The Scars will heal. Eventually.

Percy POV

My heart beat painfully as the images flashed by once more: Falling with Annabeth, holding her broken body, trudging through hell without her, and all the horror that came after.

I desperately tried to make it stop, but to no avail. The torture, the deaths, the battles and the loss, all of it came crashing down on me at once, bringing with it the unfamiliar sensation of drowning.

One by one, the faces of all those I had failed passed by me. Bianca looked at me before she climbed into Talos. "Percy…"

Zoe Nightshade looked away from the stars to see me, as she lay dying, "Percy…

Charles Beckendorf, looked at me before he detonated the explosion on the Princess Andromeda. "Percy!"

Michael Yew looked at me before I stabbed down on that bridge in Manhattan, "Percy!"

Selina glanced at me as she charged the Drakon, "Percy!"

Bob and Damasen looked at me as the doors to Tartarus closed with me in it, sentencing them to certain death, "Percy!"

Then, my heart broke all over again as my friends stood before me, on that dreaded battlefield. Leo smiled at me with that goofy grin of his as he walked in front, "Wake up dude!"

I blinked in confusion, "What?"

One by one all of them shouted, "Wake up! Wake up! Percy wake up! WAKE UP!"

I shot up in my bed, breathing heavily and drenched in sweat. I quickly noticed Tyson looking down at me, his brow furrowed worriedly, "You're awake! …. are you okay brother?"

I caught my breath and forced myself to calm down. I was asleep. That explained it. I hadn't slept very much at all since I came to this new universe. It always led to nightmares. I took a deep breath and put on a smile, "I'm alright. What happened?"

He stepped back, revealing that we were in our room in Mount Justice, "You were knocked out by M'gann. You kind of lost it when you saw…"

Like that it all rushed back to me, and I clenched my fist in anger, "Annabeth…"

"It's not a trick brother," Tyson assured me, "It was just a coincidence. She swore that she wasn't lying."

I looked at him in surprise, "A coincidence?"

He nodded sadly, and let me take a moment for it to sink in. "Huh… I'd curse the fates, but I'm not sure if they even have influence on me anymore. Is everyone okay?"

He nodded happily, "Everyone is fine. In fact, they're waiting for you!"

I raised an eyebrow, "Mission?"

He grinned widely, "Even better: Beach trip!"

I stared at him, "Excuse me?"

He turned and rummaged through the drawers, before pulling at a blue pair of swim trunks. "The team decided it was time to have some fun for once, so they're all out at the beach waiting for you!"

I took the trunks carefully, "Uh huh…. So they're trying their best to get on my good side."

Tyson frowned, "What? No! they just thought it would be fun! Come on Percy you love the beach!"

I chuckled as I stood up from sitting on my bed, "Well I would be weird if I didn't. Okay then, I'll go. It will give me a chance to apologize for my freak out."

Tyson looked sadly, "You don't have to…. They know what happened."

I tensed up as I began to change into the trunks. "How much?"

"I didn't tell them much, but… M'gann saw it all when she had to knock you out. She's still pretty shaken up."

I winced, "Damn… Is she at the beach too?"

"Yeah… Artemis is to." He watched carefully for my reaction, nodding when I didn't freak out, "She was a little uncertain at first, but the others convinced her it would be a good opportunity to get to know your better side."

I snorted, "You mean the side that isn't try to kill her!"

"Exactly!" Tyson beamed. I sighed as I threw on the trunks and a t shirt. "Alright, well, let's go then. "

Tyson happily lead me through the cave, towards the outside exit. I noticed that he was also dressed in swimwear, a normal shirt over a pair of bright red trunks. However, as we entered the living room, we stopped at the sight of Batman, watching us carefully by the kitchen counter. "You're awake."

I could sense Tyson's tenseness at the man, so I stepped in front of him, "I am."

He kept his expression unreadable, "Are you better?"

I sighed, "Look, Batman, I know I haven't been making things easy for you as of late. I'm actually not sorry for a lot of it, but that freak out was— "

"Understandable." I froze as he interrupted me. "there's no need to apologize."

I stared at him in confusion, "Understandable? How could you… Did M'gann— "

"No." Batman stated firmly, "I highly doubt that she would reveal your secrets that easily. I convinced Martian Manhunter to … upload what he saw to my brain, so to speak."

I raised an eyebrow, "Oh."

He seemed to lose a bit of his stiffness as he said, "It was… difficult to process at first. But I got through it. It gave me a much better sense of your character. I was impressed."

I said nothing and just waited for him to speak again, he continued with, "I won't doubt you again, though I can't say the same for the others. I see now where you learned your philosophy of killing, though I still don't condone it."

I rolled my eyes, "I didn't expect you to."

He nodded, "With all that being said, I still should warn you that while you have faced many powerful beings before, Few of them compare to Superman."

I smirked and opened my mouth to speak, but Batman held a hand up, "I know. He isn't always the most intimidating, or even the most intelligent being around, but he has unmatched power. We are all lucky that he was raised with the orals he has now. If he wasn't… our would might not have stood a chance."

I nodded thoughtfully, "So don't make fun of him is what you're saying?"

Batman sighed, "Don't push your luck is what I'm saying. You may be a—no. Superman is practically a god himself, unlike anything you've ever seen. Just… don't take him lightly."

I sighed, "Fine. I'll take him seriously, but I have to crack a joke now and then! If I don't I wouldn't be me anymore."

Then, to my surprise, a small smirk appeared on Batman's face. "I know. Also, I should explain the "consequence" I mentioned yesterday."

I deadpanned, "Really?"

He shrugged, "Just because you earned my respect, doesn't mean you earned exemption from all consequences. Relax, it was never supposed to be too harsh. You just have to accept Artemis onto your team, and make an appearance on a certain talk show to explain about you and your brother."

I raised an eyebrow, "A talk show? Really?"

He sighed, "Yes. Unfortunately, it is one of the best ways to spread the word to as many people as possible. You'll go in the suit of course, and you will be accompanied by one of the other leaguers. Anyone but me really."

I found myself picturing Batman and I on Conan together, and couldn't help but let out a chuckle, "Yeah that doesn't seem like your thing.

