AN: Welcome back everyone!

I'm glad everyone enjoyed the last chapter!

Now to start off, an apology to those who were expecting a chapter earlier this week! I was swamped by various projects and exams from College, and it's still a bit rough as it is...but hey, here it is! I should have a few more chapters ready to go soon as well, along with some decent ideas on where to take the story...

Right, enough talk.

Let's begin!

Disclaimer: I, Beowulf, do not own PJO or JJBA. I only own this plot, my OC, and the disappointing truth that I do not possess D4C. If I did, I'd be jumping around universes like a bunny on crack.

~Chapter 24~

Thalia's eyes fluttered open as she slowly came to. She slowly got up, trying to shake out the pins and needles that infested her arms. A pounding in her head crept up on her until it was unbearable, making her close her eyes and wince.

She groaned, holding her head. "What the Hades happened...?"

A chuckle reached her ears as she peeked through her closed eyes. "Well, here's the good news. You took down Talos." Cyrus said, smirking down at her.

"Okay...bad news?"

His smirk widened as a mischievous glint showed in his green-pink eyes. "You ended up short-circuiting yourself."

Her cheeks flushed a harsh red as she groaned, falling back onto something softer than the ground she was expecting. Peeking behind her a little, she noticed that it was Cyrus's Nemean cloak that was wrapped neatly under her head.

Flushing again, she muttered quietly. "Please tell me I didn't say anything stupid..."

"Oh nothing much...but you were as adorable as ever.~" He teased, smirking down at her.

She hit him with a death glare. "I am not 'adorable'!"

"Sure you aren't..." He replied, still standing there with that smug grin on his face. She grumbled as she got to her feet shakily, before glancing at her surroundings.

It seemed like everyone was a bit roughed up from their battle against Talos and the mechanical hoplites. Grover had a few scratches and nicks from the mountain of scrap metal he'd been swallowed up by. Zoe had a few bruises and was covered in dirt and grime. Phoebe was covered in a few flecks of dried blood on her from tending to the group's wounds, and was currently hovering over Risotto and Anette. Anette had a bandage over her head wound, wincing a little as she held a hand against the bandaged cut. Percy was slowly coming to, shaking his head and groaning a little from his place on the ground, while Risotto was (if Thalia had to be honest) the worst off out of all of them.

The metal-wielding assassin of Passione had his foot chopped off and reattached with staples that Metallica had created, and had then proceeded to create a harpoon of iron to take down Talos, which had of course exhausted him. Currently Phoebe was looking him over, checking his vitals while he laid unconscious, his eyes closed and his face creased in a frown as he twitched a little here and there.

"What happened to him?" Thalia asked, looking back at Cyrus. The boy's grin faltered as he sighed, running a hand through his mane of hair. "Metallica is a dangerous Stand, and Risotto overexerted himself with that fight. He usually just sticks to smaller things to create with his Stand, like knives and razors...not harpoons and swords. It takes a lot out of him to make things like that, plus in his line of work he really doesn't need them...not to mention he had to use his Stand to heal his severed foot so..."

Thalia pursed her lips as she looked back at the unconscious Stand User. "Will he be okay?"

"He should be fine, though he won't be waking up for a bit. That's for sure. Best case scenario is that he gets up in the next half hour or so. He lost a decent bit of blood when he got his foot cut off, but I'm sure his Stand is drawing in iron from the surrounding areas to recreate the blood he lost." (1) Cyrus reassured her a little, even as he glanced back at the elder Passione member. He could deny it all he wanted, but Thalia could tell something was wrong.

She touched his arm gently, bringing his attention back to her. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"..It should have been me..."

Thalia raised an eyebrow at that. What should have been him? "What?"

Cyrus turned back to her fully, his eyes weighed down with a sense of guilt. "It should have been me who took the damage Risotto did. That all of you took."

Seeing her confused face still, he paused for a moment, as if mulling over something. "You know how D4C works, at least a little. I'm functionally immortal Thals, meaning I'm the best person to tank hits for the team."

"I mean...yeah, but so what? Risotto's fine, you said so yourself." Thalia argued a little, still not seeing why Cyrus seemed so bothered by it.

