Yo. Still plugging through the slow stretch here. Thanks as always, those of you who reviewed last week!

Enjoy!

Wearing our vintage misery / No, I think it looked a little better on me
I'm gonna change you like a remix / Then I'll raise you like a phoenix

Annabeth had forgotten how much she liked the Grapevine.

The nightclub in Williamsburg, Brooklyn wasn't anything that special. The barroom was small and hot, usually filled with a high-decibel cacophony of voices and droning music. Neon violet lights along the walls and ceiling provided dim mood lighting, and the smell of fried food drifted continuously from the kitchen. But the atmosphere was inexplicably comfortable. With an odd fondness Annabeth was reminded of the time she'd spent there a year and a half ago, while still employed by the CIA on her mission to eliminate Olympus's eldest heir. She remembered the first time she'd visited the Grapevine, where her then-target-now-fiancé had worked at the time, and how she'd wished she could be the type of person who spent her weekends going out drinking and dancing with friends. It was strange to think that that life was now entirely possible for her. Assuming she made it out of the Olympus-CIA war, of course.

It had been Percy's friend Grover who suggested they stop by the club upon their return to New York on Sunday. They'd come back owing to Percy's desire not to be too far from his dad, whose condition was still in flux, but Annabeth was secretly glad when Grover had told him outright that sitting around the Marten complex worrying would do no good for anyone—that he needed to go out and try to relax a little. After their phone conversation and the short amount of time they'd been able to spend together in the past day, Annabeth had realized how critically agitated Percy had become. Their situation was hard on him—harder than on anyone else involved, probably—and she hated seeing him so worn out. Especially when she knew they had innumerable more difficulties to come as they took on Kronos and Atlas. A little time away from the tense environment of the Marten's medical facility would hopefully do them both some good.

So she'd convinced him to take up Grover's offer and pay the Grapevine a visit. Apparently it was still a common haunt for Olympus's younger members (despite the fact that Annabeth had almost gotten its owner, Damien Fresch, killed the last time she was in New York; she was told they'd drastically increased organization security at the club since then), and she thought it might be fun to catch up with some of Percy's other family and friends. She'd even invited Piper and Reyna along, and they'd both agreed (well, Piper had agreed; Reyna they had to force on pretext that getting out to clear her head would be good for her as well).

The club was almost exactly the same as Annabeth remembered. It wasn't overly crowded, being a Sunday evening, and the five of them were able to get seats at the bar without much difficulty. The place was still far from empty, however, and it was a good ten minutes or so before they were approached by a bartender—a bartender Annabeth was surprised and pleased to realize that she recognized.

"Hey, guys, what can I—aw, no way!" the bartender—a tall, lanky young man with shaggy brown hair—said as he hurried up to them. He leaned forward across the bar as though trying to get a closer look, dark blue eyes widening. "Damn, I didn't think I'd ever see you guys again!"

"Surprise," Percy said, laughing and holding out his arms. "What up, Travis, how you been?"

Travis Stoll, long-time member of Olympus and son of the organization's head of communication and transit, gripped Percy's hand in greeting, a wide grin spreading across his face. "Can't complain. Well, I can, but Fresch would fire me. Honestly though, things've been kind of weird since you guys up and jetted. Good to see you're still kicking."

"Barely," Annabeth admitted with a wry smile. "How's your brother?"

"He's good—around here somewhere." He leaned backward, craning his neck to look down the room to his left. "Hey, Connor! Come see who finally decided to drop in!"

A few seconds later, Travis's brother Connor—who was almost identical to him, save for a few extra freckles on the bridge of his nose and maybe an inch less height—appeared around the crowd. He too was dressed in the club's standard bartender uniform.

As he smiled and greeted them with equal enthusiasm, Annabeth felt an unexpected chill wind down her spine as she remembered the last time she'd seen the Stoll brothers—the night she, Percy, Travis, and a few other members of Olympus had rescued Connor and their father Harrison from CIA custody in an empty apartment building in Manhattan. Not one of her more joyous memories.