He nodded, "Enjoy your beach day until then. You've earned it." He nodded to Tyson before turning and headed towards the teleporter room, leaving Tyson and I to watch him go.

Tyson spoke up behind me, "I remember the fight with Typhon vividly, yet he still scares me more."

I laughed loudly at that, causing my brother to look at me incredulously, "I'm serious! I think he might be a son of Nyx or something."

I imagined the primordial goddess for a moment, raising the brooding bat, "You might just be onto something there pal. Now come on."

Tyson seemed to instantly forget Batman as we continued towards the exit. As we walked however, I thought about the conversation carefully. In the end, I came to the conclusion that, while Batman's respect for me grew, so do did mine for him. He did look at me with pity, fear, or disbelief, all of which I had experienced from Martian Manhunter after he looked into my mind. I was starting to understand why Batman was so respected among the people of this world.

It was also something I was dreading from M'gann as we made our way down the mountain towards the ocean, She was one of the nicest, most well-meaning girls I've ever met, but she wasn't perfect. I suspected things would be awkward between us for a while.

We soon emerge from the tree line at the base of the mountain and spotted the rest of the team already on the beach, Like Tyson and I, they were all wearing bathing suits as well.

Robin and Superboy had similar black trunks, with a dash of white on SB's and a dash of red on Robin's. They were both shirtless, showing off their well-defined muscles, as they faced off against Wally and Kaldur in volleyball. I rolled my eyes when I saw robin still wearing sunglasses

Kaldur and dark blue trunks on and a Wally had orange. With both their shirts off as well, I was surprised to find that Kaldur's tattoos continued all the way to his back and chest, and that Wally actually had some muscle.

Watching them under an umbrella were M'gann and Artemis, who had taken off the green costume in exchange for a green bikini, I guess she knew what worked for her. M'gann on the other hand had on a yellow bikini, which went surprisingly well with her green skin.

I went to walk forward but stopped when I noticed Tyson wasn't moving, "What's up?"

He looked away, a slight blush on his face, "It's nothing, sorry I'm coming."

I shrugged and led the way to the group. When they saw us coming the guys stopped their game and looked at me M'gann and Artemis sat up and turned to me as I walked up to their right. I looked at all of them before saying, "How's everyone's day."

They looked at me motionlessly for a moment, before they released a chorus of "Not bads" and "pretty goods" while M'gann and Artemis remained silent. M'gann seemed to be avoiding eye contact with me while stealing glances at the same time, and Artemis was just staring at me with an eyebrow raised.

I sighed, "Yeah, let's just address the elephant on the beach: I lost it again yesterday."

Artemis' eyes widened, "You mean that's happened before?"

I nodded, "Once."

"It was way worse that time." Wally commented, "I think he's getting better."

"I'll be better when it doesn't happen anymore." I stated firmly. Before looking down at Artemis, "I want to start by apologizing to you for the misunderstanding."

She stood up in front of me and crossed her arms, showing off her athletic body, while also radiating a stubborn attitude that reminded me painfully of my Wise girl. It helped that a close up look at her uncovered face showed small differences between her and Annabeth, but I still found myself screaming internally that it was not her as she asked, "So are you really a god?"

I was a bit taken aback by the question, while also noticing the others tense up. Wally cringed and said, "He doesn't really like that word."

I smiled, "It's alright Wally. It's a fair question… I'm not really sure what I am at this point. Most gods of my world are so much more powerful than I am, but the one thing that is exclusive only them," I brought my thumb up to my mouth and bit down, before holding it up for her to see, "Is this: Ichor."

Artemis looked at my divine blood in wonder, "It's… gold… you have that running through your entire body?"

I shrugged feeling a little awkward as she stared curiously at my thumb, "As far as I know."

Artemis stared at it a moment more, before suddenly reaching out a hand and pinching my wrist, causing me to yelp in surprise, "Ow."

She rolled her eyes and looked back at my wrist, "Huh, look at that."

I looked down as the other guys came forward as well, to see the place where she pinched me, becoming discolored as my blood rushed to the area, only instead of turning red, like it would if I had red blood in my veins, it turned a slight gold color.

"That is interesting…" Kaldur commented.

"It makes sense though." Robin said, earning a hum of agreement from Wally.

Artemis then returned her attention to my thumb, where the drop of ichor still lay formed. After a moment, she stared reaching toward it with her index finger, to which I recoiled away from.

"What?" She asked, "I wasn't going to do anything weird, I was just curious if it was warm like blood."

I looked at her uncertainly, but before I could speak, Tyson beat me to it, "The blood of a god is a powerful thing. There hasn't been a lot of interaction between Ichor and the mortals. It could cause a lot of trouble."

Artemis shrugged, "Okay well you just said that you're nowhere near as powerful as the other gods, so it can't be that bad."

I stared at her quizzically for a few moments, but relented when she continued to stare back, "Fine."

I felt everyone tense up as the archer pressed her own finger against my thumb, mushing the ichor between them.

She blinked, "Well that was— Agh!"

We both recoiled as she yelped in pain. I soon recovered from my shock, and grabbed her hand to look at her finger as the others crowed around as well. I was surprised to find there was nothing physically wrong with it. I looked at her to see her calming down quickly, "What happened?"

She took a moment to catch her breath, "I'm not sure… it felt like I was burning."

I looked at her with concern before sticking my thumb in my mouth and sucking away the liquid until no more came out. As I did so, I could practically hear the gears turning in Wally and Robin's minds. I sighed and said, "I'll give you a sample later."

Two's jaws dropped at that, "Seriously?" Wally asked."

"You'll just give us a sample of God blood?" Robin asked suspiciously.

I raised an eyebrow, "Would you rather me charge you for it, that might be a good idea…"

Robin didn't seem affected by this, apparently counting on Batman's "Assets", while Wally was a bit more concerned, "Whoa whoa whoa! Let's not get carried away! I'm just wondering why you would even trust us with it."

I shrugged, "You're the good guys, right? You're smart too, I assume. I figure it would be better for you to figure it out than some mad scientist or something like that, right?" I chuckled at that, though the others didn't seem as amused.