"But what if it was a fatal blow?"

"..."

Hearing nothing in response, Cyrus continued. "He would have died if it was lethal. I can take those hits, and I should. The fact that I let my guard down for a moment and Risotto got wounded is my fault. Even more my fault when I let him do what he did with creating that harpoon." He said, his shoulders sagging a little as he looked down, seeming ashamed of himself.

Thalia frowned at that. Logically yes, Cyrus was the best person to take fatal blows because D4C would be able to protect him...but she really didn't like the fact that her best friend was so adamant to throw himself in the way of lethal attacks to ensure their safety. Why was he acting like he was so expendable?

What if D4C ended up failing on him if he took a hit that killed him?

She bit her lip. Thalia was never too good with all these emotional things...so she hesitated a little, before taking hold of his hand, giving it a squeeze. His green-pink orbs met hers, "Cy, it's not your fault. Risotto knew what he was doing and he knew the risks. Don't beat yourself up over it all."

His eyes slid from hers to the side, before she made him look at her, cupping his cheek with her hand with a little glare. "Hey, I mean it Bunny Boy. Enough of this moping over what could've gone better. You're the Boss of Passione AND you're our leader. He did what he did because he trusted you, and you made the right call, otherwise we'd all be pancakes under Talos's feet. So stop. Got it?" She said in a harsher tone, searching his wide eyes as she leaned in more and more as she got more heated in her words.

Cyrus stared back, blinking a little before chuckling and letting a smile paint itself across his face. "Your pep talks need a bit of work Thals."

She glared at him still, taking her hand from his cheek and jabbing him in the chest with her finger. "Oh shut up Rabbit-head." She replied, feeling the corners of her lips curling into a smile. She let go of him, glancing around. "Wait where's Rina?"

Cyrus jerked a thumb over his shoulder towards Percy, where the little girl was fussing over him a little, her plushy hydra sitting in the sand by her side. "Aw, how adorable..."

She was honestly kind of surprised how the girl had attached to Percy so quickly. Who knew the Kelp-head was so good with kids?

Then again, he and Cyrus had saved her from a life of pain, so it made sense...

"What are you thinking about?" She glanced back at Cyrus, who elaborated. "You've been staring at them for like a minute. Penny for your thoughts?"

He suddenly made another one of his teasing grins. "You were thinking about kids weren't you? Let's not rush this Thals~."

"Wh- No I wasn't!" She yelled at him, earning everyone's attention as her face burned a shade that would make a fire engine jealous, and even more so when she noticed everyone staring in confusion.

Not to mention, now that he'd brought it up, her mind was suddenly assaulted with little chibi images of raven-haired children with electric blue and green-pink eyes, followed by a chibi of her and Cyrus watching over them, a chibi of D4C hovering over Cyrus as well like a happy little family, making her blush even more.

Cyrus just smirked at her, giving her a wink as he walked past her, whispering in her ear. "Dates come first Ms. Grace~. After that well...that's up to you."

Her face kept burning a bright red at that as she opened her mouth, only for no words to come out. He grinned lightly at her speechlessness before looking around at everyone else. "Alright guys! We should probably get going, no time to waste!"

Grover and Zoe perked up at that while Percy sluggishly got up, groaning while Rina nudged his side worriedly. "Ugh my head..." He cursed a little as his vision swam and every noise seemed to be painfully loud.

Rina held up a square piece of something while tapping his shoulder. "T-the scary girl with the arrows said you should eat this!" She said, pushing it into the demigod's hands.

Percy, unwilling to deal with the pounding headache he had at the moment, didn't argue and just ate it. The taste of chocolate chip cookies filled his mouth as his headache lessened. His vision sharpened and the noises quieted down.

Sighing in relief, he looked at Rina who was holding onto her plushy, looking up at him with worried doe eyes. He gave her a smile, "Thanks Rina."

"I was worried! The girl said you had a concussion and you were really hurt." The youngest Stand User of the group said, fumbling over the word 'concussion' as she hugged her hydra.

Percy grimaced at that. That would make sense. Getting friendly with that refrigerator after getting thrown across a junkyard would do that. He gave her a reassuring smile as he kept nibbling on his Ambrosia square. "It's okay Rina. Thanks."

