Camp HalfBlood:

The chosen demigod groups assembled in the dining pavilion a few hour later. The map was spread out on the center table. Five metal circles about 8 inches in diameter lay by it. Five thick metal cuffs, one for each circle, lay beside the map also.

Percy commanded the group's attention and received it easily. Nico could see that Percy was going to become a world class leader, even more so that he already was. He may act like an idiot a great deal of the time but the younger campers looked up to him as a legend.

Nico on the other hand stood at the fringe of the group, included but on the outside, his inevitable lot in life. He wasn't bitter about it, he enjoyed it usually but sometimes it was too much.

"...splitting up." Nico's attention broke and he caught the last few words of Percy's talk. He mentally smacked himself. He needed all the advantages he could get so he could clean this mess up quickly. Not listening was a stupid mistake.

"...hunters are splitting up into two groups and taking Atlanta and Orlando. Apollo cabin you've got San Francisco. Hermes cabin, you've got D.C. Ares cabin split up and go with each group. This woman can take down lamia in seconds. We don't know for sure but she could easily do the same to us. Questions?" Percy finished, surveying the group like a general commanding his army.

"Yeah." Clarisses' voice came from the back of the group. "What the hell are those." She pointed to the objects on the table.

Percy grinned broadly, loosing all sense of the command he had just held.

"I've got no clue. Annabeth?" His girlfriend looked up distractedly, affection in her eyes until she realized that everyone was watching them.

Nico found himself smiling but stopped himself before anyone could notice.

"We don't know what gifts or capabilities this person has and apparently neither do the gods." Annoyance coated Annabeth's words. "The collars snap open when triggered by a demigod they are keyed to. Delivered to us straight from Hephaestus' workshop by Hermes. They are powerful to block the talents of anyone short of Zeus himself. We know the girl can teleport somehow so get the collar on her as soon as possible. The cuffs are for if she proves even more difficult. They expand and cut off movement of hands and lower arms and are only to be used if absolutely necessary."

Percy spoke after the information sunk into the campers "It is quiet possible she is simply scared and none of this is necessary. However considering how freaked out the gods are..." Thunder rumbled menacingly. Percy simply rolled his eyes. "...better safe than sorry." He finished.

The groups split, each grabbing a collar and cuff before walking off towards the cars Chiron had made available.

"Nico."

Percy stood with Annabeth and to Nico's surprise Clarisse. "Baltimore." Nico nodded in agreement to his assignment. "You coming with me?" He asked Clarisse as he grabbed a cuff and collar set.

"No. She's staying here to act as back up for whoever finds her first." Percy answered for the daughter of Ares. Nico glanced up in confusion.

"Rachel has a bad feeling but can't get anything specific." Percy said as a way of explaining. Nico shrugged and shadow jumped.

Somewhere:

A desolate warehouse appeared around Kaie as she collapsed. Her body couldn't take much more. Her left side was on fire, the heat radiating out from the design. The sounds of traffic swirled in the air around her as everything went black.

Nico stood on the roof of the tallest building in Baltimore. He didn't know its name just that it was the tallest and that's all that mattered.

His feet were on the edge, the toes of his worn combat boots hung over the void below. Darkness broken only by the lights framing the skyscrapers. The city slept blissfully unaware of the dangers of the world. His world.

Air rushed around him, whipping his coat around him, howling.

It was times like this that he could actually understand how demigods were expected to believe that nature was a living being. Gaia or whatever. Thankfully for his sanity, Nico didn't find himself in these positions often.

He inhaled deeply, the scent of trash, metal, grease, sweat, and every other smell that embodied a city overwhelmed him. He pushed that back, focusing on the little threads of life leading to each of the people below him. It might take him hours but if she was here, in this city, Nico would find her.

Thanks for reading! Please Read and Review. I'm really interested to see what y'all think of the direction I'm taking the story.