Hey guys! Happy not-Thursday, hehe. I'm off work tomorrow and I'm sure I'll be busy doing family stuff and won't be on the computer so this week's update is a day early. Long and actiony, too, just the way I (we all, I suppose) like 'em.

Thanks to everybody who reviewed, and enjoy!

So just save yourself / I'll hold them back tonight

'We got this.'

That was what Percy had told them—his and Annabeth's ragtag strike team. And he'd sounded pretty sure of himself, too, at least judging by the looks on the others' faces.

But that sure as hell didn't mean he was.

This 'mission', for lack of a better word, was by no means a sure thing. They had good information and a decent plan, but it all hinged on their actually being able to overpower Ezekiel Grace when they found him—and that was what tugged at Percy's nerves. His uncle wasn't leader of the organization for nothing. The three Grace brothers had built Olympus from the ground up—they'd gathered its core members, made a web of underground connections, established relationships and a reputation. They'd done it together, each one of them instrumental, but without Zeke's leadership the organization would never have become what it was today. And as the group's power and influence had grown, so had those of its leader.

Zeke wasn't always so ruthless and cruel—not where it came to family. Percy remembered clearly how he used to admire and respect his eldest uncle. He'd learned a lot from him when he was younger, still new to everything the organization was about. But the day Thalia left the family had been the day Zeke had begun to change. He'd turned cold and harsh, brisk like steadily gusting winds before a summer thunderstorm. It didn't happen all at once—it was the time that had affected him, pushing the organization forward all the while mulling over his daughter's abdication and growing to see it as a personal insult. Ezekiel Grace was a proud man—always had been, always would be. Percy knew that after losing Thalia, Zeke must have made a vow never to allow himself to lose anything again, least of all the power and name he'd become so accustomed to—so protective of. He would do anything to keep what he had left, even weld iron bars between himself and his family. He would murder his own blood, ignite a war between brothers. He would steal from them all—life, money, control, freedom. The organization was about to be swept into his storm, into the gale his anger and selfishness had stirred. And as badly as Percy wanted to prevent that from happening, he knew that would mean throwing himself and his team into the torrent in hopes of cutting it down at the source. It would mean diving into the heart of a volcano to stop the flow of lava before it burned everything they loved to ash. It would mean risking it all in one go—victory or oblivion. And it was anyone's game.

Frustrated, Percy let out a gravelly sigh and leaned his head back against the wall a bit harder than he meant to, adding 'headache' to his current list of grievances. With a scowl, he folded his arms as a chilly breeze swept through the air outside the electronics store they'd been using as a temporary hideout. He absently watched a few pedestrians strolling by across the street, bantering aimlessly, before raising his gaze to the darkening, wintery gray sky.

He didn't want to think about failing, about the likelihood that some or all of them wouldn't make it to the morning. He didn't want to think that everything they'd done so far didn't matter—that it all came down to this one operation, a sudden-death standoff. He didn't want to think about Zeke winning again, dragging Percy's family down the long, one-way road to civil war.

Truth or not, thinking like that was a detriment. Percy was well aware of that. If they had any chance at this, they had to be confident. The slightest waver could prove a fatal mistake. And he wanted more than anything for them all to see this through. They'd already lost enough.

"Hey."

Percy's train of thought skidded and he jumped in surprise, startled by the voice so sudden and close. He glanced around as Annabeth, now standing beside him on the sidewalk, chuckled in amusement.

"Somebody's a little jumpy," she observed.

Percy sighed and shook his head abashedly, relaxing. "Yeah… Just thinking."

"About what?"

He gave her a skeptical look. "Really?"

Annabeth waved a hand. "Sorry, standard question. So… Are you okay? About this whole thing, I mean."

That was a heck of a question. In all honesty, Percy was pretty sure he'd never been less 'okay' about anything in his life. But even though he loved and trusted Annabeth, he couldn't exactly tell her that. Her expertise was important to the operation. He didn't want to compromise her focus.

"I don't know if 'okay' is the right word," he settled on, eyes scanning the buildings across the street without really seeing them. "But… I am ready. I'm not worried—at least, I'm trying not to be."

Annabeth was quiet for a few seconds. She leaned sideways against the outside wall of the electronics store and slid both her hands around one of Percy's. Her skin was chilly from the cold air, but that didn't stop her touch from lighting a dull warmth in his body.

