Book Two: Chapter Ten

The Caligula and Commodus were busts. The crews had been painfully lax in their deck patrols, and he made it to the bridges of both ships without running into a single person. He only needed to get close enough for the program on his gauntlet to worm its way into the ships' databases, and neither revealed anything illegal or interesting. Most of it was regular, bulk shipping. Fabrics, mostly, but there were some other materials loaded aboard. Everything had been inspected in the dockyards, and every container was accounted for. Nothing stood out. That had been disappointing, but Percy was nothing if not pragmatic, so with two targets crossed off his list, he went to investigate the third. There was only one slight problem.

He had been halfway to the Nero when his communicator got like, seventeen notifications at once, and three simultaneous calls. Nico, Jason, and Reyna. Whatever was going on, it was big. He patched them all into a conference call and was immediately bombarded with three different people speaking to him over each other. Maybe bringing them all together wasn't the smartest idea he had had.

"Okay, everyone shut up. Nico, tell me what's happening?"

"A US Nuclear Submarine went missing in the Pacific sixteen hours ago." He was told immediately. "The problem is that right before they went missing, they reported hearing the sounds of something latching onto their hull. They thought it was you."

"I'm flattered, but sixteen hours ago I was in New York. Pretty publicly, too."

"No one else thinks it's you." Nico said. "But your redhead friend that hasn't been seen for a while? She's an unknown factor."

"Where in the Pacific?"

"Sending you the coordinates now."

The moment he had them, Percy pulled them up on his gauntlet. It took him less than a minute to come to a slightly disturbing realisation.

"Oh."

"What does 'oh' mean?" Jason asked.

"I'll check it out." Percy said. "If it turns out to be something, I'll let you know."

"Why do you sound nervous?"

"I should be there in a few hours. Thanks for keeping me in the loop."

He hung up the call, scrambled his communicator, and made a second one. His contact didn't pick up immediately, but once they saw that he had called, they'd reach out to him. Instead, Percy angled himself towards Panama, and took off. The isthmus was narrow, fifty miles wide, which was why the famous canal had been built through it. Despite popular rumours, Percy had never swum through the canal. Instead, he walked out of the ocean onto the beach, took a running start, and began the process of leaping across the isthmus. He could clear about five miles per leap, so it didn't take him long to reach the other side, and then he was in the Pacific. He was halfway to the last known coordinates of the submarine when he got a call back.

"What?"

"Well hello to you too, Kym. I'm doing well, thanks for asking. How are you?"

"I've got a situation I'm dealing with, what do you want?"

"Does your situation have anything to do with a surface-dwelling vessel going missing near the Tomb of Atlan?" He asked pointedly. There was a moment of silence, and then—

"They stumbled across something they shouldn't have. It needed to be dealt with."

"I don't entirely disagree, but I'm on my way, regardless. Will you be there, or will I be meeting with someone else?"

Another pause.

"I'll meet you there."

"I need to know now—are they dead?"

"Not yet." Not the most reassuring answer, but he'd take it. For now. Once he arrived at his destination, he'd find out more.

XXX

The Tomb of Atlan had become a sort of holy site for the Atlanteans, though one limited to a very small number of people, namely the monarchs of the kingdoms and only the most powerful nobles under them. Percy absolutely loved the fact that he had been the one to find it only because of how furious the elites must have been when they found out. That said, there was a garrison of Atlantean troops—supplemented by small honour guards from the other kingdoms—assigned to the region, to make sure that no one tried to loot it, or gods forbid, it was discovered by surface dwellers. Which was Percy's working theory for why a nuclear fricking submarine had gone missing in its area. The logical answer was that it had gotten too close to the tomb, and the soldiers attacked it to prevent it from discovering it, though how they imagined a submarine over 350 feet long was going to navigate the underwater cavern into the tomb was beyond him. It was probably just proximity that set them off.

