Hi, everybody! Happy Thursday :D Guess what? I finished writing this finally! That means I will definitely be able to continue posting once a week as planned. No random delays (barring unexpected catastrophe, of course). That should be some good news :)

So, thank you everyone who reviewed last week. Ready for the actual reunion you've all been waiting for? Haha, I say that like it's climactic, but it's really not... Enjoy!

I'm the only friend that makes you cry / You're a heart attack in black hair dye

Annabeth's nerves were frayed like live wires as she followed Silena Beauregard down the busy Chicago sidewalk. She felt like she was walking on the edge of an eighty-foot drop-off, and a single misstep would send her crashing to her death.

It wasn't as though she mistrusted Silena exactly. She and Percy had seemed close enough, if memory served. But that was over a year ago—who was to say what had changed since they'd left the country? And moreover, Annabeth had no idea how loyal Silena was to Ezekiel Grace. Part of Annabeth's subconscious tried persistently to warn her that she was taking a gigantic risk here—that this woman she barely knew could very well be leading her into a trap. Silena had refused to tell Annabeth exactly where they were going or who they would be meeting up with, insisting that they were right on Olympus's doorstep and Zeke had eyes and ears everywhere. It made sense, Annabeth had to admit. But that didn't change the fact that in acquiescing to Silena's wishes she was taking a high-diving leap of faith without a rope or a safety net. And dragging Leo along with her.

But despite all the obvious drawbacks, Annabeth had a feeling—an odd, placating feeling she couldn't fully wrap her mind around. For whatever reason, she wasn't afraid. She wasn't normally one to place all her trust in gut feelings, but this time she made an exception. She knew, somehow, that this was the right move.

As they walked, Silena made casual, aimless chatter—probably to camouflage them among the surrounding crowd. Leo kept up with her, quick-tongued as Annabeth was learning he was, but she herself was too jittery and distracted to provide much input. She walked mostly in silence behind them, wringing her hands and fiddling with the buttons on her coat as she tried very hard to ignore the ballooning swell of anticipation that was growing inside her. She didn't want to get excited; chances were she would only end up disappointing herself when she met the rest of Silena's team. Getting her hopes up was dangerous—when they fell, it would be like losing him all over again. And that was something she didn't think she could handle. But try as she might, she couldn't stamp out that spark of nervous excitement.

They turned down a side street and finally Silena came to a halt in front of a run-down electronics store that was closed for renovations—for years, by the look of the place. She pulled a key from a pocket in her bag and slid it into the lock, jiggling the disused doorknob a bit and forcing the door open. A tiny, rusted bell on the doorframe announced their presence as they all stepped out of the cold and into the dimly-lit front room of the shop.

"Silena?" a voice called sharply from somewhere near the back. Annabeth froze, holding her breath as her eyes shot open wide.

"It's okay, it's me!" Silena shouted in reply as she closed and locked the front door behind her. "I brought friends!"

Annabeth's hands shook as she quickly scanned the cluttered room. She gave up on trying to quell her anticipation. She had to know now if that voice belonged to whom she thought it did.

Not two seconds later, her fiancé emerged from an open doorway against the back right wall—very much alive—and the anticipating pressure in her chest seemed to burst all at once.

Percy's eyes found hers almost immediately and darkened to a steely glare. "What the hell were you thinking?" he demanded without even a 'hello', climbing around the clutter into the open center of the room. "Going after Zeke—you don't know Zeke. Don't you think it would've been rational to talk to me about it before jetting off on some suicide mission? Come on, Annabeth, I know you're smarter than—"

Annabeth didn't care that he was angry—not in the slightest. The expression on his face should've humbled her, gave her pause. But she just didn't care. She was too hung up on the fact that his face even had an expression. Nervous anticipation in her veins turning at once to weary relief, she marched into the room and met him halfway, grabbed his jacket in both hands, yanked him toward her, and snatched his lips in hers with so much force that he stumbled and grunted in surprise. She knew she'd just interrupted a rant he'd probably been planning to give her ever since reading the letter she'd left him, but for the moment he'd have to deal with it.

