NOTE: It's very important that you read this. I just realized that there was a major plot hole for the thing I had planned, because you can not grow the thing I was intending for her to grow in New York. Or at least, I don't think you can. So please note that it now says:
'"True," Frank said. "Don't you have some, Calypso?"
"Yeah," she said. "I'll go get them now. It might take some time, though, since my fridge broke down a while ago. Mr. Castellan was kind enough to let me put my groceries in his so they wouldn't rot until I got my new one, I'll have to go to his house to get them. Do you want to wait until I'm done or should I deliver them to you later?"'
Instead of what I wrote before. Sorry for whatever confusion this may cause!
Jason's POV:
Leo was an idiot.
A seriously, completely idiotic idiot, if you could even reach that level of idiocy.
And yet, they were all humouring him.
(A/N: Anyone who ignores author's notes at the beginning, please go read it. This is important, trust me)
To be honest, though, Leo's idea made sense in a weird way. Like, it made sense, but it made so much sense that no one else could believe they didn't think about it before. It also made no sense, because it could be totally wrong and was just a guess anyways.
Jason didn't want to think about what would happen the guess turned out to be wrong.
"Nearly there." Leo said, ending the uneasy silence. Reyna walked beside him, glancing around cautiously. Jason still felt bad for dragging her into this. Sure, it hadn't been his fault exactly, but the two had been friends at Jupiter Academy last year, back when he still lived in San Francisco. He was pretty sure getting your friends involved in life threatening schemes wasn't really a good way to start a happy reunion.
"Are we just going to walk right up to them?" Frank looked nervous, and Jason didn't blame him. To be honest, he was kind of mad at Leo for dragging him and Hazel into this as well, even though secretly he appreciated the extra help.
"Well, it's not like we can actually sneak up on them," Annabeth answered. "There aren't much hiding places, and at least this way we'll show them we aren't scared."
"Or that we're extremely idiotic," Thalia muttered, and Jason shot her a look. She was fiddling with a frying pan, one of the few 'weapons' that they'd managed to get their hands on. Though weapons was probably to strong a word. 'Random household objects lying around that could actually do some damage but not kill anyone' was more like it.
Then of course, there was Leo's tools, that would be arriving with Calypso. Leo had called her earlier despite the risk that the lines were tapped, because this message, 'Signal' was so short that Gaea probably wouldn't understand. And even if she did, the walk to the grocer's was so short she wouldn't have much time to prepare, anyways. That is, if she wasn't already ready.
"Here we are," Percy muttered, looking ahead. "Brace yourselves."
Jason glanced where he was looking, body tensing. In his right hand he had a tennis racket and in his left, a jar that had been formerly full of brownies (Frank had eaten all the brownies with peach preserves, which Jason had found kind of weird, but at least he'd gotten gear out of it). Even if he'd gotten a better deal than Percy, (who was holding a pen and a Comfy Panda pillow pet) he didn't exactly feel completely safe.
Especially now that they were at their destination. Though it seemed oddly quiet...
"Why is there no one here?" Piper asked, pursing her lips. Jason stared at her. How could someone act worried but still look so gorgeous?
"They closed down early, remember?" Hazel said, gazing around. "It's kind of bad, though. Then it'll be easier to fight us without an audience."
"Well, at least no innocents will get hurt this way," Annabeth said. "Can you see where Will and Nico might be trapped?"
"No, and I don't see anyone else," there was a hint of worry in Frank's voice. "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"
"I don't know," Reyna admitted. "Should we circle around? We might find an entrance."
No one had a better idea, so they did that.
Somehow, they ended up in a deserted alleyway. Well, it wasn't totallydeserted- there were a bunch of garbage bins full of trash. The place smelled like rotten bananas and apples, which made Jason wince and try to breath through his mouth. Why couldn't garbage be chocolate scented?
"Is it just me, or would this be the perfect place for someone to ambush us?" Thalia said tensely, eyes darting around the area. "Seriously. In the movies, alleyways are always ambush places."
A high, girly laugh echoed behind them. "Smart girl. But you know, it's not just in the movies." Someone snapped their fingers. "Attack!"
In a flash, Thalia was on the ground with a burly man standing over her. Jason felt a rush of anger surge through him, and he brought the tennis racket down on his sister's attacker. "HEY!"
The man spun around, hand reaching for a gun strapped around his waist. Jason grabbed his arm, trying to prevent him from grabbing it. The gun fell to the floor, as Jason and the guard (Porphyrion, according to his name tag) wrestled for control. Around them, a battle raged, as his friends tried to hold their own against the trained men.
Occasionally, the woman who had first spoken (presumably Gaea) smiled peacefully and gave orders to the guards. Jason hated that smile. But whenever someone from his team got too close to her, she'd wave her hand and the guards would fight twice as hard so that his friends would have to back off.
