Hi everyone! Sorry if this chapter was a bit delayed, I was doing a Marvel binge in preparation for Infinity War. Which I just got back from. And… wow. That film was amazing. I'm not spoiling anything, but if you haven't seen it yet, do it.

Personally, Thanos is one of my favorite Marvel villians of all time, and Infinity Gauntlet is in my top 10 Marvel events. I'll admit, I've even based a bit of Cell's character from Thanos. Anyway, back to the story.

To someone looking from a distance, Camp Half-Blood looked peaceful. The sun hadn't yet emerged on the horizon, draping the camp in a shroud of darkness. The campers should have all been in bed, especially given the threat of the harpies prowling around that were authorized by Mr. D to eat any campers out of bed. Fortunately, no one had suffered this fate. Yet, however, on this night, camp was much more active at night than usual. At Thalia's tree, Peleus suddenly perked up his head, alert as smoke hissed from his nostrils. Something had startled him. However, as far as the dragon could see, nothing was there. He snorted, waving his head around. Finally, he let out a grumble as he settled his head back down and went to sleep. However, as he slept, the air shimmered next to him as something passed him, heading towards the camp unseen.

Percy woke with a start. He was sure he'd heard a loud banging. He looked around the cabin. It was dark outside. The salt spring still gurgled. No other sounds but the hoot of an owl in the woods and the distant surf on the beach. In the moonlight, on his nightstand was Annabeth's New York Yankees cap. Then, Percy noticed something else that alarmed him: he couldn't hear Gohan snoring. He immediately turned and put the light on. It only confirmed what Percy feared: Gohan wasn't in the cabin. He had never come back from his dinner run. Percy had a sinking feeling in his gut. Had Gohan run off alone to save Annabeth?

"Oh, son of a"

BANG BANG.

Someone, or something, was pounding on Percy's door. He grabbed Riptide and got out of bed.

"Gohan, is that you?" Percy called. THUMP. THUMP. Percy crept to the door.

"This isn't funny!"

Percy uncapped the blade, flung open the door, and found himself face-to-face with a black pegasus.

Whoa, boss! Its voice spoke in Percy's mind as it clopped away from the sword blade. I don't wanna be a horse-ke-bob!"

"Whoa! You're not Gohan!"

Its black wings spread in alarm, and the wind buffeted Percy back a step, "Blackjack," Percy said, relieved but a little irritated. "It's the middle of the night!" Blackjack huffed. Ain't either, boss. It's five in the morning. What you still sleeping for? "How many times have I told you? Don't call me boss."

Whatever you say, boss. You're the man. You're my number one. Percy rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and tried not to let the pegasus read his thoughts.

"Hey, have you seen Gohan?" the horse cocked his head.

"Monkey boy? I think I saw him earlier with a girl heading towards the beach."

"A girl? The beach? What'd she look like? And don't call him that."

"I couldn't tell. It was dark."

"Blackjack," Percy sighed, "you're supposed to stay in the stables."

Meh, the stables. You see Chiron staying in the stables?

"Well... no."

Exactly. Listen, we got another little sea friend needs your help.

"Again?"

Yeah. I told the hippocampi I'd come get you.

Percy groaned. Anytime he was anywhere near the beach, the hippocampi would ask him to help them with their problems. And they had a lot of problems. Beached whales, porpoises caught in fishing nets, mermaids with hangnails—they'd call Percy to come underwater and help.

"All right," Percy said. "I'm coming."

You're the best, boss.

"And don't call me boss!"

Blackjack whinnied softly. It might've been a laugh.

Percy grumbled in frustration. Well, it seems he had to go to the beach anyway to drag Gohan back to the cabin before they BOTH got back into trouble. What the heck was he doing down there with a girl? And which girl was it? Thalia?

Percy looked back at his comfortable bed, one of the only things spared from the mess Gohan had made during his stay during the off season. Apparently, Gohan's mother had been a bit of a neatfreak during his childhood. So… Gohan had understandably gone a bit lazy without his mother barking at him.

