Hey gang! Happy Thursday! Can't believe it's November already... This year has gone WAY too fast. Ugh.

So, thanks to those of you who reviewed last week, welcome new followers, all that jazz. We're overdue for some action. Have a nice long chapter, on the house :D

Enjoy!

Let the walls come down, let the engines roar

The explosion took everyone by surprise.

Percy was just about to jump to his feet and rush out to meet the man barreling toward him, Silena, and Piper when a loud bang made him and the man both stumble in surprise. There was a flash of orange light to his left and he whipped his head toward the bridge to see that something had blasted a hole in the southern railing, dropping debris into the bay and shattering the thin layer of ice coating the water. One of the Cyclops men was missing—possibly he'd gone over as well. The woman leading the Medusa team was brandishing what looked like a colt revolver, aiming it at the busted section of wall.

Guess Hank's explosive rounds work, Percy thought grimly, before another nearby gunshot pulled his attention back to the forest path. Beckendorf must have fired at the man approaching Percy and the others and missed, because the man ducked and whirled around as Beckendorf, no longer hiding, took aim again.

"Olympus!" Cyclops's other rear guard shouted gruffly as Frank and Clarisse abandoned the shadows as well. This got the attention of the people on the bridge momentarily, but not for long, as a fight had broken out among them at the same time.

Percy climbed to one knee and was braced to jump to his feet when Silena grabbed his shoulder and shoved him backward onto the snow. "No, stay down!" she yelled with a glare, pulling the handgun from her jacket as she stood. "You're dead, remember? Don't be reckless!"

"But—Hey!" Percy stammered back, but she was already running away with Piper on her heels. He growled in frustration and held himself back. He knew she was right. He'd acknowledged it himself earlier—the more people knew he was alive, the harder it would be for him to move around safely. There was always a chance of the information getting back to Zeke, which was the last thing he wanted. So for a moment, he defied every ounce of will in his body and forced himself to stay back from the fight and watch.

As the first Cyclops guy turned his gun on Beckendorf, Silena fired her own to try and throw him off. The bullet grazed his outstretched arm and he dropped his weapon, but he didn't seem altogether deterred. He turned with surprising speed and lunged for Silena. She jerked sideways and avoided being body-slammed, but the man was able to make a grab for her legs and drag her to the ground. She kicked him in the shoulder and scooted backward in the snow as Beckendorf rushed close to help. He tackled the guy from the side and they rolled across the ground, grappling with each other. The thug either wrested Beckendorf's gun from his grip or produced another from somewhere in his clothes, because a suppressed gunshot later Beckendorf yelled sharply and tumbled off of his opponent, a hand latched over his left bicep.

The Cyclops guy sprang to his feet and ducked a wild shot from Silena, instead bowling forward and punching her hard in the side of the head. She stumbled, allowing him to drive his shoulder into her chest and send her crashing backward against a tree trunk. He stood straight, but half a second later Clarisse appeared between the two of them and landed a vicious uppercut on the guy's jaw. He careened backward and Clarisse was on him again without delay.

Behind them, Piper was on her knees (from some attack Percy hadn't seen) and Frank was dodging a heavy swing from the larger of Cyclops's two rear guards. Frank sidestepped and landed a gut-punch on his adversary before the bigger man, doubled over from the hit, hurled himself forward and barreled into Frank, knocking him over and pinning him to the ground.

"Get the bags!" Frank yelled hoarsely with an angry growl as he fought to free himself. Piper and Beckendorf both sprang to their feet and sped toward the Bank Rock Bridge as Clarisse traded blows with the other Cyclops guy and Silena tried to stand only to stumble back against the tree behind her with her head in her hands.

"Aw, to hell with this," Percy grumbled in irritation. Risk or no risk, he was done sitting on the sidelines. Gritting his teeth, he climbed upright and vaulted over the hedges in front of him, sliding in the snow before dashing after Piper and Beckendorf. He ran onto the bridge and yanked his gun from his belt, taking barely a second to assess the situation—one of the Medusa women had been incapacitated, but the two waiting across the bridge had joined the fray amid their sisters and the two remaining Cyclops men. The one who'd fired the explosive round apparently hadn't tried the same trick again just yet, and was instead trying to get her hands on the gym bags that contained the rest of the ammunition. She dodged around one of the men and almost had a bag before she had to jerk backward to avoid two bullets aimed her way from Piper's weapon.