Something about his thoughts must have shown on his face or in his voice—or maybe Annabeth just knew him too well—because she said in the soft, vulnerable tone of voice no one but him ever heard, "You know… I'm scared, too."

When he looked over and met her eyes, he suddenly didn't care about false bravado anymore. At least, not with her. He tightened his grip on her hand and breathed out slowly in a beaten sort of way. "I know being afraid is only gonna make this harder, but I just… I don't know. I feel like I have to get it together or this whole thing's screwed."

"This isn't all on you, you know," Annabeth pointed out carefully. "Give us a little credit here. We're a team, remember?"

"I know, I know. It's not like I'm trying to hoard all the responsibility or anything."

Annabeth's only response was to lean around Percy to shoot him a pointed look.

Percy cringed. "That's exactly what I'm doing, isn't it?"

A small smile tugged at the corners of her lips. "It's just the way you are," she said simply. "You want to do it all so nobody else has to, I get it. But you know… It's okay to lean on others once in a while—me, especially. We're getting married, after all. You have to let me help."

"Oh, what, like how you let me help when you decided to go after my uncle?"

Annabeth breathed in stiffly and fell silent, and Percy realized that had come off a bit harsher than he'd meant it to. He didn't immediately apologize or take it back, however—part of him was still miffed at her for the whole thing.

"You're right," she admitted flatly. "I messed up. I should've waited for you to wake up and discussed it with you first. But you have to understand—I'd just watched someone break into our apartment and stab you. You almost died. I was angry and impatient and… I think after a year of trying to live peacefully, all that sudden stress just snapped me back to the way I used to be. I wanted to do something—to… I don't know, retake control."

She sighed and shook her head, staring at the ground in apparent frustration. Irritation ebbing, Percy turned to the side and leaned his shoulder against the wall so as to better face Annabeth. Her gaze was still downcast, so his eyes traced a loose curl of her hair that hung free of her snow cap as he said, "I think I get it. Really. Heck, maybe it's better that you left when you did. If you'd been caught up in the bombing…" He let the sentence trail off as that possibility, which he hadn't exactly considered before, sank in. Suddenly he wasn't at all angry with his fiancée anymore.

"We've gotten good at making each other worry, haven't we?" Annabeth said wryly, looking up to meet his eyes. He gave her a weak, rueful smirk in return. After a few silent heartbeats, she went on, "Not anymore, though. From now on, we're in this together. Okay?"

Something about the deepness of her voice and the hidden emotion on her face told him she wasn't only referring to their operation against Zeke. It was more than that—they were in this life together, everything it entailed. Disagreements or no, that was a sentiment he wholeheartedly shared. His mindset had been the same when he'd asked her to marry him a month ago, after all.

"Okay," he replied with resolution. When she smiled, he tugged his hand from her grasp to slide his arm around her back and pull her into him. She gripped the back of his jacket and rested her head against his shoulder without hesitation, breathing out slowly and comfortably. It felt beyond great to have her back—to know that she was alright after those days he'd spent fearing the worst. He felt a fresh twinge of hatred toward his uncle for causing all this, but he forced himself not to dwell on it. The time for that would come soon enough.

"It's funny," Annabeth said after a long moment of quiet. She drew away from Percy and pulled her coat more tightly around her shoulders as a chilly breeze swept by. "I think I'm more scared now than I was the other night, after that first attack." She chuckled half-heartedly, stormy gray eyes gazing distantly across the street, but he could tell the humor in her voice and expression wasn't genuine.

"You don't have to be," he told her, shoving his hands in his pockets and leaning back against the cold, brick wall of the shop.

She shook her head, her breath a visible stream of smoke in the winter air. "No… Maybe it's a good thing, being afraid. It means you understand what's at stake." He frowned as she turned to look at him. "When I left London the other day, I wasn't scared. But now, I realize that was because I had no idea what I was up against. When I met Zeke yesterday, he was…" She seemed to shiver, and Percy had a feeling it wasn't only due to the cold.

"Scary," he finished for her. "I know, he scares me, too. I guess that's why I'm stuck worrying about tonight. It doesn't matter how many people we have—bringing him down isn't gonna be easy."