Percy's bronze shield still hung on the wall, dented and unusable. Gohan's fistmark could still be seen in the center.

And on his nightstand was Annabeth's magic Yankees cap. On an impulse, he stuck the cap in his pocket.

Blackjack gave him a ride down the beach, and he had to admit it was cool. Being on a flying horse, skimming over the waves at a hundred miles an hour with the wind in his hair and the sea spray in his face—hey, it beats waterskiing any day. Percy wondered sometimes if Gohan felt the same way when he flew: that was one of the things about Gohan Percy was jealous of, being able to fly whenever he wanted, like in the Superman comics he had read when he was little though in retrospect, one would think Percy's favorite comic hero would be Aquaman, not Superman. But, some things were not to be. Even if Percy could fly, he wouldn't make it ten feet off the ground before Zeus blasted him into molecules. The only exception to this seemed to be riding on the Pegasus, maybe since Poseidon had created the first horses. Evolution be dammed, apparently.

Here. Blackjack slowed and turned in a circle. Straight down.

"Thanks." Percy tumbled off his back and plunged into the icy sea, shooting down into the darkness.

Twenty, thirty, forty feet.

As Percy got closer to the bottom, he saw three hippocampi—fish-tailed horses—swimming in a circle around an overturned boat. The hippocampi were beautiful to watch. Their fish tails shimmered in rainbow colors, glowing phosphorescent. Their manes were white, and they were galloping through the water the way nervous horses do in a thunderstorm. Something was upsetting them.

Percy got closer and saw the problem. A dark shape—some kind of animal—was wedged halfway under the boat and tangled in a fishing net, one of those big nets they use on trawlers to catch everything at once. Percy hated those things. It was bad enough they drowned porpoises and dolphins, but they also occasionally caught mythological animals. When the nets got tangled, some lazy fishermen would just cut them loose and let the trapped animals die. Percy saw those things in nature documentaries all the time, but seeing it in person was even worse.

Apparently, this poor creature had been mucking around on the bottom of Long Island Sound and had somehow gotten itself tangled in the net of this sunken fishing boat. It had tried to get out and managed to get even more hopelessly stuck, shifting the boat in the process. Now the wreckage of the hull, which was resting against a big rock, was teetering and threatening to collapse on top of the tangled animal.

The hippocampi were swimming around frantically, wanting to help but not sure how. One was trying to chew the net, but hippocampi teeth just aren't meant for cutting rope. Hippocampi are really strong, but they don't have hands, and they're not (shhh) all that smart.

Free it, lord! A hippocampus said when it saw Percy. The others joined in, asking the same thing.

He swam in for a closer look at the tangled creature. At first I thought it was a young hippocampus. He'd rescued several of them before. But then he heard a strange sound, something that did not belong underwater:

"Mooooooo!"

Percy got next to the thing and saw that it was a cow. Not to be confused with sea cows, like manatees and stuff, but an actual cow with the back end of a serpent. The front half was a calf—a baby, with black fur and big, sad brown eyes and a white muzzle—and its back half was a black-and-brown snaky tail with fins running down the top and bottom, like an enormous eel. It would actually pretty cute if it wasn't in such danger.

"Whoa, little guy," Percy said. "Where did you come from?"

The creature looked at him sadly. "Moooo!"

But Percy couldn't understand its thoughts. He only spoke horse.

We don't know what it is, lord, one of the hippocampi said. Many strange things are stirring.

"Yeah," Percy murmured. "So I've heard. With my luck, this thing is probably from a parallel earth where the entire planet is an ocean where all animals are sea hybrids. Maybe a catfish is next."

Percy uncapped Riptide, and the sword grew to full length in his hands, its bronze blade gleaming in the dark.

The cow serpent freaked out and started struggling against the net, its eyes full of terror. "Whoa!" Percy yelled. "I'm not going to hurt you! Just let me cut the net."