But…it did lead into another, slightly uncomfortable question. Percy knew the routes that the navy patrolled with. They varied, but they were consistent, and the Tomb of Atlan was nowhere near anything important and worth patrolling. It was, literally, in the middle of the ocean, and if the circumstances lined up just right, the closest humans to it would be on the International Space Station. That was how isolated it was. So the fact that the submarine even got close enough for the garrison to attack it meant that there was something fishy going on. The unintentional pun was so bad Percy had to stop for a moment, but he picked up the pace just as quickly as he had stopped. An hour and a half after he first was contacted, Percy arrived at the base camp of the Atlantean Garrison. The first thing he became aware of was that the garrison had been expanded. The battalion assigned to this sector had been bolstered, and if his math was right, it was three times as large. Triton wasn't a man given to flights of fancy, which meant there was something else going on to justify an entire regiment being deployed far, far from home and for a stretch of land—sea, whatever—only ten thousand cubic miles.

Picket sentries picked him up first, and it was clear they had been told he was coming in advance. No challenge was issued, and they escorted him to the headquarters. Percy was vividly aware that they weren't acting like a royal escort, but rather like men taking a prisoner to his fate. There was no whispers, no silent conversations between the men. They stared resolutely ahead and refused to meet his gaze. Interesting. The command centre of the garrison was a pre-fabricated structure. Atlantean factories produced hundreds of them, all modular, allowing them to be constructed anywhere, for any purpose. This was a fairly standard one, and he recognised most of the layout as he was led to the middle of the structure.

Inside was the normal company of officers, men and women swimming around as they coordinated a regiment's worth of soldiers. Perched atop a tall cabinet, watching the proceedings with minimal interest, was Kym. She wore an officer's duty uniform, but there were no markings or insignias on it that would put her in any unit or formation. All but the most uninformed would know that she was an agent of the crown. The moment she saw him, she floated down to the floor.

"Who's the moron who ordered the ship attacked?" Percy demanded, and the room came to a halt.

"I did, Prince Perseus." An officer stepped forward. "Taxiarch Andrikos, of the 19th Royal Regiment."

"And why did you attack it?"

"It was a last resort, sir, but they were deploying unmanned drones. We jammed them and eliminated them, but they persisted. Eventually, they began using their…sonar? Yes, sonar technology. They would have picked up our structures."

"They're still alive?" He asked carefully.

"Their ship is currently being held by one of our cruisers. All signals jammed and anything allowing visual sight disabled." Andrikos answered immediately. "The crew is unharmed."

"Okay…okay." He nodded. "First, sorry for calling you a moron. That was uncalled for. You made the right decision given the circumstances, and I appreciate you not simply sinking the vessel. At the moment, the working theory amongst the surface dwellers is that Princess Artemis is responsible."

He immediately held up a hand when the officers all looked ready to riot.

"They don't know that she's a princess. Or that I'm a prince, for that matter. As far as the surface world is concerned, the only Atlanteans are myself, Princess Artemis, and Lord Chiron." He told them sharply. "Luckily, I can work this in our favour."

"Sir?"

"We're going to disable the ship's propulsion. Make it look like it was done by some sort of sea monster. I'll go and 'rescue' it, and they'll be none the wiser. I'll make sure to stress that this area has sea-life hostile to invasive beings, and that I can't promise to be able to save the next ship that comes this way." He explained. "They should stay away."

"And what if they don't?" Kym asked pointedly. "How long will they believe the sea monster story?"

"It won't come to that."

"What if it does?" She pressed. "Are we to simply let them be, your highness?"

Ah. She was testing him. Well, two could play that game.

"Sink them, if it keeps happening." He shrugged. It was a callous response, but honestly, he wanted the Tomb safe just as much—probably more—than anyone else. "But they have to be destroyed totally. No wrecks, no corpses floating to the surface. As long as they can never find any evidence, the only logical conclusion will be that I'm not lying to them."

Kym's eyes widened for a fraction of a second, but he saw it nonetheless. The soldiers seemed impressed with his answer.