"Right…" Artemis drawled, "And you and him," She pointed at Tyson, "Are brothers?"

Tyson nodded proudly while I wrapped an arm around his shoulder, "That's right. Technically half-brothers. We're both sons of Poseidon, my mom was human. His mom was a…"

I then realized that I wasn't sure what his mom was, All I knew was she was some form of nature spirit. Luckily Tyson spoke up, "She was a cherry tree in Central park!"

That elicited some confusion, so I clarified, "A tree nymph, is what he means. In our world each tree, bush, and body of water in nature has a spirit connected to it. The union between dad in them usual results in Cyclopes like Tyson."

"Interesting." Kaldur commented, "I wonder if such beings exist in our world."

"They don't." Tyson said sadly, "I've tried making contact with them, but never get a response. The trees here seem… soulless."

That put a somber mood over the group. Robin broke it by asking, "What was your mother like Tyson? If you don't mind me asking."

Tyson smiled, "It's alright. I have a few memories of her when I was a child. But before I was 3 she was bulldozed by the humans to make a hiking trail…"

Robin's jaw dropped along with everyone else's as his plan to lighten the mood went completely sideways, "Oh god…"

"I'm so sorry…" M'gann spoke quietly as she processed his words. Even I had to take a moment. I never heard anything about Tyson's mother, I assumed he never met her.

Tyson however was the only one not depressed, "It's alright guys! It put me on the path to meet Percy!"

That didn't seem to cheer anyone up. To my surprise it was Superboy who said, "Well this is getting depressing. Tyson, you want to go for a swim?"

Tyson perked up, "Yeah! I've been meaning to explore the reef around here!"

The two powerhouses walked towards the water together. That left Robin and Wally to shrug and continue their volleyball match one on one. Artemis and M'gann returned to their towels under the umbrella, and Kaldur stood next to me, watching Tyson and Superboy dive into the waves, shooting through the water with their powerful bodies.

"Are you really alright?" He asked me.

I considered my answer for a moment before responding, "I'm sure you know the answer to that." I glanced over at M'gann, who was hugging her knees to her chest, watching the ocean roll in and out.

Kaldur sighed, "She did tell us a bit of what she saw. But only out of concern for you. She— "

"I know." I stopped him, "I don't blame her."

Kaldur was silent for a moment before asking, "You should also know that you do not have to carry those burdens alone. If you ever need someone to confide in, you can always turn to me."

I looked over at him with a smile, "I know man. And I appreciate it. Just… don't expect me to open up all at once. You've seen what happens when I let my emotions loose."

Kaldur's eyes widened, before he looked down and nodded, "Of course."

I patted him on the back and walked away, intent on tying up the final loose end. I sat down next to M'gann in the sand, while she seemed to curl up a bit tighter. On the far side of her, Artemis glanced at us with interest before getting up and walking towards Robin and Wally, possibly to play whoever wins.

I took a moment to watch her before I said, "I'm sorry."

She looked at me in shock, "For what?"

I looked away, back towards the ocean, "For what you had to see. I know it wasn't easy."

"You shouldn't apologize for that! I was the one who went inside your head!" She argued, "Even though you told me not to… I should have listened…"

I chuckled and looked at her, "I didn't give you much of a choice, did I?" She just stared at me, uncertain of what to say, before I continued, "What all did you see?"

She looked down, "All of it. At first it was too overwhelming to comprehend, I had to take a few hours to comprehend it all. That place…"

"Tartarus." I clarified, causing her to flinch, "Don't be afraid to speak the name. All my life, I've been told not to use names recklessly, that names have power. Personally, I think the power is the fear they've invoked. The only way to get over the fear is to face it head on."

She looked at me in awe, "How do you… deal with it all? All you know, experienced, lost…"

I smiled sadly at her, "I don't think I do. Up until now, all I've done is endure it. I do that by constantly reminding myself what I'm fighting for. When I first arrived here I looked for it in anything I saw, but if Tyson hadn't arrived here with me, I don't know if I would have lasted."

She looked out at the water, possibly searching for signs of Tyson and Superboy. They didn't seem to be coming up anytime soon, as Tyson could breathe underwater, and I assumed SB had some sort of super breath holding power. As I watched M'gann spoke again, "You really mean a lot to each other."

I nodded, "We're brothers, so it's only natural. Of course, my dad being a god, I have a few hundred other siblings out there, but he's the only one that I truly consider my brother, in every sense of the word. "

I looked back to her, "I know I can endure it all for him. What about you?"

She sighed, "Martian minds are…. Well not necessarily "stronger" then humans, but more flexible. They can be bent and strained far more than most creatures before they break. That being said… I couldn't help but erase a great number of the images from... Tartarus. They carry a greater power than most things, the ability to haunt you."

I nodded in agreement, "That they do."

"I could do the same for you."

I looked at her in surprise. "What?"

She avoided eye contact, "It won't be easy, it's a very advanced technique, but I could remove the most painful memories from your mind for you. It could make it easier."

I was stunned for a moment, I would be lying if the idea wasn't a godsend to me, so to speak. But then I saw her hand shaking. And I came to a realization.

"No."

She looked at me in shock, "What? Why?"

I smirked at her, "You had such a reaction from being in my head for just a moment, and now you're saying that you want to go in again, for a process that will likely take even longer?"

She stared at me uncertainly, "I— "

"You only mean well." I assured her, "And I am incredibly grateful for the offer but I'm not going to risk your sanity for a chance to regain my own."

She frowned at that, but I noticed her hand no longer shaking as she was relieved. "Even so… I can't just stand by while you have all of… that… in your head."

I smirked, "M'gann, this is why I'm seeing a therapist. Your route would definitely be easier if it worked, but don't feel like nothing will happen if you don't do anything. It will just be a bit slower."

She nodded thoughtfully, "Alright..."

I stood up suddenly, satisfied, and held a hand down to the Martian, "Come on, you can't sit under this umbrella all day. Let's have some fun!"

She took my hand tentatively, then yelped as I pulled her to her feet and led her towards where Kaldur and Robin were teaming up against Wally and Artemis.

