Percy sighed as he sat back down in the staff room. It had been a long day. He and Rumi hadn't slept, as Percy had stayed up most of the night explaining everything to her. He didn't see a point in hiding anything anymore. She'd been understandably pissed for a bit; he had, after all, effectively been lying to her for the duration of their friendship. Once she had cooled off however, she was a touch more understanding, but only somewhat. She understood why he hadn't told her, after all it was ridiculous on its face, but that didn't mean that she had been pleased that he had lied to her.

Still, she had eventually understood, but by the time they had reached that point, it was time to catch their flight back to Tokyo. As soon as they were back on the Island, Percy had called the school and asked for an immediate emergency staff meeting.

Which brought them to their current situation. Back in the staff room, around the table again, for the second time in nearly as many days, as Percy filled the staff in on exactly what was going on.

He shot a look at Rumi, and she nodded at him. A quiet gesture of reassurance.

The tension around the room was palpable, and Percy had a feeling he knew what many of them were thinking but didn't want to say.

Luckily, Aizawa could always be counted on to say what nobody else wanted to.

"So, you're admitting that your being here presents a possible threat to the students." It was a simple statement of fact, but it still caused a flash of annoyance to pulse through Percy's chest,

"We don't necessarily know that," said Midnight, though she didn't look like she necessarily believed that.

"This Hestia, she said that Amaterasu herself warned her to tell you not to come back," said Aizawa, ignoring Midnight, "That tells me that she is serious about you not living in Japan."

"You aren't about to suggest he leaves, are you Eraserhead?" Asked Thirteen, "Because I don't believe that is the correct solution at all."

"I'm not," said Aizawa, "But I am questioning his decision to come back to the school when he knows that he has a target on his back. I would think after what happened at the USJ, he would be a little more careful about bringing threats around the students."

"Low blow Aizawa," said Percy with a snarl, "And I have considered the possibility. But their reluctance to come after me so far tells me that she isn't necessarily willing to come after me around so many civilians."

"Or she was just hoping that you would leave on your own, and thus she wouldn't have to intercede." Said Aizawa, "You should have dealt with this before coming back."

"We don't necessarily know if she's going to come after him," said Present Mic, though he appeared unconvinced by the idea, "Maybe she's just hoping that he won't come back. Like Percy said, she hasn't come after him yet, maybe she doesn't want to try anything and just wanted this to resolve itself."

"And we're supposed to just take that chance?" Asked Aizawa, "We're talking about beings that none of us except for him apparently, have a hope in hell of dealing with. We have to consider the safety of our students above anything else."

"All right, all right," said Nezu, "You've made your point Aizawa, but I have already made up my mind about this."

A disgruntled look settled on Aizawa's face, but he fell silent and settled back into his seat,

"While I do agree with what Aizawa has said, the fact remains that Percy is one of ours, and I'm not about to throw him on the street,"

"I wasn't suggesting we throw him on the street, only that he deal with this problem before it bites us in the ass." Said Aizawa,

"Which is a valid point," conceded Nezu, "But we have not yet had any problems with these beings. As far as I'm concerned, this is something we need to wait on before we know how we want to proceed. For now, we will keep a watchful on the situation, but allow us to focus our attentions on the upcoming Camps." Nezu turned his attention back to Percy,

"Thank you for bringing this to our attention Mr. Jackson, I trust that you will be keeping an eye out for anything…strange?"

"Yes sir," said Percy immediately,

"Good," said Nezu cheerily, "That settles that then. Mr. Jackson will keep an eye out for these beings, and we will proceed as usual until such a time as we can no longer afford to ignore it."

"This is going to bite us in the ass," murmured Aizawa, but he was ignored,

"That will do for now Mr. Jackson. I'm sure you've had a long day, and I believe it's time for you to get some rest, you have a long couple of days ahead of you." Nezu grinned in a feral manner at him,

"Yes sir," said Percy again, as he and Rumi stood and exited the room. When the door was closed behind them, Rumi spoke up,

"What's your game plan?" She asked,

"I need to get back to work," said Percy, "As much as I hate to admit it, Aizawa is probably right. if Amaterasu is serious about this, then I need to get back into shape."