But the cow serpent thrashed around and got even more tangled. The boat started to tilt, stirring up the muck on the sea bottom and threatening to topple onto the cow serpent. The hippocampi whinnied in a panic and thrashed in the water, which didn't help.

"Okay, okay!" Percy said. He put away the sword and started speaking as calmly as he could so the hippocampi and the cow serpent would stop panicking. Percy didn't know if it was possible to get stampeded underwater, but he didn't really want to find out. "It's cool. No sword. See? No sword. Calm thoughts. Sea grass. Mama cows. Vegetarianism."

Percy doubted the cow serpent understood what he was saying, but it responded to the tone of his voice. The hippocampi were still skittish, but they stopped swirling around me quite so fast.

Free it, lord! they pleaded. "Yeah," Percy said. "I got that part. I'm thinking." But, Percy wasn't sure what he could do. What could he do if he couldn't cut it free? As it turned out, a solution literally dropped in. It was subtle at first, but then Percy noticed that the area was suddenly getting brighter and brighter. Then, he nearly had a heart attacked when sometime tapped him on the shoulder, whirling to see…

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me." It was, to Percy's shock, Gohan. In his Super Saiyan form, and apparently in some type of bubble shield he had formed to give himself air and protect himself from the water pressure. Gohan then waved, like he was at a parade.

"Hey! How'd you find me?" Gohan cocked his head, clearly confused. To clarify, he then pointed at his ears and made a no gesture. Apparently, Gohan's shield blocked his hearing. Which was understandable, given that Gohan couldn't communicate in water. So, Percy had to settle for hand gestures. He pointed at the cow and the net. Gohan nodded, raising a finger. A bright yellow beam shot from his finger and hit the boat, which burst into pieces and floated up, away from the cow.

Then, Gohan went to work on the net, using beams from his fingers to cut through the net like a surgeon. Percy went much more hands on. After Gohan would slice off a piece, Percy would carefully pull it out, removing lead weights and fishing hooks, yanking out knots around the cow serpent's hooves. It took a long while—after all, one wrong move could have skewered the cow like a sheskabob. The whole time, Percy kept talking to the cow fish, telling her everything was okay while she mooed and moaned.

"It's okay, Bessie," Percy said. "Good cow. Nice cow."

Finally, the net came off and the cow serpent zipped through the water and did a happy somersault.

The hippocampi whinnied with joy. Thank you, lord!

"Moooo!"The cow serpent nuzzled Percy and gave him the big brown eyes. She tried to nuzzle Gohan, but bounced off his shield.

"Yeah," Percy said. "That's okay. Nice cow. Well... stay out of trouble." Gohan gestured up and shot up towards the surface.

Percy followed and broke through the ocean. Immediately, Blackjack zoomed down and let him catch hold of his neck. He lifted Percy into the air and took me back toward the shore. Gohan followed.

"Boss, looks like you found monkey boy!"

"Hah. He found me. I'm pretty sure he went past you."

"Whatever. So…success, then?

"Yeah. We rescued a baby... something or other. Took forever. Almost got stampeded."

Good deeds are always dangerous, boss. You saved my sorry mane, didn't you?

"Just put me down on the beach." Blackjack obeyed, landing on the sand. Blackjack then took off, vanishing into the night. Gohan landed next to him with a soft thump, still in his SSJ form. This was another thing Percy never got used to. Just the sheer difference in the way he looked and acted. However, that image popped the second Gohan started groaning and stuck his fingers in his ears, twisting them around in an attempt to adjust to the change in pressure.

"Ahhhhh! This sucks."

"Just where the heck have you been?" Percy demanded.

"I had a few things to sort out. I saw you fly by on Blackjack, so I followed. Good thing I did."

"I don't need your help for everything. Especially ocean related matters."

"Well, seems we needed each other back there. Was that a cow?"

"Half cow. I have no idea what it is. Anyway, I seem to be the only voice of reason around here, you jumping the gun and running off into the night." Gohan simply cocked his head, as if something else had caught his interest.

However, it seemed that something had caught Gohan's attention, ducking under Percy's arm and darting towards the dining area.

