels were involved. Those guys were hardcore, and a lot of the time, not even the most seasoned of law enforcement officers could break them in interrogation. And Leo, as much as he tried, was far from seasoned. At best, he was a little experienced. Riptide, on the other hand…Leo had seen him at work. Had seen him on the news, had seen the videos of him tearing through men and metal like it was nothing. Had seen him tear through extra-dimensional demons like they were nothing. If anyone could get these men to break, it was him.
"Thanks for coming," he greeted Riptide on the tarmac of the airport. There were two Rangers waiting a few yards away with their car. What surprised him the most was that he was in casual clothes, not his armour. "You're uh, not dressed for work, I see."
"I can fix that easily enough," he laughed, holding up the bag in his right hand. The case in his left held the Trident he always carried, Leo guessed. "I wanted to sleep on the flight, and the scales can chafe if I'm not in the water. Trust me, when you need me to be intimidating, I will be. Who're our friends here?"
"Rangers Gaskill and Donner." Leo told him. "Good cops. Earnest. They like working with me, I think."
"Everyone likes working with you." Riptide said with an easy-going smile. "I liked working with you, and I don't like a lot of people."
"Thanks." Leo said, hoping his face wasn't flushing. But then he remembered that he wore a mask, so Riptide wouldn't be able to tell even if he was. "It's about an hour to the place we're keeping the guys."
"Howdy, Rangers." Riptide grinned at the two men as he approached. "I'm Percy. Pleasure to meet you."
"Glad to have another Argonaut with us, sir." Gaskill said. "Hate to admit it, but we can use the help."
"There's nothing wrong in asking for help, Ranger." Riptide told them seriously. "Take it from me—it's much easier to do things with help than it is without it."
"Well, good thing we don't have fragile egos, then." Donner replied with a grin. "I imagine that would make this whole situation much more difficult to manage."
"Oh, believe me, I've worked with fragile egos." Riptide shook his head. "I got arrested by one, too."
"That was pretty crazy to watch." Leo said. "Lost his job, though. Your work?"
"Not entirely." Riptide shrugged. "It's not important. Tell me about these men I'm questioning."
"We got lucky with one and got a name, Esteban Fernandez." Leo told him. "El Paso native, immigrant parents. Likely, he has family in the cartels, and he was recruited at a young age. The other one is a mystery. We've only got his nickname, Flaco. It means—"
"Skinny." Riptide interrupted. "So is he actually skinny, or is he fat?"
"Neither." Leo shrugged. "He's pretty solidly built, but he's not big. No clue where the nickname came from. Where'd you learn Spanish?"
"Around." It was a nice deflection, and Leo knew not to push further. There was more mystery to Riptide than he cared to know. "Who seems more likely to break?"
"At this point? Neither." He admitted. "But the fact that we have information on Fernandez makes him more likely."
"I'll work Flaco, then." Riptide told him. "If that's okay with you?"
"Be my guest, man. I'm honestly stumped on how to do this." He said with a shrug. "If you can get him to talk, awesome. If not, sorry for wasting your time."
"One thing—I'm going to need either a water cooler, or a lot of water bottles."
"Uh, why?"
"I'm going to make him nervous. He's going to sweat. A lot. We want him hydrated."
"And how are you going to do that, Riptide?" Leo asked. "Because making him nervous sounds…suspicious."
"Call me Percy, please," he said. "And I promise, it's nothing bad. You can watch the whole time, if you want."
"I was planning to, anyway." Leo smiled tiredly. "I want to see you at work. How you do things differently."
"It's boring stuff, really," Percy told him with a grin. "A lot of staring."
"Either way, I need to learn somehow."
"I'll tell you what," Percy said. "If I break him, I'll tell you how I did it."
"Deal." Leo said immediately. "What if you can't break him?"
"I'll figure out another way to help you." He shrugged. "We'll see how it goes."