"But that's exactly it," Annabeth said, some solidarity returning to her voice. "We understand that. We know how big a risk we're taking, and that's why we're afraid. And that's also why we're less likely to screw up. We know better what to expect. This time, we'll be ready."

Percy studied Annabeth's face—her eyes hard with conviction and her lips pressed into a severe line. He felt like he could read her heart—like he could sense her fear and anticipation, but also the strength and confidence that existed in perfect harmony with them. She was right, being afraid was a good thing. It couldn't make them any more powerful or give them any kind of advantage, but it could make them stronger. They just had to use it right.

"When did you get so wise?" Percy asked Annabeth with an amused smirk. She rolled her eyes and jabbed her elbow lightly into his side—a small, playful gesture that ended up hurting a lot more than she'd obviously meant it to, owing to the stomach injuries he'd been racking up over the past few days. Her apologetic smile acted as response to his pained grimace, and it was with noticeably more care that she wound her hands around his waist and leaned against him, fitting comfortably into his arms and providing an unintentional and welcome shield from the January cold.

They stood that way in silence for another minute or so before the car came to a halt against the curb a few feet away—a shiny, black Maserati with bronze stripes running the sides above the tires. When the engine died, Leo and Piper climbed out of the driver and passenger seats respectively.

"I take it there weren't any problems?" Annabeth called to them. She pulled out of Percy's grip but remained standing noticeably close to him.

"We're golden," Leo assured them as he slammed his door shut. "Everything was right where we left it."

That was good news. The two of them had left the store a little while ago to retrieve Leo's car and equipment from the garage they'd hidden it in after escaping the Willis Tower the previous afternoon. If anything had happened, then their plans would have been hugely compromised—they'd need somewhere else to get wheels and gear in short notice without alerting Zeke. And Percy didn't count on their chances of another miracle like Leo dropping out of the sky. Seriously, that guy was crazy useful.

Something about their return, however, suddenly made the whole thing feel more real. They were moving just after midnight, and the winter sky above them was growing dark. Percy hadn't realized it, but the street lamps along the road had already come on. They were running out of stall time.

"Come on," Percy said, an uncontrollably grim note to his voice that the other three didn't seem to miss. "Let's get the others and go over what we've got. We're gonna want to be ready for this."

-0-0-0-

Midnight came all too quickly.

Percy had since stopped dwelling on what they were about to do and accepted it as reality, going through the motions with calm conviction. They'd elected to walk to the Tower so as to attract the least amount of attention possible. Since they were only two blocks away, Piper stayed at the electronics store, car keys in hand and communication wire switched on in case of emergency. Frank, too, hung back, taking up a vantage point on the roof of the store, from which the front of the Willis Tower was clearly visible.

For a while it was a very quiet affair. No one spoke from the time they left the store until they arrived and Clarisse volunteered to be ground lookout. Once she'd hidden behind some construction vehicles abandoned in the back lot of the Willis Tower, Percy, Annabeth, Silena, and Leo slipped through the back entrance into a wide, unfurnished room cluttered with electrical and repair equipment.

Leo pulled the key ring from his pocket and headed straight for the industrial elevator against the left wall. He slid one of the keys into the lock beside the door and a panel in the wall swung open to reveal three buttons labeled 'Up', 'Down', and 'Emergency Stop'. The doors slid sideways immediately upon a press of the 'Up' button, and stiffly all four of them stepped inside.

After Silena punched the button for floor 77 and the doors closed, each one of them pulled off their coats and piled them in the corner before producing weapons from their clothes and doing a final check on their communication equipment. As the elevator climbed the Tower, Percy glanced sideways at Annabeth and raised an eyebrow. "Scared?" he asked her wryly.

She looked up from her machine pistol and grinned. "Yup."

A soft ding announced their arrival at the 77th floor and the elevator doors opened into an empty construction area. The floor was dusty and cluttered, and a large portion of the right hallway wall was broken in and covered by industrial plastic. The lights above them were powered down, casting the hall in shadow.

"Stairwell's on the other side of the floor," Leo said as Percy tried to remember the building blueprints they'd studied that afternoon. The layout of each floor was rectangular, and was cut by walls and hallways that varied depending on the lease owner. But in every case, the main elevators were along the east edge, the service elevator was against the northeast corner, and the stairwell was in the southwest by the main road.

