Disclaimer: Same as Chapter 1

Chapter 7: Silver Blaze

-Percy's New York residence-

Percy scowled up at the ceiling from his face up position on the sofa, mind racing as he put together the information he got from Adler: she had apparently never heard of Annabeth Chase in her entire life, but the information that she did manage to give him about Moriarty was quite invaluable: he knew a little more about the man's powers and abilities, and she had given him hints – just hints, as to the extent of his criminal network, as well as the identities of some of his key lieutenants. He flipped open his laptop and started typing.

-Camp Half-Blood-

Percy raised an eyebrow as he and John continued to remain completely undetected by the 'Hunters' of Artemis. 'Not very skilled Hunters if they can't even detect us from here' he commented to his companion.

'Give them some credit Percy, they've been in peace for over a decade before the monsters started stirring again' John defended, playing devil's advocate.

'Hmmm, no. They're supposed to be the equivalent of special forces for Olympus – all I see right now, are five incompetents and a slightly competent lieutenant. Even their leader barely seems to detect us – I can see her squinting at our general vicinity here right now, but she most definitely does not know our exact location.'

'Could you talk a little quieter? My ears are still ringing' John pleaded.

'NOT REALLY!' Percy shouted, and rose up from their cover in the underbrush.

Artemis' eyes narrowed as she checked the time; at about nine o'clock in the morning, Perseus Jackson was deliberately, obstinately late by half an hour. She refused to play his game though – she was a goddess, damn it, she had her pride at stake! She relaxed slightly as she finally saw him and his partner rise over Half-Blood Hill, before storming over and punching him in the face. 'When I say get here at eight thirty, I mean get here at eight thirty, not wait there for half an hour' she said to the man who was now sprawled in the dirt.

'I agree with you' he said amiably, completely unfazed by her hostility.

She clenched her jaw and turned her back on him towards her Hunters. 'Girls, these two are assigned by Lord Zeus to be your trainers…and guardians' she said reluctantly. 'You are to treat them with the respect that they deserve-'

'By which you mean, annoying, pranking, and probably grievously injuring the two of us' Percy interrupted, suddenly whirling and pointing at a Hunter, seemingly at random. 'Did you know that one there is a heavy smoker? Clear signs; nicotine stains, shaking fingers – I'd keep an eye on her if I were you-'

'Shut up Percy, my ears are still ringing' John moaned, rubbing his ears gingerly.

'Shouldn't have been drinking on a night before a big job like this!' Percy exclaimed, making his partner glare at him mournfully, eventually turning away.

'With respect, milady…they're to be our guardians? Are you joking?' a hunter – Phoebe – demanded. 'H-he's the person who abandoned us in our hours of need, a-and you expect us to simply accept him back just like that? What proof do we even have that he can fight after all this time?' she sneered. 'I'm sure that his abilities have seen great use in hunting down mortal criminals.'

'Do I get bonus points if I act like I care?' Percy yawned.

Phoebe and the other Hunters glowered at him for a few seconds before turning their attention to Artemis pleadingly. 'Milady, I want proof that this – this man is capable of being our…guardian' she spat out.

Artemis palmed her face in exasperation and started walking to the arena, her Hunters following her. After about thirty seconds, she stopped, and turned back; Percy and John were lying on the ground together gazing at the clouds. Her face flaming with fury, she motioned for her Hunters to continue on towards the arena, whilst she stalked over to them in a rage. As she opened her mouth to yell at them again, Percy lazily glanced over at her. 'Do not forget that it is akin to blackmail that you got me to go along with your little group. You had best not forget your place when speaking with me, Artemis. I have no qualms about putting every person that dared to swear loyalty to you into the ICU, here and now. I will destroy this entire camp if I have to' he said mildly as he got to his feet.

Artemis glared at him. 'You do that, and I will kill you' she promised, silver eyes flashing warningly. 'I don't think you want to push me into doing that.'

'Oh, no, Lady Artemis. I don't think you want to push me.'

Percy dusted himself off and started moving to the arena; behind him, John looked at the goddess apologetically as her face reddened; he feared she might be having an apoplectic fit. 'Sorry, he's…always like that' he said lamely, before following his friend.

-Arena-

John watched on as Percy prepared to face off against Phoebe – which was to say, he had his hands thrust deep into coat pockets in a decidedly unimpressed fashion. As the two of them continued staring at each other, Phoebe trembling with nervous excitement, Percy completely still, the male demigod sighed and turned to Artemis, and said, 'I'm sorry, this is boring, could you at least throw in Thalia as well? Judging from the tension in her deltoid muscles I think she could use some stress relief.'

'With pleasure, Percy' Thalia said vehemently, happily twirling her spear and summoning Aegis. She frowned as she took her place in front of him. 'You're not going to use your sword?' she asked, surprised that he was still keeping his hands inside his pockets.