The rest of the drive was completed in relative silence. Riptide—Percy, Leo reminded himself—took a call at one point from someone named Annabeth, gently telling her that he was working and promising to see her at a later date. He wasn't certain, but Leo was pretty sure this Annabeth was Annabeth Chase, the daughter of the man who had outed Percy to the world. He couldn't imagine a betrayal like that, if he were honest, and while he didn't know the whole story, he didn't know how Percy was able to let her back into his life. It wasn't for Leo to judge, though. Everyone thought differently.
When they arrived at the Ranger Headquarters, Percy vanished into the bathroom for about three minutes, emerging in his armour. From the long case he had carried, he retrieved his Trident, leaning it against his shoulder casually as he spoke with the Ranger Captain. He seemed to make friends everywhere he went, because within about ten minutes, he had the man roaring with laughter at some joke. The captain clapped Percy on the back as he pointed him towards the room where Flaco was being held, so Leo slipped into the observation room. As requested, there was a large cooler filled with water bottles in the room.
Flaco looked up when Percy entered the room, eyes widening momentarily before his neutral expression returned. If seeing Leo hadn't thrown him off, he honestly doubted seeing Percy would.
"Hey Flaco," Percy greeted as he slipped into the chair across from him. "You don't mind me calling you Flaco, right? Do you have a preferred name?"
"No hablo ingles, cabrón." Flaco spat.
"No need for name calling," Percy said, "that might upset me. And believe me, amigo, the last thing you want is for me to get upset. By the time anyone else gets in the room, you'll never do anything other than breathe through a straw. Besides, you do speak English. But that's okay, you don't need to speak. Just listen."
"No me astustas."
"I don't scare you?" He chuckled. "That makes you one of the few, Flaco. I scare a lot of people. A lot of them, I don't even mean to scare, but when you're as powerful as I am, it comes with the territory. Did you know I scared a decent chunk of Europe yesterday? Yeah, I was meditating, of all things, and I stopped the entire Mediterranean from moving. Do you know what that means? It meant no waves. No currents. The water was completely still. Like…I'd say like water in a glass, but there's still some movement then. You get what I'm saying? I can stop an entire sea if I want to. That doesn't scare you? Not even a little?"
"No voy a hablar." Flaco insisted.
"No, you won't talk," Percy agreed. "Yet. But you will. See, I'm going to stay right here, right across from you. And as we wait, you're going to become tired. You're going to get fatigued, and eventually, you'll realise that I'm the only one who can help you. You'll talk then."
Flaco was silent, and Percy leaned back in his seat, glancing over his shoulder to the mirror and winking.
"Are you hot, Flaco?" Percy asked. "You're sweating a bit."
Leo turned his attention to the camera focused on Flaco and noticed that he was sweating. And not 'a bit' as Percy had said, but quite consistently. That didn't make much sense—the interrogation room was set to seventy-two degrees. "Do you need some water? Agua?"
"Si."
Percy retrieved a bottle and handed it to Flaco. The man downed it in what was probably record time, tossing the bottle aside without a care once he was done. But he didn't stop sweating. It clicked for Leo then. The casual confidence Percy had displayed in making Flaco break. The assurance that he wasn't doing anything bad. Because technically, he wasn't. Percy was known to control massive bodies of water. Conversely, shouldn't that power go as far down as possible? Like drawing the water present in the human body out as sweat? Leo wasn't sure if this counted as torture or not, if he were being honest. Flaco was sweating, but Percy was giving him water. He just wasn't retaining it.
But…they needed a break here. They needed something. And if Percy could get Flaco to flip, what was a little sweating? It's not like the man was in pain. And he had probably inflicted pain on others. What was a little retribution in the face of that?
XXX
In the end, it took Flaco four and a half hours to crack under the rapid dehydration Percy put him through. Leo had watched the entire process. Had watched as Flaco's lips dried out, then his tongue, and then his mouth, no matter how much water he drank. He watched as Percy continuously drew the sweat from his body without ever moving a muscle of his own. And he watched as Flaco finally realised what was happening.
"Madre de Dios," he muttered. "Eres un demonio."
"The correct term is 'Meta-human,' thank you very much," Percy said. "Ready to talk?"
"Vas a hacer que pare?"
"Sure. If you give me something that's worth it." Percy shrugged. "I can do this a whole lot longer than you can."