As Piper sprinted for the bags, Percy backed her up. He fired three shots at the woman approaching her from the left, two of which struck her in the upper torso. She staggered back against the railing, nearly slipping through the gaping hole in the side supports. The woman who'd led the team turned at the disturbance and raised a pistol, but Percy was already too close for her to get a good shot. He used his gun arm to force her outstretched arms downward, causing her to shoot two tiny holes in the wooden flooring of the bridge. He drove his knee into her gut and when she doubled over with a shout he wrapped his free hand in her hair and pulled her upright before whacking her in the ear with his gun. She spun to the side and dropped to the ground.

Percy turned back to see if Piper had gotten her hands on the duffel bags, but his line of sight was immediately blocked by a hulking figure a few inches taller than him and probably twice his weight. A huge fist slammed against the side of his face and for a second all he could see was a painful series of bright, flashing lights. He blinked forcefully to clear his vision and realized that for some reason he was on the ground. He grimaced at the unpleasant, metallic taste on his tongue and spit half a mouthful of blood and the corner of a broken tooth onto the floor, half an instant before something solid and hard hit him in the stomach with so much savage force he slid backward in the snow and again lost all temporary focus on the world around him.

He was vaguely aware of something latching onto his shoulder and shoving him onto his back, and when he ground his teeth and forced himself to regain his senses he looked up into the squinting, unfamiliar face of one of the largest Cyclops reps. The man had a fist raised to strike, but for some reason he hesitated.

"I know you…" the guy muttered, looking as though the vague concentration was taking up an awful lot of his available brain power. "You're Poseidon's kid."

At least eight or ten colorful curse words sprang to Percy's mind and if his mouth didn't still taste like blood he might've uttered a few of them. His head suddenly clearing, he drew both legs up and kicked the guy as hard as he could in the chest, effectively forcing him sideways onto the ground. The man made a wild grab for him but he rolled the other way in evasion. His gun was no longer in his hand (though he couldn't remember exactly when or where he'd lost it), so instead he dove toward the nearest fallen body—a woman from Medusa—and quickly searched her for available weapons. Thankfully, she had a .45 machine pistol in her inner jacket pocket. He yanked it out and released the safety, cocked the chamber, and spun on his knees toward the guy who'd attacked him. The man froze with his arm outstretched and his eyes had barely widened before the bullet hole appeared between them. He fell back onto the snow in a motionless heap.

Shakily Percy got to his feet, but when he tried to take a deep breath, spikes of pain shot through his side and he was forced to bend double as his muscles tensed in protest. He shot a silent, resentful glare at the now-dead guy who'd kicked him in the stomach. Bruised or broken ribs were not quite what he needed at the moment. And that was notwithstanding the potential damage redone to the still-healing stab wound. He'd been taking entirely too many injuries to the abdomen lately.

Nearby, Beckendorf was keeping a woman from Medusa occupied while the other man from Cyclops lay defeated behind them. He was having difficulty keeping up with her, owing to the gunshot wound in his left arm, but his advantage in size and strength seemed to make up for it.

Apparently, the gym bags had been too heavy for Piper to carry all at once, as she had only managed to transport two back to where Clarisse and Silena were now guarding them on land and was heading back for the last one. "NO!" a voice behind Percy shouted, and he turned to see that the woman leading the Medusa team had regained her footing and her revolver—the barrel of which was aimed across the bridge at Piper. Before anyone could react she fired. The explosive round narrowly missed Piper as she staggered sideways in avoidance at the very edge of the bridge. It collided with a tree a few feet behind her and triggered a fiery blast in the middle of the trunk that caused Clarisse and Silena to throw their hands over their heads in surprise. Wood splintered and snapped as the tree toppled over, falling directly toward the bridge. The trunk and leafless branches piled forcefully against the polished wood, collapsing part of the floor and north railing. Piper scrambled out of the way and avoided being crushed by the branches, but the bridge floor beneath her was already breaking apart. In a matter of seconds the entire northeast section of the bridge collapsed, sending broken branches, splintered wood, and Piper through the ice and into the frozen bay.