I walked up just as Artemis delivered a devastating spike, that neither Robin or Kaldur were able to get to in time, before falling back to the ground and doing a little victory dance. "Oh yeah, you can't touch this!"

Robin growled under his breath, While Kaldur chuckled good naturedly, "You are quite good at this."

"What's the score?" I asked while M'gann stood next to me.

"6-2" Wally boasted. "In our favor. I guess We're just unstoppable together, huh gorgeous?" He winked at Artemis.

The archer rolled her eyes, while I couldn't help but imagine what her namesake would have done in that situation. Instead of transfiguration, she simply replied, "Please, you haven't made a single shot, you just catch the ones coming our way and pass them to me."

Wally didn't miss a beat, "That's cause I trust you so much already!"

I chuckled at the two before asking, "Mind if we join?"

"Not at all." Kaldur smiled.

"Dibs on Miss M!" Wally shouted.

Robin scoffed, "Really? You're already winning man!"

I raised an eyebrow, "Wow, so I'm just chopped liver then?"

Robin shrugged, "Sorry dude, but you have to admit she's a bit overpowered."

M'gann looked down with a blush, "I'm sorry…"

I rolled my eyes, "Oh grow up. M'gann get over there, and get ready to lose."

She seemed a bit confused but nodded and joined Artemis and Wally.

I went to stand by Robin and Kaldur as M'gann was chosen to serve first. Robin didn't seem happy, "Martians have telekinesis dude! Even if we do intercept it, she could force it out of our hands and to the ground!"

I chuckled as M'gann readied her serve. "I doubt she'd do that. She's way too nice. Besides, even if she did, she wouldn't be able to stop me."

Before they could ask what I meant by that, M'gann hit the ball into the air, a little too hard. She blushed a little as it went flying into the sky, almost out of sight. "Sorry!"

"Oh geeze, get ready Perce! It's coming for you!" Robin called out. I just smirked and crossed my arms as I watched it fall. "What are you doing?"

I remained still as it continued to fall. Kaldur started to shift his feet, "Percy, perhaps you are being a bit overconfident?"

I shook my head, "Nope."

"Really?" Artemis asked in amusement, "What makes you so sure.

The ball was now closing in fast, so I simply said, "Because everyone knows, you don't fight the son of Poseidon on a beach."

Before any more questions could be asked, the ball level with my face. Still I didn't move as it shot past me. However, it didn't hit the ground, instead stopping a few feet above it as it was held up by a plume of water, that had erupted from the sand below.

As the water lifted the ball up to me, Wally scoffed, "Oh come on that is so cheating!"

I smirked, "No more than what you two were doing."

Artemis, having finally snapped out of her awe at the water control, protested, "Hey I'll admit that Wally was using his speed, but id don't have any powers, I literally can't cheat."

"I didn't say you had powers, but you were using your natural born gift of seeing and calculating the best trajectory."

That had most of the group confused, except for Artemis, who was looking at me cautiously, "How did you know about that…"

I shrugged, "To be honest it was just a guess. I figured since you were good enough at archery to take on guys with guns that way, you might have something going on. Also, I knew some children of Apollo who were the same way. They could hit a bullseye 150 yards away, and absolutely destroy everyone at basketball and volleyball."

Artemis raised an eyebrow, "So you're comparing me to a demigoddess?"

I shrugged, "The blonde hair, athletic build, all qualities of Apollo kids. I don't suppose you can sing?"

She smiled knowingly, "That's for me to know and you to never know. Speaking of athletic builds, are you ever going to take that shirt off? It'd be a shame to spend all day covered up, plus you'd get more mobility for the game. Or do you plan to keep using the water for everything?"

I raised an eyebrow, "Not even a full day of knowing each other and you're already trying to get my clothes off?"

She didn't even bat an eyelash, "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't wondering what the boy of a god looks like."

There was an awkward silence at that. I noticed Kaldur, Robin, and M'gann looking very uncomfortable, while Wally looked the same, with a dash of irritation. Artemis however was completely cool, as she waited for my response with a sly smirk. Finally, I chuckled and said, "You really chose the wrong name."

She didn't seem to expect that, "Huh?"

"Artemis." I clarified, "The archery thing is accurate, but she' also the goddess of maiden, having sworn off the company of men."

Artemis shrugged, "Yeah well I still like it. Anyways, you're avoiding the subject. What are you self-conscious or something?"

The look on my face seemed to give her an answer, "Oh… sorry I didn't mean to— "

"It's fine, I just have a couple of nasty scars. I didn't want to freak anyone out."

That caused a lot of my teammates to look at each other knowingly. Kaldur spoke first, "You don't have to worry about that with us. We've all had our fair share of battle wounds."

Robin nodded and started pointing out the various nicks and marks littering his body, "Yeah, I'm like a patchwork of knife marks man. I know I won't be winning any beauty contests.

Wally hummed in agreement and twisted around to reveal a nasty red mark on his back , "I have accelerated healing, but not as good as the Flash. Burns always take the longest to fade, I got this one rescuing people from a house fire the other day.

Kaldur then held up his arm to revel a deep scar on his bicep, "A stray shot from Black Mantas soldiers, back when I was still an Atlantean soldier. It went straight through, but it taught me the value of patience in a fight."

The guys then looked at the girls, only for Artemis to shrug, "Sorry, unlike you guys I'm careful. And I'm guessing scars isn't even a thing for Martians." M'gann nodded shyly behind her. "But don't let that stop you. I know for a fact that many girls think scars are super-hot." She made sure to emphasize the T.

I chuckled dryly, "You say that now…. Alright if you insist."

I casually pulled my t-shirt up over my body, revealing my sculpted abs and pectorals, all perfectly toned but not too bulky. However, the image was ruined by what rested on the skin,

My torso was covered in dozens of jagged scars, most of them laid over where my organs would be, while others were less purposeful. A line of cuts ran up each of my sides, culminating in two ugly white scars ringing around where my arms connect to my shoulders. My back was no better, covered in rows upon rows of small cuts, one for each day I spent in Tartarus, according to its time distortion of course, surrounding the largest scar that ran down from the base of my neck to the small of my back.

