So as promised, shout-outs to those who reviewed: Queen of Reading, Lexie Daughter of Athena, jedikhaleesi, TheWall1706, , fanficrulz1, Velocity Drew Warren, thestoryreader99, blankslate97, zerowinz, Wonderland21, ChaserMoonstone, Demigodling Marauder, , ElmoDaHorse, Greek Wise Girl, Addy99, Lilith Jae, Athena's Gray Owl, blackjack1709, Finding Adventures, WElaine21, book-freak20.

I counted up the votes for the stories:

Option 1: 8 votes

Option 2: 11 votes

In other news, I finally saw The Great Gatsby today. I'm currently fangirling over the Leo and his beautiful castle of a house in the movie.

Anyway, I hope this chapter and the next clear up some of the confusion. I can't get rid of all the enigma now, can I?

Percy stood there in pure shock, unable to respond to the situation. Captain Chase…coma…his fault. No, it wasn't possible. No matter how much he prided his boxing skills, that one punch wasn't enough to induce someone into a coma, especially not a coma with such a delayed reaction. There had to be something else going on.

"No…" he finally whispered.

Mrs. Arnolds, from what Percy could tell, was doing her all to keep calm and restrain herself from shaking some sense into him, "Boy, how many times must I tell you?"

He collapsed into one of the beaten couches in the reception room, his face in his hands, murmuring no repeatedly to himself. This was bad, really bad. If the rest of the company found out he had just caused someone to slip into a coma, the scrutiny on him would be even greater than it already was.

Mrs. Arnolds stood there with her arms crossed and her foot tapping impatiently on the floor, "Well?"

"What am I to do?" he almost pleaded with her.

"Go," she repeated.

"What?"

Mrs. Arnolds threw him a pair of keys which he deftly caught with one hand. Percy looked at them in disbelief as the realization dawned on him before turning to her, "You aren't serious, are you?"

She snorted, "Young man, if I'm anything, I'm serious."

"But, how… I can't just leave!"

"I can pull a few strings here and there. Besides, you are responsible. I've notified the admin office of the circumstances. You do have more forms to fill out. With your presence at the hospital, I'm sure you can describe the incident with detail," she added in a clipped voice.

"So, you're giving me permission to leave?"

"Are you dense? I must have repeated that five different ways," she snapped irritably. "Yes, now go. Take your id with you or no entry."

Percy walked out of the office in a zombie-like trance, still unable to comprehend the situation at hand. Annabeth slipped into a delayed coma. Mrs. Arnolds was insistent on his leaving to go take care of the issue. What authority did she have in the marines to do anything? Well, medical authority did hold quite a bit of precedence over other items of priority. To add to that, Annabeth Chase was one of the well-ranked officers in the company.

He looked at the building he had been directed to. It was a large garage of sorts. He cranked the lever open slowly until the door was half lifted, just enough for a car to come out. Percy whistled as he got a look at the cars in the large warehouse like building. He clicked the open button on the key, following the beeping sound to its respective car.

There it was, at the end of the line, a large dark green, camouflage patterned Hummer. It wasn't conspicuous at all he thought to himself sarcastically. She didn't actually expect him to drive that. There was no way they'd allow him, or trust him for that matter.

He approached the car slowly. The more he looked at it, the worse it became. He almost felt an overwhelming feeling of nervousness. Percy got in to the car, adjusted the mirrors for his comfort before turning the car on, the large roar of the revving engine causing him to wince. Nope, not discrete at all. Someone was going to find out.

He made sure to back-out without hitting any of the other numerous cars. Just who did any of these cars belong to anyway? The one he was driving was clearly marine property. No one else could have such horrible paint job on the car.

Percy looked at the numerous Mercedes and BMWs he passed. They clearly belonged to the officers. So, this is what they did with their money. Buy rich cars. Figures. Percy snorted in contempt. What caught his eye was a sleek black Audi nestled in the corner of the garage, the license plate reading Castellan. Major Castellan's car… Percy almost stopped his car.

Could it be… Possibly? Percy knew he had to come back to give the car a once look over. Luke wasn't careless enough to leave anything of importance in his car, but even something small was better than nothing at all.

He looked at the illuminated screen as the GPS instructed him. The current time read 5:21 PM. Great, he was going to miss dinner again. But what about hospital visiting hours? They didn't stay all that late. By the time he reached Greenville Memorial hospital, the time was at 5:45.

The lady at the front desk directed him to a room #314, instructing visiting hours were till 6:30 on weekdays. He let out a sigh of relief; he had plenty of time. Percy wasn't quite sure how to react, but considering the fact Annabeth was currently in coma, there wouldn't be much interaction.

