Chapter 76
Harry
Hello, my name is Harry Potter and I am still in this story. No really. Since Percy disappeared into the underworld, well at first we all shared the duties of running the company, but Annabeth threw herself into the work and managed to get everything operating smoothly, while being an emotional basket case. Since his return, well at least at first, she was an unbearable bitch and we all hated the way she treated Percy.
They worked through their issues apparently and all was well in the Jackson home again which meant we didn't have to put up with Annabeth's emo bullshit anymore. That was all Percy's problem now.
Don't get me wrong, I, and I think I can speak for everyone on this, well, we just love Annabeth and Percy. She had every right to be angry, but, well not at Percy. Not like that. We just did not approve of how she treated him when he got back. Oh well. Not our business or problem.
Ginny and I couldn't be happier. Ginny was in the pro league now and I was her biggest fan, I never missed a match and the Holyhead Harpies were doing great with her this year. We too had decided to marry, I couldn't live without my Ginny, but were waiting until her pro tour ended. If she made the cut for the All England team it might get put off until after the next World Cup. I had been offered a couple try outs but turned down the opportunity due to my company obligations and that I now headed up the Auror department charged with chasing down the last few of the dark wizards still at large from the Second Voldemort war. They were laying very low and difficult to find, but once located were laughably easy to capture.
All in all life was good, and looking better all the time.
Of course now we were worried about the solstice council and what it might bring, but those in the know didn't seem too concerned. Apparently Percy had supplied the gods with the answers they wanted and the focus now was on who had taken my sword, Backbiter, to the fates and who had assisted them in leaving Tartarus. It was none of us, so we were chill about it. Of course that would change.
The day of the solstice we all expected Percy and Annabeth to be summoned to Olympus at midnight, but nothing happened. Later that morning we got the call.
It was a Saturday so Leo was playing grill master again, not that any of us minded. Ginny didn't have a game and was able to join us so we had all of the original Americans, DA 1, and Rachel's new boyfriend Tim there. It was the first time some of us had formally met Tim, but all of us had seen him around the coffee shop at Jupiter, and Hermione remembered him from the cafe in Diagon Ally. Super nice guy with many interesting view points, especially on urban planning, and he even offered to help Leo upgrade the urban training environment with his proficiency in construction spells. I really respected that after Hogwarts he had worked his way through college and would come out debt free. He apparently had some scholarships, but had picked the rest of the cost by working both at the cafe and at the Jupiter coffee shop, but later told us he mainly covered his costs with a job tending bar at the Lotus Casino a few years back.
Just before dinner was served, while Tim and Rachel were making goo goo faces at each other that were competitive with the ones Percy and Annabeth were making, Rachel's eyes turned yellow and green smoke began coming from her mouth. This was probably disconcerting on a second date.
"Ares is fallen as Apollo once did.
Retrieve him from the place where Tyson once lived.
You better go now before he finds himself dead
Lest Zeus put a price upon Percy's head.
No. Really, you better go now and take him to Chiron,
His immortality he must re-earn
Let the Acropolis of Megara be his first beacon."
Then she threw up.
"Damn it so fucking much!" Annabeth nearly screamed... "Of all the bullshit... I just got him back!" She shouted at the sky.
"Who is going?" Percy wearily asked.
"Well golly fucking gee willikers Percy! I guess you are! So I am too! Piper can you watch the kids?"
"Uh sure, but Annabeth..."
"No, we will pick him up and take him to Half Blood. That is all for now. Geez of all the jerk face bullshit damn titty shit hydrologist moronic crap overs..." Her voice faded as she made up new and inventive curse words.
"I'll go." I volunteered, as did Nico, Ron, Hermione, Frank, Jason, Reyna and Neville.
"Okay, that's enough." Percy said before everyone signed up, and they all would have too. "Everyone got your gear?"
"Sure, but where are we going?"