And talk Flaco did. He gave them names, routes, safehouses, leadership, even backers. He told them about the tunnels across the border, and the escape routes the cartel had planned. Leo was impressed by how well Percy's strategy had worked, and the Rangers were astounded by the amount of information it had netted them. With his work done, Percy had strolled out of the interrogation room like it was nothing.
"You don't need to tell me how you did it." Leo told him. "I know."
"Yeah, I figured you would." Percy nodded. "Praetor said you were smart. No complaints?"
"Not on my end. This is what we do, isn't it?"
"Yeah, it is." He agreed. "Where do we go from here?"
"The Rangers will need time to verify the information. Normally that's a week or two while they do recon and get warrants. I normally take the chance to visit other parts of the state, but if you want to head back to New York, that's fine too."
"Where's the fun in that?" Percy grinned. "If you don't mind, I'll stick around, help you out. Foster that superhero relationship and all that. The Argonaut spirit, if you will."
Leo chuckled, but truthfully, he was glad for the help. "Well, I'm heading to El Paso next, and you can come with me, but…there's been some issues with smuggling in Houston's Port. I've been meaning to check on it, but with everything happening—you get the point. If I give you a few names, can you check them out for me?"
"Yeah, no problem. It's been a while since I visited the Gulf anyway."
"Cool, so there's three ships that have me the most concerned—the Nero, the Commodus, and the Caligula, all owned by the same parent company, Triumvirate Holdings. They've somehow managed to avoid custom inspections for nearly a year now. I want to know why."
"Nero, Commodus, and Caligula, got it." Percy nodded. "I'll check them out. Anything else while I'm at it?"
"I dunno man, the Bermuda Triangle, maybe? But that's personal curiosity more than anything."
"Maybe another time." Percy laughed. "I'll get back to you about the ships. If there's a breakthrough, let me know. I may or may not be able to help. We'll see."
"Sure, man." Leo said. "Thanks for what you've done so far."
Percy just clicked his tongue and gave Leo a thumbs up before snatching his bag and case, strolling out of the station without a care in the world. Leo envied his attitude to the world, but he didn't care to duplicate it. There was an aloofness in Percy that made him feel…weird, honestly. Maybe it came from being possessed by a literal god, or maybe he had always been that way.
XXXVXXX
"Triumvirate Holdings, huh?" Bianca hummed thoughtfully. "I know their head of public relation, Octavian Lombardo. He's…different, to say the least. But the owners? No one knows their identities. It's super mysterious. All we have are pseudonyms. Nero, Caligula, and—"
"Commodus?" Percy guessed. "They name their ships after their leadership?"
"They're pretty ruthless in the business world. Some of their companies have defence contracts. They run a pretty successful PMC that's been in the Middle East for the past two decades." She continued, as if he hadn't interrupted her. "They tried to buy Will out when he first inherited his company. He consistently turned them down, and about a month later, some tabloid got a photo of him and Nico together. It was pretty hard on the both of them."
"So they're dicks, too."
"You said it, not me." Bianca chuckled. "Why are you looking into them?"
"Favour for Vulcan." He explained. "The three ships I'm looking into have been skating customs for the past year. I've tagged them while they were in port, and I'm sneak on once they're in international waters and see what I can find out."
"And you called me because…"
"Well other than a chance at invigorating conversation?" He rolled his eyes. "You're a tech wizard. I was hoping you might get me some information about the ships. Crew size, how much cargo they can hold, the works."
"Invigorating conversation? We're not that close, Jackson."
"You bailed me out of jail!" He protested. "That makes us best friends in my book. And fortunately, you don't have a choice. We're besties now. Gotta deal with it."
"I'll see what I can find out." Bianca sighed dramatically. "You've got to do me a favour though."
"That's part of the besties package, so you're in luck."
"Nico's got it in his head that he can find the funding to build a space station. I need you to talk him out of it."
"Oh. That's awkward."
"…why is that awkward?"
"I kind of am the funding for that space station. We spoke about it a couple months ago." He admitted. "It's not a bad idea."
"How is that not a bad idea? How would you even get there?"