Rumi snorted, "I watched you catch a literal truck a week ago, I think you're in good shape."

"Fighting people and fighting monsters and gods are not the same thing," said Percy, "I haven't trained with my sword in over a year, and I have a very bad feeling that I'm going to be needing it soon."

They walked in silence through the school, as they made their way back to Percy's apartment building.

"You get in over your head," said Rumi as they approached the building, "You call me. None of this self-sacrificial bull-shit. I don't care if I can't drop a lake on a mother fucker, you aren't leaving me out of this."

Percy bit back a sigh, he had a feeling that she would say something like that. He respected the hell out of Rumi, she'd been a pro for years and had probably forgotten more about being a hero than Percy was likely to ever learn. But they weren't dealing with thugs with quirks. Monsters and gods were on a different level entirely. You couldn't punch a god to death.

Not for lack of trying on his part.

But still, Percy knew Rumi well enough to know an exercise in futility when he saw it. That, and if he was being honest with himself, knowing that he could count on Rumi to have his back to alleviate some of the anxiety that had been building in his chest. If there was anyone in the country that Percy trusted to fight by his side against the divine, it would be her.

"I will," he promised,

"I'll hold you to it," said Rumi, jabbing a finger into his chest, "Because if you don't…" she trailed off, letting the threat hang unfinished.

In spite of himself, Percy grinned, Rumi was nothing if not predictable at times. Reaching forward, he pulled the smaller woman into a hug, she stiffened for a moment at the contact, before relaxing into the embrace, and wrapping her own arms around him.

"Thanks, Rumi," said Percy softly,

"Someone has to look out for you, idiot," said Rumi, "Cause god knows that you won't look out for yourself."

He hated the fact that she was right.

BREAK

"Okay, what the hell did I miss?" Demanded Percy.

It had been a week since he had gotten back to Japan. He had been using the time to get reacquainted with using Anaklusmos in the training facilities at the school. However, he had been equally surprised and pissed when he had turned on the television after a workout that week and had seen that his classmates had gotten into some kind of brawl on I-island.

I-island was an enormous floating city that travelled around the ocean. It was home to some of the most prominent scientists and support companies in the world. Last week, the island had been hosting one of its annual exhibitions. Percy had been given an invitation to go since he was the winner of the Sports Festival, but since he had been planning on going to New York, he had given the tickets away. Neither Shoji nor Tokoyami had wanted to go so he had ended up giving the tickets to Kirishima.

Apparently Izuku, Momo, Todoroki, Bakugo, and several other of their classmates had ended up on the island too, which had been besieged by villains. Several of them, Izuku in particular, were still showing the effects of the battle. Poor Izuku was still sporting quite the black-eye and it looked like his arm had recovered from being broken yet again.

"I leave you guys alone for five minutes and you end up throwing down with a whole ass evil organization." Percy shook his head in disbelief.

They were waiting just outside of U.A., where they were preparing to board the buses for the summer camp. While everyone was going to be included in the exercises, some of the class who had failed their finals would be forced to take remedial classes during the camp. Luckily, Percy had managed to pass both his written and practical exams.

Albeit barely.

Kirishima laughed nervously and rubbed at the back of his head,

"Hey man," said Kirishima, "It's not like we wanted it to happen! But you know what it's like, when the bad guys show up it's not like we could just sit back and do nothing."

"I think you're the last person on the planet to be telling people not to do anything reckless," said Jiro dryly.

"I'm sorry Joan," said Percy sarcastically, "I forgot about the part where I asked for your opinion."

"Don't be rude," sighed Momo, sidling up beside him as she thrust something under his nose, "And you forgot your phone…again."

"Oh, thanks Momo," said Percy, snagging the phone from her grip and stuffing it inside his pocket.

"No problem, Percy," said Mom wearily, "You really need to be more careful. That's your third phone."

"Old man's memory must be going," smirked Jiro. Percy looked over at the girl,

"You will regret that."