"Piper!" Percy yelled, his lungs seeming to fill with lead. He started toward the wreckage, not sure what he was going to do, when something suddenly shoved him from the left and he stumbled to the ground. The woman with the revolver rushed past him, speeding toward the collapsed section of the bridge. She snatched the last duffel bag and swung the strap over her shoulder, then turned and started running in the direction from which she and her partners had come.

"Get Piper!" Beckendorf shouted. Crawling to his feet, Percy looked over to see his friend land a right hook to the face of the woman in front of him and dart around her, heading for the woman escaping.

"What are you—?"

"Go!" Beckendorf shot back. "Save her!" He shoved a hand in his jacket pocket as the woman he'd been fighting recovered and chased after him.

Growling in frustrated indecision, Percy realized he didn't exactly have time to consider his options. He spun around, sliding in the thin layer of snow, and charged toward the collapsed tree. He tried to mentally brace himself for what was sure to be the coldest swim he'd ever experienced and took a deep breath, ignoring the now-familiar streak of pain it caused. When he reached the gaping hole in the bridge he vaulted off the edge and dove headfirst into the icy water.

In retrospect, cold might not have been the right word to describe it. The temperature of the bay was so low that it almost felt hot, like he'd just jumped into a vat of lava. It numbed his skin instantly, which was a blessing and a curse—the pain in his side disappeared but it was annoyingly difficult to move his limbs.

Eyes stinging, he quickly scanned the darkness for solid shapes. Distorted rays of moonlight dimly illuminated broken clusters of wood and various other objects. A touch of panic welled inside him until he was suddenly distracted by a dull, thudding boom from somewhere above. Bright, orange light flashed, and he wondered for an instant what the heck that was about before the light showed him what he was sure was the floating shape of a person. Praying that it was Piper and not the body of some random member of Medusa or Cyclops, Percy kicked toward it as frantically as his loose muscles would allow. The glimpse of half-braided brown hair he got when he neared was confirmation enough that he'd found the right mark. He slid an arm around Piper's waist and swam upward with all his strength, biting down on his tongue and allowing the twinge of physical pain to bring back some of his senses.

When they broke the surface and Percy took a gasping breath, he yelled involuntarily at the painful strain in his ribs. Trying and failing to see around the black spots dancing across his field of vision, he dragged Piper toward the nearest bank, more than once having to blindly maneuver around floating debris, and was glad when a pair of hands grabbed firmly onto his and Piper's arms a minute later and pulled them onto dry land.

"You guys okay?" Frank's voice asked as Percy and Piper both collapsed onto the snow, coughing and shaking.

"Y-Yeah," Percy forced out, voice rough and scratchy. He rolled over and sat up, unconsciously hunching his shoulders as he realized how utterly frozen he was. Every inch of his body was trembling uncontrollably.

"You s-saved m-me," Piper stuttered weakly as Frank wrapped his coat around her shaking arms. Percy blinked the last of the stars from his vision and looked over to see her giving him a tiny smile. "Th-Thanks. H-Heck of a s-swimmer, a-aren't you?"

Percy gave a weak chuckle. "H-High school swim t-team," he replied between short, rapid breaths. "Th-Three r-regional championships. N-Never thought it'd come in h-handy in r-real life."

That was when Percy registered a few disconcerting things at once—the grim expression on Frank's face, the distant shouting that became clearer as the roaring in his ears died down, the dull warmth in the air, and the faint smell of smoke. Confused, he glanced around and his jaw practically hit the ground.

"Wh-Where's the b-bridge?" he stammered, staring in shock at Bank Rock Bay, the surface of which was now peppered with broken slivers of wood from the bridge that had crossed over it mere minutes ago. The foundations against the hillsides were still there, but the entire surface had collapsed into the water.

An anguished scream from Percy's left had him whipping around to see Clarisse standing stony-faced with her hands on Silena's arms as the latter tried desperately to pull away from her. Her face was contorted in angst and her eyes were fixed on the wreckage. She screamed again, squeezing her eyes shut, but Clarisse didn't let her go. Silena must have realized her struggle was futile, because finally her arms fell limp and she sank to her knees with a heartbreaking sob, tears streaming down her face. Quietly, Clarisse knelt beside her, one hand on her back and the other grasping her hands.

