Jason Grace
Jason sat at his desk in cabin one, a stack of reports on the corner of his desk. He sighed as he eyed the mountain of paperwork, there was so much work for him to do and it wasn't even anything to do with New Rome, it was all just a bunch of paperwork that Hektor didn't want to do himself.
He was supposed to be a military advisor, not a glorified secretary. He secretly hated Hektor for making him a paper pusher when he deserved far more respect, he was a son of Zeus for crying out loud.
Nico sat behind him, looking through a larger stack of reports. He and Jason had been reading reports all morning, going as far as to skip breakfast. Jason was starving, but he shoved his appetite down and kept going. Skipping his duties would make Hektor suspicious.
The good news was that Jason hadn't had a blackout at all since he woke up a few hours ago. He was still trying to figure out what was causing the blackouts, but there was only so much he could do before he'd end up getting caught.
The sound of Nico stamping a paper echoed through cabin one. He was just as bored as Jason was.
Jason adjusted his glasses and read the report in front of him. A lot of the reports were just from satyrs reporting possible half-bloods. Usually, he just stamped the papers and put them in a folder meant for Hektor's archives, never to be read. Hektor rarely ever read the reports, often times it was Jason sending half-bloods to rescue the new campers.
Jason looked over his shoulder at Nico, he was trying to figure out if he could trust the son of Hades or not. Hektor could've assigned him as his assistant to specifically spy on him, just in case.
He felt bad for not trusting Nico, the guy had been through a lot. Jason couldn't take chances, he couldn't trust Leo or Piper, and they were currently his greatest friends. If Jason was being honest, it hurt him, it hurt to see his friends hating on somebody who he knew was innocent, it hurt that he was living a double life. Many times, he was thinking about just snatching up Piper and Leo and taking off to join Percy and Annabeth.
Regardless, Jason wasn't going to let his emotions win, Percy needed him at camp. If he left now, he'd only be putting Percy and Annabeth in more danger than they were already in. Jason was Percy's only ally at camp.
Nico sighed and turned to look at Jason, "Do we have to keep reading these reports? I mean, why did Hektor even choose us to do this anyways? There's plenty of Athena kids who'd love to do this job."
"I don't know why Hektor does half the things he does." Jason answered, being as sincere as possible.
Jason learned quickly that Hektor was unpredictable, he wondered if the guy was really all there. One day, he'd be all cool and calm, the next day he'd be exploding if someone so much as breathed in his presence. The only people he didn't do that to were the head counselors.
"How do you not know?" Nico asked, "You're like his second in command. You've got to have some power around here."
"I'm only a diplomat and a military advisor." Jason said, "Nothing more, nothing less."
Jason wasn't really Hektor's second in command, no one was. Jason never said anything, but he knew the true reason Hektor kept a bunch of guards in his palace, he didn't fully trust Jason. He trusted him enough to give him his alone time but not his own power.
"I don't know, things were way better when Percy was around." Nico complained, "Chiron never gave us these stupid schedules. I've barely seen Will at all."
"Same, I rarely ever see Piper anymore." Jason said.
Jason watched as Nico got increasingly more frustrated.
"The least he could do is give us the weekend off!" Nico said loudly, "But no, we have to be on guard for Percy every single second of our lives."
"You make it sound like Percy's harmless." Jason said.
"What do you mean?"
Jason stood up and walked over to him so no one could overhear the conversation, "You sound like you don't believe the videos."
"No one should!" Nico exclaimed, "Percy would never do anything like what's in those videos. Killing kids, breaking into nursing homes, that's not him!"
"You're the only one I've heard say this."
Nico looked him in the eyes for a moment before looking away, "I don't know anymore. Ever since Percy left, I haven't been able to think straight. I want to fight, to tell everyone Percy is innocent but every time I try, I end up blacking out and having a horrible headache."
Now that was news to Jason. To his knowledge, not a single camper tried to stand up for Percy. In his point of view, it seemed everyone believed Percy was either a traitor or a psychopath. It all started after that speech Hektor gave, the one that made Percy leave. He wasn't there personally to watch the speech, he wasn't in the mood, so he wasn't sure what was said. All he knew was that everyone despised Percy Jackson after that day and Jason was stuck trying to figure out why.
"We've got to figure out what's going on with these headaches." Jason said while walking back to his desk, "Every single time I got checked up at the Apollo cabin, they've said nothing was wrong when I know there is."
"Well, I think—" A excited knock at the door cut Nico off.
Jason and Nico stared at the door for a moment before looking at each other with confused looks. Jason was a tiny bit confused, he wasn't expecting visitors today. He rarely ever got visitors to begin with.
Jason got up and walked over to the door. When he opened it, he was greeted to Hektor with a huge smile on his face, like he'd gotten the best gift for Christmas or something. He was wearing an orange toga today instead of his black and gold robe.
"I have important news!" Hektor said, pushing his way past Jason and into cabin one.