Pushing it aside, Annabeth helped introduce the brothers and Reyna. When that was out of the way, Connor leaned both arms on the bar and said with a smirk, "So, Percy, hear you're sittin' pretty on old Zeus's cloud nowadays. Central head, huh?"

"I don't know if I'd say 'sitting pretty'," Percy replied skeptically, "but yeah. After what happened to Zeke, I was next in line so the job kind of fell on me."

Travis's grin turned to a scowl and he lowered his voice. "Man, can you believe this whole 'war' business? I mean, sure the CIA's been after us a while, but whatever happened to needing evidence to start something?"

"I'd look out if I were you, man," Connor said to Percy. "First they take out Zeke, then they go after your dad… Harley's scary good at keeping under the radar—especially considering his business—but word of you taking over is bound to have gotten around. If Kronos is zeroing in on our leaders, there's a good chance you'll be next."

As Percy responded with a weary, "I know, it's kind of a mess," Annabeth thought back on the day following their assault on the Willis Tower. Parker and Harley Grace had informed them that the official story they'd leaked through the organization was that Zeke had been killed by Atlas and his strike team, rather than by Annabeth and Percy. She was grateful that the story seemed to have held—the last thing she wanted to do was be the person who turned Olympus's members against each other.

"Is Damien here tonight?" Percy asked the brothers. "I need to talk with him. I think he's avoiding my calls."

"He's in the back." Travis jerked his head in the direction of the kitchen door. "Come on around."

Percy slid off his stool and touched Annabeth's arm. "Wait here?"

"Yeah," she agreed. "I… doubt he'll be too crazy to see me."

"Safe bet."

Grover accompanied Percy as he retreated into the crowd. Travis and Connor had to separate from the group then as well and get back to work, which left Annabeth alone with Piper and Reyna. For a short time, anyway, as Piper got up not five minutes later to mingle with some people she recognized across the room.

"Thanks for coming out," Annabeth said to Reyna once Travis had delivered drinks to the two of them and disappeared again. "I know you haven't been feeling very social lately."

"Can you blame me?" Reyna snapped, making Annabeth flinch. The older woman seemed to notice immediately that her voice had contained more harsh edge than she'd meant it to, and she relented in a softer tone, "I'm sorry, I'm trying not to dwell on it too much. It's just… we were so close. I could feel it. And now it's like I lost him all over again." She sighed, dark eyes staring into her rocks glass. "Forget it, though, we're not here to talk about that."

"No, it's okay." Annabeth twisted on her seat to better face her friend. "Let's talk about it. Maybe getting mad will help us prepare for what we're gonna do."

Reyna looked sideways at her as she took a sip of her drink. "Never sat in on a traditional karate class, have you?"

Annabeth chuckled. "No, the whole 'inner tranquility' thing has always been sort of lost on me. Come on, you never know. Emotion can be a powerful thing."

Reyna's hand drifted absently to her jacket pocket, eyes growing distant. When she only shook her head and remained silent, Annabeth considered a different approach. Her gaze rose and trailed along the nearest neon light bar, memory flashing back to her last time in New York City.

"When I first came to this bar," she recalled conversationally, "it was for a fake date with Percy. I was still undercover at the time, working for the CIA, so I had to act all drunk and flirty to trick him into taking me home."

Reyna scoffed. "You, drunk and flirty?"

"It was a little ridiculous, I'll admit," Annabeth said as Reyna laughed. "Not one of my better moments. I made a hell of an impression on the heir to Olympus's west coast division, I'll tell you that."

"Who?" Reyna asked with an interested frown.

"You wouldn't know him," Annabeth answered, keeping her voice light despite the sudden tightness in her chest and throat. "Percy's cousin, guy named Nico. He was a little scary when I first met him—really serious, brooding type. All tattoos and dark clothing. Plus it was pretty obvious he thought I was an idiot that first night, so… needless to say we weren't exactly fast friends. But… that changed during the time I spent here. He ended up helping me make the decision to leave the CIA. To give up on getting revenge for my mother. It was funny… I'd spent so many years thinking Olympus was just… comic-book bad guys and creeps who loved bloodshed. But Nico made me see that… they were human, just like me. Hell, more human than I was at the time. One conversation I had with him changed my whole view on things. I even started to really think of him as a friend, even though he was one of the criminals I'd always hated. …Until later that same night, when I watched him die."