"No way…" Percy muttered as Piper gave a sharp gasp. His eyes slid back to the bridge as the dreaded realization sunk in—there had been at least three living people on that bridge when he'd jumped into the bay. Now none of them were in sight. The women from Medusa—and Beckendorf—they were all dead.

"Better to destroy the equipment than to let them have it," Frank said leadenly. He was staring at the bay with a hard expression, but his eyes were soft and unfocused. "We knew that—talked about it before. But still…"

"So… H-He did that?" Piper said quietly. "Even… knowing w-what would happen…"

Frank blinked and shook his head. "We should get back to the car. Get you guys warmed up before you freeze to death."

-0-0-0-

The walking helped to bring some feeling back to Percy's legs, but inside he was still numb as ice. And his dip in Bank Rock Bay in the middle of January wasn't the only reason for it. More than anything, he was angry. Extremely angry. He wasn't an idiot—he was more than capable of putting two and two together. He was pretty sure he knew exactly why the night had gone the way it had—and it infuriated him.

He kept quiet until they reached the dark blue SUV they'd arrived in, parked inconspicuously in a public lot midway through the park. Frank unlocked the doors and tossed the two duffel bags they'd recovered into the trunk as Percy climbed into the passenger seat, leaving the three girls to file into the back. Silena was still in tears, though she was considerably less hysterical. Clarisse and Piper sat on either side of her, Clarisse with an arm around her and Piper leaning her head on her sister's shoulder as she pulled Frank's coat more tightly around herself.

Percy leaned his head back and briefly closed his eyes, shivering with cold and wincing at the returning pain in his ribs. He waited until Frank slid into the driver's seat, started the ignition, and turned the heat up to maximum before reopening his eyes and turning to give the driver a sideways glance. He needed to confirm something before he let his anger take over him—though he was pretty sure he knew what the answer would be.

"Who was assigned to this mission?" he asked Frank, dropping his voice so the sound of the blasting air vents would muffle it to the women behind them. "Originally, I mean."

"Just me," Frank replied as they pulled out of the lot and onto the sparsely-occupied road. "Like I said, Zeke didn't want word spread around. Said he'd send a hand-picked backup squad." He snorted ruefully. "See how well that turned out. Anyway, Clarisse and me have been working pretty much side-by-side, so I had to tell her. Beckendorf overheard and wanted in—'cause of his dad's equipment, I think. Far as I know, Zeke didn't hear they'd joined up."

"And you…" Tired, Percy blinked hard and tilted his head, rubbing a crick in his neck. "You only joined the organization after my dad asked you to, right?"

Without inquiring about the topic change, Frank nodded. Percy breathed out slowly, twisting a hand in his wet shirt over his injured ribs and letting the pain clear a bit of the haziness from his mind. Frank's answers didn't surprise him in the slightest—on the contrary, they were exactly what he'd expected. He understood his uncle better than most of the organization did, and after hearing the others' accounts of Ezekiel Grace's recent actions, he felt he knew exactly what had been going through the man's mind in recent months.

"You know what this was, don't you?" he said grimly, trying to keep his anger from poisoning his voice.

Frank's jaw tightened visibly. "Yeah," he admitted in a low tone, staring straight ahead out the windshield. "There was never any backup team, was there? What happened to Beckendorf—that was supposed to be me."

Percy clicked his tongue in distaste. "One less person more loyal to Parker than to Zeke."

Zeke wasn't an admirable person. He never had been. But even still, Olympus was a family—his family. And the way he was treating them… It was wrong. They were criminals, sure. Each and every one of them, Percy himself included. They'd all done things other people would find abhorrent. But beneath all that, they had a bond—or at least, he'd thought they did. To Zeke, the organization was changing. He had it in his head that they weren't a team—that they weren't on the same side, that people were beginning to turn against him. And now, he was taking it upon himself to right those imagined wrongs.

'Honor among thieves', as Clarisse had said—it didn't exist anymore.