When Percy didn't immediately pull away, Annabeth slid her arms around his neck and leaned her body tightly against his, tilting her head and throwing all her pent-up emotions into the kiss as she slowly and comfortably drank in everything about his presence—everything she thought she'd lost forever. It had only been three days since she'd last seen him, but those three days had somehow felt like so much longer. The sound of his breathing and the smell of his hair and the odd saltwater taste on his tongue seemed strangely nostalgic, as though they'd been a continent apart for years.

Annabeth backed up just enough to allow air to pass between them, unwilling to fully release him from her grasp for irrational fear of losing him again. She could feel his heavy breath on her face and realized her own chest was moving quickly as well. Heartbeat racing, she lifted her eyes to meet his gaze and hid a smile when she noticed that he was having a hard time keeping the scowl on his face.

"Damn it, Annabeth, I'm trying to be mad at you," he said through gritted teeth. His hands still rested protectively on her waist. "Stop distracting me."

"I'm sorry," Annabeth breathed. "I'm just… glad you're alive."

Percy gave her a quizzical look. "Of course I'm alive. You… thought I wasn't?"

She lowered her gaze and felt her jaw muscles tighten. Momentarily lost in memories, she didn't immediately answer. From behind her, Leo said, "Your uncle told her about the hospital bombing. Things, you know… didn't exactly look good."

Annabeth felt a spark of awkward self-consciousness, having forgotten for a minute that Leo and Silena were there. She let go of Percy and stepped back from him, turning to face the room at large.

Percy glanced at Leo and frowned, obviously having no idea who he was or what he was doing there. Rather than ask, though, he repeated, "My uncle…" before turning sharp eyes on Annabeth and snapping with incredulity, "You talked to him?"

"Thalia and I met with him yesterday," Annabeth explained somewhat meekly.

"Are you kidding me?" Percy shot back. "So, what, you're telling me he knows you now? You do realize you gave up your biggest advantage, right?"

"I didn't tell him who I was right away," Annabeth argued, feeling the need to defend her actions. "I'm not that stupid. It's just… He told us about the hospital and he was so sure you didn't make it out and I just… I snapped. It was wrong, I know, but… Well, I thought you were…" She felt tears well in her eyes—remnants of her feelings the previous night—and blinked them away, giving a frustrated sigh. She couldn't fully explain what had gone through her mind during her meeting with Zeke because even she wasn't sure she understood it. She'd acted rashly, a fact of which she was well aware. It was a mistake she deeply regretted. She probably shouldn't have tried to explain it away at all.

Unexpectedly, though, Percy's expression softened considerably as he studied the look on her face. Without the glare, Annabeth realized how pale and tired he looked.

"Hey, I'm fine, okay?" he said, his voice gentler. He stepped forward and pulled her carefully into him, folding his arms around her in a comfortable, reassuring embrace. "Zeke attacked the hospital, yeah, but I escaped. I'm okay, I promise."

Annabeth released a slow breath and pressed her face into Percy's shoulder, wrapping her arms around his back. As she calmed down, she started to focus on the things she should have noticed sooner—the scratch in Percy's voice, the weight in his movement—he was exhausted and in pain. Just three days ago he'd suffered a near-fatal stab wound, then likely been forced to fight his way out of the hospital before the collapse, and still he'd come after her to make sure she didn't screw up. She knew this wasn't the time to reprimand him for it, not when he was just trying to reassure her. But still, she couldn't help but worry.

She hid her concern behind a relaxed smile as she drew away and looked up at him, glad when he finally smiled back. He reached up and trailed his fingers through a lock of her hair, pulling it loose from beneath her hat. "Dig the glasses," he said in a humored tone, an eyebrow ticking upward. "Makes you look smart."

She shot him a pointed look. "You say that like I'm not." She elbowed him lightly in the side and flinched when his laugh turned into a grunt and his smile became a grimace. She opened her mouth to speak, but he gave her a look that said clearly, Later.