I stared at Artemis, daring her to say something more. She, along with everyone else, was looking at my marks with horror. I heard Kaldur whisper under his breath, "Neptune's beard…"

I had to stifle a laugh at that, as I could tell the others would not understand the joke. The only one who didn't look like they might puke was M'gann, who only looked at me with sorrow.

After what felt like ages of no one talking, Robin finally asked, "How… no, why haven't they healed?"

I shrugged, "Good question. Especially because of this," I held a up my thumb for them to see, only to get looks of confusion, "I bit it earlier remember?"

That seemed to make them understand. Despite having bitten through my flesh a few minutes before, the wound was nowhere to be see. "I've noticed this happening a lot recently. Wounds healing in minutes, old battle scars I thought would never heal, disappeared overnight. But these… well I have an idea why these don't leave."

Wally gulped and shakily asked, "Why?"

I found my jaw tensing up, "They were given to me by a titan of destruction. It makes sense that he's good at making sure something stays destroyed. I've seen something similar with Prometheus. His wounds still hadn't healed, even after centuries of being off the rock."

Robin groaned and rubbed his head, "Okay, you can't just mention that you've met Prometheus right now, I'm still trying to wrap my head around everything else."

Maybe we can ask one of our magical allies to help." Kaldur suggested, "I know many powerful healers in Atlantis."

I sighed, "Maybe I should put the shirt back on. I have a feeling we're not going to have a lot of fun this way…"

As I bent down to pick it up however, Artemis finally found her voice, "Wait no! You're hot—I mean fine—I mean…." She sighed and hung her head, blushing deeply, "It's fine. We won't make a bigger deal of it. Right guys?" She glanced at the others meaningfully.

Wally was the first to nod quickly, "Of cour—yeah! I mean it's not that… bad…"

"What the dork is trying to say," Robin spoke up, "Is that we're your team. We won't judge you or make you feel like you have to hide it."

"Please," M'gann pleaded, "We just want you to feel comfortable."

I couldn't help but smile slightly at them, before I threw the shirt away, "Alright then. Let's get the game going then. Prepare to be beaten." I then hit the ball off the plume of water to get the game going again.

It was a pretty fun game in the end. Everyone decided to let loose with their powers, Wally zipping all over the field, M'gann using her shape changing and telekinesis freely. Robin started incorporating some gymnastics into his serves, completely forgoing any concept of the rules when he did a double flip to kick the ball over the net, not that we minded. I even helped Kaldur to cheat a bit by covering him in a layer of seawater, giving him a boost of energy while also allowing him to keep his strength from being on land.

In the end, my team won of course. No one could overpower me on the beach, not even when M'gann tried to wrestle the ball away from my water with her telekinesis. It was a bit easy, for me, but we had fun laughing at all the crazy and creative ideas they tried to score.

It ended with a score of 13-20. We might have played more, but that was when Tyson and Superboy emerged from the surf.

Tyson ran out first at full speed with excitement, "Brother! Brother guess what!"

He ran straight up to me, putting his hands on my shoulders, not even flinching at my scars, having seen them many times before, "Guess what we found!"

I raised an eyebrow, "By the sound of it, I'm guessing treasure?"

He was practically bouncing, "Even better. It's a sunken ship!"

That actually caught me by surprise, "Really? Where?"

He pointed out to sea, "About a mile out that away. Want to come see?"

I felt my self-grin excitedly, "Yeah!" then I had an idea. I turned to the others and asked, "Want to swim out together?"

Kaldur and M'gann seemed open to the idea, but I noticed a hint of worry from our more fragile members, Wally cleared his throat and asked, "What about sharks? Or you know anything else with teeth?"

I waved him off, "It'll be fine. No sea creature would dare mess with you with me around, unless this world has krakens…" I pretended to trail off in thought, while watching in amusement the others' expressions out of the corner of my eye. I decided to add a little fuel to the flame, "You guys aren't scared, are you? afraid you can't make the swim?"

Artemis huffed, "Please, I'll be fine."

"I've swam twice that just for training." Robin stated confidently.

Wally was the kicker however, "I bet I can make there before you do!"

I grinned widely at that, "Oh really? Are you proposing a race then?"

"That does sound enjoyable." Kaldur spoke up, "It would be interesting to see which of us is faster."

I didn't say anything, not wanting to seem like a jerk. Instead I clapped my hands and rubbed them excitedly, "Alright then, looks like we're having a race to… Where exactly is it Tyson?"

My brother looked out to sea for a moment with a slight frown, before he lit up and walked back towards the woods. As we watched silently, he grew to his giant form, and started uprooting a few trees. I noticed Artemis watching in awe.

After a moment, he returned with several trees strung together to for a very tall spear. He looked out into the sea, reared back, and gave it a good throw. It sailed through the air as we all watched, before arcing down and plowing into the water a good ways off shore. Only because it was so tall with the trees strung together, we could still see a bit of it sticking up, signaling where to go.

Wally leaned close to Robin, whispering, "He can do that but is still clumsy enough to fall off the bridge?"

Unfortunately, Tyson still had amazing hearing, and stiffened up, "You knew about that?"

I sighed sympathetically, "The helicopter you waved at was broadcasting for the news dude."

He looked back in shock, his face turning red, before turning around and slumping as he shrunk back down, "Now everyone's going to see how clumsy I am..."

I rubbed the back of my head, feeling as awkward as everyone else. I went to go comfort him, but to my surprise, M'gann got there first, patting him on the back, "It'll be alright. On the bright side, some people might think it was kind of funny, cute even."

Tyson looked up at her in disbelief, "Really?"

She smiled awkwardly, "Maybe?"

That seemed to cheer him up a bit, leaving us to get ready for the race. As I walked forward however, I noticed Superboy looking at my scars curiously. When we met eyes however, I didn't see pity, nor indifference, just…. Acceptance, as he shrugged and turned to line up with the others.

I couldn't help but smile softly as I got in line myself, before calling out, "Alright, first one there gets dibs on whatever they find. Robin, Artemis, sadly you will only to be racing each other, so you can compete for…"

"How about the loser has to wear the others outfit?" Artemis suggested with a smirk."