"He's gonna start a war," Percy said, his voice quiet with resolution. It wasn't a warning—it was an observation. "That's why he's telling everybody I'm dead. Just killing me wasn't enough—he wanted my dad to know. Thinks he can bait him into striking first. But in case that doesn't work, he's gonna have a Plan B."

"The work he's got Hank doing," Frank agreed. "The extra artillery—he's planning an attack."

"Annabeth told me once… She was taught in CIA training that Poseidon was the biggest threat in Olympus. The hub of business and trade—it's here, in New York. Looks like leader in name isn't enough for Zeke. He wants it all, and he's willing to start a civil war to get it." Percy closed his eyes again—the frozen tips of his hair were starting to thaw, dripping water down his face. He was too exhausted to lift an arm and wipe it away. "I've got to stop him."

"After you get medical help."

With a frown, Percy opened his eyes and caught Frank shooting him a sideways glance of apprehension before returning his gaze to the windshield. "No—waste of time," he insisted, though even he could tell that the obvious strain in his voice did a pretty good job of rendering any argument null and void. "I'm okay."

"You're not," Frank said firmly with an air of finality, his voice rising a lilt in volume. Percy fell silent, feeling oddly chagrined. Frank's eyes shot sideways, gaze swiveling below Percy's line of vision. "Ribs, right?" he went on, tone softening. "I saw that guy kick you. Seriously, I don't know how you managed that stunt in the bay. You shouldn't have been able to stand, let alone swim."

Relaxing a bit, Percy chuckled wryly—then regretted it immediately when thin tendrils of pain snaked like lightning bolts up his right side. "I'm… good with water."

"Right," Frank said with a smirk. "Poseidon's son, and all."

"Ha, ha," Percy replied sarcastically, though he grunted a laugh all the same. The jibe reminded him with a nostalgic pang of his time on his high school swim team, and all the similar jokes Thalia had made at his expense back then.

"But you're right," Frank said with a short sigh. "Soon as you're good—we stop Zeke. Whatever it takes."

Percy raised an eyebrow. "'We', huh?"

The corner of Frank's mouth lifted in a small smile. "Yeah. We. Zeke's right—I am more loyal to your dad than to him. And I'm gonna prove it."

"I'm in, too," Clarisse said gruffly from the backseat, telling them she (and probably the others) had been listening after all. "I'm all for a little fighting, but a civil war? Not a chance."

"And we're not backing down, either," Silena spoke up. Her voice was dry and scratchy from crying, but her crimson-tinted eyes were serious and shadowy. "If it wasn't for that—for him, then Charlie…" She took a shaky breath and Piper, who was no longer shivering despite her still-damp clothes, tightened her grip on her sister's knee.

Silena shook her head and looked up at Percy, who had twisted around in his seat to face the back. Her eyebrows knitted and she shrugged off her coat, then her sweater. She gathered the sweater in her hands and scooted forward on her seat, tilting her head to the side with a short sigh begetting obvious exasperation that somehow helped to lessen the heavy atmosphere inside the SUV.

"You know, I'm thinking 'reckless' isn't a strong enough word to describe you anymore," she said with a touch of wry humor as she used her sweater to squeeze the loose water from Percy's hair and brush the thin streams of it from his face. He gave her an apologetic smile in response. Breathing out through her nose, she dropped her arms in her lap and said quietly, "We're not letting you do this alone. We're going to stop Zeke—all of us. For Charlie… and for you."

Percy looked around at the four of them and couldn't help a weak grin. He'd known Silena and Clarisse forever, so their determination didn't come as much surprise, even despite the rocky history between him and Clarisse. But with Piper and Frank, it was different. Strangely, even though he hadn't known them for long, he felt the same familial connection with them as he did with Silena and Clarisse. The way they looked at him and promised to help—it was as though they'd been friends for years.

This time, Percy was sure—every one of these people knew exactly what they were getting into. What had happened that night left no room for doubt or debate. Ezekiel Grace was becoming a danger to the organization—to their family. They all were just as personally involved now as he was, and they would see this thing through together—as Frank had said, whatever it took.

Percy hated nothing as much as seeing his family threatened. And now, finally, it was time to get his fiancée back and do something about it.

Almost time to get the band together ;) Drop a review on your way out, and I'll see you guys next Thursday!

Later days!

-oMM