Langley, VA, 0832 Local, 27 August 2021

The email arrived in Annabeth Chase's inbox at precisely 0830 that morning. It was from a senior Special Operations Officer from the Directorate of Operations. The man's name was known to her. He had endorsed her intel assessment for the situation in Afghanistan. He was also the illegitimate son of a former Secretary of Defense. The subject line was simply, 'Your Report.' The text was more threatening without meaning to be: 'At your convenience, my office.'

Annabeth was an analyst. She had been hired to be one, she had excelled at one. While she maintained a relative level of field craft, per her contract, she was not a field asset. She was in shape, probably more so now than during her marriage as attractiveness was suddenly once again a tool to attract men. But she was not one of the muscled operators she knew the Directorate of Operations used with little oversight. But as an analyst, she knew that 'At your convenience' was the Directorate of Operations equivalent of 'get your ass here now.' Especially when the man sending it was the Directorate of Analysis's pick for youngest Deputy Director of Operations in history.

The man was sitting behind his desk when she entered. "Ms. Chase."

"Yes?"

"May I call you Annabeth?" You've been fucking my roommate for months now, I would assume you could, she thought.

She said, "Of course."

"Annabeth, six months ago you submitted a report on weaknesses in the U.S. power grid and a threat from an online individual answering to PrometheusReborn." She nodded. "I need you back in here on Monday at 0730 ready to brief that, understood?" She nodded again. "Thanks, Annabeth." He turned back to his computer and she understood the meeting was over.

Arlington, VA, 1658 Local, 28 August 2021

Percy tensed instinctively when the knock arrived on his door. He had been standing over the stove, pasta boiling on one burner, marinara sauce with beef simmered on another. This was the simplest way to enjoy an afternoon of pure lust, have food on standby. His eyes flicked first to the drawer where he concealed a Glock 19 pistol. The second glance was to the ADT console to see Annabeth Chase standing on his stoop. He pressed a button and the door automatically unlocked to allow her in. She was approaching him and he motioned toward the bottle of red wine on the counter.

"Thank God," she muttered and then poured a generous amount into her glass.

"I'm fairly certain he would not approve of why you're here." He smirked at her. She winked and then walked over to him.

"Can you still cook while distracted?" He just looked at her and then nodded. She smirked and set the glass on the counter. She then put her hands on his belt and loosened it as she sunk to her knees. Fuck me, Percy thought, maybe I can't cook distracted.

Chevy Chase, MD, 1708 Local, 28 August 2021

PrometheusReborn logged into the online chat room. Officially the room was meant for dialogue on the latest updates to a popular young adult book series. He used it for much different reasons. In two minutes PrometheusReborn would connect with in direct messages with AtlasOfLegend.

'Do you have what you promised?' The first message came in at less than three seconds after his screen read 5:10pm.

'Yes.'

'We are prepared to release the account details if you are prepared to send the file.'

'Once the money is deposited.'

'That was not the deal.'

'I know what I have.'

"So do we." PrometheusReborn spun quickly and looked at the man who had appeared in his house without a sound.

"Who are you?" the slightly built, blonde-haired man asked. The man with a scar on his face responded with a sneer.

"That is not important, Octavian." The smaller man swallowed hard. No one had ever managed to crack his encryption and learn his identity. Now this man was standing in his apartment and speaking his name.

"Does the file execute what you promised?" Octavian's eyes flickered between the man's face and the pistol in his hands.

"Why would I tell you that? You'll just kill me." The man's hand dipped downward slightly and the suppressed Sig Sauer coughed. Octavian screamed as the bullet tore through his kneecap. He collapsed to the ground.

"I'll do worse if you don't answer." Octavian was curled into the fetal position on floor. The man calmly stepped over to him and only now did Octavian notice the surgical gloves on his hands. "You still have not answered my question, Octavian." The end of the suppressor moved in the direction of his functional knee. Octavian only sobbed in answer. The man with a scar on his face pulled the trigger again. The blonde-haired man screamed as another bullet tore through his other knee. Tears leaked onto the carpeted floor.

"Octavian, does the file execute as you promised?" The near incoherent man nodded as tears continued to stream down his face.

"Good boy." The silencer buried into Octavian's shoulder. "Now, where is the file saved? And are there any safeguards to prevent my executing it?" Octavian did not answer as quickly as the man liked and he pulled the trigger again. Again screams filled the room, a room PrometheusReborn had long ago sound proofed for his visits to porn sites and when he paid for private cam shows. "You should just answer, Octavian. It only gets worse from here."