Reyna's brow creased in a frown, her gaze dropping. When she didn't interject, Annabeth went on, "It was my fault it happened. I'd been playing both sides at the time, stubbornly refusing to make a choice between my job and the man I was falling in love with. I wanted to have it all—love and revenge. I didn't see the danger I was putting everyone in until it was too late. Percy and Nico had been really close—like brothers, he told me. He was devastated, furious with me. And he had every right to be. I'd taken something from him—something so important—something he could never get back. And it felt terrible. …I almost lost him that night. For a while, part of me even thought I deserved to. He was more understanding than I ever could've expected him to be. I was… really lucky."

Reyna gripped her glass in both hands, looking somber. "Why are you telling me this?"

Annabeth took a deep breath to steady her erratic heartbeat and placed a hand on Reyna's forearm. "Because I want you to understand when I say I know how it feels to be the reason someone else's loved one gets taken away from them. It may be selfish, but I don't ever want to be that person again. I don't want you to lose someone you love because of me. And I'll do everything I can to make sure that doesn't happen."

It was a slow, tension-filled period of a few long seconds before Reyna's expression relaxed in a tiny smile. She twisted sideways toward Annabeth and said, "I know you will. Thank you."

Annabeth breathed out slowly in relief. It was painful to think back on her time in New York and the people she'd met there. Nico di Angelo, Tony La Rue, Silena Beauregard, Charlie Beckendorf—all people who'd tried to help her and had ended up dead. She hated the thought of adding Leo to that list, or Reyna, or Piper, or the Stoll brothers, or any of the rest. But that was why she'd brought it up—to reassure Reyna, yes, but also to remind herself of how much it hurt to be the cause of others' suffering. That pain would be her driving force from then on, she decided. It was as good a motivational ideal as any.

Annabeth and Reyna made much more positive small talk for the next few minutes until Percy and Grover came back, both of them complaining about bad-tempered wine-enthusiasts, and Annabeth had barely suggested they get something to drink and try to relax when their group was interrupted again by the arrival of another pair of familiar faces.

"Well, look who decided to pay us bottom-feeders a visit," a gruff female voice said loudly from directly behind Annabeth. "If it isn't the brand-new Chicago Shot-caller. Hold my drink, Zhang, while I take time to curtsy in the presence of royalty."

Annabeth noticed Percy roll his eyes before they both spun in their seats to see their guests—a tall, muscular woman and a taller, more muscular man.

"Nice to see you too, Clarisse," Percy replied sardonically, eyeing Clarisse La Rue up and down as though waiting for her to actually curtsy. "But the real surprise here is this." He wagged a finger between the two newcomers, arching an eyebrow. "Since when do you two hang out together?"

"They've actually been a pretty good team the past few weeks," Grover cut in, leaning forward from Percy's other side. "Declaring war on the CIA must have been the spark that made them realize feuding was totally pointless."

"Something like that," Clarisse's half-brother Frank said with a humored smirk. He held a hand out to Percy, who shook it cordially. "Don't listen to her, though, it's cool to see you. I kind of expected you'd be back, after… You know."

Percy's expression seemed to deflate a bit and Annabeth realized Frank must have been referring to the incident with Parker. "I was actually gonna call you guys in a bit," he told the siblings, lowering his voice. "We've got kind of a… sensitive mission coming up. Thought maybe we could use your help."

He and Annabeth had discussed potential candidates for the CIA infiltration team earlier that morning, and Frank and Clarisse, as co-head encounter strategists for the organization, had come up. Maybe it was some odd working of fate that they'd shown up there that night.

"Not surprising you'd come to me," Clarisse boasted.

Frank, however, frowned at the look on Percy's face. "Sensitive how?"

"It's about—"

"Percy? Is that you?"

For a second Percy looked mildly put off at being interrupted again, but when he noticed the person pushing through a nearby cluster of college students his scowl loosened to a smile.