Suddenly, Leo broke away from them and ran toward the opening of the alley, where a girl was climbing out of a car holding a plastic bag. The driver, a middle-aged man who blond hair and blue eyes looked shocked at the scene before him, yelling after the girl as she handed the sack to Leo.
Jason watched as his friend grasped the bag in his hand and charged toward Gaea screaming, "ALL DA LADIES LUV LEO!"
"What?" Gaea looked as surprised as everyone felt. As serious as this situation was, Jason half wanted to back away slowly and claim they didn't know each other. Why couldn't Leo have picked a more normal battle-cry? Or at least one that made more sense?
On the other hand, Leo made no sense.
The giant Jason had been grappling with a moment before, Porphyrion, was the first to recover. He shoved Jason away from him, the momentum making him stumble back and crash into a garbage bin. Jason's head hit the hard plastic surface and became momentarily disoriented. Out of the corner of his eye, Jason saw Porphyrion rush towards his his friend, holding up his fists to punch him. Before he got there, however, Thalia tackled him to the ground.
As dizzy as he was, Jason couldn't help but feel a rush of pride. That's my sister. You go, Thalia!
Leo dodged the two rolling on the ground and ran up to Gaea, who still looked shocked. He thrust his hand into the bag and pulled out a lemon, practically ripped off some of it's skin and shoved the fruit into Gaea's face, squeezing it hard so that juice came out.
Gaea stared at it blankly for a moment before collapsing. Jason blinked, stumbling to his feet. Yup, still out cold. A wave of relief washed over him. Thank the Gods Leo was right.
From the looks on the guards faces, though, they were having opposite thoughts. Porphyrion was staring at the ground where Gaea was crumpled in a heap with wide eyes. Thalia took advantage of this, finally flipping him onto his back and pinned him down. Jason ran to help her keep him there, while Frank grabbed the lid of one of the bins and slammed it over another guard's* head. Percy then proceeded to use the same strategy with the man he'd been grappling with while Frank looked at him indignantly. "Do you think I can charge you for copyright for that?"
"No, I don't think so," Percy said, "Now lets go save my cousin!"
"What the Hades happened here?" They all turned to see Nico and Will gaping at the damage before them. Nico was limping slightly, leaning on Will to balance himself. Will has his arm around Nico's waist to support him, and Jason saw Piper hold in a squeal at that. Showing her inner matchmaker, he supposed. Jason and Percy exchanged looks, like, I'm going to be the best man at my cousin's wedding.
No, I am.
In your dreams.
What about two best mans?
I doubt that's possible, but sure!
The silent conversation stopped when the sound of sirens abruptly pierced the air. Everyone looked at each other, trying to figure out who had called the police, all eyes making there way to Mr. Castellan. He coughed awkwardly. "I thought you guys might need help. No offence, but the situation didn't seem like something you could handle on your own."
Nico looked angry, but just as he opened his mouth to speak his face contorted in pain. "Damn...my leg."
"Are you okay?" Will's voice was laced with anxiety. He turned to Mr. Castellan. "You called an ambulance, too, right?"
"Of course."
They arrived two minutes later.
Three police cars and one ambulance stopped at the front of the alleyway. Will's eyes lit up once they saw the ambulance. "Finally! Nico, you're getting straight on that, you hear me?"
"Yessir," Nico muttered, a blush creeping on to his face. "No need to overreact so much."
"Come to think of it, how did you get that injury, anyways?" Percy asked. "And how did you guys escape?"
"Long story, we-" Nico began, but just then the officers got out of their cars and he stopped. Everyone turned to look at them.
"Alright, if this was a prank call, I'm gonna throw you lot in jail for wasting my time." The man who spoke was super buff. He wore a police uniform with a bulletproof vest and wraparound sunglasses, as well as an iron padlock necklace.
Jason had never seen him before, but from the look on Percy's face, he had. "Ares."
"Percy," Ares mimicked his tone in a high voice. Jason saw his cousin's hands clench into fists. "Fancy seeing you here."
His eyes scanned the scene before him, and he said, "Alright. Men, hold down the burly guards in the uniforms. Get the unconscious woman onto a stretcher, and same with the boy."
The last remark was directed at Nico, and Will was more than happy to help him into the ambulance. He tried to get on too, but Ares held an arm out to stop him. "I said boy, not boys. You're obviously not seriously injured, I need you to stay here."
Will looked at Nico desperately, who made a gesture like, do what he says. Will did, and the ambulance drove off.
Ares waited until the ambulance had driven out of sight, then turned to Percy. "May I ask how this happened? Knowing you, it was all your fault."
Percy looked outraged. Jason seriously thought that Percy was going to punch Ares for a moment, but then Annabeth stepped up and gave her boyfriend a look that kept him in place. "It's kind of a long story."