"What are you doing?" Percy hissed, following the young Otherworlder. Gohan had had to make sure. And sure enough, his eyes hadn't been lying to him. He saw a figure—a boy hunkered down behind a Greek column, like he was hiding from someone.

It was Nico, but it wasn't even dawn yet. Nowhere near time for breakfast. What was he doing up there?

"Nico? Oh great, it seems that everyone is out of bed tonight." Percy rolled his eyes.

Before Gohan could call out and ask "What are you doing?" real loud, when Gohan's ears caught other voices—two girls talking at one of the dining tables. At this ungodly hour of the morning? Well, unless you're the goddess of dawn, he guessed. It seemed that EVERYONE was out of bed tonight.

"Can you hear them?" Gohan nodded. Then, to his surprise, Percy took Annabeth's magic cap out of his pocket and put it on, vanishing on the spot.

"You took that?" Gohan rolled his eyes before turning to listen.

He couldn't see the girls very well in the dark, but I knew their voices: Zoe and Bianca. It sounded like they were arguing.

"Are you serious?" Bianca was asking.

"Yes. Several satyrs just brought her up from the beach moments ago. Apparently, the Demeter girl had left her cabin and was walking alongside the beach, and was struck by a large wave from the ocean. Soaked to the bone from head to foot."

"And she was injured?"

"Yes. She claims she broke her ankle. Though it seems more like she twisted it. Whichever it is, she cannot come with us."

"Seriously? And Phoebe?"

"Even worse. It cannot be cured, Not quickly, at any rate."

"But how did it happen?" Bianca asked.

"A foolish prank," Zoe growled. "Those Stoll boys from the Hermes cabin. Centaur blood is like acid. Everyone knows that. They sprayed the inside of that Artemis Hunting Tour T-shirt with it."

"That's terrible!"

"She will live," Zoe said. "But she'll be bedridden for weeks with horrible hives. There is no way she can go. It's up to me... and thee."

"Is this quest cursed or something?" Bianca asked.

"I will admit that it seems so. But this changes nothing. We must go."

"But the prophecy," Bianca said. "If Phoebe and Katie can't go, we only have three. We'll have to pick two others."

"There is no time," Zoe said. "We must leave at first light. That's immediately. Besides, the prophecy said we would lose two."

"In the land without rain and to a wall of water," Bianca said, "but that can't be here."

"It might be," Zoe said, though she didn't sound convinced. "The camp has magic borders. Nothing, not even weather, is allowed in without permission. It could be a land without rain."

"And the wave? You just said it yourself! Weather isn't allowed in without permission. So how'd it get here?"

"Bianca, hear me." Zoe's voice was strained. "I... I can't explain, but I have a sense that we should not pick someone else. It would be too dangerous. They would meet an end worse than Phoebe's or the Demeter girl's. I don't want Chiron choosing a camper as our fifth companion. And... I don't want to risk anymore Hunters."

Bianca was silent. "What do you think it meant? The false owl?"

"I do not know. The owl is Athena's symbol, so perhaps something with her. We do not have time to press the issue. We must prepare to leave."

"You should tell Thalia the rest of your dream."

"No. It would not help."

"But if your suspicions are correct, about the General—"

"I have thy word not to talk about that," Zoe said. She sounded really anguished. "We will find out soon enough."

"You're afraid." It was a statement, not a question. Zoe hesitated, clearly teetering on responding or not.

"I… cannot tell you what I fear, Bianca. This Otherworlder is just the beginning. But I fear that he will not be the last. And those who follow will not be as friendly. This is how it started before, Bianca. The same signs."

"This stuff happened before?" Bianca asked.

"Yes. And it ended in death. So much death and devastation, the likes which this world had never seen since. I pray this is only the Titans and not… something worse."

"What could be worse?" Zoe was silent.

"Come. Dawn is breaking."

Nico scooted out of their way. Gohan ducked back before Nico could see him.

