Percy Jackson

The car jolted as it was rammed yet again by the matte black SUV. Percy gripped the steering wheel, trying his hardest to keep the small sedan from tipping over or spinning out. Annabeth yelped as she was thrown about in the car. The car shook side to side, rocking everything inside.

"Who the fuck are these guys?!" Percy yelled over the noise.

It was beyond chaotic, Percy could hardly think. Every few minutes, the SUV would ram their car. The sudden jolt would nearly cause his car to spin out of control. If it weren't for Percy instinctively turning the wheel to correct the car, they would've definitely done a flip.

Percy had no idea what was doing on. He had just reached the halfway point off Mount Rushmore, the part where the cliffs weren't so steep, in fact, they were flanked by two hills that went upwards, not downwards, so he didn't have to worry about sliding off a cliff and into their deaths. He thought they were home free when he had passed the steep cliffs.

That was when the SUV attacked.

It came out of nowhere. Percy wasn't even looking in the rear view mirror when he felt the back of the car get hit by something. He looked in the mirror and saw a black SUV, he didn't know the model, but he did know it wasn't police. He didn't hear or see any sirens, just a ramming attack.

The good news was that Percy knew his car was faster than the SUV, it was smaller and more agile. He was making good speed and looked in his side mirror. The SUV wasn't your normal black SUV that you could just buy at a dealership, this one looked like a militarized version of a dealership SUV. He could make out the lumpy patterns of armor plating. Luckily, he didn't see a mounted gun or anything.

"Keep the car steady!" Annabeth yelled, reaching into her duffle bag.

"What are you planning?" Percy asked.

Annabeth didn't say anything as she lowered her window before pulling out the bow and arrows she stole from St. Louis. She leaned out the window and aimed before letting an arrow fly. Percy thought she was shooting at the guys in the car but when he looked in the mirror, he noticed she was shooting a bit low, more towards the tires.

"Keep it steady!" Annabeth shouted. She pulled another arrow from her quiver and fired.

Percy gritted his teeth and kept driving. He was glad the guys in the SUV hadn't decided to shoot back. That confused him though, why weren't they shooting at him? He wondered if they didn't have guns, or maybe they were under strict instructions not to kill him and Annabeth but he figured that wasn't true since they had nearly rammed them off the road.

Percy watched as Annabeth drew her bow and fired again. He knew now was not a good time to be admiring her beauty but he couldn't help but think she was easily the hottest person he had ever seen. The way her eyes focused on shooting, her hair flying in the wind, everything about her was driving him wild. Then there was the fact she was talented in a lot of things, from archery to drawing.

He shook his head and focused on driving, he had no idea what was getting into him. Ever since Annabeth had put on Aphrodite's garter belt, he kept finding himself drawn to her, no matter what. Percy's brain seemed to be split between trying to keep them from meeting Hades the hard way and lusting after Annabeth.

A loud pop came from behind him, followed by tires screeching against asphalt. He looked in the mirror and saw the SUV spinning out of control, going off the road and flipping a couple of times. Percy winced, that looked painful for anyone involved. Dirt was tossed up, sticks and rocks scattered everywhere as the SUV finally slid to a stop.

"Turn us around." Annabeth said as she climbed back into her seat, "I want to see who they are."

"Annabeth, I don't think—"

"Just do it!" Annabeth demanded.

Percy turned the car around, partially because he was terrified of defying Annabeth. She always had a way of getting what she wanted. He looked over at while he drove to make sure she was alright. She looked fine, aside from a mean look on her face and her eyes flashing like a thunderstorm.

Percy stopped the car a few feet away from the wrecked SUV. It looked horrible. The windows were all broken, one of the doors was hanging half off the vehicle, a arrow sprouted from the front left tire. White smoke billowed from the hood. The guys inside weren't moving.

Annabeth got out and aimed her bow at the guys inside, slowly making her way to the doors and opening the car, yanking the driver out.

Percy unlocked his door and got out, he didn't like Annabeth being by herself. Anyone of those guys could just be unconscious. He didn't doubt Annabeth's fighting skill but there were four of them and one of her, they'd overpower her eventually.

He walked up to Annabeth, who was looking through the driver's pocket. He meanwhile eyed the guy. He was some guy in his mid-thirties with a beard which looked normal enough. What wasn't normal was his outfit. He wore a black tactical uniform, multiple rifle magazines on his vest along with a radio. On his sleeve was a circular purple patch with a black scythe stitched on. He'd never seen a company with that logo before but it definitely didn't look friendly at all.

"Perce, look at this." Annabeth said, pulling something out of the driver's pockets.

Percy leaned in and saw she was holding a business card. It was black with purple writing on it. He couldn't read it from where he was standing but Annabeth was reading it out loud to him.

"Titan Arms Inc. Security service for hire. Free logistical services and medical staff included. There's a phone number and a email address here too." Annabeth said, "We need to drive back and see where they came from."

Percy didn't like the idea of going back and trying to find more goons who wanted to kill them.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" He asked, "I don't think the car can take that much more damage." He didn't even want to think about how he was going to explain it to the rental company.

Annabeth looked at the car, "We can do this."

Percy turned back to the car and groaned, he had a feeling this was going to go so wrong, so fast.

Ω

Percy lost count of how many times he drove up and down the street until Annabeth started yelling that she saw something. He nearly crashed when she had suddenly started yelling but luckily he was able to hit the brakes in time.

"Look over there, by that rock." Annabeth said, pointing at something through the windshield.

Percy leaned forward and saw a small dirt road right next to a boulder the size of a truck. He had no idea how Annabeth saw something so small but he went ahead and made a turn onto the road. It was slowly getting darker outside, but he was sure Annabeth wouldn't want to leave until she found out who these people were.