Jason gritted his teeth, asking would've been nice. He turned and shut the door, watching as Hektor strolled to the middle of his cabin.
"Annabeth and Percy have been found!" Hektor said cheerfully, "Malcolm and his team are heading straight towards their last known position, won't be long until we finally have them."
"What good is their last position?" Nico asked, "Percy and Annabeth aren't exactly the slowest."
"You'd be right, but Malcolm has a plan. He said if his calculations were correct, then we should have Annabeth and Percy both in our custody!" Hektor said.
Jason's heart dropped, he needed to warn Percy and Annabeth, he just needed to get Hektor out of his cabin.
"Jason." Hektor said.
"Yeah?" Jason asked.
"I want you to leave these reports to Nico, you need to organize the campers. I want you to set double patrols, no gaps in our defenses. Both of them are going to struggle to get out of their bonds when they get here, I want you to make sure that doesn't happen."
Jason stood there. He couldn't defy Hektor, not right now. The spotlight was on him, if he so much as showed a inkling of treason, he could very well find himself in a cell right across from Percy, either that or share the same guillotine.
Nico looked pale, paler than usual. Jason had no doubts that the guy was worried for Percy and Annabeth. Hektor had tons of resources at his disposal, Percy and Annabeth had nothing. Jason didn't even really know where they were staying.
"Are you two alright?" Hektor asked.
Jason straightened up, "Uh, yeah. We were just reading those reports you gave us."
Hektor eyed him, "I see. Remember what I said, get the campers ready."
Jason stood to the side as Hektor walked out of the cabin. As soon as the door closed, Jason locked it and yanked his phone out of his pocket, quickly dialing Percy's number. The phone rang about three times before Percy's voice answered.
"Hello?" Percy's voice came through the phone.
"Percy, is Annabeth with you?" Jason asked.
"Yeah. She's right next to me, we're on a train heading to Indianapolis right now. What's up?"
Jason held the phone as close as he could, "Hektor knows about you guys. Malcolm and his squad are heading towards you right now, whatever you guys do, do not let them capture you. They're heading towards where you guys were last spotted so they might miss you but still, don't take any chances."
"Shit, alright." Percy said, "Did he say how far they were away from us?"
Jason thought about it. The entire squad was composed of very competent and ingenious half-bloods, they could cross the country in a week if they really needed to. It wouldn't take them long to reach South Dakota, where Jason assumed they were spotted. He wasn't even sure how Hektor found them, there were no Camp Half-Blood elements at Mount Rushmore yet, Clarisse and her raiding party were still a few days out.
"He didn't say but just assume they'll be close by." Jason said, "Be as careful as you guys can, steal a car or hide in the sewers if you have to, don't get caught."
Percy gagged over the phone, "Sewers? Are you serious, Jason?"
"I'm serious, Percy!" Jason insisted, "Don't get caught because if you do, I might not be able to help you."
Percy sighed, "Okay, I got it. Wish us luck."
"Good luck, you'll need it." Jason said before hanging up.
He turned to Nico, who looked a bit shocked.
"You've been talking to them this whole time?!" Nico asked.
"Yeah, I've been doing that for a while now."
"Are you fucking insane?" Nico asked, rocketing out of his chair.
"No, what, why?" Jason asked, not sure why Nico was so worked up.
"Dude, Leo had a database for every call made on those phones!" Nico said, "He had it made so he could find out where someone was if they went missing, and now you've been putting a live ping every time you called Percy!"
Jason hadn't thought about that. He didn't even know there was a way to track the locations calls were made from. Now he was genuinely concerned, his only way of communicating with Percy was also one of the number one things putting the guy in danger. Yet if Jason didn't warn him, Percy could very well walk right into a trap.
"I mean, Leo doesn't check the database often, right?" Jason asked.
"I have no idea." Nico said, "You're fucked if he does check it and see that you're calling Percy."
"Shit!" Jason cursed, throwing his phone onto his bunk, "I didn't know. No one told me about that!"
"Well, you might still have a chance." Nico said, "If you can get into database, you might be able to delete the database."
Jason thought about it. The only difficult part would be getting into whatever database Leo had set up. Jason wasn't worried about not having permission to go into cabin nine. He just wasn't sure if the database wasn't in there or bunker nine. Bunker nine could only be opened by strictly a Hephaestus camper.
"Okay, stay here and finish the reports, I need to go see Leo."
Ω
Jason made his way to cabin nine. The factory-style cabin sat towards the end of the row of god cabins. He knew there had to be people inside because there was smoke billowing from the smokestacks on the top of the cabin and he could faintly hear the sound of metal clanging and drills buzzing.
Campers walked past him, nodding or smiling at him. Jason tried his best to smile at them but he couldn't help but feel nervous. Unlike Percy, Jason didn't really like to break the rules. Yet here he was, effectively committing treason. There was no sugar-coating what he was doing, he was going behind everyone's backs to ensure Percy survived.