"I have some thoughts about that. Tell you what, I'll swing by Detroit at some point and we can talk about it over a dinner."
"Are…are you asking me out on a date, Jackson?"
"That wasn't my intention but if you want it to be, sure, why not."
"That's rather forward of you. How do you know I don't like girls?"
"If you do, then it's just a business dinner. Not like it's my business anyway which team you play for."
"Damn, I'm finding it easy to actually like you now." Bianca said. "Alright, fine, we'll have a business dinner discussing this idea…and if you behave, maybe it can be a date the next time."
"Sounds good. Ciao, Bianca."
"You're hilarious." She said as she hung up.
Percy leaned back into his seat, ignoring Jason's face. He had intercepted the plane mid-air, and it had been a hassle to convince the pilots to let him open the side-door to let him, but they had eventually agreed.
"Did you really just ask your lawyer out on a date?" Jason asked him. He couldn't see his face, but he imagined it was incredulous.
"Yeah. Well, she's not my lawyer, she just happened to represent me one time," he said. "She's pretty and smart. What's the harm? It'll work out, or it won't. Just because you're too scared to ask the girl you like out doesn't mean the rest of us are."
"Okay, we're not going there." He held his hands up. "I thought you'd want to know—a lawsuit's been filed against you in San Francisco."
"Really? Who?"
"Some guy named Jeffrey Walters. You, uh, broke his wrist."
"I must have had a good reason," Percy shrugged, "though I don't know why—wait…wait, wait, wait. Is this the…is this the guy who tried to touch Reyna and Artemis that one time we went out for Ice Cream? Like, a year ago?"
"I think so, yeah." Jason nodded. "I got a text from Piper telling me about it, came straight to you."
"If you had to guess, would you say it's something I have to be worried about?"
"Seven months ago? I'd say yes. Today, only someone incredibly stupid or someone manipulated would try it."
"Well, from what I remember of this guy, he was pretty stupid."
"If you're summoned, will you go?"
"Yeah, probably." Percy nodded. "There's no point in snubbing the law just because I think it's stupid."
"A public trial…people might try to paint you negatively, and after week you had, it won't be too hard to portray you as recklessly emotional."
"I doubt I'll lose, but if I do, so what? They'll make me pay the guy. Fine, whatever, no skin off my back."
"You know, for someone who lauds themselves for their middle-class background, you sure don't seem to care much about money."
"My middle class background shaped who I am, but who I am is something completely separated. I have money. I don't spend it, and if I really need more, it takes no effort to get it." Percy told him. "Besides, I still live in a lighthouse when I could easily move into a castle. I like the simple things."
"He says, on a private jet."
"Not all of us can fly." Percy retorted dryly before checking the on-flight GPS map. "Speaking of, it's actually time for me to go."
"We're over the middle of the Gulf."
"Yeah. It's also international water." Percy grinned. "You can stay here and greet the press when you land, or you can fly back now and avoid dealing with them at all."
"You're an actual menace."
"You love that about me." Percy said as he moved over to the intercom system so he could speak to the pilots. "Gentlemen, just so you're aware, I am going to be skydiving from this plane without a parachute into the ocean. Anything that could be swept away by the cabin losing pressure has been safely stowed. You've been delightful."
Then, he walked to the door, turned the handle, and opened it, letting his body be sucked out of the plane without any hesitation. The last thing he saw was Jason pulling the door closed behind him, watching Percy fall, before shooting off—presumably north-west, to San Francisco. It took him seven and a half minutes to reach the water from the altitude the plane had been cruising at. Once he hit the water, it was like getting a salty hug. He felt more at peace in the water than out of it, and he'd take all the time in it that he could.
But first, he had some ships to board. He wondered if that made him a pirate.
MMXXI
Another chapter down! Hope you enjoyed it. I hope the Spanish makes sense, at least. I used google translate because I don't speak the language myself. It's pretty straight forward stuff, so I'm not going to bother translating, since it's there in the context, as well.
I don't have much else to say, to be honest, so just leave a review or send a PM letting me know what you think!
Cheers, CombatTombat!