'I won't need it' he said simply, and blurred. As Thalia began to move forward, drawing her arm back in preparation for a spear thrust, Percy was already right in front of her, lashing out quickly with his leg; Thalia ended up stumbling forward, completely unprepared for the baton that suddenly extended from his hands in a blur of grey, forcing her into the ground. He spun around and flicked out his baton, neatly blocking Phoebe's knife as it descended towards his arm; with a twist of his wrists, he deflected the blade and with one final touch – two rapid kicks to the solar plexus – he sent her staggering to the ground, gasping desperately. 'Dull, boring, predictable' he criticised. He probably would have continued on in this vein for some time, had it not been for a sudden gust of wind – though 'gust' was far too mild a word; it struck Percy like a hammer, sending him flying backward a few metres. As Percy blinked away the tears that had sprung into his eyes after he had hit the ground, he made out Thalia advancing upon him again – she really has gotten better over time, but – 'Not good enough' he commented as he rolled to his feet, slipping his baton back into its pocket. For a few brief, tense seconds the two children of the Big Three circled each other in silence – then Percy reached into his coat again and started eating a chocolate bar. Thalia gritted her teeth at his nonchalance. He just wants to provoke you…, her mind whispered. She held her stance.

Percy frowned. I was sure that was going to work…oh well. As he tossed the chocolate wrapper to the ground, Percy began to move. Flicking out his baton again, he smashed it into the shaft of his opponent's spear as she thrust it forward; its trajectory was thrown completely off and it stabbed neatly into the ground. Thalia swore and jumped back, reaching to pull out her knife; her fingers only grasping empty air, she was completely unprepared for Percy's leg whipping itself into her side, sending her stumbling backward; a moment later, she had a knife at her throat. 'It's only stress relief if I actually win, you know' she told him, careful not to move too much.

'I agree with you' Percy yawned and passed her the knife. 'Satisfied?' he asked Phoebe, still on the ground gasping for breath. She nodded breathlessly. The demigod smiled at her thinly. 'Good, now all of you can follow John and do…whatever it is you're going to do; I'm going to do what I'm going to do. Laters!'

'Why do I get saddled with them?' John asked, disgruntled.

'You're the one who was in the SAS.'

'No, I wasn't.'

'Yes you were.'

'Alright, fine I was' John admitted, as he turned and started issuing orders – which the Hunters surprisingly followed, albeit after a glare from Artemis. As Percy looked around the arena, curious to see what had changed since he had left, he noticed Artemis plant herself directly in his line of sight. 'I'm sorry, could you just stay out of the eyeline?' he asked.

'You're joking, I'm just standing here' she growled out.

'Yes, that's the problem.'

Is he calling me ugly?, Artemis wondered, hands clenching tightly into fists. With an effort, she controlled herself, and looked him in the eye. I can always make him do the chores, she grinned to herself sadistically. 'Very well,' she agreed amiably, 'but first, I have some chores for you to do once we move to a new campsite; getting firewood, washing clothes, cooking meals-'

'No.'

Artemis gaped at his abject refusal. 'No?' she repeated, eyes flashing. 'You're my servant, you're supposed to obey me!'

'Correction, I'm your guardian, not servant, and even if I was, 'servant' implies I'd be getting paid for doing those chores, which I am not – as you well know, I am being paid to guard and train your, quote, unquote, Hunters. If you want slave labour, feel free to run to daddy dearest and demand for someone else – I'm certainly not going to do it, and neither will John. We will fulfil the letter of our agreement – protect and train your Hunters, but we're not going to be your slaves or that of your attendants. '

Having said that, Percy flopped to the ground and started gazing at the clouds. Artemis fumed as she stared at his peaceful face; he was just so, so, infuriating! 'You know, if you want I could do it…for a price of course' he told her suddenly. Artemis levelled him with her best glare and stormed out furiously, face reddening with anger even more as she heard his soft laughter. Deep inside though, she was glad he was laughing – she realised with shock that she had missed that carefree mirth that had pervaded her interactions with him all those years ago.

-Two weeks later, campsite in the middle of nowhere-

'PERSEUS!' Artemis screamed out from outside his tent. Well, on the outside it looked like a tent; inspired by J.K. Rowling, Percy had promptly enchanted the tent so that the inside was bigger than its outward appearance would seem to indicate. Inside were two bedrooms for himself and John, a kitchen, a living room, and several other large rooms for his experiments. Magic truly was amazing. He sighed and opened the tent flap.

'Yes, what is it, no need to shout you know?' he said tetchily. As an afterthought, he added, 'Banshee.'

Artemis glared at him. 'We need to talk. In private. Now. Please' she pleaded, trying her best to avoid looking at him – ever since they had started living in close proximity to each other two weeks ago, she had felt more drawn to him than ever, almost compelled to study him and every one of his habits; it was getting harder and harder for her to distance herself from him. Despite his acerbic nature, and the Hunters' – except for Thalia – clear resentment of him, he had proven to be an excellent instructor; under his and Doctor Watson's tutelage, the Hunters' close combat skills had grown by leaps and bounds. Despite the close contact between the two of them though, their relationship hadn't improved at all – if anything, it had only gotten worse, more distant, perhaps, because of Artemis' resentment of having guardians forced upon her, or perhaps by those acerbic comments that he always had in reserve.