"So…" he started instead, turning to the door and extending a hand toward Leo. "I see you didn't waste much time in replacing me."

Annabeth chuckled and rolled her eyes. "This is Leo, Thalia's friend Reyna's boyfriend."

"Reyna," Percy repeated, eyebrows drawing together. He glanced at Silena. "That's right, the police photo. How the heck is Reyna involved in this? And…" He looked around, expression tensing. "Where is Thalia?"

As he stepped forward, Annabeth's eyes traveled behind him to see that three more people had entered the room sometime in the last few minutes—a tall, stocky Asian man and two women, one burly and fair-skinned and one slim and tanned. She didn't recognize any of them.

"Let's… find a place to sit down," she suggested in response. "I think we've all got some explaining to do."

-0-0-0-

After they brought out some dusty chairs from the back room and basic introductions were exchanged, Percy made Annabeth go first, so she carefully recounted everything that had transpired since she and Thalia had returned to the States—meeting Reyna and Leo, their visit to Leo's storehouse, her encounter with Zeke and subsequent escape, and their night at Hylla's residence. Percy was understandably concerned about Thalia's injury, and though they hadn't heard from Reyna since they'd parted ways Annabeth assured him that the gunshot wound hadn't appeared fatal. Assuming the pair had made it to a hospital, they had no reason to believe she wouldn't be alright.

When it was her turn to listen, Annabeth clasped her hands tightly in her lap and sat tensely on her seat. Percy told her about his escape from the hospital—about the men his uncle had sent to attack the place. He'd decided then and there that Annabeth had been right—that Zeke wasn't going to get away with this one. That in mind, he hopped a plane back home to New York and met first with his friend Grover, then with Silena and her sister Piper (the younger of the two women in the room whom Annabeth hadn't met before). They gathered a small team, which consisted of the other two new faces—Clarisse La Rue and Frank Zhang, half-siblings by their father, Tony La Rue, former Olympus big-shot whom Annabeth remembered from her time in New York a year and a half ago—as well as Silena's boyfriend, Charles Beckendorf.

Together, the five of them recounted the mission they'd undertaken the previous night—a rival deal crash in Central Park that had ended in complete disaster. Annabeth felt a wash of sympathy when Silena explained how Beckendorf had given his life to keep his dad's equipment out of enemy hands—she knew by recent firsthand experience what it felt like to lose the person you loved. Silena held herself together well, but Annabeth could tell that inside she was hurting. She could also tell, though, that just like she'd been the previous night, Silena was determined to see Ezekiel Grace brought to his knees.

"So the idiot's trying to start a war?" Leo said after Percy and Frank summed up Zeke's recent actions and their own suspicions regarding them. He shook his head and leaned backward, resting his hands on the sales desk on which he sat. "Damn. Wrecking things just 'cause he wants everybody bowing down to him… Talk about a god complex."

"Tell me about it," Percy agreed, glaring at the floor.

"We need a plan," Piper pointed out. "And soon. The longer we screw around, the better the chances he figures out what we're doing."

"We do still have one advantage," Annabeth said. She nodded at Percy. "You. He really does think you're dead, I could tell he wasn't lying. He won't be expecting you to suddenly show up here."

Percy leaned back in his chair, running a hand through his hair. "That's good, but it doesn't mean I can just waltz in and hope to catch him off guard. We have to do this right. You know…" He glanced at Annabeth and gave her a small smirk. "The way a government assassin would."

"So you're saying we need some juice on the place," Leo said with a grin. "Lucky for you guys, I've been squeezing oranges all day."

Annabeth couldn't help a smile. She sat up straight and raised her eyebrows at him. "What'd you learn?"

"Well, for starters…" Leo leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. "United's executive staff checks in between six-thirty and seven every weekday, ten on the weekends. Most of 'em are out by six at night, but some of the big-shots like to work late—our boy Lord of the Sky included."

