A/N This was supposed to be a two-shot. It clearly isn't, but it will not be more than a thirty-seven-shot, just a heads up.
You heard me correctly. I'm almost finished.
Although being unable to turn into a boat, Leo's car/tank/thing was able to become a spacious tent, complete with two bedrooms, a sitting room, a kitchen, bathroom, and furniture. How it all folded down into the tiny car, Nico didn't know. Badger made the mistake of asking Leo how it worked, and they were still standing in the entrance thirty minutes later, Badger's eyes slightly glazed.
Snake asked to be taken into the kitchen and then ordered him to come back later. The clanging of pots and pans followed him away.
There has to be a different way to cross the water... Nico really did not want to use his first idea.
Not did he know how to get past the Guardians with their deadly claws and fangs. They could try fighting, but their opponents had the advantage of flight, and did not have a blind team mate...
When united, nothing can best us, they screeched in his brain. Begone, little hero.
He paced around the bronze room, thinking. He wished that there was some other colour in here; he wouldn't even mind bright pink, if it replaced the hideously bright, hideously reflective surfaces...
When united, nothing can best us.
When united, nothing can best us... When united...
Maybe he would have to use his first plan after all...
As he prowled the room in increasingly tighter circles, a plan began to form in his brain.
XxX
Percy was in the middle of an archery class when Nico grabbed him. He had time to yell a brief, "Chir-ARGH!" Before he was dragged through the shadows and back to Alaska.
Nico almost passed out on to the sofa, but managed to merely collapse weakly onto the cushions. Hera, but he was hungry.
Percy looked around, saw him, and started yelling. "Nico! What am I doing here?!"
Nico opened his mouth, but before he could, Leo and Badger rushed into the room.
"Percy? What are you doing here?"
"And where did Snake go?"
Percy turned to Leo. "I was just asking that. And-" he looked at Badger- "I don't know, but your siblings are desperate to find you. You're going to be in so much trouble when you get back to camp..."
Badger groaned.
"She's in the kitchen, Badger. And you're here because we need your help with something." He avoided looking at the green eyed boy.
"You can come through now!" Snake's voice drifted thorough to them.
Nico didn't know what he was expecting when he entered the kitchen. Everything was covered in flour, from the chairs to the oven to the ceiling, and there were bits of vegetable and pastry everywhere. Pots, pans and various other utensils covered the counters, and something smelled like burnt hair. The most surprising thing of all, though, was the pie in the centre of the table.
"That smells great, Snake," he said.
She squirmed with pleasure. "All I had to do was make it chaotic enough to see in here..."
"Wow! What happened here?" Percy came in slightly behind the others.
"Oh, yeah. Nico saw fit to drag Percy out here, Princess. I'm sure he'll explain as we eat..."
Nico glared at Leo, but he was getting plates from a draw and missed it.
The pie was as good as it smelled; crispy and buttery, the crust crunched and gave way to a combination of potatoes, carrot, and a succulent meat that Snake said she had found in the fridge ("There's a fridge?" "Well, yeah, Death Boy." "Don't call me that.") and Leo claimed was steak. No-one believed him.
When every plate had been scraped clean and the dish was empty, everyone (with the exception of Snake) looked at Nico.
Percy spoke first. "Are you going to explain why you dragged me to... where in Hades are we anyway?"
Leo pulled something out of his tool belt, looked at it, turned it upside down, banged it on the table, and then looked at it again. "Barrow Point, Alaska. Yeah, you need to explain now, Nico."
Badger moved so that he was sitting closer to Snake. "What are we going to do?"
Nico sighed. Time to spill...
"Right, so you know how I told you guys about the Guardians?"
"Yes," chorused Snake, Badger, and Leo.
"No," said Percy.
Nico explained.
"And I was thinking, what if they were not united? What if... they were at odds with each other?"
Leo put up his hand. "How would we manage that?"
"With a little discord," Nico looked at Badger, "and a little chaos," he directed his voice at Snake.
"I LOVE this plan!" She squealed.
"And I'll be there to get your back, sis. We're in!"
"And I'll leave Leo with you. Just," he clarified, for all three looked mutinous, "in case. I'm sure you'll do a great job."
Percy made the water rise out of his glass and start twisting its way through the air. "But that doesn't explain why I'm here."
"I'm getting to that. Leo says the Ehtel is a few miles off the coast... And I need to be able to walk on water to get to it. You have to make the surface of the water solid so I can do that. Then I'll kill the Ehtel, we go back to camp, and restore Will's memories!"
Percy lost concentration and the ribbon of water splashed down over Leo's head. "Oi!"
"Sorry, man."
"So," Nico pressed on, "are we doing it?"
Badger and Snake looked thrilled. "Absolutely!"
Leo and Percy exchanged a look. "I don't like this plan..."
"But it's the only one we have, so I guess I'm in, Death Boy."
A cluster of bones erupted from the floor by Leo's chair, assembled themselves into a skeleton, and started chasing the Latino around the room. "I told you not to call me Death Boy, Flame Head!"
Percy shook his head and looked mournfully at the bow that he was still holding. "I'm in."
A/N For those of you that are following my Jiper, Lightningstruck Dove, I should be updating that tomorrow...
Thanks to everyone for reviewing! You all get skull cookies!
~Fi