Percy gazed back into her eyes. Angry, but not at me…pity, she looks adorable when she's angry – no, focus – angry, but at something, or someone else, the fact that she wants me to attend a meeting at Olympus would indicate that it is most likely something serious, possibly interesting…. 'OK' he said. Straightening up, he looked at her in the eyes. 'What's wrong?'

'Y-you're a consulting detective…' she started.

'Yes, I seem to remember telling your…"Hunters" that when they confused me with the incompetents that are called the police force.'

'Whatever' Artemis dismissed. 'You take private cases then, so – I was wondering if I could retain your services for something…'

Artemis is proud – very proud, so the fact that she's asking for help means that this is probably something quite serious, especially given our current…differences…but I really need to milk this opportunity…

'My help?' he asked faux-incredulously. 'You want my help?'

'Y-yes' she ground out through gritted teeth, the sheer admission causing her seemingly tangible pain. OK, I've had enough fun now, he decided.

'Have a seat' he invited, plopping himself onto his sofa. Artemis followed him and sat gingerly in an armchair facing him. 'John! We have a case!' he called out. 'I always work on interesting cases with my partner' he explained to her. 'Don't worry, you can trust his discretion – I would stake my life on it.'

'I know' the goddess said simply.

The two consulting detectives looked at the goddess patiently – or not so patiently, in Percy's case.

'In your own time' John said, smiling at her.

'But quite quickly' Percy added, making John turn to him with a frown that he naturally ignored.

'It's rather embarrassing…' she said slowly. 'I – my –' Artemis flushed and looked down at her lap to recompose herself. Percy frowned. What could have shaken a goddess up so badly? 'My…my sacred animal has been stolen' she said suddenly.

'So a deer got stolen. The world must be ending' Percy said dryly. Inwardly, his mind was racing: who would want to steal a deer – a sacred deer, admittedly, but still, a deer…if I recall correctly from my brief visits to her temple on Olympus, the deer she speaks of is called Silver Blaze, and is, fittingly, silver; clearly, it is very special to her given the fact that it is the only one of her deer that I've seen that is actually silver - the deer drawing her chariot were gold, if I recall correctly...

'Yes, in fact that is a possibility,' Artemis deadpanned, 'because that deer's theft from my temple – one of the securest on Olympus – proves that Olympus as a whole is not as secure as we would like to believe; with the amounts of monsters stirring these days, security is always a concern. I need you to recover my deer – and of course, discover how the theft happened in the first place. Can I count on your assistance, Perseus?'

'No.'

'S-sorry?' Artemis asked; she was so certain that he would have helped her! If not for the excitement of the case – at least for the money she was planning to pay him.

'I was joking' Percy told her, enjoying the sight as her face reddened in anger again.

'Y-you annoy me, Perseus Jackson!' she ground out as she turned her back on him; involuntarily, her lips twitched as she heard him chuckling gently.

-Hunters of Artemis Camp-

'How do we know that this man isn't the one behind it?' Phoebe hissed out, jabbing her finger at Percy once Artemis had finished explaining the situation to her Hunters. 'Right after he comes back, out of the blue, Silver Blaze goes missing, and we're expected to believe that it's just a coincidence?'

'When she,' Percy jerked his head towards Artemis, 'asked you to join the Hunt, did she ask you to be an asset, or just an ass?'. As Phoebe gaped, speechless in sheer anger, he continued, 'I was here when the theft occurred. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get ready to examine the crime scene…do try to engage in more productive thinking, or better still, stop inflicting your opinions on the world.'

Percy peered down at the field that he was assured Silver Blaze was kept, along with its compatriots, in which no one but Artemis herself was allowed. Artemis has a fairly large herd of deer, these hoof prints are all over the place…obscuring any traces of the thief's own footprints, as was no doubt their intention from the very beginning…that's a curious scent, I can't remember where I've scented it before…'I can't get anything from here' he admitted to Artemis reluctantly. 'Too many obscuring animal tracks.'

'The great Sherlock Holmes can't solve this. How shocking' Phoebe muttered to her companions, earning herself glares from John and, surprisingly, Thalia and Artemis. Even more surprising was the fact that Percy completely ignored her without even the slightest of reprisals, in favour of flipping out his treasured magnifier to look at some tracks. Claw marks, consistent with a dog…or a hell hound, Percy realised. How curious…presumably it would have been a guard dog, I don't really see Artemis keeping a dog as a pet…how curious, some blonde hair…only two of the Hunters have blonde hair…from the look on his face, John's reached the same conclusion. Delicately, Percy used his tweezers to extract the hair strands from the ground, gently placing it within a plastic evidence bag.

'You keep a guard dog – a hellhound, or something similar?' he asked Artemis.

'Yes, I have a hellhound; it was a gift from Hades a while back. I don't see-'

'You do see, you don't observe' Percy and John quoted in unison, smiling slightly at their private joke. Continuing in a more serious tone, he said 'I need to see that hellhound.'

'Sure' Artemis shrugged, whistling for said dog. 'I expect an explanation later though.'

As the hellhound bounded towards them, it immediately stopped and performed what was probably the canine equivalent of a bow towards Percy. 'Did you see or hear anything unusual on the night the deer known as Silver Blaze was taken? Bark once if the answer is yes, twice if the answer is no' he commanded the beast. The hound barked twice. No, my lord, its voice – a guttural rasp – sounded in his mind.