"What?" Robin started, "No! that's— "

"Perfect!" Wally and I said in unison, "We'll do that."

Artemis smiled and got in a ready positon, while Robin looked around in disbelief and a little fear, "I did not agree to that! I'm not okay with that!"

I chuckled, "As team leader I declare that he must do it."

"You can't do that! Can he do that?" Robin asked around."

"He is team leader." Superboy stated matter-of-factly, while keeping a straight face."

Robin looked at Kaldur in desperation, "Seriously?"

The Atlantean tried his best to look sympathetic, "I'm afraid it's out of my hands now friend."

The youngest member got in a ready position, "Fine, if that's how it's going to be, I'll just have to annihilate her."

The archer scoffed, "Bring it on shrimp "

I decided to ignore their further bickering and call out, "Ready! Set! Swim!"

Artemis and Robin shot out right away, swimming furiously next to each other, though I'm pretty sure Robin was working a lot harder. It didn't help that his limbs were significantly smaller than hers.

They were quickly blown away however, by Kaldur, who made full use of his Atlantean physiology to charge ahead. He was followed shortly by Superboy and Tyson, as well as M'gann, who was just managing to keep up with them with what looked like a mermaid tail, no doubt the product of her shapeshifting ability.

It took me a moment to realize that it was only Wally and I left standing on the beach. The speedster was casually stretching his arms as he watched the others go. I smirked, "That confident huh?"

He grinned, "I could say the same to you water boy! You may be a strong swimmer, but I never really agreed to swim this thing, did I?"

He then backed up, and blurred forward toward the water, managing to skim along the top on nothing but speed alone. I couldn't help but be impressed, slightly. Unfortunately for him, two could play at that game.

He realized this when he found me next to him. He was running furiously to stay above water, while I was sort of skimming along lazily, like I was at the skating rink, letting the water beneath me provide the majority of the speed.

I laughed loudly as he looked at me in shock, and even more when his distraction caused him to trip on an especially tall wave, that I may or may not have conjured.

I slowed to a stop so I was standing on the water above him, while he treaded water and looked up at me in awe. I bent down and said, "It's a swim race Wally. Deal with it."

I then allowed myself to drop into the water, feeling the rush of power once again, before shooting off towards the others at full speed, sending him twirling uncontrollably,

I decided to let Robin and Artemis be, diving farther below them so I didn't blow them off course,

I then caught up with Tyson, M'gann and Superboy, where Tyson was leading the pack, not that I was surprised. I slowed down enough to give a little wave, one that only Tyson returned, before going full speed once again, bending the currents to my will to propel me to insane speeds.

Finally, I came up on Kaldur, who was surprised when I suddenly appeared in front of him in a blur of bubbles. I chuckled and said, "Is that all you got?"

I smiled when instead of getting irritated like most people would, he agave a grin and went even faster. I kept pushing him to go faster and faster until he was going faster than anything else in the water, besides me of course.

Once I was sure he reached his limit, I swam in front of him once again and nodded, "Not bad I must say. I guess you were holding back on the Santa Prisca mission huh?"

He gritted his teeth as he struggled to maintain his speed, but answered, "Indeed, I had to save my energy. It seems you're still holding back."

I shrugged apologetically, "What can I say? Water agrees with me. I'll wait for you all at the wreck."

With that I let loose completely, slicing through the water at what could possibly be faster than the speed of sound. That or it was starting to thunder outside.

I reached the tree marker in a matter of moments. Once I got there, I climbed back on to the surface of the water, and took a seat on it. I decided to wait until the others arrived to take a good look at the ship.

Kaldur arrived first of course, his eyes widening at my position, but didn't say anything, Choosing instead to climb up the tree and wait with me on one of its branches, we kept a look out for the rest.

To my surprise, Wally arrived first. I didn't think he would make it for a while after I put him in the water, but he seemed to be channeling his speed into his strokes and kicking. However, he made only a few moments before Tyson, then Superboy, then Ms. Martian.

They all had varying reactions to my water walking, ranging from Tyson's indifference, to Wally's rant on how unfair it was.

It was around 10 minutes before we spotted Artemis and Robin. They were almost neck and neck, but somehow Robin had managed to gain the lead, and kept it all the way to the tree marker.

They panted heavily as they climbed up into the tree, "I win!" Robin proclaimed, "That means you have to wear my clothes!"

Artemis shrugged, "Whatever."

Robin looked like he wanted to say more, but simply sighed and flopped onto his back. "Give me a minute to catch my breath before we go down."

"How deep is the wreckage anyway?" Artemis asked.

"A couple hundred meters," Superboy responded.

Wally sighed, "Well you guys have fun then."

"What do you mean?" Tyson asked, "Don't you want to come with us?"

"I don't think we can hold our breath that long." Artemis replied.

"Unless Robin is hiding a utility belt and rebreathers in that bathing suit somewhere," Wally commented, "I think we'll stay up here."

I chuckled and got to my feet, walking a few feet in front of the others. I heard Artemis whistle, "Okay now that is just showing off."

I turned towards them and smiled knowingly, "You haven't seen anything yet."

I then focused on the water below us, taking control of the water all the way down to the ocean floor, then I pulled.

Slowly, a ring began to form around the marker tree. It got wider and wider, revealing a deep tube of air in the middle of the ocean, with me standing on the edge of it.

Everyone looked down at my work in awe, "First he walks on water, now he parts the sea…" Robin murmured.

"Don't ever let Christians see you doing that!" Wally insisted.

"Yeah," Artemis hummed, "They might think you're the second coming or something. Although you might be the closest thing they'll ever get…"

I waved them off, "Yeah yeah, whatever. I'm honestly not sure how long I can keep this up so let's head down." In actuality, I felt a lot less strain than I had expected, especially for something so big. The hurricane in happy harbor was a lot harder. I set it aside however, as I stepped off the edge.

Instead of falling down, a water platform shot out, catching me. I extended towards the tree, allowing for the other to jump or float down to join me. then I just willed it to lower, like an elevator.