Falls Church, VA, 1845 Local, 28 August 2021

"Oh God, Frank," breathed out Hazel as Frank kneaded her shoulders in his strong hands. She was seated on their leather couch and he had reached over the back of it to give her a massage. They had made love earlier that day and Frank had been as tender as he ever had been. Throughout the night before he was restless, worried about the Marines he knew and the former one he followed. After confirming that Percy had not done anything overly foolish the night before, Frank had visibly relaxed and Hazel had managed to coax him into having a good time. Percy was several years Frank's senor and more than capable of taking care of himself, but it was one of the traits that endeared Frank to her. He truly wanted to protect everyone around him.

Alexandria, VA, 1950 Local, 28 August 2021

Jason stood out from the other joggers at this hour. He was not pushing a baby stroller but neither was he in a tight fitting professional racing top. His blonde hair was close shaven on the side and maybe an inch on top. He stood at six feet and three inches. While leaner than many fellow office jockeys due to his running, he still weighed in at two hundred pounds and many who met him believed him to still be a combat arms officer by appearance alone despite his being removed from the 101st Airborne by nearly a decade. The sun had been high in the sky when he left and now he strained his blue colored eyes against the darkness.

The watch beeped again at mile five and he turned back toward his apartment building. His separation from the Army had been finalized in 2011 after graduating from West Point in 2004. He had been offered a position at the Military Academy as a company officer to fill a major's billet, but decided to leave for the Agency. However, his kaleidoscopic eyed and dark-haired bedmate was being warned about a news story they wanted her to cover in Moscow.

It was 1937 when he cruised to a stop outside his building. Piper would be curled on the couch with a glass of wine he imagined. They were going to go to restaurant a few blocks away for dinner. During his time in the 101st, nearly all of his seven years, he had deployed four times, three times to Afghanistan and once to Iraq. He had left the Army with the Bronze Star Medal for Valor, three Army Commendations, and a bullshit Purple Heart that an Army O-6 had written him up for due to the burns and cuts resultant from a "militia" drone attack.

Piper McLean was stirring as he entered the apartment. She had apparently been dozing on the couch. Piper was the first even quasi relationship Jason had pursued since his divorce. Drew had dropped off her intent for separation in accordance with the writing he had seen on the wall about two weeks after his return from an Agency mission in North Africa back in 2017. Jason had responded with "fuck it" and signed it. He pulled his advancement package and volunteered to take the first open overseas mission. That is when he had started working with his cousin again.

Jason kissed Piper lightly on the lips as she smiled at him. She pushed herself up and her long dark hair fell across her shoulders and the Hoyas tank top shifted as she moved. The shift exposed her left breast and instead of correcting it she lifted her hand and slowly used a single finger to draw circles around the dark skin of her nipple. She lifted the finger to her lips and smiled dangerously at him.

"Fuck me," Jason muttered as he felt himself responding to her actions.

"I'd recommend fucking me instead." She shimmied her body under the sheets and then threw her gray thong at him from the bed. He pulled his shirt off and per usual he saw her gray eyes snap to the scars along his left side. When he slipped off his shorts her eyes fell on something else. She grinned at him as she threw off the sheets. He lay on the bed and pushed her legs apart as he kissed up her left leg to the place between them. He felt her fingers in the thick dark hair at the top of his head, since the sides were still skin faded with a razor. He felt her writhing underneath his tongue's work. She let it go on for several minutes before she pulled his lips to hers and breathlessly said, "Put it in me already." He obliged.

Following their pre-dinner sex, the subsequent shower, and dinner, Piper gave the Agency man one more kiss and climbed into a waiting Uber. It was to not stay the night, but they had decided that her decision in Afghanistan was forgivable but that maybe a step back was necessary. "Only if we still fuck tonight," she had countered and he had happily accepted. She swayed her hips in her LBD, knowing he was watching as she walked. "Fuck me." She was far more adventurous than his wife or the intermediary women before her, evident by hook up the first night they had met and then road head on the way to their first date before the extremely erotic videos and pictures he had received while overseas. Piper and Jason had clicked before the first date even. She had been a reporter at high school scholars conference he was attending as a representative of the CIA's summer programs.

Jason's phone was ringing as he turned back to his kitchen he knew he needed to clean. He saw the number. "Shit," he muttered.

Stafford, VA, 1529 Local, 29 August, 2021

The BMW sedan carried him to Amphitrite's house in Stafford where the smoker was already cooking the seventeen pound pork butt. Amphitrite had been Percy's dad's first wife. After their divorce he had moved to New York and met Percy's mom. Surprisingly, Amphitrite had been the one to reach out to Percy and his mom. She and Poseidon had been young at the time of their message and had simply fallen out of love. She held no ill will toward him and his memory and had asked if they were okay with her attending the funeral. Percy's mom was hesitant, but agreed. They had never regretted the decision. Amphitrite's children were much older than Percy so she had embraced having another young man running about. After the end of his time in the Marine Corps and Percy's decision to move to the National Capital Region, she had opened her house to him and still regularly invited him over for her Sunday afternoon BBQs, especially when her Oakland A's were playing his Yankees. As he approached her his phone buzzed.