Jiro stiffened, and glanced over at Momo, "I don't like the sound of that."

"You know better Jiro," said Momo disapprovingly, "Don't start what you can't finish."

"Man, it's kind of like watching the class mom and dad argue," snickered Sero.

Percy rolled his eyes, but Momo squeaked in surprise, as her cheeks flushed and her hands went up to cover her mouth. The poor girl was utterly mortified.

Seeing Aizawa giving him the signal, Percy brought a pair of fingers up to his mouth and let out a sharp whistle.

"All right guys, everyone on the bus,"

"Sure thing…daddy," said Mina teasingly.

"I will hurt you and you will not enjoy it."

The bus ride to the campsite was a long one. They had been sitting on the bus for well over two hours before Aizawa stood up an announced that they were going to stop for a late lunch and stretch their legs. But as they clambered out of the bus, Percy had the sinking suspicion that they weren't actually about to drive to the camp.

Mostly because he recognized the car sitting in the small dirt lot.

"Ah hell," Percy muttered, and ignored the look Shoji shot in his direction,

"What's going on Mr. Aizawa?" Asked Ochako, "Who is that,"

"Your new teachers for the next few days," said Aizawa, and Percy sighed as the doors exploded open,

"And here we go with this Ginyu shit again."

Sure enough, much like the first time he was exposed to them, the Wild Wild Pussycats bound into the lot, and began to pose.

"Lock on with these sparkling gazes!"

"We've come to lend a paw and help!

"Coming out of nowhere…"

"Stingingly cute and catlike!"

"Wild Wild Pussycats."

The rest of the class could only stare in stunned silence, as Percy massaged his temples. He could already feel the beginnings of a migraine toying behind his eyes. Tokoyami placed a hand on Percy's shoulder.

"I had no idea," said Tokoyami solemnly, "You are far stronger than we ever gave you credit for."

"You have no idea," grunted Percy.

Aizawa, ignoring the byplay, pointed at the Cats, "These are the Wild Wild Pussycats, they will be the ones running this training camp. They have been pros for a long time now, and have valuable insight and experience. You will listen to their instructions, and do as you are told, or there will be consequences."

Kaminari and Mineta both gulped at the threat.

"Man oh man," Pixie-Bob crooned, licking her lips as she surveyed the students, "I had no idea your class had so many delectable young Toms Aizawa…" The boys of the class all froze, seemingly immensely uncomfortable by the way that Pixie-Bob was eyeing them up.

"Oh for fucks sake," grumbled Percy, striding forward, "Hey, Pix, c'mere for a second. Got something I want to talk to you about."

Percy didn't give the woman a chance to respond as he reached her quickly. Reaching up with his right hand, he wrapped the cool steel around the nape of the woman's neck and drew her in close, so that his mouth was almost touching her ear. The woman froze at the incredibly intimate embrace, and Percy whispered into her ear for a moment.

Jiro choked on her spit, and covered her ears as she flushed to the tips of her ear-jacks. Pixie-Bob was worse off, as her face flushed crimson, and her mouth went momentarily slack.

His job done, Percy released his hold on the woman and stepped aside and made his way back to his classmates. Over his shoulder, Mandalay let out a weary sigh.

"Was that strictly necessary Percy?" She asked,

"Ya'll need to get her under control." Shrugged Percy, "That's a you problem."

Percy walked back over to the students, and Jiro, her face still burning, shot him a side-eyed glance,

"Is-is that…that's not true…is it?" She asked,

"You'll never know, Joan, you'll never know."

"If you're quite done," glared Aizawa, "Is she prepared to begin?" He asked, looking at Mandalay. On cue, Pixie-Bob's stood up straight, all traces of deliriousness gone,

"All set!" Said Pixie-Bob happily, and Percy frowned as he felt something in the ground shift.

"Oh no…" he mumbled,

"It's just about nine in the morning," Mandalay announced, "And the campsite is there, at the base of the mountain." She pointed out in the distance, and Percy could only just make out what looked like a clearing a dozen miles or so away.