"Probably organization stuff," Percy guessed. "A lot of United's employees are members."

"Do you know how late he stays?" Silena asked.

"Almost always past midnight," Leo answered. "One guy was complaining about it—said their contract gives them run of the unoccupied areas after nine PM to get their work done, but they always get stuck working odd hours on United's exec floors 'cause they're hardly ever empty."

"So Zeke is there late at night without his usual scores of backup," Clarisse summed up.

"And without the daytime foot traffic," Frank added. "There'd still be tourists, but hardly any office employees. The upper floors would be mostly clear."

"Sounds like a good opportunity to make our move," Annabeth said. "The only problem is gonna be getting to him. The elevators are badge-operated, and I'm sure the stairwells have locks—not that I'm suggesting we climb seventy-eight flights of stairs."

"Got that covered." Leo reached into the pocket of his uniform and produced a ring of two metal keys. "We can use these."

"What are those?" Frank prompted.

Leo swung the ring around his finger, clinking the keys together. "Keys to the service elevator—swiped them from the dude in charge. It's rear-access and bypasses the security system. It only stops at every fourth floor, but I'm pretty sure we can manage that."

Annabeth grinned. "Have I mentioned how handy you are to have around?"

"Oh, I'm not done impressing you yet," Leo promised with a smirk. He hopped down from the sales desk and turned to unlatch the equipment case he'd been carrying. When he spun back toward them, he leaned over the table they were all gathered around and unrolled a huge sheet of paper.

Percy's eyebrows shot up as they all slid closer. "Is this…?"

"Blueprints of the building," Leo confirmed, one hand holding the paper flat. He pulled a yellow highlighter from the tool belt around his waist and bit the cap off with his teeth, letting it fall to the floor. "Electrical systems are under short-term renovation—they're installing new energy-saver generators here—" He drew a florescent circle on the blueprints. "Here, here, and here. The southeast wings of these floors here are closed off because sections of the walling needed pulled to reach the high-rise wiring. They've finished a lot of the work, but like I said—they're getting screwed with United's territory. Only get in there a few hours each night. So right here…" He dotted his highlighter near the back stairwell of floor 77, one of the sections he'd marked as closed for construction. "That's gonna be our best bet. Blocked off to office workers, so we won't hit any stragglers. And if Zeke and his guys are still there, the engineers won't be working."

"And then we're only two floors below him," Silena said thoughtfully. "They're all part of United's lease, though, right? So we may hit some opposition."

"If we go prepared," said Clarisse, "shouldn't be anything we can't handle."

Annabeth nodded at Leo. "Your car's still in that garage, right? We can grab the gear from there."

Leo grinned in agreement. "Good thing we brought extra."

Percy pointed a finger at Leo and said to Annabeth, "Nice find on this one. Mechanical know-how, huge stock of guns, and tricky fingers." He gave a wry grin. "Man, you're giving us a mega leg up here."

"Yeah," Piper agreed with an appreciative glance at Leo. "This is huge."

Leo chuckled, winking at her. "If I had a dollar for every time a girl told me that I could just buy our way in."

Annabeth snorted in amusement, not having expected the joke. She saw Percy suppress a grin and Clarisse roll her eyes, but Piper shamelessly laughed out loud. When Silena raised her eyebrows at her, she lifted her hands and said, "What? I've led a very high-society life—everyone's all tact and manners. Really makes a girl appreciate a good dirty joke every now and then."

"High-society life?" Annabeth repeated in mild interest.

Piper shrugged, putting on a theatrically blasé expression. "Yeah, comes with being rich, famous, gorgeous… You know, the trying life of a celebrity and all that."

"Somebody's a little full of herself," Leo observed jokingly. He shot her a sly sort of grin and added, "How 'bout gettin' full of me for a change?"

That one got a little more reaction. Percy cleared his throat loudly in an obvious attempt not to laugh. Silena hid a smile behind her hand. Clarisse clucked her tongue, fingers flexing like she was considering punching Leo in the mouth. Annabeth thought that line may have been a bit much, but Piper clearly wasn't concerned. She laughed again and shoved Leo in the arm, grinning as she said, "Oh, yeah. You and me are gonna be good friends."