As a smirk began to grow across Percy's face, Phoebe snarked, 'So now we know that the hellhound saw and heard nothing unusual on that night. Very useful indeed, I can see us finding the thief any moment now.'

'Brilliant, Hunter' he shot back.

'Really?'

'Yes, brilliant impression of an idiot' he dismissed, turning to Artemis. 'We need to talk in private' he told her.

-Inside Artemis' temple-

Hasn't changed much since the last time I was here, Percy noted as his eyes began darting around in their sockets – rare animal skins decorated the walls, along with some pictures of what he presumed was the Hunt since its inception.

'So what did you want to talk to me about, that couldn't have been done outside, Perseus?' she inquired.

'I suspect that a member of your Hunt, or another of your attendants is the thief' he said simply, holding up a hand to forestall the firestorm that he knew was coming. 'Hear me out first - please' he said. 'We know that your hellhound guard dog saw and heard nothing unusual that night; now, when you take breaks from hunting, I am well aware that you allow your Hunters to use your temple as their place of residence. This then implies that your guard dog would not see their presence here as being unusual. Inference: someone that you regularly allow the run of this property stole your precious Silver Blaze, someone that the guard dog was familiar with enough that they noticed nothing out of place; most likely a member of your Hunt.'

Artemis sat there gaping in surprise as he fired off his chain of deductions, flushing deeply for some reason; after about a minute, despite how much he enjoyed seeing her flustered – she looks quite nice like that – he said, 'Flies are probably going to go inside your mouth if you keep it open like that for much longer.'

Artemis continued staring and gaping at him in surprise before finally closing her mouth. 'That's impossible, Perseus, they were all at our campsite at the time of the theft…the only way someone could do that in the few minutes they had would have been…to flash or to use your 'Portkeys'…' she defended her Hunters, before frowning. Surely not…and yet…

'I'm just putting the facts forward' he shrugged, hands held out defensively.

'Perseus, did you take Silver Blaze?' she blurted out as he got up and made to leave. Artemis instantly regretted asking him that, as his back stiffened in indignation.

'You think…that because I can make myself 'Portkeys', I must be the one that stole your deer?' he snorted. 'You know…for some reason…I expected more from you' he told her slowly. 'I'm going to honour my commitment – to clear my name if nothing else' he said disdainfully, in a slightly raised voice, overriding whatever it was she was going to say – at this point, he didn't care much for her empty platitudes. 'I'll find that stupid deer for you. Then that's it. This arrangement of ours – we're through.'

And then he left; somehow, to Artemis, the soft whisper of the doors as they closed shut behind him seemed louder than Zeus' thunder. She snarled to herself and punched the wall in frustration, heedless of the hairline cracks that started spreading across the formerly seamless marble like a spider's web. 'Oh damn it all' she whispered to herself.

-Hunter's campsite-

Thalia grimaced to herself as she continued contemplating the issue that seemed to preoccupy her mind all the time recently – Percy. He'd changed so much, and while she knew that change wasn't necessarily good or bad in itself, he didn't seem anywhere near as…content as he had used to be over a decade ago. She missed that old Percy; nowadays, when they talked, there was always this slight tension between the two of them. The two of them had to talk this out, she knew – it was just, he was so, so, aggravating! That, plus the way he effortlessly carved her up during their spars made her even more angry and frustrated than ever. As she was thinking this over, Percy suddenly appeared in the middle of camp; for some reason, Artemis was absent, she noticed. Her eyes widened as she saw Phoebe, and another Hunter, Karen move over to accost Percy; from the stormy look in his eyes, she could tell that they were going to get hurt if she didn't intervene on their behalf.

'Phoebe, Karen, I need to speak with you, now' she called out just a moment to late to stop them from blocking Percy's path. She winced as his gaze slowly lifted to their faces, framed by blonde hair, and sharpened. She knew that look – it was the same one he had worn on his face when he had first reasoned out Chase's betrayal.

'Get out of the way, I'm not in the mood to deal with…whoever it is you are right now' he growled out, eyes flashing dangerously. Unfortunately, Phoebe and Karen, whilst normally reasonable at the best of times, were so consumed by their petty hatred of him that they completely missed the tell-tall warning signs that could've been picked up by someone who was blind and deaf. As Phoebe started to jab her finger at him, opening her mouth at the same time, Percy finally snapped and lashed out, effortlessly knocking them away with punches hard enough to cause blood to coat his fists. 'I'm too old to be dealing with this' he grumbled as he continued on towards his tent.

As the two Hunters picked themselves off the ground and looked like they were about to draw their weapons on him, Thalia levelled the two of them with her best glare, noticing with satisfaction that they backed down almost immediately, moving back to their own tents. I've still got it, she smirked to himself as she strode over to Percy, just before he entered his tent.

'Do you want to explain what that was about?' she asked him peremptorily.

'No.'

Thalia glared at him. 'You're an ass' she said.

'Yes.'

'What is your problem? I mean, sure, they deserved it, but that was a tad excessive' she demanded, sparks flying around her.