Percy led the way down the hall, eyes and ears trained for anything out of the ordinary. United's business hours had passed, but he had no idea how many of its employees worked late under his uncle. He supposed it was possible that no one was there—that even Zeke had gone home for the night. But that possibility was dashed when they turned the second corner and saw lights ahead.

Immediately Percy stopped and ducked back around the corner, but another glance told him there was no one in the hall. A few yards away, the hall opened on either side into an office area, from which florescent white lights were streaming. Somebody was working late, alright. The problem would be how many, and whether they reported to Abraham Skye or Ezekiel Grace.

The hallway led straight through the center of the floor, which meant that they'd have to cross through the office area to reach the stairwell. Biting his tongue in thought, Percy turned to where the others were crouching behind him and locked eyes with Silena. He jerked his head toward the corner and she nodded, reading his unspoken message. Silently as a cat she slipped past him and into the central hall, creeping in a hunch against the wall.

After barely a minute she returned, leaning close to report, "There are about ten of them, spread across both sides of the office. I don't know if they're Olympus or just United."

"Is there a way we can get by without them seeing us?" Percy asked.

Silena looked hesitant. "Probably not. It's so quiet, they're bound to hear anything. And there's a lot of open space."

"If they're United," Annabeth whispered thoughtfully, "we might be able to talk our way past. Hide our weapons, say one of us is related to the CEO and we came to see him or something."

Percy frowned. "But if they're Olympus, there's no way they'd let us go. Plus they'd probably recognize me, and maybe Silena too. For all we know, they could shoot us on sight soon as we mention their boss."

"I know one way to find out who they're working for," Leo said with a sly grin. He stood up and locked the safety on his ACP, sticking it through his belt and instead reaching over his shoulder for the MP5 on his back. He gripped it in both hands and stalked around the corner before anyone could ask what he was doing, and Percy was just registering the alarm bells going off in his head when Leo yelled "Everybody, hands up!" and unloaded a third of his clip into the ceiling.

Percy was so surprised, it took him a second to realize that the gunfire that immediately followed was only semi-automatic and entirely different. Muscles tensing in alarm, he leaned around the corner to see Leo drop hastily to a crouch as bullets flew over his head through the open segments of wall that displayed the office area.

"Who's there?" someone called sharply as another voice ordered, "Call Zeke. We've got trouble."

All of his muscles tensing, Percy darted into the hall and grabbed Leo by the back of the shirt, pulling him out of the line of fire. Leo landed on his back and looked up at Percy with a toothy grin.

"Now we know they're Olympus," he said.

Percy glared at him. "Yeah, and now they're trying to kill us."

"Aren't you used to that by now?"

Percy opened his mouth, but he was kind of forced to concede that point. It had been a rather life-threatening week.

He and Leo scrambled backward around the corner from which they'd come as a few people dressed in business casual wear and carrying semi-automatics darted through the open doorways on either side of the hall ahead of them. More gunshots blared, whizzing past and striking the wall at the end of the hallway.

"So we're fighting?" Annabeth said as Leo swung his rifle back over his shoulder and reclaimed his more manageable ACP.

Percy nodded. "Looks that way."

"Fine by me." Gray eyes fierce and focused, Annabeth slid past him and checked quickly down the hall before pivoting the corner and firing four consecutive shots from her handgun. A pained shout told them at once she'd taken out at least one opponent.

Percy fought a grin, despite the situation. Man, he loved this girl.

Annabeth opened fire again, then said to them over her shoulder, "Alright, let's go. But stay low."

"And remember what I said about casualties," Percy added. He exchanged nods with Silena and Leo before dashing around Annabeth, who stayed still on lookout, and into the central hall. He ducked under the cutouts in the walls that looked into the office and stopped beside the open doorway on the left, standing straight and pressing his back against a solid section of wall. He heard footsteps approaching and the instant movement flashed in the doorway Percy swung his arm out and clotheslined the person, knocking them on their back in the middle of the opening. He heard gunshots aimed his way as a result and dropped instinctively into a crouch, leaning out to punch the first guy in the nose the second he started to rise from the floor.