"Can we, uh… get back to the plan?" Frank suggested a bit timidly. He looked highly uncomfortable with the current conversation, which was a little funny considering his natural intimidation factor.

"Right, yeah." Percy still looked like he was trying not to laugh, but he managed to keep a semi-straight face as he lowered his gaze to study the blueprints. "So late tonight, we sneak into the Tower, take the service elevator to the seventy-seventh floor, make our way up to seventy-nine, find Zeke, and take him out." He scratched his head with a look of slight consternation. "This may sound soft, but I think we should try to minimize casualties to his team. They're still Olympus, just like us. They're only doing what he tells them to."

Frank nodded. "We don't want to be the ones to inadvertently start this war before he gets a chance to."

"Right," Percy agreed, sitting back in his chair.

"Maybe you should sit this out," Silena suggested to him, her voice tight like she was braced to be shot down. "You're still recovering from—"

"Not a chance," Percy interrupted predictably. "Zeke tried to kill me. Twice. I think I owe him the same courtesy."

Silena sighed in defeat, not looking the least bit surprised. "Alright. It was worth a try."

"There are kind of a lot of us, though," Annabeth pointed out, looking around the room. "You don't think we might draw attention?"

"Not to mention we could benefit from having somebody on the ground," Leo said. "Just in case things… don't go so well. And even if they do, somebody's gonna have to man the getaway car."

"Are you volunteering?" Annabeth asked.

"Heck no." Leo shook his head. "You know I'm dying to see the big guy brought down. I don't care who does it, but I am not missing it."

"What kind of car you got?" Piper asked him.

"Maserati Ghibli S Q4. Racing-grade, one-five-seven edition. Few modifications, but you hardly notice 'em."

"Really?" A vaguely hungry gleam seemed to shine in Piper's kaleidoscope eyes. "I jacked an oh-six Spyder once and took it for a joyride—smoothest run I've ever seen. Maserati really knows how to rig an engine."

"Jacked," Silena repeated with a frown. "As in stole? So far away from mom's criminal life, and you still end up stealing cars."

Piper shrugged. "It was a nice car. I may have been too young to have a license but that sure as hell didn't mean I couldn't handle a few joyrides once in a while."

Leo laughed. "Where the heck have you been all my life, Beauty Queen?" He gestured between himself and Piper. "I'm sensing a 'partner-in-crime' vibe happening here."

With an amused smile, Piper said, "I'll sit out on the action for a whack at that Ghibli. You've got yourself a getaway driver."

"I'll stay grounded, too," Frank volunteered. "I'm decent with a long-range scope. I can keep an eye on you guys from below."

"'Decent'—don't be so modest," Silena scoffed. To the rest of the group, she said matter-of-factly, "He's one of the best snipers I've ever seen. Almost as good as Paul." Frank gave a humble sort of shrug. He tilted his head and Annabeth caught sight of a black fletched arrow tattooed diagonally on the side of his neck. Appropriate, she thought with a smile.

"So that leaves the rest of us to take the Tower," Percy said with a nod. He glanced at Annabeth. "Good?"

With a tiny smirk, Annabeth inclined her head. "Good."

Percy nodded with a sense of finality. He looked around at everyone and for a second Annabeth expected him to give some sort of inspirational speech—like they were an army about to raid behind enemy lines. But all he said was, "We got this, guys. Let's bring him down."

And as they all exchanged looks of grim conviction, somehow Annabeth knew that that was all any of them needed to hear.

I sense a final battle coming on. I'm pretty ready for it. How 'bout you guys?

Next week's update may be on Wednesday, with Thursday being Thanksgiving. I'm sure I'll be busy on the holiday, so you might see the start of the big finish a day early. Just a heads up :)

Thanks, guys! Drop me a review on your way out. Later days!

-oMM