'I said I was an ass, I didn't say I had a problem. In fact, I have no problem at all. I pay my bills, I make my meals. I'm alive. I function. I have a house. That's a lot more than other people have.'

'That's all you want from life now? You barely have any relationships.'

'I don't want any more relationships.'

'You actively alienate people now.'

'Please, I've been doing that since I was born.'

'Not like this – Percy, come on! You don't think you've changed in the past ten years?'

'Of course I have. I've gotten more mature. I got educated. I get bored more easily.'

'No – I was there with you ten years ago. You are not just some regular guy who's getting older. You've changed! You're miserable! You're empty! You're-'

'OF COURSE I'VE CHANGED!' the male demigod suddenly shouted. 'Did you really think that I wouldn't? Ten years, Thalia! Did you really expect that the world would stand still? Maybe it does for you, but it certainly hasn't for me!'

The two of them glared at each other, chests heaving they noticed their surroundings and tried to calm themselves down; around the female demigod, lightning arced out of her body erratically, singing anything that got too close, whilst around the male, wind started whipping around furiously, rapidly approaching hurricane speeds. As the supernatural phenomena around them slowly died down, Percy sighed, and turned away. 'We're done here' he said as he entered his tent. He didn't look back.

-NYU Langone Medical Centre-

The moment he was inside his tent, Percy 'Portkeyed' away to a small walk-in closet that Molly used to store her equipment in the morgue. 'I need your help' he called out, fists still red with blood. 'Molly, I need you to compare these two blood samples against these hair strands I found at the crime scene.'

'Five minutes!' Molly called out. As she saw his hands coated in blood, she made a face and absent-mindedly motioned him to the lab, where he rested his fists onto separate Petri dishes; finally releasing his control over the blood and allowing it to fall in, Percy sighed in relief as his hands became clean once more. Almost as an afterthought, he added the small packet containing the hairs he had found at the campsite.

As the two friends waited for the lab reports to come back, Molly turned to Percy and reached out for his hand. 'Something bothering you?' she asked him as she gently covered his hand with her own. 'You seem rather troubled.'

'Have you ever been angry at someone – really angry at someone – because they betrayed your trust?' he asked after a few minutes of silence.

Molly hesitated. If I mention the drug incident to him, would he relapse? No, he's been sober all these years…but neither of us like talking about it…and he'll notice if I lie…'Yes' she said eventually. 'The, um "incident" a while back.'

'How did you forgive me for that?' he asked her curiously – to this day, he had still never puzzled out why she and Mycroft had forgiven him for it.

'Your friendship means a lot to me' she shrugged. 'Even though it was a completely stupid thing to do, you're still my friend – and I blame myself a bit for that episode, I should have been there for you-'

'My decision to use drugs had nothing to do with you, or with Mycroft' Percy interrupted. He grinned and squeezed her hand reassuringly as he said, 'I was being selfish, I wanted to numb everything. But that decision rests solely on my shoulders.'

'…thank you' Molly said eventually. 'I think, that you shouldn't toss away friendship without at least having a discussion with that person face to face' she added, before smiling wryly. 'But then, what do I know? Most of my friends,' she swept a hand around the morgue, 'are dead.'

For some reason, the two of them found that joke completely hilarious, ending up on the floor laughing hysterically. Unnoticed by either of the two Oxford graduates, a pair of silver eyes vanished from the hairline crack of the slightly ajar door.

'Percy, the blood sample from your left hand is a perfect match for the hair' Molly informed.

'I see.'

Percy's phone buzzed with a text; picking it out from his pocket, he read the words displayed across the screen, eyes widening as he took it in.

You never told me that you were with the Hunters Perseus! How very naughty of you…XOXO

A single word rang through his mind.

Moriarty.

-Percy's tent-

The fact that Moriarty is aware of my presence here indicates that he has eyes and ears everywhere…he must be studying me for pressure points…so in that case...while the two of us are having this disagreement, it would be beneficial for him to witness a falling out between us...

As Percy stepped inside, he was greeted by the sight of Artemis sleeping in his sofa. Involuntarily, he felt a gentle smile spreading across his face as he saw how peaceful she looked; with her auburn hair splayed around her head, he was reminded of the day he had woken to see her sleeping by his bedside so long ago. Despite their latest conflict and the growing distance between them, seeing her sleeping so innocently like this still evoked that strange sense of protectiveness inside of him. Not wanting to disturb the blissfully asleep goddess, Percy tried stepping as quietly as possible as he moved towards the kitchen – apparently it wasn't quiet enough though, because Artemis' eyes started fluttering open. 'Percy?' she mumbled, blinking furiously – this is the first time she's called me that since I came back, she made a rather big point of calling me Perseus recently…eyes tinged a slight red for some reason, must have been crying quite a bit, I wonder why? – as she got up. Percy tried continuing towards the kitchen, but she stepped in front of him. 'We need to work this out Perseus' she pleaded.

'There's nothing to work out, Lady Artemis' he said dryly. 'We each do our separate things, and we don't ever have to see or talk to each other. Speaking of which…' he tried to move past her but she stepped in front of him again.