After five minutes of driving, they finally came to a stop. In front of their car was a huge metal gate. Percy didn't see any guards but he had a feeling that he and Annabeth weren't supposed to be there. He looked around them, they were surrounded by thick forests, it'd be hard to see anyone through all the trees.

"Alright, let's go." Annabeth said, getting out of the car.

Percy followed her to the gate. When he got to the gate, his heart dropped. A huge steel-gray padlock held the gates shut. He wasn't sure if Riptide could cut through that, even though the blade was sharp enough to cut through bone. He figured a blow torch would get the job done but of course they didn't have one.

Annabeth knelt down and glanced at the lock. Percy watched as she fidgeted with it, yanking and pulling on the lock like that would make it come off. Then Annabeth pulled out her knife and started picking the lock, letting out a stream of curses. Sweat slowly dotted her forehead as the picked the lock.

Percy always feared that about Annabeth, she had a skill set that she normally would never tell anyone about. Lockpicking, interrogation methods, and more things that gave Percy a reason to fear the daughter of Athena. She wasn't a particularly cruel person though, often times she learned these things just out of curiosity.

With a satisfying click, the lock came off the gate. Annabeth turned to him with a smile, "We're in."

Percy watched as she slowly opened the gate and crouched in. Percy followed her, looking around to make sure no one could see them. While he looked around, he noticed that there was a whole lot of nothing around them. The only thing he saw was a huge warehouse towering about three school bus lengths away from the entrance.

"Annabeth, are you sure this is a good idea?" Percy asked.

Annabeth looked over her shoulder, "As long as we don't get caught, we're fine."

Percy felt like they were a bunch of burglars but he kind of liked the thrill of breaking into a place like this.

He and Annabeth reached the warehouse and opened the door, sneaking in. Annabeth shut the door quietly behind them, only to gasp and yank Percy behind a bunch of black cargo crates. Percy grunted and rubbed the back of his neck where Annabeth's nails had dug in while she grabbed him.

"Shhh." Annabeth shushed him.

"Is everything in place?" A male voice asked.

"Yeah, yeah, tied everything down. Even washed the floor." Another monotone male voice said.

"Great, the boss should be here any minute now."

Percy and Annabeth looked at each other. Hiding behind cargo boxes could only work for so long. Percy felt like he was back in Mount St. Helens again but this time it was a couple of mortal guards instead of Telekhines. He and Annabeth could probably take the two guys, but he wasn't sure if there were only two guards. For all he knew, there were hundreds of guards inside the warehouse with them.

"We need to move." Annabeth whispered. She pointed to a huge red cargo container.

"Alright, go, I'll be right behind you." Percy said.

Annabeth looked around before skittering to the container, Percy nearly tripping over himself while following her. His heart rate was so high he thought his heart was going to explode from how scared he was, he almost messed everything up by tripping.

They had hid just in time too because the door they were hiding next to opened. Three people walked into the building. Percy's eyes widened while Annabeth's breath caught.

Flanked by two guards was a teenager, maybe a year younger than them, walked into the warehouse. The teenager wore jeans, a bronze set of armor, and the worst part of it all, he was wearing the signature orange shirt of Camp Half-Blood. He wasn't like Hektor in terms of physical looks. He had black hair and blue eyes along with a upturned nose and mischievous smile. He was a little more muscular than Hektor, which was a potential problem.

"Good evening, sir!" One of the guards barked.

"Yeah, what's the status on the cestus?" The half-blood asked.

The guard talking to him had sweat dripping down his face, "Um, about that, uh…"

"What?" The half-blood asked with a concerned look.

"We saw two people at the site, we weren't sure of who they were but when we went to investigate the status of the package, it was missing. We sent a team to intercept them, but we haven't heard anything back."

"WHEN WERE YOU GOING TO TELL ME THIS?!" The half-blood exploded, his voice ringing through the warehouse.

The guard flinched, "We have the situation under control. The team should be back any minute now."

"These two you saw, what did they look like?"

"One male and one female. The male had green eyes and black hair, muscular lean build. The female had blonde hair and gray eyes, fit build."

"They're talking about us." Percy whispered.

Annabeth nodded. She motioned for him to keep listening.

"So, they're here too, huh?" The half-blood muttered, "Get out of here, I have a call to make."

The guards quickly scurried out of the warehouse, the door slamming shut behind them. The half-blood reached into his pocket and pulled out a phone, dialing a number and waiting, "Listen, boss, those two you've been looking for are here at Mount Rushmore. Percy and Annabeth both."

Percy cursed under his breath; chances were Hektor was this guy's boss.

"Yeah, you tell Clarisse to be on the lookout for them. I have things to work out, I'll be back in a few days." The half-blood said, hanging up. "Guards, come here!" He yelled.

The guards walked back into the room, their gear clinking as they walked in front of him.

"Alright, you all are on security duty here, take shifts or whatever, just don't leave this place unguarded. I'm going to check out how things are at the Norfolk Base, if anything happens here, you can all expect to be in Alaska very soon!" The half-blood said in a cheery voice.

Percy looked over at Annabeth and mouthed, "Virginia."

Annabeth nodded, "We'll go there soon."

Percy knew Norfolk was in Virginia somewhere, he didn't know where exactly, but he figured Annabeth could do the rest.

By the time Percy turned his attention back to the conversation, he heard the half-blood say, "Oh and I forgot to mention, I'm having some very important friends coming here tomorrow, they're coming all the way from New York, so give them anything they ask for."

A/N: New OC, new enemies, and now even more headaches for Percy and Annabeth. Here's a hint for the next chapter, expect Jason and Nico.