Now that she was in the state, Percy wasn't quite sure whether to be glad at his fortune, the fact that Annabeth was out of his way or if he should feel some more responsibility. In a way, it was a blessing that Annabeth was in a coma. The other way planned to get her out of the picture would have been…gory to say the least.

He knocked on the door to find it being opened by a boy younger than him. He appeared to be just leaving, his coat hanging over his arm. The other man held out his hand, "Matthew Chase. Annabeth's brother."

Percy stood there for a second, wide-eyed as he shook hands. She had a brother? Annabeth had talked about her family once. He knew her mother had died, and that her father had more or less disowned her, but a brother.

Matthew let out a slight dry chuckle, "I take it from your reaction that you're surprised. I get the feeling. Annabeth hated us, so I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't mention us. The animosity was reciprocated, but liabilities, who knew that would be what brought us together here again? The irony." Casting one last smirk at the room, Matthew left, leaving Percy alone.

No wonder Annabeth hadn't mentioned the guy. He was a world class jerk from just his manner of speaking. But who was he to judge? He himself was exponentially worse.

Percy looked at Annabeth's peaceful 'sleeping face'. No longer in her uniform, he could hardly recognize the figure in front of him. Her short blond hair had curls in them, giving her the appearance of a flapper girl from the 20's. Her generally fierce gray eyes were closed, making her have a more angelic face.

As if to add salt to old wounds, it reminded Percy of his Rachel. Had the two been side by side and eyes closed, the two would have been twins, minus the red hair and freckles. The personalities matched too, the same intelligent, independent character.

Percy brought the chair to the bedside, the side opposite all the IVs. He knew that people in comas could be in it anywhere from a few weeks to a few decades. As he looked at her peaceful figure, the guiltier he felt. She was in the state because of him. All of his past actions had only resulted in ticking her off…or in this case, inducing a coma.

He picked one of her cold, clammy hands, bringing it up for examination. Percy held them in his own hands. Had Annabeth been awake, he would have never dared anything like this, but he planted a gentle kiss on her hand, almost as though trying to make up for what he had done, "Captain, I really am sorry. If you can hear me, forgive me."

Percy wasn't quite sure what else to do after filling out the forms at her bedside. Most of them, he couldn't even answer. Many personal questions that Percy would have never thought to ask her. Deciding it was pointless to stay any longer, he gave her one last lingering look of pity before handing the clipboard at the front desk.

The time now read 6:23 PM. Mrs. Arnolds had excused him until 8:00 according to the pass. That gave Percy just enough time to ring someone up. He walked over to the nearest pay phone. He dialed the number he had memorized by now. On the receiving end, the phone was picked up on its third ring.

"Hello?" a sleepy voiced answered as though it were already bored with the conversation.

"Di Angelo?" Percy asked.

"Yeah, who is it?"

"It's Jackson."

Percy could almost hear the smirk on Nico di Angelo's lips as he replied, "Figured you'd call eventually. Alright Jackson, let's go on a date, shall we? Don't worry. We've been watching your every step."

"How…"

"Don't worry about it. Let's just say my network has sources. If my deductions are correct. You are less than a mile from where I am now. How about we meet at the Starbucks down the street from you in ten minutes?"

"The hell?! How the hell do you know my location?"

Di Angelo ignored his outburst, "Don't be late. I'm sure you'll be interested in what I have to say."

"Why would I want to meet you?" Percy had to admit though that he was curious as to who this di Angelo was. He was the closest he had to direct connections to his sponsor. In fact, he had never seen his sponsor. Percy knew one thing about his sponsor, and that was his business name.

"Oops..." Di Angelo chuckled. "Don't tell me you haven't figured it out till now, Jackson? I expected you to be smarter. No, your little blond Barbie didn't slip into the coma from just your punch. I have to admit, it helped though, so thank you for doing your part."

Percy spoke slowly as he registered what he had said, "What are you insinuating?"

"We drugged her. Heavily. Enough to be lethal. Still want to meet me?" The other man proposed the question as a challenge.

"F*** you, di Angelo."

This is the longest chapter so far for those keeping record.

I hope this plot is interesting enough. Many people have demanded why it has so many plot twists. Honest truth is that I just write. I never know what will happen in the next chapter until I write. I have a vague idea as to how I want to end the story, but the rising action is on the spot.

Anyway, let's try to hit 200 reviews. Virtual blue cookies if we do.

Review, fave, follow!

~TJ