She then launched into an explanation of this whole fiasco, from the beginning to the present. Jason noticed that Mr. Castellan looked more startled with every word, while the others just looked kind of bored. Calypso had obviously not filled him in before asking for a ride.
The two groups toke turns telling their stories from Nico's kidnapping. Leo explained how he had met Calypso, and how Frank had memorized a Morse Code message, ("My Morse Code message." Will had bragged proudly). Leo had solved the meaning of it. Supermarket, trapped Will and Nico. Gaea. No Citrus.
No citrus. Priapus's Fresh Vegetables and Other Garden Produce had been robbed just days before of all it's grapefruits, oranges, limes, and lemons. Jason vaguely remembered hearing about it in the news and thinking that it had been odd. Who in their right mind would steal fruit?
Apparently, the answer was Gaea (Even though she wasn't very right in the mind).
Leo had admitted he also thought it was strange at first. "But then I thought about it, and the fact that the store had been robbed so close to the kidnapping. The day before, I think. At first, I brushed it off, thinking that it was probably a coincidence. But if Gaea's headquarters were there, then they must have known about it, and might even have staged the whole thing."
"Exactly," Will said, grinning. "And if they'd done it, why? What motive could they possibly have? For some reason, I kept thinking about one of my mom's friends, an allergist**. Once when she came over for dinner, she started talking to me about anaphylaxis, which is when a severe reaction develops immediately after being exposed to an allergen. I remembered it because my mom got really mad at her for teaching me about medical stuff."
"So basically, you guessed she was allergic?" Ares sounded doubtful. "That was a big risk, you know."
"Not to mention that if you knew, then you also knew the potential danger that could place her life in." Another one of them added. Leo and Will paled.
"Um-"
"Oh, lay off already!" Piper said, stepping between her friends and the officers. Clearing her throat, she began to reason with them in more persuasive voice. "It was in self-defence, right? If they hadn't, who knows what could have happened? Gaea was trying to murder them- but if you don't believe us, we can give you to ransom notes as proof."
Ares frowned, as if thinking about it. "Perhaps you're right. Just in case, you should all give us your addresses and phone numbers, so we can contact you in the morning. I'll see what the higher ups say, and if it becomes something big, you might have to take this into court. But I don't think that will happen."
Each other them took turns telling the officer where they lived, including Mr. Castellan. Piper pulled Leo and Will back and assured them that if they had to go to court, she'd get her father's defence attorney to argue their case.
"And he's the best money can buy," she said.
Meanwhile, Calypso was apologizing continuously to Mr. Castellan for not telling him what was going on and getting him involved with the police. He assured her it was fine, and he'd rather tell an officer his name then see one of her friends die, anyways.
"So," Ares said, turing to Will. "How did you guys escape?"
"A mouse, a rock, and a shirt," Will deadpanned. "Also, screaming."
Ares gazed at him blankly. "You can tell me the full story in the morning. Remember, you guys aren't totally off the hook. The media might get involved- it's hard to cover up something as big as this."
"Great," Percy muttered. "Reporters."
Will looked concerned. "They can't be that bad."
"Trust me, they can," Percy shuddered, his voice dropping to a whisper. "They're like mosquitoes."
"For now, though," Ares said, ignoring the two boys, "You should all leave and get a good night's rest. You'll need it."
He walked away, leaving them all standing there. Will coughed. "So we do we go home now? Because I wanted to go visit Nico at the hospital."
"Shouldn't you tell your mom what happened, though?" Percy asked, and Will shrugged uncomfortably.
"I guess. But-"
Annabeth put her hand on Will's shoulder. "Go home and tell her what happened. You were missing for days, you owe her that much. Nico will understand, trust me, and you can always go see him right after."
"I'll drive you all," Mr. Castellan offered, and nobody argued. They all boarded his vehicle, and the car pulled out of where it had been parked.
Finally, they could all go home.
Sorry if this chapter sucked. I did not like it at all. Also, sorry if it made no sense. Yes, yes, I know. Citrus allergy. Stupid way to defeat someone. But one of the staff members at my school is deathly (No joke) allergic to citrus, so I was like, oh, I'll make Gaea allergic to it, too! That's a wonderful idea! (Translation: It is a stupid idea, but I was too lazy to think of anything else) Allergies can happen right after the person is exposed to whatever they're allergic to, though, so it made some sense. Also, some people are allergic to the smell, so that's why Gaea had a reaction without eating the lemon. Reactions can be mild or severe. Guess which one it was for her.
*This is Alcyoneus (the bane of Hades), if you didn't guess. Ir's not really important, though.
** An allergist is someone who specializes in treating allergies. Hence the name.
Now for the Epilogue! Time to tie up some loose ends...A.K.A. write more Solangelo. XD
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LAST EDITED: 08/22/15