'I-I'm sorry' she said softly.

'I think you need to find someone who actually cares' he blew her off, trying to ignore the pain that filled her face. 'But since, you're here anyway, I think I should tell you: earlier I attacked two of your Hunters when they tried to accost me – apparently, their names are Phoebe and Karen, but that's not the important bit; the important bit is that the DNA of whoever Phoebe is perfectly matches that of a hair I found at the scene; it would appear that she is our thief. I was planning to interrogate her with John, but if you wish to tag along…'

'Fine' Artemis said, hurt and resentful of the fact that he had just blown off her apology.

-Phoebe and Karen's shared tent-

When Phoebe walked into her tent, she was greeted by the sight of Artemis and Percy waiting for her. 'I believe – no, I know, that you're a bit – no, very much an idiot' Percy said as she stood there in astonishment. 'But despite your stupidity, I really can't bring myself to believe that you would betray your patron.'

'W-what is the meaning of this?' Phoebe demanded. She turned to Artemis. 'What is he doing here, my lady?'

'Yes' Percy replied, and knocked her out.

'I could have ordered her to stand down you know' Artemis growled out.

'This is more fun' Percy shrugged as he entered Phoebe's mind; a few moments later, he pulled out and nodded at the goddess. 'We were right – Blonde Hunter is innocent; during the time of the theft, she has a complete blank in her memory; ergo, she was possessed by an unknown entity and forced to commit the theft.'

As he made to leave, Artemis reached out and held his arm. 'Percy, we need to talk' she insisted.

'I disagree; we have nothing to talk about, period.'

'I – I know that we've both had our disagreements with each other' she continued, undeterred. 'If we want them to not get in the way of our friendship, I think we both have to apologise and put this behind us' she said, offering him a hand.

Percy paused and turned to her slowly. 'I like you…,' he said slowly, making her heart leap in joy, 'we work well together'. Artemis frowned – was that the only reason? Her heart slowly sank as he kept on speaking relentlessly, ignoring the voices screaming in his head to stop, 'But I'm not going to delude myself into thinking that we're going to be hanging out, having dinners – catching up in general, really, in the future. Perhaps we'll pass each other, say "hi", give a nod in the same room…you've made it quite clear that we're not friends, we're colleagues…and I don't have anything to apologise for.'

'That's funny, that's not what I remember you saying ten years ago' Artemis said angrily.

'Let's face it, Lady Artemis, both of us were vulnerable after the Giant War – I after Chase's betrayal, and you after the massacre of most of your Hunters. We needed companionship; we projected these desires onto each other, we took advantage of each other's vulnerability. Hardly a good basis for friendship.'

As he finished, Artemis finally looked up at him. 'It seems that there's nothing more for us to say' she said steadily, desperately hoping he couldn't read the hurt from her body. But he most likely will, her mind whispered.

'No, there isn't' he said as he finally walked away. Are you sure about this?, the voices in his mind palace whispered. Alone is what I have, alone is what protects them. It's too late for John and Molly, he's already seen how close I am to them, but perhaps I can save Artemis and Thalia...and I suppose the rest of the Hunters.

-Percy's tent-

'Don't you think that you should apologise to Phoebe?' John prodded, uncomfortably aware of the dark looks Artemis was sending his partner.

'Who's Phoebe?' Percy asked absent-mindedly as he continued staring up at the ceiling.

'The girl who you just knocked out a few minutes ago, and whose mind you probed' John offered.

'Oh, yes, that Phoebe. I refer to most, quote, unquote, Hunters, here as "Not-Thalia"' Percy drawled; Thalia's lips curled into a brief smile at the half-compliment. 'And I don't think I will, she may have been innocent of the theft, but she is definitely guilty of being negligent in her own training' Percy held a hand up to forestall any complaints. 'I know for a fact that all "Hunters" receive training to guard their minds from mental attack; from what I have determined from my foray into her mind, she offered only token resistance at best – someone of her seniority should most certainly have been rather skilled in fending off mental attacks.'

'That's rather cold of you' Thalia piped up, noticing the growing anger on Artemis' face. She didn't know what had happened between the two of them, but she most definitely did not want to be caught between the middle of their latest spat.

Percy sighed and rolled over to face his cousin. 'Oh, I'm sorry, are you telling me I need to be nicer?'

'That would probably go a long way towards establishing a better relationship with the other Hunters, yes.'

'You are implying that I wish for a closer relationship in the first place – let me assure you, I do not. Though, you do have a point; there is unquestionably a certain utility to being polite. However, I am not a nice man. It's important that you understand that. It's going to save you a great deal of time and effort. There is no warmer, kinder me waiting to be coaxed out into the light. I am acerbic. I can be cruel. It's who I am now. I'm neither proud of this, nor ashamed of it. It simply is who I am. And in my work, my nature has been an advantage to me far more often than it has been a hindrance. I'm not going to change.'

And with that, Percy resumed his staring up at the ceiling – until about five minutes later, when he shot upright and ran into one of the empty rooms. Puzzled, Thalia made to follow him, when John stepped in front of her and shook his head. 'You really do not want to go in there' he told her. 'He, uh, sometimes needs to vent' he elaborated, just as a muted bang reverberated through the walls. A few minutes later, Percy came out of the room, smiling freely.