"Make no mistake, however," Percy continued, "that is only if they are at risk of discovering the tomb or this garrison. If they skirt the perimeter line, leave them be. Any unjustified attacks will only cause more problems than it will solve."

"Understood, your highness." Andrikos nodded. "I will have our engineers dismantle the vessels propulsion. I am sure they will…appreciate the challenge of making it look natural."

"I'm sure they will as well." Percy gave him a small smile. "Lady Kym, why don't we go for a swim?"

"That's not—" She started. Percy pressed the butt of the Trident into the floor, and it began to groan under the pressure. "—a terrible idea. I'm more than happy to join you."

He led her onto the beach of the tomb's island. Kym glanced around, her eyes going up to the sky more than once before she finally seemed to settle down.

"I'm not an idiot." He told her. "Triton wanted me to resolve that. There's no reason that situation shouldn't have been handled long before I arrived. Something else is going on, and I don't like being kept in the dark."

"You're right, of course." She said. "But I can't tell you, because even I don't know what the king is planning."

"Bullshit, he keeps you informed of all his schemes." Percy scoffed. "Don't lie to me, Kym."

"I'm not!" She insisted. "You're right, he keeps me informed of all his schemes, but whatever this is, it isn't one of those. All I know is that he wanted to see what you'd do. When he found out about the submarine, he was about to have it dealt with, but he did that weird thing where his face goes blank and his eyes brighten up. You know the thing."

"Get to the point."

"The thing happened, and he went quiet for a moment. He told me to head to the camp and wait for you to contact me. And then he said to do whatever you ordered." She was nervous, Percy realised. He knew he was intimidating—it was a point of pride for him, occasionally, but she was genuinely worried he might try to hurt her, and worse, she knew she wouldn't be able to stop him. "Percy, I swear, that's all I know!"

"I don't like being played with, Kym." Percy snarled. "Especially not by family. If Triton wants me exiled, he needs to exile me. If he wants me playing politics, he needs to tell me. But I won't keep letting him jerk me around from one place to the next. When you see him, make sure he knows that. Next time, I'm not going to solve his problems for him. I'm not a charity, I'm his brother."

"I can't say that to him!"

"YOU CAN AND YOU WILL!" Percy roared, thunder clapping above them as clouds rolled in from nowhere. "I am not his toy. I am not his servant. I am a Prince of Atlantis. I carry the Trident of Neptune. I serve no one but myself, and if Triton wishes for my submission…"

XXXVXXX

"…then all he needs to do is try and take it."

The room was silent as the video came to an end. Triton was unreadable, his face blank, chin resting in one hand.

"I believe I may have pushed too hard." He said after a moment. Artemis held in a snort at that understatement. "This is a delicate situation. I wasn't aware he was so volatile."

"Oh, Triton." Amphitrite sighed. "I love you dearly, you know this, yes?"

"Yes…" Triton's brow furrowed. "Mother, is there a—"

"You're an idiot." The Queen-Mother cut him off. "You have pushed too hard, and you've pushed in the wrong direction. Perseus is not volatile as you put it, but simply tired. For a moment, think about what his past ten days have been. There was an assassination attempt. He went down to the Fifth Tride—the first royal to do this in nobody knows how long—and left with their support, only to immediately be insulted by Zeus, no offence intended, Artemis."

"None taken. My father did insult him." She agreed. She had spoken quite firmly with her father about it, but he didn't seem to care. Actually, he had seemed more annoyed that she had told him he was in the wrong more than anything else.

"Directly after that," Amphitrite continued, "you unofficially banished him again, this time of your own volition, because you didn't like what he had to say. Following that, as we know, Percy went on a bit of a rampage, which culminated with him tapping into some sort of deeper connection with Neptune and halting the movements of an entire sea. Not two days after that, he finds out about this whole submarine incident."

"Oh." Triton managed to somehow express it brilliantly with as little effort as possible.

"Oh indeed," she snickered. "Peace will need to be made before you go forward with your other plan. Especially now."

Other plan? Artemis didn't know about any other plans Triton had, and she was invited to almost every meeting of his councils, both formal and informal.