When Jason got to cabin nine, he thought about knocking on the cabin door but he decided against it. There was so much noise inside that cabin that a simple knock could go unnoticed, often times campers had to just walk in.
This time was no different, Jason just walked into cabin nine and looked around. It took him a moment to get used to the heat from the forges, it always felt like walking into a volcano every time he walked into cabin nine. Then of course there was the noise, cabin nine was loud. If it weren't for the fact that the inhabitants were demigods, they'd be deaf.
The inside of cabin nine was an engineer's paradise. Rows of workbenches lined the right side of the cabin, tools organized neatly on their holding pins that jutted out of the wall. A small testing area was in the far-right corner, which had burn marks and dents from what Jason could only assume were failed tests. The left side of the cabin held forges and small programming kiosks. Wires snaked out of the kiosks to a huge outlet the side of a door that connected everything electronic. The lights were dim enough to see but not enough to light up the entire cabin. Then there was the back of the cabin, the personal quarters.
Jason made his way there, passing a holographic conference table that came out of the floor. The living quarters were cool. Instead of normal bunks, the beds were carved into the wall with control panels inside for all sorts of awesome things. Jason remembered that Leo's bed had a button that took him to a private room underneath the cabin. Lockers with clothes were line against the right of the beds while a huge metal door that had 'armory' written above it in sharpie laid to the left.
"Oh, that feels so good!" Jake moaned as he laid in his bed with the massage function on.
Jason fought the grin that appeared on his face as he watched Jake tremble on the bed. Then he knocked on the wall, startling the son of Hephaestus so bad that he sat up and banged his head on the top part of the bed. Jason winced at that while also trying his hardest not to laugh.
Jake looked over, "Ah, what the Hades, Jason?"
"Sorry." Jason said, "I was just looking for Leo, do you know where he's at?"
"Oh, he's in the armory. Said he needed to check on a few things." Jake said.
"Thanks, you're a lifesaver." Jason said as he walked away, leaving the son of Hephaestus to his massage.
Contrary to what one would expect, the handle to the armory was ice cold. Jason wouldn't think there was anything cold in this oven of a cabin. He opened the door and strolled in, his breath being taken away by the amount of weapons in the armory. There were enough swords, spears, and shields to arm a small army. Some of the swords were chipped from years of use while others looked fresh out of the forge.
Jason continued walking into the armory, passing what looked like a sniper rifle on a bipod and a rocket launcher on a mount. He genuinely wouldn't be surprised if he found a tank in there. The armory was as big as a school's gym. He always wondered how these cabins were so big on the inside yet so normal sized on the outside.
Eventually, he found Leo hunched over what looked like a mortar. He had a pair of goggles on along with a yellow marker. Yellow marks were all over the mortar, Jason assumed those were parts that needed fixing or replacing.
"Hey." He said.
Leo looked up and grinned, "Jason." He took his goggles off, "What do you need? You finally agree to test driving that motorcycle I was telling you about?"
"Uh, no." Jason said.
Leo had created a motorcycle in his free time that he swore would be better than anything on the market in the mortal world. The issue was that it was built from the ground up and still a prototype, Jason rather liked his limbs and didn't want to lose them in a accident. Plus, Piper would kill him if he did anything to get himself hurt.
Leo frowned, "Well, that's rough. Did you need something?"
"Yeah, Nico was telling me about a database you had for the phones, is it true?" Jason asked.
Leo scratched his head, "Yeah, he's telling the truth. Why, do you need to look at it?"
"Yeah, if you don't mind." Jason said.
"Follow me." Leo said as he set the yellow marker and pair of goggles down.
Jason followed him out of the armory and to his bunk. Leo pressed a blue button on his bunk, a small command terminal popping out and prompting for his username. Leo typed in some letters that Jason couldn't make out. The screen flashed white for a moment before a list of options came up.
"Alright, knock yourself out." Leo said, "I've gotta get that 120mm set up in case we need it."
Jason waited until Leo left. Then he leaned in, found the phone call database and accessed it. Sure enough, Nico was right, there were at least ten phone calls between him and Percy. He knew that if anyone, even Leo, found out about those calls, he minus well be counting his days.
He selected each one and pressed the big red delete button. Jason sighed out of relief; his cover was safe for now. It felt like a whole world had been lifted off his shoulder. Those phone calls were a ticking time bomb, and he just snipped the chord.
He closed the terminal and walked out of cabin nine, glancing at all the weapons being made, weapons meant to be used in the event of Percy appearing. He shook his head before leaving the cabin.
His work was far from over though, he still had a camp to save.
A/N: This chapter took a bit to make. I would've made it yesterday but i was exhausted from college work. The next chapter should still be another Jason and Nico chapter, mainly them trying to figure out why everyone was acting so weird. Thanks for all the reviews, you guys are awesome!