"New York. the ally two blocks from where I grew up. That's where Tyson slept when he was homeless. I'm pretty sure its where Apollo fell a few years ago. Sounds like we better hurry. Leo, keep dinner warm, we shouldn't be long."
No one wanted to say "That's what you said last time Percy." Well Leo probably wanted to say it, but the anger in Annabeth's eyes made him err on the side of discretion.
We rushed to the Jackson residence and took the door way to Percy's mother. Its not where they lived at the time but was only a few blocks further. After quick 'hellos' we took the elevator to the street level and did a quick run to the ally.
Yes that was Ares alright. Except he looked to be about fifteen, covered with zits and as scrawny as Percy was when he got back from the underworld. So he didn't look like the god of war, but he had apparently landed in the middle of a gang turf fight and was appeared to be ready to take on both sides armed only with a board from a broken pallet.
Perhaps Ares was unfamiliar with contemporary gang violence as his opponents all seemed to be armed with pistols instead of boards, and they didn't seem to be intimidated by his.
"Alright! Lets put those guns down. We're here to pick up this guy and then you guys can get back to shooting each other" Percy yelled as we all drew our wands. Well most of us did.
"Bitch, you ain't from these streets if you fight with sticks" the smallest, scrawniest gangsta laughed as he turned what appeared to be a 9mm towards us. He was no more than twelve."Hmmm, so apparently he has true sight" I thought to myself.
Then a glowing rainbow appeared above his head. Crap.
"Don't matter bitch, I have a black belt in twelve gauge" Hermione replied as she drew her Bernelli, fired with a report that sounded like a cannon going off in the alley and knee capped him before shooting low into the rest. A few got lucky and were hit by stunning spells before Hermione could shoot them, although Annabeth, feeling the rage apparently, cut one of their other members arm off at the wrist before slicing another across the abdomen. Percy was using a spell he had learned from Snape called 'Sectumspempra' that caused long gashes across the bodies of the several guys he hit with it as thought they had been slashed by a saber. We each had to fight at least two, but it was still over before they had a chance to discharge their weapons.
Nico cast an accio and all their weapons came to him. We kept the better ones, including a nice Sig .40 Hermione claimed as a prize of war, then unloaded and scattered the rest amongst their moaning, writhing bodies while Annabeth, Neville and Percy dealt with Ares.
"Excellent! You fight as though you were my own children! Now, I require you to" was all he got out before Annabeth punched him in the face.
"That's for causing my husband to be gone four years asshole! Neville, remember Mexico City?"
"I sure do Annabeth" as he cast tentacula that caused vines to grow from the asphalt below Ares and bind him.
"Release me! I am Ares! Child of Zeus and God of War!" he shouted before a vine covered his mouth.
Percy grabbed a wallet from the back pocket of Ares' pants, flipped it open and announced "According to this you are Basil Littmenos... doesn't that mean 'loser' in Greek Annabeth?"
"You know, I think it does! Or close enough. Come on we need to wrap this up, I hear sirens."
Sure enough someone had heard Hermione's shots and called 911. We had moments before the cops arrived, and a bunch of gangsters with gunshot and knife wounds is hard to explain.
Everyone gathered in a circle for transportation when Percy said "Stop! We have to take this kid with us."
"Why?" Neville asked.
"Because he just got claimed by Iris. How old are you kid?"
"Fuck you!" He yelled as he writhed in pain and gripped his severely damaged knee.
"Wrong answer" Percy replied as he grabbed the kid by the wrist and dragged him back to the circle. We held hands and Neville, being the only one with a wand still out, apperated us to Half Blood.
"You cabin is over there" Percy told Ares, then punched him in the face.
"What was that for?"
"Hitting on Annabeth while I was away."
Chiron ran out to us, surveyed the scene and asked "Another one?"
"Apparently so. It seems the gods have figured out who helped Eris escape." Annabeth answered for all of us, before swift kicking Loser in the nads. "And that's for pissing Percy off you stupid fucko!"