He saw movement down the hall toward the opening to the right, but gunfire from behind him took the opposition down almost immediately. He didn't look to see who'd done it; he turned and ran into the office layout, sprinting for the woman a few feet away without giving her time to fire the pistol in her hands. He lunged and tackled her as someone else shot at him from his left and used his gun to jab the side of her head, knocking her unconscious. He rolled sideways between two cubicles as glass somewhere above him shattered from a stray bullet.

Percy peered over the top of the cubicle long enough to see Silena fire her gun from one of the window-like openings in the wall as Leo jumped through it and kicked a man trying to return fire in the stomach. He couldn't see Annabeth, but judging by the sounds of bullets flying in the hallway, she hadn't left her position.

A woman across the room caught sight of Percy and raised a handgun, and when he ducked behind the cubicle her shots pierced the desk instead, sending up electrical sparks as a computer monitor was destroyed on impact. Using the blast as cover, Percy dashed sideways and paused for an instant to take aim before placing a bullet in the woman's gun arm, causing her to drop her weapon with a yell.

Satisfied, Percy glanced to the left, where Silena had also climbed through the wall opening and into the office. She shot a woman in the leg and shoved her to the ground as a man behind her grabbed the nearest desk chair and lifted it in his hands. He swung it like a club, hitting Silena in the side as she spun around and causing her to stagger against the nearest wall. Percy turned and fired two warning shots, not aiming to hit the guy, which succeeded in startling him so that he set the chair down and dove under a desk, giving Silena a second to regain her bearings.

A few yards away from her, Leo had just ducked a wild swing from a tall, tough-looking man before a slightly shorter one barreled into him from the side, shoving him against the nearest cubicle and causing its wall to collapse inward. Leo kicked the second guy and fought his way free before swiftly and from the floor shooting the larger man, who was already approaching, in the shoulder. He staggered backward against a filing cabinet, and seemingly without any thought or planning Leo leapt back to his feet and ran at him. The guy lunged for him again, but Leo dodged around him and instead grabbed the side of the filing cabinet. He yanked it forward and it crashed down on both office employees.

Percy turned around and ran for the open doorway across the wide room from the one he'd entered through. It led into a dim hallway that stretched to the right, at the end of which was the door to the stairwell. They were close.

"Jackson, you copy?" Clarisse's voice suddenly said from the device in his ear.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"We've got a problem. A team of guys in black just went in through the back entrance."

Percy froze in alarm. "How many?"

"At least a dozen. This one guy who looked like he was in charge—bigger than the rest, tough, dark hair—he was giving orders, mentioned your name. Safe bet they're looking for you."

"Me?" He stepped back into the office to see Leo and Silena exchanging worried looks—with no employees left standing in the vicinity, they must have been listening too. Percy wondered if his uncle had called in for backup. But that didn't make sense, because as far as he knew, Zeke still didn't know he was here.

"I can engage them from behind," Clarisse suggested. "Maybe take a few out, at least slow them down a bit."

"No, don't do that," Percy told her. "Send word to Piper and Frank. Wait for them, then go in. I don't want you taking on a dozen guys on your own."

Clarisse snorted. "Sentimental as always." Her end went silent, but Percy wasn't worried. Somehow he knew she'd do as he asked.

Silena stepped around the collapsed cubicle, eyes finding Percy's. "What do we do?"

Before he could answer, Annabeth appeared in the doorway to the center hall, her eyes wild. "Percy," she said, a note of urgency in her voice. "Those guys coming up, they've got to be—" Her voice broke into a shrill scream as she suddenly cringed violently and threw her head back, face screwed up in pain.

"Annabeth!" Percy yelled anxiously as someone pushed her sideways from behind and she slumped against the wall, sliding limply to the floor with her head lolling against her chest.

"I suppose I should be surprised to see you," a cold, familiar voice said as Ezekiel Grace stepped through the empty doorway. "But somehow I knew you were too defiant to die like you're told."

A chilling anger flooded through Percy as he watched his uncle toss the taser he'd just used against his fiancée aside and straighten the lapels of his pinstriped suit jacket. For a second they just stared at each other, the tension in the air so thick it felt like the smallest movement would get someone electrocuted.

"Hello, nephew," Zeke said with a dry, humorless smile. "It's been a long time."