'Made progress? I'm stumped' John admitted.

'I believe I may know where our abductor is' he announced.

As Percy dragged out a whiteboard into the living room and started scribbling across it, the remaining people in the room seated themselves and watched him at work; near dancing in his frenzy to scrawl down his train of thought. Percy nodded in satisfaction as he looked at the whiteboard and turned to his audience. 'We know that Silver Blaze was stolen away yesterday night' he began. 'Blonde Hunter's hairs were found at the scene of the crime; upon my, ah, interrogation of her, we found that she had a five minute blank during the same night, which could only have been caused by complete mental possession; if she had arranged for her memories to be erased, there would still be faint…imprints, if you will, remaining within her psyche, barring being washed with the waters of the Lethe, which quite obviously didn't happen given her rather hostile reaction to me.'

'Get to the point Holmes' Artemis barked out, drawing herself surprised looks from John and Thalia. What happened? John mouthed at Thalia. I don't know, she mouthed back.

'The point, my Lady, is that complete mental possession of someone – even someone with mental defences as abysmal as Blonde Hunter is difficult at the best of times; for optimum results, one would have to be within close range of the subject at all times-'

'How close?'

'Very close, within at most a hundred metres. Now, even if the actual perpetrator was as powerful as myself, they would still have to limit themselves to being within a few hundred metres at best to ensure that they remained in total control – just outside of the field where the hellhound guard resides, hence why it didn't notice anything out of the ordinary – to it, the only person present was Blonde Hunter. Having deduced this much, I returned to the crime scene, where I found myself noticing traces – just traces, of a peculiar scent. I later deduced that scent to be of that of a very rare luxury brand of hand soap and shampoo, which, so far as I am aware, is used at only one hotel in New York. Now, clearly the perpetrator is a demigod, since no ordinary mortal has the telepathic abilities required, and no god would steal another god's symbol of power. Ergo, tonight, we shall move out to this hotel and search it from top to bottom for clues.'

'And you worked all this out in the space of a few minutes whilst having a temper tantrum?' Thalia deadpanned after taking a moment to absorb his impromptu lecture.

'Sure, why not.'

-Outside unnamed hotel-

Artemis and Thalia had grudgingly changed into more nondescript clothes: jeans and plain white T-shirts, black jackets and joined John and Percy, who seemed to be poring over some files in a café outside the hotel. 'When you said we were going to search the hotel from top to bottom, I didn't realise you meant that you were going to sit in a café' Artemis said dryly, uncomfortably aware of some of the looks the other patrons were sending her way.

'Yes, and when we agreed on the fee for our services, I assumed that it included freedom from small talk, but we don't always get what we want' Percy replied, eyes still scanning the files as he sipped from his cup of tea. 'These,' he swept his hand around, 'are what some contacts of mine have been able to obtain from the hotel's computer network. Owing to its sheer expense, there appear to be only about twenty patrons currently employing the hotel's services; I then had my contacts pull up a thorough background search of every one of these patrons, all of them, save for one, passed with flying colours. Each of those patrons that passed were well above board, with no criminal records or suspected to be involved in criminal activity.'

'The person who failed the test – quite thorough, I assure you, to ensure that it is not a fake identity – is a woman that goes by the name of Helen Armstrong. What is quite curious is that, despite her age – which is apparently twenty eight, she has no Internet presence whatsoever since before ten years ago, which sent alarm bells ringing naturally, since in this day and age, everyone has a digital footprint. Speaking of which…there she is now' he nodded. Artemis and Thalia turned to look at their suspected thief; in an elegant white dress, she was fairly tall, perhaps just a few inches shorter than Percy, with her tanned skin, deep blue eyes and long black hair, she cut a striking figure as she strode confidently away from the hotel. Percy gingerly placed his cup back onto the saucer and began to move, the others following him reluctantly.

-Outside the Yellow Box Warehouse, New York Harbour-

'That's Silver Blaze!' Artemis gasped, pointing at the sudden gleam of silver that they glimpsed through their binoculars.

'Observant as ever Lady Artemis; soon you will deduce that it is almost night and that we are in New York' Percy replied, before pausing. Almost night…oh no. Moving as fast as he could, he wrapped his coat around her; standing back to admire his handiwork, he stifled a faint chuckle at the goddess' nonplussed, and steadily reddening face – though whether it was from embarrassment or anger, he couldn't tell.

'You have…precisely one minute to tell me why you just manhandled me like that, or I will remove what makes you a male' Artemis said shakily, not quite meeting his eyes; for a moment, she had thought he was going to kiss her, and for some reason, the fact that he didn't made her feel…disappointed. She let out a soft growl – she shouldn't be feeling this way, certainly not towards him after the way he had thrown away their friendship!

'It's almost night; during the night when the moon is out, you glow slightly and, for lack of a better way to describe it, become much more physically appealing to the naked eye; we don't want to draw any unnecessary attention' he explained as he returned his gaze to the warehouse. 'Ah, Miss Armstrong is going inside now…go get your deer, and we'll wait outside; call for help if you need us.'