Reyna had messaged him, inquiring if he had enjoyed his night. He had hoped it was an update on the casualties in Kabul, she had a much closer connection with the female Marine captain than he did. She did not know what or who he did at night, but she assumed if she had managed to fall into his bed once "lesser women" would as well, especially if he had not been in the mood to be alone, which he hadn't been. He typed out a response 'Thirty-eight, high profile analyst, blonde.' The reply came quickly, "Twice or three times?" He sent back a middle finger, then, just to shock her, because it did not happen often, 'Six if you count the first night and then me inviting her back last night.' He smirked at the message before pulling a pack of Camels from his pocket and lighting one.

"Who was she?" asked his father's first wife. A woman of many dalliances since her divorce and the first wife of a man who had acted similarly before meeting Percy's mother, she had no issue discussing his children's sex lives.

"Annabeth, works in the beltway."

"Who were you?"

"Peter Jorgenson," Amphitrite smiled. She had spent years as a psychologist for the Agency and knew of the difficulties Percy had with telling the truth to those he did not know.

"That's my favorite of your identities." She handed Percy a beer from a cooler. "Kym and Triton are coming by later. Pallas will love to see you." Percy smiled at the mention of his niece. His sister and brother had eventually accepted him, but not without some growing pains. His niece had been three at the time and loved him instantly.

"She's getting too old to enjoy being around her thirty-eight year old uncle. She's in college now."

"You'll always be Uncle Perce to her. Don't think I don't know about her calling you to get her when she was drunk at parties." Percy only shrugged. "I would rather you do that something happen to her."

"Same," came a third voice. Triton was walking across the yard to them. Percy lit another cigarette. "I'd be more mad at her, but I did the same for you," he said with a laugh. The girl in question came bounding around her father and wrapped her arms around her uncle.

"You missed my birthday," she complained. He smiled and reached into his pocket. He withdrew a velvet bag and placed it in her hand.

"This should make up for it." She pulled the golden chain with its ruby and diamond pendant out. The look on her face told him he was correct. She hugged him again, but he caught a dangerous grin on her face.

"You smell like sex." Percy did not miss a step.

"Why would you know that smell?" Smartly, she did not answer. His phone buzzed with a text. He opened it and a grim smile spread across his face. 'We've got problems. I need you in ASAP. Briefer already inbound.' Fuck me, Percy thought. He pointed to the phone and mouthed "Agency" to Amphitrite. She nodded solemnly and he quickly crossed the yard to his car.

Langley, VA, 1835 Local, 28 August 2021

The first thing Annabeth noticed walking into Jason Grace's office was her mother standing next to the window. The tall dark-haired woman was holding a framed photo in her hand. Her gray eyes matched Annabeth's. Jason was behind his desk.

"Are you sure he's the man for the job?"

"He's the best we have. I pulled his team out of Afghanistan when we identified the computer guy."

"He strikes me as headstrong and impulsive."

"He is, but that's why he always gets his target." Annabeth's mother put down the photograph and Annabeth saw a younger, uniformed Jason Grace with his arm around a rough looking Marine in uniform.

"Peter…" she whispered under her breath. Jason looked at her questioningly. What the hell? Thought Annabeth, Percy? He's been lying to me, son of a bitch. She admitted to herself they were only fucking. Given the few snippets she had caught about him it did not really surprise her that he would not tell the truth. But it's the damn principle, if I'm letting you put your dick in me, you better give me your real fucking name. She was getting angry, but heard Jason's voice again.

"Percy is the best asset the CIA, Director. He has handled more shitshows than anyone else. You're the one that got the president to sign a suspension of passe comitatus. You pulled me in to be the bulldog, the guy to take care of you problems before they're problems. He's who I use to solve them. And right now ma'am, we've got a big fucking problem right now."

"Annabeth," her mother said shortly. "You released a report on vulnerabilities of the power grid. In particular you named a single individual who you believe has the access and ability to create a cyber attack that cripples the nation." Annabeth only nodded. "I used that report and the NSA found PrometheusReborn. His real name was Octavian Delos."

"Was?"

"Someone else knew what he had." Jason said calmly and pressed a button on a remote. An image came across the screen behind him. It was a man in front of a computer. But he did not look like a man anymore. She saw at least six bullet wounds and it looked as if his face had been purposely blown off. His fingers were misshapen. Annabeth felt bile rising in her throat and was thankful when Jason turned off the screen. "NSA has been tearing that computer apart all day. They can't recreate the file that was taken from it. But they say it's a nearly twenty-four gig .exe file. The type of computer necessary to run the file is beyond what the average computer user has."

