Percy and Jason didn't find anything, big shocker. They got back and helped Piper and Annabeth, but as dinner ended and it started to get dark, they wondered if the Avengers might wait for a while to come back. It was a long shot, but one that Percy started hoping for as the evening dragged on. Chiron was preparing the group at New Rome to act as cover so they could evacuate, but even if they could all fly on pegasi they still wouldn't be back for hours, New Rome's army even farther behind then that. Trucks and vans could only go so fast, even if they had been modified by Hephaestus/Vulcan kids. So most likely they wouldn't have anyone to cover them on their way out.
"Any sign of them?" Percy asked Annabeth as he slid into the seat next to her at dinner.
"Nope, I'm going to start sending people to bed soon," Annabeth said. "But I'm going to have someone in each cabin stay awake just in case we need to leave early. But if they were going to try and lure us out of camp they probably would have done it during daylight, so I don't think that the Avengers will try anything tonight. I'm not ruling anything out though." Percy nodded and kissed her before heading back to the Big Three Table. Jason was talking with Nico about plans, so Percy ate and listened without interrupting for once. They had set up evacuation routes and Percy and Jason had alerted some of their contacts in the mortal world what was going on. It was risky all of them leaving camp, monsters were going to flock to the groups they had assigned like vultures. But it wasn't like they had much choice, if the Avengers knew where they were and started waiting for them, it would only be a matter of time before one of them got caught leaving.
Soon it got dark, and Annabeth quietly assigned cabin lookout duty to some of the more mature campers, since the head counselors would be out of the cabins all night doing patrols in case the Avengers came back. By the time it was eleven Percy was sure that nothing was going to happen that night, of course that was when everything went to Hades.
"Percy, somethings wrong," Nico said. The two of them were on the hill keeping watch. Percy frowned, but he felt it too, that sixth sense that demigods got for danger. Then a few of the cabin lights started turning on below them, and with a quick glance between them Percy and Nico both started running down the hill towards the camp. They saw a thin slivery fog pouring out most of the cabin's doors, and there were only a few campers stumbling out of them. Nico ran over and started helping Will get everyone out of the Apollo cabin. Percy ran for the Hermes cabin just as a few more kids stumbled out. How had the agents gotten in the camp to put this stuff in the cabins anyway?
"Dizzy," one girl mumbled and sat down. Percy ran inside, instantly starting to feel dizzy as well. What was this gas? He ran to each bed and started pulling the last few kids up and out of the cabin, most of the Hermes kids in there right now were younger because the older ones were mostly on patrol still. They didn't wake up as he moved them, which would have worried him if he couldn't sense their blood pumping through their veins. After he made sure everyone was out, he looked around. There were only about fifty five campers in total still standing out of the hundred or so who had been in the cabins. The younger campers had been knocked out by the gas quicker, so pretty much all of the under twelves were passed out. The older campers weren't in much better shape, they had all been running in and out of the gas to get the others out of it, which meant that they were all a bit dizzy and groggy.
"Jason, we need to get everyone out of here!," Percy gasped trying to stay upright. Jason nodded sluggishly and clapped his hands together and boom of thunder shook everything. Everyone not in the cabin circle would hear it, it was the emergency signal for everyone to evacuate now. The evacuation team leaders would head for their designated meet up points, but there was now the small problem of the unconscious kids. They hadn't planned on having to move unconscious campers.
"We need to get them out of here before we're surrounded," Annabeth said coming up behind them as she pulled off her invisibility cap.
"How did they even get past the borders?! They couldn't do that earlier so why now?" Percy grumbled while trying to think of plan.
"Pegasi!" They both exclaimed at the same time. The stables were mostly empty at the moment, they had sent a good number to New Rome so they could have reinforcements to cover the evacuation as soon as possible, but there should be a couple pegasi left that could pull a couple of wagons. They wouldn't be able to fly with that much weight, but they could still cover ground pretty fast on foot. But that did mean that Percy, Annabeth, and Piper would be stuck on the ground instead of guiding everyone and keeping a look out by air. It wasn't the best plan, but there wasn't really anything they could do about it at this point given the circumstances.
"Percy, call Blackjack and any of the other pegasi that are still here, Jasen and I will go get any wagons the Hephaestus cabin haven't already taken apart to use for parts," Annabeth told him. Percy nodded and quickly gave a loud taxi whistle as he watched as the two blonds race off. Then he and Piper started trying to move all the younger campers who were knocked out closer to Cabin One, it would be easier to get them into the wagons and for the pegasi to take off from there. Soon Blackjack and five other pegasi landed close by.
"Sup Boss?" Blackjack asked, voice crystal clear in Percy's mind. "Why do I smell mortals? Is your mom here? Did she bring donuts?!" Percy felt himself smile despite what was going on, Blackjack just had the ability to make everything seem more lighthearted.
"Sorry man, no donuts," Percy told him. "We need to get away from the mortals. Maybe we can get some donuts for you and your friends once we're safe." Blackjack looked a little put out by that, but agreed to the plan once Percy explained a bit more. Then, when Annabeth waved to him from the garage Leo had built behind the Hephaestus Cabin, Percy sent Blackjack and his friends to her so that they could get moving as fast as possible. That was when Percy heard Will calling his name.
"Percy! Where's Nico?" Will asked out of breath. "I need his help!" Percy looked around, but Nico had seemed to disappear. Maybe Nico had already left to go lead one of the evacuation groups? But wouldn't Nico have told them if he was leaving?
"He was here a bit ago, but I haven't seen him since we got the last few campers out of the cabins," Percy said apologetically. Will looked around angerly, then sighed as he turned back to Percy.
"Fine, I'll find him later," Will said, but Percy could tell the son of Apollo was worried. "I need some of my siblings then, we have to clear out the infirmary. Since the mortals are inside the barrier if they get their hands on the records or medical supplies it would be really bad." Percy glanced around, they really needed everyone they could get over here covering the evacuation, but the plan had already gone of the rails when the knockout gas had come into play. Jason was now headed back towards them with two pegasi each harnessed to a good sized wagon.
"Fine, take a group and get what you need," Percy ordered. "Conner, Travis! Set up any traps over here that you can to cover our ah, uh, butts. Jace, now that the pegasi are ready I need you to go do a pass over the camp to make sure that no one's gotten lost or separated. Everyone else, let's get loaded into the wagons and make like Hades!" Percy called out and everyone started moving even faster. Once they had gotten the 45 or so campers who were unconscious into the wagons, it was time to leave.
"Boss, I hate to brake it to ya, but these are going to be way too heavy to fly with," Blackjack said pulling at his harness a bit.
"I know," Percy said aloud. "You don't need to, we just have to get out of camp, then you won't have pull so much weight." With that they started towards the woods and out of camp. Percy just hoped that everyone else was able to meet up and start evacuating as well.
Author's note: For those of you wondering how the Avengers and the S.H.I.E.L.D agents got inside the border, don't worry, I'll explain it soon. And no, it's not going to be a cheesy *I just needed a random reason* explanation, I'm actually pretty excited to see what everyone thinks when I explain it tbh ;)
Entire fic edited/updated 6/25/22