"Forgive me, your majesties, but other plan?" Chiron interjected politely.

"It's…in progress." Was all Triton said in return. "Until I'm confident it will be successful, I won't reveal anything more. How exactly do you imagine me making peace with Percy, mother?"

"You won't be doing anything." Amphitrite shook her head. "The absolute last thing we need is you appearing to Percy after what he just said. He'll fight you."

"Surely he wouldn't." Acheran frowned. "The prince may be rash at times, but he's never so much as looked at the King incorrectly."

"No, but she's not wrong." Chiron shook his head. "I've never seen Percy that angry in my life, and I met him when all he had in his life was anger. He's much like his father in temperament, and I'm sure we can all remember some of the outbursts King Poseidon had in his time."

A collective moment of silence travelled around the room.

"Kym, maybe?" Triton suggested.

"I don't think she'd go even if you ordered it, your majesty." Chiron said carefully. "She's shaken. I think Percy scared her more than he intended. Or maybe exactly as he intended. It's difficult to say."

"I'll go." Artemis offered. "I'm a known quantity on the surface world, and Percy won't attack me."

"Absolutely not." Amphitrite said immediately. Artemis stared at her in shock. "I think you've forgotten how the two of you parted, Artemis. You going would be just as bad as Triton. No, there's only two people who can and will go."

"I'm ready to leave at a moment's notice, your majesty." Chiron said immediately. Amphitrite smiled gratefully at him.

"Thank you, but I wasn't talking about you. Rhode and I will be going."

"…what?" Triton blinked.

"Percy loves Rhode deeply." She reminded them. "He's argued with everyone but her. Raised his voice to everyone but her. And more than any of that, he's always listened to her. No matter what the topic was, no matter how unimportant, when Rhode speaks to him, Percy listens. If there is anyone who can make him come to peace with us, it's her."

"You expect me to send my twelve year old sister to negotiate with Percy?" Triton asked slowly.

"Of course not. That would imply she's going there as a diplomat. I'm taking her to visit her brother, is all. How long do you think he'll last under pressure from her?"

"My queen, you are utterly devious." Chiron said with awe. Amphitrite smirked in response.

"I'm still not sure it's a good idea." Triton frowned. "Rhode has never left Atlantis before…"

"What better way to introduce her to new places than with her brother, on the surface?"

"What if something happens?"

"Percy will be there, Triton." Artemis reminded him. "However he feels, do you imagine there's a world where he would let anything happen to Rhode?"

After a moment more, he sighed in defeat. "No, I don't. Very well. A ship will be prepared to take you two to Percy's home. A company of the Royal Guard will be nearby, ready to respond if anything happens. That is not negotiable."

"I understand, of course." Amphitrite nodded. "Thank you, Triton. This will end well, I promise you. Now, I believe I have a princess to talk to. If you hear her from here, don't be surprised."

They didn't hear Rhode's excitement from Triton's study, but Zoe told her later that she had, from the gardens of the palace, some three halls and three floors away. It was the first thing that day that had made Artemis smile.

MMXXI

I mean…Amphitrite is right—Percy's had a really rough ten days, and most of it stems from Atlantean problems. We get more references to Triton's plan, which honestly shouldn't be too hard to figure out, but neither is it stupidly easy. I've never actually said what the plan is. Just that there is one, and Percy can't be told…yet. Also, I've been watching Invincible, which is a great superhero show, but still can have some gratuitous violence, so if that's your thing, check it out. It's probably going to inspire some of my writing going forward, but don't expect this story to turn into a gore-fest or anything. It might just get a little darker. Also, I use some modern terms to describe the Atlantean army, but consider that just being Percy's understanding of it in comparison to, say, the US Army. Not exactly the same, but there are similarities.

As always, let me know what you think! Send me a PM, leave a review, or feel free to check out my tumblr, combattombat, where you can send me asks or pm me on that. I do my best to answer everything, but I'm also shamelessly plugging myself.

Cheers, CombatTombat