"Your mission is to make it to the camp before noon! If you don't, then you're out of luck and you don't get to have any dinner! And one more thing, since all of this is our private land, that means that you get to use your quirks as much as you want! Have fun!"

"Fun?" said Sero in worry, "I think I wanna get out of here!"

But the students never got the chance, the ground shifted under their feet and a monstrous mudslide arose from under them. Percy was the only one capable of escaping the sudden torrent. Shooting up into the air, Percy managed to fly out of the way of the attack. The rest of the students, however, had been swept up into the landslide, were dragged out over the edge of the guard rail and down the cliff on the other side.

"Jackson," Aizawa called out over the screams of his students, "Get down there, you're doing the exercise too."

"Yeah, yeah," Percy called down, and dove down the cliff that the students had been swept down. Just before he passed over the railing into the ravine, Percy caught sight of someone he'd never seen before. He was a small boy, maybe only five or six years old. Percy couldn't see his eyes as they were shielded by his dark raven hair, and the strange red cap with a pair of small, golden horns on his head. Ignoring the boy for a moment, Percy landed on the ground.

"Show off," Shoji grumbled as Percy helped him to his feet.

"If you got it, flaunt it," said Percy, though his attention was divided, "Let's not slack off now," he called out to the rest of the class as they clambered to their feet, "I can feel a number of beings moving around through the forest. I don't think we're alone."

"Screw that!" Cried Mineta as he scrambled towards the forest, clutching desperately at his pants, "I've got to pee!"

"Idiot!" Snarled Percy. He felt something large shift, the vibrations of the large creatures coursing through the ground and to Percy. Percy dashed forward, just in time to hear Mineta scream in terror. Percy snagged Mineta and dragged him out of the way of a large, mud-made beast. It was a monstrous hybrid between a tiger and a bull and probably three times as large. Dropping Mineta to the ground, Percy leapt into the air, landing on the back of the creation.

The creature was made entirely out of mud and earth, no doubt a creation of Pixie-Bob, but that was all well and good for him.

The earth was his to command.

Pressing a palm to the flat base of the creature's neck, Percy commanded the earth to shake. Answering his command, the creature shook, convulsed, and let out a beastial roar as it was torn apart from the inside out. Percy let away, just in time to avoid the explosion of debris as the creature exploded.

"Man, you always make it look easy," complained Kirishima good-naturedly, punching Percy on the shoulder.

"I don't think you'll have to worry about not seeing any action man," said Percy ominously, as he felt several other large entities begin to form in the forest.

"So this school is trying to kill us, right?"

Percy didn't necessarily disagree with Kaminari's observation.

BREAK

Percy likely could have simply flown over the forest and been done with the little exercise in a matter of moments. But because he had been ordered to do the exercise, and because he wasn't about to just ditch his classmates, he had been a good sport about the whole thing. The result was that it took the class nearly six hours to make it through the forest. While Percy might have been a force of nature in his own right, his classmates were not. When Percy wasn't actively dealing with his own monstrosities, he was running from place to place around the forest, setting up the and ordering the class where they needed to be.

In spite of how long it took, and how tired all of them were, he was proud of his classmates. It had been a while since he had seen them in action, and it was evident just how much they had managed to grow in such a short span of time. Midoriya more than all, had grown the most. His control over his once self-destructive quirk was nothing short of astonishing.

His worn, beaten, and battered classmates were sprawled on the yard in front of a large log cabin in various states of exhaustion. They had been on the move constantly for the past six hours, and it was clear that for some of them, it was the hardest they'd ever had to work before.

"Hm, maybe when I said it was only going to take you three hours, I was thinking that it would only take us three hours," said Mandalay, and Percy wasn't sure if the woman meant that to be as condescending as it sounded, but he glared all the same. He wasn't nearly as exhausted as his classmates, but he was still tired. He still didn't have good enough control over his flight for it to not be excruciatingly draining on his energy, and he'd been all over the place that afternoon.

"That's just a taste of what's to come," announced Aizawa, much to the displeasure of the class, "The purpose of this training camp is to push you further beyond anywhere you've ever been pushed before. We're going to break you, mold you, and break you again. At the end of the weekend, if you aren't wishing for death, you didn't work hard enough."