The smile she gave in return made his heart feel light, even though his head still felt like a box of rocks. An unbidden thought came to mind as his headache kept clearing up. "Wonder what Annabeth would think of this?"

The sudden vision of Annabeth with him and Rina, acting all motherly and doting over her filled his head as he choked on a piece of Ambrosia, coughing a little. "Where did that come from?!"

"You good there Sharkbait?" Cyrus asked as he walked over. Percy nodded as he slowly got to his feet, still chewing on the Ambrosia square. "Alright good, because we need to get going. Everyone ready?"

Phoebe glared up at him from where she was hovering over her patient. "What about him?" She asked, pointing down at the still unconscious Risotto. Unruffled by the glare, Cyrus summoned D4C to his side, making it pick up the elder Passione member in a bridal carry.

"We have to get going, we have only a few more days to get to the West and find Artemis." He turned to Anette, who was by his side when he picked up Risotto. "You and him came here with transport right?"

The female Stand User nodded, before pointing over at a Jeep they hadn't noticed. Cyrus stared blankly at the neon-green Jeep that the two Stand Users had arrived in, before looking back at Anette.

"You're kidding."

"...It was funny okay?" She grumbled quietly, shuffling on her feet.

The teen sighed, before walking over to it, only for Zoe's hand to grab his arm. Turning to see what was the matter, she glared at him harshly while sticking a finger in his face. "Thou art not driving, Khan." She spat out.

Cyrus pouted a little. "Why not?!"

"Are you seriously asking that?" Thalia asked, crossing her arms while giving him a "no way you're asking me this" look.

The teen Stand User glared back, with D4C mirroring his stance even as it held Risotto in its arms. "What's that supposed to mean?!" Both Thalia and Grover deadpanned at him.

"Cyrus, you drive like a madman hyped up on adrenaline shots." Grover accused bluntly.

The teen in question's eyes snapped to the satyr's own orbs, "No I don't! Name one thing I've done for you to say something like that!"

Thalia stared at him for a moment before holding up a hand and counting on her fingers. "You trashed the van that Chiron gave us, you got us into a car chase with a road-raging Stand User and then you got us into a second car chase with the Police.

"Which you then caused an accident with on the highway!" Grover finished, crossing his arms as he shivered at the memories of the last two experiences he'd had with Cyrus's driving.

"Two of those things were not my fault!" Cyrus retorted, pointing a finger at them and huffing a little.

Zoe's eyes continued to bore a hole in the teen Stand User's skull, her expression unchanging. "This means nothing. Thou art not driving."

Percy gave a sidelong glance over at Grover, questioning him silently while Rina just went asked the same question out loud. "Is Mr. Cyrus's driving that bad?"

Grover made to answer, before catching a glimpse of D4C's cold, menacing gaze on him, shutting him up while Rina just looked at him with a confused expression.

Cyrus grumbled. Everyone was against his driving, and he wouldn't dare to ask Anette to drive with her headwound. "Fine! Zoe can drive." He relented, with a cross expression on both his and D4C's faces, with the Stand's horns almost looking like they were drooping like a grumpy rabbit.

Percy and Grover snickered under their breaths at the expressions while Thalia smirked a little at the behavior.

Anette shook her head at her younger brother in all but blood's antics. The Boss of Passione...and he still acted like a child.

Zoe gave a faintly smug look as she triumphed, moving towards the jeep. "Come, we must move with haste!"

Cyrus moved onwards, before feeling a chill go down his spine. "Why do I feel like something will be going poorly?"

To say that Formaggio was confused would be an understatement at this moment.

"Pesci...what's this?" He gestured to the deciphered notes and scratchings of the former Boss on the desk while Razione looked on, sipping his coffee.

Pesci gulped a little as he began to shift through the papers. "Uh, I-I was looking through the notes that the Boss left behind on the Nails and his dealings with this Storto guy. This guy's a ghost, and we've exhausted all our ideas on who he could be. Bro Prosciutto thought he was just a front, but something Cyrus said got me thinking...remember how he mentioned the whole thing about Gods in the US?"

