The door exploded inwards in a torrent of water, sending half a dozen gang members tumbling. I churned the waters, making it impossible for them to regain feet. One plucky soul in a sleeveless t-shirt and a-ok, that was a really cool dragon tattoo- had been sitting on a pile of crates when I broke the door down, keeping him out of the wash. He produced a pistol and started firing at me.

Dragon Tattoo the Plucky Gangster was maybe sixty feet from me when he started firing, and I closed the gap before he had gotten the third shot off. I crushed his gun hand in mine and shot him a winning smile. "Odd way to offer a man a handshake, but nice to meetcha!" Great thing about fighting mortals? You get to be such a badass.

Plucky started cursing me out in some language I didn't understand. My hand rose, gesturing for silence as I kicked over a box filled with white powder in little plastic baggies. Score. That warranted a fist pump. I'd been following a group of people wearing ABB colors, but it took an hour or more of listening to them before I figured out that a few dealers were meeting up here to pick up their wares for the week. I sort of realized that I should lay off on the ABB and focus on the others gangs, but they were just so easy to target out here in the docks. Plus, their name could have been better.

"Hey, Plucky, can I borrow your phone?"

"Go to hell!"

"Ah, Nah. Been there. Weather is awful." Plucky hadn't volunteered his phone, so I just took it and swapped out his SIM card for the one in the phone Annabeth had gotten me for my 17th birthday.

I dialed up the precinct and waited. There was no reason to clog up the emergency lines for what was a pretty resolved situation. The officer, or receptionist or phone guy or whatever, on the line answered the phone with high, reedy voice accompanied by what sounded like a rustling chip bag.. "Brockton Bay, 25th precinct."

"Hey, law enforcement! This is Riptide."

"Who? Wait a second, you're a cape?" The chip bag rustling intensified. "Cape matters are best directed to the PRT."

"Yeah, well, I just thought you'd want to know that there's half a dozen ABB guys lying in a storehouse with a bunch of drugs on, let's see..." I checked out the window. "This is Guilford and Sixth. By the docks."

"Hold on, let me get the PRT on the…"

"Yeah, hanging up now."

Plucky could have bored holes in iron with the glare he shot me, but he still got his phone back in one piece, SIM card and all. No need to be more of a jerk than I had to be. There was nothing more to do but to hold the gangsters captive until the cops arrived and I had to run.

"Mommy, Daddy, look!" The little boy cried out as he gripped the railing on the boardwalk. He wasn't the only one staring, though. Huge pillars of water spouted out of the water like a fountain while I skated between them. I could hear more and more people taking notice of my little display. Warmth blossomed in my chest and I barked out a laugh. You guys think that's cool, huh? I dived beneath the waves, canceling the pillars, and twisted underwater, gathering speed and power with every moment.

I burst from the surface, a massive gleaming serpent of seawater twisting through the air with me and crashing in the waves. I jumped twice more, and as I fell for the last time, I leaped from the serpent at the height of it's arc and landed on the crest of a wave, falling into a deep bow as I rolled in to shore. Hoots and clapping broke out among the onlookers. Most of them, anyway, the others... I cracked a grin. I guess they'd been conditioned to fear powerful capes.

I'd do something about that.

I lay on a bed of seaweed under the waves, my eyes tracing the path of a golden drachma as it fell lazily through the water to me. The coin touched my palm, briefly becoming dry before I threw it into the water above me again, subtly guiding the currents to flip it end over end and play with the light. I had half a dozen of the coins with me, and they probably were worth a fair amount of money for the gold alon. Of course, selling them without it looking incredibly suspicious was going to be a trick all on it's own.

A lot could happen in a short while though. Today had seen seven dealers arrested, a few thousand dollars worth of drugs destroyed, and two performances on the boardwalk. Heh. The second time they'd brought out stage lights to light the serpent up. I let myself hope that maybe things would turn out alright. Hah. And maybe Zeus will join a monastery. I'll have to keep my eyes open.

Currently, my best source of news was the internet cafe in the library near the docks. I'd never been an internet guy before but, dyslexia aside, I was really warming up to it, particularly the PHO discussions about yours truly. Most just wanted to wish me well, a few were scared and a vocal minority just used me as a springboard to talk about how the government was running a kidnapping ring or something. One of the more helpful guys had suggested I try shipping an iceberg down to the middle east so they could use it as a fresh water source. I don't know if I could have done it back home, but here, it might be possible. I'd been finding it easier and easier to gently move large bodies of water and alter currents ever since I came here. Maybe with no river spirits or titans or gods, my powers are less contested?

Man, was I ever glad that I hadn't taken the Undersiders' stupid offer. I could do this! It wouldn't even be hard. I'd faced worse odds alone with a heck of a lot less experience at my back and come out fine. I didn't need a pack of Darth Vader wannabes dragging me down.

I chewed on that thought for a moment, and considered if I should be more worried about the ABB or the Empire.

Meh. I can take them.

Short chappie, but I must sleep. Next chapter is long and needs editing, so it might be a while. Once again, I'll let the first one or two people who want to beta look at it. Thanks for reading! EDIT: Special thanks to Monkey D. Funkey and Dancingrage.