"Thanks for keeping it light, teach," grumbled Percy, as he hefted a nearly unconscious Kirishima off of the ground. As always, Aizawa ignored Percy's helpful contributions.

"Go put your things away in the rooms, and when you get back, you can eat, bathe, and go to bed. We start at first light tomorrow, so get your rest." His piece said, Aizawa stalked off. Percy made to follow the rest of his classmates into the cabin, but stopped when he once again saw the small boy he'd seen before. Meeting Mandalay's eyes, he gestured with his head over to the boy, and she nodded a confirmation.

Ah. So that was Kota, the son of Mandalay's cousin. The little hellion that had been making Mandalay's life a living hell for the last several months. He didn't know everything about the situation with the kid, but he knew enough. The boy's parents had been pro-heroes, and had been brutally murdered by a rampaging villain about a year ago.

Naturally it had traumatized the kid.

But the poor boy didn't have any way to comprehend his own emotions, and according to Mandalay any attempts at getting the boy into counseling had only ended in failure.

He was angry, confused, and bitter, and the poor kid had no idea how to channel those emotions. So he did what came naturally to a six-year-old when they didn't know how to process their emotions.

He took it out on other people.

Changing direction, Percy cut a path to put him right in front of the angry youth.

"Hey there," greeted Percy with a smile, "You must be Kota, I'm Percy."

The boy didn't respond, and instead continued to glare at him,

"Kota," said Mandalay patiently, "Don't be rude. Percy and the other students will be here for a week, so you might as well get used to them being around."

"Whaddya say man?" Asked Percy, kneeling down and extending a hand at the boy, "Friends?"

Percy knew what was about to happen instantly. The boy, because he truly was just that, cocked his fist back and made to punch Percy in a rather sensitive spot. However, Percy would have been quite remiss if he would have allowed himself to get punched in the groin by a toddler.

Faster than the boy could understand, Percy's metal hand shot out and wrapped around the boy's wrist just as it shot forward. The boy's eyes went wide, and darted from his own arm, to Percy's face, and back again.

"That shit might fly on the playground during recess," said Percy in an undertone, just loud enough for only the boy to hear him, "But this ain't kindergarten, and I'm not a fan of bullies."

"I'm not a bully!" Kota snapped,

"Not the way I hear it," said Percy, tightening his grip on the boy's arm. He wasn't going to hurt the boy, but he wanted to make it clear that the kid's attitude was not going to be tolerated anymore.

"You have every right to be pissed about your life," said Percy, "But you don't have the right to take that shit out on other people. Pull that shit again, and you'll see what happens when I actually get mad."

His piece said, Percy dropped the boy back onto the ground, and walked away without another word.

"Percy," hissed Mandalay, catching up to him as he made his way into the cabin, "That wasn't necessary."

"Yes it was and you know it," said Percy hotly, "I get it Shino, I do, he ain't your kid and you weren't ready to have to deal with the responsibility of taking care of him, but that kid is a ticking fucking time bomb. He thinks he can do whatever the fuck he wants and get away with it, probably because people know about his parents and won't call him on his shit."

Mandalay's silence told Percy all he needed to know that he was right on the money. Stopping just inside the doorway, Percy placed a reassuring hand on the woman's shoulder,

"You just leave him to me, I'll take care of the kid,"

"Percy…" said Mandalay warningly.

"I'm not going to hurt him or anything," said Percy defensively, "But he needs to face reality, and I think out of everyone here, I'm probably the only one that has a shot of getting the kid to listen."

Mandalay looked conflicted for a moment, before nodding her head. Percy gave her arm one last squeeze before making his way to the boys room.

He really needed to change.

Dinner was a chaotic affair. Percy hadn't realized how starved he was until he began to smell the many delicious scents of the foods the Cats had prepared. After stuffing their faces and their stomachs, they were directed to the hot springs. The Cats had a pair of public hot springs installed in the back of the cabin, and as much as he wanted to relax in the calming waters of the warm springs, Percy was tense.