Formaggio looked at him like he was crazy. He crossed his arms as he thought it over though.

Cyrus had told them about the fact that the Greek pantheon of Gods existed in the US. From the Gods all the way to the monsters of myth. They all had thought he was joking...that is until they realized how serious he was.

Now, Formaggio liked to consider himself as the most laidback and open-minded of la Squadra's members, but even he had thought that Cyrus had lost his damn mind when he told them all...until he produced proof in the form of one of those...Iris Messages.

He could still remember his, Pesci's and Illuso's jaws hitting the floor with Risotto, Razione and Prosciutto just raising their eyebrows. Ghiaccio, for once in his damn life, was speechless, while Anette was wide-eyed with her mouth in an 'o' of wonder.

But then came the panic...well, the less serious members of la Squadra panicked, something Formaggio would still facepalm over. Then again, that was normal right? After all, they were just assassins, albeit ones with Stands. How the hell could they deal with fucking divine beings and monsters?

Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed in the form of the more serious members of the team, with Cyrus reassuring them that monsters could be dealt with with their Stands with few issues, along with telling them not to worry about the divine aspects for now. He did however state that it would be a good idea to read up on the myths to stay informed.

Formaggio would be the first to say that he was...well he wasn't too keen on doing the research and crap to read up on the myths and all, but he knew a decent bit if he were to say so himself.

"Okay, what about those Gods?" Formaggio asked the youngest member of la Squadra.

"T-there were beings before those Gods." Pesci stated, pulling out a book from under a stack of papers. "They were called the Titans, and well...y-you wanna have a look at this." He said, opening the book to show them while stuttering a little out of his general nervousness.

Formaggio shot Razione a glance of confusion before reading the page.

Kronos: King of the Titans. Youngest son of Ouranos and Gaea and Titan of Time and the Harvest. Known as the Crooked One... Formaggio skimmed over the rest, taking in information as he went. Father to the Big Three of the Olympians, blah blah... "Okay...what does this have to do with the Boss's old dealings?"

Razione's eyes narrowed as it all clicked together in the grizzled man's mind. "Formaggio. What does 'Storto' mean again?"

Formaggio's eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. "What did that have to do with..." His heart dropped. "You're joking. Tell me you're joking."

The Consigliere of Passione shook his head while Pesci gulped. "You're telling me that the old Boss was in contact with a fucking Titan?" Formaggio shouted in disbelief.

Pesci hesitated, but nodded. "I...I think the Boss was supplying them with money and information on Stands as a backup plan so that he would be able to get a foothold in the US, but I'm not sure he knew that this was a Titan..."

Formaggio stared in shock, before turning to Razione. "We need to tell Cyrus."

Razione set down his mug, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I'm sure he's already aware of the truth of Storto's identity...but I suppose we should report to him as to what we've done anyway."

The two other members of la Squadra nodded, with Pesci continuing to organize the papers on the desk, while Formaggio rubbed his temples. There we so many things to keep track of. Three of la Squadra were after information on the Holy Nails in Rome, while they were busy trying to get information on the Old Blood and the old Boss's ciphers...

"What have we gotten into..." Formaggio cursed to himself. Hopefully their Boss would have a good idea as to what to do...

The neon-green jeep was a burning pile of twisted metal, smashed clean into a tree.

Cyrus was watching it burn from a healthy distance, with everyone else panting heavily as they stood far away from the destroyed car. Nearly everyone had some form of bruise or burn on them, being treated by Phoebe.

"'Let Zoe drive' you guys said! 'Better than yours' you said!" Cyrus parroted mockingly as he glared daggers at his quest members. Not that they disagreed, they were all in agreement on one thing: Zoe was officially a worse driver.

Soon after Zoe had taken the wheel, the rest had piled in, cramped as it was. After all, they had nine people in total, with one of them being unconscious (Risotto). Thalia had absolutely refused to have anything other than the shotgun seat, so that left Percy, Grover, Phoebe and Anette in the backseat in that order from left to right with Rina seated on Percy's lap playing with the plushy hydra and Risotto laid across Anette's and Phoebe's laps.