"It is you!" the excited young woman exclaimed as she approached and promptly threw her arms around him. "Welcome back, it's so good to see you! We've missed you here! Oh, this place so isn't the same without you." She smiled at Annabeth over Percy's shoulder as her appearance registered in Annabeth's memory. Long black hair, fair skin, petite frame—her name was Katie, another member of Olympus. She'd been the cook at the Grapevine during their last few visits a year and a half ago.

"Hey, Katie," Percy said as she backed up. "Good to see you… too…" His voice trailed off as he glanced down and got a good look at his old friend, and Annabeth understood immediately why. She remembered Katie being small and thin; well, the cook was still only a couple inches over five feet, but no longer quite so thin—her stomach had a defined, rounded swell to it. Either she'd started eating all her troubles away, or she was the first one of them to have some good news.

"You look… different," Percy added uncertainly.

Katie giggled and swatted his shoulder. "I'm pregnant, doofus."

"Oh. What—really?"

"Twenty-five weeks," Katie confirmed, beaming.

"Congratulations!" Annabeth said with a grin, leaning forward around her stunned fiancé.

"Thanks! So how are you guys? Who's your friend?" Katie nodded her head past Annabeth toward Reyna, and Annabeth tilted herself sideways to introduce them.

"This is Reyna. Reyna, Katie Gardner. Oh…" She turned back around, a thought crossing her mind. "Is it still Gardner?"

"It's still Gardner," Katie replied. "We're not getting married—at least not yet. Maybe someday, but… well, we talked about it and decided now isn't really the best time."

"You're still working here?" Percy asked her.

"Yeah. Like I said, things here aren't the same without you. Silena, too. Fresch needs all the competent help he can get nowadays—especially with Travis and Connor taking over most of the bartending shifts." She rolled her eyes. "You know they've got plenty of enthusiasm, but they're a little lacking in the 'focus' department."

"I hear you," Percy agreed with an amused smirk.

"Uh-oh. Look out, everybody, wide load comin' through!"

Katie turned to glare at Travis as he reappeared behind the bar, grinning innocently at her. A few people nearby chuckled at his joke and she said with a short sigh, "I hate you."

"I know." He leaned forward and stretched an arm all the way across the bar, touching the palm of his hand to Katie's stomach as she stepped closer so he could reach. To the unborn baby inside, he said, "But you don't hate me, do you? I didn't think so."

"I'll speak for her, thank you," Katie said, a smile tugging at her lips.

"And?"

"She doesn't hate you." She glanced thoughtfully at the ceiling. "Though I'm not sure how I'm gonna break it to her that her father's a total dork. She might be scarred for life."

"Here we go," Clarisse muttered irritably under her breath, turning away from them and taking a swig from the bottle in her hand.

"Hey," Travis protested, standing up straight and pointing a finger at Katie. "It's a dad's job to make corny jokes. Don't you dare try to take that away from me."

"Wait." Percy fixed Travis with a suspicious look. "You're that kid's father?"

Travis grinned, eyebrows jumping. "You've missed a couple things while you were lying low, boss."

"Apparently. What'd you do, brainwash her?"

"Please." Katie giggled and rolled her eyes again. "Like he could pull off something like that. No, after you left, things… got kind of tense around here." She leaned sideways against the bar, looking troubled. "We'd also lost Nico, and Tony… Your dad was different, too, with you gone—less relaxed, more… agitated. After those couple clashes with the CIA, there was more pressure on all of us. My mom was still covering for Damien, had me running errands all over the place. It was stressful. And with Connor in the hospital for a while, Travis and I were… Well, we were there for each other." She reached across the surface of the bar and touched Travis's hand. He smiled at her. "It just kind of happened."

"They've been together since…" Grover glanced at Katie and continued, "What, a few weeks after he left?" Katie nodded, and Grover turned back to Percy. "I know, I was surprised at first, too."

Percy shook his head in wonder and Annabeth chuckled. She remembered the night she'd first met Katie and the Stoll brothers. Nico had told her that Travis had a thing for Katie, but as far as everyone was concerned it was a 'never-gonna-happen' kind of situation. Nothing to take seriously. Evidently things really had changed while they'd been away.