It was like a fuse inside Percy's mind exploded. His face contorted into a furious snarl and he let out an angry growl as he raised his gun and fired without bothering to take aim. Zeke ducked the wild shots, darting to the right in a crouch. Percy ran toward him, continuing to fire his gun until he'd emptied the magazine and then throwing the weapon away. Now near enough, he lunged for his uncle and tackled him from the side. He aimed a swing at Zeke, who blocked it with an arm and shoved Percy off of him, causing him to roll sideways into the side of a cubicle. As he pushed himself up on his hands, Zeke snatched a fistful of Percy's shirt and hurled him upward before slugging a fist against his jaw.

Mind reeling, Percy barely regained his bearings enough to see Zeke's second punch ahead of time. He held up a hand and intercepted the blow, diverting Zeke's momentum downward so his fist drove to the carpet. Then Percy got to one knee and threw himself toward his uncle, checking his shoulder into the bigger man's chest and bowling him backward through the opening into the cubicle behind him. Zeke landed roughly in the chair, rolling it back against the desk. Still standing, Percy landed a hit to the side of his uncle's face and almost got in another one before Zeke grabbed the closest thing he could find—which turned out to be a computer keyboard—and swung it at his nephew, whacking him in the side. Percy stumbled for half a second, but it was long enough for Zeke to raise one leg and kick him in the stomach. He grunted as the blow intensified his other recent injuries and staggered unsteadily backward out of the cubicle and into the narrow walkway between desks.

Zeke was on him as fast as lightning. Percy had barely stood straight when his uncle's hands shot out and closed around his throat like a snare. With a strangled gasp he reached up and gripped Zeke's arms reflexively, even though somewhere in his mind he knew the man was stronger than he was. Percy gritted his teeth, unable to breathe and hating the helpless feeling that was starting to trickle like water through his body.

The hateful snarl on Zeke's face spread as he pushed downward, forcing Percy to his knees. He tightened his stranglehold and the edges of Percy's vision flashed red and black as the muscles in his neck protested painfully.

"This time," Zeke growled in a low, electric voice, "you'll die for good."

For a second, Percy was actually starting to believe him. But that changed when something he couldn't see caught Zeke's attention and his uncle looked quickly to the side. His blue eyes widened and his grip on Percy's throat loosened as he ducked his head evasively at the sound of two consecutive gunshots. One missed, but the other embedded in Zeke's shoulder, causing him to release his nephew and stagger back against the wall of a cubicle.

Percy gave a heaving gasp and coughed hoarsely as the air swept back into his empty lungs. Rubbing his aching neck, he glanced to his left to see Leo glaring angrily at Zeke with his gun still raised.

"That's for sending me to jail, Zeus," Leo growled, saying the codename like it was the worst insult he could think of.

Zeke straightened, eyes narrowed at Leo in suspicion. Blood was darkening his blazer over his right shoulder, but somehow he didn't seem incredibly affected—the only sign of any discomfort was his right hand, which was clenched into a tight fist by his side.

"You…" he muttered in vague recognition. "You're Beckendorf's—"

"Freeze, all of you!"

Back on his feet, Percy whipped around in surprise at the sudden intrusion, eyes searching for its source. The first instant, he noticed that Silena had crossed the room and was knelt beside Annabeth, who seemed to be coming to. But time to dwell on that was decidedly short, because only feet away from them at the office doorway was a group of people in black tactical uniforms with firearms in hand.

A cold vice gripped at Percy's heart. He'd forgotten about Clarisse's warning.

"Well, well," the man in front said as he stepped into the room, his amused voice muffled beneath his black helmet. "Look at all the big fish we've got here. This is one glory tale they'll be telling for decades." He pulled off his helmet and tossed it aside, narrow, beady eyes passing over each one of them in anticipation. His heavily-muscled arms gripped the barrel and trigger of an automatic rifle, and the tanned skin on his hard, cruel face was stretched in a sneer of morbid excitement.

In a flash Percy remembered what Annabeth had started to say before Zeke had attacked her, and now he was sure he knew exactly how she'd been planning to end that sentence. He'd seen this man before—more often in pictures than in person, but that didn't stop him from recognizing his face.

Hands uncontrollably twisting into fists, Percy stared the man down and said in a voice low with dislike, "Atlas."

Things are getting crazy... Haha. Next chapter's the second half of the final battle. I'll have it up next Thursday :D

Have a great Thanksgiving, fellow Americans, and a great regular week everybody else! Later days!

-oMM