In Phoebe's case, she was just being the diligent medic, despite her aversion to the male sex, and Anette was gently running her hand through his hair, whispering words of reassurance that he couldn't hear in his unconscious state. As for Cyrus, he just opted to hang onto the side, leaning out of one of the windows on the left and seated on the windowsill.

Thalia had glared at him quite harshly at the dangerous position, to which he responded with sticking his tongue out at her. When you had a power that allowed you to slip away unscathed 90% of the time, why not live a little?

He would regret that choice instantly.

See, Zoe knew how to drive...in the sense that she had learned during the London Blitz of World War Two.

-Flashback, 15 minutes earlier-

"WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" Cyrus screamed out, clinging onto whatever purchase his fingers could find as the Jeep swerved dangerously across the (thankfully) empty highway, almost clipping them yet miraculously missing the few cars by hairs.

"Stop yelling! This is all under control!" Zoe shouted back, scowling as she spun the wheel to narrowly slip past a sleepy SUV.

Thalia scowled fiercely at her as her knuckles whitened from her death grip on the dashboard. She was almost certain that even with her seatbelt, she would go flying through the windshield if they were to crash. "No it's not Nightshade! Pull over!"

"I shall no-" "PULL OVER GOD DAMN IT!" Cyrus roared out, giving a yelp as Zoe almost slammed him into the median from her swerving.

Grover was frothing at the mouth and passed out from shock, Percy was yelling as his hands began to cramp from gripping his seatbelt so hard while Rina was smiling away, apparently enjoying the thrill and the wind in her hair as she held on to one of the bars on her left.

Anette was yelling as well, saying words that most definitely were not meant for the ears of children, but over the howling winds from Zoe's driving, Rina couldn't hear them, while Phoebe was quietly contemplating how she had gotten herself into all of this. All the while, Risotto stayed unconscious, surprisingly.

"Fine!" Zoe scowled, before jerking the wheel to the left, hard. Cyrus's and Thalia's eyes widened in horror. "What are you doing?/WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!"

The Hunter lieutenant crashed through the median, making a beeline towards a nearby river...and not stopping. "Brakes! Hit the brakes!" Percy cried out as they barreled towards the river.

Cyrus, having had enough of this and not waiting for her to react, brought out D4C's arm and pulled the wheel to the other side, sending the vehicle away from the water's edge.

Crunch!

Unfortunately, that had led right into a nearby tree.

Everyone paused for a moment, trying to catch their breath before Thalia's nose caught a whiff of smoke. "Everyone out!"

-The Present-

That led us to this moment here, next to a river with no car. Risotto was still unconscious, but fitfully twitching in his slumber, with Anette hovering over him worriedly.

Cyrus pinched the bridge of his nose as he glanced over at the river. "Well...now what?"

Percy walked over, leaving Rina with Thalia and the now conscious Grover. He looked quizzically at the teen Stand User deep in thought. "What's up?"

"Well, for starters, we don't really have a way to get across the river." Cyrus mused. Percy just looked around, before spotting a few canoes off to the side on the shoreline. "What about those?" The Sea God's son asked, pointing over at them.

The Stand User's eyes brightened a little. "Oh those will do nicely-" He stopped abruptly, his eyebrows scrunching together as he thought about it for a second.

They had gotten on a car...which had then been destroyed. Then gotten another car...which had been blown up. Then just now they'd had a car...which had then crashed and blown up. He was starting to sense a pattern here...

The vision of a certain Joestar appeared in the back of his mind. "OHHH NOOOO!"

"Nah...there's no way I've inherited their terrible luck with vehicles or whatever..." Cyrus shook his head, clearing his thoughts and nodding. "Alright, lets use those canoes."

Percy nodded as he made his way over alongside Cyrus, bringing the canoes to the edge of the river. Each of them were enough to fit three people each, with three canoes total. "Perfect."

"Alright guys, lets get moving!" Cyrus called out while Percy was busy talking to a girl that had seemingly manifested from the river's waters.

Cyrus chose a canoe with Grover and Thalia, with Percy and Rina sitting in the same canoe as Zoe. As for Phoebe, she sat with Anette and the still unconscious Risotto.