"This guy goes to the infirmary. Iris claimed him just as Hermione knee capped his ass."
"How old are you?" Chiron asked.
"Be very careful how you answer." Annabeth suggested as the teary eyed child stared in awe at what was certainly his first centaur.
"Twelve."
"Rather young to be a dumb ass isn't it, bitch?" Hermione asked, still holding her shotgun.
With that we left and got back to lunch.
"Fucko?" I asked Annabeth with a giggle as we ate some of the best steaks and bbq brisket ever, well, Piper and Hazel had salads, their loss. Why an immortal who could only gain weight if they wished it would diet was beyond me.
"Yes. Fucko. And lets not use that sort of language around the kids." She smiled.
"Should I say 'hydrologist' instead?"
"Point taken. Kids, everything mommy said earlier when she was upset? Never use those words, okay?
"Okay mommy" Tee smiled. I knew he had memorized every word to use later. He was a seriously cool kid.
We discussed the prophecy and what it meant that Ares was mortal for the time being, but didn't reach any concensus other than it would probably fall upon us to keep his sorry butt alive while he was mortal so that later he could treat us like crap when he rejoined the pantheon. As annoying as Apollo had been he was basically cool about it. Ares, in his Greek form, had always been a jerk and it was noted that he had already tried to order us around before Neville's vines had silenced him.
Frank pointed out that his father, Mars, the Roman aspect, was one of the better godly parents and we all had to agree. At least Mars was on our side and never got one of us trapped in the underworld. Although he took his time about claiming Frank, he had done right by him since then and advocated war only as a last resort and only with definitive goals, ideals or people to defend, Ares was clearly ambivalent towards both us and humanity.
"Does anyone know where Megara is located?" Hermione asked.
"Probably Greece. It sounds Greek." Reyna replied.
"Yes, its a small town about 20 miles west of Athens, It is right on the ocean." Annabeth replied looking up from her laptop.
"Oh! I know that place, nice town, sweet people, but..." Calypso said.
"But?" Percy asked.
"There is, or at least was, a temple of Nyx out side of the town near where the Temple of St Stephen the Christian martyr is located. That's, well, that is a pretty dark place."
"Well I guess that is where we start. How do we get Ares there?"
"You mean 'Mr Loser'?" Annabeth asked.
"Yes, I guess the Argo III, that makes the most sense unless we fly, and we've never really done that so..." Hazel said until she was interrupted by the sudden appearance of Hermes.
"That's his problem, you shouldn't worry about it."
"Oh, hello." Percy said to the messenger of the gods.
"Greetings to all, may I join you?"
"Of course! Of course! You are always welcome Hermes." Leo replied
"Thank you, and thank you for rescuing my friend Iris's brat. Truly a terrible child." He said as he sat. Hermes was a regular visitor to New Ionia and took a special interest in Caly and Tee, given that one or the other was his hero son reborn. No one was sure which was which and gender switching on rebirth wasn't unheard of apparently.
"As I was saying, and I bring this message from the pantheon, it is Ares' quest, not yours. Your only job is what it currently is, to ensure that the participants in the quest do not die. Obviously Lord Zeus and Lady Hera takes a special interest in a quest involving their child, no matter how disappointed they are in him, and in a god trying to redeem himself, but it is his to organize and execute. You just look over his shoulder and keep him from getting dead, Understood? Oh Leo, this brisket is excellent, you have certainly out done yourself as always."
"Thank you, I worked hard on it. Brisket is a tricky smoke. So we just treat it like any other quest?"
"Certainly. You haven't lost a child yet, although this one, well it will be difficult. Megara is just the first stop. Ultimately he must capture Eris and return her to Tartarus. Megara is merely a way point on that journey. I do not envy his task, and I am to ask you to take special care in looking out for him, although any grudge you hold against him at the juncture is certainly understood by all. Just don't let him get too killed."