-Inside the Yellow Box Warehouse-

Artemis looked around the warehouse warily, half crouched, ready to spring up and lash out with her knives; her mind was opened, ready to call for Percy and the others if she needed them. Seeing the warehouse seemingly completely abandoned, she extended her senses outward, trying to seek out Armstrong; if Percy – no, Holmes, she told herself – was right, Armstrong was a demigod, and hence she should be able to detect her aura. Artemis smiled as she saw the woman bent over Silver Blaze – probably feeding it, or something, she decided, before frowning as she got closer. Why was Armstrong so still? If she was just feeding Silver Blaze, surely she should moving slightly at least…As the goddess crept closer to her sacred animal, her eyes widened as Armstrong finally came into full view – it was a mannequin! Oh no…oh gods, no, it's a trap, she realised, eyes widening. Instinctively spinning around, Artemis was barely able to catch the celestial bronze knife that fell towards her, just inches from her neck. The goddess retaliated almost instantly, throwing a knife at her opponent at such speed that no ordinary demigod would have been able to evade it – even Holmes would be hard-pressed to avoid that, in such close quarters, she thought – only to gape in surprise as her opponent whipped to the side effortlessly, her projectile harmlessly passing through where Armstrong had been just a moment before.

Perhaps I should call for help, her subconscious whispered. Armstrong is no ordinary opponent, it would be best to have some backup. No!, she dismissed, she wouldn't give Holmes the satisfaction – she was a goddess, she didn't need anyone's assistance, least of all his. As the two women circled each other warily, Armstrong rasped out, 'Where is Holmes?'. The goddess frowned – why would she be expecting him to be here? – even as she lunged forward; Armstrong danced away in an almost bored manner, so similar to that of Per- Holmes, she reminded herself – that she gritted her teeth in anger and humiliation as he flew to the front of her mind again. 'Enough' Armstrong sighed. 'Now!'

Artemis barely managed to process this – she has an accomplice – before screaming out Percy!, moments before falling to the ground, out cold.

-Outside the Yellow Box Warehouse-

The moment Artemis had screamed his name out, Percy had broken cover immediately – she is proud, very proud, the fact that she was calling for help so desperately means something must have gone really wrong, oh gods I hope she isn't hurt - sprinting through the open doors, faster than he had ever moved before, he saw Artemis lying down on the ground, a shapeless black mass crouching over her. 'Stay away from her!' he roared out, slashing at the mass with Riptide. After the mass neatly sidestepped the gleaming sheet of death, he made out a few features – long, black hair, merciless, cold blue eyes – Helen Armstrong!

Armstrong snarled as he whipped out a leg, avoiding it with grace that would have made an Olympic gymnast jealous; she somersaulted over it neatly, and reached out to grab his outstretched limb, presumably to throw it, only to be stymied by his baton as he swatted her hand away! The two of them disengaged, circling each other warily. For a moment, he thought Armstrong was planning to fight him anyway, regardless of the fact that she had lost the element of surprise, when they both heard a set of footsteps thundering – John and Thalia, a little slow, but at least they're here – towards them. Armstrong snarled and glared at him with such vitriol, he couldn't help but flinch slightly as she spat out, 'We'll finish this another time, Holmes'. And then she was gone, smashing her way through a window and hence to the harbour.

Percy paused, stricken between his desire to pursue Armstrong and to attend to Artemis – and helping Artemis won, as he glanced over at her – auburn hair lankily framing that too-pale face, and – he froze – a knife sticking into her torso; he could just barely see the point coming out of her body. He stiffened again as he heard a groaning sound from the rafters; as John and Thalia ran towards him and the unconscious Artemis, the roof collapsed, sending down a pile of slate tiles and wooden beams tumbling down between them. Percy swore as he looked in despair at the blockade – they might be able to get around it, but not in time. He looked at Artemis desperately – large knife in torso, cleanly pushed through at least, but the size of the stab wound is so large…oh gods, no, he thought, as he caught sight of another, identical mark on her shoulder and her leg. So much blood..., he thought.

-With John and Thalia-

John snarled, and turned to his companion. 'Thalia, can you fly us-' he stopped as a sudden harsh light filled their side of the barricade, forcing them to turn and cover their eyes; fumbling, the two of them snapped on pairs of anti-glare goggles. Vaguely, he could make out a tall man in blazing golden armour.

'Bow before the Lord of Light!' a voice bellowed out. John's eyes widened, and he swore in conjunction with Thalia as they drew their weapons in preparation to face Hyperion, self-proclaimed 'Lord of Light', and one of the strongest Titans.

Will John and Thalia defeat the Titan, or will they fall to his might? What happens to Artemis and Percy next? Will their relationship be repaired any time soon? Find out in the next chapter!

Author's note: Hello guys, here's the latest instalment of my work! Many thanks again for the support of my readers, this was a particularly tough chapter to grind out, but I hope that it is satisfactory :). I would also like to acknowledge the fact that I have used dialogue from both Elementary and House MD in this chapter. In concluding, as ever, please read and review!