As the group set off in speeding canoes pushed by the naiads Percy had gotten help from, Thalia frowned as she noticed Risotto's facial expressions shift and contort fitfully in his passed out state, with Anette looking more and more worried as she ran her hands through the assassin's hair. Grover in particular winced as he caught a few stray emotions slipping out from his direction as well, not to mention his enhanced senses catching a hint of Risotto's mutterings.

Grief. Pain. Loss. Sadness. And if anyone had cared to look, they would have noticed a lone tear slipping down the side of the Abyssal Jester's face. (2)

Finally, the assassin groaned, his red eyes peeling themselves open as he slowly sat up. "Grhm...that's unpleasant." He grumbled as he felt Metallica shifting inside his body. He could feel the metal staples in his leg, and winced at the soreness around that area. Not to mention the overwhelming feeling of weakness in his body from using his Stand so much.

"Good to see you're awake finally Risotto." Cyrus said with a smirk, making the Jester-themed man glare at him a little.

"Oh Risi~?" A sickly sweet tone rang out, making Risotto flinch a little before his usual stoic expression made itself at home on his face. He slowly turned to Anette, who had a sweet smile on her face. Which would have been nice to see, if he hadn't spotted Scaretale lurking in the shadows of the river.

Slap!

"That, was for scaring me so much! You stupid idiot, what were you thinking exerting yourself so much?" The woman shouted while Risotto rubbed his cheek, grumbling to himself.

Cyrus stifled his chuckles as his Capo was getting torn up by his sister in all but name while the group watched in mild amusement. "Ah, he's so whipped..."

"Wait, so are they a couple or...?" Grover asked. Cyrus nodded, smirking as he continued to watch the female heavy metal singer fuss over the assassin.

"They got together a year after we defeated the Boss, but I always had the feeling he liked her from the start and vice versa." He answered with a grin.

Even early on, it was obvious that the two had chemistry, what with Anette constantly poking and prodding at Risotto while the latter struggled to keep up his stoicism and seriousness. It had been adorable, and eventually, they two had finally confessed and started dating each other. It was especially funny watching those, considering one was a heavy metal singer, and the other was an assassin and his Number Three.

Not to mention Risotto's Stand ability having to deal with metal. "Ah, the jokes were writing themselves." Cyrus thought with a smirk.

Risotto however, glared at Cyrus. "Would you like me to tell your friends about your love life when you became the Boss?"

Cyrus blushed nervously while Thalia's eyes narrowed along with Phoebe's. Zoe would have definitely done the same if she hadn't been talking so much with Percy. "T-those don't count! Formaggio and Illuso kept nagging at me to go date around!"

"Oh really? There's a reason you earned the name 'Beast of the Passion' Cyrus. So many girls...besides, what about that pink haired one? Or the one with the star mark on her?" Risotto said, a faint smirk crossing his lips as Cyrus looked down, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment while Thalia glared daggers at him alongside the Hunters.

"Cy? What is he talking about?" Thalia asked, her tone as threatening as thunderclouds in the distance as she regarded him closely.

"N-nothing! Nothing at all..." Cyrus replied quickly as two of the Stand Users he had dated crossed his mind. They'd been nice and he remained friends with them...mostly. Right now though he remained painfully aware of the murderous stare that his best friend and current love interest was leveling at him.

Thalia regarded him closely, her electric blue eyes arcing with tiny amounts of static as she watched the young man rub the back of his neck in embarrassment. She didn't know why, but just the thought of him having dated around before her made her feel like shocking something.

'The Beast of the Passion?' What kind of nickname was that? Did he date around that much and get with that many girls? And what about those two girls that Risotto seemed to mention? Whoever they were seemed to make quite an impression...

And...how far did those relationships end up going..?

The daughter of Zeus reddened as her teeth gnashed together in anger. She didn't like it. Not one bit. One of these days she would corner him about it, and then...well she didn't know, but she would do something, and it would hurt.

Unknowing of his potential demise at the hands of a certain punk demigoddess, Cyrus's eyes caught the sight of shore and he inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. "HEY WE'RE HERE!" He said loudly, directing their attention away from him and towards the shoreline that the naiads were pushing them towards.