"Wow," Percy summed up aptly. "Well, congratulations, I guess."

Katie grinned and Travis said, "Thanks."

"I'm still just having a hard time imagining you as a dad. You're really excited about this?"

"Oh, he wasn't at first," Katie assured them, brown eyes sparkling with amusement. "You should've seen his face when I told him I was pregnant. He didn't blink for almost five minutes." She straightened her back and opened her eyes wide, staring straight ahead blankly in a comical impression and drawing laughter from most of the group.

In the midst of said laughter, a low buzz of music that didn't match the loudspeakers sounded suddenly and Percy reached into his jacket and pulled out his phone, the screen of which had lit up with an incoming call. "Be right back," he said, excusing himself from the area and heading toward the front door to take the call.

"So did you pick a name yet?" Annabeth asked Katie, nodding to the bump in her shirt.

Katie's smile grew as she gently touched a hand to her stomach, looking down at it fondly. "Lila."

"That was our mom's name," Travis explained, jerking his head in the vague direction of where his brother was working.

"It's a beautiful name," Annabeth told them with a smile. Inwardly, she marveled at how genuinely happy she was feeling—it was amazing how news as good as the coming of a new life was able to make her forget, at least for a little while, all the heaviness of her situation. It was symbolic, somehow—no matter how bad things god, how dark the future seemed, life went on. And it always would.

Unfortunately, those good feelings didn't last. When Percy came back inside a minute later, the grave expression on his face made Annabeth's smile falter. He'd received a lot of random phone calls since she'd been back—a fact which she attributed to his new status and how busy he'd been—but by the look of things, this one hadn't been a simple routine update. Something was wrong.

As he approached, everyone quieted, expressions tensing at their boss's face and stature. He looked first to Annabeth and Reyna as he reported, "That was Jason's mole. He's got our information."

Immediately Annabeth's mouth turned dry. Swallowing hard, she asked, "And?"

Percy glanced tentatively around at the group, but seeing as it was made up entirely of members of Olympus (save for Reyna, who of course was already involved), he had no reason to hold anything back. "Atlas is back, alright," he told them. "He and two other agents brought a high-security prisoner—identity Level One classified—into the base's containment level late Friday night. Word is buzzing around the place, but only an extremely small team is in on all the details."

"Leo," Reyna muttered in a low voice, gaze sharpening. Again she slid a hand in her jacket pocket, clenching a fist inside it.

Annabeth released her breath in a slow sweep, a cold feeling trickling into her lungs. She'd been right after all. That fact should've come with some measure of satisfaction, but instead she felt only a sting of dread—now there was no avoiding it. They would have to pay a visit to the agency.

She straightened her shoulders and let her expression harden. There was no time for doubts. She had to stay strong. "What about tech trash removal? Is it tomorrow?"

Percy's frown deepened. "No, not until next Monday."

"A week?" Reyna said in apprehension, and Annabeth clucked her tongue in agreement. She knew it was dangerous to put off their rescue mission. But at the same time, going in without proper preparation would be equally as perilous. She had to believe that the extra time to ready their plan would be worth the risk.

"Guess we've got some time to kill," she decided.

"You could start," Travis cut in from behind Annabeth, "by explaining what the heck is going on here."

She turned on her stool to see those not yet privy to the situation watching them with alarmed expressions, taking clear note of the sudden change in atmosphere. She exchanged a glance with Percy and his eyes told her he was thinking the same thing she was: Might as well tell them. They couldn't pull this off alone, after all.

"Well, to put it bluntly," she explained grimly, "we're planning to infiltrate CIA HQ. And we could use all the help we can get."

Throwback to some fun FAW/EE side-characters, haha. They'll stick around. I like writing them too much :D

Okay, next chapter will be long and action-packed, so I cannot guarantee when it'll be up. I'm gonna try hard to get it done by mid-next week, like usual. Just know that this time you're waiting for an exciting chapter, not another expo one. There's that, at least.

Review maybe? Thanks, gang! Later days!

-oMM