"But if the file is gone?" asked Annabeth.

"We have a lead. Octavian Delos was incredibly paranoid and had multiple cameras throughout his house. We picked up this still shot from one in the room where we found his body." The image was printed and he slid it across the table. It shown three individuals, one was Octavian Delos. One of the living ones was a brown haired woman with nearly black eyes. The other was a tall well-built man with jagged scar on his face, from a mountain biking accident after our divorce. Her mother was watching her face.

"Yes, Annabeth. It's your former husband and I assume he is working on behalf of his current employer. Atlas Industries. The girl works for them too. They are who did this to Delos, namely Luke did it. What we don't know is why they want it."

Atlas Industries was a mockery of the term industry. The only thing that Atlas produced at an industrial level was death. With an official headquarters in the deserts of Morocco, the organization had quickly and quietly established itself as the "equalizer" of the world order. The U.S. will not allow a dictator in sub-Saharan Africa to purchase weapons to use against his people? Atlas provides Iranian nerve agents instead. A warlord cannot arm his child soldiers enough to defeat the national military? Atlas provides ammunition and assault rifles. The rumors abounded that the real reason the U.S. and allies had not found WMDs in Iraq was that Atlas got them first.

There was a knock on the door and a Middle Eastern woman entered wearing a hijab. "Annabeth Chase, this Samirah al-Abbas. She works the…" Annabeth cut off Jason as she extended her hand.

"Multi-national Finance tracking." Al-Abbas smiled and nodded slightly.

"What do you have, Sam?"

"Bank transactions, between Atlas Industries and shell company called Othrys Inc. Two billion, spread across ten smaller transactions. Five of them two weeks ago, five of them."

"Today," cut in Athena Parthenos. "Payment upon delivery."

"That's our belief, ma'am."

She looked at Annabeth and Samirah. "The two of you, get everything on Othrys and Atlas. Personnel, locations, everything." She turned her attention to Jason. "NSA set up a program that would identify if the .exe file went active. They were able to parse together tell-tale signs of Delos's coding that triggered if something went live. Even if it works, we'll only have moments before it executes." Jason's face paled.

"Is there any way to stop it?"

"No, we know nothing about it. We don't know the target. We don't know where they're going to execute it from to send people to physically stop it. Our best chance is that Annabeth and Samirah manage to find something the NSA hasn't all day." Annabeth detected a slight gleam of pride in her mother's eye. She'd love if we out worked the NSA, she saw it was directed at her specifically. No, she love if I did it. "We need answers so that we can move the team Jason has on standby as soon as we know where to send them. If that file does what we believe it can…" Her voice trailed off.

"And if it does?" asked Annabeth, though she knew the answer.

"The lights go out. And if your analysis is correct, and I unfortunately believe it is, one hundred thousand Americans are dead within 72 hours of that happening."

Summary of Service

Percy: Enlisted in 2002, father killed on 9/11. Enlisted Marine from 2003 to 2009. Deployed three times to Iraq, fought in Nasiriyah and Fallujah. Married in 2003, divorced 2005. Commissioned as 2ndLt in 2009, deployed to Iraq again in 2010. 2010 applied for and accepted to Assessment and Selection for Marine Special Operations Command, three years and multiple deployments there. Returned to regular infantry in 2013, one more deployment in 2014. While in service received a Silver Star and two Bronze Stars in combat, three Purple Hearts. Signed with CIA in 2014. Still there.

Reyna: Graduated college in 2005, commissioned as a 2ndLt in the Army. In 2012 was one of the first women to pass selection into the 75th Ranger Regiment. Deployed multiple times. Left the Army in 2018 and was brought onto Percy's team.

Jason: Graduated from United States Military Academy at West Point in 2004 as an airborne officer. Spent seven years with the 101st Airborne. Married in 2009, divorced 2014. Came to the CIA in 2011. In 2018 became the go-to officer for the Director of National Intelligence.

Hazel: Graduated from United States Air Force Academy in 2013. Deployed to Ali Al Salem Air Base in 2015 and to Al Udeid Air Base in 2018. Promoted to major in the spring of 2021.

Frank: Enlisted in 2005. In 2008 he left the 82nd Airborne and passed selection into 5th Group Special Forces. Joined CIA and Percy's team in 2016.

Annabeth: No military experience. Joined Agency in 2009. Married in 2010, divorced 2016.

Clarisse: Widowed in 2011. Commissioned in 2012. In 2015 passed Infantry Officer's Course and was assigned to 1st Battalion 8th Marines. Selected for major. Still active duty.