As we went down, I watched the other reactions, as they marveled at the sight before them. Surrounding them were now towering walls of water, giving a snap shot of the ocean life. Several schools of fish swam around us, a few accidentally falling out of the water, only for me to pull them back in with a tendril.

As more and more begin to notice me however, they all crowded around the edges watching me curiously. I heard their thoughts like a waterfall in my mind, wondering who I was, what I was doing, and why they felt such an urge to serve me. It was giving me a headache.

"Is that… normal?" M'gann asked curiously.

"I've never seen such behavior," Kaldur replied. "Not even my king attracts such a following."

"Percy are you alright?!" Artemis asked, rushing to me, putting her hands on my shoulders as I clutched my head in pain. The water platform came to a stop as well

I nodded, gritting my teeth, "Yeah it's just… hold on a second." I looked up at the aquatic life around me and called out, "Quiet!"

Instantly the chatter died down in my brain, I breathed a sigh of relief while the others looked at me strangely, "No one was talking dude…" Robin said.

I shook my head, "I was talking to the fish, they were all talking at once." I then looked back at the creatures, "Sorry! It was just too loud for me. You should go about your business."

They all turned and swam away at that, doing one thing or another. With that taken care of I once again began lowering the water platform, While Kaldur looked at me in shock. "You mean you can communicate with them?"

I shrugged, "Yeah, horses and fish. Why? Can't Aquaman do that?"

He shook his head, "He can send signals to them to command them how he pleases, but full-fledged communication is not something he is capable of."

"Huh." I hummed. I might have said more, but that was when I caught sight of the ship.

I had been expecting something small, a large speedboat at most. Instead it appeared to be an eighteenth century Frigate type vessel. It was fairly large, second only to the Man-o-wars, but way faster than the behemoths. This one was a bit sleeker, and more elegant looking than most. Like most frigates, it had three masts for the sales, though the main mast was broken, laying across the edge of the ship and onto the sandy ocean floor. The sails mostly eroded away, with only a few strips handing from the masts left. There were several holes in the hull, likely from cannon fire, and the wood was faded, if it ever had paint, it was long gone.

As I lowered the platform all the way to floor, I found myself walking towards it in a daze. At the front of the ship, hung a figurehead that looked vaguely like a woman, but the features were so worn down by time that it looked like little more than a featureless female form. I quickly noted that she didn't have any chains on her.

"Dude…" Wally drawled, summing up what everyone was thinking.

"Okay that is pretty cool," Artemis admitted, "Any idea what type of ship it was?"

Without turning around, I answered, "It's a frigate, a warship, and a beautiful one at that."

"Guys!" Robin yelled, I looked to see him standing where the tip of the main mast rested, "Come check this out!"

We gathered around too look in awe at hid discovery. Having somehow survived for decades, was the Flag. A black piece of cloth with an image the side of a golden skull biting into a white coin. No one needed to say what it meant, but Wally said it anyway: "Pirates…"

"This must have been one of the Rhode Island pirates!" Robin exclaimed.

"How has no one found this before us?" M'gann asked aloud, "And how did you two find it in fifteen minutes?" She looked at a smiling Tyson and an ever stoic Superboy, who shrugged in unison.

Robin hummed "This area has had a history of bad storms and worse wildlife, so people don't usually come around here. It's part of why the League made this their base in the first place, besides the obvious. It's calmed down in the recent decade though."

"We should report this." Kaldur suggested, "It could have great historical value."

"Na." I said as I continued to walk the length of the ship, running my hand along the old wood.

Robin sighed, "What would we say anyway? We can't tell them how we found it."

"An anonymous tip?" Superboy suggested.

"We're not doing anything like that." I stated, "The deal was that the first one to arrive got to claim the first thing they saw."

I turned to smile at my confused teammates, until they understood. Robin was the first to protest, "You can't take the whole ship!"

"Why not? No one's using it,"

"Maybe Rob's right on this one dude…" Wally stated hesitantly, "It could have some historical value."

I gestured to the ship, "I don't see any name on the ship, it got broken off. Besides nothing they find will be overly useful to people today."

"Okay sure," Artemis conceded," But why would you even want it?"

I shrugged, "I like old boats." It's true, it wasn't something I talked about much back in my old world, for fear of the teasing I would surely receive, but ever since my experience with the Queen Anne's Revenge, I had been secretly interested in old ships like it. Not enough to delve into the history surrounding, but enough to convince my mom to take me to a few restored vessels before the war.

I turned back to the ship. "Tell you what, you guys can divvy up everything we find inside."

At that, there was a chorus of "Fines" and "Deals" as I smiled victoriously at my prize.

I ended up regretting that slightly afterwards. The ship ended up having quite a bit of cargo, ranging from fine wines and jarred goods, to actually gold coins. They weren't spilling out of a chest, much to everyone's disappointment, but they were cool all the same, and all claimed greedily by Wally and Artemis, not that anyone minded.

Afterwards, I lifted the boat to the surface with the water, and brought it to shore. For lack of a better place to put it, we hid it on a more discreet shore, with Tyson claiming that he would be sure to carve out a place for it as an addition to the cave, so if it ever did become sea worthy, we could sail it right out. The others brought their loot back into the Cave, before we returned to the beach.

We walked back in high spirits, laughing and discussing all that we found. I'm sure Batman would have something to say about it later, but I would burn that bridge when it came to it. Right then I was focusing on the most fun I'd had since my days with the crew of the Argo II.

We hung out for a few more hours after that, playing games, swimming around, anything that we could think of really. It was getting late however, so we had to wrap up.

As we were winding down, we had made a bonfire, and had gathered around it, some relishing in the warmth after spending all day in the freezing water, while the more resilient ones simply enjoyed the feeling and looking into the flames.

I was doing just that when Artemis said "So… can I ask about her?"

I looked at her curious, also noticing everyone else tense up. "What? Who?"

Artemis rolled her eyes, "The girl who I supposedly look like."

"Artemis!" Wally hissed, "I don't think— "

"Sure." I interrupted, gaining surprised looks from everyone. "What?"