As the canoes made contact with land, Cyrus was the first to jump out, getting up and cracking his neck a little as he waited on everyone to get on solid land once again. He winced again as Thalia narrowed her eyes at him, but paid it no mind for now while Percy thanked the naiads for their help as Anette helped Risotto out of the canoe.

His brow creased with mild concern as Risotto cursed a little, limping as his stapled foot stepped onto the cement base. Those staples had been only a temporary measure so that he could keep fighting against the metal hoplites. It would need medical attention to properly seal up the wounds left by such an amputation. (3)

Putting his concern for his elder brother aside, Cyrus turned and blinked. He blinked again, before looking up and down. "...Well then. I didn't expect to end up this close to it."

Before them, was a mighty construction. One that the teen Stand User was very familiar with.

"The Hoover Dam," Percy began, "Built in the 1930s."

"Five million cubic acres of water..." Thalia continued.

"Largest construction project in the United States," Grover finished with a sigh.

The corner of Cyrus's lip curled into a small smirk as the rest of the group looked at them with confusion. "Annabeth?"

"Annabeth." The three chorused.

"Figured. Always the architectural nut, especially with this old thing." Cyrus chuckled as he looked back up at the massive hydroelectric construction. "I remember it was one of her favorites. Must still be her favorite if she's beaten into all your heads huh?"

They nodded, two of them groaning while one in particular gave a sigh as he looked back up at the Dam. "I wish she were here..." Percy muttered, though Cyrus caught it with the keen hearing he possessed, courtesy of the enhanced senses granted by the Saint's Corpse and D4C. He snuck Thalia and Grover a knowing smirk.

"Still can't believe I won that bet against her." Grover piped up, before recoiling and rubbing his shoulder after a punch from Thalia. "Ow!"

"Can it Goat Boy." Thalia groused, still not happy about it all.

Cyrus chuckled while Risotto and Anette gave amused smiles, the latter more so than the former. He gestured for his group to follow him as they made their way towards the Hoover Dam.

A girl with short pink hair was sitting down in a chair inside the Hoover Dam reading a newspaper at the missing reports column, looking bored as she munched on a cheeseburger and holding a receipt as she waited for her name to be called. She was quite tall, and had dark purple eyes. She wore a long striped dark pink blouse which displayed multiple decorations of stylized leaves and flowers in gold with a fur lined jacket colored grey and black. She wore dark black boots with pink highlights and had a deerstalker hat with a spike on top that was hanging off her chair.

"Hydrangea Poronin? Your coffee is ready!" A barista called out, holding a cup of coffee in hand. The girl scowled for a moment, before getting up from her chair and marching over.

With a grumble, she took her coffee from the man, giving him a very annoyed glare. "I said, just call me HP." She scowled out in a rough voice, startling the barista as she walked back to her chair.

On her belt were the initials 'HP' along with what looked like a spray can made of solid gold...(4)

AN: Phew! Damn it took way too long for this chapter to come out, what with all the projects and things I got weighed down with.

It's definitely a little shorter than I'd hoped for, but hopefully I can make the next two chapters into something really special for you guys! :D

So! They've finally made it to Hoover Dam, after a...slight mishap. Wonder if Risotto and Anette got insurance on that thing...

Not to mention, la Squadra have caught on that the shenanigans that they're getting into involve the more divine aspects of life and are planning to report to Cyrus! Wonder how that'll go as well...

Notes:

(1) Metallica can use the iron particles in the air to stick onto Risotto's skin to turn him invisible, so it makes sense to me that the Stand would also be able to absorb the metal to replenish his own iron stores.

(2) Hmm...can you guess what he could have been dreaming about?

(3) Looking back at the fight between Risotto and Doppio, those surgical staples were very large and still left little open wounds for bacteria to infect. It had only been a short term measure so that Risotto could finish the fight and then seek medical attention after. Not to mention, first aid can't really do much to fully heal an amputated limb like what happened to Risotto, hence the need for genuine attention/healing.

(4) Hmm...can you guess the Stand from the User?

And that's that!

Hopefully you guys enjoyed the chapter as much as I enjoyed making/struggling with it.

Remember to leave solid reviews if you would be so kind. The criticism and feedback sustain my mind.

Cheers!

Beowulf