All day, Percy had been keeping his senses finely tuned. He had been paranoid since coming back to Japan that something was going to jump him from the shadows. That Amaterasu might just pull a Zeus, and try and smite him from on high.

But so far, he'd not seen hide or hair of anything that triggered his divine-senses. But he was growing certain that it was only a matter of time. Especially after he'd spent the entire afternoon using his abilities, it was all but certain that he'd forecasted himself to all of the pantheon that he was back on the island.

It was making him antsy. He didn't do well with paranoia. He hadn't really realized it before, but it had been immensely comforting not having to worry about monster attacks around every dark corner for the first time since he was twelve. Granted, he'd had other more pressing concerns since coming to the future, but it had been a blessing he hadn't realized he'd needed to not have to worry about it. But now he was forced back into the horrible, numbing paranoia that had stalked him almost all his life.

He hated it.

"Percy, are you all right?" Asked Todoroki, jolting Percy from his thoughts,

"Huh?" Blurted Percy,

"You've been out of it all day, like something has been bothering you," said Todoroki,

"Yeah man, you look tense as all hell," said Kirishima, "You can't be that worried about training."

"If you are, then I think the rest of us are in trouble," added Kaminari,

Percy had to pause to think for a moment,

"I'm not worried about the training," he said,

"This about New York?" Asked Shoji, and Percy nodded, he supposed that wasn't necessarily a lie.

"I didn't know you were in New York," said Sero,

"I went back to see my mom," said Percy,

"Wha-? But I thought-" Mineta let out a gurgling scream as Bakugo calmly dunked the smaller boy into the springs.

"Are you all right?" Asked Tokoyami,

"I don't know," said Percy honestly, while his mother wasn't the core reason behind his stress and anxiety, his guilt over the entire situation with his mother wasn't helping at all.

"Seeing mom's grave…that was tough you know?" He sighed and scratched idly at the side of is face, "We were all either of us had for…for forever. And I never got to say goodbye…" He sighed, but smiled at the boys in the pool,

"It's hard, but I'll be okay,"

"Well, I'm not going to say it's the same," said Shoji, "And we aren't blood, but I'd like to think we're still family."

"Yeah!"

"Absolutely,"

"Naturally,"

"After everything we've been through? Hell yeah!"

Percy smiled at the boys. They really were good friends, and regardless of what was going to happen in the coming days, he knew then and there that he had made the right choice in coming back.

He finally had a life, and he'd be damned if some uppity goddess took that from him.

BREAK

He waited until well after the rest of the students had gone to sleep, before he snuck out of the boys room and met up with Aizawa and Vlad in their shared room. They were still awake and waiting for him. They'd talked about this before coming to the camp, and Percy was still convinced that this was their best plan of action.

"You sure about this kid?" Asked Vlad,

"Positive," said Percy, "Rather do it here, where we can minimize the potential damage, and the kids can be pulled out of here easily, rather than the middle of the city."

"We'll do it tomorrow then," said Aizawa, "Do you think they'll answer the call?"

"Hard to say, might take a couple of days, but I don't see any harm in it."

"Good enough," sighed Aizawa, "I still think this is a bad idea…but better to get ahead of this than behind it."

There wasn't much that Percy agreed with his homeroom teacher about, but they both believed that the wait and see approach that Nezu wanted to adopt was not the way to go about this. It hadn't taken much to convince Vlad of the plan.

Tomorrow, Percy would start calling out the pantheon.

AN: Shit is going to get so fucking fun. Holy hell I can't wait to get to it. Been building towards this for a year and I couldn't be more excited! Hope all of you are excited for what's about to happen too! As always shoutout to Double0Sxvxn for being an awesome Beta and dealing with my bullshit and as always if you enjoyed this but haven't checked out my other work, give them a try you never know you might find something else you like. I'm also on discord now, where I and a bunch of other writers hang out, chat and brainstorm ideas, you just have to copy the link that's in my profile bio if you want to come and hang out with us. Stay safe, stay healthy and have an awesome week

All My Love,

LilDB