"It's just," Kaldur explained, "We didn't think you'd be ready to open up so soon…"

I shrugged, "I doubt just talking about her classifies as "opening up"."

I activated Tyson's shield and planted it into the sand in front of me for everyone to see. I pointed to the image of Annabeth fighting the Laistrygonians. "This is Annabeth, she was a daughter of Athena."

Some nodded with interest, while others became more confused. "Isn't Athena like… a maiden goddess…" Robin asked.

I nodded, "Yeah, but she also was born straight out of Zeus' head. Her children are similar, and come about when she "meets minds" with a mortal."

"Oh," Wally stated, "That's not confusing at all."

I chuckled lightly, "Don't worry I get it, or rather I don't get it either. But that's beside the point."

"What are those things she's fighting?" M'gann asked.

"And why is she fighting them with a dagger?" Artemis asked, "They look like three times her size."

"They're called Laistrygonians, basically cannibal Canadians. They attacked me while I was playing dodgeball at school."

Everyone stared at me, before Robin spoke up "Uh… how did they even get into the school. They look hard to miss…"

"The mist. They used it to assume human form and confuse the teachers. Look there's a lot of stuff that happens in my world, this will really go easier if you just don't question it.

They agreed and I continued. "And she always used a knife. I've seen her take down full grown hyperborean giants with nothing more."

I then went through how we met, a few of our adventures, (minus the more embarrassing ones), and how we got together.

"Wow…" Artemis said, while everyone's face said the same thing, "She sounded… way cooler than me."

I shrugged, "It's too soon to tell, but yeah probably."

Wally gasped, "Dude! Rude much?" while Artemis just laughed.

"You sounded like you were a really good couple." M'gann said.

I nodded, "We were, she was always so smart, which made up for how dumb I could be. She was… amazing."

There was a moment of peaceful silence then, filled only with the crackling of the fire, before it was interrupted by someone sniffing.

I looked over to see tears welling up in Tyson's eyes, "You okay man?"

He snapped to attention, quickly wiping his eyes, "I'm fine! Some of the sparks got in my eye…"

We stared at each other awkwardly as he remembered that he was fireproof. Then he stood up and announced, "I'm a bit tired, I think I'm going to go back to the cave. I had fun though!"

He then turned and marched stiffly off the beach. M'gann stood up while watching before looking at me, "Should we do something?"

I shook my head, "He'll be fine, he just needs space. If anyone loved Annabeth more than I did, it would be him. He looked at her like a big sister."

M'gann didn't seem happy about it, but stayed where she was while Tyson walked away.

After that, we soon put out the fire and went inside as well. Tyson aside, I thought the whole thing went pretty well. I knew he would feel better in no time anyway. I also might have found a potential new hobby. Overall, it was probably one of the best days I'd had in a long time.

Several days later

"This is the worst day of all time." I grumbled.

"Oh relax!" Black Canary drawled as she put the typed something into her phone. "You're exaggerating."

I snorted as I looked at myself in the mirror, "Well obviously. But this is In the top thousand. Are you sure I don't look stupid?"

The vigilante, now dressed in a pantsuit, glanced at me with a bored expression for half a second before looking back at her phone, "You're fine."

"You barely looked!" I whisper-yelled.

She rolled her eyes, "Percy, do you not trust Tyson?"

I glared at her, "I trust him with my life, you know that this is different."

She shrugged, "Well, technically this will contribute to how the public views you for the foreseeable future, so it's a big part of your life."

I stifled a growl and looked back in the mirror. I usually wasn't so self-conscious, but that was before I started wearing skin tight.

I was currently decked out in the new armor, that utilized the enhanced Tiber metal. That name still irritates me.

It was similar to the old one, in the layout of the armor plating, with the addition of a bit more covering on my thighs and biceps. The metal, which had originally been a dark grey, had been spray painted bronze to suit my "theme" or whatever. That's where the differences began.

For starters, the mesh under suit was colored deep navy blue, instead of black. the fabric was as tight as ever, but it was slightly more comfortable than the original, and of course it came in with a built-in cup for any potential malfunctions in my downstairs region. '

Another difference was on the wrists. Protruding from my forearms were two large blades resembling small fins. They were supposed to work similar to how Robin and Batman use their own gauntlet blades, only they could also work as small shields if necessary. I was still convinced Robin added it into the design as a fish joke, but Tyson took it seriously. Of course, they looked epic, but it made me feel silly all the same.

That had nothing on the cape however. Although cape is a very strong word. It hung off my shoulders and down to my ankles, sort of like what Reyna would wear, only instead of Purple or Red, it was sea green. Also, it was cut into eight segments so each part could move individually, (kind of like Azrael from Arkham games, but longer).

Each strip ended in a point, and had a small bronze disk on the end of it, adding a little weight to avoid it getting in my way, as well as for other reasons. As I looked at myself in the mirror, I grew uncertain if it was the right way to go, and whispered, "plokámi"

As I did so, the segments all began to slither up my back until they disappeared on my shoulders, leaving only the tips sticking up with the bronze disks, creating a sort of shirt collar affect.

I looked at this form for a moment before whispering "plokámi" again, letting it fall back down.

I growled to myself in frustration, before I heard the music go on. Black Canary walked over to me and started to push me towards the door, "It's time."

I started to sweat, "Maybe this is a bad idea— "

"Too late!" She shoved me towards the door, "You promised. Just don't embarrass yourself and be pleasant. Think you can handle that?"

Before I could respond, she had already pushed me out the door and onto the stage. I quickly caught my step to avoid embarrassing myself in front of the live audience.

I straightened up and walked towards the couch where the Flash was waiting for me. I gave a few waves as I made my way to the seat, where I turned to face the host: a tall, fairly scrawny man with fancy blonde hair named Konan.

Chapter 6!

Yeah I'm too lazy to make up a new talk show host at the moment.

We will see what happens next time with Konan, and possibly the Baskerville project as well. I dropped that name in the last chapter but I haven't seen anyone figure it out yet.

The next update will come in four days at the soonest. I'm writing 2500 words a day as a minimum, but it might be a day or two later than that. I will write this for four to six chapters before moving on to other stories again.