As the girls sprinted down the steps, Zoe froze, her eyes narrowing. Her hand crept toward her bow, but then Bianca said, "The lights of the Big House are on. Hurry!"

And Zoe followed her out of the pavilion.

Gohan knew exactly what Nico was thinking. He took a deep breath and was about to run after his sister when Gohan reached out and grabbed him, nearly giving Nico a heart attack.

"Don't." Nico's eyes widened.

"Listen to him, Nico." Nico's jaw dropped when Percy materialized out of thin air.

"Gohan! Percy!" He almost slipped on the icy steps as he spun around to look at them. "Where did you guys come from?"

"I dropped in, literally."

"I've been here the whole time. Invisible."

He mouthed the word invisible. "Wow. Cool. And flying? It looks totally awesome."

"It is. Look, how did you know Zoe and your sister were here? Were you spying on them?"

He blushed. "I heard them walk by the Hermes cabin. I don't... I don't sleep too well at camp. So I heard footsteps, and them whispering. And so I kind of followed."

"And now you're thinking about following them on the quest," Gohan guessed. "How did you know that?"

"Because if it was my sister, I'd probably be thinking the same thing. But you can't."

He looked defiant. "Because I'm too young? What about all those stories you told me about your adventures? You were younger than me in some of them!"

"Well, I had my dad and his friends with me the whole time. And I have abilities. You don't."

"But-!"

"And because they won't let you, Nico. They'll catch you and send you back here. And... yeah, because you're too young. You remember the manticore? There will be lots more like that. Things even worse. I'm super powerful, and even I've nearly died on this quest more times than I can count. And this quest is even more dangerous than those. More dangerous. Some of the heroes will die."

He shoulders sagged. He shifted from foot to foot. "Maybe you're right. But, but you can go for me."

"Say what?"

"You're super powerful! You're like Superman! You save people! You can go!"

"Nico, the Hunters don't like boys," Percy butted in. "If they find out—"

"Then don't let them find out. Follow them. Keep an eye on my sister! You have to. Please?" Gohan's face softened. Nico's pleading sounded familiar. Very familiar.

"Nico—"

"Oh please! You're both planning to go anyway, aren't you?"

Gohan traded looks with Percy. Neither boy said anything, but the look they traded said the same thing. Gohan sighed, placing a hand on Nico's shoulder.

"Of course I'm going. I have to find Annabeth, and I need to fix my mistakes. I have to help, even if they don't want me to."

"I won't tell on you," he said. "But you guys have to promise to keep my sister safe." Percy swallowed nervously.

"I... that's a big thing to promise, Nico, on a trip like this. Besides, she's got Zoe, Grover, and Thalia—"

"Of course we will. I won't let you down." Gohan smiled. Percy looked at him, clearly nervous.

"Get going, then!" he said. "Good luck!" Gohan grinned as he patted Percy on the shoulder.

"Cover for us, will you? You should get back to the cabin." Nico nodded

"I'll make something up." Nico smiled crookedly. "I'm good at that. Go on!" He then took off, sprinting towards the cabins.

"What are you doing?" Percy demanded. Gohan simply grinned.

"We don't have anything packed, we don't have a plan!" Gohan laughed as he pulled Percy closer to him

"I know! Man, I've missed this! We're off on another whirlwind adventure!" Then, to Percy's horror, Gohan jumped, still clutching Percy.

They landed on the top of Half-Blood Hill in time to see the camp's van disappearing down the farm road, probably Argus taking the quest group into the city. After that they would be on their own.

"Well, that's just great!" Percy complained.

"Don't worry. I can carry you."

"No way! There's gotta be another way!"

Then, fate seemed to answer Percy's message. They heard the beating of huge wings. Blackjack landed next to him. He began casually nuzzling a few tufts of grass that stuck through the ice.

"Well, that was convenient." Gohan grinned. Blackjack neighed, looking at Percy.

If I was guessing, boss, I'd say you need a getaway horse. You interested?

Percy smirked, looking at Gohan.

"All right, let's do this."